Hello and welcome back to the Jeremy Kyle Show... Wait, I meant my fabulous book, or whatever.
First off I am going to answer some reviews:
*To all those who praised my work. Thank, thank you very much. What keeps me, and most authors, going is the compliments and love of our fans, or just reviewers. Without this we would never feel the need to actually do this and stop, but not when we have such great readers. So keep it up!
*Genjutsu, the touchy subject that it is with Naruto, will mainly only work in two ways: Sharingan and Fuinjutsu. He will not use any other way as it is not his style, not because of some fandom stereotypes for it. What would be the point of a close range, Ninjutsu, Taijutsu, Kenjutsu specialist using something that take so much skill, effort and time to learn? None, so I'll keep him to his skill set and some Sharingan techniques, just to placate that desire and for his future mastery of said Dojutsu.
*His Mangekyou Sharingan will be unlocked, and that will happen somewhere around mid-way to two-thirds of the way through this fanfiction. Sasuke will unlock his as well, but I will be downgrading the Susano'o a bit (That technique is Op: high S-rank defense, S-rank attacks, and generally impervious to everything). Naruto's Mangekyou, though will not have Susano'o as it's not matching to his fighting style, and instead will have a new Genjutsu to replace Tsukyomi, a special ability unique to him that isn't anywhere near Op, and most likely Amaterasu.
*About him leaving Konoha. I will not rush it, and will build things up in Konoha to make his departure all the more realistic and effective for you readers. I don't want to rush it and skip out on valuable potential that somethings may hold, but instead shall give you your moneys (or times, in this case) worth so that you go away happy. But more importantly come back happy!
*Lastly, Wheel of Time. Good on all of you who have spotted it. This means you are some of the ones who have read some of the finest creations in existence, better than Tolkien (Lord of the Rings) in my opinion. You have read excellent quality writing, with great structure and some of the best characters in history (Matrim Cathoun and A'Lan Mandragaron). As you read my story you shall find hidden quotes from Robert Jordan's masterpiece, as well as other hidden links. If you see any, call them out if you can, I'm interested on how well you may know the stories.
Now, without further ado, the new chapter.
"Alone and scarred,
This worlds is too dark,
Light no longer prevails,
This capsule of my dirty tale,
X
The pain is agonising,
Though it never truly healed,
It shall forever torment, terrorising,
But it shall forever remain concealed,
X
Sometimes I am asked,
Have I always been this way?
It breaks my heart to answer,
But it is the truth that I must say,
X
No I have not always,
But probably will always be,
A shell inside an empty world,
Is the living part of me,
X
I see it all around me now,
Lurking, waiting,
Hovering over my shoulder,
A grim reminder,
X
I've kept it in for so long,
Living without any feeling,
Numb to the world and all alone,
My sadnessess taking a much bigger form,
X
But now in this kingdom of eternal sorrow,
The land of death and pestilence,
A waking terror that is known as my heart,
I seek to find an inner-strength, my resolve,
X
Having reached this turning point, now,
For I have realised with sweet clarity it's never too late,
To banish this merciless prophet of sadness,
It's time to cast your impeding fate,
X
No longer will you hurt me,
No more pain will I feel,
This day will end my disparity,
And break that cursed seal,
X
My emotions will flow with hatred,
And death you will meet, Itachi,
Through this day of reckoning I have realised,
Revenge through success isn't bitter; it is sweet clarity, it is finality."
-Maunderse-
"Please, just stop. I promise I won't prank you anymore" he promises pleadingly as he curled into himself, blonde blood-matted hair covering his eyes.
A dark, throaty chuckle rippled through the ally. It bounced of the walls, surrounding him in an eery silence of laughter. He ignored the man and continued to cover his vital areas with his arms and legs, curling into himself whilst protecting his head with his arms. This was the carefully constructed defence of someone who was used to danger.
"We know you won't; you won't be alive come tomorrow." Again his laughter reverberated against the walls, joined this time by his peers.
The laughter escalated, magnified, multiplied as it joined and conformed into a chorus of joyfulness that mocked him, using something so happy to mark his sadness, his loneliness. He felt the presence all around him, crushing and crumpling him to the ground, by the power of darkness.
Within himself, despite his little kingdom of eternal sorrow, he sought an inner strength wrought of fire and steel. His proverbial sword of hope. He sought his own little refuge within himself, his palisades of stone and steel walls that would protect his inner self from the outside world, his hell.
He started the exercise that he had red from a book that Itachi had left inside of the scroll. It was called the 'Flame and Void' or 'Oneness'. First he pictured an endless void within himself, something were nothing existed for all of it's eternity. Empty.
Once he had that nothingness, that empty zone were nothing grew, like an infertile field were no life could grow and none take residency upon it, he moved onto the next stage. Steadily, he cultivated and grew a flame within his mind, within the Void. With a spark, it ignited and came to life.
At first it was weak, blowing in the non-existent wind of the Void, flickering in the darkness of the endless nothingness. Then, suddenly, the glow roared and the Flame grew; a perfect source of warmth and destruction, it was intense and full of life.
He moved on again, this stage the hardest and most important. All concerns – emotions, thoughts, feelings of pain and even concerns of life and death – were fed into the flame, being destroyed as they came into existence. This allowed for the user, himself, to perceive reality as it is, in the present moment. Pain and fear became passing phenomena, fleeting feelings that were irrelevant. The separateness of himself and the enemy disappeared. There was only the Void.
