A/N: Hello, readers! My first chapter seems to have gotten much more attention in 7 hours than any of the previous stories I've written, so I guess it's good. I'll focus more on this story for now since it is running in my mind like wildfire and I like this different take on the Narutoverse, which seems much more appropriate to me than the childish tropes of shounen from the original (followed by a lot of fan fictions).

After all, in a world of child soldiers, regular wars implying several countries where thousands of ninjas die alongside an unknown number of civilians as collateral damage, I don't see how canon Naruto could get any credit. All these children should have faced trauma after killing people or seeing their people killed in front of them.

More people should have died (Lee could have been handicapped forever, Chouji and Neji should have died in the Sasuke retrieval mission…) and the Chuunin exams made no sense (why would you get your own recruits killed in exams when you should be trying to get as many soldiers as possible ready for the next war that could start anytime? Field promotions are much more believable).

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Chapter 2

Sasuke was discharged from the hospital one week later. Naruto knew his mind was no healed, but they didn't know how to help him recover mentally. Their friend was distant, absorbed in his own mental world. He had not said a single word since the tragedy had happened.

The Hokage had asked him to come when he'd be discharged, so he went to the Hokage tower, moving on automatic mode, staring vacantly into space. He climbed the stairs to the Hokage's office and knocked at the door.

"Enter," said the old man's voice.

Sasuke entered and waited to be given orders.

"Sit down please. You can see Inoichi Yamanaka here. He came to check on you and to learn what exactly happened on that day, so that we can find the culprit to your clan's massacre. I'm sorry that you have to hear about it again, but it is necessary to learn what happened from your own eyes. Please Yamanaka-san, proceed to the inspection of Sasuke-kun's memories of the day he witnessed the events."

"Yes, Hokage-sama."

The blond long-haired man turned towards Sasuke and put his hands on the boy's temples. He projected his mind into the boy's, looking for the memories of the massacre. He found them quickly, as they were omnipresent in the boy's head.

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Sasuke was happy. He was walking home after playing with Naruto after school. He entered the Uchiha compound, and the first thing to hit him was the smell of blood. It was intense. Too intense. Disgusting. Like the corpses he soon started to notice. Corpses everywhere, missing limbs, head cut or throat slashed.

He ran to his house and slid the door open. He saw it. Itachi was standing in the middle of the main room tatami. His tanto appeared bloody from their father's back. It had pierced through the man's chest and exited on the other side. He slowly turned his head towards the boy. His eyes were different. They had three pointy branches rather than the komas of the usual Sharingan.

The boy looked down and saw his mother's corpse, eyes fixating the ceiling in incomprehension. He looked up, his fathers eyes were looking at Itachi with fury. But they were dead. Itachi let his father's corpse fall to the floor.

Suddenly, Sasuke ran towards Itachi, grabbed the kunai in the elder brother's thigh pouch, and stabbed him in the stomach.

At this instant, something weird happened, as if the memories had been altered. Itachi's expression turned into a cruel smile and he chuckled mockingly at the boy's attempt to his life. He pulled the kunai out from the small wound and slapped Sasuke. Then footsteps came and he left by the back door, while the ANBU entered the house.

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"I'm back, Lord Third," announced Inoichi when he came back from his trip into the boy's memories. "It's weird. Everything was smooth, he entered in the compound, smelled blood, saw the corpses, ran to his house, contemplated his brother with his tanto piercing through their father's chest. Then Itachi let the corpse fall and Sasuke charged at him, used his brother's kunai to stab him. And at this moment, the memories seem to be altered. Itachi mocked him and slapped him in the face, pulled the kunai out and left when they heard the ANBU approach. The last part felt fake."

"So what do you think? Is it denial? Or did someone implant false memories inside his mind?"

"From Sasuke's point of view, I can't see anyone but his wounded brother who could have altered his memories. Considering he had just been stabbed through the stomach, I'd say he was in bad shape. Since he didn't dodge, I'd even go as far as to affirm that he died from the wound, especially after pulling the kunai out and aggravating the bleeding.

"I think, Hokage-sama, that Itachi has let Sasuke-kun stab him in order to evolve his Sharingan. I don't know if it succeeded, but what I think is that Itachi wanted to prevent something from happening and after what he'd done, he couldn't live with the memories of his actions, so he decided to sacrifice himself to let Sasuke gain a great power up to his eyes, which would allow him to avoid the requirements to unlock his family's power by himself. The Sharingan evolves with strong negative emotions or traumatic experiences."

