I don't own Naruto
Chapter 8: A Deceiving World
Time skip: One week.
He was running at top speed, at least he thought he was. Rushing and weaving through the trees, occasionally jumping over a trap, or setting a trap for his pursuer. However, due to the fact that the traps kept activating, he could only guess that his pursuer hadn't stopped.
Finally, he reached a clearing. Yes, he thought; this would be the place where he made his final battle. He had just gotten vital information, and if he didn't deliver it… There simply wasn't a chance for him to lose, and he thought he knew it. Or at least, he thought he knew it.
Two clad ninja appeared behind him, about thirty feet away. One had nice, short light blue hair and a large scroll on her back. The other had long sleek red hair, and a katana strapped to her back. The red-head immediately drew her sword, and whispered some words, while at the same time, the blue-haired girl also took out her scroll, and wordlessly created two wings on her back, made of solid stone, which immediately flapped, lifting her into the sky. Finally, the man turned around, facing his pursuers.
He had orange hair that was slightly scuffled, and he pulled out a sword with intricate patterns on it, that said in kanji letters, 'Dragon'. "Luster's Plight!" he yelled, stabbing his sword at the two kunochi, then running behind the beam of light that appeared from his sword. He immediately battled the red-head in a kenjutsu battle, first jumping back and kicking off the branch straight at her, before she jumped up and kicked off of the man's shoulder, slicing him for good measure. Undaunted, he swung his sword horizontally, expecting to cut her in half, but the red-head merely leapt back, and pointing her sword at him, yelled "Head-Hunter Jutsu!", disappearing into the earth. The man jumped around, looking for any sign of her, but only found a spear through his stomach. The blue-haired kunochi twisted the spear, then pulled it out, making the man gasp, but still try to behead the lady that had a pierced him with a spear. The blue-haired lady jumped back and while he tried to stagger towards her to stab her, he felt a sharp pain come from his legs. He felt like a complete idiot; while he had tried to fight the other kunochi, the red-head that had initially gone into the ground had actually gone behind him, and sliced his Achilles tendon.
The man fell, dying, and the last thought in his mind was, "Forgive me, Jiriya-sama…"
Naruto woke up, and immediately created thirty shadow clones.
"Okay guys, you all know the drill…" he said to all of the clones, all of which immediately nodded and went off to do their exercises.
Naruto did a whistle that started with a low, low whistle, then immediately hopped up to a near screech at 'trill' level. He blinked, and perched on his window was Shadow and Precision, and both of them nodded, "Greetings, Naruto-sama."
"Geez guys, didn't I already tell you that you didn't have to call me that?"
"Yes, Naruto-sama."
Naruto sweat-dropped, put on his shoulder guards, and one of his clones jumped into the room via window. The clone dumped a dead rabbit onto the ground, and popped out of existence. The two birds immediately started eating at the food, every-once-in a while commenting on how it tasted and what should be added.
As soon as the two finished their meal, they took their places on his shoulders where there was actually an impression of where they had sunk their talons in everyday.
Naruto next watched as one of his clones climbed up the outside of the apartment, and around his arms was a long greenish cobra, lashing out at the hands. The clone and snake landed inside, and another clone brought in another rabbit, before poofing out of existence. The cobra slid out of the reach of the clone, which poofed' a moment later, and began to swallow the rabbit. Naruto, gaining the memories of the clone, was rather impressed with the progress that Dango had made, despite her rather annoying attitude, and was starting to wonder if Dango was Anko's snake daughter or something.
Naruto then went over to the tank that he now kept, full of water, and looked inside to see his two familiar's, Ooginy, and Jammers were hanging out, swishing around. Another Naruto appeared, seemingly coming from the port, and deposited two rather large fish into the water, and the two sea familiars bit into the food, every-once in a while spilling out some food.
"Yuck, anyways, Jammers and Ooginy, how have your studies of your jutsu's gone?"
"Jammers wasn't studying yesterday, he was trying to get me to summon Piiyi again…"
"Really Jammers?"
"Well, Ooginy wasn't either; he was sleeping all day yesterday!"
"Stop it you two, doesn't matter. Anyways, just keep doing it today, okay? I have a feeling that we'll be needing it soon…" Naruto finished, making more clones to learn from the rest of his teachers, then leaping out of the window onto the street, putting on his mask had become a second habit now, if only to avoid the annoying civilians.
As soon as Naruto hit the ground, he started running towards the Academy, knowing that today was going to be another round at spars, and with his guidance, Hinata, Haku, Shino, and even Sasuke had gotten stronger. He was honestly surprised with Sasuke; he didn't expect him to actually be so willing to learn. He had even made good friends with him.
