Chapter 45 - The Choices We Make I

## Previously ##

"I have a mission for you" Tobi said making the shinobi rise her head and display her glowing blood red eyes.

"Nao-chan"

## Now ##

"What's the mission Fugaku-sama?" Nao asked raising her head to lock eyes with her leader. Blood red eyes with black tomoes shining behind her black bangs of hair that threatened to block her eyes.

"This mission is to be completed at all costs" Fugaku said behind his orange mask and Nao only nodded. "Naruto decided to threaten all of the Akatsuki with death and me particular since I was responsible for the death of his father and mother" Fugaku explained and Nao simply heard what he had to say.

"I want to show Naruto that there are no lengths to where I would go, there is nothing I wouldn't do to complete the Tsuki No Me Keikaku (Eye of the Moon Plan)" Fugaku said with his lone sharingan glowing.

"You wish for me to assassinate Hyuuga Hinata?" Nao wondered. If Fugaku truly wanted to harm Naruto, she would be the most effective target of all of Konoha.

"No" Fugaku replied making Nao raise her eyebrows. "I want you to kill the king of Konoha" Fugaku said smiling darkly.

"The king?" Nao asked confused not knowing what he meant.

"The Academy" Fugaku said with his sharingan glowing. "I want you to kill every single student in there" Fugaku said and Nao's eyes widened.

"WHAT?" Nao yelled in surprise.

"Is there a problem?" Fugaku asked narrowing his eyes.

"Y-you want me to kill some innocent kids who aren't even shinobi" Nao said looking at the floor, not willing to lock eyes with her leader.

"I don't want them just dead…I want them bloody. Naruto will know that it was a mistake to irk me" Fugaku said looking intently at Nao. "You will follow my orders correct?" Fugaku asked in a firm tone and narrowed his eyes when Nao hesitated.

"Yes" Nao replied in a defeated tone. "I will do as you wish Fugaku-sama" Nao said.

"Excellent" Fugaku said in a happier tone. "Don't disappoint me again" Fugaku said and swirled away. Nao sighed and got up and started walking away.

## Konoha's Graveyard – Middle of the Night ##

"If no one else is going to say it than I am" Naruto said crossing his arms. "This is disgusting even by my standards" Naruto said pointing at the gates that lead to the graveyard.

"What are you complaining about?" Hinata huffed "I'm the one that is going to cut her open" Hinata replied and Naruto's face contorted in horror.

"Bunch of hussies" Tobirama replied as he stood there with his arms crossed, watching the younglings.

"You aren't doing much either" Hashirama replied making Tobirama's eye twitch.

"You are the Doton (Earth) user. It's your job" Tobirama replied making Hashirama groan.

"So is Naruto" Hashirama replied pointing towards Naruto.

"Oi…leave me out of this. You are the one with the mokuton bloodline" Naruto replied.

"WILL YOU SHUT UP AND GET ON WITH IT" Tsunade roared making everyone flinch at the sudden sound spike.

"Weren't we doing this at night to keep it a low profile?" Mito rhetorically asked towards the fuming Tsunade. "If you keep yelling you are going to wake up half of Konoha" Mito reasoned.

"How can you deal with those three?" Tsunade asked pointing towards Tobirama, Hashirama and Naruto. "They are like kids on a sugar rush" Tsunade said sighing.

"You get used it to eventually but why are you complaining. You are a Senju as well" Mito replied. At least Minato wasn't so loud since he was an Uchiha. The Uchiha always were a quiet bunch. In fact, the Uchiha and Senju were the opposite in almost everything including personalities.

"Are we going to do this or wait until the ANBU find us during their night patrol?" Minato asked breaking the fight going on.

"Fine. Let's get this on with" Hashirama said and turned to Tsunade. "Whose grave are we profaning again?" Hashirama asked.

"Nao Uchiha thirteen years old. She was the daughter of Mika Uchiha and Sora Uchiha and had an older sister by the name of Nana Uchiha" Tsunade replied opening and reading her file.

