There's an unfinished prologue to this I have written. It is currently unfinished and will likely get a brief summary as a last chapter if you don't want to read near 100,000 words of character development and a little world building.
Chapter 1: One Step Towards Freedom
"Rage is a tool to use, not something to be consumed by. Unrefined and unfocused anger is more often a hindrance than a boon." - Uzumaki Naruto
Naruto boiled in anger.
Over the years that he had known Itachi, Shisui - even Izumi to an extent - he had accepted that he'd grown attached to them. Despite his acceptance that he had formed bonds with them, he hadn't thought that one of their deaths would affect him much. He had thought that he could deal with their deaths or discard any grief that could potentially form.
He had been wrong. Oh so terribly wrong.
He watched as Shisui, bloodied, broken, and missing an eye, said his last words to Itachi. He couldn't make out exactly what they said, but lip reading gave him enough to put the pieces together.
"...trust you'll make the decision that is necessary," Shisui stopped and coughed up some blood before giving a bloody smile. "Tell Naruto I'm sorry we didn't trust him enough to involve him, but it was necessary. I'm sure he'll understand."
Silence ensued a few moments as Itachi shook in grief. Then Shisui put a hand on his shoulder to give some comfort before he uttered his final words, "Hard times are coming and you'll need more power than your current Sharingan can give you."
Itachi seemed to understand his meaning. The teen shook even more fiercely as despair took hold of Itachi's face for the first time in years. Consumed with anger as he was, Naruto was barely of a mind to remember that token of information.
Then, finally, Shisui raised his hand to his remaining eye and plucked it from his head, almost as if he could no longer feel anything. He handed it to Itachi, "Take care of it."
With a final smile, Itachi slowly lifted his shaking hand and pushed Shisui off the cliff and into the river below.
Then, for the first time, Naruto saw Itachi let a tear drip down his face. Naruto failed to take note of his own tear.
The blond didn't stay any longer, too consumed with anger and confusion to stay hidden. Shisui had been talking as if there was definitively another level of the Sharingan beyond the three tomoe'd state. He had heard legends along those lines before, but only obscure references. Nothing reliable.
Shinobi were both terrible at documenting history and didn't like to keep records of their trump cards unless they had some serious security protecting it. Therefore, techniques so powerful, especially those whose village they hail from tended to be locked away and lost to general history save for an obscure reference.
But that wasn't his concern at the moment. He could research such things later. At the moment he had some anger to burn.
He had known the Uchiha were planning something with the political maneuvering that had been happening and the way Shisui and Itachi were acting. He also knew that Danzo, paranoid bastard that he was, had been intent on having them eliminated. He had a pretty good idea of how that man thought after looking up the more public history of his past exploits, and he knew that while the war hawk saw them as an asset, the old man knew he couldn't keep the Uchiha on a short enough leash.
Thus, he saw them as a threat to be eliminated. It seemed very similar to the situation Uzushiogakure faced before their demise.
That man would die by his hands.
Luckily, he retained enough rational thought to realize he was nowhere near the strength required to be able to take on that man. Old as he may be, the man was still dangerous. That also didn't take into account the fact that he had his own personal army of unknown size and skill.
So his death wasn't an option at the moment.
That left him with precious few options to let out his anger.
Naruto settled himself into the meditation pose he had become so familiar with over the past few years. He had to calm down. Come up with a reasonable outlet to his aggression.
He let out a few breaths, blanked his mind for a minute and then came back to himself. Shisui had taken it upon himself - whether by orders or his own will - to try to sort out the Uchiha situation in a peaceful manner. Naruto had no idea how he planned to do this, but he wouldn't have acted if he hadn't had a solid plan with a good chance of success. Judging by his injuries, someone - Danzo most likely - didn't want a peaceful solution and had chased him away, fatally wounding the teen in the process.
At the thought of Shisui's death and his murderer, he felt rage boil up in him again. He pushed it aside, soothing himself with the knowledge that he would use that rage soon enough. Someway, somehow he would find an outlet for his fury
Now. Itachi had been with Shisui in his final moments. Judging by his wounds, Shisui had to have been in battle not minutes before that. While odd, it was possible they had planned a meeting after Shisui had done his thing. Regardless, Shisui had mentioned leaving a decision to Itachi. If he was reading the context and political climate right he could guess that the Uchiha would not be living for much longer. Whether by Itachi's hand or someone else in the village was the only thing left to be decided.
Itachi may have loved his family dearly, but he loved the village, and the tentative peace in the world, more. Enough to sacrifice most, if not all of his family. If he looked at it with the cold, detached view that he and Naruto normally did, he would see the consequences of the Uchiha attempting a coup d'état.
Civil war in the leaf, opportunistic enemy villages coming to take advantage of the chaos, massive loss of life, and great shifts in power. A Fourth Shinobi War.
Naruto himself was indifferent or even leaned toward starting that war to weed out weaklings, but Itachi valued peace. He would no doubt do whatever was necessary to stop that from happening. And the only way to do that would be to eliminate the Uchiha clan before they became a problem.
It would significantly weaken Konoha, but it was far less likely to start a war.
Coming to this conclusion, Naruto felt anger and despair grip him at once. He didn't want one of the few he cared for in this world put through such agony. Not after losing one of those few already. Especially if there was anything he could do to prevent it.
A grim smile graced Naruto's face, laced with hatred and dark humor, 'It seems you'll escape from the bad luck of your name this time, Itachi.'
He would kill the Uchiha before Itachi got the chance and take the fall for him. Naruto may have cared for a few people here, but Konoha was everything to Itachi. Besides, long term his goal had been to escape from Konoha. This just accelerated his plan to leave the village by several years and painted a larger target on his back than he had anticipated. Still, it was nothing he wasn't willing risk for Itachi.
Unfortunately, loathe as he was to admit it, he was not strong enough to take out the Uchiha himself. If he had a couple of weeks to set traps and prepare, then maybe he stood a chance, but as it stood, he needed help. And there was only one person he could think of that could or even would consider helping him with this endeavor.
