AN: hi all, Well once again I have been afflicted with writer's block, sorry. I think this is going to be a reoccurring theme with me, but well what can you do.
I just want to warn everyone now that this chapter is a little controversial as it involves the first real deviation from the canon timeline. Truthfully I really (I mean REALLY) did not want to do this. At best I was going to keep Sasuke out of the situation thus saving him from being tortured by his brother and the subsequent mental trauma this caused, but then one of my reviewers (Brand L) suggested that I find a way to save the Uchiha. Quite frankly my first reaction to this was "no", mainly to save Sasuke as a character because without the whole avenger angst thing he was pretty much a nonentity. But the more I thought about it the more I had to ask myself, "What would Naruto do?" and that's when I knew that I had to save as many as I could just because that's what Naruto would do if he had the chance. And so I say to all of you, I'm sorry but I had to do it so please no angry reviews, but if you see some gaps in my logic please feel free to comment.
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto; I just think he's awesome.
Warning: May contain spoilers and/or clichés, if you are bothered or offended by either; why are you reading fanfiction?
'thinking'
"speaking"
jutsu
demon speak
Chapter 12
In the years subsequent to Sasuke's defection from the village many people had told Naruto to give up on him, that he was wasting his time, that Sasuke was too far gone. He was a traitor and thus reintegrating him back into the village would be impossible. Naruto understood these concerns, after all Sasuke had tried to kill him on a number of occasions, but Naruto had made a promise and he would never go back on his word.
Besides if there was one thing that Naruto would never do it was to turn his back on a friend no matter what they did, and that's why his goal had changed slightly over the years from a desire to bring Sasuke back to a drive to 'save' him instead. For Naruto never blamed Sasuke for leaving, though he was disappointed in his friend and rival's weakness, in truth he understood as no one else did just how messed up Sasuke had been inside and how very easy he had been to manipulate.
Naruto had never made a secret of the fact that he himself could have so very easily have slid down the wrong path, in fact his whole friendship with Gaara had been based on the fact that he understood exactly what had lead the other to become a serial killer who based his search for existence on the deaths of others. Contrary to popular belief it was not just the loneliness of a family-less child that Naruto had witnessed in Sasuke's eyes, on that fateful afternoon when their eyes had met at the old pier, that had drawn Naruto in and caused Naruto to feel like Sasuke understood who he was and thus understood him as only a best friend could.
It had also been the overwhelming feelings of fear, anger and self-loathing which had run just underneath the loneliness that had called out to the inner Naruto. But where Naruto had grabbed onto and clung to anything that could have pulled him up out of that emotional mire, Sasuke had chosen to wallow in it in the mistaken belief that doing so would make him stronger.
When Sasuke had lost his family he had lost himself. He had lost the chance to gain the long sought after approval of his father, he had lost the care and support of the mother that his child's heart still needed and he lost his brother whom he had loved and idolised. Most traumatic of all he had lost all of this thanks to that very same brother's betrayal.
It was only after he had joined team seven that Sasuke had started to open up. Under Kakashi-sensei's teamwork lessons, Sasuke had learnt to share a laugh and to show concern for his teammates as they worked together towards a common goal. He had started to heal from the trauma of his family's deaths and his brother's betrayal, and then Orochimaru marked him with the curse seal.
The curse seal fed on his negative emotions, emphasising them and feeding his obsessions. Days after he had received the mark it was sealed but only after it had already started insidiously working its way into Sasuke's psyche. Unfortunately the seal used to contain the curse was reliant on Sasuke's own will power to stay functional which was already weak. Perhaps all might have been well if his mental stability had not been further compromised by his brother's Tsukuyomi, a genjutsu that trapped opponents' minds in an illusory world, torturing them for what felt like days in a matter of seconds which he was forced to undergo only two months after receiving the seal.
Though Sasuke's Uchiha blood meant that the technique did not cause as much psychological trauma as Kakashi had suffered, it was still enough to weaken his will, particularly as it was left untreated for at least a week awaiting Lady Tsunade's arrival in the village.
His will thus weakened , it needed only one more emotional push for the seal containing the curse mark to fail, which was provided by his lose to the dobe in a fight. Sasuke had long been plagued by his need to prove his Uchiha superiority, fueled by his memories of his father's pride in the Uchiha name and his demands that his sons be the best. This clashed, however, with Sasuke's innate inferiority complex caused by having a genius for an older brother.