He had read, from the book, that this technique was used by warriors of old that were simply referred to as 'Blademasters'. They would use it when they were entering battle, allowing them to destroy all emotions that may have clouded their vision, or forced them to make mistakes. It was also able to destroy pain, making cuts and bruises and even lost limbs irrelevant, allowing the user to fight at full capacity.
It also allowed for what some would call superhuman perception. With all fears, pains and concerns taken away, the human brain was able to process and react to information at a much better rate, allowing them to best many other combatants that couldn't access the Void. It was an excellent tool.
As his concerns were all thrown into the Flame, he watched grow exponentially within himself. The fears and pains he now felt as his attackers began their assault, battering and beating his body, were quickly thrown into the Flame aswell, feeding it further. He felt no pain, he felt no fear, he simply was the Void.
It was a strange sense of being, to have no emotion, no pain, no concerns; it was like being hollow, as though something was missing, except nothing was missing, just gone.
He focused more and more on the Flame as fear and pain started to grow, to expand. He quickly quelled them with the Flame, but they rose up again like a decedent rising from his shallow grave. It was becoming a battle of attrition. Would they give up their attack first? Or would he give in? Time would win either way.
The Flame started to shrink, to grow cold as it started losing it's battle; it appeared Time wasn't on his side either. Like a sea of blue wisps, they probed and tested the defences that the Flame held, licking and kicking at it's orange glow, beating it down.
Through the haze of blood and blonde hair, he realised he had already lost; the man who had laughed the loudest brought out a knife. It looked like none of this mattered in the end, the Void would not save him from blood-loss. His calm resignation to death would have shocked him any other time, but the Void and Flame fought it down.
The Flame and Void shattered suddenly as the knife was plunged into his stomach. The emotions, fear, pain and all of his concerns came back with interest. The pain magnified itself upon it's arrival, like a tsunami that had receded to build up strength, and now the pressure had reached it's limits and it had hit back. Hard. And just as strongly came his sudden fear.
He coughed out blood as the knife was pulled away, it felt as though molten lava had just been poured onto his stomach and cooled off just as quickly with liquid nitrogen. He watched as the blood poured out of his stomach, slicking up his hands as it travelled through his fingers.
A scream pierced the bleariness he now felt, reverberating of the walls just as much as the laughter. Louder, though, he noted unconsciously. Feeling it was important, he looked up to see what had happened. He was shocked and hopeful at what he saw.
Tall and proud, an Anbu agent stood there in vivid detail that surprised him, it was like he had suddenly put on glasses and was no longer blind. The world around the Anbu was a mess as the bodies fell dead to the floor, blood splattering everywhere.
The Dog masked Anbu turned to him and the last thing he heard before the blackness reached him was the shocked muttering of a word that made no sense."Sharingan!" He knew only darkness afterwards.
XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX
Naruto's eyes shot open. It appeared he had had a dream... a nightmare of that night. It was the recollection of awakening his Sharingan. A very, very vivid recollection.
Getting up out of bed, he realised that his body was drenched with sweat. It was obviously as intense as he thought it had been, especially now. He rolled the sheets off and threw them at the washing basket, and quickly put some others on afterwards.
That done he went to the bathroom deciding to get a shower now that he was awake. He needed to loosen up and wash away the sweat, but he also needed to clear his head to do some thinking. So, when he stepped into the steaming jets of water, he felt completely at ease, like a small weight had been taken from him.
The throb of the water as it splattered into his back was almost hypnotising, each droplet of water massaging his shoulders, head and back in rhythmic blows. It was times like these that he enjoyed, the little things like these. 'Because, in a world were everything hates you, the little victories are all that we have.' he thought cynically, chuckling a little to himself.
After another twenty minutes, ten of hot water and ten of cold water – his annoying landlord must have realised that he needed the hot water and had cut it off out of spite, bastard – that done little to relax him, Naruto walked out of the shower dripping wet. He shivered slightly at the rush of cool air, but got dried quickly.
A minute later he found himself dried, dressed and ready to go, but was instead stood in-front of the mirror. The focus of his attention was his eyes, their deep, dark violet starring back at him. His real eyes.
He had always thought that eyes he wore were lies, nothing but the image of a happy child, not one with regular dates with tragedy. They always looked so bright, so full of life. His eyes were actors on a grand stage, but now it seemed their show was over. No longer did he lie to people just by looking at them, instead he held truth in his gaze.
Looking at the deep violet eyes that seemed to glow and shine, he couldn't help but smile. They shined in a way that showed the striking visage of sadness and loneliness. His new actors did not have to pretend, they fitted their role on stage perfectly. Their gaze saturated to the core with deviousness, cunning and intellect; so piercing he might consider them knives of ice. These were true eyes, and he couldn't be happier about it.
Getting an idea, he channelled a small amount of chakra to his eyes. He watched intrigued as his violet eyes seemed to fade and melt into a blood red eye. The red iris was ringed with a thin, black edge. Furthermore the pupil seemed a little wider. And lastly, there was a single black tomoe on each eye, signifying their stage development.
The other things he noticed was how clear everything seemed, just like that night. He noticed that things stood out in finer definition, such as the small, almost indistinguishable coffee stain at the bottom of his shirt. It was unnoticed at first, in-fact he had checked himself to make sure that stain was gone after he had washed it. Now though, now these eyes easily picked up on the stain as though it was a bright white on his black clothing.
He noticed he could see further as he looked out of the window. Colours were more vivid, so much more life in them than they had before. It was as though he had been watching the world through squinted eyes until now, like he was truly seeing for the first time in his life. It was addicting, almost.