"She graduated at age 7 along with Itachi Uchiha and both of them were enrolled in the same team. They both became chunnin at the age of ten. Then they split up, Itachi joined ANBU and Nao continued her job becoming a jounin just before getting killed" Tsunade read from the file.

"It says here that she was very talented in fire ninjutsu, even among other Uchihas. She was the only one that came close to even rivaling the Uchiha Itachi before he did the cleanup" Tsunade explained as she closed her file and everyone walked towards the grave site.

"A good Uchiha is a dead one" Tobirama answered much to the shock of everyone.

"TOBIRAMA" Hashirama yelled and Tobirama huffed.

"You know I'm right" Tobirama replied.

"What about Minato?" Hashirama asked pointing towards the blonde.

"He's alright" Tobirama replied and everyone sweat dropped.

"Let's just dig her up and be done with this" Tsunade stated.

Here lies Uchiha Nao

A proud Uchiha

May she rest in peace

Hashirama kneeled, placing both hands on the ground. The ground shook a little bit as the earth slowly began to break apart. The ground split in two as the coffin slowly made its way up towards the surface. Once the coffin was outside, Hashirama closed the hole.

"Who wants to do the honors?" Tsunade asked and Hashirama shrugged. Hashirama's arm turned into wood as he used it crack open the coffin. The top of the coffin fell to the ground and everyone coughed as the small cloud of dust was set free.

"What did I say?" Naruto rhetorically asked pointing towards the decomposed cadaver in front of them. "Disgusting" Naruto replied. The cadaver in front of them at least still had skin but it was all dried up and brownish looking.

"She was just a little girl" Hinata said overlooking the cadaver of a thirteen year old. Hinata kneeled down and ran a small diagnostic jutsu.

"Prognosis?" Tsunade asked as Hinata worked her magic on the cadaver.

"Her eyes are missing" Hinata said in shock when she found empty eye sockets.

"Members of the Uchiha and Hyuuga Clans have their eyes removed and destroyed at death to prevent exactly at we are doing right now" Tsunade explained and Hinata nodded going back her work.

"Cause of death, blade through the heart" Hinata replied. "It doesn't seem to be a fake. All the normal indicators are here. This is a normal human body" Hinata replied and Naruto took a kunai and cut off a piece of her skin.

"A blade through the heart" Hinata wondered out loud gathering the attention of everyone. "Once the blade pierces it, the organ's structure is immediately compromised and the blood flow is severed. The lack of oxygenated blood shuts down the human brain in just a few seconds" Hinata said looking over the body of the young girl. "Death…is almost instantaneous" Hinata said sadly.

"What are you doing?" Hinata wondered until she saw Naruto sit on the ground and go through hand seals.

"Kuchiyose: Edo Tensei (Impure World Resurrection)" Naruto said slamming his hands together as the ground glowed purple around the shadow clone. A few seconds passed and nothing passed.

"You're losing your touch" Minato snickered only for Naruto to bring his hand to his chin in thought.

"He performed the technique correctly. Either Uchiha Nao is still alive or her soul is sealed somewhere else other than the pure world" Tobirama inferred as he brought his hand to his chin.

"Did she had any medical training?" Naruto asked towards Tsunade who looked over the file.

"Only the basics. She was strictly a taijutsu, ninjutsu and genjutsu user" Tsunade said and watched as Naruto looked around. "What are you thinking Naruto?" Tsunade asked in a serious voice.

"Did the corner or the one who performed the autopsy cross match the DNA to the files?" Naruto asked and Tsunade narrowed her eyes.

"That's classified information Naruto. Only myself and the top medical officers know that we have a DNA database of all of our shinobi. Care to explain how you found out?" Tsunade asked.

"When you found Sakura's remains in ash. You said it so yourself" Naruto replied and got thinking. "According to Hinata-chan this is a human body and its DNA matched the one in the database" Naruto wondered out loud.

"A thirteen year old without any medical training, while still a jounin, wouldn't be able to fake her death to this extent" Naruto said as he walked around until he stopped next to another grave.

