Chapter 8 - Welcome home

Pairing: Naruto x Uchiha Mikoto.

THIS WILL NOT BE A HAREM

A/N: I post updates regarding the story on my Twitter. So, if you want to be prepared for when chapters come out, I'm always announcing how far I am with the stories in good time. My Twitter: Skairipa1337.

I would like to thank a very good friend of mine, Nanami Uzumaki, for helping me write some parts of this chapter. I really appreciated your help!

QUICK QUESTION: Should I tone down the Naruto teasing for a little bit? Is it getting too much?

Warning: The main character's age has been adjusted.

Gates of Konohagakure no Sato.

The rest of their journey toward Konoha had been uneventful. Naruto had carried them through the night with the help of a clone, and now at sunrise, the Uzumaki trio had finally, after a long and tiring trip, arrived at the large gates of Konoha.

Akari and Karin were standing still in front of the gates, as Uzushio had been quite big in Akari's eyes, but the walls of Konoha alone was enough to give the word 'big' an entirely new meaning to her. The parts of the village that were visible was also adding a lot of meaning to the word.

"Come on, we're almost there." Naruto chuckled as he led the two redheads into Konoha. It was quite the challenge to keep them focused, as their eyes kept wandering all over the place from the large buildings to the various shinobi everywhere, to even the market district and other kids playing around in the streets.

Akari blinked a few times before nodding, following the blond through his home village. Karin was almost getting lost every other second. So many people and other kids invited her to play. She was a bit hesitant to say yes to them, especially when her mom came and picked her up, saying they had places to be.

Naruto chuckled at the sight and reached up to ruffle Karin's hair, "Don't worry, we can come back another time." He reassured her, making her blush slightly at the ruffling of her already slightly messy red hair.

And with that being said, they continued throughout the village. It was truly a wonderful place in the female Uzumaki's eyes. So much to see, so much to experience. It was much bigger and more… welcoming, than Kusa had ever been toward them all the time they had been living there.

All the stands offered the foreigners taste samples, probably because Naruto was with them, but they seemed genuinely interested in being kind toward them. So on the way toward the Hokage tower, they tasted all kinds of street foods. Sushi, onigiri, grilled squid, and the list continued.

As they were nearing the tower, a very familiar person to Naruto started to come into sight. "Itachi!" Naruto called out cheerfully, also getting the intention of Akari who had been occupied with Karin getting a balloon gifted, that she seemed greatly interested in. Especially its pink color for some odd reason.

Akari turned her gaze as a boy around Naruto's age with long dark hair and onyx eyes came into sight. The boy was wearing the same outfit as Naruto was, and she smiled to herself as she watched the two walks over to meet each other. 'So this is Uchiha Itachi…'

"You're back. It is sooner than expected." Itachi greeted in his usual monotone voice, but a small smile was still present on his face.

Naruto nodded and crossed his arms over his chest, "The mission had a few bumps here and there, but overall it went well and we got back before the expected three months."

"That's good. That's good." Itachi mumbled out and broke eye contact to stare down to his side, which immediately caught Naruto's attention. Itachi was acting weird.

Raising a brow slightly, Naruto placed his hand on the other boy's shoulder and tilted his head down to get eye contact again, "Is something wrong Itachi? You seem odd. More than usual." He tried joking lightly.

Itachi's face supported a small frown as he removed Naruto's hand, "Nothing that I can personally speak of. You should go see Hokage-sama, and introduce him to your guests." Itachi whispered out, making Naruto's eyes widen. Itachi had neither denied nor agreed on something being wrong, which was a huge waving red flag in his mind.

Walking past Naruto and toward the two redheaded females, Itachi tried his best to keep a polite composure on his features as he bowed his head down, "It's a pleasure to meet you, I'm Itachi. Uchiha Itachi."

Akari giggled a bit at him, he was exactly like Naruto had described him to be, "It's a pleasure to meet you as well Itachi-san. My name is Uzumaki Akari, and this is my daughter, Uzumaki Karin."

Karin tilted her head as she nearly let go of her balloon, "Are you Aniki's friend?" She asked curiously.

