Author's Note: I do not own Naruto.
Warning: This chapter has slight sexual content. Not much, just thought I would give a fair warning.
ENJOY!!!
Sasuke screamed as he awoke from his nightmare. Just a dream, he thought, Just a dream. For the past several weeks, the young Uchiha had been haunted by nightmares of that night. Training kept the pain away during the day, but at night the visions came. His uncles and aunts, cousins and grandparents, all of them died again and again in his nightmares.
"Curse you to hell, Itachi," Sasuke grimaced, "How am I supposed to defeat you if I can't even sleep properly?"
"I can help with that," said the voice.
"About time you showed back up. I haven't heard from you since you showed me that sharingan release technique. Who or what are you?"
"I am your blood," replied the voice, "Now there is an ancient technique that prevents dreams. Simply perform the ram seal and let the chakra flow towards your brain. Your chakra will clear your mind and allow you to sleep. It will also increase your intelligence by a small amount."
"Hn." said Sasuke as he performed the technique. The young Uchiha then lay back down to sleep.
Xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Hatake Kakashi was concerned. He had heard about the Uchiha Massacre as it had come to be called, but did not know how to approach the remaining Uchiha. I need to speak with him. I am the closest thing he has left to family, disregarding that traitor Itachi. I will speak with him soon.
"Penny for your thoughts, Kakashi-taishou?" Yamato asked.
"I'm worried about Uchiha Sasuke. He could be dangerous if left alone," Kakashi replied.
"Kakashi, he's a kid. Albeit a kid who has been through a horrific ordeal; even then, I doubt he could do much damage."
"You obviously have not dealt with many Uchiha. Uchiha are always dangerous, regardless of how old they are."
"Maybe so. Are you going to check on him?"
"I will...soon."
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Sasuke awoke to sunshine streaming through his window. The young Uchiha currently lived in an apartment on the outskirts of the Uchiha District. It was small, but it suited the Uchiha just fine. He had a housekeeper who came in occasionally to fix him food, but other than that he was left alone.
"Tch, time to go to the stupid academy."
Sasuke pulled himself out of bed and walked into the kitchen. He quickly made himself some cereal and pulled on some clean clothes for the day. He wore a black t-shirt in the style of all his other shirts with the Uchiha Fan on the back. He also wore a pair of black cargo pants. To complete his outfit, he attached his new sword to his back like he had in the dream where he joined Orochimaru.
The young Uchiha slowly made his way towards the academy. As he walked down the street, he heard the whispers of the villagers. Idiots, thought the young Uchiha, Complete and utter idiots. I can't believe I want to be Hokage over these people, but becoming Hokage means I will have access to practically every technique in the village as well as being able to go pretty much wherever I want. Plus, it would be nice to rub it in Naruto's face that it was I, not him, who became Hokage.
Sasuke entered the academy and took a seat next to Hinata. Over the past several weeks, the two young shinobi had trained together countless times and had developed something close to a friendship. Sasuke did not let the young kunoichi get too close though. He knew that it would be next to impossible for him to kill his best friend if his best friend was a weak kunoichi. Plus, it would be easier to frame someone else if he killed Kakashi or Naruto. The inspection would be much more in depth if it was the Hyuuga Heiress who died.
"H-how are you, Sasuke?" asked Hinata.
"Hn. I'm fine," Sasuke replied, feeling a tad guilty that he had been thinking of killing the young Hyuuga. She might make a good wife in the future...it would be interesting to see how the Byakugan and Sharingan would mix. Damn you Itachi! Because of you I have to become a polygamist. It is the only way I will be able to replenish the Uchiha Clan's numbers.
At this point, Sasuke's thoughts were interrupted by Iruka who had come in and started on a lecture about the different villages. Sasuke drowned out the teacher's voice and dreamed about the day he would kill Itachi.
Xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Hatake Kakashi sensed the boy's chakra before he saw him. Despite the fact that Kakashi was not a sensor type, all high class shinobi have at least a little skill in that area. Kakashi turned his attention back to the stone before him. Obito, Minato-sensei, help me train Sasuke to the best of my ability. Help me to teach him to use the will of fire that you both had.
