Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto

Chapter 1

The atmosphere in the village was tense, it was only the previous night when the great Kyuubi no kitsune attacked out of seemingly nowhere leaving nothing but grief and destruction in its wake. Every man, woman and child had lost something but they all shared their grief for their beloved Yondaime Hokage who sacrificed his own life to defeat the mighty demon.

Council Chambers

The newly reappointed kage glanced around the room waiting for the reaction to the truth about the fate of the kyuubi which he just revealed. "We should kill the demon NOW!" Screeched one short civilian Councillor with pink hair and green eye's while giving a glare to the blonde-haired bundle in Jiraiya's arms. "SILENCE" The old man bellowed, releasing his killing intent causing many of the rooms occupants to freeze at the power the Shinobi no Kami was radiating while the toad sage glared at all of them and tried to calm the now crying girl in his arms. "The Yondaime chose his own daughter to bear this burden and we will all treat her as the hero she is for without her holding back the beast we would all be dead." He stated causing the entire civilian council scowled while the shinobi council were pondering their leader's next move until one of the council elder's, Shimura Danzo, a man with bandages over his eye and a walking stick in hand stated calmly stated "You should give the girl to me Hiruzen, I could train her both to be the perfect weapon for our village, none would stand against us with the power of the Kyuubi under our control"

'More like under your control' were the thoughts of the newly reappointed Hokage and the entire shinobi council, given the fact that they all heard the rumors of Elder Danzo's underground activities.

One short and fat Councillor stood "I agree with Elder Danzo, we should use that…thing" he said with disgust "to heighten the power of our village." The councillor looked around the room with his hands on his waist with a proud look on his face.

The Sandaime Hokage glared at both of them "She is a baby, not a…weapon, and Danzo we have been over this already, I am not giving her to you and that is final" He ground out.

Uchiha Fugaku then spoke "With all due respect Hokage-sama what do you plan to do with the her." The Sandaime narrowed his eyes "Obviously, she is going to be taken care of by her older brother and mother, once she wakes that is, Kushina is still recovering in the medical tents." Hyuuga Hiashi's pale eyes narrowed wondering how he could influence the child to side with the Hyuuga clan should anything happen in the village, he considered having his own daughter befriend the girl to strengthen ties with the Namikaze's or perhaps an arranged marriage with his nephew, all the while Fugaku was thinking the same, believing he is protecting his now deceased best friends child, pondering whether to attempt to arrange a marriage between his former teammates daughter with his youngest son Sasuke or his new-born nephew Ashura.

The Sandaime glanced briefly at Hiashi and Fugaku's calculating eyes. He spoke "I hereby put into effect that none may speak about matter's pertaining to the Kyuubi from this moment on or else they face immediate execution." He sighed "If that is all then this council is dismissed." This caused the civilian council's scowls to deepen knowing that they would now have to use roundabout ways to finish their beloved Yondaime's work.

Uchiha Compound

On the roof of one the buildings left standing in the Uchiha district three children around the age of 8 stood overlooking the reconstruction of the village. "I'm sorry about your father Shisui, did your mother get out the hospital okay?" A raven-haired boy asked "Yes, luckily she gave birth before the beast appeared and was able to get out of there with little Ashura-kun, what about you Itachi? is Sasuke alright?" The now named Itachi sighed in relief at the news his friend gave him "Thankfully Sasuke was with me so I was able to keep him out of harm's way" Shisui nodded at this and Itachi turned to his blonde friend "What about you Naruto-kun? We're sorry about Hokage-sama but is Narumi-chan alright?" Naruto looked at both of them before sighing "Yeah, she's fine but we're still waiting for mom to wake up, she…she was there when tou-san…fell and she also used a lot of chakra to hold the Kyuubi down with her chains" He replied having already trusted his two best friends with knowing the burden that his sister held that he learned from Jiraiya "We're going to have to get stronger and fast, with the village still in chaos it wouldn't surprise me if the neighboring villages take this as an opportunity to attack us while we're weak and recovering" Itachi nodded absentmindedly, remembering the last war he witnessed. Shisui sighed "Damn…I better get home I'll see you two tomorrow, later Itachi, Naruto" He spoke hopping down off the rooftop. "Thanks again for letting me stay the night Itachi, kaa-san should be up tomorrow or at least that's what Tsunade-baa-chan said." Itachi looked at Naruto and nodded to him before the both hopped down off the roof and headed inside the house.