"I agree with you," confirmed the Third Hokage. "Now can you try to help Sasuke-kun recover from the trauma? I don't think he can become a ninja if he remains in this state. He could even attempt suicide if we let him like that."

"Of course, Lord Third."

Inoichi Yamanaka started a three months cure of Sasuke's trauma, trying each week to find the real memories hidden behind the false ones. But he couldn't find anything else.

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"Sasuke is back!" exclaimed the girls.

"Girls! Let him some space please!" shouted Iruka, their teacher. "He's lived a traumatic experience, don't glue him like that! Jeez…"

He had to intervene personally to send the girls back to their seats to let the boy his personal space. Sasuke sat close to Naruto in silence and the blond respected his muteness. During the breaks, they kept the girls away from the dark haired boy. When they felt the red gaze from Naruto's shadow on them, the girls yelped and took some distance.

The rest of the year passed without much happening, the two friends staying together, Sasuke barely speaking except when he was asked something by the teacher. His grades got better over time, when he could motivate himself to learn. Naruto didn't get higher grades, but he was passable in academics, not good but he could graduate if he tried a little.

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"Sasuke Uchiha! It's your turn to pass the graduation test!" called Iruka.

The dark haired boy entered the testing room. He got out two minutes later with his headband on his forehead. He looked unmoved.

"Naruto Uzumaki!"

The blond entered the room.

"Show me that you can make two clones, transform into something and Substitute yourselfwith something in the room."

Naruto used their Shadow Duplicate spell, transformed themselves into Sasuke flawlessly and the Duplicates transformed itself into Iruka, before they used their own variant of Substitution he had made with Kurama, Transposition, to swap places with their Duplicates, while swapping transformation without a handsign.

"You haven't used Substitution, Naruto, what are you waiting for?" asked Iruka.

"I'm here, Iruka-sensei. Cancel."

The clones were sucked back into their shadow, leaving Naruto now in Iruka's appearance in front of the teacher. Iruka looked like he had seen a ghost.

"You…you used clones that can use techniques, you changed yourself into Sasuke while they changed into me, then you swapped places and appearances with one of them before dispelling it? All without me noticing anything?"

"Yes, sensei."

"That's impressive Naruto! You didn't even use the academy clone but something I had never seen! How did you learn that?"

"It's something I learnt from my other half."

"So it's not a ninja technique?"

"It's a spell. It doesn't require chakra. By the way, I don't have chakra, sensei. I use shadow energy to fuel my techniques and spells."

"And how did you substitute yourself with a clone?"

"I used a variant of Substitution, I've called it Transposition. I can swap places with living creatures and clones."

"Impressive…you pass, of course. Take your headband. You're now a ninja from Konoha."

Naruto nodded without a word and put his headband on his forehead. He left the testing room and went to the park in front of the academy, where he found Sasuke. The boy saw his headband and nodded in approval.

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"Team seven, Sasuke Uchiha, Naruto Uzumaki and Sakura Haruno!" announced Iruka.

"Team eight, Kiba Inuzuka, Hinata Hyuuga and Ino Yamanaka!

"Team ten, Shino Aburame, Chouji Akimichi and Shikamaru Nara!

"Your team leaders will come pick you up in a few minutes, please regroup with your teammates!"

"Hey, Sasuke-kun! We're in the same team!" exclaimed Sakura happily. At the absence of reaction, she got it that it would not be easy for her to get his attention.

Their team leader was the last to come. He looked at them with his mask hiding most of his face and his headband hiding his left eye.

"Hi, I'm your leader from now on. Let's move to our assigned training ground. We'll introduce ourselves there."

He left, moving slow enough for them to follow him.

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"So, let's introduce ourselves. I'm Kakashi Hatake, I like to read erotic graphic novels, I don't like my face, I don't have any goal. Your turn."

After a moment of silence, Sakura spoke.

"My name Sakura Haruno, I like pottery, I dislike being assigned to the cleaning because I'm a girl, and my goal is to have children," she said while looking at Sasuke in the corner of her eyes.

Kakashi looked at Naruto expectantly.

"Naruto Uzumaki, I like spending time with my friend and I hate when girls behave like animals without self-respect. My goal…is to be respected."

Kakashi nodded silently before looking at Sasuke.

"Sasuke Uchiha. I like Naruto who supports me after everything I've been through. I don't like not knowing the truth. I want to understand why my family was killed by my own brother and why my memories of that day feel weird."

