บท 4: Sharingan

"They will live in my new world, or they will die in their old one" - Daenerys Targaryen

Naruto

He first threw a punch towards his face, but Itachi suddenly disappeared; Naruto immediately turned around, ready to kick him; the Uchiha grabbed his foot and threw him in the opposite direction. Itachi was caught off guard by Naruto, knowing he was behind him.

Naruto stood up immediately and grabbed a kunai from his pouch, rolling it in his direction finger; he rushed again, running towards him, but threw the kunai halfway through, Itachi saw the kunai heading towards his chest and moved away, but then Naruto grabbed another kunai and threw at the kunai in mid-air causing it to change direction.

Itachi was surprised, but the kunai didn't fly anywhere close to him despite changing the direction. Seeing that, Itachi suddenly moved much faster, showing up behind Naruto and softly kicking his foot, making him fall to the ground.

Naruto kept the cool head and wanted to try and stand up again when he saw Itachi aiming his kunai at his face; the young blonde stopped dead on his track; for a moment, he feared that Itachi might try to harm him. Still, he smiled and pulled the kunai away before walking up to him and stretching out his hand.

Naruto accepted the hand and stood up, waiting for Itachi to say that he was disappointed by him.

"Very well done, Naruto-kun. The idea to use the kunai like that was a good one," Itachi said, smiling at him and rubbing his hair, much to the blonde's annoyance.

Naruto beamed at the words; his face lightened up like a candle. "You mean it?" Naruto asked with a sense of insecurity in his voice.

Itachi smiled again and nodded his head. He kneeled on his level a pecked his forehead with his fingers, and smiled.

"Now then, let's begin a real training. Do what I say," Itachi said with a stern tone, and Naruto nodded his head in agreement.

After One Month

The following month Itachi taught Naruto whenever he could; usually, he was in missions but sometimes had time to teach Naruto about Chakra Control and other various essential things.

From sticking a leaf on his forehead to reading books about Chakra, Clans and other important things.

Naruto had taken a liking to Seals; after understanding that a seal could hold someone like Kurama on his stomach, the young blonde understood that there was a lot of potential hidden behind Fuinjutsu.

Right now, Naruto was sticking leaves on his forehead and balancing kunai on his fingertips. Itachi told him that was an important lesson for Chakra Control.

Kurama had taught him a few things as well but mostly helped him whenever he was tired, like giving him his chakra so he could train longer.

Naruto spends at least nine hours every day training, Kenjutsu, Fuinjutsu, and Taijutsu. Kurama and Itachi told him that he could start learning Ninjutsu once he had reasonable chakra control, and according to Kurama, it wouldn't take long.

Naruto had asked furball if he should tell Itachi anything about what he learned from Hagoromo, but Kurama was against it; he said that despite everything, Itachi was loyal to the village.

And Naruto didn't say anything to the old Hokage about Hagoromo or him being a reincarnation of Indra and Ashura Otsutsuki because he still felt bitter that he had declined any clan the request to raise him.

Why? Naruto didn't know why a family like everyone else couldn't raise him? Am I really a Monster?

Naruto quickly shook his head in denial; the leaves on his forehead and the kunai fell to the grass. The young blonde kept a stoic face but inside, he felt like someone had stabbed his heart.

Standing up, he looked at the palms of his hands; the moon and sun symbol still made him confused.

Walking through the training field, his hands behind his head, he thought of his parents. Before he could think of anything, he suddenly felt two chakras rushing towards him, jumping up, a sword cut through the air; Naruto's eyes widened seeing the masked Shinobi with a katana in his hand.

"Who are you?" Naruto exclaimed, jumping away, jumping up to a tree; he turned his head just in time to see another ANBU ready to slice him.

Naruto saw the sword moving slower and slower towards his face; Naruto didn't have time to think about what was happening to him before he jumped away from the Chunin Level Speed attack; usually, anyone else would be surprised by the kid, but they felt and looked as emotionless as a stone.

Landing on his feet, Naruto grabbed a kunai from his pouch and was ready to defend himself. These were ANBU and much stronger than him, and not to mention there were two of them. The blonde knew he couldn't outrun them; he was a kid, and being able to outrun an ANBU would be impossible.

