Little Stalker

Time passed extremely quickly since the incident and Konoha was slowly getting back to its former state. Hiruzen once again took the post of the Hokage, as he rarely came back home, even though his wife was basically enslaved in her room due to her injuries. However, despite the rapid and prompt rebuilding of the village, it was no longer the same.

The tension between Uchiha and others has reached a dangerous point, and all of the red-eyed shinobi were forced to live separated from the main village. Unfortunately, that only worsened the relationship between them, and Zeus frequently saw some disputes among them in the village.

During this year, Zeus also had a lot on his mind. After the invasion, Zeus quickly came to the realization that nobody even knew about that masked man's appearance, and Zeus was the only one with such information. At first, he wanted to tell Hiruzen everything about their battle, but the more time passed, the more reluctant did he become.

After all, that man was an Uchiha. Considering that he worked alone and had overwhelming strength, he was probably not from the village. However, that didn't change many things, for he was still someone with a sharingan. Zeus feared that revealing what happened would result in an even worse circumstance, especially considering that Hiruzen was very easily influenced by others.

He had seen with his own two eyes how Danzo and two other elders have basically forced Hiruzen to relegate the Uchiha's. To put it in simple terms, Hiruzen was a pushover. Perhaps old age and stress were getting the better of him.

Besides that, Zeus also had his hands full with training and taking care of Naruto. A few months ago, Asuma got into a heated argument with Hiruzen and left the village in search of solitude and independence. Zeus understood Asuma quite well, but he still loathed the man for leaving him all alone with this kid. Still, the nurse took care of the most trouble, and Zeus mostly had to deal with Naruto waking up at night.

"Listen to me, Naruto, if you are going to poop again, I will really send you to an orphanage." Zeus threatened, holding a finger near Naruto's face, who grew up quite a lot during this one year. Currently, he was in the same enclosed bed as Zeus had been once.

Unfortunately, the threat didn't seem to work well, and Naruto grabbed onto Zeus's finger, laughing like he was having the time of his life. Zeus pushed some chakra into his head, and two long electrical horns formed there, encompassing the room in its violent chakra. Zeus smiled, confident that this would silence the little bastard.

In return, however, Naruto only delivered an even bigger smile, pointing at the horns above Zeus's head. He produced some gibberish sounds that really struck Zeus's nerve, as he let his head down in defeat, unable to withstand this humiliation.

On top of that, an intense stench attacked Zeus's nose.

He lifted his head, fire burning in his eyes.

"I swear, I am going to kill you one day, you little fucker."

-

Finally, Naruto fell asleep after Zeus did some nasty business. Sighing, Zeus took one last glance at the sleeping kid before jumping through the window. It was already really late and no people could be seen in the vicinity. Zeus traveled promptly through the village, arriving at his secret hideout in the forest.

It was a wooden hut of moderate size, which was built around this enormous tree. Zeus had chosen very carefully which of the branches was the most stable and spent around two weeks perfecting it. Activating Overlock, Zeus promptly appeared inside, jumping through the window.

Within, there was an arsenal of weapons and scrolls.

Most of them Zeus had found within the forest, but there were a few that he simply had stolen. Zeus had read most of them, especially the ones regarding lightning techniques, but none of them were better than his own created ones. As for widespread ninjutsu used in Konoha, Zeus had learned them long ago, and they didn't strike him as anything particularly good.

"Might as well get rid of all this. Hiruzen will go livid if he finds out I have been stealing so much stuff." Zeus mumbled, gathering everything into a bundle. However, just when he was about to burn everything, he felt a presence. Immediately, Zeus activated Overlock at 25%, appearing outside of the hut.

He rushed towards the place where he had felt someone staring, seeing a boy no older than him looking at him with dilated eyes. Not just eyes, Sharingan ones. Frowning, Zeus appeared just behind the man, Minato's gifted kunai pressed against the youth's neck.

"You know, I really don't like people stalking me," Zeus mumbled into the youngster's ear. Surprisingly, despite his age, he didn't panic, instead turning his neck and raising his hands. Looking up closer, Zeus understood that he had already seen this kid somewhere before, as his mid-parted hair was quite distinctive.

