It had been one and a half years since Jiraiya had left the village along with Naruto. And while things on the surface seemed to be fine, the village was actually in complete turmoil. Hiruzen's most trusted Anbu commander had retired from Anbu and just become a everyday Jounin, and much to the ire of the aged Hokage, said former Anbu captain Kakashi Hatake had become even less reliable to show up on time than ever before.
That was however the least of Hiruzen Sarutobi's troubles however. Over the last few years relations between the Uchiha clan and the rest of the village had deteriorated, Konoha was on the verge of civil war and negotiations were going nowhere. Hiruzen knew that he had to act before it was too late but the only option that was left to him seemed far too extreme. Unfortunately the longer the talks went on while going nowhere the more obvious it became that they would have to go through with the plan that was put forward by his long time rival and adviser Shimura Danzo. His solution was to wipe out the entire Uchiha clan before they caused any lasting damage to the village. The Hokage had at fist completely dismissed the idea as impossible and refused to even consider it, however his agent he had inside the clan spying on them only brought grave news.
Itachi Uchiha loved his family, but he loved Konoha even more, his loyalty lay not with his father and the Uchiha clan like they believed but with the Hokage. So when talk of a coup de-tat intensified Itachi went straight to the Hokage.
Arriving at the Hokage's door Itachi knocked twice, and entered soon after receiving the call to enter from his leader.
"Ah Itachi-kun, please tell me you have some good news for me?" the Hokage said hopefully.
"I'm sorry Hokage-sama, but no I don't, my family are more determined than ever, I can see no way of this ending without blood shed. I have to throw my support behind Danzo's plan" Itachi said solemnly.
"You know what that would mean don't you?" Hiruzen asked sadness soaked his voice.
"Yes I am aware of what will happen, I will take on the task myself, I cannot let the burden fall to anyone else. But there are those within the clan that still love Konoha as it is, my friend Shisui for one" Itachi said.
"I am aware of this, it is why I am so opposed to the idea, we can't let there be a single strand to trace this back to the Hokage's office otherwise it will have the same effect as the coup de-tat and the village will fall into a civil war with all of the clans looking for power regardless. If they think we simply wiped out the clan because I thought they were becoming too powerful or simply a pain in the ass, the others will rebel in fear that they might be next" Hiruzen explained.
"So in other words they all have to die" Itachi surmised.
"As much as I hate to say it, if we do go through with this then yes, they must all die, and we can play you off as being away from the clan on the night and thus the sole survivor" Hiruzen said.
"What if I took the blame, but left someone else alive, I could leave the village and become a missing ninja" Itachi said as a thought crossed his mind.
"But Itachi-kun that is insane, you will be hunted by bounty hunters and Hunter Nin from all over the world and even Konoha, you would be damming yourself to a life on the run and I wouldn't even be able to help you any more than giving you a head start!" the Hokage said in shock.
"I know, but I don't care, it is the only way I can live with what I will have to do" Itachi said.
"Very well, who is it that you want to save?" Hiruzen asked.
"My little brother Sasuke, he is innocent and I cant bring myself to kill him, he means too much to me" Itachi replied.
"I see, well then I accept your plan, you may go about executing it in any way you see fit, but I have one last thing I can offer you. Find my apprentice Jiraiya, he is traveling with someone you know quite well. When you find him give him this message, he will be able to keep you far safer than if you were alone, he is not currently registered as a shinobi of Konoha, so helping you will not constitute treason" the old Sarutobi explained.
"That is a very good idea Hokage-sama, I believe I will take you up on that offer" Itachi said taking the letter from Hiruzen with a bow.
"Oh and Itachi one last thing" the Hokage said stopping the young Uchiha before he could leave.
"Yes Hokage-sama?" Itachi asked.
"Good luck, and I am so sorry" the Hokage replied.
"Thank you Hiruzen-sama" Itachi said before slipping out of the room like he was never even there.
'Kami I am getting too old for this, and the only two people who I would even consider to take up the role of Hokage will not return to the village, Oh Tsunade-Hime cant you see you are perfect for this job, if only you didn't blame the village or the position of Hokage for your terrible loss' Hiruzen thought as he picked up his pipe from the desk and lit up.
(Academy)
Life at the Academy had not changed, the class still seemed to have a dobe, a role which had been passed onto Shikamaru after Naruto had left, and the top of the class which had always been one Sasuke Uchiha. The only real change in the past year had been the emergence of Hinata Hyuuga as the top ranked kunoichi who excelled at almost every level and was only beaten by Sasuke in the kunai and shuriken skills. And taijutsu. And Sakura Haruno in the theory.
