AN: Hello everyone. Thank you for spending your time reading this amateurish work. Please forgive me in advance, English is not my native language, so grammar and narrative may be a bit off.
So I will just say a few things about this new start. Well you see this was a challenge between me and one of my friend, to write a fanfic on Naruto with his parents abandoning him. I mean it is as irrational as something can be, but yeah this is my take on it. Hope you all like it. Criticism is welcomed.
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any other characters, Masashi Kishimoto and studio pierrot does.
Chapter 1:First Friend
Uzumaki Naruto, a cheerful blond boy with cerulean eyes and, interestingly with 3 whiskers on each cheek. He was short for his age. He wore a black shirt with a red spiral design on the back of it. He also had a unique pair of goggles, which could be said to be a mixture of a goggle and a green headband. It was placed on his forehead instead of his eyes. He also had all of the world against him. The five-year-old was not oblivious to this fact but had no idea of the reason.
He always wondered why people glared at him for no reason and also sometimes gave him cruel beatings for no reason. This perturbed him a lot. They were never nice to him. Even the caretakers in the orphanage he used to be were always rude and cruel to him. Many incidents would not want to leave his mind. He would sometimes wish he had a terrible memory and could forget everything, as the cruel nature didn't seem to be stopping anytime soon. But it didn't seem his neurons would work the way he would have liked. He just came to the conclusion the world didn't understand him, and he didn't understand the world.
A year ago, during his birthday he remembered when he was kicked out of the orphanage. That day still sent shivers down his spine. But a few good things had also happened that day when he wondered about it.
Flashback
'…I have nowhere to go…What did I ever do?! Why do they hate me so much?...Why me? Ahhhh drop it...let's go to the festival site, I need to take my mind off a bit.' thought the boy, who had just been shooed away and was told never got come back by the matron of the orphanage.
He headed toward the festival area he was enjoying by himself there without bothering anyone, though his enjoyment was limited to just looking around as no one would let him near the shops. After a while, he was pulled by his collar into a back alley where 5 men surrounded him. In a quivering voice, he asked, "Can I do something for you all?"
One of them said, "You see we kind of have a thing against you. So, we have got to kill you!"
Another one spoke, "And also scream as much you can we want to see your agony. The way you put us all in agony that day."
By now Naruto was trembling. 'What... why? And what day?' The only thing he could do was start running away. The men chased him, but lucky for Naruto he was quite fast and innately athletic. Through the alleys and silent streets, he was able to gain some distance, but they were still not that behind. He knew to avoid crowded places in such moments as it often led to another problem. His eyes started to well up as the instances of mistreatment ran in his mind.
Which was why he wasn't able to sense or dodge the glass bottle thrown at his head. It impacted the hind side of his head and broke. Naruto gave out a yell of hurt and fell down. Naruto brought his hand where the bottle had impacted and, the next second saw his hand was full of blood. Oddly enough he didn't scream, just tried to get up and walked a few steps ahead, but he wasn't able to properly coordinate and tumbled back down. He turned and saw one of the men who was at the head pick up a long-shattered glass.
The man raised his hand and yelled, "Now you die, demon." Before he could be stabbed Naruto heard a faint sound. It sounded like many birds were chirping. An electric blue line crossed the lane and impaled the man in front of him. The other four paled and ran away, but the man in a mask and silver hair had already seen them, it was done for them. The boy just looked at the dead impassively. He had no emotion he could describe. He was still a kid and didn't have much of negative emotions in him, and neither did he understand everything properly nor he would be able to at that age.
Naruto then looked at his usual saviour but this time he had enough. He in a low tone said, "Inu, thank you." He said with devoid eyes and then he slipped into unconsciousness due to loss of blood and the area where he was hit.
Under the mask, the Anbu Inu, Hatake Kakashi calmly walked towards the boy and gently lifted him. He said, "Sorry, I was late…I took a bit longer while talking with Sensei at his grave. I thought you would be in the orphanage, so I wanted to have a little chat with him." Kakashi paced himself towards the hospital. The Hokage arrived at the hospital and Kakashi explained what all happened.
