Naruto: The Uchiha Chronicles Re-Version

Hey everyone, welcome to the eighth chapter of the re-write. In this one, we get a prelude to what's coming.

Edit 7-25-22: I can't believe nobody ever told me I completely forgot to add a description in one of the scenes when I edited this!

Arc I: The Origin:

Chapter 8: Dark Clouds, Tragedy Looms

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A black blur ripped through the air towards a wooden target. With a dull–thunk–it buried it bit into the outermost ring. Naruto could keep the frown off his face as he looked at the black-haired girl next to him. Her hair ponytail was disheveled from their practice. This was just their warmup throwing, yet it wasn't the first time Sasuki had been so far off the bullseye. The most worrying thing was the tense way she was carrying herself.

"Is everything alright?" He asked with concern.

"Yeah, I'm fine." She replied quickly. Too quickly.

Her eyes were distant, as if she were focused on something else entirely. Now that he looked closer he could see slight bags under her eyes. Sasuki reached into her hip pouch to get another shuriken, but Naruto stopped her by grabbing her wrist.

"Hey, talk to me. I've known you long enough to tell somethings wrong." He insisted.

Naruto could feel the muscles in her arm tense under his grip. For a moment, he thought she'd jerk away and deny anything being wrong. To his relief that didn't happen. The tension in her body bled away, and Sasuki slouched forward into an exhausted posture. He let go of her wrist, and instead put a reassuring hand on her shoulder.

"Come on, let's go sit under the trees and we can talk." He said. That got a tired nod from his friend. She let him guide her over into the shade underneath a large oak tree.

For several moments they were quiet. The only sound was the chatter of squirrels and the quiet trickle of a babbling brook somewhere beyond the trees. It was a relatively pleasant day for early winter. The sky was still blue, and the air was just slightly cool. Being a day off from the Academy, they had nowhere to be, so he was perfectly content to wait for Sasuki to start the conversation. Her gaze was focused on the ground as she worried her lip between her teeth.

"Something weird is going on at home." She said finally. Her voice was so quiet he almost couldn't hear her.

It was quite jarring to see the normally confident and kind Sasuki so reserved.

"What kind of weird?" He asked.

Sasuki opened her mouth to reply but seemed to find herself at a loss for words. She licked her lips, then said, "It's my brother. Itachi's been really distant lately. Even more than usual. And every time he and father are in the same room, there's this really tense feeling in the air."

The concern on her face was alarming, though he couldn't help but think maybe it wasn't something too serious.

"Could they just be arguing over something they just don't want to concern you with?" Naruto offered diplomatically.

"No … at least, I don't think so," She said with a shake of her head. "Something really odd happened. I don't know if you've heard, but one of the Uchiha Clan's best ninja killed himself a while ago." Naruto nodded his head. Shisui Uchiha's death was fairly large news. "Well after it happened, some members of our clan with the Military Police came by to question him, since he and Itachi were best friends. They basically accused Itachi of being responsible. Before I even knew what happened, he took them all down, then he and father argued. The things he was saying … it was like he hated the clan. I've never seen him act like that. But when he realized I was there, he just went right back to normal. I'm not sure what to think."

Even though she was reluctant to share in the beginning, by the time she was done speaking it was like Sasuki couldn't stop venting her concerns. She was drawing patterns in the dirt absent mindedly, a downtrodden look on her face.

Honestly … Naruto couldn't blame her. He knew she looked up to Itachi almost as much as her mother. It was no wonder she was so distracted with him acting so oddly. He'd only met Itachi a handful of times himself, but he could tell the older boy was someone that preferred not to use violence. For him to jump to it so quickly was disturbing. 'Then again, they were accusing him of being responsible for his best friends death. I'd be pretty angry if something like that happened with Sasuki.'

"That does sound odd but try not to get too concerned about it. You said this Shisui was his friend. Maybe Itachi was having a bad day and being accused like that made him snap." He said reassuringly.

His words seemed to help. After a few moments mulling it over, Sasuki looked up and smiled at him. He felt warm inside seeing her happy after she was so worried.

