What Could've Been

by Concentrated Awesomeness

Naruto gets pushed to his limit early on in life. The same could be said for Sasuke. Follow along as both go through hardships that test their sanity. The two have to rely on each other to prevent the darkness that could have been. More mature, God-like Naruto. Good Sasuke, probably also God-like or close to it. May have some pairing(s) later on in the story, but no yaoi.

5. Chapter 5

Welcome back for the next chapter of What Could've Been.

I don't own Naruto. I tried a hostile takeover recently, and failed miserably.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Naruto, once again, was the third person to arrive at the academy. As he entered, Hinata blushed, but managed to stay conscious this time. "Hey guys, good morning." Naruto said as he walked to his normal seat.

"Morning." Replied Sasuke.

"G-G-Good M-Morning N-Naruto-kun… Y-You l-l-look" That was as far as Hinata could make it before she lost her battle with unconsciousness.

"Man, she should see a doctor, this is happening a lot lately." Said a clueless Naruto.

"You're such an idiot, Naruto." Said Sasuke with a smirk.

"Why am I an idiot?!"

"Nothing."

"Tell me!"

"You'll see one day." Said Sasuke, letting out a chuckle.

"I wanna know now though!"

"Okay I'll tell you then."

"Yea! Why then?"

"You just are." Sasuke said as he chuckled again.

"Ass."

"I know you are but what am I?"

"Stupid."

"I know you are but what am I?"

"Stop it asshole!"

"I know you are but what am I?" Sasuke now broke into full laughter as Naruto's face turned red with frustration.

"I'm about to-"

"N-Naruto-kun, S-Sasuke-kun, be nice to each other p-please." Said the now conscious Hinata.

"Fine!" Naruto huffed as he sat back and willed Sasuke's head to explode with his mind.

By now a few more of the students were starting to arrive. Among them were several girls who had quit hating Naruto, but didn't yet like him, before today. Once all the girls arrived and saw Naruto's new outfit, there was another fanclub formed almost instantly.

As some of the girls wooed over Naruto, Sasuke developed a smile that threatened to tear his face in half.

"What's so funny?" Asked Naruto.

"You drew some of their attention away from me."

"What do you-" It was then that Naruto heard the yells(how the hell he didn't hear them before is beyond me) of 'Naruto-kun!' And 'Oh my God he's sooo cute!' and then the sounds of shoving and cursing and 'No I'm gonna date Naruto-kun first!' and 'Nuh uh I am!'

He just slammed his head onto the table as Sasuke started laughing and Hinata giggled a bit.

"It's not funny." Came his muffled reply to their laughter.

"ALRIGHT EVERYONE, SIT DOWN AND SHUT UP!" Yelled Iruka as he walked in the room.

Once everyone was paying attention he smiled before beginning the day.

"Alright class, today, we will be going over taijutsu. Let's move outside so you can show me what you know so far." Said Iruka as he looked over the class.

"Damn we can't skip today or the clones will end up getting dispelled." Whispered Sasuke to Naruto who let out a low growl, making Hinata giggle.

The class then made their way out to the academy training field where everyone got paired off. Naruto and Sasuke were a pair, which they both liked. Hinata was paired up with Sakura, which Hinata liked.

"I wish I already knew the Jyuken, where I could beat her for being so annoying." Thought Hinata.

"Maybe if I can beat her, Sasuke-kun will like me!" "Yeah! If you pummel her he'll HAVE to love us!" Thought Sakura and Inner Sakura.

All of the kids began their spars under the watchful eyes of the teachers, who were trying to correct their stances and point out mistakes in their styles. Finally it became Naruto and Sasuke's turn, making the fangirls go crazy.

"NARUTO/SASUKE-KUN!" The chorus was heard all across the village.

"Ready to lose, loser?" Said Sasuke with a smirk on his face.

"In your dreams!" Replied Naruto with his own smirk.

"Begin!" Shouted Iruka before jumping out of the way.

The 2 boys quickly charged at each other, Sasuke throwing a punch towards Naruto's face. Naruto ducked under the punch and launched his own uppercut at Sasuke, who flipped back out of the way to avoid it. The boys stood at opposite sides of the ring staring each other down for a moment, before charging in again. This time is was Naruto to act, throwing a feint punch at Sasuke. He bit and went to block the punch, before Naruto threw a kick into his ribs and slid him back several feet.

"Oww bastard, you'll pay for that!" shouted Sasuke as he leapt back into the fight.

Sasuke quickly got back to Naruto and tried to sweep his legs out from under him, but Naruto jumped up to avoid it. Sasuke smirked, knowing that Naruto would do that. He quickly reached his arms out and grabbed Naruto's legs, spinning him around and driving him into the ground hard. Sasuke smiled, thinking he won, until he heard a 'poof', signaling that it was a shadow clone. He started to turn his head and look for Naruto, but didn't make it far before Naruto's fist connected with his cheek, knocking him to his back. When he opened his eyes, Naruto was standing above him with a fist 2 inches from his face.

