I want to thank PraetorXyn for being the Beta for this chapter.

Hello, how had you been?

Here is the next chapter of my fic. I apologize for the late update, but I have received a lot of extra work in the last few weeks that has reduced my writing time. You will see that my writing style may be different; that is because I was very tired when I was writing this chapter, but I still wanted to do something because I could lose the inspiration that I had for this chapter.

I know that I am not the only one who has extra work because of COVID 19, and I wish any of you who are still facing this situation good luck. In my work place now not only do I need to do my job, but I also need to create evidence that I did my job and a report about the work that I did, plus the video conferences and meetings with the people of my department and the people of other departments. At this moment I am working three times the usual amount of work that I used to do, so as I said I am very tired.

I already have a chapter ready for my Familiar of Zero fic, and two more of my Mahōka Kokō no Rettosei fics; in fact I will rest a couple of days and then begin to work on a new chapter for that story.

I know I said that I am tired, but this is my stress release activity that I can do from home.

I want to thank the support that I have received for this story, and all the readers that are following my fics.

I also want to say that I will do what I can to make this story different from the others fics that you may have read in the past.

For that reason, I would also like to take time to develop the backstory of other characters, so that when the time comes to make the plot advance more, I will have more material to use to develop the next sagas of this story.

In this chapter, I am planning to explain the events that followed the end of the last chapter, so that you can see why some of the future events will happen.

Chapter Begin.

To say that the last couple of days had been complete chaos in Konoha was an understatement.

The revelation that it was an elder of the council, Danzō, who was responsible for the Kyūbi attack, was something that no one expected.

This coupled with the rumors that he had been killing shinobi of their own village in order to steal their kekkei genkai and clan techniques destroyed his reputation within the village.

In the beginning, many did not want to believe it, but with all the clan heads confirming the rumors, their doubts disappeared, and soon enough a new rumor was running throughout the village: that Danzō caused the Kyūbi attack in order to kill the Third and Fourth Hokage, in order to take control of the village.

Meanwhile back in the council room, things had not gotten any easier. As members of the ANBU teams had just finished their reports about what they found in Danzō's home and ROOT bases.

"I cannot believe that I didn't realize any of this," said Sarutobi as he looked even older, but that was something to be expected.

After all, he had just learned many of his old teammate's activities that caused unnecessary deaths and had nothing to do with the betterment of Konoha, but only his own personal gain.

Sarutobi began to feel tired, very tired; not only did one of his previous students become a monster that has destroyed many lives because he turned into a coward that is afraid of death, but also his teammate has been doing it for even longer and he hasn't realized until now. How many people would be alive if he had opened his eyes and seen who Danzō really was? How many innocent people did his student kill for the sake of his own ambitions even today?

Maybe they were right; it was time for him to retire. Thankfully, he had a worthy successor in Itachi, even if he was not chosen in the conventional way; he was by far the best successor for whom he could hope.

Soon he would make the announcement that he will retire in a couple of years and that Itachi will be the Fifth Hokage.

That move has allowed him to reduce the tension that was rising in the council, but that also made him realize that before his time as a Hokage came to an end he needed to make up for the mistakes that he had made in the past.

"What is the status of the other villages, have they shown any movement?" asked Sarutobi.

"So far nothing, but we can no longer lower our guard; they will see what has just happened as an indicator that Konoha has bad leadership, and they will try to do take advantage," said Shikaku.

"The real problem is that we need to change all of security plans and protocols that Danzō knew; they are now a security risk," said Fugaku.

"We need to keep our veteran shinobi close to the village so they can protect it in the case of an attack," added Hiashi.

"You are forgetting that Danzō may still have some spies inside the village; we need to find them before we even consider creating new security plans," added Inoichi.

"That could take weeks!" said a jōnin.

"Then we had better get started," said Sarutobi.

"That leads us to another point; he knows all our secrets, and he can use them against us. He even knows that the Mokuton has returned; if our enemies learn about this they may come after Naruto to kidnap or even kill him," said Itachi who had remained silent as he observed the meeting.

"For now, we can protect him inside the village, but what will happen when he becomes a genin?" asked Chōza.

