Brothers Beyond Blood

Chapter 1 – An Uzumaki and an Uchiha

A/N: Only the start of this chapter is serious, since it is all setup. This is meant to be a more comedic style story, since most of my writing is generally serious.

Also, this is not a Naruto x Sasuke fanfiction. They are the main characters, but they are not 'together'. It's more like a bromance. The two main pairings are pretty clear, but everything else is up for grabs. As I said, this isn't particularly serious. Think of their relationship like it was before Sasuke went all…Sasuke on his friends.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. If I did, the humour would be more like One Piece's.


The screams of the baby in the room were deafening, but so was the yelling of the village leaders as Hiruzen Sarutobi sighed and rubbed his eyes. It had only been a few hours since they had brought back the Fourth Hokage's body with his wife's, and the discovery that the boy hadn't been killed by the Kyuubi was causing quite a stir.

"The boy should be killed!"

"He's a threat to the whole village."

At the edge of the room Jiraiya slammed a sandaled foot into the ground, causing enough of a racket to silence most of the protestors. He glared at the collected Jounin, noticing the solemn look on Minato's pupil Kakashi in the back.

"Show some respect! Our leader is dead. His son carries a heavy burden."

Hiruzen sucked in a collection of smoke from his pipe and stared out at the room. They had lost too many good shinobi in the defence of the village, but he didn't understand why Minato would place such a burden on his own son.

"We need to reassure the villagers that there no longer is a threat. As the previous Hokage, I must assume my previous role, until such a time as we can decide on a successor to Minato."

The Jounin in the room nodded their acknowledgement; they had been expecting such a thing to happen.

"But what about the boy?"

"And the Kyuubi?"

The yelling began again, but only for a few seconds before the door to the room slammed open and a young boy ran into the room, carrying a baby in his hands. Hiruzen's eyes widened when he recognised the boy as the young prodigy from one of the most powerful clans in the village.

The young boy had tears coming down his face as he dropped to his knees, the young baby screams matched Minato's boy.

"What is it? How did you get in here young man?" Hiruzen never sounded strict when addressing children, but there was something about the desperate look on the young man's face that gave him cause for concern.

A Jounin went to take the baby from his hands, but Itachi glared at him hatefully, enough to cause him to back off. The five year old turned back to the old leader and swallowed to stop the tears from flowing.

"They are all gone. All gone…"

"Calm down, Itachi. Who are you talking about?"

"There…was a blast from the Kyuubi just before it disappeared. I was able to get away in time, but Father and the others…"

Hiruzen nodded quickly to two of the remaining ANBU, telling the shinobi to check out the situation while he consoled the young boy.

The Jounin around began talking among themselves, the destruction of the Uchiha clan was massive news, if it was true.

Jiraiya walked over to his old teacher and crossed his arms. "Sensei, what are we going to do about the boys? There are lots of orphans tonight, but these three…"

"I know. Minato didn't do anything by accident, so giving his son the Kyuubi was intentional. We need to protect the boy, as well as the two Uchiha boys."

"Do you have a plan?"

The old man placed down his pipe and regarded the rest of the Jounin in the room. "Minato left us a legacy. We have a right to protect that legacy. I will say now that Naruto is not, and will never be a threat to this village. You are all to report to the ANBU headquarters in the morning, to have the knowledge that he is the container of the Kyuubi wiped from your memories."

That sparked immediate protests, but Jiraiya slammed his foot into the floor again to silence them.

Hiruzen shook his head, the decision weighed heavily on him. "I'm doing this for the village's protection and the boy's. This is not a decision I make lightly, but it is one that will be followed to the letter."

The Jounin mumbled quietly, but they seemed to understand why the Hokage had made the decision. They didn't know it, but it wasn't the first time such a thing had occurred, though it was only for the most dire of circumstances. The leader dismissed them and let them return to their families. He smiled as he motioned for Itachi to bring the baby up to him. The young Uchiha never let go of the baby, as if it was the most precious thing left to him.

"Who is your friend, young man?"

Using a free hand, Itachi wiped his face and smiled as he tried to rock the baby back to sleep. "My little brother, Sasuke. He's all I have left."

"Don't worry young man; I won't let anything happen to him."


***Five Years Later***

Placing a spoon into his soup, a young Sasuke smiled as he began to eat his dinner. A few tastes later and he found there was a weird taste on his tongue. He made a face and tried to work out what tasted so strange, until he looked in a mirror and saw that his tongue was green.

He flipped his head around quickly, and out of the corner of his eye he saw a flash of yellow behind a wall that suddenly disappeared.

"That idiot…"

Sasuke balled his small fists and charged after the owner of the yellow hair, yelling out his fury as it fled from his wrath.

At the entrance a young boy of ten shook his head and squirmed under his slightly oversized flak jacket. The Hokage standing beside him chuckled as they watched the young Uchiha chase after a blonde boy around his age.

"The two of them seem to be getting along rather well."

Itachi grinned and watched his brother tackle the Fourth Hokage's son and begin laying into him. Naruto fought back valiantly while the other orphans began cheering them on.

"If they don't kill each other first. Sometimes I think Naruto likes the attention."

"Well it's clear that they are busy, perhaps we should come back later." The Hokage refrained from smoking in the orphanage, and was itching to get back to some of his other duties.

Itachi looked up at the Hokage and nodded slowly. "That would be wise, Hokage-sama. Sasuke will not care about my promotion, he'll only think about new ways to get past me."

A yell drew their attention back to the fight. They saw Naruto standing over Sasuke's fallen body, his arms raised in triumph.

"I finally won! Take that, teme!"

Suddenly Sasuke flipped around and took out Naruto's legs from under him, causing the blonde to crash into the ground with a comedic yelp. "Baka. You'll never defeat an Uchiha."

He turned around with a scoff and began to walk away, only to be tackled to the ground again by the blonde boy.

"Teme, I'm the son of the Fourth Hokage! You'll never beat me!"

Itachi stifled a grin and crossed his arms across his chest. "You'd never think they weren't brothers, would you?"

