Darkness.

It was all his bright yellow eyes could see in his murky and damp chambers of secrets. The same chambers that had been the home to many inhumane experiments, some horrible, others downright evil.

No matter how far or in which direction he looked, that evil darkness always persisted both, on the inside and the outside. It was a part of him now, a piece that had eaten away the tiny sliver of humanity that resided inside him and replaced it with nothing but pain and a wish for vengeance, retribution, or whatever people called it.

Moving away from the darkness, his eyes glanced at his pale hands and blinked, a sliver of remorse flickering there for the briefest of a second.

"What have I become?" He asked himself, eyes still idling on the hands that had killed numerous people without a tinge of indecisiveness. "I was not like this" His whisper made him frown as the sweet and sour memories of the past began to haunt his devious mind. "I was a-" his mouth closed on its own before he could utter those frivolous words. He was never happy in the past. Happiness was an illusion for him, an illusion that he could never be a part of.

Why?

"Hiruzen Sarutobi…"

The darkness increased, both on the inside and outside as his lips parted to utter that heinous name.

Hiruzen Sarutobi was the bane of his existence and the mere fact that he was still alive and happy in that accursed village always brought pain and anger to his mind. That man deserved nothing, not even suffering that one usually wishes upon their enemy.

"He is a monster."

Hiruzen Sarutobi was a monster disguised in the veil of innocence and humanity. One might think that the jinchuriki community were the true monsters of their world, but according to him, there was no bigger monster than a man who knew how to fool people in broad daylight with his deceitful act and then scheme against those very beings in the darkness of night.

Hiruzen was that man. Allied with his old and wicked friend Danzō, Sarutobi was an unstoppable force of nature. Wherever they went, war and destruction followed. Innocents died for no reason; women were raped and subjugated into broodmares for bloodlines; and children were sacrificed to his so-called Will of Fire, which was nothing but a cult of convenience.

"And among them was M-"

"Orochimaru-sama..."

Bright yellow eyes veered away from the green tubes of liquid and settled on the slim frame of his student, hidden very well in the dark.

"What?" Orochimaru whispered, his voice filled with anger and bitterness.

"I have news for you."

The snake sannin pondered over the words of his student for a second and ultimately decided not to heed them any attention. They were useless. "Ka-"

"It's about Naruto-kun."

The mere name brought a myriad of emotions with itself and froze Orochimaru to his place for a second.

"N-Naruto!" He shouted, finding it hard to hold the surprise within himself because it had been weeks since he had heard that name. Did something happen to him? No, he refused to entertain that thought. Immoral and cunning as they might be, Hiruzen and Danzō still cared about power and he was sure they would never harm the boy, unless… 'No!' His eyes shot wide in fear. "What happened to him?" He immediately asked his subordinate.

"Nothing bad, Orochimaru-sama."

"Then?"

The figure smiled, his white teeth gleaming ominously in the dark. "He has finally made a friend."

"Who? Is he a civilian, shinobi, or an agent of Root?"

"She…"

Orochimaru scowled slightly.

"What?" He asked, confusion palpable in his tone as he spoke to the figure in the dark.

"Sayuri Uchiha, daughter of Fugaku Uchiha."

For the second time that day, his eyes widened in surprise.

"An Uchiha?" He could not help but repeat the words of his subordinate. What was an Uchiha doing with him? Were not they supposed to stay away from him?

So many questions were racing through his mind but he had answers to none of them.

"Yes, Orochimaru-sama. They recently became friends when she helped him mend his injuries near the Academy."

'Injuries.' Orochimaru flinched slightly when he heard that word but composed himself quickly before his subordinate could notice anything. The word injury was cruel, especially when used along with the mention of Naruto. That boy did not deserve injuries, not even in the slightest.

"I see." He whispered, making sure to appear as calm as possible. "Anything else?" His eyes again veered over to the figure in the dark, urging him to answer his question.

"Yes."

"What?" Was the serpent's immediate reaction to the reply.

A sly chuckle echoed in the dark corner of the room as the unknown figure there tried to hold his excitement within himself.

"Little Naruto is going to meet his first teacher today." The chuckle altered into a smirk as he finished his answer.

"Teacher? Who is going to train him?!" Finally, Orochimaru let the emotions flow out of him, trying nothing to stop them now.