"Kakashi-sensei," Sasuke said in a cold voice.
"Sasuke. You are here to learn the skills necessary for your revenge, am I right?"
Sasuke smirked at this. If he answered yes, there would be no way Kakashi would teach him. Or if he did, it would be only to change his mind. He would have to lie.
"No, I'm here to learn the skills necessary to protect the ones I love from that man. I will kill him one day, make no mistake of that; but only because if I don't kill him, he will come back and kill all those I love."
Kakashi's eyes widened at this. It was a far more mature answer than he had expected.
"You're lying," Kakashi said simply, "but I admire you for trying. You have no one you could possibly want to protect yet. I will give you the skills necessary to kill Itachi, but I want you to promise me on your word as an Uchiha that you will never choose killing him over the safety of your comrades."
Sasuke was silent for a moment before saying,
"I promise."
"Do you have any other goals than killing Itachi, Sasuke?"
"Restoring my clan which means marrying a bunch of women. Tch. There are only a few women I can actually stand, and only one of them is my age."
Kakashi smirked as he heard Sasuke's answer, it sounded like something out of Jiraiya the Toad Sannin's Make Out Paradise novels.
"Don't worry, Sasuke. You will come to see that as a good thing once you are older. Now are there any other goals in you life that you want to achieve that does not have to deal with killing Itachi or restoring your clan?"
Sasuke thought for a second and finally decided on something.
"I want to become Hokage. That seems like a good job to keep me occupied."
Kakashi let out a slow whistle at this. Uchiha Sasuke as a Hokage could end up being as great as the Yandaime, or even worse than if Danzou or Orochimaru had become Hokage. If Sasuke is serious about becoming Hokage, I need to train him to care for others as well as being strong. Ugh, that is going to be tough.
Sasuke turned to the Memorial Stone and looked pensive as he traced the names of the Uchiha who had died in service to Konoha. There were not many Uchiha on the Memorial Stone, mainly because most Uchiha were so strong that they never died or if they did die, it was on a black ops mission and as such could not even be recognized on the Memorial Stone. Sasuke's thoughts were interrupted as Kakashi said,
"Now, I want to see how skilled you currently are. It has been awhile since we trained together. I want to see if you are any stronger."
"Tch, I am a whole lot stronger than I used to be, Kakashi-sensei."
"Show me then!"
Sasuke quickly activated his sharingan and smirked at the surprise that showed up on Kakashi's face; the young Uchiha quickly took this chance to whisper, "Sharingan Release," and then sped forward with amazing speed at the Copy Ninja.
Kakashi was surprised at the speed and the sharingan, but did not let that affect his fighting skills. The Copy Ninja blocked several of Sasuke's attacks and smirked. Despite Sasuke's new speed and strength, he was no match for Hatake Kakashi.
Sasuke took a punch to the stomach and flew backwards. He landed roughly on his back, but was quickly back on his feet going through the hand seals for chidori. He charged forward with the chidori in his right hand...and went flying back to the ground from another punch of Kakashi's.
"C'mon Sasuke. Think!! Shinobi battle with their brains, not their brawn or the number of jutsu they know," Kakashi yelled at his young pupil.
Sasuke stood back up and grunted. Kakashi is right of course. I need to think if I have even the slightest chance of injuring him.
So thinking, Sasuke jumped into the air and formed the hand signs for the Katon Housenka no Jutsu while hiding shuriken in the fireballs. Kakashi noticed this however, and planted both of his hands on the ground after performing a couple hand signs.
"DOTON: Earth Wall Jutsu!!"
A huge wall of earth shot upwards and blocked the fireballs and shuriken. Kakashi's one eye widened in surprise, however, as the wall was destroyed by the chidori. Sasuke did not stop with the wall though, he kept running forward intent on injuring the Copy Ninja. Kakashi quickly dodged to the side and smirked as Sasuke's momentum carried him past the Copy Ninja.
