Disclaimer: Hey there everybody! This chapter took me a while to finish and to tall you all the truth I was actually delaying the chap because I was lazy. So as promised this will be the end of the childhood ark and I made it extra long for you all. My motivation was sapped away from me when I realized I only had 3 reviews for last chapter so I hope you all will review more so I'll know all your opinions and my faults on the chapter. Hope you all enjoy!
CHAPTER FOUR: Innocence Broken
Naruto knew something was wrong that morning when he was going to the academy. How could he not when everyone around him looked were running around whispering to each other about some killing spree. He couldn't help but dread when he heard same words coming from different conversations. Finally giving in to curiosity he sneaked up to a pair of civilian men to spy on their conversation.
"Hey did you here?"
"Yeah, can't believe they're all dead."
"I know what you mean. A whole clan up and got killed in just one night, were not talking about any normal clan either were talking about the Uchiha."
"It's weird though that no one in the village heard anything. 200 people killed and not a sound went off."
Naruto's eyes were wide in shock at the news. Then his whole body shook at the sudden realization in his head, "Sasuke! Imu-chan!" Naruto ran as fast as he could at the direction of the Uchiha clan compounds, panic, adrenaline and most of all worry rushed through his whole body. When he finally arrived at the main entrance there was already a large crowd of people formed. The only thing that stopped the crowd from entering was the large number of shinobi blocking and inspecting the area inside.
Not bothering with the idea of rushing into the crowd and using his brain, he jumped off to the outer side of the compound walls till he reached a portion of the wooden borders that was slightly off colored then the rest and unattached. Naruto carefully moved the unattached portion to the side and squeezed his body through the makeshift opening. Finally home free Naruto ran off to the direction in what he knew was the Senbei shop that was Imca's house.
"Please be safe, please be safe, please be safe." Those three words were repeated in his head like a mantra in an act to calm his nerves. His face brightened up when he caught sight of the shop about several meters away but it was short lived when a hand suddenly clamped on his right shoulder stopping him from moving forward. Turning his head back the sight that greeted him was of a man dressed in a blue jumpsuit with a Konoha chunin vest, a bandana over his head and a senbon in his mouth.
"How the hell did you get in here kid! Didn't you know that this place is off limits?" Naruto struggled in the man's grip but the strength of a nine year old kid was nothing compared to grown mans, especially when said man was a trained shinobi.
"Let me go! Let me go! I have to see them! I have to make sure their ok!" Try as he might but the boy wasn't going anywhere. Genma getting tired of the boy's struggling quickly grabbed the kids other shoulder and roughly spun him so he was facing him.
"Calm down kid! Who are you talking about? If you're trying to find any of your Uchiha friends then you're out of luck cause their all gone." At the mention of the Uchiha's being gone Naruto was reminded that his friend were probably dead. Lowering his head, the white hared boy gripped his hands painfully into fists while biting his lower lip refusing to cry.
Genma cursed under his breath; maybe he shouldn't have said it so roughly. Giving the boy a slight squeeze as a sign of reassurance, he kneeled down so he was at the kid's eye level. "Hey I'm sorry kid but the truths the truth. You can't beat yourself up over what happened." Ok sure it wasn't the nicest thing to say to a kid that just lost some friends but atleast give him some points for trying.
Naruto squeezed his eyes shut and shook his head left to right, "But they can't be dead. Sasuke... Imca… They just can't be dead!" Genma frowned at him but blinked in sudden realization, "Did you say Sasuke? As in Uchiha Sasuke?" Naruto stood stock still at his question before looking at him with eyes filled with hope, "Yeah Uchiha Sasuke. Is he ok? Is he alive! Please tell me!"
Genma looked away from Naruto's hopeful gaze with a grimace, "Oh man look what you've got yourself into now Genma! Should I tell him? I mean there wasn't an order saying that I couldn't. But… Ah god damn it why am I such a nice guy?" Sighing loudly, the young tokubetsu jounin stood up while making a few hand seals. Done with the sequence he offered Naruto a hand, "Come on kid we gotta go."
