Naruto woke up in the morning to the beeping of his alarm clock. He turned it off and started to get off his bed, only to find that he could not. He looked down, finally noticing the arms wrapped around his waist, clutching him tightly into a warm chest. It was clothed in blue.

Naruto was confused, briefly considering elbowing the person in the gut and running off until he noticed the familiar chakra signature of the person. It was Sasuke, or Indra. He remembered letting the boy stay over the previous night, then seating himself beside the boy in a comfortable position. He deduced that he had probably fallen asleep there, ending up in the arms of the boy he still thought of as his brother despite their current lack of blood relations.

Even if Indra hated him, Asura still loved his brother. He was Asura's precious older brother, after all. Indra had been nice to him although he never learned things as easily as Indra and had to work much harder for the things that came as easily as breathing to his older brother. Indra would always be dear to Asura.

Naruto twisted around in Sasuke's grip such that he was facing the other boy. Naruto almost laughed at the contented look on his face, accompanied by the smallest trail of drool on the side of his mouth.

Naruto settled for a chuckle, bopping the other boy on the nose with his own. Instead of waking up, Sasuke only twitched before hugging Naruto tighter.

This annoyed him. A lot.

Naruto managed to loosen himself, mostly, from the other boy's vice-like grip and shake the boy vigorously back and forth. This woke Sasuke up with a jolt, letting go of the other boy.

"What the hell..." Sasuke mumbled as he rubbed his eyes.

When Sasuke finally managed to clear them, he blinked.

"Naruto...?"

"You came barging in yesterday afternoon, Indra," Naruto replied drily.

Sasuke blinked as the events from the previous day came rushing back.

"Ah. Sorry," Sasuke said slightly sheepishly.

Sasuke recalled the day they first met and linked it with their first meeting in their past lives. It dawned on him.

"So that's why I felt as though it had happened before! You re-enacted our first meeting during the clan wars!" Sasuke shouted accusingly.

"Hm? I do not understand what you are trying to say," Naruto said innocently.

Sasuke shook his head in exasperation, finally noticing the change of clothing. He stared at it for a while.

"You changed me while I was sleeping?" Sasuke asked Naruto curiously.

"Indra... Would you rather have slept in what you had been wearing when you ran straight into me?" Naruto sighed.

"That's not what I meant, Asura... I don't care even if you did it without me knowing. I still think of you as my brother no matter what you think of me," Sasuke said sternly.

There was a short pause, before he continued, "I am truly sorry. I have no idea what had come over me."

His words were sincere, conveying what Indra had only felt in brief moments through the years. He had finally abolished the darkness that had clung to him, changing him completely for the time it was in control. He wanted to make things right but still did not know how to do so.

"It's all right, Indra. I forgave you a long time ago. You never meant for it to happen. Zetsu and Kaguya-obaa-san are the ones at fault. Please do not blame yourself," Naruto told him soothingly.

"But I am! I should have stopped myself!" Sasuke cried out.

"It's not your fault," Naruto said with a note of finality before going to take a quick shower.

Sasuke entered the other bathroom, the spare one, and washed up, dressing in one of his own sets of clothes that Naruto must have brought along at some point along with most of his items. What he did not know was that Naruto had brought along practically everything there was in the compound, from money to weaponry to books and scrolls.

Naruto had also sealed all the Sharingan of all the dead Uchiha into secure storage seals, stealing the eye belonging to Shisui from Danzo and replacing it with a fake one. It was impossible to tell that it was fake unless the user tried to use one of Shisui's unique Sharingan techniques. It was essentially a synthetically made but normal Sharingan.

Naruto would do anything to keep Sasuke safe. He had known, somehow, that Danzō had planned the Uchiha massacre. He had also known that Danzō had plans for the numerous Sharingan leftover from the deaths of so many Uchiha. Although Naruto had barely an inkling of what the old war hawk had planned for the eyes, he knew that whatever it was would not have been good in any way. Naruto would go to any extremity if it meant that Sasuke would not be harmed.

With that in mind, Naruto left nothing of the Uchiha clan that was of any value behind. The only exception was the tablet in the Naka Shrine that he had found no reason to move, seeing as only a descendant of Hagoromo can decipher it. Not even if an outsider possessed the Sharingan through implantation could decipher the writings.