As Shisui slid the door of his brother's room open, he walked in and looked in over the side of the crib and saw a little tuft of black hair. Onyx eyes met and Shisui frowned noticing something strange and activated his Sharingan 'I can already see traces of chakra behind his retina…Just how powerful will your eyes become little brother…' "I promise Ashura-kun…I will protect you with everything I have even if cost's me my own life" He spoke, Sharingan burning with determination.

Time-Skip 8 Years Later

Konoha

"Come on nii-san, if we don't hurry up they'll be closed" was the voice of the now 8-year-old Uchiha Ashura as he ran towards one of the best ninja tool store's in the village through the village with his older brother "Slowdown will ya, they won't be closed and besides the academy doesn't start for another week anyway so we got plenty of time to get your gear." Shisui spoke while Ashura just grumbled about lazy older brothers. They continued walking for a little while before they came to a shop and Ashura looked up to see a signpost that read Higurashi Weapons "Well go on, you were the one who was worried about them being closed." Shisui said as he closed the distance between them. He pushed open the door and watched with amusement as Ashura was bouncing on the balls of his feet as he looked with wide eyes sparkling with excitement at the numerous weapons and ninja clothing. He had started his brothers training two years previous in the place of his father, nothing serious at first just some physical exercises, basic chakra control and the beginners stances for Interceptors Fist, the Uchiha taijutsu style. He was thankful that his brother had not inheristed the almost cliché Uchiha arrogance and accompanying grunt as the awakening of the sharingan usually increased one's ego. Despite what he saw in his brother's eye's that night when he was a baby he still couldn't believe that Ashura's sharingan had awakened so early, he idly remembered the day;

Flashback On

"Alright, now we're just going to do some light sparring." Shisui said as he tossed his now seven-year-old brother a kodachi. "YOUR GOING DOWN NII-SAN!" Ashura yelled charging in with an upward swing from his waist which Shisui promptly deflected, Ashura followed through with a twist and attempted to bisect his brother who evaded by jumping back but Shisui then rushed forward delivering several strikes. This continued for another few minutes before Shisui disarmed Ashura and swung a downward finishing blow at the wide-eyed boy, he was planning on stopping himself before the sword made contact but his eyebrow's shot up as his younger brother caught the sword in-between the palm of his hands. Shisui moved his shocked gaze to his brothers face only to be met with a set of single tomoe sharingan eyes staring back at him. His jaw unhinged at the sight 'But how? He's too young!' he thought before Ashura dropped the sword and fell to his knee's panting.

He had never been so scared in his life, when he saw the sword he thought he was going to die but then suddenly the sword started slowing down and everything became so much clearier, 'It was like I Knew what was going to happen before it happened' He looked up at his brother and saw his shocked expression and went to pick up his sword by the saw his own reflection in the blade and his own eye's widened 'Sharingan!?'

"Ashura!" Said person's head snapped up in the seriousness of the voice and was met with a face that matched the tone. "H-Hai nii-san?"

"Ashura, you have to promise me that you'll keep this a secret okay?" Shisui said seriously which led to Ashura tilting his head.

"But…why? I thought this was a good thing?" He answered leading Shisui to sigh

"It is good…just unusual for you to awaken your dojutsu so early…listen there are some dangerous people in the village who would use you for their own benefit, because you're so young, to a trained ninja you're easy to manipulate, to influence…to mould. Please just trust me on this Ashura, I don't want you to become someone's tool, okay?" 'I won't let you near him Danzo'

Ashura just nodded glum looking and mumbled "Okay." But he then brightened slightly "You'll still teach me to use it…right?"

Shisui smiled "Of course, no come on I think that's enough for today, don't ya think"

Ashura smiled back "Can I ride on your back nii-san? Please!" he begged in a whiney voice and Shisui chuckled before turning around and going down on one knee and holding his arms out slightly "Well hop on then."

Flashback Off

He was brought out of his thoughts when he noticed that his brother had stopped and was staring curiously at a giant scroll surrounded by sealing equipment "Hey nii-san, whats with the giant scroll and brush's?"

"That's Fuinjutsu equipment Ashura, em…" He scratched his head "You know how sometimes Naruto makes stuff appear of of thin air from scrolls." Ashura nodded "That's fuinjutsu."