After an hour, Naruto started to wake up the first thing he saw was that Jiji and Inu were by his side. The old man sitting on a stool beside the bed. He was in his usual robe and the Kage hat adorning his head. And the silver-haired masked man stood at ease near the end of the bed, leaning against the wall and closing a book he was reading. Both looking at the boy intently.
"How are you feeling Naruto?" asked the Third Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen.
Naruto realized his forehead and hindside was bandaged, with his goggle at the side table. He touched the hurt part, it stinged a bit nothing much. He just said, "Just a bit sore now I will be completely fine by tomorrow morning…Like always." His voice which felt empty.
"Jiji am I a demon?...everyone says that. And other nasty things people whisper to one another. They think I can't hear, but I can." Asked Naruto wanting to know something.
'Must be his sensitive hearing.' mused the old kage. He then said, "Look at me Naruto, do you have extra limbs, eyes or anything different? No, you are not a demon. You are a human like any other. Even more humane than most of the others. People are ignorant and stupid that's all I can say…for now." The last word was whispered in an inaudible loudness.
Naruto was bit relaxed as the old man didn't consider him a demon. Though the question of what makes the other people ignorant will still linger in his mind. "Naruto come I will drop you to back to the orphanage." Said the leader of the hidden village.
"Aaaaah…Jiji they kicked me out of the place…And please I don't want to go back. I don't like it there and not any other orphanage either. I don't think I will like it there too." Said Naruto bluntly.
The Hokage had an impassive face but both Naruto and Kakashi, who too was angry, knew the Hokage was raging internally. And angering a Hokage was not a thing you should have in your bucket list. Years of being a shinobi only helped the old man to keep his cool.
After a deep breath, "Okay Naruto I will find you a good apartment, but you will have to take care of yourself and also of the apartment. Will you be able to do it?"
"Yes, I will." Said Naruto immediately without any doubt.
"Okay stay here till I find an appropriate place."
After 30 minutes, all three walked to the location of Naruto's new home, via the back streets as they didn't want to deal with the crowd now. The Hokage leads the way and Naruto walking behind with his hand being held by Kakashi. The usually jubilant boy was oddly quiet but had a tender smile on his face. Both the men thought it was because of the attack and were kind of confused about how they should approach this odd silence.
But the smile was quite contradicting to their theory as it was a genuine happy smile. The reason being all this time Naruto had only seen parents holding hands of their children. He had only observed it and never felt it. Now that he did, he felt better, calmer, and safer.
Naruto, Hiruzen, and Kakashi, still holding the four-year-old's hand, were standing in front of Naruto's new apartment. Hiruzen then took out a key and opened the door. All of them went in. The apartment was of a good size. Spacious enough for a family of 3 to live. The Hokage had also furnished it so it was really looked good and brand new and it had an open kitchen, which Naruto had no idea how to use. It was not a very fancy place, it was normal, it was perfect (AN: FYI not the apartment in the anime no way in hell I was gonna have Naruto in that apartment).
Naruto lunged on the Hokage and hugged him while saying, "Thank you, Thank you Jiji. This apartment is great."
"Glad you like it and take this cooking book you will need it. And here, take your birthday gift. Sorry, I didn't come by in the morning itself." Said the old man with a big smile.
Naruto opened the gift and was very happy to receive goggles, the one he would continue wearing a lot in it. "Thank you, Jiji. These goggles look awesome! You are the best!"
Then Kakashi also said, "Naruto this is my present." Inu then handed Naruto a box of chocolates. Naruto jumped on him and exclaimed, "Thank you, Inu. You too are the best."
Flashback End
The only people that Naruto would ever consider nice were his Hokage Jiji, the old man Teuchi who owned the ramen shop Ichiraku, his daughter Ayame, and the Anbu Inu who would wear a dog mask, that Anbu would always save him when someone came to hurt him while he was nearby and the Anbu would always give him lots of sweets time to time. He would always feel safe when he was around one of these people.
Today was no different. To escape from the glares and hateful whisper he went to the peripheral forests of the village. It was once where he met his Jiji. He had seen and meet the old man before that occasion also when he used to come to the orphanage to check on him. But it was in these forests one night where he had his actual first conversation with the old man, and it was the happiest day of his life. They talked about a lot of things.