"Good job boys, both of you are well advanced in taijutsu for your age. I saw some openings and flaws, but that is to be expected. I assume you both train at home, seeing that that wasn't the academy style?" Said Iruka

Naruto then helped Sasuke up before answering "Yea, I'm trying to develop my own style, between my mother and father's, but it's slow going."

"I use my family style, the intercepting fist." Sasuke added in.

"Well I'm glad to see you two training early, you'll go far in the world like that." Said Iruka with a smile. "Okay next up, Hinata and Sakura!"

The 2 mentioned girls then walked up to the ring and bowed to each other, before Iruka told them to begin.

Sakura quickly charged in at Hinata, who just stood there and waited. As Sakura got in close, Hinata gave her a quick palm strike to the face. Sakura reeled back a couple of steps and hit the ground unconscious.

"Well… good job Hinata." Said Iruka with a sweat-drop.

"T-Thank you, Iruka-sensei."

"Alright everyone, good job today! You are dismissed!" Iruka shouted over the crowd of students. They all began to go their separate ways, as Hinata, Sasuke, and Naruto met up.

"Wanna go grab something eat and then train for a while?"

"T-Thanks f-for asking, Naruto-kun, but Father wants me to train with him today, sorry."

"It's fine Hinata-chan, maybe some other time." Said Naruto with a reassuring smile.

"You in Sasuke?"

"Sure, lets go." Sasuke replied as the two set off for Ichiraku Ramen.

After they ate, the 2 went to Naruto's house to use his training field, where they stayed until it was almost dark outside.

"You wanna come over for dinner? I'm sure Mom won't mind." Said Sasuke once they were done training.

"Sure, let me clean up real quick though." Replied Naruto as he ran inside and took a shower

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

20 minutes later

Naruto and Sasuke were almost at the Uchiha compound when they heard what sounded like a fight going on inside, so they took off to check it out.

Once they arrived inside, both boys were almost sick. Bodies were lying everywhere in the streets, And the only people they could see still alive were Itachi and 8 ANBU, and they were fighting.

"Itachi-nii!" Yelled Sasuke as he started running towards the group, followed by Naruto.

Itachi didn't have time to look up as he was fighting at an 8 to 1 disadvantage. He soon found an opening, and stuck a kunai into one of the men's throat.

Sasuke, for his part, ran in and tried to stab one of the Root in the back while he was distracted, but failed as the Root broke away and kicked Sasuke into a wall across the street, knocking him out.

Naruto was worried about Sasuke, but knew he had to focus right now. "Kagebunshin no jutsu!" He shouted as 50 clones appeared and swarmed the 2 root that broke away from the fight. It only took the Root a couple of minutes to disperse the clones, and the only injuries they had was a few cuts here and there. They then turned their attention to the real Naruto. He tried to fight back but it was no use against the best of Danzo's soldiers, and they quickly began to beat him, before one of them slashed him across the left eye with a kunai, and kicked him away, leaving him for dead.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"You are pathetic, Kit. Every time you get in a fight I have to come bail you out. I would be the laughing stock of the other bijuu if they knew my container was so weak. You're just lucky I would die with you or I'd let the men kill you. Take my power and do away with those me that threaten you." Growled Kurama to Naruto, who was now in his mindscape.

"Thanks." Naruto said as he faded away.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Back in the real world.

Itachi wasn't fairing to well against the 7 Root members, until they all stopped briefly as they felt a chakra source and killing intent that would bring a normal man to his knees.

Naruto's prone form on the ground started leaking off red chakra in waves, as his eyes became slitted, his whiskers darkened, and his canines grew out. "This is the end for you bastards. You dare come here and kill the family of my friends… for that… you will die" Said the now Kyuubified Naruto as he held out his arms and sent 2 chakra arms to the group of Root, crushing 2 of them in a shower of blood. Itachi seized this advantage and beheaded another of them, making it now a 4 on 2. 2 of the root turned from Itachi and went after Naruto while the other 2 stayed with Itachi.

Since these 2 were actually expecting a fight, they weren't as easy to kill, and managed to still get another few blows out on Naruto. He fought them to a stalemate for a while before he breathed out a stream of fire that caught one of them and burned most of his body away. The second quickly dodged and made it inside of Naruto's guard due to the distraction, before he took a slash with his tanto and claimed Naruto's other eye. Once Naruto got hit, he roared in pain before release a vortex of flames from his body that finished off the root, before passing out himself.

Itachi, now with only 2 on 1 odds, made quick work of the other 2 with his ninja-to, decapitating both. After the fight, he made a shadow clone that shunshinned straight to the Hokage's office to alert him of what happened. Within a minute, Hiruzen and a squad of ANBU appeared beside Itachi in the compound.