Naruto and Sasuke began to make their way out of the house when Sasuke asked abruptly, "May I stay here? I mean, I have nowhere else to go... Itachi is my only other living relative, Asura. So, please?"

"Of course, Indra," Naruto replied without hesitation.

"Thank you so much, Asura!" Sasuke almost shouted, his face shining with exuberance.

"Just remember not to call me that in public," Naruto sighed.

"I know. Do you take me for a fool?" Sasuke feigned hurt as they started their way down the path to the gate.

Sasuke had only been able to enter before because Naruto had already calibrated the gate to his chakra and handprints. How he did that without Sasuke noticing him collecting them, no one will ever know.

The two boys made their way to the academy together, Sasuke glaring at anyone who so much as frowned at Naruto.

When they entered the classroom, they sat at their assigned seats. They happened to have seats right next to each other. When Sakura and Ino started to fight to sit next to Sasuke, both Naruto and Sasuke glared at the annoying girls. Naruto because his ears were very sensitive and were being damaged by their screeching and Sasuke not wanting to leave Naruto's side in fear that someone may hurt him, considering that he now knew of his status of jinchūriki.

Soon, Mizuki and Iruka entered the classroom, Iruka yelling at the students while using his big-head jutsu, "Shut up and listen well! We will be returning your test papers from the test we have given last week! Please check your answers and do your corrections appropriately!"

Mizuki walked down the aisle, placing the various test papers of the students on their desks. However, when he reached Naruto, he crumpled the edge of the paper slightly, before leaning down to his height.

"Ha. Too bad, demon!" Mizuki growled into Naruto's ear, his eyes flashing with menace.

"Get away from Naruto," Sasuke told Mizuki, his voice eerily calm.

However, the chūnin did not catch the dangerous undertone.

"Are you, my student, trying to order me around?" Mizuki sneered.

Sasuke growled, his eyes flashing into the Sharingan as he glared at Mizuki. His blood-red eyes, already fully matured, bore into Mizuki, who gulped in apprehension. Naruto was not alarmed by this. He merely flicked the other boy on the forehead.

"Relax..." Naruto murmured into his ear.

Sasuke drew in a deep breath and closed his eyes briefly, opening them to reveal the previous obsidian orbs. Mizuki saw this and thought that he was already safe from the wrath of the Uchiha in front of him. He decided to prod further.

"Who knew the great and almighty Uchiha-sama was a demon-lover?" Mizuki sneered, his tone too low for the rest to hear.

Shino and Kiba, the only ones apart from Naruto and Sasuke able to hear his comment, breathed in sharply, the same thought going through their minds.

'What did sensei mean by demon-lover?!'

Naruto, whose eyes have been shut and his breathing even as he remained as calm as can be, snapped his eyes open. Although his chakra was perfectly normal, with no traces of that of the kyūbi, his eyes were blood-red with slitted pupils. Naruto was at Mizuki's throat, too fast for anyone in the room to catch his movement. To them, it seemed like Naruto had flashed to Mizuki when it was pure speed.

"Say whatever you wish about me. But lay a single finger on Sasuke..." Naruto hissed in Mizuki's ear, a kunai he had grabbed from the chūnin's weapon pouch poised at his jugular.

"And I will kill you," Naruto's voice was soft and deadly calm but laced with a dangerous tone.

It was no threat. It was a promise.

Mizuki gulped, his Adam's apple bobbing and brushing against the tip of the kunai.

He barely managed to croak out, "Of course not! I would never hurt Uchiha Sasuke-kun!"

With that, Naruto released him, allowing the cold and oppressive feeling in the room to dissipate as the chūnin bolted from the room. His pants were... Dripping? He peed his pants! The rest of the students burst into laughter at the comical sight of their teacher fleeing the classroom with dripping pants.

Only now did Iruka notice the commotion that had been ongoing in the classroom. He frowned in confusion at the retreating figure of his colleague and turned to face the class, Naruto letting his eyes return to normal before the chūnin could see them. Iruka cleared his throat as the class began to chatter excitedly over the scene that they had just witnessed.

Iruka gained a tick-mark, using his infamous big-head jutsu, he yelled, "Shut up! We will be starting with the corrections now! Take out your writing materials!"