He always hoped to find someone like his Jiji here again. His mind having the thought, 'Someone to talk to would be good… Or maybe a weapon for mass destructions wouldn't be bad either…Huh, another one of those crazy thoughts.' He had deemed some of his thoughts crazy but never thought much as everyone does need some craze, don't they?
He was aimlessly wandering taking in the beauty of the lush green trees, chirping birds, hoping hares and rabbits. Suddenly he heard kunai embedding a wooden target. Curiosity made him walk towards the distance of the origin of the sound. He started peeking. He saw a boy maybe double his age, training. He had short spiky black hair, with a Hitai-ate tied around his head. He wore a black high-collar shirt and his shirt had a peculiar fan-shaped design and standard shinobi black pants and sandals. Another thing that screamed out unique was his tanto-holding vest. It was a brown triangular leather vest.
Naruto saw one, two, three he didn't care to count anymore, kunai were already at the bullseye area of the target. The said boy again threw a set of kunai hitting the already embedded kunai and knocking them off. But not even a second later the bullseye area was filled again, but this time by shurikens. Saying the boy had already thrown them at incredible speed.
Naruto was beyond mesmerized by the older boy's accuracy and skill so blurted, "Wow!" The next instant the boy vanished in thin air and was behind Naruto. A startled Naruto yelped.
"You know, you should not sneak at a shinobi like this." Said the boy. Still shocked Naruto somehow was able to comprehend the sentence. In a bit embarrassed state while he rubbed the back of his head, he said, "Sorry, I didn't mean any harm. I was just amazed at what I saw." Guessing the age of the little boy, the training shinobi asked, "So what are you doing in these forest areas anyways? A squirt like you should be in a playground with his friends."
"Hey! I am not a squirt! And besides…I don't have any friends." He said the last part with a downcast head.
At this, the older boy took a good look at his intruder and recognized Naruto. He also understood the reason for the last part. He was young when the incident had happened but he knew, he had seen the terror of that day. Even for just a moment or two, he saw the destruction, but he had seen the losses and mourns of the weeks that followed that day. That's why he didn't dig for more information on it. Unlike most villagers, he knew the difference between a sealed kunai and the seal.
"Hymn, well ok. I won't pry. My name is Uchiha Shisui. Would you like to be my friend?" Shisui didn't know why but he wanted to do something for Naruto, something in his head pushed the idea of keeping the boy close to him and yelled for doing it. He thought being a friend/guide shouldn't be bad while also adding his mind, 'People forget that when a child is not embraced by the village, will eventually burn it. Just to feel the warmth of it.'
At the proposal, Naruto lifted his head and looked at Shisui who had a gentle smile. 'No one ever said these words to me! He wants to be my friend. My First Friend!' exclaimed Naruto in his mind. He couldn't help but let some tears fall. He immediately said, "Yes, my name is Uzumaki Naruto. Thank you, thank you very much." He jumped and hugged Shisui, tears still falling.
Shisui hadn't expected the physical contact but returned it nevertheless. After the hug and Naruto stepped back a bit, Shisui witnessed one of the brightest smiles he had ever seen and it was contagious too.
"So, what is your age squirt?" asked Shisui already knowing what to call Naruto. At this Naruto had the classic shocked eyes.
"I Am Not A Squirt!...And I am 5 years old. What is yours?"
"I am 12, my little squirt." said Shisui while chuckling.
At this, Naruto grumbled about having disrespectful friends. After that, they talked more about themselves and Naruto mostly talked about ramen while Shisui kept asking questions and answering the ones directed to him. Shisui was kind of amazed as somehow Naruto would always land on ramen or become the greatest Hokage ever. Aah, stubborn dreams of a child. We all had them right…Those were the true dreams.
It was getting dark so Shisui took Naruto back to the village. During the walk back, he asked for directions to the blonde bundle's orphanage. He was stunned, to say the least at the information he got to know. He also noticed the eminent malice in the air. He had known people didn't like Naruto. But the glares he noticed and whispers, he could barely hear but knew it would be something pathetic or a false rumour.
