Part 1

Introduction Arc

Chapter 1 - The Will to Live

There is a torrential storm engulfing the usually peaceful village of Konohagakure no Sato; with billowing winds, torrential rain, ground shaking thunder and forked lightning illuminating the otherwise pitch black night. In the face of such a great and terrible storm almost the entire village is taking shelter in their homes. But as lightning once again flashes across the sky, it briefly illuminates a small figure sitting on the edge of Hokage monument, more specifically, the head of the Yondaime. A closer look at the figure reveals a boy, while appearing only nine years old, is in actuality twelve. His ragged clothes, enough to barely cover him do nothing to hide his malnourished frame. His hair while normally blonde is blackened with dirt and other filth that comes from living on the streets. His face is pale and cheeks marred by lines resembling whiskers. But all of that is nothing compared to his eyes; eyes that have no place being on a child. These eyes, eyes of the deepest blue, are dulled by pain and anguish that comes from a village showing nothing but hatred and contempt for his very existence, if they acknowledged him at all. These eyes were dead with no spark of life in them. Were it not for the rise and fall of his small chest, one would never know he was alive.

You might wonder why this child was on the monument during a storm. Such a thing is dangerous, especially in this storm. A large gust of wind could blow him off the edge, the torrential downpour could sicken him, and even the lightning could strike him at such a height. The boy knew all of this, but he didn't care. In fact, one might even say he would welcome it. Why you ask; because anything would be better than his current existence. This boy, this broken child, is Naruto Uzumaki; jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi no Kitsune that attacked his home village on the day of his birth, the same attack that robbed him of his parents, Minato Namikaze and Kushina Uzumaki. However Naruto knew none of this. If it weren't for the kindly village leader that occasionally came to see him in the orphanage before he was thrown out a week ago, he would not even know his name, due to constantly being called monster or demon.

It was during this storm that one of the ANBU that had been searching for the missing child on orders of the Sandaime Hokage found Naruto as he was sitting on the edge of the monument. Arriving in a blur of speed behind the child, the boy turned around and stared at the holes of the ANBU mask where the eyes would be, not reacting or moving beyond that. Black cloak fluttering in the wind, the weasel-masked ANBU stepped forward and gently picked up the child and cradled his malnourished frame to his own body as he disappeared in a murder of crows to report to his leader.

In the Hokage's office

In a circular office dominated by a large desk that was full of unfinished paperwork, we see Hiruzen Sarutobi, the Sandaime Hokage, standing in front of the large panoramic window that overlooks the village. The elderly man was puffing on his pipe with an anguished air around him as he once again looked over the report dated 3 days ago that is causing him so much grief.

ANBU REPORT PRIORITY ONE

Agent: Uchiha, Itachi

Code Name: Weasel

Rank: ANBU Captain

Subject: Uzumaki, Naruto

Begin Report

I made my way to the village orphanage for my weekly check-in on the subject. Upon my arrival I could no longer sense the large chakra signature that is distinctive to the subject. Investigation revealed that the caretaker, one Kisara Ishida, decided to "kick the filthy demon out of my fine establishment to the streets where it belongs". Upon breaking the Hokage's decree regarding the subject's jinchuuriki status, I immediately incapacitated her with a small genjutsu and transported her to the T&I dept. for immediate interrogation *see attached report filed by Ibiki Morino* where no further relevant information on the location of the subject was obtained. Per the Hokage's decree, Kisara Ishida was summarily executed and her body disposed of. I suggest that immediate efforts are made to locate the subject for fear of village retaliation.

End Report

Turning away from the window where he could see the storm was raging, Hiruzen gazed upon the portrait of the past Hokage, more specifically, the Yondaime with sadness.

'Forgive me Minato. No matter what I try to do it appears your son will have no end to this strife. The village foolishly projects their hatred for the beast sealed within him on him when they should be celebrating his existence as a hero. You would be so ashamed of your village.'

A surge of chakra breaks him out of his ruminations to see a murder of crows forming into the familiar shape of the ANBU captain Itachi Uchiha with the still emotionless Naruto in his arms.