"For the moment Yamato is looking after him. That reminds me; Yamato, what is the progress of Naruto?" said Sarutobi as he looked at Yamato.

"To be honest the only word that comes to my mind is genius," said Yamato.

"Could you be more specific?" asked Shikaku.

"I wish that I could, because I cannot understand how he is advancing so quickly," said Yamato.

"Maybe if you give us an example?" said Inoichi.

"It has been two weeks since the Danzō incident, and since I began my mission to protect him and teach him. On my first day in the mission I chose to see how strong he was in order to determinate his level and see what he needed to work on in order to improve, but that kid is amazing; his learning speed is amazing, he learns every move and jutsu that I show him so quickly that is as if he already knew them," said Yamato.

"Are you sure that you wife hasn't been teaching him anything, Hiashi?" asked Sarutobi.

"I asked her the same question, and she told me that she hadn't; besides, with her still recovering I do not believe that she could even if she wanted to," answered Hiashi. "When I asked her about how he can be advancing so fast she said that I only need to remember who his father is and I will understand, and to be honest that is an explanation that I can accept."

"That information is a secret," said Sarutobi.

"A secret that like many others is now in the hands of Danzō, if he gives that information to Iwa in exchange for help, even if you had the best of intentions, all of this secrecy will have been for nothing," said Shikaku.

Even if Sarutobi did not want to admit it, Shikaku had a very good point.

"You will need to tell him about his father; with the current events that is inevitable. Besides, Akane-sama is right; it is only matter of time before he finds out the truth by on his own, after all he has already proven that he is as smart as his father was," said Shikaku.

"I know, but my original idea was to tell him when he became chūnin or jōnin depending on his level. There have been so many changes in his life that I do not want to reveal another one so soon; I am really getting too old for this," said Sarutobi.

But in that moment an ANBU arrive with haste.

"There is an emergency! The apartment compound where Naruto lives is on fire!" said the ANBU.

"Where is Naruto?" asked a worried Sarutobi.

"He is in the Hyūga compound with the Hyūga heiresses and Akane-sama," answer the ANBU.

That piece of news calmed his heart that for a moment feared the worst.

"What happened?" asked Itachi.

"It seems that a group of drunken civilians decided to burn the place, saying that Naruto-sama was a tool used by Danzō to kill the Fourth Hokage; they were arrested and are now on their way to Hibiki."

Ever since some of the ANBU learned that Naruto is a direct descendant of the First Hokage, their attitude changed. For now, they are the among the only ones who are allowed to know that information, especially because Sarutobi told him that he should keep the Mokuton a a secret.

"Things never get easier, do they?" asked Itachi.

"No, they never do," was Sarutobi's answer.

Time skip.

Naruto was standing right before his building as the flames burned it to the ground, and some shinobi were using water jutsu to stop the fire before the entire block could turn into a conflagration, but for him their efforts were pointless.

The fire destroyed his apartment. Moreover, the worst part is that he did not know how to feel about this. That place was never anywhere special for him, but it was the only place that he could call his own.

While Naruto was looking at the fire, many of the villagers would have loved to make fun of him or even attack him and throw him into the fire, but they chose to do nothing. Not because they had a change of heart but because Akane Hyūga and some of her guards were standing next to him while Hinata and Hanabi where right next to him, holding his hands. This was the only thing that they two sisters could think of to offer some form of comfort to Naruto, because words do not seem right in this moment.

"I guess that it is time to leave," said Naruto as he began to walk away in towards the forest.

"Wait, where are you going?" asked a worried Akane.

"I have another place that I can live," said Naruto.

"You can stay with us, there will be no trouble, right mom?" said Hinata.

"Yes, there will be no trouble," said Akane.

"I appreciate your offer, I really do, but I do not want to attract trouble to your home and even if I know that no one will dare to attack you, my presence will still attract negative attention," said Naruto.

"You do not need to worry about us," said Hanabi.

"But I do; you were the first ones to treat me as a human being. Besides, I was planning to show you a little secret," said Naruto as he began to walk.

Akane, Hinata and Hanabi began to follow him with the small group of Hyūga guards following them a few steps behind.

It took them a while to arrive at the forest; none of them knew where he was taking them, but then Hinata recognized this road.

