Author Notes- Hello fellow readers! Took me a bit more time to update this chapter. I have a couple of tests coming up. So, I was busy studying for that. Anyway here it is now.
I had told, I would finish up Raikage's meeting with the Hokage in this chapter. Unfortunately, I couldn't put all of that into this chapter as it would mess with the fluidity that I want the story to continue. This chapter mainly talks about how Sasuke feels. His confusion about how the shinobi world works as he heard different things from different people in the past. This chapter also portrays Itachi's and Sasuke's relationship.
[Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.]
Anyway let the story continue
Chapter 9: Sasuke's Inner Turmoil
Previously
'I want to know… if I'm capable enough to protect you, my foolish little brother.' Sasuke muttered to himself as he clenched his fists.
Present
Naruto and Sasuke stood at about fourteen feet from each other. They were standing at the bank of the Naka river, in the territory of the Uchiha Clan. Both standing there, unmoving and staring at each other. The wind moved freely making Naruto's golden blond hair sway a bit. He saw Sasuke clench his fists and avert his eyes. He couldn't understand why Sasuke was acting this way.
He looked at Itachi who was standing under a tree and looking at them without any expression. He saw the older Uchiha nod his head and understood the meaning behind it.
"Don't worry Naruto-kun. If anything goes out of hand, I will intervene."
"Are you going to fight me or not, Naruto?" Sasuke asked again through gritted teeth as he shut his eyes.
He was feeling anger. Anger at the people who caused Naruto pain.
He was feeling hurt. Hurt because, Naruto felt guilty for doing what he did and couldn't talk to him first.
So many different emotions were going through his mind right now.
He felt a slight tingling sensation in his eye, but kept it shut.
He didn't know why he felt so strongly attached to Naruto. It hurt him inside when he would see the blond sad. He had seen him hide his pain behind those goofy smiles of his for years now. He knew how much Naruto loved Konoha and the villagers. Naruto's love for the villagers was far greater than his dislike towards them. He understood that, when they spoke about each other's dream on top of the Hokage Monument.
Naruto closed his eyes and took a deep breath and exhaled calmly. 'I have to calm down. If he wants to fight, then fine.' He opened his violet eyes and looked at Sasuke with a determined expression.
"Alright Sasuke. If that is what you want. I will give it to you."
Sasuke's only response was to open his eyes and stare at Naruto with his sharingan eyes. His once coal-black eyes had now turned blood red with two tomoes present in each.
An Uchiha's love for their people is far greater than anyone in this world. It is said that, the sharingan is the eye than shows the hidden emotions of a human. As Naruto stared into Sasuke's sharingan and felt the waves of emotions surging from him, he understood one thing.
'How much do you love me nii-san?'
Itachi widened his eyes seeing Sasuke's sharingan. 'His love for Naruto is far greater than I imagined.'
Naruto was quite shocked seeing Sasuke's sharingan. His feet fumbled a bit but he regained his composure quickly. Those blood red eyes were unnerving indeed. But Naruto knew, the one standing before him was his friend, his brother. His mother had told him about the Uchihas a lot and about their prized doujutsu- Sharingan, the eyes that can see through a person's soul.
Naruto and Sasuke stood facing one another, each in their respective family taijutsu katas. Naruto knew he was strong, but he had never faced or trained with someone possessing a sharingan. Hence, he decided to take this fight seriously.
He relaxed his mind and body making a single hand seal with his left hand and said, "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu", creating two identical replicas of himself. Wordlessly, they all charged towards Sasuke at an impressive speed. Naruto saw his brother like figure neither smiled or tensed. He simply waited there calmly in his position.
