Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto/Boruto or anything related, if I had then Boruto wouldn't be this long and annoying. Unfortunately all rights belong to Masashi Kishimoto-san.
"Lightning Release: Black Bolt" Speaking
'Lightning Release: Black Bolt' Thinking
{Start of Chapter I}
"Take off your mask Wolf," the Sandaime Hokage looked at the young man standing in front of him who had just returned from a mission.
The man in question looked at the leader of the village before he gave the elder man a nod.
"It was not a request young man, I have been receiving a lot of reports in regards to your recent behaviour and I believe that you need some rest from your ANBU duties!"
"I don't think it is under your jurisdiction to command me, Lord Hokage!"
Hiruzen Sarutobi was known as the 'God of Shinobi' for his exploits in the third ninja war, the man was known to strike fear and respect amongst his shinobi with just a glance.
And here stood one of his very own shinobi that had just outright refused his command, even going ahead and refusing his position under his command.
The Hokage's personal guards quickly surrounded the Wolf masked ANBU with their tanto aimed at his jugular.
"Do not forget your place Wolf, we serve the Hokage and as a shinobi of the leaf you cannot refuse him by any means!"
The eagle masked ANBU growled at his fellow leaf ninja.
"So you still haven't told them the truth huh, well sorry to cut your party short but I am not a shinobi of the Hidden Leaf, Lord Sandaime lost the right to call me one of his own after what happened to the Uchiha!"
"That is enough, I did not want to do this but you have forced by hand Shirou, by this very moment, codename Wolf is relieved of his duties from the ANBU Black Ops and is reinstated as a jounin ranked member of the Hidden Leaf!"
Hiruzen sighed as he could see the Wolf masked ANBU tense before he took off his mask and threw it at the Sandaime's desk.
"If this is all you wanted, then I guess we are done, Lord Hokage, I would like to take my leave this instant,"
The man now identified as Shirou had dark black hair that fell down from his face covering the left side. He was wearing the standard ANBU uniform with the exception of the tanto, he had a black katana strapped to his back.
"No we are not done here Shirou, all of you leave us alone!" Sandaime commanded as the four shinobi nodded before disappearing in a shunshin.
The Sandaime weaved through a set of hand signs slamming his hand on the desk as a seal formed on the top.
"Now that we are in complete silence, I would like to know the cause of your anger towards me Shirou, I know I haven't made the best choices but you'll have to forgive me for those,"
"Best choices you say, killing off my entire clan for the "greater good" of the village, if that's the best you can do, then I pity this village!" Shirou spoke with a slight frown on his face as he took the seat opposite to the Hokage.
"I will not sit here and take your sarcasm young man, you and I know very well what your clan was plotting from the very beginning. While I can understand your concern, do not look at me and tell me what I did was wrong!"
"Not wrong, you ordered my cousin to massacre an entire clan, not just the adults you did not even leave the little kids, tell me Lord Hokage, was little Koji a threat to the Hidden Leaf, or was it Kasumi,"
Shirou had a blank expression on his face as he looked at the leader of the Hidden Leaf.
"I do not know how long will it take to keep repeating the same, but I did not order for the execution of the children Shirou, I even went as far as to order Itachi to leave the women and kids alive!"
"Well the graves tell a different story, then again I wouldn't put it past the so-called 'God of Shinobi' to lie to have the last active Uchiha under his thumbnail, but you forget that I am no longer the kid you trained, you may have lied to me about the death of my father, but that was the last lie I ever took from you!"
The Hokage frowned before he pulled out a file from a storage scroll and tossed it to the young man in front of him.
"If you are still looking for questions after this then I believe the only man who can answer your questions is Itachi Uchiha. This is the file that was sent to Itachi, only Danzo and my two elders have the other copy of the file!"
Shirou frowned as he caught the file and skimmed through it, as he flipped through the pages the frown on his face was replaced with a growl.
"Well if what I have in my hand is the truth, you have been betrayed by your dear friends Lord Hokage, this is what I found in Itachi's room, brat thought he had hidden it well, but he forgets who taught him!"
Shirou growled as he tossed the Hokage a similar looking file. The Sandaime was enraged as he went through the contents of the file, as his face was taken over by a huge frown.
"This is the file that Danzo had on him, there is no mistake about it," the Hokage frowned as he looked at the file in his hands. His old teammate for some reason had exchanged the file that was to be given to Itachi and replaced his said instructions.
"I knew that my old teammate had a grudge against the Uchiha, but I never thought he would resort to killing innocents!"