"That's all it does? Puts stuff in scrolls?" he asked

"Well no, theoretically fuinjutsu can do anything…from sealing stuff like supplies or weapons in scrolls to…eh" He glanced around to see if anyone was paying attention to their little conversation before he bent down to his brother's level and whispered "Well it's said that Yondaime-sama used fuinjutsu to defeat the Kyuubi."

Ashura's eyes practically jumped out of their sockets "He defeated it with fuinjutsu?!"

"Yup, supposedly"

Ashura glanced back at the scroll once more and looked at his brother with an expressionless face "I want it." He said causing Shisui to chuckle

"Yeah, thought you might, we'll get a beginner set and you can ask Naruto for some lessons, he's a level 8 seal master."

"Level 8?" Ashura questioned

"Yeah there are 10 levels altogether I think, so that gives you a rough idea of how good he is."

There was a comfortable silence between them as Shisui picked out sets of kunai and shuriken while Ashura searched for a few outfits he liked. "All done?"

"Yeah…but…"

"What is it?" Shisui questioned

"Can I get a, um, a staff? I don't think a katana is right for me." Ashura said quietly but Shisui heard him

"Sure, I don't see why not, there's no one in the clan who uses a staff but I'm sure we can figure it out together." He said smiling as he picked out a staff suitable for Ashura'a height and weight. Ashura smiled gratefully

"Thanks, nii-san, you're the best!" he exclaimed and Shisui just smirked

"I know." He said as he ruffled Ashura's hair.

Shisui gathered up all the merchandise and with Ashura trailing behind him, walked to the counter laying everything out in front of a big, buff man with a mustache "Hey Shisui-san" The man greeted politely "Hey Higurashi-san, it's good to see you again." Shisui replied taking out his wallet. The store owner looked down at the child who was now speaking with a child brown hair done up in buns. "Well well, this must be the famous Ashura you've told me so much about. He seems to get on with Ten-chan pretty well." Shisui chuckled "He's a good kid and will be a great ninja…if he minds himself." After counting everything thing up the man looked at Shisui and said "That'll be 12000 ryo Shisui-san." "Hai." Shisui said handing over the money and sealing away the items in a scroll and turning around "Come on Ashura-kun, it's time to go. Thanks again Higurashi-san" The man just held up his hand in acknowledgement and Ashura smiled and waved to both the store owner and his new friend. "Bye Ashura-kun" Tenten said before the door closed "Ashura-kun is it?" Tenten's father teased and Tenten blushed "It's not like that" she said quickly before crossing her arms and huffing "Besides I don't have time for boys, I'm too busy training." The older man smiled seeing that his daughter had no fangirl tendencies.

As Shisui and Ashura were walking through the village they came across a open hut "Ichiraku Ramen? hey nii-san, what's ramen?" the little boy asked with wide eyes but Shisui merely stood there smirking slightly and glanced at his younger brother "come on, let's go inside and find out, eh?" he said walking in and Ashura just nodded, a bit confused with his brothers behaviour and followed him. When Shisui entered under the flap he spotted a blonde, a redhead and a smaller blonde with red streaks sitting on the middle three stools and he grinned "Hey Naruto, Kushina-sensei, Narumi-chan. How are ye all doing today?" Naruto was wearing black shinobi sandals, black ANBU style pants and a black long sleeved shirt with an open jounin vest. (Kushina is wearing her standard clothes from shippuden) He only got two responses as the smaller of the three was already too busy rambling excitedly to her friend.

"Ashura-kun! You won't believe it I'm gonna be a ninja, Nii-chan and kaa-chan are letting me join the academy. Isn't it great, Dattabane!?"

"H-Hai Narumi-chan, I'll be joining as well, Nii-san and I just came from the ninja supply store." Ashura replied with a small blush on his face. It was plainly obvious to everyone but her how much of a crush Ashura had on Narumi. Naruto being a protective older brother sometimes left subtle warnings for Ashura but overall, he liked the kid, however, Kushina would give the two-endless teasing about how one day they would get married and have kids, which always left Ashura sputtering and Narumi tomato red.

"That's awesome, now we're going to be super strong ninja's!" She exclaimed but then narrowed her eyes at him "We're still gonna train together, right?" she said lowly and Ashura gulped slightly at the stare, their elder brothers had often brought them along with them when they would train together and would give both Ashura and Narumi simple chakra control or physical exercises to do, he nodded quickly "O-Of course Narumi-chan." Her stare was immediately replaced with a warm smile.