"Itachi, report." Hiruzen said as he looked around at the mess.

"All was going according to plan until these Root ANBU attacked. While I was fighting them, Sasuke-kun and Naruto-kun showed up. Sasuke was knocked out immediately but Naruto managed to kill 4 of them with the Kyuubi's help. If he hadn't shown up I probably would have died, but unfortunately he lost both of his eyes in the fight."

Hiruzen was visibly upset that his surrogate grandson was blind and could now never become the Hokage he dreamed to be. "I see… ANBU, clean up this mess and find any survivors."

"I have a way to fix his eyes, if you will allow it, Hokage-sama." Itachi said, noticing that Hiruzen was upset.

Hiruzen instantly became less tense as he said "Do whatever you can to fix it."

"Hai." Replied Itachi as he walked into his house briefly before coming back out with a jar that had 2 eyes floating in it. He knelt down beside Naruto and did a quick series of hand seals with one hand as he opened the jar and pulled out one of these eyes. His free hand then started to glow green before he reached it down and made a 'C' shape with his thumb and index finger and oped up Naruto's right eyelid to reveal the disfigured eye. He then pulled out the eye and replaced it with the one in his other hand. After it was in he repeated the process with Naruto's other eye, before placing him in a genjutsu to keep him asleep until he can get to the hospital. "There, he should be fine after some rest in the hospital."

"Thank you Itachi-kun. If you don't mind me asking, who did they belong to?" Hiruzen replied

"They were my Fugaku's. But on another note; what do we do about the root?"

"Simple, they went rogue and invaded the compound, and you killed them to protect the clan. You will claim innocence so that you don't have to go rogue."

"I see. Thank you Hokage-sama."

"Thanks for what?"

Itachi just chuckled at that, despite all that had happened tonight.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

2 days later

"Where am I?" Thought Naruto as he slowly started to regain consciousness. "And why can't I see anything?"

He tried for a second to open his eyes but found that he couldn't. "The fight… I lost both my eyes! I'M BLIND!" He started shouting

This woke Hiruzen, who was sitting beside Naruto's bed but had dozed off. "Naruto-kun!" He yelled "Calm down for a moment and let me explain!"

"That voice… is that…" "Jiji?" Naruto asked, calming down at the voice of his grandfather figure.

"Yes Naruto-kun it's me."

"What happened?"

"Some Root ANBU went rogue and invaded the Uchiha compound trying to eliminate them for reasons unknown, but you and Itachi-kun managed to stop them. Unfortunately, as I guess you know, you lost both of your eyes in the fight. However, Itachi-kun managed to fix them."

"Then why can't I see?"

"Your eyes are still bandaged, Naruto-kun. In order to fix your eyesight, Itachi took the sharingan eyes from his father, who was killed in the fight."

"So I have a dead guys eyes?" Said Naruto, turning green.

"Yes, but it isn't that bad. You're like Kakashi now. You are only the second non-Uchiha to have a sharingan."

"I see… so when can I take the bandages off?"

"It should be okay to remove them now, you've been out for over 2 days."

"Okay then." Replied Naruto as he began to unwrap the bandages around his head. Soon he was finished and looked at the world with a whole new light.

Hiruzen, for his part, was shocked. When he looked at Naruto's new eyes, he saw a Mangekyo Sharingan. The pattern looked similar to a biohazard symbol. (see my profile for a picture.)

"Naruto-kun, can you deactivate your eyes?"

Naruto wasn't sure why, but somehow he knew how to deactivate the eyes, so he did so, showing plain onyx eyes.

"It sure is weird, seeing Naruto without those deep blue eyes of his." Hiruzen thought as he stared at the black orbs.

"Now turn them back on."

Naruto did so, revealing the normal 3 tomoe sharingan.

"Also, you have a special version, called the Mangekyo, can you activate that one?"

The 3 tomoe in Naruto's eyes began to spin rapidly before merging into his Mangekyo form.

"Good, you can turn them back off now."

Naruto turned off his Mangekyo, but left the 3 tomoe active.

"Why did you leave the sharingan on, Naruto-kun?"

"I need to get used to seeing from them. By the way Jiji, how is Sasuke?"

"He is fine, he got a concussion but should be awake by the morning."

"Okay then… Thanks Jiji." Naruto said as he stood and gave the old man a hug.

Hiruzen smiled a bit at that and said "Okay Naruto-kun, you're free to go now. I'll see you later."

"Okay, bye Jiji." Naruto said as Hiruzen walked out the door.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Well, there it is, I hope you all enjoyed. Read, fav, follow, review, refer your friends, you know the deal.

I'd like to give a special shout out to Erasels, who is a prime example of what a reviewer should be. Thank you for that.

Anyways, until next time.