Itachi's eyes widened at the surnames. These two were Uzumaki? So they were the reason why Naruto, of all people, was sent on a political mission. It all made sense to him now. Shaking his head, and smiling a bit he stood up as he looked at the young girl, "Friend and colleague yes. It was a pleasure getting to meet the two of you. If you'll excuse me, I have to be somewhere in a few minutes."

"Likewise Itachi-san, but please call me Akari. A friend of Naruto is a friend of mine. We should get going as well, right Naruto-kun?" Akari politely answered before turning her gaze to Naruto, who was busy looking confused at Itachi's back.

Blinking at the mention of his name, Naruto just nodded, "Yeah, we have to go meet Oji-san, but we'll talk later, Itachi." Naruto demanded as the Uzumaki trio started walking toward the tower at last.

Itachi just nodded in response. There would be stuff to talk about indeed. It was only a matter of time before Naruto would find out what happened. It couldn't be kept a secret much longer. He would have preferred if Naruto had waited a bit longer before returning home, but he hadn't. So he would have to adjust.

'I should get Yugao and Genma around as well. This could end up in a disaster if he doesn't get a hold of himself.' Itachi sighed to himself before body flickering out of the area.

Naruto was lost deep in thought. Itachi was always calm and collected. Yet he seemed to be extremely odd earlier. Shaking his head free of his thoughts, he walked up the stairs of the Hokage tower with Karin and Akari in tow. Getting close to the Hokage's office, Naruto smiled back at them and signaled for them to wait for his signal as he walked over to start knocking on the door.

There was a brief second of silence before he heard 'enter' from within the room. Reaching down for the doorknob he turned it and opened to door with an audible creaking sound. Entering the office, Naruto chuckled a bit, "Still not done with the paperwork yet?"

Hiruzen's eyes widened as he looked up, meeting his surrogate grandson's eyes, "Naruto-kun. You're back so soon. I didn't expect you back in the village for another two months give or take." He smiled fondly, yet there was something in his eyes that made Naruto feel uncomfortable about all of this. It was the same look Itachi had in his eyes earlier.

"Well, the mission went great. Though Kusa was a huge pain in the ass. They attacked me on the way back twice, and I may or may not have crippled the leader of Kusa and taken the life of his son." Naruto frowned a bit, rubbing the back of his head as he gazed down at the floor.

Hiruzen's eyes narrowed slightly. This was troubling news, but he was sure there was more to it. Naruto wouldn't with what was one the line ever go that far without reason. "May I ask why such drastic actions were taken during your mission?"

"We were first ambushed in Kusa. The leader of the place, Ryujin, attacked us in person, and I spared his life after I won. We proceeded to travel to the border between Hi no Kuni and Yu no Kuni in search for Tsunade after I requested her whereabouts. We found her and she helped out. Though on our way to Konoha from Yu no Kuni, Ryujin's son Ryuzaki decided to follow in his father's footsteps." Naruto explained slowly with Hiruzen listening intensely.

Hiruzen nodded with a small sigh escaping his lips, "So you were acting in self-defense. Kusa will have to hear about this. Konoha has trading contracts with the people in Yu no Kuni, so we won't treat these matters lightly."

Naruto just nodded in return, not too sure what to say before snapped his fingers and grinned, "Oji-san, I would like for you to meet some people." He smiled brightly, as the soft footsteps echoed in the hallway and a redheaded woman carrying a child with the same hair color as she entered the office with a small bow.

Hiruzen stood up with a smile. So there were indeed two Uzumaki that had been mistreated in Kusa. Walking over to the two, he noticed the bow and chuckled lightly, "On behalf of the citizens of Konoha, I welcome you within our walls. Allow me to introduce myself, I'm Sarutobi Hiruzen, Sandaime Hokage of Konohagakure no Sato. I trust the village has shown you a warm welcome?"

Akari smiled and bowed again respectfully, "Hai Hokage-sama, the village has been warm and friendly toward me and my daughter. It's an honor to be here."

"At ease, no reason to bow. Your clan always had a home in Konoha, and I'm very sorry to hear how you were treating in Kusagakure no Sato. I can promise without a doubt that, that treatment will not occur again within our walls." Hiruzen informed with slight disgust aimed at Kusa.