He wasn't liking it one bit at one point but he wasn't regarded as a prodigy for nothing. He couldn't just pick a brawl in the middle of the village as things won't take a good turn and it wouldn't be the best show for Naruto to learn just to pick up a fight out anywhere. It would do no good. He kept his emotionless mask on. Then he glanced at Naruto sometimes, the boy was a bit downcast and other times acted like it didn't matter. The changes were due to his sensitive hearing. They reached Naruto's apartment. Another man was standing at Naruto's door and was about to knock it but before that, Naruto yelled.
"JIJI! How are you? And what are you doing here? And look this is my new friend." Naruto was talking at a very high pace, waving his arms in air like flapping them due to his excitement. After he finished his rapid questions the Hokage gave a gentle smile, and said, "Oh, Naruto you made a new friend. I see...How are you Shisui?"
Before Shisui could reply Naruto spoke, "Jiji, you know Shisui-nii-san?"
Shisui was startled at the suffix but was happy and had a smile. The Hokage chuckled and was very happy Naruto found a friend and also considered him as an elder brother.
"Naruto, I know Shisui because he is one of our most promising shinobi and is very talented." Naruto was in awe that his newly made nii-san was one of the most promising shinobi. "Anyways, I was here because I had free time and decided that I would take you to Ichiraku ramen. Would you like to join this old man? And you too Shisui?"
Naruto yelled yes and pestered Shisui to also accept which he did. Naruto was having the best day of his life so far. When they reached the location Naruto again yelled not able to hide his excitement, "Hello old man Teuchi and Ayame-nee-chan."
"Hello Naruto, hello to you to Hokage-sama...ohh and hello to you too, what a pleasure to have Shisui of the body flicker at my stand." Said the shop owner and cook Teuchi.
"Good evening, sir." Said Shisui respectfully.
Now Naruto was confused and thought 'Shisui told me his surname was Uchiha. Why is old man Teuchi saying something else?'
"Oi, old man his surname is Uchiha." Said Naruto trying to correct the mistake in his opinion. At this, the Hokage chuckled and Shisui had a grin on his face.
"Naruto that is Shisui's moniker." Said the Hokage.
"Moniker? But why that then?" asked the interested boy.
"That is because he uses the Shunshin (body flicker) technique to such an extent that at a moment you see many of them and cannot locate him. It is like he is teleporting to many places at once. You can't locate where he is as he moves too fast to pin him down. And before the opposition can even process the number and position of each image. Shisui is done with his work." said Hiruzen.
Naruto by this time had stars in his eyes and said, "Nii-san teach me that jutsu, please." He pleaded with the puppy eyes jutsu.
"Hey, you haven't even unlocked your chakra yet and already demanding to be taught jutsu." Said Shisui in a deadpan voice.
"Okay then I will unlock my chakra and then you have to teach me." declared Naruto.
"That's all fine, but now put your orders up, so I can start making them." interrupted Teuchi. The three gave their orders and at that time Ayame came to help her father. She said, "Hello Naruto, how was your day?"
Naruto exclaimed, "Today I had the best day of my life!" He proceeded to tell her how he made a new friend and all the things that happened. Shisui wasn't paying much attention to the talk that was going on. His focus was rather on Naruto's Appetite for ramen. He was astonished by Naruto's order it was not much for a man but for a five-year-old, even 2 bowls was a bit too much in his opinion, and the sizes of the bowls weren't small. 'Well, it isn't much surprising though. Most of the time he talked about ramen itself' thought Shisui.
Naruto was having a chat with Ayame when the Hokage spoke to Shisui, "Well Shisui I am happy that you have become close to Naruto here he needed it, thank you for doing this." He said with a small smile.
"Hokage-sama that is the least I can do for him. He is after all doing a lot for us...Let it be unknowingly so and also the things he goes through, I doubt if many could handle what he does through in his life."
The Hokage had a smile that one of his younger shinobi was more intelligent than most of the people in the village.
"Well, that is true." Said the Hokage having a small frown on his face unable to hide the sorrow, pity, and guilt of not being able to do more about Naruto's life. Every time he tried to increase the stipend the civil council with its infinite knowledge would butt in. He couldn't even override the decision as Naruto until he becomes a genin, he would be under the civil council and civilian laws. He could not even assign anyone to look after him as the person would rather harm him than take care of him. The only one who would take care of him had to back down due to politics.