"Naruto-kun, this road is taking us to," said Hinata.

"Yes, I am taking you to our secret place," said Naruto.

"Secret place?" asked Hanabi.

"I found an old abandoned house in the forest some time ago and we have been using it since then," continued Naruto.

"You mean that old temple? That place is in ruins!" said Hanabi.

"That is where the surprise part comes in," said Naruto as they arrived at their destination, to see the magnificent Uzumaki mask temple still in ruins. The roof was full of holes, the floor as well, and the walls were in terrible shape.

"And the surprise?" asked Hanabi.

Naruto just smiled as he stepped forward when he was right in front of the temple. Then he began to make some hand signs as he knelt and put his hand over the floor.

For a moment nothing happened, but then the wood began to react to his chakra and began to glow.

Before all those present, they saw how the Naruto's Mokuton is fixing the old Uzumaki mask temple. The missing parts were replaced, and the damaged ones look new once again, after a few moments the Uzumaki mask temple was completely fixed.

"Naruto-kun you did it!" said a happy Hinata as she hugged him, happy to see how Naruto-kun has finally managed to achieve his goal.

Hanabi for her part turned from the temple to Naruto and to the temple again. What she had just witnessed was simply impossible.

Akane for her part was curious about Hinata's reaction. "You knew about this Hinata?" she asked.

"I told her how the plants reacted to my chakra, and she was the one that loaned me that book about the First Hokage. It is thanks to her that I finally managed to use Mokuton," answered Naruto in her place.

"But how is it possible that you can use Mokuton? It was supposed to be unique to the first Hokage?!" asked a surprised Hanabi.

"It looks like I am his descendant," Naruto answered.

"But how is that possible?" asked Hinata, this was the first time that she heard this.

"I wish that I knew; the old Hokage just told me that my father is related to him, but he never told me who he was," said Naruto.

"This was supposed to be a secret" said Akane.

"I am tired of secrets that other people said were for my own good, but in the end never helped me," said Naruto with a serious face.

For Akane it was obvious that he is still mad about the decision to keep his father's name a secret.

"I am not the fool that the village believes me to be, and I know that I need to keep this a secret, but who I tell and when, that is my choice. Besides, I trust Hinata-chan and Hanabi-chan," Naruto said with conviction.

For Hinata and Hanabi, hearing how Naruto trusted them to this level was something incredibly special for them.

"Do you want to see the inside?" asked Naruto as he led them inside the temple. With Hinata and Hanabi following him.

Akane followed them, but turned to see her guards, and with a dark look told them "Not a single word about this!" the guards knew that she was deathly serious, and only nodded their heads.

Happy with the answer Akane followed the kids.

Inside the temple the Hyūga women were surprised to see that the place looked like new, like the temple was just built.

"You will need some furniture," Hanabi observed.

"That is no problem," said Naruto as he made the same hand signs and using his Mokuton power to make a wooden chair grow from the wooden floor.

"This is amazing! Where did you learn to do this?" asked Hinata.

"There is a man named Yamato, who for some reason can use Mokuton as well, and he has been teaching me many things." said Naruto, but the truth is that ever since he awoke the Mokuton, every time Yamato showed Naruto a new Mokuton jutsu, that refreshed his memory and after a few tries he managed to master them, creating the impression that he was a genius.

"Is he also related to the Senju clan?" asked Hinata.

"No, he told me that he received his power from another source, but he didn't say how. I guess that there is a tragic story that he doesn't want to tell," answered Naruto.

For her part, Akane knew the true story behind Yamato and understood his situation, but it was in that moment that she saw something that almost made her soul run away from her body.

"Naruto! What are those things doing here?!" said Akane pointing to the masks that were on the wall.

"Those masks? They have been here since I discovered this place, why?"

"They had been here? All this time? What that hell was that old man thinking?" thought Akane.

"Naruto, those masks are probably the most dangerous and destructive objects in the entire village; the fact that they have remained here is mind blowing. They should be in the ANBU headquarters under armed guard!" said Akane as serious as she can.

"But they are only masks; mom?" asked Hanabi.

"It is not the masks, but the seals that are inside these masks that are dangerous; each one of those masks has a seal that can do different things. Each one of them is as dangerous as the worst criminal that you can imagine, even worse sometimes," said Akane with conviction.