The Hokage chuckled in agreement, "I think you are right. Though we should break them up, otherwise they'll just beat each other senseless. It wouldn't look good for two children to nearly kill each other in the presence of the Hokage, would it?"

Placing his hands together in a handseal, Itachi nodded. "Yes sir."


***Two Years Later***

Naruto was wandering the woods near the Academy when he heard a young girl yelp in pain. Unable to block it out due to his nature, Naruto ran towards the sound, hoping that nothing bad was happening.

After a few moments he saw a young girl being bullied by three older boys, who seemed more than happy to just push her around. Naruto felt his seven-year old arms tense in anger; he hated bullies and everything they did to people.

"Cut it out."

The three bullies turned to him in surprise then scoffed when they saw who it was.

"You want some of this, blondey?" said the one in the brown cap.

Naruto stared at the bullies, trying to make sure that the dark haired girl had time to pick herself up from the ground.

"Hey, isn't he…"

"Yeah, he's that kid."

Naruto frowned and glared at them. "I'm not, 'that kid'. I'm Uzumaki Naruto! I'm gonna be the Hokage someday!"

The three bullies stared at him for a few seconds before bursting out in laughter. They knew who he was, but that didn't matter it seemed like such a strange thing to say.

"Don't be so stupid! An idiot like you, become Hokage?"

The young girl stared up at him, but before Naruto could see her face he fell backwards clutching at his nose, grimacing as a punch sent him crashing into the ground.

One of the bullies laughed loudly and pointed at him, "That's what you get, baka."

Naruto swore and picked himself up from the ground, wiping his face before placing his hands together in a handseal.

The bullies recoiled immediately, as students of the Academy they knew what a handseal was, though Naruto wasn't yet a student so they had no idea what he was going to do.

The blonde boy ran towards the bullies with his hands together in a tiger-seal "Taijutsu Ougi!"

He aimed himself at the middle bully, who turned and moved to run away from him and his intense gaze. Naruto grinned and aimed his fingers.

"SENNEN GOROSHI!" (Thousand Years of Pain)

The boy screamed out in pain and was sent flying forwards, his two friends taking only a few seconds before they recoiled again and ran away from him.

Naruto grinned and turned around to see the young girl slowly standing up from the ground. He went to offer her a hand, but decided to wipe his hands on his orange jacket first.

"Are you alright?"

She nodded slightly, Naruto wasn't able to see her face since she was staring at the ground and she was shorter than him. "Th…thank you. Why…did you help me?"

Naruto grinned and placed his hands on his hips. "I'm going to be the next Hokage! A leader should help those in need."

"Ano…thank you…"

"Are you okay? Did they hurt you?"

The young girl shook her head again before looking up at his face directly. A deep blush ran across her pale cheeks when she saw the intense gaze of his blue eyes hit her pure white globes.

"I…" She couldn't finish the sentence; she was too embarrassed by his staring at her. It wasn't a spiteful stare like the one the bullies gave her. He was just looking at her, and that was a strange thing to the young girl.

"Well, as long as you are okay, I should keep going. If I'm late, Itachi is going to collect me around the ears."

He grinned and waved at her as he ran off into the distance, leaving the young girl to her own devices. A white-eyed shinobi ran towards her after a few seconds and skidded to a halt with concern written over his face. "Hinata-sama! Are you okay? You shouldn't have run away like that!"

She watched until he was completely gone from sight before smiling and turning to her companion. "I…I'm sorry. Can I go home now?"

"Of…of course, Hinata-sama. Who was that boy?" asked the shinobi, offering her a hand to follow him with.

"A future Hokage" was all she could reply with, as she smiled to herself and let her companion take her back to the Hyuuga complex.


Not for the first time today, Sasuke felt a weird sense of foreboding as he walked into the florist. Today was always a prank-free day from Naruto, so he wasn't concerned about a sneak-attack. But at the same time he understood why it was so important. He had been told by Itachi that he had to do it, but his protests of it being 'beneath' him fell on deaf ears, and as such the younger Uchiha found himself looking for a particular bouquet of flowers for the special day.

The shop was fairly empty, it was a special day for everyone and Sasuke had left it to the last minute, so there weren't too many flowers left in the shop. Looking around the shop he couldn't see an attendant to help him, since he didn't know what the flowers he was looking for looked like.

He made his way to the desk and rang the bell twice.

"Ino! Can you take that?" came a woman's voice from behind a door.

"I'M ALREADY HERE!" To say the voice was screeching would be an understatement. It took considerable effort not to shield his ears as a young blonde girl his age appeared beside the desk, with a frown on her face and her arms crossed.

"Are you…" her sentence dragged into nothingness as she saw his face.

A deep blush came across her face that was accompanied by a wide smile. "Can I help you with anything?"

Sasuke shrugged off her instant change in attitude and stared at her blushing face. "I need a bouquet of blood petals."

"Blood petals? For mourning?"

Sasuke didn't respond to her question, he didn't feel a need to explain himself.

The girl called Ino struggled not to giggle under his dark eyed-gaze, and when it became apparent he wasn't going to say anything back she nodded and pulled out a book full of numbers. She traced a finger down a page before nodding slowly and closing the book.

"We have one bouquet left, out the back. It was meant to be for someone else…but I sure they won't mind giving it to such a handsome boy like you."

Sasuke frowned and watched as she disappeared into the back of the shop.

Why is it that all girls act like that? Is there some kind of sickness going on?

The bell on the door rang as a young pink-haired girl bounced into the shop. She had a gleeful expression on her face and a red ribbon in her hair, holding it back from covering her surprisingly wide forehead.

"Ino, I came to…." As with the other girl her sentence ran off when she saw him waiting in the shop.

Her blush matched her pink hair immediately, and Sasuke had to resist the urge to roll his eyes. He turned back as the blonde girl came back into the store, holding a pot containing an dark red and yellow set of flowers.

"Sasuke-kun, I've got your…Sakura? What are you doing here?"

I never told her my name…this just gets weirder and weirder.

The blonde girl placed the pot onto the desk and stared at the pink-haired girl. "Sakura, I'm in the middle of talking with my Sasuke-kun. Can you come back later?"

