The sun was just rising over the horizon when Mikoto finally made it to the border of Nami no Kuni. She knew that when the sleeping passenger she was carrying would finally awake, she would have to explain a few things and answer quite a few questions. She gazed upon the sunrise, pondering how these last twenty-four hours would affect not only her entire life, but the lives of many people. Although raising a child again would be hard in an "on the run" environment, she knew that she would be extremely happy doing such. Despite always wanting a second child, she knew that her 'husband' would try to sway her child just like he tried Itachi, due to the fact he could not manipulate Itachi, she feared what would happen to a child, especially if anything like Fugaku. As if it was fate, as she was finishing up her thoughts the young child began to stir.
"Where am I?" asked the dazed child
"We are barely in Nami no Kuni, waiting for Itachi" answered Mikoto
"What is going to happen now, and what did Itachi mean we are family" asked Naruto, slightly worried about the answer, he did not want to feel like he was abandoned. This would undoubtedly crush the child.
"Well you see, I was your mother's best friend, and because of that I was chosen to be your godmother, but not only that, you are part Uchiha, as you have the sharingan. So in a way we are family" responded Mikoto, she did not know how to explain the complexity of the given situation to a child who's learning was not where it should be.
"Why did you wait so long" carefully asked Naruto, again afraid of the answer he could receive, the thought of having family was quite a new thought, but due to how he grew up he tried to not be overly hopeful.
"I wasn't allowed, I was able to sneak in groceries, but other than that the Uchiha clan head didn't want any attachments to you, nor did the Hokage want clans watching you" responded as if on instinct, however as those words slipt she realized she would have more questions to answer.
"Why did hokage-jiji not want clans watching me, does he see me the same as some of the villagers" worryingly asked Naruto.
"No nothing like that, there is a reason that makes sense, but you are still a little young for me to answer that" Mikoto craftingly responded, she knew that if the he knew he was the Kyubi container, he could easily hate himself or resent the villagers. Despite not liking what Konoha has become, she would never wish to see it in peril.
"Oh ok, you said you knew my parents, who were they?" Naruto questioned with excitement
"Your mother was Kushina Uzumaki, she was a beautiful women with long red hair and a slightly round face. She used to be called tomato head as a child because of it, until she began beating the boys up who made fun of her. Despite her temper, she was as loyal and loving as they came, she was nothing short of excited and happy when she found out she was going to be a mother, however life had other plans… Your father was a smart and powerful man, he was quite most of the time, except when with your mother. Despite how powerful he was, he never let arrogance blind him, nor did he present himself as superior to others, everyone was equal in his eyes. I will not tell you who he was yet, in our situation if someone were to hear any conversations about him it would make our survival much more difficult. I can say both your parents would want you to become a smart, powerful, and loving shinobi." Mikoto responded with some nostalgia, it had been a long time since she described Kushina in such a way.
"Thank you, uh what is your name" Naruto responded sheepishly, with all the converse he never asked her name
"It's Mikoto" she responded with a quiet laugh, knowing he had more important things to ask at the time
"Naruto, now that you will be traveling with Itachi and I, we are going to have a lot to teach you, it will be easy at first but eventually when we get into shinobi training, that is if you wish, it will be extremely hard, will you be ok with this" she asked, she wanted so very badly to help teach a child basic things, as well as train them in shinobi arts.
"Yes, but i'm not good at reading or writing, but I want to be a strong shinobi to make my parents proud" responded Naruto, somewhat downcast at first.
"I know, I will help you don't you worry" Mikoto said rather happily
As they were finalizing the conversation, Mikoto sensed a person approaching rather rapidly, however she recognized the chakra and was immediately at ease. Relief washed over her knowing that her son was alive, she hated leaving him behind but knew that she needed to in the situation. Shortly after sensing him Itachi arrived but Mikoto quickly noticed he had a worried look on his face.
"What's wrong Sochi" Mikoto asked with concern.
