Eternal Legends: Konoha's Transcendent Ninja

by Arashi the Solar Phoenix

Naruto befriends Sasuke and Sakura at an early age by an act of fate. The three then set on a goal: Together they will transcend the Sannin as the strongest shinobi team and uncover a secret to Naruto's ancestry that goes beyond even the borders of the Elemental Nations that will alter the course of history forever. AU Strong/Smart Naruto Strong Sasuke/Sakura Family Team 7 R&R

6. Incessant Intrigues

Eternal Legends: Konoha's Transcendent Ninja

Chapter Six: Incessant Intrigues

Welcome all to another installment of Eternal Legends! While I'm pleased with the hit and visitor count steadily increasing, the review count isn't increasing with it, which is, admittedly, a bit discouraging. However, I did promise to update as much as I can before December, so that's what I'm going to continue to do.

On one note, I have a huge rant following this chapter based on the travesty that was this week's Naruto chapter. God, it's pissing me off just thinking about it! Ugh, let me stop.

By the way, you all need to pay extra attention to this chapter as there are heavy amounts of foreshadowing for future plot points. Also, there will be, admittedly, a lot of flashbacks. This is an effort to save time, so I don't back myself into a corner. I can't detail every bit of their training, as much as I want too. But, I'm short on time as it is, and I want to detail as much of their childhoods as possible, while meeting the December deadline.

Full Disclaimer: Naruto is the property of Masashi Kishimoto, Shonen Jump, ViZ media, and all other related companies. I make no claim of any characters from the manga and anime and own all OC's that may appear from time to time. I also make no claim of elements used from certain video games such as Ninja Gaiden and Call of Duty, which are under the copyright ownership of Team Ninja and Infinity Ward, as well as the publishing rights of Tecmo and Activision, respectively.

Full Summary: Three people meet under the oddest of circumstances during one troubled night: a loudmouthed troublemaker, a lost voice within his clan, and a young civilian from a broken home. They never knew that their impromptu gathering would bring a revolution to the shinobi world, and alter the course of history. This is their story

(Hokage Mountain, three months later, Early September, near sunset)

Itachi Uchiha sat alone on the edge of the Hokage Mountain that had the faces of the all the Kage of Konoha carved into it. Ironically, he was sitting on the edge of the head of Hiruzen Sarutobi. The Uchiha prodigy's face was impassive, but he was troubled by inner turmoil that threw his emotional equilibrium off balance. Even a prodigy shinobi of his caliber had his emotional limits.

Itachi scoffed in annoyance. How he truly hated that title: 'the Uchiha Prodigy.' He was praised as the best Uchiha born in several decades, possibly since their founding in Konoha. Even by their high standards, he outclassed them in pretty much every way. Some called him one of the next legendary ninjas, like the Densetsu no Sannin, the late White Fang, and some even had the balls to even compare him to an Uchiha version of the Yondaime Hokage, himself.

The Uchiha heir couldn't help but chuckle at that last one. He knew he was good, but he knew the Yondaime at his current age, thirteen, would have run circles around him, even with his mastery of the Sharingan. There was no telling how big the gap would be had he fought him as an adult. A small chill crept up his spine at that thought.

"Is that why you do this now, father?" Itachi asked himself as the wind blew his hair and loose articles of clothing as he stared at the setting sun. The late Hokage had practically won the war with Iwagakure by himself, and decimated nearly a thousand of their forces singlehandedly. As with the many grievances Fugaku and the elders had with their current situation, they knew that a rebellion when Minato was reigning would be tantamount to suicide. Now that he was deceased and the rapidly aging Hiruzen Sarutobi took his place, the elders thought this was their perfect chance.

He had spoken with the Hokage three months ago, informing him of the situation. Although it pleased him that he had managed to convince the elders out of their absurd logic of dealing with the clan, he still had to make a choice. Could he do it? Could he really kill them?

He began to review the events that led up to all this…

Itachi was in the ANBU headquarters near the center of the village, doing some normal exercises frantically trying to clear his head from his three-month-long mission. It was an A-Class mission, and to say Itachi had a bad feeling about its true nature was a complete understatement.

His inner ramblings were cut short as a lone ANBU grunt with a bear mask appeared in front of him in a kneeling position.

"Itachi-taicho, I bring word from Hokage-sama. He says he wishes to speak with you. I'd say it's urgent," the grunt relayed to the prodigy.

Itachi nodded. "Thank you…I'll be on my way, then." Without even sparing his subordinate a second glance, Itachi hastily made his way out of the ANBU headquarters. He got some curious looks from his fellow captains as well as their underlings, but he paid them no mind as he walked outside. He immediately took to the rooftops and headed directly for the Hokage Tower, which was about a two-minute journey at his current pace.

During those couple of minutes, Itachi allowed his mind to race at the possibilities of what the Hokage himself would want to see him personally about. Could it be a promotion? Itachi shook his head, dismissing it. Unless there was some secret rank that he didn't know about, which he highly doubted, ANBU captain was pretty much where the buck stopped for most ninja, unless they went straight to Kage. He snorted at the assertion. Him of all people? A Hokage at his age? It was inconceivable.

A second possibility that ran through the raven-haired ANBU's head was a secret mission that Itachi was specifically needed for. That was certainly a possibility, as jounin going on solo missions wasn't exactly common, but it wasn't unheard of. However, that did beg the question of why he couldn't have a team with him. Powerful, he was, but he wasn't foolish enough to delude himself into thinking that he was invincible due to how big the gap was between him and most of the shinobi his age.

Itachi shook his head. There was no use in worrying about what the Sandaime wanted, because he was going to find out, literally, in the next minute or so. He landed in front of the Hokage Tower, and let himself into the lobby, a bell chiming letting them know someone had entered.

Itachi walked up to the secretary. "Ueda-san, I was requested by the Hokage to meet him here," he explained to the female at the front desk.

Ueda nodded and started to look on a clipboard of a roster of people that the Hokage needed to meet with him and vice-versa. Her fingers traced the names down and she nodded. "Ah, yes, Itachi-taicho, you're scheduled five minutes from now." She then blinked. "Wow…he has no more openings after you…strange," she uttered in thought, more to herself than Itachi.

That tidbit of information alarmed the Uchiha, as his warning bells blared rather loudly. Now he definitely knew this was a deadly serious matter. It was a well-known, but unspoken, fact that meetings with the Hokage were often brief, terse, and straight to the point. Most never last longer than half an hour. It was mid-afternoon, and according to Ueda, the Sandaime had no other meetings for the day. This meant that the Hokage had canceled the rest….just to speak with him.

A bit of sweat dropped down the normally stoic Uchiha's face. He didn't know if the feeling he felt at the moment was fear, but, in the pit of his stomach, he knew something was off. 'I've got a bad feeling about this,' Itachi thought, as he thanked the girl and made his way towards the God of Shinobi's office.

He forced himself to calm down to stop his heart from racing. He was a shinobi; a model one, at that. Even though this was the Hokage, he had no reason to fear him. Itachi was about to knock on the door before a voice stopped him.

"Come on in, Itachi," came the voice of Hiruzen. It was neutral in tone—a fact that secretly pissed off the Uchiha heir. Now, he couldn't go in knowing what to expect. With a small sigh, Itachi gathered the courage to open the door and then shut it behind him. Before him was a sight that he had not expected to see.

Before him was not only the Hokage, but his advisors and former teammates Koharu Utatane, Homura Mitokado, and…his eyes widened ever so slightly…Danzo Shimura. Collectively, these four individuals were, without question, the most powerful people in the village—some in the political sense; others in terms of skill as a shinobi; and some both.

They were all staring intently at him and he could've sworn that Koharu and Homura were slightly glaring at him. However, Hiruzen and Danzo were looking at him critically with a touch of indifference.

"Itachi…sit down," Hiruzen commanded, to which the Uchiha did so without hesitation Something was definitely up.

"I'm going to be blunt, Itachi-san," Homura started to say before dropping the bombshell. "We know."

Itachi's eyes widened greatly as he sat in shock. They knew? How? They had made it apparent to keep everything about it secret.

Danzo narrowed his eyes. "So it would seem, judging from your reaction that our suspicions were indeed correct. Your clan is trying to start a coup d'état for reasons yet unknown," he said flatly.

"I must say, I didn't want to believe the initial reports, but it seems that they are indeed true," Hiruzen told him gravely. Itachi couldn't help but hold his head in shame.

"So…I take you brought me here to execute me?" Itachi said in a solemn voice which inwardly surprised all four elders present. The boy wasn't known to show emotion, at all.

"No, not at all," Hiruzen replied which caused the boy to look at them in surprise.

Homura cleared his throat, "We've discussed this many times over the past few weeks, and we've decided that the entire clan surely isn't responsible for this. Are we right in that assumption?"

Itachi faintly nodded. "Only the Uchiha elders, nearly all of the police force, my father, and myself are aware of it. My mother and the children are entirely ignorant of what he was planning."

Koharu raised an eyebrow, while Danzo narrowed an eye as she spoke. "He, you say? It sounds to me as if you were unwilling in their scheme."

Itachi nodded. "I was," he admitted.

"Tell me, Itachi: why didn't you come forward with this the minute you found out that Fugaku was committing treasonous acts?" the Hokage asked calmly.

