Summary: Itachi was Naruto's guardian after the Kyuubi attack. After the Uchiha massacre happened, Itachi took Naruto away with him to the Akatsuki. What would Naruto's life be like?

THEIR AGES:

Itachi: 13

Naruto: 7 (I don't know if this is the canon ages, just made these to suit my story)

Chapter 1

Blood red eyes looked into the night. Finally, he had done it, he had killed is clan. Itachi felt a clenching pain in his chest. Now's not the time for emotions, he thought. A shinobi has no emotions. He kills. He slaughters. He does not feel. That had been forever ingrained into his mind from ANBU. He could still hear the echoes of his aniki's screams. Sasuke felt too much. To be young and naïve again, he mused.

Sasuke would never understand. He had grown up sheltered from the real world. The world with pain, suffering and plain reality. Sasuke had never experienced it.

" Itachi-nii, teach me how to throw shuriken!"

"Itachi-nii, carry me on your back!"

"Itachi-nii, come and watch me do the Goukakyuu no Jutsu!"…

Now with the clan massacred and his parting words to his otouto, Sasuke would wallow in revenge and hate, never seeing the truth. The thing was, he was too shallow. Well, everybody except for a select few, were shallow-minded. They saw things as how they were, never looked deeper, to find the truth. To people, being oblivious was bliss. The truth hurts, after all. Their minds couldn't grasp the truth, couldn't live with the truth. To them, the less they know, the better.

Why is there war?

Because humans are greedy, they wanted power.

Why is there pain and suffering?

Because humans are selfish.

If everyone took the time to open their eyes for just a few moments and look around them, they would see everything, the truth. They would see that they were not, in fact, perfect. That they were not helpless. That if they tried, if everyone tried, there would be peace.

Itachi had tried. He had tried to be perfect. To be perfect for his father. Had he not gotten into ANBU at the young age of 13? To be perfect for his mother. He was polite, well-mannered, caring…well, to a certain extent. And finally, to be perfect for his brother. Setting a good example of a shinobi for young and naïve Sasuke. Caring about him. Spending time with him. Giving the forehead poke to him (as a sign of endearment of course).

He had not only tried with his family, he had also tried with the whole village. He was an idol to every shinobi. Smart, punctual (unlike a certain someone…), neat, precise and PERFECT.

Why though? Why had he tried to be perfect? Why did he obey the Hokage and the council? Why had he slaughtered his clan, his family?

And, the million dollar answer was:

For peace.

A fat lot of good that did him. He was currently (or going to be) an S-class criminal. He was homeless. His younger brother was going to turn out evil. And he was going to join Akatsuki, the most dangerous group in all the nations. The kind that people had only heard of, and not seen. The ones that had seen them…well, let's just say that they were either up there with the angels, or down there with the mother of Kyuubi.

Well, not to say he had not expected this. With his analytical mind that was always a hundred and one steps ahead of others, it was expected that he knew it was going to turn out like this. But, there was a big, gaping chasm between expecting something, and liking something. And for Itachi, he did not like this at all.

He sighed.

Sometimes, he wished that nothing existed at all. Life was just too troublesome.

Naruto had always been a spirited one. Anything he did, he did with energy. From eating ramen, to talking, to laughing…even to annoying people! But not many people could see through his façade that he was a genius, a prodigy. Most people thought that geniuses were sure to be cold, reserved, quiet, introverted and aloof. They looked at his blonde hair, blue eyes, and sunny smile, and to top it off, his goofy expression; then they labeled him as dumb…in other words, stupid.

But Itachi knew better. As the saying goes, it takes one to know one. From the day that he had been assigned the task of mentoring the boy, he had seen the signs of a prodigy. The boy was more like him than he himself would admit. He was just a bit more…different in expressing himself.

*Flashback*

"Hokage-sama, you called?"

The Hokage sighed. He sounded weary, but Itachi couldn't blame him. With the Kyuubi sealed in an infant by the Fourth Hokage, who was now dead mind you, and the council in an uproar; no one could still sound energetic. And the Hokage was not even young anymore. He was old, wrinkly and looked like he could drop dead at any moment.

" Ah, Itachi. You can take off your mask, no need for formalities here, ne?"

"Hn."

The Hokage chuckled, seeing that Itachi was still standing stiff without removing his mask, "I need you do a serious mission. It could even be ranked as an S-class."

Itachi quirked his eyebrows, not that the Hokage could see it of course. He waited for the Hokage to continue.

"You happen to know the recent events?"

Itachi did not respond. The Hokage very well knew that he knew what happened. After all, he had been the one to swoop in on those unruly civillians, to save a certain blonde from being abused and beaten by the drunken agressors. But he didn't understand why the Hokage was bringing this up. He had just been doing his duty as a loyal shinobi of Konoha. Beating a child half to death was definitely not part of the civillian code of conduct.

"And I trust you do not hold anything against Naruto for containing the fox? You have more sense than that."

Itachi frowned. What did the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki have to do with him? Nevertheless, he answered.