"You're probably right. Thanks for listening to me. It felt good getting that off my chest. Let's get back to training." Sasuki said. She scrambled to her feet and began to dust off her shorts.

"No problem. We're friends." He replied as he followed suit.

Though outwardly he tried to be confident in his reassurance, a sense of foreboding was creeping into his mind. He didn't know why. It was like a weight had settled in his stomach and was slowly growing. 'I'm sure it's nothing.'

If only he could reassure himself as well as he could Sasuki. He really hoped it was nothing for Sasuki's sake.

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The next morning Naruto greeted his grandfather by nearly tackling him around the middle with a hug. He'd managed to shove his worries for Sasuki to the back of his mind. Last night had been one of the increasingly rare nights he slept at his apartment, and he was glad to see his grandfather. He always managed to ease Naruto's concerns with his mere presence.

"Oof" Madara chuckled good naturedly. Naruto felt his grandfather's arms envelope him in a warm hug. Yes, everything was fine. He stepped back with a large grin on his face.

"Good morning Grandpa, its great to see you!" He exclaimed.

"It's good to see you too. Tell me, why didn't you come back last night?" Asked Madara as they separated. He placed his arm around Naruto's shoulders as they walked through the house and down to the lift–as his grandfather had called it–that would take them to the training cave.

Naruto chuckled nervously while the room descended. He felt his face heat up slightly in embarrassment. The night before he had spent too much time out training with Sasuki. By the time he was done it was too late, and he was too tired to make it back to his grandfather's.

"Hehe, sorry Grandfather. I over did the physical training with Sasuki yesterday. I was too tired to make it back here last night." He explained.

The young Uchiha pouted when his grandfather chuckled in amusement at his embarrassment, only furthering it when he ruffled his hair as they came to a stop. He scowled playfully and followed his grandfather into the cave.

"That's fine, because today you'll need your strength. We'll be working on chakra control, as well as your control of your Magnet Style." Madara said over his shoulder.

Naruto groaned. Sure Magnet Style was fun, but chakra control was a constant chore he wished he could be rid of. Because of the size of his reserves, he had trouble with those subjects. 'One day I'll come up with a solution to fix that problem!' He swore to himself. He was about make his annoyance vocal, when—BONK

"Ouch!"

He winced and rubbed his head. His grandfather had wacked him on the head with his cane. When he finally stopped rubbing the smarting lump, he shot a dirty look at his grandfather, which was met with a stern glare.

"Don't give me that look, Naruto. Your reserves have been increasing once more, so you need to improve your control even further. You are an Uchiha, control and jutsu come naturally, but you must still work to attain them, especially with your Uzumaki genes." Naruto wilted under the stern lecture. He knew his grandfather was right. With a sigh, he placed his hands in a cross shaped seal and began to build his chakra.

POOF

All around the cave smoke erupted in thick white plumes. There was so much it seemed like one solid cloud, almost the same size as that issued after a large summoning. After a few moments the smoke began to recede into wispy tendrils, revealing the familiar sight of dozens of Naruto's across the cavern.

"You know the drill, twenty to each exercise." Naruto instructed them in a flat, resigned tone at the idea of the tedious training. By now he'd moved past the leaf sticking exercise and into ever more complicated types of chakra control. Each of them was as boring as the last. Oh how he wished he would be learning a cool jutsu today. With a sigh, Naruto turned back to his grandfather.

"So what should I do?" He asked.

Madara hummed and stroked his chin thoughtfully with the hand that wasn't leaning on his cane. After a few moments he said, "Why don't you try and get in contact with the Nine-Tails. It's been a while. Maybe he'll be more cooperative."

He nodded in understanding. Ever since Naruto learned he was a Jinchuriki, his grandfather had encouraged him to try and build a repour with the fox. Something about it making it easier to use it's powers. So far he hadn't been much luck. Honestly, he was starting to doubt it was possible.

"Alright, see you in an hour or so." He said as he turned around to go to a quiet corner of the cave where his grandfather had placed a seal to suppress any Tailed-Beast chakra that leaked during his sessions. There were also some cushions so it'd be more comfortable.

