Precious Treasure of the Uchiha
Summary: For centuries, a child Madara took in lived with the Uchiha clan and was loved above all treasures. But in this day and time,the clan is wiped out, only one remaining. Read on as Naruto tries to solve the murder of the clan and the disappearance of Itachi all the while protecting the last living Uchiha. How will Sasuke cope in the world of immortals?
Sasuke groaned for who knows what time that day when he saw Jiraiya, a man with lightly tanned skin, long white hair and a giant scroll hanging at the small of his back, standing in front of the school and waving at him, Sakura and Sai. It wouldn't have been so bad if he hadn't been waving around a big banner that read their names in big black letter for all to see and gossip about. He heard Sakura do the same but Sai's smile just got more strained and rather fake. Very few could tell the difference but Sasuke has been forced to spend a month with these two so he could tell. It helped that he had incredibly sharp eyes.
When they walked up to the Sannin, Jiraiya swooped in and drew Sasuke into a big, manly bear hug. Apparently, he has been a family friend since over four hundred or more years ago. He didn't stick around long or frequently, as a place couldn't hold him for long because he loved traveling, but he did visit every decade or so. However, ever since the massacre of his clan, Jiraiya had started visiting Sasuke and his older brother every other month. When Itachi died in the plane crash, Jiraiya finally settled down and stayed in New Konoha.
New Konoha was now actually a part of Tokyo, closer to the inlands than the sea and facing towards the old direction of the ninja village the place was named after. Konoha was the village founded by an Uchiha and a Senju over four hundred years ago, as part of the Fire Country, one of the great five big nations. The Senju was the first Hokage, as the Uchiha had been untrusting of the other ninja clans that were to be a part of the village. Instead, the Uchiha and his clan became the protectors of the village and the Hokage, something like a foundation for the first and original ANBU in the next few decades. During the WWI, the five great nations had to unite to survive and there was an agreement that the great five ninja villages will be burned to the ground as a sign of trust and loyalty between them. The villages did indeed burn, or so the textbooks said, but Jiraiya had told Sasuke that the shinobi had simply used a genjutsu to make it appear so and that they have simply hidden their villages even better than before. However, they had to leave them, so the great five villages moved to become parts of big cities.
Konohagakure's ninja found their place in Tokyo, Sunagakure's in Kyoto, Amegakure in Nagoya, Kirigakure's in Aomori, Iwagakure in Fukuyama and many of the smaller villages in other places. Fire, Wind, Water, Lightning and Earth Countries all became part of modern Japan and were destroyed of all identity as anything but in WWII. Rarely anyone could find their way back to their old villages, as the terrain had completely been changed. Not even Jiraiya had ever even once stumbled upon a village again. The ninja world was as good as dead, especially when a few smaller villages died out.
But the shinobi stayed. Many were Immortal so they taught the new generations how to fight. The ninja arts became shinobi arts. The training ninja once went through was the normal training any shinobi has to go through. Ninja secrets were now that of shinobi. Ninja clans were shinobi clans. Many would say that shinobi is just an older way of saying ninja and that they mean the same thing, but they don't. Not anymore. Shinobi were people who may or may not become Immortals one day. They were protectors of this modern world because many ninja were left enraged with the disrespect their many sacrifices for their homeland received. So they left those they considered responsible traps that allowed all sorts of summoning spirits and creatures, known simply as kuchiyose, to make chaos. Those who escaped the shinobi taught their children to do the same, to hate those blissfully ignorant ordinary people who will never know or care for the sacrifices ninja have made throughout history for them.
The end of the ninja period was far more painful than the samurai period.
"So, Sasuke, how goes life these days?" The white haired man asked, ignoring the stares his usual, archaic outfit got. He was old and he didn't care as to how these modern youngsters viewed him.
"As well as it can. I hear Kakashi will be back soon so I can continue my training."
"Bah, why do you always insist on Kakashi training you? I'm far more experienced and knowledgeable!" The Sannin protested and Sakura sweat dropped while Sasuke shrugged the arm still around his shoulders off.
"Because he has one of my family's eyes and he could teach me a lot."
"Kakashi himself doesn't know much about it. If that's what you hope to learn from him, you're better off on your own."
"Are you saying you know more about the Sharingan than someone who actually has it?" Sasuke asked, arching a brow and letting his black eyes turn red, one eye having two black comas, the other one, only to have Jiraiya push his head down, messing up his hair.