Sasuke picked up Naruto's papers with a quirked eyebrow. Although he acted like an idiot at times, there was no doubt that Asura was indeed intelligent. It was impossible for Naruto, of all people, to have scored a zero in a test. Sasuke flipped the booklet open, only to see flawless answers without any errors in neat handwriting.

However, each had a large cross despite that. Naruto noticed Sasuke's baffled expression and sighed.

"Mizuki marks everything wrong although the answers are always correct," Naruto explained.

"What?! That's not fair!" Sasuke shouted, to the shock of everyone else in the room.

"What's unfair?" Iruka questioned in surprise.

Sasuke said nothing, only passed the tanned male the test paper he held in his hand. Iruka took it, seeming mildly surprised by the neatness of the work as he started to go through the paper. His eyebrows furrowed as he noticed all the answers marked as wrong even though they were correct. Model answers, even.

"So that's why Mizuki never let me mark Naruto's papers and assignments..." Iruka muttered as he re-marked the paper, giving Naruto full marks for the work.

"Give me all of your other papers. I'll re-mark them," Iruka sighed, planning to inform the Hokage of the behaviour of his assisting teacher.

Sasuke pulled out the papers from Naruto's backpack, passing their teacher the whole folder of neatly arranged test papers and assignments. Iruka marked the papers again, only to show that everything was correct. This meant that Naruto beat Sasuke for the position of first in class as Sasuke had made a careless mistake in one of his assignments, losing his perfect score.

Iruka sighed, he seemed to be doing that a lot lately, before returning the papers to their folder.

"Please go through chapter 3 on your own. Do not misbehave while I am gone," Iruka instructed as he vanished in a leaf shunshin, taking all of Naruto's schoolwork with him.

Naruto and Sasuke already knew the work and decided to discuss their plans and their theories about how they had retained their memories. They had a very long conversation, in a forgotten language from the time they were first born, until Iruka returned with the Sandai Hokage.

The old man cleared his throat, instantly gaining awed looks from the academy students, "I am here to tell you that Mizuki has been fired from his job. Iruka shall be teaching you solo from now on. Please do cooperate with him."

None of the students was surprised. From the scenes that had transpired earlier, they would have been surprised if nothing was done about Mizuki.

"What did he do? Why aren't Uchiha Sasuke and Uzumaki Naruto being punished for attacking a sensei?" a lazy voice drawled out.

It was Shikamaru. None had expected the lazy Nara to have been awake to observe the exchange.

"The sensei that you speak of is going to be persecuted for treason. I shall not elaborate on the details as it is an S-rank village secret punishable by death. The two boys you mentioned were only acting accordingly," Hiruzen replied smoothly.

His words made practically all the students, except for Naruto, Sasuke, Kiba and Shino, widen their eyes and gape at Naruto and Sasuke in shock. Shino and Kiba were merely wondering why the teacher had called Sasuke a demon-lover and how that was supposed to link to an S-rank secret. Naruto merely ignored the stares and read an advanced book that was nowhere near that of academy students. If anything, it was a book about medical jutsu that was for high jōnin level medic-nin. Shikamaru noticed that but did not point it out. He only raised an eyebrow in suspicion before filing away the information for future use. Sasuke ignored the stares as well, used to the attention. Sasuke was reading a book about fūinjutsu, deciding to learn more about the art his brother specialised in.

Although Sasuke was indeed a master of fūinjutsu in normal terms due to what he had learnt in his past lives, he was nowhere near the standard of that which is Naruto. Naruto is capable of doing anything and everything within the scope of his imagination with seals. He even managed to create a seal that aided in the balancing of yin and yang to recreate the Banbutsu Sozo without having the Rinnegan. Naruto was just that fantastic. He could do anything he wanted with seals.

Naruto seemed to have noticed that particular train of thought. He slipped a bookmark into the pages before turning to his brother.

"Would you like to have Izuna back? I can arrange for it if you want..." Naruto told Sasuke, careful to use the ancient language from their first lives.

At this point, the academy students had already tired of staring at the unresponsive duo while the Hokage had left for his other duties.

"I would not want to disturb the balance of life and death. What's dead should stay dead. Even I know that much. My selfish desires are not worthy of causing such imbalance. I would not ask that of you, dear brother," Sasuke rejected with a sad smile.

"I really would not mind at all, I would do it if it would make you happy," Naruto explained.

