naruto; plotting
It had been almost one year since Itachi had come back to Konoha. It wasn't the village he once remembered. Or maybe it was his thoughts about the village that had changed. It wasn't easy, seeing his brother again, feeling welcomed in a home again. He was prepared to take the secret about their clan to the grave. The Uchiha would be remembered as a clan of warriors, a clan of protectors. Not a clan that planned a coup against the very village they swore to give their life for. Not that he was impartial to the treatment of their clan by the village.
When he used to walk the streets of Konoha with his father as a child, people would stop to greet him, thank him for their continued protection. After the Kyuubi attack, they would see the Uchiha and whisper about their cursed eyes, about their power to manipulate the beast that stole their homes and family. He was young back then, he didn't think much of how simple civilians got this knowledge that before this was a guarded secret. Didn't ever imagine that someone in the village would ever spread rumours about their clan, let alone someone part of the Elder Council of Kohona.
Itachi was the 'perfect shinobi' ever since he could remember. Train hard to bring honour to the clan, to be a suitable heir, to serve the village, to let Sasuke grow up without being pushed too hard, to let him remain a child for as long as possible. He had always been good at following orders. And follow orders he did, he climbed up the ranks, pleased all his superiors, killed without hesitation even though the only thing he ever believed in was non-violence. And then came Danzo's orders. He was naive. He didn't confirm anything with the Hokage and slaughtered his own clan.
Sasuke is safe, he reasoned with himself. At least he's safe. Alive.
Joining Akatsuki wasn't hard, not after everything else he'd done. Killing children and defenceless people was still painful, what if that child had been his little brother? But it had to be done. He needed to prove his loyalty. For Konoha. For Sasuke.
Seeing Sasuke again was hard. Seeing the perfect mix of his parents in his face hurt. But Itachi was a perfect shinobi. He schooled his expression and feelings and obeyed. But his once foolish brother continued to surprise him. He had formed bonds again, he had overcome the curse that ran through their very blood. Seeing Naruto was another surprise, but to be honest, the boy was full of surprises. He had Mokuton, a Kekkei Genkai seen only in the Shodaime, the God of Shinobi. His empathic abilities were less of a mystery, but equally as surprising. The Kyuubi was known to be able to sense emotions, but this level of control over the Bijuu at this age? Never heard of.
The boy was proficient in the art of sealing despite his age and lack of teachers. It was almost suspicious. There were so many questions he had wanted to ask. About their eyes, their abilities. But he held his tongue. His brother did not owe him anything. The first few months of staying there were hard, full of random outbursts and long painful silences. It was worst when only the Uchiha were present.
"It's hard. Staying here, I can feel the people's pain, confusion, fear and hate from the night they died. It's like yours but multiplied with over a hundred people." He had overhead Naruto saying to Sasuke, teary-eyed and voice laced with hurt. Itachi could barely control his own emotions when he heard it. Sasuke was silent, but he could make out the blonde breaking into sobs and his younger brother moving to comfort and hold him from outside the room. No one said anything about it, but a few days later they planned to move into the Senju compound.
Being out of the Uchiha compound was like a breath of fresh air he didn't know he needed until he had it. In contrast to the grief-stricken stagnant land, the Senju compound was ever-growing, full of life and Hashirama trees. They could feel the protectiveness in the trees, the life and happiness in each corner of the compound. Naruto's chakra shined brighter than the sun when he was there. Even Sasuke seemed lighter. He, for the first time, held hope that maybe, maybe things would be better again.
His movement from the Uchiha to the Senju compound had taken so much planning it was almost comedic. Sasuke had offered to put everyone in a mile near them in a genjutsu as they henged Itachi into a potted plant and carried him. Naruto offered to create an underground tunnel connecting the two compounds and filling it completely once its use was over. Itachi didn't know whether to feel touched or exasperated. In the end, Itachi did henge into a potted plant, but there were no genjutsu's involved. He hoped.
Life after that was better, there was no risk of anyone entering the compound, Uzumaki seals were superior to all the attempts made to enter the safe haven. There was a reason Kiri and Iwa had to band together to destroy a village half the size of Konoha and still lost almost all their military power.
Things started to settle in, a routine was established. Itachi cleaned the compound whenever he could, he found out he quite liked gardening. Sasuke and Naruto went to the academy and usually came straight back home. It was sweet, how they tried to make sure he wasn't lonely. Even though he'd rather prefer the two to make friends and socialise than spend their time on him. He had once tried telling Sasuke that subtly but the youngest Uchiha had thrown a fit and it seemed they were coddling him even more after that.
Then came the topic of their knowledge.
Out of everything he had suspected and theorised, reincarnation gone wrong was not even anywhere near the list.
