Chapter II

Confrontation

"Hold it. Don't go anywhere just yet… Let me show you why you're too weak…"

A mysterious voice seemed to echo all around K, as if he were in a large cave and someone was talking from deep within. While he looked all around over and over, the source couldn't clearly be identified. Harsh realization soon swept over him as his surroundings began to disappear into a deep and foreboding darkness.

"Your guard was down while you were having your pointless emotional breakdown, spewing complete nonsense about the one who saved your life? I'm quite disappointed, Keiko Uzumaki. Prepare yourself for the consequences." The soft voice frightened Keiko to the point that he began to act rashly and cast jutsu in a sad attempt of escape.

"Jutsu don't work in my perfect genjutsu, idiot. Get a hold of yourself before I have to find a new subject, Keiko. You're my irrepla-"

"SHUT UP! I want NOTHING to do with you anymore… I was sent here to DIE! You KNEW that neither you nor I would be a match for this village, and yet, you still sent me here. You say that I'm so special, that I'm irreplaceable, but you're lying to me and yourself. So what if I'm one of the last remaining Uzumaki? There are plenty of different clans on par or even stronger than ours, so just go use them! Leave me ALONE!" Keiko spouted in despair and rage, knowing that nothing would ever pierce the heart of this demon. His only intent was to make himself feel better.

A tall, robed figure appeared from darkness in front of Keiko, causing him to stumble back in horror. The figure slowly began its march towards him, remaining completely silent. Time seemed to begin to warp until completely stopping, which surprised both Keiko and the robed figure.

The darkness slowly dissipated around Keiko until he had regained full consciousness, bringing tears to his eyes. He felt truly hopeless in that moment, expecting to never have a will of his own again. He brought his left hand to his warm, soft cheek, pinching it, then beginning to sob uncontrollably. Somehow, the genjutsu had been broken, the robed figure frozen in front of him.

Forgetting about his current mission, he casted a lightning release jutsu to increase his movement speed, escaping from the ravaged Hidden Leaf Village onto a hill that gave a good aerial view of it. Once Keiko felt safe, he took the time to analyze the village, realizing that the Nine Tails had disappeared from sight and could no longer be sensed.

"How could this be? Did the Hokage seal the Fox away? Minato sure is an amazing shinobi…" Evil thoughts began to fill his mind as the voice from earlier constantly repeated "Kill Minato Namikaze, Kill Minato Namikaze". This caused excruciating pain for Keiko, making him fall onto the ground with his hands on the sides of his head, groaning and screaming fairly loud.

Why me… what have I done to deserve this life? Why did everyone I love have to be slaughtered? Why did my best friend have to die? He had nothing to do with me or my fate… Why do I exist? Why was I born? Do I deserve to be alive still? I abandoned my mission and teacher, after all… Will my death help others more than hurt them? I have no answer for any of my questions. I'm lost. Help me, somebody…

Eventually drifting off to sleep, Keiko dreamt of the encounter from earlier and what he could have done to avoid it altogether. He awoke just as the sun began to rise, stretching and yawning on the ground. Jumping up into the air about five feet and landing standing, he took another look at the village, noticing how people were finally returning. Pulling a cloak from his bag, he wrapped it around himself to hide his identity and once again set off for the village. During the walk, he began writing in his pocket notebook…

October 11th. It seems that my stay in this village is finally coming to an end. Last night, the Nine Tailed Fox appeared out of thin air, devastating a good portion of the village before being dealt with by Minato Namikaze. It's quite amazing that the beast appeared in the first place, since the intel I had indicated that there was a female Jinchuriki containing the Fox. This means that somehow, the seal was weakened to the point of extraction by someone powerful enough to also summon and control the beast, leading me to believe that someone of Uchiha blood carried out the attack. I could be wrong, but if the legendary Madara Uchiha controlled the same Beast with his sharingan, then another Uchiha could achieve the same feat. Maybe somebody directly related to Madara orchestrated the attack, or maybe Madara himself… Nah, scratch that, too much of a stretch. I'm going back to the village to do a bit of investigating, not for that horrid man, but for my own interests. Signed, K.

Masking his presence to the best of his ability, Keiko managed to sneak back into Konoha around the same part where he had stayed for those wretched four years. Despite being in a cloak, nobody seemed to bat an eye about his presence, as they were all too worried about their homes and the current state of the village. He began wandering about the village, observing people joyful for being alive, crying out due to losing loved ones, or so shocked from all that's happened that they are frozen or depressed, unable to exert much emotion at all. These were the effects of battle, something that innocent civilians should not be subjected to.

Keiko sat by a destroyed building, thinking on everything he just witnessed. He felt sympathy for the village and its residents, realizing that these people were not the monsters the robed man made them out to be. It was only a few with power that cause an entire population to seem evil, which was supposed to be a new concept to him, however he felt a strange familiarity with emotions such as these.

Looking up, Keiko noticed someone that he instantly recognized, a man that he had been warned about and taught to stay away from at all costs, someone that wouldn't hesitate to attack him on sight. That man was the fearsome representative to the Uchiha clan: Fugaku Uchiha. Before even having a chance to get away unnoticed, Fugaku looked directly at Keiko, somehow knowing exactly who he was without seeing any of his features. Frozen with fear, Keiko sat as the Uchiha began approaching, mentally preparing for a huge fight.

Fugaku stopped in front of Keiko, now looking down at him. Keiko avoided even looking at Fugaku, staring at the ground out of fear and intimidation. A million different scenarios were going through his head, all of them involving genjutsu, imprisonment, and death. Suddenly, though…

"You there, take off your hood and lift your head. This is no way that someone of your caliber should be acting."