As soon as the clones reached near Sasuke, the first one threw a hard punch towards his left cheek bone, while the second one went for a leg sweep from the right. While all of this was happening, Sasuke could see the attacks coming towards him clearly, as if the time itself had slowed down. In a swift motion, he swatted away the punch that was aimed at his cheek while jumping up. As he swatted away the punch, he gave a hard kick to the face of the second clone, who stumbled back a few distances and dispelled itself. Seeing the second clone dispelled, the first one rushed towards Sasuke again and the two engaged in a quite a fierce display of taijutsu. While Naruto's clone had a lot of power packed behind each of his punches and kicks, Sasuke could maneuver around them nimbly and evade the attacks easily. As Sasuke ducked under another punch, he twisted the clone's body, swatting it's punch up and away, he then gave a strong palm thrust to the clone's torso. The clone suffered quite a blow and skidded a few meters back. Yet, before the clone could process anything, Sasuke drove his fist into the clone's chin, knocking it the ground and eventually dispelling it.
'Interesting… he seemed to be able to read my clone's movements easily. So, his sharingan helps him in predicting the opponent's movements." Thought Naruto with surprise as he received the memory of the last clone.
This was one of the main advantages of the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu. It distributes the caster's chakra into equal amounts within the clones. Each clone had an independent personality and were capable of self-thinking. They could be used in fights as they can withstand several strikes, if the clone has enough chakra. They were extremely useful when spying behind enemy lines and could also be used for training purposes. The main reason for the jutsu to be label as a Kinjutsu was because of the required chakra. But for Naruto, chakra was not an issue.
"Is that all you got Senju?" Sasuke taunted. All those taijutsu training he had done with Itachi and on his own were finally showing results. Naruto's eyebrow twitched slightly on hearing that remark. He took out four shurikens from his pouch on his right leg and threw it towards him at a fast speed while performing a few hand signs.
"Kage Shuriken no Jutsu"
The four shurikens multiplied into a hundred shuriken and were heading towards Sasuke at a dangerously fast speed. Reacting quickly, Sasuke took out his kunai and started deflecting them with quick blocks. He was extremely grateful to his sharingan now, as it was helping him keep track of each one of the shurikens easily.
As Naruto saw him deflect all the shurikens away in an impressive way, he sunshined right in front of Sasuke and attempted to send a right hook to his face. Seeing Naruto's movement, Sasuke quickly blocked the attack with his left hand and made a leg sweep at Naruto's legs. The Uchiha knew Naruto had put a lot of power in that hook as he could feel his left hand slightly bruised. But before Naruto could defend, he was already on the ground as he lost his balance. He back flipped a few meters away from Sasuke to avoid a kick that Sasuke had aimed at his chest.
'If I try to fight him head on in taijutsu, I will suffer some serious damage. As expected of the members of Senju Clan. They sure have immense physical strength… I will have to use it then' thought Sasuke in a span of a couple of seconds and started going through a few hand seals.
As Sasuke finished the last hand sign, he put his ring finger and thumb joined together in front of his mouth and said
"Katon: Gokayaku no Jutsu" and breathed out a large ball of fire that was headed straight towards Naruto.
'Shit! That thing is huge!' Naruto thought, as he quickly performed the Kawirami no Jutsu and substituted himself with a log of wood. However, Sasuke had already seen the build of chakra within Naruto and knew what he was planning.
Before Naruto could release a breath of relief, he had to be immediately on guard as he saw Sasuke run straight towards him.
'He's really fast...' Naruto thought. He had to put a lot of strength in his hand to block Sasuke's punch with his left hand. He looked straight at Sasuke to meet his gaze and saw him glaring with his sharingan. Both Naruto and Sasuke then pulled their right hands back and poured their remaining strength in their fist and punched each other in their left cheek. The force of the impact was too much as they both were thrown back on to the ground, with bruised cheeks.
Itachi who was silently observing the fight from far decided to intervene and sunshined in between the two.
"That's enough. There is no need to continue this." Itachi said in a commanding tone. 'They are both incredibly strong for their ages. I doubt even I was that good.' He looked towards Naruto and thought, 'His taijutsu is incredible. Though he is young, he has a lot of strength. No doubt, Tsunade-sama's been helping him with that.'
While Naruto nodded as he never wanted to fight his closest friend, Sasuke settled with a grunt, 'Hn'.
