What If Naruto Tries To Summon Without A Contract || Part-1 ||

hey guys how are you all welcome back to my Channel today we will see what if Naruto tries to summon without a contract if you enjoy then please like share and do comments konaha was a village based on order originally founded amidst the chaos of the Waring Clans era it was conceived as a refuge from the constant uncertainty that plagued the ninja of that time it was created in stages at first nothing more than an area commonly occupied by the senju and Uchiha Clans then a fortified town that Drew more Clans from the surrounding area and finally a bustling village with both Shinobi and civilian aspects as Shinobi from multiple Clans came together the need for a formalized ranking system to measure their relative skills was realized it was relatively simple jennin at the bottom then chunin the Jan then cage at the top from the ranks of chunin and Jan the ano chose the most promising forming their Elite core for the good of the village it could be said therefore that an U Janan was the best of the best a shobi honed into the most refined weapon possible currently two of these refined weapons were being outwitted by a 5-year-old it's been almost 3 months cat complained it was raining again and she liked being wet no more than her namesake 3 months of searching konaha from top to bottom how do he even know he's still out here enu simply Shrugged and replied you heard the Hokage he was still here when Kumo tried to kidnap the hay UGA Aris if he'd hung around that long there's no reason to suspect that he's moved on these forests provide him with food water and shelter if that cubby hole we found is anything to go by they found the little hide awake two weeks into their search by sheer chance when enu had noticed a series of marks in the bark of the tree from Naruto's chains why leave when you have everything you need cat huffed at him that's another thing that damn cubby was almost 50 ft up in the air we can't search the entire Forest up and down every tree hell the entire Anu couldn't do that in 30 years it wasn't that enu couldn't understand her frustration he too wished that they could just find the boy and get back to more important things a small part of him however was impressed at how thoroughly the boy had managed to evade two trained ano if he was this good at stealth now how would he be with some decent training it was a scary thought well we know he's not here so that's a start and we don't have to search every Tre from top to bottom just look for the marks on the lowest branches like last time we'll find him eventually he motioned and they moved towards the next search grid 15 down 200 more to go high in the trees above them Naruto smiled to himself it was irritating on some level to have to hide from two active seekers in what he considered his home but the constant evasion was keeping his mind occupied and his senses sharp at first he'd stayed as far away from the two as possible keeping to the high higher parts of the Treetops to avoid being seen as days turned to weeks and eventually months Naruto turned it into a sort of game he would follow them around getting closer and closer seeing how close he could get before they noticed him a few times it had seemed like they'd sensed his presence but so far he' managed to reel himself back and avoid Discovery through either skill or luck his true lucky break however had been overhearing a conversation between the two about how they found his previous home he'd never thought about the marks his chains caused nor how they could be used to track him down ever since that day he religiously avoided using the lower branches as anchor points and kept to the canopy as much as possible he know that fast though he was he'd never be able to outrun train Shinobi if they found his Trail so he was careful not to leave marks where they could be seen from the ground it meant a little more effort to extend his chains higher but the practice was good for him and the safety was worth it while his game of hide and seek was an entertaining Pastime Naruto had begun to spend less and less time in the deeper parts of the forest instead choosing to spend the majority of his free time observing the practice fields used by konah has Shinobi what had started out as a way to pass the time had quickly morphed into an obsession after he had stumbled across a ninja practicing fire Jutsu watching a seemingly ordinary human breathe fire or sink into the Earth like a mole was endlessly fascinating to watch even if Naruto had no idea how it was done while he had not as of yet figured out how the hand movements were connected to the jutsu's final results he could watch them practice with their weapons and Tai Jutsu stances and try to mimic them over the last few months he'd switched targets several times but only his latest had held his interest consistently for longer than a week or two he'd originally found the training ground by accident as he traveled farther than normal in his search for edible berries and nuts in the forest the rapid thunk sound of Kai hitting wood had drawn him forward and finally ended at a training field nearly a mile away from any other there he'd seen something that had staggered him had led to him returning every day for nearly 3 weeks now the person training at the field was a boy no older than 12 with dark hair and Stark features the boy had been standing so still that Naruto almost hadn't realized he was there until he exploded into Motion in a series of movements Naruto was unable to follow the boy threw canai the first was deflected by the ones throw after and the path of the blade seemed to curve entirely around a tree when the boy finally allowed the kai to sink into the tree it was in the dead center of a Target that Naruto had failed to notice Naruto had at this point seen many amazing things lightning being called to people's hands water forming into giant dragons even techniques that turned the Earth itself against an enemy but none of the people he'd seen perform those techniques had shown the same level of commitment of absolute concentration Nar saw here the only thing that came close was the time narut had watched a fox hunting in the woods there was the same level of dedication where the only thing that mattered was the going in front of you this boy seemed to put that level of dedication into everything he did and Naruto was drawn towards it like a moth to Flame so for the last 3 weeks Naruto had watched him and tried to imitate what he did not realizing that his young mind had latched on to the boy as a role model someone that he who had nobody could model himself after it took Naruto less than 15 minutes to get to the training ground from where he'd been watching cat and enu and though it was still hours before midday he could see that the boy had already been training for some time as he settled down on a medium highight Branch he watched the boy attempt something new as he watched the boy's form seemed to waver slightly growing indistinct and distorted this continued for several seconds until the boy's body dissolved into a number of crows that scattered around the clearing for a moment Naruto was shocked frantically looking around and wondering if the boy was all right he let out a small breath of relief as the boy reappeared in the clearing not far from where he disappeared in a flock of crows now panting slightly after a moment he straightened wiping sweat from above his forehead protector and took a stance Naruto leaned forward slightly excited to see what he would do next the boy made the same flicking motion with his hand Naruto had come to recognize over the last 3 weeks and Kai blurred away from him unfortunately for Nar it was only as the canai slammed into the tree bark an inch to the right of his head that he noticed the boy was no longer standing in the field he froze and was about to bul when he felt something cold and sharp against his neck I have some questions for you came an emotionless voice from behind him and I think it's in your best interest to answer them truthfully iiha Itachi was never the most able person a pacifist by Nature he had been pressured by his family to live up to his status as the heir to a ninja family for his entire life and had withdrawn from others when it became obvious that they did not share his aversion to violence the uch were the best his family maintained and therefore above Petty things like worrying about the damage you caused your opponent or how your actions would influence others lives after all if they weren't uiha why did they matter except they did toachi and this made any interaction with his family complicated training had been an escape for him his Rising skill used as a deterrent so that he didn't have to participate in the violence he so abhor despite his fearsome reputation he hadn't had to kill anyone on a mission in almost two years preferring to Simply avoid Bloodshed if possible and attack to incapacitate if forced inside the uch compound his reputation managed to keep him from being challenged but had furthered his isolation until there was really only twoa who looked at him as a person and not a weapon combined this with his naturally quiet demeanor and Itachi became the kind of living ghost that most people avoided a silent Warrior that made people uncomfortable just by existing in their vicinity Itachi true to his nature had chosen a training ground far away from the normal bustle of the village where he could keep to himself and hone his skills away from the fearful eyes of the villagers his training grounds had served him well as his recent appointment to the and buuk cor could attest and he constantly pushed himself out here he could forget all the disagreements with the clan the a filled gazes of the villagers and simply concentrate on the joy of honing a skill to Perfection on overcoming a challenge and becoming stronger for the achievement so it had confused him greatly when starting a week and a half ago he no longer felt the normal Serenity that made his isolated training ground so important to his State of Mind confused he pushed himself harder and harder hoping it was simply a passing feeling but it had persisted through everything making him uneasy in what had been a sanctuary finally he had forced himself to look at the problem from another angle as far as he knew there had been no change in him and if he hadn't changed then his surroundings had since his main reason for being all the way out in the woods was Solitude it followed that an intruder would cause his uneasiness aachi's plan to catch the Intruder was simple wait until he began to feel uncomfortable in the training field then use an area wide Jen Jutsu and see if anyone reacted to it as he cast the technique he heard a slight sound of surprise coming from one of the trees that surrounded the training ground a quick look with his sharing activated had allowed him to make out the chakra network of a hidden figure not reacting to the presence he taken his stance and flung several Kai out in a deflection pattern as soon as the Last Blade left his hand he'd quickly shun shind behind the figure reflexively pointing at Kai at the rotted he was surprised at how small the figure was from behind but ninja were rarely what they seemed and more dangerous things had come in smaller packages I have some questions for you he intoned emotionlessly and I think it's in your best interest to answer them truthfully and that was when everything went to hell Itachi was a master of the Sharingan and one of the most skilled ninja in konaha Chakra allowed ninja to do many amazing things and he becomes somewhat jaded to the bizarre but seeing several thick pointed chains burst from the small figure in front of him without any hand signs or visible chakra molding nearly shook him the fact that those chains were nearly invisible to the Sharingan even a fully matured one like his pushed him over the threshold he was too well trained to be caught flat-footed even shocked as he was but it was surprisingly difficult to dodge the initial explosion of chains as each chain exploded outwards in a straight line numerous small side chains burst from the links and even intervals the combination of the surprising nature of the attack and the nearly invisible state of the chains forced Itachi to move back reflexively dodging the projectiles and stare in shock at the figure that had been spying on him for the last several weeks his first thought was that it was an inuzuka he had the feral demeanor of one of the ninkin users and his ragged appearance suggested an animalistic approach to hygiene but closer inspection showed major differences while the inuzuka could rarely be bother with niceties like repairing a worn patch on a jacket or pants the clothes the boy was wearing were clearly past the worn stage and into complete destruction his pants barely came below the knees and he seemed to be wearing a short vest that was all that remained of an orange jacket he was barefoot and his feet had a leathery texture to them easily gripping the rough tree bark without discomfort but it was the face that held Itachi's attention long reddish blonde hair fell just above his shoulders framing a face almost identical to one Itachi had not seen in nearly 6 years the color is wrong but he looks just like the yandi the thought was so unexpected that Itachi nearly lost his grip on the branch he was standing on Staring at the figure as if seeing a ghost the yandi had visited the academy several times during Ada dai's tenure there sometimes teaching and sometimes observing others teach Kakashi and kha being the two he showed up with most often seeing the boy shift his weight in preparation to flee Itachi made a quick judgment call Tai Jutsu was Ill advised with those chains curving around him like the heads of a Hydra and Ninjutsu would most likely cause more damage than he wanted his decision was inevitable he caught the boy's eyes again startlingly blue eyes meeting red and a quick hand sign initiated the illusion technique Itachi watched as the boy's eyes dilated then closed the boy no longer holding himself to the branch fell downwards but Itachi caught him easy IL and brought him safely to the forest floor Itachi looked at the boy his face unreadable he'd rarely been presented with such a mystery why had the boy been spying on him what were the chains he'd seen and why didn't they register correctly to the Sharingan why did he feel as if he'd seen them somewhere before and most importantly why was someone who looked eerily like the most beloved leader in konah his history wandering around in the forest alone looking more like a cave dwelling Savage than a human being nothing was adding up and Itachi was beginning to suspect that the only one who could answer those questions was the boy currently unconscious on the ground next to him as he looked up at the sky Itachi sighed quietly why is it that the more I try to live a quiet life the more fate seems to enjoy playing with me no answer was forthcoming from the floating clouds and Itachi looked at the boy once more sighing again he sat down next to the boy to wait for him to wake up today was supposed to clear up the questions not multiply them Naruto came awake all at once used to going from sleep to fully awake quickly from his time living in the forest you couldn't catch food or chase off foxes sniffing around your home if you had to spend 10 minutes rubbing the sleep from your eyes and it was a lesson he'd learned quickly his only problem was he couldn't remember going to sleep and this was definitely not his nice cubby hole in the tree he only had to wonder for a second before his memory kicked back in including his last memory of swirling eyes he whipped quickly to His Feet Two Chains reflexively extending from his lower back and looked around quickly the same boy he'd been watching for so long was seated no more than three or four yards away staring at him Naruto kept himself in a defensive Crouch but made sure to keep his eyes away from the boy's eyes remembering how easily he'd been captured before he waited for some sign that the boy would attack as he had before but none came he simply watched narut not moving and waited Itachi had been surprised at how quickly the boy had gone from completely asleep to fully alert but now he was faced with a canundrum the boy was extremely wary of him and unless he wanted to continually knock him the boy out those Chains would make things difficult if he wanted to get answers to any of his questions he had to find a way of gaining the boy's trust at least a little and that would be difficult with someone as wary as he obviously was he had just decided the best way was to try and talk to the boy and see if he was able to get some information when he heard the boy's stomach growl loudly at first Itachi didn't recognize the sound but the boy in front of him shrank lower into a Crouch and a slight blush colored his face Itachi almost laughed out loud and a small smile did manage to make its way onto his face he reached back to get a ration bar out of one of the pouches on his waist but stopped as the chains pointed toward him began to wave back and forth like snakes interestingly without is sharing in active he could see them perfectly well another mystery to add to the list he thought moving extremely slowly so as to not startle his Quarry even more Itachi pulled a ration bar out his pack and showed it to the boy he wasn't sure that the boy recognized it but he wasn't running or attacking which Itachi took as a good sign keeping his expression neutral he lightly tossed the bar at the boy blindingly quick one of the chains speared the bar some 4 feet away from his body holding it there the boy looked at it suspiciously and a third chain snaked from behind his back to poke the bar with surprising dexterity he sliced the wrapper from the bar and examined it closely it's food Itachi said the boy jumped slightly and Itachi was worried he would bolt for a second Itachi slowly brought another ration bar from the same pouch and unwrapped it then took a bite the boy watched him chew and swallow then gingerly brought his captured bar up to mimik Itachi he chewed slowly but seemed calmer now Itachi took another bite and watched as the boy began to Devour the bar he doesn't look too malnourished but nobody would let their child wander around in the forests out here much less in clothes like that he's obviously been on his own for a while Itachi mused as they ate in silence he was surprised that someone so young could survive on their own for so long but decided the chains would be of big advantage in the forest as they both finished their ration bar Itachi was glad to see that instead of a defensive Crouch the boy looked more Curious now he decided that he'd probably built up a bit of Goodwill with the gift of food and spoke what is your name Itachi asked the boy seemed confused for a second and then croaked out Naruto his voice was scratchy and hesitant as if he hadn't spoken in a long time it further validated Itachi's theory that he'd been alone for a long time I'm Itachi he introduced himself he watched as Naruto tried to pronounce his name several times finally seeming to grow comfortable with it were you the one watching me for the last few weeks Naruto Itachi watched as Naruto's face Drew in on itself and his eyes began to whip back and forth as if looking for a path to run I'm not mad Naruto just curious Itachi said narut nodded timidly still looking uncomfortable why Itachi asked genuinely curious if he was trying so hard to remain unseen why spend times spying on a Shinobi the one type of person most likely to notice narut reached around his back and pulled two worn canai from his back pocket Itachi went on high alert although he was outwardly unchanged Naruto turned toward a tree still keeping Itachi in his field of vision and threw the canai one after the other the second canai hit the first and threw it off course causing it to hit a tree handle first he was trying to learn the deflection technique Itachi thought shocked the technique was difficult even for him and widely regarded as impossible for anyone without a Sharingan then he managed a rudimentary deflection at his age even if it hadn't worked correctly was amazing he noticed the scowl on Naruto's face and watched as he pulled out two more canai and repeated the throw this time the