AN: Thank you so much again for all the reviews, follows and favourites! Honestly, makes me so happy and eager to keep writing! Also crazy how accurate some of your reviews and PMs are…some.
Anyways, on we goooo…
(1 Year Later)
"I do want to make it clear though, you all still have a long way to go, whilst your parents, clan members and outside assessors have all vouched for your skills, you are not Genin yet. You still have 2 years left of the academy and anything can happen. Keep learning, keep growing and keep doing the village and yourself proud!" The proud smile of the Hokage addressed all of the academy hopefuls in front him. However, what was different with this cohort of hopefuls was that all of them were clan members. Naruto was standing with the Nara family, for obvious reasons, whilst all the other 8/9-year-olds were standing with their parents or other clan representatives. It wasn't just major clans like Uchiha, Nara and Hyuga but rather smaller clans from across the Land of Fire too like the Iburi, Kagetsu and Fuma clans too, who wanted to try their luck in Konoha's academy compared to the smaller academies in their smaller villages.
They were all entering the academy next week, ready for the third year and were all looking to complete the necessary two years before becoming Genin. Naruto knew he would pass, he had to. For the last two years, he had trained his ass off ready for this exact moment and last year itself was even more intense following a certain night.
(Flashback – 10 Months Ago)
It has been two months since Naruto began training with the Uchiha pair and it was gruelling hard work. Since communicating with the Kyuubi, the Uchiha pair has worked Naruto to the bone in order to hone the skillset he already has. Although not increasing his chakra levels yet, they worked to perfect his control by teaching him the tree walking exercise and once he 'mastered' that they began working on him evading objects whilst hanging onto one. He was able to lower his bunshin to a minimum of 10 and increase the speed of his shunshin and kawarimi to be able to do them without hand signs. He was also able to enter his shadow realm within 5 seconds and stay hidden for a 30 seconds without moving, to simply avoid being seen, or travel along the shadows for 10 seconds before having to 're-submerge' as he calls it.
He was about to enter his apartment, given to him by the Sandaime after leaving the Naras, when the voice of the Kyuubi rang out "Stop! There is someone else here, hide yourself quick" it warned. Heeding its advice, Naruto promptly disappeared into the shadows and opened his eyes to see what was going on. This was another thing that changed, the more he was entering the shadows, the clearer his surroundings got. His Uchiha senseis thought it had to do with his chakra control, the more precise his control, the clearer he could see and identify his surroundings. Currently, instead of just seeing shadowy figures and outlines, he was able to discern more details of his surroundings such as objects on tables as well as differences in peoples' attires.
Moving into his apartment through the shadows and observing the figure, Naruto was able to identify that the person was using a crane and had his right arm wrapped in some sort of bandage or sling, he wasn't too sure. Continuing to watch the person, they weren't moving and simply sat down seemingly waiting for Naruto to return. "I can't sense any hostility from him, you should be safe, but be ready to move" The voice of the Kyuubi warned him. Naruto took that moment to appear in his room before walking out to confront the person.
"Uzumaki, I assume you know who I am? Also, how did you get in? I didn't see or sense you appear via a shunshin or something similar until you magically appeared". The voice of his visitor rang out before Naruto actually entered the living room and got a look at the person still sitting on his couch.
"Elder Danzo, of course I know who you are. Sandaime-sama, made sure I know of all important people in the village…even the elders, speaking of the Hokage-sama you should know he is on his way here for our weekly walks. To what do I owe the visit?" Naruto asked innocently whilst reinforcing the 'sama' to let Danzo know to be careful what to say next. Yes, the Hokage told Naruto to keep his head on a swivel around Danzo and not to trust him at all. Not wanting to pry any further, he agreed at the time and judging by Danzo's narrowed eyes, Naruto knew the Sandaime had a point.
Danzo meanwhile was letting the sly insult pass but kept his eyes narrowed over Naruto ignoring his second part of the questions and not giving anything away in terms of his abilities. "I'm going to make this quick, I can already feel Hiruzen approaching. The Uchihas aren't done with you. They are planning on attacking in nearly a year and if they are going for you again, you won't able to escape again. Not at your current power level. You've been doing well but there needs to be more. Remember my words, you need to be ready," Danzo finished and left before Hiruzen arrived and Naruto explaining the situation.