As such Sasuke just could not stand to have anyone be seen as better than him in any way. When Naruto, the dead last of the class, showed signs of not only developing faster than Sasuke but of also being stronger than him, Sasuke's jealousy exploded causing him to challenge Naruto and culminating in Sasuke giving in to the curse mark and allowing Orochimaru to take hold of his soul.
The problem with Sasuke was that he had built his entire identity around gaining revenge against his brother. He was an avenger and as such he had to be better and stronger than anyone else. To achieve his goal he needed power and he didn't much care where he got it from. But when his revenge was realized, when his brother was dead, he was lost once more. He was a bundle of hatred without an outlet and thus open to any manipulative force that could give him a target leading him to attack his own village.
But right now, in this time, Sasuke was an innocent boy untouched by hate, only wanting to grow up to become a shinobi of his home village like his beloved brother. This was Naruto's chance to finally save him, to free him from obsession. All he had to do was stop a massacre perpetrated by one ANBU captain, a homicidal psychopath and a megalomaniac with his own private army. It would be a bowl of ramen.
Naruto was taking a shortcut through the park on his way to the Hokage Tower after school a week after his eighth birthday. It was the last day of Pre-Academy and he was excited as he now had more time to pursue his data collecting on the Uchiha. He was glad that he had decided to take up pranking the village during his free time as it gave him a legitimate excuse for being seen lurking around places he shouldn't be. Anyone spotting him around the police station or the Uchiha clan grounds would think him up to no good but would never think he was spying.
As well as giving himself an innocuous reason for being out and about in the village, Naruto had also made a point to make himself a fixture in the Hokage Tower. He would wander into different places, ask innocent questions and even run errands for the tower staff, so that by now his presence was hardly ever questioned by those working in or visiting the Tower.
A bonus consequence of his daily visits to the Tower was that he had gained a clear understanding of the inner workings of the village and knew where all the records were kept and knew the faces of the shinobi who ran the various government departments and their subordinates.
'I've been hearing more and more whispers about the Uchiha. They should be starting to move pretty soon. I need to find a way to get Itachi onside without revealing myself though. Really a lot could have been avoided if he had just made the right decisions. It's too soon to reveal myself to Jiji just yet, I'm not ready, but I can't just let Sasuke's family die for no reason,' he thought as he made his way through the trees.
Just then he heard a meaty thud, as if a fist had made contact with flesh, and the faint pained cry of a child. Quick as thought Naruto took to his heels and raced towards the sounds. Three large youths that he recognised from last year's Pre-Academy graduating class were standing over a small, huddled form curled up at their feet. Their fists clenched the youths were hurling abuse at the small child, taunting their weakness and kicking them with their feet.
"Hey, what the hell do you think you're doing you brats? Get away from her!" yelled Naruto as he rushed forward and pushed them away. Crouching down he rested his hand on the back of the sobbing child and gently asked if they were okay.
The child looked up into Naruto's face to reveal the tear stained face of a young Hyuga. "Hey now it's okay you just rest here and I'll take care of those bozos for you," he gently reassured the girl with a smile as he wiped her tears away with his thumbs. Patting her on the head he stood up and faced here tormentors.
"You hit a little girl? What is wrong with you?" he demanded indignantly.
"Oh look, the little cry-baby princess needs to be saved by the village loser," taunted one of the youths, "Maybe you two should stick together it could be a club of losers."
"There is no such thing as a loser. If you are trying your best and never give up anyone can be someone." stated Naruto calmly, "Though I suppose you could call someone who uses their strength to pick on others losers but I'll just call you pathetic instead."
Enraged the three youths charged at Naruto with flailing arms and growls of outrage. Naruto calmly sidestepped every punch, kick and shove weaving his way through their unco-ordinated attacks before eventually punching one in the back of the head and knocking the other two heads' together effectively knocking them out.
Dusting his hands together Naruto nodded his head in satisfaction and turned to meet the awestruck look on the face of the small girl he had saved. Kneeling down in front of her once more he took her chin in his hand and raised her head to survey the damage.
"Oh, that's going to be a beauty of a bruise," he said as he gently poked at the swollen, red flesh on her small cheek, "Are you hurt anywhere else?"
"N…n…n…no," stammered the child timidly, just then her eyes widened as Naruto felt a sharp pain to the back of his neck and slumped sideways as he lost all feeling in his body.