deflected canai landed Point first although it only penetrated a small way into the bark iachi stood shocked he had never thought that someone without the Sharingan would be able to manage the calculations required for a deflection much less from Simply observing someone else do the technique he watched as narut used one of his chains to retrieve the Fallen Kai and tucked them back into his pocket looking more satisfied now that he' gotten at least some success with the canai where did you learn to throw canai like that did your family teach you Itachi asked curious now he immediately regretted his question when he saw Naruto draw in on himself again he cursed at himself silently if he was related to the yandi an orphan his family was probably dead it was the most likely explanation for why a boy with an obvious bloodline was alone in the woods especially in a village like konaha that practically worshiped those with a K Jen uncharacteristically ashamed of himself he tried awkwardly to apologize I'm sorry I shouldn't have asked I know many people who've lost their family it's very difficult it was even true death was common in the Ninja World and almost every active konaha Shinobi had lost family in the line of duty he was surprised when narut looked at him sharply I have a family he exclaimed Itachi watched wearily as one of the two chains hovering around Naruto began scratching at the ground see narut said my family Itachi moved slowly and narut backed away slightly as he came closer Itachi looked down to see two crude drawings in the dirt of a man and a woman standing side by side the man was labed manado and the woman kashina with a small picture to the side of a boy with chains coming out of him labeled Naruto Itachi reeled back slightly as the pieces clicked into place he remembered where he'd seen those chains before one of his last lectures at the Academy before the caubi attack had been on K Jen and their use in the Ninja World it had included basic introductions on all of kona his main Bloodlines but part of the lesson had been taught by kosha Uzumaki and focused on all always being wary of unknown Bloodlines she'd emphasized the point by manifesting several chains that had quickly bound another instructor before fading he'd only seen them for a second and never with the Sharingan active but he was sure of it and if he had inherited her bloodline and his father's name was manado with his appearance Itachi could feel a large headache building the most powerful ninja konaha had produced since Hashi senju had had a son with one of the most skilled Janan in the village and inherited her bloodline and nobody knew not only that but he lived in the woods like a Savage again I'm sorry narut I didn't mean to imply that you had no family he said slowly this would require delicate handling Naruto how long have you in your family been in the forest Itachi asked if he could get some sort of timeline he could begin to figure out what had led to this narut frowned don't know he said shrugging I was four it was a long time ago if what Naruto was saying was true he'd been in the woods for around 2 years on his own that he'd survived at all much less remained unseen was an amazing feat now came the important question Naruto had seemed open enough to Itachi after he'd fed him but Itachi knew this was treading into sensitive territory if any subject would scare him off this would be it but it was too important to ignore why did you go into the forest Nar why not stay in konaha as Itachi had feared Nar began to pull inward his knees came up to his chest and the chains wrapped around him until he seemed cocooned Itachi was about to say something to try and break him out of his fug when he heard Naruto answer they tried to kill me it was almost a whisper but the sheer amount of Despair in his voice reminded Itachi of the first time he'd had to kill in combat it was the kind of Soul deep pain that stayed with you buried but always there he tried to kill me but my chains killed him instead so I went to the woods I'm free there Itachi caught the phrasing and immediately began to piece together a possible scenario he killed someone in self-defense with his K Jen and was so scared of what the village would do that he abandoned it entirely Itachi had seen the kind of snap judgments the civilians could make if a bloodline user was seen killing civilians it would be bad but why would a civilan tried to kill a 4-year-old he needed more information and a look at the Village records but he wasn't sure what to do with Naruto he wasn't truly comfortable with sending him back into the woods by himself even though he'd been surviving quite well out there but until he figured out why someone with his lineage was attacked and by whom it wasn't safe for him to come into the village finally Itachi decided that leaving narut to live on his own as he had been was the lesser of two evils and less likely to get him hurt he turned to Naruto moving to within a meter or so of the boy he was wary of coming closer due to the chains and was relieved when he saw Naruto looked up if he tried to kill you first then it was self-defense Itachi began you are allowed to protect yourself Naruto even if the person attacking you doesn't have a bloodline in a fight for your life feris would ever lets you win he saw Naruto muddle over the words in his mind I need to go take care of some things will you come back here in say 3 days I can bring you some food maybe some new clothes Naruto looked down at the tattered remains of his clothes and Shrugged he liked having someone to talk to even if he thought she did ask some uncomfortable things it was still better than the silence and that Itachi had had the chance to capture him and didn't made Naruto's trust in him rise greatly he nodded to Itachi and then extended one of his chains to catch a branch in one of the trees surrounding the clearing Itachi watched Nar move through the trees using his chains and remembered Naruto's attempt at the deflection technique he lives in a three-dimensional environment he must be able to calculate those angles because they're the same ones he uses to move through the trees with his chains remarkable Itachi thought as he ran towards the village he had a whole slew of things to research and it was already afternoon if he wanted to have some answers by the time he met with Naruto again he was going to have to work quickly Hinata had been waiting outside her mother's room for several hours now sitting with her Uncle as her sister struggled to be born she had gotten more and more anxious as as time went on and her mother remained in labor and a sense of for boing had settled over her thoughts as she rung her hands over and over is it supposed to take this long she finally asked her uncle she knew it was something her father would have considered inappropriate not keeping with the traditional hyuga stoicism but she was past caring it's different for each baby hasashi said a reassuring smile on his face when Nei was born my wife was in labor for almost 9 hours while you were only a 4-Hour lab have faith in your mother she's stronger than you know hanata knew her mother was strong but they had been outside for so long without even the slightest word her mother had gone into the room around noon and it was well into the darkest part of the night now finally her fidgeting seemed to get to hasashi who stood up and turned to her tell you what I'll go see if there's been any change and maybe see about you getting a chance to see your mother okay hanata nodded gratefully anything to break up the endless waiting hasashi opened the door to her mother's room and slipped inside silently hanata waited nervously for any word still worried despite her uncle's assurances suddenly the door to the room burst open and a shape dashed out hanata could barely make out the form of her uncle before he accelerated away and she heard raised voices through the open door their frantic tones causing Hinata's Panic to rise she was nearly frantic when not 5 minutes later hasashi rushed back into the room with a man in a doctor's white coat the door slammed shut behind them and hanata stared at it in shock she didn't know how long she'd been staring in a days for when the door opened but the sight beyond the doorway shocked her her normally reserved father had her uncle in a tight hug and hanada could hear his repeated thanks from out in the hallway hasashi managed to extract himself from his brother's Embrace and walked over to hanata what happened she asked hasashi gave her a tight smile there were some complications that we almost didn't catch in time but your mother and sister are fine would you like to come see them hanata nodded eagerly she followed her uncle into the room passing by her father he looked more exhausted than she'd ever seen him before his eyes dropping as he swayed on his feet he smiled slightly at her as she walked past the first time in nearly two years she could remember him doing so she turned to the bed to look at her new sister and was struck at how tired her mother looked she was paler than normal and her hair hung limply around her head accentuating the deep bags under her pupiless eyes despite her obvious exhaustion she had a radiant smile on her face and she held out a hand to hanata who grasped it tightly in her other arm she held a small sleeping bundle topped by a light smattering of dark hair this is your sister hanata hannaby meet your big sister Hinata looked at the sleeping bundle in her mother's arms and smiled her family had just grown by one and everything was all right hello hannaby she whispered to her sleeping sister Itachi had spent the last 10 hours in the restricted section of the konaha library and with each report he read through he felt his anger rise he' started out with the records of murders from around 18 months ago and he Tracked Down the man he thought had tried to kill Naruto relatively quickly what had surprised him was that the man had been not only an active duty Shinobi but a chunin disregarding the fact that the man had attacked a four-year-old boy the fact that he'd been killed was a testament to Naruto's will to survive in the lethal power of his chains aachi's curiosity had been sparked by the seemingly senseless attack and he began to comb back through the records to see if he could find any precedent for the man's aggression towards Naruto when he couldn't find any incident reports he decided to look in a more oblique fashion he begun to search the hospital records to try and track down any previous attacks on Naruto by the chunin the the glut of information on Naruto sickened him if he was reading the dates right Naruto had been to the hospital no less than 70 times in his first four years his files indicated everything from poisoning to stab wounds and many of them had apparently happened when Naruto was in his first or second year that the perpetrators had apparently never been recorded spoke of a vast indifference to Naruto's plight wheni could scarcely comprehend why would anyone treat the yandi son like this more how could they treat a toddler like this regardless of whose son he was Itachi sat in his room that night working over the information in his mind and came to one conclusion Naruto was not safe in konaha at least not as he was his chains were a large Advantage but he was woefully inexperienced in using them against another human being and would probably be outmaneuvered by the average chunin if what Itachi suspected was true narut would be facing a lot more than one chunin if he returned to konaha Itachi looked at the wall his room shared with his brothers and his resolve hardened if Naruto wasn't safe in konaha as he was now he would have to make him strong enough to survive Naruto had no one else and he toui wasn't sure how high the conspiracy against him went some of those injuries would have been enough to have the perpetrator executed and they would have taken time to inflict that they'd happened repeatedly without catching any of the perpetrators suggested the cover up went High possibly to the top no he couldn't trust anyone but himself with this when Itachi fell asleep that night he was already calculating how to best improve Naruto's chances of survival and thus preserve the last living link to one of the greatest heroes konaha had ever known Naruto's second cubby was remarkably similar to his first constructed in a high tree from a hollowed out point that he deepened with his chains it remained his Sanctuary the one place he felt safe and was where he kept his greatest treasures his family was also there and as such he felt an indefinable pull towards it whenever he felt troubled or insecure his conversation with Itachi had dredged up memories he'd long buried and as he sat in the dark he spoke quietly to the carvings he thought of his family trying to clear his mind from the dark memories it took him several hours to get it all cleared out but finally he decided that the talk with Itachi had done more good than bad Itachi's Vindication of his actions went a long way towards his peace of mind and when he finally dropped off to sleep he had even managed to convince himself that what he' done had been at least a little bit the other man's fault he slept free of the nightmares that normally came when his buried trauma surfaced snug in his tiny Sanctuary Itachi waited in the same clearing he' met Naro in 3 days ago a large backpack in hand it was almost noon and he was somewhat worried that narut wouldn't show up the boy had been willing enough to talk to him before but he was also extremely skittish right now and it was possible that he would avoid Itachi because of the uncomfortable questions Itachi asked him it was something Itachi could do nothing about so he planned for the best and avoided dwelling too much on the alternative he might have been able to catch Naruto if he could find him but even in inuka would have trouble tracking someone with Naruto's familiarity with the forest if he wanted to hide Itachi would have an extremely tough time tracking him down it was with a profound sense of relief that Itachi watched Naruto drop from a tree into the the clearing chains retracting behind him he approached Itachi but maintained a 2m gap between them Itachi held up the bag in his hand I brought you some Basics clothing food nothing fancy he tossed the bag to Naruto who caught it with his chains still doesn't trust me enough catch something from me with his hands or is it simply more convenient to use the chains HEI wondered he watched Naruto pull out a set of sas's old clothes and looked down at his own attire with a shrug he pulled off his old top and replaced it with a black T-shirt his pants followed quickly replaced with the black shorts once Naruto had changed he looked through the bag's remaining contents and pulled out a canai looking at it curiously he turned to Itachi looking at him questioningly a gift Itachi said I have an offer for you I'd like to train you Naruto frowned heach could almost see the thoughts in his head as he looked for the hidden catch in the offer paranoia was something that most Shinobi were not only familiar with but considered a good habit no catch Naruto I want you to be able to defend yourself if you want to spend your life out here that is your choice but I would be doing both konaha and you a disservice if I allowed those who would do you harm to make the choice for you Itachi said he was intensely loyal to the Village as a whole even though he was disgusted with what so many of them had apparently done to Naruto if he could help the village gain a valuable asset and give Naruto the tools he needed to make some choices about his own life he felt it was his duty as a loyal konah Shinobi to try you won't make me go back narut asked after a minute Itachi could see his indecision and quickly replied no it is your choice whether or not you want to live in konaha or stay out here Itachi said and then added I would never take your freedom from you he'd had too many of his own choices curtailed to do the same to Naruto unless he absolutely had to Naruto tilted his head as he heard the last statement he obviously recognized Itachi's parting of his own statement from last time and Itachi hoped it would help his case Naruto finally nodded will you teach me to do the red eyes he asked Itachi chuckled slightly at that shaking his head the red eyes are the Sharingan and you have to be born with them it's like your chains something only my family can do Naruto frowned at that looking at his chains only I can do this he said skeptically Itachi nodded even if I trained for my entire life I wouldn't be able to make them they a part of you like your arms and legs some people are born with blonde hair or black you were born with the ability to make those chains just as I was born with the Sharingan narut nodded at that it made sense after all some people were taller than others or had different colored skin why not something like chains seeing him nod Itachi pulled out a set of weights out of his own bag and threw them to narut Nar looked at them then back to Itachi what do I do with these he asked Itachi looked at him impassively you want to protect your freedom narut nodded then put them on it will not be easy but if you let me I can make sure nobody forces you into anything you don't want them to ever again Naruto stood up a little taller at that he liked his home in the forest and he was used to it but he never wanted to be trapped into something again he remembered how weak he'd felt when he fought the kidnapper and the terror he'd felt when his chains had first appeared he reached forward for the weights and missed Itachi smile two months later narut was never sure if he admired or hated Itachi he could never pinpoint exactly what made him feel that Itachi took a perverse pleasure in running him into the ground but he was completely convinced that it was true despite that he also had to admit that he felt better than he ever had in his short life at first the weights had been tortured they were apparently the lowest in an increasingly heavy series but to someone Naruto's size they made up a considerable fraction his body weight it had been a struggle to even move in them at first compounded by Itachi having him rely solely on his Limbs and not his chains he claimed it was to build up Naruto's physical strength but narut had grown so reliant on his chains for extra Mobility that it felt as if someone had told him to run with only one leg it had slowly gotten better but every time Naruto seemed to get get used to one set of Weights Itachi would add more sometimes narut had nightmares about a room with endlessly larger weights presided over by Itachi on a throne made of those weights that Naruto had already mastered in his nightmares he wasn't allowed to leave until he could do 100 push-ups with the entire Throne on his back in between the basic training with weights Itachi would teach Naruto about the basics of Jutsu at first Naruto had been excited to learn about that visions of breathing fire are controlling the Earth dancing in his head Itachi had quickly disabused him of that notion however saying that until he could learn to draw chakra stably such things were impossible for him it had taken narut nearly a month to get the proper ratio of physical and spiritual energy down and he'd been excited for all of 30 seconds before Itachi decided to test him Itachi had immediately pronounced his control as the worst I've ever seen and sat him down with a leaf in his hands Itachi had him pushed chakra from his hand until the leaf was pushed off his hand and told Naruto that he would move no further in Jutsu training until he could keep the leaf afloat above his hand constantly for at least 5 minutes in the last month the leaves Naruto used had burned shredded flown off to embed in trees like tiny razors and once inexplicably actually exploded but he'd only managed to keep them afloat for 3 minutes it was slow frustrating work but he was making progress Itachi pushed him harder than he'd ever worked in his entire life but Naruto couldn't help but admit that he was starting to see why Itachi trained him the way it did it worked the one place where Naruto could say he was truly excelling was his Kai and shuriken work he practiced for months on his own before meeting Itachi using prolin equipment but having someone show him the proper way to throw an equipment