9 First Path of The Sage

Naruto - After Six Months

In the following months' Naruto had taken upon himself to train as much as possible. He used shadow clones every day to fight with him, train Taijutsu, learn different Ninjutsu, and master his chakra control.

Naruto had taken his training much more seriously, something that was noticed immediately by Shisui and Itachi.

Naruto still felt anger, the gull the Hokage had to deny him his heritage, to let him live alone, without anyone, not to allow him to see and know what his parents had left for him.

A group of shadow clones rushed towards him, and Naruto jumped high in the air doing hand signs.

"Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu" a massive ball of fire evaporated every clone in the ground, and the fire kept burning for a few more minutes. Instead of Yellow flames, Naruto's flames were crimson Red like Blood. He didn't know why; not even Kurama knew why.

Itachi had shown him how to do Shadow Clones since it was hard for Naruto to do the other versions. And not to mention that Itachi stated that being a Jinchuuriki could be beneficial to use the secret of Shadow Clones to its fullest.

'Naruto leapt away from a thrown kunai. Jumping from tree to tree as he dodged various projectiles sent his direction by an incensed Itachi. Naruto had finally paid Itachi back for his cheeky kawarimi during their first free-for-all battle by dying Itachi's bright pink hair with a cleverly thrown water balloon.

"Come on, Itachi, calm down! It's not waterproof!" Naruto cackled as he leapt from branch to branch. "Just dunk your head in the creek and cool off! Ahahah!"

It had been nearly one year since the three boys had met each other, and they were as thick as thieves. They had agreed to form a partnership in the near future so that they could take the same missions together.

During the one year that had passed, Shisui and Itachi joined the ANBU to further support their clan's standing. Though this meant less time for Naruto with the duo, they still made an effort to train regularly with the whiskered blond. Naruto had met Sasuke while Itachi taught him.

Sasuke seemed to dislike Naruto on principal. He viewed Naruto as someone trying to steal his brother's time even though Itachi obviously preferred to cater to his younger brother's whims most of the time. Mikoto appeared to be highly pleased that Itachi spent time with Naruto since he had no one, while his father just kept quiet and didn't care much, or at least it didn't show that he did.

Unfortunately, tensions between the Uchiha and the rest of Konoha had worsened; people now openly expressed discontent with the Uchiha Military police. There were whispers of a possible rebellion in the works.

Even Naruto had somehow become involved in the whole mess. Certain people accused the Uchiha of consorting with the Kyuubi due to Naruto's interactions with Shisui and Itachi. They eventually had to move their training to training grounds 44 just for privacy.

A few times, unsavoury individuals who had been encouraged by the mob incident had tried following Naruto to give him a beating. Naruto always detected them from far away and remembered his lessons from the chase. He would henge away or send a shadow clone in a random direction. He also took the time to explore Konoha during his prank spree for the best hiding places and noted all the dead ends he encountered.

Finally giving up on catching Naruto, Itachi panted as he slumped on the ground, pink hair dangling in front of his face limply.

Naruto saw that Itachi had given up and cheekily bounced over to pat Itachi on the head. Itachi glared weakly at Naruto from between strands of neon hair.

"Hey, Naru- Hahahahahahah!" Shisui had just arrived at the clearing that Itachi stopped in and caught sight of his bright hair.

Shisui high-fived Naruto, "You really got him good this time! Nice one!"

"Yeah! You should have seen his face when I hit him!"

Itachi humphed and turned away from the two to wash his hair in the nearby creek.

"So?" He asked as he rinsed his hair out, "What did you call us out here for Shisui?

"Oh nothing, in particular; I thought we needed a day off from missions, and we could just hang out with Naruto!" Shisui chirped, plopping down on the ground and crossing his legs.

Naruto copied Shisui, getting comfortable on the ground in front of Shisui, "So what should we do today then?"

Shisui shrugged blithely, "I don't know. ANBU has been rough lately, and Itachi could use a break."

Itachi walked over to the two, wringing his hair out and shaking his head, sending drops of water flying at Naruto and Shisui, earning indignant shouts of reproach. He then sat down, completing their little triangle.

"I had been meaning to ask you two. What do you think the meaning of a shinobi is?"

Naruto and Shisui both blinked at Itachi, not expecting the philosophical question at this time of day, typically Itachi waited until later in the evening to start asking thought-provoking questions.

"Well," Naruto started, "I think a shinobi... is someone who endures the pains of the world for the sake of others. A Shinobi is also someone who does the right thing when others might be less declined to do."

"Indeed," Said Shisui, "A shinobi is someone who acts in darkness to protect his village."

Itachi nodded his head, deep in thought. Naruto examined Shisui and Itachi closely; recently, it felt as if they were distancing themselves from him. He chalked it up to the pressures of ANBU, but Itachi was acting strange.

