The Inner Eye

Chapter 1: Brotherhood

Sasuke and Naruto will each have their own harem, to be revealed later. This is NOT a yaoi fic. As always, any reviews are appreciated.

Sasuke:...?

Zephyrclaws:Oh, yeah. I don't own Naruto.

Sasuke: *growls*

Zephyrclaws:Or Sasuke.

Sasuke: Much better.

And for those Strangers that may be on this site, yes, I am the same Zephyrclaws, Basement Monster/Mad Scientist at Kelchup, inc.

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On a bright, misty morning in the Village Hidden in the Leaves, a lone figure in an ANBU uniform sped across the buildings, cursing himself for falling for such a simple trick. Someone had rigged his alarm clock to punch him when he got up. It might even have been funny, had it not knocked him out, making him late to the orphanage, where he was supposed to replace a fellow ANBU on guard duty. Considering who he was supposed to be guarding, he was doubtful that the man he was replacing would stick around after his shift was over. Arriving at the orphanage, he was surprised to see a bunch of chuunin on the roof, beating up a small kid with wooden staves. Itachi swore violently when he saw that the kid had spiky, electric-blonde hair. He landed on the roof, kidney-punching the nearest chuunin. The others gaped at him, shocked that anyone would want to defend the demon brat, and Itachi stared them down, his sharingan blazing. "You will not harm my ward. If I can still see you after ten seconds, I'm coming after you." The chuunin trembled. Even at the age of thirteen, Itachi was a master of intimidation. No one could look scarier than him when he wanted to. After ten seconds, there were still a couple left, so he used his specialty, genjutsu (not tsukuyomi, he doesn't have the Mangekyo.). Immediately, the chuunin dropped to the floor, writhing in agony.

Tossing them aside, he knelt beside the young boy, examining him for broken bones. There were several; had he not intervened when he did, young Naruto would be dead by now. As it was, he needed medical attention, and fast. Itachi picked him up, and shunshin-ed to the hospital, where he had to threaten the doctor just to get his ward looked at. The doctor probably would've refused to treat him, had the Third Hokage not walked into the room. The doctor sputtered something incoherent, then left the room, claiming he needed to round up some supplies... which the cabinets in the room were full of. Itachi growled, but the Third motioned for him to let it go. In a whisper, so as not to wake Naruto, he asked, "How did this happen?" Itachi's eyes hardened. "There was a group of about ten chuunin, beating on him with staves. Right there, in plain daylight, and no one else tried to stop them. I don't care what's inside him, to me he's just a little boy that needs protection." The Third frowned. "Did you identify any of them?" Itachi shook his head. "No, Hokage-sama, none of them were people I knew. However, I did capture a couple, and I called for a pickup. They should be able to tell us the identity of their friends. However, there is something else that I would like to talk to you about. Naruto is no longer safe in that orphanage. Realistically, he was never safe there. I would like to provide him with a place in my own home, so that I may better guard him." The Third smiled briefly. "Well, before we get into that, I would like to commend you for your actions in saving the boy. I am hereby promoting you to the rank of ANBU Captain." Itachi bowed deeply. "Your father will want to hear about this; perhaps after you tell him, he'll be more... amenable to the idea of Naruto living with you." Itachi grimaced. "In the meantime, I shall watch over him personally."

At the Uchiha compound, Itachi's parents were overjoyed that their eldest son had been promoted, and so soon! They neglected to ask exactly why he was promoted, assuming that he would tell him once it was made official. Itachi did nothing to disillusion them. His father hugged him (he's not completely evil, you know, just misguided.), and said "Son, for this special occasion, you can have any one thing you want, so long as it's in my power." Itachi smiled. This was a common Uchiha clan tradition, and he had been counting on it. Bracing himself for the storm he knew was coming he said, very quietly, "Father, I want you to adopt Naruto Uzumaki, and transplant into him the sharingan of the recently-deceased Makoto Uchiha." His father paled. "You want WHAT!!??" Itachi's mother fainted, and he rushed to catch her before she fell. Then, he turned to his father. "I know how you feel about him, but I am absolutely certain that the fox is in no way possessing him. Do you know why I was promoted? There were ten chuunin attacking him, beating on him with staves! Do you think that a demon would allow itself to be beaten? Had I not intervened, he would've died." Fugaku paused for a moment, considering. "Very well. I shall honor your request. However, though he may legally be a part of our family, do not expect me to call him my son." Itachi nodded. He'd been expecting something like this; His father hated 'the demon brat', but he was a man of his word. Itachi leapt through the open window, and his father ordered an Uchiha medic-nin to prepare for the transplant operation.