A bird flew past the window, but it seemed slower, it's movements more sluggish and effortful than what they had always seemed. Waving his hand in-front of his face had the same effect. Slow. The world around him had been slowed down.
He blinked back in surprise though as he focused on his hand. It was glowing a sort of white blue, and his 'glow' was incredibly intense, like looking at the sun too suddenly and almost getting blinded by it. He knew this was his chakra though, and he had the feeling that no-one else had as bright a 'glow' as he did because of how dense, and how much chakra he had at his disposal.
"So, stage one unlocks the Uchiha's Perceptive Clarity capability, Chakra Perception Ability, and the Fast Movement Tracking ability" he mumbled to himself with a smile.
He stopped letting the chakra flow to his eyes, letting them drop back into their wonderful violet. Instantly he felt a sort of sadness at the lack of better sight, like coming down from an adrenaline rush. It all felt so euphoric.
Shaking himself of the feeling, he focused on what he had to do next. Talk to Sasuke.
"Well fuck."
XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX
Sasuke pulled on his last piece of a clothing, a blue shirt with the Uchiha crest. It completed his usual set of traditional Uchiha clothes: a blue, short-sleeved shirt with a high collar and an Uchiha crest on the back and white arm-warmers, completed with a pair of white shorts, blue shinobi sandals and the leaf headband on his forehead.
Walking down stairs he started off his daily ritual. First of all he would go to his parents room in which a small shrine was dedicated to his parents and clan, though it mainly focused on his mother and father. He would then proceed to tell them how he was doing and to promise that he would avenge the clan by killing his beloved brother.
After this he would have some breakfast and prepare a lunch. He did this to prepare him for the day of training and so that he wouldn't have to return to the house until about 8 at night, meaning he had a lot longer to train. Before heading out though, he would do some routine stretches to make sure he could start at a jog instead of walking.
His jog took him around the entire Uchiha compound, through every street and every close, everywhere that an Uchiha lived. He done this as a reminder, so that he always knew what he was fighting for. Revenge. It was also to honour his fallen clansmen, in a way. He didn't want any of them to be forgotten, and as such had memorised the name of every clansmen killed that night, even the children.
The sting of Itachi's betrayal hit him every morning, like a whip that continued it's punishment. But day by day, the sting lessened as his skin toughened and protected him from the whip's lashes, or his heart was just used to pain so much that it didn't bother him anymore.
He remembered the times that he and his brother used to spend together developing his skills in combat, just laughing around, or even just in silence. His brother always knew the right way to treat him, never once getting it wrong... well, disregarding the massacre.
Most of all, though, he had remembered how Itachi hadn't pressured him, had never downplayed his abilities, or compared him to his-self. He had been able to step outside of his brothers shadow and become a person in his own right, and it was all thanks to his brother. Those had been the happiest days of his life.
He cleared his head of those thoughts and focused on his jog as he reached the Uchiha forests; it was not good to look at the past, it was already a fixed moment in time and couldn't be changed. The future, though... Well, there was room for anything in the future, it was just so tangible.
A shuriken imbedded itself into the ground a few inches from Sasuke. Acting on instinct he jumped backwards as more struck the ground were he had been, several showed their trajectory as coming from the tree tops to his left.
His hands were already in motion as he retaliated with a barrage of shuriken to were the others had came from. He heard a distinct popping sound, as though something had just exploded into air. From the sound he concluded the thing he had hit must have been some mist or smoke based clone.
Ducking, his ears picked up on the sound of sound of a blade swishing over his head. So they were going for killing blows. They must have been here to end Konoha's famed Uchiha clan. He smirked at that, it seemed some nations – this one being Kiri if the mist clone and sword were anything to go by – were already scared of his power and potential. It would be common courtesy that he at least put on a show for the man he was about to kill, then.
Two Kunai spun and he caught one in a reversed grip, and the other in a normal grip. It was just in time too, as the masked ninja spun around and swung his sword in a diagonal arc from his left shoulder down towards his right thigh. He gritted his teeth as his two kunai blocked the slash with a spark and loud clash, the strength behind the swing pushing his arms back.
Realising that strength was in his enemies favour, Sasuke used his opponents momentum to let his sword pass next to him as he side-stepped into open space. He aimed for a quick slash at his opponents shoulder, hoping to disable the use of one of the assassins arms. He didn't expect him to recover that quickly though, and had to pull back and block another slash at his head.
"Who are you?" he growled out in annoyance; this fight wasn't going to be as easy as he thought, his opponent had excellent strength and speed.
"Itachi Uchiha" the masked man replied cockily.
'You're so dead now' he growled mentally.
Dropping down, he sent a swipe kick at the assailants legs, but missed as he jumped up and away. Perfect. Keeping low and getting to one knee, Sasuke dropped his kunai and ran through a set of hand seals at a rapid pace.
He routinely breathed in the air, collecting it in his lungs, quickly kneaded it with just about half of his chakra reserves and started to breath it out of his mouth. As the chakra soaked air began it's journey, Sasuke pushed Fire chakra into it, setting it ablaze. The stream of fire left his mouth but was already shaped into a large ball as it shot towards his opponent.
"Katon: Gokyakou no Jutsu" he cried out as the flames no longer streamed from his lips.
Gleefully, he watched as the man in black was hit by the large fireball that shot towards him, engulfing him in intense flame before he could land. The man did not cry out in pain though, much as Sasuke had expected. No, instead he had watched the cause of his death burn him alive without making a sound.
