Chapter 2: Brightest Day, The Blackest Night

It was a typically busy day in Konoha.

Merchants tending to their businesses.

Shinobis tending to their duties.

"Get back here you demon spawn!!"

"You'll pay for your insolence."

"Baka!! Who'd stop for your slow asses?! That's what you get for being such stuck-up pricks"

Naruto chased by a couple of chunins sporting multicolored afros & spraypainted uniforms.

...

Yes, a typically busy day in Konoha indeed.

"Give it up brat!! You know that we'll catch you eventually!! Give it up & your punishment for the infraction will be light!!" One of the chunins screamed as Naruto led them on a merry chase on the rooftops.

"Bite me!! You can't prove that prank was my doing!! Besides, you haven't caught me before so what makes you think you can catch me now?" Naruto screamed back, taunting the chunins with a 'kiss my ass' gesture.

This was technically true. Naruto was extraordinarily fast for his age. His speed coupled with his natural craftiness & innate knowledge of the sidestreets & alleyways of Konoha made it almost impossible for anybody below jounin level to capture him. And even the lower ranked jounins of the village had a difficult time trying to keep up with the hyperactive blonde dynamo.

But then again, he had to develop his skills at eluding & survival relatively early in his life because for as long as he could remember, he was frequently assaulted by the villagers a number of shinobis for some reason.

Even while he was back in the orphanage, he was periodically targetted for abuse by staff & kids alike & if it weren't for the fact that he was such a fast healer, he'd be a cripple now from the constant beatings he suffered. And the attacks escalated when he decided to leave the orphanage & live on his own so he had to learn to fend for himself.

Fortunately, the old man (Sandaime) set him up with a small apartment of his own. It was located near the ANBU hq so as to avoid harassment while he was home.

But of course, it was a different story when he came out of his house to find some work or buy food. He was frequently chased out of shops, charged outrageous prices for rotten food or substandard equipment. It was a good thing that the Sandaime regularly sends him supplies & anonymous benefactors leaves him scrolls of basic shinobi training. At least not everyone hated him.

And while he didn't make it a point to hate the villagers for what they do to him, he wasn't averse to the occasional prank against his tormentors.

Which was why he was in this predicament.

"We WILL get you brat. And when we do, you'll never cause trouble for anybody again!" The chunins said as they drew their kunais.

"You gotta catch me first, losers!" Naruto calls out turning to a corner. As the chunins turn to the corner, they see the large estates/kennels of the Inuzaka Clan. And in the yard, Inuzaka Tsume can be seen feeding a number of large dogs. The Inuzaka matriach looks up & scowls at the approaching chunins.

"Is there something I can do for you gentlemen?" Tsume asks.

"Inuzaka Sama. Our apologies for disturbing you but did you happen to see the Demo..." The Chunin starts to say before he feels himself lifted up by the throat in an iron-like grip by the Inuzaka head.

"Before you finish that sentence, think about your choice of words first because it might have serious consequences later on." Tsume growls.

"I... I'm sorry." The Chunin said struggling to breath. He then felt himself released & scoots back as his partner takes his place. "What we had meant to say was, have you seen Uzumaki Naruto pass by here?"

"Can't say I have. I've been here all morning feeding my dogs & cleaning their kennels. Besides, aside from the fact that he seemed to have made a couple of monkeys outta you two, I don't see anything that the boy did to warrant you brandishing your kunais at him." Tsume said with a frown.

The chunins quickly kept their weapons but still tried to plead their case. "Lady Inuzaka, surely you can see the danger that boy poses to us if we were to allow him to run about. He's not normal."

"From what I heard, he's training to be a shinobi so he's not supposed to be normal and the same goes for anybody else in this line of work." Tsume said with an exasperated sigh then adds. "Besides, all I see are a two chunins pissed off because a boy who's not even a genin yet was able to outsmart & outrun them."

The two chunins looks down in shame but still looked quite livid from the prank Naruto pulled on them.

"Now as I've said before, I have not seen Uzumaki Naruto pass by here so you'll have to look for him somewhere else. Now if you'll excuse me." Tsume turns on the pretense that she was going back to work but was secretly snickering at the two chunins plight who jumps off in search of the blonde elsewhere. One she was sure they were gone, Tsume turns to her longtime canine partner, Kuromaru who seemed to be resting in the corner.

