…… Izumi's House ……
Izumi Uchiha sat at her kitchen table, a cup of tea cooling in front of her. Looking around the empty room she and her brothers had shared meals in for the last month filled her with great sadness. She hated the silence that filled the house as there was nothing to distract her from worrying. She hated the fact the Uchiha Clan had been forced to move to the outskirts of the village after the Kyuubi attack because it meant she lived so far away from the hospital. She hated the fact her little brother was there right now fighting for his life and, by order of the Hokage, no Uchiha was aloud anywhere near him. However, the thing she truly hated most and wanted to destroy made her the most saddest, the one who placed Naruto in danger by offering him up as a sacrificial lamb, her older brother Baisho.
Hanging on the wall opposite of the young Kunoichi were three pictures in honor of there parents. Two on the left were of her mom and dad encircled by a silver flowery reef. On the right by it self was a picture of Kushina Uzumaki placed in the middle of the Uzumaki Clan Symbol which was painted on the wall in green. This had been done by Izumi herself because she wanted to make Naruto fell as welcome as possible. No one had yet to explain to the boy the circumstances of his birth and Izumi simply told him she never knew his mom and there dad knew each other. That was why no one ever suspected they could be related.
Things had been going so well and then the assassination attempt on Itachi….
….. earlier that morning…..
An unknown man dressed all in black made his way silently from vantage point to vantage point, studying the compound his target lived. His orders from his leader had been clear, eliminate Uchiha Itachi at all costs. The village command had heard from spies with Konoha of an Uchiha protégé unlike any had seen sense Madara Himself. No one in command back home wanted to see this nine year old boy, already a Genin, make it to adulthood.
The Ninja was calm as he watched the comings and goings of those with the compound. It helped him quite a lot the Uchiha lived on the outskirts of the village so far away from ANBU patrol routes. So far he hadn't had any close calls, but know came the hard part. He had to slip in unnoticed, kill his already skilled target, and leave without anyone knowing he had been there. If he was caught than he was dead because there was no way his village could take responsibility for this action without starting a war.
The man saw an opening for to finally get inside. A civilian man wearing the Uchiha crest on his shirt came walking by under the tree the Ninja sat quietly in. The assassin dropped down as silent as wind and knocked the slightly overweight man out with a chop to the neck. He dragged him of the road and into the trees were he began his special jutsu for infiltration. Using a basic Genjutsu, in which the irony was not lost on him, he learned the mans name and a few other key facts. All anyone saw was Jin Uchiha walking home after a long day of work.
The assassin had a basic grasp of wear his target would be and how to kill him. The plan was simple, if not cold and cowardly. He would use a poison that was spread on touch that attacked the heart, all he needed to do was find Uchiha Sasuke and let him carry the deadly payload to his older brother.
The poison in question was a new invention that his village had developed only two months ago. The reason it was being used was because no one had seen it before and couldn't trace it back to his homeland. There was a common antidote, but by the time the Leaf administered it Itachi's heart would be so ate up, there would be no way to repair it. Another good thing about the poison was it worked faster on someone who had more Chakra. Itachi would die before anyone even knew Sasuke was sick.
Walking down the main road 'Jin Uchiha' greeted everyone he met with a smile and wave. Passing a small flower shop the old lady offered him a free rose for his lovely daughter but he kindly refused and walked on looking for Fugaku's youngest son. It wasn't long before he spotted his target.
He had looked for the largest house on the street. It was definitely the home of Wicked Eye Fugaku. Walking around the home, as if heading down a side street, he saw a young boy with dark hair kicking and punching a training log. The little guy was giving it all he was worth, which was apparently a lot, and made the assassin think taking out the younger brother was just as important as killing the older brother.
The assassin quickly hid in some shrubs to await his chance to infect Sasuke. There weren't many people around sense most were at school, work, or missions. There were still the elderly and the stay at home parents to watch out for however. Sensing there was no one around he made his move. Using a basic Shunshin Jutsu the assassin moved to grab the back of the kid's neck. His hand grabbed the boy just as a much slender hand grabbed his wrest.