In fact the class had moved on so smoothly that they had all forgotten about the blond haired whisker marked trouble maker that used to terrorize the village and class room with his antics at any chance he got.
"Very good class, as you know it is customary to allow a young ninja or kunoichi to attempt the graduation exams once they reach the age of ten, as most of you have made it to that age now I would like to ask if any of you would like to attempt the exams in a little over a weeks time?" the head teacher Iruka asked the class.
Several cocky looking children from civilian families who had parents on the civilian counsel raised there hand and went to collect a form.
"Is that all, I would have thought you would be attempting the exam Sasuke, and you too Hinata, you both have enough skill to pass the exam" Iruka said.
"No my brother said that the best way to be prepared and get stronger is to stay in the academy and learn as much as I can to make sure that I am ready for what I might face in the real world, I could graduate now, but I might hold my team back and that could get us all killed" Sasuke said.
"Um... I too do not wish to take the exam for similar reasons" Hinata said in her typical shy fashion.
"Very well, and Sasuke that is a very mature way to look at things, make sure you listen to your bother in the future, he is after all the biggest genius to come out of Konoha since the Yondaime Hokage and the Sannin" Iruka said.
"Yeah, but one day I am going to become even greater than he is, I might not do it right away, because he is really strong, but you just wait, they will be calling me the genius of the Uchiha clan in no time at all!" Sasuke said confidently. Causing a large section of the girls in the class to swoon over the Uchiha.
"Well if you work hard enough I have no doubt that you will. And working hard here is the best place to start. That is a lesson for all of you, you need to work hard for your dreams to come true" Iruka said.
"Working hard is just too troublesome" Shikamaru mumbled before snoring, indicating that he was asleep the whole time.
"I'm Sorry Shikamaru, Next Time I will Say People Who Don't Dream About Sleeping All Day And Watching Clouds, Need To Work Hard!" Iruka yelled using his Big Head Jutsu successfully waking the sleeping Nara.
"Troublesome" was all Shikamaru said in response before laying his head back onto the desk.
(Land of Swamps)
Naruto was standing in a battle ready stance waiting for an attack he knew could come at any moment or from any direction. Finally he heard the yell of a jutsu. "Doton: Earth Dragon Bullet!" came a voice from seemingly all around Naruto and he quickly saw to his let a large dragon head made of mud was opening it's mouth before firing a large chunk of mud at the young blond.
"Raiton: Electromagnetic Murder" Naruto yelled sending what looked like a massive web of lightening rushing forward annihilating the mud dragon.
"Katon: Flame Bullet" the voice yelled again.
"Shinra Tensei!" Naruto yelled and the flames seemed to die out.
"I thought I told you not to use that in this exercise, you are supposed to be countering my moves with the correct nature manipulation, using your gravity is cheating" the voice said, and Jiraiya seemed to rise up from the swamp completely clean.
"Sorry sensei, I still don't have the hang of Suiton completely. I can use it alright but I was unsure of what jutsu to use and then I sorta panicked" Naruto admitted lowering his head.
"That's alright, after all that is what this exercise is for, if you can fight without using any of your special powers gifted to you by those eyes of yours other than the basic elemental manipulation and increased chakra control when you get into a real fight you will be that much stronger" Jiraiya said.
"Yes sensei I understand. I think I need to practice the Suiton jutsu you gave me more though" Naruto admitted.
"Well we can get to work later, lets find a place to rest" the old toad sage suggested and beckoned Naruto to follow him.
"Why are we in the land of swamps anyway sensei, it stinks here" Naruto complained.
"I'm following someone, and I don't want them to get away" Jiraiya said.
"You mean that weird pale old teammate of yours that you had me hide from?" Naruto asked.
"Yes, and the last thing we need is for him to get a glimpse of those eyes of yours, there is no telling what he would do if he figured out what they were" Jiraiya said.
"I still don't understand why we are following him, every time you get close enough to have an encounter nothing happens. I mean you don't fight him and you don't like him, so what's the point?" Naruto asked.
"I am doing this for my sensei, the Hokage, Orochimaru and I used to be his students and now he is a traitor to Konoha so I am keeping tab's on him. Also it is best that we keep on the move. We don't want to run into any leaf shinobi and have them recognize you after all" Jiraiya said.
"Fine let's just keep going, the sooner we get out of this swamp the better" Naruto mumbled.
(Konoha, Morning Before the Uchiha Massacre)
several disappearances had occurred in the past few day's, first of all Shisui Uchiha and then after that several key members of the Uchiha clan all vanished mysteriously. To the clan head Fugaku Uchiha and father to Itachi and Sasuke thought it may have something to do with the Hokage suspecting something and therefore taking out his top men.