When Naruto entered the academy, he noticed something off about one of his best friends; Sasuke looked troubled, almost scared of something. Then, he came over to Naruto.
"Naruto-san… do you trust my brother with your life?" he asked, fear in his eyes.
"Yes, with my life, and with all my descendents lives, with everyone. Why?"
"Because… you have to know something, Naruto…" Sasuke said, leaning closer.
"Yes?"
"My dad… is thinking of a coup de treat, to 'return us Uchiha to our former glory', but I don't think so, not after what I've learned from you and the others."
"How many people?"
"Nearly everyone with a Sharringan, I'm just lucky that they didn't include me since I haven't awakened it yet. My brother can't talk to you himself about it without raising suspicion, but he's planning on killing everyone with it tonight, and he wants you to 'fake' to be the reason that he had to run."
"I understand…"
"Are you sure? Because I'm not entirely sure I do…"
"He wants me to fight him, in other words, stall him tonight, so he doesn't have to kill everyone in you clan. He'll definitely hold back, but still… fighting Itachi? Sounds like suicide…"
"Yeah, I know… he also said something about leaving the village undercover, because he knows he'll be searched out by any organizations that mean harm to Konoha, Naruto."
"I can understand that also…"
"Are you sure? So basically, Nii-san is going to be out of Konoha for a long time?"
"Actually," Naruto said, with a serious expression in his eyes. "He may not be allowed to come back at all…"
That night, Itachi prepared himself for the task that had to be done. He realized what he was doing; killing every single member of the Uchiha clan, before they could betray Konoha… Yet still, he regretted, and looking at himself in meditation, he realized what he had to do.
That night was also the secret meeting for the head's of the Uchiha clan, including Itachi's father, Fugaku, who was the leader of the revolt, along with the other elders and elites of the clan. Of how many Uchiha ninja were there, only about thirty weren't partaking in the event, and only because they either opposed too strongly, or were too young.
"All right, Uchiha ninja! Tomorrow night is the night that we retook our noble position! We shall rule as the main clan of konoha, and with it, we shall finally kill off the members of the hated Hyuga clan," Fugaku said with a wild grin. The onlookers cheered, and, looking by the window, Shisui looked troubled. His best friend, Itachi, had told him to not partake in the final meeting, and Shisui trusted him with his life, but still, why? Itachi then appeared next to him.
"Itachi, I thought you weren't taking part in the revolution?" Shisui asked eyes wide in shock.
"I apologize, Shisui, but this is no revolution. This is a betrayal, and I hope that you can understand why I am doing this…" Itachi said, bowing his head. When he looked up again, Shisui's mind collapsed, and he dropped to the ground, half-dead.
"Dumbass! I-Itachi, I had the same views… just I didn't know if you did… Listen, I'm sorry, but I understand… Now then, take my eyes…" Shisui said, to the shock of Itachi.
"But you can still survive, Shisui-kun! I can take you to the hospital…" Itachi said, reaching down to Shisui before he grabbed Itachi's wrist, and held on tight.
"Listen, Itachi… I think it was time for you to know, I was going to die in a few months because of the chakra virus anyways, it just hasn't gotten contagious yet… take my eyes, or otherwise, they will be harvested for research."
"Are… are you sure?" Itachi asked, tears in his eyes.
"Yes, kill me now, and whatever you do, Itachi-kun…" Shisui said, making Itachi come closer for one last bit of advice.
"Don't die," Shisui said, before Itachi stabbed him in the back of the head with a kunai, easing his friend of his pain. Itachi then took Shisui's eyes out, and knew what he would do. He quickly went through the signs for summoning, and, saying, "Kuchiyose!" a raven appeared.
"What is it, Itachi-sama?" the bird asked.
"Listen, Kyo, I need you to take this eye and implant it into your own eye, then head off and hide… I need you to look over a disciple of mine, but do not show yourself, or this eye. Just remain in hiding until I come back for you, understand?"
"Hai, it shall be done, Itachi-sama," Kyo said, taking the eye into his talon gently, then disappearing.
Itachi then took out a scroll, and sealed the other eye into it. Finally, he looked at Shisui's body and lit the eye sockets on fire with a small fireball. Immediately after, he did a Suiton technique and put out the fire, making it look his friends' eyes had caught on fire or something.
Itachi felt a sharp pain in his eyes, but thought to himself, "It will go away" Beginning the Uchiha massacre, starting with the elders that were still inside the complex that they were holding the meeting at. In a puff of smoke, he preformed the shunshin, and immediately cut off the heads of the elders, all at once. They all dropped to the floor without a single noise, besides a slight thud.
"The first traitors killed, who is next?" Itachi thought, once again using Shunshin.
