Yo, Mordred here! Got another story starting here of an idea I've been toying with for some time. It will be second in priority to Follow the Dim Light, but it'll get updates... somewhat ish regularly maybe? Heck I'm not going to make any promises. It's rough, but just a starting point.
Enjoy!
Naruto slumped at his desk, scrolls everywhere. Littered the kitchen bench. Stashed under the bed, slotted in overfull scroll racks. Ink was also everywhere on his desk, hands, and even smeared through his blood red hair.
True to Uzumaki fashion, he startled awake and blearily took stock of his surroundings, blue eyes falling onto the clock which read 9:45am.
His awareness suddenly crashing into harsh clarity, he disappeared to the bathroom to wash out the ink that he'd managed to smear all over himself.
Packing his gear for the last day of the academy, Naruto flung himself out of his meagre apartment, activating the security seals that crawled over his door and windows as he left. Jumping and weaving his way across the village, Naruto remarked on how life used to be.
He didn't always have unrestricted access up to but not including, Jōnin rank in the Library. He wasn't always trained secretly by the ANBU squads that used to guard him. He wasn't always invisible to the general populace.
It took one severe, life-threatening beating and near rape until the Hokage stepped in and upon demand from both the ANBU on duty and from Jiraiya, who happened to be in the village at the time, was Naruto moved into an old ANBU safehouse, and promptly set to a strict, harsh training regime that new ANBU recruits were put through.
Wanting to preserve his childhood was out of the question, Hiruzen knew. Now that his very life was in danger, it was important that he was trained and prepared for the life he would no doubt lead, as the village's jinchūriki. As much as Hiruzen deplored it, he was still a military asset that needed to be utilised for the greater good of the village.
As much as he wanted to preserve all of Naruto's humanity, as the leader of the village, he did not have that luxury.
Of course, Naruto was instructed to keep everything under wraps. No one, aside from the Hokage, Jiraiya and the ANBU squad responsible for his training knew that he was more than the meek, average redhead that he appeared to be.
Shaking his head to clear the reverie, Naruto alighted at the front gates of the Academy from his series of shunshins.
Breathing moderately from the high-paced sprint across the village, he barged into his classroom just as the tests were being handed out.
Iruka just shook his head, used to the redhead's tardiness. Wordlessly handing him a paper and motioning towards a seat, Naruto graciously accepted it with a nod of thanks.
Beginning the test, Naruto's eyes narrowed. Regardless of genjutsu training or not, his Uzumaki heritage granted him an uncanny sensory prowess. Named "Mind's Eye of the Kagura" by an ancient Uzumaki tome that Hiruzen had in his possession, it pointed out that this test paper was laden with chakra, enough to sustain a genjutsu throughout the written portion of the test.
Delivering a pulse of chakra to dispel the genjutsu at the source would be unwise; undoubtedly drawing very unwanted attention. Instead, he channelled his chakra into the paper slowly, erratically as to disturb the illusion long enough for him to write in answers, Mizuki, whom the chakra belonged to, was completely unaware.
Completing the test was an easy task. After all, Hiruzen had made him study, whether the young redhead liked it or not. (Hint: he didn't. Not one bit.)
What he did excel in, however, was the portion of the exam that Naruto was both looking forward to and dreading. Ninjutsu.
Having incredibly dense and potent chakra made performing C-rank and below jutsu almost impossible without months of strict chakra control.
While he was going to ace the exam, he was annoyed he couldn't show off any of his fūinjutsu or any of the cool Suiton jutsu that Hiruzen had been able to teach him, in their limited time together.
Breaking out of his thoughts once more, Naruto turned to complete the taijutsu portion. Mimicking the basic academy form, he passed the requirements of the exam with little to no struggle. Giving a shake to rid himself of the horrid form once and for all, opting to fall back on the Uzuken, he seated himself at the base of a nearby tree and observed his classmates.
His eyes fell on Uchiha Sasuke, and his thoughts wandered to the boy. He, like every villager, knew of the massacre. But, unlike the villagers, he knew why.
One of his teachers was Uchiha Itachi. Ninjutsu, taijutsu, and genjutsu resistance practice. If Sasuke knew his elder brother had spent a great deal of time with Naruto, he'd be livid. Even if it was training the village's weapon.
Because of that, Itachi had become somewhat attached to the young redhead in his charge, and made him swear that once Itachi's mission was done, he had come back to explain, covered in blood that wasn't his.
Itachi had also made it a request that he look after his little brother. Given Sasuke's temperament and ego, it was a very difficult task.
An idea forming inside his head, he bowed his eyes down to mask the smirk that graced his features.