To learn his foolish little brother was actually the founder of their clan was a headache. To learn that Naruto wasn't blessed with Hashirama's ability but Hashirama was blessed with Ashura's (AKA Naruto's) Mokuton abilities was another headache. Finding out they were brothers in the past life? Wasn't the hardest thing to believe. It was obvious to anyone who paid attention to the behaviour of the boys around each other that they were impossibly close for having known each other only a few years. Especially considering how harsh both their lives had been.
It opened a new plane of possibilities. If Sasuke's last incarnation had been Madara, then it was as good as confirmed that the 'Madara' who helped Itachi with the massacre of the clan wasn't Madara at all. One evening, as they sat and talked about a being called 'Zetsu', (and who knew Zetsu was the one pulling the strings in the Akatsuki?) Sasuke told them that all he remembered from Madara's life was before his final fight with Hashirama where he cheated death with Izanagi.
The forbidden Uchiha jutsu might've bought him back to life, but the soul fragment of 'Indra' that resided in Madara had passed on, and was later born once again with Sasuke. Naruto's last memories were grieving for Tobirama when he gave his life to protect his genin team, the current Hokage and Elders of the village. Losing his best friend, and then his brother, he had spiralled into depression and only Mito and his children could bring him to smile anymore.
On one such day, he had ventured into a small clearing in the village and let our all his pent up grief and energy into creating the 'Forest of Death'. The most dangerous training ground in Konoha. The forest with infused with such a ridiculous amount of Natural chakra that the animals and insects growing there underwent evolution rapidly and grew up to be the enormous beasts they are today. The nerdy part of Itachi felt privileged to know this, the first Hokage had always been his biggest inspiration.
Both of them had blurry memories, only their time as Ashura and Indra fresh in their minds. But first and foremost, they were Naruto and Sasuke, though Sasuke tended to slip up and call Naruto 'little brother' once in a while. For some reason, it always made Itachi laugh.
______
Naruto was eleven years old, plus a few centuries of memories for extra measure, he did not need to be coddled. Yes, he knows not to go out alone after sunset because people aren't very kind to him, he knows not to accept verbal abuse from villagers without saying anything like he had been doing all his life. He knows that telling the Sandaime about the way the general public treated him did make his everyday life a lot easier. Old man Hokage had been genuinely hurt to know that Naruto didn't tell him about his struggles before and did something that made the people shut up and strictly ignore him.
It did help, yes, but it was hard when you could feel everyone's emotions anyway. Silence did not mean their hate disappeared. No more overpriced items did not mean he did not feel the disgust of the shopkeepers as he stepped in. Fair grading and marks did not mean he couldn't feel the repulsion his teachers felt when they had to talk to him. Just because it wasn't done outright anymore did not mean it was less.
Sasuke wasn't an idiot either, though pleased about the development, he still worried about him, thus leading to an overprotective shadow following him everywhere. Of course, Shikamaru was the first to point it out, but that didn't mean that the others in school hadn't noticed. Everyone wanted to be on good terms with the rookie of the year, last of the clan, Uchiha Sasuke, and so they were good to him too. It made it a little nicer that there were many in their class who genuinely did want to be his friends, even though it might've been due to different reasons initially.
He wondered who would he be in a team with? Sasuke was an obvious member, keeping the last pair of Sharingan in the village close to their Jinchurki was ideal. Their third member would most probably be a civilian, probably a Kunoichi. To balance out their team, two clan heads and one civilian born huh? A good incentive to bring the clan children and civilian students together, but not very practical. Given that without any formal clan training Naruto was as good as a normal civilian child, but he still had Uzumaki blood running through his veins, reincarnation or not. Same with Sasuke. The village's negative opinion of the Jinchuriki factor and reverence of the Last Uchiha would also be most prominently seen in the civilian mindset. It was simple facts.
Not that he could make any changes to his team. Granted, the Hokage let him get away with a lot of things (not that he caused mischief now, much) but that didn't mean he could go and demand a selective team member. Probably.
There wasn't much he could do about this, so he'd let it go.
That would be something a person who wasn't Uzumaki Naruto would say.
As for him, he had already made a list of potential future candidates for his and Sasuke's team. It was most likely going to be a Kunoichi, Top of their class, and someone with good chakra control. Based on whatever he remembered from Tobirama's long speeches of choosing perfect and balanced teams, this was what applied. Also, considering the current government was direct students of the said man, it is very likely they follow their teacher's footsteps.
They certainly did in being wary of the Uchiha.
Tobirama would be so disappointed with their way of dealing with a coup uprising and treatment of the last of the clan.
Back to the topic, after careful consideration, the possible members for their team were,
Hinata Hyuuga,
Ino Yamanaka,
Sakura Haruno.
Hinata was unlikely considering two dojutsu on the same team were not very common.
Ino was not as unlikely, but it's possible she'd team with a Nara and Akimichi to continue the tradition. Still a possibility though.