"Itachi, what's on your mind?"

"Nothing you need to worry about, Naruto."

Shisui looked at Itachi knowingly; he, too, was worried about his friend. Itachi was the clan heir and thus knew more details about the coup than Shisui, who was an Uchiha orphan, did.

Itachi was lost in thought.

Unaware of his companion's thoughts, Naruto simply scrutinised them closely; he could feel that they both were troubled and conflicted, Itachi more so than Shisui. He didn't know what could upset them, so; perhaps it was an ANBU mission gone wrong?

"Itachi, do you know any clone jutsu I could work with?" Naruto asked them, hoping to break from their silence.

Itachi turned to Naruto and looked at him as if he didn't understand him. "What did you say?"

"I said if you can help me with any clone jutsu, I tried normal ones, but they just don't work with me", Naruto stated, hoping he could do something.

"Naruto, why are you training so much? It has been three months since you have started training harsher," Shisui asked, concerned that Naruto was training more than he should.

At this question, Naruto stood up from where they were sitting and took a few steps away, his head facing his direction; for a moment, both Itachi and Shisui thought that he would walk away, but instead, he turned his head towards them.

Naruto then went on and explained everything that happened on the night of his birthday, he left out that he used a much stronger Fire Jutsu instead of Fireball, but everything else was how it happened.

Both Shisui and Itachi were shocked to hear that; Itachi felt disappointed with his kage; he had assumed someone like him would try to help Naruto but instead, he was denying him something that he didn't have the right to refuse.

Shisui immediately stood up and put his hand on his shoulder and making him look up at him. "Do you want to talk about it?" Shisui asked with a move of his eyes, indicating if he wanted to talk about the people he killed with the Fire Jutsu.

Naruto shook his head. "No, I- I didn't have any other choice, I ... I ..." Naruto stopped talking and just kept staring at the ground below his feet.

After that day, Naruto started learning using his Shadow clones; Itachi showed him how to do Shadow Clones and told him about the secret of Shadow Clones; it had taken less than an hour for Naruto to learn the jutsu.

Both Shisui and Itachi were stunned by what he accomplished, something that a normal Jonin would take days or even months of training.

Right now, Naruto was resting after training for six hours straight; his clones were in his apartment reading useful things he needed to know; Naruto knew the Academy would start after three months, he didn't care much about the Academy of the Village; he didn't care much about the Village overall, the only attachment he could think of he had with the Village was his attachment with Shisui, Itachi and his family, except Sasuke.

Naruto had visited the house of Itachi once more since his birthday.

'Naruto walked inside the house behind Itachi, and he saw Sasuke standing in front of a lake doing hand signs.

"Kaa-chan, I am Home", Itachi announced; Mikoto walked from the kitchen.

"Itachi-kun is good- ohh Naruto-kun is good to have you here", Mikoto spoke warmly and kissed Naruto's cheek, much to his annoyance. But he secretly smiled, liking the feeling of mother-love.

Itachi smiled and turned his attention towards his mother. "Where's Tou-san?" He asked with a hint of hesitation in his tone, something that Naruto noticed immediately.

"He's working", she simply said with a slightly forced smile; Naruto could feel the air around him, and that made him uncomfortable.

"Mikoto-san, I see you're preparing dinner. Can I help?" Naruto asked, hoping to lighten up the mood.

"Of course, Naruto-chan", she agreed, and Naruto followed her to the kitchen.

Naruto soon started preparing the dinner with her, mixing different things, and hoping that he was doing an excellent job at it.

Itachi had walked upstairs for something, and Naruto felt a glare behind him; he glanced behind him to see Sasuke standing in the middle of the living room, his eyes narrowed at him.

Naruto just ignored the Emo and kept making the dinner, soon who Naruto assumed was Itachi's tou-san came.

The man stood taller than Itachi, with dark hair and the eyes of a Shinobi, something that Naruto had seen only in a few people.

"I am home" His voice echoed throughout the house; Mikoto stopped whatever she was doing and went to him in the living room.

Naruto didn't hear what they said since she had closed the kitchen door but didn't feel any malice, so that was a good sign.

Soon the dinner was prepared, and Naruto walked inside the living room to see a low-level table in the middle of the room; Mikoto was bringing plates to the table, helped by Itachi while they told Naruto to relax since he had already done enough.

The young blonde saw Sasuke whispering something to his father, but Naruto didn't try to lean closer and hear whatever they were talking about.

Sitting at the table caused Sasuke to glare at him, while the man looked surprised to see Naruto.

"You must be Naruto that Itachi keeps talking about; my name is Fugaku Uchiha" Fugaku introduced himself and pulled out his hand towards Naruto.

The young blonde smiled and shake his hand, "My name is Naruto Uzumaki".