"I would not test my luck more than I already have. I have escaped from the curse of hatred and managed to get your forgiveness. Besides, being by your side is enough. I wish to save the world without losing you as I have done so many times before. I will not make the same mistake," Sasuke chided Naruto sternly.

"...If you insist..." Naruto said softly, touched that Sasuke felt so strongly for him.

"I have more history with you than I ever did with Izuna. I care for you more," Sasuke told Naruto, sounding almost hurt that his dear brother would think otherwise.

"You spoil me, Indra," Naruto commented with a sigh.

"How could I not spoil you, otōto?" Sasuke said with a smirk.

"It is not fair that I am always younger than you," Naruto complained with a pout.

"You will always be my adorable little brother," Sasuke declared, his tone almost smug.

"..." Naruto was silent for a moment before speaking, "You do know that you have just ruined my plans, right?"

Sasuke blinked in confusion, his eyes questioning as he asked, "What do you mean?"

Naruto face-palmed as he muttered, his voice slightly muffled by the hand covering his face, "I was wearing this orange atrocity for a reason. It was for my act. I was using Mizuki to hide my true intelligence without bothering to feign stupid answers. Now all of that has gone down the gutter since you just had to show it to Iruka, which got Mizuki fired and revealed my intellectual abilities. Sure, I am rather happy that I get to stop acting like a fool. However, the civilian council is going to have a field day..."

"I will protect you," Sasuke argued.

"You cannot be there all the time!" Naruto rebutted.

"Try me," Sasuke challenged.

Naruto sighed, "Fine. I will inform Hiruzen that we wish to be placed on the same team. I trust that you will keep that annoying council off my back."

"You have my word," Sasuke vowed.

Naruto eyed him with suspicion, muttering, "If only I could trust your word..."

"Hey!" Sasuke whined in modern speech, "I can be trusted!"

"Uh-huh," Naruto replied, sounding completely unconvinced.

Sasuke grumbled under his breath about how Naruto should appreciate him more. Naruto just sighed with a small smile on his face.

"...What is it, baka?" Sasuke questioned the other boy while poking his cheek.

"Nah, I'm just reminiscing..." Naruto replied, his eyes shutting as he immersed himself into his memories.

"Hn," Sasuke hummed as he let himself dwell in his thoughts for a minute.

"It makes me feel old, you know?" Naruto broke the silence, cracking his eyes open to reveal cerulean blue orbs.

"We are old. Older than Konoha itself," Sasuke replied, reverting to the ancient language of their time.

There was yet another brief pause as the two collected their thoughts in silence.

"What of your plans for peace? How will you achieve it? I now understand that being soft on them will do nothing as hate will eventually take over," Naruto voiced his thoughts to his brother in all but blood.

"Doing it by force would do nothing either. There would still be hate. People will bide their time, continuously passing it down to allow the darkness to accumulate as time passes. Besides, even we are not immortal. We will not be able to maintain peace," Sasuke continued.

"However, the sort of peace is but an illusion. Once their ruler passes, what corruption had accumulated would show. They would fall back into the clutches of war. Over the years, we have both realised that these methods were both inappropriate," Naruto stated aloud what had been on their minds for quite some time now.

"True peace... Neither of our methods was wrong, though. They were both the correct way to carry it out. We did not need to quarrel over it," Sasuke rebutted.

"They were wrong on their own, but if they were to be combined..." Naruto trailed off.

"We would find our everlasting peace," Sasuke completed his brother's sentence with a flourish.

"We need a villain for this, as well as a hero," Naruto murmured after some hesitation.

"I will be the villain as I always have been. You shall be their hero," Sasuke told Naruto mournfully as he went over the thought.

"No. I cannot place such a task upon you. I am better at managing my emotions. I will do it," Naruto responded with a disapproving glare.

"But I have taken on that role since the beginning!" Sasuke whisper-yelled, barely stopping himself from slamming a hand on his table.

"Which is exactly why you cannot do it! It had left an impact on you every time, Indra. You may try to hide it, but I have always known. You cannot deal with it as well as you seem to think you can!" Naruto shot back, raking his fingers through his messy hair harshly.

This shocked Sasuke into silence. Sasuke hung his head, allowing his bangs to shadow his face as his fists clenched unconsciously with enough force to turn his knuckles white.

Sasuke barely managed to grit out, "And that is exactly why I cannot bear to let you put yourself through that sort of pain."