"Eh? Sasuke? The Uchiha prodigy? But he's so handsome!"

"And he's mine! Don't come in here with your wide forehead and mess everything up."

Sasuke was forced to take a step back as the two girls began to tear into each other, pulling at each other's hair and tackling themselves to the ground. This went on for nearly a minute, until the young Uchiha realised that they weren't going to stop anytime soon.

Any longer and I'm going to be late.

He walked over to the desk and picked up the pot of flowers, placing a few bills on the desk before turning back to look at the struggling girls. A few seconds later he shrugged and left the florist, leaving them to their own devices.


Naruto, Sasuke and Itachi all stood before the memorial stone and bowed respectfully. Itachi had his ANBU mask up on his hair; he didn't want to hide his face from his family.

Sasuke had placed his flowers at the base of the memorial and the two Uchiha brothers struggled to remember what their families were like before the Kyuubi killed them.

"Can we go to my families' stone now?" asked Naruto quietly. He didn't want to intrude upon their grief, particularly Itachi who knew his parents before they were killed.

The two brothers looked at each other for a moment before nodding slowly.

"Would you like us to come with you, Naruto?" Itachi liked the young blonde, he saw him as a good influence for his otherwise dour younger brother.

The Hokage's son shrugged before moving off to the other side of the cemetery. Sasuke looked up at his brother, but before Itachi could say anything he put his hands in his pockets and walked after his friend.

The elder Uchiha couldn't help but crack a small smile. Neither of them would ever admit it to each other, but he suspected the two of them were closer brothers than he and Sasuke were.

And yet they are so different. Maybe I should talk to the Hokage about it, get them enrolled in the Academy early. Sasuke is already asking to learn techniques, and if Naruto is anything like his father than they could be some of the most powerful shinobi of their generation.

When he got to the stone, Naruto was already chatting away to the stone bearing his mother and father's names.

"And I found a special taijutsu technique that I heard a group of Jounin chatting about. You put your hands in a special handseal and drive them straight into…"

Both Itachi and Sasuke grimaced as Naruto explained to his deceased parents a rather bizarre taijutsu technique he had learnt. Neither he nor Sasuke had learnt any real ninjutsu techniques, but that didn't stop them from talking about being a shinobi constantly. Everyone in the village knew of Naruto's goal, he enjoyed shouting it from the rooftops, but Sasuke's was much subtler, and if Itachi didn't know his brother so well he wouldn't have been able to figure it out at all.

He's set on resurrecting the clan by any means necessary. Not numbers-wise, but power-wise.

"…and that's about all for this year. There isn't anything else to say really…except that I really miss you guys. I promise I'll make you proud."

He turned to his two companions with a grin, "Anything you guys want to say?"

Sasuke thought about it for a few seconds before placing his hands together and bowing respectfully.

"I'm sorry your son is such an idiot. You couldn't have known."

Naruto glared at the younger Uchiha but didn't move against him. It wasn't long before he had a revenge plan in mind, but he kept it to himself.

"We should head back to the orphanage you two. I have a mission in the morning, and I'm sure you two are tired." Itachi wasn't living with them in the orphanage anymore; he was saving money so that he could take Sasuke back to live in a new building being built where the Uchiha complex used to be.

Naruto stared at the stone for a few moments before turning back to his friends. "I'd…like to stay a little bit longer. You guys go on ahead."

Itachi motioned for Sasuke to go on ahead, waiting until he was out of earshot before turning to the blonde boy. "You don't have to suffer alone, Naruto. I know this day is hard for you, but your birthday doesn't have to be this way."

The seven-year old blonde smiled awkwardly, trying his best to hide the sadness he felt in his heart. Even at seven, he understood more than most people about what the day truly was. It was his birthday, but it was also the day that many people died, including both his and the Uchiha brother's parents.

"I'll be fine, Itachi. Just…give me a little bit."

Itachi patted him on the back in a rare display of affection and walked away, leaving Naruto at the stone by himself.

"Now to tell you guys the stuff I didn't want to say in front of those guys…"


The instructor at the head of the class motioned for quiet, and to his surprise the children obeyed.

I wonder how long that will last.

"I am Iruka, your teacher. For the next five years I, and other Chuunin will be teaching you how to be shinobi. Look around at your fellow students. They might save your life one day. Now, I want everyone to come up to the front one at a time. State your name, and what your dreams or goals are. If you don't have one that's fine, but it's a way for us to get to know you better."

He looked around the room until he pointed at the first boy at the front of the room. "You first, come on. Down the front."

The young boy slowly came to the front with his hands in his pockets and a disinterested look on his face. He wore his hair back in a spikey ponytail and yawned loudly before standing in front of the class.

"I'm…Nara Shikamaru. I don't really have any goals. I'm just here because my dad was sick of me moping around the house."

Iruka sighed, "Thank you for that…Shikamaru. Next."

A young girl stood at the front, with her hands on the back of her neck. She wore a deep brown robe with short spiky brown hair and strangely deep purple eyes. Cracking her neck, she grinned and flicked her hand, leaning on a stick of wood that seemingly appeared out of nowhere.

That drew the class' attention, enough for them to start whispering among themselves.

"I'm Senju Fiore. I don't intend to let this remain a dream. I will be the Hokage, like my grandfather, the Second Hokage."

Iruka grinned as the young girl took her seat next to Shikamaru. He'd been informed of her entry into the Academy, and it felt wholly appropriate with all the clan heirs in the generation.

Another boy walked down the front, this one munching idly on a bag of potato chicks as he stood in front of the class.

"I'm…Akimichi…Chouji. I…um…I dunno. I haven't…thought that…far ahead."

Iruka nodded and smiled as Chouji wobbled back to his seat. He didn't want to think about the grief the other children were going to give the large boy; it was mostly out of his hands.

As Chouji resumed his seat, a boy wearing a large jacket and coat with dark sunglasses slowly came to the front of the class with his hands in his pockets.

"Aburame Shino."

He didn't say anything else, taking his seat back next to Chouji. The rest of the children weren't sure what to make of him, but as the next one bounded down to the front.