"How dare that Beast lay hands on a Hyuga, much less a member of the main family. Come my Lady we must leave at once," exclaimed the pompous voice of the shinobi who had attacked Naruto and who then grabbed the girl by the hand and dragged her away despite her protests.
"Ow, that could have gone better." mumbled Naruto after he had surged his chakra to release the pinched nerve point which had resulted in his temporary paralysis. "That will teach me to let my guard down I suppose."
Standing up Naruto dusted himself down, after noting that the three youths had made themselves scarce, he once more set off through the park. 'I wonder if the girl was related to Hinata or Neji. That Chunin did say she was a member of the main branch, but boy was she little.' Grinning to himself Naruto rested his hands behind his head as he hummed softly.
Just before he reached to park gate, Naruto's journey was once more interrupted. 'So much for a shortcut,' thought Naruto as he stopped and just looked at the group of four shinobi that appeared before him, three of which featured blank ANBU style masks and who guarded a fourth heavily bandaged figure.
'Oh great Danzo and ROOT, just what I need right now,' mentally sighed Naruto as he discreetly extended his senses to make sure his ANBU guard were nearby and to get a feel for the emotional status of his visitors. Feeling much more secure Naruto let his patented 'Baka' face, the one that used to drive Sakura nuts, take over his features.
"Ohayo Mummy-san," Naruto chirped his eyed wide and as vacant as he could make them, "How can I help you?"
"Good afternoon Naruto-kun, my name is Danzo Shimura, I am a village elder and an advisor to the Hokage," returned the Old War Hawk with a slight grimace.
"You know jiji, Mummy-san?" enthused Naruto as if this was the world's most interesting fact.
"Yes I know the Hokage and I prefer to be referred to as Danzo-sama, Naruto-kun. I have heard many great things from your teachers and would like to extend the invitation for you to attend my special training program for elite shinobi." finished Danzo with slightly gritted teeth.
"Weeeeell, I do like school, Mummy-san. I like the books 'cause they has good pictures and I like to run 'cause the wind hits my face. But I don't think I can go with you Mummy-san, Jiji always says not to go with strangers." he answered innocently with his head tilted to the side and his hands up near his chin. Inside, however, he was laughing his ass off.
"Well yes that is good advice for a child …. But a ninja, you will find, needs to grab any opportunity to become strong. I will leave the offer open. Think about it." Danzo then turned to his waiting escort and raised one finger and with that the whole group shushin'd away.
"I will leave the offer open. Think about it. Blah!" mocked Naruto as he held down one eye lid and stuck out his tongue. 'The old goat. I never thought he would approach me now. But perhaps I can use this.' He thought as he continued on his way to the Tower.
The reason Danzo had chosen to approach Naruto at all was on the recommendation of his ROOT operative in the teaching staff of the Pre-Academy. This was all part of the recruiting strategy for his ROOT forces. All of the village orphans attended Pre-Academy after all and so it was easy for his operatives to keep their eyes open for potential recruits.
Once a child was identified their records would be altered so as far as the village was concerned they had failed to qualify for ninja academy, the orphanages were told that the child was offered an apprenticeship to a merchant leaving the village and then they would simply fall through the bureaucratic cracks and disappear.
The reason Danzo had not approached Naruto during the first timeline was because he was too high profile to spirit away and his performance was not good enough to make the attempt worthwhile. This time, by not being as disruptive in class and by trying harder and achieving more during the physical conditioning classes, he had shown enough potential to attract the Old War Hawk's personal attention.
Pausing before the large oak doors that lead to the Hokage's office, Naruto extended his senses once more and smirked as he felt the familiar presence of the diminutive Weasel ANBU. 'Perfect.'
Raising his foot he kicked open the doors and enthusiastically exclaimed, "Ohayo Jiji!"
"Ohayo Naruto-kun," returned the Hokage indulgently and he gently admonished, "But what have I told you about kicking my door."
"Sorry Jiji," Naruto sheepishly answered as he rubbed the back off his head with one hand. He made his way over to the desk and sat down in the chair facing his grandfather figure.
"So how was your day?" asked the Old Man as he set aside the papers he had just been reading and steepled his hands in front of him on the desk as he leant forward.
"Great. It's the last day of school, I saved a fair damsel and saw off an old geezer that tried to get me to go away with him." exclaimed Naruto innocently.
Hiruzen's eyes widened slightly at the last revelation before narrowing once more as he asked, "I'm glad that you are holding true to your nindo to protect Naruto, but tell me more about this old geezer."