With it over, Sasuke applauded his combatant for testing him so. "You were extremely fast and strong, but you were unable to use that sword to a suitable degree. If you had used Taijutsu, I am pretty sure you would have won. You died like a true ninja though, silent in the face of death." he praised his opponent with a smug smile on his lips. "Though, of course you would lose to an Uchiha; we are the elite ninja of..."
"You should really just shut the-fuck up!"
Sasuke cursed and turned to face his supposedly dead enemy. He cursed again as it seemed the sword had disappeared and was now going to approach him in Taijutsu. 'I should have just shut my mouth.' he berated himself mentally.
His left hand came up and deflected the incoming fist to his face, his right hand sent a heavy hook for the man's face but missed. He stepped back and lent his head back out of the way of a very fast jab. Stepping back again, Sasuke started to panic as the punches started to rain down on him in heavy and extremely fast combos.
Constantly back-peddling because of the need to avoid the punches, Sasuke found no opening to exploit as he simply wasn't fast enough to get inside of his opponents guard. Quickly, he felt the effects of his enemy's punches. His punches were starting to bruise up Sasuke's arms.
Seeing the need to take a risk, Sasuke sent a kick up to the ninja's head, but was blocked by a forearm. Using it to push off and summersaulting back, he sent a quick kick out with his left foot and caught the ninja's chest.
As he landed he threw out some shuriken to stall his enemy. Performing a set of hand seals again, he replicated the same process as earlier, but this time in small bursts. The result was around six small and fast balls of fire heading for the assassin again. Making sure to do all that he could this time, he threw six shuriken to follow in the shadows of the miniature fireballs.
"Katon: Hosenka no Jutsu!"
It was to no avail though as the enemy substituted with a log. 'Damn his reflexes!' he thought angrily. With a scowl he searched the wooded area for his enemy, hoping that the enemy had decided to retreat.
"Taju Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" a voice cried out, and suddenly about 30 of the masked assailants came into existence. Solid ones too, if the shadows of the clones were anything to go by.
Sasuke was panicking now, though. He could barely handle one of these guys, and that was with a full tank of chakra. Now, though, he had about 10 percent of his reserves, little energy left, and was acing all over. 'Shit! I can't win this! I need to escape somehow..' he thought desperately, but had to quickly start fending of punches left and right.
What he done next he would never remember, his body was just on auto-pilot. A kick or punch would come in and he would try to divert it with minimal effort. Clones circled him, dropping in and out of view as he took hit after hit, but only managed to dispel four of the clones.
Slowly, though, his opponents attacks began to slow down, gradually becoming easier and easier to divert, then block, and then he was even able to counter. He was also able to start reading his opponents movements, becoming easier to predict what he would do next. The world around came to life in startlingly vivid clarity.
Before he knew it, only two remained: the real one and one more clone. Once again he allowed a cocky smirk to play across his lips, although it was fake. He knew that solid clones only held one-tenth of the ability of there creator, so he was outmatched against him. He also only had about 8 percent of his chakra left, as two percent of it had drained for some unknown reason. If he carried on and lost 3 percent more of his chakra he would fall into the chakra exhaustion zone of 5 percent and he would pass out.
"That's most of your weak clones, asshole. I'll give one chance to leave here with your life for giving me an excellent ….. Naruto?" he asked in surprise.
The masked figure had taken of the whole-headed, black cloth mask. Blonde bangs fell down his face, framing it, the rest just flopped out into a messy mop of hair. Whiskered cheeks and purple eyes also caught his attention, especially the eyes.
"What... What the hell are you doing attacking me?" he shouted angrily. "You could have killed me!"
To his surprise and anger, Naruto just laughed. What he said was an even bigger surprise though: "Well, isn't that a requirement for unlocking the Sharingan?" he asked with a joking smile and pointed to Sasuke's eyes. It was then that he realised.
The way he was able to more easily predict Naruto's movements, how he slowed down, the new found clarity in his sight... and now that he checked, Naruto seemed to be glowing a light blue from were he stood. It all made perfect sense.
Pulling out a kunai, he checked the reflection. "Sharingan!" he whispered as he stared at his eyes disbelievingly. "But... But why? Why did you help me get them? I thought you hated me?" he asked, still somewhat shell shocked.
"A gift, Sasuke. Something to make you a little bit more inclined to listen to what I have to say. Besides, I never did hate you, you just didn't like the fact that I'm stronger" he smiled again, but it was more of a smile that showed he was planning, or had just witnessed a plan together. Naruto looked around at the torn up forest. "Shall we go inside to talk?"
Sasuke nodded his head. "Follow me." he commanded simply and walked straight for his house.
He didn't wait to see if Naruto was following, he knew he would. So he walked, neither he or Naruto saying a word as he considered everything that had happened. He made sure not to let his guard down now, though. He wasn't stupid.
After a few minutes walk they had arrived at his home. Sasuke ushered a guest into his home for the first time in five years, but paid it little mind. "Drink?" he asked. He was unsociable, but would always abide by household etiquette; his mother had beaten such values into him at a young age.
"Got any fruit smoothies? Then I'll have a Tomato smoothie, a green one if you've got it." he asked as he sat on a kitchen chair.
He quirked an eyebrow in surprise. "You like Tomatoes? And Tomato smoothies?" Naruto nodded his head. "Hn, I thought I was the only person that could stand them. Here you go." he gave the pre-made smoothie to Naruto who started drinking it straight away.
Moving round to the other side of the dining table, Sasuke puled out a chair and sat down. How should he start this? Bluntly, he supposed. He didn't like beating around the bush.
"So," he asked, "what do you want to talk about?"