Sakumo certainly wouldn't like it but he would probably go along with his plan. The man was an advocate of saving comrades whenever possible.
Sakumo gave him a baleful stare. "You want me to do what now?"
Naruto gave the man his best impression of sounding innocent, "I want you to set up those seals in the secret meeting place of the Uchiha. The Naka Shrine, I think."
Sakumo deadpanned, "You expect me to set up lethal traps for the Uchiha?"
Naruto gave him a look that was almost innocent, "Of course I do. Won't you help me with this one thing? I've been a dutiful student to you, haven't I?"
Sakumo twitched at his words. Perhaps it had been better when the boy before him was a complete loner. At least then he didn't get any crazy ideas about murdering an entire clan and saying it with such a ill suited face for his request.
He knew that the Uchiha had become a problem recently, but for Naruto to ask this? The crazy blonde normally wouldn't much care for the politics like this aside from using them as a distraction to cover his own schemes. The fact that the boy had resorted to genocide must mean that something had really set him off.
He could think of a few reasons. Among them was that an Uchiha had found him training and escaped. Unlikely - and an extreme overreaction on Naruto's part - but possible. More likely, they had done something to piss him off a lot. As in, more than he had ever seen the blonde before. Quite the feat since Naruto almost always held a simmering rage directed at Konoha.
He frowned beneath his mask. Despite Naruto's general dislike of people, he was typically fairly tolerant of others. If he retaliated, it was usually only with a mildly vicious prank. For him to straight up plan a mass murder like this...
Were one of the Uchiha that Naruto liked harmed? Killed perhaps?
He would have to do some investigation before deciding to help the blonde. He would keep an open mind to it even if this was extreme. for now he had an irate student to deal with.
"Well, I suppose I could, but it might take me awhile. How does 4 hours from now sound?"
Naruto scowled at him, dropping the innocent facade that didn't fit him at all. "Fine, but if you bail let me know," he nearly spat.
With that, Naruto stormed off to prepare for the fight ahead and his escape. He needed to gather supplies for his time after leaving Konoha. It would be all too easy to follow his trail if he stopped for supplies in a town too soon. Aside from that, he needed to pack some storage scrolls. He had some decisions to make on what to bring with him.
After all, he still needed to keep improving himself. Being on the run with a bounty on his head shouldn't change that. He was nowhere near the level he wanted to be when he left. Now he needed to get stronger as fast as possible. He would not have Konoha's protection in a few hours, and there were bound to be people out of his league after him even in the unlikely event he didn't get a bingo book entry right away.
The experience outside the protection of the Leaf and Itachi would be a boon, but more dangerous than anything he'd faced before.
Unbidden, an eager half smile graced his lips at the thought of the challenge and fight for survival ahead. That was for later. Now he needed to focus on his extermination of the Uchiha.
He would need to be as discreet as possible for as long as possible. As confident as he was in his combat abilities, it would be unwise to cause a ruckus and bring all of the Uchiha and Konoha down on his head.
So while Sakumo took his sweet time preparing, he needed to prepare some large and small scale sound barriers. Stealth and assassination were some of his more honed skills, but it never hurt to be cautious. Plus, he was sure to have some trouble with the more experienced Uchiha despite his traps.
Naruto looked to the sky as the sun colored the sky with oranges and yellows. It was time to move on the Uchiha. He'd given Sakumo an extra hour just in case and double checked his short-term concealment seals, meticulously placed on the compound and all its houses.
He had five teams of two clones to complete this faster. He needed to finish this as fast as possible with as few - preferably none - noticing what was happening until he had finished them all off.
He would leave a clone as a lookout for any stragglers at the gate, but the Uchiha were confined to Konoha for the most part. Only a few were permitted to leave the police force outside of Genin. There were perhaps three outside of Itachi - and formerly Shisui - on that list. Itachi had left earlier after a short confrontation with other clan members and he had seen the other three.
Steeling himself for what would almost certainly drive he and Itachi apart, he descended into the first house.
The window to a bedroom was open to let in the fleeting warmth of autumn. How ironic that it would now let in the cold chill of death.
Kagome was a happy girl. At seven years old, she had all that she could ever want. Her parents loved her a whole bunch and the clan was always so welcoming and friendly. She had all the toys she could want and was set to enter the Academy in a year or so.
She had made some friends outside the clan with some other girls she met in the park. All the people outside the village seemed really nice. They would smile at them as they walked passed and answer any questions she had. Her parents seemed to be a little more distrustful of them for some reason, but it was probably just adult stuff.
If she worked hard and took her first step to being a real Uchiha by learning that fireball jutsu maybe they would tell her why they acted like that. Her parents had just started teaching her the first steps to her right of passage. She thought she was making pretty good progress on it. She would be able to breathe fire soon, she could feel it!
Tonight was a fairly normal affair for her family. Outside of hearing that Shisui-san wasn't alive anymore, there hadn't been anything outstanding. It was a little scary that Shisui-san couldn't be around anymore, but this wasn't the first time something like this had happened. Such was the life of a shinobi. Those with less fortune or skill would lose. It was a lesson she had been told many times.
But for now she didn't have a care in the world. She was having dinner with her parents, and they were having her favorite: rice with miso soup.
There was also a side of pickled vegetables. Those weren't very good, so she discreetly moved them to the side of the plate to brush onto the floor. Before she could succeed in her plot, Kagome's mother gave her The Look.
The dreaded Look was one all adults seemed to know and give whenever kids were doing something they weren't supposed to. She didn't get how they could always catch her, but she put it down to being a shinobi.
Kagome pouted, but reluctantly picked one up to eat it. She took a hesitant bite out of it and swallowed her distaste of the food and nibbled on it. She was about to put it down to continue eating her miso soup when she saw a shadowy figure behind her parents.
Eyes widening, she watched as the figure drew a line across their throats with kunai. She opened her mouth to scream in terror and fright and for help…
But no sound ever escaped her lips as her world went black.