Standing next to him was a very angry looking mother, Mikoto Uchiha. "My mother just visited me. She had something very interesting to tell me about you, Jin. Apparently you were acting rather peculiar this morning as you returned from your night clerk shift at the Gold Bears Inn. When she offered you a rose for your lovely daughter you failed to remind her proudly how you only have sons."
'Damn.' Was the only thought to cross the assassin's mind as he broke the woman's hold on his wrist and tried to horizontally kick Mikoto in the side of the head. The matriarch of the Uchiha Clan countered by grabbing the offered right leg and kicking out Jin's left knee.
'Shit, good thing this isn't my real body.' The assassin thought as he cancelled his infiltration jutsu. "Living Flesh Concealment Release!"
Little Sasuke watched horrified as the fight began. When he felt someone grab his neck, he turned to see his mom holding the wrist of a fellow Uchiha. He thin watched his clansman attack his mom only to get a leg broke. He thought the fight was over but the the Uchiha released some technique he never heard off and vomited …. a whole other person from his mouth. The new man all dressed in black ran away with his mom right behind him throwing a butcher's knife Sasuke remembered seeing her use to cut tomatoes as he walked out the back door.
The young boy watched his mom disappear around the house. He looked down to check on the fallen Uchiha and saw that he was very still and pale, he also wasn't breathing and his eyes were wide open looking at nothing. Sasuke fell to his but when he realized the man was dead. His eyes began to tear up as his grandmother swooped down and picked his up.
"My Little Ninja, are you ok? Did that man hurt you?" She asked frantically. Mikoto's mother then looked down and saw the dead body of Jin. She teared up seeing her friend thinking of his pore suns.
It was then the elderly lady felt a powerful pain in her heart. She fell over backwards, dead before hitting the ground, still holding her grandson in her arms.
….. a few hours later …..
Uchiha Ojo sat silently watching young Naruto practice his kanji. The objective was to write it as fast and correctly as possible trying not to make mistakes. So far his handwriting was above average for a boy of four but his speed was still quite slow. The old Uchiha didn't mind this as he was a patient man.
At the age of ninety Ojo had no wife, children, or grandchildren to dote on. He had lost his wife fifteen years ago to a heart attack. She had been a member of the Hyuga Branch Family. There marriage had been approved by the clan elders of both clans at the time on the stipulation that there kids would belong to the clan there Dojutsu belonged with. The stipulation was a mute point sense though they tried no baby ever graced there home. As they both got older they began to see the children of both clans as grandchildren and turned there affections towards them. There had been many sad eyed Hyūga and Uchiha children at Kagame's funeral.
After the Hokage approved of the Fuinjutsu training Fugaku and Baisho had approached Ojo about training Naruto. He was secretly delighted sense Fuinjutsu was a dying art and rarely found in clans anymore. Usually if a clan needed Fuinjutsu work done they contracted out to businesses that specializes in the art. This however led to the creation of generic wards and barriers that could eventually be bypassed.
It was decided Naruto would do light conditioning training in the morning with his sister before she headed off to the Academy. Izumi would drop Naruto of on her way and the boy would do various Chakra control exercises and Fuinjutsu practice during his time with Ojo. After the Academy Izumi would pick her brother up and take him home for further conditioning and Taijutsu training.
The old man hadn't minded the young boy's company over the last few weeks. He was very shy at first but opened up some after he realized Ojo was a nice man. He was still afraid to ask questions when he didn't know something, probably afraid of getting yield at, but he was getting better. The old Uchiha had shown him some basic seals and had allowed him to run Chakra threw them to get a good feel for the abilities of each simple formula. Naruto's Chakra response to the seals had been a very good sign and he had got a kick out of watching the paint bomb seals exploded all over the training field.
Naruto was switching his scroll over to the other side to continue writing, when an urgent knock was heard coming from the front door. The little redhead looked at his Sensei to see his eyes glowing red with his fully powered Sharingan. "Who is it?" He called.
"Master Ojo, it is me Baisho. I have come for Naruto on a urgent matter!" Came the reply from the front door. Both teacher and student recognized the voice immediately.