A single tear fell from Sasuke's eye, leaving a trail down his cheek and forming a small damp spot on his desk. He loosened his fists, showing small pink crescent moons in his palms where his fingernails had dug into the soft flesh. Sasuke let his lips quirk up slightly.

"I cannot let my younger brother take my place because of my weaknesses," Sasuke said ruefully.

"Stop being selfish," Naruto muttered, a hand reaching out to clasp Sasuke's shoulder tightly.

Sasuke snapped his head up in surprise.

"Did it never occur to you that I may feel the same way? I don't want you to get hurt more than you have before. I would rather die than let you continue doing this to yourself!"

As Naruto said this, his grip on Sasuke's shoulder tightened. Sasuke winced slightly but did not remove Naruto's hand from his shoulder. He let his head fall onto Sasuke's shoulder as his next words were so quiet that Sasuke almost did not hear them.

"I did die internally every time I watched you hurt yourself. I saw how your straying from the right path had affected you. I would never want it to happen to you again."

Sasuke's eyes widened as he felt his shoulder dampen with Naruto's tears.

"Never again," Naruto mumbled, his low voice carrying a note of finality.

"...Never again..." Naruto repeated, almost as though he was reassuring himself.

"I...understand... I'm sorry," Sasuke murmured, burying his face into Naruto's hair.

Their emotional moment was ended abruptly by the sounding of the bell that signalled the end of the school day. Although Kiba and Shino had heard their whole conversation, they only understood small insubstantial parts. They were confused about why the mood had turned so dark towards the end of the lesson, but they did not have any way to find out the reason behind it.

Shikamaru had remained awake throughout the rest of the lesson, for once. He had strained his ears, but he had only heard snippets of words in a language that he knew nothing of. The only times he understood the few words he managed to hear had no link with one another. Sasuke had said something about being trusted, only for Naruto to suddenly mention something about reminiscing and old age. That was when the mood went downhill and he no longer understood the strange words the two boys spoke.

Shikamaru sighed as he stretched his legs under his table, groaning, "How troublesome..."

A barely noticeable smile made its way onto his face, "Though it seems that it will be fun."

Sasuke and Naruto practically vanished before anyone could notice where they had gone immediately after Iruka dismissed the class. They had even managed to avoid the Uchiha's many fangirls. While Shikamaru raised an eyebrow at that, the others did not notice. The raven's fan base only complained about him having gotten the slip on them.

'I will understand whatever is going on between those two. One day,' Shikamaru thought determinedly.

"Hey, Shika! Wanna go for a barbeque before heading home?" Shikamaru was startled from his thoughts by his childhood friend, Chōji.

"How troublesome," Shikamaru said his signature catchphrase, but still trailed behind the other boy without further complaint.

Shikamaru glanced briefly back at the seats of the two boys he had been observing as a smirk made its way onto his face.

'It would be very interesting indeed,' Shikamaru thought, 'It seems as though life would not be quite so troublesome now, with this turn of events.'

Shikamaru said nothing as he followed Chōji out of the classroom nodding slightly or shaking his head at appropriate times while the other chattered on as he mulled over his thoughts.

~♡~

Naruto and Sasuke had made their escape with an effortless shunshin, using an altered version that did not leave any leafy remnants. This was an important feature during the wars they had faced in their past life and with their knowledge of how to mould their chakra without hand signs, even Iruka had no idea where they had disappeared off to.

The two ended up at the gates that lead to Naruto's mansion. They unlocked the gates without any trouble and made their way into the sitting room. The two brothers sat in seats facing each other. They did nothing but stare at the other blankly. This lasted for quite a while, with neither of the two willing to break the silence.

Soon, Sasuke began to twitch from sitting so still for so long under such a tense atmosphere. Naruto had released the tenseness in his own body by drumming his fingers on his knee, which annoyed Sasuke greatly.

"I will not let you take the role of the villain. You do not deserve to be hated by the world. You should be worshipped by them instead," Sasuke told Naruto in a voice filled with conviction.

"This is getting old, Indra," Naruto sighed in annoyance.

"You will not be able to play the villain again. You will crack under the pressure. You still hate yourself for letting Zetsu control you. How can I just let you play such a strenuous role while knowing what it will do to you? You had protected and nurtured me as a child, Indra. It is my turn to protect you," Naruto stated simply.