It had been half an hour since he had started his hunt of the Uchiha and this was the final house before he moved on to the Naka Shrine to kill the last of them.
Naruto glanced down at the bodies before him. That had been sloppy. The girl had almost gotten the chance to scream. She wouldn't have been heard even if she had screamed, but it was unacceptable. He had tired himself out, that was the only explanation. He hadn't been expecting to do this and had gotten little sleep over the past few days, busy as he was studying and experimenting with Fuinjutsu.
Little sleep normally wouldn't be a problem, even if he had worked hard. He had gotten used to pulling consecutive all nighters, and he could go without sleep for nearly a week if he needed to. But he preferred to get at least 3 to 4 hours of sleep per day. In addition to his sleep deprivation, he had been stressed and angered, even in grief over how he would be forced to hurt and leave the only one who understood him.
But his assassination skills, exhaustion, and foreign emotions aside, he needed to harvest their eyes. It wouldn't be good if someone were to dig them all up. The Uchiha eyes had few weaknesses and were a dangerous tool even in the hands of a second rate shinobi.
Besides, he had wanted to look at the biology of the Uchiha eyes for a while. He wanted to see exactly what made them different. He merely hadn't been able to get any for study.
Kneeling over the father, he plucked the man's eyes out and put them in a specially crafted seal for storing fragile organic material. It was a temporary solution, but he didn't have the time to create a solution for storing the eyes long term without any damage.
Shuffling over to the mother, he reached down to take her eyes, but stopped halfway. She was still breathing. Through the hole in her neck granted, but breathing all the same. He could see the fear in her eyes, the hate. She wouldn't live much longer. Still, he had heard enough cases of a victim of a slit throat surviving to make absolutely certain she stayed dead.
But first, her eyes. They gleamed in the low light as she glared. That look of hate wouldn't be possible soon. "You know," the blond nearly whispered as if speaking about the weather or sport, "I didn't plan on doing this. I only decided to slaughter you all today."
The nameless woman glared all the more. She thought he had done this on some sick whim. True he had started doing things on a whim merely because he thought they'd be interesting, but never anything that could lead to exposing himself. All the same, he felt the need to speak. To assure this woman that he would kill the man truly responsible for forcing the Uchiha into seclusion, and eventually extermination by his hand. If for no other reason than the fact that Itachi had almost certainly cared for this woman.
Naruto continued, "I almost empathize with you, despite what your clan tried to do to me those years ago. You're ostracized by many shinobi because they fear and are suspicious of you, just like I am with the civilians and some younger shinobi."
The woman continued to glare, though now a hint of confusion colored her scarlet eyes.
"I didn't want to leave Konoha yet, I'm not ready to have a high bounty on my head. But that no longer matters. Danzo was forcing Itachi into killing you all."
Now the woman's eyes, dancing between life and death, gained a hint of clarity and understanding. The hate was still there. Now it was merely split between him and Danzo.
"I am not nearly skilled enough to kill Danzo as I am. I will kill him one day, but not today. Today, I will save my best friend the pain and guilt of having to kill this family that he cares so much for," Naruto reached down and caressed the woman's face. Almost a gesture of affection.
The woman now showed renewed confusion and life had nearly left her.
He slid his hand across the soft, pale skin that all Uchiha seemed to possess until his fingers hovered over her eye. Fear once again showed strongly in her eyes as Naruto spoke the last words she would ever hear, "Of course, I will make sure no one else benefits from harvesting these beautiful scarlet eyes. There is still much I'd like to learn about them after all."
With those words, Naruto plunged his fingers into her eye socket and quickly, yet carefully ripped her eye out. The woman's body spasmed in pain and tried to scream, but with her throat slit, she could only wheeze, air and blood being expelled through the unnatural hole.
Naruto could see tears form in her remaining eye as she finally resigned herself to her fate. Life bled away from the previously expressive eye and Naruto plucked this one from her head as well before standing back up as the woman's chest stopped moving. Her heart no longer pumping blood to desperately try to seal the unnatural, gaping hole in her throat.
Perhaps Itachi and Sakumo were onto something when they said he could be disturbingly sadistic. He had felt such a rush leading the woman on with a sad story and then suddenly flooding her with pain in her final moments. He might want to try to control that in the future or at least direct it in a more precise manner.
Naruto glanced at the child as he moved to the small body. He still needed to stow her body somewhere. Out of respect for Itachi and - grudgingly - the combat capability of the clan, he had taken pains to ensure children younger than 10 or so survived. He bound the girl lightly and moved her to a closet, and then sealing her parents' corpses, Naruto moved to the window.
He would dispose of all the Uchiha's he slaughtered later in a mass cremation. The bodies left genetic material. Far more than enough for even a novice geneticist to make many mistakes before being able to successfully clone or embed a person with the Sharingan. That was discounting the simple solution of taking sperm and/or eggs from the corpses. He did not want more Uchiha running around beyond those he spared. Itachi would raise them well. He could not, however, allow them to come back in any other form as puppets to serve some master so easily. He had that much respect for the Uchiha.
However, if there was someone smart and crazy enough to go through the time consuming process of bringing them back with what little would be left to work with, then they deserved it.
He didn't need to ponder this anymore though. It was time to go to the Naka Shrine. Slipping out of the house as silently as he had entered, he took to the main path to the Naka Shrine.
Unfortunately, as he turned to go onto the main path, he got a nasty surprise.
"Naruto?"
He held the teen's gaze for a moment before responding, "Izumi… you shouldn't be here,"
She shouldn't have. He had checked. She had been assigned to a brief sweep outside the walls of Konoha. She shouldn't have been back for another hour at least. He had planned it so he wouldn't have to deal with her. Izumi was one of the few Uchiha he didn't dislike, even if she was annoying at times. He didn't want to leave Itachi entirely alone to raise a bunch of kids if he did in fact take to such a roll.
He was going to leave Itachi a true brother in Sasuke and a friend/sister/girlfriend in Izumi.
