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 will never admit to being as nervous as he was while he stood in front of the great, big, mahogany doors of the biggest library in New Konoha an hour after the Clan Council meeting ended, hesitating to grab the handle and open the door. On the other side of these two big slabs of decorated wood was supposed to be Naruto with his big fox - a biju, he called it, if Sasuke remembered well, whatever that was - researching some thing or the other that everyone seemed to pity him for not letting go. When he had asked around where the blond had gone, one of the guards told him he was in here but that it was for the best not to disturb him right now. It was, apparently, never a good idea to disturb him at moments like these.

But Sasuke was burning with overflowing questions he had a feeling only Naruto could answer and Sasuke had never been one for patience. Something, if he recalled correctly, he and Naruto seemed to have in common. The blond had said so himself a couple of hours earlier at the meeting.

And speaking of the meeting, the atmosphere in the circular room had significantly changed after Naruto's appearance. The Hyuuga had kept quiet and stole glances at him every once in a while before glancing secretively at each other while Neji looked both excited, nervous and ashamed and guilty, all at the same time, only to wipe every expression of emotion from his face when his grandfather would look at him. Kiba and his family kept grumbling to themselves but they didn't bring up the subject of Naruto stopping their activities last night. The Nara were actively listening and participating in the debates, something very rare for the clan of lazy cloud watchers. The Akamichi didn't even take out their snacks, as they were known to do during anything, both deathly serious and silly. Kakashi didn't take out his book and Jiraiya was too busy discussing something with Naruto himself to stare at the women's breasts or write notes for his next novel. Orochimaru kept mostly to himself but he did say a few things when asked. Karin and Ino looked grumpy, although it would seem Ino had no idea what was going on while Karin knew almost everything about it. Even the three 'advisors' kept their usually degrading comments to themselves and Tsunade looked positively smug.

Naruto looked used to the change in attitude of those around him and so he didn't even bat an eyelash at their strange behavior. He did frown, however, when Karin smirked evilly at him as he sat on the smaller of the two pillows beside the Uchiha Clan's space in the meeting room. Only to further shock everyone when Tsunade insisted that he take his seat and Kurama took the turn to smile a nasty smile in the redhead's direction. Sasuke was surprised to see that Naruto's seat was right and directly behind his own, a seat meant for advisors. And advisors among the clans can only be another clan member who the head of the clan acknowledged to be good for the position. No one asked Naruto any questions, since his fox companion seemed to have made it his job to glare anyone who even looks at the blond into submission and when the meeting was over, those two were the first out of the room, despite them being one of the farthest from it. The Inuzuka dogs and any other animals that were waiting inside had immediately made way for the big nine tailed fox, none daring cross its path. And the guards certainly weren't going to try and stop the two.

And so, Naruto had disappeared for the second time that day, but this time Sasuke had managed to find him. People at the hospital weren't all that acquainted with the blond but anyone who has ever worked at the Hokage Tower, where the Council of the Clans meetings were held, knew the blond very well, it would seem.

So here he was, hesitating to open a stupid set of beautiful doors which separated him from the answers to his many questions. Sasuke scowled at himself, not believing he was acting like this. Since when did he hesitate to get the things he wants? Since when was he reluctant to face someone and ask questions? Never. And so with those thoughts, Sasuke took hold of the two handles and opened the big doors just enough for him to enter.

The library was more like an archive, as it seemed to hold more than books. It was really huge, occupying three floors with high book shelves and a few work desks. He saw three safes and a big cabinet that covered one whole wall with lots and lots of big and small drawers. There was a big chandelier in the middle of the ceiling and several smaller ones scattered around, shedding a great deal of light on the library. The rug under his feet was soft as he entered and he quickly noted the lack of windows in the place. He saw a few talismans with seals on them that he recognized, remembering that they were there to stop fires. It was probably a good idea to have them here, as shinobi wanted to keep their history protected and pass their knowledge on to new generations. But the place looked seldom used and he couldn't at first see the one he was searching for, so he walked deeper into the library, observing everything as he searched out Naruto.

Once his eye caught a glimpse of bright yellow, Sasuke immediately turned in that direction and found a confused blond staring at him with a stack of scrolls, books and reports in his arms. A small, orange, furry creature rested on top of his head, red eyes also staring at the Uchiha, nine fox tails swishing around lazily every now and then. "Sasuke?" Naruto asked curiously and Sasuke had the strange thought that the other looked very cute when he blinked like that.