in top condition instead of warped or rusting castoffs made a huge difference he still couldn't do more than one deflection accurately but he could at least get in the same general area with a double deflection something that HEI always seemed amazed at his progress at shuriken and Kai offset his grueling work elsewhere and kept him enthusiastic despite Itachi's refusal to teach him more advanced Jutsu until he completed the leaf floating exercise today was the second day in a row he'd been training by himself as Itachi had a mission outside the village without Itachi there it seemed wrong to use the training grounds so Naruto was leaping from tree branch to tree branch with his weights on to practice stopping every once in a while to grab a leaf and practice his chakra exercises as he approached the westernmost point of his territory he stopped there was a group of three people near the clearing where he' fought the kidnapper walking slowly with a large picnic basket in hand nearly 50 ft up in the large tree he stopped grabbing hold of a branch and wrapping his chains around him like a cloak as was his habit when in the trees he knew most of the Ninja who patrolled the areas around his is home by sight after all this time but the group was dressed in kimonos and seemed out for nothing other than a picnic just as he was about to leave Naruto caught sight of the shortest person in the group and recognized her it was hanata narut turned back his curiosity taking over now he had seen her several times as he watched over different parts of konaha over the last five months but it was the first time he'd seen her come outside the walls of her clan compound he settled down to watch as the group set up for a picnic and picked up a leaf to practice his exercises after all if he didn't get up to 5 minutes he thought she wouldn't train him in anything cooler as hanata walked through the forest with her mother and Uncle towards the spot where she'd been rescued from her kidnapper she wondered again if Naruto was anywhere around here the last time she'd seen him he had leapt off into the forest on those strange chains of his and she couldn't help but wonder if he was all right when her mother had suggested a walk outside the compound Hinata in a rare moment of initiative had suggested a picnic in the forest her mother had initially been wary of going outside the village walls but her uncle had offered to come along and the area was still well patrolled she'd seemed surprised when hanata had suggested the location for the picnic but chocked it up to an attempt to overcome the bad memories of the place with good experiences what she didn't know was that hanata barely Associated the area with her kidnapper at all the compound was where she'd been taken from but the clearing was where she'd been rescued where someone had answered her frantic prayers for salvation she wanted to come back but only because it was the last place she'd seen Naruto they set up their picnic in the clearing and hanata and her mother talked about inconsequential things while hannaby gurgled happily from her mother's arms hasashi stayed standing initially but after a few minutes acquiesced to Hinata's mother and sat at the edge of the picnic blanket nibbling on a sandwich as he kept watch it was a pleasant Excursion But as time went by hanata began to feel a bit ashamed she'd come out here chased someone who probably hadn't thought of her at all since that time besides thinking of how much trouble she'd been to rescue and now she'd forced her family to come all the way out here for nothing she tried to hit her thoughts but her mother seemed to pick up on the little CU she was giving off something wrong hanata she asked hanata blushed and shook her head I it's nothing mother she mumbled her mother just smiled gently and looked at the the spot where they'd come upon the Kumo Ambassador pierced by an unknown as salant you know the memories we try most to get away from are often the ones that follow us the most doggedly she said looking back to hanata it's only when we turn and force them into the light that we see their true nature and can put them away for good hanata shook her head slightly she didn't want to put that memory away for good it was one of the only times she could remember someone besides her mother acting like she mattered outside of being a clan heir someone had risked themselves to save her life not even knowing who she was it was a reminder that there was a world of people outside the clan people who might not see her as hopelessly weak her mother caught the blush creeping up her neck and her thoughts did a quick 180 as she remembered the other part of the story or maybe you're not running away from a memory but chasing one she asked slightly hasashi looked at her sideways an amused smile on his lips he'd always liked homi but one of her bad habits was her pensent and Obsession really for romantic stories apparently even her own daughter wasn't entirely safe from her Quirk Hinata's blush crawled up until her entire face was big red and her mother laughed who knows maybe he's watching over you right now Hinata ducked her head in embarrassment as hannaby giggled in response to her mother's laugh homi finally took pity on her daughter you'll see him again if the spirits are kind dear heart she said to anata she put a hand under her daughter's chin and pulled her face up until she could look Hinata in the eyes after all I have to thank him for saving one of my two precious Treasures don't I hanata nodded shilly they packed up their meal and filed out of the clearing as she passed back into the forest hanata looked back across the clearing to where she'd last seen narut leap away she would later swear that she saw a pair of blue eyes high up in the trees watching as they walked away Itachi walked into the hokage's office completed Mission scroll in hand as he handed it to the old man the Hokage made a motion with his hand and sent the amboo stationed in the room away it took only a second for the room to clear and sunchi and the Hokage were the only two left in the room the Hokage activated the Security Seals built into the room and the pressure on Itachi's ears signified the room was sealed to sound your other Mission the hok asked Itachi nodded they've been tentatively ingesting an alliance with several of the clans in sunna and at least one in Kiri that I could find out about Itachi pulled another scroll from a hidden pocket in his vest and passed it over I wasn't able to find out if they had actually managed to secure an alliance with anyone except for the Kiri Clan but they've made inroads with all the listed groups the hokagay side looking every one of his 61 years they're really going through with this aren't they the question was rhetorical and Itachi didn't answer the hokagay turned to him do you know when they plan to carry out the attack Itachi nodded it will be sometime in the next 15 months the equipment that is being stockpiled won't be ready for at least 12 months so that is the low end of the time scale I planned for 13 months any more time than that is Simply Good Fortune Itachi said the hok nodded tiredly 13 months to avert the largest catastrophe this Village has faced since the caoi attack sometimes I hate this job Itachi could only agree silently the Hokage was a thankless position requiring enormous amounts of effort and sacrifice only to see everything you built come constantly under attack sometimes even from the very people you built it for the sacrifices demanded by the position were enormous and Itachi respected the man in front of him immensely for taking up the Hat not only once but twice the hok looked up at him you may go keep me informed Itachi inclined his head in a shallow bow and exited the office as he headed back to the uch district he pondered the problem in front of him he had 13 months to change the course of his entire Clan or betray The Village he loved in order to follow his family in treason sometimes he envied Naruto and his simple life in the forest Freedom thought Itachi is not always about doing what you want when you want sometimes it's about choosing the set of shackles you can live with wearing later sometimes it's just the ability to live with what you've been forced to do do his sleep that night was restless and he could almost feel the time limit hanging over his head 13 months to make a decision but how could he make a decision when both options led to an option he wasn't sure he could live with for Itachi the last few months had been both some of the best times of his life and the worst he still hadn't been able to figure out an acceptable answer to his biggest problem deciding between his clan and his loyalty to konaha but in training Naruto he found a simple purpose it was something he could devote himself wholly to something that required no subterfuge or agonizingly sleepless nights for which Itachi was constantly grateful even more Naruto was genuinely fun for Itachi to teach unlike his brother who seemed to focus on being a carbon copy of Itachi in the hopes of beating him at his own game Naruto was constantly surprising the stoic ucha he still smiled fondly every time he thought of some of Naruto's more outlandish attempts as the ninja Arts such as his copy of Itachi's own Crow clone technique Itachi had been working with Naruto for just over 3 months and they had finally gotten around to working on the basic three jutsus Naruto had shown some aptitude for the substitution technique and the transformation technique but his clone was well abysmal Itachi had noticed early on that Naruto's chakra reserves were far larger than was normal for someone his age and while Naruto's control had improved drastically under his tutelage the basic clone used so little chakra that it was like trying to get a tiny drop of water from a raging fire hose Itachi had broached the subject of using a different clone technique one that Naruto would have less trouble with because of its higher chakra cost and Naruto had taken to it immediately however when narut had asked Itachi about his Crow clone Itachi had explained that only a holder of the crow Summoning contract could perform the technique Naruto's response the next day had left him temporarily speechless they had been working on clone techniques again and Naruto had picked up the shadow clone with a speed that surprised Itachi even after his previous quick process he seemed to instinctively understand the Jutsu and his large chakra reserves made it an effective combat modifier for the small boy Itachi had broken out in a cold sweat as he thought about facing a dozen Narutos all wielding those transparent chains but was broken from his revery by a familiar sight as he saw Naruto break apart in a flock of crows Itachi instinctively activated his Sharingan assuming it was an illusion but narut was nowhere to be seen Itachi immediately made a quick series of hand signs and slammed his palm onto the ground summoning a large Crow with a scroll attached to its feet he grabbed the scroll and opened it but was greeted only by his own name on the Summoning contract he stared dumbly at the signature mind feverishly spinning in circles as he tried to figure out how narut had managed to summon crows without a cont ract when narut walked out from behind a tree with a large smile on his face at Itachi's Gob smacked expression Naruto had laughed and proceeded to summon a shadow clone the Clone made the hand sign for a basic transformation and Itachi stared at the Clone as it pulled apart in a flock of crows now that he was paying attention he noticed the crows disperse into smoke as soon as they spread out their distance from one another causing too much strain on the transformation for the Clone to survive but it was an effect Ive Bluff nonetheless it was rare for anyone to use any sort of substitution with a clone so anyone seeing the ruse would assume Naruto had managed to disappear in the same way Itachi himself had such out of the box thinking was as Itachi had learned simply the way Naruto's mind worked he had been on his own for so long that he never built up the same assumptions and preconceptions that most of konah has shenobi had either from the academy or their family training so he simply didn't know when something couldn't be done Itachi himself had adapted some of Naruto's more practical ideas like using clones as substitution targets or substituting with stationary objects as a sort of bastardized shunin and he had garnered interest amongst several of his Anu colleagues with his unorthodox methods even his best friend shisui had been shocked at the idea of using a substitution for movement instead of just dodging and was working on a way to incorporate it into his shunin heavy fighting style narut had opened up to him much more over the last few months and he thought learned that behind that suspicious exterior something of the original four-year-old that had gone into the woods had survived to influence his personality as time went on he exhibited more exuberant behavior when happy and was almost frighteningly single-minded when he had a goal in front of him to the point that he Tau she had had more than one talk with him about the importance of resting in order to keep himself healthy he would if given the chance train himself into the ground with a determination that would have made Mike guy proud the one area that Itachi had been more or less unable to help Naruto with was his chains he could see with his Sharingan that they were incredibly dense chakra constructs wrapped in a chakra shell that caused them to emit almost no waste energy but that was the most he'd figure out so far they remained difficult to perceive with the Sharingan due to this lack of chakra emission but more disturbingly their independent movement and lack of physical tells meant that he couldn't predict their movements the more time he spent with nuto the more convinced he became that those Chains would be an incredibly effective tool in the future unfortunately Itachi had slipped up in a conversation about Naruto's bloodline and mentioned that he' a woman with the same ability someone Naruto had correctly deduced was his mother he begged Itachi for any information about his parents something so out of character for the normally closed off boy that he'd felt a pit open up in his stomach he could almost see an overlay of his brother in Naruto and the thought of such desperation over something so intrinsic as simply knowing basic things about your family Itachi had told Naruto what little he knew of his parents not that it was much considering his age when they died to Naruto however it was like water in the desert and he'd soaked up every word with wrapped attention if anything Naruto's dedication to his training had redoubled at hearing that both his parents were Shinobi of konaha it was as if training in the Ninja Arts was a tangible connection to his parents in his mind and his progress had likewise increased now almost 6 months into his training with Naro Itachi had decided that narut had enough basic skills that he could train without hurting himself too badly and began to teach him one of the most important lessons for any ninja when to use those skills and why Naruto Itachi began looking at the boy where he was seated in front of him when you think of a Shinobi what comes to mind do you see a hero like your father a silent killer like the man who drove you into the woods he stared at narut expectantly this was important and he needed to be sure that he imprinted the responsibility that came with the skills that he was training Nar in he had decided to give Nar the means to make his own choices but he had seen more than one Shinobi turned in on themselves when they came across this question without help too many people couldn't separate the person from the job Naruto looked down for a moment deep in thought Itachi waited patiently for his answer and Naruto had sensed that this was something his teacher felt was very important so he tried not to answer flippantly finally he looked at Itachi I think of someone with freedom he said Itachi blinked confused someone with freedom in what way he asked Naruto took a deep breath a Shinobi has power but that isn't who they are a Shinobi is someone that can protect or destroy Naruto's expression was an open book to Itachi and he could almost see the specters of the yandi and the faceless man who tried to kill him over Naruto shoulders Naruto shook himself slightly and continued that power it means you can choose your path I mean my parents died protecting the village when the caubi attacked they left me alone and I'll never know what they were like who they were as people but they saved everyone so I guess they used their freedom to choose to protect the people of the village even if it meant leaving me alone I might not like it but it was their choice because that's what freedom is the ability to do what you think is right even if it means the people closest to you suffer for it because sometimes there are more important things Itachi sat shocked Naro was only 6 and a half but this sounded like something he'd muled over for a long time Itachi looked at narut worried about lingering resentment from what he'd heard but could only see acceptance on Naruto's face he's been thinking about this for a long time it must have been something that he had to come with terms with when he learned about his parents that they died in the caubi attack and it's become the core of how he looks at them they had a choice and he accepts that he trains as hard as he does so that he can understand their choice and maybe one day see if he could have found a better path Itachi mused and then looked Naruto in the eye you're right that's as good an explanation as any a Shinobi has to choose their path choose whether to protect themselves or others sometimes that choice isn't easy but the ones that truly matter are never the easiest choices if you find the thing you want to protect amongst all others then you found your true path never forget that and no matter which path you choose you'll be able to stand proud as a Shinobi narut nodded thoughtfully Itachi sat alone on top of the Hokage Monument that night looking over the village he saw the light coming from hundreds of Windows the lives he was sworn to protect sitting comfortably under his egis that's what freedom is the ability to do what you think is right even if it means the people closest to you suffer for it he closed his eyes as he remembered nark words is it really that simple he wondered once again narut had pulled everything out of the normal patterns HEI lived in and now he couldn't help but look at his options differently on the one hand if he sided with the village then his clan would be destroyed their name tarnished the thought was almost physically painful for Itachi but if he sided with his clan he would be betraying every oath he'd ever sworn and at best would plunge The Village into a bloody Civil War his options were both terrible but he could see only one that would allow him to hold his head high in the village only one that would allow him to keep on the path he followed for so long he pulled himself to his feet and ran quickly across the rooftops toward the hokages tower where he could still see a light burning in the candle it was late but the hokage's work was never done and they had a coup to prevent Naruto sat on a branch high above the walls of konaha and looked at the village that had caused him so much pain his talk with Itachi 3 weeks ago had given him many sleepless nights and he driven himself to exhaustion training to try and quiet his mind if you find the thing you want to protect amongst all others then you found your true path never forget that and no matter which path you choose you'll be able to stand proud narut had gone over the words a thousand times and still had no answer what did he want to protect he wasn't sure he wanted to protect the village that had hated him chased him into the woods but that same Village had produced hanata and Itachi so they couldn't all be bad right he knew that at the very least he wanted to be able to protect those two and to live up to the sacrifices parents had made after all they had sacrificed themselves to protect the people here so he should at least try and give them another chance these thoughts had flown around his head night after night and he'd taken to watching