The Uchiha prodigy sighed. "Because, Hokage-sama…I was going to try and stop it, myself. I was hoping that I could convince my father that we didn't have to do this. He wasn't having it. He believed me to be the key to bringing the village under his control…by making me Hokage," Itachi revealed. Surprisingly, the four elders kept their composure, but Itachi knew from years of experience that they were experiencing emotional turmoil at that particular revelation. "That's the gist of it, and I was honestly going to come here and tell you outright, but being an ANBU captain has its….toll on you," he cryptically remarked as a vocal afterthought.

Hiruzen hummed. "I see," he neutrally responded and leaned back into his chair. "For the record, Itachi, I do believe what you are saying and that you have no genuine desire to plunge us into a state of civil war."

Danzo spoke up after that. "However," he began dangerously, "these actions will not go unpunished…"

Itachi simply nodded, expecting this, but his mind was racing for a loophole so he could possibly save the lives of his foolish clansmen. They were walking into a slaughter almost on the level of the Kaguya attack on the Mist years ago. "Hokage-sama…honored elders…What if I gave you my services? I spy on them for you…and give any and all information pertaining to their plans. Maybe I can convince them to call it off, sparing my clan and you keeping a powerful….asset." Using the word 'ally' at that moment would've killed his entire proposal almost instantly.

Hiruzen pondered this request. On a small technicality, they hadn't committed treason, yet. They were simply planning it. Although to most shinobi that didn't mean a goddamn thing, Hiruzen, either through utterly asinine reasoning or being a naïve idealist, wanted to avoid bloodshed through any way possible. His mantra of peace through negotiation might very well end him one day…

"Itachi…when would you say this coup would take place, by your estimate?" the Hokage asked.

"If I were to put a time table on it….six months," he hollowly responded.

All four of the village elders looked at each other in a pensive silence. Homura turned to Itachi to address him. "You believe that now you can convince them not to go through with it, when you've been unsuccessful in the past?" Homura all but yelled. "Frankly, I highly doubt it." Itachi clenched his fists. Damn it, he wasn't getting anywhere!

Danzo allowed a small, twisted smile to come to his face. "Oh, Homura, I believe Itachi may indeed succeed, knowing what will happen if he fails." As expected, the Uchiha looked a bit alarmed.

"Don't fret, Itachi-san," Koharu began. "Do not mistake us for being unaware of our…misgivings when it came to actions concerning your clan over the past four decades."

Itachi visibly relaxed, but also a bit bewildered that the elders would openly admit a mistake on their part. "Thank you, elder," he expressed gratefully.

"However," Koharu began seriously. "as much as the blame falls upon us, we cannot and will not allow these events to spiral out of control, should negotiations fail. That, my dear boy, is where you come in…"

Itachi's eyes widened to their greatest extent, catching on almost immediately to what they were implying. "You…want me to kill my own father…and my own clansmen?" Itachi inquired in absolute shock.

"Believe me: I don't like it any more than you do, Itachi," Hiruzen admitted. He seriously hoped that Itachi could manage to convince the clan to stop their suicidal actions. Somehow, though, he highly doubted he would succeed. That fact alone was probably the most depressing to the Fire Shadow.

Itachi growled. "What if I refuse?" he replied flatly, in disgust.

"The alternative is far worse, I assure you," Danzo evenly intoned.

"What do you mean by that?" Itachi asked, as his respectful tone was starting to wither away little by little.

"Itachi, the Fire Daimyo knows as well," Hiruzen explained which nearly caused the ANBU captain to lose all composure. "He's not as….merciful as we are at the moment. He declares that if your coup succeeds, then everything will be thrown off balance and a Fourth Great Shinobi World War is inevitable. In other words, his solution was to deal with all of you."

Itachi gritted his teeth. "So damned if I do, damned if I don't? You're insinuating I have to either slaughter my entire clan or simply slaughter those involved in it…including my own brother?"

Hiruzen nodded gravely, before the Uchiha sighed and slumped a bit in his chair. Then…it hit him. Like a ton of bricks, it hit him! He smirked a bit. It was time to show why he was known as the greatest Uchiha since the days of Madara Uchiha.

"Hokage-sama…elders…I don't mean to be rude…but these plans of yours are highly flawed," Itachi declared. All sets of eyebrows in the room shot up.

"In what way? Speak," Homura all but demanded. Itachi smiled a bit knowingly. It was time to lay down the smack down. Ironically, their solution had been his loophole into a way out of this…sort of.

"It's simple. Have any of you thought about the sheer logistics, resources, and manpower it would take to slaughter my entire clan? I'm merely stating a commonly accepted fact here which, if you paid attention in history, you'd know. My clan was the direct rivals of the now near-extinct Senju clan. To muster up a force to eliminate every single one would require an enormous effort, possibly equaling the entire village or a group of Kage-level shinobi. Tell me…do you have such a force at your disposal?" he asked, a bit rhetorically.

Homura narrowed his eyes, "Our ANBU…"

"…couldn't do a damn thing," Itachi interjected, before continuing. "I'm an ANBU captain, elder. I'm well aware of their capabilities, but most of our members aren't well aware of each other's abilities because we get rotated so often. Sometimes, only being together for a single mission! You're telling me you want to pit the ANBU against the Uchiha clan which currently has over

three hundred battle-capable members who are well aware of each other's abilities and could effectively work together against a division that practically knows absolutely nothing about each other? And that's without the Sharingan being a factor," Itachi explained.

Hiruzen, Koharu, and Homura had to stare at the boy in shock, while Danzo had to smile at the boy's utter genius. Not only was he laying down the facts of why their plan wouldn't succeed, simultaneously he was giving information about the clan, which added more weight and credibility that he wanted peace instead of war that his clan's plans would surely cause. 'Truly brilliant…'

"Now, I'm not saying that the ANBU won't win. However, if you do, you will have a lot of casualties, almost to a pyrrhic victory. In your haste to eliminate all of us you'd simply cripple the entire ANBU division, which would leave the village vulnerable, almost irrevocably. In essence, in trying to keep the peace by eliminating my clan before they can cause actions that will plunge us into the Fourth Great Shinobi World War, you'd ironically trigger the event, anyhow, considering your entire black ops divisions would be slaughtered along with my clan," Itachi noted, which caused all four to cringe. The boy was making them look like utter fools!

Itachi noticed this and inwardly smirked, triumphant in his victory. Now it was time to hammer it in home. "Let me ask you this. Tell me how would the civilians react if they saw an entire shinobi force wiping out an entire clan? Keep in mind, they are completely unaware of what our crimes are. They will get the wrong idea, and think we're performing a purge. If you tell them beforehand, then, of course my entire clan knows the jig's up, and we would attack the village outright. If you don't tell them in an effort for the Uchiha to not know, then you go back to square one."

Silence reigned as the logic of the Uchiha prodigy started to sink in. 'By the gods…what were we thinking?' Hiruzen thought solemnly.

"You make an excellent case, Itachi, and I'll admit….even I didn't take those into account," Danzo flat-out conceded. Denying his own mistakes and lack of foresight served no purpose to the war hawk. When it came to matters of the village, his pride went out the window in favor of protecting it at any cost. If that meant he had to give in to the logic of a thirteen-year-old boy…then so be it.

"Hokage-sama…I know you don't suspect me to succeed in convincing my clan. Hell, I don't believe I will, either…but, in case I don't…." he then sighed, "my options are either slaughter the entire clan…or simply take out the ringleaders."

Hiruzen nodded. "Yes. The word of the daimyo is law. Even I can't overturn it."

The brunet wonder growled in frustration. If the daimyo had already given the edict, then what the hell was the point of him trying to find a peaceful solution? Granted, he doubted said solution could be found, regardless, but even still.

"Do any of you four have any idea of the fallout this will cause for me? For my mother? For my…" his voice grew soft, "my brother…" A lone tear rolled down his cheek.

"We are sorry it had to come to this…"Koharu sincerely said. It was at times like these where she truly hated herself—when she had to pick her poison and choose the lesser of two evils.

"Very well, then," Itachi said suddenly. He got surprised looks from all four of them. "I'll do it…I'll bear the burden…for the sake of the village…"

They all slowly consented with a bob of their heads. "Thank you, Itachi…Again…we are sorry."

"But…" he began again, "I'm not doing this without something from you all in return."

"Name them," Hiruzen instantly replied. Danzo narrowed his eyes, as he could already see where this was headed.

"Firstly, for the sake of the clan's honor, you will not disclose of the reasoning of the killings toward the public…ever."

Hiruzen's eyes widened. "But Itachi that would mean…"

"Yes, I know. It would mean I'd have to become a missing-nin. You're tasking me to kill all the members of the plot, which I'm capable of, yes, but, undoubtedly, some of the members unaware will see me. Since I refuse to kill innocent blood, they would no longer trust me, and rightfully so. So in a cover story, I will say that I attacked the elders and my father to test the limits of my strength…and, considering my clan's reputation, that excuse shouldn't be that hard for the public to accept."

"Are…you sure?" Hiruzen had to inquire, just to make sure he heard that correctly.

Itachi nodded. "I am. It's the only conceivable way this whole ordeal can end without the entire village and the Elemental Nations being plunged into war." They bobbed their heads in agreement. Itachi's eyes then narrowed greatly. "Now…for my second concession from you four…despite all this, I want guarantees that the reasoning this whole thing started in the first place will be squashed."

Homura raised a brow. "By that, you mean…?"

