Prodigy

Chapter 4

The Uchiha district was quite a sight in Konoha. Had Konoha been anything but a Hidden Village, the Uchiha district would have surely been labeled one of the most beautiful tourist attractions. However, Konoha was a Hidden Village and thus tourists weren’t allowed in. Any visitors were kept under scrutiny and most definitely not allowed near the Uchiha district. This was because the Uchiha were more than a ninja clan, they also served as the police force of Konoha. As such, several important documents could be found in the Uchiha mansion, which doubled as the headquarters of the Uchiha police. Only members of the head family were allowed to stay in the huge 3 story building, however. All other Uchihas were allocated smaller houses and cottages that were scattered around the Uchiha district.

In the day, the Uchiha mansion would be crawling with ninjas, bursting with energy as ninjas bearing the custom red and white fan – the Uchiha symbol – would amble in and out of headquarters. Of course, if you asked any one of these Uchiha, they would scowl and tell you that Uchiha’s do not amble. It seems denial ran in the family. Anyway, back to the present. Currently, the Uchiha district was alight with sound as ninjas shouted and yelled as they fought. Normally, this would not be out of place, as any Konoha ninja would tell you that the Uchiha held training sessions for all the ninjas of the clan. As such, it was not uncommon for sounds of battle to emanate from the Uchiha district. In fact, this was one of the reasons why the Uchiha district was situated far away from other houses. The Uchiha insisted that they were conducting top secret clan training and they did not want anyone not of the Uchiha clan to overhear their clan techniques. The Shodaime had acquiesced to their request and had the Uchiha district isolated from the rest of the village. Ironically, it was this request that had resulted in the near massacre of the Uchiha clan this night.

As mentioned before, it was not unusual for the Uchiha district to be alight with the sounds of combat, but what was different tonight was that the fan-bearing ninjas were not the only ninjas at the scene. This was rare as non-Uchihas were rarely allowed into the Uchiha district. Yet, at the moment, there were easily a hundred non-Uchihas infesting the area. Garbed in the standard black ANBU uniform with an additional white crest over their left breast which signified their status as ROOT ANBU, Danzo’s agents swarmed the grounds and swiftly took out as many Uchihas as they could. Taken by surprise, the well-known Konoha policemen were easy pickings for the highly trained ROOT ANBU. It seemed as though the Uchiha line would become extinct today before a bright yellow flash appeared and turned the tides.

With his signature Hiraishin no Jutsu, Minato reached the Uchiha district in under a minute. He took a few milliseconds to survey the scene before he threw a unique three pronged kunai into the air and flashed a series of seals. “Kunai Bunshin no Jutsu!” He yelled as the one kunai multiplied to a thousand and they rained down upon the Uchiha district. None of the kunai hit any of the fighting ninja, of course, as ninja were highly capable fighters and were not likely to fall prey to random kunai falling from the sky. However, hitting the ninja with his kunai was not the Yondaime’s intention. Forming a single seal, the Yondaime disappeared in a flash and the entire Uchiha district lit up with bright yellow flashes. Every time the flash appeared, a ROOT ninja dropped to the ground, either unconscious or dead. Single-handedly, the Fourth Hokage had turned the tide of the battle, saving the underdogs and leading them to victory.

By the time the ANBU arrived, there were only a handful of ROOT agents left to incapacitate. This was done swiftly and efficiently as the Konoha ANBU quickly rounded up the traitors and delivered them to the Intelligence division, where a grumpy Morino Ibiki who had just been shaken from his sleep awaited them. The ROOT ANBU would be spilling their guts in no time.

All in all, the night ended rather anti-climatically for young Naruto and Itachi, who had missed most of the action as they awaited the Hokage in the conference room. Kakashi had taken out his little orange book and seemed to be engrossed in his literature. Of course, if any of the prisoners so much as twitched, Kakashi would have been alert and ready to take them down. He was not a world-renown S-class nin for nothing, afterall.