He had two fang-marks on his cheeks and a small white dog sat on his head as he grinned a fang-toothed smile at his fellow students.

"I'm Inuzuka Kiba, and this is Akamaru. We are here to kick ass and chew meat. And I eat plenty of meat every day."

He laughed at his own joke and ran back up to his seat, taking no notice that none of the other students laughed at it.

The young white-eyed girl that Naruto had met weeks before slowly made her way down to the front, holding her hands together with an embarrassed look on her face. It didn't take a genius to tell she wasn't very confident in herself, Iruka figured he would have some extra work to do with the girl.

"Ano…my name is Hyuuga Hinata. I…would like to…be a strong ninja like my father…I think…"

She pushed her fingers together awkwardly before slowly walking back to her seat. Passing her on the way down, Sasuke walked as if he didn't have a care in the world.

He wore the same Uchiha shirt he always wore, and to his indifference and the Naruto's puzzlement the girls in the class seemed to squeal as he stared up at the other children.

"Uchiha…Sasuke. I have no interest in stating my goals."

He gazed over the class, trying to identify who the strong ones might be for him to challenge. The Inuzuka seemed crazy, but might be a contender, but beyond that he didn't see much competition. He made his way back to his seat, barely noticing the two girls giving him googly eyes as he sat back down. Try as he had, he'd been unable to stop the blonde and pink-haired girls from sitting next to him, it seemed like they had a rivalry similar to the one he had with Naruto. He could at least appreciate that about the girls, though he found them mostly intolerable beyond that.

Iruka frowned as he stared at the blonde girl sitting at Sasuke's side. He coughed into his hand in a vain attempt to get her attention. "Next please."

The blonde girl glared at the teacher for a second before standing up from her seat.

"Yamanaka Ino. My dream is to become Sasuke-kun's wife!"

The pink-haired girl on the other side of Sasuke stood up immediately and pointed an accusatory finger at the blonde girl. "Ino-pig! That's my dream!"

Iruka planted a hand on his face and shook his head. There was always a few, and this generation seemed to be no exception. He stared back up at the girls, who appeared to be at each other's throats.

"And your name is?"

The pink-haired girl stopped shaking Ino for a moment and turned to the teacher, "Haruno Sakura. And don't let this Ino-pig fool you; I'm the one who will capture Sasuke-kun's heart."

Iruka just shrugged and shook his head again, doing a mental count to see if he had missed anyone out. He noticed an empty seat behind Sasuke and the girls, which he could have sworn had been occupied before.

As a Chuunin, Iruka had finely honed senses when it came to threats within a certain range, but when Naruto sprung up beside him he nearly jumped out of his skin. The seven-year old blonde boy stood on top of his desk with his chest puffed out, and his hands on his hips.

"My name is Uzumaki Naruto! Remember my name, as it'll be the name of the next Hokage!"

He took the time to glare at the young Senju girl sitting near the front, who only grinned in return and picked at her teeth with a tiny piece of wood.

Iruka could feel a headache coming on as Naruto took a pose on the desk of a rather dramatic fashion.

This is either going to be very interesting, or I'm going to want to kill myself by the end of the day.

He rubbed his eyes and looked up, only to see Ino and Sakura brawling on the stairs and Kiba's dog peeing all over his desk.

I need to start drinking…


***Three Years Later***

Iruka watched as the children walked out, looking over their final reports with mixed joy and disgust. He was mostly happy with their progress, though there was one he was particularly concerned about.

"Ah, Naruto…can you wait a second?"

The blond thirteen year old stared at him curiously as the rest of the class left the room. It wasn't unusual for him to pulled up for 'extra' lessons, but the look on Iruka's face said it was something different this time.

Letting out a short sigh he reached into his pocket and placed a pair of black lace underwear on the desk in front of him. He pouted and crossed his arms angrily.

"I want it on the record that I won the bet. Kiba didn't think I was going to get within one hundred metres."

Iruka's eyes widened as he stared at the exotic underwear now sitting on his desk. "Naruto…whose are these?"

Naruto gave him a confused look. "They are Anko-sensei's. You knew about the competition between me and Kiba, right?"

Using a ruler as delicately as possible, Iruka picked up the underwear and examined them with a slight reddening under his cheeks.

He stole Anko's panties, and is still walking?

"Yes well…ignoring that…for the moment…I want to talk about your grades."

Naruto simply rolled his eyes and sat on a desk opposite Iruka's, swinging his legs in the air like the child he was. It wasn't the first time he had been yelled at for his bad grades, even though he hadn't been through a graduation examination yet.

Placing the underwear in his desk drawer, and praying that Anko wouldn't be able to trace them to him until he returned them, Iruka placed his hands on his desk and stared at his student. Naruto had taken to wearing a ridiculous orange jacket as an apparent 'homage' to his mother's red hair and his father's blonde hair. At least that was his excuse when someone pointed out his odd choice in clothing.

"Naruto…as you know the exam is tomorrow."

He waited to see if Naruto was going to interject with something, but when it became clear he wasn't Iruka cleared his throat and continued.

"Naruto, you are not a good student. I know why you don't get good grades."

"Because the teachers hate me?" Naruto did feel like he was treated differently from the other students, but he didn't really believe he was any different.

"It's because you are an idiot."

"Hey!"

Iruka put up his hands defensively. "Let me finish. I've seen you in class, and have personally taught you for three years. There are some things you get really easily. But lots of things are hard for you to understand, because you aren't that kind of shinobi."

Naruto frowned and stared at his teacher. "Are you saying I can't be a shinobi?"

"Not at all. I'm just warning you…it could take a while. Not everyone graduates the first time."

Hopping down from his desk, Naruto stubbornly placed his hands on his hips. "Iruka-sensei, I swore that I was going to become Hokage. The teme will definitely graduate, and I refuse to lose to someone like that. Can you at least tell me what I need to do to graduate?"

He's pleading…damnit there has to be something I can do.

Iruka reaching across his desk and grabbed a piece of paper, reading it quickly before turning to the blonde child. "Naruto, to pass the exam you need to show that you can do two ninjutsu techniques proficiently. Failing that, you need to show exceptional prowess in another area such as genjutsu or taijutsu to show that you are fit to be a shinobi."

