Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. If I did, I probably wouldn't be doing this.

"Talking"

Thoughts

Demon/Inner Conversation

Time Passage

Well, since people at least seem interested, here we go.

Six years later…

As the villagers parted, Itachi couldn't help but give a mental sigh. Keeping his promise hadn't been particularly difficult, but Naruto had such an easy time making it frustrating. The villagers hadn't done as the Fourth had hoped, and even ended up hating the boy, save for a few such as the two who ran the little ramen stand Naruto frequented so often. Teuchi, and his daughter Ayame, if he wasn't mistaken. And Itachi was rarely mistaken. The villagers' anger may have been irrational at times, but the boy certainly wasn't helping. He honestly hadn't the slightest clue where Naruto got the idea that pulling pranks on the villagers would make them more tolerant of him. Once the entire crowd had departed, he turned to the fence at his right.

"You can come out. They're gone."

Suddenly the fence seemed to ripple, as Naruto pulled away the sheet he'd painted to match it as a quick escape. He could cause trouble, but at least he knew how to hide. Even if he was crazy enough to wear bright orange. What made it even more baffling was that he never even appeared to use any kind of jutsu to make the sheet blend in with the fence properly. Nothing that loud and that brightly colored should be able to blend into the environment like that without using genjutsu. It really was a mystery. The kid suddenly grinned up at him.

"Heh. Thanks, freaky eyes."

Giving a short nod, despite his annoyance at the "pet name" Naruto had given him, he turned away before adding a piece of advice. "You might want to lay low for a while. You went overboard on this one."

"Yeah, yeah. I'm outta here. Thanks again for scaring 'em off, freaky eyes."

As Naruto walked off, probably to cause more trouble, Itachi couldn't help but let his mind wander to Naruto's wording. Scaring them off. He found it…Interesting, how at age eleven, many grown men were afraid to look him in the eye if he appeared agitated. Admittedly, it was incredibly rare for someone to have enough talent to reach the rank of Chunin at ten years old, and it was almost unheard of to master the Sharingan by eight years old. So their fear may have been well founded. The only other instance of one so young achieving the Sharingan was Madara.

Madara Uchiha. Now there was another matter occupying his thoughts more and more often. His ancestor had come to him not too long before, preaching about the weakness of the Uchiha Clan. And as Itachi watched his clan and the other villagers, as he truly looked deeper into their actions and beliefs, he couldn't help but wonder if Madara's words held a grain of truth. At first, he hadn't even believed the man to be anything but an insane wanderer who wanted to be part of the famous Uchiha Clan. That is, until he had shown Itachi a far more advanced version of the Sharingan. He hadn't explained how to achieve this "Mangekyo Sharingan," but he'd asked Itachi to at least consider his words.

No, I can focus on that later. Right now I have to deal with the Naruto situation As he reached the Uchiha Compound, his thoughts turned back to the boy. While there had been a few attempts on Naruto's life as an infant, they had quickly been stopped. Afterwards, few had tried anything so extreme. Most of them simply ignored the child, kept their children away from him, or shoved the boy around once in a while. Even his own parents were somewhat harsh to the boy, though they allowed his little brother Sasuke to at least be around the boy when Itachi was present. He was glad that Naruto had found something of a friend in the younger Uchiha. It was surprising, given the obvious similarities between Naruto and his father. They were almost identical. The same wild blond hair, the same bright blue eyes, the same carefree and energetic postures...

But as time went on, and Naruto began to get older they had started getting worse. More aggressive over lesser offenses. And it was starting to worry him. He'd never figured out exactly what happened to Naruto. He wasn't willing to resort to torture, not over something like that, and the village had never been so collectively tight-lipped about anything as far as he could remember. They clearly feared him, and it must have had something to do with his connection to the Kyuubi or the Fourth's death. Perhaps both. Either way, something had to be done about it. So naturally, knowing the Hokage couldn't get personally involved on the chance that the villagers believed Naruto had somehow "corrupted" him, and that the "demon boy" wouldn't be accepted into the Uchiha Clan even as nothing more than a friend of the clan, Itachi decided to take things into his own hands.

As he entered his room, he saw his little brother sitting on the ground, tossing one of Itachi's old training kunai into the air. Unfortunately for Sasuke, he was distracted by his big brother's entrance just as he tossed the tool up, and all things that go up must inevitably come down. Sometimes on the heads of those who threw them in the first place. As much as Itachi wanted to look after his little brother, he couldn't allow him to become directly involved in his little plot. He was going to have enough trouble with Naruto alone. So as Sasuke grinned up at him sheepishly, he knew he had to tell him.

"Sasuke, I'm going to be leaving the village for a while. I'm taking Naruto." As Sasuke looked up at him in shock, and even a little bit of betrayal at the implication that he would be left out, Itachi felt he may have been a little too blunt.

"It's not because of you. You know how the villagers treat Naruto, yes?" At Sasuke's nod, he continued, "They've been getting worse. Violent. I don't think he's very safe."

"So you're leaving me here!"

"Think of it more as me making you the keeper of my secret."

"Secret?"

"I'm not telling anyone about this. Not the Hokage, not the clan, not Shisui, not even mother or father. Only you. I need someone I can trust here in Konoha. You're my brother, and one of Naruto's only friends. I need you here." While Sasuke was still visibly upset, there was a hint of pride in his eyes as well, likely in the knowledge that he could be useful to his brother. But still, Itachi felt he should at least repay him somehow…

Of course! He's always asking me about it. "Sasuke. How would you like to learn the Great Fireball technique?" And as Sasuke's sadness suddenly disappeared, replaced by excitement, he knew he had found the best way to handle the situation. "Come on. Let's go."

"Right now?"

"Yes. I'm going to be leaving soon, so we don't have too long."

----

As he carried his half-conscious brother home, exhausted from spending an entire afternoon trying to generate the necessary chakra to use the technique, and doing surprisingly well. He hadn't gone as far as Itachi had in such a short time period, but he was definitely talented when he gave it his all. He had picked up the hand seals quickly, and even managed to produce a small burst of fire before getting too tired to continue.

As he slowly put Sasuke down on the bed, the young boy stirred, and glanced at him.

"You're…leaving?"

"Yes."

He could tell that his brother was trying not to cry in front of him, not wanting to be embarrassed. In a rare sign of affection, knowing they might not meet again for some time, he ruffled the boy's hair for a moment.

"We'll meet again, sometime. Then you can show me how much your technique has improved."

"It'll be the best." Sasuke mumbled tiredly, smiling up at him.

"I'm sure it will. Now go to sleep, brother."

It was time to pick up Naruto. And as Itachi began walking towards the rundown apartment complex, the reinstated Third Hokage watched through his crystal ball, his own plan already beginning to form.

AN: Anyway, still happy to see reviews, be they praise, constructive criticism, or flames. Hope you enjoyed.