(Present Day)
Heading into the Hokage's personal training ground again after the small speech, Naruto instantly sank into shadows and began travelling around the training ground, choosing to reappear and disappear across different areas in order to continue getting used to the shadow realm. He was currently able to stay hidden with minimal movement for a minute and was able to continually travel for thirty seconds inside the realm before having to fully reappear and replenish his chakra reserves. Following the impromptu meeting with Danzo, the Sandaime chose to fill Naruto in about the situation and what was happening. Apparently the Hokage has been trying to ease tensions between the Uchiha clan and their view on the village, however nothing seemed to be working. First the Hokage tried advertise and increase missions for the village which requested the Uchiha clan members, however all that lead to was their arrogance rising and feeling even more entitled due to the increase in demand. When that didn't work, the Sandaime tried to incorporate more Uchiha in different teams where necessary. However once again that didn't prove to be successful when mission reports highlighted the Uchiha's lack of care for their teammates, often even casting jutsu with their teammates still in the way. When he finally had enough of these actions, the Sandaime confronted Fugaku about all that was happening which just led to Fugaku growing infuriated by the village using the Uchiha as scapegoats and storming out of the meeting.
Hence the increase in Naruto's training intensity. Other than further improving Naruto's chakra levels and controls, the Uchiha pair continued to hone the basics into Naruto until he was practically perfect in all he had previously learnt. Naruto currently had low-Chunin chakra levels and low-Chunin control and as such was able to do the three basic techniques instantly with no hand signs, he was also able to spar whilst tree climbing for several minutes. However, his most impressive new skillset was genjutsu. Once he learnt about his yin release, the two Uchihas saw it fit to spend their time teaching Naruto in their speciality, compared to other ninja arts. The fact that he had spent all his previous time working on chakra control really came to help Naruto when they began teaching him. After teaching Naruto the basics and principles they quickly figured out that he was a natural at he illusionary arts. He seemed to have a naturally large and wide imagination which allowed him to come up with various different ideas, although only at a C-rank, the beauty of genjutsu is that if your target doesn't know they are in one, it is unbeatable. Naruto's most impressive usage of genjutsu is upon mixing it with his shadow abilities, being able to cast a subtle genjutsu or even distract an opponent whilst Naruto disappears into the shadows was a genius thought. As well as using his shadows as part of an attack and an illusion, he wasn't able to use his shadows to bind an opponent like the Nara family but he was starting to be able to use any shadow he is occupying to form spear like attacks. With more control and large chakra reserves, Naruto would be able to use the mix of his abilities and imagination to a devastating effect. Other than mixing the shadows with genjutsu, they discovered another ability which Naruto recently developed, and it had to do with the red flash in Naruto's eyes following the first meeting.
After the initial meeting with the Kyuubi, Naruto would make sure to continue visiting his new mindscape, which was now a vast forest with little villages, structures and animals. Sometimes the Kyuubi would be in its massive size and cause havoc, sometimes it would lower its size in order to hunt and terrorise individual villagers and sometimes the Kyuubi was simply napping beneath the shade of a tree. Anyways, after a few more meetings, the Kyuubi expressed his thanks to Naruto for the mindscape and keeping company. It still reminded Naruto that should he slip up, it will take over his body but for now the Kyuubi gave Naruto a gift, not wanting to feel indebted to a lowly human. It was a bastardised version of a dojutsu, it didn't have any special abilities like the byakugan or sharingan but by channelling yin chakra into his eyes, Naruto was able to cast his genjutsu through eye contact. The part Naruto enjoyed the most? The red glint it gave his eyes, of course, as he kept going on about how cool he looks.