"Naruto, you need my help," Kurama said in anger.

Suddenly Naruto was engulfed in red chakra, and his eyes changed, now he had a fully matured Sharingan in each eye and red slit.

His nails grew on his hands, two times longer, his whiskers looking more and darker, his hair grew spikey, a red cloak of chakra surrounded him, it almost looked like made of bubbles, a tail slowly grew behind his back.

He was standing on his four, glaring at the ANBU in front of him.

Before the ANBU could do anything, Naruto roared at the closest ANBU sending a shock wave, throwing him against a tree; Naruto immediately rushed at the second one. He moved his right hand forward, and the chakra cloak surrounding his hand expanded and moved towards the ANBU.

The hand made of chakra looked five times larger than expected; the ANBU avoided the attack, but Naruto was already behind him and sliced his back open, his blood flew like a waterfall, around Naruto as well, but he didn't have time to think as the second ANBU was behind him ready to stab him.

Then suddenly, a third hand made of chakra came out from his back and grabbed the sword before it could penetrate his back.

Naruto moved his right hand immediately and cut open his stomach, his guts fell in the ground, the blood turned the grass red, the ANBU fell on his knees, but he didn't make a sound, not even moving his hands on his wound to try and hold his guts inside.

Naruto's eyes widened when he saw what he had just done, the body started burning, and soon there was nothing left but ash.

The chakra cloak around Naruto disappeared, and the blonde fell on his knees, tears running down his cheek, his eyes widened like a plate, his heart beating on his throat like a hammer.

"I'm-m a-a Monst..." "No", Kurama interjected before he could finish what he wanted to say.

"Don't even think for a minute that you're a monster. You're not a monster, and the monster is whoever send these people to kill you; a monster is people who threaten to kill a baby in front of their parents. A monster is when someone kills a little boy for no reason other than for the rush of blood. Not You. A monster is when someone forces you to kill the only people that you could call Friends. A monster is when forces you to kill numberless people for no reason," Kurama said with honestly in his voice.

Just mentioning it, Kurama remembered when he attacked the village when Kushina left the world.

Naruto stood silent and thought about what he said. The blonde wasn't stupid, and he knew what Itachi and every Shinobi mostly did in their missions.

After an hour of nothing but silence, his cheeks dry, he stood up.

"Thank You, Kurama", Naruto spoke in a tone of relief and happiness, happy that he had someone like Kurama with him all the time.

"Let's go back to your apartment," Kurama said. Kurama had made sure that his chakra wouldn't expand and be detected by everyone during the fight, but still, someone could have felt Naruto.

Tomorrow

Yugao Uzuki was Konohagakure no Sato's premier swordsman. Her skill with the sword far exceeded the basic instruction that constituted the minimal training that was bestowed upon the ANBU within whose ranks she was assimilated into. As a member of the Black Ops division of her ninja village, Yugao had been exposed to missions most ninja within the ranks of the village couldn't even fathom. Considering this facet of her life, Yugao was understandably upset when the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, assigned her to watch over Konoha's resident troublemaker and pariah. At the same time, squad rotation policies were being implemented.

The vast majority of Konoha's adult population was well aware of the fact that Naruto Uzumaki played host and jailer to the most powerful entity known to civilisation as a result of some clever handiwork by the late Fourth Hokage – Minato Namikaze. In a desperate attempt to save the village he was sworn to protect, Minato sacrificed his life to contain the Kyubi no Yoko within Naruto.

Regrettably, Naruto was seen as a physical representation of the suffering and carnage caused by Kyubi attacking Konoha. As such, many of the villagers indulged in the therapeutic act of destroying the nine-year-old body and spirit to derive some sort of compensation for their losses.

During one of these therapeutic sessions, Yugao was able to track Naruto being chased by a rotund and inebriated member of Konoha's civilian population. A few short moments earlier, the aforementioned civilian had spotted a Naruto walking by.

Naruto turned around at the sound of a wooden crate being kicked aside; the man drunked had a large piece of metal in his hand, ready to harm Naruto, but much to the ANBU's surprise.