"Seals? Like the ones used against the branch family?" said a sad Hinata.

"Seals can do a lot of things honey, and how they are used depends on the person that made the seals," said Akane, understanding Hinata's feelings.

Naruto for his part also knew what is bothering Hinata; after all she has told him what her dreams was, and he is determined to help her achieve her dream.

"Naruto, I know this this place is your new home, but I need to keep these things in a safer place. By the way, I see that one is missing, where is it?"

"I accidentally broke it when I first found this place years ago; because I didn't want it to happen again, I chose not to touch them again," said Naruto, not wanting to say how he fell on his face while wearing that mask; that would be very embarrassing, especially if these masks are as dangerous as Akane-sama said.

"Years ago? And nothing happened? Well if that is the case, I must say that is for the best that it was destroyed instead of being missing out there. Now wait here while I ask one of the guards to go to the ANBU headquarters and ask a team to come to pick up the masks," said Akane.

"Why don´t you just ask the ANBU that are outside?" asked Naruto.

This surprised Akane, not because of the ANBU presence, in fact she managed to detect them, after all with Naruto's heritage or at least part of it been revealed, she was sure that an ANBU team would be assigned to protect him. What surprised her was that he was able to detect them.

"Did you detect them?" asked Akane.

"Yes, there are three of them hiding in the top of those trees," said Naruto as he pointed over the window.

Akane for her part activated her Byakugan to confirm the number and location. Indeed, three are there.

"How?" was the logical question of Akane.

"I don't know, I just felt that people were there," said Naruto.

"I see, please wait here a moment," said Akane as she exited the temple and looking at the trees she said. "Tora, Snake and Crane get your asses over here!" said Akane in her ANBU captain voice.

Not a second later three figures jumped from the trees; her guards came next to her to protect her just in case, but she raised her hand to indicate that there was no danger.

"As expected of Akane-sama; she was able to detect us," said crane.

"Captain, it is good to see that you have recovered your previous level of skill," said Snake.

"Captain, we are happy to see you well, but we are on a mission; we must look after the new Senju heir from a distance and with discretion," said Tora.

"Senju-heir? Wait, I do not have time for that; first of all that mission will be a little more difficult because he is a sensor type who was able to detect you and tell me your location and numbers," said Akane.

"Really?" asked Tora.

"Yes, but that is not important at this moment; what is important is that there are some items here that are extremely dangerous and I need a retrieval team to remove them from this place."

"What kind of items?" asked Snake.

"That is not important; what it is important is that one of you must go to the headquarters and request a team to pick up these things. Also, you need to go to the Hokage and tell him this message," with a dark and serious look Akane continued. "The message is this: 'Why in the name of Kami did you not secure the ritual masks and seals of the Uzumaki mask temple? Some of them can summon things far more dangerous than the Kyūbi, and you left them unguarded, what were you thinking?!', that is all; now carry out my order."

For a moment, the ANBU believed that she was joking, but a quick look at her face told them that she was quite serious.

Knowing what kind of person she became when she was angry, Tora said that she would go while the other two returned to their positions.

With that done, Akane returned to where the kids were, and because she knew that they still had some time, she decided to give Naruto some suggestions about what kind of furniture he could use in his new home. A part of her was sad that he didn't want to come to the Hyūga compound, but she understood that besides her, Hanabi, and Hinata, Naruto had trust issues with her clan, and she couldn't blame him for that.

Besides, if Naruto could make some furniture with his Mokuton, there were many styles that she had always wanted to try.

For the next few hours, Naruto got a lot of practice using his Mokuton. In the end, Akane told him that if he ever needed money, he could sell the pieces that he had just created.

Time skip. A couple of days later.

The entire village gathered in front of the Hokage tower. It seemed that the Hokage would be delivering a very important announcement, and the villagers can only guess what that announcement could be. Nonetheless, there was a lot of speculation, but the main one is that he would finally address the rumors saying that Danzō was a traitor responsible for the Kyūbi attack.

Soon all the villagers that were talking with each other fell silent when they saw the Third Hokage standing at the top of the main tower with the clan heads. Everyone got silent and paid attention as they saw that he was ready to talk.