Finishing his training for the day, Naruto decided to head home before the murder of crows appeared before him, signifying Itachi's signature shunshin and causing Naruto to stop and listen to what Itachi came to tell him. "Naruto-kun, before I get to the reason as to why I am here, I just want to pass on a message from the Hokage, myself and Shisui. We are all incredibly proud of you, whilst we might have been training you a little this last year, it was mainly through your eagerness and willingness to learn. We only pointed you into the right direction when needed because we were on the mission which you know about, which is the reason why I'm here", Itachi began and Naruto's happy grinning face began turning serious understanding the implications, "other than you and Danzo no one knows outside of Shisui, me and the Hokage" Itachi said as a single small tear was falling from his face. "Naruto, tonight is the night. Me and Shisui are going to have to commit a heinous act tonight for the safety of the village, however, it won't be portrayed as such to maintain the reputation and image of Konoha. We need you to know though that we are proud of you, although we had a limited time together, you made the last year more bearable and provided us with some positivity in a largely negative environment". At this point Naruto was openly crying and weeping. Although the two teenage boys were busy for the most part, Naruto saw them as something akin to older brothers and can't deny that without them, Naruto wouldn't be at the current level he is.
(Later That Night)
For obvious reasons, Naruto was not able to sleep. Once he was done talking to Itachi, the Uchiha teen disappeared in a murder of crows and leaving Naruto to his own thoughts for the rest of the day. He hadn't seen Shisui as he was apparently on a final recon mission for tonight but Shisui had always been more open about his feelings and emotions so Naruto knew how much they meant to each other. "What do you think I should do? I know I won't be able to do much or anything but maybe I can convince them to stay? Maybe I can do something, you know?" Naruto asked out loud to seemingly no one. The silence continued for a few seconds before he heard back, "you know I share your mindscape right, I know what you're thinking and therefore we both know you have already made up your mind. Just be careful, they are one of the strongest clans for a reason…those red-eyed bastards" The Kyuubi grumbled out, not happy to admit that the clan that was responsible for controlling him twice was actually strong. Steeling his nerves, Naruto got up and made his way to the Uchiha district.
(A Few Minutes Later)
Bodies, blood and horror was everywhere Naruto walked. He had already emptied his stomach twice after seeing the scenes in front him, he would have had to puke more but physically wasn't able to. He was seeing constant flashbacks of his own night with the Uchiha two years ago which caused him to freeze up initially. However, after hearing the signs of struggles and fighting in the distance, Naruto was broken out of his stupor and rushed towards the sounds. What he saw, worried him greatly. Shisui was engaged in a fight with, what he recognised to be, Fugaku whilst Itachi was fighting against the Uchiha military police commanders, essentially shinobi of the Uchiha clan which were close to ANBU level. Both teenagers seemed to be struggling from the constant non-stop fighting they have been carrying out all night. Although most of the clan was disposed of in a peaceful manner whilst they were asleep or were too weak to offer much of a resistance, Fugaku deserved some credit because as soon as they realised what was happening, he managed to organise the entire military police force to intercept the two teenage traitors.
"I don't care too much about you Shisui, but you Itachi?! How dare you?! After everything we have done for you! You were meant to be our heir! I was paving the way for you and your future children! And this is how you repay us?!" Fugaku yelled across to his son as he was still fighting Shisui. Dodging under a tanto swing from Shisui, Fugaku quickly kicked him away before following it up with a massive fireball, classic of the Uchiha clan, which Shisui was able to predict and match with his own fireball due to having his sharingan eyes activated.
"Father, I never agreed with your ways. I tired to let you know and I tried to sway your way but nothing worked. This is hurting me more than you realise, you think I wanted to do this?! To my family?! To my clan?!" Itachi started calmly but let his anger show towards the end as he activated his newly discovered mangekyou sharingan and screamed out "AMATERASU" as he set one of the officers aflame and dodge one of the remaining five officers from slashing him down.
"Don't you dare use those eyes! You only received them at the cost of my wife, your mother! You demon!" Fugaku screamed out as he tried to attack Itachi just for Shisui to use his signature shunshin to appear at Fugaku's side and kick him back away from Itachi's battle. He was starting to get worried though. He was running low on chakra and although on a normal day would be able to beat Fugaku, he has been fighting and killing Uchiha members for some time before Fugaku let himself known, using his own members as fodder to slow them down. Shisui knew they had to finish this soon and activated his own mangekyou before re-engaging in his fight with Fugaku. Itachi meanwhile had disposed of two more officers and was engaging the final three in combat. His eyes widened however when he felt a power surge from Shisui's fight but it wasn't from Shisui.