Naruto couldn't see his grandfather when he replied. Had he turned his head, he would have seen the sudden narrowing of Madara's eyes. "I'll most likely be gone when you get back, I have business to take care of." He replied distantly. Naruto heard the odd tone in his grandfather's voice but shrugged it off. It wasn't unusual for him to have business suddenly. He rarely got an answer when he asked about it.

The meditation corner–as he'd taken to calling it–was a peaceful place. The meditation corner–as he'd taken to calling it–was a peaceful place. A simple rock garden, with large moss-covered stones and a clear pool of water. Though it was difficult to stay still at first, he'd grown to like it. He found meditation helped to calm him down and think clearer. It was also the best way to enter the mental representation of his seal. Naruto sat down in a lotus position at the center of the restraining seal. His breathing was carefully regulated. Slowly, all sound bled away. The world around him ceased to exist as he willed himself to appear inside the boiler room-esque seal.

Drip . . .

Drip . . .

Drip . . .

He opened his eyes to the familiar soft golden light of the boiler room. Up ahead he could see the entrance to the room that housed the Nine-Tails. Wordlessly he got to his feet and began to walk towards it. The wet slap of his sandals on the water reverberated off the narrow halls.

"Grrr, I see you're back again, foolish human."

"Yes, figured I'd come see how you're doing. Must get lonely in here. I figured maybe ya'd finally want to talk." He said pleasantly. The fox snorted in derision at the blonde's statement. Behind the bars of his cage, his head lay on its crossed arms, the picture of boredom.

"You expect me, the mighty Nine-Tailed Fox, to lower myself to speak to a human to pass the time? Worse yet, an Uchiha, the grandson of that bastard Madara. It puzzles me that you always expect a different outcome to these little 'chats'. I neither want or need to speak to you." The fox growled. Naruto had to fight down the instinctive urge to insult the fox back. He'd learned that it didn't do any good to react to his insults, that just encouraged him. Instead he opted to sit down on the water calmly, and simply look at the Nine-Tails.

"Well I figured that its better than just being alone in here."

The Nine-Tails didn't answer, he simply closed his eyes and tried to sleep. Naruto tried to engage the fox in conversation, telling him about his day, his training, what he was planning on having for dinner. He got no reply. The Nine-Tails stubbornly stuck to his declaration of not speaking to him. Naruto found himself having to resist sighing in frustration at the foxes continued stubbornness. 'Maybe I should try something different . . .'

Most recently his lessons with his grandfather had included a lot of strategy. After what happened last year with him jumping in to protect Sasuki from the bullies, Madara had taken it upon himself to–in his own words–"Beat it into you".

One of those lessons focused on trying different routes to achieve the desired outcome. Maybe he could apply that here by playing on the fox's ego. Surely he wouldn't let a slight to himself to go unchallenged?

"We should at least come to some sort of agreement. Like it or not, we're stuck together, and the man that removed you from my mother is still out there. He will come for you again. We'll need to work together to be able to stop him, because this time, he won't simply let you get sealed." Naruto said.

As soon as the last sentence had left his mouth, the room became bathed in the Nine-Tail's killing intent. The mighty beast shot to his feet and fixed Naruto with a deadly glare. A snarled ripped from its muzzle. A shiver of fear shot down the Uchiha's back, and his breath caught in his lungs. Adrenaline began to flow through his body as the primal fear the beasts rage invoked triggered his fight or flight response.

"You think I need you boy? I don't! If that man comes for me again I will tear through this seal and crush you beneath my heel, then I will find a way to rip that monkey eye from his skull and obliterate him!" The Nine-Tails roared.

As soon as it's anger had come, the beast seemed to freeze and look at him with narrowed eyes. Clearly realization that it had been bated set in. Slowly the killing intent disappeared, and the fox lay back down to ignore him once more. It took a moment for the adrenaline to settle down in Naruto, but when it did, he gave a weary sigh.

