Chapter 2

Uchiha Compound 3 days after the joint adoption

Mikoto looked at the young boy resting in the bed, which was once her younger sister's. She didn't think she could become any sadder after her sister's death and, then her nephew Shisui bursts in during breakfast carrying, her best friend's son, while he was nearing his last breaths.

She ran her fingers through the unbandaged part of his hair, the blonde locks reminding her much of his father. Mikoto could only gain a faint smile as the boy's head pushed into her hand instinctively. Keeping that look, she whispered, "Kushina, we failed to protect your beautiful child already nearly losing him; we've been lucky enough to get a second chance, though. So, in heaven, please understand when you finally meet him, he'll be far more than the "demon child." no, he'll be greater than our husbands, I promise."

With that, she placed a small kiss on the child's forehead before standing to stretch. Her shift of watching over the boy was nearly over; next would be her son Itachi. When she turned to leave, she pressed her hand on the slider for the door, turning back as he whimpered lowly, small tears coming to her eyes as she thought while leaving the room, "Oh Kushina, I'm so so sorry."

"Kaa-san," Itachi thought as he looked at his mother, dabbing her eyes with a handkerchief. He felt Sasuke tug at his sleeve, looking down his brother asked him in concern, "Itachi-nii, is Kaa-san alright? Why is she crying?"

They hadn't told the young boy about what had happened Itachi had planned to explain it himself, and the sight of their crying mother just helped the process in motion. He replied, " Recently, we found out that our aunt Mayoi had a son, one we were never told about and, well..."

"Well? What happened?" Sasuke asked unsure what could cause his brother, who was one of those badass ANBUS, at that a captain to stop talking. This time Itachi didn't respond. Instead, he walked toward his mother, who lunged at him, pulling him into a hug.

Itachi rather awkwardly returned it, before she let go and told him, "I...I'm going to speak to th...the Third about the arrangements to move his clothing and belongings to his new room." Itachi nodded, and, as Mikoto passed Sasuke, she petted his head.

"Follow me, Sasuke," Itachi called to him as he watched his younger brother look at their mother in wonder; it got the smaller boy's attention. Stepping next to the door, Itachi slid it open, walking in with Sasuke following him and, with one look at the boy Sasuke felt something crack in him.

His body was mostly covered in bandages; the left side of his face is the only visible part left uncovered and, the sight made Sasuke shiver. Looking at him, Sasuke looked at his brother, asking, "Wha...what happened to him, who or what did this Itachi-nii?"

"He carries a high burden, one so great the ignorant civilians are blind to the child he truly is." Itachi responded, before adding on, "Father will explain it in better detail later on, for now, would you like to help me change his bandages?"

Sasuke nodded, going toward's the boy to help his older brother remove the bandages. He thought, "Why does this spikey blonde hair seem familiar?"

While In Naruto's mind

"Wh...where am I?" the young Naruto whimpered out, thinking with dread, "Did they toss me into the sewer or something, will Jiji be even able to find me?"

That's when with a small rumble, a loud, deep voice reached his ears with a growl, "Come to me, child," the boy panicked looking around him when the voice came to him once again, drawing him toward a corridor on his right, as he heard it say, "I will not harm you, come to me sweet, youthful child."

After walking for some time following the voice through one passage, after another, he finally reached an open room. A couple of feet in front of him, there was a large gate with a paper seal on it. The powerful voice boomed into his ears, the weird watery floor-shaking slightly as it told him," Finally, you have arrived. Now, come close to me. There is no need to fear I won't hurt you, my darling kit, my precious Naruto."

"Al..alright, wh...who are you?" the boy asked he came closer to the source of the voice, scrunching his face as he tried to resist the small, almost hypnotic pull the voice had on him just as he reached the very front of the gate, his tiny body about to slip past the bars a wide of sharp teeth beamed down at him.

He stiffened as a menacing sharp red eye gleamed, and then an orange fur covered claw lunged for him, and he fell back with a scream. He felt a tug on his mind, something touching him as he heard the deep voice roar out, "Naruto!"

The Real World

Naruto's eyes opened to see a black-haired boy he didn't recognize in front of him. There was a moment where bright blue met black, and then he screamed in fear leaping backward with surprising speed. Naruto shivered in the corner he bolted into while the black-haired boy looked a little hurt while regarding a taller, similar-looking boy behind him, stuttering out, "I..uhh he well...do...does he not like me, I...Itachi-nii?"

