Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

A/N: Big thanks to all those reviewers, fav&alerts. Though I can't reply to all of reviews(since I'm both working and studying), I'm deeply appreciated. You guys rock!

Sorry for the SUPER late update, I'd been so busy, and had to deal with plots. These days I'm preparing an exam for my new course, so please understand. I'm gonna update sooner from nowon then.

Hope you enjoy this chapter.

Act Two : Itachi

Chapter 2.

The family sat together at breakfast table. Kushina cooked the family's favorite meal, ramen.

"Itadashimaru-." The girls chorused in small voices.

Kushina barely made a smile at them before throwing a careful glance to her husband.

The blond seemed to be bored and annoyed, as usual. He picked up his chopsticks with uninterested blue eyes and began to poke the noodles almost thoughtlessly.

The atmosphere in the dining room was causing the females to be tensed. Perhaps for the girls, it would had been better if their father weren't present.

His silence was deafening.

"..It's mine-."

"No it's mine-."

Kushina perked up. Minami and Kazumi were having a quarrel in whispering tones over takoyakis. They made too many conflicts nowadays, sometimes they even exchanged blows. They were too vivid girls, both of them, while Aika_the youngest, the only one with her father's golden hair_ was way too quiet.

"..Mine!" The tone of Minami's voice rose a bit.

Then Minato finally turned to look at his daughters, his usually indifferent eyes slowly being filled with an annoyance.

A tensed silence fell over the table again.

Kushina quickly interfered, turning Minato's attention toward her. "By the way, I just heard that Jiraya-sama is coming on the festival day?"

The blond glanced at her and frowned. "How do you know that?"

"Well.. I heard it from Rin-chan, she said Kakashi-kun told her..."

"..."

Minato merely made a blunt shrug and looked away, his eyes pensive with his own thoughts.

Kushina pressed an urge to sigh.

He could feel a metallic taste in his tongue. Then a rain of coughs burst out again.

He quickly crumpled a towel into his mouth, to muffle the sound of his agonizing coughs. A sharp pain stung his neck as he gulped. Almost trembling his hands he quickly poured herbal tea into a cup and emptied it in one shot..

"Nii-san?"

He flinched.

Speedily he removed the bloody towel away and wiped his mouth with a hand. "Yes..?"

The door of the room opened and Sasuke stepped inside. "Nii-san, are you okay?" The younger brother's widened eyes were showing a clear concern.

Itachi smiled bit sardonically. "What do you mean?"

"You.. But I thought I heard you throwing up-."

"It's nothing, little brother. So you're worried of me?" The elder's tone shifted into a teasing tone at the end part.

Sasuke blinked, soon to flush like a tomato. "No-.. No, I mean.. You... No, I mean..."

"Alright, now I know how much you care for me. How touching. What a graceful morning-."

"Nii-san!" Blushing madly Sasuke sprang up, jumping onto his brother.

Itachi quickly grabbed his wrists, holding him in a place. "Wow, and now you're trying to embrace me. But please bear it, since I don't like such enthusiastic hug from a boy. It'd have been better if you're a sister instead of..."

Now it seemed like Sasuke was literally steaming. "AAOOOH! I hate you!"

Itachi suddely let go of Sasuke's arms. Sasuke flinched little, noticing an abrupt serious expression emerging on his brother's face.

"Wha.. Nii-san?"

"Sasuke." The elder's voice was grim, causing the younger to sweat-drop.

"Wha.. What?"

"I guess we need to talk about your recent conducts-."

"Wawawawawawaw! What's that?"

Itachi turned to see the window where Sasuke was pointing.. And when he looked back again his little brother was already getting out of the house, clutching his bag in one hand.

Sasuke halted short before shutting the gate behind him and shouted. "I.. I'm going to Academy! See ya later!"

"..."

A silence fell into the house then.

Mikoto and Kiyu might be still sleeping...

With a sigh Itachi sprawled onto his bed, feeling his head aching. Foolish little brother, he thought, stop messing around. Or else we'll be...