"Shisui Uchiha."

Yellow eyes widened to unnatural proportions when he heard that name. "S-Shisui!" His stuttering was clear evidence that the aforementioned boy was someone who could not be taken lightly. After all, who did not know about Shisui Uchiha. He was a walking monster of the Uchiha Clan, one who could kill anyone with a mere glance of his eyes, sometimes even that was not necessary.

"Yes. Sayuri Uchiha was the one who took Naruto-kun to him."

The anxiety inside him increased.

"Why?" He asked, not knowing how to feel about that. On one hand, he was glad that Naruto had finally found someone to talk to but on the other hand, his mind could not ignore the fact that Naruto was the present jailor of Kyūbi and everyone knew about the covenant that the tailed beast had with Sharingan, especially Mangekyō.

"I don't know. I couldn't get more information about it, Orochimaru-sama. I'm sorry."

A small frown marred the pale face of the man. "No need to apologize, dear. I'm very pleased with the information that you have brought to me." He assured his subordinate.

"Thank you."

A distinctive sound of clothes rustling reached Orochimaru's ears, indicating that his subordinate was about to leave the room. "Ohh and before you leave for Kirigakure, can you please finish a small work of mine?"

"Sure, Orochimaru-sama."

"Tell Aoda that he can finally visit Naruto-kun now."

A gasp echoed in the room. "A-are you sure, Orochimaru-sama?"

"Ahmm…"

- Konoha -

"So he is the one, huh?"

Coal black eyes stared at the small boy in front of them as they analyzed his face intently, looking for any possible inkling of bitterness or deception there.

Sayuri, who was observing the confrontation from the sidelines, decided to intervene between the two in order to help her friend. He had not spoken a word for a while now and that was making her worried. Naruto was not the one to remain silent in front of others, no matter what the conditions were.

"Yes. He is my friend, Naruto Uzumaki, Shisui-nii. He wants to train under your guidance so that he can become as powerful as you!" Being the smart girl that she was, Sayuri only picked up the best words to compliment her brother. After all, everyone knew how much her cousin liked getting compliments, especially from girls.

Shisui broke contact with the scared boy and looked at Sayuri.

"Really?" He asked and when the girl nodded her head in affirmation, he again looked at the boy and smirked, a gesture full of arrogance and pride.

"I see," lowering himself a little, he patted the boy's head, earning a groan from him, "then I'll train you!"

"Really-"

"But first tell me why do you want to train under me?"

Whatever Naruto had in his mind perished as soon as he heard Shisui's words.

"Hmm…" he paused, wondering about the possible answers he could muster for the strange question. "I want to become stronger," was the first thing that left his mouth, but when the older boy did not look impressed, Naruto panicked and began to think about more reasons.

"I want to show everyone that I'm not weak!" He blurted out, but the boy still remained unimpressed. Tired and ashamed of himself, he looked at his friend and grimaced when he saw a scowl there.

Scowl never looked great on her face, at least to him they did not. They were cruel, downright repugnant if you asked him. His friend was only supposed to smile and remain happy in front of him. It was his duty to protect her from the arms of despair. 'Protect!' His eyes widened a little at the familiar word. "I want to protect her!" He exclaimed while looking back at the boy.

Shisui, who was eyeing the boy intently, smiled slightly when he heard his answer.

"And why do you want to do that? She already has a family for that." He asked, the smile still plastered on his face.

"Because I don't. She is all I have."

The smile on Shisui's face widened, indicating that he was more than happy to hear what he just heard from the boy's mouth. His eyes then veered off to the direction where his cousin was standing and narrowed down a little when he saw sparkling drops of tears on her face.

"Sayuri…" his eyes softened as he gazed at her, eyeing the tears on her face with an uncomfortable pain in his heart, "why are you crying?" He asked her and almost gasped when the boy flickered away from his sight and appeared in front of her. It was fast, he had to give him credit for that. How did he do it? Shisui did not know.

"Oi, Sayuri, why are you crying now?"

The pain in Shisui's heart declined slightly when the boy asked that question to his cousin. It was as if he knew what he was doing.

"I-I'm not crying-"

"Oh really? Then what are these drops of liquid on your face?"