"Naruto!" - The Hokage cries out in shock as he sees the deplorable condition he is in. Seeing the boy shift his gaze with those dead eyes to his self proclaimed jii-san, the old Hokage could not help but have a cold chill go down his spine as he sees the dead, incomprehensive gaze of the boy he thinks of as his grandson.

Snapping out of his shock, Hiruzen kneels in front of the boy sitting on the couch and gently asks - "Naruto-kun? Can you hear me? What happened to you?"

However, there is no response from the boy, only an immense sadness and pain appears in his eyes as a few tears fall down his grime streaked cheeks. This only causes the Hokage's heart to be crushed with the weight of more guilt and anguish. With a breaking heart, Hiruzen turns to the now unmasked face of Itachi Uchiha and gives him a nod. Returning it, Itachi's onyx eyes morph to the distinctive red with three black tomoe of the sharingan as he steps forward and gently shifts Naruto's head so dull blue is gazing into sharingan red. Upon seeing the hypnotically spinning tomoe of the sharingan, Naruto's eyes immediately start to droop before shutting completely in sleep. Itachi then gently lays him down on the couch that looks so large on his small frame. Seeing the child shiver from the cold of being in the rain for hours, Itachi removes his cloak and gently wraps it around the now sleeping child, whose face even in sleep seems lined with pain.

Turning to look at the village leader now sitting behind his desk with his shoulders shaking due to suppressed sobs, Itachi says in a soft-spoken, yet still serious voice - "With all due respect Hokage-sama, this cannot go on. He has not smiled or laughed in almost a year now. His existence is continuously ignored by a majority of the village and what acknowledgement he does recieve is nothing but misplaced hatred and contempt. If this continues, I fear he will not live to see his thirteenth birthday; whether by the village finally deciding to try and kill the boy or him simply committing suicide."

Sighing sadly, the Hokage nods and says - "You are correct Itachi-kun. But what can we do? I can't keep making more laws that the villagers will just disregard anyway. They already deny him service in almost every store, he is constantly sabotaged in the academy and the older generations keep their own children away from Naruto-kun. If I push the villagers even further, they might start physically attacking him. I can't even imagine what a disaster that could be."

Nodding, Itachi adds - "Not to mention the threat of Danzo and his ROOT. He and the elders have been trying for years to get you to hand him over to them."

Hiruzen just nods silently in agreement as both men look at the sleeping jinchuuriki. With a voice that has the smallest hint of pleading, Hiruzen asks - "What should I do Itachi-kun? No matter how much I try to help, I seem to just make things worse."

Itachi contemplates this as he gazes silently at Naruto.

'He could be capable of great things for this village. A true symbol of a peace to be sought after. But given the current state of things, such a hope is impossible.'

After a few minutes of silence barring the sounds of the storm outside, Itachi gives an almost inaudible sigh with a final thought of - 'For the good of Konoha.' turns to the Hokage with onyx eyes hard and determined saying - "I will train him. Let me take him away from the influence of the village's hatred and teach him of the Will of Fire."

Hiruzen looks up, startled and curious. He takes the pipe out of his mouth before asking - "Why would you do this Itachi-kun? And what would your own clan have to say about training the village jinchuuriki? You know the situation is delicate with them right now. They have become more and more isolated since the Kyuubi attack and I don't trust Fugaku anywhere near Naruto-kun."

Itachi, having thought of this, replies - "You can make this an S-Rank mission and then they would not have to know the details as they would be classified. They would only know that I have to leave the village for an undetermined amount of time."

Nodding thoughtfully, Hiruzen strokes his goatee and says - "Yes that would work. But are you willing to undertake this task? It will be monumental in his current condition. You could be gone for a long time."

Standing at attention, Itachi replies - "Yes Hokage-sama. I am willing to do whatever it takes for the sake of the village."

Hiruzen nods then stands with a face full of authority that only the Hokage can make. Seeing his leader's change in demeanor, Itachi immediately kneels with his right arm crossed over his chest, making a fist over his heart in the traditional ANBU salute.

Seeing this, Hiruzen then gives the order - "ANBU Captain Weasel. I am assigning you the S-Rank mission of taking the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki, Naruto Uzumaki, away from the village for two years. During which time you are to train and instruct him to the best of your abilities to live the life of a shinobi."