Itachi knew well that his brother was playing wild nowadays, with his friend gangs such as Hyuuga Neji or Rock Lee. And their parents were complaining about the Uchiha boy, claiming that he'd put some kind of bad influence upon their 'naive' children.

'Naive' children.. A crooked smile passed across his lips. Oh, mothers...

Fortunately the Hokage was being almost too generous to his family. Well the Yondaime was quite a kind man, but his closest ANBU guards were well aware of how he would react when someone crossed a limit.

And Uchiha Itachi never wanted to face the enraged Hokage.

Never.

The half-bloomed flowers softly crushed under his boots. The forest was damp by last night's rain, the sleeves of his garments were getting wet as he brushed against the tall, wet grass.

He found Naruto there. The blond was leaning lazily against a tree, his eyes drooping in boredom, his lashes brushing his scarred cheeks.

The Blond raised his head when he noticed Sai's stare.

"..What are you doing there?" Sai broke the awkward silence with not-so questioning tone.

Without a word Naruto pointed at the few cubs of a wildfox that were playing around his folded legs.

"It's weird." The black-haired ROOT boy mumbled.

"Yeah it's weird." The blond ROOT boy approved.

The cubs were now playing coquets to the blond, as if the human boy were their parent. Now it wasn't that surprising though. Whenever the blond encountered 'canidaes'_whether they're well-trained ninja dogs or wild animals_, he'd found them always trying to get his...

"You're weird." Sai blurted again. "Everyone would panic if they saw you now."

A strange pair of the odd eyes stared at him. "Why? 'Cause I didn't kill these cubs?"

Sai blinked as he took a closer look at the blond's eyes. One sapphire blue eye and one ruby red eye. The eyes hadn't been that weird when he'd been younger. Naruto had been with a pair of blue eyes, which were so large and shiny. Now the blond's vibe was more like an animal's than a human's because of those odd eyes, despite his rather prim and proper face.

Suddenly Naruto stood onto his feet. The cubs tried cling onto his legs then however he bluntly gestured them to go away.

Watching the babe foxes going back to the deepest part of the forest Sai muttered. "...A mission?"

"A mission."

Silence fell again.

The dialogue at the damp forest in early morning was the first talk between the two after the four years of gap.

XXX

"Find a way to set Uchiha Sasuke up." Danzo had ordered. "Once he fall into a trap Uchiha Itachi will naturally fall together. Don't try anything directly toward Itachi. Use his little brother. Accomplish your mission before the Festival day."

There were little ones in the training ground, some of them yet to undergo Regulation and some were fresh newbees who'd done Regulation recently. There were, of course, elder ROOT comrades watching over them.

Everyone looked at him when he appeared in a dark civilian clothes.

Whispers rose among the little ones. And again, Naruto could feel their gazes which were full of admiration and.. Fear.

"So he's the so-called.."

"Wow, his eyes are..."

"He's the favorite of our leader-sama right?"

"Shh... "

The little ones were still clumsy at treating their own emotions. Even those who'd done Regulation_ Not everyone could freeze their emotions completely just by undergoing Regulation. Some of them needed to go through unbearable terrors in order to turn into a useful ROOT member. So the old ROOT members often used violent means for any idiotic actions of the newbees..

Hyo approached to Naruto then, his tall figure covering the sunlight as he strode closer toward him.

"A mission?"

Naruto nodded."A mission."

"So we'll have to hold Regulation without you."

"Guess so. What the-" The blond turned around as he felt an abrupt thud upon his back.

"So_sorry..." A little boy with a brown hair quickly apologized, shaking.

Naruto blinked. Before he could take any action the little boy was already flying a good twenty meters across the field, soon to hit the ground with a thud and wriggle with a pain in his stomach which had been kicked by Hyo.

A short scream burst out among the kids.

Hyo strode to the trembling boy and then lifted him by scruff. "It hurts, huh?" He asked in his usual cold, calm tone.

The pathetic boy nodded helplessly, still trembling. "Ye..yes..."

"It's because of your fear." Hyo pressed. "Not because you've stupidly ran into him. You're punished because you've expressed your fear." He roughly let go of the boy then motioned his other comrades to take him away.