Here lies Uchiha Mikoto

Loved by her family

Cherished by her friends

May she rest in peace

Naruto tapped his foot on the ground and watched the earth split itself and another coffin rose to the ground. "Wait Naruto" Kushina said as she rushed her son. "She was a dear friend. Be respectful" Kushina said looking over the headstone. Naruto nodded and used his kunai to spread the coffin apart.

Inside the coffin laid another cadaver. It was in a similar shape of Nao's, the skin was dry and withered. Though this cadaver belonged to a fully developed woman. Like Nao, she had the markings of a blade in the middle of her chest. Naruto cut off a piece of her skin sat on the ground once again.

"Kuchiyose: Edo Tensei (Impure World Resurrection)" Naruto said as the ground glowed purple around the shadow clone. A few seconds had passed and nothing had happened yet again. "Something is off here" Naruto said and turned to Hinata but she was already on the cadaver of Uchiha Mikoto.

"It's a human body as well" Hinata replied and Naruto was wondering what the hell was happening. Did Itachi use some type of sealing jutsu when he slaughtered his clan?

"Tobirama, Mito" Naruto called out gathering the attention of both of them. "Set up a small barrier around the graveyard so that we aren't interrupted" Naruto ordered and both of them went to work on it.

"Father" Naruto said and turned to Minato. "Set up a genjutsu on the barrier to disguise it" Naruto said and Minato nodded.

"Who died and made you boss?" Kushina asked jokingly but Naruto didn't reply as he was busy.

"What are you planning Naruto?" Tsunade asked curious about what Naruto had planned.

"Tajuu Kage Bunshin (Multiple Shadow Clones)" Naruto called out with his fingers in a T shape. "Spread out in groups of two. Each group takes a tomb. Once Hinata has verified that the cadaver is really human use the impure world resurrection" Naruto ordered and watched as the clones went to work. Hinata quickly made enough shadow clones to match the number of tombs and everyone went to work.

"Something is off. The Uchiha were always secretive since they lived in the outskirts of the village. But suddenly one of their own turns on them and kills them all but leaves his brother alive?" Naruto questioned in doubt. "A few years later not one but two Uchihas appear out of nowhere. And to make matters worse, their souls are not in the pure world…where they are supposed to be" Naruto explained.

"Something is off in all of this" Naruto stated out loud and everyone nodded. This Uchiha Massacre stinks and Naruto would go to the end of it to find the real truth. It took half an hour for everyone to go through every single coffin of the Uchiha Clan and he wasn't able to revive anyone. Everyone's bodies where still there minus the body of Uchiha Shisui.

"Do you think it's possible for Itachi to have sealed everyone somewhere?" Naruto asked towards Minato, Mito and Tobirama. Nothing like getting a second opinion.

"Possible? Yes, although it's very unlikely" Mito replied.

"They were all killed by a blade through the heart. According to Hinata that was the cause of death which makes sealing their souls even more unlikely" Minato added and Naruto nodded. "Besides, sealing rituals take a considerable amount of chakra and time, and to seal everyone in the clan, in a single night it's highly unlikely" Minato explained and Tobirama nodded in agreement.

"So the more logical outcome is that they faked their own deaths" Naruto said and everyone agreed. "We need to talk with the old man about this. He was the ruling Hokage at the time" Naruto said and proceeded to bury everyone except Nao, which Hinata was taking to the hospital for a more deep examination. Those were human bodies that had the same DNA. These clones of some sort required vast knowledge of medical jutsu to create.

"What about the Uchiha brat that remained?" Tobirama remembered and everyone stopped walking. Itachi had killed everyone but had left Sasuke alive. Why?

"Do you think that the Sasuke that remained was also a fake?" Hinata wondered. What a mess this was turning out to be.

"No, he was the original alright" Naruto replied.

"What makes you say that?" Minato wondered.

"Because Tobi broke him out from the anbu prison. If he was simply a clone, Tobi would just let him die like everyone else in there" Naruto explained pointing to the graveyard.

"These are all suppositions you know that right?" Mito said and Naruto nodded.