Nodding in acceptance, Itachi responds - "Hai, Hokage-sama, I will not fail you."

Itachi rises as Hiruzen moves back behind his desk to write out the mission scroll and stamps it with the Hokage Seal. Handing the scroll to Itachi, Hiruzen says - "Train him well Itachi. Show him the Will of Fire that Konoha prides itself on and send me weekly reports via your summons. Gather your gear. You leave in one hour."

Pocketing the scroll, Itachi then picks up Naruto and disappears in a murder of crows.

Meanwhile, unknown to the two, there was someone hidden in the office who had heard the entire conversation.

'I must inform Danzo-sama of this.'

The cloaked figure, with a mask that has the kanji for Root, silently disappears from the Hokage's office.

One hour later at the village gates

Itachi, who has Naruto draped across his back with another cloak to shield him from the rain, was making his way out the village gates when he senses a spike of potent killing intent. Sharingan activating on reflex to the presence of the killing intent, Itachi detects a familiar chakra signature. Puzzled, and mildly alarmed, Itachi slowly turns to a seemingly empty space in the shadows of the gate and waits for the person to make himself known.

"Where are you going with Naruto, Itachi?" - The voice asks in a deadly serious tone.

The person, who steps out of the shadows, reveals himself to be attired in the standard jonin outfit with the addition of a half mask covering the end of his nose and lower face, had gravity defying silver hair that stands up even in the torrential downpour and a scarred eye covered by his hitai-ate. This left the remaining eye, a hard onyx color pinning Itachi in place with his senpai's piercing gaze. His stance, while appearing to be relaxed almost to the point of lazy, is in fact on guard and ready to strike at the slightest move at the person who appears to be kidnapping his sensei's son.

Deliberately lowering his guard and bringing his hands up to show cooperation, Itachi asks carefully- "What are you doing here Kakashi-senpai?"

The now identified Kakashi steps forward and blocks the path out of the gate. Raising a kunai and falling into a ready stance born of experience, Kakashi retorts with his gaze and tone unchanged - "That does not matter Itachi now answer the question. Where are you going with Naruto?"

"I cannot give you the details Senpai. Only that this is a mission from Hokage-sama and we will be gone for two years." - Itachi replies as he slowly reaches into his cloak revealing the mission scroll bearing the Hokage Seal.

Slowly stepping forward with his guard never dropping, Kakashi reaches out and takes the scroll from Itachi who has not moved a muscle. Upon verifying the authenticity of the scroll, Kakashi drops his ready stance and adopts a solemn air about him as he looks at the blonde haired child covered by the cloak on Itachi's back and asks - "Are things now so bad that he has to be removed from the village?"

Itachi glances back at the child he had watched over for the past two and a half years and only nods. Kakashi sighs and then shunshins away with a parting order to take care of him. After taking one last look around the village he will not see for the next two years, Itachi steps beyond the borders of the gate and vanishes in a burst of speed to travel the rest of the day and through the night toward their destination.

Primary ROOT Headquarters

Deep underneath the leaf village, there is a huge network of tunnels. These tunnels have had many uses over the years since Konoha's founding; but now they have been commandeered by Danzo Shimura, a man with the title of The Darkness of the Shinobi, to use as his primary base for his ROOT ANBU. Danzo himself is currently standing in front of a kneeling operative as he listens to the latest developments in the case of the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki.

"Is this information accurate, Torune? The jinchuuriki has been removed from the village?" - Danzo asks without a shred of emotion visible on his face or heard in his voice, as is typical of his iron control over his emotions.

Still kneeling with his head bowed to his leader, the masked operative replies - "Hai, Danzo-sama; our agent in the Hokage's office has reported that due to the poor treatment of the jinchuuriki, Itachi Uchiha was to take him away from the village for training. He left approximately 22 minutes ago through the main gates."

'What are you thinking Hiruzen? Giving him to that pacifist fool Itachi to train with is just asking for a weak weapon. Damnable fool, you should have given him to me.' - Danzo mentally seethes as he gestures in dismissal to Torune who dissapears silently.

Moving behind his desk and sitting down with his fingers crossed in front of his face, Danzo gazes at the large Konoha symbol engraved on his floor as he continues to contemplate.

