Trigger Warning: Mentions of Rape

"Goodnight Kaa-san!" Satsuki yelled.

"G'night!" Naruto's groggy voice called.

Mikoto smiled and stood up. Itachi blinked up at her.

"Looks like a have to sew a few Uchiha symbols on some clothes, don't I?"

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"Naruto!" Iruka screamed for the third time that day.

Said seven-year-old raised his head groggily and groaned.

Iruka's nostrils flared in anger. "Since you're apparently listening very intently, please tell me, who fought the Shodaime Hokage at the Valley of End?"

Naruto paused, blinking the last of the sleepiness out of his eyes. Taking a quick glance at the board, then at his open textbook, he realized that this was a side discussion and not their actual history lesson. "Why?"

Naruto had been getting tired of Iruka's lectures. They got on his nerves and made him sleepy. Even though he didn't listen very well, he was still one of the top students in the class. Before, he would've been dead-last, but with his newfound family and a permanent burst of determination, he had been studying in his own free time and trying his.. best... to listen intently on most discussions in class.

Most, because even with his newly gained smarts, he was still Naruto; Naruto, third place in academics (first place being held by a certain lazy Nara and second being by Satsuki), and first place in jutsu education (taijutsu, ninjutsu, etc. but not including jutsu theory). Not prodigious talent like his older brother, but certainly enough to call himself well-rounded. Anyways...

Iruka blinked, signalling him to continue.

The raven shrugged. "Why do we need to learn this Iru-sensei?" The teacher twitched at the nickname slightly, which Naruto definitely noticed. "We're training to be shinobi, not librarians. When I'm in a heated battle with Iwa, what'll I do? Bore them to death?" He noticed Iruka was about to speak again but cut him off. "And what about some crazy weirdo bloodlust villain? Maybe he'll come to his senses after I take two hours telling him that the Sandaime was the Nidaime's student," this earned a collective giggle from the class. The adopted Uchiha wasn't as funny as people like Kiba, but he had his moments. At the reaction, he puffed up slightly, plastering an easy grin onto his face.

Satsuki spoke up after, backing up her brother. "Otouto has a point, Iruka-sensei," completely oblivious to the red rage face that Iruka was wearing, she continued. "Sometimes it isn't just the student that's learning either. Maybe you could pick up a thing or two-"

"Both of you! OUT!" Iruka blew up. Satsuki flinched but Naruto looked impassive enough, hiding his disappointment effectively. Quietly, the two students left the classroom, leaving the other kids stunned.

...

Naruto smiled once they closed the door. "Wanna spar?"

Satsuki nodded but sighed. "You always win, though." Ever since Orochimaru had offered Naruto some help with training, the boy had taken leaps and bounds in his Taijutsu and Ninjutsu. He had gone from a scrawny little kid (still recovering from years of malnourishment and in the lower half of his class), to an agility monster who took advantage of his skinny nature to weave around his opponents using one of the taijutsu styles he had been gifted. Now, he was working on the second scroll and putting on muscle, which was much easier with a stable diet. He rose to the top over the course of five months through hard work, blood, sweat, and tears.

Naruto sighed, running a hand through his hair. He had finally decided to take up some of the jutsu his uncle Orochimaru had given him six months back but was struggling. At first, he hadn't wanted to try any of them out without properly developed chakra coils, and he had spent the time meditating and exercising his control.

The technique he was currently trying to do was Katon: Goryuka no Jutsu (Fire Style: Great Dragon Fire Jutsu). It was an offensive B-Rank fire jutsu, and he almost had it, but he couldn't make the fire hot enough for it to take the right shape. Even with all that chakra control training, it was immensely frustration him and he had been starting to slip a bit.

After trying once more, Naruto dropped onto the grass, closing his eyes softly and taking in breaths roughly. Though his chakra wasn't too depleted, his muscles were hurting from his previous taijutsu session with one of the training dummies behind him.