Itachi looked up at the sky and knew it was time for the Uchiha Clan meeting. A few months back, the Uchiha Clan had started keeping regular meetings. Now, that he was chunin, his father had requested his presence within Council Chambers. He doubted anything good will come out of the discussions. He wasn't blind to the treatment given to the Uchihas by the village elders. Many of them believed the cause of the attack five years ago to be the Uchihas. He released a tired a sigh and looked at his brother.
"Sorry Sasuke. I must go now. I will train you some other time okay?" he said in a kind voice. Sasuke felt like saying something. He had seen Itachi do this quite often in the past few months. So, he just settled for nodding as he lied on the ground looking at the sky. Itachi did not say anything further and sunshined out of the area.
Naruto looked at Sasuke sadly and went closer to him. He lied down beside him and he too stared at the sky.
"What happened Sasuke?" Naruto asked sadly.
"Why couldn't you talk to me about what happened to you earlier Naruto?" Sasuke in a low voice as he continued to look at the sky.
Naruto felt his heart beat increase when he heard the question. He was worried what Sasuke would think about him. He didn't want his only friend to look at him warily and like everyone else.
Naruto looked away from Sasuke and said in a hushed voice. "D… Do you hate me now? Do you think I'm a murderer?"
Not even a second later Naruto found himself held in the air by the hem of his shirt. He looked down and saw Sasuke glaring at him with his sharingan.
"HOW COULD YOU EVEN SAY THAT?" Sasuke yelled.
In that moment, Naruto saw something in those sharingan eyes that he would never forget. It terrified him.
Hate. Insurmountable hate.
Not for him. For the shinobi who caused him pain.
And it was gone, as soon as it came.
Naruto looked away in shame. "I'm sorry Sasuke. I shouldn't have asked that question."
Sasuke's eyes softened a bit hearing that. No matter what, he could never hate Naruto. The blond was the only one who understood him completely. It was strange indeed. They were from rival clans, and yet they understood each other completely. Even though they weren't related by blood, they felt like brothers.
"You did the right thing Naruto. Had you not killed that shinobi, you would have died. My nii-san and tou-chan always tell me, killing is part of the shinobi world. You may not like doing it, but shinobis are those who endure pain and fight from the shadows." Sasuke said solemnly. Naruto was amazed the way Sasuke was talking. He knew Sasuke was much smarter than him and that's why he always listened to each and everything he said with rapt attention.
"I know Sasuke. I understand."
The two laid on the ground again as a comfortable silence took over. Naruto noticed a slight change in Sasuke's demeanor, but couldn't exactly pin point it. So, he decided to leave it for now. 'It couldn't be much drastic anyway…' he thought.
Only if he knew…
"Sasuke, I have to go. It's getting late. Kaa-chan must be worried about me." Naruto said as he got up from his position.
Sasuke looked at Naruto and nodded. He didn't feel like speaking right now. Naruto understood his friend and waved him goodbye. He disappeared to the Senju Compound then, in a sunshin.
It had been around an hour after Naruto had left and Sasuke was now walking back towards his house. He had been thinking a lot on different subjects since then.
What is a true shinobi?
What is the duty of a shinobi?
What is the meaning of the village?
Whatever he knew about being a shinobi and about the village was told to him from someone else's view. But he wanted to find out the meaning behind those on his own. He wanted to view things in his own perspective.
As Sasuke was about the enter the doors of the main house within the Uchiha Compound, he suddenly looked towards his left near the wall with his sharingan active.
'I thought I saw someone there.' Sasuke thought cautiously as he entered his house.
"So… it was you who inherited mother's powers… I will always be watching you my dear Sasuke…" said a dark black figure who rose from the ground near the wall.
