Uproot

"Kami Bless my soul, what the hell is this!" Our favorite blonde jinchuriki yelled out in the middle of the training ground. He, Sasuke and Kiba were at the training ground, one practicing with their respective weapons since in the academy it was a Taijutsu week. The three of them were at the top of the class in Taijutsu scores, with Naruto and Sasuke tied for first. Neither of them lost to anyone but each other. Kiba was a ball of instincts just like Naruto, just wilder and untamed which benefited his style of combat. Speaking of the feral boy, he was sparring with Sasuke in a kenjutsu battle only that the aforementioned was winning.

"Dobe, maybe you should switch weapons if you can't even swing yours right." Sasuke spoke up while batting a wild strike from Kibas Ono. "You should listen to Duckbutt there, you could tangle that chain up on air if-" he was cut off when a brutal down strike on the shoulder came from said 'duckbutt'. A slight groan came from Kiba while his new dog, Akamaru yipped at him to get up.

"Aww shut it, you've seen how good this thing could be when I use it correctly. Even Sasuke has a hard time dealing with it." Naruto pointed out while swinging his Kusarigama at a wooden post. While the sickle was in his hand with the iron chain in the other, he was adequate right now. The benefits of this style was how easy it was to disarm and entangle enemies with his chain while providing a solid defense against other weapons. The sickle was a great offensive weapon, its unique shape made it harder to deal with and it was nimble up close. The problem lay in its ranged abilities. Not its lack of it, no the problem was Naruto was having a hard time to say the least.

"You have a point, it's such a weird fighting style. I can't predict its movements like I can dog breath." Sasuke spoke out while pointing his thumb at Kiba, who recovered from the brutal swing. Kiba bumped into Sasuke with his shoulder as he walked up next to him. "What's your main problem then?" Kiba questioned the now cross-legged blonde.

"I lose control when I throw it out, since its metal chains have no retention, Unlike a whip." The masked blonde answered while making a whipping motion. "Also being able to use it one handed is out of the question since it takes both hands to hold all of the chain."

Sasuke and Kiba thought about it, "Why don't you wrap it around your arm, shorten the chain, add more control and allow for one handed use. Boom I'm a freakin genius!" Kiba finished with a shout, impressed with his own intellect.

"Mutt that wou-" Sasuke was cut off by an equally loud yell from Naruto.

"Kiba! You ARE a genius!" Naruto then proceeds to wrap the end of the chain at the base of his elbow all the way to his wrist. Then he tried it out on the wooden dummy away from Sasuke and Kiba, he didn't want to make human sushi today. He let the sickle drop from his hand and gripped the iron chain. He took a swing, actually hitting the target with a deep slash but instead of losing control of the weapon he could keep the momentum going and redirected his weapon. Adding slash after slash to the wooden dummy and with a flick of his wrist he brought his weapon back but instead the handle hitting his hand, it ended up right between his eyes.

"Gotta work out some kinks but I've got a functional style now. Thanks Kiba!" Naruto said while giving Kiba a high five. "How are you gonna keep that on your arm? You can't just leave it there for the whole time." Sasuke pointed out. Throwing a kink in Naruto's plan. Naruto thought about it for a second, then he had a eureka moment. "I'll just seal it!" I'll seal around my arm as a continuation of my wrist tape. So when I make the release symbol it comes out wrapped around my arm. Boom, I'm the best." Shaking his head at his friend's antics. Sasuke gave Naruto points, it was a good idea. "I have to go home now, next time Duckbutt I'll get ya!" Kiba shouted back while running home, not even the young Inuzuka wanted to anger his mother. Naruto and Sasuke waved back while starting their own conversation.

"Are you hungry?" Sasuke asked while starting to walk toward home.

"I could definitely eat but I think I have food at home." The blonde boy answered back while rubbing his stomach in anticipation.