"You aren't forming the chakra throughout your whole body. If you try and do this jutsu while just forming fire in your lungs, it'll come out more like the Great Fireball Jutsu instead."

Naruto snapped his eyes open and in a flash of black jumped on his Uncle Orochimaru. "Orochi-oji! I haven't seen you in so long!"

"Hello, Naruto-kun. Are you doing well?" Naruto nodded at his Snake-Uncle and hugged him tighter. "That's good. I heard that you're having a bit of trouble in class, but that might be expected with every Clan head hoarding in one academy," Orochimaru smiled.

"Yeah. Math and theory are okay, but I hate english and history," Naruto shrugged.

"How so?"

"Well, what're you gonna do with it in a battle? Bore them to death?" For emphasis, he let himself down and punched lazily at the air. Orochimaru laughed, softly ruffling his hair.

"You might think that now, Naruto, but learning basic history now is very important. How will you go on stealth missions if you don't know the background of the country you'll be infiltrating? If they didn't teach history, we might make the same mistakes that were made in the past. Nobody wants that, do they?"

Naruto squinted and shook his head. "I guess... that still doesn't explain english though. Japanese is just fine, we don't have to learn an entirely new language for the hell of it."

Orochimaru smiled lightly, ruffling the child's hair and taking a step back. "Okay, back to the problem now. Like I said before, try expanding the chakra throughout your body. Be careful, and don't over-do it. It's easy to burn yourself with this one."

Naruto nodded and formed the Tiger hand seal. After a few seconds, he opened his eyes, revealing his Sharingan. Orochimaru raised a brow but stayed silent. Naruto blew out the fire that formed into a dragon's head, which engulfed a tree in front of him. He stumbled a bit afterwards, the red in his eyes spinning out of existence. The Snake Sannin now realized it was because he unconsciously sent chakra to his eyes as well. They were going to have to work on that if he wanted to keep his ability inconspicuous.

"Finally!" Naruto bit out, throwing his arms in the air and stumbling again. Orochimaru caught him by the shoulders and set him back down onto the ground. "Now to put the fire out."

Orochimaru raised both brows as Naruto did different hand seals. Tiger, Ox, Monkey, Rabbit, Ram, Boar, Ox, Horse, Monkey, Tiger, Dog, Tiger, Snake, Tiger, Ox, Monkey, Rabbit, Bird.

"Suiton: Daibakufu no Jutsu (Water Style: Giant Vortex Jutsu!)!" Naruto yelled, and in a burst of chakra, water appeared out of thin air in front of him and shot out towards the fire. The excess water swirled around him. After the fire was put out, he deactivated the jutsu and the water that was floating fell to the ground with a splash. Naruto looked over to Orochimaru.

"What?"

"I-I thought your affinities were fire, lightning, and wind!"

"They are..." Naruto paused, narrowing his eyes in frustration. "Wind is my main but I can't use wind techniques at all. It's so annoying. I can do water so much easier. Maybe you got like, expired paper or something?"

Orochimaru paused at that. Unable to use jutsus in your main affinity was unheard of. "I'll teach you in the taijutsu styles, if you want, instead of just sending you scrolls. Would you like that?" And so, the moment ended in a bone-crushing hug.

"Were you two sent out again?" Mizuki asked, a cup of coffee in hand.

"Yeah. Iru-sensei didn't like it when me and Satsuki totally dunked him," Naruto laughed. (I had to I'm sorry.)

"It's Satsuki and I, Naruto. I'd think you'd get it by now, baka," Satsuki grumbled, lightly bopping Naruto on the head. Mizuki paused in thought.

"If he sent you out now, during last period, I suggest you guys just go ahead and go home. History was supposed to be a review of what you learned yesterday anyways," Mizuki said, waving them away with a hand.

"Come on, Satsuki!" Naruto yelled, dashing away.

...