"Water…"

"Hmm… I see. Then I can taste them, right?"

"Eww, Naruto. You are so gross!"

"What?! How am I gross when you are the one who can produce water out of your eyes? Is this an ability of your clan or what?"

Shisui could not control himself anymore and started to laugh loudly, drawing the attention of both the children.

"Haha," the laughs did not cease and continued to flee his lips, "ability of my clan?" He whispered to himself and let out another loud chuckle before looking back at the children, who now, were staring at him in worry. "You are funny, Naruto. I have to give you that." He praised the boy, earning a yelp of surprise from him.

"Thank you, Nii-sama!"

Time paused for Shisui as soon as those unexpected words of Naruto reached his ears. They were heartwarming and for some reason, they felt different from what he usually heard from his fellow clan members. His clan's children, although civil and cute, never dared to call him Nii-san. Even after being encouraged to do so many times by him, they still refused to call him by that honorific for some reason. Maybe it was his fear or maybe it had something to do with his behavior towards their stupid parents, but the children refused to call him by that name. So to finally hear it from someone else's mouth other than Sayuri's felt good. It felt really good.

"Nii-sama?" He smiled at the surprised boy who immediately averted away from his gaze.

"I-I'm sorry-" Afraid that he might have annoyed the older boy, Naruto was about to apologize, but Shisui's voice stopped him from doing that.

"No, it's fine! I actually like it!"

Naruto paused and then looked at the boy, smiling himself when he saw nothing but warmth and love there. Was every Uchiha supposed to be like these two? He wondered because, in the past few days, Sayuri and Shisui had shown him something that the other people of his village had failed to show in their lifetimes: Kindness, a simple but powerful sentiment that hardly took anything from you while having the potential to change the lives of others around you.

Unfortunately, Naruto never had any chance to see it among the populace of his village. Konoha, as everyone called it, was a world in itself for him, filled with nothing but hatred. Thus, to see someone who was willing to show him kindness without having any ill intention was surprising for him, more so when said individual belonged to the most influential clan of the village.

Uchiha.

He would never forget this name.

"Naruto!"

His blue eyes snapped out of the stupor when Sayuri's voice entered his ears, making him jump a little in surprise.

"W-what?" Casually looking around, he saw that both Uchihas were staring at him in worry, most probably because of the lack of answers from his side. 'Stupid thoughts!' He admonished himself internally for not paying attention to the people around him.

"You went silent all of a sudden, Naruto. Is everything alright?"

Small lips curved up in a smile. "Yes. I'm fine, Sayuri. It's just that I started thinking about something." He answered her in a murmur.

"Something?"

Naruto paused and looked at Shisui in order to check what he was doing, only to gulp loudly in worry when he saw the intense look in the older boy's eyes. He was assessing him and Naruto did not know what to do.

"It was about ramen, hehe.'' He lied and sighed in relief when both Uchihas drifted their sharp gazes away from his face. 'Their eyes. Something is wrong with them.' His young mind concluded after a quick consideration.

No matter what he tried or did, Naruto was sure their eyes could unravel whatever he was trying to hide from them. They were probably made like that or maybe it was just a stupid intuition of his mind, but still, he was sure they could, and that was one of the main reasons he needed to learn how to hide things from those onyx eyes.

"Fine, don't tell me, Naruto, but at least pay attention to what Shisui-nii is saying, ok?"

Now out of his thoughts, Naruto gulped when he heard his friend's words. "How did you know I was lying?" Those were the first words that left his mouth, his face calm yet startled at the same time.

Sayuri blinked and soon smiled at him, playfully wiggling her eyebrows as she tried to taunt him more. "I know everything that is going in your mind, Naruto." A giggle escaped her lips as she finished her bold statement.

"How?" Naruto interrupted her.

Another giggle echoed throughout the surroundings. "It's a secret~!" She taunted, her voice almost inaudible to everyone but him.

"Hmph!" A cute little pout formed on his lips as he looked away from the girl. "Meanie!"

"Hey!"

"What?"

Sayuri would have argued more with him but her cousin decided to interrupt them at that very moment.

"Now, now, don't fight with each other like that. You are supposed to be friends, right?"