XX Naruto XX
Naruto walked towards the Uchiha complex leisurely, pretending that he wasn't in a rush to save the loyal Uchiha. Sasuke had said that his older brother would've killed all of the traitor Uchiha by nine, and that he would expect Naruto to be there by then, to challenge him. Naruto stopped by the gate of the Uchiha complex, to be greeted by a rather busty Uchiha lady, who had on bandages around her legs, and a pendent around her neck. Her hair was long and loose, and she almost resembled Kurenai, but not quite.
"What are you doing here, boy" the lady said in a brazen voice.
"I am here to help Sasuke Uchiha with his studies, as I know quite a few jutsu that would help him in many areas of Ninjutsu that are rather- ah-, lacking," Naruto replied.
The lady growled, but let him pass. Naruto already knew exactly where the training grounds were, due to Sasuke's descriptions, and thus went straight to there, although not without stopping by Sasuke's house first. He went by, and to anyone watching him, it would've looked like he was simply calling Sasuke to train.
Naruto then looked at a nearby clock, and it said on it, 9:00. He grimaced, and kept walking towards Sasuke's house. He came outside of it to see bloodstains on the door, and as any observer would expect, he immediately drew his sword, and started to stealthily go inside. Inside, Itachi was explaining to his mother about his father's plans after becoming Hokage; killing the Hyuga off, replacing the ANBU corps with corps made especially from Uchiha; everything. And with a sword around his neck, Fugaku really couldn't do much to stop his son.
Naruto then jumped into the living room onto the couch, surprising all of the inhabitants of the room, although Itachi's shock looked more fake.
"What is your disciple doing here, Itachi?" Fugaku asked, before his head came off from Itachi's sword . Mikoto screamed, as her husband's head fell to the ground, and his body also fell. Mikoto then collapsed, and shortly afterwards, fainted.
"Naruto-san, I believe that you know that I must leave Konoha?" Itachi stated.
"But… why?" Naruto asked, playing the part of a shocked student.
"Because, I need to test my strength, now then, Tsukyomi!" Itachi shouted, his eyes flashing for a second.
Naruto felt his conscious slipping away slowly, and when he opened his eyes, he was in darkness, and there was nothing but himself. Standing next to him was Kyubi in her human form, and the two looked at each other before shrugging.
Itachi appeared out of nowhere, startling the two, and Kyubi got into a fighting position, but Naruto held up his hand and stopped her, before bowing to Itachi.
"Itachi-sensei, where are we?" He asked, scratching his head a bit.
"We are in a Genjutsu I discovered with the sharringan a while back. There's a tablet in the compound that tells of this power… In this Genjutsu, I control time and space, it simply bends to my will. There's some other powers I haven't figured out also, but those won't come for a while."
"Cool. So, what is our plan, sensei?" Naruto asked.
"We have 72 hours before the Genjutsu wears off, during that time, I will tell you everything else that I haven't thus far. And another thing, I'm going to teach you a choreography mimicked fight for when the Genjutsu wears off."
"Great, before we get started though, how will I talk to you when you leave?"
"The raven contract, they can find me anywhere. Now then, let us begin."
-72 hours later-
"Why!" Sasuke yelled, before Naruto woke up from the 'fake' Tsukyomi.
"R-run Sasuke, get help!" Naruto yelled at Sasuke, staggering, playing the part of a victim of the Genjutsu.
Itachi's eyes widened. "You were able to withstand that technique? How?"
"Strength, Itachi-sensei. Now then, I would suggest that you start to run, before the ANBU get here," he stated, chuckling on the inside.
Itachi looked shocked, then disappeared in a blur, trying to get outside, but Naruto intercepted him half-way there.
"Tsk tsk, Itachi-san." Naruto said, waggling his finger at him. Itachi merely raised an eyebrow, and taking his sword on his back out of its sheath, both he and Naruto intersected blades, the two then skidded back, hands trying to stop their movement. Before Naruto could fully recover, however, Itachi recovered and sent an Air Bullet at Naruto, which was obviously reduced in power, Naruto tried to block it, but the bullet exploded, and as Itachi was about to cleave his head off, an ANBU appeared, blocking Itachi's sword with a ninjato. Itachi then shushined, disappearing in a cloud of smoke, leaving Naruto and a cat mask ANBU.
Itachi reappeared in the outside forests of Konoha, and immediately after he appeared, a man with eyes that had small ringlets in it appeared and said, "Uchiha Itachi; May I have a word with you?"
XX Orochimaru's hideout XX
When Orochimaru found out that Itachi had killed most of the Uchiha clan, he cursed aloud, and beheaded any of his subordinates that dared to come close. Mizuki himself was nearly as mad as his master, he nearly went and assassinated Itachi himself, but came to his senses due to Orochimaru.
