Disclaimer: I do not own anything about the Naruto series


People talking: 'Hi"

People thinking: Hi

Summon or Kyuubi talking: "Hi"

Jutsu: Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu


Ah…

What is this really bright light?

All that I can see a white blur…

I thought I was at the forest, far from the city...

This does not look like the forest. Where I am? Ouch! My head really hurts!

My vision is finally clearing; I think I can see better now. Wait, I think I know this place!

White ceilings, heart rate machines, I already know where I am! I am at the hospital!

Man, the last time I was here was when I hit my head in that branch when training evasion with Itachi-sensei. I was very distracted trying to avoid those shurikens that sensei threw at me and did not saw that branch. Sensei can really be a slave driver sometimes. Stupid tree!

It was a pretty ugly bruise with all that blood which was gushing. Haha! I remember that Sasuke fainted when he had a good view of the wound. He is such a little girl! When Itachi-sensei and him brought me to the hospital by the end of the day it was already healing. The doctor said it was because I have fast healing. I believed in him but I think he was trying to hide something from me! It was very suspicious! What could it be? Ah, whatever! AI, the pain that never stops!

Well, what was the last thing I remember before I blackout? Oh God, just trying to think my head hurts! But I am managing to remember now. I think I was at the training ground with sensei. Yeah, that is right! Then he said something that made me a little sad. What was it again? Ah, he said that he could not train me anymore. Why would he say that? I am quite sure I did nothing wrong to him.

And he was crying! Sensei never cries. He almost does not show any emotions at all. It is just like Shikamaru stop being lazy and Hokage-jii-san stop reading those perverted books. It never happens! Something very serious must have happened! But what was it?

"I see that you have already waked up" said a voice that the blonde knew too well, it was a voice of a person that he knew since he was a toddler. Naruto slowly turned his head to the left side of his bed, trying to avoid the pain the best he can, and saw the Sandaime Hokage seated in a chair near him in front of the window. From the window he could see that it was a rainy day. Looking again to the Old Man the blond academy student noticed that the leader of Konohagakure had a tired expression on his face. It seemed like he had worked a lot lately and the stress was making the best of him.

"What happened yesterday, Hokage-jii-san? The last thing I can remember was that I was in the forest near the border of the village, talking with Itachi-sensei- Ops!" Damn it! Now is not the time to forget that Itachi-sensei and I were trying to keep our training sessions a secret. What I am going to do now? I will have to lie to Jii-san. I hate having to lie! The young jinchuuriki frowned and started to talk while making negative gestures "Did I say Itachi-sensei? I was actually trying to say…"

"You do not have to worry about that, Naruto, I already know about your training with Itachi. I am the Hokage; I have to know about every citizen of Konoha. How can I not know about the training of my future successor?" said Sarutobi smirk about the last part. The child smiled about what he had heard from the Sandaime and felt relieved that he did not had to lie to the Hokage. He did not know if he really could do it.

Seeing that the blonde was distracted in his thoughts, the Hokage coughed, calling his attention. "And to answer your question, one of my ANBU, while returning from a mission out of the village, found you, unconscious, lied against a tree in the middle of the clearing where you usually trained." Ah, so that explain why he was in the hospital! But why was he unconscious? Did sensei knocked him out? Confused about the whole situation, the sun kissed to-be-shinobi asked: "Then, Ojii-san, please tell me what happened?"

Sarutobi paused. It was a very complicated situation he had to face now. The Sandaime did not know how he was going to tell Naruto what happened last night. He was not a fool and while he was old, he was not going senile unlike some people think (cough Danzou cough). He earned his title of "The Professor" because of his intelligence after all.

He knew very well about Itachi teaching and training the blonde in the shinobi arts. Well, Young Itachi, despite being just 15 years old, was an ANBU Captain and because of that answered directly and only to him. Also, the Uchiha prodigious always told him what he was teaching and what he was going to teach the sun kissed jinchuuriki.

By letting this secret training between the Uchiha heir and the Yondaime's legacy continue he saved effort from the village because he did not have to send an entire ANBU squad to protect Naruto. Young Itachi had quite the needed power to successfully protect the sun kissed child from any attack he may suffer. Not that he was attacked often. Actually, it only happened once, just a week after his birth, and the Hokage showed what happened to those that disobeyed the law. The criminal was executed in front of the entire village. No one had the courage to try the same thing again.

But he did not know if the others hidden villages from the others countries knew about Naruto's heritage and status as a jinchuuriki. If they knew they might think that Konoha was trying to produce a war weapon and send assassins to kill the child. Because of that, the Sandaime always send an ANBU squad to look for Naruto, just for precaution. Well, better safe than sorry!