It seemed that he had messed up. He found it highly doubtful the fox would respond again. It's pride alone would demand it didn't. Knowing that there wasn't anything else he could do that day, he stood and began to walk towards the exit.

In the silence that followed the Nine-Tails rage, the splash of his sandals filled the entire room. He had almost reached the door before he paused and spoke to the fox without looking back.

"Ya know, we don't have to be enemies. Like I said earlier, we're stuck together. We should make the most of it. Maybe we could even be friends." He wasn't expecting a reply. Thus, he was surprised when he heard the foxes voice. The Nine-Tails had cracked an eye open to stare at the blonds back in puzzlement.

"Why do you try so hard to get me to speak with you, boy? Do you not hate me? After all, I was the one that killed your parents." It asked.

Naruto stopped his exit and glanced over his shoulder at the Nine-Tails. He had to suppress a grin at this unexpected breakthrough. Perhaps he did have a chance to make progress.

"No, I don't hate you. You were simply trying to avoid being locked up again, I probably would have done the same in your position." He said. The Nine-Tails seemed stunned by his answer, though it was shocked even more by what followed after. "As for why I try hard to get you to speak to me, it's because I know how you've been treated in the past. You've been hated and hating in return for so long that hate has become all you know. I want to change that."

With that last declaration, Naruto pivoted on his heel and began to walk towards the entrance once more. He had just reached the archway that led into the darkened corridor, when the Nine-Tails spoke from behind him.

"You're a fool, Naruto." It growled.

Naruto couldn't help the grin that stretched his chubby face. That was the first time the Nine-Tails had used his name. Finally he'd made some progress. 'Well, I'd say that's enough progress for today. Better get back outside.'

He closed his eyes and began to steady his breath. His entire mind focused on leaving the seal. The first indication he was successful was the painful tingling in his legs. It was so uncomfortable he fell to his back and straightened his legs. They were stiff as a board and felt like led.

"Gah, I hate that part!" He shouted. The sound reverberated off the walls of the cave and seemed to mock him with his own words.

Seriously, he had to learn how to do that without needing to meditate. It sucked to have his body sit cross-legged for hours and come back to the discomfort of his legs being asleep. He seriously hoped in the future he could enter the seal without that much focus. "Can't come soon enough." He grumbled to himself.

Thankfully, being the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki had it's perks. His legs were fine in less than a minute. Naruto sighed gratefully as he stood and took stock of his surroundings.

As his grandfather had said, he wasn't anywhere in sight. Naruto could see his clones still hard at work in the distance. Some were doing a combination of the leaf-sticking exercise and chakra adhesion to spar on the sides of the cave. Another set were practicing water-walking while doing the leaf sticking. He hadn't quite got the control to try sparring on water yet. In the wooded section, his last set of clones were using the Magnet Style to maneuver kunai and shuriken through the trees. The sight brought a slight frown to his face. For some reason it never felt natural to use his Magnet Style with regular kunai and shuriken. Perhaps he needed a better material. There was also that ever present pull he felt since he started practicing with the bloodline. It was like a constant itch in the back of his mind. He still had yet to figure out what it was.

Naruto shook his head to clear it of the distracting thoughts. There was plenty of time for that later. Right now he should find something productive to do.

"Well, what should I?" He wondered to himself.

His grandfather hadn't given him any instructions on what to do after talking to the Nine-Tails, and he didn't have any homework to do. Maybe go visit Sasuki? That was an idea. She could probably do with more cheering up with how it sounded things were at home.

His mind instantly went to that feeling he'd gotten yesterday. It was something he'd tried to not think about. A hot flash of fear enveloped his body. Along with it came an impending dread that gripped his heart. He tried to shove it to the side again. Maybe he was just being paranoid. Everything had been great for the past year. Usually things didn't go right for him for long. He had to get used to being happy. At least, that's what he told himself.

"I sure hope everything is really okay." He muttered.

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So there's the eighth chapter. I tried to strike a balance between showing Naruto's advancement and also setting a decently ominous tone for what is looming in the near future. See you next chapter.

Until Next Time,

RinneTaicho, Signing Off!