He didn't tell Naruto, but for the favour he had just done for him, Sasuke was willing to give him half the Uchiha's bank account or a mother-load of Jutsu. The least he could do was listen to him, even if he didn't like him. Well, he didn't like anyone for that matter.
"This." Naruto pulled out a small envelope and threw it onto the table. "Read both birth certificates before you say anything, okay? Good."
This was one strange morning. First he had been attacked, then he had unlocked his Sharingan, then he had found out it was all Naruto and a plan to awaken his Sharingan, and then found out that was just an incentive for the Uchiha to listen to him. Now he found out it was all for his Birth Certificate.
But he went and picked it up anyway. It must be important if he went to all this trouble. He subtly ran his hands along the small, yellow envelope to check for any hidden traps. It didn't matter though, Naruto caught the action and smiled, that and there were no traps.
Pulling out the certificate, he began to read. But, after only about two seconds he dropped the paper and stared at Naruto.
Minato Namikaze, the Yellow Flash, son of the Yellow Death, SS-rank ninja with a flee on sight order, the man renown for the Iwa massacre, notoriously one of the strongest ninja to ever live, a man with a kill count exceeding 20'000 on his own, the Yondaime Hokage, hailed as the Hero of the Leaf, and apparently Naruto's father.
"What..." he started, but was stopped by Naruto.
"It's true. Don't say anything. Just read that one, then read the next." he ordered sternly.
Sasuke was going to object; who the hell did he think he was? But then he remembered his deal and closed his mouth, even though he would have rather stabbed himself. Still shocked by what he read, Sasuke picked up the piece of paper again and read. Father: Minato Namikaze. Mother: Kushina Uzumaki.
Kushina Uzumaki! Another S-class, renowned ninja was Naruto's parent. And if he was right, this was the Kushina Uzumaki who was his mother best friend and team-mate, also his Godmother before she died. That made Naruto his Godbrother, or some such thing. That …. would have to wait for later.
Again, he read on. Godparents: Jiraiya of the Sannin and Mikoto Uchiha. Well shit... He noted how it was ironic that both of them had lost their real parents, but their godparents had died aswell. They must have both pissed Kami off somewhere along the line.
Deciding this crap was all becoming too much, Sasuke pulled out the last sheet so that he could get this over with. Reading it though came as an even bigger surprise than the last.
"You're an Uchiha!" he all but screamed.
He couldn't believe what that all said. Naruto was the grandson of Nagisa Uchiha, his great aunt. That meant he had family again, or one that he hadn't sworn to kill. He was close family aswell, not just some cousin that's connected to him 13 generations down the line. This was what he hoped for for years.
Ever since that day, Sasuke had practically wished for an Uchiha family member to show up out of the blue. To defy all odds and come home. He had wanted it so bad, just so he could talk to someone, let alone have family again.
After the incident he had wanted to talk to someone, anyone, about what he felt, what he wanted. A shoulder to cry on, even. But his Uchiha pride hadn't allowed him to lean on anyone else's shoulder, to talk to them about it all. What happened to his clan was his business and his business alone.
Yet it hadn't stopped him wishing for someone to be there, and now there was! He couldn't believe it, but the Birth Certificate for the Fourth had the Uchiha crest on it, marking it as real. The one for Naruto also had the Third's seal, making that authentic aswell.
"Is... are you... how?" he stumbled on his own words, stuttering like a fool. He didn't care, though.
Naruto chuckled to himself as he watched. Sasuke still didn't care. "The 'Yellow Death' was married off to Nagisa Uchiha, or the other way around, to strengthen the Uchiha name. They had a son named Minato Namikaze. There was a deal that should he awaken the Sharingan, then he would take on the Uchiha name. He never did and so remained Namikaze."
Sasuke nearly choked on thin air. If the Fourth had borne the Uchiha name, their fame and infamy would have increased a-hundred fold. How they missed out on that was beyond him, but it answered some of his questions.
"He went on to have a son, me, but no-one knew. You see, the night my father died I was taken by the Third and placed in an orphanage with my mothers name, all to keep me safe from my father's enemies. The Uchiha never knew I was an Uchiha descendant, and as such never laid claim to me, and Itachi never killed me."
That was very annoying, in-fact it was enraging. The Third had been the one who had told Sasuke he would do all he could for him, but that was just a bold-faced lie. He had known all along that Sasuke was craving family and he had forgot to mention there was some family he still had left in Konoha.
He also took in the fact by how angry Naruto was, noticing the way he glared at nothing in particular and the clenching of his hands around the wooden table. The Third had only recently told Naruto aswell, it seemed. Trying to think about it, Sasuke just couldn't imagine what it would be like for an orphan to find out he actually had family, and then to find out they had been kept from him.
"Although, that all went out the window when I awoke the Sharingan, against all odds, and the Third had to reveal my heritage to me. That answer your questions?" he asked as he activated his own Sharingan.
Sasuke observed the Sharingan intently, noting everything about it. He also tried a Genjutsu release to make sure it was real. When he had confirmed it, Sasuke smiled. He didn't smirk. He smiled for the first time in five long years. His wish had been granted it seemed. The one about family, not the one about Itachi swallowing his own tongue and choking to death.
"I... Yes, it does." he answered slowly. "But what do we do now?" he asked.
He was glad for a family and all, but it had been so long he just didn't know how to act around people properly; he usually ignored all girls and answered most questions with a grunt. This was a strange situation for him.
Naruto raised an eyebrow questioningly. "You're asking an orphan that question? Seriously?" he sighed. "I don't know. I guess we just get to know each other better and take it from there."