"The mission was a success, however the Sandaime noticed that 'he' was missing and dispatched ANBU to search for him, I knew he was going to find out, but to find out so quickly and dispatch teams makes things much harder for us. We are going to need to create more distance between us, while remaining away from shinobi villages for the time being. Also the mission proved harder than I thought, the things I did to people I once considered friends is not something I want to see or do again." Responded Itachi with a sullen tone and deep frown. Despite how he acted around others, his mother was one person he would open to, as she understood what it meant to be a shinobi and cared for him as a mother should.
"That does create problems for us, however I suspected it would not be long, we should consider heading deeper into wave, even going as far to venture to Uzu as it hasn't been used in a long time. As for what you did, it was necessary, if you didn't do it, they would have died without any honor and downcast the Uchiha name, you stopped that." Mikoto responded, for the first time she did not know entirely how to make the situation better, killing a friend was something she had not experienced, but she knew that just being there would help, no matter how little it would be.
"There is something else kaa-san" Itachi responded, activating his sharingan. Quickly the three tomoe pattern spun into a shuriken. Mikoto immediately recognized what Itachi possessed and gasped. She had not actually gazed into those eyes before.
"Is that the"
"Mangekyō Sharingan" Itachi quickly cut her off
"You need to be careful with those eyes Itachi, they will blind you the more you use them" Mikoto voiced with nothing but concern and worry, not only could they not afford to be burdened like that, she would hate to see her son go through such pains.
Forgotten to them for the time, Naruto was silently observing what was happening, what was a sharingan? A mangekyō? What did Itachi do and why did he hurt his friends? These were all questions running through his mind, and he decided to voice them.
"What is a sharingan, and why did he hurt his friends" Naruto asked pointing to Itachi, if he hurt his friends, would he hurt him? This was his biggest concern at the moment.
As if recognizing his concerts, Mikoto responded, "Despite them being friends Naruto, they were going to hurt a lot of people, it was the only way to save lives. As for the sharingan, it is the bloodline of the Uchiha clan" to elaborate she activated hers to show him "You also have these eyes, which is how we know we are somewhat family" Responded Mikoto trying to lighten the mood.
Naruto then remembered how she told him he had the sharingan, but he forgot due to other questions at the time.
"Now Naruto, this is my son Itachi, you can trust him. He is the one who saved you last night"
"Hello Naruto, I will try to be like a big brother and teach you to be a good man, if you would like" Itachi asked his new surrogate brother, somewhat anticipating they would be a good family.
Not used to people offering up help, let alone two different people shortly after another, he could only carefully nod.
"Itachi we most move if we want to not be found so soon, we also need to start teaching him reading and writing, if we want to move onto shinobi arts, it is important." Stated Mikoto, packing up anything she had taken out since she arrived. She certainly did not want to have to fight Konoha ANBU at the moment. It had been a long stressful night for her, let alone her son. Any confrontation now would only make matters worse. Itachi quickly nodded and prepared himself for movement. Mikoto picked up Naruto and they quickly set off deeper into Nami no Kuni to find a place to sleep and gather supplies.
Konoha
If the Sandaime wasn't worried before, he most certainly was now. Itachi killed half his clan, the Jinchuriki was missing, as was Mikoto. He only theorized that Naruto was with both missing Uchiha, he could not prove it, nor could he prove that Mikoto was at all involved in the massacre. This left him troubled, if word got out they had their Jinchuuriki missing, especially if he was with the clan killer, it would make Konoha look weak, and they could not afford that right now.
"ANBU, place Itachi Uchiha as an S rank missing nin, wanted dead or alive for one million ryo. Also mention his strengths and weaknesses, dismissed"
The Sandaime could feel that his troubles about the matter were far from over, for now though he had other things to attend to.
-End Chapter-
Notes: Although nothing really but dialogue in this chapter, I wanted to start the relationships between Naruto, Mikoto, and Itachi.
The POV from the Sandaime is to show the reader what the characters do not know, for instance being an S rank missing nin. These will stop more than likely next chapter. I am also not entirely sure if I want the family to go to uzu to learn, or travel around for a while and go to Uzu for shinobi training. Now I am not using Uzu simply because Naruto is an uzumaki, but rather because the island is uninhabited, and thus shields them from prying eyes that way.
As always, this is my first time writing a story, let alone a fanfiction, so please leave some feedback. Thank You :D