"Well he said his name was Danzo Shima-something, but he looked more like a Mummy-san to me. He said he was a village elder and your advisor but he couldn't have been that important as he only had rookie ANBU with him. He wanted me to go to his special training for elite shinobi. It was all a little shady if you ask me." Naruto finished as he crossed his arms in front of him and sat back in his chair.
"I believe you just met Danzo Shimura and indeed he is a village elder and one of my advisors," the Hokage cautiously said, "Why did you think his escort were only rookies?"
"Because their masks were blank and they felt kind of unfinished. Like there wasn't anyone behind the mask." answered Naruto.
'ROOT' thought the Sandaime, 'What were they doing out in the open? He is becoming more and more brazen in his actions.'
Something in Naruto's last statement caught the Hokage's attention pulling his thoughts away from his erstwhile rival. "What did you mean that they felt unfinished Naruto?"
"Well even when the ANBU are wearing their masks I can still feel that there is a person there. I mean they still have emotions and their chakra feels warm, but those rookie ANBU just felt blank."
'Perhaps he is developing a sensing ability that will be something to watch.' mused the Hokage to himself.
A contemplative look overcame Naruto's face as he hesitantly asked, "Jiji if that Mummy-dude is really a village elder and your advisor does that mean I was wrong not to go with him? I mean don't I have to do what he says?"
"No Naruto, you did that right thing. Only your guardian that is myself, the civilian police and your teacher's can tell you what to do and your teacher's can only tell you to do what I let them. As a civilian you are only answerable to those authorities. Danzo may suggest options but he cannot order you."
"Even when I become a ninja?"
"Even when you become a ninja. Then you will answer to me and will receive orders from either myself, the mission board or from your team leader. You are not to accept any orders from anyone else." clarified the Old Man.
Naruto stretched out his senses to make sure his target was paying attention to the conversation. "But what about secret missions? You know like assassinations and abductions. Could your advisors order me to do anything like that, say on your say so?"
"Once again that would be a no. They simply do not have the authority to order something like that. You see those kinds of missions are very sensitive as they could cause all sorts of political ramifications, as such it is my duty and my duty alone to approve of all missions undertaken in this village. Any orders you receive from sources other than myself or from the duty officers in the missions hall would be illegal and should be reported to me personally." admonished the Hokage as he tried to make sure that Naruto understood this most fundamental shinobi law.
Naruto smiled in triumph as he felt the contemplative emotions flowing off of the hidden Weasel ANBU. "Well good, I really didn't want to have to follow that man's orders. He felt so slimy." huffed Naruto, "But enough of that let me tell you about my daring rescue of the belaboured damsel in distress."
It was Naruto's hope that Itachi would remember that conversation and make the right decisions when the time came. But that did not stop him from making preparations and plans of his own to save as many innocents as he could. He reasoned that the attack on the Clan Head, Clan Elders and the Jonin directly involved in the coup d'état was a lost cause but he was determined to save the civilian women, children and more innocent shinobi of the clan at least.
Naruto also wanted to prevent the death of Shisui Uchiha who by all accounts was a loyal Konoha shinobi and not deserving of his fate. But not knowing exactly where and when his death would occur, seriously hampered any plans Naruto could make and so he made do with sending a coded message to the Hokage, using a code that Jiraiya had devised as a student under Hiruzen and had not used since. All he could do now was to wait and see and hope that his Jiji was able to act.
Time passed as Naruto watched and observed, the senior officers of the Konoha police became tenser day by day as Itachi became ever more stressed. Shisui disappeared three weeks before the Ninja Academy was due to recommence and Itachi was questioned, though Naruto was pleased to sense no spike in the shinobi's chakra levels signalling the evolution of his Sharingan.
The day before the first day of class, Naruto finished the last preparations for his plans. Hopefully they would prove unnecessary, but it was better to be safe than sorry. On the third day of class an announcement was made that from then on Wednesdays would be half days to allow for clan training and self-improvement, all students were thus required to head home at one o'clock after the village history class. It was go time.
A little after 12.30pm the sound of a hollow thunk echoed through the classroom as the head of Sasuke Uchiha, the second son of the Uchiha Clan Head, slammed into his desk. The teacher rushed over to the unconscious boy's desk to check his vitals after pressing the button that would alert the Academy's resident Medic-nin that a student was in trouble. Moments later said medic-nin arrived and checked over the boy.