It looked like he was going to have to do this the hard way. There was no way in hell Izumi would listen to him. Despite his acquaintance and even tentative friendship with Izumi, she would pick reporting him 10 times out of 10 when she found out her clan was dead.
Izumi spoke again. She always was a little slow for his tastes, but it just might've been he and Itachi being able to process a situation far more quickly. "I shouldn't be here? I think that's what I should be saying to you," her hand drifted to the tanto behind her back. Good, she was learning to be cautious. Unfortunately, it was too late for her to finally gain that suspicion. "What are you doing in the Uchiha compound? And why is it so much quieter than normal?"
Naruto contemplated this for a moment before he spoke "You should know the answer to that," the blonde launched himself at her, drawing his own tanto and kunai. They clashed swords, sparks flying. She jumped back as his kunai came up to take a strike at her side.
She looked betrayed. "Why!" she screamed. Was she trying to attract attention? A good thought, but she should've known he would take precautions to prevent that from happening.
He flew forward again, stabbing at her gut. She deflected to the right and tried to lash out again. He just slid under her blade, using his shorter height to his advantage. She made the same mistake the few times they had sparred.
He drove his kunai towards her side, and she leapt to the side to avoid it, only getting a grazed side. Izumi grimaced in pain, but she yelled again and charged to try to turn the tables, "Answer me!"
They exchanged a flurry of strikes, but he quickly came out the better, only gaining a single scratch. It seemed she wanted to keep this a close combat fight, trying to rely on her body's further development to win. That was fine. A flashy Ninjutsu battle would be far more likely to be taken note of than some sparks hidden by buildings. Besides, he was superior in close combat.
He decided to answer her before he knocked her out, "I do this because I want to. Because I need to. You don't need to know more than that."
She seethed in anger, "Always with that condescending tone! I know I'm not as good as you and Shisui and Itachi, but don't treat me like a child!"
And checkmate. Her anger had blinded her. His clone took the cue and jumped to stab her in the back. She turned and barely managed to deflect the blade, but that left her open to attack. Naruto slammed the butt of his blade to her head, harder than strictly necessary. The blood coloring her hair attested to that.
Her eyes widened in pain and disbelief. Naruto slid his blade out as he gave Izumi the indifferent look he always held.
Izumi was in internal conflict. She had been a fool to engage Naruto alone. She had been so consumed by the pain of knowing her family had been exterminated, she hadn't thought. She had known he hadn't shown her all his skills, especially if he had done as he'd claimed. Still, even knowing that, she had given into tunnel vision, not even considering another opponent, even a clone.
As she fell to the cold, unforgiving ground, she looked at Naruto for any regret or guilt or anything really.
She barely saw a flicker of emotion. Before she blacked out, she saw something that at least made him a little more human. A tear glistened at the corner of his eye, the one usually kept covered. Then her world went black.
Naruto rubbed his eyes as he watched Izumi take her final breath. This would be troublesome. Izumi was a trained ninja, she would not be down for long and restraining her sufficiently would take a while. He didn't want a clone to tie her up just in case she awoke and got the jump on it. Unfortunately, he didn't have much of a choice. Every second he spent here was a second less he had to gain distance on his future persuers.
The blond let out a long suffering sigh. Why couldn't she have just been out of the compound for another day. It would've made his life much less stressful. Whatever, he had no more time to waste. Now it was time to kill the rest of the Uchiha.
As he entered the Naka Shrine, Naruto set up a few trap seals around what he found to be the secret entrance to the Uchiha's meeting place. They included, but were not limited to, the most potent acid he could make, gasoline that would then be lit by a brief burst of fire, and shards of glass propelled by a burst of wind.
He knew there would be a few capable enough to escape the traps Sakumo had set at least relatively unharmed, so hopefully they would panic and head to the exit. The poison gas he had set up was particularly potent in addition to being nearly odorless and colorless. He had set glass dust to be released a minute after, but it could be changed if they figured it out faster. It would make any breath painful rather quickly. Of course it would also likely scratch up or blind a majority of them.
He might've tried to bring the whole thing down in one big explosion, but he wanted to preserve his stealth. Besides, the Uchiha were notorious for their stubborn resistance to just dying. Especially by flames. Plus, he wanted to see exactly what the Uchiha were hiding in their secret meeting place. There were a number of rumors he had heard about it from a variety of sources of varying credibility. All were intriguing possibilities. There were rumors anywhere from the mundane and predictable, such as scrolls of nearly every technique in the world, to the extravagant of a portal to the Demon World or an artifact to speak to the Gods.
He would soon find out. With a smirk, he held his hand into the ram symbol to release the seals linked to him. "Kai."
There was silence for a minute before he sensed chakra signatures scrambling for the exit. Well at least they had put up a rudimentary defence against eavesdroppers.
The entrance flew open and three Uchiha attempted to scramble out at the same time. They didn't notice him release the acid until they were hit with it and fell back into the secret room screaming.
He created a clone at the same time to jump down and try to get in some kills in the confusion as well as create panic to force them through the only opening left. A stalemate where they stayed down there would work in his favor, but he didn't want to wait. Some ninja were unnervingly good at resisting poison.
As he had this thought, some insane Uchiha launched himself straight through the opening and at him.
His eyes widened as he drew his tanto to fend off the attacker's taijutsu assault. His opponent wasn't deterred and pressed on with no regard to his own health. This recklessness cost the man an arm, and he hissed in pain, but continued on. The man threw his body into the blonde's and consequently smashed him into a wall.
Naruto let out a grunt. Did this man have no regard for his own life? Uchiha were supposed to be a prideful bunch, not suicidal.
Then he got a chance to look at he man as he got up from the wall. Uchiha Fugaku. He was in bad shape. Apart from the severed arm, his eyes were bleeding and his breath was deeply labored, blood leaking from his lips. No doubt the man had inhaled some of his toxin and been hit by his glass dust. The patriarch must have been distracted if he hadn't noticed soon enough to prevent most of the damage. Now that the damage was done perhaps he realized he was going to die and in a last bid to save some of his clansmen had decided to sacrifice himself. He was a man to respect, deserving of his title as clan head.