"This will not be unilateral. This village willconcede something! For nearly forty decades we were treated as if we didn't matter. We never enjoyed the spoils of war so to speak from the gains Konoha made over the years despite the fact that we've had Uchiha die for the village's sake just like you all have done! This council has treated us with scorn, and yet you find it surprising that we are acting now? Did you foolishly think that they'd sit and take it forever?" Itachi inquired in anger.

"Yes!" Danzo roared back. "Because of Uchiha Madara…"

"Do you not realize that he is dead? DEAD! You're going to punish the entire clan for what

one misguided fool did? You're willing to spare my clan and ask me to assassinate the individuals responsible for our current problems, stating that the clan as a whole is not responsible for the decisions made by a few individuals, and yet you continue to hold my clan responsible for the action of one man who died nearly half a century ago? Are you even aware of your own hypocrisy?"

Hiruzen sighed. "I know Itachi, I know. It has been unfair and I foolishly turned a blind eye. The surveillance on your clan increased after the attack of the Kyuubi the first time over sixty-some-odd years ago, because there were few men who were able to control it…including the Uchiha. We didn't have enough evidence, but our fear turned into paranoia and my sensei compromised with the council at the time, and segregated you from the rest of the village."

"And he agreed? Based on no proof, but sheer fear and paranoia? How utterly pathetic…"Itachi scorned the late Tobirama Senju. The elders were about to reply, but Hiruzen silenced them all, indicating from now on, he was talking.

"Itachi…I'll make up for this. The Uchiha clan…if they wish, can move back into the village as well as keep the land they were forced to move to entirely to themselves, too. They will also be given monetary compensation, as well. Are those terms agreeable?"

Itachi stood up. "Yes…they are." He flared his Sharingan and glared intently at all of them. "I warn you now…if you even go back on even one of our deals, then I'll simply expose everything," he warned, with an edge to his voice.

Surprisingly, they all showed no fear towards the Uchiha prodigy…at least outwardly. "I will, Itachi…you have my word."

Itachi turned off his dojutsu, and then bowed. "Am I dismissed? I have much to prepare for…"

The Hokage nodded, and Itachi left the four to their own devices. He had no doubt of what they were discussing when he vanished in a swirl of leaves.

"I truly am sorry, Sasuke," Itachi solemnly apologized to no one as he stared at the sunset. He knew what he was about to do would likely have his younger sibling hate him for the rest of his days.

He didn't know what to do. If he spent more time with him, then that meant that the betrayal would cut deeper. If he decided to simply ignore him like he, admittedly, mostly did, then he likely would want revenge on him. It was the perfect lose-lose situation.

Itachi heaved a heavy sigh and stood up. He'd have plenty of time to ponder all the repercussions. Right now, he needed to get into a state of mind where he could willingly kill the traitors to the village that he had given an oath to protect. What his father was doing was wrong. Completely and utterly wrong. Despite his rant towards the elders, that still didn't give them justification for slaughtering hundreds like they had planned on doing.

His conscience eased for the moment, the Uchiha prodigy leaped off the Hokage Monument, heading towards his clan's estate.

(Next day, 0835 hours, Naruto's apartment)

Naruto was already up, still in his pajamas, but fully awake and aware. The blond busily did his morning exercises, which consisted of push-ups, sit-ups, jumping jacks, and pull-ups. It was nothing too strenuous. It was just enough to get his blood pumping so he could feel ready to start the day.

While the blond was doing push-ups, he thought about the changes in himself over the past six months since he had met Sasuke and Sakura, and subsequently when Mikoto became their sensei. In all honesty, she was starting to become less of a teacher, but more of a mother. Not just him, but for all three of them, really.

The Jinchuuriki wiped some sweat of his brow as he stood to his full height of four feet and six inches. After his sensei had beat a proper diet in him, he had shot on up to where he should've been, had he not been constantly eating ramen his whole life. The fridge was stocked with enough fruits, vegetables, and grains to make a dietician blush. Now, he was two inches taller than Sasuke and Sakura, who were near the same height, more or less. It was September now, and Sasuke had turned nine in July. He would turn nine that October, and Sakura, the youngest of the trio, would turn nine in March.

Naruto walked towards his bathrooms to completely strip naked and stepped into the shower. He turned the water on without even bothering to let it warm up. Considering that Mikoto trained them rain or shine, and the showers of Mother Nature were far more brutal, the frigid temperatures barely even fazed the Uzumaki.

Naruto closed his eyes as he began a mental checklist of everything he or they, rather, had learned. She had drilled into them constant teamwork during parts of the day, and made two clones that taught them individual skills. Sakura's near perfect chakra control allowed her to grasp the concept and application of genjutsu far easier than he or Sasuke could. He shuddered a bit, remembering some of the illusions his pink-haired friend had put him and his best friend under. So far, he was unsuccessful in making a genjutsu to her caliber, but he had the ability to dispel genjutsu at the C-rank level, which was a huge accomplishment considering his age and lack of training prior until then.

Taijutsu, however, was an entirely different ball game. That was where he shined the most, by far. His growth spurt also came with better reach, and added power to his strikes. He had durability, the stamina, and the powers to take on both Sasuke and Sakura simultaneously and still come out on top. Sakura, naturally, had one advantage over him: flexibility. He didn't know what the hell his sensei taught her while they weren't looking, but damn was she great at using her dexterity at dodging his blows and sometimes leaping over his high kicks and using his leg as leverage for her own next attack. Sasuke, while not as good as he was, was catching up pretty fast.

Lastly, there was ninjutsu. Naruto had to smirk. In what the academy wasted time for four years on, Mikoto had managed to teach them the Bunshin no Jutsu (Clone Technique), Kawarimi no Jutsu (Substitution Technique) and the Henge no Jutsu (Transformation Technique)…in one week. Granted, the Academy had in excess of over thirty or so students in one class or so and the trio of future assassins had potential that far exceeded their peers. It was still ridiculous.

"Funny how I was the last one to learn the Bunshin no Jutsu, all because I was applying it the wrong way," Naruto mused to himself as he finally felt the water heat up, and he began washing himself up, hair included.

He heard the Fox snort. "Leave it to you to think that you couldn't do the technique because you thought you had too much chakra."

Naruto immediately took mock-offense to that. "Hey! I had a perfectly valid reason for that!" he tried to argue with his tenant. He was thankful he was alone. Everyone else would think he was bat-shit insane.

"Really?" the Fox retorted, a bit bemused. "Mikoto-sensei, I don't think I can learn this technique because I have too much chakra," he mocked him from the excuses the blond used. "When, in fact, you just didn't have proper control over it. Good thing she taught you three how to climb trees; otherwise, you'd probably be still stuck in that delusion that having too much chakra means certain techniques are off-limits to you."

He grunted, but conceded that the Kyuubi was right. Speaking of climbing trees, surprisingly, he and Sasuke didn't take that long after Sakura who, unsurprisingly, reached the top on her first try.

"How in the hell does she have such natural control?" the blond asked a bit more to himself, but he wouldn't have minded if his tenant had an answer.

"You didn't see what she did?" the Fox asked.

Naruto raised an eyebrow, closing his eyes so the water could wash out the shampoo in his hair. "Enlighten me."

"Before she went up the tree, unlike you two, who went gung-ho and started climbing, she smartly walked up to the tree, applied some chakra to her feet as she lifted one foot up and tested how much was needed in order her to stick to it without either breaking or being pushed off," the Fox explained.

Naruto's jaw dropped and he dropped his soap as he paled. "Are you kidding me right now?" He groaned, as he banged his head on the shower door. "Me and Sasuke spent five days on that while we could've spent five minutes on it?" Comical tears rolled down his face.

The Kyuubi grinned. "Why of course. She did the intelligent thing, while you two morons simply just winged it until you got to the top."

Naruto gritted his teeth. "Why didn't you tell me?" he yelled in faux anger.

He could hear the fox simply scratching his ears. "It amused me," he replied dully.

"Gah! You're useless!" Naruto countered back as he stepped out of the shower,

"Well, if it's any consolation, she was the second one to learn that fire jutsu she taught you three," he pointed out, to which Naruto did have to nod in agreement. That was about two months ago…

The current trio were having a three-way taijutsu match, which was nothing short of a spectacle of a sight to behold. Mikoto was observing all of them and pointing out weaknesses in their moves and styles.

Sakura flipped over Sasuke, using his shoulders as support and she kicked back with both feet making him stagger backward. She narrowly dodged a punch from the blond and tried to counter with an uppercut, but this was blocked and she was struck in the face by a blow from his free hand.

They both stood back from each other, breathing a bit hard. Although her chakra and stamina had nearly tripled, Sakura still wasn't in the same league as Naruto in that area.

She smirked in between tired breaths. "Glad you're not taking it easy on me because I'm a girl, Naruto-kun."

Naruto grinned back at her. "What good would that do you, Sakura-chan? I consider you my equal and it would be a bit reproachful of me to hold back due to your gender."

Sakura smiled, as a blush came to her cheeks. That was Naruto for you, the perfect gentlemen. Maybe that's what she liked about him so much. Her eyes widened at that thought. Did she really…?

Her inner thoughts were cut short as she felt her legs being swept off the ground. "Hope you didn't forget about me, Sakura," Sasuke said, smirking from his position as he swept the girl.

Sakura grinned at him, "Actually Sasuke-kun, I didn't," she replied back to the Uchiha scion. Before the rosette-haired girl could reach the ground, she landed on her hands and kicked at his chin. He dodged, barely, by doing a somersault.