Satsuki dropped into the Uchiha Taijutsu stance, and Naruto fluidly crouched into his Kamakiri stance. Component-wise, the Kamakiri was meant for agility. Taking the phrase 'offence is the best defence' to heart, it was weaker in the blocking sections, relying on the user's speed to keep them safe. The actual kata was dependant on kunai for fatality, but could still be modified for most other types of weapons.

Then again, it was a Taijutsu style obviously meant for simpler fights. It was very easy to see through, and if you got any bulkier than Naruto was now, would be almost completely useless. This is why, in the future, our maelstrom had to abandon the Kamakiri for something with fewer openings.

"Rules?" Naruto asked with a smirk. Satsuki paused

"Anything goes, just no killing or maiming. And no Sharingan. That's cheating," she shrugged.

"I won't hold back, then," he barked, and watched amusedly as she dashed at him full speed.

"Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu!" Satsuki made a fireball the size of a small house.

"Raiton no Heki (Lightning Style Wall)!" Naruto yelled, slamming his palms on the ground. A wall of lightning sprouted from the ground, catching the fireball and releasing both jutsu with a hot shower of heavy smoke. Satsuki huffed, straining her other senses for noise. After a stick crunched behind her, she moved to attack silently, the only thing indicating Naruto of Satsuki's furious Taijutsu being the shifting of the smoke.

Naruto managed to block a strong punch from the older girl with the side of his arm. It crunched uncomfortably, and he lightly hoped it wasn't broken. Ducking under a swing, he threw a roundhouse kick to her side as fast as he could, not caring how little damage he caused. He flipped back, letting a burst of chakra clear the rest of the smokescreen.

"Agh!" Satsuki gasped, grasping her stomach and narrowing her eyes. Naruto bolted forwards, ready to shoot off to the side for another jutsu. She caught him in the middle of his scheme with a lariat, but instead of choking, he used his chin to swing around her arm and twist onto her shoulder, shooting himself into the air and sending her barreling to the ground.

"Raiton: Sandaboruto (Lightning Style: Thunderbolt)!" Naruto's hands grew white with lightning. He extended his arms, trying to use a new technique he had learned with chakra strings to aim his bolts more effectively. She tried moving to the side, only for the hot electricity to strike and draw the dew from the grass. Mist exploded, and though both could see through it, it was still quite the obstacle to have.

Satsuki blinked, and rapidly went through a few handsigns. "Suiton: Teppouo (Water Style: Archerfish)!" She whispered, launching out of the mist backwards right into Naruto. It seems in her previous confusion, she had missed the boy's movement.

He took no time in grabbing her sleeves, planting his foot in the middle of her back and pushing her to the ground. Her shoulders popped under the pressure. "Do you yield?"

She sighed. "Yes. I yield."

Naruto helped her up. "You're outclassing me," Satsuki mumbled, dusting off her clothes. "Just three months ago I could totally kick your butt. I'm not sure what kind of training Orochimaru-sama had put you through but-"

Slow, sarcastic claps. Like when he was-

Naruto whipped around at the noise, breath catching in his throat. In the bushes were five men emerging, the clapping only coming from one. Their hitai-ates pictured two rocks, one in front of the other, indicating their shinobi village. Their outfits had obviously been modified from their regular brown and red jōnin wear to cooler colours, probably meant for Kohona infiltration.

It only took a second.

In the blink of an eye, two were gone. Instantly, Naruto was completely subdued, face pressed into the cold dirt and both arms snapped and pulled behind him. He screamed in agony as the bones shifted, tears blurring his vision as the dirt kicked into his eyes. He could hear Satsuki let out a sob behind him and the solid connection of skin to skin.

"Stop! What do you want?!" He cried out, body being wracked with tears.

"Hurry up, Katsu! Just kill the girl! We've been trailing these brats for seven weeks and I'm not letting this time go to was-"

"NO! PLEASE! DON'T HURT HER!" Naruto screeched, wiggling around. The hold on his broken arms was firm, though, and he could barely bear the pain any longer. He could feel the strength in his body draining rapidly. They had probably placed a muscle-stiffening seal somewhere on him.

