AN: Sorry for the lateness in the chapter, I figured I'd make slightly longer chapters from now on instead of multiple shorter ones. Then again if you prefer multiple shorter ones let me know. I might merge the first two chapters into one depending on preference.

That being said, this should be the last 'setting the scene' chapter. Everything after this chapter is going start getting into the action of story.


(6 Years Later)

It's been six long and very interesting years for the village hidden in the leaves. Following the night of the Kyuubi attack, Hiruzen proved to be a man of his word and began reforming the village, this started with the civilian side of the village. Although the balance of the village population still favoured the civilians, when it came to decisions regarding the village as a whole, the power balance became a lot more even between the two different factions . Reasons for this being, although civilians wouldn't be to match up to a Genin, that did not mean they weren't essential for the village and needed for the economy, this is why the Third Hokage, although having the final say for decisions, still approved the reasonable decisions...whilst burning the non so reasonable ones. This included: the village helping pay for some of the refurbishment and rebuilding of the lost properties, raising the tax the village would get from EVERYONE (initially the civilian council only wanted to charge shinobi, however after one meeting, one disrespectful comment from one council member and one more head rolling, everyone seems to have quickly found middle ground). So now depending on the mission rank, will depend on the tax – where S rank missions would incur a slightly higher tax than a D rank mission and businesses would have to pay a tax depending on their income.

From a shinobi side, Konoha has become a lot more varied and provided a plethora of options for everyone. For example, Hiruzen built another hospital in the village which helped reduce the mortality rate in his village, within each hospital there now was a medic 'ninja' course. Instead of teaching lethal jutsu etc, this programme taught those who are interested how to use their chakra with precision control for the medical arts. This definitely favoured some of the civilians as they didn't have large enough chakra to effectively be a ninja but instead allowed them to form their smaller reserves with finer control and still be involved.

However, the biggest change was the academy. Pretty much everything changed. Of course it took a few years to correctly be able to implement everything and allow the changes to start taking effect, however it was done. Firstly, a second smaller academy was formed for the civilians who instead of becoming ninja, wanted to become future business people. This academy focused on things like business strategies, economy and finance. They still received the basics of ninja training, such as learning the previous three base jutsu and how to mould chakra in case they wanted to specialise as a support ninja down the line. Now for the 'main' academy, the first thing was the entry age. Hiruzen made it a law that you have to be at least 8 years old before entering the academy and it would be a 4 year programme before you could graduate. This was implemented following the success of shinobi like Kakashi, or more recently Itachi a few years ago. The Third Hokage felt that kids should be allowed to be kids and although he stopped being lax, he wasn't willing to send children out to die needlessly especially in times of 'peace'. That didn't stop some of the better shinobi to skip a year or two due to previous clan knowledge and training but even then, the earliest someone was able to graduate has been 10. Now the curriculum changed too, the first year involved a crash course of what is essentially taught in the civilian council – this was something the civilian and shinobi council actually found common grounds on and the reason being if a member of a clan is present, they would need to understand some of the politics involved and how to effectively run a clan or business. At the same time, they were taught the basics of chakra and how to mould it as well as the three basic techniques. The second year is when they were taught chakra control exercises like leaf balancing, shurikenjutsu, Konoha history including its clans and their significance as well as basic survival skills.

The first two years were essentially what most clan heirs were able to skip due to having already been taught all of these things by their respective clans. However it did serve to bring the smaller clans as well as civilians up to speed and on a good starting foundation for the next two years. In year three is where the pace picked up and really differentiated the potential of the Genin prospects and where most of the civilian members decided this wasn't for them before switching academies. The third year involved a lot of conditioning both mentally and physically – physically due to the step up in taijutsu training and things like 'boot camp' which were essentially mini courses of intense activities designed to make students only use their physical prowess, no chakra allowed. This was incorporated into their spars as well as any taijutsu lessons. However, mentally is what really scarred a few students and took time for things to get back to relative normality. To help students prepare for the scary world of shinobi, every single student had a one on one meeting with the head of interrogation, Ibiki Morino, and got to see just SOME of the gruesome reality that involved the shinobi world. Now the level of interrogation varied and was random, some students only saw a finger or two being removed, some saw some of the captors being skinned or had portions of their skin boiled and finally some saw the final part of the interrogation where, once deemed useless, the captive was killed.