"Damn that Uchiha… It seems as if I will have to wait until later to get an Uchiha body… Well, there is always sweet Sasuke-kun…" Orochimaru said, seething. "Perhaps… If I were to it at the end of their school year… then Mizuki could steal one of the Forbidden scrolls, and I could obtain the secret to the Nidame's abilities!"
XX Konoha, at the Uchiha Compound XX
Naruto, escorted by an ANBU, limped Into the Hokage's office, and without a word, the Hokage took Naruto in his arms, and dismissed the ANBU. Naruto smiled, but then fell limp and Sarutobi, panicking, shunshin'd to the hospital.
Naruto awoke to a gathering of all of his teachers, minus Itachi of course, and Sarutobi himself, all of them around him and talking.
"I'm still amazed that he managed to take a Tsukiyomi head on and not get killed, or at least get traumatized… I know for a fact, that even I would've been killed for sure," Kurenai stated, proud of her student.
"Blocking an Air Bullet? Amazing! And actually surviving the blast portion?" Zabuza proclaimed, a grin on his face under the mask.
"YOSH, I AM AS WELL PROUD OF NARUTO-KUN! FOR HE WAS ABLE TO KEEP UP WITH ITACHI-SAN!" Gai stated flames in his eyes and his fist in a clench.
"Whatever the case, Gai, I imagine it would benefited for us to be quiet, so Naruto can sleep," Sarutobi stated, making all of the Jonin's chit-chat cease. Naruto was about to talk, before the doors opened, and two of the advisors stepped in.
"How can we trust this de- I mean boy? He was trained by that traitor, Itachi! What if Itachi taught him his ways? He should be executed! Besides, he actually encouraged Uchiha Itachi to flee!" The man snarled, pointing at Naruto, who nearly yelled, but managed to refrain himself.
"Yes, the boy must be contained! Perhaps we can put his new trainer as Danzo-san? He will be able to make him into a good ninja of Konoha," the woman said after the man. The two then stopped from the amount of killer intent being emitted from not only Naruto's teachers, but from Hiruzen himself, his fists were clenched, and even Gai was in a serious mood, his eyes glared at the two. Anko actually took out a kunai and licked it, while Hayate took out another senbon, and started chewing it. Kurenai scowled, and got her hands into position for a genjutsu. Kakashi gave an eye smile, but moved up his headband, revealing his Sharringan eye, the thing that Naruto had only seen one time, in training. Zabuza actually released his sword already, Hiruzen took off his ceremonial Hokage robes, and lastly, Yugao, in her ANBU uniform, unsheathed her Ninjato and flipped it backward, getting into a stance, ready to kill.
"And how, exactly," half growled the Hokage. "How do you know that is what he said?"
"Well, we… I…" Homaru stuttered defiantly.
"Tell Danzo that if he makes any move, that every single Jounin will be after him, and that even my son will want and wish for his death."
Homaru and Koharu paled, and quickly exited the room, making all of the ninja's relax. Naruto then made his waking up known.
"So, Itachi-sensei left the village, huh…" Naruto asked, startling all of the ninja.
"Y-yes, your sensei left, I'm rather surprised that he didn't kill you actually." Hiruzen stated, shocked that Naruto was already awake.
"Question, brat, how the heck did you not get killed? Itachi was…" Anko stated, hands on her hips.
"Yeah! Tsukiyomi… The unbreakable genjutsu!" Kurenai said loudly in a hushed voice. Naruto simply looked at her with a look that said, "I'll tell you later." He then got out of his bed in the hospital, and winced as he got up.
"H-how is that possible? He got hit with an Air Bullet at point blank! Itachi was not holding back on power, and the bullet exploded right in your face! So how…?" Zabuza asked, shocked.
"I… think that Sarutobi-sensei shall tell you, however, what day is this? I need to catch up on training," Naruto stated, getting ready to create clones.
"Wait one second, Naruto-kun!" Sarutobi shouted, startling Naruto.
"Yes?" Naruto asked, dropping the ram seal.
"During your fight with Itachi, he unfortunately managed to seal some of your strength and chakra," Sarutobi stated, getting a shocked look from Naruto.
"But-! I didn't give him enough time for something like that! So when?" Naruto asked, becoming sub-merged into his own thoughts. After almost a minute of thought, he created the hand seal for Ram, and made twenty clones. Suddenly, without warning, he fell to the ground, his hand on the floor, and all of his senseis and Sarutobi all rushed forward, surprised. However, Naruto soon began to slip from conscious and unknown to him, he was also slipping away from the hospital, and as the ninja watched, he slowly sunk into a black vortex-like shape, and when Hiruzen attempted to grab him, his hands slipped right through.
Naruto woke up in a forest, with him being the size of an ant.