"You could always come over to my house, Ka-san is making Chanko Nabe and Tou-san is at a clan meeting so there will be plenty." The young Uchiha looked away while asking, to avoid the happy eyes from Naruto. "Hell Yea! I would love to come, race ya there." With that Naruto took off.

"You don't even know where I live." Sasuke shouted while running after him.

They eventually made it to the gates of the compound but as soon as they looked in they realized something was wrong. It took everything in Naruto's body not to run away as fast as he could. Sasuke could also feel it too, he wasn't as intunned to his instincts, but he could feel the unsettling vibe. The sun was setting so the shadows seemed a little longer than they should, the lights weren't quite on yet to boot. They were frozen in front of the gate until Sasuke broke the silence, "Something is wrong, you can go home if you want." With a shaky resolve to go in with or without Naruto.

"Like I'd let you go in by yourself." A nervous chuckle escaped his mouth after he muttered those words. They nodded their heads at each other and walked in. They slowly crept around each building, scouring the allies with their eyes in hope of catching anything. It was absolute silence, unnaturally so. The world was always speaking, trees creaking, the wind howling by, these were the sounds that would make it quiet but not silent. Not even the birds were chirping. The duo saw things that didn't add up, no lights were on in the buildings, the streets were clean. Nothing was out of place until they saw it. They arrived at the biggest intersection of the compound and to the right of them was a butcher shop. Sasuke has been there a few times, it was run by an older man who would talk about the great wars he fought in with Sasuke's father.

"Sasuke, we need to go." Naruto grabbed ahold of the Ravennate arm, and spoke with an unearthly calm. Sasuke couldn't even think with the sight in front of him, the older man was lying around the corner of the shop with blood leaking out of some sort of wound. He felt someone pulling on his arm, but couldn't think right now.

"-asuke-." That sounded like his name, who was calling him?

"-need to g-." Where do we go?

"Sasuke!" Naruto finally yelled out, he needed to get ahold of Sasuke. The situation just went from bad to worse. Sasuke seemed to shake out of the mind fog that was in his head. "Sasuke, where is your house at?" Naruto looked directly into Sasuke's eyes, he needed him to help. Sasuke seemed to return to the world of the living and responded, "T-to the right, past the fruit market and on the l-left." Shakily they walked past the body on the ground.

"Don't look them in the eyes, you'll never forget it." Naruto whispered out loud enough for Sasuke to hear. Saskue didn't seem to register what that meant, but he followed what his friend said. Finally the street lights were coming on with the sun fading past the horizon. The soft orange and yellows that illuminated the buildings were fading into a cold gray. Finally they made it to the fruit stand or where it was supposed to be. "Sasuke, is this where th-" Naruto was cut off by a scream. It shook the boys to their bones, it was primal. It seemed to freeze them, then they saw the women. She was clutching her left arm, blood was pouring out of the wound but they couldn't exactly tell how severe the injury was.

"Help me! Please, they are going to ki-" She was cut off when someone landed on top of her and drove their tanto through the older women. Sasuke and Naruto were beyond terrified, they saw someone murdered in cold blood right in front of them. The attacker had a gray vest, gray forearm guards and black shinobi pants. To finish it off, the man had a plain white mask. The man looked up and saw the two boys standing there. It was his mission to kill anyone he saw. There were no exceptions to this rule, orders were absolute. He took off toward the children, but was intercepted by a blond blur. Naruto was running on instinct alone, he blocked the attackers tanto with his sickle. They jumped away from each other, Naruto was hunched over his front hands almost touching the ground, he turned to look at Sasuke. His pupils were slits.

"SASUKE RUN!" It wasn't a suggestion, it was a command given to him by his friend. Sasuke without hesitation drew his tanto and stepped next to Naruto.

"Like I'd let you go by yourself." Repeating the quote told him earlier by the blond but you could see him shaking. With resolve to help his friend, he stood his ground. They readied themselves for the inevitable attack and this time the man took off much faster than before, deciding to take this seriously. For the duo it was instantaneous. One moment the man was there the next someone was holding him up by the throat. He had short black hair, a black high collared shirt with a brown vest. Sasuke knew who this was, "Shisui!" The name seemed to take Naruto off the edge, if his friend knew him we would be fine.