Kakashi's satisfaction was short lived, however, as Sasuke suddenly disappeared and a kunai was flying towards the Jonin's face. Kakashi dodged once again, but not before the kunai sliced open his right cheek. Cheeky little brat, thought Kakashi, He used genjutsu to make it look like he destroyed my wall and was attacking me. He must have cast the genjutsu right before I used the earth wall jutsu. He could be highly skilled in genjutsu if he had a proper tutor. Unfortunately, genjutsu is not my forte. I can easily help in both taijutsu and ninjutsu in which he has near unlimited potential as well.
Kakashi was interrupted from his thoughts as Sasuke attacked with a flurry of punches and kicks. Kakashi blocked each of them and nearly smiled as he recognized how skilled Sasuke was in the Iron Fist style. Looks like I can go ahead and start him on the Uchiate style.
"Stop," Kakashi finally called after about five more minutes of pure taijutsu, "If I am going to teach you, you need a lot more chakra than you currently have. Remember the tree walking technique I taught you? We are going to do pretty much the same thing; the only difference is that it will be on water."
Sasuke smirked.
Xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Danzou was not in a good mood. His attempts to gain more sharingans for his arm had failed. He had wanted to take them on the night of the massacre, but it would have been too obvious with Sarutobi there. And then, the next day when he was going to use his political power to gain the bodies, it had turned out that young Uchiha Sasuke had already asked for the sharingan eyes. For what the ROOT leader had no clue, but it made him angry nonetheless.
Danzou thought for a moment about taking the eyes from the young Uchiha forcefully, but the thought of Uchiha Itachi killed that idea before it had even been fully formed. Itachi was powerful, of that there was no doubt. Tch, looks like I will just have to deal with the eyes I currently have, thought Danzou.
His thoughts were interrupted as one of his assistants entered the room. It appeared that Sarutobi required his presence. Danzou stood up and left the room, all the while planning how to rid himself of the Uchiha Clan for good.
Xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Uzumaki Naruto sat in class with a bored expression on his face. This stuff is pointless, thought the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki. He was interrupted from his thoughts, however, as Iruka announced it would be time for sparring.
"ALRIGHT!!" Naruto yelled, "I am going to kick everyone's ass and then you will have to make me Hokage."
"Tch, dobe," Sasuke smirked, "The only person who is going to become Hokage is me."
Naruto felt anger enter his heart. How dare Sasuke take his one dream?!?! That does it!! Naruto thought, I am going to kick his ass!!
The sparring went as usual, until Iruka called out the last two names.
"Uchiha Sasuke and Uzumaki Naruto, step forward!"
Sasuke smirked as he stepped forward and prepared to fight. He doubted he would even have to any chakra to enhance his skills against the dobe. He was correct.
Naruto ran forward and threw a clumsy punch at Sasuke, who merely turned to the side and nearly laughed as Naruto fell to the ground. Naruto quickly picked himself back up and threw a series of horrendous punches and kicks at Sasuke. The young Uchiha dodged every attack, not even bothering to grace Naruto's attacks with blocks. And Sasuke began to laugh.
"This is pathetic. Surely you can do better!" the young Uchiha taunted.
Naruto threw his all into the next attacks, but he did not even touch the Uchiha scion. Why! Naruto thought, WHY CAN'T I HIT HIM!!
"Why aren't you attacking me, Teme!?!? Scared you might break a nail!" Naruto goaded, not aware that the young Uchiha could quickly snap his neck with with minimal effort.
Sasuke finally got tired of playing with Naruto and threw a powerful punch at the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki's stomach. Naruto could not dodge and took the full brunt of the punch.
The young academy student flew backwards and landed on the ground coughing up blood. Iruka was by Naruto's side in an instant. The young Chuunin looked at Sasuke with a glare but was merely greeted with a shrug.
Sasuke walked over to Naruto and said,
"You are dead last. You have no hope of ever becoming Hokage so long as you maintain your current attitude. Get serious, dobe. And one day, I might consider you a worthy opponent."
