Dead, Adjective; Deprived of life: No longer Alive. Despite knowing the meaning of the word, and despite having the comprehension and understanding to use the word properly, two intelligent children were left dumbfounded by it. Simple concepts are often the hardest to grasp when faced with them in a real sense rather than just an abstract or theoretical one. If asked at that moment to define the word the only thing that either one could come up with as an answer was in fact another simple, yet profound abstract concept.
"Impossible." Both boys shuddered as they simultaneously uttered the word at the same time. After a moment it was only Sasuke who spoke."The Uchiha clan can't be dead. They are the mightiest clan in all of Konoha, which is the strongest village in the world, which makes them the de facto strongest clan in the world." Despite hearing himself both think and say these words, words he wholeheartedly believed to be true from the bottom of his heart and his mind, he heard them ring hollow. He knew, not in some actual sense based on fact or empirical observation, but deep in his soul he felt it. The Uchiha were no longer of this world.
"Jiji how could the Uchiha be dead? Sasuke is here, and we just saw Itachi, and they are Uchiha, so the Uchiha clan are..." It hit him as he paused, his eyes squinted in concentration as he remembered several facts drilled into him by his surrogate father Fugaku. The old Hokage watched the young man as he worked out some sort of problem in his head, and silently patted his own back knowing that it was his quick thinking that allowed the boy to be raised in an environment conducive to the type of thought he now showed. "How many are left?" his question left Sasuke confused and speechless, while intelligent, it tended to be hard to follow the blonde's logic, especially when it pertained to knowledge of subjects he knew nothing about, and that he was given no context for.
"I won't sugar coat it for you." Sarutobi's expression turned stony as he made his next statement "Well over ninety nine percent of the clan is gone, there are just over twenty in the ICU who are not long for this world, and three whose condition are deteriorating fast. Without the help of my former student they are also going to die in the coming days. Even with conservative estimates I don't see any of them making it through this, which means that only the living and uninjured Uchiha are left."
"Stop speaking in circles old man. How Many!" After finally catching up to what the two were talking about Sasuke's irritation, combined with his surprise, got the better of the normally stoic son of the Uchiha's leader.
"Two." The Hokage stated in finality. It took nearly a minute before it occurred to both of them what this meant. Sasuke was standing right here, and they had seen Itachi earlier that day. That was it, the two sons of Fugaku Uchiha, leader of the military police force and Head of the Uchiha clan, were the only Uchiha left.
"The ones in the hospital, there must be some way to save them right?" Sasuke for the first time in his life was truly frantic, simply saying whatever thoughts came into his head without thinking about the details first. Sasuke felt a warmth on his shoulder, he looked to see Naruto, the most careless happy-go-lucky person he had ever met, with a solemn look of finality on his face.
"I will be making a public announcement regarding the Uchiha district tomorrow, but for now you should head home. I sent for someone to clean up the Uchiha head household though I do not know if it will be finished by the time you arrive."
Niether Naruto nor Sasuke slept well that night. The combination of the lingering smell of blood and death that permeated the entire compound, and the dust and debris hanging in the air of the building they decided to stay the night in, which was actually just the first building they saw that didn't look ready to collapse in on itself.
It was a strange feeling walking to the academy knowing that the village ninja were on a heightened state of alert due to the recent attack. Despite this the Hokage decided that classes wouldn't be canceled. As they walked through the gate to the academy two things were brought to the forefront of the two boys' minds. First and foremost was the large contingent of higher level ninja on the premises, there were fifteen chunin present, and four jonin out in the open. Second was that the rest of the students, as well as the teachers, were all gathered outside in front of the school.
After twenty minutes the Hokage arrived, he immediately, used a technique to create a platform and podium out of stone. Typically most ninja felt using their chakra for such petty things was wasteful, but 'The Professor' was well known for using whatever he had at his immediate disposal to get things done, even if it meant using combat techniques for rather mundane purposes. After a not-so-subtle nonverbal prompting from their esteemed leader a handful of the ninja present formed rows of benches using the same technique the Hokage had. In short order there were nearly a hundred aisles worth of stone seats, the courtyard that frequently served as a playground for ninja in training during their break periods looked much more like the lecture halls inside the building than many were comfortable with. Despite that dreary concept all the students happily piled into the closest seat, it was not every day that the Hokage himself gave a speech, let alone one that was apparently to be addressed to the students directly. After all present were seated the Hokage finally spoke.