The aforementioned Shisui, blurred away to take care of the man and then returned to their field of view. "Thank you Shisui-nisan! What's going on?" Sasuke was going to walk up to him but was stopped again by Naruto.

"Naruto wh-?" Sasuke was interrupted by being yanked to the ground, while two kunai flew above them. "That's not the same person you knew." Naruto whispered out, while laying down. Sasuke looked up to see blood streaming down Shisui's eyes. Their eyes themselves were blood-red with what looked like a four pointed throwing star instead of the usual three tomoe.

"I am sorry Sasuke." was all that the man in front of them said before he disappeared. For Sasuke the world slowed to almost a halt. He could see Naruto getting to his feet with his sickle in hand. What really caught his attention was he could see Shisui appear in front of Naruto ready to strike him down. There was nothing he could do, he would be forced to see his friend killed in front of him in slow motion. Then his world blurred, something moved him and Naruto since Shisui swung at nothing but air.

"Sasuke, Naruto, you are safe now. I will ensure that." It was Itachi Uchiha, prodigy among prodigies. Truly gifted by Kami with his talent, as well as abilities. Older brother of Sasuke. Sasuke saw his brother's face, it was contorted in rage and almost seemed like sadness. Like Shisui, blood was streaming from his eyes. "This is where it ends, no more bloodshed will occur tonight." Itachi spoke out with a resolute tone.

"You are right Itachi, until we meet again." With a soft smile he blurred away, Shunshin no Shisui was not being caught unless he let them. Itachi stared at the spot his friend left behind before turning around to look at the kids. He was surprised by Sasuke running up to him and hugging him. When Sasuke pulled away Itachi let the shock reach his face. It's not everyday you see someone unlock their sharingan. They had one tomoe in each eye, while Naruto seemed to calm down so his eyes returned to normal. "Ni-san, what's going on? Why did Shisui try to k-k-"

"I'll explain in a little bit, let's go home first. Naruto, you should join us as well." Itachi spoke out calmly. There was a lot to explain. So they started walking toward the house in silence.

"Ka-san, Sasuke-kun and I are home. We brought a guest as well." His voice rang out in the house. A faint call from the living room beckoned them in. A tall woman with soft features, long black hair greeted them. "I'm Mikito, nice to meet you Naruto-san." She held out her hand and Naruto hesitantly took it. He was still shaken up from earlier but responded in kind, "Nice to meet you Mikito-san." Naruto and Sasuke sat down on the couch waiting for an explanation of what just happened. "We are still working on the details, but we know a man by the name of Danzo Shimura attacked the elders and all the older Uchihas while in the clan meeting. Fortunately almost all of the younger Uchihas were spared. Shisui was convinced to take part in the madness. He was told this was to benefit Konoha, we think the power hungry fool wanted the sharingan. Unfortunately that's the public version, I'll explain more when our guest leaves. Sorry Naruto-kun, this is clan sensitive business." Itachi gave Naruto a soft smile, the blonde just nodded. Understanding the importance of secrets.

"I think your friend has shown up to take you home, Naruto-kun." Itachi pointed at who was at the door. There were two people in the door, one had an ANBU uniform with a dog mask and spikey gray hair. The other was a shorter man with white robes, and a diamond-shaped hat resting on his head. Naruto's eyes were filled with recognition and ran over to give his 'grandfather' a hug. "Jiji, Inu-san! Aren't you a sight for sore eyes!"

"Ahh Naruto-kun, I'm sorry you had to go through that ordeal. I've brought Inu-kun to take you home. I have business to discuss with Itachi and his family." The hokage spoke softly but his words filled up the house. When someone of his caliber spoke people tended to listen. Naruto gave a nod in agreement and waved to everyone while throwing a smile and a peace sign to Sasuke. He got a smirk and a nod back. "Inu-san, I'll race you to my house."