They were then brought back to reality when Kushina coughed "If your done talking to your boyfriend Narumi-chan, your ramens going cold" Narumi blushed at the boyfriend comment but then paled "Not my ramen!" she yelled running back to her seat. Ashura looked over to where Shisui and Naruto were talking and eating and shrugged and hopped up on the seat next to his crush "I'll have a miso ramen please, Ayame-san." He asked politely and the waitress nodded with a smile and began to get the order ready. Ashura turned his head to look at the girl next to him. He could never get over just how beautiful she looked, to him at least. She was wearing a bright orange T-shirt and black shorts and sandals. She had vibrant violet eyes that seemed to swallow you the longer you gazed at them, her blonde hair could make the sun jealous and the vibrant blood red streaks that portrayed her Uzumaki heritage only added to her exotic beauty along with her slightly tanned skin. Three whisker marks dotted both sides of her unblemished cheeks, he had to resist the urge to rub them to see if she would purr.

"The Uchiha is staring." Came a deep voice within Narumi's head "What was that Kurama-chan?" The "-chan" affectionate caused the massive fox to get several tick marks on his head "How many times do I have to tell you not to call me that!" he barked within her mind, Narumi had met the fox 3 years previous when she was walking through the village, she had been separated from Naruto and Kushina in the crowd and been cornered in an dingy ally by ignorant villagers intent on 'Finishing the Yondaime's work', it was then that Kurama first made contact with her, he sent a burst of chakra through her coils to make the villagers back off and to signal for her family and ANBU guards who were searching for her at the time but the act had rendered her unconscious which allowed the fox to meet Narumi for the first time within the seal, he had been spiteful and hate filled in the beginning but over time he mellowed out slightly and grew fond and protective of the girl as there was something about the her chakra that reminded him of his father, the Rikudou Sennin. Mentally, she sheepishly nodded "Sorry Kurama-kun, what did you say?" she asked and the most powerful bijuu grumbled under his breath about disrespectful brats before he smirked "I said your mate is staring at you." This caused her to blush up a storm "A-Ashura-kun isn't my mate!" she mentally yelled which caused the great beasts' smirk to widen "Who said I was taking about that Uchiha runt?" He said and chuckled deeply. Narumi had no comeback to that so she quickly cut the connection with her tenant and shook off her blush and noticed Ashura's inquisitive eyes and turned to face him and tilted her head cutely "What is it, Ashura-kun?" He just smiled and poked her forehead with his index and middle finger "Nothing, Narumi-chan." She pouted childishly and rubbed the spot he poked. "Ashura-kun, why do you always do that?" she whined which only led to his smile widening as his meal arrived and he thanked the younger Ichiraku as he dug into his lunch.

A Little While Later

As they were all about to leave Shisui nudged his younger brother and gave him a look and Ashura's eyes widened remembering what his brother had suggested earlier as he turned to Naruto "Hey Naruto-nii do you think you could teach me fuinjutsu, I picked up a beginner set today?" Narutos eyebrows raised slightly at the thought of an Uchiha wielding fuinjutsu but he smiled sadly "Sorry Ashura-kun but as a new member of ANBU I won't have a lot of free time in the coming weeks so I won't be able to help you much…maybe you could-" he was cut off by his mother who raised her hand "Ashura-kun I was planning on starting Narumi's own fuinjutsu training so if you'd like to join in your more than welcome." She stated with a smile and Ashura nodded vigorously at the suggestion and bowed "Thank you Kushina-sensei." Kushina just waved him off with a laugh "We'll start next week so swing by after the academy for about an hour. Oh, why don't you 2 come over for dinner later, there's something I need to talk to you about Shisui." Shisui nodded to this with a smile, but was internally curious at what his sensei could need to speak of in private.

