Chapter 1: Beginnings
"Naru-ch- Naruto-chan, you'll stay with us from now on, alright? I'm going to bring you to your new room so you can sleep, and we'll talk more tomorrow, alright?" Mikoto said as she steered Naruto down the corridors of the manor. Naruto nodded mutely, though her eyes scanned and took note of her surroundings, as if willing herself to commit the place to memory so she can clock an escape route. Mikoto's heart broke a little more at her behaviour, but she steeled herself and put on a convincing smile for the blond girl.
"Okaa-san?" a young voice called out. Itachi stood at the doorway to the kitchen, a glass of water cupped in his hands, looking curiously at the girl accompanying his mum in the middle of the night.
"Itachi-chan," Mikoto called, surprised to see her eldest son. "What are you doing up so late at night?"
"I was thirsty," he replied sheepishly, sneaking curious glances at the girl who looks to be about the same age as his younger brother.
"Ah, yes, Naru-chan, this is my son Itachi. He's just a few years older than yo- Naru-chan? Naru-chan are you alright?" Mikoto asked, startled at the expression on Naruto's face.
Beside her, Naruto had frozen still at the sight of the Uchiha heir, his pale skin and black hair triggering her memories of another pale skin, black haired male. Her eyes widened in a horrified expression, her breath becoming shorter and shorter at the trigger, driving her into a fit.
"What's going on?" Fugaku's voice came from behind. His talk with Kakashi over, both men stepped out of the study and noted the commotion in the kitchen hallway.
"She's having a panic attack!" Mikoto cried, unsure of what to do in the situation.
Not to be told twice, Kakashi quickly stepped up in front of Naruto and attempted to calm her down. Holding her close to him and murmuring soothing words into her ears, Naruto gradually got her breathing under control, tearing her eyes away from Itachi at last, before bursting into tears in Kakashi's arms. A minute later, and she's emotionally drained from the ordeal, her sobs and red-eyes the only indication of her panic attack and breakdown. Kakashi gently picked her up, before gesturing to Mikoto to lead the way to her sleeping quarters.
All throughout, Itachi was left standing there, watching the scene unfold with childlike curiosity and worriedness.
"You should head back to bed," his father's voice interrupted his thoughts.
Throwing one last glance at the retreating figures of his mother and the silver-haired man carrying the blond girl, Itachi gave a quick bow before heading back to his room.
"She has pretty hair," he muses in bed later, his sleepy mind replaying his meeting with the girl, "and pretty eyes too."
"Naru-chan, hmm," he murmured sleepily, recalling the name his mother called the young girl.
For a long time afterwards, Itachi would be searching for a blond girl around the age of his brother with scars on her face, drawn to her for some reason he is unable to fathom. There was something about her that sparked familiarity, but his young mind could never figure it out, and memories fade when he gets older. He never did find the girl he's looking for.
...
Itachi woke up to a semi-bright room and was momentarily confused as he blinked the sleep out of his eyes. Turning to the clock on his bedside, he cursed under his breath and jumped out of bed. 6.50am, it read and he's supposed to leave house in 10 minutes if he wants to be early, as he always had been.
Already in a bad mood from a bad start to the day, Itachi stormed to the bathroom to wash up and have a hurried shower. Eyes on the time, he quickly changed his clothes and he dashed out of the room, knowing he would be late for the student council meeting held before class otherwise. Long legs took large strides as he made his way to the door, and he paid no attention to the Manor maid passing him in the opposite direction, even as she bowed in greeting.
"Itachi-sama." A voice - the maid - called out from behind him.
Annoyed, he halted abruptly and nearly snarled at the poor maid who dared to stop him that day. "What?"
The maid cocked her head a little to the side, and Itachi took a moment to take in her appearance. There was nothing notable about her, dressed in the Manor maid attire, though it was curious that half her face seemed to be covered by a yellow scarf like material.
"You wore your shirt inside out, Itachi-sama."