The Sandaime also knew about his "adoptive" grandson strong bond with little Sasuke and with the famous Uchiha Clan. He was very happy that they did not have any sort of resentments towards Naruto as had the most of the villagers. He was happy for the blonde too, because he finally found people who treated him as an equal like himself, Iruka and the gentle family that was the owner of the child's favorite stand, Ichiraku and his daughter Ayame.

On the other hand, he knew that the Uchiha clan was not pleased with their position in Konoha and that they were planning a coup d'état. But he just could not let that happen. If he did, a civil war would break in the village and the others country would not think twice in trying to take the opportunity of attacking a weakened Konohagakure. And because of that, Young Itachi had to take that unfortunate and cursed mission that affected directly not only him, but Little Sasuke and Naruto too.

And that explain his fear of this moment happening. I wish I had managed to negotiate with Fugaku now. If only the Uchiha clan head was not too stubborn and did not refuse all my propositions, we could have been in peace now instead of suffering. Sarutobi sighed, this was one of the moments which a shinobi had to kill his heart and do what is needed. Now, he needed to act as a true leader of Konoha. "Naruto, please brace yourself, what I am going to tell you will probably have a big effect on your life from now on"

The blue eyed boy frowned. What was with people calling him and saying that they needed to talk with him about serious issues lately? First was Itachi-sensei, who made me promise those strange things that I still could not understand and now Hokage-jii-san? Well, he had nothing to do but to listen. "Ok, Ojii-san, I am prepared to hear whatever you have to tell me."

The Hokage made a serious face and talked: "Yesterday, at night, the Uchiha Clan was exterminated by one single shinobi."

Naruto was beyond shocked. The entire clan was exterminated? Why? They were one of the only people that truly liked and respected him in the village and now they were gone. He would never more help Mikoto-kaa-chan make dinner; neither play with Sasuke and the other Uchiha children nor prank the guards of the compound and run for his life to not get caught.

Tears started to flow from the blue eyes of the blond child. God must hate him. It seems that he was condemned to live always alone. Sure he had some friends at the academy like Shikamaru and Chouji but it was not even close compared to the relationship he had with the Uchiha. The only bonds that could be compared were the ones he have with Hokage-jii-san, Iruka-sensei, Ichiraku-jii-san and Ayame-chan, but they were always busy, always working and could not play with him all the time.

He looked at them as a model to be followed. Most of the shinobi called them arrogant but he did not see them like this. Those that have negative emotion towards the other cannot judge rationally. It was one of the things he learned with sensei. These shinobi had some kind of grudge with the Uchiha and while he did not know the reason he was sure it was the same reason the villagers had resentments with him.

At the blonde's eyes, they were kind and friendly. And they were one of the strongest clan of the village. How could he not know, his sensei was an Uchiha, he was already an ANBU Captain and he had just 15 years old. But to hear that they were killed by just one man! He needed to know who was the one that had the strength needed to exterminate them all and in one single night.

"Please, tell me Ojii-san, who was the murderer?"

Sarutobi sighed again. Sometimes he wished that he had not accepted the position of the Hokage again after the Yondaime had died. Damn you, Minato! He cursed his student Jiraiya too for not taking the responsibilities of being Hokage. Now, besides all the paperwork that he had to write all night long, he was in a very complicated situation. He knew that it was a very difficult thing to say but he also knew that the child needed to know the truth. After a long pause, the Sandaime looked at the child in the eyes and said in a weak voice:

"Naruto, the shinobi responsible for the Uchiha Masacre was your sensei, Uchiha Itachi."


What! Impossible! Sure, Itachi-sensei did not like the attitude of the clan very much but he would never do something like that! He was a very kind person! He was the most pacifist person he had ever known!

"Yes, my boy, give in to your anger."

This has to be a lie!

"Release your darkest feeling"

This must be a lie!

"He, he, he. Unleash your fury, boy!"

"THIS CANNOT BE TRUE!"


"THIS CANNOT BE TRUE!"

Because of the presence of the Kyuubi' chakra, the jinchuuriki's blue eyes were becoming slitted like the eyes of a fox and his nails were slowly growing and turning into claws. In his fury released by his shout, Naruto threw his blanket away from him and was starting to leak a powerful killing intent for his age.

Darn, he is so angry about the news that he is starting to tap into the Kyuubi' chakra! That kind of killing intent can only be the product of the fox influence. His body is staring to transform. I will not let that happen. The Sandaime then picked the young child hand and squeezed it.

When the Yondaime's heir looked at him with those angry eyes he said: "Naruto, you have to control yourself!" After a few minutes, seeing that the kid was finally calming down, he relaxed a little bit and released the child's hand. Sarutobi certainly did not expect that outburst.

Then Naruto turned again to the Hokage and looked directly at him. After what Sarutobi saw, it looked like an arrow had just pierced his heart. The blonde had a very depressed face, the kind of expression when one had lost all hope in life, his hair was a mess and he was crying a lot. He managed to catch his breath if just for a little bit and slowly spoke: "Why, Ojii-san? Why would he do something like that? It was his own family!"