"Well I know the Henge no Jutsu. That one is easy. But I don't know any other one!"

He always failed at Bunshin no Jutsu. I'm not sure if it is a lack of understanding about the technique, or just a lack of talent…

He put the paper down and let out a short sigh. "I'm sorry Naruto; there isn't anything I can do. Unless you can learn another ninjutsu by tomorrow, I can't let you graduate."

His blonde student glared at him angrily, he clearly thought he was being treated unfairly by the teacher. The truth was, he was. Iruka had been given a 'suggestion' by the other teachers to simply graduate him and let his Jounin instructor sort him out, but Iruka had a different opinion.

He lost his parents in the Kyuubi attack, same as me. If he isn't prepared for the shinobi world…then I wouldn't be able to call myself a teacher.

"Isn't there something I can do? Some technique I can learn really quickly so that I can become a shinobi? Iruka-sensei maybe something you couldn't show the other kids?"

Iruka smiled sadly.

Would that I could, Naruto

"I'm sorry, Naruto. The techniques I know are too advanced to be learned in a day. I'm afraid there is no easy way to become a shinobi. It's not as if there is a magic scroll that will teach you powerful techniques without large amounts of training and effort involved."

Naruto faced scowled for a moment before changing to a confused look. He didn't say anything, but Iruka could tell he was clearly thinking about something. Slowly a smile came across Naruto's face and he took his hands off his hips. "You just gave me an idea, Iruka-sensei!"

He moved to the door with a casual wave and his characteristic grin. "I'll be back tomorrow for the graduation! Save me a forehead protector, Iruka-sensei!"

The scarred teacher watched in surprise as Naruto ran out of the room, unable to understand what he could have said to inspire such confidence in the boy.

Maybe I could have taught him something. Setting off explosion notes isn't too hard, and still qualifies…

He almost went to chase after Naruto, until a thought stopped him in his tracks.

If he is to grow as a shinobi…he needs to figure some things out on his own. If he actually does manage to pass…I'll be amazed. Though to be fair, his parents actually did give him a lot of talent. I think it's just a matter of finding the way to using that talent.

He sighed against and leaned back in his chair, staring at the drawer in his desk. It took him a moment to remember what was contained within, and he could feel an odd sense of impending doom around him.

Picking up the same ruler he had used before, he opened the drawer and removed the underwear with the ruler, staring at them curiously. He knew Anko had a seductive set of lingerie, but something like this was truly impressive. How Naruto and Kiba knew about her, let alone being able to steal her underwear was something beyond him understanding.

"Hello, Iruka."

The Chuunin teacher felt the blood drain out of his body as he slowly turned to the doorway. Standing with a sly grin on her face was the owner of the underwear at the end of his ruler. Her violet eyes stared at him with an amused look on her face while she seemed to be almost busting out of the tight mesh body suit beneath her tan-coloured overcoat.

He immediately dropped the ruler and put up his hands in a defensive stance. "Anko, I swear I wasn't the one who…I didn't…"

Her grin widened as she licked her lips and slowly closed the door behind her. "Come now, Iruka. Let's have a…quiet conversation…"

I lived a good life…at least it might be a quick death.

He watched as she walked seductively towards him, her purple hair shaking slightly with each step.

There are three exits in this room. The front is blocked, but I might be able to distract her with an explosion or something before I get slaughtered. Damnit I should have stayed home today…


Naruto bounded across the rooftops in the village towards the place that he knew Sasuke was going to be training in. While the Kyuubi attack had destroyed the Uchiha compound, many of their training grounds were still intact, and were only frequented by the younger of the Uchiha brothers. Since becoming a shinobi Itachi almost refused to go to that part of Konoha, and as he had explained it to the two of them it was because he had only barely escaped the Kyuubi's blast with Sasuke in his arms. Every time he saw the ruined complex it brought back those awful memories, and that Naruto understood.

After a few minutes of searching he found Sasuke practising his techniques in a dense forest covered in targets. The young Uchiha had just completed a set of shuriken techniques and was concentrating on controlling chakra when he sensed Naruto's presence. Even though he wasn't a shinobi yet, sensing Naruto was easy enough. He always seemed to make a lot of noise.

"What do you want?" he asked bluntly, his hands still clasped in a handseal.

Naruto landed beside him and breathed out slowly. "I just came from talking to Iruka-sensei. He said that to pass the exam tomorrow we need to know two or more ninjutsu techniques."

His friend put down his hands and glared at his friend, he hated it when Naruto interrupted his training for his own problems. "Well that screws you up. It's a shame that you are such an idiot."

Naruto clenched his fist and stepped towards the Uchiha boy. "You want to go, teme? I'll take you down right here!"

Sasuke grinned and cocked his head slightly. "Baaaakkkaaaaa"

It wasn't anything new between the two of them, but Sasuke was quite surprised when Naruto failed to rise to his usually successful taunt.

Something serious must be on his mind.

Naruto struggled to keep himself under control and leaned on a nearby tree with crossed arms. "Iruka-sensei spoke about how there are some scrolls that might have techniques I can learn in a day, so that I can pass the exam."

"Baka, it took you a year and a half to get the Henge no Jutsu right, and every time you make an adult you always go to that naked woman figure."

"I could totally do it! I even know what I'm going to look at. It's a scroll in the Hokage's office. I overheard a few Jounin chatting about it the last time I got caught for a prank."

"So go get it. I fail to see why you are bothering me with this."

Naruto swallowed heavily, he struggled heavily on what he was going to say next. Sasuke knew what he was going to say, they had been 'friends' for too long for him not to tell how the blonde idiot was thinking.

He was, of course, going to make him say it though.

Closing his eyes in an attempt to mitigate the incoming pain, Naruto breathed out again slowly.

"I…uh…kind of…need…you know."

"I'm sorry; I don't understand what you are talking about, Naruto."

Naruto opened his eyes and glared at the younger Uchiha. "You're going to make me say it?"

"Yep."