Naruto glanced at the boy and blinked. "We are not fighting, nii-sama. It's just how-" Everything left his mouth when the wind around him picked up the pace for a second as Shisui flickered away from his sight and materialized between him and Sayuri. "Woah!" He screamed, shock evident on his face while he continued to gape at the powerful shinobi. How did he do that? His mind asked itself because it was amazing, more than anything he had ever seen or heard about.

The pure admiration and amazement in the boy's eyes took Shisui by surprise too as he did not know the reason behind such abrupt change. "What happened, Naruto?" He finally asked the boy.

"You are amazing, nii-sama!"

Naruto's words sent a torrent of pride inside Shisui's mind and made him a little more complacent.

"Huh?" His eyes squinted a little as he tried to decipher the reason behind the boy's compliments.

"How did you do that?"

"Do what?"

Naruto smiled at the boy and clapped his hands together in amazement, indicating that he was very captivated by the event that had just transpired a while ago. "That shunshin, how did you do that? It was so fast!"

He was not lying. It was certainly the fastest and the coolest display of shunshin he had ever witnessed in his insignificant life. Those that he had seen before were nothing compared to the shunshin of Shisui. They were fast but the older boy's shunshin was way beyond their league.

"Ahhh!" Everything finally clicked inside Shisui's mind. "So you were surprised by my shunshin, ehh?" He smirked, pride and satisfaction obvious in his voice. After all, if there was one thing that Shisui liked more than anything else then it had to be getting compliments from other people, especially if those said other people were his juniors. It made him feel like he was the most powerful and badass shinobi around.

"Of course I was surprised, Shisui nii-sama!" Naruto responded, still not forgetting to add the honorific after the boy's name. If he wanted to remain with Sayuri, then respecting her family was necessary, no matter how odd it felt to his ears and his mouth while speaking. "Your shunshin was the fastest I have ever seen anyone perform it. It was so fast that I couldn't even guess where you would appear the next second." His voice began to gain a little momentum and confidence as he smiled at the seemingly proud boy.

"Haha!" The boisterous laughter of Shisui chimed throughout the area, startling both the children with its pride.

"Umm… Shisui-nii," Sayuri, who had been standing quietly for a while now, finally decided to intervene again when she heard that arrogant laughter of her cousin, "are you ok-"

"I'm all fine, Sayuri." Shisui waved his hand in dismissal and continued. "I was just a little surprised to see someone who also likes speed as I do. It's pretty uncommon if you ask me, because children don't understand the importance of speed and are usually attracted to those flashy jutsus." He finished in distaste.

Naruto knew it was his chance now.

"I like speed. It's very useful for running away from your enemies and aggressive people." He blurted out and gasped when the Uchiha duo turned towards him in unison.

"Really?"

He nodded his head gently. "Y-Yes, nii-"

"Oh forget Nii-sama, then. Call me sensei from now on!"

Naruto's eyes almost bulged out from their sockets in surprise. After taking a few deliberate breaths he was about to respond but could not when an equally elated Sayuri decided to speak.

"So are you going to train him, Shisui-nii?!"

Shisui gently ruffled her hair, earning a displeased groan from her.

"Yes." He whispered, sounding as serious as he could. After all, there was no way he could say no to her.

"Yay! Did you hear that, Naruto?!"

Naruto did not answer. He was too overwhelmed by the emotions at that moment. In his whole life, never had he thought he would see a day when someone would show him a sliver of kindness but Sayuri proved him wrong and he was glad that she did.

"Naruto?"

His blue eyes sparkled with tears as they gazed into her black orbs. They were beautiful yet at the same time painful to look at because they reminded him of something that he could not change.

"Your eyes…" His mouth opened on its own.

"Huh?"

"I'll heal them!"

He did not know why he said that but that statement finally gave him something that he truly needed in his life.

A dream.

No, a goal worth reaching towards.

His heart desired no power to rule the world, no authority to control the people, no fear of him in anyone's heart. All he wanted was to cure her blindness and he would make sure that goal became a reality even if he had to upend his entire world for it.

- EnD -

I hope you liked the chapter.

This chapter was a little short as it was only meant to show the interaction between Shisui and Naruto. The upcoming chapters will be lengthy as usual.

If you have any questions or suggestions, feel free to contact me.

Don't forget to leave a review. They mean a lot to us.

Thank you.

Remain safe.

11