Summary: What if Minato and Kushina had two children? What if one of them was Itachi's age and just as skilled? How would it affect the one born under his father's shadow and one under the Kyuubi's shadow? Read to find out.

"You are truly a kind child. Itachi, lastly, promise me you'll protect Sasuke," Fugaku said.

"Kazuki, I'll tell Kushina-chan hello on the other side," Mikoto smiled.

The two Chuunin's hands gripped swords tightly in their hands to try to stop their hands from shaking so much. Tears rolled down their faces as they said Itachi said he understood and as Kazuki thanked her. Their swords plunged into the Uchiha patriarch and matriarch a moment later.

They had known that they'd miss important events in their brothers' lives. They'd known that they'd miss Academy graduations. They'd known they'd miss so, so many birthdays. They'd known they'd miss New Year's celebrations. They'd known they'd miss everything.

But the reality of their situation hit them hard. They wouldn't see their younger brothers who they had sworn to protect for a long time now. They wouldn't be able to say 'hello' even. The blood staining their hands and shinobi garb was proof enough of that.

Kazuki had known he'd be a traitor to Konoha the moment he Itachi handed him a sword. No, it was when they'd sat above the Hokage monument faces and agreed they'd do anything for each other. They were best friends, after all. They held each other's secrets and pain.

Kazuki suddenly felt sick. He didn't want this! He had to protect Naruto! He had to stay in the village and make sure no one got to him! Fear spread though his veins like wildfire and adrenaline shot through him. He suddenly couldn't breath and his senses were shot. When his vision and hearing came back, Itachi was putting Sasuke under a genjutsu.

Naruto stood in shock, not knowing what to do or say or think. He and Sasuke had stayed late, training and Sasuke invited him for dinner, knowing his mother would say yes. He looked at Kazuki with fear in his eyes. Kazuki instantly hated himself.

He hated himself more when he knew he had to follow Itachi's lead. Chains bounded towards the frightened jinchuuriki. They held him tightly and even though he knew he could squirm in them, he found he couldn't even blink or breathe. His lungs burned and his body screamed in pain as fire style chakra ran across the chains into Naruto's body.

Before Naruto could asphyxiate, Kazuki let him go. Naruto crumpled to the floor, barely conscious.

"You're weak," Kazuki spat with as much hate as he could put in his voice. He filled his eyes with loathing for the young blonde, who didn't have the strength to glare back.

In a pathway that led out of the Uchiha Compound, Itachi explained Kazuki's role in all this.

"As you two know, Kazuki is the Yondaime Hokage's son. He possesses a special kekkei genkai and is therefore useful to me. Transplanting his cells into my body to harness his power is too risky for my health and his life and by extension, his kekkei genkai; therefore I'm taking him with me," Itachi said smoothly.

Itachi ignored him and took another breath, one that burned as it entered his lungs and he crushed the hesitation that dared bubble up in him.

Itachi then began the painful explaination in which Sasuke was to come to him when he possessed the same eyes as him and in order to obtain them, he had to kill his closest friend.

"If you wish to kill us, then run and cling to life," the two Chuunin said in sync to the fearful Academy students.

Sasuke suddenly swooned with a small cry of pain and then his eyes burned a deep red and Naruto's chakra level spiked. The two Chuunin turned their backs and began to walk out of the compound. The Academy students trailed them but they were tired from training so late and something so mentally taxing and overwhelming that they only managed to get their brothers' hitai-ate off.

Itachi and Kazuki couldn't help it; tears rolled down their cheeks, much to their brothers' surprise. Before the two children could realize what was going on, they were already on the floor, unconscious. Wiping their tears off their faces harshly, the two Chuunin made their way to the gates leading out of the village.

They walked in silence, their hearts heavy and breaking. Kazuki felt sick and even more so when a very, very familiar ninja approached them not with cheerfulness at his subordinates, but with shock and caution. A visible eye glanced with uncertainty, not understanding why they were here.

Kakashi's visible eye narrowed suspiciously and he saw the large amount of blood splattered on their uniforms.

"Why are you two here?" Kakashi simply asked."What happened?"

Itachi didn't answer. Kazuki took the lead this time.

