"What a mess," said Sarutobi.

Shortly after being alerted to the attack, the ANBU found Itachi engaging the unknown assailant in his sister's apartment. Yoruichi was found two hours later, exhausted from over training in the Forest of Death. How she managed to slip into that place, no one had any idea. However it had saved her life.

Itachi, the one who discovered the intruder, then proceeded to try one last ditch effort to kill the murderer...which killed him in the process. He used so many explosive tags that it would be impossible to recover any of the body. Sadly, the intruder managed to escape in the process, but not without grievous injury.

Sasuke, thankfully, had been spared the worst of it. He had been retrieved by Kakashi the second Itachi alerted them to the attack on the clan, and therefor hadn't seen the mess. No child should see the bodies of their clan.

"Sir? Yoruichi is awake," said Badger.

The old Hokage sighed. That was some good news at least.

Time to see if she had any information, or better yet why the hell she was in that particular forest to begin with.


Yoruichi (and she was Yoruichi permanently now) looked at the hospital ceiling with no little sense of relief.

She had done it. She had faked her death, protected her brother and had left the stress Itachi had suffered for years far behind. Yes, she was once the jounin known as Itachi, but to be honest she would rather remain Yoruichi.

The door opened, revealing the Hokage.

Somehow, she had the feeling she was going to enjoy getting one over the old man.

The Hokage noted that there was some amusement in the girl's eyes, which was odd.

"Clear and seal the room," he told his ANBU guard. They would leave the two of them alone, but they would also stay just outside in case of attack. No more than a split second away from the Hokage in case of trouble.

"Now, care to explain why you were in Area forty-four, Yoruichi-san?"

"I needed a plausible excuse for the chakra exhaustion."

That made the Hokage blink.

"And why would you need that?"

"Well if I wanted to get rid of my old self, then I would have to explain why Itachi is no longer around and why I barely had enough chakra to fight with."

That got his attention.

"Explain, now."

Yoruichi's smirk was entirely too much like Kushina's at that moment.

"You are aware that I showed up shortly after Itachi came back from Kiri, correct?"

The Hokage said nothing, but it was clear he remembered that day rather well. It wasn't often Fugaku made such a 'mistake' like that.

"What Itachi never told anyone was that I am not actually his sister at all."

"The blood test clearly said you were related to Fugaku by blood."

"And you never thought it odd how I resembled Kushina Uzumaki so closely or had a similar personality?" she countered cheekily.

The Hokage blinked once, twice...then... "You're not a girl at all, are you?"

"Hard to believe my ANBU commander missed the fact I came up with the perfect cover ID for the mask, and never once picked up on it, despite the subtle hints I threw his way. Of course the entire thing was a way to get back at that bastard Fugaku for all the crap he put me through... I never expected it to work this well though," she said grinning evilly.

The Hokage couldn't help it. He started laughing. The sheer brilliance of Itachi's trick was not lost on him.

He was aware of ANBU training practices. One of which was to make a cover identity to claim the mask's identity for the village. Which included background information and an identity they could slip into perfectly. Itachi had reported he was successful in creating his identity, but had failed to say who it was.

Even Kakashi had been unable to find the alter ego Itachi had created.

"So how long are you going to keep up this henge?"

"It's not a henge. It's a permanent transformation. I refuse to deal with that crap again," she told him flatly.

"What about Sasuke?"

"He is the only one, outside of you, who is aware of the fact Yoruichi was once Itachi. He thought it was hilarious to keep rubbing it in our father's face as a way to piss him off, once I told him the truth."

The Hokage sighed. This was a mess and a half. On the plus side, at least he knew he hadn't lost one of his best and most loyal shinobi as he had originally believed.

Itachi was still alive, but he chose to keep his outlet rather than go back to the way things were. And frankly, considering the fact the council was already clamoring over who would adopt the last Uchiha, he could understand perfectly well why.

"I'll bring the paperwork for you to adopt Sasuke. As far as I'm concerned, you two can live on your own. You're more than capable of handling living on your own for a while."

"Thank you, Hokage-sama."

He left the girl to recover from her complete chakra exhaustion.

Itachi Uchiha died a hero, that had not changed. However Yoruichi Uchiha would go far if her origins were any indication.

At least he didn't have to worry about her snapping like he had Itachi. Fugaku had pushed his son far too hard, so the fact he had done something this drastic as a way to break free of that wasn't as surprising as one would think.

The fact he had managed to hide the truth so effectively for so long, despite the fact the ANBU had tried to find it however, was nothing short of a miracle and a testament to how good Itachi was. Especially with how damn nosy shinobi were.


It was the talk of the village. The brave Itachi who sacrificed himself in an attempt to kill the murderer, only for it to fail. The poor orphans Yoruichi and Sasuke, who were left alone in the world.

Yoruichi was promptly given full clearance as a regular genin of Konoha, her probation abruptly cut short in light of recent events, and full custody of her brother given to her. Thanks in part to the fact they were both of the Uchiha bloodline, Yoruichi also had full control of the bank accounts left behind. They would still get a stipend, as they couldn't access the entire Uchiha fortune until she reached Chunin, but at least she didn't have to worry about some idiot trying to steal what was rightfully theirs.