The fourth year was split into two. The first half of the year was the teaching of the harder principles of shinobi lifestyle, this would include things like genjutsu and fuinjutsu whilst also identifying the elemental natures of the students. Now it should be said that all of these lessons are brief – the genjutsu lessons are more theory than anything else and how to cast one and break out of one, the fuinjutsu lessons cover only the basics so scroll sealing, explosive tags and basic sensory barriers whilst the elemental lessons are just identifying the chakra natures using chakra paper and how to properly control their elements but that is something their Jonin sensei would teach them. The second half of the year was all in preparation for the final exams. Regular spars and competitions would be carried out to refine their skills and abilities, students would be taken to weekly camping and 'survival' trips to further hone their memories. This was the part of the academy all students waited for, ultimate bragging rights and on the verge of promotion, no more boring lessons and theory and books but rather constant application and action.

However, with everything good that was happening in the village, there had to be something bad matching it and lurking in the shadows, the old visage of the Third Hokage grimaced as he thought back on the situation currently brewing in the village.

Although only being in the village briefly, no one who was alive at that time, will ever forget the Kyuubi attack. Everything from how the air thickened with malicious killing intent to the imposing figure of massive nine tailed fox to the damage and losses that were suffered, nothing will ever be forgotten. Unfortunately, this did include the Sharingan pattern in the murderous eyes of the monstrous beast. Following the meeting six years ago, rumours began flying around the village accusing the Uchiha clan of controlling the Kyuubi, people were calling it 'Madara's revenge' as a way to punish the villagers of Konoha for betraying one of the co-founders of the village. Although Hiruzen and many of the veteran shinobi knew this wasn't the case, it didn't stop the village from ostracising the Uchiha clan as a whole, some teams even disbanding and missions specifically requesting for 'non-Uchiha shinobi'. Fugaku Uchiha, the clan head, asked the Hokage (he would have begged or pleaded but his pride as an Uchiha did not allow that) to help and explain the whole situation to the village, however, the Third Hokage vehemently disagreed and denied that request and reasoned that this would not make a difference and would instead only paint a target on Naruto's back. Feeling outraged and even betrayed that once again the Uchiha clan was being betrayed by a Hokage and its village, the clan secluded themselves from the village and only kept within themselves.

Had they just secluded themselves, Hiruzen wouldn't worry, after all a lot of clans in Konoha kept to themselves and wouldn't interact with the general population much like the Hyuga clan or Aburame clan, however, whispers of a coup were ushered and a matter like this isn't to be ignored. How the Third Hokage came to this news? Well that's answered by the two ANBU teens in front of him. With a flick of his left wrist followed by a hand sign with his right hand, the Sandaime Hokage chose to address the situation at hand.

"Raven and Bird, you can take your masks off now. It's only us three, I've dismissed everyone else and set up a privacy barrier. I want to know the full details of your latest report and this coup," the Third Hokage stated. Raven and Bird stood at attention and removed their masks to show the young faces of Itachi and Shisui Uchiha. Although young in appearance, they were currently among his beat shinobi, two rare anomalies who decimated through the shinobi ranks and are among the most respected ANBU officers in the village. For Shisui, although talented at a young age he completed the academy at a 'normal' pace (like other clan members basically). However, he truly peaked once graduated and within the ninja world not even two years later he became a Jonin before being asked to join the ANBU department at the age of 12 and had been there for the last year. He specialised in assassinations - thanks to his speed, both natural and via shunshin, and his genjutsu mastery especially with his sharingan. That combination led him to be known as Shunshin no Shisui. Now for Itachi, it was slightly different. Being the son of a clan head was never going to be easy, being the son of Fugaku Uchiha was going to be even more difficult but being the son of Fugaku Uchiha whilst the village was in the process of turning on the Uchiha? That was a hellish experience. Itachi was always considered a genius, and where most people would simply rely on their genius, he never had that 'luxury' because in his hellish experience, Fugaku made sure Itachi also trained hard and learnt everything. From the moment he could form a coherent sentence, Itachi had been taught about shinobi and civilian matters alike, from the minute he could walk, his father began pressuring him to run and so on. This as a result led to Itachi graduating the academy at the age of 9 (before the official changes settled into the academy), become a Jonin in the same year and was invited into the ANBU by the age of 10, where for the last 2 years he had been making a name for himself as the current youngest ANBU captain in history and officially Shisui's captain.