Still, in that state, it would be difficult for him to injure his enemy.
Their eyes met and despite the man's damaged eyes, he recognized the blonde in front of him. He was the reason that they had been put under suspicion, the reason they had become outcasts in their own village.
Oh how ironic it would be that he was also the one to finish them. Fugaku had assumed the boy was even more talented than he let on, but to be capable of this level of espionage... This kind of destruction, it was incredible.
Still, he refused to yield before this boy. He would save what was left of his clan. He threw himself into his attack with new vigor, launching himself at the boy with speed many ninja the blonde's senior would be unable to react to properly after being smashed into a wall. Naruto rolled to the right at the last second and tried to drive his blade into the Uchiha Patriarch's chest. The man slipped around the blade and attempted a roundhouse kick that clipped his assailant's side.
Jumping back, he started to run through a series of hand seals to turn the boy ashes, "Katon: Grand Fireball Jutsu."
The temperature in the room quickly rose, the few plants around withering or spontaneously combusting. Fugaku coughed violently as the stream of fire feeding his jutsu petered to a sudden stop. 'The poison this brat somehow got in here is such a vicious thing to damage my bodily systems so quickly. Not to mention that damn glass.'
Regardless, his fireball should at least give the brat some first degree burns. Time seemed to slow as he watched the fireball approach the blasphemer that would dare harm his clan.
And then his confidence turned to surprise and rage as he watched a scroll slip out of his sleeve. He knew what was happening even before the words left the brat's mouth. The question was, how the hell did that kid know enough Fuinjutsu to successfully perform a Fuka Hoin Fuin. And presumably make one. He had gained some respect among the shinobi forces since he became a Genin, but no one would gift him a fire sealing scroll.
Either the boy had a private tutor that no one knew about or he was simply so prodigious in the sealing arts that he had been able to make do with the limited knowledge of Fuinjutsu available to Genin. The boy's reputation pinned him as ruthlessly efficient, cautious, and an obsessive perfectionist. With traits like those, it was very possible he had been able to pick up Fuinjutsu on his own. Uzumaki Naruto, he may almost be on par with Itachi had they been the same age.
Then, in horror, Fugaku truly processed the name of this child for the first time. Uzumaki… No. They had been wiped out. Kushina had been the last of them. The Sandaime had named him that in honor of the clan that Konoha had been allied with from beginning to its destruction.
Fugaku shook his head. What blood he had in him didn't matter. What did was that he now knew the boy was skilled in Fuinjutsu. Now he could take that into account when fighting him. He followed behind his fire, using it as cover and struck out with his fist when it was almost all sucked into the scroll.
He saw the flicker of surprise in one cold blue eye - and a Sharingan where the boy had been blinded! - before the boy raised his arm to deflect his fist. The boy was definitely good, but this showed he lacked experience. Fugaku flipped a kunai in his sleeve to his deflected hand and flicked it towards the boy's hand that still held the scroll.
The blonde proved he had damn good reflexes as he dropped to the ground and spun on his hand to attempt a kick while he was still midair. That wouldn't be nearly enough to catch a shinobi of his caliber. He caught the foot as he looked to the boy's forearms, the sleeves of his shirt had been burnt off, but his skin only suffered minor burns. Impressive considering how hot his flames were. Then he felt a cut on the arm he had caught the kick in and he let go, jumping back.
Squinting, he could now see a small blade that he could've sworn hadn't been on the end of the boys boots before. A retractable blade then. Uncommon, but not something he hadn't come up against before.
Then the numbness in his arm disappeared completely and he could no longer feel it. More poison? That… was not good. The poison gas from before had nearly been enough to knock him out, if not outright kill him within a few minutes. If that was any indication of the poisons the boy had in his possession, then this would certainly be unpleasant. He had already been fighting at far below 100%, but now he had lost the use of one of his arms in addition to that. The darkness on the edge of his vision got a little more noticeable and a lot harder to ignore.
"I'm impressed with your fortitude, Uchiha-san, but I'm afraid you're working on a very short time limit. That toxin-"
He didn't let the boy get any farther than that. He knew he was on a time limit. Darkness seemed to creep into his vision more every second. He wouldn't be put out by such a simple tactic as stalling for poison to run its course more quickly. He was upon the boy in a fraction of a second. He tried to put his fist where the boy's head was, but the Jinchuuriki dodged, grabbing hold of his arm and about to flip over him.
The Uchiha flipped over and attempted to crush the boy under his body. Unfortunately, the blonde had enough sense to push off his arm and back off. Fugaku pushed himself off the floor in the same motion with a single armed side hand spring.
Fugaku was about to move in again, but had to stop short because of a coughing fit. He covered his mouth in an attempt to halt it, but didn't have the luxury of time to spend on his current ailments as he had to dodge a hail of kunai.
He nearly stumbled to the side on his dodge. This poison was incredibly potent. He wouldn't be conscious for much longer, maybe another minute.
It seemed the moment of weakness didn't give his opponent the confidence to attack. That simultaneously annoyed and impressed him. It seemed the boy was cautious of him even when he was in such terrible condition. It stroked his pride even in this dire situation. Regardless, that meant he was forced to expend more energy on the attack.
He and the boy only let the fight lull for a moment before they were both on the move again, he was jumping to the side as he sped through a set of hand seals for a rather nasty technique. It would probably be his last and either kill him or put him nearly out of the fight, but right now he was desperate. He could see no other way of winning than this. The few other survivors needed immediate medical attention and he was one of the only ones among them able to stand, let alone fight.
It was unfortunate that for all the knowledge the Uchiha had accumulated over the years, none of them had taken the time to become extremely knowledge in the field of poisons. Certainly none of them could come up with a cure for such a powerful poison on the fly. Some of them possessed them enough fortitude and knowledge to delay it, but not to stop or slow it down meaningfully.
This was his last stand, but at least the others would likely survive. He released the best technique he could manage in his state that wouldn't harm his clansmen, 'Raiton: Raging Raven.'