A few hours later found Naruto, Itachi, Kakashi, Minato as well as Uchiha Fugaku – the head of the Uchiha clan, in the Hokage’s office. Naruto was just about to finish his report.

“– then Itachi-san appeared in front of me and deflected the kunai. Danzo-sama summoned 10 of his agents and ordered them to attack us. You and Kaka-nii appeared a few minutes later. The entire conversation from when I entered the room is recorded in this device.” Naruto reported as he stepped forward to pass his father the recorder before bowing and stepping back in line with the other ninjas present.

Minato turned the recorder over in his hands before placing it on his table to review later. He nodded at his son before turning to Itachi. “Report, Uchiha Itachi.” He commanded and the Uchiha prodigy stepped forward.

“Danzo-sama has been sending me on several missions ever since I was appointed as ANBU captain. He told me that he was working under your orders and that every ANBU captain went through a similar phase to prove their loyalty and worth. I did not question his orders until he ordered me to spy on my clan last week. I started to get suspicious but there was no one I could ask. Normally, I would approach my superior, but in this case that was either Danzo-sama or you, Hokage-sama. It did not occur to me that you would be unaware of Danzo-sama’s actions, Hokage-sama, and so I continued to follow his orders until he instructed me to slaughter everyone in the Uchiha clan except Sasuke last night on the grounds that my clan has been plotting to overthrow the Hokage.” Itachi gave his report in a smooth and low tone. Not a single emotion had entered his voice throughout his speech and there were no inflections in his monotone. To anyone else, Itachi would have seemed to be calm, poised and cool, but Naruto narrowed his eyes as he spotted the slight tremor that ran through the teen’s shoulders.

Minato nodded and signaled for Itachi to step back in line. The Uchiha heir did so before bowing low and speaking, “I know now that I should have acted earlier and approached you to confirm Danzo-sama’s orders, Hokage-sama. I apologise for my grievous oversight. My foolishness and tendency to follow orders without question have caused me to basically act as an accomplice. My crimes equal to that of a traitor. As such, I will accept any punishment you deem necessary, Hokage-sama.” At Itachi’s words, Fugaku immediately moved to protest before Minato waved him away.

“No punishment is necessary, Itachi-kun. It is not a crime to follow the orders of your superior. Though I hope you have learned from this and will not follow orders so blindly in the future.” Minato said, staring calmly at the black haired teen.

Itachi nodded, “Hai Hokage-sama. I understand.” With that, he fell silent again. Naruto silently studied the Uchiha genius as the meeting continued. The Kyuubi jinchurikii was shaken by the night’s events and it had not even been his clan that was threatened. He was amazed that the older boy was able to keep his composure so well. Even the older and more experienced Uchiha clan head was unnaturally pale and his eyes were a few millimeters wider than usual. After all, the poor man still hadn’t gotten over the fact that his entire clan was nearly wiped out in one night.

Minato kept them for awhile more, probing them for information, before finally releasing them just as dawn arrived and the first few rays of sunlight appeared over the horizon. A good twenty or so Uchihas had been killed and Fugaku had to rush home after the meeting to organize the chaos the Uchiha clan had descended to after the would-be messenger. Itachi stayed back long enough to sincerely thank the blue-eyed boy who as good as saved his clan before hurrying after his father.

Naruto trailed after Kakashi as the both of them walked towards the Namikaze estate. Kakashi was insistent on escorting Naruto home and making sure that he got his rest after the late-night excitement. “Maa Naruto, first the Hyuuga clan and now the Uchiha clan. Which clan are you going to have indebted to you next?” Kakashi chuckle as he ruffled Naruto’s hair good-naturedly. Then his light-hearted teasing tone shifted to a more serious, albeit softer one. “Well done, Naruto. I’m proud of you.” His words caused Naruto to stare at him, before a small smile bloomed on his face. These were the words that Naruto had always wanted his father to say. Even though it was not the same, having Kakashi say he was proud of him caused a warm and tingly feeling to erupt inside of Naruto. “Arigatou, Kaka-nii.” He said softly, as the two Konoha ninjas continued on their way home.