The Uchiha was about to grin triumphantly, when he dodged a kick by Naruto on pure reflex alone. "Ha! You've gotten better at dodging those," Naruto complimented before the two boys began duking it out, going all out, with Naruto having the edge and Sasuke barely holding his own. His lack of reach compared to Naruto's really was key to the blond's advantage. Before too long, the Haruno was in on the fray.

Mikoto couldn't help but to have her mouth drop at what was being displayed in front of her. 'Holy shit,' she cursed in her head. She had believed she had seen it all when it came to training these three. They always found some way to surprise her. The progress they made was outright terrifying, and it was genuine dread. If they kept this up, they'd surpass her by the time they got to Itachi's age…easily. And when they were in their late teens and early twenties…Mikoto chose not to finish that thought, fearing it might chill her to death.

'How? How in the hell are they able to not only surpass my expectations, but outright shatter them?' she dwelled in bewilderment. Dozens of theories ran through her mind, but she sighed in defeat. Their potential frightened the living daylights out of her. She then looked at the three as they continued to spar in an every-man-for-himself fashion. Naruto had managed to knock both his friends back at the same time, obviously showing the most skill in taijutsu.

"I see…" Mikoto noted. She had planned on waiting, but she now knew it was time to teach them that jutsu.

"All right, you three," Mikoto said walking up to them. "That's enough for now." Like soldiers, they all stood in formation ready to receive any and all instructions from the Uchiha matriarch.

"You all did very well, I'm proud of you all," Mikoto praised to the smiling trio. Inwardly, she was rolling her eyes at her proclamation. 'Very well?' Pft, try fucking spectacular. But, she couldn't let them know that, or risk letting them get arrogant. She'd rather avoid having to deal with the "Lesson of Humility" all together, than giving them high praise and let it become an issue. They had just enough confidence to believe in their skills and their friends, but enough humility to know their limits.

"In fact, you three have done so well, I've decided to teach you a jutsu!" she revealed. Sasuke smirked, Sakura smiled, and Naruto was practically drooling on himself at the prospect. The kid was a sucker for new techniques, regardless of the type.

"Kaa-san, what jutsu is it?" her onyx-eyed son asked. He had a feeling that this was the jutsu she was referring to about three months ago.

"Maybe it'll be better if I show you," Mikoto told him, motioning the three to follow her towards the lake. She did five hand seals in rapid succession and called out, "Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu! (Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!)." She arched her back and blew out a steady stream of flames that covered the diameter of the entire circular shaped lake. The lake was starting to boil from her jutsu, so she cut off the chakra feeding into it, cancelling the technique, all together.

She turned back towards them and immediately wished she had a camera. Their faces were utterly priceless, and she couldn't help but laugh a bit heartily. Jaws were on the floor, eyes were wide, and mouths were drooling.

"Mikoto-sensei you're…" Sakura began bewildered, "going to teach us that?"

"That was so totally cool!" Naruto added, fist bumping his best friend, who grinned back at him. "Then maybe she can teach us all sorts of things like that!"

Mikoto pushed her hands back in a slow down motion. "All right, you three, don't get ahead of yourselves," she warned while laughing. "First of all, I need to learn your natures."

"Our natures?" the trio responded in chorus-like confusion.

Mikoto bobbed her head. "Yes, your natures, or chakra natures, rather. It's going to determine which element you can learn the easiest as well as it being naturally more powerful than someone who used the same jutsu, but not the same element. For example, I'm fire-natured and my husband is earth-natured. If we were to perform the Goukakyuu, mine would be naturally stronger than his, because that is not his natural affinity. Keep in mind, this is in general. Skill level also plays a heavy role in this as well." They nodded in understanding.

"How are you going to determine our natures?" came Naruto's query. Mikoto simply pulled out three slips of paper and handed one to each of them.

"Pulsate a small amount of chakra through these. If it burns, you're fire-natured; if it crumples, lightning; gets wet, water; turns to dust, earth; and if it splits in half, wind."

All three concentrated and sent a surge of chakra through the parchments. The result stunned the Uchiha Matriarch. Sasuke's had crumpled, indicating he was lightning natured. Sakura's had turned wet, indicated a water affinity. Finally, Naruto's had split cleanly in half.

"Wow…that's….interesting…and a bit problematic," Mikoto said groaning a bit. They looked at her strangely as if wanting her to explain herself. "Well, I don't know any lightning or wind techniques, so I can't teach you guys much in those areas Naruto-kun, Sasuke-kun," she replied a bit solemnly. They both grimaced, but nodded, nonetheless, despite their bad luck. "And Sakura, I do know some water techniques, but this jutsu will be the most difficult for you to master considering it's your polar opposite. In fact, all three of you will find this technique difficult to learn considering it's not your natural affinity."

"I figured as much," the young female admitted with a long sigh.

"It doesn't matter!" Naruto spoke up, all eyes turning on him. "We've made it this far, and I'm not going to let some piece of paper discourage me! We've all had hardships; ones that we still aren't comfortable in sharing, yet, with each other." He noticed their slight downcast looks, agreeing with that last statement. "But, look at it this way. The harder the challenge is, the better it'll be when we finally learn it, right? Mikoto-sensei, I welcome the challenge. I can't be a legendary ninja if I get discouraged over a jutsu being difficult to learn because it's not my natural element. Sakura-chan, Sasuke…if something like this scares us…then what kind of shinobi would we be?"

Jade and onyx eyes widened as they realized that their blond friend was correct. Sasuke's ambition of proving that there were those who could rise above the stigma of arrogance that his clan held, and he wanted be known for his own abilities, not that of being an Uchiha. Sakura's ambition of being a medic ninja would be useless if she was scared of a little challenge. She'd be saving lives day in and day out. There was no time for fear of the unknown. They both looked at him seriously and nodded.

Mikoto smirked. "Damn good speech, Naruto-kun. It seems you've reawakened the determination in their hearts." 'Just like your father did so many years ago,' she added in thought. The boy was unknowingly becoming more and more like his dad than he realized.

"All right, team, let's get to work on learning that jutsu!" Mikoto exclaimed excitedly, and her three pupils returned her enthusiasm with fists pumped in the air.

Naruto allowed a smile to adorn his face as he dried off in the bathroom. In addition to their regular drills to keep their skills sharp, it had taken a good long while for all three of them to learn the Goukakyuu no Jutsu. Sasuke had been the first to be able to do the jutsu successfully, within three-and-a-half weeks' time. As for himself, he had completed the jutsu after a month of hard work, blood, sweat, and lots of tears. As for his pink-haired friend, she had taken the longest to successfully perform the Katon jutsu. It was one part due to her smaller reserves than her male companions, and another in part to her being water-natured. However, like all things in life, with some dedication, she had finally performed the technique in front of her sensei and friends. The three had a long way to go before they'd mastered the jutsu, but how many Academy students could say they knew a jutsu meant for those of Chuunin rank and above?

After brushing his teeth and doing miscellaneous hygienic habits, the Jinchuuriki stepped out of the bathroom feeling refreshed. He went to his closet and opened it. Instead of his usual orange monstrosity, there were pants, shorts, and shirts of all kinds of colors.

"Thank the gods, she took you three shopping. I couldn't bear looking at that thing you called an outfit." Naruto couldn't help but to chuckle in agreement. That shopping experience with his sensei was certainly…interesting.

"You know, Fox," Naruto said pulling out a pair of black pants, matching sandals and an orange and black shirt, "some part of me expected the shop owners to either overcharge me or kick me out of their stores simply because of…well…you," he admitted.

The Kyuubi snorted. "Of course not. If I know one thing about you humans, is that you always put aside whatever grudges you have in favor of making money. Add to the fact that they don't openly show hate towards you just to try to wear you down psychologically, the odds of that happening are astronomically low. I don't know where you got that facetious idea from." To the Fox, the idea was inconceivable, and borderline on being completely stupid and absurd.

Naruto shrugged, putting on his clothes. "Hey, when you're in my position, you tend to get paranoid a bit in public."

He could hear the Fox grunt. "Brat, don't think you're special. Not everything is going to revolve around you, despite myself being your…prisoner so to speak. Those villagers are ignorant, yes, but I think it's more of the fact that they blame you for being a reminder of what happened more so than you as a person, although, admittedly, you did pull a plethora of pranks in your…stupider days." Despite the insult, Naruto couldn't help but grin. Those were the days.

"So…you don't think that they think I am you, right?" Naruto asked for clarification. To Naruto's surprise, the Fox started laughing. Not one of those hollow, 'evil' laughs, but true laughing as if he had heard a good joke.

"Hahahaahaha, oh god, you nearly made me lose a tail, kid," the Kyuubi chucked out, despite his chortling. "To answer your question: by the gods themselves, hell no! You all may be hairless apes, but I know you, as a species, are smarter than to delude yourself into thinking a Jinchuuriki is the reincarnation of the Bijuu that hold them. The amount of cognitive dissonance you'd have to apply to your own logic to come to that asinine conclusion is simply comical. To better illustrate, have the villagers ever called you a 'demon' or 'hell spawn'?"

Naruto began to ponder as he reviewed his life in vivid detail. "No, not that I can remember. They just excluded me from social events, maybe glare at me, but most simply just chose to ignore and outright didn't even acknowledge my presence."

The Fox laughed. "Well, there you go brat. They're stupid, but not that stupid." He then shuddered. "You…a reincarnation of me in a human body…Oh, by the gods you worship, that's both asinine and completely insane logic that I have a hard time wrapping my head around how anyone could believe that."