Ojo quickly answered the door, even at the age of ninety he got around fairly well. Standing in front of the threshold was Naruto's older brother dressed in his Jounin attire. He didn't appear to be frantic but his body language told Ojo he was very uneasy.
"What's happened?" The Fuinjutsu user asked.
"There was an attempted assassination by an unknown Ninja. From apparent evidence we believe the target was a member of the Head Family though we aren't sure who. It was possible Lord Fugaku but Itachi is also a possibility. An emergency meeting has been called at Naka Shrine."
"You said you were here for Naruto, for what reason?" Ojo asked suspiciously. He had an uneasy feeling.
Baisho took a moment to answer which didn't go unnoticed by his elder. "I am taking him to the hospital. Sasuke was used by the enemy in hopes of carrying a fatale poison to the rest of his family. I'm not sure of the specifics but the Uchiha Med Ninja day Naruto's blood can cure the poison because of … special properties."
'Special properties? Probably the Nine Tails or the fact he is an Uzumaki.' Ojo theorized before saying. "Very well, I'll head for the shrine."
Baisho picked Naruto up piggyback style and Shunshined away. Ojo watched them leave, tracking the elder brother effortlessly with his Sharingan, having an uneasy feeling. He shook it off forcibly thinking. 'He's Naruto's older brother, there's no way he would put him in deliberate danger.'
He would later come to regret his decision to not act.
….. Uchiha Clan Hospital …..
Mikoto Uchiha sat by her baby's bedside holding his hand. Every labored breath he took was like a Kunai Knife straight to the heart. Her own mother was gone but she couldn't greave as her son needed her strong. Standing at the foot of the bed was her husband looking stern and strong, refusing to show emotion.
"Lord Fugaku." The Uchiha Kanda, the senior Med Ninja, politely inquired holding the door open. Clearly he wanted to talk in the hallway as not to disturb the grieving mother.
Fugaku gave his wife an unreadable look before fallowing the Med Ninja out. After the door closed the Uchiha Clan Head demanded. "What is it? Have you found away to save my son?"
Kanda sighed before saying sadly. "We neutralized the poison quickly sir but it managed to do a lot of damage before we could. From what we understand about the poison it reacts faster to those with larger chakra reserves than others. The enemy probably expected Sasuke to infect several people before falling ill himself. What they didn't take into account was the amount of chakra your youngest possesses nor the Sharingan abilities that allowed Lady Mikoto see the poison after it reacted to contact with chakra inside Sasuke and her late mother."
Fugaku stared at the closed door to his son's hospital room before looking back at the Medic. "If the poison is neutralized than why cant you use Medical Ninjutsu to repair Sasuke's body?"
"Almost all the damage to Sasuke was in the heart. The heart is heavily integrated into the Chakra Network. The process in which we would use are techniques require us to push a patient's chakra out of the area we are healing and use are chakra to rep the damage. That is why Medical Ninjutsu requires such precise chakra control. If you're not careful than when you push out the patient's chakra it can cause more damage. No Med Ninja here on staff, nor in any medical facility in the Land Of Fire, possesses the degree of chakra control to safely heal Sasuke's heart because of the level of damage done. Maybe Lady Tsunade Senju could but if any of us try Sasuke we'll die almost immediately when are chakra touches his heart."
After listening to the doctor's explanation Fugaku cursed the fates. 'The one time I actually want a damned Senju around and you can't find one.' Then idea occurred to the clan head. "What about a heart transplant?"
The doctor had a hesitant look on his face. "There are complications with that option sir. We don't have a heart available that would match well with your son. There is also no way of knowing if any other facility around would have one either unless we inquired and explained why we needed one. Sense we need one for Sasuke we couldn't lie and say it was another Uchiha because then whatever heart we were given wouldn't match."
Fugaku was by no means a stupid man and could understand what the Medic was Kanda was trying to say. He didn't want to alert the village because of an option available option that most wouldn't agree with. "There's a heart available here that is still in use."
"It's a little more complicated than that sir." The Medic said nervously.