It was quite some time until the end of the Academy day; the anticipation of his idea getting the better of him. When the bell rang, he schooled himself like the ANBU taught him, and eased his mind before his task.
Itachi was not going to like this. Not one bit. The village elders were not going to like this, not one bit. But, if Sasuke was more loyal to himself and his brother, he was significantly less likely to defect in the future, blinded by revenge and hate.
Following Sasuke home at a distance was easy. Years of ANBU training and pranks had taught him stealth to a prodigious degree.
Finally, the young Uchiha made it to his apartment in an outer area of the Uchiha compound. Understandably, he'd move away from his family home.
As he'd expected, Sasuke soon after returned out his house and set to training. Sensing now would be an appropriate time, he appeared beside the boy via shunshin.
Startling, Sasuke yelped and fell backwards, staring up at Naruto's amused expression.
"What the fuck, dobe?"
Naruto's grin widened. "So as far as you know. Come on, get up and show me what you've got."
Sasuke eyed his classmate warily. He'd just used a shunshin to appear. That alone was incredibly advanced for a genin.
Taking a stance, he threw a right hook, just to test the waters. The redhead tilted his head to the side and leant in, spinning backwards and lashing out with a side kick that sent Sasuke flying backwards, and rolling on the ground.
"Come." Naruto beckoned, making a "come hither" gesture.
Enraged, that this nobody orphan bested him, Sasuke hissed and ran at his opponent, holding back no longer.
Naruto eyed his movements and weaved between them, now opting for a passive approach.
"Stop dodging! What is the point of this!" Sasuke yelled, starting to show signs of exertion.
Why can't I hit him? I'm an Uchiha, an elite!
Naruto simply observed, taking notes of flaws in the other boy's form and movements.
Jumping back, he made a song and dance of breathing fire, and a pompous display surely, as expected, enraged Sasuke even further.
"Katon: Gōkyakyū no Jutsu! (Fire Release: Grand Fireball Technique)" Sasuke boomed, sending a moderate fireball in Naruto's direction.
Eyes gleaming, Naruto made a Shadow Clone, substituted with it and crept up behind the now panting Uchiha.
"Say, you almost had me." Naruto drawled, checking his nails.
Sasuke glared daggers, and took a wild swing, which Naruto lazily caught, and brought him right up close.
"You want me to hit you? So be it." Naruto breathed, and let loose a sucker punch to Sasuke's gut, then followed with a kick to the face, sending Sasuke flying, out cold.
"Hmm… Perhaps I overdid it…" Naruto scratched his chin, walking over to collect the unconscious form of his classmate.
When Sasuke came to, he was laid on his lounge in the living room of his smaller apartment.
Startling when the memories from earlier in the afternoon burst through his head, Sasuke flung himself up and made to attack the other presence in the room, only to freeze as glowing orange chains circled his form, menacing spear tipped ends lazily floating near his neck.
"Now now, no need for that. I brought you inside after I knocked you on your ass, out cold." Naruto allowed himself a chuckle at the memory.
"I've got some serious things to tell you and I really think you should sit down. This will not be easy." Naruto retracted his chains and reabsorbed them.
Sasuke took a deep breath, stilled his nerves and sat back down.
Naruto followed suit, on the opposite single chair.
"You've been lied to by two people in your life in a massive way. The first is myself. I'm not the average bookish kid you think I am. I'm an ANBU trained, sealing and ninjutsu specialist from the revered Uzumaki Clan. My mother, was the Red Death of Konoha, the infamous Benihime (Red Princess). My father, however, was an orphan by the name of Namikaze Minato, the Yondaime Hokage." Naruto explained.
Sasuke reeled for a moment. So the class mediocre, shy guy was in fact ANBU level in skill and was actually from the Uzumaki Clan. The clan that was feared for their sealing jutsu, but more specifically, their Sensō Fūin (Battle Sealing), which were sealing techniques that could be cast with chakra alone, without any surface, and finally, the feared Kongō Fūsa (Adamantine Sealing Chains) wielded by the Benihime and now her son, Uzumaki Naruto.
"If this wool was so easily pulled over your eyes, how much do you truly see, Sasuke?" Naruto asked gently.
Sasuke turned to look at his classmate with a shellshocked look.
"Who was the second person who has lied to me?"
Naruto grimaced. "I'd dreaded this part of the conversation. Excuse me for a moment." He sighed, walking to the middle of the room and making several blindingly fast handseals, and touching the ground with his index finger.
Seals spewed forth from the contact point, and rose to form a barrier inside the room.