"Naruto," he replied with a nod, still not moving or looking away from the Immortal and so Naruto sighed, walked over to a desk he had obviously been occupying and put the books down before sitting in one of the four chairs at the big table. The fox, who looked like a miniature of Kurama, jumped off of his head and took the chair closest to Naruto so Sasuke walked over to them and sat on the one right across from the blond.

"What are you doing here?" The whiskered teen asked with an arched blond eyebrow but somehow he didn't seem the same as before. It might be the lack of the coat or the lack of a defensive attitude, but Sasuke found this Naruto far more approachable than the blond had been in their last two meetings.

"I was searching for you and someone told me I could find you here." The raven honestly replied and a suspicious look crossed the blond's and the fox's faces.

"Why?"

"I have a few questions I thought you might have answers to."

The fox rolled his red eyes. "I so wish we had made a bet. I would be getting some money right now!"

"Hush, Kurama. What would you do with it anyways? You're a fox!" The blond said with a glare at his companion and Sasuke's eyes widened for a second as he realized that this cute looking fox was that one that had been threateningly glaring at the Council members for the whole duration of the meeting. Noticing his shock, Naruto laughed. "Don't mind him. He's a biju and he can manifest in the real world in different sizes."

"What is exactly a 'biju'?"

Naruto blinked at him before frowning. "You ... don't know?" Sasuke shook his head and the frown became a glare. "Bastards, I'm gonna kill them when I learn who didn't tell you about biju and Jinchuuriki."

"Should I know?" Sasuke questioned with a raised eyebrow and Naruto glared at him.

"Yes."

"Why?"

"Because most of the wars were fought over them."

"Kit, I think you should start by actually telling him what Jonchuuriki and biju are." Kurama cut in while jumping on the desk and sprawling on top of some important looking documents. He ignored Naruto's warning look and just yawned, as if he were about to go to sleep and couldn't be bothered with searching for the next closest soft sleeping spot. His nine tails settled in all directions or over his own body and head and Kurama was officially ignoring them.

"Right," Naruto conceded, running a tanned hand through golden locks of soft hair. "Let's start off with the biju. They are tailed beasts of great power, made of chakra so dense that they have physical bodies. They're over a thousand years old and they have seen the rise and fall of the ninja world or era, whatever you call it."

"A thousand years?" The mortal one asked in an incredulous tone of voice. "How? And I thought Immortals existed since forever."

Naruto snorted. "Biju are the first Immortal beings in existence. They actually come from a whole other world, a different dimension, from which the first chakra users come, too. Chakra users and ninja are two different things, you see. Anyone can learn to use chakra but not everyone can use it the way ninjas do. Ninjutsu only came into existence a millennium ago." Naruto crossed his arms as he leaned back in his seat. "The first Immortals came into existence rather recently in history, actually. Around nine hundred years ago. We're talking about the grandchildren of the first chakra users and they were few and far in between, as people though immortality was the devil's business or something. This opinion was reinforced when ordinary people first came into contact with the biju."

"Why?" The pale teen asked, studying the fox napping in the mess on the table. To him, Kurama didn't look like anything that could be associated with the devil. He was cute, furry and fuzzy with soft bushy tails that would make anyone want to touch it all the time. The only strange things about the fox were his red eyes and the additional eight tails, but the fox looked beautiful and exotic, not dangerous. Okay, maybe a little when it was bigger, but only about as much as any bigger dog. "I don't see it. Your fox looks beautiful, not devilish."

Kurama looked up at that and stared at the Uchiha for a moment before shrugging and going back to his nap. He was obviously going to let Naruto deal with it all and just rest. It was one of his lazy days.

"You say that now, but wait till you see him in his full size. Godzila's got nothing on him." The Uzumaki said with a huff and Sasuke wanted to chuckle. "As for the other biju, while they are as big as Kurama, not all of them are as 'beautiful' as he is. In fact, they look kind of monstrous and some of them have really foul attitudes and nasty tempers. No matter what size they might be, they resembled demons and people called and treated them as such. You must have noticed when that one guy insisted on Kurama being a Yoko instead of a Kitsune."

"Yeah. I thought that strange but didn't get the chance to ask anyone." The Uchiha said as he leaned forward and rested his elbows on the desk, interlocking his fingers and leaning his mouth and chin on them. "But I still don't understand why."

"People have seen the power of biju and they wanted it for themselves so they started hunting them. In retaliation," Naruto said as he put up a few books and scrolls to stand vertically in front of Kurama, probably presenting some town or village. Kurama opened one eye and a single tail lashed out to knock over the items before retreating and that one red eye closing. "Biju often destroyed towns and villages who were stupid enough to desire a biju. However, some were caught," Naruto paused, seeing the shocked look on Sasuke's face as he still stared at the representation of a destroyed village. "Oi, are you listening?"