Itachi blinked, before looking down at himself. Sure enough, he had wore his shirt wrong side out in his haste to leave the house. "Thanks," he said hastily, before turning to the direction of his room to wear his shirt properly again, muttering curses under his breath for being so careless that day.
"You're welcome."
Belatedly, Itachi was vaguely surprised she hasn't ran off when he rounded on her, because his foul mood was known to have driven maids to tears before. Not this maid apparently. 'Maybe she's new,' he thought absentmindedly to himself, for he hadn't seen her around the Manor before - though it's not like he had paid much attention to Manor maids in the past.
That was not the first time Uchiha Itachi met Uzumaki Naruto, but that was the moment Uchiha Itachi registered Uzumaki Naruto as more than just another maid in the Uchiha Manor.
Afterall, not once did she swoon over him at such close proximity. That, and she has pretty blue eyes.
...
"Have you found anything yet?" Danzo addressed the masked man in front of him.
"No, sir. None of the girls we identified is the target we are looking for," the man replied, head bowed low as he knelt on the ground.
Danzo narrowed his eyes, displaying his displeasure at the news. "I expected better from you, Kinoe. It has been years since I tasked you with this."
"My apologies, Danzo-sama. It appears that the Uchiha are more meticulous than we expected."
"Those damn Uchihas!" Danzo cursed, his arm slammed on the table. "They are sneakier than I expect them to be."
"If I may suggest, Danzo-sama, perhaps we can expand the search to girls with either of those traits, or even for boys as well. The Uchihas could have altered her appearance to throw us off or it could be possible that-"
"Enough," Danzo interrupted. "That will take too long and far too much energy. We will abandon this task for now."
"As you wish, Danzo-sama," Kinoe replied. "Do you have another task for me?"
"Get closer to the Uchihas. I want you to join the police force and spy on them. Especially the ones close to the Clan Head. Keep an eye out for the Hatake as well."
"Hai, Danzo-sama," Kinoe answered dutifully, before rising to make his way out of the room.
"Kinoe," Danzo called out, halting him in his steps. "Do not fail me," he warned.
Giving a nod to signify that he has received the message, Kinoe left the room.
"Can he be trusted?" a voice asked from the shadow once the door closed.
"There are no reasons to believe otherwise," Danzo replied, though he frowned in response.
"That doesn't stop you from being suspicious does it?" the man asked silkily.
Danzo didn't reply immediately. "We shall see," he said finally.
Story notes:
(1) Itachi and Naruto are not like their canon personalities, because this is not canon. The changes in events leads them to having different personality than canon, though some traits will remain.
(2) This will be a long story, and I'm choosing to not reveal things about the story from the get-go. You are welcome to make guesses and be shrouded in mystery, and I would love to hear them (:
(3) This chapter is pretty much the manner I have chosen to write the story: flashback, present, present (antagonist).
First posted: 13/7/17
Edited: 12/8/17 - added more details on Naruto's appearance.
A/N:
I was stuck writing this story (and several others that I'm hopping around), which is why I've held off posting this. As a matter of fact, the prologue and Chapter 1 are pretty much all I have for the story, along with drafts of key events that I have planned out for the story. Everything in between is quite honestly a blank and I seriously have no idea what the next chapter will be. But I just had my graduation ceremony yesterday and I really wanted to post something and the start of this story is the most completed out of the others. Hence, I seek you help for ideas on Itachi/Naruto's interaction, as well as other characters. I probably won't be able to incorporate all of them into the story, but at least that will kickstart my brain into thinking of scenes to write.
To followers, thank you for the long wait, and I'm grateful that you have liked my Naruto stories so far. This is a rather different style from the Naru/kaka that I've posted though, so I hope this suits your taste (pairing aside). To new readers, I hope you will enjoy this story. I look forward to a long ride with all of you. (I refer to this story as Naru/Ita modern AU epic in my head, so that tells you what I think of the story).