"Fine. Two interesting people on this team. Oh, sorry, did I say it out loud? Sakura, if you really want to become a kunoichi, stop focusing on your grades and on your hormones and start working on your ninja skills. Good grades won't block a blade from slitting your throat, nor will they keep an asshole from doing ugly things to you. You're a girl, like it or not, and as one you're a walking target for males. If you don't learn to defend yourself quickly, one day or another, you'll face a tragedy. This world is not fair. It's disgusting, it's scary and it doesn't care about your feelings.

"Now, let's find what you're good at. Sasuke-kun, what are your skills? Since you're the only one to have gotten actual training outside the academy."

"Katon: Fireball, the academy three, throwing weapons."

"Nice. Sakura-chan, what can you do?"

"Set traps, use the clone technique to mislead an opponent and strike when they don't expect it, and I've learnt about medical plants and how to treat minor wounds."

"Okay. You would probably enjoy learning illusion techniques to cover your traps and draw your opponents into your traps. I think we'll also do some chakra nature training early for you, if you were to have some special element combination, it could complete your skillset. Naruto-kun?"

"I can use Shadow Duplicate to make clones out of my shadow, Transposition to swap places with anyone from clones to living creatures, Substitution to swap with objects and my transformation skill is complete, I can take the smell, voice and everything of my chosen form on top of its appearance."

"Great start. Naruto, you also have merged with the Kyuubi, how does that affect you?"

"I am stronger and faster than I used to, I can communicate with my other half in real time and I don't have chakra. Instead, I draw power from my shadow that acts unnaturally because it's controlled by the Ninetails. When I'm the one in control, I can't use much of the powers of the Fox, but when I'm subject to strong negative emotions, I lose control and I can do monstrous things."

"We'll have to work on your stability then. No one wants to see you hurting your allies."

"Hn…"

'Naruto and Sasuke only say what we want them to tell us. They don't say anything unnecessary, it's like they're hiding who they really are. Seems like their social skills are lacking. I felt like talking with soldiers,' thought Kakashi.

"Wait here a second, I'll be back," he ordered.

He came back five minutes later, offering a piece of paper to Sakura.

"Try pouring your chakra into this paper. We'll learn about your elemental nature with the way it reacts to this."

"Okay…"

Sakura sent some chakra into the paper, which turned into mud.

"Interesting… Sakura-chan, you have the same chakra nature as the First Hokage, who invented Wood release. I think we can make a great kunoichi out of you.

"Now, the first thing you'll need to learn, all three of you, is to control your chakra – shadow energy for you, Naruto. Let's start with tree-walking. As ninjas, you'll have to fight in all types of environments. You'll need free hands to fight on any surface of any inclination. This exercise can even let you fight upside down. It's the basis for everything."

All three genin rank ninjas were listening with a serious expression.

"You'll have to circulate your chakra to your feet and find the right amount of it to apply to push and pull without bursting the tree and without being completely stuck to it."

He showed them the exercise.

'How can we do that, Kurama? An idea? We don't have chakra like them, how can we stick to the trees?'

'Huh? You just do like animals, create something that can stick to the tree or that can dig itself into it, observe insects and small mammals to see how they climb to vertical surfaces or even to the ceiling, spiders for example, they can climb any surface."

'You're right. Then let's go watch spiders."

Naruto spent the next hour trying to understand spider legs. When he understood them, he made the same small hair-thin spikes out of shadow energy and climbed a tree in front of Kakashi.

"How are you doing that, Naruto-kun? It's not tree-walking like I did it," noted the leader.

"I copied spiders, they can climb to any surface thanks to hair-thin spikes on their legs."

"Can you climb with your body in a horizontal position?"

"Yes, that's easy."

The blonde showed it was true by putting himself in said position.

"You're using muscle strength to stay in the position, aren't you?"

"Yes, were you not doing the same?"

"I used chakra to stay like that. How long can you fight in that position?"

"We'll have to see."

Kakashi started sparring with the kid on the tree. At some point, he kicked them off, but Naruto managed to use his shadow to grab a branch and hang from it like a spider thread.

"You're really showing creative uses of your unique ability. I'm impressed by how practical it is," congratulated Kakashi before resuming their spar.

Naruto was able to hold fifteen minutes before their muscles started pleading for rest.

"I'm starting to feel my limit," announced the boy.

"Well, that may be enough for a short fight, but if you're up against multiple opponents you'll need more than that. I think you should try to use your shadow and transforming abilities to do what we do with chakra control. It will probably suit you better."