"Itachi killed his clan, leaving only Sasuke alive. Naruto is also there. I think you should be there for the village's little demon, Kakashi-senpai," Kazuki explained, smirking a little.

Kakashi knew that these were not his subordinates. But he had to see if Kazuki was bluffing or not. Then again, he had to prevent them from leaving the village. Minato-sensei...why aren't you here at such crucial times?! His mind whirled and tumbled with denial and lack of understanding. The Uchiha were dead? Wait, what? Why? How? Why was Itachi here? And Kazuki? Did he kill them along with Itachi? Why? I don't understand! What's going on?!

"You aren't my subordinates...you aren't Itachi or Kazuki. The Chuunin I know wouldn't kill their clan for some arbitrary reason and wouldn't refer to his younger brother as a demon. Lies! You two are playing some kind of sick joke! This...this is the worst joke I've heard! You two are going to stay in the village with your brothers...isn't that what you want!?" Kakashi pulled out a kunai as his voice lowered with anger and disbelief and hurt and lifted up his hitai-ate, revealing a three-tomoe Sharingan.

"This fight will not take long. It is a person unworthy of the Sharingan against two kekkei genkai holders, one of which holding the true Sharingan," Itachi stated, not bothering to pull out a kunai. Kazuki ran a hand though his hair as chains sprouted out of him with a sigh.

Kakashi barely managed to dodge the first chain with a chakra-enhanced jump. The night was particularly dark, so he couldn't see the handseals Itachi was using to perform a fireball. A scorching hot ball of flames rushed towards Kakashi, who jumped back to dodge. Kazuki smirked and Kakashi shivered. He looked around and around for whatever could be next and suddenly found his feet bound to the ground with glowing chains. More sprouted out of the ground and Kakashi was fully constricted with the chakra chains. Fear raced through his mind as white, hot fire natured chakra poured into his body all at once, at a huge quantity and burned his insides. A scream ripped through the air and to silence him, Itachi grabbed his head and made him look at him straight in the eyes. A genjutsu bombarded his mind and Kakashi fell silent. Kazuki let Kakashi go once he was sure he was unconscious and let his chakra chains disappear into nothingness. Kakashi fell over with a light thud and Itachi did one last small favor: he pulled down his hitai-ate.

Itachi and Kazuki stepped over Kakashi's limp body and made their way in the night through the forest to meet up with Madara at the rendezvous point. Kazuki's common sense and sense of being was fading in and out and he forced himself to be alert as Madara looked up to greet them.

"So I see you brought him as promised. Kazuki, right? When we get the last Bijuu, the Kyuubi, your job is to restrain his powers with that kekkei genkai of yours," Madara instructed. "For now, you'll be paired with Itachi unless one of you dies."

It was carefully constructed. The two brothers stepped into the shadows to let their younger brothers bask in innocence. Sure, their smiling faces were thrown to the wind the moment Itachi and Kazuki's blades sunk into their first Uchiha victim.

The Massacre was carefully placed so that the village believed that the Uchiha were unjustly massacred. Both Chuunin were put to blame for the killings.

A day before, Itachi and Kazuki pleaded to the Hokage to not tell Sasuke of any of this and to not tell Naruto who Kazuki truly was and who his parents were, respectively. Hiruzen gave the two a saddened look and nodded. The loyal Konoha shinobi bowed deeply and took a look at their brothers for the last time before they would be separated.

Naruto believed that Kazuki was a murderer to begin with, and Sasuke now believed such a thing having seen the Uchiha blood staining both Chuunin's swords. Sasuke and Naruto loathed them and wished every possible horrible and painful kind of torture and death on them.

At the funeral, Sasuke was given many sympathetic looks. Sasuke hated it. He hated their looks of pity, their fake words, and their inability to understand how much hate he had and how pained he was.

Naruto didn't give him pity. Naruto offered no words of consolation, having been hated by the same people who pitied the Uchiha. Now, Naruto saw Sasuke as a person to team up with to destroy the two Chuunin who had ruined their lives. As far as he knew, the two Chuunin were together, so it was only natural to arm himself with a person with common interests and a common enemy. Plus, Sasuke was a friend.