"No, it's because of the attack," a voice that sounded oddly like who'd treat him nicely, but Naruto shook his head, believing it to be another trick. As Naruto shivered lightly, his vision in his right eye seemed different and, as he wondered what horrible thing the two people in front of him would do, his eye felt like it was changing even more.

Itachi's eyes widened and, he put himself in front of his little brother focusing on Naruto's right eye, his aunt's Sharingan, which started changing. "She only had access to the first stage of the Sharingan's basic form, yet somehow it's mutated into the third automatically," he thought, before musing, "Could it be the fox? or maybe this is a testament to how hellish his life has been to this point?"

"Whoa, his right eye is like yours, isn't it Itachi-nii!?" Itachi nodded before responding to Sasuke, "Yes, but it's not something you should genuinely admire if anything to be so young and have a fully powered basic Sharingan is piteous and painful to see."

Sasuke shivered at his brother's dull and cold tone, looking at the boy while biting his bottom lip. There was a strange pang in the boy's heart seeing the shaking, teary-eyed blonde with spiky hair and, he whispered to his brother, "what's his name?"

"Naruto," Itachi answered and, Sasuke looked wide-eyed. He thought the boy seemed familiar, his friend from the Hyuga clan Hinata talked about watching the boy sometimes. She even gave him what she called a Naru-doll as a proof of friendship.

It was an estranged little hand made doll that had for a five-year-old girl an astounding amount of detail to it from the correct color blue used for the eyes, spiky blonde hair and, orange clothing. He didn't call it weird, though. Instead, he told her it was awe-inspiring and took a bit of advice that may have affected the meaningfulness of this first meeting.

She told him to talk to it like he would his parents or family if he had a problem and think of a voice responding to him. Again he didn't call her creepy; she didn't get angry at his attitude, so he just plain accepted her advice and followed it. All in all, he just blinked nervously at meeting the boy he poured out so many embarrassing things, too, even if it was only in doll form.

"Is something wrong?!" Sasuke turned on a dime to see his father at the doorway with a slightly concerned expression. Sasuke's voice was caught in his throat while Itachi replied, "Naruto woke up, and well, he's rather terrified at the moment."

Fugaku looked at the shaking bundle in the corner, and looked to Sasuke, calling his youngest son over to him. The boy hesitated for a moment, looking over to Nauto one more time before going over to his father. "Oto-san, what are we gonna do, he's terrified right now."

"I will handle it, "Itachi responded, before looking over to his father, telling him, "Also Oto-san upon waking up, he activated Mayoi-san's Sharingan and evolved it immediately to its final stage."

Fugaku stiffened slightly, that was surprising, to say the least, and, in response, he coughed into his hand saying, "I see, we'll discuss that later, for now, I will leave Naruto to you." His gaze came to Sasuke, "Come, allow me to tell you more of Naruto's circumstances and, your own as his new brother Sasuke."

Sasuke nodded, leaving the room with his father, the moment the door shut Itachi looked over at Naruto. He had to give a small smirk at Naruto; he prided himself in being the only person in the Uchiha who could be trusted with calming the child.

Meanwhile at the Inazuka Compound

"Hey, mom, what's up with the whole getting another bed in my room?" Kiba asked his mom seemed a bit weird lately, well weirder than what she already was at times, Akamaru barked in agreement saying, "Yeah, what's up with that?"

Tsume looked at Kiba with a smile; he felt something was up for sure after that. His mother then responded, "Well, I'm expecting another boy to join the family soon, pups." Kiba went wide-eyed before asking in joy, "I'm getting a brother!? Isn't that awesome, Akamaru? You'll have a new playmate!"

"What are you yelling about, dork?" Hana asked with a yawn walking into the kitchen with Kiba turning around, replying cheerfully, "We're getting a brother soon!"

Hana looked in surprise before exclaiming, "Wait, are you saying mom's pregnant!?" Tsume gave an annoyed look and, she swore she could hear Kuromaru laughing his ass off as she scowled, "No, I'm not pregnant. I'm talking about adopting someone."

"Aww, I wanted a cute baby brother to cuddle and spoil," Hana whined out while Kiba just rolled his eyes, thinking, "The women in my family have problems."