Akari frowned a bit at the memories of her time in Kusa, and hugged Karin a bit tighter to her, "It's in the past now. I'm just happy that Naruto-kun found us and brought us home. I am however sorry that he had to go through so much trouble and violence."

Naruto's brows raised further upon his forehead as he shook his head, "It was no trouble at all. I would do it all again."

Akari blushed with a small smile. That boy truly had a heart of pure gold. "Oh, how silly of me. Hokage-sama, this is my daughter Uzumaki Karin." The older woman introduced her child, that was staring a bit funnily at the old man's hat.

The old Hokage leaned down to extend his hand toward the child, "A pleasure to meet you as well." The old man chuckled as he gently shook the child's hand.

"Why do you wear a funny hat?" She asked with a tilt of her head, making Akari almost fall on her feet as she placed a hand over her child's mouth.

"Karin! Don't disrespect the Hokage like that, he is the leader of our new home…" She whispered harshly.

Hiruzen however just laughed at the comment and brought his hat down, "It's quite alright Akari-san. It's nice to see the younger generation has some spirit. And this hat symbolizes my role as Hokage, the leader and protector of Konohagakure no Sato and Hi no Kuni."

"Cool…" She mumbled with amazement. Konoha was so big, and this old man was its protector? He must be even stronger than her Aniki…

Hiruzen stood up and turned to look at Naruto, and let out a sigh before saying, "As requested, your parents' old estate has been cleaned and taken care of. It's ready to be moved into. And with that, I would suggest that my assistant escorts Akari and Karin there to get set up and become familiar with the place."

Naruto blinked a bit confused. He would have liked to be there as well to show them around the place, but it seemed like there was something else that needed to be talked about, out of their presence. "I see, then that's what we'll do, I suppose."

Hiruzen summoned his assistant that greeted the two newcomers with a smile before starting to lead the way out of the office.

"I will come around the place as soon as I can! Just make yourselves comfortable." Naruto shouted down the hallway through the door frame to get the two Uzumaki's attention, making them turn their heads to nod at him with small smiles before they, at last, started to leave for their new house and home.

When he couldn't see them anymore, Naruto entered Hiruzen's office again and closed the door behind him. Turning his head toward the old man. "I assume there was something you wanted to talk about since you had them leave without me?"

Hiruzen sighed as he walked over to Naruto, lifting his hand to place it on his shoulder. His gaze overflowing with sadness as he spoke in a soft tone.

"Naruto… I'm sorry to inform you that… Uchiha Shisui has passed away."

Naruto felt himself freeze as the words registered in his head, the world around him seemed to catch its breath, all sounds fading and becoming nothing.

All he could hear was the repeated words of Shisui, his best friend, having passed away.

It suddenly became harder to stand still, to keep his composure, to focus on anything. He didn't want to believe what he had just heard—because there is no way in hell that his friend had actually died. There was just no way.

"W-what the hell are you saying? Don't joke like that! Tell me it's not true!" Naruto denied, but when no laughter was heard, he felt his voice catch in his throat, feeling himself getting dizzy. Tears formed in his eyes, his lips quivered, his fingers trembled along with his body.

Hiruzen frowned and shook his head, trying to walk over to give his surrogate grandson a comforting hug, "I'm sorry Naruto-kun, but Shisui took his own life just last night. He was found floating around the Naka river. His funeral is planned for tomorrow afternoon. I'm sure the Uchiha would appreciate you being there. Especially Itachi." He spoke in a soft tone.

Naruto didn't respond, remaining silent. And, gritting his teeth, he slapped Hiruzen's hand away. The ANBU that guarded the Hokage dropped from the ceiling and surrounded him, their hands placed at the hilts of their respective weapons, ready to protect their leader.

"Stand down!" Hiruzen roared out, making the ANBU fall back as he stared at Naruto who was trembling in place, the blond's eyes shadowed by his blond locks falling from his forehead.

Shisui was dead. It couldn't be true. Shisui was strong, he had been happy. He was always smiling. Why would he kill himself? Why… Nothing made sense. It made him frustrated, confused, and angry. The tears that had begun to form, began to roll down his cheeks as one, dripping to the floor.