Lightning poured from his body and coalesced into a multitude ravens, surrounding Naruto. They made a motion as to shriek, though only the sound of electricity intensifying signaled any change. They converged on the blonde, coming from all sides. There was no escape now.
Naruto had almost been entertained enough by his fight with Fugaku to forget that he was going to have to leave Itachi here. Nothing would have done that now. But it was still an exhilarating experience. He'd never been in a fight to the death with someone so skilled. It was exhilarating.
It put something of a dampen on his excitement that he needed to handicap his opponent in such a way to match the man, but that was something that had to be taken into account in every fight. Just because the opponent landed the first hit didn't mean it was unfair.
Regardless, Fugaku was a fantastic opponent, his fire was hot enough to give him light burns even when he was sealing it. He would come up with a work around for opponents with similarly hot fire later. For now Fugaku was on his last legs. This was when people were at their most dangerous. He was sure to have something very difficult to counter. He stared down Fugaku for a moment that seemed to stretch on for minutes. They both knew, this was his last stand. He watched as Fugaku flashed through hand signs.
He didn't recognize the seal sequence, but that didn't matter as long as he could recognize the purpose of it. He saw the sequence to shape it, but the shape wouldn't matter in this case. The important part was the sequence to split into different areas and the chakra locking part. That would be difficult to deal with.
He didn't know any Jutsu that would allow a defensive formation from all sides at once and he also couldn't tank something of that caliber. The only viable defensive methods he had were Wind and Earth Walls. Those were designed to defend against an attack from one direction.
Fugaku sped through a few more as Naruto's mind worked through dozens of scenarios to keep himself safe. He had to make a decision now. Those were seals indicative of a lightning jutsu. Earth walls weren't a great option in that case. Wind walls it was then.
He sped through the few hand seals required for it and erected a wind wall at his back, coming at an angle to cover his head. That was the most vulnerable spot when he had his hands free. With electricity that wouldn't matter much, but it was still the most likely place attacks would come from. Then the crackle of lightning and the sting of ozone hitting his nose signaled Fugaku's final stand. The ravens seemed to screech and then they were upon him.
Being struck with so much electricity was not a pleasant experience at the best of times. He had some tolerance due to his insane teacher and his own extreme methods. But even with that experience, this was particularly excruciating. He could feel his wind wall faltering even with the massive amount of chakra he had pumped into it.
Then he felt it collapse and the world went white as he let loose a wall of all consuming agony, "Arghhh! Damn it!"
Then after what felt like an hour, it let up and he was left breathing heavily, but still standing. He muttered all the expletives he knew under his breath at the Uchiha who had done this. Considering he had thrived in the less scrupulous parts of Konoha all his life, it was quite an extensive vocabulary. Especially considering some had taken to swearing in other languages.
Still, Naruto was in far better shape than his opponent. Fugaku was kneeling on the ground, looking like he was fighting just to keep himself from falling to one side. He was hanging on by a thread. Naruto dragged a foot forward, his smoking body and burnt clothes making him look like Death itself had decided to make a brief appearance.
The soft thud of his foot on the ground followed by another got a reaction out of the fallen Uchiha leader. His unfocused eyes locked onto his and gave a glare. He could barely muster the strength to kneel, let alone keep unconsciousness at bay. But with his glare, there was a sense of defeat.
As Naruto finally came within a few steps of him, Fugaku had one final, bitter thought, 'I have failed.'
And then he knew no more as his head was removed from his body in a clean swipe.
Naruto breathed a sigh of relief. That could've ended poorly. Now he needed to see to it that the rest of the Uchiha were dead.
And find out what they were hiding of course. With a puff of smoke, he created a clone to check how well his previous clone had done in exterminating the last of the Uchiha and check for any potential traps. He assumed it had gone well since he hadn't received any memories yet.
He sat down and took a breath to recover from his strenuous battle and see if anything had gone amiss. He focused on steadying his breath as he extended his senses beyond the now empty compound. His senses extended over the Uchiha's wall and he sensed the first chakra signatures. Few were above civilian level and none seemed to be in a hurry. All the same, he should hurry this operation of his along.
Focusing on the roads leading to the compound, he checked for anyone who could potentially notice something off. There were a few traveling the paths, but only three seemed to be heading towards the compound. He dismissed two of them off hand as he felt only civilian level reserves and they were unfamiliar. The third, however, caught his attention. It was a familiar signature, one he had gotten acquainted with from the academy and the few times he'd been looking for Itachi and this one had been with him.
Sasuke, was heading home now. Not at all unexpected. The boy was even coming home later than planned. How courteous that Sasuke had given him some extra time to finish slaughtering the adults of his clan. Still, he'd have to make this raid quick and then knock the kid unconscious before he could attempt to alert someone.
Absently, Naruto reached out his senses further to look for Itachi.
He seemed to still be grieving Shisui at the Naka River. He wished he could join the teen, but he had no time to grieve now. He had taken out some of his anger on the Uchiha, but that only held him over. He wanted the man truly responsible for this outcome, Danzo, dead. For now though, he would hold his rage and release it when he was ready.
Standing as his clones popped and confirmed there was nothing aside from the bodies, he put some goggles on and double checked his mask was secured before he hopped down into the Uchiha's secret meeting place. The room predictably smelled of blood, and he immediately got to work on storing the bodies. It took less than a minute to get all of them sealed and ready for transport.
Once that was done, he stood and looked around the room he found himself in. It was fairly large, enough to fit most of the Uchiha with some room to spare. It was entirely rectangular and the walls were mostly gray. The only exception was of some Uchiha fans painted on the walls. The front of the room was a bit more decorated with carpet and a stone tablet behind a glass case. The stone had some writing on it, but from a distance he couldn't quite see what it said.
What he really wanted to see though was the sword displayed on the center of the front wall. He didn't know what it was, but he could tell it wasn't your typical ceremonial sword. He would save that for last. With quick strides he made his way to the stone tablet. As he neared it, his head started to hurt trying to make out what it said. It was blurry, but at the same time, he could almost make out some words. It was like looking at a particularly mind warping optical illusion.