"I am sorry. I was training in the forest when I suddenly saw a house built here, and curiosity got the better of me." Itachi answered, forcing out a weak smile. "I didn't know someone was inside. That was indeed rude from my side."

Hearing Itachi's genuine words, Zeus couldn't even find a reason to be mad. Sighing, Zeus was about to put away his kunai and let this handsome youngster go when he felt a sharp edge pressed against his own back.

'I didn't even feel anything.' Zeus thought, a bead of sweat falling down his forehead. Suddenly, everything around him turned silent. He felt the coldness of the metal pressed against his back, and the hotness boiling up from within him. The person behind him was...strong. Very strong.

"Itachi, when I said you can explore the forest for some time, I didn't mean this." A strong, deep voice came out from that man's mouth, and Zeus's heart suddenly started beating more rapidly. He felt the man's gaze fall upon him. "I suggest you let my son go before it's too late."

"Dad, actually, he was already about to let me go. All this happened because I acted rude." Itachi said, stepping forward and Zeus letting him do so, as the youngster fully turned around. "There is no need for any violence."

Zeus felt the weapon move away from his back, and he slowly turned around to see a recognizable face. It was Fugaku, the chief of all Uchiha, and the man who had achieved incredible merit during the Third Shinobi War. Hiruzen had even said that they were matched in strength. It seemed that Fugaku had also recognized Zeus, causing his frown to deepen even more.

"You are Hiruzen's adopted son, Zeus, right?" Fugaku asked with an indifferent voice and Zeus nodded without opening his mouth. "Could you keep what happened here today between us? Otherwise, some complications could arise."

For some reason though, Zeus didn't feel like that was a request, but rather a threat. Raising his hands into the air, Zeus responded. "Don't worry, my mouth is sealed."

"Good," Fugaku said, gesturing for Itachi to leave immediately. However, Zeus suddenly smiled deeply, craziness revealing itself in his eyes. "However, isn't it impolite to ask for a favor without putting anything on the table yourself?"

Fugaku furrowed his brows, killing intent exploding from him. "Do you think you are in any position to ask for anything?"

"So what?" Zeus answered, not batting an eye in the face of this threat. "Are you going to kill over something so trivial? Doing so would result in even more complications, which I believe isn't something you are desiring too much."

For a moment, there was just silence before Fugaku finally calmed down. "What do you want?"

"Oh, it's nothing much. I just want you." Zeus proclaimed with a dramatic expression, only to understand how strange that sounded. Looking at Itachi's and Fugaku's faces, they also were quite confused. "Wait, that's not what I meant. I just wanted to fight you."

"Fight me?" Fugaku asked with an even more confused face. However, his face then turned into that of amusement, as he barely managed to hold in the laugh. His reaction eased the tension between them by a huge margin. "Sorry, it was just quite funny. Out of so many things, you simply want to fight me?"

"Yeah." Zeus scratched his head, staring at Fugaku with a disconnected expression. He didn't really understand what was so funny. Wasn't it normal to strive for battles with stronger people?

"No offense to you, but I don't think fighting kids is appropriate, especially considering our circumstances." Fugaku regained his former indifference, putting a hand on Itachi's head. "I am sure you know the current situation in this village. If anyone would see such a scene..."

"It's rare for anybody to go into this forest. In fact, you are the first people that even came across my little base." Zeus answered promptly, not letting this opportunity escape. "Besides, I have a few barrier scrolls, so we can set it up to be more cautious."

"Are you actually so eager to fight me?" Fugaku asked, not really understanding the kid in front of him. Usually, everyone feared him, even his fellow clansmen, yet this kid would go to such an extent to have a go with him. Amused, Fugaku delivered a weak smile, as he saw the desire burning within Zeus's eyes.

"Alright, you win," Fugaku mumbled in defeat, pushing Itachi forward. "However, at first you will have to defeat my son to prove your strength to me. How does that sound?"

Zeus frowned for an instant but didn't say anything else and simply nodded.

Might as well fight two times instead of one.

***

Insert Gif: Stalking.

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