Naruto looked up at him before hesitantly taking his hand, "Where are we going?" Genma turned away from the boy before sending out a pulse of chakra to finish the jutsu.
"The hospital."
Naruto stood numb as he stared into a glass panel where beyond it his raven haired male friend was resting in a hospital bed. The ninja that brought him to the hospital; Genma, had asked for the room where Uchiha Sasuke was currently being treated in. When they had arrived Naruto didn't know what to expect but the sight of Sasuke just staring of at the opposite side of the room with a completely blank look was not one of them. The Uchiha boy looked dead and if it wasn't for Genma reassuring him that the other boy was alive and well he wouldn't have believed it.
"Naruto, what are you doing here?" Sarutobi wasn't exactly expecting to meet the young pariah when he went to check up on the health of one Uchiha Sasuke. Naruto turned to the old leader and gave a weak smile, "Hey Jiji, sorry for skipping class today. Is Sasuke going to be alright?" Thin lipped, the old leader stared at the unresponsive child on the bed before turning to his pseudo grandson. "Don't worry Naruto. We have the best doctors in all of fire country so Sasuke-kun will be just fine." Naruto gave a grateful look at him but the mood was broken when a doctor came and interrupted them.
"Ah Hokage-sama there you are. Regarding the two patients that came in today I have good news and bad news. Would you like a report now?" The doctor was a man in his mid 40's with brown hair that was swept back, brown eyes and a pair of glasses. This man was Dr. Yakushi, currently head doctor of the hospital. The Sandaime looked to the man then back to Naruto, "Naruto I have business to take care of. Why don't you go back to the academy now, if you hurry then you won't miss the other classes." Naruto frowned at the mention of the academy and the obvious way the old man was trying to get rid of him.
"No thanks Jiji, you're not getting rid of me that easily. I know you're going to talk about Sasuke and I want in." Sarutobi sighed at the boy and was about to send him away when Dr. Yakushi interrupted him. Said doctor squatted down so he could see Naruto eye to eye, "Naruto-kun was it? Are you a friend of Sasuke-kun?" Naruto looked at him suspiciously; all adults should know who he was without even asking him. "Yeah I'm his friend so I'm not leaving until I know what's going on." The doctor smiled at him, "Well then Naruto-kun it's good that you're here. Sasuke-kun really needs a friend right now so I hope you can help him as best as you could." Naruto grinned at the man before turning to the village leader and giving him a shit eating grin at his victory.
Sarutobi sighed before turning to the doctor, "Well then Yakushi-san you can begin your report now, tell me the good news first." The doctor nodded and turned to the glass panel to observe the young Uchiha in the other room, "Sasuke-kun is stable but his mind is basically scrambled. That genjutsu he was in was so strong I'm surprise he's not a vegetable right now. It's going to take a while for his brain to fix itself back but he'll make a full recovery in two or three weeks." Sarutobi frowned at this, "Will he be stable enough to continue shinobi training?" Dr. Yakushi grimaced at the question, "There is no doubt that emotional scarring and brain damage will persist. Physically he's fine but mentally he's a flight risk. It's going to take lots of psychological therapy to stabilize him."
The Sandaime closed his eyes in thought to all this before reopening them again, "And what of Uchiha Imca?" Naruto turned to Sarutobi at this, Imca… was alive? Dr. Yakushi sighed before fixing his glasses, "That's another problem."
It was dark. There was pain. Everything was a whole blur. She could still remember their faces. HIS face was there. The one who did all this. There was so much blood. No one could hear her. Her screams. It was all so… so…
Quiet
"Imu-chan?"
Suddenly there was light. A snowy white appeared in her vision. It was a boy with snow white hair and bright blue eyes. He looked like he was surprise but most of all happy. Happiness turned to shock and disbelief when she uttered those three words to him.