"I'll ask Jiraiya-kun to keep an eye open for Uchihas. Maybe his spy network can gives us some hints" Tsunade said and everyone walked home. They had to talk with Hiruzen in the morning and get the facts clear.

## Forest Outside of Konoha ##

It was the middle of the day at the forests of Konoha. The birds were chirping peacefully and the wind was rustling through the leaves. Everything seemed quiet and peaceful until and blonde blur was seen jumping from branch to branch. The person running towards Konoha was Uchiha Nao although she was a little bit different. Instead of her usual black hair, she was now blonde and the once pitch black eyes were now a dark brown.

Her usual attire was also different. Instead of the traditional dark blue vest with the Uchiha Clan and her sword on his back, she now supported simpler clothes, more civilian clothes to be specific. She wore a short-sleeved pink shirt with the end of the sleeves and the collar being red in color and had black pants.

Nao continued jumping from branch to branch. She looked up and noticed the big green gates of Konoha, she was nearing Konoha. She jumped to the ground and started walking as a civilian should.

"Halt" Kotetsu yelled as he blocked Nao's path.

Nao smiled as she stopped walking. "Sorry for the outburst" Kotetsu said scratching the back of his head. He had a little red tinge on his cheeks as he looked towards the beauty in front of him.

"No problem at all" Nao replied smiling Kotetsu's embarrassment.

*Cough Cough* Kotetsu cleared his throat as he tried to regain his bearings. "Reasons for vising Konoha" Kotetsu asked as he tried to look professional.

"That would be telling" Nao smiled as her eyes gained a red color. She gazed at Kotetsu with her sharingan a cast a small genjutsu.

"Of course. Enjoy your stay" Kotetsu replied. Nao smiled as Kotetsu went back for his booth and Nao went on her way.

"How nostalgic" Nao said to herself was she looked around the busy streets of Konoha. It was the middle of the day and the streets were booming with activity. "Nothing has changed" Nao smiled as she looked over Konoha. Everything was still the same as it was almost ten years ago. The only difference she could see what the fifth face on the hokage monument.

Nao had almost forgotten the warmth of Konoha. She looked to her left and saw a few villagers laughing. To her right she saw a man trying his best to drag on drunk friend around. She went to a shop and bought a few dango sticks. "So good. I've almost forgotten how good this was" Nao said as she continued walking while eating her sweets.

She looked forward and her heart almost stopped when she saw two people coming right towards her. The male had long blonde, waist length, and spiky hair with fangs that framed his face and partially covered his right deep blue eye. He also had three distinctive whiskers marks on each cheek. The female to his side had straight, waist-length, hime-style haircut. Her eyes were white, trademark of the Byakugan.

THUMP

Nao could feel her heart beat increasing with each step she took. Step by step she could see them getting closer and closer. She steadied herself as she couldn't do anything out of the ordinary. She knew that both of them were skilled sensors and any altercation on her chakra and her mission was blown.

THUMP

Nao took a deep breath and time almost stopped as she crossed both of them. She tilted her body to the side as she slightly grazed Hinata's shoulder due to the crowd. Nao almost panicked but continued forward as if nothing had happened. She let out a breath of relief when she felt their chakra getting farther and farther away.

Suddenly Hinata stopped walking and turned around to look at the crowd. "Something wrong?" Naruto asked as he noticed Hinata look at the crowd.

"It's nothing. I just thought I saw someone I knew" Hinata replied and Naruto nodded. Hinata turned around and both of them went of their way.

"That was way to close" Nao thought to herself as leaned against a wall in an alley. If she had been caught she would been killed. "If I remember correctly the Academy was this way" Nao thought and made her way towards the Academy.

## At the Academy ##

"Come on"

Nao heard as she arrived the academy. Outside there were a few students doing laps around the field as their instructor was cheering them on to make them run faster. Nao made her towards the main entrance of the academy and made her way towards the classrooms.

It was amazing how everything was still the same. She continued walking around until she crossed one of the rooms she used to take classes. She focused chakra into her ears and focused on the lecture going on.