"Okay, if you win I'll buy you ramen." He responded back lazily, he knew this was coming.

"I'm gonna win. Believe it!" Was all anyone heard before the two took off. With that the room instantly sombered, knowing that all that was left to do was to discuss tonight. "Unfortunately I can only give you details you already know, but we do have Danzo in custody and will be executed tomorrow. Do you want to have the funeral private or public, it's entirely up to the clan head." He looked at Itachi for an answer, he didn't expect one right away. "I'll give you a few days to de-"

"We will make it public, it's not just a loss for the Uchiha clan. They had friends outside the clan, they deserve to mourn as well." Itachi spoke with confidence. Hiruzen nodded his head, and he was pleased with the decision. "Mikito-san, if you can step out with me, I would like to have a word with you." She nodded and excused herself to follow the Hokage. It was just the brothers in the living room now. There was a question floating around, and Sasuke needed it to be answered.

"Was tou-san in that clan meeting?" Sasuke knew the answer but couldn't bring himself to believe it. Itachi just hugged his brother while letting him cry into his shirt, eventually he fell asleep. So he set him in his room. The third Hokage came back in with his mother. His mother seemed shocked, but he kept his face calm. "I have something to discuss with you, in private. Meet me in the Hokage tower." With that the two disappeared with a Shunshin.

Later at the Hokage Tower

"Itachi, I must ask you. How do you feel about this village? Even after what occurred earlier this night?" The wizened Hokage asked while taking a puff of his pipe.

With a moment to think, Itachi spoke with nothing but conviction."This is my home, my family is everyone who takes shade under the tree. I would do anything for my family, to protect the great tree of Konohagakure I would give my life. I've been raised as Uchiha, but I am a citizen and shinobi of Konoha first." Hiruzen Sarutobi, the longest reigning Hokage, victor of all great shinobi wars has decided. He smiled at Itachi, "Just the answer I expected, thank you."

The next day

Everyone in Konoha gathered at the base of the Hokage tower, and news spread about the Uchiha Massacre. Naruto met Sasuke in the crowd, "How are you doin?" The blonde asked.

"As good as I can be, Itachi-nisan said he was working with the hokage this morning." The young boy responded back, quiet after what happened last night. He couldn't help but be excited about his sharingan. The crowd of people had a low rumble of talking and spreading rumors until Sandaime Hokage stepped out on the balcony. Everyone seemed to quiet down at the same time. He took a long drag out of his pipe, cleared his throat and started to speak. "Last night, the lives of our citizens and family were snuffed out unexpectedly. While in a clan meeting many of the older Uchiha were murdered by a traitor among us. The power hungry war dog Danzo Shimura, in an attempt to cause a civil war amongst ourselves killed innocent Uchiha with the help of Shisui Uchiha. The reason we are not mourning more is because of the efforts of the clan heir himself, Itachi Uchiha. He killed and apprehended Danzo himself as well as his subordinates. He saved his younger brother Sasuke and his friend Naruto Uzumaki." He paused and caught the looks of many people, that name itself caused looks of anger, grief and other negative emotions. Although he caught several relieved looks, he shook his head and continued. "In order to protect these young kids he allowed Shisui to escape. Shisui Uchiha is now officially an S-rank missing-nin. On one of your darkest nights we gained a new shining star. His resolve to protect Konohagakure is unwavering, his strength unmatched even among prodiges. I am proud to announce that I Hiruzen Sarutobi, the Sandaime Hokage, is able to announce that Itachi Uchiha as the Godaime Hokage!" He stepped aside to reveal Itachi walking out onto the balcony wearing the robes while Hiruzen passed on the hat, metaphorically passing on the torch. The cheering of the village could not be controlled, since the passing of the Fourth they have been waiting for a new hero. He held up his hand and everyone fell silent. Itachi spoke softly, "Populous of Konoha, thank you for accepting me as the Godaime Hokage. I will be the shade, I will protect the village to the best of my ability. I will lead us just as the Hokage did before me to prosperous times. I thank you people of Konoha for making the Leaf the home that it is." With that he disappeared in a murder of crows. People were already giving him nicknames but the one that stuck out the most was Yami no Kira, The killer of darkness. For fighting and beating Danzo who was also known as Shinobi no Yami.