"My fellow citizens, I am afraid that I have come here to confirm a sad and terrible truth that by now many of you must have heard something about. One of the council members of this village committed treason and homicide against his fellow Konoha shinobi; that traitor is none other than Danzō Shimura."

Many whispers could be heard among the crowd.

"We have found evidence that he took part in the Kyūbi attack on this village, and then put the blame on the Uchiha clan, all this with a terrible goal in mind. He wanted to weaken the Uchiha clan so he could kill some of its members in order to use their bodies in some dark experiments to increase his own power; we even confirmed that he had the Sharingan of Shisui Uchiha implanted in his right eye."

Many people began to look at the members of the Uchiha clan that were in the crowd; it seemed that they wanted to say something, but they could not find the right words.

"But his crimes didn't end there as he even committed crimes against the dead; I am truly sad to report that Danzō took samples of our founder, the First Hokage Hashirama Senju and used them to try to combine his powers with the power of the Sharingan that he stole. We believe that his final goal was to have full control over the Kyūbi, something that as you can imagine, failed."

By now, the entire village was silent as the grave.

"For his crimes against this village and its citizens, I now declare that Danzō Shimura is now an S rank traitor to Konoha, with a bounty of 25 million ryō on his head; any person that helped him or his followers will also be considered a traitor and share the same punishment. The punishment for treason is death."

Sarutobi then changed the look in his eyes to a gentler one.

"I should have seen sooner the kind of monster that Danzō had become; it is for that reason that I have made the decision to retire in a couple of years after the successor that I have chosen is ready to take the role as the Fifth Hokage."

Now the people began to looks anxious.

"Even if he is young he has proven to possess great talent and devotion to this village. Even after what Danzō did to him and his clan he still put Konoha before anything else, and that alone made him the best candidate for a Hokage for which I could wish. For this reason I will spend the next couple of years teaching what I can about the position of Hokage so that when the moment arrives he can lead us to the best of his abilities. For that I want to present you the man that one day will be the Fifth Hokage, Itachi Uchiha."

In that moment Itachi stepped forward from where the clan heads were.

For a moment, nothing happened, but then a huge ovation could be heard.

That moment made history as the village knew the face of the man that would lead them toward the future, and marked the beginning of the reconciliation process with the Uchiha clan.

Soon the people began to surround the member of the Uchiha clan that were watching the Hokage's proclamation in the main square and began to congratulate them.

It was a great day that promised a big celebration that night and many, even the more serious members of the Uchiha clan seemed to enjoy the moment. All but one, ironically the one that should be happiest about this, Itachi's little brother, Sasuke.

Sasuke looked at the announcement with a serious face as the events that happened days ago began to play in his memory.

Flashback

The leaders of the Uchiha clan had been called to attend to an emergency meeting. Normally Sasuke would not be called to a council meeting, but for some reason he could participate.

It was in that moment that his parents and his onī-san entered the meeting room. His father being the first one to talk.

"In the last two days so many things have happened that will affect the future of our clan and that have required immediate action," said Fugaku.

"Is it related with the state of emergency and the order to capture Danzō and any other member of ROOT?" asked a random Jōnin.

"Yes, in fact that is the cause of this meeting. What you are about to hear shall remain in secret until the next Hokage gives the authorization to speak about this."

"Next Hokage?" asked another clan member.

"You are about to learn the truth in a moment. Mikoto, you have known more about these recent events, could you explain the situation to the clan?"

Mikoto for her part stepped forward and looked at her clansmen gathered.

"What I am about to tell you will cause a lot of emotions to emerge, but please contain your emotions until I am finished with the retelling of the events."

So, Mikoto began to explain what had just happened, beginning with the attempted of kidnapping of Naruto, how he used the Mokuton to capture the three enemy jōnin, and his relationship with the First Hokage.

"Are you saying that he is a Senju?!" asked an elder man.

"That is the case, even if he wasn't officially recognized as one; the moment that the village learn that the Mokuton has returned they will not care that the boy's grandmother was the Senju clan head's lover."