As they all went their separate ways both Ashura and Shisui were lost in their thoughts "Hey, Shisui-nii, our family has lived in the same house since the Uchiha and Senju formed Konoha…right?" Ashura asked innocently, Shisui smiled at his little brother and said "Yep, going back four generations now including our own." Ashura sai smiling and continued walking home. "But then…Why aren't there any pictures of our great-grantparents in the house?" he asked curiously and Shisui stiffend slightly 'I wonder how he'd react if he found out we were descendants of him' Shisui thought remembering the looks his family received from time to time from the older generation of the clan due to the actions of their great-grandfather. He looked around at all the villagers going about their daily lives and decided that this wasn't the best place to have this conversation "Tell you what Ashura-kun, I'll tell you later tonight if you're on your best behaviour at sensei's house…Okay?" he asked and Ashura nodded reluctantly with a childish pout on his face, annoyed that he would have to wait to get the answers he craved "Good, now come on. If you want to get some early training in before dinner, we'll have to hurry." Ashura's eyes became filled with a fire at the mention of training and rapidly increased his pace home to which Shisui laughed and started jogging to match his little brothers speed.

As Ashura slid the door of their house open he bolted towards his room and Shisui looked around and sighed at the empty house. Their father died during the Kyuubi's assault, not that he held any ill will towards Narumi, their older brother Obito who Ashura never got to meet, died during the third shinobi war at the battle for Kannabi bridge protecting his teammates before giving one of his newly awakened sharingan to his teammate and best friend Hatake Kakashi, he remembered the day Obito's jounin sensei, Namikaze Minato arrived at their house and got down on his hands and knees to beg for his mother and father's forgiveness, if his family had not been through enough loss, their mother had passed away 2 years previous due to a rare illness and he knew Ashura was hurting a lot more than he let on but Shisui was grateful to Kushina, as she acted as a mother figure which Ashura badly needed. He walked towards his brother's room and open the door. "Hey Ashura-kun why don't we go and try out your new staff huh, we still have a few hours before we must head to sensei's house." Ashura nodded with an exited grin on his face.

Uzumaki-Namikaze Household

After a lovely dinner Kushina and Naruto had taken Shisui to Minato's old private study while Ashura and Narumi were getting an early start on their fuinjutsu by practicing calligraphy in the dining area.

"So, what is it you wanted to talk about sensei?" Shisui asked as he looked at the redhead she sighed and looked at him with weary eyes "It's about Narumi, the sandaime informed me that the civilian council and the elders are planning to force her into the CRA once she's old enough to give birth safely, the red streaks and her strong chakra are both signs of strong Uzumaki blood and the civilian councillors want to turn her into a baby vending-machine once she's old enough and since Sandaime-sama prevented Danzo from taking Narumi as a baby to be trained as a weapon, he knows supports them so that she 'can be of some use to the village' or so he claims." At this Shisui's eyes widened in horror before he closed them and snarled "Damnit…This is all Danzo's manipulation no doubt, the civilian councillors would like nothing more to see Narumi-chan dead so he must be the one planting idea's in their heads. What's your plan?" He asked eager to get his surrogate little sister out of the sick act. Kushina looked at Naruto who had schooled his features and he nodded at her and she turned to Shisui again "One of the few ways out of the CRA is if your already married or engaged to be so…I want to arrange a marriage in secret between Ashura and Narumi. We all can see how close those two are it's only a matter of time before they get together, hell I'd say if they were your age they'd already be married. I've already drawn up the paperwork it only needs your signature as his legal guardian." Shisui stood still taking everything in, If he was honest it wasn't a bad thing, he knew his brother was crushing hard on Narumi and he shivered slightly imagining what an older Ashura would do if he found out that his most precious person was being forced into an act which basically allowed females to be raped by strong shinobi in the hope that you get pregnant with a strong heir to carry on the clan. When Kushina had first told him the problem he had also thought of the marriage as a suitable option. He opened his eyes and looked at a pleading Kushina and a stoic Naruto, but he could tell his friend was in a frenzy of emotions. He smiled "I'll sign it." The two Uzumaki-Namikaze's sighed with relief and Kushina smiled gratefully before smiling and going over to a desk and pulling some paperwork out of a drawer. Naruto walked over and placed a hand on Shisui's shoulder "Thank you Shisui, you've saved my little sister from a horrible fate." He said with a small smile.