"How could it be more complicated?" Fugaku asked. Looking up when he heard the front door to the building open, he saw Uzumaki Naruto and his older brother walk threw the door. After seeing the young redhead it finally dawned on Fugaku exactly what the real complication was.
"Are you insane?" He quietly asked the doctor.
"We take Uzumaki-san's heart and swap it out with your son's. Sasuke will get a healthy heart and Uzumaki-san's chakra will repair the heart we give him." Kanda explained.
"What is the Jinchuriki's chances of surviving the operation?" Fugaku asked already knowing the answer.
"Low, sir, very small chance of survival." The Uchiha Medic answered honestly.
Fugaku stood in silence contemplating the negative fall out this would cause with the village. They could always say the boy died as a result of a training accident if the worst happened. Looking at the door to his son's room he made his choice. "Get Uzumaki-san prepared for surgery. Do not tell my wife anything. Inform her we have a heart to transplant into Sasuke nothing more. Do you understand me?"
Kanda nodded and signaled a nurse to prepare Naruto. He then went to explain things to Mikoto exactly as Fugaku explained. After having a meeting with his remaining staff it was decided that the surgeries would happen simultaneously as it was the only way this could possibly work.
Naruto sat in a large room on a hospital table in nothing but his shorts. His older brother was leaning against the far wall with his eyes' closed. A slightly plump nurse had shown them to the room and instructed both to wait for the doctor.
Kanda walked in looking at a clipboard. He saw Baisho leaning on the wall. "Is everything ready?"
The white haired boy nodded his head. "Yes, my little brother has volunteered to give blood for Sasuke."
The Medic looked between both brothers and realized Baisho hadn't told Naruto the truth. Realizing it was for the best he decided to keep up the lie. "Thank you Naruto for your help. I'm afraid it's a little more serious than a blood transfusion. Sasuke will require a bone marrow transfusion instead."
Naruto was a little confused and asked meekly. "What's bone marrow?"
The Medic Explained. "It is the substance inside are bones that make blood. If we give some of your's to Sasuke, it will make him better. However, this is a painful procedure so we're going to put you to sleep for it."
Naruto looked to Baisho for guidance. His brother gave him a reassuring smile and said. "Don't worry Naruto, I'll be here the hole time.
….
Izumi knocked on the door of Ojo's home. She waited a few seconds but received no response so she knocked again. After a moment she opened the door and walked in calling for Naruto. She found a note on the small table just inside the door addressed to her. Picking it up she read. 'Izumi, there was an assassination attempt today and Sasuke Uchiha was injured. Both your brothers have gone to the Uchiha Clan Hospital as Naruto's blood could prove very useful in saving Sasuke and I was called to an emergency meeting at Naka Shrine.'
After reading the quickly written note Izumi tore off towards the Uchiha Hospital. It made sense in a way to use Naruto's blood, his Jinchuriki healing abilities combined with his Uzumaki healing abilities could be passed temporarily by blood transfer so she heard, but she still had an uneasy feeling in her gut.
Bursting into the Uchiha Hospital the first person she saw was her older brother. "How are Naruto and Sasuke? Did the blood transfusion help?"
Baisho looked at his baby sister and said. "Naruto and Sasuke-sama are both in recovery. Sasuke is in room one and Naruto is in room two."
Without waiting for any further explanation Izumi quickly made her way to room two wondering why Naruto needed a room. Upon entering she saw her baby brother's chest raped in bandages, he looked extremely pale and weak.
She was shocked to see Naruto in such a state. Turning to look at Baisho, who fallowed her in, Izumi asked. "What's going on, I was informed that this was a blood transfusion."
Baisho had a mask of emotionlessness on and explained. "Sasuke-sama's heart was heavily damaged by an enemy poison. To save him we exchanged Naruto's heart for his. Sasuke-sama is doing very well and should recover quickly and as suspected Naruto's abilities are repairing the heart he now has."
It took a moment of stuns disbelief for Izumi to process everything her 'beloved' older brother had just told her. Looking back down at the very pale and shaking child she asked. "Did Naruto agree to do this? Did he fully understand everything that was going on?"