He stood slowly, but started stretching out his muscles. Smirking, he decided to do the only male bonding exercise that he knew. "Want to fight?"
Naruto raised his eyebrow and smirked back. "Sure, I give out arse-kickings for free."
XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX
Laughing to himself, Naruto carried an unconscious Sasuke into his bedroom. He dropped him onto the bed with a heavy thump, then turned to leave. It was only Sasuke's call the that stopped him.
"Naruto, you can use the spare bedroom; it's too late to walk home, so you might aswell." he offered, mumbling as his face was squashed against the pillow.
He thought about it for a minute before accepting; he couldn't be asked to walk home anyways. "Sure, see you in the morning." he replied as he walked out.
A few minutes later he was laying down in an extremely comfortable bed, one that made his lumpy piece of crap feel like iron in comparison. But it was to be expected; this was the Uchiha heads house, so he doubted they would have anything but the best. Even the bed-sheets were made of fine silk and had hand woven pattern on them.
Looking back on the day he couldn't help but smile, it had all went so perfectly. His original plan to awaken Sasuke's Sharingan had worked, and now the Uchiha heir would feel extremely indebted to him. That had lead to Sasuke believing the documents far more quickly than he may have done under different circumstances. It had even made it easier to get Sasuke out of his shell.
During their hours of training and sparring, Sasuke had, after some prodding, opened up and talked a bit. It had been fairly simple stuff, such as he was upset after he lost his clan. How it felt to lose everything in a day. The hurt of his idols betrayal. The anger and hate he felt towards his brother, and promise he had made to kill him.
In return Naruto had told him about the Kyuubi. How he hated his father for it. The law behind it. The way the villagers treated him, including the awakening of his Sharingan. He had went into a lot of detail about his mother's clan and how he knew Konoha had left them to rot. He had also told him about the fact that he had been made Chunin, which actually spurned him on to train harder.
All in all, Naruto had had a great day. Especially when he had beaten Sasuke again, he had thought that the Shuriken that had lodged itself in his arm had beaten him. 'He was good. But he thought I was finished, with only one arm. He didn't understand. I only surrender when I'm dead.' he thought with a small chuckle.
But now that Naruto had started it, he was going to continue to cultivate Sasuke's hate for Konoha. He already had very little loyalty to the Leaf, but now hearing about their treatment of Naruto and how they had left Uzu to die, Sasuke's loyalty was waning, and Naruto could see it. It would only be a matter of time.
Naruto had further cemented Sasuke's trust by teaching him the Tree Walking exercise and helping him complete it in one night, allowing Sasuke to now channel chakra around other parts of his body successfully and safely. The result had been that he could now use chakra to reinforce his limbs to make himself faster, stronger or even more resistant to damage. It also made the chakra he needed for his Fire Jutsu to cost a lot less, shaving off about one-fourth of the amount used. It was a shinobi must, the basics.
Closing his eyes, he smiled as he realise his plan to save Sasuke from Konoha was working well. He just needed something now, something that would push him from Konoha altogether.
XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX
"So, you going to tell me why you haven't used your clan vaults before?" Naruto asked.
He had woken up that morning and had a slightly awkward breakfast with Sasuke. When asking what he wanted to do that day, Sasuke had said he had wanted to see what was inside the clan vaults. He knew what was in there, Jutsu their clan had copied and the such, but he didn't know specifically.
"You need Uchiha blood and to have unlocked the Sharingan to even enter. I haven't had the last until now, so I might aswell try and open it." he answered nonchalantly.
"Whatever, let's just go in."
Sasuke seemed to prepare himself as he took a deep breath, and then he walked forward and went through a set of seals slammed his hands into the double-doors. A Fuinjutsu seal spread out from the point of contact like a spider-web over the door, covering it all in incomprehensible writings for any but a Fuinjutsu practitioner.
The seals suddenly receded and the door slowly swung open with a groan, creaking from the lack of use. Opening, they started to reveal their secrets. It was a few seconds full of suspense for Sasuke, he could tell, but it was also a little intriguing for him.
When the doors were fully opened they revealed a large warehouse of stores, much as they had suspected; the building was easily four times the size of Sasuke's home. Air rushed in through the doors, grasping at their clothes as it passed them and entered the vacuum.
On the way over, Sasuke had told Naruto about the impenetrable vault. The walls were made of a special kind of chakra nurtured metal, giving it incredible strength and resistance. Furthermore, the walls were lined with amazingly complex seals that absorbed all chakra based techniques that hit it, just incase someone tried to break in using Ninjutsu. This meant no chakra based attempt to could break into the vault, and the special metal made it nearly impossible for anything else to get in.
As the lights blinked on from the ceiling, Naruto and Sasuke entered slowly. The blinking lights shined to show many, many things. All around he saw rows upon rows of metal shelves that held scrolls upon scrolls, most labelled with supplies: kunai, shuriken, senbon, explosive tags, bandages, gauze, antiseptics, smoke pellets, flash tags. Further along he saw stacks of Katana, Naginata, Kodachi, Chokuto, Ninjato, Bo-staff and other weapons. In another corner, mannequins were decked out in wide varieties of armour, ranging from light-weight clothes and metals to full stacked Samurai gear.
"Well fuck... were the we involved in some sort of war when the massacre happened, or is this just incase Konoha needs a full set of supplies for it's entire army?" he asked Sasuke.
"Well, we never did get along with the Hyuga; my father may have been planning on having a small spat with them," Sasuke tried joking back.