"Alright Naruto, you can come out now. They're gone." Tsume calls out. Naruto peeks out from behind the large, shaggy back of Kuromaru & sighs in relief.

"Honestly pup. The trouble you put yourself through." The black, one eyed dog grumbled as he padded over to Tsume & sat at her side looking at Naruto. "You already know that they dislike you. But to antagonize them even further like that is just asking for trouble."

"Aww c'mon Kuromaru San. You know I was just messin' with them." Naruto said with a broad foxy grin. "Besides, serves 'em right for picking on a poor defenseless kid like me."

"Poor defenseless kid my ass. You ran them ragged around Konoha trying to catch you. Kuromaru's right you know. You're asking for trouble & eventually they'll catch you." Tsume admonished the blonde but thought privately. "Such a lively troublemaker like his old man."

"Don't worry Tsume Baa San..." Tsume's eyebrow twitched. "...I can run circles around them & still get away with time to spare. They don't have my energy." Naruto stated proudly.

"You don't know the half of it, kiddo. NOBODY has your energy." Kuromaru thought in amusement at Naruto's bold statement.

"Well now since you still have so much energy left Naruto..." Tsume started with an evil glint in her eyes making Naruto step back in fear. "...Let's put it to good use by you helping me clean the rest of the pens here."

At Naruto's look of disbelief which indicated that he knew how large the Inuzaka kennels were, Tsume shrugged & answered his unspoken question with a feral grin. "What? You didn't think I saved your ass for free did you? Hehehe!"

Kuromaru immediately lies down with both paws over his head & covering his ears to protect his sensitive hearing from Naruto's coming reaction as he mentally counted down. "...3 ...2 ...1"

"ARGHHHHHHH!!"

(Hokage Tower)

The Sandaime & Jiraiya chuckles at Naruto's plight as they watched the entire proceeding through the Hokage's crystal ball.

"I guess that's enough punishment for Naruto, wouldn't you say so Jiraiya?" Sarutobi said to his former student.

"Yeah." Jiraiya rumbled in agreement. "Stupid kid. I swear that he's becoming more & more like Minato every passing day. Right down to his love of pranks."

"Indeed. But I've never known Minato to be THIS creative in his... Uhh... Activities." The Hokage said as he puffed on his pipe. "And his tenant aside, the fact that none of our current chunins & even a couple jounins couldn't catch him indicates that we might have to re-think the shinobi academy curriculum & training."

"It's a good thing Naruto is as fast & as quick-thinking as he is." Jiraiya stated. "Working wth those training scrolls we dropped over his house must be paying off."

"We should also be thankful that a number of major clans openly support him. I can't think of the number of times that he was saved by clansmen of the Nara's, Yamanaka's, Akimichi's, Aburame's & of course, the Inuzaka's." The Sandaime said.

"Naruto gets his part-time jobs from these clans as well." Jiraiya pointed out. "Though he does recieve a monthly stipend from you, the kid likes to keep busy though the clans can't put him in a position where he can be seen in public while he works. It still sucks that majority of the village doesn't recognize him for the hero that he rightfully is."

"I understand." The Sandaime said. "But for now, all we can do watch over him & see if he can grow up to match or surpass his father's legacy."

(Konoha Hospital)

Tsunade sighs as she sips the tea that her young apprentice Shizune brought her. Her work as the director of the Hidden Leaf's hospital had been extremely fulfilling since she had been able to implement the changes to Konoha's medical system & made it the best in the region. But at the back of her mind, she wondered if she could've done more if she became Hokage.

"Maybe I should've accepted that job offer years ago." She mused. "But then again, the paperworks are bound to be killer."

"Tsunade Sama." Shizune's voice cuts into her thoughts. Looking up, Tsunade sees her apprentice with a mother-daughter pair whose shockingly pink hair identified them as part of the Haruno clan.

"Ahh Haruno San. Coming in for Sakura's annual check up?" Tsunade inquires pleasantly as she studies the little girl hiding behind her mother.