"Now" Iruka said gathering the attention of his students. "What can you tell me about the Hi no Ishi (Will of Fire)?" Iruka asked and a girl instantly raised her hand.

"The will of fire is something that the Sandaime Hokage used to say in his lectures. He says that every true Konoha shinobi must love, believe, cherish and fight for the village's sake, as previous generations had done before them" The girl started. "According to Sandaime-sama this is what gives his is what gives Konoha shinobi the strength to continue fighting against all odds" the girl explained.

"Very good Hiro" Iruka replied getting a toothy grin from her. "The Will of Fire is the belief that should guides us. This is what give us strength to fight for those we hold dear" Iruka explained and continued on with his lecture.

"The will of fire?" Nao thought to herself. She had never heard anything like this before. Interesting how times and professors change.

(FLASHBACK)

Nao had just gotten back her mission briefing with Fugaku and she made her away towards the graveyard. She stopped near a headstone with the name of Nana Uchiha. "What would you do big sis" Nao wondered in thought.

"Nao-chan" Nao heard some soft voice and looked up to see a fair-skinned woman with long, black hair with bangs hanging on both sides of her face to roughly frame her cheeks and black eyes. She wore a simple dark blue blouse with the Uchiha Clan's fan on the back and black short skirt.

"Mikoto-sama" Nao said bowing to the wife of the clan leader.

"What troubles you my dear?" Mikoto softly asked.

"Nothing Mikoto-sama" Nao smoothly replied but Mikoto could tell something was wrong.

"Your eyes tell a different story and I'm not talking about the sharingan" Mikoto explained.

"I…It's" Nao started but hesitated before she gathered her thoughts. "I'm not sure if I want complete this mission Fugaku-sama gave me" Nao explained and Mikoto nodded.

"There is only one thing I can tell you" Mikoto started and got Nao's attention. "Never do anything that you think is wrong. If you think deep down what you will do is wrong then don't do it. You will regret it for the rest of your life" Mikoto sadly explained and Nao got curious.

"Did you do anything?" Nao asked.

"I betrayed my best friend. We grew up together and she was like a sister to me. We went to the academy together, we trained together, we talked about clothes, weapons…boys. And yet I'm the reason she and her husband are now dead and the reason I now possess these cursed eyes" Mikoto said flaring her sharingan and displaying her mangekyou for the first time. (A/N: Check profile for pic)

"They are beautiful" Nao said enticed by the pattern Mikoto displayed. "Looks like a flower blossoming" Nao said and Mikoto slowly nodded. "Did you do it for your eyes?" Nao wondered but Mikoto quickly denied.

"I was presented with a choice. Clan or Konoha" Mikoto explained and Nao nodded. "Itachi-kun chose Konoha while I chose my Clan. We are what we choose. So…think about it and be sure of your choice as you will live with forever" Mikoto explained and started walking away.

"Wait" Nao suddenly screamed making Mikoto stop. "Thank you" Nao said with complete honesty. Mikoto nodded smiling and continued walking until she was out of Nao's sight.

(END FLASHBACK)

"Damn him" Nao hissed as she turned around and started walking away from the academy. "I may be a shinobi but even I have my morals and boundaries" Nao thought to herself choosing not to complete her mission.

## Few Days Later – Sarutobi Compound ##

The Sarutobi Compound, home of the Sarutobi Family. They had never applied for Clan status so they didn't possess a seat in the council but that didn't seem to affect them. The Sarutobi clan members were all extremely skilled in taijutsu and both earth and fire ninjutsu. Some members even managed to surpass the Uchihas in the skill with fire.

Such example was of course Sarutobi Hiruzen, the Sandaime Hokage. The man that was present in all three great shinobi wars and lead Konoha to victory in two of them. Extremely skilled in taijutsu, ninjutsu and unstoppable in bojutsu (Staff Techniques). Coupled this with his personal summon, Enma the monkey King, Sarutobi became known was the god of the shinobi and hailed as the strongest shinobi of his generation.