"Yeah, let's go with that. Maybe we should have a look around. You never know, we might find something interesting and useful."
Sasuke nodded his head. "Yes, we might. If you se anything you like, feel free to take it." he offered, hesitating only for a moment before leaving in the direction of the weapons.
'Hm, he's trusting me more and more every moment. Especially if he's willing to part with something that belonged to some of his old family. That's good' Naruto thought to himself.
After walking through most of the isles, Naruto hadn't found much more. Having checked to see how many items each scroll held, He found that one scroll contained usually 100 of it's contained items. Furthermore, he had found roughly 600 of each scroll, meaning there was about 60'000 of each item, weapon or tool. The Uchiha certainly had been prepared.
Coming down to the last isles, Naruto spotted Sasuke standing by some sort of hidden door that was now open. Walking over showed him that his cousin had picked up some sort of Chokuto with a dark blue casing and completely flat and rectangular handle with no guard. It looked pretty nice.
"Copying me now, are you?" he asked jokingly.
Sasuke snorted. "Don't kid yourself. I just needed something to stop you from lopping my head off; kunai just don't cut it."
Naruto shrugged with a smile. "Well, what's through there?" he asked.
Looking through he couldn't actually see anything on the other-side of the door. It was probably a Genjutsu.
"Use your Sharingan."
Nodding, he activated it. The blackness quickly disappeared and allowed for a clear view. Instead of a room though, he only saw a small closet of sorts, the space only going about three feet deep and about six wide. A simple shelf holding several items.
In the centre was a ruby red scroll that simply read 'Sharingan', to the left was a plain white scroll labelled 'Jutsu', to the right was a deep blue scroll with the words 'Interceptor Fist' written across them. Each of these scrolls were the size of baby, showing they contained something large, or just many things.
Against the wall was a large map of Fire Country, several key points had been crossed. There was also an enlarged map of Konoha with most of it's priority buildings circled: the Hokage Tower, the Hospital, the Academy, the Anbu Barracks (according to the map), dozens of gathering places for lots of civilians, the Communications Tower and various random buildings.
Over the map were red lines depicting travel routes for attack and escape. Points were enemy forces could be forced into a choke-hold were underlined. All the lines ended up in one place though, the Hokage Tower. From there the attackers, it seemed, would blow up all surrounding buildings and create a circled trench around the tower to keep any forces from interrupting; traps were already planned to be set in that area aswell to stall for as long as possible.
Whilst that battle was going on, it looked as though an elite force of twenty were to kill the Hokage and his guards. The council was also supposed to be in session at this time. So, after killing the Hokage, the elite forces would take the Council hostage and force them to surrender Konoha.
"This was an Uchiha Coup D'etat, wasn't it?" Sasuke asked calmly, rhetorically.
"Yes, and a bloody good one at that." he answered.
It was true, that plan most likely would have succeeded, especially if that 'elite force' had a certain weasel on it. Even without Itachi, with the Uchiha's twenty best attacking together, the Hokage would have been hard pressed, especially with his age and the fact that he wouldn't be able to use any dangerous techniques because of surrounding civilians. The Third's soft heart would have been his downfall.
He looked at Sasuke and realised what this all meant. Itachi killed the Uchiha for a reason, not just power, and had been loyal to Konoha this entire time. By proxy, this meant that the Uchiha Massacre was a mission sanctioned by the Hokage and Konoha. Did Sasuke know, though?
Seeing a small trail of blood run down Sasuke's hand, where it continued to drop and splash against the floor, Naruto realised just how tense he was. He figured it out. A smile splayed across his lips as he thought of how much easier it would be to manipulate Sasuke against Konoha with him. This was his diamond in the rough.
"You realise what that means, don't you?" he asked quietly.
Sasuke's scowl deepened, as did the tension in his hands as blood trickled out at a faster pace. His eyes seemed to be staring into nothingness, but it also seemed to be focused so intently it could be called sharp. A low growl emanated from his thought, almost as shallow as a whisper, "Yes" he said.
"Itachi Uchiha was under orders from Konoha, the Hokage specifically, to eliminate the Uchiha. I always thought his cover story was strange and fallible down to the last detail," he noted idly.
It was true. He had always thought that an Uchiha killing his entire clan to prove his power was partially believable, but if that was true why did he kill the elderly, untrained children and even babies? Surely they were not the slightest test of power for an S-rank shinobi. Then there was also the fact that he only killed Uchiha that night and no-one realised that the clan had been attacked, even with Konoha's excellent seal system that alerted the Hokage of any large amounts of chakra usage outside of training areas. It all seemed to be a very poor excuse.
"I meant we are the same in the fact that we bare a dark burden to protect Konoha, one that no-one else can; we are – or, in my case, will be – hated for" was what Itachi had said to him that night, and it had left the seeds of doubt and curiosity in his mind about the Uchiha Massacre for years. Only now did they start to make sense.
"How do you feel about this?" he asked curiously, but put a sympathetic hand on Sasuke's shoulder. "Come on, tell me. It's not everyday you find out something like this... well, for me it's starting to."
For a few moments Sasuke said nothing, just stared at nothing. But then he said "It changes nothing. Itachi betrayed the Uchiha, just in a more literal way. Well, it changes one thing; Konoha are as much to blame as Itachi." he snarled and suddenly lashed out with a punch to the wall, making it crumble and crack were his fist hit. "Damn them!"