As impressive as Itachi was, there was only one reason why he hadn't gone insane, and that was his younger brother Sasuke. When Itachi began his training under his father, when the Third shinobi War was still freshly underway (before this story started basically), he had thought many times of quitting. That was until his younger brother was born (still before Kyuubi attack and this story) and Itachi swore he would protect him at all cost, no matter what and hence enduring everything he went through. Everything was worth it and fine for Itachi up until recent developments and the reason they were reporting to the Sandaime.

"Hokage-sama, as previously stated, there were rumours about a possible coup. However we can now confirm that those rumours are indeed true," Itachi started and with a deep sigh the Sandaime motioned for him to continue, "the reason for them being so secluded and shut off from the village is because the clan leaders are in the process of preparing the shinobi and civilians alike for the takeover. Although they might be outnumbered, I'm sure I don't need to explain to you the strength of the clan but more importantly the implications this would have for the village. What's even more worrying is what Shisui found out".

Taking the opportunity to speak, Shisui started with "it isn't confirmed what it will be bit the clan leaders and elders were discussing a 'weapon' of sorts. Something apparently able to level the playing field between the clan and the village!" Now this is something that caused the old eyes of the Third Hokage to widen. However before he could say something, Shisui continued, "sorry Hokage-sama but that's not all. It seems they are planning on acting on their plan in approximately two years". Finally finished, Shisui re-joined Itachi's side and awaited the decision from their leader. Although both Uchiha members loved their clan and its members, they were pretty much the only ones who were against such an idea, some od their best friends were from this village, members of their squads had battled and even died on missions, both boys awakened their mangekyou over a mission that went to shit and both appreciated everything the village has done for them.

For what seemed like hours, but was only a few seconds, everything was dead silent as Hiruzen Sarutobi's mind worked in overdrive on how to deal with the situation. "Okay, here is what we will do. From what you both said, I have approximately two years to try and de-escalate the situation with the Uchiha clan, otherwise there will be a bloodbath, that is going to be the role I play in this. I promise you both, that I will do what I can to prevent this from escalating. In the meantime, I'm going to need you both to continue doing what you have been and gather more information especially about this weapon they're talking about. If that is all clear and you two have no further comments or questions, you're dismissed. Thank you again". The boys shared a look before Shisui nodded his head and disappeared in his signature shunshin, leaving behind a brief afterimage, whereas Itachi stayed behind and chose to address the Sandaime.

"Hokage-sama, whilst I appreciate you trying to mend things with the Uchiha, I need you to understand that they all suffer from the cycle of hate that we are cursed with based on our stone tablets. No matter what you do, it might not be enough, if that is the case, we might have to consider drastic measures," understanding the hidden meaning of what Itachi was saying, and not wanting to pry about the clan secrets and the stone tablets, Hiruzen gestured for Itachi to continue. "That being said, if things go south, all I ask is that my little brother Sasuke is protected no matter the cost. I don't mind giving my life for the village and whilst most, if not all, of the clan might succumb to the hate, Sasuke is still pure. I have made sure of that since he's been born", Itachi explained with utmost determination and passion for his little brother.

"Of course Itachi, you have my word," the Third Hokage gently reassured the young Uchiha and with a nod of his head Itachi disappeared in a normal leaf shunshin. Looking out into the village, Hiruzen had a very bad feeling in his gut.

(One Week Later)

"Thank you baa-chan!" The small figure of Naruto Uzumaki cheerfully screamed as he was leaving the little grocery store near the orphanage into the darkness of the night. Naruto's life can be summed up in pretty much one word – uneventful. He was an orphan, part of the village's orphanage and other than being hyperactive and energetic, he was like any other orphan, at least for the most part. Every week, the Third Hokage would take a little walk with Naruto around the village and just chat and be supportive of anything going on in his life, he also would give Naruto an allowance for the week. Why the Sandaime Hokage of a whole village would take the time out to spend it with Naruto, even once a week, was confusing to Naruto – he was an orphan like the others, so why was he the special one? He wasn't going to complain though as he loved their weekly meetings and the allowance. Usually, he would buy some groceries and snacks whilst also saving enough for Ichiraku's, hence his current trip to the grocery store.

Another reason for his cheerful mood is due to his birthday, which was a week ago. On top of the allowance, the Third Hokage gave Naruto some basic books and scrolls to prepare him for the academy. Although not telling Naruto, Hiruzen was wanting to make sure that Naruto was prepared for the academy without showing too much favouritism – otherwise a lot of questions would begin to be asked on the significance of Naruto and why the Hokage focused on him so much. Instead, he went on these weekly walks to 'socialise with the village' and spend time with Naruto whilst the books and scrolls were some copies from his personal libraries – slightly rewritten to adjust to Naruto's age. It was those scrolls and books as to why Naruto nearly forgot to buy groceries because he's been so engrossed in reading all day that only once the natural daylight disappeared did he realise he was reading all day.