"Quiet brat!" The voice holding him from above removed a hand to crack his neck to the side. His jaw crunched painfully and blood bubbled from his mouth. Screwing open his eyes, he stared in horror as his sister's limp body was thrown haphazardly to the ground beside him. "The girl is an Uchiha; her eyes'll sell if she awakens 'em. Until then, well..." his voice hushed, and Naruto could almost feel the smugness rolling off him in waves. "Boss likes 'em young."

Naruto's mind rolled. She- will she-?

They'll rape her, a deeper voice supplied. They'll rape her over and over again. Until she unlocks her Sharingan. Its snarl was smug, angry. That makes you happy, doesn't it? She'll unlock her Sharingan and the eyes'll be sold. Then they'll finish her off; not quickly. They'll use her for years until she finally dies of infection before she gets too old. It makes you happy. You want all the attention of your new caretakers, don't you? You'll be glad to watch her die.

Naruto's mind fogged. His struggle died completely, the pain finally overtaking him. His breathing hitched and slowed as he numbed to the world around him. He could barely register the softening of the grip on his shoulders.

Barely was the keyword.

As soon as he was freed, everything came rushing back to him. He had been about to... give up? Never again.

Surged with power and the knowledge that the Iwa shinobi had gotten off him, he exploded off the ground. The adrenaline coursed through his veins, and now, teeming with energy, Naruto shot forwards like a bullet.

Two men engaged first with a word signal from the leader. Grinding his teeth and ignoring his own tears of agony, he ripped into them with his Taijutsu stance. The raven tried using his limp arms to his advantage and, going at a speed faster than he ever could before, pushed back the men.

Needless to say...

It didn't last long.

One misstep is all it took. Naruto flipped in the air, landing an axe-kick on one of the shinobi; however, in his blind rage, he missed the head and knocked the burly man's shoulder instead. Gasping, he tried retracting his attack, but in his mid-air fall, he was caught by the ankle.

Now poised upside down, his hands brushed the grass. He screamed, agony erupting from his shoulders like hot fire. The blood rushed to his head, and with a harsh yank on his ankle, his previous adrenaline disappeared.

I'm not good enough, he thought to himself. I wasn't good enough to save her.

...

When he opened his eyes again, he was in a completely different place. The walls of the cavern were an ugly green-yellow and the ceiling was too high to be seen. The water was knee-deep for the seven-year-old, but all his wounds were gone. Grime coated the walls, almost so noticeable that the bars of the cell in front of him were camouflaged.

Naruto's eyes widened.

"You're... you're the..."

Kurama's ferocious grin widened unimaginably far.

"Kyūbi."

...

And when Naruto woke up, the men around him were dead.

The bright red of the fresh blood was tinted against the neon-green grass. The boy idly sat next to his unconscious sister, wailing with all his heart and holding her as if any moment now, she'd disappear.

Wooden columns and spears were jutted out from the ground in post-attack. His clothes were tattered and forever-ruined, stained beyond the original fabric and etched into deep designs of his fight. He couldn't remember anything.

Why am I still crying?

If anything, this only did good in making the little brunette sob harder. He clutched his sister tighter, fat tears rolling down his face in a steady motion. He couldn't tell if Satsuki was okay. He prayed she was okay.

This is the scene that the Hokage, one of his students, and a team of ANBU stumbled. The team took no haste in collecting the bodies, leaving the Sandaime to console the adopted-Uchiha. Orochimaru could only keep his face still and think on how the maelstrom was meant for great things.

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edited as of 01/05/2020. honestly, i'm reading this note from 2018 and i cant believe how far we've come. thanks for almost 170k, guys! <3

Dun dun dun! Sidefam is finally here. Took three chappies.

I was gonna be like "Whoa, guys. 100 views?" but now I have 200. So thanks for 200 views, guys.

This chapter was short, but I'll make it up with the next chapter. Baiii!