Naruto recognized what Sasuke said and realized it was the truth. I am a fool. I have no chance of becoming Hokage by just saying it. I have to actually train and mean it!! Starting tomorrow, I will find someone to teach me!
Sasuke saw the change that came over Naruto and hid a smirk. Finally! He would have a worthy opponent to look forward to in the future other than Madara and Itachi.
Sasuke did not realize it then, but in that moment, he set the stage for a battle that would be known throughout history as "The Clash of Demons."
Xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Naruto awoke to sunshine coming through his window. Today was Saturday. And today was the day he would find his teacher. The Kyuubi Jinchuuriki quickly fixed himself some ramen and headed out the door of his ramshackle apartment.
Naruto ran as fast as he could towards the Hokage Tower. He knew exactly who he wanted to be his teacher.
Xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sarutobi Hiruzen had a headache. He had come into his office that day and had seen a mountain of paperwork. Thank the gods for kage bunshin no jutsu else he would never have been able to finish it all. Just as he was about to settle back for a nap in his chair. The door burst open. Sarutobi prepared himself for an attack, but was surprised to see Naruto.
"Jiji!! I want you to teach me how to become powerful! I'm serious this time! I need to gain strength if I want to become Hokage!!"
Sarutobi smiled as he took in the determined expression on Naruto's face. It was obvious that Naruto was serious about learning how to become a shinobi.
"Okay Naruto, but promise me you will do something if I do this."
"Sure dattebayo!!"
"Promise me you will keep this training secret..."
Two years later...
Sasuke awoke to the sound of rain dripping through a small crack in his ceiling. Have to get that fixed, thought the young Uchiha. He looked at the calendar. July 23. His tenth birthday. Sasuke let out a sigh. Days of special importance like this were always painful. They brought back memories of the time shared with family. Family he no longer had; thanks to that man. I will kill him, thought Sasuke, Of that there is no doubt.
Sasuke made his way out of his apartment. Today he was going to look for Yuuhi Kurenai who could teach him the finer arts of genjutsu. The young Uchiha walked down the streets of Konoha, ignoring the pitying looks some of the villagers gave him. As he walked down the street, he rested his hand on the hilt of his blade. Only in the past month had Kakashi decided that Sasuke's skill with taijutsu was high enough that he could work on using his blade without being at a disadvantage if he ever lost hold of his sword. While Sasuke was nowhere near as good with the blade as he was with taijutsu currently, that was slowly changing. The young Uchiha had shown an aptitude for the sword that even Kakashi had been astonished by.
Kakashi had also trained the young Uchiha extensively in the use of ninjutsu. Sasuke could safely say that he had mastered over fifty jutsu, all of which were at least C-rank or above; and of these, four were A-rank. Kakashi had stated that from here on out, Sasuke would be creating his own jutsu. It would serve to develop him further as a shinobi. In terms of elemental jutsu, Sasuke had mastered the lightning element and was currently working on mastering the fire element. It was much more difficult, Sasuke found, to master an element that was not your own.
Anko had also taken to teaching Sasuke the summoning jutsu. While Sasuke could not yet summon snakes larger than himself, the few snakes he could summon were surprisingly respectful to the young Uchiha. After talking with them, he found that it was because the snakes respected potential and cunning, something which, according to the snakes, Anko lacked. When Sasuke had asked about Orochimaru, the snakes had hissed and mentioned something about a crazy pedophile.
In terms of taijutsu, Sasuke was currently on the fifth tier of the Uchiate style. It had been surprisingly easy to master with his sharingan which currently held two tomoe in each eye. In terms of the sharingan, Sasuke could copy most low level jutsu with ease and could see through genjutsu very easily as well. He still could not cast genjutsu without forming hand signs, but that is what Kurenai would be able to help him with. All in all, Sasuke felt that he held the strength of a strong chuunin without the use of the Sharingan Release technique. With the technique, Sasuke felt that he was near the strength of a mediocre Jonin.