After they finished their dinner, they were about to start heading home when Naruto spoke up, "Shisui-nii, can I meet you tomorrow too?" Hope is filled in his eyes. Shisui with a smile, "Yeah why not? I don't have a mission tomorrow. If you are good, I might even give you a surprise or two." At this, Naruto jumped with joy.
"Meet me at training ground 31 at 10 am, people barely use it. Bye Naruto, bye Hokage-sama and thank you for the dinner."
"Okay nii-san, bye."
The Hokage waved bye and smiled due to the closeness Shisui and Naruto shared even if they only met a few hours ago.
Shisui reached his home he was happy to find someone who called him nii-san. He could not shake the feelings like he had seen someone like Naruto before so he took out his history book which itself had become history after the academy. He went through pages and landed on the Hokage section. After a few turns his eyes widened. It was a theory but if right then it would be quite something. It could be confirmed by only one man but he wanted another good look at Naruto before deciding to meet the Hokage.
The next day arrived. And time for Naruto seemed to be going rather slow. 'Ahhh when will it be 10 so I can meet Shisui-nii.' Naruto started his way to training ground 31 when he felt he had spent enough time in his apartment.
As he expected when he arrived, there was no one there. He then started to check the training ground. It was great, to say the least. It had a forest lining at three sides of it and a cliff on the west side with a waterfall across it from an even higher cliff and a river below. There were also some boulders at the two forest side corners. 'I can't understand why people don't come here…Maybe because it is quite far from the central part of the village? I guess this must be the reason. Man, people are missing quite a site.'
"Looks like someone was very eager to come here." said a voice.
"Shisui-Nii!" Naruto exclaimed unable to hide his excitement. Even though he was excited usually a kid would stop observing around. But Naruto still swayed his eyes around. It was a habit he had built to look out for danger, but it had become a permanent habit in any situation.
He then noticed another boy with Shisui. He too had black hair but tied in a low ponytail and the same fan design on his black shirt. And the rest get up too being very similar to Shisui's. 'Hymn who is this? He has many similar features to Shisui-nii. He too has that fan on his shirt. Are they brothers?'
"Hello, you must be Naruto. My name is Uchiha Itachi. Nice to meet you." Said the boy with a small smile.
"Hello, Itachi. Are you Shisui-nii's brother?" Asked Naruto seeing the similarities in appearance and name.
"Well technically yes. We are cousins but we would rather be called friends." Said Itachi.
"So, squirt it seems you were really, really, eager to arrive here." Instantaneously Naruto with many tick marks on his head retaliated, "I am not a squirt!" Shisui then started a to-and-froquarrel, with Naruto mostly being playfully teased. Itachi watched the two conversate with each other. 'Shisui said they only met yesterday but act like they have known each other for quite a long time.' he thought.
After a while when Shisui had enough fun out of the blonde, he said, "Okay Naruto now watch how real ninjas fight." Shisui turned towards Itachi with a grin on his face.
"You ready Itachi?" Asked Shisui.
"Yes," was all that he got from the stoic boy. Naruto went to the edge and sat on one of the boulders of the training ground and was watching with all the concentration that he was able to gather.
A breeze flew across the ground picking up the dry leaves as if cleaning for the spar to begin. Both the Uchiha stared at each other waiting for the slightest movement and for an opening. Both of their fingers twitched simultaneously and off they started their taijutsu.
Both of them were using the Uchiha Interceptor style. Shisui went for a punch to the chest, Itachi expertly blocked it and went for a counter kick. With equally impressive speed the kick was also blocked. Both take a step back to re-engage. Shisui leaped forward and tried for a punch toward the head. Itachi caught Shisui's fist with one of his. But he saw what his opponent was up to.
Shisui had intended this move to be a dummy for the kick which was now incoming to directly hit Itachi. Itachi swiftly left the hand and bent back to avoid the hit. Both of them went back and forth trying to get a hit on the other. After a while, Shisui chuckled a bit and then said, "Wanna take it up a notch?"
Both of them leaped back and simultaneously activated their sharingan. A doujutsu of the Uchiha Clan and whoever had the Uchiha blood. Both the boy's onyx eyes changed to red in colour with a black pupil and tomes surrounding it. Shisui's had three tomes while Itachi's had two. Suddenly both their speed increased. At this point Naruto from his place wasn't able to comprehend the fight then too he was mesmerized and in awe.