different parts of the village to pass the sleepless hours his favorites were the Uchiha and hyuga Clan compounds they were on opposite sides of the range of forest he lived in but when he watched them he sometimes got glimpses of his important people and that made the Trek worth it what confused him was the difference in how people treated the two of them from what Itachi had said hanata was supposed to be the next head of the hyuga clan but the people in the compound in particular one older man seemed to treat her badly much of the time narut would almost have said the man hated her but sometimes he would see the same man escorting her around like the time they'd had a picnic in the forest it was almost like they were two separate people by contrast every time he spotted Itachi and the compound people treated him like royalty always bowing or acting respectfully around him it was a mystery but he didn't want to admit to Itachi that he spied on them nor that he was having trouble sleeping so he couldn't figure it out for now the thing you want to protect he thought to himself then Shrugged he'd figure it out eventually here is and serut Toby stood in the the bowels of one of the Subterranean U bases hidden around konaha with two of his most trusted ninja and put the finishing touches on the most abhorent act he'd ever considered you're sure you can do this by yourselves he said to the tuha in front of him Itachi had been in on the planed since its conception nearly two years ago but shisui had only been a part for the last 6 months if it hadn't been for Itachi vouching for him and the truth seal he submitted to questioning under heisen would never have risked bringing in the boy we can do it with shisui's maneko and my own skills we'll be able to catch them by surprise by the time they know something is wrong the most dangerous elements will already be neutralized Itachi nodded at danzo who nodded sharply and stepped forward we'll have loyal Anu agents ready in the surrounding area in case any of them try to escape H Isen had never liked donzo's willingness to engage in questionable means to accomplish a goal but he would never deny the man was thorough then all that's left is to wait one month from now the uch clan will only have two members left here is in said a bitter taste in his mouth surely this wasn't what his Sensei had in mind when they brought the Uchiha and sju together to live in one Village the other three nodded and began to disperse here Isen barely noticed Itachi following until a hand touched his shoulder Itachi what can I do for you he asked trying to shake himself from the dark thoughts I have a favor h ha Sama he said his tone respectful he looked apprehensive a break from his normal passive stoicism I know what we're doing is necessary again here is and felt bile in the back of his throat but my brother my brother knows nothing of the plans for a coup he is innocent I ask nothing for myself just that my brother be allowed to live Itachi stared at heisen his black eyes pleading here isn't thought for a second but it was a foregone conclusion he could condone the death of an entire clan for the good of the village but part of that was the abstract concept involved with the ucha name being eradicated to outright refus to allow an innocent child to survive if it was in his power now that he'd been made aware of sas's ignorance you're sure he knows nothing of the coup here isn't asked and Itachi nodded then I'll allow it let me tell danzo tomorrow but you may spare him Itachi had a visible look of relief on his face the thought of killing his family was AG izing that much was plain to see but hin could only be glad he could spare this honorable young ninja the pain of killing his only sibling as Itachi walked away from him hiris and took a long drag on his pip the things we do for the village I just hope I can sleep again after this I have too many nightmares as it is Naruto stood in the clearing he used to train with Itachi pacing nervously Itachi was late something that had never happened in all the time Naruto had known him he was considering running over to the trees overlooking the uch compound and trying to spot him from there when he spotted Itachi coming in from the other side of the clearing he opened his mouth to call out a greeting but closed it when he saw the look on Itachi's face what's wrong he asked as Itachi stopped in front of him he was dressed in full ambo gear mask hanging off the side of his head Itachi blinked seeming to collect himself and then his normal expressionless mask slipped back in place I'm going on a mission Naro a long one Naruto frowned Itachi had gone on long missions before once for over 3 weeks but something in his expression or tone told narut this was different for how long when are you coming back narut asked a hint of panic in his voice Itachi was the one of the very few constant things in his life he was the person who'd given Naruto a small window into his parents and was Naruto's gateway to the rest of the world if he disappeared I don't know a long time maybe years narut felt numb at the words he looked at Itachi trying furiously to keep tears from forming in his eyes Itachi took a scroll from behind his back these are some chakra exercises to help you with your control and a Jutsu of my own creation it will be useful for you especially with your Shadow clone Mastery narut nodded taking the scroll you're leaving right now Itachi shook his head tonight but there is another task I had to do in the village I won't be able to see you again before I go narut nodded and then turned back to Itachi stay here he said Itachi tilted his head slightly looking at Nar curiously as he ran back into the forest it was nearly 20 minutes before Naruto came back holding something in his hands he came to a stop in front of Itachi who studiously ignored the tears at the corners of his eyes here he said extending his hand Itachi took the object he was presented and looked down at it it was a smooth piece of wood carved by something sharp he recognized Naruto's handiwork in the crude drawing only a little better now than when he first met the boy it was a carving of Naruto his two iconic chains over his shoulders standing next to a carving of a boy with short hair holding a canai in each hand ready to throw they were labeled with Naruto and Itachi's names so you don't have to be alone on your mission if my family can keep me company then I can keep you company narut smiled at him Itachi looked at the carving then silently and carefully put it away in one of the inside pouches of his amboo vest thank you Naruto he said his voice low he put his hand on Naruto's shoulder squeezing lightly and then turned he pulled his animal mask over his face the cat-like features covering his features Naruto watched him walk to the edge of the clearing then dissolve into a flock of crows Naruto pulled out the scroll a smile on his face and began to train after all just because he thought she was gone didn't mean he couldn't better himself when Itachi returned to the Village Naruto would show him just how strong he'd become Itachi couldn't pinpoint one exact reason why the Knight had gone to hell not because the decline was subtle but because there was too many first he' found shisui with only one eye just in time for his best friend to rip out his other eye and entrust the valuable mang geko to Itachi for safekeeping while Itachi had stood shocked at his friend's actions shisui had thrown himself into the river and Itachi had been unable to find him he tried to complete the eradication of the ucha by himself growing sickened at each murder only to come upon his parents seated calmly in their room far from vilifying him for his action his father had told him how much he respected Itachi for following his convictions to the end worse his mother had simply told him how proud she was of the man he'd become and how much she loved him all she'd asked was that he look after sake it had torn Itachi's heart from his chest to kill his parents after hearing that but they had made their choice just as he had the last nail in the coffin had been coming across his brother drenched in his parents blood the look of confusion on sas's Face the terrified screams as he used suomi to direct all of sas's hatred on him it was all spinning in Itachi's head as he carried out his mission as he headed to the rendevu point to report in he'd had to stop next to a stream to empty his stomach unable to handle the nausea caused by his actions his new man geko saw too much and he couldn't forget any of it not one little detail it had taken him almost 10 minutes to pull himself together enough to fake his normal facade enough to report in it's done danzo asked from the Shadows Itachi nodded his mask hiding the poar of his face then you know the next part of your mission danzo said you'll take care of sausage okay Itachi asked it was the only thing keeping him going at this point your brother will be treated as royalty the last of the respected Uchiha Clan he will never know of your Clan's betrayal danzo hesitated you're sure you don't want to remain in konaha Anu are faceless after all a simple change of mask and we could give you a new identity danzo was not overly emotional but the loss of such an asset as Itachi was unfortunate and he would avoid it if possible regardless itach shook his head I can do more on the other Mission I am uniquely suited for that assignment danzo nodded slightly then I wish you good luck your first check-in is in one month in the capital of rice country Itachi nodded and danzo slipped back into the Shadows Itachi ran up the wall next to him and leapt off into the forest he had only gone about 3/4 of a mile when he sensed a familiar presence shadowing him he pulling into a clearing and stopped you can come out Naruto I know you're there he called out quietly he knew how acute nut's hearing was there was no reason to shout he watched the boy step out of the trees his now light red hair the only thing differentiating him from the Shadows around him in a detached part of his mind Itachi was proud to see how well narut was applying his stealth training Nar stared at Itachi silently for several minutes his eyes boring into the holes in Itachi's Ambu mask finally he spoke one word why he asked surprisingly there was no condemnation in his tone Itachi knew that Naruto had somehow discovered his actions that night but how could he not hate Itachi after what he'd done after all even Itachi hated himself over his mission tonight I had to prove myself Itachi said falling back on the same story he told SAS I had to know the limits of my power so I used them to test myself they were nothing more than the meter I used to measure my growth Naruto's expression didn't change at all as Itachi spoke Itachi waited for him to say something to yell at him for betraying the very principles he's instilled in Naruto over the last year his answer shocked Itachi and sent him scrambling then why were you sick after doing it one simple sentence and Itachi's narrative was destroyed he cursed Naruto's pension for sneaking and his night vision how could I not have noticed him watching me he wondered and then answered his own question he was so messed up from killing his family that even a civilian could probably have snuck up on him for someone like narut who'd spent years avoiding Forest patrols it had been Child's Play his mind was racing to come up with another reason one that would keep narut off the truth and be believable Naruto continued to stare at him and then repeated his words from the long ago conversation in the training grounds sometimes we have to do what's right even if it hurts the ones closest to us Itachi looked at him in Surprise narut just Shrugged I I don't know why you did what you did but I have faith in you Itachi Sensei he spoke Itachi rocked back on his heels the simple words had a profound effect he'd worried about what Naruto would think of him after today and to find out he didn't vilify him was cleansing Itachi was struck by the sudden urge to explain himself to have someone anyone know the truth outside of the hokagay and danzo he couldn't bring himself to tell Naro the whole truth but he could at least let him know that he hadn't betrayed Naruto that the things he taught him were still worthwhile sometimes we have to follow orders that we hate in order to protect what we love Itachi spoke quietly and saw Naruto nod though his eyes narrowed Itachi watched as he looked back at the Village remembering the times iachi had told him about his reasons for serving The Village about his philosophy about the duty of a Shinobi Itachi saw the connections forming and a look of resolution came over his face you're not coming back are you he asked Itachi shook his head no I'll be branded a missing ninja after this narut frowned that's not right iachi cut him off it's what I chose My Sacrifice is a small one in the grand scheme of things if this keeps the village safe then I'll gladly pay it Naruto looked at him then I'll protect it for you he said stubbornly Itachi's eyes widened if narut really meant that the possibilities began to run through his head he didn't want to force Nar into something out of a misplaced sense of obligation to Itachi but Nar was strong now strong enough to protect himself from any civilians and most of the lower ranked ninja at least he would be safer in konaha especially with the hunter nin that would be combing the country for him another thought struck him and he smiled inwardly if he was going to send his surrogate little brother into the lion's den so to speak there was one more set of claws he could give him if you truly mean that then you'll need to see the hokagay after you wake up he said tell him nothing of speaking to me though Naruto this is a secret you cannot speak to anyone of under pain of death My Sacrifice would be in vain otherwise Naruto nodded slowly not truly understanding but trusting that iTouch he knew what he was talking about then stopped wait what do you mean wake up Naruto said confused Itachi simply looked at him the three commas of his activated Sharingan spinning as Naruto f fell to the ground unconscious he reached into the vest of his ano vest and pulled out an object the last gift I can give you Naruto use it wisely deep inside Naruto's subconscious trapped behind great iron bars and a Seal insignia the caoi growled as his container was put under a Jen Jutsu by the Sharingan those eyes are an Abomination he grumbled quietly to himself he couldn't help but feel a bit of camaraderie with his host over the situation however he been under the sharing influence and knew exactly how powerful it could be that didn't mean he wouldn't make fun of his container for falling to that trick again the next time they met however he couldn't see anything through the seal but he could sense the shakras around him and notied The Itachi coming closer there was a familiar sense as he activated a Jutsu and the caubi looked up at the top of his cage as if he could see through it oh what's this he said softly curiosity and surprise present in his voice a second later he he felt a second chakra signature too small to be another person interact with the Jutsu Itachi was using you sneaky son of a now things are getting interesting he chuckled at that I can't wait to see how this plays out I haven't been part of anything that interesting since well since the last time I fought hashirama the caoi mused to himself it was rather boring being trapped inside the stomach of a seven-year-old but now he had something to look forward to don't die too soon kit he mumbled to himself this is just getting fun he laughed long and hard at that as narut slumbered unaware of his tenants Amusement when Naruto woke he had a pounding headache and a curse on his lips for red-eyed idiots and Jan jutsus in general he pulled his aching body slowly to his feet and stumbled over to a nearby stream a long drink and several splashes of cold water later he felt more awake judging by the position of the sun it was still early morning no more than two or 3 hours since Sunrise he thought back to his meeting with Itachi and the cryptic remarks he made he said he was following orders narut thought and if he can't tell me about it then maybe whoever ordered it can but I can't ask if what Itachi Sensei said was right he concluded with a nod if he was ever going to find out what had happened to kitachi to Massacre his family like that he was going to have to find a way to get into the hokage's records or someone else suitably highly placed Naruto's head throbbed at the thought of how long a plan like that would take might as well just become the hokagay at that point he grumbled to himself either way he had his directions from Itachi and they seemed like a good idea anyways he was a little wary of going back to the Village but no longer feared the civilians after all if what Itachi had said was true he was stronger than most of the jenon in the village so a civilian shouldn't be any danger it took him nearly an hour to reach his destination and he was relieved to see his targets out in the open it would be much more difficult to get close to them if they were inside or under guard and he didn't really trust anyone else to help him he climbed the wall around the compound with ease his chains acting as anchors while his feet gried the slippery wall with a thin coating of chakra at the top he anchored one chain into the wall and wrapped the other around him like a cloak Itachi had told him that the chain confused his Sharingan and would probably be difficult to detect for anyone who relied on chakra to he'd also given Nar a crash course on the other bloodline users in konaha so Nar knew he'd need every Advantage he could get to remain unseen thankfully either due to his own efforts or the commotion around the massacre at the ucha estate he managed to make it into the gardens he'd been aiming for without anyone raising the alarm he allowed his anchor line to dissipate at the top retracting the rest inside himself and took a deep breath to gather his courage this would be the first time in more than 3 years that he had any real contact with someone other than Itachi before his courage could flly he stepped resolutely out of the bushes in front of his targets they both looked at him in Surprise the older woman falling back into a defensive stance um hi Naruto said awkwardly not sure what to do about the woman apparently ready to beat him senseless could you take me to the hok by any chance here is and looked at the report on his desk with a scowl on his face 134 people dead because fugaku couldn't be content with what he had he thought rarely had heris and seen so much waste for so little reason this whole operation had left a bad taste in his mouth even before shisui had disappeared now instead of there being three loyal uchal left there was only one seven-year-old boy he sighed what a mess he looked up at a knock on his door and his secretary poked her head in his two Anu guards enu and cat had been pulled off the search for Naruto to help with Manpower as they cleaned up the massacre and they tensed minutely as the door opened before relaxing as they recognized the woman hokagay Sama here is in motion for her to continue I have the hyuga matriarch here to see you she says it's important here is in told her to let them in frowning the lady hyuga had called on him before and he was curious about what could be so important on today of all days the door opened again and three people filed into the room the first two hear is and recognized is homi hyuga and her daughter hanata who was hiding slightly behind her mother as he saw the third figure however his face went slack as his pipe hit the desk enu did a double take you he shouted making the hyuga girl Flinch a small smile pulled the boy's mouth upwards and hen had the distinct impression he enjoyed inu's reaction before turning back to hen hello hok Sama he said here is and simply stared for a moment his headache inreased in as he thought of the oncoming paperwork he smiled Riley hello Naruto here Isen stared at the boy in front of him his mind still caught in a days it seemed that they did in fact have one more Sucker Punch to throw at him the Fallout from aachi's Massacre would bury him in paperwork and meetings for a month but the recovery of the caubi Jen Chui would send a balance of power in