Several hours later, the bandages were unwrapped from Naruto's eyes, which were now the coal-black of an Uchiha. Fugaku said a brief prayer over the boy, finishing with, "Welcome to the clan, Naruto Uchiha." He quickly left the room, probably not wanting to 'contaminate' himself by being to close to the demon. Itachi sighed. Things would be a lot more difficult around the house now, but at least his new little brother was safe... And speaking of little brothers, he knew the perfect playmate for young Naruto. His other brother, Sasuke, was three years old as well, and probably lonely now that Itachi had the duties of an ANBU. The two would keep each other busy whenever he had to leave Konoha for a mission, which hopefully wouldn't be often. Itachi carried the still-injured Naruto to his room, having brought in a suitable bed for him shortly before the transplant. Later on, he would see about getting the boy his own room, or perhaps have him share Sasuke's, but for now, he wasn't leaving Naruto's side. After he set the traps on his doors and window, and checked to make sure no one had messed with his alarm clock again, Itachi laid down, reflecting on what an eventful day it had been. Later in the nigh, Itachi was awoken by Naruto whimpering in his sleep. Not surprising, considering what he'd gone through today... Scratch that, yesterday... Itachi was about to pick up the boy to comfort him, when he was surrounded by a cloak of red chakra. Almost as soon as the cloak formed, Itachi could hear a woman's voice singing softly. It was a haunting melody, but it was also strangely peaceful, and, hearing it, Naruto stopped whimpering, and sank into a deep, dreamless sleep. The cloak disappeared, leaving Itachi to wonder if all of the stories he'd heard about the kyuubi were true.

Over the next few days, Naruto was introduced to his new family. Most of them accepted him with barely-disguised loathing, but there was one little boy who immediately took a shine to him. After all, how could Itachi-neesan be wrong? Sasuke and Naruto became fast friends, and were often seen playing together in the back yard throughout the day. His friendship with Sasuke, and the love he received from Itachi and the Third were the only things that kept him going through the next five years. Itachi, after that first night, had decided to look up everything he could on the nine-tailed fox, and on bijuu in general. What he discovered made no sense to him. Fox summons, and especially the nine-tailed fox, never showed up spontaneously. Also, he was surprised to learn that they absolutely never attacked anyone without good cause; they were a peace-loving race who only fought if their families or their homeland were threatened. From this, he drew the conclusion that whoever summoned the kyuubi had an immense amount of chakra, and either did something to anger it, or... His blood ran cold. Surely... it wasn't possible, was it? Was there any Uchiha in history who had mastered the sharingan that well? He had to do some more research...

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5 years later...

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Naruto and Sasuke were both excited. Today was their first day at the academy, and the two were glad to get out of the house. Most of the other Uchiha shunned Naruto, thinking that he was the kyuubi's puppet, and, since Sasuke was his friend, they saw him as 'corrupted' by the demon's influence. They had Itachi, but only occasionally, as he was often busy with his ANBU duties. Often, they would go to the Hokage's mansion, and play with him, but most of the time he was busy with paperwork, and didn't have the time to play. Finally, they would have a chance to make friends, away from disapproving eyes... or so they thought. In reality, school was little better; most of their teachers ignored them, and most of the kids' parents had told them to stay away. Of course, when some of them saw what the two were actually like, they made friends anyway, but these were in the small minority. However, making new friends was an insignificant problem when compared to something far more irksome... fangirls. Of course, it was to be expected, but that didn't make it any less annoying. Mostly, they went after Sasuke, but Naruto had a few of his own, too. However, his paled in comparison to the annoyance of Sasuke's two fiercest fangirls: Ino Yamanaka, and Sakura Haruno. They would constantly stalk him, and once or twice, Naruto had to save him from their ambushes.

Still, except for them, life wasn't all that bad. Naruto and Sasuke passed their first year at the top of the class, thanks to tutoring by Itachi, and the Third. But one day, shortly after the beginning of their second year, everything changed. Before they went to school, Itachi stopped them, and motioned for them to come to his room. They sat down, and he began to explain. "There is an uprising in Konoha, one that could tear the village apart." Naruto frowned. Even at his age, he knew this was a bad thing, and, as he wanted to be hokage someday, he didn't want to see anything bad happen to the village. Sasuke, on the other hand, had no interest in the job, but disliked the thought of anything threatening their village just the same. Itachi continued. "This is the work... of our father. Even now, he is persuading the last remaining members of the Uchiha to join him in overthrowing the Third Hokage, and reinstalling him as the Fifth Hokage. You two are the only ones who haven't heard of this, till now. I must stop this, and the only way to do so... is by killing them, all of them. By the end of tonight, you two, and if I'm lucky, I, will be the last remaining members of the Uchiha clan. You must keep this secret, though. If this were to get out, the whole village would panic, and probably destroy itself. Even if I do survive, I will be forced into exile." Naruto and Sasuke were crying. "Itachi-neesan, take us with you!" Naruto implored. Itachi shook his head slowly. "No. The life of a missing-nin is no life for you two, not as young as you are. You must carry on, and continue our line. Whatever you do, stick together. There is always strength in teamwork. As brothers, it is your duty to protect each other. Goodbye, little brothers." With that, he left the room, and sealed the door from the outside, making it one-way soundproof. He didn't want them to have to listen to their family members dying, but he did want someone to be able to find them, when his work was done.