Next Morning, Senju Compound
After Naruto reached home last night, he immediately went to bed after having dinner. He was told someone special would be coming to meet him in the next two or three days. Even though he had asked several times who it was, Jiraiya just waved him off saying it's worth the wait. As he laid in bed last night, he had thought a lot about his fight with Sasuke. He knew he had more stamina and strength compared to him. But that was the only thing which had favored him during the fight. He was sure, in a straight out taijutsu fight, he would have won. He wasn't sure about his chances of winning had the fight continued. Since he had started training with Sasuke a few years back, he quickly realized while he was good in shinobi arts because he worked extremely worked, Sasuke was rather gifted in the field. He had seen how quickly Sasuke learnt the shurikenjutsu while it took him some time to get it right. Even though he knew the fact Sasuke was better than him in various aspects, instead of forming a sense of envy, he admired him even more. He was amazed how quickly, Sasuke could adjust to the sharingan and the fact he could use ninjutsu so effortlessly.
Currently, Naruto was sitting in a meditative pose in the gardens at the back of the main house of the Senju Compound. He had been sitting in that position for the past few hours. Meditation was one of the best ways to get a feel of the chakra flowing inside one's body. The more you feel tuned with chakra, the easier it becomes to control the flow of it. Meditation also helped in calming one's mind. The infusion of chakra is the mingling of the essence of one's spiritual energy and physical energy. The more one becomes in control of their mind, the stronger their spiritual energy becomes.
Another reason why Naruto was doing this was to get a better feel of how to use his Mokuton abilities. Hashirama Senju was the only shinobi other than him who could perform Mokuton. Unfortunately, the man wasn't alive any more who could guide Naruto in the right direction. Although, he had left several notes on his Kekkei Genkai in the Senju Clan library in the hope that one of his descendants could use the same ability as him. Meanwhile, Tsunade was busy searching for those notes in the library, Jiraiya had advised Naruto to better understand the flow of his own chakra and become more attuned to it.
He had been told Mokuton was a combined nature transformation of Doton and Suiton natured chakra. So, to be able to perform Mokuton he was mainly focusing on the Doton and Suiton chakra inside his body. Jiraiya was calmly sitting beside the blond and watching him meditate. Behind Naruto there were two more Naruto clones who had one leaf in each of their hands. While one clone was trying to crumble the leaves in his hands to dust, the other was trying to dampen the leaves. Even after hours of continuously doing it, the Naruto clone trying to make the leaf crumble to dust had barely managed to change the nature of the leaf. It was frustrating for him.
Jiraiya watched the clones bemusedly as they were giving their full concentration on their tasks with beads of sweat rolling down their forehead. It reminded him of the time, when he, himself was attempting nature transformation exercises for the first time. It was a hard and tiring attempt indeed. Jiraiya had been training the blonde since the past few years and was surprised every time with rate at which Naruto learned different things.
'Guess, he finally found something which he can't learn within a day.' Jiraiya chuckled inwardly when he saw one the clones crush the leaves in his hands in frustration.
Another two hours passed by and Naruto had still been sitting in the meditative pose. Jiraiya was impressed with the patience the blond exhibited and a slight somber expression etched on his face. Naruto was an exact replica of Minato in about everything. Jiraiya missed his former student dearly. He often found himself gloomy and drinking sake in a bar alone for no reason. He still couldn't forger that night, when Minato said he would sacrifice himself for the future of the village. He couldn't be any more proud or sad at the same moment. He got such thoughts out of his head as smiled slightly looking at Naruto. The kid had fine qualities to become Hokage in the future.
"Yatta! Finally, I did it!" shouted a Naruto clone as he jumped up and down in excitement. Jiraiya turned his head towards the clone and saw it was the one which was trying to dampen the leaves in his hands.
"Oh, shut up. Stupid fool!" exclaimed the second Naruto clone as he had only managed to crumble a three-fourth of the leaf to dust. The first Naruto clone's shoulders slumped in depression as a dark cloud started looming above him. Jiraiya sweat dropped at the clone's antics.
Jiraiya clapped his hands once to gain Naruto's attention. "Alright, that's enough for now. You have made good progress today." Even though Jiraiya had said that, he was amazed how quickly the boy was able to get the hang of it. Most shinobi could not convert their chakra into a different nature so quickly given only a few hours, while Naruto was almost there.