Then she continued explaining the events of the meeting. When the time came to explain about the Kyūbi attack, she saw her son Sasuke and said the word tenant; she knew that all the others members of the clan will know who she means, and told them about the description of the man that caused the Kyūbi attack.

Meanwhile Sasuke began to consider that maybe this tenant is the person that has been helping that loser to get so strong.

By this moment, everyone was paying attention as if their lives depended on it; after all, the entire clan had suffered since that night as many pointed their fingers towards them saying that only an Uchiha could cause the attack on the village.

That is when the bomb fell. The moment when Mikoto explained what happened when they asked Naruto to demonstrate his Mokuton powers and what happened to Danzō's arm and the worst part, the Sharingan implanted in his body.

"My Shisui?" said a woman in tears. Her name was Kaori and she was the mother of Shisui, and with him being the main suspect of the attack she was the one that had suffered more among the clan. To receive news that her son's name had been cleared was a small relief, but it was also a bittersweet one because this confirmed that her son, her beloved Shisui, was dead.

Many of the women that were in the meeting came close to Kaori and offered her their condolences, but a moment later, the rage was evident on their faces; they wanted revenge and they wanted it immediately.

"Wait a minute! There is more for you to know!" said Mikoto. "As you can imagine, when the truth came out the confidence in the Hokage's ability to rule the village received a big impact, and many were calling to replace him; however in that moment young Naruto came to a simple solution. Name an Uchiha as his successor and train him for a couple of years so he can later take his place in a peaceful way, and believe it or not, that idea had a lot of support from the other clans."

"Are you saying that Fugaku-sama will be the next Hokage?" asked a clan member.

"No, it will not be me; the future Fifth Hokage of Konoha will be my son, Itachi," said Fugaku.

That news was a big surprise, but this time it was welcome as many considered Itachi the best hope for the future of their clan, and with this news, they had just confirmed it.

"Wait!" said Sasuke for the first time. "Are you saying that Naruto, (he wanted to call him loser, but knew that this was not the time or place for that) came to the idea to name onī-san as the new Hokage, and the clan heads agreed with him? How?"

"Little brother," said Itachi. "Because of some special circumstances, Naruto was forced to pretend to be an immature boy, but the truth is that he is highly intelligent. In fact I believe that he is even more intelligent than I was at his age; also the way that he explained his reasoning to choose me as the new Hokage was very eloquent, especially because I didn't want the position."

Many of those present were surprised by this revelation, but with the information about how he was a Senju, they just began to believe that it was something natural.

"If Itachi becomes the next Hokage, then who will be the next clan head?" asked one of those present.

"That will be my second son, Sasuke; when he comes of age he will be tested in the same way that I was, and if he is approved he will become the new clan head," said Fugaku.

This cause some reactions. No one said anything, but Sasuke could see it in their faces. He knew that they had always considered him inferior to his brother, and now that Itachi will become the new Hokage that idea was reinforced in them.

However, he would show them in time that he would become the strongest Uchiha to ever exist. In addition, he did not know why but the fact that it was that loser's suggestion that his brother become the next Hokage really pissed him off.

He would also see. In time, all will see that he will become a legend that will surpass his brother.

Back to the present.

"Congratulations Sasuke-kun!" said an annoying voice that he knew.

It was Sakura, with Ino right behind her.

"Now you are the Hokage's brother!" said a happy Ino.

These words were the last thing that he wanted to hear. Moreover, the only thing these fan girls did was make him more angry at this situation. He didn't have time for these losers, so he just turned his back on them and walked away.

"Sasuke-kun?" Sakura called him and tried to follow him along with Ino, but the number of people in the area made it impossible and she lost him.

"You just scared him away forehead!" said Ino.

"Me? You're the one that is always in the way! If you weren't here Sasuke-kun would be asking me for a date by now!"

"In yours dreams!" was Ino's reply.

Back with Sasuke, he had just arrived at a training ground. At that moment he only wanted to be alone, he needed to think of a way to become strong without the help of his clan, that was the only way to prove that everyone who had always looked down on him were wrong.

Especially that loser!

It didn't matter that he was a Senju; a loser would always be a loser.

"Looks like someone is angry," said a voice behind him.

When Sasuke turned he saw that same 'ANBU' from the last time, the one that told him how his brother was helping Naruto.

