I'm rather surprised this story did as well as it did in its first two weeks. Thanks to everyone who left a review. It's really nice to be able to see you like what I'm writing.

By the way, am I right to say Sasuke was 7 when the Uchiha massacre happened? I'm assuming 9 at the moment for story purposes, but I feel like that's wrong.

Disclaimer: There once was a man who owned Naruto. I am not that man.

Chapter 2: The Two Boys

"NARUTO!"

In the early morning of one fine day in the Land of Fire, several people looked about to try and find the source of a shout that resonated through the streets of the Village Hidden in the Leaves. Those successful were able to witness two small boys running down the streets, with one chasing the other. As a mop of blond hair sped past each person, a boy with raven colored hair followed suit.

For just five minutes ago, the blond haired boy, Naruto Uchiha, had managed to get a bucket of water to fall on his brother's head as Sasuke had walked through the door. Sasuke had been infuriated at something so small, and had begun chasing Naruto around the village.

After around ten minutes or so, the 9-year-olds were exhausted from all the running they had done in the last several minutes. They sat against a wall, getting their breath back, waiting for their legs to get felling back. Neither of them were terrifically used to running so much. At most, they'd run to the Ninja Academy when they saw it in the morning.

As they sat against that wall, Sasuke looked over at his brother, still always surprised at the startlingly yellow hair that adorned his head. It was quite rare for an Uchiha to have any hair color other than black, or white and gray once they grow old. Beyond the blond hair, he also had three whisker-like marks on his face, something that made him look mischievous at all times, especially whenever he grinned in his signature fashion. Excluding those two details, he looked much like the rest of the Uchihas, from his Uchiha clothing to his black eyes.

Naruto looked back at him, then raised an eyebrow at his silence. "Sasuke?" he asked, waving a hand in front of his hours-older brother's face. "You in there?"

Sasuke blinked, snapping himself out of his thoughts with a shake of his head. "What?" he responded, as if he hadn't heard Naruto.

"Oh, good. I was worried you'd gone to sleep with your eyes open, like Itachi does. I don't need both of you doing it. It's creepy and weird." Sasuke let out a small laugh.

"You know Naruto, I could say you're pretty weird yourself, between the blond hair and the whiskers," he replied, looking up at the sky to gage the time. "We might want to get to the Academy soon. Iruka-sensei will have our heads if we don't."

"Just another minute or so, to get my breath back. You really overreacted to a bucket of water, ya know that?"

"-adara in what is now the Leaf's cemetery. Oh good, glad you two could join us," Iruka jabbed at his two late students. It was the fourth time that week- out of the four days they'd had, no less- that the Uchiha brothers had been late. It was getting tiresome, especially since only Sasuke seemed slightly abashed at the fact that they should have shown up almost 20 minutes ago.

"Sorry Iruka-sensei, but I had to get a change of clothes from home, thanks to a certain somebody," explained Sasuke, glaring sideways at Naruto, who had his hands behind his head with his trademark grin plastered across his face.

Iruka sighed, and said, "Fine. Just take your seats and get here on time in the future," 'for once,' he thought. "Anyways, now that we've been joined by our last two students, let's continue. After the battle, the Kyūbi no Kitsune was sealed inside of a woman by the name of Mito Uzumaki. This in turn gave rise to the idea of sealing the Bijuu inside of men and woman as a way of preserving the balance of power between nations. Furthermore-" And so it went on, until nearly an hour later the history portion of the day was over. Afterwards, as usual, they were let outside for sparring and practice. With all of them being around 9 years old, and newly introduced to ninja training, it was little more than a number of children punching at each other, with little to no finesse or discipline in their attacks and style.

Only Sasuke and Naruto out of the entire class had any prior training, due to the Uchiha Clan's expectations. Even then, Sasuke seemed to have much more of a natural proficiency for combat than his younger brother. So much so the Sasuke had a rather considerable fan base for a nine year old. Every class, one could see every girl watching him with stars in their eyes, drinking in his every move and swooning every time he landed a punch during sparring.

Even lacking natural talent, training under the Uchiha Clan had clearly done wonders for Naruto as well. He didn't have the fangirls that Sasuke had, but there were a few- Iruka thought they must have liked the blond hair over the black- that always seemed to be stalking him. Naruto had never seemed to notice either, since he never sent them a single look, as opposed to Sasuke, who sort of smirked anytime he realized he was being watched.

Dinner at the Uchiha household was always an awkward affair, since two of the five who normally attended these dinners could be called away on a mission at any time. Tonight was one such night, when Itachi hadn't shown. Fugaku, the man Sasuke and Naruto both called father, was furious with him, more so than it seemed he should be. After all, surely just missing a dinner wasn't so bad, especially when it happened as regularly as it did with Itachi. He was in ANBU after all. The war against the Hidden Cloud may have ended years ago, but there were still attacks on the borders of the Land of Fire from time to time. So, ANBU were sent to resolve the issues, one way or another.