Naruto slowly opened his and saw it was past noon now. He saw Jiraiya giving him a warm smile and smiled in return. He looked behind himself and ordered his clones to dispel themselves. As soon as the clones dispelled themselves, the memories of the clones entered his mind. He understood the way they two clones were converting their chakra into Doton and Suiton. The precise amount of chakra that was used by the first clone to dampen the leaves and where the second clone was going wrong to crumble the leaves to dust. Naruto slowly got up from the ground and walked to a nearby bush and plucked two leaves from them. Jiraiya eyeing the boy curiously, walked towards him.
"What are you doing Naruto?" He asked curiously.
"Just watch oji-chan." Naruto replied in a calm voice.
In the past few hours, he understood a lot about his chakra. Ever since he had awakened Mokuton, he realized his chakra flow had become much smoother compared to before. The Kyubi had explained him how the seal that contained him and the Sanbi worked. The seal absorbed a small amount of the Kyubi's and Sanbi's chakra every day and added it to Naruto's own chakra circulatory system. This not only increased the volume of Naruto's chakra but also the potency. Thus, making the flow of his chakra slightly turbulent. But, when he awakened his dormant Kekkei Genkai, the serene and tranquil essence of the Mokuton chakra not only increased the potency of his life force and chakra but also calmed down his turbulent chakra flow, having a soothing and relaxing effect on the bijuus inside of him, thus increasing his control over his enormous chakra pools.
As Naruto took the two leaves in each of his hand, he closed his eyes to focus. A few seconds later, he opened his eyes and transferred his chakra into the two leaves. The leaf in his right hand immediately became extremely damp indicating he had used Suiton natured chakra, while the leaf in his left hand immediately crumbled to dust, signifying he used Doton natured chakra in through his left hand.
'He actually did it!' thought an incredulous Jiraiya.
"I did it oji-chan" voiced Naruto as he grinned happily. Jiraiya couldn't help but see an image of Minato in Naruto. He still remembered the day when he had started Minato on his elemental training. While Minato was a genius among prodigies, Naruto was… he honestly didn't know how to describe the boy. He may not be as sharp as Minato, but he manages to surprise him every time. However, looking at the little boy, he was sure if anyone could surpass the Yondaime, it would be him.
Jiraiya rested his hand on Naruto blonde hair, looking at him with a serious face for a few seconds. His facial expression then softened as he said, "I'm really proud of you Naruto."
Border between Land of Frost and Land of Hot Springs
Two people could be seen hopping from one tree to another at a fast pace on the outskirts of Shimogakure, in the Land of Frost. They had been traveling at a similar pace from the past one day with a couple of stoppages in between to recover their lost chakra, even though it was negligible. They were currently nearing the border of the Land of Hot Springs and their destination, Konohagakure No Sato was probably a day or two away if they continued travelling at their current pace. To the civilians, these two shinobi were a mere blur, while for these two, those who knew them would say was a normal occurrence. While one of them sculpted a serious looking face with his white colored eyebrows furrowed, the other one was scribbling something in his little notebook. But if one were to notice him closely, they would see even he had opted a slightly serious face.
The two shinobi were A, the Yondaime Raikage of Kumogakure No Sato and Killer Bee, the Hachibi Jinchuriki and the guardian of Kumo.
The reason for their serious demeanor was due the content of the letter which was addressed to the Raikage by the current Sandaime Hokage of Konoha.
'What were you thinking Namikaze?' A thought furiously as he jumped from the branch his foot landed to the next with extreme force, causing cracks to appear on it.
Flashback
As A opened the letter, he unfolded the paper to read it properly.
To,
Yondaime Raikage of Kumogakure no Sato, A
I regret to inform you that the Kumogakure Diplomat you had sent to our village for discussing the Trade Routes has been killed due to his actions. He was caught escaping the village with the current heiress of the prestigious Hyuuga Clan, Hinata Hyuuga, a mere five year girl. After his death, his mind was searched by a member of our Interrogation Department as per protocol. We have evidence linking his actions under the orders of few people from the Kumogakure Council. We also believe, you had no idea of your shinobi's transgressions and he acted outside of your knowledge. So, I would request you to come to Konoha to settle this matter without the knowledge of your own council.