He frowned and looked away, surely they wouldn't keep something like this if they couldn't read it. Perhaps it was special to them then? Perhaps a Fuinjutsu obscuring it to those not of Uchiha blood? He glance back at it out if the corner of his eye and it seemed to get much more clear.
The Sharingan was required to read it? Well that was convenient. Shutting his original eye he started to read.
The short of it explained that to go beyond that of the normal limits of the Sharingan one must kill the one dearest to them. It promised power and exotic powers far beyond what the normal Sharingan granted. The Mangekyo, it was called. The stone promised secrets and thus Mangekyo was required to read further.
Suddenly, he felt a sharp pain in his eye and he gripped it. What the hell was that? Shaking off the pain, he glanced back up, and he saw more text was revealed.
Did he have the Mangekyo? How? His ability to read through the portion revealed seemed to indicate that he did, but it was partially blurry. Was it somehow only partially active then? Or was it because he wasn't a true Uchiha?
Questions for later, he decided. Though he mentally noted to think of how he could have possibly activated it. He hadn't killed Itachi.
Turning his attention to the sword, he walked over and examined it as closely as he could without touching it. It was sheathed and just its sheath was beautifully crafted. It was a simple black sheath with winding streaks of crimson. It was immaculate, not even the slightest scratch on it. Normally he'd attribute it to being a brand new sword but that was unlikely with how traditional the Uchiha were. Upon closer examination, he saw there was some Fuinjutsu on it. He couldn't make it all out at a glance, but from what he saw, it seemed it could only be drawn by someone with certain qualities. What those qualities were remained a mystery to him, but it made him even more intrigued by the sword.
He could also see some suppression seals on the sword normally used to conceal the intent of chakra of a person from getting out. That was incredibly odd. He had never seen such a thing on any inanimate object. The only reason he could think of for that seal to be included would be if the sword gave off some sort of presence or had some sort of limited consciousness.
The number of swords like that were very few. He could count on one hand how many swords he knew had something resembling consciousness or a presence. If he expanded that to those he suspected to give off a presence, the number increased by quite a bit, but it didn't make it far past double digits.
Before he pulled the sword out, he looked to the hilt for any indication of what sword this might be. The handle itself was also simple, wrapped in black cloth the only design it had was that of a small raven and a crimson lining at the bottom of the hilt.
Something in his mind twitched in familiarity at the symbol. Looking above the hilt to the top of the cross guard, he found the final piece of the puzzle that made it all click into place. He shivered. He couldn't tell if it was from excitement or trepidation.
The sword was signed.
By Muramasa.
His breath almost stopped at that. Muramasa was one of, if not, the most famous, or rather, infamous sword smiths in history. After his death, and even during it, many would look for swords made by him and destroy them. Very few were left in the world now. He had thought it was silly to think all his swords were destroyed, but the masses would like to believe all of them were gone.
After all, his swords were supposedly imbued with evil either through ritual or a trapped spirit.
And this sword in particular he thought he knew. To think the Uchiha had been hiding something like this.
The Juuchi Yosamu.
Muramasa most infamous sword.
He had only read a brief account of how the sword came to be and what it was, but it had stuck with him. Not only because of the story behind it, but because he could find nothing else on the sword or even Muramasa aside from the usual he's evil propaganda.
Muramasa had apparently challenged his master, Masamune, to a contest of who could make the best sword. Muramasa had made Juuchi Yosamu and Masamune had made Yawarakai-Te. They had both dipped the blades in a river as they watched what happened.
Yawarakai-Te had only cut leaves flowing down the river, not even fish that brushed against it were cut.
Juuchi Yosamu had cut everything that flowed past it, even the air itself according to the legend.
A monk had said that Juuchi Yosamu was an evil blade that cut all indiscriminately, while Yawarakai-Te was a blade that would not cut the innocent, thus the more impressive one.
It was an interesting story, if one he didn't necessarily believe. He had thought it may have merely been a fairy tale, but this pointed to it being more fact than fiction. He wasn't one to put much stock in superstition of certain actions and items bringing misfortune, but he considered leaving the blade alone for all the stories that surrounded Muramasa.
Then he remembered much of what he read was likely biased and it was unlikely he'd get many, if any, more chances to get his hands on such a legendary sword. He couldn't pass this up. So he took the sword and strapped it to his back. He'd experiment later once he was in a more controlled environment to test it.
Hopping out of the hole in the ground, he primed the explosive tags he'd set for ten hours and covered the entrance again. He could only hope for ten hours at best. Someone was bound to notice the Uchiha police force missing quickly. It would be best if the Naka Shrine wasn't searched thoroughly.
Dashing out the doors and to the roof tops, he extended his senses and searched for Sasuke. It appeared that he had only just entered the compound. And if his frantic movements were anything to go by, he had discovered his missing clan.
Well at least he picked up on something being wrong, but the idiot should have run. It worked out fine for him though. It would've made escaping Konoha significantly harder if the village went into lock down.
Looking down on Sasuke from a rooftop, he made a split second decision. Originally he was just going to knock the kid out and be on his way, but despite his dislike for Sasuke, the boy was still Itachi's brother. He could admit he was a little jealous of Sasuke for that, but he had different relationship with Itachi. One that he preferred. Besides, he could acknowledge the little Uchiha was at least reasonably talented.
He didn't want Itachi to lose the clan member he cared for most. Not by his hand or by the hand of another on a future mission the kid would take. So he would give Sasuke a little push. Give him some real drive to improve.
Sasuke was excited. More than excited really. He had just figured out how to hit three targets while flipping in mid air. It wasn't as good as Itachi could do, but it was still much better than what he had previously been able to do. He couldn't wait to show Itachi, maybe he'd finally start paying attention to him again instead of poking him in the forehead and telling him later all the time.
