Naruto : Chronicles of the Uchiha.
Chapter 3
~~~In the village…
Tobirama strode through the streets, his irritation and annoyance growing with each step at the new development. The straightforward plan to approach the boy and resolve their prior confusion had went unraveled completely down the drain.
And to top it off, the situation had taken such an unexpected turn that he now found himself, reluctantly, heading toward the Uchiha Clan's compound.
Ohhhh he was so tempted to put in annoyance but his poistion as the Hokage would not allow him to show such childish reactions in public.
And especially not infront of the Uchiha's.
when apporached the residence of the Uchiha clan the guards at the Uchiha clan compounds gates had notified him that he had left the compounds in the morning but hadn't returned as of yet.
He was certain it wasn't just his imagination—the Uchihas' eyes were glinting with unmistakable amusement at an odd request from the Hokage.
He would have used his sensory abilities had he memorized his chakra signature at first sight. But he hadn't done so.
So here he was doing the searching in the old fashioned way.
"Have you seen a six-year-old blonde haired, blue eyes boy around here?" he asked, stopping by a stunned vendor who shook his head nervously. Not having words to see the emotionless Hokage looming over him like a death God asking him such a weird question.
He let out a sigh and walked away, asking himself why he wasn't having an ANBU search for the boy. But he already knew the answer as to why.
Pride.
It would hurt his pride that he, a Senju clan head, the current Hokage and probably the strongest shinobi in the Land of Fire couldn't find a six-year-old boy by himself. Plus, it was better that being stuck all day in the office, rummaging about his paperwork.
"That surely must be the bane of all Kage. I could already feel my skills dulling if I neglect my training in favor of all that in a few months more." he sighed tiredly massaging him temples in frustation. He would have opted to use the shadow clones but he wouldn't let the world know that the Creator of Forbidden Jutsu and Brother of Hashirma Senju was taking a easy way out of his duties
Asking few peoples here and there he stopped at another vendor near the edge of the village towards the Hokage mountains.
"Have you seen a six-year-old blonde haired, blue eyes boy around here?" he asked yet again, and this time relief washed across his heart when he got a nod from the man. Frankly, he felt quite stupid to find him like this. But it felt nice for a change to interact with people normally again.
Only now did he realize how right Kagami really was. He had told him that he was far too engrossed these days in his work. And now he was agreeing seeing how much of it was true.
He walked up the mountain in thought, not realizing when he had peered past the monument and towards the back clearing of it.
"Meewww!" a soft mewling sound reached his ears making them perk up instantly. So there were signs of life here after all. He walked into the bushes rummaging his sharp darting around the surroundings and he followed the soft purring and mewling sounds to their source.
"Kiara! Come on you have to eat this too!" a soft squeaky voice, no doubt a young child was admonishing someone called Kiara for something concerning food.
He spread the last bush into the clearing by his hands and peeked in to see the same mop of blonde hair he had been looking for so long sitting there with a small white cub in his arms.
Well that was the source of the mewls an purrs he deducted logically. His foot accidentally stepped on a twig making a small cracking voice.
He rose an eyebrow when he saw the blonde child in front of him perk up and scoot back instantly. He was completely on guard with the cub now wrapped up protectively in his arms.
"Meewwwww!" he tried to muffle her mewls but couldn't stop from giggling when the cub was licking his cheek softly much to his protests. Tobirama once more had to smirk at the adorable scene in front of him.
Though his amber eyes narrowed in on the cub when he saw something out of place with it. His eyes widened momentarily and he realized what was wrong truly in the first place.
"That is no ordinary kitten, it's a white mountain tiger cub!" he drawled on in his mind and saw the boy curl the cub in his arms into a little ball of fur and now completely out of his eyes.
"Please don't take her from here, she lives here and I take care of her…" he said in a guarded voice once more surprising the ever stoic Senju.
" So he knows the cub does not belong here yet he takes care of it and keeps it hidden from everyone. Smart for his age, no doubt about that…" he concluded and stepped out of the bush, dusting his clothes gently.
Tobirama crouched down on one knee in front of the boy who was now rocking the cub a little to calm her down. Tobirama was quite surprised that a cub of a species such as his own had taken a liking to a human child no less. His eyes met the boy's light blue ones that almost look as if they were refelecting the sky.
Quiet an odd shade of eyes.