It became too much—the world became too much for him. He couldn't stand to be here anymore, to see the pitied look on the Hokage's face. It all became too overwhelming.

Grabbing his hair with frustration, he body flickered out of the office, leaving Hiruzen behind, who frowned, having seen and felt the sheer despair that had filled the blonde, an emotion he had seen in so many veterans that either completely broke them or overwhelmed them to the point of becoming suicidal. And upon seeing that look on Naruto's face, it caused him a great deal of pain in his old heart.

It was never easy to see your precious people in pain.

Naruto landed in his old team's training ground, and immediately fell to his knees, breaking down completely. Sobs wracked his body, tears rolled down his cheeks endlessly. His chakra wept with him, storming and crying in agony—the wind trickled through his hair and face.

Naruto stared at the ground, the lush green grass staring back up at him innocently, and somehow, that caused a deep burning rage to grow within him.

"Why?"

Gritting his teeth he clenched his fists.

"WHY?!" he roared the word over and over again. His fist slammed into the ground harshly, bruising his fist, but causing the ground to cave and create a small crater that seemed to grow deeper and deeper as his fist slammed repeatedly into the ground. Hurt burned deep within his soul, sorrow permeated throughout his chakra.

In his blind anger-fueled fury, Naruto flew off the ground on wobbly feet. His hands almost trying to rip his hair out of his skull before he waltzed over to a boulder. His palm placed against it as he stared down at the ground. His gaze blurry with the tears that kept running down his face. Shisui for sure would have laughed at him for being such a crybaby.

Clenching his fist that was hanging by his side, he started replaying all of his memories of Shisui inside his mind. A light blue coat of lightning wrapping around his fist unconsciously.

Nauto was busy training with his shuriken as a kunai flew past his face and into the training dummy. Turning his head to glare at the one who had almost put a kunai in his kunai, he was met by the oddly cheerful grin of a dark-haired boy.

"So you're the one Itachi kept talking about." He stated and looked around at the training dummies that all had shuriken embedded right in the red bullseye.

Naruto tilted his head confused and kept his glare on, "The name is Naruto, and who the hell are you?"

"Oh, how rude. The name is Shisui! Uchiha Shisui! Great to meet ya!" Shisui snickered and pointed a thumb in against his chest.

Naruto scratched the back of his head at this odd person, "You show it the weirdest way… You almost threw a kunai in my head!"

Shisui just shrugged and flipped a kunai between his fingers, "Well, I didn't? Did I?"

"You're odd…"

The lightning around Naruto's fist grew in size and turned more and more dark blue. The intensity of the uncontrolled lightning fueled by his anger and sadness, running across the ground untamed, cracking, burning, the environment around him.

"Hey! I heard you passed the test to enter ANBU! Congratulations!" Shisui cried out with a fake tear going down his cheek.

Naruto just sweatdropped with a small smile, "It was tough, but now Itachi and I are on the same squad as Kakashi-nii. Yugao is also going to apply."

"Is that so? Well, I hope for the best. Now we've got to celebrate! Let's get Itachi and go ham on the city!" Shisui cried out with that typical grin on his face.

Naruto sighed and knew he wasn't going to let this go, and simply let himself get dragged along to go get Itachi.

His lips started trembling with a scowl on his face. All his facial features twitching with his eyes narrowing dangerously and becoming more and more feral. The lightning around his fist tearing apart the ground beneath him as the uncontrolled anger and sadness spread throughout his body. The color of the lightning morphed, changing more and more into an unusual white color.

"Pssst, Naruto! I got something for your birthday!" Shisui whispered as he entered the blond's apartment through the window.

Naruto, who had been busy working on some seals, raised a brow at the older boy. They had been celebrating his birthday at the Uchiha compound a few hours prior. And he had already received a gift.

"I already got your gift, what do you mean?" He asked curiously as Shisui entered and closed the window. Quickly pulling all the curtains shut as he looked carefully around him.

Smirking as the coast as clear, Shisui reached into his pocket and pulled an orange book out of his pocket, "The greatest work of Jiraiya-sama! The Icha Icha Paradise, and it's all yours!"

Naruto blushed and snatched the book out his hand and looked terrified around him, "Are you crazy?! If Oba-chan finds this then I'm dead!"