And his father before that, Sarutobi Sasuke was also an exceptionally strong shinobi. Strong enough to hold his own against some legends of the old world like Senju Hashirama and Uchiha Madara.

Both of Hiruzen's son were also strong in their own way. The only one currently alive is Sarutobi Asuma, an elite jounin of Konoha, wind ninjutsu specialist and once a member of the twelve shinobi guardians.

*Ding Dong*

The bell rang through the whole Sarutobi Compound. Standing at the gates were almost all of the dragons with their masks with the exception of both Naruto and Hinata. Tsunade was also there as she was the hokage and she needed to know everything that went down on her village.

The gates slowly opened and in came someone who had short spiky brown hair and black eyes. He wore long grey pants and a pale green jacket with a dark green stripe down the middle. He also wore his long blue scarf and now bore a Konoha protector in his forehead.

"Naruto-nii-chan" Konohamaru greeted in happiness.

"Who's the brat?" Blue (Tobirama) asked pointing to Konohamaru who huffed.

"That would be Sarutobi Konohamaru, grandson of Sarutobi Hiruzen" Naruto explained and Green (Hashirama) crouched to his level.

"He looks like him" Green replied.

"Who are they?" Konohamaru asked pointing towards the masked guys standing next to Naruto, Hinata and Tsunade.

"I'll tell you someday" Naruto said ruffling his hair. "We need to talk to the old man. Is he home?" Naruto asked and Konohamaru nodded guiding them towards one of the many houses.

"This place hasn't changed" Green said as he looked over to the house where Hiruzen lived. It looked exactly the same as the last time he visited and that was many decades ago.

"I've never seen you here before" Konohamaru said once he heard Green's comment.

"You weren't here at the time" Green smoothly replied but Konohamaru shrugged his shoulders and led everyone towards Hiruzen's office.

Konohamaru knocked at the door and heard his grandfather talking. He opened the door and Hiruzen could be seen smoking on his pipe as he was drawing some kind of painting. The room's window was opened as he seemed to be drawing the landscape he could see from that.

"Can we talk?" Tsunade asked and Hiruzen noted the serious tone in her voice. He nodded and shooed Konohamaru away, closing the door. Mito quickly placed a few silence seals around the room to make sure that nothing got out.

"So" Hiruzen started blowing up a bit of smoke. "What can I do for you?" Hiruzen asked and watched as the dragons removed their masks and everyone sat on the ground.

"Where to begin?" Tsunade mused and turned to Hinata. "Why don't you begin with Kiri?" Tsunade asked and Hinata nodded making Hiruzen focus on her.

"A few weeks ago we were given the mission to help the rebel side of the mist in the bloodline war" Hinata started and Hiruzen was already surprised that Tsunade had agreed to such mission but he didn't focus much on that. "We won the war but along the way I fought an Uchiha" Hinata said and Hiruzen raised an eyebrow.

"An Uchiha you say?" Hiruzen asked taking a deep breath and motioned Hinata to go on.

"She said she was Uchiha Nao and she had an eternal mangekyou sharingan. I won the battle but she managed to demolish the building where I stood so I was unable to capture her" Hinata explained.

"I remember her" Hiruzen said sighing. "She was a good girl and just as talented as Itachi. She didn't get much of a spotlight since with Itachi being a prodigy and son of the clan head she remained in his shadow. Always had the impression she had a good heart" Hiruzen explained.

"She was strong. She could use the Amaterasu flames, Susanoo and some type of genjutsu that would completely freeze the enemy's chakra network, paralyzing her opponent and leaving him completely exposed to an attack" Hinata explained.

"I understand but still fail to see what you expect from me?" Hiruzen wondered curious.

"Uchiha Nao was supposed to have been killed when Itachi slaughtered his clan" Naruto said making Hiruzen narrow his eyes at him. "What can you tell us about the massacre of the Uchiha Clan?" Naruto asked focusing his attention on the old man.

Hiruzen sighed as he released a small cloud of smoke. "What is there to tell?" Hiruzen rhetorically asked bringing his pipe to his mouth again. "Itachi slaughtered his whole clan with the exception of his little brother" Hiruzen explained.