A few minutes later all the paperwork was done and the three were walking back to the kitchen "I'll make a copy of the documents and give both you and Sarutobi a set for safety, but don't worry he won't tell anyone." Kushina said. "That's fine. Thanks again for the meal sensei but it's getting late so Ashura and I should probably be go…ing." Shisui trailed as the three came to the end of the hallway and kitchen entrance to see Ashura and Narumi engaging in a chaste kiss, both of their eyes closed. Kushinas mouth formed a shit-eating grin thinking of all the teasing she could get in while Naruto unsheathed his katana and began running a cloth along the flat edge while giving an even stare at Ashura. Shisui shook his head at his friend's antics and coughed into his hand twice causing Ashura and Narumi to disengage and snap their heads towards them. Narumi paled under her mother's grin knowing where it leads while Ashura gulped under Naruto's stare and Shisui just chuckled and decided it was time to save his brother. He walked over and put his hand on Ashura's shoulder "Come on Ashura-kun, thank sensei for the meal and let's go…you'll have plenty of time to see your girlfriend next week." He said with a small grin. Both Ashura and Narumi blushed at the Girlfriend remark but Ashura hastily got up and bowed towards Kushina "Arigato, Kushina-sama" he said with a smile before waving towards Narumi and he ran out of the compound to escape Naruto's eyes which hadn't left him once. Shisui laughed at his brothers behaviour and bid farewell to the family before exiting the premises and catching up to his brother. Narumi quickly said goodnight and ran to her room, eager to postpone her mother's unavoidable teasing. Naruto turned towards his mother with a slight smile "Well this is a start…maybe we won't even have to worry about the CRA." He said hopefully. Kushina nodded agreeing "Maybe…but it never hurts to be prepared, especially when it comes to that old war hawk."

That Evening

"So Nii-san, I was on my best behaviour so tell me…about our family origins!" Ashura said impatiently. "Alright, alright." He sighed "Do you see that sometimes the elderly of our clan sometimes glare at us or act like we don't exist?" Shisui asked "Well…yeah, sometimes…" Ashura trailed off not knowing where this was going. "Well they do that because of our great-grandfather's actions he…he betrayed the clan and Konoha." Shisui continued and Ashura's eyes widened beyond belief in shock "What…?" getting over his initial shock his eyes immediately narrowed in suspicion "But I know the Uchiha clan history, we all do, the only person to ever betray the clan and Konoha was…" He trailed off again realizing who their ancestor was and once again his eyes widened "Yeah Ashura-kun…You and I are the only living descendants of Uchiha Madara." Shisui finished. He sighed at Ashura's shocked expression and stood up and walked over, putting a hand on Ashura's shoulder. "I know this is a lot to take in but remember to keep this a secret, none of the villagers know and only a select few of the clan know our family's origins." He then ruffled his younger brother's hair affectionately and walked off "It's getting late, you should head for bed, we have early morning training remember?" Shisui said. "H-Hai Nii-san." Ashura responded getting out of his frozen trance. Ashura walked to his room and entered his bathroom turning on the light as he went in, he stared at his reflection in the mirror and imagined his short spikey, black hair coming down below his shoulders, stopping at his waist. He activated his now 2 tomoe sharingan and smirked at his reflection deciding that he was going to let his hair grow "I'm going to surpass even you Madara-jiji, if it means I can protect those precious to me." Ashura whispered with conviction as he clenched one of his fists

A Week Later

Konoha Academy

Ashura had an excited grin on his face as he stood outside the academy listening to the Sandaime Hokage's entrance speech with Shisui and Sasuke's family who walked with them, being the only other family from the Uchiha clan with a child entering the academy. He glanced around eagerly looking for the familiar blonde hair with red streaks and quickly found what he was looking for in the form of an equally excited Narumi bouncing on the balls of her feet standing next to her brother and mother and another tall man with gravity defying silver-grayish hair, a half-face mask with his hitai-ate covering one of his eyes, he knew this Hatake Kakashi as it was his older brother Obito's sharingan under that headband.

Shisui looked down at his brother as the hokage finished his speech and he followed Ashura's line of sight and leaned down to his brother's ear "Go on over to her, I've to head to ANBU headquarters anyway so I'll be back to collect you after the academy finishes, oh and remember, knock 'em dead." He said with a grin which Ashura reciprocated and nodded before running over the Uzumaki-Namikze's. He saw Naruto walking towards him as he ruffled Ashura's hair as they passed each other. Fugaku was speaking to one of the chunin instructors, Mikoto was speaking with Sasuke while Itachi had walked to his side. "Seems like only yesterday the three of us were standing on that rooftop and now we're watching our little siblings entering the academy, huh." Shisui started as Naruto closed the distance. "Heh, yeah and it'll only be a blink before they're genin and will be out in the world fighting for Konoha." Naruto said and Itachi muttered "If we last that long." Both Naruto and Shisui narrowed their eyes at that knowing he was talking about the growing unease between the village and the Uchiha clan. "We better get going." Shisui said noticing the dispersing crowd, Itachi turned Sasuke and wished him luck on his first day while Naruto turned and waved at his little sister and the three headed off.