Going through the shopping bag and trying to find some of the snacks, he did not realise he was walking straight into a pair of people causing him to promptly fall backwards and onto the pavement. "AH, I'm really sorry! I wasn't looking where I was going, are you oka-", Naruto started only for his words to be caught in his throat at the two scary looking people in front of him. Whilst they did not look too special, it was their eyes that caused him to freeze in place. For staring right back at him were 2 pairs of bright red fully matured sharingan eyes. 'Of course, I had to bump into Uchihas! These guys hate everyone anyways, and that's without giving them a reason to be pissed at you. Hopefully they will just they're not in too bad of a mood,' Naruto thought worriedly. He was thanking the Third Hokage for the books and scrolls for being able to identify the clan members and from the rumours he heard about this clan, they were not very positive. His thoughts were interrupted by the conversation the two began having.

"You're sure this is the one, Kawaguchi? He is supposed to become our weapon? He doesn't look like anything special…and he is just a kid for crying out loud!" The first Uchiha said, clearly annoyed by the task given to them.

"You're as stupid as ever, Sando. Firstly, yes this is the one. He matches the description exactly how Fugaku-sama described him and more importantly use your eyes you dimwit. Look carefully," Kawaguchi said, clearly annoyed with his partner. Looking closely, Sando realised what his partner meant and saw the two very different chakra colours inside Naruto's body.

"Holy shit! You're right! He really does have the Kyu-" he was stopped from continuing by a hand slapping the back of his head. "What the hell, Kawaguchi?!"

"You really are stupid! Fugaku-sama told us not to bring this up! Remember the consequences if anyone overhears us! This could be the end of us. Anyways, we have to find the kid again, he clearly heard us and ran. If he escapes I will blame you. Let's go" Kawaguchi explained to his partner in an exasperated manner before beginning to run after the small form of Naruto running down the road.

(With Naruto)

'I need to make it back quick! I don't know what they were talking about but I am not about to become a weapon for anyone! Also I need to ask the old man about this, surely he will know what is going on' Naruto thought before turning and running into a dimly lit alley to try and catch his breath from all the running and hopefully lose his pursuers. Looking into the alley it was mostly empty except for a tall lamppost and a large garbage bin. Choosing to hide in the shadows behind the bin, Naruto tried to control his breathing and was praying to everything holy that the two ninjas would have missed him.

His luck did not seem to be enough, as he felt someone kick the bin he was hiding behind causing it to connect with his face and his nose to break as he once again fell down, this time clutching his face. Looking up with teary eyes the same scene replayed in his mind of the two sharingan ninjas looking at him with smirking looks. Trying to stand back up, Sando swept Naruto's feet once again making him fall down on his back. This time instead of trying to get up, Naruto slowly began backing up towards the wall into the shadow of the bin.

"What do you say we rough him up a little Kawaguchi? Afterall, he is the reason for all this hate and mistreatment towards us?" Sando said deviously whilst kicking Naruto in the knee and causing it to be dislocated, eliciting a small scream of pain before Sando covered Naruto's mouth with a cloth he had on him.

"Sure, I don't care. As long as he is still functioning, anything goes wrong, I am blaming you though" Kawaguchi replied nonchalantly whilst going towards the opening of the alley to have a smoke and keep an eye out for anyone suspicious. They had to wait for the darkness of the night before trying to capture the kid after all.

Naruto meanwhile was just cowering in the corner and taking the occasional hit Sando would give him whilst toying with Naruto and telling him to try and get up. Naruto however wasn't thinking of getting up, already knowing it would only get worse, instead he was resigning himself to his fate, knowing he was completely outmatched and simply laying there in the shadows of the alley.

"Let yourself go" a deep and menacing voice resounded in his head. Thinking he was going insane from the beating he chose to ignore the voice and try to hang onto his sanity. "Let yourself go you weak and pathetic mongrel, the shadows, let your body succumb to the shadows" he heard the voice booming into his head again, 'and how the hell do I do that?! I can't just become a shadow!' Naruto decided to entertain his insanity thinking he had nothing to lose. Sando at this point was taking a break of beating Naruto and had joined Kawaguchi in smoking whilst Naruto's body lay in the shadows beaten, bloodied and bruised. "No you can't, not yet anyways. If we want to survive you will do as I tell you. The next time one of them approaches you I am going to blast you with a painful and burning sensation, all you have to do is not fight is and we will survive" the voice explained, not bothering with details due to the state Naruto was in. Thinking he had nothing else to lose, Naruto only nodded and began slowly getting up with a few grunts and huffs. All this caused though was for the attention of Sando to be drawn to him again and stop his smoking to approach Naruto for another beating.