'Very well Hiruzen, lets see how this decision of yours will play out. No matter what happens due to your interference, I will be prepared.'

Near the outskirts of Hi no Kuni

It is now approaching dawn as the duo of Itachi and the still slumbering Naruto arrive at an old Uchiha clan hideout that has not been used since the Second Shinobi War. Having passed the edges of the storm several hours ago, the now dry Itachi takes Naruto inside and prepares to rest for a few hours before starting his mission.

As Itachi makes his way to one of the rest areas, he lights the torches with a small katon jutsu, throwing the barren room in a dull orange light. Taking a look around and seeing the layers of dust that covered everything Itachi uses a fuuton jutsu to clear a small area of most of the dust and dirt. Reaching into his cloak, Itachi removes a small scroll that he rolls out onto the floor. It bears many seals with kanji explaining their purpose. Channeling some chakra through the seal marked bedding; two neatly rolled and packed futons pop out.

Laying them both out, Itachi gently places Naruto on one before removing his hooded cloak, mask and ANBU armor. Then he proceeds to lay down on the other one. As Itachi looks out one of the windows towards the direction of Konoha, a stray though crosses his mind as he succumbs to exhaustion.

'Forgive me Outoto. But young Naruto needs me more than you do right now.'

Inside Naruto's mindscape

Inside the dark and dank sewer full of large pipes and many tunnels, one can make out a faint crimson light at the end of one that, when followed, leads to the enourmous bars that extend to ceiling. Behind these bars, we see a massive red eye full of unfathomable hatred and malice narrow in thought as the mighty biju contemplates all it had witnessed over the past day.

Seething in hate due to the presence of one of the wretched Uchiha, a snarl rips free from his mouth revealing menacing teeth the size of a full grown man as a chilling voice echoes out of the depths of the mindscape.

"And so a new ripple makes itself known. It appears things will soon become interesting."

The next afternoon

Dull blue eyes full of pain open up to see an unfamiliar figure taking two fingers away from his forehead as sharingan eyes fade to black.

"Hello Naruto-kun. Do you know who I am?"

Looking around Naruto spots the familiar weasel mask before turning back toward the figure and asking in confused voice - "Weasel-san?"

At Itachi's nod, Naruto continues with his questions.

"Why am I here Weasel-san? Where am I?"

Sitting down in front of the confused child, Itachi starts explaining what is happening.

"First off Naruto-kun, my name is Itachi Uchiha; do not call me by my ANBU name while we are here. As for why you are here; the Hokage has decided to allow me to take you away from the village and train you in the ways of the shinobi."

A spark of life enters the blue eyes at the word 'training' and Naruto gives off the faintest of smiles as he asks an almost desperately hopeful voice - "Jii-san is letting you train me?"

With a gentle smile, Itachi nods and says - "That is correct. Are you ready to begin?"

Standing up Naruto gives a genuine smile that brings hope to Itachi's heart and says in a determined voice - "Hai Itachi-san; I am ready to begin."

And so began the routine that would slowly but surely bring Naruto out of his depression. The month was slow as Itachi concentrated on correcting the damage to Naruto's body. He started him off on simple strength and endurance drills, as well as feeding him nutrient rich meals designed to help correct the malnourishment. When the two weren't training, they were working on cleaning up their new home. It had been a long time since the place was inhabited, so there was much to do.

The building itself had all the dust and dirt removed as well as repairing various structural damage caused by years of exposure to the elements with no one to maintain it. The grounds were also cleared up as well. With the grass being trimmed and overgrown plants removed, the training fields were cleared of debris and had the sparring dummies and obstacles repaired.

Many other things went into the clean-up of the place and pretty soon, the place looked livable once again. During this time, Itachi assigned most of the menial work to his young charge so as to begin the foundations of recovering his strength. Eventually, with all the manual labor combined with exercise and the strict nutritional regiment, Naruto began to grow and fill out into what an athletic twelve year old should look like.

For the next few months, Itachi began training Naruto not only physically, but mentally as well. It abhorred Itachi when he realized the standard education that all the children receive in the academy Naruto only got the bare bones of. He already knew of the sabotage in the academy, but to deprive Naruto of such basic knowledge of living was despicable.