"What do you want?" asked Sasuke, angry at being interrupted.

"Nothing; I was just on my way to see the announcement before I had to return to my post," Tobi lied.

"It's over there, now get lost," said Sasuke as he pointed to the center of the village.

"It seems that someone is angry; could it be that now not only your clan, but the entire village sees you as the useless brother of the new Hokage?"

Sasuke's reaction was instant as he launched some kunai at Tobi, only to see them pass through him.

"A genjutsu? Do not make me waste my time with…" whatever Sasuke was about to say ended when the 'genjutsu' punched him in the stomach.

"If I was a genjutsu the pain that you are feeling now should make me disappear, right? But since I am here that means I must be real," Tobi said.

"Who are you? How did you do that?" asked Sasuke in pain.

"Just an ordinary super elite and amazing regular Shinobi," Tobi casually replied.

"What do you want from me?" Sasuke asked.

"From you nothing; you are just too weak right now, but you remind me of how I used to be when I was your age, so I will tell you something. Come here the last three days of each month and I will teach you a little; that will help you become stronger than your brother and especially stronger than that Naruto boy," Tobi offered.

"I do not need your help!" replied Sasuke.

"And who is going to help you? Your clan? They are too busy praising Itachi now, and when the village learns that Naruto boy is a Senju they will also begin to praise him," Tobi countered.

After hearing that Sasuke remained silent.

"My time is too valuable to waste in this way; if you do not show at the end of this month I will assume that you are happy with how things are now, and that you want to live in the shadows of your brother and Naruto for the rest of your life, but remember this training time will be our secret," Tobi said.

With that Tobi turned around and began to walk away.

"Wait!" said Sasuke. "In case that I decide to accept your offer, how I am supposed to call you?" asked Sasuke.

"Call me Tobi," and with that said he disappears.

Time skip

It had been three months since Sasuke accepted Tobi's offer and while he had doubts about him, he surely kept his word, and even if they only trained together a few days each month Sasuke felt that he had made more progress than what he did when he trained with his father, who had spent less time training him, saying that he had clan business to attend.

However, this progress had also come with an additional trait, arrogance. Ever since he first began to train with Tobi, he found that talking with him was something very interesting. They shared some points of view about what must be done, and the role of the elite in this world.

He increased his challenging of Naruto, to show the village that he was superior, but those fights and competitions never ended with a victory on his side; that was bad enough for him, but when he remembered Hinata's words from that day, about how Naruto wasn't using his full power, that made him furious.

Another way that Sasuke chose to compete against Naruto, was with his followers. Sasuke began to gather a group, with Uchiha kids mainly, to show Naruto that he also had followers, but the fact that those kids couldn't win a match against the girls that followed Naruto was something that only made him angrier.

That is when Tobi suggested him, why not make one of the girls from Naruto's group abandoned him to join yours?

That was something that attracted Sasuke's attention, and he was willing to try, even if it was said that one of his group chose him over Naruto.

But that idea also came with a trouble. That from Naruto's group of friends, Hinata, the strongest, wanted nothing to do with him; her sister was the same and Yakumo showed zero interest in him. That left him with only two choices, and they were ones that he really disliked.

Sakura and Ino were useless fan girls who only knew how to bother him. And even if their skills had shown some improvement lately, their personalities and that stupid idea of romance that they had really made him mad. But if he wants to take something away from Naruto those two are the easiest targets.

That is what brings us to this very moment.

Sakura and Ino were walking together to their homes because today was one of the days that they did not have to train with Naruto and the others.

"Hello there," said a voice that the two of them knew very well.

"Sasuke-kun?" asked the two at the same time as they turned around. Surprised that Sasuke wanted to talk with them.

"I just want to say that I am impressed with the progress that you have made; you are obviously stronger than what I believed, so I was wondering if you would want to train with me and my friends tomorrow since it is Saturday?" asked Sasuke with a friendly smile that looked fake on his face. However, for Ino and Sakura it looked like he was their charming prince.

"You really are asking us to train with you?" asked a surprised Ino.

"Yes, if that is okay with you?" Sasuke replied.

"Yes!" said both Ino and Sakura at the same time.