And maybe it would relieve him of some of the stress he could see Itachi facing. He didn't know what was going on, but the clan and Itachi seemed to disagree about something. Quite fiercely too if that fight he had witnessed earlier today with some of the others was anything to go by.
As Sasuke entered the Clan Compound, he automatically headed for his house. It wasn't until he had passed three houses that he felt something was wrong. It was quiet. Granted, the Uchiha weren't very rambunctious, but he should have seen someone, or at least heard them. Instead, all he saw were a few lights on and nothing else. Deciding to see if he could find out what was happening before he got home, he went to knock on the door of one of his aunt's house's. He waited for half a dozen seconds and when he still heard no response, his gut twisted on itself. She never took this long to answer the door.
Thinking that his worry overtook any politeness in this situation, he opened the unlocked door. Making his footfalls as silent as possible, he crept around the house, looking for any sign of anyone.
As he entered the dining room, he felt cold. No one had been in the rest of the house and that was no different here, but there was food on the table. His aunt never let food go to waste by letting it sit out. Dread was starting to form in the back of his mind as he approached the table. Touching the food, he found it to be ever so slightly warm to the touch. It couldn't have been abandoned too long ago then.
Looking around the table for any clues, he froze when he spotted red and smelled iron. 'Blood,' he thought. Full panic gripped him now. They couldn't be gone. Couldn't be dead. He tried to calm himself. Their bodies weren't here, so they could have escaped. Plus, there wasn't much blood. They had to have escaped. Besides, no one was crazy enough to attack the Uchiha. They were the strongest clan in Konoha after all.
But just to make sure there were still some people around, he went to the house next door. They didn't answer either. That house was also empty. Fear gripped him again. Where was everybody? He started darting around all the houses in the area and with each house he checked, his panic only grew.
No one was home. There was only ever a little blood or sometimes only some cold dinner.
After he had checked four houses, he started to sprint towards his home. Maybe whoever had attacked hadn't gotten there yet. He could warn Kaa-chan, Tou-san, and Itachi-nii. They were strong. They could escape or fight off the intruder together.
He lost himself as he ran with single minded determination to save his closest family. Finally he saw his house and some relief started to come to him. Everything was going to be fine.
Then, he was suddenly face first in the pavement, arm behind his back and face pressed into the path.
A voice spoke then, cold and laced with condemnation, "You are a fool boy. You could have run for help, but instead you tried to fight something out of your league. You were even so arrogant as to forget your surroundings in the face of likely danger."
Sasuke was rattled both from the impact of the ground and what the voice said. That he could have alerted the shinobi to catch this, this monster if he hadn't been so quick to run home. Then fear gripped him as he realized he was about to die.
He scrambled to get out of the grip of his captor, reinforcing his muscles with chakra.
It was futile. He was too weak to break the hold.
The voice spoke again and he listened a little more this time. "Your clan was dreadfully disappointing. Only Fugaku gave even a semblance of a challenge. Of course Itachi wasn't here, but I assume he would've been a little less pathetic."
Sasuke racked his brain as he listened to the voice. It rang a bell. He knew this voice, but from where? He tried to push down the rage his attacker's voice brang up and instead concentrate on figuring out who this was. The voice was young, maybe a bit older than him. And it had a cold edge to it that he had only ever heard in bitter ninja and those who talked of other enemy villages. The tinge of hate and a hardened warrior who had seen blood.
The pit in his stomach fell further and fear and anger grew in equal measure. He only knew one voice that held those qualities at his age. And only that person was more skilled than him as far as he was aware.
But he needed to confirm it.
"You won't stomp the Uchiha out like bugs, you bastard! Itachi will kill you!" he yelled.
The voice let out a chuckle. Then he felt the grip on his head tighten and slowly lift it up. "You and I both know Itachi won't do that. Hunt me down, probably, but he won't kill me. And I'm quite good at covering my tracks. Who knows if he'll even be able to catch me. Especially if he's worried about his weak little brother."
His face finally lifted enough to look down the road. And see the head that was upside down in front of his.
He was right.
It was Naruto. The Monster. The one who stole Itachi-nii from him.
Rage burned inside him. He renewed his efforts to break this Demon's hold on him.
It only seemed amused by his efforts.
Suddenly, it let go of his arms and grabbed the back of his collar. Sasuke could barely comprehend how he ended up in the wall of the house next to them. He was disoriented as Naruto grabbed his collar and slammed him into the wall again. Darkness started to swim in his vision as he tried to retain consciousness, but he wasn't used to any kind of punishment.
The blonde spoke one last time before the darkness consumed him, "I will give you a few years before I come back. By then if you are still so weak and I see no potential for strength like Itachi's, I will kill you."
With that, he felt a touch along his neck and he blacked out.
Naruto gazed down dispassionately at the boy he had just curbstomped so soundly. This would no doubt put hatred in his heart. Whether he would hone it into a sharp weapon or an unrefined flail remained to be seen.
Hopefully Itachi wouldn't be pulled down by this. From what he knew of Itachi, he figured that it would only strengthen his resolve to protect his little brother. He'd gain strength, of that there was no doubt, but he didn't know if his friend would do something stupid and drastic to try to protect the boy in the future.
That was a concern for later. Now it was time to escape.
He became a shadow as he drifted from building to building, slowly making his way to the wall of Konoha. He made his way over to the point Itachi had taken him to on their first mission and quirked his lips into something reminiscent of a sardonic grin. How ironic it was that Itachi, meant to be an anchor to Konoha for him, had shown him this and now it would be used to toss off the chains Konoha had attempted to keep attached to him.
He disappeared into the night after that, only pausing to slip past the detection barrier.
Not entirely happy with the beginning of this (the end too) - I think it's too choppy - but, eh, can't think of anything to transition better. Plus I wanted to get this out. Anyways, if you didn't know, the prologue to this is a different story as I said at the top.
Anywho, reviews appreciated. Also looking for a beta if anyone is interested.
Yawarakai-Te - Tender Hands
Juuchi Yosamu - Ten-thousand Cold Nights