Sasuke was just glad that Yoruichi didn't have to keep switching with a clone anymore. She could stay with him full time.

She did her missions early in the day while Sasuke was at school, and then trained with him at night. That way he could still be with his sister without having to worry about her.

Since he was well aware of who Yoruichi used to be, he was glad for the fact she cared enough to fake her own death just to stay with him.

Apparently there had been another plan where Itachi was known as the culprit and became a spy. He had disliked it greatly, because he knew it would needlessly traumatize his brother, so the ability to escape that and stay with him was something she was grateful for.

She would rather chose to lose her original gender, rank and identity and gain a new one if it meant keeping her brother safe from harm.

Sasuke was just glad they didn't have to deal with the massive out pour of people trying to cache in on the Uchiha name. By giving Yoruichi automatic custody of the only 'minor' of the clan left, there was actually no reason to split them apart. She was already perfectly capable of keeping them afloat until he reached genin age and had displayed that she was a competent manager of her money.

However it was what happened a few scant months after the massacre that would change things all over again.

That was when Yoruichi finally caught some civilians trying to kill the child called Naruto Uzumaki just because of what he contained.

Itachi had been unable to help Kushina's son for years because of who he was and the fact Fugaku hated Naruto. Now that the Uchiha were all gone (save the two of them) she no longer had to hold back. It was past time someone did something.


"You want to what?" said the Hokage dumbfounded.

"I want to formally adopt Naruto Uzumaki into our small family. The only reason I haven't done anything before now was because the clan would never consent to having him in the compound. Now that they're gone, I can finally take him in properly without having to deal with the outcry," said Yoruichi flatly.

She adored Aunt Kushina, who had been a breath of fresh air while she was alive. Her death had come as a hard blow, because she had tried to introduce Itachi to pranks.

Out of all of Mikoto's friends, Kushina was the only one who ever saw Itachi, not the prodigy Uchiha who became a genin at the age of seven.

"I can't let you adopt Naruto. There are factors..." started the Hokage.

Yoruichi leveled a flat glare at him.

"Don't start that bull with me. You know perfectly well that I'm aware of what, or more specifically who he is related to. I refuse to let him suffer in that shit hole he calls home another minute just because the council hates him for something he has no control over. I'm sure Kushina would prefer her son was raised by someone who knew and loved her than let him live on the streets like the worst traitor. Even Anko is treated better than he is, and that's because they actually know she will retaliate in kind. Naruto refuses to fight back because he knows the civilian council will use it against him," said Yoruichi flatly.

"Watch your tone," said the Hokage, without any real heat.

Yoruichi didn't apologize. She had fashioned the base of the personality for this body around what she remembered of Kushina. And it showed.

The Hokage rubbed his eyes. He was getting too old for this damn job. And Danzo was no better...he had been looking worse of late.

"Are you sure you can handle two boys? Especially one as hyper as Naruto?"

"If I wasn't able to handle small children, I never would have taken as many babysitting missions as I have," she stated flatly.

She was highly requested by the mothers of the village, as the children absolutely adored her.

"Very well. I suppose I can put this on a probationary term. If you can prove you can handle Naruto and Sasuke for a year, he will become your ward."

"At the very least, he can take one of the empty apartments in the Uchiha district," offered Yoruichi. The Hokage nodded in agreement.

Only time would tell if this new arrangement would work out.


"What do you mean the dobe is going to be living with us?" asked Sasuke petulantly.

"Dobe?" said Yoruichi.

"Naruto. He's the class moron," explained Sasuke.

"From what I've seen of his school books, it's no wonder he has trouble with the work. Someone has been deliberately sabotaging his performance."

Yoruichi had taken one look at Naruto's school books and had torched them. She had then promptly bought proper replacements, claiming she had used a fire jutsu while Sasuke did his homework that had gotten out of hand. No one questioned the lie.

Why would they? Uchiha were known for being firebugs.

Sasuke blinked.

"Someone was making sure he didn't do well?"

"I destroyed his books for a reason. They were heavily altered," said Yoruichi flatly.

Naruto, for the most part, was transplanting his garden to the roof. When informed that he might be allowed to live with the last Uchiha, he had jumped on the chance. Yoruichi had always been nice to him, and had even paid for his ramen a few times. He could put up with Sasuke if it meant he wouldn't have to live in that crappy apartment ever again.

"Still... Do I have to put up with the dobe?"

"If it makes you feel any better, you don't have to share a room with him. He'll be living with us and training with us, but I expect you two to be civil to each other at the very least. You don't have to be best friends," said Yoruichi annoyed.

"But why the dobe?"

"Because I knew his mother, and she would be furious if she knew how the village treated her son."

That shut Sasuke up, which made her happy because he was seriously starting to press her nerves.

Naruto was about to come in, dirty from transferring his plants to the roof, but Yoruichi wasn't having any of that.

"Take a shower. You can have dinner after. And I expect you to change into clean clothes and leave the dirty ones in the hamper for later. We can work out a chore rotation once you get settled in," she instructed him firmly.

"What's a hamper?" he asked. He wasn't going to complain about a hot shower or clean clothes after.

"I'll show you," said Sasuke finally.