"You did protect me. You dragged me back to the right path by force and had kept me sane throughout our lives. I know for one that I would have gone psycho a long time ago during each one of our past lives without you there. You already did so much for me. It is time for me to right my wrongs and I will do what I have to in order to keep you safe. It is my turn, not yours. You had been there for me the whole time long. It is my turn to be there for you," Sasuke refuted Naruto's claim with one of his own, a sad smile on his face as tears flowed freely down his face as he recalled the pain he had felt when he betrayed Hashirama in the Valley of the End.

"You cannot deal with the hurt of being hated for something that you are doing for the sake of others. It will only give Zetsu another opportunity to control you!" Naruto shouted back, feeling tears prickle his eyes.

"I cannot do that to you. I cannot kill you again. I know that I had not killed you in the Valley of the End, but I had lived regretting it. I thought that I had ended your life, it left me feeling guilty for the rest of that life! If I become the hero, I will be forced to kill you in the end. I would rather die than let that happen," Naruto whispered, pain evident in his eyes.

"What makes you think that I want to kill you, Asura? I was there, watching the fight in which you died. I had stopped myself from saving you, practically ending your life myself. Does it seem like I would like to kill you again, this time by my hand?" Sasuke shot back through his tears.

"You know how good I am with seals. I can replace myself with a solid clone that can die while leaving a corpse. I can do that while I make sure things run right in the background," Naruto explained what he did not have a chance to before, with Sasuke endlessly insisting that Naruto let him play the role.

Sasuke stared at Naruto in shock.

"...What...?" Sasuke barely managed to say.

"I can fake my death," Naruto told Sasuke in exasperation.

"Then... Then I refuse to do it either. Help me use your seals to make me a clone too. I would not kill your likeness, especially if I am forced to see its corpse," Sasuke whined childishly.

"Indra, you..." Naruto face-palmed at his brother's sudden change in attitude.

"It's not fair. You should help me make a clone too!" Sasuke complained.

"Fine... There's no harm in that. It's even safer to do that," Naruto muttered under his breath.

"Yay!"Sasuke shouted in glee.

'What happened to you, Indra?' Naruto could not help but think.

'Why did I end up in an extremely mature vessel that acts extremely mature except when excited during which he acts like Hashirama, while you ended up in a childish vessel who only acts like either you or Madara in serious situations...?' Naruto mused as he observed Sasuke, who had started doing a weird happy-dance that Madara and Indra would never have been caught dead doing.

"Did we swap personalities...?" Naruto mumbled quietly.

"Hmm?" Sasuke turned to look at Naruto in confusion.

"Did you say something, Asura?" Sasuke questioned as his movements stilled.

"No... It was nothing," Naruto replied.

Sasuke shrugged and plonked down on the same sofa that Naruto had been sitting on since they had gotten home, pulling out a book about seals from a storage seal in the pouch he wore on his waist as he began studying it carefully. Naruto sighed again and continued reading his book, which he had held in one hand since their discussion had begun in the classroom.

~♡~

Immediately after knocking Sasuke out, Itachi had headed straight for the Hokage's Office. He did not expect to be stopped by someone standing in his way. Itachi frowned at the smaller figure before him, tilting his head to the side as he tried to figure out who it was. The person stood within the shadows, causing their features to be unrecognisable.

The figure walked up to Itachi, revealing golden blond hair that brushed against the collar of an unbuttoned black coat with silver buttons and a black tank top underneath. The person's hands hung loosely in the pockets of ANBU styled pants that were taped at the ankles. The black boots with silver laces did not make a single sound as the person walked, giving off a ghostly illusion of the shinigami himself (especially since the person's face was cast in shadows and they used a black and silver colour scheme).

Once fully out of the shadow formed by a taller building, the figure tilted its head up from its previous downcast position. Azure blue eyes glinted in the dim light from the glow of the full moon as a sad smile stretched across the person's face.

"Itachi-san, I believe that the deed has been done?" the person asked, his tone flat and betraying little emotion.

"Naruto-kun? What are you doing here?" Itachi asked, relief washing over his features and colouring his voice.

The figure, now revealed as Naruto, did not answer. Naruto narrowed his eyes at the ANBU, his unspoken words seeming to convey, "Answer the question and don't waste my time."

Itachi sighed, answering, "Indeed. How did you know?"