Without remorse the older boy told the truth. "No, he thought it was going to be a bone marrow transplant."
"You bastard!" The shocked girl screamed.
Baisho gave his sister a stern look. "You need to understand something Izumi. Naruto is not an Uchiha and if his death means Sasuke-sama lives than so be it. The only true accomplishment he will ever truly have is saving Sasuke-san and you know I'm right, your just to stubborn to admit it."
"Right now there are those jealous of the Uchiha's power in control of the village that do everything in there power to subjugate us. They are trying to choke us out with unfair prejudice and the lies they spread. The truth is everyone fears this village because we call it home. Are strength is greater than every other clans' combined. If they fall in battle so we can continue on, than the village is stronger for it."
Izumi couldn't believe the words she was hearing. She couldn't believe her kind older brother really thought this way. "Were's the doctor? Someone should be here with Naruto."
Baisho shrugged his shoulders. "Most were to exhausted after the duel surgeries and needed rest. The others still standing are tending to Sasuke-sama."
Though Baisho didn't say anything the truth was still in his manner of uncaring. No one believed Naruto would survive and had placed him off to the side to die quietly. If he died then they would make it look like an accident.
"I need air." Izumi said running out of the room. Upon exiting the hospital she vomited all over the grass. She stood hyperventilating before coming to a decision and made her way as fast as she could for to the Hokage's Tower.
…… Izumi's House ……
Izumi pored her cold tea down the sink. Frustrated tears fell down her cheeks as she remembered her older brother's words. If he truly placed the Uchiha on such a high pedestal than what did that mean in regards to there father's victims. Did he believe there father should have been pardoned because he was an Uchiha or that Kurenai Yuhi should have just excepted what happened and moved on? The truth was she no longer knew what her brother was thinking anymore.
Izumi threw her glass against the wall shattering it with a yell of frustration. She then collapsed back in her chair and laid her head on the table sobbing.
She soon heard the front door open then close with a loud slam. Looking up the nine year old girl watched her brother storm in. Gone was the Shinobi emotionless mask and instead was a face full of rage.
"Do you know what you did? The Uchiha Clan is being audited. We also can't take part in any missions, except for the running of the Police Force, until after an official investigation. That doesn't matter for me though because my Shinobi License has been permanently suspended!"
Izumi glared at Baisho definitely. "After what you did to our brother they should have killed you."
Baisho was taken back by the venom in his sister's voice. She had never once spoke to him with such hate. He made a move as if to slap her when he heard another cold voice speak. "That would be a bad idea."
Both Uchiha turned to look at the wall with the family photos to see an ANBU Shinobi leaning against it. Baisho tensed as he hadn't felt the man's presence at all, but there was no mistaking who he was. "Hatake Kakashi."
The spiky haired ninja pulled of his dog themed mask to reveal not much more of his face. The only area you could see was around his right eye sense his ninja head band covered his left eye, and a half mask covered his nose and mouth. His hair was as white as Baisho's.
"Lord Hokage sent me to inform both of you that Naruto is no longer in danger of dying. His body repaired the heart well enough for the medical staff to take over. He is still in a comma but should wake in a few days. Izumi May visit him whenever she likes but no one else will be aloud in his room."
Both Uchiha's reactions were deferent at hearing the news. Baisho couldn't care less and Izumi started crying again with a smile on her face.
"What about the Uchiha Clan's audit?" Baisho asked quickly.
Kakashi's one visible eye narrowed as a powerful pressure was felt in the air. "Lord Hokage will send Morino Ibiki tomorrow to begin."
As Kakashi began to walk towards the front door, he paused and addressed the siblings in a lazy manner staring over his right shoulder. "One more thing, killing you Baisho might upset Naruto. After surviving such an ordeal as he did,… telling him you were executed might accidentally unleash the Kyuubi."
Kakashi stood there for a few more seconds letting his words sink in. Seeing the eyes of the older Uchiha narrow the ANBU knew he got the message. The older ninja left and Baisho turned to address his sister, only to find she was gone to. Izumi was already fast on her way to visit Naruto, screw visiting hours.