"So you don't want it?" Shisui smirked and nudged the blond in the side with his elbow.

"I didn't say that…"

It didn't make any sense. Shisui was always smiling. He had always been that grinning cheerful plague. Always been that moron that had been cheering him on. Always had his back no matter what. Shisui had always been there for him, despite how annoying he could be, but that was what made them so good friends.

'Wait, he killed himself yesterday… If I hadn't held back in Kusa… If I just hadn't taken my time… I should just have come home! I could... I could have stopped this! It's all my fault! If I had been here for him.. then I could have saved his life.' Naruto thought to himself as the tears streamed more and more down his face. The usual smiling face of Shisui in the back of his mind as the lightning coating his trembling hand started turning grey. The electric sparks running up and down his arm as the pressure in the air got more intense. The ground trembling beneath him.

"Hey, Naruto? Can I tell you something?" Shisui asked in a rare calm tone as the two sat enjoying their lunch on a pair of branches above the academy where they were watching the next generation of Shinobi getting tortured by the instructors.

Naruto paused his eating and pulled the onigiri he had been enjoying down. "Sure, tell away."

"I've come to the conclusion. That you're my best friend!" Shisui just smiled. No grin or teasing smirk on his face. Just a genuine smile.

Naruto blushed slightly as he put the onigiri down on the paper he had unfolded it from, "W-Why are you saying stuff like that all of a sudden?"

"I felt like you deserved to know it. You're my best friend."

Naruto blinked and punched the older boy's shoulder, "I think it's fairly obvious that you're my best friend too, you moron."

The last memory was the final straw. Naruto cried out in despair as the lightning around his clenched fist exploded with intense chakra. The gray morphed into a black as dark as the infinite abyss. With hectic breathing, Naruto's arm trembled before he, unable to hold back, reared his fist at blinding speeds.

Thrusting his fist toward the huge boulder he had been resting against, Naruto's thoughts wandered, the world around him going in slow motion.

'Shisui was my best friend…'

Without thinking about his actions, he let the black lightning covered fist inch closer and closer to the boulder. The memories kept replaying before his eyes. Over and over again. The mere sense of time was gone. It felt like hours, yet barely a second passed. He kept seeing his face. That grinning moron's cheerful face.

'He's… dead… because of me…'

The tears stopped rolling down his face as he closed his eyes. Intense guilt spread all over his body. Every inch of his very being crying out. Pain, anger, sadness, and sorrow. All the emotions spread all over him. Unable to contain them, the size of the black lightning grew and formed into a sphere crackling with lightning strikes running all over the ground. The intensity of the chakra and power within his grasp causing a crater to explode under him. The skin on his hand arm started to smoke.

'I failed him…'

"AAAAARRRGGGH!"He roared out with his eyes snapping open to reveal a pitch black sclera, red irises, and a black slit for a pupil. Time sped up around him again as he roared out in despair, and he slammed his fist into the boulder. The lightning around his fist exploded into a huge beam of lightning, tearing the boulder into dust, but it didn't stop there. The beam of terrifying black lightning kept going on its destructive path. Tearing up the ground, burning the grass and every tree in its path to charcoal.

As the black lightning beam enveloped the forest, it suddenly exploded backward, as if it hit an invisible wall. Smoke permeated the area before being blown away as a rabid Naruto charged towards the 'wall' in order to destroy it, only to be sent flying as a black staff slammed into his face. Raw, unbridled anger rushed through Naruto as he snarled before a familiar voice made him still.

"Well, I did promise a fight, now come at me and take your beating. It's time for you to snap out of your extended tantrum."

Would you look at that? Hiruzen kept his promise in the end. My question is now however, how do you think it turns out? A black lightning powered Naruto against the might of the third Hokage?

What is your opinion of black lightning?

Oh and also, I wanted to ask something. I have thought of creating a new story, and I would like a challenge I guess. So what I would like for you to do, if you have a minute or two to spare, is to write me a review, with a story you would LOVE to see done. You pick everything, pairing, elements, timeline, age, you name it. And, I'll pick the one I like the most and try it out. Sounds good? Let me know your ideas!