And that eyes were still guarded and completely defiant making him a bit proud at his protective nature.
"I'm not her to take the cub child." he stated blankly and watched the boy blink innocently before nodding and relaxing completely.
"Though it is rather easy to convince him otherwise…" he deduced silently and watched the boy smile and settle the ball of fur over his lap. The cub curled up in a small ball and let out a cure yawn, her ears twitching cutely at that moment. Tobirama watched the boy brush her back and get small purrs out of her and couldn't help but be surprised at how comfortable the cub was around him.
"Why are you here mister?" he heard the innocent question of the blonde and gave him a curt nod of acknowledgment. He pulled out his folded form from his pocket and handed it to the boy who took it hesitantly, no doubt wondering what it really was.
Naruto unfurled the folds and had wide eyes when he saw that it was his admissions form. But more than that he was astonished to see the stamp that was now marked in the blank square he needed to have filled in the first place. It was the official stamping that donned the Kanji of Nidaime Hokage over it along with it saying it was approved. He looked at the man with a bright and grateful smile.
"How did you get it signed mister? I thought the Hokage didn't have any appointments for two weeks. Did you have one earlier and get this signed for me?" he asked making Tobirama purse his lips in thought.
So the boy had a dream to be Hokage but was still so innocent and oblivious to the fact that the current reigning Hokage was sitting in front of him?
That was… amusing to say the least.
"Yes, you could say that." he said simply, and saw the blonde too happy to notice his slight hesitance in words. Naruto put his finger on the cub's nose and gave it a soft rub, only to make said cub scrunch it up in irritation.
"Meeewwww!" the cub mewled softly and Naruto kissed her head in an apology for disturbing her nap, getting yet another purr out of her. But he had to show her this.
"See Kiara this mister got it signed for me! Now I can go to the Academy too…" he whispered to her and Tobirama saw now the slight tear marks on his fare cheeks.
The child had been crying her no doubt.
"Meeewwww!" the cub mewled in a hurt like manner making him chuckle at the pouting blonde, who had bonked her softly when she tried to lick and bite his form instead of reading it like he wanted her to.
"You don't have to eat everything you glutton!" he scolded her half heartedly, before scooping her up and kissing her nose to make her lick his own softly.
Tobirama chuckled at the boy's antics making the boy turn a bit sheepish and stick his tongue out childishly.
The Stoic Senju wondered just how long it had been since he had had a laugh like this. He was now becoming socially inept, not that he normally wasn't but now he would be even more.
He sighed when he saw the confused looking Naruto and Kiara blinking at him innocently, wondering what he was thinking no doubt.
"So you want to be Hokage?" he asked to take their minds of his behavior and saw him look at him surprised before looking down at his form and then back at him with a small smile and nodded happily.
"Hai! I'll become the hokage one day." he said making Tobirama smirk ever so slightly. The boy had said 'want to become', it was 'will become' which left only the argument of when he would become one. "Hmm and why is that if I may ask?" he asked in a hint of curiosity, eyeing him calculatingly to discern his incoming answer.
"Because my Kaa-chan told me how awesome they were…" he said happily making his eyebrow shoot up in surprise. Now this was a new one he mused and urged him to go on, this he would like to hear. "… she said that he is the strongest shinobi in our lands, one who each one every other respects and our enemies fear. He looks after each and everyone regardless of who they are, maybe if I become one everyone will love me too…" he whispered the last part in a faraway voice making Tobirama's eyes soften ever so slightly.
"I see…" he said in affirmative. He knew of the child's scorn but he could implement that the child be treated fair in every possible way. For which there was his decree in place, but he could not make them accept him, that only came with time. He had even tried to adopt the child by himself but the clan laws he himself had placed once had stopped him.
Oh the irony, his own laws working against him now.
But there was nothing he could do. He did belong to the most royal family of the Uchiha clan with the most noble of their bloods.
And he was the relative of the most annoying but powerful Uchiha to ever exist. He was undowubtedly fated to become as strong as them,
There was no doubt in anyone's minds that he would one day inherit their pride and joy, their kekkei genkai in his eyes too. It was his birthright after all.
That was the very reason he had been rejected in the first place. The fear of their bloodline's purest form falling prey to an outsider, a Senju no less was a risk the Uchiha clan wasn't willing to take.