Which left Haruno Sakura. A civilian born, first-generation shinobi in training. No practical skills, nothing special. Holds the first position in class for written exams since forever. Good, but not noticeable enough to attract attention. Best chakra control in class, after him of course. According to political play, satisfactory to be in their team until she makes chunin and can be redirected towards medic corps after, or until she gives up on the shinobi lifestyle. Or worst-case scenario, dies.
Good thinking, but fortunately for him, he had a perfect way to get her out of the race to be their third teammate. He didn't have anything against the girl, except that Sasuke's annoyance shot up like anything when she was near him and any attempts at teamwork would fail due to that drift. And her intense dislike for Naruto too. She did not meet his standards, simple as that.
No, he was not talking like an old man.
Shikamaru shut the fuck up challenge.
He walked to the Hokage's office and his secretary let him through without a second glance. Most people would have to make appointments with the Hokage days prior to get a slot at his convenience, but Naruto was somewhat of an exception. Everyone knew that by now.
"Good morning Jiji!" he greeted as he walked in, the Sandaime gave him a smile before setting aside his documents.
"Good morning Naruto-kun. Enjoying the day off from the academy?" he asked politely.
"Yep. Gonna be done with the academy pretty soon y'know! Less than a year left, I'm still telling you that you should've let me take the graduation exam with the last batch. You can't control Uzumaki Naruto's awesomeness after all!"
"Of course, of course. So, you're here for a reason I suppose?" he asked gently, holding his hands and letting his chin rest on them.
"Yes. I was thinking of the genin teams dattebayo. Guess you can't tell me my members?" a long look from the Hokage that was increasing familiar by now told him all he wanted to know.
"Fine fine, so anyway, let me show you something. Give me your hand, palm up," he instructed and the old man complied, an amused smile on his lips.
Naruto bought a kunai to his palm and after looking at his face for confirmation, made a small clean cut on it. Then he bought both his palms over it and let his life energy flow through it. Soon there was a green glow over the area and the cut healed as if it had never been there. He looked up to the Hokage and was extremely pleased to see the shocked expression. Yes he knew, Uzumaki didn't make traditional medics. They had too much chakra.
The only medics their clan ever produced were either half Uzumaki's, Jinchuriki able to utilize Kurama's Yin chakra, or people who could replicate medical procedures with the help of seals. It wasn't just about poor chakra control, plenty of Uzumaki's through the generations have had good control, it was the density of their chakra itself. For any non-Uzu shinobi, their chakra would completely overpower theirs and could be fatal unless it contained Healing Ability, a bloodline in one of the branch families of the Uzumaki clan.
He was, of course, all three, even though the last didn't apply here.
Hashirama was able to heal himself from any injury that was life-threatening for any other shinobi mid-battle. Uzumaki Mito, curious of her husband's ability, had modified it into the 'Byakugo' seal that resided proudly on her forehead. There was very little an Uzumaki could not do with ink and paper. That seal was further used by Tsunade of the Sannin. There was no way Naruto would let go of his legacy. Technically, he was, in someone or the other, the inspiration of the seal.
"W- Um, where did you learn that?" the Hokage asked after a moment of silence and Naruto flashed him his most innocent, brightest smile (it always made Sasuke agree to make him Ramen for dinner) and said, "I was looking through some of Mito-obachan's stuff and found some stuff in scrolls and whatever. It was boring but since I am an Uzumaki I decided to read through and learnt some stuff."
"......I see. Naruto, no more using medical ninjutsu on yourself, or anyone else before showing your progress to the village hospital. I'm very proud of you for learning this all by yourself and for taking an interest in your clan legacy, but things like these can be very very dangerous, okay?" Naruto nodded, he had already expected the 'no messing around' speech before coming here.
"Good, you're interested in Medical ninjutsu?" he asked, leaning back and absently rubbing his elbow.
"Yeah, I'm gonna be the best Medic ever. So you better take that into consideration when choosing my teammates dattebayo." he finished seriously and they talked some more before he took his leave. Haruno Sakura would probably not be on his team anymore.
He hoped.
It was still a few hours before noon so he decided to go and visit Ichiraku's!
He happily made his way over to his favourite establishment but just as he was turning around the corner that led to the street where it was located, he found an unimpressed Uchiha Sasuke standing there, arms crossed and a single eyebrow raised.
Oh, man.
"How even?" he mumbled and Sasuke rolled his eyes, "I can sense your chakra all the way from the other end of the village. Let's go home, you had Ramen yesterday. Plus I want to try one of mom's recipe's." he reasoned and dragged a sulking Naruto home. Itachi would probably be expecting them to return soon.
No, Shikamaru, he did not have a bodyguard. Who also served as a full-time mother hen.
No, Shikamaru, shut the fuck up.