Not too worried about the boy's condition, after all he had administered the sleeping drug to the boys lunch himself whilst disguised as the lunch lady, the 'medic-nin' stood up and addressed the class, "Not to worry, he's just suffering from physical exhaustion. It happens a lot, especially to the clan students, all that added pressure. Let this be a lesson to you all. Only train to your capabilities, if you start to feel nauseous or dizzy … stop. And for goodness sake stay hydrated."
So saying he turned back to the unconscious boy, picked him up and carried him from the room. The teacher turned to his class and proceeded to reinforce the medic-nin's statement with a fifteen minute lecture on the dangers of over training before dismissing the class for the day.
In the Academy sick bay the medic-nin had lain Sasuke down on one of the beds making sure he was comfortable before locking the doors and releasing his henge to reveal himself as Naruto. Earlier that morning, before the sun had risen, he had visited both the lunch lady and the real medic-nin's homes and had administered a double dose of the self-same sleeping drug that had taken out Sasuke. Naruto had then assumed their identities whilst a c-class clone had attended classes.
Naruto now created thirty clones and had them henge as random students, letting them out of the sick bay, his clones mingled with the other departing students and made their way into the village proper. Twenty clones were assigned to protect the Uchiha of the police force by trying to keep them out of ROOT hands, whilst the remaining ten clones were assigned to the Uchiha estate to try and head off Tobi and to keep an eye on what happens at the clan head's house.
Naruto himself would stay in the sick bay to monitor Sasuke in case he had an adverse reaction to the drug and to monitor his clones' actions. His c-class clone was ordered to return home and stay put so that no suspicions could fall on him for any of his clone's actions.
Making himself comfortable on the bed beside Sasuke's, Naruto closed his eyes and easily fell into a mediative state. During experiments with his clones using his chakra sensing ability, Naruto had noticed that every clone that he produced had a hair thin line of chakra connecting it to his person. He discovered that if he mentally tugged on one of these lines while meditating he was able to see and hear what his clone did. Reaching out he tugged on one of the lines and made contact just as the clone and its brothers reached the outer walls of the Uchiha estate.
At a nod from the lead clone they all transformed into squirrels, the one animal type transformation his clones could perform, and they all hopped over the fence. Naruto had chosen the squirrel as the small creatures were common around the area in which he trained and so easy to study for their biological makeup, they were also rather tasty. Even after lots of trial and error the jutsu was still incomplete as the clones could only last for about an hour before expiring in intense pain, and so Naruto vowed never to try the transformation himself, but it was good enough for short term bursts.
The transformed clones made their way in to the compound, one splitting off to head towards the main family house, whilst the rest made their way to the back of the estate where the Clan ladies were supposed to meet and it was here that Naruto had the first inkling that events would occur differently than before. For as the clones made their way to the rooftops to transform into evacuation sirens, in the hope of scaring Tobi off, their senses told them that far from a crowd of people of the female and childlike variety, below them was gathered a predominately male group of disguised shinobi alert for an imminent attack.
Nine of the clones immediately turned back to help out the Police clones leaving only one clone to witnessed what happened as they were no longer needed here. The twenty or so disguised ANBU would be able to handle Tobi, or at least be able to send him on his way.
Naruto relaxed slightly on the sick bay bed and let out a sigh of relief, switching to another line Naruto made connection with the clone stationed on the roof of the building facing the Clan Head's house and watched whilst Itachi and a team of ANBU cordoned off the building with a barrier seal whilst working under a silencing seal.
Making no sound the group formed hand seals simultaneously and as they clapped their hands to the ground in front of them a shimmering dome of silver chakra appeared over the building. Cancelling the silencing seals the ANBU then placed one hand on the hilts of their tantos as they formed a hand seal with their other hand and oozed their way through the barrier. As they entered the building, Naruto let go of the connection, he would retain the memories later anyway, and concentrated on one of the clones sent to the police headquarters.
These clones had a much more fun mission than just watching, their job was to scatter the police force throughout the village, thus making it much harder for the ROOT operatives to find them. In the previous time line the police force had all been in the headquarters attending the weekly village debrief and had been sitting ducks. By forcing them out into the village Naruto was hoping to avoid this result.