"Who are you?"
Outside the room observing the two kids in the room were the Sandaime and Dr. Yakushi. "As you can see Hokage-sama the patient suffers from temporary memory loss. It's nothing serious but it's a little unsettling. She can't remember recent things that happened before the incident like take for example the merchant festival that happened last month or any lessons taught in the academy that has been taught a week ago. The weird thing is she can remember the massacre very clearly; it was quite fascinating how she could recite what happened verbally in such detail. Of course I only meant it in a scientific way. She also suffered from a deep sword wound, a slash from her right shoulder all the way to her left hip. It's a miracle she's even alive when we found her with the amount of blood she lost. Amazingly the wound didn't even hit any vitals, almost like it was meant not to kill her."
Sarutobi continued to gaze at Naruto standing infront of Imca's bed. The girl gave Naruto a flat stare, waiting for the boy to respond. She was wearing a hospital gown and under it covering her whole upper body was medical wrap. "….I see….What do you think is the cause of the memory loss?"
"Hypothetically speaking it's probably because she was trying to suppress the memory of the massacre. The brain responded on her needs but it accidentally suppressed the wrong memories which in turn enhanced the most recent memory about the massacre. This is all purely speculations of course; we'll need to run a few more tests to confirm it." The door to the room opened and Naruto had walked out to join them. His head was down and his hands were balled up into fists, "Jiji, who did this to Imu-chan and Sasuke?"
Sarutobi looked down at the angered child, "If I do tell you Naruto, what are you going to do about it?" Naruto snarled under his breath, "What do you think Jiji! I'm gonna chase him down and beat the living shit out of him!" Sarutobi narrowed his eyes at the young boy, "It's too late to catch the culprit now Naruto. Even if you do which is a confirmed impossible, you would be killed in less than a second." Naruto glared at the old leader as hard as he can, "He hurt my friends! I need to find him! He's not going to get away with this; He can't get away with this!"
Sarutobi had had enough of the boy's endless shouting. Moving one step closer to Naruto, he released a small minuscule amount of killing intent to get the boy's attention and to also intimidate him. "Get your act together boy and listen to yourself! The man who did this is a fully trained killer. He was one of the best shinobi that we have ever trained. He was an Anbu, the best of the best. A two year academy student won't even be more than a small speck to the man. Tell me Naruto what can you hope to do against someone who had killed one of the most prestigious clans in only one night?"
Naruto trembled in fear of the old shinobi standing imposingly in front of him. Never in his whole life did the man he thought as a surrogate grandfather ever became this angry at him. No, this wasn't anger. It wasn't like those hateful stares he gets from the local populace. No this was similar to the times Iruka-sensei looked at him when he did something wrong like pulling a prank or skipping class. It was disappointment, pure and utter disappointment. Only this time the feeling was so oppressive that Naruto couldn't stand looking the elder in the eye. Finally having had enough, Naruto turned and dashed away from the two adults and out of the hospital.
Dr. Yakushi frowned at the Sandaime, "Pardon me Hokage-sama, I know it's not my place to say what you do or say to the boy but did you really have to be so hard on him?" Sarutobi glanced at the doctor before sighing under his breath, "I know what I did was harsh but the boy needs to be taught a lesson. Not everything can be solved with brute force and not all situations are easy to overcome. With what he knows already about the situation he should have already figured out that the culprit of this massacre is too strong to fight and totally impossible for someone of his level. He's too impulsive and easily angered at small things. I don't blame him for his lack of intellect, he's had a hard life what with the constant anger and small sabotages in his education. I've already changed his teachers and also his combat instructor for the year but the boy still lacks the drive to do any studying in the academy. His results are poor and with the added distractions this whole fiasco will cause, I'll not be surprised if he gets pulled back a year."