Naruto's expression was neutral as he spoke, "I overheard the Hokage and his three advisors when they were making the decision. I also knew that you volunteered. Why?"

Itachi's eyes widened, before shifting to the side as he averted Naruto's steady gaze.

"I do not know what you mean," Itachi lied.

"You are a terrible liar, you know?" Naruto commented offhandedly as he continued to stare at Itachi, pressuring him to give a proper answer.

Itachi tried to avoid Naruto's gaze as he repeated his lie, "I do not know what you mean, Naruto-kun."

Naruto blinked owlishly, his sad smile long gone and now replaced by a smirk. He hummed as he began to circle Itachi slowly, shaking his head disapprovingly.

"Oh really?" Naruto purred into Itachi's ear, making the teen flinch.

"Is that the case? Then why did I sense all the chakra signatures in the Uchiha compound vanish within minutes, leaving only that of yours and Sasuke?" Naruto said mockingly before his tone became serious, "Tell me, Uchiha Itachi."

Itachi sighed, giving up on acting dumb as he knew that it was going nowhere.

"I knew about the clan leader's decision to revolt against Konoha. To prevent the coup d'état and for the sake of keeping the Uchiha's reputation, I was ordered to kill off the clan before they could begin their plans. ROOT operators have already killed the innocents and left seconds before I arrived, leaving me to assassinate my parents as well as the council members. I did it so that Sasuke would not be killed with the rest of them. It was my only request in exchange for doing the deed. Danzō had no doubt killed those not involved as he knew of my plans to smuggle them away under the cover of night," Itachi confessed as his tears returned after being suppressed.

"Shisui's eye was stolen by Danzō before he came to me to entrust me with the other. He forced my hand, causing me to take his life unwillingly. He did it so that I would achieve the Mangekyō Sharingan..." Itachi continued, beginning to break down into sobs.

"I told Sasuke to get stronger to kill me, but he will always be my precious otōto!" Itachi almost cried out into the silent night as he collapsed into a sobbing mess on the roof of the abandoned building they were on.

Naruto kneeled beside the teen and placed a soothing hand on his shoulder, rubbing it as he consoled the crying teen.

"It's alright. I'm sure that even Sasuke saw through you. You are just that bad at lying. He doesn't hate you. I promise," Naruto said softly, knowing that family was the most important to the Uchiha.

"You think?" Itachi sniffled.

"That means that I had failed in my duty," Itachi continued drily, wiping his tears away after letting out his sorrow.

"I have plans that I cannot tell you out here in the open. Danzō has eyes and ears everywhere," Naruto whispered lowly into Itachi's ear.

Itachi's eyes widened as he whispered back, "What?"

"I will send you a scroll informing you of the details later. For now, just keep quiet about it. I'll place a seal on you so that no one will find out. The details of what the seal does will also be explained in the scroll," Naruto whispered back.

Naruto grabbed Itachi by the wrist and placed a finger on his forearm. From that point, a glowing pattern of chakra bloomed on Itachi's forearm, forming a large seal array. As the kanji dimmed, they shrank in size until it resembled a small dark mole or inkblot. Naruto seemed to concentrate once more as another set of kanji glowed on Itachi's arm, this time fading away along with the previous seal array that already seemed innocent enough.

Itachi watched in amazement as Naruto drew intricate seals with chakra alone and even managed to shrink the complicated seals that had nearly overlapped despite the small size of each individual kanji into a tiny blob that looked to be only a millimetre in diameter. He was even more shocked when the second set of seals disappeared with the previous seal array.

"You are skilled," Itachi praised as he admired his unmarked arm, disbelieving that he had seen a whole seal array there before.

Naruto waved away the compliment, releasing Itachi's arm as he stood up and dusted off his clothes, "That was easy -- little skill is required to do it. I learnt how to do things like that when I was three."

Itachi was even more amazed by the young boy. If Itachi was considered a prodigy, Naruto was not only a once in a millennium prodigy but also a genius. To think that the boy had learnt such complicated fūinjutsu, which required the use of difficult kanji with which most adults have trouble in normal writing, to such a degree at such a tender age was unbelievable. However, considering the boy's status as jinchūriki, it was probably necessary for him to grow up quickly to survive so far.

Itachi shunshinned off once he got over his shock, already behind time. Itachi hoped that the Hokage would forgive him for his delay...