"Hai Tsunade Sama." The elder Haruno said with a respectful bow. "Though with the care you've given her & the rest of the children in Konoha, I doubt that there's anything wrong with her."

"Be that as it may, there's nothing wrong with taking a little precaution." Tsunade stated, digging around one of her drawers for some of the small candies she always kept there to give to her young patients. She then offers it to Sakura with a kind smile who takes the sweets with a shy smile of her own. "Besides, it's always good to see Sakura here."

Tsunade had taken a liking to the young Haruno because of her adorable nature & suprising intelligence. And from what she heard from the elder Haruno, Sakura wanted to become one of the very few shinobis to hail from her clan. Who know? If Sakura managed to distinguish herself in the academy, Tsunade might even consider take her as an apprentice.

"So Sakura, are you ready to begin?" Tsunade asks Sakura who simply nods. The Slug Sanin then leads her & the mother to the Examination Room for her check-up.

(Later that night, in the Uchiha Compound)

"Itachi, you fool. What have you done?" Orochimaru thought with a scowl as he looks around. Dead bodies littered the Uchiha Compound & reeked of the blood of all the clansmen slain by Uchiha Itachi in what could be the worst act of mass murder in Konoha. Beside him, his young apprentice Anko looked a little ill but, to her credit, kept her composure in the face of such carnage.

When the Hokage first summoned him regarding the massacre, Orochimaru couldn't believe his ears. He immediately rushed towards the Uchiha Compound only to find that it was true that almost the entire Uchiha Clan had been killed. And what's worse was that the perpetrator of the crime seemed to be one of their own namely the famed prodigy, Uchiha Itachi.

Now nobody held any real love for the Uchiha Clan. Not only were a lot of them quite arrogant, they were also openly hostile to anybody whom they deemed as inferior. At least the Hyugas were mostly indifferent to other people.

But no matter how hated the clan was, there was no reason for all of this to happen. No reason for Itachi to go on this killing spree.

No reason except one.

"Orochimaru." The Snake Sanin turns towards the man who had summoned him here. "It's happening again, Orochimaru." Sarutobi said.

Orochimaru nods in confirmation. Being a student of history, he knew what the Hokage was referring to. This was not the first time that the Uchiha clan had nearly been wiped out because it had happened once before during the Shodaime Hokage's reign where Uchiha Madara killed a large number of his clansmen to obtain the Mangekyou Sharingan. And though the Shodaime Hokage managed to defeat him, Uchiha Madara had escaped & has not been heard from since. But now, Uchiha Itachi managed to pull off what Uchiha Madara couldn't. As far as he could tell, nobody was spared.

"Yes. The Mangekyou Sharingan." Orochimaru said. "It seems that Itachi wanted to obtain it to increase his power. But I wonder how he discovered the conditions for it?" The Snake Sanin wondered.

"Does it matter now?" Sarutobi asks as he watched the ANBU sort through the corpses. "Where is Itachi now?"

"The gate guards reported that a figure in ANBU outfit jumped down from the village walls. When they got there, they found Itachi's crow mask & ANBU sword which is presumebly the weapon he used here." Orochimaru stated.

But before Orochimaru could continue with his report, an ANBU calls them over. "Hokage Sama!! Orochimaru Sama!! Over here!! We have a survivor." He calls out.

The Hokage & the Snake Sanin wasted no time in rushing over & finds a small, wide-eyed boy huddled in a corner. And despite the fact he seemed to be shivering in fear, there was also a look of intense rage in the boy's obsidian eyes.

"I'm no doctor but it looks like this boy is suffering from the effects of a powerful genjutsu." The Sandaime said. "Probably from the Mangekyou Sharingan."

Orochimaru nods at this but adds. "That may be true but he also managed to break out of it on his own out of sheer willpower. Even if the genjutsu has less effect on an Uchiha then on other people, it is still quite a feat at his young age." He said, clearly impressed at the boy's tenacity.

Orochimaru then kneels down & stares the boy straight in the eye. To his credit, the boy stared right back at him. "What's your name boy?" Orochimaru asks.

The boy remained silent for a while then answered.

"Uchiha…. Sasuke."

Author's Notes: Alright folks. I hope you guys like my new installment of my story. As usual, R&R please.