Okay, it was official, so far, the academy was fucking boring…the first 2 hours was a history lecture on the origins of Konoha which by right every child in the village should already know. He was sitting next to the window with Narumi on his right and some random civilian child next to her. In the row below him Sasuke was staring out the window lost in his thoughts with some pink-haired banshee attempting to get his attention, he noticed some of the other civilian girls in the class staring at him and whispering things to each other while blushing and he inwardly groaned at the realization that he already had fangirls, Itachi and Shisui and sat himself and Sasuke down and gave them a crash course on how to deal with fangirls, they gave them both a book titled 'Dealing with Fangirls for Dummies' by 'Uzumaki-Namikaze Naruto' he sweat dropped at the fact that Naruto had written this though he really couldn't be surprised that the prodigal son of the Yondaime Hokage was swamped in fangirls. Ashura noticed the Inuzuka heir next to the pink haired girl sneaking doggy treats to his companion hidden is coat. Ashura looked around the room and noticed many of the civilian boys staring at Narumi, who was trying to keep her eyelids from closing, with lust in their eyes and slight blushes on their faces and he felt a surge of emotion run through him and the immense desire to kick the shit out of all of them. He was brought out of his internal musing when he felt a bump on his shoulder and he glanced over to where Narumi had fallen asleep with her head on his shoulder, breathing lightly. He couldn't supress the smile that formed on his face, he adjusted himself so she could be more comfortable and wrapped an arm around her waist to support her back and a small smile worked its way onto her face as she attempted to snuggle in deeper to the apparent heat source. All those who were previously staring at Narumi were now glaring angrily at him and a smug grin took hold of him as he tightened his hold on Narumi increasing the intensity of their glares which he shook off.

Sometime later Narumi felt something poke her cheek and she opened her eyes groggily and took note of her position and surroundings as any good ninja should but this only caused her face to explode and go tomato red as she realized she'd fallen asleep…on Ashura, she felt his arm around her waist and immediately went to separate herself from him but stopped when she saw the warm smile on his face, it just…completely disarmed her and made her feel at ease. She relaxed into his hold and reciprocated his smile "Gomen, I fell asleep." She muttered in a sleepy voice and Ashura's smile widened and his eyes gained a hint of amusement as she stretched dramatically and slumped down "It's fine, I woke you up because we're being taken outside for a taijutsu and shurikenjutsu demonstration soon." He said as she took notice of what was happening around her before her violet orbs landed on Ashura again. She could feel the hateful glares from all of Ashura's newly formed fanclub and it made her feel warm inside knowing that Ashura only had eyes for her, right before their kiss a week previous at the Uzumki-Namikaze estate they had both confessed to having feelings for each other and despite their age Narumi could sense her feelings for the Uchiha growing exponentially. She blinked as everyone stood up, she hadn't her the instructor call them to to go out and she blushed realizing she had been too focused on her thoughts about her new…boyfriend, the word still made her giggle with excitement. She took Ashura's outstretched hand and grinned up at him as she stood and followed the rest of the class out.

"Alright" the instructor began as all the students lined up "Today we're going to go through the initial stances for the academy style taijutsu" he motioned for another chunin to step forward "And then we're going to show you all the proper way to hold position and throw kunai and shuriken. Any questions? No? Good." He said as he and the second Chunin started going through the motions but many of the clan heirs mostly ignored this as they had their own clan taijutsu. Shisui had told him he was making good progress on the Uchiha Interceptor style which relied on predicting your opponent's moves and countering, it was designed to work in conjunction with the sharingan and with a fully mature sharingan it was almost impossible to penetrate your guard. He assumed that Narumi was being taught her father's Hummingbird style or her mother's Whirlpool style. After about an hour of practicing the correct stances and some light free sparring the chunin called all the students over to the throwing range began showing everyone how to properly hold and throw shuriken and kunai.