"So what will you do now Lord Hokage, the very elders that swore to serve the Hidden Leaf have betrayed you, how does it feel when someone close to you breaks your trust!"
Hiruzen sighed as he looked at the young man sitting in front of him, Shirou was talented from the beginning, that was one of the reasons he had taken him under his wing
But there was another reason that he had never told the boy about, well he wouldn't even if it was the last thing he did, after all it was a promise to his old friend.
"I know that you still blame me for the death of your father, but I swear on the Hidden Village in Leaf that I loved your father more than a brother and if I had to trade places with him I would, but I am sorry I wasn't there when you needed me the most!"
"You lied to me, when I needed you the most you lied to me and told me that he was alive and he would make it. You lied to me when you said that you had no relation to me. Don't think I will ever forget that, I might forgive you someday because that is what the old man taught me but I will never forget!"
Hiruzen sighed as he looked at Shirou, he was a splitting image of his father, he had the same resolve and even the same beliefs, his old friend must be smiling in heaven to see how far his son had come.
"That is all I ask for young man, that is all I need. I know it will be hard forgiving me, even I do not forgive myself for what happened but I promise I will make it up to you!"
"So what are you going to do about Danzo and the two elders, even I that know that you won't sign their execution, I understand that he is the darkness to your light, the root that holds the village but his darkness has devoured my entire family, and that is something that can never be forgiven!"
"I will make sure to curb Danzo, I promise that I will slowly make it up to you, I promise you that it will be the last thing I do before I die, I swear on it as the Sandaime Hokage of the Hidden Village in the Leaf!"
Shirou sighed as he looked at the Hokage. Hiruzen Sarutobi had been his teacher but more than that he had been the father figure he needed after the death of his father.
"So why did you relieve me of the ANBU duties, despite that you know I have to answer to the Daimyo, I am one of his 'Twelve Guardians', I cannot just leave my duties, being in ANBU was the only way I could fulfil both my responsibilities,"
Hiruzen sighed, this was going to be a very painful conversation and he knew he was not going to come out of it unscathed.
"I understand that you might scratch that you will get mad at me, I'm used to it by now, but four days ago I sent the Daimyo a letter…"
"That he relive me/you from your duties at the capital"
The student and teacher completed the sentence at the same time.
Hiruzen looked at Shirou with a surprised look on his face but he quickly schooled his expression.
'He never ceases to amaze me,' Hiruzen thought with a smile.
"You are correct when you said that I'm upset, that was not your decision to make, I joined the 'Twelve Guardians' on my own accord and it should have been my choice if I wanted to leave them. But as I said you have made a lot of decisions that I do not like, so I'm used to getting disappointed when it comes to you!"
That statement stung Hiruzen, he knew that he had made a lot of mistakes when it came to the young man sitting in front of him but he never knew the boy was so disappointed in him. Hiruzen wiped the sad look on his face as he looked back at Shirou.
"Let me come back to the topic I wanted to discuss with you, Shirou the reason why I relived you from your ANBU duties and requested the Daimyo the release you from the 'Twelve Guardians' is to act as a jounin sensei for the coming batch of genin!"
While Shirou had been disappointed with the Hokage, he had always respected Hiruzen as his teacher and his father-figure but the decision to leave two very high profile positions just to teach three brats was one of the most stupid things he had ever heard.
"You have to be kidding me, you want me to take a team of genins under my command, that has to be one of the funniest things I have ever heard from you, Lord Hokage,"
Hiruzen let out a sigh yet again, he had expected a similar reaction from the young man albeit somewhat more animated, but he was surprised Shirou had managed to keep his emotions under check.
"I know this may sound like a joke to you, but I am serious when I say that I want you to take a group of genins. I also give you the full right to select the three genins you want to take under your tutelage."
"Now this is new, I am sure no jounin-sensei in the history of the Hidden Leaf has been ever allowed to pick their own students, the council might chew you out for favouritism you know, you don't have a great track record with students. A pervert, a drunkard, and a traitor, you don't give the best results!"
Hiruzen signed as he heard Shirou label his former students with names that he knew the entire shinobi populace wanted to call them, while they may still respect Tsunade, Jiraya and Orochimaru were a different case.
"Well while my former students may not be the most inspirational figures, I did train you Shirou. The famed 'Black Thunder' Uchiha Shirou. While that may be no Sannin, you are still one of the best lightning release users across all the Hidden Villages!"
Shirou smirked at the praise from his teacher, while he never liked his nickname in the bingo book, he was proud of his achievements.