Dr. Yakushi stared at his leader in complete silence. It was obvious that the old leader cares very much for the white haired pariah but to him the man was expecting too much on one boy. "I'm sorry to hear that Hokage-sama. Still, Naruto is only a little boy, you honestly can't expect so much from a child especially during this whole mess." After what he said the Sandaime looked like he aged so much and the doctor honestly regretted his words.
"Your right Yakushi-san but there are reasons why expect so much from the boy. You know of his burden and his duty. I honestly wished that I have the power to change all that has happened." 'And I also regret the decision to place the burden of a jinchuuriki on the boy in the first place.'
Through all this no one had noticed the injured girl watching the whole spectacle with a blank look.
Naruto sat on the bed in his small apartment just staring at the floor. In his head he replayed the whole situation in the hospital with Imca and the Sandaime all over repeatedly.
"Neh Imca-chan, don't you recognize me?" The girl in question shook her head in a negative."Come on it can't be that hard to remember someone like me, we're friends." Again she shook in a no, "I'm sorry… whoever you are. I don't know you." Naruto trembled at the whole situation, his first friend can't remember who he was. Naruto took a step forward and moved his right hand to her but she flinched and moved away. At that moment the young boy felt a deep pain in his chest, like someone stabbed him with a knife close to his heart. "N-Neh I-Imca-chan, d-do you know who did this to y-you?" asked the boy shakily. Imca clutched the bed kilt and frowned when she remembered her attacker. She turned away from Naruto in an act to shield herself, "I'm sorry, can you please leave me alone. You're making me uncomfortable."
Naruto stood there for a minute then slowly almost robotically turned to leave. When he reached the door he stopped, "….. It's ok if you don't remember Imca-chan. I'll always b there if you need me."
After that he was so angry. He wanted to find the guy who did all this and give him a beating he won't forget but the Sandaime stopped him. Jiji had never looked so intimidating. He was so disappointed in how he acted but it wasn't his fault. Naruto looked down at his hands that clutched his pants leg in a vice grip. Suddenly a tear dropped on his hand. He tried to control it but more came.
"Damn it. Damn it. Stop crying. All I wanted was to help but… God damn it… Sasuke… Imca-chan… I'm sorry."
Two weeks later
After the incident at the hospital Naruto had not come back there at all nor had he visited the Hokage or played any pranks on the villagers. At the academy he was just staring of in space not bothering with any of the subjects. The students around him were still talking about the fall of the Uchiha and the theories in how it happened. He rolled his eyes in annoyance every time one of them came up with something totally unbelievable even when everyone knew about what really happened. The Hokage had announced that Uchiha Itachi had murdered everyone in that one night and had declared him an S-rank missing-nin. He was honestly surprised at that. No wonder Imca didn't want to talk about it and Sasuke was practically half dead, the guy was family and he betrayed them all.
Iruka was worried about him since he wasn't doing well in school. The last exam he had scored dead last and if he didn't do well in the next one he was going to have to take supplementary lessons or worse be held back a year. All this flew by without a hint of care from him. Right now he was walking back to the clearing. It was the only place he could find solace in, where he could just kick back and relax. But today he wasn't alone, today he had company.
"Sasuke?" indeed right there in front of him was the young raven himself. The boy had his back to him and was facing the lake. Sasuke slowly turned and faced the other boy. Minutes pass as neither of them said a word, Naruto noted the boy looked paler and that his eyes were as cold as ice. His friend looked so different then what he used to look like, almost as if he had aged many years. Then Sasuke moved closer to Naruto until he was about a foot away from the other boy. Sasuke narrowed his eyes, "Naruto… fight me." Before Naruto could register what his friend said a fist courtesy of the young Uchiha came and hit him square in the face which knocked him to the ground.
Getting up from the fall Naruto winced in pain as he faced the other boy, "What the hell was that for Sasuke!" The other boy didn't answer as he got into a fighting stance and rushed forward. Naruto tried to dodge Sasuke's relentless assault but being the less skilled of the two he wasn't doing very well. Naruto gasped in pain as Sasuke managed to land a hit at his solar plexus which brought Naruto on his knees from getting the air knocked out of him. The raven haired boy then followed it up with a reverse back hand to Naruto's face making the other boy to kiss the ground again.