Itachi walked into the kitchen in the morning with his Anbu mask all ready for the task that lay ahead of him.
"Itachi, can you help me with my Katon jutsu after class today?" Sasuke asked eagerly when he saw Itachi enter the room.
"I'm sorry little brother, I wont finish until late, why don't you just practice hard in one of the training grounds, hopefully I can make it there before it gets too dark" Itachi said knowing he would never be able to show up.
"Hmph you are supposed to be an Uchiha, you should be helping your brother not playing the role of a pawn for that old fool Hiruzen" Fugaku said.
"Fool or not, it is my job father, Sasuke should use this as a chance to work hard to learn what he needs" Itachi said.
"I don't know where you went wrong boy, such a talented member of this clan and you cling to these pathetic ideals, you will see, when we run this village us Uchiha will be given the respect we deserve" Fugaku stated arrogantly.
"Respect is earned father, every member of this village earns there own respect it is not somehting that can be forced" Itachi said.
"You wont change will you... Come Sasuke, after breakfast I will help you with your ninja skill's, you can still be a ninja this clan can be proud of" Fugaku said as he watched Itachi leave and gave a smirk when he saw the young Anbu pause indicating that he heard what his father had said.
The day of work passed uneventfully for Itachi and just as the sun was setting he knew he needed to act, but first he wanted to make sure Sasuke was out of the way.
Itachi found his younger brother walking home. 'I need more time, I will have to use a genjutsu to get him to take the long way home' Itachi thought, and from the shadows activated his sharingan.
Sasuke seemed to instantly change direction and walk away from the Uchiha compound.
'That should do it. I will have about an hour, that should be enough I will just have to be stealthy' Itachi thought as he jumped away and ran over roof tops up to the edge of the Uchiha compound.
His first target were the guards who watched for anything suspicious. He waited until they were alone and out of sight before making his move, a shadow clone would take out one while he took out the other both using the guards own weapons.
After that he knew he had already killed most of the higher ranking Uchiha ninja, the last one left was his father, and that kill would have to wait until last.
"Hello" came a voice from behind Itachi.
"What tha? Who are you?" Itachi asked.
"Oh I am no body that is overly important, I just came to offer you my help, I know what you are planning after all" the man who wore an orange spiral mask said.
"You got behind me with out me ever sensing you... you are indeed skilled, but why would you want to help me if you know what I am doing?" Itachi said.
"Well let's just say, Konoha was not the first thing that this clan has betrayed" the masked man said taking off his mas and activating his Mangekyo Sharingan.
"The Mangekyo Sharingan!, who are you?" Itachi said not believing his eyes and activating his own set of upgraded sharingan.
"It seems I am not the only one with these eye's, you could be useful to me, why not join me after we take out this clan" the man asked.
"As tempting as that may be, I have some place I need to go and information I need to deliver to someone so I am going to turn your offer down I'm afraid" Itachi said.
"Oh very well, but word of advice, keep at least one Uchiha alive, you may need their eyes later, the Mangekyo Sharingan has the downside of blinding it's users, but after you get a new set of eyes, it will never be a problem again" the masked man said.
"The only person who could know something like that is... Madara!" Itachi said in shocked realization.
"Well I might be him, then again I may not, I guess you will never know. Now are you going to sit around all day, or are we going to pass judgment on this traitorous clan" the masked man said and warped away in a spiral of rippling air.
Itachi was certainly confused but when he heard the a scream that seemed to die away he knew that the slaughter had already begun, and either way the Uchiha clan would be all but wiped out that night.
Elsewhere in the village the genjutsu that Itachi had placed on his younger brother had just worn off and Sasuke seemed to come to his senses not knowing why he was currently walking down the main street of the village now quite a long way from his clan compound. "Oh man, I'm so late, Mother and father will probably be wondering where I am, I need to get home" Sasuke said out loud and turned around before running as fast as he could towards the Uchiha sector.
It had taken quite awhile but once the young Uchiha saw the Konoha police department he knew he was getting close to home. The large entrance to the Uchiha compound came into view and the fan symbol of the Uchiha clan became visible Sasuke stopped running not wanting to look like he was worried in front of the guards. But then Sasuke noticed something odd. The guards were not at their post and the compound was silent.
'That's weird, was their a clan meeting or something?' Sasuke thought as he entered the compound only to realize that all the lights were out. And only the light of the full moon shone down to reveal several large lumps in the middle of the road.
Sasuke was intrigued and went to investigate what they were, but in the end to his horror he saw the dead body of a member of the Uchiha clan, he checked another this time it was a kunoichi that worked in the police department.