So, clearly Itachi had a reason for not showing up to dinner tonight, thought Sasuke, and that his father was simply being needlessly angry. Neither he nor Naruto were stupid enough to try and tell him this, however, since he tended to lose all sense of reason when angered. And so, they sat through the dinner, and, once finished, rose and left the room, going off to throw shuriken at a board for a while.

The next morning Sasuke's eyes snapped open, like someone had yelled right next to him. He was instantly wide awake, and sat bolt upright in a flash. He groaned, and as he did so he heard snickering coming from the doorway. Looking over at the familiar sound, he saw Naruto, grinning away, waiting for him to get up and dressed.

"You know we're going to be late, right?" Sasuke's eyes shot open once more, as he dashed around the room, locating the items he would need today. Naruto was laughing the whole time, ducking when Sasuke tried to punch him. "No need to be like that. Just trying to help," Naruto managed to get out through his laughing.

It was always fun to antagonize Sasuke when he overslept, because he would always have the best reactions to it. This morning Naruto had gotten more than enough laughter to last him a good long while. Both of them now sat back at home, feeding the koi in the small pond outside their house. They heard some kind of shouting come from the entrance to their home. Sasuke stood, and went to go check on it, wondering what it could be about. It sounded like Itachi was a part of it, so of course his curiosity spiked. Naruto looked back at the pond, shaking his head slightly for his brother's seeming infatuation, or rather, obsession with their older brother.

When Sasuke returned to the pond, Naruto furrowed his brow in confusion and concern. Sasuke had a look on his face that told Naruto that he was troubled by whatever it was he had just seen occur at the front of the house. Looking towards the walkway around the house, Naruto almost wished he had gone with his brother to see whatever the shouting was about. He voiced his question, but Sasuke merely shook his head and said he didn't know.

He did tell Naruto that Itachi had a strange look in his eye, like the Sharingan but different, as if all three parts of the Sharingan had melded together to form one single tomoe that branched out in multiple directions. Naruto sort of tilted his head, with a half grin on his face, thinking his brother had been seeing things. He had seen Itachi's Sharingan before, and it had looked just like every other Sharingan.

Naruto began to change his mind, however, when Sasuke kept insisting that the shape of the eye had changed. Sasuke never really tried to insist anything, thinking that if people didn't believe something the first time you told them, then they simply wouldn't. He was weird like that.

Itachi really regretted being a ninja sometimes. Now was one of those times. For a while now, he had been feeding the village information on the Uchiha's coup plans, trying to come to a peaceful resolution. However, it was beginning to look like it would come to battle, Clan vs. Village.

He had already been accused of the murder of Shisui, his dear friend and comrade. That had sent him over the edge briefly, that someone would accuse him of killing his best friend, the same friend who had entrusted him with the safety of the clan and village. He had attacked his clan members, proving their weakness compared to him. He had even shown Sasuke his Mangekyou for a moment. The last one had been by design, obviously, but it still unnerved him how readily his own clan attacked him. It made him unsure as to whether a solution could ever be reached.

That was almost a week ago. Since then, he'd been trying to avoid his father, which unfortunately meant avoiding Sasuke and Naruto as well, since their father had set them to practicing the Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu (Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu), albeit unintentionally. They both just seemed really determined to learn it.

One day, however, Itachi was finally approached by his father while he had been preparing to go to ANBU headquarters to deliver his report. Itachi almost jumped straight out the window, but for his father holding up his hand, signaling him to hear him out.

"Itachi, why did you attack those men? Or perhaps, why did they attack you? Furthermore, why have you been so busy with ANBU lately?" Fugaku asked, desperate to consul with his son.

"They had accused me of the murder of Shisui Uchiha, Father. Furthermore, ANBU wants me to find a peaceful way to resolve this coup," Itachi replied, trying to finish the conversation quickly. His father's mouth looked as though it had almost dropped open, before his face broke into a wide and uncharacteristic smile.

"You have truly no idea how relieved I am to hear that, Itachi. I've been trying to do the same for weeks, but Danzō keeps telling me they're working on it. Also, one of the clan heads is in a riot at every meeting about the corruption of the Leaf Village. I'm not sure who he. Are you familiar with any Uchiha with hair all the way down his back, who wields a gunbai?"

Itachi let out a small chuckle. "Sounds like Madara, as if he has someone trying to mimic him." His face fell back to it's usual serious demeanor. "However, Father, Danzō does not seek a peaceful end to this coup. He wants to claim the Sharingan for himself. Prior to his death, Shisui told me that Danzō had stolen his right eye, and mentioned the Izanagi."

Fugaku looked taken aback by this news, then as if he were remembering something. He spoke after a moment, "His right eye… Danzō has recently acquired some sort of injury to his right eye, meaning he constantly wears bandages around it. Could it be that he transplanted the eye into himself?"

Itachi's fury flared. He knew Danzō had taken the eye, but he had no idea he had implanted it. It was as if he just wanted to disrespect Shisui even further.