A tensed, frozen silence fell upon the training field.

Naruto threw a glance to the little ones that were watching the scene with horrified eyes. How many of them would going to survive in this year? Half? Or Quarter?

"Get back to training." The blond voiced dryly.

Slowly the training ground began to be filled with noises again.

Naruto shrugged to Hyo. "All right, that was strong. I'll be on a mission till Festival day."

Hyo sent a nod to the blond. "We'll be holding Regulation for those underlings tomorrow."

Naruto pulled out his two kunais and then plucked one into the stony ground while handing the other one to Hyo.

"Come to notify me if anything happens." The blond reminded. "Then we'll be immediately back here."

Hyo nodded, his dull dark eyes shining little against the bright sunlight. "Though I don't expect any chance to use this."

Naruto agreed. Recently so many troubles were occurring while holding ROOT Regulation_ Last year, some of the horrified little ones even had tried to run away, gone so far to attack ROOT guards. They'd been slaughtered immediately, of course.

Yet such happening was troublesome.

His eyes shone with a strange gleaming as he stared. The afternoon sky was as blue as his left eye, the sun was as shiny as his hair, and yet his aura was turning darker and darker as he watched the-

"Sasuke, STOP RIGHT NOW."

The blond ROOT was sitting on a tall tree, hiding behind branches and controlling his chakra, his eyes were fixed on the grand green field in front of him –or to be more exact, on the figures that were roaming in the field.

They were laughing... They looked perfectly joyful, at least for now. Sons of the traitor were enjoying themselves with their lives.

Naruto didn't like it.

"I said stop, little brother-" an ANBU with pony-tailed black hair was dashing around in the field, chasing a younger boy who was giggling cheekily at him holding a certain scroll in one hand.

A frown began to spread upon Naruto's face, the phrase 'little brother' was causing him to burn into a certain memory.

Soon, Itachi caught Sasuke, holding him within his arms and lightly knocking the boy's head with a fist, smiling when he grumbled, pouted and giggled.

Naruto wasn't even sparing a glance at Sasuke. Though the boy was to be his 'direct' prey, he was completely out of his interest. He was watching the Uchiha ANBU instead, not looking away even when his head began to ache at the certain, long-forgotten memories...

"You naughty little brother, stop messing around now, okay? Hokage-sama will be here soon to see us, so be as good as-."

"All right, all right! I'll be as polite as you to him, don't worry." Sasuke escaped from his brother's arms and smiled cheekily all the while, onyx eyes filled with such affection for his elder brother.

Naruto's eyes narrowed. That Sasuke boy seemed different with that of what he'd heard. He knew well of the reputation of the younger Uchiha boy in the village, however it seemed like the boy became a quite different person when he's with his elder brother.

And the elder one was different as well.

His eyes unwavering, Naruto then turned his gaze to the red-haired figure in a distance, which was standing leaning against a railing of a balcony on the Hokage's tower, obviously watching the Uchiha brothers secretly too.

The wife of the Hokage_ The girl from whirlpool, who'd been a former vessel of Kyuubi no kitsune.

Naruto tilted his head little when he recognized Danzou's figure coming out from the door of the Hokage's office, which was soon accosted by the redhead. They shared greetings, formal inquiries and..

The blond tilted his head again. What the hell was the woman doing? The wife of the Hokage was obviously trying to make a talk with Danzou.

However soon Naruto looked away with uninterested eyes and stood straighter.

'Hey little brother!'

It was enough.

It was enough for him to disdain Uchiha Itachi now.

The Uchiha was reminding him of Shin.

"Idiots!"

As the red-haired girl screamed roughly throwing the sixth Kimono the shopkeeper pressed his temple with a hand and sighed.

"I don't like any of these stupid garments! I'll go to other shop!"

"Minami-sama, our shop is the best one among the Kimono shops.."

"Shut up, liar!" The violet eyes of the heroine of Konoha burned. "The upcoming festival is for my birthday, and I can't wear such stupid, plain clothes, you old-"

Just then another young girl's fierce voice interrupted the princess of Konoha. "Shut up, knucklehead! look for other shop immediately then!"