Sasuke agreed to this.

"We'll destroy them!" the two seven year olds decided.

Soon after, they ran to the training grounds to train with one another for months. This didn't go unnoticed by Kakashi. With his chakra concealed and a familiar orange book in hand, he watched with mild interest. As his eyes scanned over words, his mind was elsewhere. He wished Kazuki were here to watch along with him. Then again, Kazuki was a filthy murderer. He'd even tried to kill him. For what reason he spared Kakashi was something he could only speculate. Perhaps it was his valuable Sharingan. Maybe it was that he didn't have enough chakra to kill him. Maybe they left him alive for a future purpose. Kakashi shivered. He'd never let that happen.

He closed his visible eye with a painful sigh. He can't be thinking about that.

Kakashi leapt off a tree and found himself going to the Academy. He opened the door to see a Chuunin teacher shuffling papers. Kakashi lifted a hand in greeting and the Chuunin gave a curt nod.

"Is there anything I can help you with…" Iruka trailed off uncertainly.

"Hatake," Kakashi supplied.

"Yes, Hatake-san. Is there anything I can help you with?"

"I think Naruto needs some one-on-one time. His chakra levels are higher than the average Genin even, so he'll need more help to control all the chakra he has in his own reserves," Kakashi said.

"Really? I thought he never trained so he simply didn't have the stamina or strength to keep up with his peers," Iruka said, surprise clearly evident on his face. He quickly took out a piece of paper and jotted that down. He looked up to Kakashi as if to ask if he needed to write anything else.

Kakashi turned and waved slightly to dismiss himself from the room. Iruka was confused for a moment. One large question was that why didn't Kakashi help Naruto? If he was concerned that much, he could train the boy himself. Iruka blinked and realized he was being stupid; Kakashi was the famous Copy Ninja. He didn't have time; he had missions.

About five years later.

Naruto and Sasuke exchanged a look. They gripped their hitai-ate with elation. Naruto eagerly tied it around his head and grinned. It looks great on me. He glanced at Sasuke and saw how all the girls were congratulating him on passing and occasionally throwing glares Naruto's way.

Naruto sighed. He closed his eyes and remembered his promise to destroy Kazuki. Kazuki was the one that had destroyed his family. He didn't know how his parents died, but he had a feeling Kazuki was involved somehow.

Naruto thought himself to be similar to Sasuke in another sense as well; Sasuke had a family and his brother killed everyone while Naruto used to have a family even if he didn't remember them and Kazuki had probably killed his parents along with his brother.

Sasuke said he was going somewhere and Naruto distractedly nodded as he ran to Ichiraku Ramen. With a grin that he'd passed the Academy, he ordered miso ramen with extra pork. Teuchi greeted him and put down a large steaming bowl of ramen in front of him and said that they were on the house in celebration for Naruto's graduation.

As Naruto was finishing up his second bowl, Mizuki came and gave a small smile.

"Naruto, there's a requirement you haven't met yet. There's one more test," Mizuki said.

"Really? I thought I was done," Naruto said as Mizuki put down money and took Naruto out of the shop by a light tug. Naruto raised a brow but let himself be led by the white-haired Chuunin teacher. Mizuki led him through the winding streets of Konoha and under the darkness in an alley; Mizuki explained that Naruto had to steal the Scroll of Sealing and wait for him in the western part of the forest.

Naruto eagerly nodded and ran off. Once he'd stolen the scroll and gotten past pretty much all the shinobi guarding it, he sat down in the forest and began to read it over. A certain jutsu caught his eye, the Kage Bunshin. For the rest of a good thirty minutes, he studied it and found that if he threw chakra control that Iruka had tried to teach him despite how tedious it was considering how much he had, the jutsu was well suited for him.

With an angry and disappointed face, Iruka finally found the young blonde. Questions ran through his head and he settled on questioning the boy. However, his questions were cut short when Mizuki came and he found himself taking the hit of multiple painful shuriken.

"Law?" Naruto frowned. "What're you talking about?"