the council already precarious with the loss of the uch clan into complete disarray as they fought over who would be put in charge of Naruto's training not to mention preventing him from fleeing again he could already hear the screeching of the civilian Council in his head and he could swear the headache already pressing on his temples was a conditioned response by now you know of all the ways I could have imagined his meeting again Naruto this has to be the least likely of them all he said a rise smiled tugging the corners of his mouth up nearly three years those two have been looking for you he motioned with his hand to enu and noik the former of which looked as if he wanted to grab Naruto and Shake him until he understood just how frustrating the last two years had been and you just walk into my office the day after one of the worst incidents in our Village's history forgive an old man his curiosity but why now heisen had always been a good judge of people Decades of holding the highest office in the village and dealing with the political minations of the council had left him able to decipher most people's General motivations at a glance he'd known Naruto for most of his life before his disappearance and before today would have bet most people nearly anything that he could tell nut's State of Mind At a Glance after all he'd never been the most subtle of children now however all heis in could tell of Naruto's State of Mind was that he was guarded and his body language was subtly telling him that narut considered everyone in the room except for possible homi and hanata as threats more than surprise heisen felt a wave of sadness pass over him what happened to him over the last 3 years Naro where did the happy child go heisen wondered to himself he knew Nar had participated in at least two fairly horrendous situations at least one of which he felt somewhat responsible for but he had hoped that something of Naruto's happy go lucky against all Comer's attitude had survived Naruto looked at him his gaze unwavering and he is and saw something there purpose maybe or resolve whatever had driven Naruto from hiding it was important to him I made a promise to someone to help protect the village hokages Sama the uch are gone and that means that the village will need help and I want to do what I can the forest is my home will always be my home but if I stay out there I would be going back on my word and betraying the only person who has ever shown complete faith in me I I can't do that for a second here is and saw the same four-year-old he'd known before the one who would do anything in his limited power to keep a promise even at such a young age his relief at seeing something anything of the old Naruto rushed through him almost negating the pain he felt at the knowledge that Naruto felt he'd lost faith in him at some point here Asen looked at the two people that had accompanied Naruto acknowledging their presence for the first time and what of you and your daughter lady hyuga how is it that you came to be a scorting young Naruto today he almost wiced as he saw hanata curl further behind her mother hii really needs to tone it down and this rid she'll have a nervous breakdown before she's 15 a fake Clan Heir going off the reservation is bad enough we don't need a real one he thought critically but he knew he had little say in Clan matters hiashi's Pride was pushing him down this path and much as here is in wish he could do something to change it the law was firmly on the hyuga clan head side glancing down at her daughter briefly homy squeezed Han's hand reassuringly once then turned back to the Hokage Naruto approached my daughter her and I this morning in our garden and requested an escort to see you hok Sama homi said easily her smile said there was something more to the story and here Isen quickly caught the desperate element an unknown child dressed in worn clothing was allowed into the inner Gardens of the hyuga compound at he glanced at the clock on his wall and did some quick math 8:15 in the morning roughly he asked skeptically hony's smile just widened a fraction of an inch and here is a noticed a small amount of red in Naruto's cheeks narut correctly assumed that in light of the debt the hyuga clan owes him he would be permitted in the clan Estates that he chose to forgo all of the normal pleasantries normally associated with entry into the inner Gardens was simply a reflection of how important he felt meeting with you in a timely manner was here Isen felt his eyes widen as he worked out the implications of her response obviously narut had not been approved to enter the inner Gardens which meant he'd snuck in and if he'd managed to avoid the guards of a clan with a dojutsu that allowed them to see 360° that much stealth potential at such a young age was rare enough to Merit interest all on its own how he asked her before she could answer two transparent chains burst from Naruto wrapping around his body until only the pointed tips were free poised over his shoulders their manifestation had been so fast that hin had barely registered their presence before the the boy was covered from thigh to neck in solidified chakra he noticed that the two U had moved to defensive positions but subtly motioned for them to stand down when he saw that Naruto was making no moves beyond the initial manifestation amazing here Isen murmured he stepped toward Naruto to get a closer look at the chains and noticed the tips following him as he did so I haven't seen anything like this since his voice trailed off but he never expected what he heard next since my mother I assume Naruto's voice was even but hin caught the undertone of anger as he spoke Naruto's eyes caught his own and held them the Betrayal burning in them left no doubt that he had discovered hiren's deception regarding his parents hen's hand came down almost reflexively activating the security and privacy seals built into the walls of the office before anyone could say anything how long here is an asked ignoring the confused looks on the faces of the two hyuga the night I killed akihiro Naruto's voice didn't change at all when he answered but hen winced inwardly as he remembered the night more he saw had tomy's face whipped toward Naruto and he could read he expression well enough to know she was putting the pieces about the chunin death together here is inside again this day just kept getting worse and worse he took a deep breath and turned to Naruto what would you have me do he asked wearily Naruto only took a breath seeming to steady himself before he spoke nothing hokagay Sama I'm not back because of my parents harping on their memory at this point would be dishonorable and they suffered enough betrayals hen was unable to keep himself from flinching as he heard the blunt statement but couldn't find it in himself to argue I'm here to fulfill a promise to protect the village to the best of my abilities all I ask is that you help me do that Naruto finished here is in sat for a minute pulling on his pipe as he thought reintroducing Naruto to the Village would be difficult to say the least even if he disregarded the standard power plays that had always surrounded him deflecting the accusations of the council over akih Hero's death or the attack on the Kumo Ambassador would be problematic technically the Hokage was the supreme authority in konaha but the council could make his life extremely difficult if they chose when he finally turned to Naruto he knew that his answer would not make the boy happy as much as I would love to help you Naruto you have to realize there are certain issues that some on the council would have with you rejoining the village it's highly likely they would try to prevent you from becoming a normal Shinobi narut nodded as he heard that only the slight tightening at the corners of his eyes giving away his irritation because of this right narut said placing his hand over his stomach here is in gasped in shock as he heard narut casually referred to the caoi sealed inside him and as a consequence pulled in a lung full of smoke coughing heavily to try and expel some of the smoke from his lungs he looked at Naruto in shock how cough do how did you his question tapered off as Naruto shook his head his face harder than any child's had a right to be here Isen nodded slightly willing to wait for an explanation at a later time finally expelling the last of the smoke he looked at Naruto's stomach briefly before returning to his face yes that is the main reason they will try to hold you in reserve as a Resort are deterent and frankly you're too well known around the village if we tried to pass you off as someone else they would find out right away here is in said his face drawn he hated the thought of condemning the boy to a life like that hated for his burden but unable to escape it because of the potential power he was about to suggest that Naruto possibly try for another path maybe T and I when youu Kaden I'm sorry hok Sama but that might not strictly be true he said slowly here Isen looked at him sharply along with every other person in the room then motioned for him to continue you're looking at this from the perspective of someone who has known Naruto for most of his life spent a large amount of time checking up on a covert search for him for someone who wasn't familiar with him do the boy looks nothing like he did before heisen frowned and looked at Naruto critically before shaking his head his hair may be different and his face thinner but there's no way anyone will mistake the marks on his face face or his eyes he'd never make it past the first class at the Academy before someone outed him to his surprise enu chuckled and shook his head with all due respect Hokage Sama those are small problems the marks on his face can be covered up with Cosmetics or a mask he pulled up his dog mask slightly to show The Mask covering the lower part of his face and as for his eyes a pair of sunglasses will hide those well enough the hok snorted and what where the glasses 24/7 that would draw too much attention it' be obvious he's trying to hide he said sarcastically enu only Shrugged have you even seen an abame without their glasses I've been guarding you at Council meetings for years and I still don't know shibi aam's eye color make his true identity an S-Class secret and lock it in the Hokage vaults and unless he tells someone they'll never connect him with a runaway in 2 or 3 years he'll have grown up enough that even without a disguise he'll be unre recognizable from his four-year-old self and it won't matter by then heisen frowned as enu finished then slowly nodded he become so accustomed to the backstabbing politics of the council over the years that he sometimes forgot what tools he had at his disposal as Hokage yes that might just work he looked sharply at Hitomi you understand that everything being discussed here is now sealed under my edict yes homi nodded a serious look on her face the hokage's edict was absolute and she knew that if he suspected she divulged Naruto's identity it was possible she could be arrested at best or simply vanished at worst heisen stared at her for a second before nodding and turning to Naruto is that acceptable Naruto it would mean hiding who you are from everyone around you but it would also prevent the counsel from making your life unnecessarily difficult at least for the immediate future narut nodded without hesitation before answering as long as I can participate as an active part of konah his forces I don't care if a little deception is what I need to keep some fools from holding me back I'll do it here is and nodded Naruto's true birth certificate and records were already sealed in the hokage's vault so it would only take a notation linking Naruto's new identity to those files and the same secrecy measures would apply to both if we're going to protect your identity you'll need a new name it would do no good to hide your appearance if we don't change that any preferences here is an asked Naruto thought for a moment then answered Kodama I can shorten Naruto to Ruto and Kodama is fitting as a last name here Isen could only nod naming himself after a forest spirit I guess it is fitting when you look at his life for the past few years he certainly managed to imitate one well enough to avoid us for that long he made the notation to create the false identity then passed it off to no by the end of the day konah his records would show one Ruto Kodama had been a citizen of konaha for 7even years and only access to the hokage's archive could tell any differently he stood and offered his hand to Naruto then let me be the first to welcome you to konaha Ruto Kodama May the will of fire burn strongly in you narut hesitated then shook the profer hand thank you hokagay Sama he said quietly when Naruto walked away from the hokage's office he was moderately Confidant that even Itachi would have had a hard time recognizing him enu had gone above and beyond his initial suggestions providing not only a foundation that completely erased Naruto's whisker marks when applied but also contacts that changed the color of his eyes from Blue to a light green and a pair of sunglasses similar to those used by the abam clan a long sleeved black and red jacket filled out the Ensemble and Ruto Kodama was complete being back in the village was something of a culture shock for Naruto not only due to his long stay in the forest but also the change in the villagers attitudes towards him now that he wasn't the demon brat shopkeepers called friendly greetings and more than one vendor offered him small samples of their Wares Proprietors that had physically ejected him from their establishments 3 years ago now smiled at him as he passed it shook him to the coure to think of how easy it was to changer their attitudes a jacket and a pair of sunglasses apply a little makeup and Bam instant acceptance Naruto knew deep down that it was an illusion but he also remembered what he T he had said the best illusions are no different from the truth he repeated to himself he took a deep breath and let it go explosively there was no use thinking of how they used to treat Naruto Uzumaki because from now on there was no Naruto Uzumaki he was rudo Kodama and forgetting that for even an instant could be disastrous his walk ended at a large apartment building just off of the main commercial District konaha was roughly divided into three main sections residential commercial and ninja the clan compounds were mostly around the ninja sector with the exception of a few Clans like the Nara whose Clan compound was in the woods off of the commercial District the hok had assigned him an apartment that was at the border between the ninja and Commercial districts citing ease of access to both and the building was obviously quietly prosperous he walked up to the second floor and found his room number the key turning easily in the lock he knew that enu lived somewhere in this building from what the Hokage had said but beyond that he had no idea who any of his neighbors were the apartment was furnished in a modern but aesthetic style only two chairs at the single table and a small couch the only other seating in the kitchen and living room there was a full bathroom the size of which surprised him and the bedroom was easily half a dozen times the size of his cubby still he was unused to so much space in the close proximity of other humans if I hadn't promised Itachi he thought as he pictured sleeping so close to other humans he missed the forest more with every passing minute but he would never go back on his oath to Itachi sighing he fell back on the bed and sunk in slightly well at least there's something good about this place he murmured as the soft mattress caused his Lids to close slowly maybe Yan maybe I could get used to this his words trailed off and snoring filled the apartment he never noticed the door open as a head topped by a shock of white hair peered in then pulled back and closed the door life in konaha was something Naruto found to be simultaneously endlessly frustrating and endlessly fascinating compared to his life in the forest everything was incredibly fast-paced Naruto had almost missed more than one appointment simply because he was unfamiliar with any time increment besides sunset sunrise noon or midnight adjusting to a life measured in seconds and minutes instead of hours and days was frustrating and Naruto soon began to feel as if every second was something he was losing slipping through his fingers despite his every attempt to slow them down despite his new awareness time there were several things that he enjoyed in konaha honi made a point to visit with him at least once every week or two and she brought hanata with her for Naruto Hinata's presence was a godsend while he liked homi she had a very strong personality constantly trying to tweak or improve things in Naruto's apartment or suggest new places to visit and activities to try while Naruto enjoyed new experiences honi seemed to want to experience a little of everything at the exclusion of deeper enjoyment while narut had long ago learned to appreciate the complexities of the little things after all there are only so many opportunities for entertainment in a forest and being easily bored wasn't really an option if he wanted to stay sane Hinata was far more timid than her mother but when narut was around she seemed to come out of her shell to some degree at these times she agreed with Nar more often than not when it came to choosing what place to eat or activity to try and as a result they managed to slow down hitomi's Rampage through every new experience to something narut could handle without needing to keep a journal just to remember what they' done in a single afternoon one thing Naruto had noticed about hanata was that if pushed Beyond her comfort zone too far or forced out of her timid habits she showed a determination and force of presence that was truly impressive to the red-haired boy from his observations while in the forest and the hints homi and hanata had let slip he knew that Hinata's relationship with her father was strain due to her kind nature and difficulty with the traditional martial art of her clan he also knew from his observations that she would practice every day without fail and rarely have ever complained about any of the treatment heaped upon her she bore it with a Grace that struck a cord in Naruto reminding him of Itachi's attitude toward his own sacrifice what Naruto couldn't understand was her lack of skill with an art she worked so hard at he'd seen her prowess in other areas of the Ninja arts and outside of the Jukin she excelled it was almost as if the art itself was fighting her he had considered asking homi more than once but he wasn't sure if it was a taboo subject nor was he eager to reveal that he had been spying on the compound even after leaving the woods for now he was keeping his questions to himself waiting to see if their enrollment into the academy in two months would do something to help with her problems with the Jukin Naruto wasn't sure what was taught at the Academy as Itachi's training had focused on immediately applicable things not Theory but he assumed that someone there would have an idea about how to approach the situation in all honesty Naruto was looking forward to the academy it was the first step on his path to becoming a strong Shinobi like his parents in Itachi and if he was to ever figure out what had prompted Itachi's actions that night he would need to hone his skills sneaking into a place like the hokage's archives wasn't an activity for an amateur and despite his growing prowess narut knew he was nowhere near good enough he could be patient however the one thing about the academy that narut disliked was the necessity of hiding his Heritage he knew the ruse was necessary to insulate him from the council but his name was one of the only connections he had to his parents and it irritated him to have to act as if it didn't exist his conversation with the hok when he done the paperwork to enroll in the academy had been heated to say the least and not all of it Naruto's fault two days after Naruto's return Naruto stared at the hokagay over a small pile of forms his hand aching slightly from all the writing he'd had to do he managed to become somewhat skilled at reading from his stolen Scrolls while in the forest but without any way to practice writing he'd been unable to progress his abilities beyond what