Sasuke glared at Naruto as the other boy shakily stood up from the blow. An ugly bruise started to form on Naruto's right cheek as he spat the excess dirt and blood from his mouth. "Stop dodging and fight me Naruto!" The white haired boy growled and balled up his hands into fists. "Fine, you asked for it Sasuke!" Naruto dashed straight to Sasuke, intending to beat whatever frustration he had onto the other boy.
With Naruto being the less skilled one he was constantly knocked down to the ground but everytime he stood up to face the other boy. Sasuke knew he could beat Naruto hands down but his body was getting from the constant back and forth assault while the other boy kept getting up. It got to the point where Sasuke started slaking and making mistakes which gave Naruto ample opportunity to land a hard hit every once in a while. The fight lasted until both of them were on their knees panting on the ground facing each other with bruises, cuts and blood staining their clothing.
The both of them stood up at the same time and raised their fists for one last strike. They ran, fists flew and now they stood glaring at each other in the eyes with a fist lodged in their faces courtesy of the other. Finally the both of them collapsed onto the ground from exhaustion. There was complete silence throughout the clearing with the only noise being pants and wheezing coming from the two boys. Naruto didn't know they would have gone this far. It was always Imca that stopped the fights in time before him and Sasuke got hurt badly enough. A part of him had hope the raven haired girl would burst into the clearing with her trusty medical kit beside her. Naruto flopped himself on his back so he could face the sky. The sky was so blue and there were so many clouds up there that just gazing at them made him so drowsy, or maybe it was just because he took a little too many hits in the head.
The sound of movement caught his attention as he turned to Sasuke doing the exact same thing as him. The two stared up at the sky until Sasuke broke the silence, "My brother killed my clan." Naruto only frowned at the boy's statement, "I know."
"He killed everyone except Imca."
"… I know"
"He said he did it all just to test his limits." Naruto grit his teeth in anger but he didn't interrupt his friend.
"I'm going to kill him." That got Naruto's attention. The white haired boy turned his head and looked at his friend. He could see the anger in his eyes. The hate was so strong Naruto had to stop himself from flinching at it. "I wasn't strong enough to take him down. I'm too weak. I need to get stronger and stronger until I can fight him face to face" Naruto didn't know how to respond to his friend. What could he even say? All he wanted was for them to be like they were before. Just him, Sasuke and Imca… Imca… Naruto widened his eyes in realization.
"What will happen to Imca-chan? What if he comes after her?" Sasuke narrowed his eyes at that. "I won't let him take the last family I have left. I'll kill myself before I let that happen." Sasuke stood up and looked down at Naruto, the both of them looked each other in the eye for about half a minute before Sasuke continued. "You're weak too Naruto. I could have killed you if I had a kunai when we started fighting. If you want to get closer to Imca again then get stronger. I won't let some idiot jeopardize her safety." With that Sasuke turned and walked out of the clearing leaving a tired and hurt Naruto to contemplate his words.
Uchiha Imca stood in the middle of her family's living room. In front of her, leaning on the opposite wall was a large sword easily two and a half times her size. The hilt was thick and long like pole, was colored white with red and grey bands running around it and had a large blue hand guard. At the end of the hilt was a blue metal connector that was attached to another smaller hilt parallel to the first. Both hilts were connected to a large black rectangular slab with seal like markings engrave into it. At the end of the black slab was a large circular hole with a diameter of an orange. Attached to the black slab was a large one edged blade that had a width of half a foot. (Picture in profile)
The young girl stared blankly at the sword. Her mind was still in such a mess from the attack. The doctors said that she had lost some of her memories of the past few months but all in all she was fine if you ignore the giant sword wound on her torso. She had to take extra classes in the academy to refresh her mind on the subjects. The memories of the attack were clear as day in her mind. She could still feel the cold sweat that was pouring out of her body and the way her blood just froze in fear. Imca shook her head to clear the dark thoughts from her mind.