"It's a law that prevents the villager from saying that your true form is the Kyuubi!" Mizuki gave a malicious grin. He expected Naruto to cry or something, but instead a smirk made its way onto his lips and he lowly laughed.

"You think I'm going to scream? I'm not weak. I allowed you to lead me here and steal the scroll because I knew you had some kind of motive and I wanted to know. I realize that you're not worth anything now that you've told me your whole motive was to try to break me and use me. So…" Naruto threw the scroll at Iruka and formed a simple hand seal. Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!

Hundreds of Naruto's appeared around Mizuki, who screamed in pain as he was brutally beaten by Naruto. Naruto dispersed the clones and glared down at Mizuki. Mizuki weakly glared back until he slipped into unconsciousness from all his wounds.

"Are you alright, Iruka-sensei?" Naruto asked as Iruka carefully removed himself from the shuriken that had grazed his skin through his Chuunin vest. Iruka turned to the blonde and fearfully noted the sadistic streak he had. He nodded and gave a smile to reassure the child.

Naruto smiled back and walked with Iruka to return the scroll the back to Hiruzen.

Hiruzen gave Naruto a bit of a glare, which Naruto let slip off of him with another easy grin. Hiruzen sighed and as morning was slowly maturing in the sky, the village went back to its normal state and once 8am came, Naruto made his way back to the Academy for team placements.

"Team 7: Uchiha Sasuke, Haruno Sakura, and Uzumaki Naruto," Iruka said. Naruto and Sasuke gave each other a look of mild pleasure and Sakura simply complained about being on a team with Naruto, the one who she considered a failure.

"In his first year of the Academy, Naruto was the worst student. Now, he's ranked second in this class, behind Sasuke. You're ranked fourth, Haruno-san," Iruka corrected, mildly annoyed. Sakura looked shocked and did the quick math in her head. The rankings were Sasuke, Naruto, someone, and her. That didn't make sense.

Who is third?

Sakura must've muttered it loudly because Iruka answered her with an impatient look. He wanted to be over with this placement list so that he could prepare for the next batch of new students.

"Hyuuga Hinata is third," Iruka said quickly as he continued on with team placement listings.

Introductions.

Oh, what was he supposed to say?

Just be yourself, Kakashi-senpai.

Kakashi groaned as he thought about Kazuki. He honestly didn't want to think about him. He decided to come late and surveyed the students. Two boys who seemed to have worked together to prank him with the paint filled balloons gave Kakashi an unimpressed expression as he came late. Kakashi's hair felt sticky after a sickening pop from the balloon and after touching his hari and inspecting it, he saw it was a bright orange color. He looked at the students with an apathetic look and the two boys seemed to smirk at each other, much to their female teammate's anger and dismay. Kakashi realized she probably didn't have a hand in it and realized once more that building teamwork would be an uphill battle with the way the two boys had closed themselves off from her while she cast loving and hateful glances at Sasuke and Naruto respectively. I really, really hate you three.

"Introductions."

Sakura went first.

"I'm Haruno Sakura. My likes are…my hobbies are…my dream is…!" Sakura squealed louder and louder with each pause, glancing at Sasuke each time. "And I hate Naruto!" Kakashi skipped over her after seeing her personality being a fangirl, which he hoped to grind out of her should he see anything worth saving in such a group.

"Next."

"I'm Uzumaki Naruto. I don't particularly like anything, but if I had to name it, I'd say I like ramen. My hobby is training. My dream is to become Hokage and kill Namikaze Kazuki," Naruto said, his voice darkening at the mention of his family's killer. He laced his fingers together and glared at something in the distance.

"Next."

"I'm Uchiha Sasuke. Like Naruto, I have a lot of things I hate and nothing I particularly like," Sasuke started. Sakura looked hurt at hearing him say that he didn't like anything. "As for hobbies, it's training. It's not a dream, for I will make a certain man's death real and restore my clan."

Kakashi internally sighed. This was certainly going to be a lot of work. He hated doing work almost as much as any Nara did. Kakashi looked at them with an indifferent eye and saw he had a fangirl and two bitter boys.

He began to explain the mission they had the next day and not to eat. He waited to see their confused faces, eye-smiled, and disappeared in a puff of smoke.