The Hokage flinched. Naruto could never know about the secret mission of Young Itachi. He would lose all hope he had in the village and in the Hokage himself. The ony if he could do was what he did. He hugged the blonde and told: "I do not know, Naruto, I do not know"

Naruto noticed the momentary flinch of his Hokage-jii-san. He must be hiding something, but for know I will not ask anything. The blonde accepted the hug coming from his "grandfather". Then he realized something and asked: "Where did he go, Jii-san?"

The Sandaime again made a serious face and answered: "Your sensei was truly a top shinobi, Naruto. He managed to avoid being detected by the ANBU and left the village. He will be put in the Bingo Book under the S-rank nukenin category."

The jinchuuriki nodded. His sensei had said that every ninja that left the village was to be marked as a nukenin and put in the Bingo Book. Even after the entire things Itachi had done, he could not bring himself to stop calling him sensei. He knew that his sensei had a reason for doing what he did and the blonde swore that he will find out them one day.

It was in that moment that the Sandaime said something that certainly cheered him up. "I have some good news too" Naruto was surprised, what good news could he possibly tell? Hiruzen laughing a bit about the cpnfused face his grandson had made proceed to tell the news: "Little Sasuke survived the Massacre"

The blonde jumped from his bed with happiness. He still had Sasuke! He was not alone! He was sad that all the Clan was dead but at least Sasuke was alive! Sarutobi, seeing the happy face Naruto made and how energetic he was, could not help but to release a tiny smile. There was still hope. He then picked the child' hand again and said: "Why don't we visit him? I am sure he would like someone close to him right now!"

The blonde nodded and together they left the hospital room in the direction of Sasuke's room.


Sasuke could not believe in what had happened last night. How could his brother done something like that? Now, all his family, no, not just his family, all his clan was gone. He would never again try to gain his father' approbation, or see his mother' smile each time he came home from the academy asking how was his day. Either prank with Naruto the guards from the compound. Oh, those were so funny! He remembered the last prank, when they painted their uniforms pink. They run for hours from the guards but everybody from the clan knew that they loved the pranks because it always brightened the Clan.

But what is worse is that Sasuke thought his old brother was perfect. He wanted to be like him. He was kind but strong, intelligent but altruist. He was proclaimed a once in a generation prodigious. Everybody worshiped him. He was the Uchiha who graduated from the academy at 7, fully mastered the Sharingan at 8, promoted to chuunin at 10 and became an ANBU captain at 13, breaking all old records. He was an example of how a shinobi should be.

However, all that Sasuke could feel now was a strong sentiment of anger. He was angry with his brother for killing his entire clan. He was angry with his dead clan for not being able to do something to survive Itachi's assault. And mainly he was angry with himself for being too weak to do something to stop that massacre from happening.

All because of the events of last night:

Start of the Flashback

It was already night when Sasuke realized that he had lost track of time. The Uchiha child had been too distracted in his training at a training ground near the Uchiha compound. He was trying to do the same trick that his big brother Itachi had shown to him and Naruto. He felt that he almost there. He could feel that he was near an achievement, near clear results.

Fearing a scolding from his mother, Sasuke quickly picked all his shurikens which were spread on the field and put them is his bag. He was anxious to go to his home and tell the big news to his father. He finally managed to score the best grades in all subjects at the academy. He knew his father was going to be proud of him.

He grew up in his brother's shadow and he did not want that. All his life he heard how his brother was an excellent student, a top shinobi and a great teammate. His father only had eyes for him. But he had taken the attention of his father. First was by surprising him in the mastery of the Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu. Then was by asking about their bloodline limit, the Sharingan, wanting to know about its levels and skills. And now he was certain that with his A-grade report he was going to finally achieve total attention from his fathers.

Seeing that it was already night, the black haired child started to run towards the Uchiha compound. Taking care to not get lost, he quickly crossed the forest. Then he remembered that he had talked to Naruto about going together tomorrow to the academy, so they could discuss about their homework on the way to the this reason, he stopped a good distance from his house and decided to take a detour so that he could go to the blonde's house.

Looking to the compound from far, he located two man at the roof of a residence talking. One looked like his brother in his ANBU uniform and the other had a black cape and seemed to be wearing a…orange mask? He scrubbed his eyes to get a better view but the two men had disappeared. It was probably a hallucination .My eyes must be tricking me after all those time reading at the academy and training after the classes.

When he arrived at the jinchuuriki's house, he saw that all lights were turned off. It was strange; Naruto always was at his house at this time of the day. Hn, knowing him he probably must be eating ramen at the Ichiraku Stand. It was too late for him to take another detour so he decided to meet the blond tomorrow earlier to solve the problem.