"Dude, your brother is the fucking Hokage."

It was a wild week to say the least for Sasuke, his brother became the Godaime Hokage while being the first Uchiha to become Hokage. His mother would take over clan head duties until Sasuke was old enough to become clan head. The funeral was yesterday, and the whole village paid their respects with flowers and other gifts to the remaining living Uchiha. The population was cut down by a third, and they were expected to pick up the pieces with Mikito having the most burden on her. Right now Sasuke was walking to the Uchiha training ground where he saw an unusual sight. It was Naruto with his weights off, going all out against Itachi in his Hokage robes. "Sasuke, help me out! I can't even get close to him." While throwing out impressively fast jabs and smoothly transitioning into haymakers with an occasional low leg kick. Without his sharingan the punches would be nothing more than blurs. Even with his eyes activated he would be hard-pressed to dodge them. Without a second thought he dropped his weights and joined in the Taijutsu battle. They accomplished very little against the Hokage, but managed to get their teamwork in sync. The battle was wrapping up but the two boys were determined to wipe the simple smile off his face.

Naruto launched at him with ferocious speed, deciding that speed would be his best bet. First a flurry of jabs that were deflected or dodged entirely. Going for a leg kick to weaken his foundation, he struck home but it felt like kicking a steel bar. Ignoring the pain he launched up into an uppercut only to be caught and thrown toward Sasuke. The raven haired boy dogged the flying blond while himself went forward. He was less aggressive than his friend but still if he did nothing Itachi was just as content to do nothing. He went for a feint, which his brother read like a book but instead of a kick or a punch it was a grapple. He grabbed his opponent's arm but felt several hard taps around his body showing how his brother picked apart this move. He let go and decided to go low, first a leg sweep into a front handstand kick. Itachi dogged both and caught the axe kick his brother brought down onto his shoulder. Before he could throw him an unexpected blond showed up on his left side with an attempted haymaker to the liver. If Sasuke didn't show up in between him and the blow. In a very impressive display of instincts he smoothly pulled back his punch and jabbed his wrist. Itachi decided to let go off and let recover while Naruto went for a brutal knee kick. The Hokage jumped over and was going to tap the blonde hard enough to make him wince if Sasuke didn't recover faster than expected forcing him to contort to doge the blow thrown. They didn't let up, they matched each other's movements. Naruto would throw a flurry of blows up high while Sasuke would focus on his foundation and transition smoothly into the other way around. They would overwhelm a seasoned genin at this rate, but he had something to teach them. He grabbed both their legs and hung them upside down.

"Well done, both of you. I will teach you something in return, being Hokage has its perks." He gave them a light laugh while setting them down. He pulled out two pieces of paper, "This is chakra paper, it determines your chakra nature. All you do is channel chakra through it. If your affinity is fire, the paper will burn. Wind, the paper will split. Water, the paper will get soggy. Earth, the paper will turn into dust. And for lighting it will crumple up. Everyone has one affinity but some have two naturally. If you don't have two you can train another nature to gain one." He gave both of the boys a sheet and told them to channel chakra through it. He didn't tell them that most affinities do not develop till later on but he had a feeling that these two were special. Sasuke held up his paper and at first it crumpled pretty hard and started to burn at the edges. Naruto held up his paper the same way, his split in half and then the two halves became soggy. Itachi could only shake his head, he was right. "It seems you two are really good together. Sasuke you have a very strong lightning affinity while having a weaker fire affinity. Naruto you have a strong wind and water affinity, while weaker than Sasuke's lighting, it's stronger than his fire affinity." Itachi confirmed their thoughts on what just happened. "Each of these elements are stronger and weaker than the other elements usually. Water beats fire, fire beats wind, wind beats lightning, lightning beats earth and earth beats water. Turning your chakra into these elements is called Nature transformation. Usually to become a master you need to train for several years developing it like a muscle. You can still use jutsu but they won't be as strong if you trained your transformation. For right now you will just learn the jutsu." With that he handed each boy two scrolls. "Each scroll has a jutsu of your respective element. I will demonstrate each jutsu and no Sasuke you can't copy me, your sharingan has not gained that ability yet." Sasueke just pouted, hoping he had an easy jutsu in the books.