Soon Itachi and Mikoto sat at the table. Not much was talked about; Fugaku asked Naruto a few questions about his training, how he liked this part of the Village. Naruto answered that he wanted it more than his house and that his movement was going well.

"Nii-san, can you train me tomorrow?" Sasuke asked, looking at Itachi.

"Of course, tomorrow is free, and Naruto can come as well", Itachi replied.

The mention of the blonde caused Sasuke to pout, but he decided not to say anything.

"This dinner is very delicious, Mikoto-chan", Fugaku praised his wife, smiling. This caused Mikoto to giggle and point the finger at Naruto, making him blush.

"Naruto prepared it", she replied, much to Fugaku's shock.

"Well, Naruto, it seems you have a knack for preparing food," He said with a kind tone. After dinner, Sasuke had walked to the lake again; after helping Mikoto-san with the plates, Naruto walked up to Sasuke, hoping they could be friends perhaps.

He saw him making hand signs and recognised them as hand signs for Fireball Jutsu.

The blonde walked close to him and stood just three feet away. After another failed attempt to do the Fireball Jutsu, Sasuke started getting irritated.

"You're not focusing enough on your breath", he heard behind him and turned to see the blonde. This caused him to clench his teeth in anger.

"What could you know?" Sasuke asked with a mocking tone. Naruto didn't care but just took three steps forward and started doing the hand signs, he breathed a huge amount of air as he finished the last hand sign, and with that, he breathed out an enormous fireball that Sasuke had seen before.

"See, you need to breathe a huge amount of air before you finish the hand signs, just doing them won't ..." "Nobody ASKED YOU PARENTLESS", Sasuke screamed at him and ran inside his house.

Naruto felt the air stuck in his throat again, his throat felt dry, and his chest started hurting; his breath quickened as his chest tightened. No, Naruto breathed out as he felt no place to run, he fell on his knees trying to breathe, but he just couldn't, his vision dizzy as the darkness surrounded him, the last thing he felt was a pair of hands around his legs and back carrying him and a voice. "Naruto-kun".

Naruto had woken up in the hospital. The doctors were glaring at him as much as possible, some of them probably wishing he had never woken up.

Mikoto-chan had been on his bed when he woke up and had hugged him almost to death and yelled at him never to do something like that again.

It seems that he had a panic attack, the same day he woke up, he left the hospital; Mikoto had asked him if he remembered anything. Still, Naruto just said he didn't remember what happened, but surprisingly Itachi didn't ask what had happened.

Mikoto-chan, of course, told him to visit again, but Naruto just said that he would but didn't.

Right now, he was still resting from training when he felt Itachi walking close, and he turned his head just in time to see him jump from a branch.

"Naruto-kun, what is it?" Itachi asked since Naruto had asked him if he could meet him, it was 7 PM, and the sun had already set behind the horizon.

"I need to tell you something, Itachi; promise to not tell anyone, except maybe Shisui," Naruto said with a serious tone. Itachi immediately nodded his head without hesitation. "I promise".

Naruto said nothing but walked close to him and closed his eyes much to his confusion but opened them, revealing his Fully Matured Sharingan.

This caused Itachi to stiffen, and his eyes widened, but his eyes immediately turned to Sharingan.

"How do you have the Sharingan?" Itachi asked with a much more serious tone, and he hoped this wasn't someone acting like Naruto despite him not detecting anything amiss.

Naruto went on and told him about his Sharingan, how his father was Minato Namikaze and that he had been half-Uchiha, Naruto, of course, left out the part that he was the reincarnation of Ashura and Indra, but just told him that he had met his father in his mindscape thanks to the seal. He also told him that he and Kyuubi were friends and that his real name was Kurama.

Itachi wasn't sure about trusting Kyuubi, but he believed Naruto, but he immediately noticed that he was hiding something but decided that Naruto would tell him when he felt comfortable.

"You truly are one of a kind", Itachi stated, smiling and patting his back; this made Naruto smile.

"Thank you, Itachi."

"You can call me Nii-san, Naruto."

Secret Place

Danzo slammed his hand on the table, enraged; the ROOT agent standing in front of him stoically did not flinch.

"You mean to tell me that a crowd of adults and fully trained chunin LOST a child in our village?"

"Yes, sir, after the boy turned a corner on 56th street, the crowd was unable to locate the boy again."

Danzo leaned back in his chair and sighed, such incompetent ninja in Konoha's forces nowadays. This is precisely why his ROOT was necessary for the well-being of the Village.

He was furious. His plot to attack the jinchuuriki with a mob and then save him, thus making the jinchuuriki indebted to him, had failed spectacularly. Now years of planning had potentially gone down the drain. Hiruzen was suspicious of him now; ROOT was on the verge of being disbanded.

"No matter. The Jinchuuriki was always a long-term goal; there are other ways to secure his loyalty. Continue to monitor the boy as usual."