He then asked, "Anyways, who are you adopting then?" Tsume smirked and told him, "I've spoken to you to about doing it before, so answer that yourself pup." Kiba scoffed while crossing his arms in annoyance. While Hana's eyes shined, knowing what she meant.

"You're doing it?!" Hana nearly squealed as her dogs who had been silently soaking in what was being said, yipped in joy as well understanding Tsume's intentions as well, Hana continued with, "You 're going to fight with the council so we can adopt Naruto?

Tsume made a huff of breath, "That's the thing, I don't have to he's already been officially adopted into the Inazuka clan...but there was a catch." Her pups looked at her in confusion once she said that, and with a sigh, she explained, "We gotta share'em with the Nara and errr the Uchiha."

"Seriously?!" Kiba scowled before grumbling out, "Why do we have to share with those moody bastar..ouch?!" Hana smacked him on the back of the head, telling him, "Watch your mouth Kiba."

She then turned to look at her mother scowling, "But I do agree it's messed up that we have to share him," That's when a strange gleam entered her eyes, "I mean to have to give up cute adorable little Naru-chan to those cruel and, lazy people is criminal. He should just stay here where I can coddle him hehe."

"Sis you've got a creepy look on your face again, go play with the dogs or something before you start drooling." Kiba slipped his hands into his pockets while telling his sister that, somewhat praying, his blonde friend spends the least time at their house.

Tsume herself could only sigh at her daughter's antics; she only held back in adopting Naruto because she was worried about Hana spoiling the boy into being a baby forever, Tsume pinched her nose thinking, "It'll be fine, she's just excited to have a new brother that's all...urgh I hope."

At a Park, With Shikamaru, Ino and Choji

"Wait, your family did what?!" Ino shouted in shock at what her very lazy friend just told her. Choji himself was chowing down on a bag of chips, thinking about what his good friend had shared, asking," What's wrong with his family adopting this Naruto kid?"

Ino rolled her eyes at Choji, replying, "I've heard he's dangerous from other kid's parents." She got a yawn from Shikamaru in reply before he commented," He's no more dangerous than me once you meet him...troublesome girl."

"I'm not troublesome; I'm worried," Ino told him though Shikamaru simply closed his eyes, relaxing with a peaceful look. He figured this would be her reaction but, once he comes to the Nara compound, Shikamaru planned to give the young blonde some bonding with her and Choji. Life had to be so troublesome sometimes.

"I'm okay with taking his word for it, "Choji added in his two chips, continuing," sides I've seen the kid at Ichiraku Ramen, so he has good taste at least." Ino just sighed at Choji for only thinking with his stomach.

Back at the Uchiha Compound

Sasuke just looked at his father in surprise, his child's mind trying to piece together what he had learned, settling on saying," S...so the fourth he used Naruto to do something wrong and, pe...people hated him because they were lied to?" Fugaku nodded, feeling slightly guilty at telling a "few" white lies to his son.

"That's correct; however, this knowledge cannot leave this home and," Fugaku was attempting to put a plan together to warm Naruto to their home, "any time he even begins to doubt his place as an Uchiha make sure to reassure him."

"Alright, Oto-san," Sasuke replied before thinking, "I have to share Naruto with other people, what if their just trying to trick him? I'll just get strong enough to protect him then, even stronger than Shisui-san, Itachi-nii, or even the Fourth Hokage."

With that in mind, Sasuke headed off to his room, going to get advice from the most reliable source possible, his Naru-doll.

Back with Itachi and Naruto

"Naruto it's fine no harm will come to you here," Itachi told the shaky mass in the room's corner, he continued to say, "I know you can recognize my voice, and I know your smart enough to think this is a trick, but it is me Kitsune."

Naruto's shaking stopped, tears welling in his eyes as he whimpered out, "Re...really?" In seconds, Itachi braced himself for the boy tackling into him, balling his eyes out. Once more, Itachi found himself in a somewhat awkward situation and, pet the boy's head.

"Now, once your done crying, we can go talk to my father, alright? Itachi asked him, the blubbering mess that was Naruto looked at him in confusion, making Itachi smile, considering that response good enough.

Chapter 2 end

reviews

Bankai777 - I was actually thinking of giving Ibiki or Anko the position of his Jonin after shifting the teams around a bit.

Kuradike- I hope you enjoyed this chapter.