Standing up she approached the giant blade and tried to reach for the hilt. The sword fell down to the ground with a loud slam and Imca winced at the sight and sound. Grasping the hilt with both hands the girl tried to lift up the blade but the sword was so heavy, it didn't even so much as budge. A few more attempts and still no luck she dropped to her knees from the strain of her muscles. Imca narrowed her eyes at the blade and remembered the origins of the large weapon.
The little raven haired girl stared at her grandfather as he prepared to oil and clean the giant blade on the floor. "Jii-chan, why do we have this sword in the house? Nobody uses it." Uchiha Teyaki looked at his granddaughter with a sad smile before placing a hand on her head and ruffling her hair. "This sword Imca-chan is special and is also a very important part of our family. You see this sword has been passed down in our family for generations. I used it in the second shinobi war and when I was injured your father took it up and used it in the third shinobi war. It's a very important heirloom and one day when you get strong enough you will be the one to carry this sword. It's name is Varu." (Its originally Var but being japanese they pronounce it as Varu)
Imca frowned at the mention of her using the giant weapon, "I don't think I'll like using it. It's so big and I don't like hurting others." Teyaki laughed at the girls innocence, "Haha you're such a sweet girl Imca-chan. Maybe your right, I don't think I'll ever want to see you use it on anyone. You're such a little angel."
Imca felt a tear run down her cheek as she remembered her time with her grandfather. The little girl stood up and roughly rubbed the tears away before narrowing her eyes. "I'm sorry Jii-chan... I can't be your little angel anymore. I'm gonna get strong enough to carry our family blade. Then I'm gonna get even stronger so I can be the best. Then… I'm going to kill Uchiha Itachi."
Naruto lay in his bed wide awake. He tried to sleep but Sasuke's words were still running around in his head. Was Sasuke right? Was he really that weak? And if he was weak, could he really protect Imca from someone like Sasuke's brother? The Sandaime said that it was impossible for someone like him to even try to find the man. A tap on his window interrupted his thoughts. Turning to the window he could see a crow tapping on the glass. Sitting upright, Naruto was about to shoo the bird away when suddenly his body froze as he locked eyes with the feathery pest. The last thing he knew was the sight of the bird's red eye with three tomoe surrounding the pupil.
He could feel it… water… darkness… it was all so cold. Opening my eyes I found myself in a sewer like hallway. It was dirty and pipes ran all the way along the walls. Standing up, I noticed the floor was covered in water that reached up to my ankles. "Well that explains why it's so wet here." Naruto scoped out the area in search of a way out. "Hey! Come out here whoever you are! I'll kick your ass for dumping me in a sewer you assholes!" His voice carried out in an echo in the sewer like halls but his taunts yielded no results.
"Well shit I'm all alone; guess I'll have to find my way out." He started walking down the path for god knows how long. It seemed like time had no effect in this place. There was one thing he did realize though; the numbers of pipes along the walls were increasing. He could see that some of the pipes were glowing blue while others had a feint red in them. Finally he had reached a chamber like room but the ceiling was nowhere in sight; it was just a deep never ending darkness. In front of him he noticed there was a large podium in the middle of the room. It had a large scroll about twice his size and it was wrapped in chains which connected to five pointed pillars making it look like it was trapped in a pentagon or a star. Finally he noticed a figure in a black cloak standing beside the scroll.
"Hey! Were you the one who dumped me here! If it's like that then I'm gonna beat you till you tell me how to get out of here!" The man he now noted didn't bother to acknowledge him and continued on to inspect the podium. Getting angry at the man's lack of attention, Naruto approached him wearily incase the man turned to attack him. When he got about ten feet from his target the man turned to regard him. Instantly Naruto froze as he recognized the person under the hood. How could he not? This was the man who had killed an entire clan and had hurt both his friends.