One after the other of Naruto's disguised clones entered the building to report crime after crime, dragging off teams of Genin and Chunin officers. Other clones set off smoke bombs and pushed over market stalls randomly to add credence to the claims. Before long all of the Uchiha police force was out and about in the village, except for the duty officer who had to stay behind in the police building at all times.
His clones dragged the officers around the village, through alleyways and parks, taking the most indirect routes they could. Often these routes took them past places where smoke bombs and been let off or stalls had been knocked over and after taking statements, the police units would turn to head back to the headquarters only to be met by yet another disguised clone that would drag them off yet again to another supposed crime scene.
After about half an hour of this, three of Naruto's clones suddenly dispersed. Naruto created more clones and sent them into the village before connecting with a clone close to where one of the dispersed clones was last. When the clone appeared at the scene he was sickened to find the bodies of the three officers who had made up the squad, lying in an alleyway, their eyes torn from their heads.
Mentally grabbing hold of all the lines connecting him to his clones Naruto urgently broadcast the command to get the remaining Uchiha to safety, immediately.
Peering over the edge of the building at the street below a Naruto clone disguised as a random Uchiha saw a group of real Uchiha Genin being accosted by a ROOT shinobi. Just as he looked down one of the Uchiha, the only one with an active Sharingan that he could see, finished the last hand seal and called out, "Fire Style: Fireball technique." Releasing an enormous fireball that was met by the ROOT operative's Earth Release: Earth Shore Return which formed an equally large wall of earth thus stopping the attack.
The ROOT shinobi then struck the earth wall, causing it to shatter and for large boulders to fly towards the Uchiha Genin who were then pulled out of the way by the disguised Naruto clone who had been leading them through the village.
Standing up the Naruto clone on the roof whistled to call attention to himself, and nodded to the other clone before addressing the ROOT shinobi, "Hey, hey, hey, Ne-nin that technique was very impressive there. You know," continued the clone as it hopped down from the roof to land behind the Nin, "Shinobi of Ne, if you just added some plants to that rock pile you would have yourself a very attractive shrubbery."
Whilst the enemy Nin was thus distracted another clone disguised as an ANBU appeared behind the Uchiha Genins and signalled for them to follow him silently. Once they were away from the immediate danger the disguised clone ordered the group to head towards the villages T & I department for safety.
"The village is overrun with shinobi hunting the Sharingan. Your Clan Head has ordered all Uchiha to assemble at T & I. Protect your eyes. I'll stay behind to watch your backs, now go," as he watched the team disappear down the road the clone turned to the civilian disguised clone and said, "follow, make sure they stay safe."
"Hai," saluted the clone as it transformed into a squirrel and took off after the team of Uchiha.
Thankfully it was only a short distance to T & I and so it was not very long before the clone dispelled signalling that the team was safe. The clone facing the ROOT shinobi paused in its witty banter, stood tall, saluted with two fingers while saying, "It's been fun." and dispelled.
The c-class clone sat on Naruto's bed, discarded scrolls surrounding it as it sulked bored out of its little clone head. Huffing the clone assumed a mediative state and stretched out its senses to see what was happening outside. Its eyebrows raised themselves slightly as it felt the majority of its ANBU guard head off towards the village proper leaving only one guard on Naruto's roof.
Obviously they had been called in to help with the Uchiha situation, probably because of the discovery of Uchiha bodies by concerned citizens. It was not the first time that Naruto's detail had been called away and so it only caused a momentary concern for the clone that is until it sensed the approach of several blank and almost clinical signatures denoting ROOT shinobi.
Acting quickly the clone hid inside the bathroom before dispelling just as it felt the ANBU on the roof lose consciousness and heard the front door being forced open.
Naruto frowned as he felt the last of his clones dispelling, it had been four hours after the Ninja Academy had been let out and it was almost time for the sleeping drug to be wearing off Sasuke. The Uchiha head, elders and Jonin were all in custody, those that had survived the raid and subsequent resistance of arrest. The Uchiha police force, those that survived the ROOT hunt, were all housed at T & I and were undergoing interrogation as he sat there. The civilian women and children of the Uchiha Clan were safe in the basement of the Hokage Tower and only four ANBU had been harmed by Tobi before he had been routed from the village.
It was only a matter of time then that someone would come in search of Sasuke. Naruto contemplated the child version of his old friend as he whispered, "I hope you appreciate this Teme." After checking Sasuke's vitals one last time, he stood up and made his way to the door.
