It had been 3 months since Naruto had moved in and the whole clan seemed to be a livelier place. At first it annoyed Fugaku, but eventually he warmed up to it and was happy when Naruto and Sasuke came bursting into the kitchen every morning for their breakfast. Today, Itachi was returning from his test to get into the Anbu squad. "Hey Sasuke." "Hn?" "Do you think Itachi-Nii-san passed?" Sasuke looked at Naruto slightly stunned. "Of course he would! Nii-San is awesome!" Naruto looked at Sasuke and smiled wildly, something he does a lot nowadays. "Yeah, you're right." At that moment the door opened and Itachi walked in, making sure to take his shoes off at the door. "I'm home!" Naruto and Sasuke exchanged glances and barrelled towards the entrance of the house. In perfect sync the boys called out to Itachi as they hugged his waist. "NII-SAN!" Itachi chuckled and placed his hands on both boys' heads. "Morning." "Morning!"
While the three brothers exchanged morning greetings, Mikoto began washing the empty plates as Fugaku read the morning paper. "See dear? Naruto's addition has improved the entire clan." Mikoto turned and smiled at her husband. Fugaku nodded then let out a saddened sigh, "If only it would have stopped the village shunning him." Mikoto's smile dropped as she realised the truth her husband spoke of. "He is an Uchiha now but no one else seems to want to acknowledge that." He let out another sigh. Mikoto turned back to the sink as she grabbed another plate. Tears threatening to leave her eyes as she stared blankly out of the window. Suddenly, a loud crash was heard outside the kitchen door. Fugaku got to his feet and bounded to the door. However, all he got when he opened the door was the three boys on the floor in hysterics. Itachi opened one eye and barely contained his laughter as he apologised to his father.
A few hours passed as Naruto and Sasuke were now in school. The fan girls still fawning over Sasuke but a handful had moved their attention to Naruto since he joined the clan. The two did their best to get away from them but it was a hard task when class started. The door opened and the class scrambled to their seats as Iruka made his entrance. "Hello students, I hope you all had a good lunch. Now if you please open your textbooks to page 47, we will continue where we left off last lesson." The group got started except Sasuke. In all that commotion this morning, he had forgot his book. "Damn!" Naruto looked over and saw that Sasuke was panicking a little. Guessing at the reason, Naruto slyly slid over his notebook and smiled in Sasuke's direction. Sasuke accepted the book and gave a look of gratitude to Naruto. Naruto looked back over to Iruka and raised his hand. "What is it Naruto?" Iruka closed his book and put his piece of chalk down, he seemed to be expecting something. "Sorry sensei but, I forgot my textbook." Naruto flashed his wide smile and Iruka sighed, fishing a textbook from his desk. "You are completely hopeless Uchiha." Naruto smiled apologetically at Iruka as he placed the book on the table and managed to not get too much of a scolding. Sasuke looked in awe at Naruto and used the rest of the lesson to think of a way to repay him.
At the end of the day when lessons where over, Sasuke gave Naruto's book back. "Thanks for that." Sasuke smiled at Naruto as he accepted the book. "Well, I'm normally the one forgetting stuff so why not keep up my record?" Naruto was grinning wildly again. The boys walked out of the main gates and Naruto stopped. Sasuke stopped and turned to look at him, seeing a mischievous smile on his face. Sasuke walked back a bit and looked at Naruto confused. "What's up?" "How about a race?" Sasuke looked shocked a minute then slapped his forehead and grinned, should've known. "Let's see who gets home first ok?" Sasuke got into position and decided to fuel the race, "Like you'll win." Sasuke snickered as Naruto pouted in his direction. "Oh yeah Nii-san? That's what you think! I'm gonna win this, believe it!" Naruto seemed fired up and the boys prepared themselves. "3…2…1…GO!" With that, the boys were off.
As he expected, Sasuke won. Although it was a close race for a while. As he walked through the main Uchiha gate, his eyes widened. He clasped a hand around his mouth and took a step back. Naruto finally caught up and slowed as he saw Sasuke. "Nii-san? What's wrong?" His face was shrouded with dread as he looked inside the compound.
Bodies filled the grounds and blood ran like mini rivers across the floor and down the walls. He couldn't believe it, and neither could Sasuke. Naruto looked at Sasuke and saw the look of shock, sadness and despair melding into one. Naruto grabbed Sasuke's hand forcing Sasuke to look at him and gave him a determined look. "We have to check Nii-san." Sasuke nodded and together the boys walked through the grounds to find survivors. They looked for ten minutes but couldn't find anyone alive. They finally reached the last room, mum and dad's room. Sasuke was beginning to panic and Naruto sensed it. So after one large gulp, Naruto opened the door. He made sure to open it slowly in case the attacker was still inside. The sight they saw was horrific and traumatizing. Their mum and dad laid on the floor surrounded by blood. It looked like they had accepted death and were killed almost ceremonially. Sasuke didn't care about that now, and ran over to their side as Naruto ran to make sure no one was in the room. Tears flowing down Sasuke's face. Naruto was close to but decided there would be time for that later when there wasn't the chance of an attacker coming out of nowhere. Then he realised something. "Hey, where's Itachi-Nii-san?" Sasuke's head snapped up and he looked frantically around the room. "Maybe he survived, NII-SAN?!" Sasuke called out but nothing was heard. "NII-SAN!" He tried again, his voice threatening to break from the tears.
A laugh was heard from the shadows and Naruto ran to defend Sasuke. Sasuke recognised the laugh but, it seemed much more maniacal than he remembered. "Nii-san?" Naruto looked at Sasuke confused then his head snapped back to the shadows as another laugh was heard. "Ahh, Sasuke, Naruto. What bad timing you have." Naruto readied a kunai he had found on the way there. "How so?" Sasuke was just sat in shock, he knew all too well what Itachi meant. "Well, Otouto-san. If you were a few minutes later. You could have escaped this fate." Naruto practically growled at this and grabbed Sasuke's arm, pulling him to his feet. "Come on Nii-san, we're getting away from here." The two started running for the gate with Sasuke looking back at the carnage with wide eyes. However, just before they made it, Itachi appears in front of them. "You two are weak! I have no need to kill you now." Itachi turned and opened the gate but, before he could leave Sasuke asked him something he could not leave unanswered. "Why Itachi?! WHY?!" Itachi looked back over his shoulder and glared at Naruto. His eyes flickered from hatred to sadness. No one was supposed to see that but, Naruto did. "Come find me when you're strong enough and maybe I'll tell you." With that, Itachi left. Sasuke dropped to his knees, wishing what he just saw was a dream. He stared blankly at the ground before him until a drop splashed next to him. He looked up to Naruto and saw him crying. He stood up and brought Naruto into a much needed hug. The boys stood there for a while, sobbing into each other's shoulders.