"Hn…"

While Naruto was focusing on learning how to use his transformation technique locally in order to get just the body part he wanted rather than a full transformation, Kakashi went to oversee the other two genin.

Sakura had managed to climb up to a branch on the middle of the tree, but Sasuke was still trying to stick enough to be able to climb. So Sakura's chakra control was better than Sasuke's, probably because she had to manage smaller reserves.

"Sakura," called Kakashi. "Explain Sasuke how you climbed up there. Since you've understood it quickly, you'll be doing stamina training from now on. Climb up and down until you're unable to do it. Sasuke, listen to Sakura's explanations and try to make it work."

"Yes, Kakashi-sensei," they replied in unison.

They exercised like that for two days until Sasuke could climb the whole tree, while Naruto got a better hold of the transformation technique on a local level, transforming his arms and legs into whatever living creatures were best fit to the task.

After tree-walking, it was water-walking time. Naruto learnt to use oil pouches to float over the water like some insects, while Sasuke and Sakura got all soaked by repeatedly falling into the pond. It took them more days to learn and at the end of the week, they could fight on a water surface.

After they mastered these aspects of their abilities as ninjas, Kakashi trained them in combat abilities, focusing on weapon training with Sasuke, on self control with Naruto and on illusions and elemental chakra with Sakura, the one who was the most in need for fighting abilities.

After three months, Sasuke was decent in melee and throwing weapons and could reinforce even the weapons he threw with his chakra. Sakura was able to use environment-based illusions involving earth and water manipulation, as well as basic elemental techniques like Doton: Mud Clone, Suiton: Water Clone, Doton: Earth Pole and Suiton: Water Prison. Naruto was more stable and could use the abilities they already knew to a much better extent in combat and for support and mobility. They could also send Kurama into a Shadow Duplicate to temporarily separate themselves. In these conditions, Kurama was in full control of the Duplicate while Naruto could only use the amount of power he could usually use. Although it allowed them one more fighter, which was mostly a positive in a dangerous situation.

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"You kids are ready to take a mission out of the village. I selected a mission for you. We'll have to go in the countryside, there's a new group of highroad bandits who raid our trade route with the Land of Waves. They're hiding somewhere where they can strike from without being found when they go back to their headquarters."

"Yeah! Sasuke-kun, we're gonna chase bandits! Isn't that great?" cheered Sakura.

"Hn…" answered the boys without letting any emotion out.

Both had very reserved behaviors due to everything they had been through, Sasuke never being the same again after contemplating his whole clan assassinated and Naruto having grown without anyone to take care of him. They seemed to be able to communicate between them without saying much, which annoyed Sakura as she felt left out of the team.

Kakashi intended for this mission to show them that they needed to communicate more. They had to let their teammate in, or they would die against dangerous opponents. They had to build confidence into each other, and Sakura being out of their silent discussions was a real issue that he hoped a field mission could help reveal so that they would allow her in the team.

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A/N: Sakura will have some difficulties to understand them for a while. But she's also gonna experience some trauma and this will change her. A team of ninjas with serious psychological afflictions due to shit happening in their lives, the last one happening to Sakura after she has become a child soldier. Being a team of people who share a heavy burden also tends to create bonds.

Reminder: this fiction is not gonna be bright and jolly. I'm trying to take you readers on a trip into the Narutoverse as a seinen, filled with the weight of the losses of friends, family and the insecurity of being betrayed by loved ones. Yes, people will die because they will face actual life or death situations. It will be ugly at times.

If you want another reminder, the tags are Hurt/Comfort and Horror, not my usual Fantasy and Adventure. This is the Narutoverse as it should be, as it was presented all along, without Kishimoto's kindness and talk no jutsu. Watch realistic war movies or documentaries, war is not funny, people don't spare each other because they've talked for fifteen minutes in the middle of their fight. Think of stories like Solo Leveling, but without absolute cheats. People get slaughtered because they're fighting actual enemies, in deadly battles, there are ambushes, traps…

A cruel world that doesn't give a shit if you want to be happy, it will just remind you that happiness is hard to find and that war, spying, assassinations and everything the ninja job requires to do is not cool. It's really everything but cool. Maybe someone will try to make world peace? Who knows…

I think women are gonna play a big role in changing this society. Why women? Because they have more to gain from a stable society, peace and all that comes with these than men who seek justice, revenge and heroism.

No Sage of Six Paths and all that. Just a story of ninjas in an unstable environment where war can start at any moment and where important people are often targeted by assassins, where countries fight for power, wealth, land and resources.