Naruto smiled behind Sasuke's back; this was all happening perfectly. Sasuke had first been soften up by Naruto telling him of how Konoha had treated him for saving their worthless arses. Then there was how he had mentioned the way he wasn't ever told the truth, always lied to. And lastly, there had been the way Konoha had not bothered to aid Uzu as they fell; their greatest allies betrayed in an instant.
The picture he had painted was perfect; Konoha were vindictive fools who lied and cheated anyone, and then, without a care, betrayed closest friends at their whim. This had left Sasuke questioning his own beliefs and trust of Konoha, but now it had all happened to him and he had jumped to the same conclusion as Naruto had painted. The best part was that Sasuke realised it on his own, making the belief all that stronger.
"Sasuke," he said quietly, "I know what it's like, that feeling of betrayal, but first of all you need to calm down." he soothed.
Sasuke spun round, about to unleash a slew of angry retorts, but stopped himself. The anger stayed in his eyes though, specifically the left one which held two tomoe. "Why should I?" he seethed through gritted teeth.
"Because you need a calm head to decide what you're going to do next," he noticed Sasuke raise an eyebrow in interest at that, "we can't have you going of half-cocked and trying to kill the Hokage, you'd be dead and your revenge would end there. Instead, why don't you do want I'm going to?"
"Hn, fine. Tell me what you want." he demanded, anger still flaring.
"When I found out about all the secrets had been kept from, realised I could never be happy in Konoha because I was only seen as a monster, that I had been betrayed by those I trusted, I decided enough was enough. I started planning my... departure from Konoha." he smirked at that. He also remembered his more destructive plans than the one he was going to use, but they would all get him killed.
His cousin frowned for a moment, but smiled as it obviously dawned on him as to what "departure" meant. "You mean going rogue, abandoning Konoha?"
"Yes. I'm planning to do it on our first C-rank, but that is only if a chance presents itself. If not, I was simply going to wait until a mission comes along that I could. After that I was going to bargain my way into another village, or look for a missing-nin to teach me.
Why don't you join me; there is nothing left for Konoha to offer you. With you now possessing the Uchiha Jutsu library" he pointed to the thick scroll on the left, then to the other two, "and the scroll on your clans fighting style and it's knowledge on the Sharingan, you wouldn't need a teacher, you could teach yourself. Add all that to the scroll I got containing all of Uzu's techniques and some other things I have, we could become unstoppable."
"What about money? Supplies?" he asked half-heartedly. Naruto could tell he already had Sasuke, but decided to make him completely join his side.
"Supplies?" he laughed and threw his arms around him. "I'm sure we could wage war with these supplies if we wanted to, and then have some to spare. And money? I have the Namikaze and Uzumaki funds, and you have the Uchiha fortune, we could buy half of Fire country with that kind of money! No, we have more than enough of anything: kunai, shuriken, weapons, smoke bombs, exploding tags, flash tags, medical supplies, poisons, sealed foods and drinks, armour, Jutsu, knowledge, money and shinobi technique guides."
Turning back to face Sasuke, he smirked and decided to hammer home the nail. "With all of that, and without Konoha dragging us down, we could gain the power to beat Itachi, to avenge our clan!" he held out his hand, "So do you want to join me, to forsake Konoha and reach our true potential? To storm the Elemental Nations with such power and fury that they'll compare us to Madara Uchiha and Harashima Senju... No, they'll compare them to us!"
Almost without hesitating, Sasuke clasped Naruto's in his own. A determined grin on his face. This was the answer to both their dreams, their prayers, their deepest desires. This was their destiny! They both squeezed each other's hand firmly, a gesture of reassuring strength. It was a turning point that would forever mark itself upon the Elemental Nations.
"Together, we will show the world to fear our names!"
There you have it!
*First off, my small shot at a poem. I was bored, looking for an opening poem on revenge for Sasuke, but only found one with about four lines that I liked. So, thinking it was best to do it myself, I did. If you Like it, cool and thanks, but if you don't, well let me know and I won't do it again.
*Next we have the dream of Naruto awakening his Sharingan. Tell me what you thought of it, and to those Wheel of Time fans tell me if you think I described it well enough. I personally thought the Flame and Void would be an excellent shinobi tool, especially for keeping your emotions under control and remaining strong throughout interrogation and the likes.
*The eyes. I hope this gave you a good view into Naruto's new perspective of the world, himself and just his whole ideology. I wanted it to show how he looked upon the world with a darker view, but not a "I want to destroy the world" type of view. It was also to show how he wanted the world to look upon him, because to him that is just as important. In-fact, I would say Naruto takes the largest part from his personality in canon, in the fact that he still wishes to be viewed as something. Now though, he wishes to be viewed by his strength and experiences, and not as human or demon.
*Sasuke. In most fanfictions Sasuke is portrayed as extremely evil or extremely good, which are both bullshit. All this does is make readers develop a wrong view on Sasuke. In actuality he is a troubled child who lost everything he loved in a single night, and that was also to the person he trusted and respected more than any other. He is a good person with a good heart, but he no longer has the ability to open his heart or trust out of fear of losing someone again, or being betrayed in the worst possible way again. Also, he has developed an unhealthy desire, or infatuation, to kill his brother and is willing to use anybody who gets in his way. Bad, yes. Can you fault him for it, no. If someone killed everyone you cared for, revenge would be the only thing on your mind. That is what I'm trying to portray here though. Sasuke has the desire to love again, but can't trust many. His desire to kill Itachi is still strong, but he has latched onto the opportunity that Naruto has presented. Family, love, trust, and strength to gain vengeance.
Ask any questions you have and they shall be answered.
Until next chapter, peace!