Also, I understand that Minato and you were good friends after the Third Shinobi World War had ended. Do not be surprised Raikage-sama. Minato had informed me about the time he rescued your brother, Killer Bee and you during the Mission IA. So, I'm aware of everything that took place. I believe you were saddened upon hearing the Yondaime Hokage's death. However, not known to anyone outside the village and even majority of the population within our village, Minato had a son.
Naruto Namikaze. He was the one, who rescued young Hinata from your shinobi and eventually killed him. He was adopted by Tsunade Senju into the Senju Clan by request from Minato and Kushina themselves, on the day of his birth. The Kyubi no Yoko and the Sanbi who attacked our village, a few years back are sealed into young Naruto. You realize how the life a jinchuriki is. Your brother himself houses the Eight Tails within him. Thus, I request you to bring your brother, Killer Bee along with you to meet young Naruto. Your safety in our village will be properly taken care of.
I would like our two villages to form an alliance with each other despite the rough start that we faced as of now. I believe you and Minato shared the same dream of peace. This could be the first step to it.
Sandaime Hokage of Konohagakure no Sato,
Hiruzen Sarutobi
Flashback End
Bee was following his brother at an even pace. He knew the gravity of the situation. While he wasn't told about Naruto being the jinchuriki of the Nine and Three Tails, he was told about him being Minato's son by A. Minato had immediately gained Bee's respect when he saved him and his brother from the clutches of the butchers in Iwagakure during the Third Great Shinobi War. Mission IA was Minato's crowning achievement which helped his ascension to the position of the Yondaime Hokage.
Despite being from an enemy village, Minato had saved the brothers as he could sense they were different from the other shinobis in Kumogakure. While in Sage Mode, Minato had the ability to feel people's chakra signatures as well as emotions. A and Killer Bee had never been more grateful to anyone. They had indeed been down upon hearing of Minato's death during the Kyubi and Sanbi attack five years ago. Thus, hearing he has a legacy left behind who's none other than the son of Slug Sannin, Tsunade Senju was indeed quite a shock to them.
"Get your speed up Bee. We need to cross the border between Land of Fire and Land of Hot Springs by tomorrow." Grunted A, as he increased the amount of chakra flowing around his body which caused the lightning to sparkle more and doubling his speed.
"You got it Brother!" yelled Bee, as he too increased the chakra flowing in his legs, tripling his speed.
Uchiha Compound Training Ground, Konoha
It was late evening, around seven, in the village of Konohagakure. In one of the training grounds within the Uchiha Compound, Itachi Uchiha and Sasuke Uchiha could be seen sparring with one another. Both had their sharingan activated. While Itachi had a fully matured sharingan, three tomoes in each eye. Sasuke had two tomoes in each. It came as a surprise to the entire Uchiha Clan that young Sasuke had activated his sharingan at a mere age of five. His father, Fugaku Uchiha, the current Head of the Clan had been extremely proud of his younger son and so were the other members. Great things were expected of the young prodigy.
Itachi and Sasuke were engaged in a fierce display of taijutsu. There was finesse in their style. While Itachi could predict most of Sasuke's movements even without the sharingan, Sasuke had to rely on it heavily to detect Itachi's every move. They jumped back from each other to catch some breath. Even though Itachi was far advanced than Sasuke, even he got tired after hours of just taijutsu practice. For a second he wondered, how it was that Maito Guy managed to go on for hours and hours without a single break. Getting his mind back to Sasuke, he was simply amazed at amount of stamina shown by his brother. Even though, he was not showing a hint of emotion on his face, inwardly he was immensely proud of Sasuke.
Itachi was pretty much untouched except for a bit of dust here and there, while Sasuke on the other hand was supporting several scrapes and bruises.