Naruto shook his head. "Okay, okay, sorry, I was just throwing the possibility out there. Look at it this way, at least you got your laugh in for the day."

"Isn't that the truth?" the Fox scoffed. It got extremely boring at times in this cage. He was glad he had a container whose life wasn't totally boring, or he would've gone completely insane.

"Well…I appreciate it, Fox…seriously," the blond thanked. For a moment, the Kyuubi didn't know how to respond to his container. After a pregnant silence, he waved the blond off with a paw.

"Anything to keep your mind sharp and us alive, kid. Don't mention it," the Fox replied, causing Naruto to smile. "No. Seriously, don't mention it," he added, causing Naruto to palm his face.

"Hey, don't you face-palm me!" he complained huffing. "By the way…don't you have to meet up at the academy in…oh…I don't know…two minutes?"

Naruto paled a bit and looked at his alarm clock. Sure enough it read: 8:58. Mirroring his actions six months ago when he had to meet Sakura and Sasuke at the library, Naruto shot out of his apartment like a bat out of hell. Except this time, he was much faster than before due to his sensei's brutal training.

(Konoha Ninja Academy, 0900 hours)

Sakura stood with her back against the wall waiting for her teammates, while also actively pulsating a Chakra Hankyouteii, keeping track of every single person who entered the academy. She wore a brand new qipao dress with dark blue shorts underneath with blue sandals. Despite the dress, she still looked relatively tomboyish, despite remaining pretty attractive.

An echolocation came back to her, its familiarity causing her to open her eyes in excitement. 'Naruto-kun is here!' she thought a bit dreamily. Sure enough, the blond was coming around the corner in the outfit she had picked out when all four of them went shopping last week. That fact alone sent a blush on her cheeks.

"Oi! Sakura-chan!" Naruto called out to his female friend. She gave him a hug which he happily returned.

"Bet you thought I'd be late to arrive, huh?" Naruto asked, letting her go. She smirked a bit.

"Oh, no, I didn't. I actually knew you were coming," she said matter-of-factly. He raised an eyebrow.

"Oh, really? How?" Naruto asked a bit dumbly.

She sighed. "Don't tell me you already forgot," she said holding up an index finger and activating the jutsu again.

Naruto smacked his face with an open palm. He really needed to stop doing that. "Oh, right. I forgot about the Hankyouteii for a second," he admitted.

Sakura shook her head. "Hope that doesn't happen when we go on missions," she half-joked. He scratched the back of his head sheepishly.

"I hope he doesn't, either," came the sound of a familiar male voice. The duo turned around to see none other than Sasuke Uchiha and their sensei.

"Sasuke! Sensei!" Naruto beamed as he gave his best friend a fist bump, which was returned.

Mikoto smiled at the three, and bent down slightly to their level. "Okay, you three remember what I told you right?" she inquired, looking at them a bit critically. All three nodded in confirmation.

"First rule is to only hold back when we're facing the other students in the other matches. If we face each other, we give it everything we've got," Naruto began. Mikoto nodded.

"Second, no matter how much we want to, we aren't allowed to use our advanced techniques," Sasuke regurgitated back, with a bit of a frown.

"And finally," Sakura began, "we must stay the entire four years, even if we surpass the entire class in spades…which we probably already do." Mikoto nodded to both of them that they were correct.

"That's right, but….you forgot one final rule," Mikoto told them. That earned her confused looks. "Show them what you got and blow them away," she smirked giving them the thumbs up.

All three grinned back. "Trust us, sensei. They won't know what hit 'em. If your stories are anything to go by, the academy should be a joke," Naruto declared.

"Compared to what I've put you guys through over the past six months, it'd better damn well be. Like that time we were training in a monsoon and you guys—"

Three hands immediately covered her mouth as they glared at her. "You promised not to speak of that moment!" Sasuke complained with a huff. His mother started chuckling muffled laughs and gently pulled their hands off of her.

"I did, didn't I?" She pulled them all into a hug. "I'm proud of you three. Truly, I am," she whispered in their ears. Naruto was struggling not to have tears roll down his cheek. Was this what it felt like to have a mother's love?

"Thank you, sensei," they chorused together holding on to her tight. They stayed like that for a good half a minute, content in each other's arms. Pulling away, Mikoto stood back up.

"Go get 'em, guys," she ordered with a smile. A triad of smirks adorned the young children's faces.

Naruto, naturally, took the lead. "Let's do this, guys!" he chimed, ready for anything the academy could throw at them. Saying goodbyes to their sensei, they made their way to their classroom.

(Classroom 3-A 0912 hours)

Classroom 3-A was filled with children conversing amongst themselves, and generally all around the same age, give or take a year or so. Iruka was quietly observing all three dozen of them. They were quite a large class. Not his biggest, ever, but still up there. It wasn't a quarter past nine, yet, so he gave them some time to talk to each other.

In some twist of fate, all of the clans were in representation here, both minor and noble. Kiba Inuzuka, clan heir to the Inuzuka clan, was currently conversing with the heirs of the Akimichi and Nara clans, Chouji and Shikamaru, respectively. Kiba had typical features of the clan with messy brown hair, black vertically slit pupils, along with more pronounced canines and red markings on his cheeks. In contrast to him, Chouji was rather large for his age in keeping with the Akimichi girth size. He was a brunet and always had a bag of chips in his hand ready for consumption. Shikamaru, on the other hand, in stark contrast, was lazy as ever, sleeping on his desk…or at the very least trying to with all the noise in the room.

Iruka had to shake his head in amusement. The laziness of the Nara clan never ceased to amaze him. Then, there came the ever stoic Shino Aburame. Like his clan, he probably had a hive inside of him and took to wearing dark shades…even indoors. Why they did this, Iruka would likely never know. Representing the Yamanaka clan was Ino, who was the only daughter of the current clan head, Inoichi. Bright blonde hair and aqua-colored eyes adorned her features. She was easily one of the prettiest girls in the classroom. His eyes traveled elsewhere to another part of the room, where a young girl with lavender hair and pupil-less white eyes: Hinata Hyuuga. So far, the girl wasn't talking to anyone and was pretty darn shy. The dolphin sighed. He'd have to try and get her to come out of her shell or she'd be damn near useless. If she lacked the self-confidence, then it would be quite the task to bring out her full potential.

Suddenly, his eyes diverted left and lo! and behold, it was the boy he hadn't talked to, personally, in nearly half-a-year. Standing in the door way, was Naruto Uzumaki and his two companions, Sakura Haruno and Sasuke Uchiha. 'So, everything now comes full circle,' he thought to himself, smiling.

"Oi! Naruto! It's good to see you again," Iruka spoke cheerfully to the blond. He took note of his increase in height. He was probably the tallest in the class, just a notch below Shino.

Naruto gave him a small smile and nodded. "It's good to see you as well, Iruka-sensei," he spoke calmly and cordially. This surprised the young instructor, for a second or so, but then he remembered that he had been training with the Uchiha Matriarch for the past six months, so it stood to reason that she might have ironed out his hyperactivity.

"Why don't you three take a seat up there?" he suggested, pointing out a row suited for three people near the window that was in the middle of the classroom. They bowed in thanks and made their way up toward the row he had designated. They could feel that nearly all eyes in the classroom were on them.

"Oh my gosh, who are those two boys?" Naruto heard a couple of girls say, out of the corner of his eye, he could already see they had hearts in their eyes. He couldn't help but to let out a groan. Sasuke smirked and gave him a look that told all: Welcome to my world.

Sakura sighed as they sat down with Naruto near the window, her in the middle, and Sasuke near on the outside. 'Just great, now I have to deal with the stupidity of fan girls vying for their affections,' she dwelled with a grumble. The rosette-haired girl also noticed some glares being sent her way. 'Ugh, and I have to deal with the jealous types, too, as well! It just had to be my luck of being best friends with two cute guys.'

She sulked down in her seat, a bit depressed at the prospect. Add to the fact that she could run circles around pretty much every girl here, which only added to her likely being ostracized and hated by the female population.

"Sakura-chan, you okay?" Naruto asked in worry, seeing her sulk.

"Truthfully, not really. You know those girls have crushes on you guys, right?" Sakura asked semi-rhetorically.

"We're well aware of that," Sasuke confirmed, with a nod from Naruto. "What about it?"

She sighed. "Let's just say that, so far, they haven't taken a liking to me." They were about to ask her what she meant by that, before Iruka stood up silencing the class.

"All right, everyone, settle down, now." Surprisingly, they obeyed. "Good. I'd like to welcome you all to the Konoha Ninja Academy. You'll be learning all sorts of things from the history of our village, mathematics, how to be an effective shinobi…."

The three decided to tune out Iruka's speech and decided to whisper quietly amongst themselves. Mikoto had already given them the rundown of what was going to be taught, they didn't need to hear it for a second time.

"Man, is this going be a looong four years," Naruto groaned. His two friends sighed in agreement. "Wished something exciting would happen to spice things up."

Be careful what you wished for, because you just might get it…

(Kumogakure, 3rd District, Obano's residence, Mid-November, 2100 hours)

It was a chilly night in the late autumn month of November. The fall was considerably more frigid in Kumo than it was nearly anywhere else, besides Yuki no Kuni (Land of Snow) on the continent due to it being situated high in the mountains where the air was much chillier.