"Teme. I...need your help."

A shadow of a grin came onto Sasuke's face before he adopted his usual stoic face. "Well, if you are so desperate. I suppose I can organise a time to assist you. Sometime next week?"

He ducked under the inevitable punch to his face, jumping back with a smirk. "What do you need me for?"

Naruto swore at him and pointed at his friend. "I really could do this by myself. But I need a distraction, and you are someone I'd be willing to sacrifice."

"Touching. We should tell Itachi though. He's going to find out anyway, and he might be able to help."

"He's in the ANBU; wouldn't he be obligated to tell the Hokage if we are planning to steal a sacred scroll?"

Sasuke shook his head before reaching into his shirt and produced a blank scroll, throwing it to his blonde companion. "We won't be stealing it. Just copying it. Itachi will be fine with that."

Naruto stared at the scroll in his hand before slowly nodding and pocketing it. It made more sense than his idea of putting a fake scroll in its place. "You have too much faith in your brother, Sasuke."

His dark-eyed companion frowned and spun around, glaring at him angrily. "Itachi is all I've got, Naruto. We've spoken about this before, I don't want you bad-mouthing him."

Putting his hands up defensively, Naruto tried to look as sorry as possible. "I didn't mean it like that, Sasuke. I live with the man too; I know how much he has done for you."

The younger Uchiha shoved past him and began to walk towards the rest of the village. Naruto grinned and jogged after him, reminding the child that they had limited time.


It was mid-afternoon by the time they got back to the house in the village. Since Itachi had been making a reasonable living as an ANBU shinobi he and Sasuke had begun living in a reasonably sized house near the Academy. Naruto had been given a small house in the village to live by himself, but because of his social nature he spent more time in Sasuke's house than his own. Neither of them would ever admit their friendship to one another, but Naruto preferred sparring with Sasuke than any of the other students at the Academy.

The two of them announced themselves at the entrance, but with no response they took their shoes off and walked through the long corridor in the Uchiha household.

"We've got to be quick; I've only got to tomorrow to learn another technique."

They turned a corner as Sasuke gave Naruto a shifty look. "I'm not doing this for you, baka. If you can learn something off this scroll, then so should I."

Naruto smirked, "I dunno, I reckon only a Hokage's son would be able to learn such 'advanced' techniques."

"An Uchiha is much stronger than a Namikaze. Everyone knows that."

Naruto wanted to sledge back at him, but stopped himself when he saw that they had come to the door to Itachi's bedroom. He swallowed slowly and turned to his companion. "Do we really have to tell your brother? I don't think he'll let us just sneak into the office without a lecture first."

Sasuke ignored Naruto's concern and grabbed the handle on the door, quickly sliding it across.

"Brother, Naruto and I…"

His sentence drifted off when he saw what was happening within his brother's bedroom. To her credit, the girl underneath the sheets didn't seem to be too startled by their sudden intrusion. The elder Uchiha on top of her had an entirely different reaction though. His dark eyes widened and with a wave of his free hand he sent dozens of loud crows at the two boys who were struggling to shield their eyes and failing as they stared at the girl's naked body.

The crows drove them out of the room quickly and closed the door behind them, the two of them grimacing as they felt the pecking marks on their arms and faces.

A puff of smoke appeared in front of them as a particularly angry-looking Itachi stood with his arms crossed and his red-coloured Sharingan blaring. He had no need to activate the doujutsu besides to intimidate them, which it always did to a large extent.

"How many times do I need to remind you to knock?" he said angrily.

Sasuke stared at his brother meekly. "It…wasn't intentional, Nii-san. We just need your help, and…wait was that Kanako?"

Naruto looked at the brothers with confusion. "Kanako?"

The elder Uchiha stared at the two of them before sighing and deactivating his Sharingan. "I suppose I wasn't going to be able to hide from you any longer. Yes, Kanako and I are seeing each other."

"Brother…she's a Senju. Are you sure that's smart?"

Itachi grinned, which was always a frightening image to the two of them. "Sasuke, why are you here? Shouldn't you be training for your exam tomorrow?"

His brother turned to Naruto and indicated for him to proceed. The blond child looked up at the ANBU shinobi before staring at the door behind him. "Isn't she wondering why you are standing out here with us?"

Itachi cocked his head ever so slightly at him. "What makes you think I'm not in there now?"

Naruto ooed and looked at him with respect while Sasuke simply shook in his head. "Brother, we need that scroll that lets you copy anything. Can we borrow it?"

Itachi gave his brother a deep frown. "Why do you need that?"

His brother looked over at Naruto, who quickly understood what his friend was trying to do. He smiled awkwardly at Itachi. "I need to copy Sasuke's notes…but there are too many for me to look at without him helping me..."

Itachi stared at the two of them intently, waiting to see any potential physical reactions from the two of them. It impressed him that Sasuke was barely giving anything away, despite Naruto being about as subtle as a dog standing over its own faeces. Eventually he shrugged and flicked a wrist, producing a seemingly blank scroll from his jacket. He gave it Sasuke carefully.

"The two of you are so full of crap. Take it and be gone. And Sasuke…next time knock."

They went to thank him, but the clone of Itachi had already disappeared in a puff of smoke. Sasuke showed Naruto the scroll before pocketing it and began walking back to the entrance to their house. Moving quickly to catch up with him, Naruto whispered quietly to him. "You didn't tell your brother about what we are doing."

"He knows" replied the younger Uchiha quietly. "We needed this scroll for the techniques that might be contained within the other scroll; somehow I don't think we'll have much time either."

They walked out of the house and closed the door behind them. Naruto grinned as he remembered something, turning to Sasuke quickly. "Did you get a look at her body?"

"I'm not talking about this, Naruto."

"Oh, come on! Surely you must have noticed that mole on her…"

Sasuke rubbed at his eyes tiredly.


Naruto and Sasuke slowly walked up to the Hokage's office, trying to look inconspicuous to the passing shinobi. They knew that the Hokage was having tea with his grandson and was out of his office, which was part of their plan.