Transforming once more into the Ninja Academy's resident medic-nin Naruto walked out of the school building and headed home. He needed to check what damage the ROOT agents had caused. Pausing in an alleyway a block from his apartment building Naruto released the Henge and openly made his way to his apartment once he felt the presence of his ANBU guard searching for him.
Just before he reached his door one of his ANBU detail appeared before him and told him that the Hokage wanted to see him. Taking a hold of his shoulder the ANBU then shushin'd them both to the tower, where he was met by the welcoming arms of his Jiji.
"Naruto my boy thank goodness you are safe. What happened?" asked his Jiji in concern.
"It's okay Jiji. I felt them coming and went out the bathroom window like you told me to." Naruto reassured the man as he returned the hug.
The Hokage released the boy and placed both hands on his shoulders so he could look at him, "You will stay here tonight just to be safe. We're still not sure how many of those shinobi are in the village."
"Hai Jiji," Naruto answered resigned to having to wait to check his apartment. The Hokage handed Naruto back over to his ANBU escort with an order to, "Watch him." Before turning back to the Jonin and ANBU who were waiting to report to him.
The fall of the Uchiha clan came as a complete shock to the village and caused quite the political upheaval. Shortly after the end of the last shinobi war the Uchiha clan had taken over the responsibility of the Konoha Police Force. Traditionally the police force had been manned by retired shinobi or by those acting shinobi that for one reason or another needed time out from active duty. Gradually over the years after the end of the war and particularly after the reported death of Obito Uchiha, the clan had weeded out these officers until only Uchiha were serving on the force and the only Uchiha on active duty in the ninja forces was Itachi.
In their role as the village police force the Uchiha thus became the face of the ninja class to the villagers and overtime the villagers began to feel a sort of ownership of the Uchiha after all not only were they one of the founding families of the village they were also the ones that concerned themselves with the daily lives of the villagers. The Uchiha were the ones that made sure they were safe and protected their property.
It was this that gave the Uchiha clan enormous political power within the village as the civilian council saw the Uchiha's interests as their own and it was this that the Village Elders had feared would have caused a civil war if the Uchiha's coup d'état had gone ahead. The involvement of ROOT and the subsequent fights within the village was surprisingly a god send as it diminished the villagers' suspicions as it was assumed that the Uchiha arrests were for their own protection. At least for a few weeks anyway.
During the fighting four Jonin were lost in the raid of the Clan estate and four police teams were lost to ROOT operatives totalling twelve Chunin and Genin only six of whom had active Sharingan. Their eyes were not recovered.
In the weeks following the raid on the Uchiha estate every member of the clan had been through the T & I department, a majority of the clan were deemed loyal and released back into their clan homes. Those Jonin and Chunin deemed to have divided loyalties were given the option of retraining or exile. Of the thirty Uchiha deemed to be untrustworthy only two chose to be retrained as they both had young families with more on the way, the rest had their Sharingan sealed and were escorted out of the Fire Nation, their names entered into the register of missing-nin.
The Clan Head and the Clan Elders were put on trial as traitors, under the supervision of the Fire Nation Daimyo, they were all found guilty and sentenced to be executed in ten days' time. Itachi was commended for his involvement and nominated as the new Clan Head with certain conditions. No longer were the Uchiha clan grounds to be separated from the village and as such the clan boundary wall was to come down. The Police force, while remaining under the jurisdiction of the Uchiha clan, would once more welcome non-Uchiha into the force. The remaining Uchiha Jonin, Chunin and Genin would once more be integrated into the ninja forces with only one Uchiha per team. And Itachi Uchiha, to prove his loyalty to the village, would be the one to perform the executions of the Clan Elders and the Clan Head, his father.
During the course of the investigation Danzo's involvement in the attempted coup d'état came to light. Unbeknown to the Hokage or the other Village Elders, the Old War Hawk had been working on the Uchiha for years, stoking their wounded pride and whispering about the Hokage's supposed weaknesses and suspicion of the Uchiha Clan. This coupled with the illegal mission scroll that he and the other Village Elders had given to Itachi only days before the raid, which was then handed over to the Hokage by the self-same, was more than enough to call for his arrest. But when the ANBU had gone in search of him, Danzo and his ROOT shinobi were gone.