Several hours later, a group of ANBU opened the door to find two shell-shocked boys clutching each other tightly, afraid to lose the one brother they had left in this world.

Later, they found out that Itachi had succeeded in killing all of the other Uchiha, but then died of chakra depletion afterwards. They cried themselves to sleep, still holding each other. The next day, they went to the academy, even though the Hokage had said they didn't have to; they had agreed, after a short discussion, that trying to do something normal would be best. When they reached the academy, however, they realized that this was a mistake, as almost everyone was badgering them, asking for details on what happened. Surprisingly, it was Ino and Sakura who saved them, beating back the spectators. Afterwards, Sasuke hugged them both gratefully causing their faces to turn bright red. Ino whispered into Sakura's ear, "You know, I hate to say this, but now that they're the last of their clan, Sasuke-kun can legally have more than one wife..." Sakura brightened, and smiled. They both looked at Sasuke, and said something he thought he'd hear them say, at least, not quite like this. "Sasuke-kun, we just want you to know, If you need us, either one of us, we'll be there for you, always. Do you want us?" Sasuke, overcome with emotion, could only nod silently. The three of them group-hugged, leaving Naruto feeling uncomfortably left out.

It was fortunate that they were in a relatively well-hidden part of the academy grounds, for at that moment, red chakra began pouring out of Naruto's mouth, coalescing into the shape of a girl about the same age as him, with fiery, shoulder-length red hair, ocean-blue eyes, and tan skin. She was abnormally well-developed for her apparent age, and the clothes she was wearing accentuated this (A/N: A younger version of the deviantart pic "kyuubi no youko"). A single red fox tail extended behind her. As soon as she was fully formed, she bear-hugged Naruto, with a strength that belied her small frame. After a while, she let go, and noticed the weirded-out looks everyone was giving her. She sat on the ground, and explained. "You all know of the nine-tailed fox that almost destroyed the village, nine years ago?" She grimaced as she said it, but no one seemed to notice. Sasuke said "Yes, my brother told me about it. He said it was very strange. He'd been doing research on the bijuu, and everything he found on the kyuubi seemed to indicate that it was a peace-loving creature, who only appears when summoned. He theorized that someone... well, it pains me to admit it, but... an Uchiha somehow mastered the sharingan, and hypnotized the kyuubi into attacking Konoha. He said that that level of mastery was called the 'Mangekyo', but he wasn't exactly clear on how it was done..."

The girl was somewhat surprised by this, and whistled, impressed. "Your brother was a smart man. You see, I am the kyuubi, though that's just a title. My name is Akari. When the Fourth Hokage fought me, nine years ago, he sealed me within Naruto, to keep me from destroying Konoha; also, I think he suspected the truth, and wanted to give me a second chance. If I ever get my claws on that Madara-teme..." Sasuke interrupted her. "Madara... Uchiha? I thought he was dead!" Akari shook her head sadly. "No, I'm afraid not, although he will be the next time we meet... With my power behind Naruto's sharingan, there's no way that bastard will hypnotize me a second time." She turned to Naruto. " I'm sorry about what I put you through. Those villagers hate you... because of me. Because they think that I'm controlling you. I'm so, so sorry." She was almost crying at this point, and Naruto gave her a hug. "Shh... it's not like it's your fault either." She looked up at him, her eyes full of hope. "Naruto, the truth is, watching you over the years, enduring what the villagers, and even most of your family put you through I've... really come to admire you. After what I've done, I would understand if you didn't want me..." Naruto put a finger on her lips, and then held her close. "Of course I want you. You're the kindest person I know. When I was little you were the one who would comfort me when I had nightmares, weren't you?" She nodded. "I just wanted to make up for-" And she was cut off as Naruto enveloped her in a crushing bear hug. "There's nothing to make up for. I love you all the same, I don't care what you are." She held him tightly, not wanting to let go, but eventually Naruto's seal forced her back inside his body. Sasuke grinned. "Well, brother, looks like you've found a... What did Itachi call it again? Oh, yeah, a soulmate." Naruto blushed.