Minami blinked twice at this sudden attack, then, upon recognizing the other girl's pink hair and green eyes, she smiled sarcastically. "Heh, Haruno Sakura."

Sakura crossed her arms and glared at Minami, her green eyes full of contempt. "Beat it, you stuck-up knucklehead. Don't you dare yell at my dad-."

"You beat it, Sasuke's slut! I have my right to scream whenever I want-."

Sakura's face flushed. "You're not our superior, you stuck-up whore!"

"I am, and if you call me names one more time I'll tell my father to cut your tongue-."

"I know that Hokage-sama won't ever do such idiotic thing," The pinkette sneered, "I heard that he actually spanked you when you fought with Sasuke-kun!"

This time Minami's face flushed with a rage. "Wha..What idiot said that? And no matter how much you drool for the Uchiha jerk, you're just his slut!"

"Bah! Your sister Kazumi told me! And you're a stuck-up whore who can suck it!"

Now the two girls started to shower inaudible curses to each other, causing the small shop to vibrate with the high-tuned screams.

The poor shopkeeper and the servantess of Minami began to sweat-drop as they helplessly watched the girls' nasty quarrels..

Suddenly a grunt, rather comical voice interrupted the scene.

"Well, well. As I'd always emphasized, girls are so scary when they're pissed."

The shopkeeper gaped his mouth as he looked at the old man's weird white hair and the almost unbearably fashioned outfits. "Eh..?"

Minami and Sakura stopped quarreling momentarily and stared up and the stranger.

"Who're you?" Snapped Minami.

The old man pointed himself, smiling in a comical way. "Who am I? Who am I? I'm the author of the best-seller nowadays, as well as being the greatest sanin!"

She was staring at the view of the village under her feet.

What would happen if she just jump down, without chakra to resist against the falling? What would happen if she just fall? Would she break into pieces?

She sniffled, wiping her tears with a hand. She knew that her father would scold her if he saw her now.

You are so weak. He would say.

It was true. She was weak.

However, she wasn't so gloomy now just because of her father's cold treatment onto her. She'd been so used to it already.

Neji's bullies on her were getting more and more cruel nowadays. Today he had even kicked her in front of the other boys in their classroom during lunch time. Though she knew well that Neji hated her so much_Because he thought the cause of his father's death was her_ Neji was becoming even more sadistic nowadays, and did not stop causing chaos everywhere in the village with Uchiha Sasuke.

The two boys had a lot in common, anyway. They both lost their fathers unexpectedly. They both had such rebellious souls. They both were like wildfire...

But Hinata couldn't tell all of these to her father, for he would only blame her of being so weak... And even if the clan council would punish Neji, she wouldn't be happy with it.

Fall? Or not fall?

How would her father and Neji react when they saw her dead? Would they still look her down with disdainful eyes?

Or..

She closed her eyes. Slowly, she stretched one leg, stepping out of the edge of the rooftop...

"Hey."

Hyuuga Hinata opened her eyes, feeling herself unable to move an inch forward, the belt around her waist obviously clutched by certain fingers from the back.

Blinking quizzically she cocked her head upward to see the intruder. Her breath froze momentarily when she found herself facing a pair of strange odd eyes.

Uchiha Itachi and Uchiha Sasuke..

Uchiha Sasuke and Hyuuga Neji..

Festival day and Guards against Kumo spies..

Naruto needed this Hyuuga heiress in order to accomplish his mission.

Alright. I'd been getting so many questions regarding Naruto being 'not-so much like main character'_ Well, Naruto IS the main character. Though I admit, that my past chapters concetrated more on Namikaze family and Uchihas(which caused Naruto's character to be seemed bit 'vague'), but from now on the story will be focused on Naruto, so please bear with me. :)

And regarding Amaru: She'll appear soon, that's all I can tell you for it may be a Spoiler.

And again, thanks for your support. Though I love writing, I wouldn't have been able to continue if there weren't your kind support and favors. I love you!XD