The rest of the day droned on slowly and eventual the final bell rang and Ashura and Narumi were walking towards the academy gates together. "Today was so boring." She whimpered pitifully and Ashura smirked "Well what did you expect, not everyone has a family or clan to teach them taijutsu or shurikenjutsu before the academy even begins." He stated "Yeah I know but still…I wanna learn some cool jutsu." She mumbled with cute pout. Ashura playfully punched her arm "Don't worry, we'll get there one day…never know maybe your face will be up on that mountain one day." He said the last part in a teasing tone while pointing at the Hokage mountain knowing that it was Narumi's dream to be Hokage. Of course, this only caused Narumi's eyes to burn with determination, she brought up a fist and clenched it "There's no maybe…I will be Hokage one day, Dattabane!" Ashura chuckled softly at this as Naruto's form came into view and Narumi took off in a sprint, tackling her brother "Naruto-nii-chan!" she yelled as he caught her mid-air while Ashura closed the distance at a much more relaxed pace. "Hey, Naruto-nii" he greeted Naruto in a friendly tone. "Hey Ashura-kun, how was your first day?" "It was so boring Nii-chan." Narumi answered the question complaining to which Naruto chuckled as he let his sister down to the ground "Well, I hope your both wide awake, you have two hours of fuinjutsu training ahead of you and don't want to know what happens if you fall asleep during kaa-chan's lessons." He finished with a shudder remembering his own studies with his mother. Narumi blinked innocently at that and Ashura gulped remembering the stories Shisui used to tell about Kushina. "Well come on then, oh and Ashura, you'll be staying with us tonight, Shisui got called in for a mission outside the village." Naruto said. Ashura nodded acceptingly, this wasn't the first time he had stayed over at the Uzumaki-Namikaze compound because Shisui was away.

They chatted amicably all the way home and as they entered the living space, Naruto disappeared mysteriously as sitting on one of the couches in front of them was Kushina in her usual outfit but there was a wide array of scrolls and other equipment on the table in front of her. She had a glint of something in her eye as she cracked a ruler off her palm, Ashura started to sweat lightly at this but Narumi was oblivious to it. Kushina stood up and ushered the two over and the glint in her eye turned dangerous "Let's begin" she said.

The lesson lasted a little over two hours and they had covered the basic introduction of fuinjutsu and practised calligraphy. They had just started the most basic sealing scroll when Kushina decided to call it a lesson as she had to get dinner. They agreed that Ashura would come on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays for Fuinjutsu studies and on Saturdays they would train their other ninja skills at either the Uzumaki-Namikaze training grounds or one of the Uchiha training grounds. Most Sundays Ashura and Narumi would spend the day together and hang out *cough*cough*Make-out*cough*cough*. They chatted about their first day at the academy and about their teachers and curriculum over dinner which Naruto helped his mother prepare. Overall it was and enjoyable evening and now Ashura and Narumi were lying on the roof of the house staring at the stars. "Do you really think that I can become Hokage one day, Ashura-kun?" she asked timidly. "I believe that if you work hard and set your mind to something then…you can do anything." He responded and Narumi smiled. "Shisui once told me that 'A person is only strong when they have something to protect' he said that 'it that moment when you're fighting to protect someone precious to you, your true power will become known to you'. I don't know if that's true but I'm certain of one thing" he stopped and turned to look at her "I'm always going to be here for you Narumi, I'm never going to leave you…" he trailed off as he caressed her face, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear and kissed her "And I'm always going to protect you…" He smiled "…because you're my most precious person." At this point, Narumi was struggling to prevent tears from falling and buried her head in Ashura's chest and gripped him tightly. She tilted her head up slightly to meet his eyes and gave a watery smile "Hai, and I'm going to protect you aswell Ashura-kun." Ashura smiled as he wrapped his arms around her and kissed her forehead and rocked her gently. Meanwhile inside Narumi's seal 'I'm watching you Uchiha and despite your words, I know your kind…if you hurt the vixen…I will rip those repugnant eyes out of your head and rip you limb from limb…" Kurama begins with a snarl and finshes with a malicious grin. Kushina who had been listening in also had tears in her eyes 'Oh Minato-kun, I wish you could be here to see your daughter grow up…but at least I know you're watching over her now' she thought sniffling as a single lock of blonde-red hair floated down into her grasp and she clutched it tightly 'I think she's found her own red thread of destiny Minato-kun' she thought finally before returning to her own room.

Chapter end.