he'd had at four years old and even those had atrophied from disuse the office was once again empty except for the two of them and the U guards enu and noik both of them edging away slowly from the growing confrontation I'm sorry Naruto but there is no way I can release your inheritance and still maintain your cover here is in said I realize this is difficult but there's just no way it would go unnoticed Naruto's stare didn't waver I'm not asking for money or recognition you told me my parents house is still the same as they left it just give me the key Naruto's voice was even but internally he was raging at the old man I can't Naruto if you were seen entering the house house Naruto cut him off swiftly the house is on the edge of the village close to the U compound there's never anyone there how could they see me go into a house they think is abandoned he exclaimed angrily heisen had simply taken a pull on his pipe and exhaled a cloud of smoke there are always people around Naruto this is a ninja Village it would only take a single mistake and everything would be ruined I'm sorry but I cannot risk it Naruto had stormed out of his office was angrily at that and it had taken him several hours in the forest to calm down when he finally had a firm hold on his temper he noticed that he'd unconsciously circled around the village until he was close to the wall that separated the forest from the clan section not far from his parents' house noting the patrolling guards on the walls he quickly pulled himself over the wall with a quick chain movement and dropped to the ground he froze looking for any sign that he'd been seen but he didn't see or hear anyone cautiously making his way over to the front gate he looked forly up at the house he was less than 15 ft from a tangible relic of his parents but the ornate gate blocked his way he could see seals lining the top of the surrounding wall and recognized a few as variants of explosive seals from Itachi's training if he tried to jump the wall he'd be luck to come down on the other side in less than a dozen pieces he sighed heavily and leaned his head against the gate so Clos but so far his hand Rose to touch the hand hand the gate lightly and he nearly jumped out of his sandals as blue light began to climb around the gate he could see a line of seals radiating out from the lock of the gate for a brief moment and then the whole aray blinked out as suddenly as it appeared a loud click came from the lock and the gate swung inward a few inches Naruto looked around furtively for a second but the lure of the house was too much and he pushed his weight quickly inside as the gate closed Naruto once again saw the array pop up and disappear another click signaling the gate was locked again narut walked forward slowly looking around him the grounds were unkempt but wide and he could see a series of posts similar to the ones at the training fields in one corner the house itself was in good shape only a little peeling paint betraying the long time it had sat unused it was not particularly large only two stories the kind of home a family could grow in without feeling stifled but not what Naruto would have expected for a Hokage the front door opened easily at his touch and he moved into the front hall before closing the door behind him he could see a hallway stretched out before him but what caught his attention was the closet next to the door several pairs of sandals stood in a small cubby next to the door and a several white coats with flames at the bottom stood in the closet next to a flag jacket Naruto could feel tears tracking down his cheeks as he looked at the first tangible reminders of his parents that he'd ever seen he ran a hand slowly over with a flag jacket noting several Nicks and a holster for a katana on the back then took a deep breath he couldn't stay here forever and there was more to see the hallway had several rooms leading off of it that narut could see and a staircase at the other end he passed a kitchen on his left dishes still in the sink but only looked in briefly the first door on the right side led to a living room with a large fireplace in one wall a large sheath Katana hanging over the mantle there were several pictures there as well and narut spent several minutes simply drinking in the sight of his parents for the first time he had faces to go with the names and it filled something inside him that he' never realized was missing he picked up one picture a shot of his parent standing arm and arm and a hand each on his mother's pregnant stomach and took it with him as he moved to explore more the only other room on the first floor was a bathroom but the staircase was a spiral that led both upwards and downwards deciding to leave the lower level for last Naruto went up the stairs the first room was a somewhat Bland room that was set up for guests but the second room was set up as a workshop and Armory stacks of shuriken and canai lay on a rack in one corner and he could see at least two Katana leaning against the wall a desk with a long shelf took up one half of the room ceiling supplies laid out with methodical Precision over most of its surface he could see several Tri pronged canai sitting on the end of the shelf and a cursory in section of the cabinets above the desk showed both more ceiling supplies and a large number of the same strange canai he left the room as it was and moved back to the hallway towards the last room on the floor the door opened to a large bedroom with a west facing floor to ceiling window the window afforded a beautiful view of the village and in the waning sunlight Naruto could easily imagine that Sunset would look spectacular the room itself was somewhat messy showing the Hasty nature of its inhabitants last departure but it was the corner that made Naruto pause a large crib stood against the wall a shuriken and Katana mobile hanging over it Naruto walked slowly over to the crib and stood over it looking down a small blanket that looked hand stitched lay over the bedding its surface adorned with Swirls and leaf symbols Naruto picked it up with shaking hands and hugged it to his chest this was where he was supposed to be happy and safe with his family memories of the hatred the villagers had shown him for the first four years of his life flashed through his mind and a deep feeling of loss caused sobs to Rack his body he didn't know how long he sat sobbing next to the crib but when he finally wiped his eyes and looked up it was dark out saying a silent prayer for his parents he took the slightly tear stained blanket and wrapped it around the picture he grabbed from the living room and headed down the staircase there was still one part of the house he'd left unexplored and he didn't know when he would be able to sneak back here again the Hokage had a point coming back here too often would increase the chance that he would be found out and he couldn't afford that right now the staircase ended at a metal door with the same style lock as the one on the front gate Naruto tentatively touched the handle and was grateful to see the same seals spread across the door after a second followed by the click noise of the lock disengaging he pushed the door open slowly and moved into the room either his presence or the door opening had caused lights to come on automatically and narut looked around him in amazement row upon row of Scrolls sat in NE racks filling every corner of the room he could see several labels from where he stood in the doorway and they seemed to be Elemental labeling he reached out to the closest rack one labeled Earth and took a random scroll opening it he found a series of pictures and instructions that seemed to describe a Jutsu for moving underground quickly complete with handwritten annotations that seemed to be advice on how to make the most of the technique he put the scroll back on the rack and pulled another from the rack labeled fire this time showing a technique for creating a concentrated stream of fire that was breathed out in a straight line as Naruto looked around he marveled at the concept of such a large collection of ninja techniques he could stay in here for the next 10 years and barely learn a tenth of the things he could see here as he marveled at the wealth of information in the room one scroll caught his eye the scroll was labeled Shadow clone cories and Naruto picked it up eagerly the shadow clone technique was one of his best and although Itachi had given him another technique that worked off of it the more options he had the better a quick glance at the scroll showed four techniques all based off the same Theory as the shadow clone starting with the shadow shuriken technique Naruto put the scroll in the same bundle as the picture he grabbed and looked longingly at the room around him he would love to take more of the scrolls with him but he knew that there was a limit to how much he could could bring with him without being caught finally he decided to take only two other Scrolls the earth move technique and a beginner's guide to seiling in the hope that he might be able to decode what the seals on the gate were Naruto resolutely kept his gaze forward as he moved back to the front door avoiding any more emotional breakdowns like the one upstairs he stopped only momentarily to glance at the jackets hung in the hall closet before stepping outside almost running to the front gate a quick check to make sure that no one was watching and Naruto opened the gate retracing his steps back over the wall was relatively easy as the village patrols were not very thorough in this peaceful time and he gained the forest only a few minutes later he made his way back to the Cubby that had been his home before returning to the village that night he stayed in the forest staring at the picture of his family the image followed him into his dreams and finally The Faceless parents that he dreamed about so often were fleshed out that night he slept better than he ever had before protected by the momentos he'd taken Kakashi stood at the edge of the village walls looking out over the woods in the direction that narut had disappeared when the Hokage had asked him to follow narut after he' stormed out of the office Kakashi had reluctantly agreed even though he thought it distasteful to keep Naruto away from whatever momentos of his parents still existed he had agreed with the Hokage that it was too much of a risk for Naruto's cover he'd been intending to let narut run off some of his anger and then step in and talk to the boy before he did something that would get him into trouble with the old man his shock when narut had walked up to the gates of the yami's house had almost made him blow his cover when narut checked for followers but it was nothing compared to what he felt when the gates opened at Naruto's touch Kakashi had been to the house a few times when the yandi was his Sensei and he knew the gates would never open to anyone that didn't possess a blood link to the man the pieces he hadn't noticed before began to click into place and when he realized the truth it astonished him that he hadn't seen it before sensei's son survived Dot and we never knew he thought his eye widening behind the dog mask he'd always thought that the child had died the same night the caou had attacked that even he who'd been so close to the previous Hokage hadn't known about Naruto's parentage was amazing but the implications for the village as a whole were enormous the loss of the fourth had been more than a psychological blow for the village it had signaled the loss of several key techniques that had been unique to the Beloved leader presumable the Scrolls for those techniques existed inside the sealed compound but even the best seal Masters in konaha had pronounced the seals unbreakable and cautioned that anyone attempting to tamper with them or cross over the gates would set off a chain reaction that would at best obliterate the compound it was a visible reminder of what konaha had lost in the caubi attack sitting here at the edge of the village t ing them with how closed the knowledge was while simultaneously being impossibly far away with Naruto now having access to the house it was entirely possible that he would one day return some of the most powerful techniques the world had ever seen to konaha Kakashi had stayed hidden outside the house as night began to fall somewhat worried that one of the security features had caused him some harm but just when he began toying with the idea of going to the Hokage for help Naruto stepped back out of the front door and made his way to the gate nashi's eye focused on the bundle in his arms and he picked out what seemed to be two Scrolls and something Square inside of a handmade blanket as Naruto ran past his hiding spot the blanket shifted slightly and he recognized one of the pictures that had been on the mantle the last time he'd been in the house he knew it was dangerous to have something like that out of the house much less in Naruto's possession when he was trying to stay Incognito but Kakashi couldn't bring himself to keep narut from having at least that much of his parents not now that Kakashi knew who they were and the magnitude of sacrifice they'd made leaving their child behind while saving the village narut had moved quickly over the wall and out into the forest but Kakashi had stayed on the wall watching him disappear between the trees he had suspected Naruto still had a Hideway somewhere out there and as much as he wanted to see where it was even if only to assuage his curiosity after looking for it for so long he knew it would be a breach of Naruto's privacy plus with Naruto's familiar it with the woods in that area it would be difficult to hide from the boy especially in the dark Kakashi stood on the wall for nearly half an hour before he decided to go back to the hokage's office he would tell the old man nothing of this not until he worked through what he'd learned today and not unless something Naruto did put him at risk for Discovery he owed his sensei's child that and much more but it was a start free time was something that Naruto had had quite a bit of over the last several years and would until he started the academy but he'd learned to fill it with worthwhile things he continued the exercises he tou he had left for him in secret along with the Scrolls he'd taken from his parents house but recently enu had taken to training with him in his free time he just shown up one day in the training field Naruto used when he wasn't hanging out with homi and hanata and begun to critique Naruto on his Tai Jutsu forms he never offered an explanation as to why he would sacrifice his spare time to help Naruto but every so often Naro would catch the mask danoo staring at him intently as he did his exercises initially he was wary of enu but as several weeks went by without anything bad happening he began to relax around the nearly silent man when Naruto wasn't training with enu he retreated deep into the forest and worked on the Scrolls he'd taken from the house the earth move technique was relatively easy to start but had taken him several days to perfect to a usable level his first few tries had been somewhat memorable with one particularly bad attempt causing him to bang into the roots of several trees when he failed to sink deep enough into the ground and another attempt nearly causing him to panic when he overpowered the technique and sunk deeper into the ground than he meant to it took him nearly 5 minutes to claw his way up out of the earth and he hadn't tried the technique again for nearly a week after that the scroll with the shadow clone techniques was by far the most interesting to him the first technique was the shadow shuriken technique something very similar to how he made Shadow clones but targeted toward a throne canay shuriken and he managed to get that down passively the other three techniques however were a disaster the shadow barrier technique wouldn't stay up for more than a fraction of a second and he still couldn't figure out how to get the other two to work at all the last technique on the scroll had a warning against inexperienced users that Naruto didn't see until he read through it a second time and his single attempt at the technique had left him gasping on the ground Vision graying out for more than an hour when he'd finally been able to sit up he vowed not to work on the technique again until he had more experience and could either figure out the principles behind it or talk to someone who already knew it the text on ceiling was surprisingly complex even as a beginner text but Naruto had been slowly working on it in his spare time because there was no visible aspect to it yet just theory he could read it in between workouts at his normal training ground and he'd taken to carrying it with him whenever he went out in the mornings Naruto had been in the middle of a break 5 weeks after his foray into the house working through the theory behind basic storage seals when he heard someone coming into the training grounds as it wasn't one of the normal times for enu to show up Naruto looked up wearily and quickly put away the ceiling text his expression quickly shifted from wary to surprised as the sobbing figure of hanata launched itself at him he caught her reflexively unsure what to do about the sobbing girl hanata what's wrong he asked frantically it took her a second to speak and narut could barely understand her words through the sobs father H he do the juken F failed her disjointed words continued for a minute before tapering off into more sobbing from what little Naruto had pieced together her father had been particularly harsh on her as she failed to grasp a basic juking technique and it had finally pushed the gentle girl over the edge she' fled the compound and apparently come out here to find him Nar held hanata awkwardly as she clung to him and sobbed not knowing what to do after nearly half an hour her sobs slowly died away and her grip loosened on him but when he looked down to see if she was done crying he noticed her eyes were closed and her breathing was more even he frowned slightly at the sight wondering how he was going to explain this to her family when two more figures came into the clearing at first he thought the man was hiashi and he felt a surge of irritation at the hyuga patriarch for his treatment of hanata but the soft expression on the man's face and the forehead protector identified him as hasashi and his anger Abad slowly behind him came homi and for the first time since Naruto had met her she wasn't smiling at all she had a grim look on her face and narut almost reflexively shrunk back from her slightly she noticed his reaction and her face softened slightly as she took in the sight of her daughter sleeping in Naruto's arms thank you for taking care of her narut she said Softly As she came forward to take hanata from him it's been a very hard day for her narut could only nod slightly and he knew his expression was hard it's all right I just hope she's all right he said softly honi didn't respond Beyond a sad nod and she turned to leave the clearing as hasashi turned to walk away with her narut called out to him sir narut called can I talk to you hasashi hesitated for a moment looking at homi but she motioned him towards Naruto and continued to watch out of the clearing hasashi walked back to the boy and looked at him questioningly Nar took a deep breath to Center himself he made the decision not to pry into Hinata's training when he' first began hanging out with her and homi but after today he reconsidered something was wrong there and it was hurting his friend severely sir why does your brother try to force her to do things that don't work Naruto asked bloodly hiashi's eyes widened fractionally before he responded my niece does not does not grasp the intricacies of the juken with the ease my brother would prefer hzhi said carefully narut only snorted slightly she knows how they work for him sir they just don't work for her Naruto said it seemed obvious to him after watching Hinata with her father so many times but apparently it wasn't so clear for others hiashi's confused look caused him to sigh watch he said a chain extended from his hand to a series of wooden posts lying on the ground at the edge of the clearing and snaked around three of them pulling them towards the boy hasashi watched intently as narut used his bloodline and Naruto noticed he'd activated his bloodline at some point what