Sasuke glared. "I am, but why would they destroy entire villages if a handful of people were after them?"

"Because, more often than not, entire villages worked on bringing us down." Kurama growled out, glaring at the raven haired boy. "We were bigger and stronger than them. They couldn't do it on their own even if they wanted to."

"Anyway, if they did manage to capture a biju, they couldn't use its powers just like that. So they came up with fuinjutsu about six hundred years ago, an art of sealing. The Uzumaki Clan perfected this type of jutsu, but they didn't hunt for biju."

"Wait, Uzumaki? Like you and Karin? Are you two related?" Sasuke interrupted and Naruto blinked.

"Um, yeah. She's a distant relative, both family and generation wise. Like, there's about three hundred years of a time gap between us."

"Oh." That would explain why they looked nothing alike. But they seemed to have no similar characteristics either. How were they even related. Naruto must have sensed his puzzlement because he giggled with a hand covering his mouth to stop the sound. It didn't and it was utterly adorable. Sasuke wondered why he felt like blushing because of that gesture. He was right about one thing, though. This Naruto was completely different from the Naruto he had seen around others.

"If you're wondering why we don't look alike, it's not just the generation gap. All Uzumakis generally have red hair and pale skin. Eye color is different but not the shape. She looks a lot more like an Uzumaki than I do, which is why the advisers took the absence of Uchihas to kick me out of the family tree. The Uzumaki Clan is in very close relation to the Senju and as such represents another threat to their power hungry crusades. I look a lot more like my father. I do have the Uzumaki temper, though, and my mother's face shape. I also got a few other Uzumaki traits from her that I'm not going to talk about yet. But, yeah. Karin and I don't look alike nor do we really get along."

"How come?" Naruto sighed at the predictable question.

"It might be strange for you, since all you've ever known is the close bonds of the Uchiha Clan, but not all clans and all clan members have such close bonds. For example, the Hyuuga have divided into a Head Family and Branch Families which are the Head Family's servants," Naruto said, counting off of his fingers. "Aburames rarely spend time together, but that's mostly because not all of their bugs get along. Akimichi, Yamanaka and Nara leave the family house at their earliest convenience, get married and never return except for holidays." Sasuke stared at him in shock and Naruto chuckled. "Like I said, not all clans have such close bonds as the Uchiha."

"I noticed, but I never understood them..."

"Of course you wouldn't. Wrapped up in the overwhelming, if masked, love and warmth of the seemingly cold Uchiha, you would never know just how distant family members could be. Your family stuck together through thick and thin and none ever had any desire to leave it. It's one of the reasons that the Uchiha Clan was always the biggest and most numbered, despite none of them being Immortals."

Sasuke shook his head, not wanting to think about his clan but wondering at the sad and nostalgic tone in Naruto's voice as he said that. "You're supposed to be some 'Uchiha guardian'," and yes, Sasuke did put in the air quotes here, ignoring the blond's raised eyebrow. "How come I've never met you? Or better yet, Jiraiya said you knew many Uchiha. How exactly did you get involved with my clan?"

He wished he never asked either of those questions, as a flash of something that resembled sadness passed through those cerulean eyes before all emotion evaporated from Naruto's face, replaced with a cold, detached expression more fitting on an Uchiha than on anyone else. "I thought that they quite clearly stated Fugaku asked me to leave."

"But why-"

"As for the other question, I don't think that's any of your business." The blond cut in coldly, not letting him finish and Sasuke felt his anger surfacing. He glared at the teen sitting across him as he growled out his reply.

"It is my business when it concerns my clan, dobe!" He slammed a fist on the surface of the desk, startling Kurama. Blue eyes flashed with a rising temper and the blond jumped to his feet.

"What the hell did you just call me, teme!?" Naruto snarled out as the beast he housed and Kurama was suddenly wide awake, watching as the potential bond between those two became less and less likely to happen.

"Are deaf as well as dumb, dobe?" The Uchiha sneered, calmly standing up and crossing his arms across his broad chest. There was electricity dancing between them and Kurama decided to jump in before they could end up fighting with something more than words and insults.

"Sasuke, how about I finish the explanation of biju and Jinchuuriki? That's what you wanted to know, right?" Black eyes glared at the fox but Kurama just glared back. He was used to the Uchiha Glare of Death after seeing it for centuries.

"Hn, I wanted to know things about my clan and Konoha, not about biju."