"Uchiha… Itachi…"
The murderer only regarded him with a blank stare before nodding his head to him, "Naruto-san, it's good to see you again." The nine year old couldn't believe his eyes. The Sandaime's and Sasuke's words came back to him and Naruto now knew what the old man and his friend were saying. He wouldn't stand a chance to this man. He couldn't even fight a boy that was a year younger than him in a straight up match so he'll definitely be slaughtered if he even tried anything against the man before him.
"Why are you here? Did you come back to kill Sasuke and Imca?" Itachi frowned at the mention of his surviving family before looking back to the scroll beside him. "No Naruto-san, I won't fight them, not yet. The both of them need to get stronger if they plan to fight me. Right now they won't even realize if I pierced their hearts by the time they notice I was even there."
"… Then why did you leave them alive?" Itachi stared into the younger boy's eyes. "That's for me to know and for Sasuke and Imca to find out. Let's not talk about them Naruto-kun, may I call you Naruto-kun?" The boy in question didn't reply. "Well then Naruto-kun right now I want to talk about you." Naruto twitched at the man's words, half in fear and half in curiosity. "What do you mean you want to talk about me?" Itachi raised his right hand and swept it across the room in gesture to the chamber they were in. "Do you know where this place is Naruto-kun? Do you what it is?
"What does it even matter?" Itachi then pointed his hand to Naruto himself, "Ah but Naruto-kun it does matter. This place were both in is your mind or more specifically the seal above your heart." Naruto looked at the man as if he grew a second head, "What do you mean my mind? What seal? I don't understand what you're even talking about." Itachi stared down at the boy, "Still so ignorant I see, you'll never be able to get stronger if you continue like this Naruto-kun" Itachi slowly approached the boy until he was about a foot away from him. Naruto couldn't move, his body didn't listen to him when he yeld at it in his mind to fucking run.
"In the future Naruto-kun you'll start asking questions; questions no one is willing to answer. It will be up to you how you obtain these answers you seek. But the answers you find might not even be the right answers at all." Itachi moved his body so he could see what's behind him. Naruto looked up in confusion and turned to what had caught the man's interest. What he saw in the darkness opposite of him was something that will haunt him and interest him for the coming years of his life. It was a gigantic cage with each metal bar about the size of a house and it reached all the way up into the darkness above. Behind the bars was complete darkness but his eyes began to make out a shape of sorts. He couldn't see properly but whatever it was must be huge.
"It's still asleep." Naruto turned his attention back to the killer in front of him that spoke. Itachi looked back at Naruto before walking away to the entrance of the chamber. "Get strong Naruto-kun. You're going to need it" Before Naruto can question him any further the whole room was covered in darkness and Naruto found himself jumping up in bed. His breaths came in startled gasps and his whole body was drenched with sweat. Was it all a dream? It was all so real though. Naruto didn't know what to believe anymore but if one thing is for sure he wasn't going to get any sleep tonight.
The next day
Naruto sat in his seat staring at the clock in the classroom, waiting for the bell to ring. He was so tired from what happened yesterday with Itachi and his words. He was about to drift off into sleep when the academy bell rang signaling the end of today's classes. Before he could jump out of his seat a hand came and clamped down on his right shoulder. Looking beside him was an unhappy Iruka staring down at him, "Not so fast Naruto, I need to talk to you after class. Everyone else can go home." The rest of the class left with a few students snickering at the white haired boy thinking he was going to get punished again.
When the class was finally empty he walked down the steps till he was standing in front of the teacher's desk. Iruka looked at Naruto in worry, "Naruto is something wrong? You don't make as much noise as you use too and you haven't made any pranks at all, not that I'm complaining. Your results on the mock test we had last week were so bad compared to your usual ones. Talk to me Naruto." The boy in question refused to look Iruka in the eye and opted to stare out the window. Iruka sighed at the boy's stubbornness, "If you don't talk to me then I won't know how to help you Naruto. Sandaime-sama had asked me to confront you on your behavior lately; he's worried that you're not coping well with ninja training."