is it with dojutsu users in my chains he thought amused he planted the posts in a line about 3 ft in front of him and turned to hasashi this is what you do he said and thrust his hand forward a chain leapt in a straight line from his hand and struck the first post the spear tip chain punched straight through the first post then the second and finally struck deeply into the third Naruto allowed the chain to dissipate looking intently at Hisashi to see what his reaction was the older man had furrowed his brows slightly but still seemed to be giving him the benefit of the doubt Naruto turned back to the posts this is what Hinata does he said and thrust his head forward again this time instead of striking through the posts with Brute Force the chain began to turn it was very slight but the movement was enough to cause the chain to avoid the first post and then curl around the second before implanting itself in the exact same place as the first hiashi's brows came up in Surprise as he looked at the posts and he looked at Naruto you're saying she's not strong enough to do the juking he asked skeptically but Naruto just shook his head no she's she's not stiff when you do the juking you're stiff rigid she's flexible he said slowly trying to find the right word hashi's eyes widened to match his brows for a second and he looked at narut as if seeing him for the first time how do you know what I look like when I use Jukin he asked Naruto blushed slightly and looked down the walls are shorter than the trees he mumbled expecting Hisashi to yell at him instead the white-eyed man just laughed loudly some allseeing eyes we have he said depreciating the corner of nut's mouth came up in a small smile glad said hasashi didn't seem mad that he'd been watching the compound hizashi's laughter seemed to die as quickly as it came and he heaved a large sigh I'll look into it Naruto I don't know what we'll do if you're right but if hanata is truly unsuited to the Jukin well we'll figure something out he said his voice troubled narut simply nodded to him gratefully he had worried that hhi would simply discard what he was saying because he was younger but the man seemed to be genuinely considering what narut had said hasashi nodded back to narut then turned and left the clearing Nar stared at the posts for a moment then down at his tear stained shirt Naruto stood outside of the front doors of the academy building where he would be spending much of his time for the next four years and looked at hanata nervously she was holding on to homi's hand tightly and her mother was looking at them both with an amused smile on her face it's nothing to be afraid of you too she said I'm sure you a lot and make tons of new friends after all your future teammates will come from this class she said brightly motioning to the other students Milling around them Naruto was feeling nervous about being so close to so many people but had Tomi and Hinata's presence kept him from Boling Naruto heard a loud whistle and looked over to see a man with brown hair and a scar over his nose waving his hand students over here please we'll be going through orientation in a minute so please say your goodbye and come inside he yelled out hanata looked at her mother panicking slightly but honi gave her a hug and a light push towards the door Youk be fine she said besides you've got an rudo here with you she said almost slipping over his cover Name Naruto gave Hinata a nervous smile which she returned and squared his shoulders honi surprised him with a quick hug and a murmured good luck before she stepped back and the two of them moved forward with the rest of the class the man who introduced himself as aruka led them into the second classroom on the left of the first floor and they filed in and began to sit down narut was walking towards the far wall Tata right behind him when he stumbled over the foot of one of the students who had just taken their seat as he stumbled he turned slightly and his shoulder banged into the desk pushing it backwards into the chest of the person he' tripped over he stood up quickly and apologized to the boy who looked at him as if he were something disgusting Naruto just raised an eyebrow in response and began walking back toward his intended seats in the upper corner before he heard a muttered freak from the boy his eyebrows narrowed in Anger at the insult but Han's presence behind him kept him moving forward but not from glaring at the back of the boy's head when he finally sat down aruka began to take roll call and narut heard the boy call out here when the name iiha sake was called Naruto's eyes widened slight lightly as he realized that this was Itachi's brother I said I'd protect the village for him doesn't mean I have to like everybody in it he told himself internally as he tried to pay attention to the orientation he was constantly distracted by The Whispers of several of the girls around them they all seemed to be about the darkhaired jerk from what he could tell and every time he heard them his mood grew steadily worse these were the people he was supposed to trust with his life in four years this is going to be a long four years for Naruto the academy was a series of interesting lessons interspersed between mind-numbingly boring periods of lectures he already knew Itachi's lessons hadn't been comprehensive mostly focusing on Jutsu Theory and combat tactics but he'd been an exceptionally thorough teacher in the subjects that he'd Chosen and for Naruto that meant that much of the basic Theory taught in the academy was already known he did find the history lessons interesting and the description of the founding of the village and its four hokages today had been riveting for the young boy aruka had a gift for storytelling and hearing someone describe his father in such glowing terms brought a warm feeling to his chest his worst area was by far geometry Itachi had spent a large amount of time honing his instinctive ability to track things in a 3D environment but he didn't know how he did it he just did when aruka began teaching them how to calculate things like parabolic arcs Naruto could often get the answers but couldn't show how he got them and his marks suffered as a consequence it seemed to frustrate aruka to no end that Naruto's theoretical knowledge of the subject was so far ahead of his practical knowledge but to narut it seemed a waste of time to try and calculate something he could just feel instinctively and aruka gave up after a month of trying now he simply ignored Naruto's scores on Geometry quizzes except for a little tick in the corner of his forehead something that secretly amused Naruto to no end Nar had despite his initial givings managed to strike up a tentative friendship with several people in the class and as a result of her closeness to him Hinata had been included as well there were a disproportionate number of Clan heirs and Hees in the group but for the most part they took Naruto's Clan less status without blinking possibly because of how close he was to the hyuga arys for her part although Hinata's stuttering had decreased perceptibly at least around Naruto since the time she'd rushed sobbing into the clearing she was still prone to listening rather than speaking and it was rare to see her more than a few yards away from Naruto during school hours the one area that Naruto could honestly say rankled was the class genius Uchiha sake at every juncture they seemed to butt heads and the darkhaired boy's arrogance continually graded on Naruto's nerves narut was sitting at lunch one day two months into the semester watching the uch being fonded over by several of his local fan girl contingent when he felt someone sit next to him he turns slightly to see the abam air glasses in place nod towards the U air slightly not unlike the reaction of bees to a blooming flower is it not he said in a low voice Naruto snorted at the image of the Arrogant boy as a blooming flower but couldn't deny the similarities closer to Ms drawn to a flame bees get nectar from the flowers they find right narut said he vividly remembered the one time he tried to take honey from from a beehive while he was living in the forest it turned out that chains were wholly ineffective against angry bees and he'd never tried again shino's eyebrows raised slightly in what Naruto had come to recognize as his version of a smile at the comment and he could hear a delicate giggle from hanata on his other side The abame Heir had been the first person to befriend Naruto possibly because he was the only other person wearing glasses in class and his stoic presence had been a bomb to Naruto in the face of the simpering fan girls that seemed to make up so much of the female populace Naruto had quickly found out that Shino while normally quite a literal speaker had a cutting sense of humor when he chose to exercise it the U Heir had offhandedly insulted his bugs during the first week of class and Naruto was beginning to realize that while Shino was normally unflappable he did not like it when somebody insulted his clan or their insects he still wasn't sure exactly how Shino had managed to get bugs inside sas's sealed l lunch box but the look on the uchi's face had given him pleasant dreams for several days since that day SAS had been conspicuously avoiding the abame air during class and when they were paired up for exercises Naruto had noticed that Shino seemed to let his insects swarm more than usual unnerving his opponent indeed they do and from it they make honey the stoic bug user replied which begs the question why do they swarm to him Naruto just Shrugged nonchalantly used to their behavior by now even if it still baffled him aruka opened the doors leading out to the yard where all the Academy students were sitting and motion them back inside and Naruto stood up eagerly after weeks and weeks of lectures on the theory behind the basic Jutsu at the Academy they were finally working on actually performing the techniques they would one day need to pass and become full Shinobi Naruto had of course learned all three of the basic Academy Jutsu from his time with Itachi but it was the chance to show up the area uiha that really had him excited he had something special planned for the today and he couldn't wait to see the look on sake's face they filed quickly into the classroom as aruka began to lecture about the exercise a basic one involving the use of a cow me to avoid a blunted canai the students were put in pairs one person throwing the canai and the other substituting before switching each group would then randomize to give the substituting student a wide range of different Kai throwing experiences hopefully increasing their ability to use the technique in the field more effectively Naruto was initially paired up with hanata but was exasperated when she had trouble bringing herself to attack him come on hanata it's just a blunted Kai it's not like it'll do any damage if it hits he koled though the last few months had been good for Hinata's confidence although whether it was the academy itself or just the time away from her demanding father narut didn't know she was still reluctant to hurt anyone even even in a training exercise and that tendency seemed to be greatest when it came to Naruto Hinata looked down at the Kai in her hands for a moment and then took a deep breath her aim was perfect and Naruto couldn't help but Smile as he made the hand signs for the cimi and felt the familiar tugging sensation as he switched places with a nearby log as he walked back over to hanata he could see her eyes moving over him and checking for injuries see I told you not a mark on me Naruto said Softly watching as hanata looked down with a slight blush the signal came for them to change partners and Naruto leaned forward to lightly squeeze her shoulder in reassurance before moving to stand in front of Shino he made a subtle come here motion with his hand and Shino leaned forward I need a favor Naruto began and quickly outlined his plan the bug user froze for a moment as he finished and then Naruto witnessed something he never thought was possible he laughed I didn't even know he could laugh Naruto thought in shock while the collar of shino's dark jacket hit his mouth the evil tone of his laughter made Naruto sure the boy was smiling widely narut shook himself visibly and then fell back into position he spared a quick look at sake who was acting as a canite thrower at the moment and nodded at Shino Shino raised both arms towards Naruto but instead of a canai there was a large dark mass of bugs flying out towards him he waited until the bugs were almost upon him and then made a hand sign smirking the entire time he felt the Jutsu take hold just as the bugs obscured his vision and was suddenly staring at sas's partner he quickly looked towards the area he'd been with Shino moments before and saw sasak Eyes Wide in shock appear in his place the Kikai bugs that had been about to cover Naruto instead coated sake from head to toe until the black-haired boy was completely obscured there was a moment of absolute silence in shock and then SAS began to scream a GH get them off get them off get them off he yelled panicking and spinning around in an attempt to dislodge the swarming insects Naruto watched as Shino waited for a few seconds to get the maximum enjoyment out of the scene and then the bug user began to pull the Swarm back towards his body and off of the uiha SAS seeing the entire swarm congealing in one place immediately began to make hand signs his face murderous he took a deep breath aimed his face towards the Swarm and exhaled a head-sized fireball towards the black cloud Naruto had a split second realization as soon as the fireball came into existence as he noticed that the Swarm was directly between sasak and Shino placing his friend in the direct path of the oncoming fire Jutsu acting on Instinct he made a quick hand sign and felt the pull of the kaimi take hold switching him with Shino as the fireball roared through the cloud of bugs and and continued onwards Naruto had only moments before the fireball would be on him and a quick glance told him that dodging would not get him far enough away to avoid injury he squared his shoulders as he faced The Inferno arm extended focusing all of the chakra he could into his hand a single chain quickly extended from his palm sprouting successively longer side chains from each link until the entire length looked akin to a drill he could almost feel the chain as it hit the fire Jutsu and split it in half and as soon as he saw the two halves begin to travel away from each other he dissolved the chain hoping no one had seen him use his K Jen narut took a moment to collect himself absently noting that Shino looked unharmed but slightly dazed and turned to sake the boy's chest was heaving as he bent over trying to recover from both the unexpected cimi and the fire Jutsu and he didn't look up as Naruto stocked over to him he grabbed SAS by the collar of his shirt and pulled him up fa to face are you insane narut shouted angrily at the other boy his face red you could have killed someone with that fireball what were you thinking sasak looked shocked for a moment as he stared at Naruto before his mind kicked back into full gear and he roughly shov the other boy away from him never lay hands on me Doby Someone Like You doesn't deserve the privilege his voice was condescending and Naruto felt his anger grow at the Casual dismissal he could hear sas's fan club in the background yelling at him for laying hands on the UA but he ignored them as he focused on the boy trust me the last thing I want to do is be anywhere near y uiha but your stupidity nearly got Shino killed do you have any idea how close you came to hitting him Naruto repeated somewhat amazed at the level of arrogance the dark-haired boy was showing he shouldn't have put his disgusting bugs near me if he didn't want to get burned SAS stated looking quickly at Chino Nar noticed his lip curl with disgust as he looked at the bug user and his self-control snapped he brought his fist back to swing at sake only to feel another hand gripping his arm a quick glance showed him a frowning aruka looking from sake to Naruto and he let his arm fall limp aruka let go of his arm but turned to glare at both of them Ruto no fighting in class he said causing SAS to smirk before he turned to the other boy and SAS the next time you use an Elemental combat Jutsu in my class I'll kick you out Ruto was right you could have killed someone over a small prank aruka rebuked his face angry sake looked shocked for a moment then his normal scowl returned stronger than ever he didn't bother to respond to the teacher instead choosing to walk away aruka sighed and turned to Naruto did you have to set him off he asked plaintively it was a harmless prank and he was out of line with that Jutsu Naruto rored Ed aruka just shook his head but let the subject drop he couldn't argue that sas's response had been excessive but everything to do with the last Uchiha was a pain in the ass involving the council something aruka wanted to avoid if at all possible Naruto watched as aruka called the rest of the class over and sent them home for the day but couldn't bring himself to talk to Shino he felt guilty over what had happened and was worried that his friend might blame him for causing sas's reaction more than once he'd seen the bond Shino had with his Kikai bugs and his prank on sake had ended with a large number of shino's insects destroyed something he was sure the other boy would be displeased about so he avoided him until he left the academy he decided that he was too keyed up to go straight home and since the academy had been let out early he headed for his normal training grounds he'd been at the grounds for about an hour practicing dodging shuriken by sinking into the ground with the muraga kir no Jutsu hiding like a mole when he noticed a man walk into the clearing he quickly cancelled the Clone he was practicing with and turned to the stranger as he walked over Naruto felt a wave of dread pass over him as he saw a man that looked like an older version of Shino from what little he could see that wasn't covered up walking towards him they're probably here because of what happened with sake he thought pensively he' been sure Shino was unhappy with him for getting the colony roasted but didn't think it would cause enough trouble to involve the clan head he quickly stood up straight and bowed as the man came closer thankful for the tips that homi had given him about etiquette during some of their lunch excursions hello abam Sama he said respectfully the older man stopped several feet from Naruto and much to his surprise dipped his head into a shallow bow kodaman my son has informed me of an altercation that occurred at the Academy today between the two of you in the ucha air his voice was reminiscent of sho's flat and with a slight buzzing undertone Naruto's face flushed guiltily at the blunt statement s sir I'm sorry it was supposed to be a small prank I never meant I I mean I'm sorry he stuttered out nervously the other man's eyebrows raised slightly as he rambled out the apology I believe that you have the wrong assumption about my purpose here kodaman he said slowly Shino informed me that it was only your timely use of the cow me that prevented him from being severely injured by a used fire Jutsu Naruto froze as he looked up at the abam clan head and tried to switch gears away from panicked apology I am here to extend to you the thanks of the abam clan for protecting my son the man continued should you ever need the aid of the abame clan you have but to ask he finished Naruto stared at him dumbly for a moment nodding and thanking him his task completed shino's father turned without another word and walked out of the clearing leaving an incredibly confused Naruto in his way trying to figure out what had just happened it took Naruto several minutes to reboot his overtaxed brain and as he finally shook himself from his days he immediately set out towards his apartment that was hands down the strangest thing that's happened to me in a while he thought as he made his way home his distraction ensuring that he failed to notice the figure hidden in the branches of one of the trees surrounding the clearing moments after the boy left the training ground the figure turned and disappeared into the forest only the flash of a Red Cloud giving any clue to his presence as he ran to