Sasuke soon reached Kurenai's apartment and was surprised when he heard yelling from inside the room. He quickly unsheathed his sword and busted down the door to reveal Kurenai in very awkward position on the couch. She was completely unclothed and had her hands between her legs.
Sasuke felt the blood race to his face as he recognized what the yelling was for. He immediately turned around with a speed that would put Maito Gai to shame. He was just about to leave when he heard Kurenai say,
"You can turn around, I'm dressed now."
Sasuke turned around to find her completely dressed and blushing a furious red.
"Sorry you saw that, although it was quite rude of you to just break down my door!"
"Well, excuse me miss, but what am I supposed to think when I hear yelling coming from a shinobi's apartment. I thought you might have been under attack," Sasuke said indignantly.
Kurenai blush lessened as she heard the young Uchiha's explanation. It was obvious to the genjutsu mistress that Sasuke had only had the best of intentions. And besides, it was not like Sasuke had even hit puberty yet. He obviously was not there to sexually harass her. She did wonder, however, what he was doing near her apartment in the first place...
"So why were you so close to my apartment that you could hear me?"
"I was hoping that you would be able to train me in genjutsu," Sasuke said awkwardly.
"Why don't you get some training from your teachers at the academy. I mean no offense, but the genjutsu I would teach you would require you to be stronger than most genin. You have not even graduated from the academy yet."
"Tch, I assure you, I am much stronger than any genin. If you doubt me perhaps a sparring match would assist you in determining my abilities," Sasuke said darkly.
"Very well," Kurenai shook her head, "I can't believe I'm doing this. Sparring with a nine year old."
"I'm ten," Sasuke said indignantly.
"Ah excuse me then. Shall we go to a sparring area."
"Hn."
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Sasuke and Kurenai stood before each other at training ground fourteen. Sasuke knew that this would be a tough fight; but he also knew, that unlike his fights with Hatake Kakashi and Mitarashi Anko, that this was a fight he could possibly win. Unlike Kakashi and Anko, Kurenai was a genjutsu type, and genjutsu is next to useless against a master sharingan user. Sasuke knew enough to know that he was no master of the sharingan, but he knew enough to know that his sharingan could see through a fair amount of genjutsu. Which is why he knew that Kurenai was actually standing behind him rather than in front of him. The genjutsu mistress had placed a genjutsu on the young Uchiha the instant they had started walking towards the training ground. Sasuke allowed her to think he was still under the genjutsu. It let him have the element of surprise. In fact, Sasuke had already place a counter genjutsu on Kurenai that made it look like the young Uchiha's eyes were still their normal coal black instead of the red of the sharingan which Sasuke had activated the instant they had left the apartment.
The genjutsu of Kurenai in front of the young Uchiha said,
"Begin!"
Sasuke immediately jumped into the air and blew a huge fireball towards the real Kurenai. Kurenai eyes widened in shock that an attack was coming towards her. Not only should he not have seen through my genjutsu, but how in the hell can he perform the Grand Fireball Jutsu!! That is a chuunin level jutsu at the very least!! Kurenai thought.
The genjutsu mistress dodged to the side and was weaving a much more complicated genjutsu to use against the young Uchiha. Unfortunately for her, she had not yet seen through the genjutsu hiding Sasuke's sharingan eyes and did not realize how useless most genjutsu would be against Sasuke. The only chance Kurenai had against Sasuke would be to use her deadliest genjutsus. Sasuke was one of the worst opponents Kurenai could face. Because unfortunately for Kurenai, only a few of her best genjutsu actually attacked the opponent with physical pain. Most of her genjutsu were used for mental attacks that would incapacitate her opponent psychologically with visions of comrades or family dying. Psychological attacks that she was unprepared to use against the young Uchiha who she viewed as a young child who had suffered a devastating loss. She forgot that Sasuke was a Shinobi. And not just any shinobi, but an Uchiha shinobi.