"Brat, are you crazy!? I told you not to do that where ordinary people can see you!"
Sasuke glared, eyes once again black, and pushed off the hand on his head. "It's not as if they would really see anything! They'd think it was their minds or light playing tricks on them!"
"And what if another shinobi sees? They'd come right after you to kill or kidnap you! No one should know you awakened that ability." The Immortal man grumbled at the last Uchiha. "You should know by now how many want the Sharingan either in their possession or gone all together. Your family has been hated for centuries, feared for their incredible gifts. The Uchiha-"
"Just ... shut up. I don't want to talk about my family." Sasuke said with a dismissive wave of his hand but his voice was glacier cold. Even after six years since it had happened, Sasuke could not let go and move on.
It had been an ordinary day in the Uchiha compound. Everyone was going about their day as usual, no one ever expecting the tragedy that would happen that very night. Itachi, fourteen at the time, had woken an eight year old Sasuke early so they could go train and then go to the fair that was in town at the time. They had had breakfast with their parents before Sasuke all but dragged his older brother out of the house and then their family's property, all the while chattering about it - something very uncharacteristic for the Uchihas - or greeting their many, many relatives. Like in the village, the Uchiha were given immense grounds for their large clan, covering several blocks of New Konoha. They were the largest and most prestigious clan in all of the shinobi world.
Were, as in past tense.
Because while the two brothers were out, a mysterious group came to their family home and killed all of their cousins, aunts, uncles and grandparents, not to mention their father and mother. Sasuke himself had almost been killed had Itachi not stopped and killed one of the murderers when Sasuke had ran towards their mother's body. Itachi had managed to kill half their group somehow. Sasuke doesn't know how. The memories were too hazy as he had fainted in emotional exhaustion as soon as his attacker's body hit the ground at his feet. All he knew was that when he woke up a few days later, he and his brother were orphans and everything they knew was gone or irreversibly changed. The funeral was huge but the burial grounds were luckily at the Uchiha compound. No one was missing. He and his nii-san were truly alone in the world.
Today, everyone knew not to mention the Uchiha clan, let alone the massacre, as it made Sasuke very testy and no one really knew just what the last Uchiha would do. And so Jiraiya shut up and changed the subject to safer matters. The four shinobi started talking about their latest missions or trainings, as Sasuke had not been able to go on an official mission yet. He needed a supervisor for his first year as a shinobi but Kakashi was too busy to lead him on missions and Jiraiya had been focusing on something else that he had ended up dragging Kakashi into, too. And Sasuke would need special escorts due to him being the last person alive carying the precious Uchiha blood no one wanted to lose before they could find out all of their secrets.
"What is Kakashi looking for?" Sai ended up asking, not at all bothering to realize that it was not something you should as so bluntly as now Jiraiya will never tell them. True to their expectations, the so called frog hermit started laughing deeply and Sasuke and Sakura glared at Sai.
"Ah, now that's a little secret. Well, a really big one, actually," he rubbed his chin thoughtfully, staring off into the distance as they walked towards a karaoke bar - Sai's choice, as he had read somewhere that it was the best place to get to know someone and become closer friends. It would be a new experience for the teens but Jiraiya assured them it really was fun. "He's searching for this guy that might shed some light on a lot of things. For example, he's actually the only person alive who can still enter the ninja villages."
"No way!" Sakura gushed. "I heard that it was impossible to find them! You said so yourself!"
"I did," Jiraiya confirmed with a nod and a fond smile. "But this guy ... he's different. He's the type of guy who has the guts to never give up. He searched and he found what he had searched for. But he's not telling anyone where or how we could find them. With good reasons. We are not ninja anymore. We are shinobi. Those villages are part of history now and we would only want to soil that history with our modern ways. He visits them regularly so that he can keep them properly."
"I thought that it was forbidden to return to the villages?" Sai asked with a frown, a thoughtful gleam in his eyes. He knew very well that it was prohibited. Anyone caught doing it will be exiled from the shinobi society. And all rouge shinobi are treated as all rouge ninja had been: they were hunted down, killed, their bodies hidden, their graves never to see light of day again.
"That may be, but he's the oldest shinobi alive." Jiraiya throughly enjoyed the slacked jaws he was getting as a reaction. He ignored the stares he felt on his back as he paid for the karaoke room they were renting.