On his way back to his house, the young Uchiha noticed that something was off. Normally, at this time, the compound was quite busy. People were coming back to their houses so that they could have dinner in family. But now it was strangely quiet. No sounds. Why?

He started to accelerate so that he could arrive at the compound faster. Stopping at the gates he saw that there were no guards. It was very strange. There were always guards. It might day or night and even holiday there was always at least one guard from the Military Police.

When he looked at the compound he saw what he thought was a man crouched on the top of a lamppost. But when he looked again he saw no body. His eyes must be tricking him again.

Quickly, he entered the compound he saw something that would be forever burned in his minds. The streets were filled with corpses. And those corpses were all people from the clan. He recognized two of them; they were a couple of old people that he fondly called oba-san and oji-san. He began to panicky. What is happening?

He began to run in the direction of his house thinking of his family. When he arrived at the front door of his door he called:"Kaa-san! Tou-san!" He heard an answer from his mother "Sasuke… Do not come in!" Since he got no more anwer, he abruptly opened the door. What he saw completely terrorized him.

He saw the bodies of his father above the body of his mother. They were both dead. And his brother was standing behind them. Sasuke asked him:

"Nii-san, Tou-san and kaa-chan… Why? What happened? Who would do something like that?" His brother then throwed a shuriken near his head, which managed to cut his shirt. After that, the ANBU Uchiha looked at him, his fully developed Sharingan activated, and said in a cold voice:

"Foolish little brother." The tomes in his Sharingan started to merge and formed a pinwheel shuriken and he heard his older brother saying: "Mangekyou Sharingan!"

And then he saw everything. He saw his brother killing in cold blood every member of the Uchiha Clan. He saw how his brother killed his mother and brother. He screamed to his nii-san to stop with this, to tell the reason why he was showing this to him. He received no answer. The Genjutsu was over and Sasuke did not have the strength needed to stay standing, he fell into the floor. He asked: "Nii-san, why did you do this?"

Itachi deactivated his Sharingan and said: "They were just a measuring stick to test myself" The younger Uchiha was confused: "A measuring stick? That was why you killed everyone?" His brother continued. "That was very important for me to do so"

Sasuke became angered. He could not stand his brother anymore! He stood up and run to attack his brother. But Itachi was a ANBU Captain, a totally different level, and punched him in the stomach, making him lose his breath.

Sasuke became afraid. Now that he thought a little about this assault he realized the situation he was in. If his father, that was a Jounin, had lost against Itachi what about him? He began to run away, leaving his house behind. But his brother quickly caught up to him. He said:

"You are not worth killing, foolish little brother. If you want to kill me, live miserably! Hate me! Survive through the ugliness. Run, run and cling to life! Then when you have the same 'eyes' I do, come to me."

End of the Flashback.

It was still very hard to believe Itachi had done that and that the Uchiha Clan was no more. He refused to believe that his clan was dead, that his family was dead and he would not see them anymore. But he knew what he had to do from now on.

He will do exactly what his brother said. He will cling to his life. And he will hate him. He will really hate him and that will make him stronger. He will also train so that when he clash in the final battle against him he will have the power needed to kill him and therefore avenge the Uchiha Clan!

It was in that epiphany that Naruto and the Hokage entered his room. Sasuke was surprised for the visir but happy that his other brother came to visit him. After same causal greetings between the black haired boy and the Hokage, Naruto walked in the direction of Sasuke's bed till he was besides him. He then asked:

"Are you OK?"

Sasuke, a little happy for his concern, answered: "Yeah, I am fine now"

The blond jinchuuriki made an action that surprised everyone present in that hospital room. He hugged the now last Uchiha. And then in a sad voice said: "I am sorry for your loss"

The Uchiha did not know how to answer that. It was not like those false sentiments of pity he received from the villagers. It was a true feeling. Sasuke knew too that the blonde also deeply cared for all the Uchiha Clan and knew that the loss affected hard him too. The blonde was always visiting his mom at the compound. And after all, that man was his sensei.

From that moment, Sasuke had another epiphany and knew that what he to do. And for some strange reason, he knew that what he was going to do was the right thing. Little did he know that his action was going to change the future of Konhagakure and the entire continent.

"Naruto, would you like to live with me at the Uchiha compound?"


Surprise chapter!!!

I really just expected to release this next week but the ideas just could not leave my head.

Juts for information, yes, I changed the name of this story, mainly because I did not like the old one.

I know this is a chapter is a little short too, but consider this a New Year Present!

See you and again, Happy New Year's Eve!


Dictionary:

Kaa-san - Mom

Tou-san - Dad

Ojii-san – Old Man or Grandpa

Oji-san - Uncle

Oba-san - Aunt

Jinchuuriki – Literally Power of the Human Sacrifice, that is how the people who houses the tailed beasts are called

Kyuubi – Nine Tails

Nukenin – Missing Nin

Konohagakure – Hidden Leaf