"As you all know the village was recently attacked. Many of our finest ninja have perished, or have been critically injured. Among them are some prominent figures from Konoha's honorable clans. I am told that as of today four members of the Hyuuga elder council, five senior councilmen, two Aburame minor house leaders, and many others were killed. Worst of all however appears to be to the Uchiha." This statement brought up many murmurs amongst the crowd. The Uchiha were known as great fighters, and difficult to defeat even with a group of highly trained ninja, due primarily to the wonders of their famed Doujutsu, the Sharingan Eye. "Almost the entire Uchiha clan was slaughtered, and due to safety protocol I can not, and will not, say exactly how many survived. What I will say is that as of this moment Sasuke Uchiha is the only surviving member of the Uchiha's ruling family. As such he will soon be assuming the duty and authority of clan head and leader. Due to his age however it has been decided that the Uchiha clan will cease all non-clan functions effective immediately, with the sole exclusion of ninja duties for the village." This rose some eyebrows, most notably those of one Uchiha Sasuke. Sarutobi Hiruzen sighed as he prepared for the most important part of his speech today. "Due to the damage sustained, and the number of high ranking ninja injured in this event a large series of changes in village policy are about to unfold. Most directly affecting all of you present is a change in how the ninja academy will be run."At this the Hokage stepped down and allowed Umino Iruka to take the stand.
"Due to the recent attack, and decisions made by the council the following changes to the standard procedures and curriculum will take place effective immediately. First, in addition to the current courses and schoolwork firsthand experience will be required of all students. To allow for this a change to the traditional team structure for lower ranked ninja will be put in place. Since time immemorial genin teams have consisted of three genin and a Jonin instructor. Starting now the village hidden in the leaf will be abandoning the traditional team structure in place of what will more closely resemble a military squadron. Each squadron will be composed of two genin teams, one green and one experienced, two chunin to instruct and guide them and one Jonin who will be in charge of the entire unit. In addition some squads may have a team of academy students in place of a junior genin team, and some squads will have students as additional members to their squad. These teams will meet for training and missions, however at the Jonin's discretion the team may be split and rearranged for these activities." Iruka paused after the longest portion of his speech in order to try and gauge the reaction of those listening. As predicted they were mostly surprised, but surprisingly there was very little apprehension to the changes. "Teams will be announced and rearranged twice a year coinciding with the spring and autumn solstice."
As the various Jonin left it was not so subtly implied that the various students were dismissed. Sasuke made to leave but noticed Naruto was stock-still. Naruto quickly noticed his being watched after about a minute, and promptly told the Uchiha boy to head home first. After Sasuke left the blond haired boy made his way toward his teacher, Umino Iruka. He stood watching the scarred Chunin talk to some of the other staff members and overheard them talking about 'genin practice teams', he used this tidbit to formulate his approach to the conversation he was about to engage. After finally getting his teacher's attention he spoke. "You didn't hear this from me, but when you do your 'arrangements' for practice teams assignments for genin testing you might want to go ahead and assume that NONE of your Uchiha students other than Sasuke will be participating." The scarred chunin nodded at the unspoken message portrayed by these words.
"Thanks for the heads up." After noticing the young man still standing before him he realized what was coming. "I take it you are going to want something in exchange for the hours of time and planning that just got saved due to your 'lack of commenting'?". Naruto flashed a grin that threatened to split his face in half, then chuckled. While Iruka may have been the best teacher that either Sasuke, Naruto, or at the blonde's guess ANY academy student had the fortune of learning under, he certainly understood that this particular ninja-to-be never did any favors for free.
Naruto looked up at his teacher with a hardened expression, a remnant of the seemingly endless month that was Naruto's introduction to the deal making and social arts instilled in him by first Fugaku Uchiha, and then his eldest son Itachi. While he many times wondered how those two thought the draconian methods they used could possibly leave him capable it certainly appeared to have worked. "Actually I need a pair of favors. First, put Sasuke and I in the same group whenever you can manage it, and under no circumstances are we to be paired with any of those damned harpies that have wasted so much of theirs and our time with their screeching howls and attempts to woo a certain black haired heir."
Iruka pondered these requests, in all honesty he would have likely done the second request without being asked, but he knew Naruto and knew that whatever the boy was going to offer in return for this pair of requests would likely be worth guaranteeing that he didn't put them in groups with those young 'harpies' as Naruto so kindly put it. Ensuring that he was in Sasuke's groups would actually make that even easier. "I'll bite, and what will I be getting in return for the second request?"
"I'll do whatever I can to ensure you will be able to visit the Uchiha students that are currently in the Isolation Wing at the hospital, and I'll do what I can do get it done quickly." He replied without missing a beat. In all honesty Iruka was appalled by this young man's willingness to break procedures and protocols put in place to protect important individuals who were at death's door, especially in exchange for favors as minor as he was requesting. He then realized that this was an offer he simply couldn't refuse despite it being against every fiber of his ethics as an instructor. It was common knowledge that the chunin loved his students, but he never considered that it would be used against him in such away. Even worse was that it was by someone many years his junior, and that he wasn't even considering reporting this to his village leader. Iruka as the head instructor knew the curriculum inside and out, and politics was not discussed whatsoever in the academy. It occurred to him that whoever taught this boy the ins and outs of political machinations and subterfuge clearly did a good job.