"You brats think you're the only ones with those eyes?! It's only a shame it cost me taking the life of my brother to activate those!" Fugaku said cynically as a black ribcage formed around his body causing Shisui to activate his own Susanoo and form his green ribcage. The situation had just gone from bad to worse and both Uchiha teens knew if they don't wrap this up, they would fail and the village would be in danger.
Something seems to have answered their prayers as one of the remaining officers fell to the floor grabbing his ankles which were bleeding. Somehow his Achilles was severed making him unable to stand. Not being one to miss out on such an opportunity, Itachi rushed forward and impaled the officer with a kunai whilst the remaining two were on guard and had just avoided a pair of hands aiming to do the same thing to them as their comrade. Understanding what was happening, Itachi rushed forward to engage one of the remaining officers whilst the last one was seemingly busy trying to avoid the kunai being thrown at him from nearby shadows. Once disposed, Itachi gave Naruto a silent thank you before engaging the final assailant for evening the playing fields a little bit, he knew there was still the issue of his father but Shisui seems to have it under control judging by the tanto currently impaling his father.
"It's done Fugaku. You've lost, Itachi has just killed off the last of your police commanders. The tanto nicked one of your lungs judging by your raspy breathing and the blood beginning to pool. Don't make this any harder than it has to be." Shisui tried to offer him some form of compassion out of respect. He was momentarily distracted though by the scream of a child near Itachi however the only child he knew was around happened to be Naruto who had helped Itachi, fearing the worst he turned his head to see the scream belonged to the small form of Sasuke who came into the scene as the tanto had impaled his father. The momentary distraction proved fatal when Fugaku mustered his final strength and plunged a kunai deep into where Shisui's heart would be before falling limp, finally defeated.
"SHISUIIII!" The panicked voice of Naruto rang out as he ran towards the body of Shisui which had fallen next to the lifeless body of Fugaku, Itachi in the meantime was dealing with his younger brother by casting a genjutsu on him. Getting to Shisui's body, Naruto was crying silent tears as he was begging him to stay alive, "please Shisui, you have to stay alive! You can't just die like that!"
"Naruto…listen…I don't have much time…I can't explain, but you need to destroy my eyes" Shisui began weakly, he didn't have much time left and both boys knew it. "They hold a power in them…that can turn the shinobi world upside down…Naruto…I'm proud of you…you're going to be a great shinobi…the best…" and with those final words Shisui Uchiha was no more, giving his life for the village. Knowing what he was asked to do, Naruto took a few seconds to mourn for his friend and teacher before steeling himself and carrying out Shisui's final wishes.
(A Few Minutes Later)
Itachi had just finished burning the body of his father and gave Shisui a small funeral, with a final prayer Itachi re-joined Naruto and sat beside him. He knew they didn't have much time as the Sandaime knew what was going on and gave the boys time to rest and disappear before the village would find out what happened. "Thank you, Naruto-kun. Without you Shisui and I wouldn't have been able to complete our mission. Now you know what will happen next. Shisui was meant to join me but I guess I will have to walk the rest of this road alone", Itachi began as a lone tear fell from his eye, "remember, no one knows and no one can know. Before you ask, Sasuke was placed in my genjutsu so he will believe I was the only one that carried out his treason and with Shisui's death, it will further back this up". Itachi slowly rose from his sitting position and gave Naruto one final small smile "please try to be friends with Sasuke, I want him to love the village the way I did" before disappearing in his traditional flock of crows before Naruto chose that moment to also disappear into the shadows before he would be seen around the future crime scene. Although burning most of the bodies, Itachi made sure to leave enough 'pieces', as gruesome as it sounds, to highlight the murder that was carried out.