Obano sat off on a railing as he watched Omoi and Karui spar, with the use of actual bladed weapons in his backyard, which had a small training area. He had an actual house, not an apartment or condo like most did. Once Hideyoshi had learned he had taken the three orphans in, he offered to pay for the mortgage on a new home, where he could teach them ninjutsu as well as provide each of them their own rooms. To say the three were eternally grateful to the Ultranationalist leader would be a vast understatement.

'Can't believe I'm actually a sensei, now,' the Emerald Fang thought in slight amusement. Five months ago, he had met them out of a sheer act of fate. That night, when he had fed them a full-course meal, Omoi had done the unexpected and dropped to his knees and practically begged the jounin to teach them how to be a ninja. Of course, he was already planning on teaching them and indoctrinating them, but it still shocked the raven-haired ninja to his core. Even more surprising, both Karui and Samui had actually agreed with him. Honestly, he thought Samui would be the most resistant one, but lo! and behold she wanted to learn how to be a shinobi, too.

He had asked for their reasoning and the answers he had received were remarkably straightforward. It boiled down to three things.

First off, they wanted to have a purpose in life other than just being street rats. Second, they wanted the power to protect each other and those they cared about from harm. Lastly, learning and serving under him would be their "honor" as a form of repayment for taking them in when no one else would.

Combined with all those factors and reasons, it wasn't too hard for Obano to accept them all as his pupils and effectively indoctrinate them in the principles and philosophies of the Ultranationalists. To his surprise, he found out that the three held no love for Killer A any more than he did. As far as they were concerned, the Raikage had the power to help those in situations similar to theirs, and yet, foolishly chose to do nothing.

Obano had enough cash to live off of for at least five to seven years almost, since he rarely bought anything other than the bare essentials and paid his utilities on time. As such, he could afford to take six months of leave, so he could focus exclusively on training "Team Omoi." The team name was naturally decided since he was the one who took charge and fit a leadership role perfectly.

He turned his head slightly, hearing his back screen door open and Samui coming out of it. She had a small blanket around her shoulders as well as a cup of hot tea in her hands. She took a seat near her sensei and watched Omoi and Karui lock blades, each one battling for supremacy.

"They're pretty good, aren't they, Obano-sensei?" she noted softly, taking a sip, watching them. Personally, she wasn't really all that into bladed weapons besides kunai and shuriken.

"Heh, yeah, they are, aren't they, Samui? I taught them well," he grinned a bit, watching Karui dodge Omoi's strike that hit the ground with so much force a cloud of dust kicked up. "Okay, maybe a little too well," he chuckled. Samui couldn't help but giggle at her sensei.

"Oh, come on, you know you're proud of us," she teased. The Ultranationalist jounin held his hands up in defeat.

"Okay, you caught me! How devious of you!" he played along, transforming her giggles into full-blown laughter. Obano chortled with his student, each enjoying each other's company.

"Hey…sensei…I was wondering," she began as she stared up at the night sky, "are you going to send us to the Academy?"

Obano snorted. "And let you be influenced by those lies the Raikage manages to spew in into the history books? Absolutely not."

She looked at him in surprise. "Then, how are we going to become genin?"

He looked at her neutrally. 'Well, once the coup happens, you guys can get a field promotion right then.' He then sighed. "Look, you let me worry about that, okay? You three just need to concentrate on getting stronger, all right?"

Samui slowly nodded, accepting her sensei's judgment for now. Technically, they were supposed to be in the academy already, but growing up on the streets had prevented that from happening. Considering the size of the village, there were actually four academies scattered throughout. There had been requests for A to build a fifth one in the eleventh district, but he denied them all, on the basis of they would have to make do with what they had due to budget concerns. She clenched her fists. It added to the already numerous reasons she despised the leader of the village.

"Samui…" she heard Obano call out to her.

"Yes, sensei?" she answered.

"Tell me something," he said as he looked toward the stars. "Why were you so resilient when we first met? You were…the hard-ass, so to speak." They both shared a small laugh at that. "Not only that, but…you seemed so cynical and now you're almost the exact opposite…at least to me you are."

Samui pondered on it before letting out a breath, resolving into a weary look on her face. "Well…I never really trusted adults, Sensei. They were always liars, manipulators, and always wanted to use us for their own gain. One of the reasons I was so hesitant to go with you, Omoi and Karui was because I actually believed you to be honest. It honestly scared me. More so than you ever know. The more I listened to you, the more I wanted to find out if you were actually being genuine.

"That scared me; so much that I fought my innermost desire and tried to mask it with skepticism and disbelief. Growing up on the streets of the eleventh district…you kind of learn who to and not to trust. One day, your life could be totally normal, and then in the next, you're running for your life, trying to get away with stealing food. When you saved us from that butcher, I felt relieved, and my natural instinct after bearing these hardships for so long was to come to you."

Obano frowned, genuinely saddened by his pupil's desolation. "Are you saying that even before Omoi—?"

"Yes," Samui interjected. "I trusted you before the thought of coming back home with you even crossed his mind. My heart told me to follow my instinct, but my head told me to relent, which kept me stubborn. I finally gave in." She then smiled. "I'm glad I did. Sensei…you're the best thing to ever happen to us…and me as well," she admitted with small look of adoration in her eyes.

Obano couldn't help but grin back at her. He gave the blonde girl a thumbs up. "Samui, you guys aren't too bad yourself," he admitted. He'd be dammed if he admitted outright that he had taken a liking to the three orphans or risk feeling of going soft. Samui saw through this easily, but decided to play along for the sake of amusement.

"Oi! Omoi! Karui! Come on inside! It's getting cold," Obano told them, hopping off the railing and walking up to the two novice swordsmen/woman.

Karui frowned. "Aw, come on, Sensei! We were just getting warmed up!" she complained, meaning it both literally and figuratively.

"Yeah, Obano-sensei! Can't we go at it some more?" Omoi begged.

Obano couldn't help but shake his head. They were certainly eager. "Nah, you two have been training for the past two hours straight. It's time to call it a night." Although obviously disappointed, they reluctantly bowed and sheathed their swords on their backs.

"Great job, you two. You seem to take up kenjutsu as if you were born to wield them," he praised them, impressed. Both Karui and Omoi bowed to their master, as a show of gratitude.

"Come on, and let's get inside. I already have dinner being fixed," he told them. As if on cue, their stomachs growled.

Samui looked at him. "Don't you mean I have dinner fixed already?" She'd be damned if she let him take credit for a meal she prepared.

"I did give you the money to get the ingredients, didn't I?" Obano joked, trying to plead his case.

Samui clucked her teeth, "Yeah, okay," she rolled her eyes. The jounin simply gave her a grin. Omoi shook his head and Karui sighed. The antics of their master and Samui never ceased to amaze them. Both junior swordsmen jumped up to the balcony. All four made their way into the house, where they found an unexpected guest sitting at the table calmly looking at them both.

Team Omoi's eyes immediately widened collectively, recognizing the person. They were already on their knees bowing. "Hideyoshi-sama!" they called out in both shock and respect that their leader was here. Judging from Obano's expression, it was clear he didn't expect the boss, either. He bowed as well, although not getting on his knees.

"Hideyoshi-sama this is an…unexpected visit," the jounin admitted.

"I see that you've taught them well, Obano," he praised, ignoring his statement for the moment. That immediately pleased the trio of orphans.

"Thank you, Hideyoshi-sama," Obano thanked his master at the compliment.

The Ultranationalist leader waved him off. "I bring good news, Obano," Hideyoshi began before telling them all to rise. Team Omoi obeyed him without the slightest bit of hesitation. Obano couldn't tell whether his master had a smirk or smile on his face, but chose to ignore it. "We won…" he finally revealed.

All four pairs of the eyes of his subordinates went wide. The lollipop in Omoi's mouth fell to the floor.

He smirked as he pointed toward the cooking pots and pans on the stove near him. "Why don't we discuss it over dinner?" he suggested.

Samui turned red as she flushed. "O-Of course, at once Hideyoshi-sama," she stuttered out as she went over to the stove. She prayed to the gods that her cooking was up to his standards.

Obano, Karui, and Omoi, however, decided to take their seats. Obano sat directly across from Hideyoshi, and Karui and Omoi were on either side of him. As much as they respected their leader, even they were weary being so close to him.

"We won…" Obano repeated back, a bit in disbelief. "We actually won!" He couldn't help but to sound cheerful as if he had won the lottery.

Hideyoshi narrowed his eyes a bit in annoyance as he winced. "Mind the volume of your voice, Obano," the Akechi clan head warned. The jade-eyed jounin held his head in shame, but was dismissed by his master, forgiving him. "Anyhow, yes, although we managed to pick up two seats," he revealed. Although slightly disappointed they didn't win all of them, it was still better than nothing. Now they had five seats on the council.

Samui sat plates full of rice and chicken she had prepared in front of the four of them, as well as a small plate for herself. "Hideyoshi-sama…what districts did we win?" the sapphire-eyed blonde asked, taking a small bite of her rice. The rest of her team and her sensei were interested as well, but they decided stuffing their stomachs was a bigger priority at the moment.

"Districts eight…." They raised an eyebrow. It wasn't exactly in dire need of change, but hey! A win was a win.

"And the second one?" Obano deeply intoned.

"The eleventh," Hideyoshi revealed, dropping the bombshell. Team Omoi dropped their wooden utensils against their plates in complete and utter disbelief.

"The…eleventh?" Kauri repeated, wondering if her ears deceived her.