It had always pained his heart that he was the very reason why the child had been orphaned in the first place and how little he could do for the boy without making it look personal. The power of the Hokage came with several restraints.
Not showing favoritism to a single individual being one of them.
He had known his mother for quite some time. A nice woman, belonging to a small shinobi family without any fame and marrying into the most strongest families of the leaf. Even after her husband's death, she hadn't kept even an ounce of animosity or ill-will towards him personally.
And it was his good fortune too as he did not have will to animosity of a pure hearted woman.
Both sat in comfortable silence, with Tobirama's conflicted amber eyes gazing over at the waterfall in front of them with a glance holding a hint of solemnity in them.
"It's a nice dream…" he said, in barely above a whisper but loudly audible to the blonde child sitting by his side, clearly enjoying the calm serenity of nature all around him.
"Now I can go to the Academy and become a shinobi, then one day I'll be Hokage, the first Uchiha to be one, believe it… !" Tobirama watched the child in fascination. Never before had he seen a child belonging to the Uchiha clan proclaim the dream to lead their village and become acknowledged by everyone with such fire and passion.
They were raised up in an environment to always pride themselves in their old ways. Especially, their mightiest Sharingan.
But this boy was different.
Different from all those that came before him.
Different from Izuna.
Different from Madara.
Almost purely out of instinct, he raised his hand. His large hand covered the boy's small head gently. Naruto's curious and wide light sky blue eyes looked at Tobirama with all the innocent confusion in the world, the child was no doubt confused by his action.
"I believe you." he said simply. His voice holding no emotions in them like usual, the ever stoic voice of Tobirama Senju. He watched those azure eyes widen even more than they usually were and his features suddenly became hesitant and nervous.
Naruto hadn't expected him to say that. His voice was so firm, so confident. He couldn't even decipher an ounce of doubt in his words.
It made a warmth envelope his chest like never before. He truly sounded like he believed him. The first one ever aside from his mother to believe in him and not outright laugh or send a snide remark at him.
Tobirama ruffled his hair gently and looked straight, not seeing the boy glance at the man every now and then in a new found nervousness shining in his eyes.
Naruto couldn't understand the man. How could he believe in his dream just like that? He didn't even know him.
"Say…" his soft voice rang in the comfortable silence. Tobirama gave no signs of hearing him but Naruto could feel his complete and rapt attention on him.
The man by his side was so mysterious.
"How can you believe in my dream so easily? You don't even know me." he asked in childlike curiosity. Tobirama sat in silence for a few moments, as if pondering on the words of the child.
However he wasn't. He knew the answer to the child's question the instant it left his lips. No, he was instead pondering on the nature of his words.
They weren't put forth like a normal child his age would. His voice was innocent and childlike, but he knew for these were the moments in one's life. The questions' of man's childhood that forged the path he would no doubt endure for the rest of his life.
"I know you." he said stoically, chucking a pebble in the lake in front of him. The pebble bounced a number of times, the ripples echoing in the water as if rippling with the weight of the words he was considering at the moment.
"For I know everyone in this village." he continued in his emotionless voice. For some reason, Naruto could feel the happiness the man no doubt felt as he was uttering each and every word even though his face portrayed none.
"Every elderly, man, woman, child, family, place…" he continued on not noticing the blonde's curious eyes glued on his face from the side.
Tobirama turned his glance down on the lake's water, his own reflection staring back at him. A leaf fell over it, rippling apart the mirror image.
"For I am the stem that holds it's leaves, fruits and branches up, even in the mightiest of winds. For each and everyone in this village is a part of me, my responsibility." he said making Naruto's face turn to one of realization. Tobirama smirked ever so slightly at seeing the dawning face of the blonde and turned his glance to him.
Naruto could feel himself drawing into the man's powerful and intense eyes. They held such confidence, such fire in them. He couldn't help but feel respect for the man he had just met.
His mother always used to say that one glance in a person's eyes was all it took to assess his heart. And for the first time, today he found her words to be true.
He respected the man, but from this point on he looked up to him.
"For I am the Nidaime Hokage of Konohagakure no sato. The Shadow that protects this village from the fiery rays of the skies." he said stoically. His voice had such authority in it that it made Naruto's hair stand up for a moment.
Naruto looked down to the water and flailed his dipped feet gently in the water. He smiled, watching the fish inside tickle his toes softly getting a few giggles out of him.