At the mention of the Sandaime Naruto stood rigid and his eyes widened a bit with his lips pressed in a tight line. Iruka saw all this and frowned, "Naruto, did something happen between you and the Sandaime?" Naruto looked towards the ground for a few seconds before meeting his teacher in the eye. "Ne Iruka-sensei… Am I weak?" Iruka raised an eyebrow at the boy's question, "Well Naruto you can't expect to take on thieves and mercenaries at your age when you're not even a full fledge genin yet." Naruto shook his head at the man's statement. "No I mean am I weak for someone in my year?"
Iruka frowned at that, was the boy having confidence isues? It was quite surprising seeing his favorite student (Though he'll never admit it) so unsure of himself. "Well Naruto to be honest you're not exactly the best I've ever had the pleasure of teaching. You don't listen to my lectures and you skip most of the class. Your written tests show that you're not really book smart at all but I believe it's because of lack of practice. Your taijutsu is subpar at best, you have good stamina and you're quite fast but you lack finesse and you're stances need work. Your shuriken and kunai throwing is off balance so you keep missing the target. The only thing I can say you're good at is in your traps and stealth exercises."
Naruto winced at all his faults but he couldn't fight back at all since everything was spot on. "Gee Iruka-sensei you really don't hold back." Iruka smiled at him, "It's my job as a teacher to know where my students stand and how to help them." Naruto smiled at him for a moment before looking down at his feet again, "… I'm going to have to repeat the year aren't I" Iruka chose to not confirm the boy's statement. An awkward silence drifted between student and teacher, both unsure what to say to the other.
"… I… I want to get stronger Iruka-sensei." Iruka stared at him before moving around the table and kneeling in front of the boy, "…Alright Naruto. I'll help you get stronger." The two smiled at each other before Iruka stood up, "Now, let's go get some ramen Naruto." Naruto grinned up at the man before following him out of the class.
Two months later
"Class settle down and listen up." Everyone didn't listen to the teacher in front and continued in their own business. Iruka twitched in suppressed anger at the blatant disrespect, "SHUT UP YOU PIECE OF SHITS" Now that got their attention. The class was now so quiet you can hear a pin drop.
"Good, now that I have your attention we may proceed with today's lessons but before that I have an important announcement to make. We have a new student joining us today and he will be with you for the rest of you academy years so treat him well." At the mention of a new student coming to class everyone had their interests' peak. Namikaze Rina turned to her friend Hinata, "I hope whoever is coming is nice. It'll be nice if it was another girl." Hinata nodded in agreement with her.
Sasuke looked on with only a small amount of interest. He turned to his cousin and noted her staring blankly at their teacher and Sasuke frowned at that. The girl wasn't the same since the massacre and because of it she hardly shown any emotion that recognized her as the sweet innocent girl she was before. He'll make Itachi pay for doing this to her. Iruka silenced the class once more before turning to the classroom door.
"You may come in now." The door slid open to reveal the new student who walked in the class. Sasuke widened his eyes in surprise before letting a smirk appear on his face. Imca gave off no reaction but you could see the thinning of her lips and the slight widening of her eyes to show her recognition. Hinata blushed red in remembrance and Rina frowned at the new student. She couldn't place it but she felt that she knew the boy standing in front of the class, call it a gut feeling (Literally). The rest of the class burst into whispers with some of the students recognizing who the new student was.
The white haired boy smirked at them. He could tell that he was going to fit in just right, "Name's Naruto; just Naruto. I'm going to kick each and every one of your asses."
Auther Notes: So how do you like it? Yeah it seems a little rushed but I tried the best I can to make it decent. Now that that's out of the way I can finally get into the main plot. Genin time people XD I hope you all enjoyed it. Review to let me know of any complaints and advice or just to congratulate on a job well done. This is KitsuneLovers signing off :3