Naruto dodged the attack and just walked away, not wanting to deal with Drunken idiots.

Yugao reported the night's events to the Hokage as soon as she was able to verify that Naruto had reached his apartment. A small smile graced her features as she watched the boy crash into his couch, falling asleep with a smile of his own plastered firmly onto his face.

Upon reaching her commander's office, she relayed the events of the night with unerring detail. It was clear to the aged Hokage that the ANBU agent was particularly proud of how the young boy had stood up for himself. The unmistakable hint of pride is what led to the current topic of conversation between the pair.

"Hokage-sama", Yugao spoke reverently, "if you allowed it, I would like to teach Naruto the basics of kenjutsu so that he may be prepared for such situations, if and when the need arises. He was up against a drunken man who had no formal training in any form of combat."

The Hokage turned around to face the massive window in his office as he pondered his charge's request. Hiruzen loved the boy dearly and was painfully aware of the mistreatment he was subject to daily. The idea proposed by Yugao greatly appealed to him until he realised that members of his council, both ninja and civilian, would be in an uproar if they learnt that the village pariah was being tutored by one of their elite ninjas. The following actions would only cause Naruto more harm than good, as more populace members might be tempted to cause bodily harm to the child. As the Hokage turned back around to face Yugao, she identified the defeated slump of her commander's shoulder and correctly guessed that she would not be given the affirmative.

"Yugao-chan", the Hokage began looking into her eyes, conveying his thoughts on the matter with the mere address.

"I understand Hokage-sama", Yugao picked up the signals quickly. She chose to continue, however. "I just wish there was some way to pass on instruction to the boy. The pain was clear in his eyes if only masked behind his determination."

That statement sparked an idea in the Hokage's mind. The problem arose from private tutoring and the reallocation of a competent ninja's abilities towards a lost cause in the eyes of both councils, but not the passing on of instruction. "Yugao-chan, I want a critical assessment of Naruto's physical abilities and mental capacity to the best of your ability submitted within a week from today. Along with a recommended training program for the boy to compensate for any lacking in either criterion. I cannot have you spend time tutoring the boy as this would be seen in a bad light by the wretched council, but maybe you can pass on your knowledge in written form."

Yugao snapped her eyes to meet those of the Hokage. The idea was sound since instilling the fundamentals of combat need not require an active tutor. Naruto could learn from scrolls about adequate exercises, basic kenjutsu. If he took the matter seriously, he would instil discipline into his life, a value most important for a disciple of kenjutsu. Giving a sharp nod to her commander and a quick salute, Yugao snapped back her mask on and disappeared in a flurry of leaves.

The Hokage sighed once again. Sure, a significant problem was on the verge of being solved, but why did his ninja insist on leaving his office using a leaf shunshin – they always left leaves behind in his office.

He sighed, a headache ready to split open his head; Itachi had informed him that Naruto was perfectly healthy, while that brought happiness to his old heart; he couldn't help but remember the voice and face Naruto had the last time he saw him.

He wondered when Jiraiya would return. Naruto desperately needed someone in his life, but the old Sannin mentioned in his last letter that he had decided to meet Naruto once he became a genin; At the same time, that sounded good on paper, Sarutobi knew that it was a long seven years for the poor boy.

Sighting on sadness, he returned to his paperwork.

Naruto

Again on his mindscape, Naruto was in front of Kurama's cage, and his mindscape had changed slightly, now instead of just a boring hall with water on the floor, now they were trees around, Kurama had said that he liked the new mindscape more.

"Why do you call me Kurama?" Naruto asked, knowing there must be a reason that furball called him.

The giant fox, instead of answering, just turned his head to his right, turning Naruto saw Hagoromo standing there, but one thing Naruto noticed straight away, as he looked more transparent, almost like he was slowly disappearing.

"Hagoromo-Sama! Why are you here?" Naruto asked respectfully, looking at the older man.

Giving the young blonde a small smile. "I need to tell you something before I disappear; it has something to do with your father", he stated, and Naruto had his full attention on him...