"This seal prevents any sound, light or physical particles leaving this space. Of course I've tweaked it so we can still breathe." Naruto tried to resist a flashback to when he asphyxiated himself and woke up to a very worried Inu.
"The Uchiha clan was planning a coup d'état because of the suspicion and distrust planted within the village, surrounding the night of my birth. You'll find out that information later. It is much more severe compared to this, in a way. In the end, Shimura Danzō had heavily influenced the shinobi council and Sarutobi Hiruzen to order the complete execution of the Uchiha Clan, to prevent a civil war, and then eventually, the Fourth Great Ninja War.
Your brother slaughtered every man, woman and child in the Clan, save you. No matter how he loved his village, and wanted to preserve the good name of his Clan, no matter what he did, he couldn't kill you. His precious little brother." Naruto was interrupted by Sasuke screaming.
"NO! LIES! He fucking slaughtered them all, to test his strength! He showed me in that fucking genjutsu over and over for days! How can I believe anything otherwise? How the fuck do you know any of this?!" Sasuke's voice was cracking at the end, his eyes showing unshed tears, that he'd held back ever since that night.
Naruto sighed, and looked aside. "I'd hoped to never have to use this on you, let alone show you if I could've avoided it. But I have no choice."
The redhead stared Sasuke right in the eyes, and it took all Sasuke had not to explode as he saw his classmate's eyes bleed into a colour redder than his hair.
Sasuke gaped as he stared right into the menacing gaze of a fully matured pair of Sharingan eyes. Slowly, the tomoe began to spin, drawing him into a memory. A stream of memories.
Itachi and a few other ANBU agents showing him how to fight. A variety of taijutsu styles.
The memory that hurt the most was Itachi showing Naruto the katas for the Uchiha Interceptor Fist, things that he should've been shown, by his own brother!
Itachi showing Naruto all of the Sharingan techniques that he knew. He would never be up to the fine control Itachi had, due to his massive chakra reserves, but he knew much more about the dōjutsu than a full blooded Uchiha did.
Itachi telling Naruto stories about Sasuke. Itachi kneeling down in front of a terrified Naruto, after he'd explained what he'd done, covered in blood that wasn't his, tears freely flowing.
"Protect Sasuke no matter what. As an Uchiha that is as competent as any other, as one of our own, as my student, I give you one final task. No matter what, protect my little brother, and your clan member. He's all I have left in this world now. I'm leaving now, branded as a traitor and a missing-nin. I'm spying on a terrorist organisation from the inside, reporting to the Hokage directly …"
Naruto cut off the memory there, as he didn't want to reveal this last piece of information yet.
Sasuke fell back into the lounge and laid there for a few minutes.
"This changes everything. I mean… my clan. What they could've done to the village and what they could have caused... I can't think about it. Who do I blame, then? Who is the cause for all this suffering?" Sasuke's voice raised steadily to a near shout at the end, sitting up and looking straight at Naruto's crimson eyes.
"What I can reveal to you was that there was a culprit behind the Kyūbi attack twelve years ago. Nothing about him is known except three things." Naruto said, holding up three fingers.
"First, he seemed to be operating alone, and was wearing an orange mask with a black flame pattern and only his right eye was visible through the mask. That brings us to the second thing. That right eye, was a Sharingan." Naruto let that further information sink in.
"The third, was that he was under the alias of Uchiha Madara." Sasuke's eyes snapped wide open at this news.
"Impossible. He's dead." Sasuke denied, shaking his head wildly.
"Nothing is truly impossible. I've read legends in the Uzumaki Vault deep within the ruins of Uzushiogakure of seals that were capable of destroying armies. Taking their souls, and using it as energy for a weapon. With the Uchiha dōjutsu we do the unthinkable without breaking a sweat." Naruto countered, pulsing his Sharingan for added effect, unknowingly emitting a chilling red glow from his eyes as he did so.
"That being said, he would be nowhere near his former strength. He was probably his disciple, or perhaps a pawn. Far too weak to move about on his own. We need more information than we currently have. Did Itachi tell you anything when he left?" Naruto asked, standing up.
"Yeah, he said that when I had the same eyes as he did, to go to the Naka Shrine, underneath a specific tatami mat was the Clan's sacred meeting place. There was a tablet there he wanted me to read." Sasuke dreaded the memory but he wasn't sure if he could deny this new- no real, Naruto before him.
"I see. Then let's go. I think the answers we seek lie there." Naruto stood, and dispersed the barrier with a hand clap.
Alrighty! Let me know what you think in the reviews section, and remember to follow if you want to see more of this story!Mordred, out!