meet his contact Itachi wasn't entirely sure what to make of his partner hosaki Kisame was definitely a skilled ninja and somewhat easy to work with but he thought she had never met anyone quite so happy all the time it was actually somewhat unnerving even for the normally stoic GUI they had been partnered up not long after his induction into akitsuki their leaders taking his Massacre of the uiha clan as proof of aach traitor status and in that entire time Itachi had not seen the man stop smiling even once that wouldn't be so bad if he didn't have shark teeth Itachi mused they were sitting outside a small food stand in a small Crossroads Hamlet not far from the border between the Fire and Rain countries as they waited for an informant from konaha dressed as traveling monks he's late I wonder if we should break him just a little it would show the others to make their rendevu on time Kisame said cheerfully his his words at odds with his tone it wouldn't even have to hurt that much I could just feed some of his chakra to sahada as a warning Itachi sighed and spoke in a resigned voice kiss that is your response to everything if we damage our informants we will soon find ourselves without any informant you know this this was their third time meeting an akitsuki informant since HEI had joined and each time kiss had found a reason to suggest that they play with them kiss sighed and looked Itachi his shark-like teeth blending you always say that Itachi you know if you lightened up once in a while you'd get much more enjoyment from life life is meant to be lived not endured he finished jubilantly ignoring Itachi's Dead Pan look Oh look The Chums here kiss motioned with his head and Itachi saw their informed walk into the Hamlet from the front Itachi frowned at the informant's lack of vigilance when his eyes caught a figure following the man in the distance kiss our friend seems to have been laxed with his attempts at remaining covert would you rather take care of it or should I kisami looked quickly behind the approaching informant and his eyes narrowed his smile widened and took on a predatory quality sahada is hungry you play with the chum I'm going to go catch some prey he said and calmly walked into the shadow of a nearby building before Vanishing in a swirl of water Itachi turned to the informant as he walked to the stand and stood next to him you're late and and you were followed Itachi said allowing an undercurrent of annoyance at the man's incompetence to creep into his voice the informant jerked slightly then turned to Itachi my associate is taking care of him your information Itachi said coldly and grabbed the packet the man handed him he Leed through it quickly seeing the normal reports of financial activities in Council politics then stopped on a picture he ruthlessly suppressed his shock before turning to the informant who is this he asked asked the nervously sweating informant rushed to answer the caoi Jin Chui sir I found him Itachi noted the undercurrent of pride in the man's voice and stared him in the eyes he watched the informant's eyes widen as he noticed the activated Sharingan and waited a moment before he spoke again the identity of the caubi jeraki has been a mystery since its attack on konaha how is it that you've deduced it now did the boy use its chakra he asked he had to find out quickly before he could act and was thankful for once for kis sami's habit of playing with his food no but I saw the seal on his body and sense the chakra underlying his own my family may not have as many clan techniques as the inuzuka but our sensing techniques are better he smells like the fox and I would swear on my life that I sense the fox's chakra underneath the boys he spoke quickly as if trying to ward off Itachi's ey with the sheer speed of his speech Itachi stared at the man for several moment moments internally debating and then came to a decision you've done well he said throwing him the pouch of coins they'd agreed upon for his service one last thing Itachi said causing the man to look up he caught the informant's Gaze with his Sharingan commas spinning quickly and layered a Jen Jutsu over his mind you never saw the caoi janeri the caoi jenu is not in konaha this boy he held up the picture of Naruto training in a clearing has no connection to the caoi and you will stay away from him Itachi finished the man blinked several times if we have no more business Itachi said his eyebrow arching the informant looked down at the pouch in his hands and shook his head quickly Itachi turned and walked away from the stand in the direction the informant had come from watching for kis sami's chakra with his Sharingan he found his partner almost a mile off of the road in a cops of trees the shark man was grinning as usual and he touching spared a glance at the body next to him the konah shenobi wasn't familiar just someone he vaguely thought might have been part of the serit toi Clan but he acknowledged that there was no way to prevent the man's death kiss would have noticed their Watcher only seconds after Itachi did and the man's sacrifice had further cemented his position with Kisame anything interesting Itachi shook his head just the usual reports he didn't know he was being followed so I let him live Itachi said if you're done he he inclined his head towards the body of course though he was barely an appetizer samaha's scales rustled at that as if in agreement without acknowledging that last statement Itachi set off towards the road when they reached the main thoroughfare he tossed the packet to kiss who began looking through it never noticing the missing pages hasashi walked into his brother's office and stood in front of the desk ignoring the somewhat irritated look that was shot his way what is it hasashi hiashi asked you can't keep doing this hiashi hiashi said Ste evident in his normally cheerful voice you've tested her four separate times and it always comes out the same Hinata has the water affinity and trying to force her into traditional Jukin is never going to work the way you wanted to he watched as his brother's face grew harder with every word but he refused to back down on this ever since he tested Han not his Elemental Affinity after his conversation with Naruto his brother had been digging his feet and harder and harder when it came to Hinata's training and the punishments for failure he was metting out were becoming borderline abusive I've told you before hasashi her Affinity isn't the issue if she tried hard enough she could become proficient in the Jukin after all I was able to hiashi fired back his tone angry hasashi looked at his brother incredulously does he truly not see how unsuited for the Jukin she is he wondered hiashi your water Affinity was secondary and weak hanat water Affinity is one of the strongest I've ever seen and she has no affinity for Earth at best her second Affinity could be lightning but forcing her into an earth-based style is torture she isn't lacking proficiency because she's lazy she's lacking proficiency because the style fights are at every step you'd be better off training someone without the bouan and the Jukin than your daughter he said angrily if you just let me retrieve the ryoken Scrolls from the archives he barely saw his brother move before he was pinned to the wall his collar bunched in he's grip I decide what is best for my daughter brother you have no say in how my family or this clan is run and my daughter will learn the Jukin or she will be replaced hiashi spit out viciously hasashi couldn't respond with his brother's hands at his throat but after a moment hiashi let him go he dropped to the floor as his brother spun away and moved back to the desk ignoring him as he pulled himself shakily to his feet and stepped to the doorway he looked back but his brother never looked up one day your attitude is going to come back to haunt you hiashi I just hope we don't all pay the price for it he thought sadly as he walked out and closed the door iachi sat alone at a table in one of the seedier bars in the capital of the rice country and contemplated the drink in front of him he habitually avoided alcohol preferring not to Cloud his senses and dull his mind but sitting in a bar without a drink would draw attention he didn't move as someone slid into the booth across from him rather choosing to mimic taking a small sip from the cup in front of him you actually drink that swill his new companion asked grimacing Itachi simply tilted the cup towards him showing that it was still almost full probably a smart idea knowing this place it's probably more rainwater than sake anyways the man laughed at his own joke ignoring Itachi's unchanging expression so what have you got for me he asked jovially not much change Itachi responded ignoring the attempts at levity we're mostly doing mercenary work for now building Capital I'm not sure for what but considering the number of s-ranked missions we've taken on the amount of capital we've earned is substantial at least 15 or 16 million and they show no signs of stopping his contact nodded writing down the information on a small pad and the other goal he asked just surveillance for now they're not going after any of the containers for some reason most of them are content to just follow orders and rack up money for now but I doubt anyone that the leader has any idea about the ultimate goal Itachi told him in a low voice his lips barely moving he hesitated a moment and then continued there was a breach he said noticing his contact stiffen one of the informants found out the cao's location I took care of it but you should know they don't buy that the yandi killed it Itachi reached into his coat and pulled out the pages he' removed from the packet on konaha he put them on the the table and watched as the other man read through them quickly damn you're sure you plugged the leak Itachi nodded in the other man side I'll let them know they need to step up the patrols around the village he said and then hid the papers inside his own bag I need to get going spine networks don't run themselves and all that he said as he stood up his long white hair swaying behind him you know where the next meat is he asked Itachi who simply nodded again well then good luck with that he walked out the front door of the bar leaving Itachi with his thoughts narut struggled to pull himself to his feet panting after taking a strong kick to the stomach 10 yards away enu was making short work of a half dozen of his cage bushing dodging their chain attacks and casually redirecting them so that they his other clones as they missed in the 15 seconds or so that it took Naruto to get his breath back after being hit his dozen clones were cut stabbed clubbed or otherwise demolished Naruto winced slightly as the memories of their defeat flowed back into him he'd been sparring with enu for the better part of 20 minutes and had yet to make the amboo so much as breath heavily originally he had been going for non-lethal tactics afraid of hurting his training partner but as The Spar had gone on he'd upgraded once it became clear that anything less than his best would be completely useless against the older ninja not that his best was doing much better but at least he was getting some good experience out of it Naruto made a quick sign and another dozen cage Bush and popped into existence around him and he switched places with one of the newly created clones while the smoke was still obscuring enk Vision in order to hide his true position he quickly learned that a frontal assault was useless and had been trying to surround and flank his Target in order to increase his chances he and his clones spread out around enu in a circle the Anu appearing to watch them all simultaneously although it was hard to tell with the mask at an unseen signal half of the Clones rushed in towards enu and the other half immediately sent a series of chains towards their target and support he' tried this strategy twice before with no results but this time he had a plan he smiled as the first clones reached enu let's see how you deal with this Kakashi casually dodged one clone's jab and ducked under an incoming chain while chopping its neck dispelling it and looked up to see several more chains coming towards him he frowns slightly at the tactic this appointed that Naruto would continue to try something that had already failed twice it was something he'd rarely seen as the boy was normally quick to improvise even if some of his improvisations were downright crazy the first wave of chains retracted as he dispelled another clone and then shot forward for a second go just like the other two times maybe he's having an off day Kakashi wondered before he caught the outer ring of clones the chain users making a series of hand signs shuriken cage bushes but I don't see any shurik into to crap he thought as the incoming chains began to multiply the full length of the chain wasn't replicated only the last foot or so but as that was the spear tip portion he was immediately inundated with a hail of spear tip chains worse as there were multiple real chains mixed in a simple doden wall would be unable to stop them all signing quickly Kakashi drew a large measure of chakra into his lungs and exhaled heavily the chakra turned the air in his lungs into a disproportionately large amount of water water that formed into the Visage of a dragon as it came from his throat the sweu didn't no Jutsu curled around him protectively for a moment then whipped around him quickly the chakra infused water blew away the incoming chains and the closest clones before moving in a circle out to the outer layer of clones as the water cleared it left a heavily breathing Kakashi behind unable to believe that he'd been forced to use a b rank Jutsu to fend off an Academy student he looked around quickly for Naruto before he noticed the still form of his opponent lying where the outer ring of clones had been the Hokage is going to be pissed he thought as he ran to check on the boy when Naruto opened his eyes he was greeted by the sight of the same dank tunnel that he'd seen several years before after he'd been stabbed rescuing Hinata he wearily pulled his body to his feet and started off down the tunnel wondering what had happened to send him here the last thing he remembered was trying to catch enu off off guard with his cage fousa technique he was very proud of the modifications he made the cage shuriken temporarily modifying his chains to mimic what he'd done to the Kumo Shinobi but if inu's reaction was anything to go by his pride was probably Justified Naruto walked up to the same bars he'd seen last time and just like before the Giant Eye opened before the rest of the caubi came into view I was wondering when I would see you again kit the demon rumbled what made you think I would come back here Naruto asked his voice skeptical you have a habit of pissing people off and not always people weaker than you I knew sooner or later you'd bite off more than you could Cheo and it looks like I was right maybe you should look into more defensive techniques than offensive if you're going to keep standing in the line of fire of powerful Jutsu the fox chuckled as he looked at Naruto whose face was turning red as he was reminded of inu's response to his cage fousa it's not like I stand in front of them on purpose furball Naruto had to jump back immediately as several giant claws gauged the ground he'd been standing on respect kit I may be jailed in here but you should still show your superiors the respect they deserve the caoi growled out angrily narut opened his mouth to argue but closed it when he considered his situation he was stuck inside wherever this was with the caoi and he wasn't 100% sure that the seal would hold if the demon got angry enough so am I going to end up here every time I get knocked out because because not that you're not interesting in all but that would be annoying Naruto said after a pause to look around plus this place is kind of a dump for some reason the caoi began laughing as he said that this dump is your mind kit it managed to get out between laughs narut scowled at him what do you mean this is my mind there's no way my mind is this damn narut said angrily it's a representation inside your mind if you concentrate you can change it the caoi said Naruto stared at it doubtfully try it if you don't believe me you could make it anything you want any place you can think of even that clearing you're so fond of Naruto looked at the caoi for a moment then at the Dank sewer around him if I've got to be here he thought and then pictured the clearing he' just been in he concentrated on the image as hard as he could closing his eyes to block out any distractions and only stopped when he heard the caoi Laughing evily Freedom it shouted and Naruto suddenly noticed that he'd failed to include the cao's prison in his new image he looked at the giant Fox fearfully and turned to run before he could move more than a couple of steps the caoi threw itself forward Jaws open just when Naruto was sure he would end up as Fox kibble there was a large Shimmer in the air and the same bars that held the caoi away from him in the Dank tunnel flared into being between the caoi and Naruto the fox hit the bars with a resounding crash and bounced off a surprise look on the vulpine face as soon as the fox was more than a few feet from the bars they disappeared but as soon as the fox tried to charge Naro again they reappeared finally the fox simply sat several yards away from Naruto his slit pupil eyes watching Naruto slowly pulled himself up and stared at the fox accusingly you tricked me the fox simply raised one eyebrow I tried to trick you and it's not like you can blame me I was stuck in that dank pit for over half a DEC you do the same it said in a conversational Tone It Disturbed Naruto how easily the being could switch from bloodthirsty animal to calm conversationalist I can definitely blame you you tried to eat me Naruto accused you're my Jailer and your death would free me I had a chance and I took it the cway the caoi was talking about his death was starting to get to Naruto maybe I should put you back in that dank cell Naruto said beginning to grow angry as the adrenaline from his near death wore off the caoi simply smiled maybe you should but you're forgetting something kit the smile grew impossibly wide I brought you here the caoi blew out a huge breath and Naruto felt a tug as he was pulled from the cao's prison after the caubi had ejected Naruto from the mindscape it looked around at the new surroundings not bad It said In A Satisfied tone and moved cautiously towards the bars that had appeared before without Naruto around the bar bars failed to appear and the caoi moved off into the woods surrounding the clearing eager to stretch its legs after so long in captivity Naruto woke up coughing just in time for enu to slap him in the face again wake up kid the ano said shaking him roughly as soon as Naruto's eyes opened the shaking stopped oh thank Camy enu breathed relieved I thought you drowned Naruto glared at him maybe if you didn't try to drop a lake on me I wouldn't have almost drowned enu looked sheepish or at least as sheepish as you could behind a full face mask um well best two out of three he asked causing Naruto to groan his entire body felt like one giant bruise and whatever he'd done to change the fox's prison had exhausted him even more he just shook his head at enu and stood shakily no thank you I need a hot bath and some sleep he said and enu grabbed his arm to steady him maybe next time enu said laughter underlying his voice but Naruto just snorted it took them almost 30 minutes to cover what was normally a 15minute walk back to the apartment block but the bath at the end was worth it narut could swear he felt his muscles unclench one by one as he sank into the hot water and he vowed that the next time enu sparred with him he would find a way to get back at him for how beat up he felt one floor above Kakashi paused as a shiver went down his spine that's all for now if you enjoyed then please 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Channel: The Kestral

Views: 6,231

Keywords: what if naruto tries to summon without a contract, naruto tries to summon without a contract, what if naruto tries to summon, what if naruto, #naruto what if, naruto tries to summon without a contract fanfiction

Id: 1npq5Y52SWQ

Length: 163min 19sec (9799 seconds)

Published: Mon Mar 25 2024