"Of course not, Hokage-sama", he replied.

"Good."

There was a pregnant pause.

"From now on, your mission is to guard the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki. I expect you keep tabs on him at all times. You know those villagers…"

The Hokage trailed off. Itachi understood all too well. Even if it had been 4 years since the Nine Tails had ravaged their village to rubble, and robbed them of a large part of their population, the saying that 'time heals all wounds' had definitely not been true. Till this day, the villagers still seemed to hold their sorrow an grief against the only thing they could connect it to - Naruto. They needed something to release their pent up grief and frustration on. Why not the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki? He was, of course the demon incarnate…to the villagers. The prodigy was not stupid enough to think that the Yondaime had sacrificed himself, only to let the demon run free in human form.

"Very well," the Hokage continued," Naruto! You can come in now!"

The door creaked open slowly, and a tuft of blond hair poked through the gap.

"Hiya, Jii-san!"

Azure blue eyes looked up at Itachi. Naruto had some bandages on from the beating he received earlier, yet his spirit and natural exuberance still shone through.

"Who are you, weasel-san?"

Sarutobi introduced Itachi to Naruto, "Naruto. This is Uchiha Itachi. He is your guardian from now on. Try not to cause him any trouble."

"Aww, but where's the fun in that, Sandaime-ojii?"

There had never been a more fateful sentence in Itachi's life.

*End Flashback*

During the times when Naruto would suddenly go missing, Itachi thanked Kami fervently that he had the Sharingan, top-notch tracking skills and a quick mind. The boy was a pro at evading capture after pranks. He hid the most unlikely places. Once, Itachi even caught him masquerading as a woman in the women's side of the hot springs! His pranks were also ingenious; sometimes even the ANBUs were caught in the crossfire. ANBUs with bright pink masks were a funny sight indeed.

Itachi had now known Naruto for exactly 3 years and 2 months, since Naruto was 4 years old. He could confidently state that he was Naruto's closest confidant and friend. Over the years, the time that he had spent with the boy had forged a bond between the two. Itachi wouldn't call it love exactly, more like trust and caring.

And now that Itachi had slaughtered his clan, he already had the future planned out. He would bring Naruto with him to the Akatsuki. Madara had already expressed his interest in Naruto. Naruto had the signs of a blooming prodigy in him. Add that to the power of the Kyuubi, Naruto would be a powerhouse when he was older. They would rather have him on the Akatsuki's side when that happened. Itachi knew about the Akatsuki's plan to capture all the bijuu for their power. But he had already made sure that Naruto was not to be a victim. Madara had calculated that the Kyuubi was not actually needed to ensure the success of the project. After all, if Naruto was going to be on their side, then why force the Kyuubi out of him. It'd be a waste of a life.

Itachi jumped through the familiar rooftops to Naruto's apartment. He entered through the window. Naruto was sleeping, mumbling about ramen in his sleep.

"Hmmm…Ramen..Come to me…Wait, don't run away…Let me eat you…"

Itachi sweat dropped, trust Naruto to dream about ramen. I mean, sure, Itachi liked Pocky, but not to the extent that he'd sleeptalk about it.

He gently shook Naruto awake.

" (Yawn). Tachi-nii?"

"Naruto, wake up. We have to go now."

"Hm? Go where? I was just eating my ramen! (Yawn)"

"We're going somewhere new. Somewhere where you'll get stronger. Away from Konoha."

Naruto's eyes snapped open completely.

"What?", he exclaimed.

Itachi shushed him. It wouldn't do to alert anyone of their departure.

"I promise that you'll like it there. Nobody will hate you there. Everyone there will be all the similar to us."

"But I wanna be Hokage in Konoha! Then everybody will acknowledge me! I don't need to go anywhere."

"Do you think that you'll get the training you need here to be hokage Naruto? How are you supposed to be Hokage if you can't even get stronger?"

"B-but…Jiji will help me!"

Itachi sighed. He had known that Naruto would be reluctant to leave Konoha.

"Naruto, the Hokage is too busy. He has a whole village to take care of."

"Yea…but how about my ramen?"

"Naruto, I promise that one day after you get stronger, we'll come back here and I'll treat you to all the ramen you can eat." Itachi had not wanted to resort to this, but if it was what it took…

"Yeah, you bet! Alright! Free ramen plus getting stronger, there's not a better deal than that!" Naruto grinned.

Naruto was riding on Itachi's back as they leapt through the night. He could feel the excited vibes emanating off Naruto as they neared the village gates. Itachi stayed in the shadows as they passed through the gates. The guards were half asleep Chuunins anyway, they were no match for him, but he didn't want to cause a scene. He ran into the trees quickly, dodging through the forest branches and leaves, making sure that Naruto would not get hit by anything. His footsteps were soundless against the ground. This was the position that the pair would stay in for the next 8 hours, Naruto sleeping peacefully on Itachi's back, as he flied through the forest. The forest swallowed them up into the darkness.

AN: Please give me some feedback and review. No flames please ^^