"Are you sure this is going to work?" asked Naruto. It wasn't the first time he had snuck into the office, but he felt like it was more important than the other times he had pranked the old man.

"Just shut up and let me do the talking" replied Sasuke.

Naruto gave him a glare, but conceded that he was had a better plan than Naruto's, which involved smashing the window and barricading the door.

They finally made it to the corridor outside the Hokage's office without confrontation, but to their frustration there were two ANBU guards standing in front of the door.

"What are we going to do?" whispered Naruto. He was only good at running away from the ANBU, not fighting them.

Sasuke gave him his usual shut-your-mouth look and stepped up to the ANBU warriors, giving them a respectful bow. "Excuse me; we are here to speak to Hokage-sama."

The ANBU warrior with a bird-like mask looked down at him. Standing behind Sasuke, Naruto wondered how they could see anything through those masks, let alone breathing.

"The Hokage is out of his office at the moment."

"He won't be back for a while" added the other ANBU, wearing a feline-like mask.

Sasuke bowed again, "We were given an informal meeting with the Hokage to discuss the Academy exam. He said for us to wait for him in his office."

The two ANBU stared at him for a few seconds before looking at each other.

"He didn't say anything to me."

"Me neither. What should we do?"

"They are just kids, they won't cause any harm."

"I dunno, that blonde one is generally trouble."

"That's probably why the Hokage wants to talk to them."

"I don't want to get a lecture from the Hokage though. I hate the smoke from his pipe."

"It's not so bad, once you get used to it. It kind of has a tangy-smell to it…"

The two ANBU guards shrugged simultaneously before turning to the two children and indicated to the door. "You can wait for him inside. Don't touch anything."

"Yes sir" said Sasuke with an expressionless face, walking through the newly opened door with Naruto following behind him.

They closed the door behind them and they both breathed out a sigh of relief. Sasuke began looking around the office for the scroll while Naruto walked over to the desk and sat down on the Hokage's chair.

"That was close" he said, spinning around on the chair with a grin.

Sasuke stopped rifling through a bookshelf and glared at his companion. "Stop playing around and help me look."

"Hang on…" Naruto opened up a drawer in the Hokage's desk, oooing as he produced the Hokage's hat, placing it quickly on top of his head.

He hopped up on the desk and placed his hands on the cuffs of his jacket.

"Four score and seven years ago…"

"Naruto, you look ridiculous."

He grinned and pointed to the hat on his head. "Ridiculous like a fox."

Sasuke shook his head and muttered under his breath. "Baka."

They had talked about what they were looking for before coming to the office. All Naruto knew was that it was a large scroll that should stand out, beyond that it was all guesswork.

He kept searching the bookshelves until a few minutes later he shook his head and stepped back to look at the office. It was particularly clean for such a busy office, and fitting for the leader of a shinobi village, Sasuke thought.

He felt a tap on his shoulder, causing him to turn around with a frustrated look on his face. "What?!"

Naruto grinned and hefted a large scroll between his arms. "Found it."

"Where the hell did you find that?"

He pointed to a section of the wall next to a crystal ball sitting on a cushion. "It was there. I'm pretty sure this is the one we are looking for."

Sasuke glared at him with contempt, but produced his brother's scroll nonetheless. Naruto unfurled the scroll on top of the Hokage's desk, while Sasuke placed the smaller scroll on top of it.

Nothing happened.

Naruto turned to Sasuke with a frown. "Oi, nothing's happening."

The younger Uchiha shook his head and put a hand on the scroll, pushing through a small amount of chakra into the blank paper. Instantly the scroll began to fill with information identical to that from the larger scroll, which Sasuke clarified while it was transferring.

After almost a minute the scroll was full, with all the information they were going to get now under their control. Sasuke rolled up the scroll and placed it in his pocket as Naruto stared at the open scroll on the desk. Most of the information inside made no sense to him.

"Are you sure everything is in there?"

"Put the scroll back quickly, while I figure out how to get out of the office."

Naruto glared at him, but wrapped it up and put it back where he found it nonetheless. "So what's the plan?"

Sasuke looked around the office for a few seconds before he laid his eyes on the window. He turned to his blonde companion, "Follow me."


"Come on, show me!"

"Quit pushing me, Naruto! Give me a second!"

The young Uchiha unfurled the scroll on a smooth rock between the two of them at the Uchiha training ground. They'd made a clean getaway from the Hokage's office with no traces let for the Hokage to suspect anything.

Sasuke looked over the first technique in the scroll, recognising it as one of Itachi's techniques.

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu. Creating clones out of raw chakra that are solid and can attack enemies."

He stared at Naruto for a second.

"Shotgun!" yelled Naruto quickly.

"Shotgun…damnit…" Sasuke rolled his eyes in disgust and let Naruto look at the scroll. "Hurry up and take notes so I can do the next one."

"You don't want to learn the Kage Bunshin too?"

"I'd rather gouge my eyes out with a rusty spoon than do the same technique as you."

Naruto stared at him with a confused look before turning back to the scroll. "Maybe later…"

He looked over the information on the technique. It appeared to be relatively simple, even to the extent that he could understand it.

All I need to do is produce a large amount of chakra and…okay that makes sense. I guess I just need to practise with that handseal.

"Do you know how to do it?" asked Sasuke.

"I…think so. I just need to…"

"I don't care. Go and practise, I want to find a technique to learn."

Naruto mumbled under his breath, but went off to another section of the training ground nonetheless, leaving Sasuke to his own devices. The young Uchiha looked through the scroll, trying to find a technique that would be appropriate to his growing library of techniques.

Kage Bunshin…Advanced genjutsu…Fire manipulation…Demonic sealing techniques…

They were all interesting techniques, but there was a picture on the scroll that drew Sasuke's attention. Even though it had been transferred from one scroll to this one, the name of technique had been scratched out and the instructions were barely legible. Underneath a piece of text was a faded picture of a bird that seemed to be on fire, though reading the text that didn't make sense to him.

"All this effort and it seems like they didn't know how to activate the technique. Fascinating…"

He ran through the handseals indicated on the scroll and placing his hand on top of the scroll.