Hideyoshi nodded. "That's right, Karui. The eleventh district…your home. The United Cloud no longer controls it. We do," he confirmed.

Omoi managed a huge grin as he popped himself out of his chair. "Aw, hell yeah!" he cried out, high-fiving Karui, who happily returned it. Samui couldn't hold it in as she started crying tears of joy. Obano was about to reprimand them, but he was stopped by a look from Hideyoshi, indicating it was fine, and to let them enjoy their moment.

The Akechi clan head offered a small half-smirk, half-smile at his three youngest subordinates. "I'm glad you three are happy, as well," he told them, his genuine delight in their happiness surprised even him. He shuddered a bit, trying not to dwell on what these three children might do to him.

"You know what that means, guys? Real change is coming!" Samui beamed. "No longer will most children like us be forced to steal, while the guys in charge do nothing about it."

Their sensei smiled. "You best believe it, Samui. The Ultranationalists have the best interests of everyone at heart." Hideyoshi almost felt guilty at the half-truth that his jounin subordinate had uttered. Almost.

"That's why we're going to spread our wings to the rest of the continent, right, Hideyoshi-sama?" Omoi queried as he envisioned it. He was looking over in the living room where the Ultranationalist flag was. It was a primarily black banner with golden stripes on the outer tips. In the center, there was the entire earth. Over the earth was a golden eagle emblem with its wings spread out to its entire wingspan over the earth. Below its feet was a triangle with an intricate design in the center of it. The three sides of the triangular shape represented the core of being an Ultranationalist: Duty, Obedience, and Loyalty.

It was the duty of an Ultranationalist to carry out their orders to the best of their abilities without question.

An Ultranationalist was to always be obedient to his superiors, unless that superior's orders contradicted the orders of their superiors.

Above all else, an Ultranationalist was to be loyal to his leader and follow him to the gates of hell, if need be.

These were the undying principles that his master had engraved in their minds from day one. Omoi made a vow that he would never break any of those edicts, so long as breath remained in his body.

Hideyoshi couldn't help but smirk. Obano had truly struck gold when he had found these three diamonds in the rough. Not only were they the perfect subordinates, and didn't resist indoctrination, they had actual hidden talents as shinobi, too. The Akechi clan head bobbed his head. "Yes, indeed, Omoi, we shall…but, I need to speak with your sensei…alone. Could you leave us?" he commanded.

"Of course," they chorused, leaving their mentor and leader to their own devices. There was a small silence between them as they waited until his pupils were out of earshot.

"Before you begin, Hideyoshi-sama," Obano began, "I seriously hope the councilman who replaced the United Cloud will do a better job. It would be a shame we get this far and they see empirical evidence to the contrary of what I've taught them."

"Do you take me for a fool, Obano?" he retorted rhetorically. "I know damn well what can happen if we don't start improving things within the districts we win. We only have one shot at this. I intend to not mess it up. Already, the councilman is making arrangements to build an academy in the eleventh district."

Obano raised an eyebrow. "Won't you need A's written consent for that?" Outside of formal and forced meetings, Obano refused to call him 'Raikage-sama.'

Hideyoshi smirked, laying his chin on his left fist. "Who said it was going to be publically funded?"

The jounin's jaw dropped. "You mean a private academy? Are you serious right now?"

Hideyoshi's grey eyes stared at the jade-eyed jounin as they seemed to pour into the very depths of his psyche. A small, thin line pursed his lips to an almost psychotic degree, which chilled Team Omoi's sensei to his very bones. "Yes, deadly serious Obano. Technically, there was no law against funding for private citizens to fund out of their own pocket to teach the young how to be shinobi. Frankly, no one took advantage of this edict, since they didn't want to waste their money on teaching children the fundamentals of our village."

"What's to stop the Raikage from shutting you down?" Obano inquired.

"Ah, there lies the beauty of it. How can he shut us down without making himself look worse than the fool already does? This is private property, and technically, we are making an investment, so it wouldn't be wise to for him to incite the wrath of the businessmen who support him."

"Aren't most businessmen with the Virga, in terms of raw support?" Obano noted, a bit confused. He was knowledgeable in the area of the politics of Kumo, but there were some areas where even he was ignorant.

"Most are," Hideyoshi confirmed, "but, some of the Virga's deregulating practices are starting to hurt other areas of commerce around the village. Considering some business regulations apply in certain districts at certain times of the year and other miscellaneous factors, you can see where the confusion can come from with their idiotic policies." Obano nodded his head that he understood.

"Funding?"

"That's the beauty of it. Due to it being a privately started entity used for the basis of public need, it's subsidized by tax breaks, along with any spare tax dollars going to maintain it. This was a decree by A, himself, so even he can't overturn it without looking like he's doing it out of spite for us winning fairly. If he does, we'll simply use that against him in the next campaign, further decreasing his power and influence within the village." A wicked grin contorted on the Ultranationalist's face. "Also, since we're not subject to the curriculum regulations of the village…"

Obano's eyes widened. "…That means we can effectively write in our ideology within the context of what they're learning!" The implications of that fact were simply…incalculable.

Hideyoshi smirked. "Brilliant, isn't it? Imagine…an entire generation's worth of orphans and children raised on the streets, being finally given the opportunity they've so desperately wanted to lift themselves up from the shackles of poverty and serve a purpose in life."

"You…could effectively indoctrinate entire peer groups of children," Obano observed a bit in awe.

"Precisely," the Akechi head confirmed, eyes narrowing conspiratorially. "Not only that, but all of their peers will be just like them. Know what they've gone through, they've trained together, survived together, and banded together for something to fight for. Put all that together with our creeds, and you get…"

"…a generation of loyal soldiers," Obano finished.

"Indeed. And we plan to repeat this process in the neighboring districts, so we can try and bring them all to our side." Obano had to admit that it was one of those plans that chilled even him. Programming a group of children? Was that truly ethical? Sure, he did it to Karui, Samui, and Omoi…but…ugh. His conscience was eating at him again. Damn it! However, there was one thing he had been wondering about.

"What does he think about it?" Obano asked cryptically, although the Ultranationalist knew exactly who he was referring to. Hideyoshi's eyes shrunk to slits.

"Don't concern yourself with him. That will come in due time," he reassured his loyal subordinate.

The Emerald Fang sighed. "I still don't see the point in—"

Now, Hideyoshi's narrowed eyes turned into a full-blown deathly glare. "In. Due. Time. You aren't to mention that around those three until it's time to take the village. Am I clear?"

"Crystal, sir," he replied, inwardly sighing. He was one of the very few in the organization who knew that tidbit of information, and Hideyoshi wanted it to stay that way.

Hideyoshi stood up. "In any case, I must be taking my leave, I still have clan duties to attend to. I also want you to be there for when we make a test for WARhawkS."

Obano's eyes widened again. "You mean…you've developed a device that can slow down our descent when we jump—"

"Yes," Hideyoshi interjected. "It seems our summoning contracts are about to be used a lot more broadly, it seems. But, if the program is successful," a wicked smirk crossed his face, "invading the other Hidden Villages will be ridiculously easy."

"Where will the test be?"

"I'm making arrangements for it to be in Yuki no Kuni, away from the eyes of A," he said simply.

Obano grimaced. "I'm not really a fan of cold weather, but…fine. I'll bring my pupils with me, too."

Hideyoshi bobbed his head. "See to it that you do. I'm off. Good night to you, Obano. Remember what I said…not a word to them until the time is right." With that final warning, Hideyoshi vanished in a flock of white feathers.

Obano simply sighed in defeat as he covered his hands over his face. 'Hideyoshi-sama….you can't hide from him forever…tread carefully."

He stood up from the table and turned out the kitchen light. Making his way toward the back rooms he saw that the three were already asleep in their own rooms, each decorated to their own personalities. 'Guess all that training must have worn them out…along with the revelation that their home is being fixed,' he deduced from the look of content that adorned their facial expressions.

The Emerald Fang couldn't help but smile as he turned out their lights and made his way to the master bedroom. Their home was being fixed. Consequences be damned, it was. Killer A wasn't going to do a damn thing about it, so it was time they did. Even if they brainwashed the kids into following them, they were being told the truth…right? Obano sighed as he stripped off his clothes and plopped onto his bed. He truly didn't know whether what they were doing was right or wrong, but the amount of contentment he felt when he trained Team Omoi made him learn that he was doing the right thing.

So, why did he have trouble sleeping that night…?

(A bar, 4th District, 2300 hours)

"Hot damn, Sodaisho, I don't how you did it, but your plan to save this district worked perfectly," C, an associate of Darui remarked, taking a sip of sake. He was a jounin alongside Darui, who assisted the Raikage, and was once a member of the Virga, but converted to the United Cloud. Dirty blond hair, dark eyes, and a small frame in a standard Kumo Jounin outfit adorned his features.

Darui, Aisu, and C had decided to go out to the bar for a drink to celebrate. Once again, they had left clones in the care of Ayasaki. The thirteen-year-old had insisted on coming with them, as she wanted to celebrate, too, but not only was the girl a long way from being able to drink, being around people might make her sickness even worse. The girl pouted, but nonetheless understood.

The BOLT commander frowned a bit. "Well, yeah, I did…sort of, but they did manage to win two seats. Not the sort of victory I was looking for," he conceded.

Darui shook his head. "No, you saved our asses. From the way things were looking, it was quite possible, if not, probable that they would've gained all four seats, putting them at a majority. You bought us some time to swing things back our way."