"Sasuke I will show you first." He performed several hand signs and said Raiton: Raikou Boruto no Jutsu. He held his palm toward a practice dummy and a small beam shot from his hand to the dummy. "It has a limited distance but it's very useful, next is our clan heirloom so to speak." Again he performed the necessary hand seals and spoke Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu. He held two fingers next to his mouth and breathed out an incredibly hot fireball in front of him. He cut off the jutsu after a few seconds. "Don't expect that to be yours but that's the general idea of it." Sasuke just sat there with a gobsmacked look on his face, his ni-san was too cool.

"Naruto, you will be learning these." He made the hand seals needed and breathed in a deep breath. He said Fūton: Daitoppa, a huge gust of air flew from his lungs while ripping up small trees and forcing the older trees to bow to his wind. "I didn't want to ruin the scenery but the more chakra you put into it, the stronger the wind will be. We have the final jutsu." He made the fewest hand signs out of all of them, he made a finger gun and water built up at his finger tip. Then he said Mizudeppō no Jutsu, and the water at the tip of his finger rocketed toward the dummy and tore a hole right through his head. "The key is to build up enough pressure for it to keep its form at the tip of your finger. These are the only jutsu I will teach you until you graduate from the academy. Become strong, you are the new leaves that will shade Konoha for the future." Itachi felt like he said enough and disappeared in a murder of crows.

"Your brother is way cooler than you'll ever be."

"Shut up."

Itachi appeared at Naka River, "I'll do what I can, thank you for what you did. Children will grow up safe thanks to you, you are the real hero here…Shisui don't lose your way." He let a lone tear fall down. Itachi knew what they did was right, but asked himself.

Why did it feel so wrong?

Jutsu List:

Raiton: Raikou Boruto no Jutsu (Lightning Release: Lightning Bolt Technique)

A simple technique in concept and execution, in which the user performs the necessary hand seals and then emits a short bolt of lightning from his or her hand. This is a simple bolt, akin to a fireball, rather than being a continuous stream. On impact, the target will suffer minor electric shocks.

Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu (Fire Release: Fireball Technique)

The user kneads chakra in their body and turns it into fire, which they then expel from their mouth; the more chakra they use, the more flames that are produced. Sometimes the flames lack a distinct shape, being only a stream, but more often than not they take the form of a giant orb that maintains its shape until hitting a target.

Fūton: Daitoppa (Wind Release: Great Breakthrough)

The user breathes wind from their mouth, blowing away whatever is in front of them. The technique itself is quite simple, but its power varies significantly depending on the user's skill and how strong they make the winds.

Mizudeppō no Jutsu (Water Release: Water Gun)

The user makes a finger gun with their hand and compresses a drop of water at the index finger, firing it with tremendous force and speed similar to a gunshot. (I know this is a Hōzuki clan jutsu but I like it a lot so sue me.)

It might seem that I just kinda skipped over the mourning process or any ill effects of seeing what they did but trust me we will get there. I feel like most kids are like Pete davidson when they lose their dad at a young age, "Oh so dad's gone but I get a ps2. Sweet deal." They don't understand death so "Tou-san not here but I get two jutsu AND I have my sharingan. Sweet deal." But it will pop up again. Thank you for reading, peace out.