At first nothing happened, but after a few seconds a plume of smoke slowly rose from the scroll, forcing him to jump a few steps cautiously.

The smoke grew in length for several seconds until a massive burst of flames exploded upwards, blinding him temporarily with its light. Sasuke struggled to regain his vision as he felt an intense warmth wash over him. The technique hadn't mentioned anything to this degree; he wasn't even sure what it actually was.

He heard a strange female voice through his ears, but it took him a few moments to recognise the words she was saying.

"Ah, my neck is killing me! Oh, sorry about the sight. Let me fix that for you."

He heard a snapping of her fingers, and upon opening his eyes he found that his sight had returned. He looked up and saw a figure sitting on top of the scroll. It was clearly female, and had a distinct attractive quality to it, but that's where the human qualities ended.

She had clawed feet and was covered in red feathers, with her claws for hands rubbing her feathered neck. Sasuke noticed that she had a long beak, and was staring at him with the most intense blood red eyes he'd ever seen.

"Who…what are you?" he stammered. Sasuke wasn't used to being intimidated, but there was something about her fiery presence that was humbling to him.

Despite having a beak, he could tell that she was grinning at him. He thought it was strange that a bird-like creature didn't have wings, but upon looking closer he saw that the air around her back seemed to be burning up in the image of a pair of wings behind her.

"Want to try again?" Her voice seemed to burn through his ears, but Sasuke wasn't hurt by it.

He picked himself up from the ground and gave her a rigid bow. "My…my name is Uchiha Sasuke. I…am not sure what I'm doing here, to be honest."

"Hmm…how strange. One would think you were here to sign my summoning contract. But if that doesn't interest you…"

Summoning scroll? Is that like Itachi and his crows? I've never heard of anything like this though.

"If you don't mind me asking, what summoning creature group are you?"

She crossed her clawed legs and swept up her arms, letting a pair of fire-like wings spread out behind her. "I am a hawk. I like your bluntness kid, it's refreshing. I think I'll let my children work with you."

A small burst of fire appeared in front of him, turning into a large scroll that unrolled on its own. Sasuke noticed that there were lots of empty columns across it, with only one name on the right with a bloody handprint. He looked up at her with a confused look, but nonetheless bit at his thumb and wrote his name down the column before tapping each of his fingers and placing his handprint on the scroll.

"So, now what?"

With a wave of her hand the scroll wrapped itself up before disappearing in a small fire.

Don't things normally burn up in fire? Since when do they appear and disappear like that?

The bird-woman hopped off the rock and stretched her neck awkwardly. "It's called practise, boy. You clearly know the seals, so however much chakra you put it will determine who turns up. I must warn you, some of my children are less than approachable."

"And your name is?"

"Don't have one. Unlike the others, I don't feel the need. My enemies call me the Phoenix, while my children call me Mother. So…you can call me Mummy."

Sasuke stared at her through dark eyes as she disappeared in a pillar of fire. He looked down to see that despite the fire the scroll he had learnt the summoning technique from was still intact.

"Yeah…I'm not doing that."

oOoOoOo

Naruto looked up and down at the clone in front of him, staring as if he was analysing a bowl of ramen.

"I'm not sure about this. I think the proportions are off."

The long-haired blonde girl reached up and felt at her chest. "Too big?"

Naruto shook his head and looked over her smooth skin. "It's not that…I'm just not sure about blonde hair. I reckon it would have more impact with darker hair, and lighter eyes."

"That's oddly specific. Someone in mind?"

"Just a few thoughts. Wait…why am I arguing with my clone? Let's go back to see how the teme is doing. I'll bet he hasn't even started learning his technique."

The naked girl clone of Naruto disappeared in a puff of smoke as Naruto ran through the tree line. It was late at night, and training all night had tired him out significantly.

After a few minutes he saw Sasuke standing in an open area of the training ground, watching in fascination as a small brown hawk flew around above him in a circle.

Naruto didn't recognise the bird, which would mean that it was something not indigenous to Konoha. Sasuke noticed his presence and turned to him with an odd look. "Were you able to complete your technique?"

His blonde companion grinned and pointed to his forehead dramatically. "I swore I was going to become Hokage, and that's what I'll do."

"It was just a simple question, Naruto. I didn't ask about being Hokage. Nobody ever does."

Naruto grinned at him nonetheless, answering Sasuke's question without a word. The Uchiha put up a hand and let the small hawk land on it. He wasn't one for attachment to animals, but there was something about the brown hawk with exotic marks on its feathers that he found rather intriguing.

"This is what I learnt."

"How to summon a bird? Bahahahaha!" Naruto fell on his rear end with a loud roar of laughter.

Sasuke snarled and commanded the hawk to return back to its world, causing it to disappear in a small puff of smoke. He turned to the laughing child and placed his hands together quietly.

Naruto struggled to pick himself up from the ground, wiping his eyes with a massive grin.

"That's too fu…"

A giant fireball came screaming towards him, burning up parts of the trees around him.

"Oh shiiiiittttt!"


Author's Note:

So a general synopsis for this story. Nobody besides the Hokage knows that Naruto has the Kyuubi within him. The Uchiha were destroyed by the Kyuubi beside Itachi and Sasuke. Naruto wasn't shunned by the populace, but not having any family has given him perspective on loneliness, but his character is a little bit different from the original nonetheless.

I can also say that this story won't be following in the main story's footsteps. Every mission will be original from my mind, perhaps with shoutouts and elements of the main story but nonetheless original. There are plenty of stories like that out already.

This story is essentially an excuse for me to explore the characters is a different environment than my other story The Wanderers, and have fun with them. If you are looking for a more serious story, then I suggest reading that one. I also want to use this story to try and get characters like Sakura right, since I don't think she's been given justice in the original story.

I can't give a reasonable estimate on how often the chapters for this will come out. My main priority is still The Wanderers, particularly considering how much more that story still has to go. I'll try for every fortnight or such, but no promises.

Please review and tell me what you think. I try to reply to each reasonable review, and believe me I read them all. Tell me what can be improved, what you liked, what you didn't, everything. I'm a writer so I'm always open to criticism.