They re-engaged their taijutsu battle. The movements to them were clearer now even though they were faster than before, thanks to their dojutsu. Poor Naruto, was only seeing blurs now due to the increase in pace. Nevertheless, he was almost drooling. After some blows on each other Itachi jumped back and unsheathed his tanto. Shisui replied with a similar action. The field was soon filled with sounds of metal clashing. Shisui decided to show Naruto the movie for which he was renowned. Suddenly the field was filled with 20 images of him. Holding the tanto in many different manners. One straight forward with both arms, one at the right side with a single hand, and more. It was a move that had caused his enemies a lot of pain and got his name.
Naruto was in awe and thought, 'Wow is this the technique that Jiji was saying about yesterday?' Naruto again had stars in his eyes.
Itachi, after receiving a few more blows due to not being able to locate where his friend was. Itachi started using hand signs. Internally he yelled, 'Katon: Hosenka no Jutsu (Fire Style: Mythical Fire Phoenix Technique).'
Many fireballs now started erupting from Itachi's mouth. Shisui dropped his move and started dodging the fireballs. Shisui dodged every fireball thrown at him. "So wanna end with as we usually do?" asked Shisui. An approving grunt was all he got.
Both of them went through hand signs and in unison yelled, "Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu (Fire Style: Great Fireball)"
Both released the hot, large streams of fire from their mouths which fought for dominance. After 10 seconds both of them dropped the jutsu. Both slightly panting and a few beads of sweat tracing down their forehead.
They were greeted by an overly excited lump of blonde blur. "Shisui-nii, Itachi that was Amazing!"
"Glad that you liked it." Said Itachi
"Nii-san what had happened to your eyes in the middle?" asked Naruto.
"That Naruto is the sharingan. It is the Uchiha clan's donjutsu. It enhances our speed, and timing and allows us to see attacks at a slower pace helping us to dodge them. Well and it also allows us to copy movements by the extension which means we can copy jutsus also." Explained Shisui.
"Nii-san that's so cool! Can I too unlock it? I wanna!" asked Naruto.
"Sorry Naruto but I doubt it as Uchiha blood is required for awakening the sharingan." Said Shisui.
A bit downcast then Naruto asked with some hope, "Nii-san teach me that jutsu."
"What did I say yesterday squirt?"
"Then help me unlock my chakra." Said Naruto in a bit demanding tone.
Shisui was going through his train of thoughts, 'I do want to teach him, but if this bastard starts showcasing what he may be capable of in public, those idiots in council will do everything to stop him from becoming a ninja. The Hokage won't stand for it but then who is stopping them from doing things behind his back?' These thoughts were racing in his mind when he took a look at Naruto. He did want to say no to the boy who he now considered his little brother. 'Well, I and Itachi can teach him to be good at Shurikenjutsu. That won't even attract much attention and will be good for him'
"Okay, I will teach you and help unlock your chakra, but not now." Said Shisui in an asserting tone.
Naruto had a purple depression cloud on him by this time. Shisui then in a similar manner said, "At the moment I will teach you how to properly use a kunai and shuriken." Now Naruto was having a big smile on his face and was nodding vigorously.
For the next few hours, both Shisui and Itachi taught Naruto how to hold and throw kunai and shuriken properly. Naruto was doing good for his age. They also were able to find that Naruto didn't have a preferable hand. He could use both hands with equal fineness and power which was a great thing coming naturally. People have a hard time training their weaker side. Lucky Naruto was a natural in ninja skills it seemed.
Time flew by very quickly and it was already sunset. All three of them sat at the middle of the ground, with Naruto being in the middle, and were watching the sunset behind the top waterfall. The orange sky at the horizon merged with the dark navy blue night sky and a red sun placed perfectly on top of the rushing sliver strains of water. It was a beautiful scene, a treat to any eyes that saw it.
"So, Naruto what is your dream for the future?" Asked Itachi.
"To be the strongest shinobi in all the elemental nations, and…become the greatest Hokage!...What is yours Itachi-nii?" said the boy happy that he got another friend/elder brother.