Tobirama himself watched on in pure curiosity. The boy's calming presence was inviting fishes over to him, he glanced back to see a couple of deer grazing the grass softly. It was strange, they should no doubt scour off as soon as they see a human.
But as soon as one of the deer's eyes landed on him, it did the only thing it knew.
It turned tail and dashed away in fright, clearly not wanting to be anywhere near him.
Tobirama's eyebrow twitched in irritation.
Kami, he thought, I'm supposed to be respected, not feared.
His twitching eyes turned to the giggling blonde by his side forgeting the irritation he felt at the deer's actions.
His eyes softened momentarily, the boy's innocence was contagious. He was so naive yet content with all that he had.
But that didn't stop him from dreaming for more.
That was the drive that intrigued Tobirama to the boy. For, at that moment he wished himself that the boy would stay true to his words and one day come to him for his position.
For the time being though…
"Kyaaa!" the blonde yelped and fell down into the lake with a small splash. Tobirama retracted his hand from where the blonde once used to be and looked at the dripping boy glaring at him heatedly. He only showed one response to him though.
He merely raised an eyebrow.
It seemed to infuriate the blonde boy even more when he pointed an accusatory finger at him.
"You did it on purpose, didn't you?" he asked heatedly making Tobirama's eyebrow shoot up a bit more.
"I have no idea what you are talking about…" he lied smoothly. Years of being a political and militaristic leader had honed his deceptive skills to the utmost precision.
"But how will you become a Hokage, when you can't even save yourself from falling into a lake?" he asked stoically, though the underlying mirth of playfulness wasn't lost to the blonde haired Uchiha.
He fumed and almost had steam coming off of his ears. That stoic voice was getting on his nerves and he was lying too! It wasn't fair!
SPLASH…
"Ahahahaha….!" the blonde laughed and giggled, holding his sides when they started to hurt a little.
Tobirama's eye twitched in annoyance. He brought a hand up to his face and brought it down slowly. The dripping droplets collecting in his palms and falling down his dripping form harmlessly.
He merely glanced at the boy stoically, the blonde boy who had the nerve to splash water at him of all people!
The daring of this Uchiha.
It was truly amusing and utterly surprising to him.
He watched the boy double over in laughter and slap the water with his hand, mumbling incoherent jokes pointed at him and then laughing at him.
It would have been an adorable sight, had he not been the one who was currently dripping that is…
"You do realize that you just splashed water on a shinobi who is renowned throughout the elemental nations for his unparalleled mastery over the Water element?" his stoic voice rang throughout the clearing. The blonde's adorable giggles ceased and he watched on Tobirama's towering form a slithouse of Shingami appearing him for a moment, cowering a bit.
"And that too while you were standing in the middle of a lake full of water itself." he pointed out a brought the obvious. Naruto couldn't help but gulp and watched the surrounding water bodies a bit nervously. They looked quite scary now…
"Now now we can settle this peacefully like adults…" Naruto tried to negotiate with a sheepish chuckle and Tobirama's eye twitched dangerously at his stupid excuse.
"Well that will not be possible…" he reasoned in a sudden calmness that Naruto took as a queue to run.
"SINCE YOU'RE NOT AN ADULT! NOW GET BACK HERE YOU LITTLE UCHIHA!" he shouted and formed a couple of water whips in his palms. The blonde yelped jumped and ran throughout the clearing, trying to pry off those dangerous looking whips with skillful and last moment dodges.
Tobirama took this time of playful banter to realize how honed his agile instincts really were as he tried to press on slowly a little by little to see and gauge the limits of the blonde that had peeked his interest a bit.
Author's Notes:
Hello, readers! Another chapter has dropped!
Now, to address a few of the questions you've asked:
Naruto will eventually gain the Six Eyes abilities, but that'll come much later in the story. As mentioned before, he'll be trained in sealing arts by Mito Uzumaki. I'm also considering changes to the team dynamics, though that idea is still on the back burner for now.
To kokichi2002: Yes, I will continue the story, and to inorder to catch up with the original, I'll be releasing two chapters per day.
To thor94: I know Naruto not being Minato and Kushina's son makes him an OC to some readers. Honestly, to me, no matter the version, he's still Naruto. But hey, why not think of Naruto's blonde mother in this fic as a female Minato? (Cue my nervous laughter) 😅
Hope you enjoy this chapter!