"Well, Mr Sunshine," the Kyuubi drawled with dripping sarcasm. "Naruto had one point. Many wars were fought because of the biju, and in turn, because of Jinchuuriki. One of those wars ended with Konoha as a result. Naruto and I are involved in that story."

Sasuke appeared to be thinking it over while Naruto continued glaring at him. It wasn't the first time someone insulted him, far from it, nor was it a first time it was an Uchiha, either. It was the first time, though, that someone called him that and the first time an Uchiha seemed to genuinely dislike him. Of course, that may be because he hadn't ever been there for Sasuke but Naruto refused to dwell on that now. He didn't want to think about the pain it caused him.

Finally; Sasuke nodded and sat back down. "I'll hear you out. I'm sure the Usuratonkachi can finish his story."

A blond brow twitched and Naruto grumbled something about arrogant bastards before sitting back down himself. "So, yeah, people wanted the biju's power but they couldn't just take it just like that. They learned that by sealing something in a scroll or something similar, with a small blood sacrifice - don't look at me like that. It's not that type of blood sacrifice! Surely you've seen someone, namely from the Sannin or Kakashi, using Kuchiyose no Jutsu, right?"

"Yeah, I've seen it." The Uchiha nodded, pushing away all unpleasant thoughts about blood sacrifice rituals that had immediately jumped to the forefront of his mind. He had seen Jiraiya summoning his toads or Orochimaru occasionally his snakes and he had met Pakkun when he was twelve. And his brother had had crows for kuchiyose so he knew a bit about the creatures.

"Yeah, well, the Uzumaki figured out how to seal things and summon them through written seals and many thought it possible to do the same for the biju. So during the Second Ninja War, they broke into the Uzushiogakure, kidnapped a lot of people and completely destroyed the village. Rare few Uzumaki escaped kidnapping or execution. They were the head clan of that village. The ninja of that village were forced to make any sort of seal that might hold the biju in, but the ninja of the Uzushio almost immediately realized that the biju were too strong for mere objects to hold them and they instead started making seals that will seal away biju in humans. It would bind them for life and if the biju were to be extracted, the human would die." Naruto paused to sigh, taking Kurama into his arms. The Kitsune went quietly, knowing this will always be a sore topic for his kit. Besides, he needs Naruto's reminder that although he was still sealed away, he had freedom and that he was not still in tjose days where he was used as nothing but a weapon for greedy, power hungry humans.

"And that worked? Sealing them in humans?" Sasuke asked incredulously. How could anyone even think to do that?

"Yes, it worked. The sealing methods were perfected on different levels and in different ways but the end result was a human container for the biju." Naruto cast his eyes down and actually petted Kurama's head and long ears. "The Uzumaki, of course, had made the perfect seal. It came in handy when, during the Third Ninja War, sometime near the end of it, when an Uchiha and a Senju fought, the Senju had a biju sealed inside a woman. An Uzumaki. When she got pregnant, both the Uchiha and the Senju had to keep the biju under control-"

"What!?" Sasuke breathed in shock but Naruto didn't seem to have heard him, a far away look in his eyes as he continued his story. Sasuke decided not to interrupt him for fear of Naruto stopping talking.

"When she got really old, a new Uzumaki was chosen to take her place. That Uzumaki was my mother and on the night of my birth, someone from one of the Uchiha's opposing clans decided they wanted to make sure that the Uchiha won't get the biju. So they snuck into the little cottage my mother had been occupying during labor and they drained her of almost all of her chakra, breaking the seal and unleashing the biju. The biju was eager for his freedom and angry at being sealed away for so long so he started destroying what had been the beginnings of Konoha. My father tried to subdue the biju but in the end, he had no choice but to seal it in another Uzumaki as my mother was already dead after just managing to give birth to me."

"No ..." Sasuke breathed, not believing what he was hearing. Naruto had a biju - Kurama, it would seem - sealed away inside him when he couldn't have been an hour old?! Were the people back then really that sick!?

"So he sealed the Kyuubi inside me. The only problem with the ultimate seal that the Uzumakis made was that it required a sacrifice. The sealer was to let the Shinigami swallow their soul for eternity. My dad didn't hesitate to save us all and I became a Jinchuuriki, a vessel for the Kyuubi no Kitsune. Then, with his last dying breaths, he teleported to his closest friend and gave me to him before dying. The Senju tried to take me in but Ma-"

They both jumped in alarm when the library doors smacked open and a hassled looking Shizune ran in to search for some files before running right back out. Sasuke stared after her as she slammed the big doors closed before turning back to Naruto, only to find the blond had once again pulled his little disappearing act.

Damn it, and just when he was about to find out something!