"High and admirable ambitions. And thank you for considering me also as a brother. My ambition is kind of different…I would like to stop all this unnecessary fighting that goes on in this world." replied Itachi.
Naruto thought about what Itachi said. 'Hymn it is different as he said. But why would he want it? I have always heard adults yelling for justice before they engage with an enemy...and also before chasing me.' Just remembering about some chases would always put him on the edge of his emotions. Nevertheless, he decided to ask, "But Itachi-nii I have heard all this fighting is for justice and duty. So why are you saying the fighting must stop?"
Itachi then said, "Well Naruto, Shisui can explain that much better, because he was the one who introduced me to this concept."
At this Shisui replied, "Naruto as Itachi said, I too share the same ambitions. We say this all is for justice and duty. But if the enemy ninja too is doing the same, for his justice, for his duty, then who is right? Who is really doing justice? Is there really anything as justice in the shinobi world?"
At this, Naruto gave an understanding nod. "This is the reason for our ambition." Concluded Shisui. "Say Naruto, what do you think a shinobi means?" inquired Shisui.
"Hymn, to be honest my first opinion was that shinobi were those who use cool jutsus and all. But few months back Jiji had explained me about what a shinobi means so I will say what he said." Naruto proceeded to recite the conversation.
Flashback
Naruto and his Jiji were sitting by a stream after eating some of the caught fish and looking at the star filled night sky and listening to the natural song of crickets, the flowing water and hooting of owls.
Suddenly out of nowhere, Naruto asked, "Ne, jiji what does it mean to be the Hokage, must feel good right as everyone acknowledges, understands, and respects you. What is it really like, being the Hokage?"
The old Hokage smiled and replied, "First I will tell you what it means to be a shinobi." Hiruzen continued, "To be a shinobi means putting your life on the line to protect those who can't protect themselves from great dangers. To be a shinobi you must be able to show light, that is hope to all those who you protect and those who are around you even when you yourself are surrounded by darkness. No matter what you must do your duty and follow the right path. That in my opinion is the meaning of a shinobi."
"Aahh, it seems to be tougher than I thought and quite different also." said Naruto while rubbing the back of his head embarrassed by his big misconceptions.
The Hokage chuckled a bit at the response. "Now to be a Hokage means to guide those shinobi and all the villagers on the right path, give them strength and induce the desire to protect. To be the Hokage you need to put the village above everything. To control everything in the village, it is not all roses as one may think of it as an easy and fun job. Sometimes choices have to be made that will affect the lives of all. A Hokage must always have his 'Will of Fire' burning to the brightest. He shouldn't be able to sway from one option to another just because it seems easy. You have to do what is right. Only a strong-minded person can become a Hokage."
"Aano, jiji what is the 'Will of Fire'?"
"'The Will of Fire' is an idea shared among Konoha's shinobi that love and loyalty are ideals that should be upheld above all else. To protect your precious people at all costs. This was introduced by the Shodaime. And the Hokage must fully understand and preach this concept. It helps in focusing on what is important and making the right decision, selflessly."
"Wow, this all is complex." Said Naruto with a nervous laugh and hand again rubbing the back of his head.
"In time Naruto, in time, everything will happen you don't need to stress out things from now or else who will keep everyone on their heels from your pranks." The old Hokage had a small chuckle after finishing while Naruto had an embarrassed blush due to the mention of his pranking nature.
Flashback End
"...so, my answer will be the same." Ended Naruto.
"Well, this is good you know the true meaning of shinobi." Said Itachi
"What is your perspective Shisui-nii?" asked the boy curious of the other's opinion.
"For me the one who protects from the shadows, that is a true mark of a shinobi." Said Shisui straightly.
"From the shadows?" asked Naruto.
"What Shisui means is that doing your duty but not expecting fame and all in return." Replied Itachi.
"Ooh, ok." was his answer.
The sun had already set by now and they were staring at the dazzling night sky, dark heavens decorated with twinkling polka dots called stars and a sliver moon directly above them making their world a shade sliver with its magnificent slivery reflected rays.
"It's getting late we should go back." Said Shisui.
"Okay, nii-san." Said Naruto obediently.
All of them got up, ready to go back but suddenly both Itachi and Shisui picked up two chakra signatures coming in their direction.