"Flattery will get you nowhere sensei, so who are the brats that you want me to torture!"
"We have a very interesting batch of students that are going to graduate from the academy, the heirs of seven big clans in Konoha, they are going to be the future of the Hidden Lead!"
Hiruzen smiled as he thought of the young kids that would soon graduate from the academy, while he never liked to pick favourites. The batch of kids that would come out his year were bound to be exceptional. He wanted to ensure that the kids learned from the best the village had to offer.
"So who are the other jounin-sensei you have in mind?"
"Other than you, I have decided to assign Kakashi, Kurenai and Asuma with their teams. However, I might decide to replace Asuma with Yamato based on your decisions."
"Hmm, so the jinchuriki is amongst the graduating kids huh. Well you are fine with Asuma because I'd like to have the jinchuriki on my team, that is pretty sure, as far as I know he's skilled so I'd like to see what he can do!"
"What about your other picks?"
"I'll think about that once I go through their files, you'll get my decision during the selection meeting, if that is all I will take my leave sensei,"
Shirou looked at Hiruzen as the old man nodded back at him, the former ANBU member stood from his seat and smiled as he was enveloped in black light before he was no longer there.
'This will be an interesting year, I'm glad the brat decided to take up a team, him passing them is a different issue but with him being interested in Minato's son, I don't think I might have to worry too much about it. You have grown up into a great shinobi Shirou,'
Hiruzen smiled as he stood up from his chair and looked out towards the Hokage monument.
'The will of fire burns brightly inside your son Kagami, I'm sure he will make you proud!'
{Scene Break}
Shirou was lost in his own thoughts as he entered the Barbeque restaurant in the Akimichi compound. He was still upset with the Hokage for his choices and Danzo's betrayal was still fresh. However, that would have to wait as he had now to worry about the brats Hiruzen wanted him to train.
'Hmm, With the jinchuriki as my first pick I need someone who can revolve around his strengths. From what I heard that brat is pretty good, well that is expected from who his parents were.'
Shirou took a seat on one of the tables as he pressed the button to order for his food. He smiled as the waitress came to his seat asking for his order.
"I'll have some pork brisket with some sprouted beans, I'll take a bottle of Sake too,"
Shirou spoke as the waitress smiled while noting his order before walking back towards the kitchen.
'Hmm, so alongside the jinchuriki now I need..'
Shirou was interrupted in his thoughts as he was greeted by his fellow jounins.
"It's good to see you back, senpai!"
Shirou turned as he saw Hatake Kakashi alongside Maito Guy, Kurenai Yuhi, Asuma Sarutobi, Anko Mitarashi and Yugao Uzuki. All of them had grown since he had last seen them.
"Ahh the infamous brats, surprised seeing all of you here at this time, what are you up to, thinking about your genin teams,"
Shirou chuckled as he looked at the surprised expression at the look of the six shinobi.
"How do you know about the genin placements Shirou-senpai?"
Kurenai asked the Uchiha sitting in front of her as the man in question gave her a smile.
"Well I just came back from Lord Hokage's office, it turns out he wants me to pick a team as well,"
Shirou was once again amused by the surprised look of his fellow leaf shinobi who had now taken a seat around his table with the waitress now taking their order.
"So the old man had you take up a couple of brats, I was surprised when Chiriku-san informed me about you leaving the 'Twelve Guardians' due to a request from the Hokage,"
Asuma spoke as Shirou nodded looking at the bearded jounin sitting across.
"So what do you think about these kids, from what I know there are some interesting names in the list, have eyes on any?"
Shirou asked as Kakashi, Kurenai and Asuma had a thinking expression on their faces.
Guy looked towards Shirou as the said Uchiha groaned, he knew what the spandex wearing idiot was going to ask.
"So senpai, since you are back amongst the regular shinobi corps, do you think we can have a spar sometime in the future, I would like to test myself and see how I fare against you now!"
"Thank you for your offer Guy, but as of now I'm not interested in having broken bones on the first week of my return. I know you do not understand what the word 'spar' means but yeah some other time,"
The jounins other than Guy chucked at Shirou's response, all of them knew that the Uchiha sitting in front of them could have easily wiped the floor with Guy, but it wouldn't come free, as Guy had the habit of forgetting if it was a spar or an actual battle in the heat of the moment.
The waitress soon returned with their orders as the six dug into their food while discussing possible teams they might get. Shirou chuckled as he remembered the Hokage's offer of picking his own team.