(2 Years Later)
The last two years went by in a flash for Naruto, it almost felt like the time was skipped. Following the Uchiha Clan Massacre, as it was being called by the village, Naruto had to continue his life as if he wasn't affected by the situation. In a way, it wasn't but something inside Naruto had changed, he wasn't necessarily cold but going through such a traumatic experience, of seeing what he classified as a close friend, die in his arms caused Naruto to mature a little faster than other kids his age would have. It was for this reason that the third year especially was practically useless to Naruto except for the physical conditioning. Although not the strongest in his class, Naruto was definitely among one of the stronger students except for a powerhouse like Choji or a brash brawler like Kiba. That year definitely made him realise that he was too reliant on chakra and was struggling when he wasn't allowed to use it. This lead to Naruto working more on his physique and strength as well as developing his own taijutsu style which could be implemented with the use of his shadows and genjutsu capabilities. Essentially it was a fighting style that relied on distracting his opponents with feints or attacks to the face causing them to lose concentration and then able him to slip into his shadows or cast his deceptive illusions, he titled it the Kage Giman. It still had a long way to go but it was a work in progress. There was only one interesting event that was worth mentioning last year and it didn't actually involve him but rather the Hyuga heiress, Hinata.
(One Year Ago)
It was getting towards the end of the year and each student was undergoing the final part of their emotional/mental conditioning and it was Hinata's turn. She already hated those sessions anyways, however she knew she had to finish them in order to pass, she just hoped this was it. Knocking meekly on Ibiki's door, she waited a little bit but didn't hear anything back. Trying again it was met with the same result. She was about to try one last time when she heard from inside the office, "if you knock like that again I'll make sure you lose your hand. Knock properly or go home" the gruff voice of what she assumed was Ibiki was heard. Taking a few minutes to compose herself, Hinata ended up knocking slightly harder than she did before and heard the voice again calling out "still pathetic but come in". Once she entered the room, she saw Ibiki sat in his chair, looking at their captive for the day through the single sided mirror in his office connecting it to the interrogation room. The captive only saw a mirror but Ibiki would be able to look in. Seeing Ibiki's smirk and following his gaze into the interrogation room, Hinata froze in fear.
Sat in the room next to her was the Kumo delegate that tried to kidnap her earlier this year. What not many people knew was that Kumo and Konoha were in the midst of peace talks when the Kumo delegate responsible for the negotiations tried to kidnap Hinata when she was on her way back from the academy. The delegate figured that would be the easiest time as she was only being protected by her single guard, compared to trying to steal her from the compound itself when she was surrounded by Hyuga members and their byakugan. The assailant was quickly captured though by the combined efforts of Hiashi and his brother Hizashi before demanding blood but had to settle to the delegate being given to the Torture and Interrogation department first.
The Raikage, A, reassured them he had no involvement in that situation which was proven correct by the T&I department as the delegate was acting on his own hoping to be seen as a hero upon his return. It was for that reason an international event was prevented, Hiruzen promised they wouldn't try to gain village secrets from the delegate if, upon request from Hiashi to help his daughter, they could use him for this specific task later that year. After a bunch of back and forth, A chose to agree with the demands as long as a Kumo shinobi was present during the interrogation at the time to ensure Konoha upheld their part of the deal.
Anyways, the delegate was to be killed by Hinata in order to build her character and hopefully set her straight into the path of a kunoichi, otherwise Hiashi had to give up on her as a heir. No one exactly knew what happened in that room, however once she returned to class the following week, due to some mental recuperation, she was a different person.
(Present Day)
Following her session, Hinata became a brand-new person. Although not shy anymore, she mostly kept to herself but would still speak when spoken to and she also lost her stutter and shyness and was able to actually communicate with people now.
Naruto's attention was drawn back to reality by the arrival of his teacher, Iruka, who was informing the class about the final part of their graduation exam, the survival test. The class had finished everything else they needed to do. For the taijutsu portion, they were examined first against other students and then against the Chunin teachers. For the genjutsu portion, they had to cast and break out of a D-rank genjutsu. For the ninjutsu portion they had to cast one elemental jutsu to an appropriate level and standard.
Naruto knew he had passed all of those portions, without having received his results yet. The students would receive their results with their Genin teams next week, if they passed. From what he understood, you don't have to pass all of the sections but you have to do either average in all of the categories or exceptionally well in specific ones. That's how Rock Lee had passed the previous year apparently. Although failing the ninjutsu portion and not being able to cast genjutsu, he was able to break free from the D-rank illusion by causing himself some small pain and keeping himself attentive to his surroundings. He also aced the taijutsu portion by not just lasting against a Chunin instructor but actually beating one of the more cocky ones who saw him as no threat since he couldn't mould chakra. Lastly he aced the survival portion causing him to finish among the bottom half of the class but he graduated nonetheless.