So after evaluating the knowledge and skills Naruto already had and finding them either completely wrong or so substandard they might as well not even exist, Itachi decided to start practically from the very beginning. He began with writing and comprehension skills, eventually moving on to basic mathematics and history. He also began to impart various other skills that will help him in life such as manners and etiquette, survival skills, emotional control and finally meditation.

Naruto began soaking everything up like a sponge. There was no subject that was too boring or uninteresting to him. Naruto began looking up to Itachi as an older brother figure and did everything he could to make him proud. He always put in 110% into everything he did; his exercises, his studies, all of it.

As the months kept passing, Itachi began increasing the difficulty of his drills and studies as well as beginning instruction in basic forms of taijutsu. It was here where Naruto truly excelled; he kept growing stronger and stronger with each passing day at a rate that astounded Itachi. However, not everything went smoothly. It was when Naruto began chakra training that one issue became readily apparent.

Flashback - 9 months into training

"Try again Naruto-kun." - Itachi asked after seeing Naruto blast through yet another tree in an attempt to learn tree climbing.

Naruto, dressed in a simple set of black training clothes once again stepped forward to the tree and channeled as little chakra as he could before he was once again blasted back.

Motioning Naruto over to him Itachi decided to activate his sharingan in order to analyze Naruto's chakra flow and try to figure out the problem. However, upon activating it and gazing upon his chakra network, Itachi almost recoiled at the sheer amount he saw packed in the small frame.

'He has as much chakra as the Hokage. No wonder he cannot do this.'

Naruto simply had too much chakra to be able to perform standard shinobi techniques and it would only continue to grow as he aged. Naruto was very disappointed and began to work on his chakra control with an almost religious fervor in order to try and overcome this obstacle. But no matter how much he tried, his chakra was simply too large and dense.

When this became readily apparent, Itachi expected Naruto to once again fall into a depression; however Naruto surprised him with his acceptance and began to try and see it as an advantage. Then for the rest of the year, he threw himself into his training with almost suicidal zeal that had Itachi concerned. But no matter how much Itachi decided to try and get him to slow down, Naruto always disregarded him.

By the end of the first year, Naruto was already almost chunin level in skills. It was almost disconcerting how much he was improving. The next few months of the second year were dedicated to elemental training. After discovering his affinities, which was an extraordinarily strong affinity to fire and an almost equal level in lightning, Naruto and Itachi began to try and experiment in things that could be done with Naruto's elements seeing as normal ninjutsu and genjutsu were forever out of his reach.

It was here when Itachi began to back off and let Naruto become more self-reliant, seeing as he had little left to teach him. He had nowhere near the amount of chakra that Naruto had so he could not teach him genjutsu, which was his forte, and he was only able to teach him the most chakra intensive techniques that he knew, such as the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu and other such techniques that required an enormous amount of chakra to perform.

It was about seven months into the second year when things turned to a darker direction for Itachi. He began to notice small things about Naruto that started becoming worrisome the closer they came to returning to the village. There appeared to be a darkness growing in Naruto that Itachi had no idea what to do about and by the time the final month came around, he became cold to everything, even him.

Naruto was very careful hiding this transformation from Itachi but he still let some things slip occasionally; on overly vicious strike in a spar, a distinct lack of mercy in some bandit camp exterminations that he and Naruto used for some training and just general ruthlessness. Every time Itachi tried to confront Naruto about this, he was always brushed off and had the subject changed. Even if he insisted, Naruto clammed up with the emotionless look that had taken to being permanently etched on his face and refused to talk to Itachi for a few days, instead choosing to visciously destroy the training grounds and surrounding area.

Itachi was worried about returning to the village with Naruto in such a state, but he had no choice. The reports he received from the Hokage were becoming worrisome and it looked like his clan was further destabilizing. He had to get back and figure out what was happening as it was starting to look like the village would be plunged into a civil war.

Eventually, the day came when they had to return to the village and Itachi had no idea just how much things were about to change.

EDIT 1/19/17: This chapter has been revised and new content has been added.

EDIT 1/28/17: Fixed an error that incorrectly said Naruto was nine, not twelve.