Over the next few years, Naruto and Sasuke trained to become stronger, in order to ensure that they lived to see their line carried on. Ino and Sakura trained hard as well, while Akari taught everyone new jutsu. From her, Sasuke learned the fireball jutsu, although he could only use it about twice a day before wearing himself out, and it wasn't very large. Naruto learned the Wind Scythe jutsu, but he had trouble focusing it to the point where it would actually cut something. Sakura found some scrolls on medical jutsu in the Uchiha library, and, with Sasuke's permission, she and Ino began learning medical jutsu. Naruto also began endurance training, so that he could let Akari out for longer.

Finally came the day of the genin exam, the one that determined whether or not they could become Ninja of the Hidden Leaf. Naruto's control had improved immensely due to his practice focusing the Kamaitachi, while Sasuke's reserves had grown to the point where he could make his Fireball slightly bigger than he was, but could still only use it two or three times a day. With the improvement of their skills, the two boys decided to work on a collaboration jutsu, but they didn't quite have the timing down yet. Also, thanks to Naruto's endurance training, he could let Akari out for a few days at a time. Sakura and Ino had advanced in their medical training rapidly, inspired by their crush, and with tips from Akari. Apparently she knew just about every jutsu that had ever been created, and was more than willing to teach them. Every now and then, they would take a break from training, and head to the Hokage's mansion, to hang out with the old man. They even spent the night there once or twice, and he was glad of the company. Now that everyone else was gone, he was the only family besides each other they had left. True, they weren't legally related to him, but he treated them as his grandsons all the same. He took a special interest in Naruto, after he heard that the boy's dream was to be Hokage.

Naruto sat next to his brother, identical bored expressions on their faces. They'd passed the exam with ease, each creating the required number of clones. Now, they were only waiting for Ino to finish her test. She joined them, and they all set off for the Uchiha compound, not noticing the glares that Mizuki was directing at them. "You'll get what's coming to you tonight, fox demon..." After their evening training, Ino and sakura set off for their homes, leaving the two boys laying in their room. Sasuke whispered, "Ninja, huh?" Naruto smiled. "Yup." The looked at each other for a moment, then shouted "YOSH!!!!", which surprised Mizuki so badly that he fell off of the ceiling, where he'd been hiding in hopes of assassinating the two. They noticed that he had a large scroll on his back, and a smaller one in his pocket. Hastily, he picked himself up, and began delivering his 'backup speech'.

"So, you caught me, huh? No matter, I'll just kill you right now! I was going to make you help me find something, but I already found it, so I don't need you anymore! The secret scroll of the Uchiha!" Sasuke raised an eyebrow, and, irked, Mizuki threw shuriken at the two boys... only to find that they were intangible. "Clones?!" He growled, then leapt out the window, to find the two waiting for him in the yard. Growling, he rushed to attack them... only to find that they were clones as well. Suddenly, he felt a lot lighter, and he looked behind him to see Naruto with the scroll of sealing, and Sasuke with the 'secret' Uchiha scroll. He twitched. "No matter, I've already studied the scroll of sealing, I can take both scrolls off of your dead bodies!" He formed the infamous cross seal, and three identical Mizukis 'poofed' into existence beside him. "Ha! Now I've got you outnumbered!" Simultaneously, Sasuke and Naruto rolled their eyes, then cracked their knuckles. Finally, they had a live target. Sasuke shouted "Fire style: Fireball jutsu! Then, Naruto used his own jutsu. "Wind style: Kamaitachi!" The two jutsu met, and a spinning mass of flame bored its way into Mizuki. "Collaboration jutsu: Spiraling Flame!". Mizuki landed on the ground in several pieces, all of them extra crispy. Sasuke hid the Uchiha scroll in his robes, and both boys smiled in triumph, before collapsing together against the porch. They'd poured all of their chakra into that attack.

The Third was watching them, and smiled as the ANBU he'd sent took the boys to the hospital, to be treated for chakra depletion.

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A/N: I've noticed a surprising lack of good Naruto Uchiha stories, so, since I haven't gotten back the work I did on NTG chapter four from my dad's, I decided to write my own. Also, as I write this, I've already finished chapter 1 of another story that centers on Naruto growing up with Sasuke, but in quite a different way; It's called Brothers.

Akari='Light of God/Power of God

Next chapter: Team assignments! I'll give away one thing right now: Akari is on Naruto's team. XD