Anyways, Naruto's fourth year was definitely his most favourite due to how practical it was and what he had discovered about himself.
(One Year Ago)
Hiruzen Sarutobi had to forcefully pick up his jaw from the floor, an action that was mimicked by Iruka. It was tradition that the academy students would find out their nature affinities in the presence of the Hokage, so that the leader of the village would have a rough idea as to what his future shinobi hopefuls were able to do. The reason for their current shocked stupor was the most recent Genin hopeful, Naruto Uzumaki.
"Naruto-kun, do it again please" the surprised voice of Sarutobi said as he handed Naruto another piece of chakra paper, "I'm not saying it was a mistake but I just want to make absolutely certain that this is correct" he said as he leaned back against his chair and watched Naruto pour chakra into his paper.
Although expecting it this time, he was still surprised when the chakra paper first turned completely black before the piece of paper simultaneously split in two with the left side combusting, not just setting on fire, and the right side completely being soaked. "Impressive, very very impressive Naruto-kun. You know what this means right? You have three chakra natures and based on how it all happened simultaneously and with how intense, they all seem as dominant as each other. As for the blackness, that's to do with your yin-release I'm assuming?"
"Yeah and the Kyuubi said the fire release is due to him being sealed inside me and us actually having some contact and mental link. I personally think he's a massive softie though and wanted to give me a gift for the change in scenery" Naruto said with a smile, before it turned into a straight wide grin, "nope never mind, he his using some very colourful language right now". The Third Hokage simply gave a raised eyebrow in response, he knew about everything regarding Naruto's skills and progress due to the updates he chose to give him and it was for that reason he wasn't worried. Considering Naruto trusted the beast to some degree and there hasn't been a real accident since the initial attack, except for 3 years ago, he chose to give the situation the benefit of the doubt. Iruka on the other hand, although being informed of Naruto's situation, to help explain some of his progress and abilities, was still taken aback by how close he seemed to the Kyuubi.
(Present Day)
Just having the natures, didn't mean he was going to pass. He made sure however that he kept practising one jutsu for each affinity to perfection, he didn't just want to pass, he wanted to be the best. The three he performed in his exam were the Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu, Water Style: Water Shield Jutsu and lastly Wind Style: Great Breakthrough Jutsu. For the genjutsu portion of the exam, he used his current favourite technique Yin Release: Shadow Mutations which was a very subtle C-rank technique and would manipulate the shadows around a person appear as if there figures, animals or glowing eyes lurking and ready to attack and pounce. Lastly, he was able to hold his own against one of the Chunin instructors in the taijutsu spar until the time limit was reached, but it was clear Naruto was dominating, even though the Chunin held back.
His only real competition was Sasuke Uchiha and one thing was certain, he did not want to lose to that snobby arrogant brat. For the last two years, Naruto had to put up with the arrogance and haughty nature from the 'last loyal Uchiha' as the village began hailing. He didn't speak to his classmates he demanded and looked down on them, it was worse for Naruto as he was an orphan who was competing with Sasuke for rookie of the year, causing Sasuke to focus his attitude and arrogance towards him and belittle him where he could.
'I don't know what the hell Itachi did to him, but God I do not like him. This is it though, one final examination and then I don't to see him again' Naruto thought as he barely listened to the survival instructions for tomorrow.
AN: Danzo will be slightly different in this story. First, I have always enjoyed the general concept of him. Working from the shadows, doing what must be done etc shrewd methods but he truly did always have the village as his number 1 priority. In terms of him and Hiruzen - with a stricter Hiruzen and a more efficient system, Danzo did not feel as strongly towards wanting to be Hokage. Don't get me wrong, he still wants it but he can also see the good that Sarutobi has done. So yeah, will be slightly different you'll see what I mean down the line.
Also about Hinata. Couple of things, she will NOT be a pairing for Naruto no matter what (same with Sakura, she might actually get bashed). I never liked her as a pairing for Naruto. In terms of the change in personality, I can't make myself write her as the stuttering and shy person she is, I would ram my head through my laptop – hence the change.
Let me know what you guys think about everything. Next chapter is already being written and will include the wave mission etc