As both ran towards each other again, both of their sharingan started glowing. Sasuke threw a right hook and it was about to land perfectly on Itachi's jaw. But he ducked under it at the last second and gave Sasuke a hard punch on the ribs that sent him skidding back a few meters. Sasuke snarled as he was thrown back.
Itachi quickly ran towards Sasuke and taking advantage of his lapse of concentration, threw a series of quick punches to his face. To Itachi's surprise, Sasuke's maneuvered around each of them and gave a brutal upper cut to Itachi's face, sending him down on the ground. With great flexibility, Itachi back flipped and landed on his feet, a few meters away from his brother. Sasuke charged again at Itachi and threw a punch which was sidestepped by him, who in return gave Sasuke an elbow to his back that made the younger Uchiha fall to the ground as he lost his balance.
"That's enough Sasuke." Itachi said as he brushed off the dust that accumulated on his uniform.
"I still cannot come close to beating you nii-san" Sasuke said muttered under his breath as he nursed his ribs. 'Damn, he hits hard. Just like Naruto.'
Itachi sighed hearing Sasuke's words and walked towards Sasuke to sit beside him. He put his hands over Sasuke's chest and they started glowing green chakra. Sasuke started to feel better as he realized his brother had used medical ninjutsu to heal his bruises.
After he was all healed up, he laid down on his elbows on the ground and closed his eyes momentarily. Itachi looked at Sasuke amusedly. He had seen Sasuke being a lot more reserved since he awakened the sharingan. He could see, Sasuke was in deep thought, so he didn't speak anything.
A few minutes had passed and both had not spoken a word. Itachi started to feel slightly uneasy and decided to voice his concerns.
"Is there anything wrong Sasuke?" Itachi asked suddenly, making Sasuke open his eyes.
"Nii-san, what is the meaning of the village? What is a true shinobi?" asked Sasuke genuinely. He wanted to know what they meant. His father and Naruto had completely different views of these questions. While his father thought of a village as nothing more than a foundation of set of systems which governs a set of rules, Naruto thought of the village as the people residing within it and children is what made up the future of this village.
Although Itachi was shocked on hearing the question, he saw Sasuke looking at him expectantly and gave him a kind smile.
"A village is a place where people come together. It is a place where everyone put aside their differences. A place where the children and the old are protected. A place where people settle down and can spend their life in peace." Said Itachi.
"What is the duty of a shinobi? Is it just causing other people more harm? Is it following any orders without any questions? Even if the consequences of the order bring nothing but sadness? Aren't ninjas supposed to protect?" asked Sasuke with sadness in his eyes.
Itachi put his hand on Sasuke's head and lifted his chin with his other hand, so he could look in his eyes. When he looked at Sasuke's sharingan eyes he saw pain, hurt and knew he had to say something right.
"It's true Sasuke. That we shinobi are supposed to protect. But as ninjas, killing is a common occurrence in our shinobi system. Our world has a lot of darkness in it. But there's also light. While some people become ninja only to enjoy the thrill to kill, there are also others who have an intense desire to protect that they hold close to their heart. I won't lie to you, the way our current shinobi system is heading, there is not light at the end of it. But, still we go forward, not for our sake but for the sake of whom we love. There is always hope in this world. All it needs to change the world is the will of a single man. Hashirama Senju, the former Clan head of the Senju Clan single handedly put a stop to the Era of the Clan Wars. He along with Madara Uchiha were the one who founded our village, Konohagakure No Sato." Itachi said carefully.
Sasuke looked at his older brother sadly and nodded his head as he looked towards the sky.
"Maybe if you become strong enough Sasuke, you could change the dark path our shinobi system has taken and bring peace to it. You have great power within you Sasuke. One day you will become a shinobi of immense power… I believe in you outoto." Sasuke stared at his brother again with disbelief in eyes. No one had ever told him, they believed in him.
"Do you really believe so nii-san?" Sasuke asked softly as he averted his gaze from Itachi's eyes and heard him say "Hai". He looked up back at sky and wondered, 'Peace? Change the shinobi system?'