The next day another coded message had found its way onto the Hokage's desk directing the Sandaime to look beneath the First and Second for the "War Hawk's nest". It took a further two days to find the entrance to the underground complex in which the raiding forces found not only archives of illegal missions, records of ROOT operatives stationed both in the village and elsewhere, training rooms and armouries but also room upon room of silent children, housed in pairs, who docilely followed them up and out into the sunshine. No adult operatives were found anywhere in the complex.
The children were housed in one of the restricted training grounds, warehouse sized structures where Jonin could practice s-rank jutsu in secret, and were handed over to the Yamanaka and Nara clans for evaluation and rehabilitation. Much outrage was felt and support for Danzo's exile from the village and classification as a missing-nin was given, when just how many clan children found amongst the recovered children was made known to the council.
The executions took place on a cold February afternoon as westerly winds howled through a clear blue sky, in front of the Temple of Judgement where Danzo had once forced a young ANBU captain to agree to slaughter his family. The execution was witnessed by the Fire Daimyo, the Hokage and his advisors (minus Danzo), the village council and Naruto through the eyes of a squirrel clone perched on the statue of the Merciful One.
Itachi stood tall behind the kneeling figures of his father and the four Clan Elders, his hand resting on the hilt of the katana strapped to his side, facing the seated figures of the witnesses arranged on the steps between the enormous statues of the Two Judgments.
"You kneel here now traitors to your nation, your village and yourselves. Your pride betrayed you and almost cost the lives of not only you family but of your former comrades and of the innocent civilians whom you had vowed to protect. For this sin of pride I hereby call for your execution at the hands of the new clan head. May Kami keep you." intoned the Daimyo as he stood before them and the seated audience, as he sat once more he signalled for Itachi to begin.
Starting at the end of the line Itachi unsheathed the Katana and pierced the Clan Elder through the heart in one move before flicking off the blood and sheathing the blade before moving to the next and repeating the movement. One by one the Elders fell until he came to his father's kneeling figure where he paused.
"So you have aligned with the other side eh." murmured Fugaku Uchiha as he stared straight ahead, head proudly raised.
"Father, I…," started Itachi.
"I know already Itachi. …. Just promise me this, take care of your mother and Sasuke."
"I will." sighed Itachi his hand tightening on the hilt of the katana by his side.
"Do not fear it … you chose this path. Compared to you, my pain will be over in an instant … even if our philosophies differ, I am still proud of you. You are truly a considerate child."
Tears streaming from his eyes Itachi responded to the signal given by the Fire Daimyo, drawing his Katana he pierced his father's heart in one movement. As the body slid from his blade a piercing pain seemed to afflict his eyes causing him to drop the sword and clasp them with both hands to relieve the pain. Moments later he looked up to reveal the Magekyo Sharingan.
'Huh, so he got them after all,' thought Naruto as he relaxed back in his bed and released his connection to the squirrel clone as it dispelled. Naruto understood that severe emotional trauma was needed to cause the Sharingan to evolve into the Magekyo Sharingan, which could only occur if the Sharingan was fully developed and if the trauma was somehow felt to be caused directly by the Sharingan wielder. Kakashi-sensei had explained it to him when he had questioned how Sasuke's desire to kill Naruto could have made him stronger.
Apparently it was not only by killing your best friend that the Magekyo Sharingan could develop, this being the example given by the Uchiha sacred scrolls, but any death of someone close to you could have the same effect such as a lover or a family member just as long as the wielder was the cause of their death.
'I wasn't sure if he would as Shisui is still alive,' he continued to muse to himself as he remembered seeing the injured Jonin in the Hokage Tower where he was recovering from the eye he had lost to Danzo's schemes.
"Father had a theory about this. He thought of it when he was researching the possibility of time travel. He called it a fixed point in time. The theory goes that certain events were fixed on the timeline and had to occur for the universe to continue onward. Certain people had to die at certain times, certain places needed to be destroyed and certain powers needed to be obtained by certain people. These fixed points were flexible in how they happened but they would always happen." suddenly said the deep voice of his tenant from the back of his head.
"What does that even mean?" asked Naruto petulantly.
"It means, you stupid human, that even though you try to stop something it may happen anyway. If it's their time to die nothing you or I do will change that, just the way it would happen will change."
"So I might not be able to fix things?" Naruto hesitantly asked still trying to wrap his had around the concept.
"Well only certain things, but that doesn't mean that you don't try. After all it is only a theory."
"Right!" called out Naruto his enthusiasm once more restored, "After all I did vow to change the future. To make it better. And I never go back on my word for that's my nindo, my ninja way."