"Then how do you explain that there are two Uchihas alive besides Itachi and Sasuke?" Tsunade asked narrowing her eyes at Hiruzen.

"That I do not know" Hiruzen simply replied.

"Why did Itachi leave Sasuke alive?" Naruto asked.

"Only Itachi can answer that but perhaps he intended on taking Sasuke's eyes for himself" Hiruzen smoothly replied.

"You are lying old man" Naruto said smirking. "I can feel your emotions. Guilt and regret which means that you are not telling us the whole story" Naruto replied and everyone narrowed their eyes at the third hokage.

"Just tell what this is all about" Hashirama said.

"Very well" Hiruzen replied sighing. He never expected the truth to come out after so many years. "The truth is that Uchiha Itachi was ordered to eliminate the Uchiha Clan by me" Hiruzen replied and everyone stared with their eyes widened at the man.

"YOU WHAT?" Tsunade yelled making everyone wince at the sound spike.

"And she complains about the noise. If that temper is anything to go by she's a true blooded Senju" Mito though to herself.

"Why would do such thing Hiruzen?" Hashirama asked in disbelief. All that work he put into making the Senju and Uchiha clans form a village together.

"There was no other choice. It was either that or civil war in Konoha" Hiruzen started. "The Uchihas were planning a coup d'état and if it were to take place, Konoha would be divided and weakened. The other nations would have seized this opportunity to bring us down. In the end, Itachi volunteered to the mission and I approved it" Hiruzen explained.

"You did well Hiruzen" Tobirama replied.

"How can you say that?" Hashirama replied getting up and locking eyes with Tobirama. "You were always against the Uchihas but this is a new low even for you" Hashirama replied getting angry.

"They chose their path the moment they started planning it" Hiruzen started breaking the argument. "I tried peace talks and Itachi did try to persuade them to abandon their foolish goal but they didn't cave…so I took steps" Hiruzen explained.

"You could have asked me for help?" Naruto replied.

"What could you do?" Hiruzen rhetorically asked. "An eight year old, despised by most of the village. Not everything revolves around you and if some day you should ever take the hat you will understand that not everything is black and white" Hiruzen replied. Naruto was surprised by the harsh tone coming from Hiruzen. This wasn't the kind old man he knew, no, this was the man that led Konoha into victory through two great shinobi wars, this was the god of shinobi.

"You are still naïve Naruto" Hiruzen said slamming his fist on the ground. "One day you will have to make choices that you will regret for the rest of your life. You will send your own people into missions that you know they will most likely never return. One day you will understand just what kind of sacrifices you will have to do in order to protect Konoha" Hiruzen explained.

"Is that what it means to be Hokage?" Naruto thought to himself.

"I'm disappointed on you Hiruzen" Hashirama replied. "This isn't the will of fire I preached about. All members of the village are family and they shouldn't be exterminated like some infestation" Hashirama explained.

"He did the right thing" Tobirama firmly replied. "Those half-bloods were never to be trusted. You think that I hated Madara but he was the only one I trusted" Tobirama replied making several jaws drop. "He was a man of his word unlike most of his clan and he would never have sacrificed his little brother for his eyes. Those are lies fed to anyone that would hear by those inferior in power to him. Those half-bloods would do anything to rise above those of true blood" Tobirama explained.

"Why do you think he left the village in the first place?" Tobirama rhetorically asked crossing his arms. "Because it wasn't for the fact that he wasn't made Hokage instead of you. He got fed up with his pathetic clan and since he was the last of the true blooded line he left" Tobirama explained.

"Then how do explain him challenging me for a battle?" Hashirama asked narrowing his eyes at his brother.

"That I do not know but he must have had his reasons. We will never know" Tobirama explained.

"Madara wasn't so power driven like those half-bloods. You remember the battles very well. They used their mangekyous until they were consumed by their darkness, they used Izanagi like some toy, playing gods just to try to get the upper hand" Tobirama said gritting his teeth.