Itachi picked up Sasuke from the ground surprising him and put him on his back. Sasuke felt slightly embarrassed but he was glad, Itachi was there in his life.
Itachi continued walking towards the house with Sasuke on his back in comfortable silence, until he heard Sasuke mutter a few words softly.
"Will you be always there for me nii-san?"
"You're my brother Sasuke. I'll always be there for you, even if it's just as an obstacle for you to overcome." Itachi said deeply.
Sasuke started to have a few tears in his eyes, he knew how deeply Itachi loved him.
"Even if you do hate me, I'll always protect you. That's what big brothers are for." Said Itachi softly.
Sasuke looked at his brother confusedly as he tried to wipe away his tears. He didn't know why his nii-san thought he would ever hate him. That could never happen… could it?
Neither Itachi nor Sasuke noticed a strange white plant like creature that was following them.
Two Days later, Gates of the Konoha Village
It was night time at the Village Hidden in the Leaves. The forest surrounding the village was dense and did an excellent job in providing a cover for the shinobi village. Two people could be seen walking towards the village gates at casual pace. Judging from their silhouettes, both had large builds and the larger of them was wearing a hat of some sort and a robe around him.
They slowly walked towards the gates and stopped near a small white cabin that was to their right. The one wearing the hat and the robe asked his partner to follow him behind as they walked towards the cabin. As they reached the window of the cabin, they saw two shinobis wearing uniforms who looked to be dozed off from the looks of it.
The larger of them coughed once to gain sleeping shinobi's attention. The two shinobis hearing the voice slightly opened their eyes to see a large figure outside their window. One of them yelled loudly imagining the figure to be an animal, which irritated the figure outside to no end, while his partner snickered behind his back.
"Izumo! Look at him properly. It's not a damn animal you fool. Wake up. It's Raikage-sama!" said one of the shinobi inside and shook the one named Izumo vigorously.
Izumo rubbed his eyes few times to remove the sleep from them and immediately bowed his head slightly, as he saw the kanji for 'Lightning' on the hat.
"You should have told me sooner Kotetsu." Whispered Izumo.
Kotetsu only shook his head and sighed at his partner's antics. Kotetsu and Izumo were the gate guards of Konoha. These two were chunin level shinobis and despite their rank, they never took any missions outside the village. Rather, opting to lead a comfortable life as gate guards. However, due to their unfortunate luck, the Sandaime had made them do guard duty for the last four years, which gained them the title of 'Eternal Guards'.
"What business do you have here Raikage-sama?" asked Kotetsu professionally.
"We were asked by the Sandaime Hokage to come here for a meeting." Said A, as he presented the Hokage's letter and his and Bee's passports to him. Kotetsu checked their passports for security purposes and marked their entry in it within the log book.
A couple of ANBU landed near the gates of the village a few seconds later to escort the Raikage and his partner inside.
An ANBU wearing eagle mask walked up to the Raikage and spoke, "Raikage-sama. Welcome to Konoha. Sandaime-sama has been informed of your arrival. He has requested you to be escorted to the Hokage's office immediately."
A settled for nodding his head in response as he and his brother were escorted towards the large white building in the center of the village with the kanji for 'Fire' inscribed at the top.
So, that's a wrap for this chapter.
Next chapter will mostly be posted either on March 8 or March 10 2017. As I said, I have tests coming up, I will need some time to study for them. I had said, my other story "Naruto: Uchiha No Densetsu" will be posted on March 6, 2017. But I will try to post it a day or two earlier. In any case, I will be sure to post it by then.
Next chapter, Naruto will be meeting the Yondaime Raikage A and Killer B for the first time. Naruto will not be told that Minato is his father. The friendly relationship between Minato, A and Bee will be explained in the later chapter at an appropriate time along with Mission IA. So, Naruto will be finally meeting another jinchuriki for the first time and how he will feel about it will also be shown.
Chapter 11 onwards, will show Naruto's life in the academy.
Please do Follow, Favorite and Review the story! Your suggestions and reviews are extremely prudent as it would also help me understand how to proceed from your point of views.
Until next time!