"So who have you guys used as your recommendations, I know you can have one graduate of your choice, if they are not requested by the other jounins as well?"
"I have asked Lord Hokage for permission to train the Hyuga heiress. I know Hinata personally and want to help the girl grow out of her shy shell," Kurenai spoke as she picked a piece of the meat in front of her.
"Hmm, I haven't given it a lot of thought but I think I'm fine with either your cousin Sasuke Uchiha or Naruto Uzumaki," Kakashi spoke, somehow managing to have a bite of the meat with his mask on.
"Honestly, I want to train the new generation of the Ino-Shika-Cho combination. I know the kids since I've met them a couple of times now, they would make a good team," Asuma replied, taking a sip of his sake.
"What about you senpai, who do you think you want for your recommendation?" Yugao asked as she looked at her former vice-commander.
Shirou looked at the six who were expectantly looking at him for an answer. He chuckled as he grabbed a spoon of sprouts before turning towards the fellow leaf jounins.
"Here's the difference, my services are far more important and sensei knows that very well, so for that reason I do not need to recommend a genin of my choice, I get to select my entire team before any of you get to pick!"
Shirou surprised the six as all of them were looking at him with dumbfounded expressions on their faces
Guy had dropped the piece of meat present in his chopsticks. However, Shirou showed quick reflexes as he caught the falling piece of meat with his own before having a quick bite.
"You should not waste food like that Guy!"
Shirou chuckled as the six continued to look at him with the same dumbfounded expressions on their faces.
"It's not that surprising considering sensei decided to take me off both the ANBU and 'Twelve Guardians'. He was asking for a big favour and he had a suitable price for it,"
"So who are you thinking about senpai?"
Kakashi asked as the Uchiha looked towards the ninja with a smile.
"Well for one you can kiss the jinchuriki goodbye cyclops because he's mine. That's pretty much my first pick. However, I'll let you keep little Sasuke, I know the council would like to have the brat trained by someone with the Sharingan and unfortunately for them, I'm not interested in training him,"
"But isn't he from your clan, I thought he might be your first pick with what happened last year!"
Surprisingly it was Guy who spoke as he looked at Shirou, the Uchiha had always struck as someone who cared about his family, so it was surprising to see him not wanting to have his fellow clan member.
"Well for one, I hate what Itachi did to the brat, he's almost a flight risk, and while I do not want any of you responsible to have one of your genin turn into a traitor. I know for a fact that the brat is obsessed with power, and I won't blame him, his father wasn't doing a great job comparing him with Itachi every single time."
Yugao nodded as she had remembered who Itachi was with his brother, while the runaway Uchiha loved his brother, his father on the other hand always wanted the same results from his younger son.
"So what about your other two picks?"
"Well I'm not sure about them, and I do not want to spoil all the fun but I can tell you a couple of things. First you'll get the Hyuga heiress Kurenai, I'm not interested, same with Asuma you have the Ino-Chika-Cho trio all to yourself."
"Second, I'm sure you'll find out about my plans pretty soon!"
Shirou spoke with a smirk on his face as he finished his food and put his share of money on the table before walking out of the restaurant.
'Training the new generation, huh. Well I guess I have something new on my hand'
{End of Chapter I}
So that was the opening chapter for 'Light in the Darkness'. For those who haven't figured it out, the fanfic is based in an alternative universe. I might change some plot here and there but 60% of the story, mainly the timeline will follow the canon.
Shirou is an OC, and once again for the people who haven't figured it out, he is the son of Uchiha Kagami. He's Shisui's older brother and for why he survived the massacre, well one because I wanted him to and second he's strong lol and well he wasn't involved in the Coup so there's that.
Yeah, I changed Naruto's personality and some of his traits, I never liked the slow progression he had as a character, don't get me wrong Kishimoto surely gave us a great payout, but this is my story so I'll make some different choices. If you wanted to read the canon, I'm sure you would not be here.
Now to clear some confusion regarding the ages considering how old Shirou is, I decided to keep him at the age of 28. Just for a comparison. Kakashi and the others are 25, the genin are 12/13. The clan heads are 33, the Sannin are 45 and the Sandaime is 60.
Thank you for reading the first chapter of my fanfic, I won't promise you daily updates but I'll try to get a minimum of 4-5 chapters a month. I know it might be a little slow, but bear with me. And yeah, I'm open if you have ideas on the genins on Shirou's team. I might have a plan in mind but suggestions are always appreciated.
Until then take care and I'll see you guys soon with another chapter. Read and don't forget to review and let me know your thoughts!