The Foundation agent nodded and disappeared.

Even the reports he received regarding the Jinchuuriki were unsatisfactory. At times the boy would disappear from his agents' view, and they would not be able to locate him again for hours. It bothered him a lot that even the best of his spies couldn't read the boy. Somehow a six-year-old boy would know he was being followed and would never train openly or would lose the spies before disappearing to do who knows what.

Danzo resolved himself. For the good of Konoha, the Jinchuuriki must be under his thumb. Hiruzen was simply too soft to make use of the Jinchuuriki's full potential.

Naruto

It had been a week since he told Itachi about his Sharingan; he then had told Shisui but only when Naruto was present as well. To say Shisui was surprised would be like saying that Minato had been the slowest Shinobi.

Shisui immediately had asked for a spar with him, both of them using Sharingan; according to him, Itachi's Sharingan had gotten rusty and not a challenge to him.

Naruto had laughed while Itachi had playfully rolled his eyes. Having them as friends felt the best thing; Naruto hoped this would never change, they were his only friends, and Itachi was his big brother.

Shisui had started calling him his little Uchiha brother as well, and to him, Naruto was family as much as a little brother.

Right now, Naruto was walking through the Village and couldn't help but notice the ways the citizens were acting, for the first time since... forever, and their attention seemed to be somewhere else and not at the little blonde.

Listening closely to what they were saying, he heard that Kumo Shinobi were here to discuss Peace. Naruto fought the urge to roll his eyes, Peace was a delicate thing, even easier to break than glass, one wrong move, and it will shatter and will be very hard ever to put the pieces back together.

Night

The Hyuuga compound stretched before the intruder in the darkness. He eyed its stern white walls, standing forbiddingly tall, with growing wariness. Inside them, rows of houses lined up in neat patterns. He pressed on, slithering stealthily near the ground, his hands locked so tightly into a handseal they trembled. A precarious camouflage genjutsu was his only lifeline and the reason he'd been chosen for this mission.

It was a clever thing: a technique of suggestion. Slowly, he weaved his chakra into subtle signals that crept gently into the guards' minds. And though they scoured the compound, all-seeing, they overlooked him as though part of the scenery, a meaningless object blending into the background so neatly, they'd glance around and over and behind him, their brains not even registering the threat. Without hiding him, it made reality around him more pronounced, more eye-catching, infinitely more vivid, and interesting to look at. It diverted the attention of drowsy, bored sentinels who had not dealt with a serious threat in months, mainly because no one dared.

The jutsu had one clear, fatal limitation: focus. If a single eye looked at him, truly, directly at him, he was dead. And worse, disgraced - a failure.

Silently, he sent a prayer up to the thunder god. Then he scuttled between two little houses, past a deserted courtyard, towards the heart of the compound. His destination. Walls within walls, he thought, steeling himself for the climb.

The outer level had been all branch member houses, dozens of them modest and neat, singularly nondescript. It had been easy enough to navigate. All roads led to the centre, where the mansions of the Main House stood stately behind their proud white walls. From thereon, security more than doubled. Within lay the living treasures of the Hyuuga Clan. The unsealed. The enslavers of their own kin, he thought, his lip curling in distaste.

His task was to abduct an unsealed Hyuuga child, securing the famed bloodline for the glory of his Village. The Main House consisted of less than twenty individuals - the head, his council, and their heirs - there only existed a single unsealed Hyuuga younger than five, and she was zealously guarded at all times.

Hyuuga Hinata. His mission objective.

He jumped off the wall softly, crouching low on the ground. For a moment, he held still and searched. Chakra signatures of small children were such soft things.

In the gardens? He thought with some surprise. Though it saved him the trouble of having to penetrate the mansion, he wondered warily if it wasn't some kind of trap. What could such a small child be doing out of bed in the middle of the night? Had his plan been found out? Narrowing his eyes, he sharpened his chakra sense, stepping without a sound between rows of flowering plants.

The little girl sat gingerly by a rose bush. She cradled its petals gently, thoughtfully, as she spoke in a hushed tone. ''I think Father is angry with me again. I still can't—my eyes haven't—'' She gave a small unhappy sigh. ''Mama says I might have a little brother soon. Or a little sister. I—''

His hand closed around her mouth, smothering a scream. Slowly, carefully, he spun an illusion that fell over her mind like a blanket. The child swayed, sagging limply into his arms. Heaving her small weight over his shoulder, the Shinobi fled into the night.

As he passed a door, he now stood outside of Hyuga compound, but a child with Cold Purple eyes stood in front of him.

He felt his whole body freeze, and he couldn't move as his body started shaking like a leaf; he saw the child who had blonde hair raise his right hand.

"Banshō Ten'in" the last thing he felt was his body being pulled.