"Ah there we go! Much better! This is always more fun when they try to resist!" Sando exclaimed with a maniacal grin on his face. However before he could take another step, a feeling which no one felt for the last 6 years washed over the village, what no one except the two Uchiha knew though, was that this feeling originated from the small boy they were tasked on capturing. Frozen in fear, Sando was worried the Kyuubi was going to appear. However, as quickly as the feeling came, it vanished completely but with it, the form of Naruto Uzumaki.

"What the fuck?! He was right here in front of me!" Sando screamed, gaining the attention of Kawaguchi who rushed to his side, previously also frozen in fear of the feeling he felt.

"How did you lose him?! And what the hell was this feeling?! Quickly check underneath the bin in case he took that moment to hide, he didn't manage to sneak past me, out the alley that's for sure!" Kawaguchi yelled at Sando. Not wanting to piss his partner off anymore, Sando chose to listen and stepped forward to try and search underneath and around the bin. This proved to be the last thing he would do though, as with the step he took, Naruto appeared from behind him a clawed hand through his chest where his heart would be, seemingly materialising from Sando's own shadow! As quickly as he appeared, Naruto disappeared again. "SANDOO!" Kawaguchi screamed and moved away from Sando's body in case Naruto appeared again. Choosing to run away and inform his leaders of the situation, Kawaguchi ran out the alley and back towards the clan compound. Running as fast as he could through the empty streets of Konoha, he didn't dare look back. Choosing to rest against one of the walls close to the Uchiha clan compound, Fugaku was trying to control his breathing and make sense of what he saw in order to regain his composure to be able to address the elders and Fugaku clearly and properly, after all, appearances and the way you carried yourself were essential to the Uchiha clan. 'How does this make sense? One second the brat was there, then he disappeared and then he appeared between me and Sando, right behind Sando without anyone sensing or noticing him', Kawaguchi thought clearly confused and scared for his life. Looking up he saw the Uchiha clan compound walls and the clouds no longer obscuring the half-moon bright above, casting wide and long shadows across the village, this momentary pause was the last mistake Kawaguchi would do as from the shadows connecting his own and the compound walls as Naruto once again appeared, this time right in front of Kawaguchi and ran his long nails through the neck of his previous assailant causing him to gurgle blood and fall to the ground lifelessly.

Looking towards the clan compound, 'Naruto's' eyes narrowed. 'I should continue, whilst I still can and exterminate this who-' his thoughts were interrupted as Shisui materialised behind him and knocked the boy unconscious with a quick chop to the back of the head, causing for his hands to reform to their normal state. Picking him up, Shisui burnt the body of the Uchiha member, and shunshined towards the Hokage tower to explain the developments and hopefully gain some answers.

'Stupid human body, if only I had a more experienced host, he wouldn't have been able to sneak up on me' the booming and dark voice pondered in the back of Naruto's mind. 'This was the perfect opportunity too as the boy willingly gave me control, dammit! There won't be many more chances like this! No matter, I will be free. Sooner or later,' the voice continued to plan and ponder up until it felt the chakra signature of the village leader and knew they had arrived and thus forcing his jailor to wake up again.


AN: Again just some explanations:

I changed the academy structure a little just to make it more suitable for a shinobi village. From canon, following the academy a lot of the students and Genin just seemed out of their depths so I feel like this would make everyone a bit more rounded without making a class of super soldiers. I wasn't going to have them fire off 15 jutsus fresh out of the academy etc.

As for Sarutobi's decision with Fugaku – a lot of the fics always portray him as useless with Naruto and should have done more etc (which I agree on) so I decided to go a different direction with it.

Again, the ages are roughly correct and the event details are roughly accurate. For example, in the anime, Itachi graduated the academy at 6 was a Chunin by 10 and ANBU by 11. Not that different to my story with the changes I'm making, so hopefully it all still makes good enough sense and no one is going to come for my head for the changes/'mistakes'.

Again let me know what you think and if there is anything worth sticking out etc or bothering you or making you happy.