"How old are we talking about?" Sasuke dared to ask, thinking about what number the old man might give him. Jiraiya himself was around three hundred and five years old, shinobi wise, as he had a really, really long life. How old could this guy be, when the Sannin were considered the oldest three? Only their teacher had been older and that was by a decade or two.
"Around four hundred years." Another round of jaw dropping. Jiraiya laughed at the reactions he was getting. There was rarely anyone that close to the age of Konoha, the oldest of the hidden villages. It was a well known fact that the Third and Fourth Shinobi War had wiped out a good chunk of the Immortals from before them.
It was one of the reasons Uchiha were feared. They had loads of techniques that only they as born Sharingan users can do that could kill an Immortal. Many made techniques based on the ones the Uchiha have used on a few rare occasions and there were those who found out human sacrifice can kill an Immortal. Still, none could off the Immortals like the Uchiha Clan could, should they ever tire of Immortals. A Fifth Shinobi War was the last thing they needed right now.
The three teens (well, Sai and Sakura at least looked like teenagers) tried to get Jiraiya to tell them more about the four hundred year old Immortal but Jiraya was too far off in his own musings. They had exchanged confused looks and just shrugged him off in the end. They'd get him to talk when he gets drunk later.
As expected, the old hermit did order sake and lots of it. Sai took a little as well but Sakura put her foot down when they tried offering it to Sasuke. Not that the Uchiha would have taken it. He had tasted the stuff once and found it repulsive. He liked scotch, though, and his favorite alcoholic beverage was the Bloody Marry. Sai put down the sake after that one drink, finding it rather cheap and with a horrible after taste. Jiraiya had shrugged him off and drank and drank ... and drank until it was all gone. By then, Sasuke had decided it wasn't nearly entertaining enough to watch Sakura screaming at the other two Immortals about their manners and moral after hearing the hundredth penis joke Sai would tell them almost gleefully.
Now, him wanting to leave meant the others had to follow and the slightly drunk Jiraiya was all against it ... until Sakura reminded him that he had to report to Tsunade's office early tomorrow morning. The white haired man had instantly got out of his seat and started beckoning the teens in a very weird manner. Never the less, they left the karaoke studios and started heading towards Sasuke's place and they had quite a few laughs on the way, sharing old funny stories or telling crude jokes about the Council members. Everything was fine until Jiraiya stumbled, nearly face-planting on the sidewalk and then a savage howl echoed the empty streets.
Before the group of four could blink, they were surrounded by twelve people, obviously shinobi, some of whom Sakura, Sai and Sasuke could personally recognize. They had never thought that their schoolmates would turn on them like this, no matter how bad their relations were.
The mother of the Inuzuka clan stepped forward, her wolf like dark dog companion following at her heal. "If you hand over Uchiha Sasuke right now, we will not harm you."
"Then I guess there will be a hell of a lot harming." Jiraiya grumbled as he got back to his feet, head light and dizzy but a firm glare on his face. Sakura and Sai were ready in a second, gloves and paintbrush out. Sasuke cursed as he realized he only had a few kunai and shuriken on him as he couldn't carry around his preferred weapon. It was apparently against the law to haul around a sharpened katana.
The raven haired genius frowned when a tussle haired brunet came coser to the Uchiha. "Oh, I am going to enjoy taking you down, Uchiha Sasuke." Sasuke narrowed his eyes, ready for an attack, but said nothing. The sixteen shinobi stared at each other for a long minute when a grandfather clock in a nearby house struck midnight and they lunged at each other.
That was how it had began and now, when Sasuke had thought himself to be about to die, he saw something yellow flash from the corner of his eye before the deadly attack was swiftly repelled. The teens stared in wonder as Kiba and his giant dog, Akamaru, went sailing to the side, their deadly spin coming to a stop even before the harsh landing.
A low whistle from a little behind Sasuke had the four attacked looking over their shoulders at the masked, silver haired man that stood there with hands casually shoved into his pockets while a brunet, slightly tanned and slightly shorter than the first, hovered anxiously beside him.
"You're late." Sasuke said and those mismatched black and red eyes focused on Sasuke.
"Sorry, Sasuke, but I had a fox to deal with." His faze returned to the male now stood a few feet in front of Sasuke, rigid and his back to the Uchiha, one arm still outstretched to the left where he had so easily flung Kiba.
The man lifted his sun colored hair and cast a glance over his shoulder at Sasuke, who vaguely remembers seeing startlingly blue eyes and three strange markings on a cheek before he passed out.