Kurenai had almost completed the genjutsu when Sasuke appeared next to her with a speed she had not expected from one so young. Sasuke attacked with a flurry of punches and kicks. Kurenai easily blocked most of them and responded with several attacks of her own. Sasuke jumped away from the genjutsu mistress and quickly formed hand signs for the chidori. Kurenai was surprised at first when she saw that nothing happened after Sasuke formed the hand seals, but understood when she saw the Uchiha scion unsheathe his sword. Lightning cackled along the sword. And Sasuke said two simple words before attacking,
"Sharingan Release!"
Kurenai's eyes widened as the genjutsu faded from Sasuke's eyes to reveal the sharingan. She was shocked once again as Sasuke shot forward with a speed she knew she could not hope to match. Despite being a Jonin, Kurenai had never trained extensively in taijutsu. Something which she realized she would have to rectify soon, if she lived after this attack.
Kurenai quickly pulled out a kunai and was relieved when she felt Sasuke's blade hit the weapon. She thought the kunai would stop the blade. But she forgot about the lightning. Sasuke's blade slid through the kunai like butter and pierced the Genjutsu Mistress's shoulder. Kurenai felt numbness spreading throughout her whole body. She couldn't move.
Sasuke looked at the Jonin with glee in his eyes. He saw the blood running out of her shoulder wound and had to quickly squelch any desire he had to drink. Sasuke smirked as he said,
"I win."
It was then Kurenai realized how badly she had underestimated the young Uchiha. She knew that if she had started off with her deadlier genjutsu, as she would have done against a real opponent, she would have won the battle. However, her thoughts went back to how easily Sasuke had beaten her when it came to taijutsu. I need training just as bad as he does! Thought Kurenai.
"I have a deal for you, Sasuke."
"Go ahead."
"I'll teach you genjutsu, if you teach me taijutsu."
And Sasuke smirked.
Xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Naruto sighed as he continued working on his latest technique. The Third Hokage had had some perverted teacher come in to teach him a technique the Fourth had created, the Rasengan. He had mastered the first couple parts of the jutsu, but the final part was incredibly difficult.
The Kyuubi Jinchuuriki thought back over the past two years. Sarutobi had spent the first year training Naruto in nothing but the basics. And Naruto knew that he had needed it, badly. After that year, Naruto could safely say that he was extremely skilled in the basics of being a shinobi. The second year, Sarutobi had spent it teaching Naruto forbidden techniques like Kage Bunshin. The Third Hokage had even given Naruto all of the Yandaime's scrolls. So far most of the jutsu on these scrolls were too complicated for Naruto to master. But he had mastered one or two jutsu like making exploding clones and mastering the wind element. The Yandaime's scrolls had pointed out the usefulness of Kage Bunshin in training and Naruto had used that to its full advantage.
Naruto was interrupted from his thoughts as he noticed the Sandaime and Jiraiya coming towards him. The both had a look of utter seriousness on their faces. Naruto frowned. What could be so important?
"Naruto," the Sandaime said, "Jiraiya and I have been talking, and we believe there are some things you need to know."
"Like what old man!" Naruto said, irritated that his training had been interrupted.
"Have you ever wandered why the villagers hate you?" Jiraiya asked.
Naruto's eyes widened as he shook his head. Were they going to tell him why he was a pariah in the village?
"We were going to wait until you became a genin, but I think you are mature enough to handle it now," Sarutobi said, "The Fourth Hokage was your father. Namikaze Minato was your father."
Naruto's face split into a wide grin. He was the son of his hero!! But why were the Third and Jiraiya still so serious about this?
"There is more, isn't there," Naruto stated. Naruto had matured a lot in the past few years and his observational skills were above that of a normal genin. In fact, Naruto's skill level was at least that of a weak chuunin's.
"The Fourth was not able to kill the Kyuubi. He had a to seal it in a baby. You were that baby." Jiraiya said solemnly.
And Naruto ran.
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I hope you enjoyed!! I should have the next chapter up soon. I have already started work on it. Next chapter should get us to the Genin exams.
Please Review!!!