"Izanagi?" Kushina asked out loud.

"Izanagi is a kinjutsu of the Uchiha Clan and their ultimate genjutsu" Naruto started. "By sacrificing an eye, the Uchiha can use this technique to gain the power to turn imagination into reality. It was said to be derived from my'Creation of All Things'" Naruto explained and Kushina's eyes widened along those who didn't known of this.

"Tobirama is right" Naruto replied getting a shocked look from Hiruzen. "If the Uchiha Clan had committed to the coup d'état and used Izanagi then Konoha would have fallen in a single night" Naruto explained and Tobirama nodded.

"How come?" Minato wondered. He had never read anything about this Izanagi technique.

"Imagine for an instant that Hiruzen attacked with Uchiha Compound with several hundred of their men. The battle would definitely go in Hiruzen's favor due to the numbers. However, a single Izanagi cast would wipe out his army" Naruto explained and Hiruzen was shocked by the power of the technique.

"This is good and all but apparently they are still alive" Hinata said and broke everyone from their rant.

"What do you mean?" Hiruzen asked confused.

"Last night we performed a mass exhumation on the Uchiha Clan. Their bodies were all fakes. Every single member has apparently faked their own deaths" Hinata explained but Hiruzen shook his head.

"It's not possible" Hiruzen replied in disbelief. "We performed an autopsy on every single member and everything checked out. Besides, wouldn't Itachi notice them being fakes?" Hiruzen asked.

"It was an assassination. The Uchiha Clan never knew what hit them" Naruto explained.

"How can you tell that the bodies were fakes?" Hiruzen asked curious.

"Besides that fact that their souls aren't in the pure world the bodies are, for lack of a better word, perfect" Hinata replied. "I performed an autopsy on Nao's body and she was in perfect condition" Hinata explained.

"Shouldn't that be a good thing?" Hiruzen asked confused.

"She had no marks of broken bones, no scar tissue or any type of bruising history. Now that would be fine for a civilian but not for a shinobi. Besides, her medical history indicates she had broken her ribs before and this body had no evidence of it" Hinata explained and Hiruzen stared at her in disbelief.

"So let me get this straight" Tsunade said and gathered the attention to her. "You order Itachi to wipe out his clan and he follows your orders leaving only Sasuke alive. In the end, it turns out that the Uchiha Clan is still alive and faked their own death" Tsunade explained going thought the facts.

"I wonder why Itachi leaved his brother alive" Minato wondered out loud.

"It was his only request" Hiruzen said. "We already made a huge request by ordering him to kill his own clan but he couldn't kill his little brother. The deal was for him to kill the Uchihas in return of leaving little Sasuke alive" Hiruzen explained.

"A true shinobi. To think he sacrificed so much for Konoha" Tobirama replied.

"And he was a half-blood Tobirama. Even among them there were some good souls" Hashirama said.

"Either that or this Itachi is in with them on this whole fake scheme" Tobirama replied and Hashirama shook his head at Tobirama's stubbornness.

"If Itachi had been on this then he would have killed Sasuke instead of leaving him here alone" Naruto replied. "Who knew Itachi would be the good guy after all" Naruto thought to himself wondering why Itachi joined the Akatsuki after everything he did for Konoha.

"That makes sense" Tobirama replied.

"Who else knows about the real truth behind the massacre?" Tsunade asked.

"Homura, Koharu and Danzo since all four of us come to the final decision" Hiruzen replied.

"I have a question" Kushina said and everyone turned to her. "If the Uchiha Clan is still alive why have they been hiding for so many years?" Kushina threw the question into the air.

"I have a feeling that Tobi has a hand in all of this" Naruto started. "Don't you think it's strange that Tobi was in Kiri and that was the first place we encountered another Uchiha?" Naruto rhetorically asked and few nodded. It was too much of a coincidence.

"If so then the Akatsuki became more dangerous if they the Uchiha Clan in their mist" Tsunade explained. "Let's keep this under wraps until we know more" Tsunade explained and everyone rose. Something's are better off buried forever.