However, he calmed very quickly, when he realized that he now had the means to ruin Danzō and end the coup. His father had just said Danzō told him they hadn't reached an acceptable solution on the side of the ANBU, and yet Itachi knew the Third Hokage had told him that peace was the only thing that mattered in this circumstance. Therefore, Danzō was going directly against the Third's orders. Also, his father had said he wanted to reach that same peaceful end.

Perhaps this wasn't one of those times after all.

Sarutobi's favorite moments were whenever plans came to fruition. When Itachi told him that the Head of the Uchiha Clan wanted to continue peace in the village, peace between the Uchihas and the Leaf, he was overcome with joy. But when Itachi told him Danzō was preventing such peace, he became furious. He had only let Root be formed and hold such power because he trusted Danzō to work for the best interests of the village.

While there may have been members of the Uchiha Clan who would want to continue the coup d'état, they would ultimately have to bow to the wishes of the Clan Head. That was how the Uchiha Clan was run.

And beyond that, Danzō had clearly become infatuated with his power, thinking he could go over Sarutobi's head. Had he had his way, the Uchiha Clan likely would have been wiped out. Shaking his head at his old friend's stupidity, he made a note to make sure Root was disbanded and Danzō exiled from the village. A second later, he struck the latter from his thoughts.

For now, he had sat before him the man who had offered peace. Fugaku Uchiha actually seemed a bit embarrassed to be conversing on such a matter. When he had entered the room, he had initially bowed rather awkwardly to the Hokage, before making to kneel. Sarutobi stopped him, insisting they were both to blame.

Sasuke was confused. There was truly no other word for it. He had just witnessed a crowd of Uchiha yelling as they made their way down the street towards his house. They were saying things like, "Sellout!" and "Traitor!"

It seemed as though they were going to get violent once they saw Sasuke, given how angry their faces started to get. He managed to dodge a rock that was thrown at him from somewhere in the crowd. He ran for it down the street, trying to get to the Academy so they couldn't catch him. He turned around and saw they hadn't followed him at all. He stopped, and kept watching them from a distance. That's when he noticed some of them had torches, and those torches were lit.

Sasuke had never heard the word riot before, or any stories of the sort. To him, it seemed pointless to be carrying flaming sticks in the morning, while the sun was shining bright over their heads. He was about to turn when they reached the house in which his family was starting their morning.

And set it ablaze.

The last thing he saw before he turned fully was one of the men throwing a torch at the house. He turned back a moment later to see the entire front of the house on fire. He ran back to it, screaming for his parents, for his brothers. He stopped for a moment, realizing that these people were A. From his own clan, and B. Trying to kill a family of ninja who specialized in fire with a house fire. He was actually a little tempted to laugh at their ineptness.

Sasuke decided to relax a little as he made his way back to his house, to help them get out safely. By the time he had made it, he had seen his father and Itachi kill every member of the crowd who attacked them, and his mother use Suiton to put out the fire. Hey, even an Uchiha could know Suiton, right?

After they were all finished, Naruto came stumbling out, wheezing from what Sasuke assumed was smoke inhalation. His mother went over to the blond Uchiha, looking concerned. As she approached, he gave her a thumbs-up.

Sasuke wanted to smack his little brother upside the head for the terrible joke he made. "Hey, at least we don't have to get that paint job now, right? The house is already black," he said, making everyone just stare at him, before shaking their respective heads.

Itachi turned to their father, asking him, "Do you think this was the last of them?" His father nodded.

"Cowards and traitors always attack together, to feel strength in numbers and a justness in their cause. This will be the only attack, at least for awhile." Itachi seemed at least a little reassured. At the least, he showed relief. Sasuke decided to cut in.

"Hey, uh, Naruto? We need to be going. Iruka's gonna-" he was cut off by his brother's eyes widening, before Naruto sprinted past him yelling back a taunt.

"RACE YA, SASUKE!"

Hm. This chapter is also short. I'll get out a longer one eventually. For now, feel free to leave any reviews you deem necessary, beyond those that criticize page length.

Also, I'd like to take a minute to try and convince you all of something.

So, Fugaku says to Itachi, at least in the anime (I believe in the manga he tries to kill Mikoto, right?), that he is proud of Itachi for his decision. I have to believe he thinks the village is more important than the Uchiha Clan, or at least that he would have been willing to try for peace. Also, once again just the anime (I think), Danzō orders Itachi to kill all the Uchihas without Sarutobi's consent.

Putting it all together, doesn't it seem like Danzō is to blame for the massacre? And doesn't it also seem like Fugaku would be able to negotiate peace with the village? Therefore, Danzō becomes the villain, and the one who gets in the way, against the Third's orders.

Alright, I'm done convincing. This was all just because I don't like it when the Uchiha Clan inexplicably exists in fanfictions. I'm still not even sure I like my own decision to keep it around. Just one more thing.

One thing I was trying to imply was that no one but Fugaku, Mikoto, and the Third Hokage are aware of Naruto's actual lineage. I'll expand on it in future chapters, as well as a few other things.

Until Chapter 3: Team 7!