Aisu simply sighed in acceptance of what he felt was a hollow victory. It had been a stroke of pure luck that he had some dirt on the guy representing the Ultranationalists that was running. Being the Commander of the village's elite black ops division came with an enormous amount of perks…including dossiers on virtually every single shinobi, past and present. For all his talk about bringing the village back to power, the Ultranationalist in turn had led his team to ambush during the last war and they were utterly slaughtered on account of his poor leadership. It was buried and covered up, but Aisu had brought it to the light, anonymously, and subsequently caused him to lose public confidence, and thus he lost at the ballot by a landslide.

When Darui had learned of his plan, he was floored. He had honestly expected some grand, almost convoluted scheme from the BOLT leader. Instead, what he got was so simple, yet ten times as effective. 'Who knew the sodaisho had it in him to be so utterly devious and conniving?' Darui dwelled, amused.

"I know that…but even still. We managed to save two districts. Count 'em: two," he grimly replied holding a two fingers for emphasis. "The electorate is entirely different from the general population, you know?" Aisu was getting a headache from all of this political gibberish. He needed some fucking hot cocoa now!

C frowned. "What do you mean?"

Aisu sighed. "What I mean is, despite all the heavy campaigning, voter turnout was what? Fifty-six percent? Despite the landslide victory, we still have a segment of the population that is fully entrenched in the views of the Ultranationalists, they simply choose to sit on their asses rather than go out and vote."

"Isn't that a good thing? I mean, if they did come out and vote, we would've lost, right? Shouldn't we be encouraging them to…stay home, so to speak?" C suggested, genuinely confused at the logic of Aisu's words.

"No, the sodaisho's right," Darui grimly replied, his habitually lazy eyes taking a tone of gloom. "If there was one thing my sensei always taught me is that, while the support of the electorate is always important, not having the backing of the general population is far, far worse." The heir to the Black Lightning then grimaced. "I can see why you weren't as happy as we were a few minutes ago." His gloom remark almost caused him to spiral down into a deep depression.

C, however, still wasn't one to give up. "Come on, guys, I know it may seem bad right now, but we got to look at the future. I'm sure we can make a comeback!" Aisu and Darui both looked back at him dully, as if what he said just went in what ear and out the other.

Aisu stood up and turned away from them, a look in his eyes showing almost complete detachment from the world around him. "If the Raikage doesn't get his act together, he will have thrown away everything that made this country so great. By the fucking gods, I don't want the Ultranationalists to take over, but why isn't he doing anything else?" he practically yelled.

That sudden outburst made the two jounin flinch a bit. They had never seen the commander lose control over his emotions like that. Then again, considering all the clandestine bits of intelligence he received every day, the anxiety of being leader of such a large division, and helping to keep the people he hated the most out of power, it was to expected he had to snap at some point. Truly, the man had to be of sound mind, considering he hadn't let his mind go to complete insanity.

The wielder of the Thunderbirds breathed in and out in short, controlled bursts, to bring himself back under control. He looked back at them both apologetically. "Look, I'm going to go. I'm going to stop by your house and check up on Ayasaki, all right?"

Darui nodded in confirmation. "Thanks for looking after my sister, sodaisho."

Aisu smiled. "It's no big deal. Here," he said, pulling out a few notes of ryou. "Drinks are on me."

C blinked in surprised. "But…Sodaisho, this bill…the amount of money we spe—"

"It's fine," Aisu interjected. "Consider it a gift for helping me cope with the stress."

Darui, on the other hand, hushed C before he could retort in protest yet again. "Thank you, sodaisho. Tell my sister I'll be home in an hour, would ya?"

"I will," he confirmed. "I'll see you both when I can." With nothing more needed to be said, Aisu phased out of sight.

C whistled in awe. "Damn, how I wish I could do a Shunshin no Jutsu that fast." Darui chuckled, shaking his head, and downed a swig of sake.

(Darui's Residence, 4th District, 2338 hours)

Aisu had blurred into existence, inside Darui's living room. His clone had looked toward him with a serene look on his face. He took note of the absence of Darui's clone. Weird…

"Where's Darui?" he asked his doppelganger.

His clone shrugged. "He said he was going to get some supplies and medicine for her. She looked pretty ill," he gravely intoned.

"I…see…" Aisu responded a bit meekly. He dismissed his replica as it turned into a burst of short static electricity which his Raiunsou absorbed. The legendary ebony-colored blade pulsated a bit, its short craving satisfied.

The BOLT commander pushed the door to Ayasaki's room ajar and peaked inside. The terminally ill girl was sleep, yes, but she was tossing and turning in her sleep as sweat rolled down her brow. The poor girl's breathing was rapidly increasing, alarming the Hayasaka.

Without even thinking twice, his haori was thrown off, as well as Raiunsou. He grabbed the girl and brought her close, trying to get her breathing under control.

"Fight it, Ayasaki-chan," Aisu said, sending a pulse of his chakra to calm down her nerves, which were going haywire at the moment. His heart was pounding against his chest so hard, he swore it would burst out at any moment.

For what seemed like an eternity, the young teen's body began to slow down with her convulsions. She slowly started to open her eyes as her brown orbs stared into cerulean.

"Aisu-kun?" She stared at him in disbelief as saline liquid started to roll down her cheek.

Aisu smiled down at her, holding her close. She could always tell him from his replicas, easily. Otherwise she wouldn't add the "-kun" suffix. "Yeah, it's me. I'm here for you," he soothed.

"I had one again, didn't I?" she whispered, her voice cracking.

He solemnly nodded. "It was bad…if I hadn't surged some of my chakra, you might have…." He couldn't bring himself to say it. Then, without warning, the last thing he had expected happened: She kissed him…on the lips.

The Black Ops Commander's eyes widened in complete shock before pulling away from her nearly a second or so after her lips locked with his. He looked at her disapprovingly. "Ayasaki…"

She gave a downcast look. He had dropped his usual honorific. "I…don't…I'm sorry," she uttered regretfully.

"Why did you do that?" Aisu wondered, his tone neutral, but there were hints of disappointment which made the girl's heart sting even worse.

"I…always did…I just thought the only way to repay you was…ugh," she spat as the impending rejection was already hard enough.

Aisu nodded in understanding. "Ayasaki-chan," he started, which lifted the teen's spirits a bit, "I know you may like me—"

"Aisu-kun, I love you!" she interjected with a cry. "I—!"

He hushed her by putting his finger on her lips. "No…you don't," he retorted softly. "You're infatuated with me. I know it may be hard, but I'm more than twice your age. That's unacceptable, in any fashion. I love you, as well…but not in the way you want it to be. Your world doesn't have to revolve around me or your brother—"

"Have you looked at me, Aisu-kun?" she yelled out, surprise immediately on his face at her outburst. "I'm sick! I don't know when I'm going to die…I just know that it's coming! You were the guy that I wanted everyone to be like. You were, and still are, my hero and my knight in shining armor. Even before I got sick, I always kept comparing every guy to you…and they always fell short." Tears rolled down her dark cheeks as Aisu just sat there, completely speechless.

"Do you know why I fear death so much Aisu-kun? No. It's not even the act of dying, no. It's not that I won't be able to serve as a proud kunoichi of the Hidden Cloud, even. Do you know what it is? Hell, even as much as I love my brother, it's not even him at the true core of why I fear passing on. It's you," she revealed. "Separating from you is a fate worse than death. If there were a Kami…I'd consider that personal hell a far more tortuous experience than the Shinigami, itself, could ever muster up."

Aisu honestly didn't know what to say. Being a man of his intelligence, he always knew that she had a crush on him, but simply ignored it, thinking it was just an early teenage fluff. But to bear all with strong conviction to tell him how much she idolized him…it was surreal. He then looked at her seriously.

"I will, Ayasaki-chan…I will. I'll fight for you. I'll find a way to make you better, I promise," he vowed as she wrapped her arms around him.

"I know…you always do, don't you?" she whispered in his ear. He couldn't help but smile in her absolute confidence in his abilities.

"Now, get some sleep. Your brother should be back in a couple of minutes or so. I'll try and visit you when I can, all right?"

Ayasaki nodded as he carefully laid the girl back on her mattress. She took a deep breath and pulled the covers over her. He touched her forehead, and sent a pulse of lightning chakra through her nervous system. In seconds, she was calm enough to fall asleep almost instantly.

Hearing Darui come through the front door, Aisu took his opportunity to grab his haori and Raiunsou, and phased out of sight not a second later. He had a certain silver-haired clan head he had to meet….and it was not going to be pretty.

(END)

As promised, October 28, 2011, you would get an update. And here it is. :D

As for the Naruto manga, I only have one thing to say: What the fuck? I mean seriously, what the FUCK? Madara Uchiha now has the Rin'negan? Are you kidding me right now, Kishimoto? You seriously went there? This opens up so many plot holes that it's fucking ridiculous. Not only that, but apparently he can use the First Hokage's abilities? What? WHAT? Everyone and their grandma has either the Sharingan or Hashirama's DNA….which is retarded, beyond belief.

So, yeah, all that backstory in canon…it's not happening in this story. Period. That's just way too much retarded crap for me to weave my plot into.

As for the next update? I have no idea. I'll try to get it out before Modern Warfare 3 comes out, because if I don't it's going to suck away a HELL of a lot of my free time.

But alas, until the next update, please read and review! :D

Regards,

Arashi.