Now that Sasuke's eyes were getting accustomed to the dark he could see what was surrounding him everywhere he looked more dead bodies, most looked like they had been killed by a blade, but some seemed to have been burned to a crisp by a Katon jutsu.
"Wha...What's going on?" Sasuke thought out loud as he ran through the streets towards his hom only to find more and more bodies lying on the ground dead. Finally the young Uchiha came to his house and this time he finally saw a living Uchiha, the calm, cool and collected face of his brother appeared from the house.
"Hello Sasuke" Itachi said flatly with no warmth in his voice at all.
"Itachi... what happened here!" Sasuke said with tears forming in his eye's.
"I will show you..." Itachi said and his eyes morphed into a three pointed pinwheel and began to spin. "Tsukuyomi" Itachi said and Sasuke's world faded and he soon found himself watching a horrifying scene of Itachi killing his mother and father and then he saw him cut through the rest of the clan.
Sasuke's world returned to normal but he simply collapsed onto his knees as though he too had been fatally wounded. "Why?" Sasuke cried, tears now flowing uncontrollably down his face.
"Oh it's simple really. I wanted to test myself, to become stronger, and I wanted to gain more power. All that is left is you, although now that I see you, I see no purpose in killing you, you are too weak, so grow up and learn to hate me, and then one day when you have eyes like mine come and find me, maybe then you will be worth my time" Itachi said and he turned around just as a tear fell from his eyes that he hoped Sasuke did not see.
'I need to get out of the village, Hokage-sama said he could buy me some time, but that doesn't mean I can take my time. And besides I have to go find Jiraiya-sama and give him this letter' Itachi thought and jumped up in order to leave the village as quickly as possible only pausing for a small moment in order to give one last look at the village that he loved before leaving it forever.
(Land of Swamp's, Several Day's Later)
Naruto and Jiraiya were finally leaving the land of swamps after collecting some information on Orochimaru and the Akatsuki.
"Well, looks like we can have some time to relax now kid, where do you want to go?" Jiraiya asked.
"Preferably somewhere that doesn't have massive area's of land that smell like foot" Naruto said covering his nose as they walked through another swamp.
"Yeah, I would say you would prefer some place dry as well. How about we try the land of star's, that place is usually pretty good this time of year" Jiraiya said.
"Sure sound's good. Wait, there is someone watching us, I can feel it" Naruto said.
"Really?" Jiraiya said but decided to trust his young pupil.
"You have quite a skilled student Jiraiya-sama" came a voice from behind a tree and Itachi made his way into view.
"Itachi Uchiha, what do you want, I thought I told the old man I wasn't going back to the village and I am certainly not giving them Naruto!" Jiraiya said.
"Naruto?" Itachi asked confused, then he got a better look at the young man that was standing next to Jiraiya. He had his eyes shut but that didn't matter, the blond hair and the whisker marks gave it away. "That is, Naruto-kun... I thought he had died or had been sold to one of the other villages. But that is not why I am here" Itachi said a hint of shock and relief in his voice.
"If that isn't why you are here then what is?" Jiraiya asked.
"I have a letter from Hokage-sama that should explain everything" Itachi said handing over the letter for Jiraiya to read.
Once Jiraiya had finished with the letter he burned it. "So, you are on the run then. And did any survive?" Jiraiya asked.
"Yes just one, my younger brother Sasuke" Itachi answered.
"So, everything went according to plan then" Jiraiya said.
"More or less" Itachi agreed.
"Excuse me, do you want to tell me what is going on?" Naruto said still with his eyes closed.
"Itachi here is going to be joining us for the foreseeable future, I guess that means you can open your eyes" Jiraiya said.
When Itachi saw the ripple patten and metallic purple that Naruto's eyes had become his own eyes widened. He had after all read the ancient tablet hidden under the Uchiha compound. "Impossible... That's that's..."
"The Rinnegan" Jiraiya answered.
"How is it that Naruto-kun has that dojutsu?" Itachi asked.
"I'm not sure, neither of us are. But ever since I saw it I have been training him to use it, he is already a rather gifted ninja if I do say so myself" Jiraiya said.
"I see, I think I might actually enjoy being part of this little group, I would also like to train Naruto-kun, if you would allow it of course" Itachi said.
"Heh why not, I'm sure you understand Dojutsu's far better than I do, but enough of this, lets get a move on, it's wet and smells of mud and dead animals that have been trapped here" Jiraiya said.
"So now I have two sensei's? can you teach me some Suiton jutsu? Jiraiya sensei is horrible at them, and only knows a few" Naruto asked.
"I know a couple, but I am predominantly a Katon type, still I am sure I can help you out" Itachi said and the three ninja left ready to continue their journey.
End Chapter!