"Excellent, then I will meet you tomorrow," said Sasuke as he turned to leave. Once he was out of their view the friendly look that he had turned darker.

"Why did you invite those losers to be with us?" asked an Uchiha boy who was waiting for him with another group.

"I do not care about them; I just want to take away something from that loser," was Sasuke's answer as he kept walking.

"I know, but why does it have to be those pathetic excuses for shinobi?" asked the same boy.

"I have to start somewhere," was Sasuke's plain reply.

"I see, well I need to do an errand that my mom asked me to do," said the boy as he went to the main street while Sasuke and the others returned to the Uchiha compound.

A few moments later, Ino had just entered her room; she was so excited that Sasuke had finally shown some interest in her. The only bad thing was that he had also asked Sakura to be with him, well she only needed to show him that she was the best.

When she first suggested that training with Naruto would attract Sasuke's attention, she was joking; in fact it was a prank on Sakura, but a lot of things happened and now the training with Naruto and the others truly was helping her.

Wait a minute, Naruto. Tomorrow she had training with Naruto, Hinata, Hanabi and Yakumo at the same time. Oh well, it will only be for this one time, besides this could be the perfect chance to make Sasuke-kun who is the best boy in the village fall in love with her.

But now that she is thinking, for some reason her entire clan had been acting very strange now; at first when she told them that Naruto was the boy that she was expending her time training with after classes, many of her clan members didn't like that and asked her to stop at once, saying that being close to that boy will damage the clan's reputation, but her father spoke against that and said that she must continue with her training with Naruto because now she is really training as she should.

However, in the last few days the same people who said that she must stay away from Naruto are now asking her to become closer to him; she wondered what could have happened to change their opinions. Well that is not her business; if things go well tomorrow, her time with Naruto and the others will come to an end. She may be a little sad because she had just begun to get along better with Hinata, Hanabi and Yakumo; the fact that none of them are interested in Sasuke really helped to make her like them.

Now all that she needed was a little advantage over Sakura, something that she could use to make Sasuke choose her over Sakura.

It was in that moment that looking outside her window she saw one of the others Uchiha boys that attend to the academy with them. Ino knew him because he was always with Sasuke-kun.

"That's it!" said Ino to herself as she began to make the hand signs for her clan jutsu.

"Shintenshin no Jutsu (Mind Transfer Jutsu)!"

As Ino fell to the floor of her room, the Uchiha boy stood for a second as he lowered his face, a second later when he raised his face again he was wearing a very big smile that looked strange on his face.

"Now to find out what kind of woman attracts Sasuke-kun more," thought Ino.

Using the body of the Uchiha boy, Ino entered the Uchiha compound and was looking for Sasuke. Thankfully she didn't have to look far as she saw him heading toward the training grounds.

"Sasuke-k" she stopped when she was about to use her pet name for him.

"What do you want?" asked a bothered Sasuke.

"I was wondering what girl you like more, Ino or Sakura, and what characteristics they need to have to be your perfect girlfriend?" asked Ino in the boy's body.

Sasuke turned to see him with a very pissed off face.

"What that hell are you talking about?!" said Sasuke as he grabbed the boy/Ino from the shirt "I don't know what is wrong with you or if is this is some kind of joke for you, but I just told you that those two pathetic excuses for shinobi mean nothing to me!"

"But you just talked to them; you invited them to train with you!"

"Only so I can take something away from that loser Naruto," said Sasuke as he released the boy/Ino.

"If you care so much about them you can keep them; all that I want is to be able to say I managed to take one of Naruto's friends away to my side," said Sasuke as he kept walking.

"Eh? How did I get here?" asked the Uchiha boy as he recovered the control over his body.

While this was happening, Ino opened her eyes in her room, she had tears in them.

"I am such a fool," said Ino in low voice as she cried.

She spent the rest of the night thinking about, well everything. She was such a fool to place all her dreams in a boy that did not care about her. Had she gone tomorrow to train with him, it would have possibly been the worst mistake of her life.

"I have to tell Sakura; I can't allow her to make the worst mistake of her life," Ino said.

The next morning Ino hurried to Sakura's place, but when she arrived Sakura's mother told her that she had already left.

After hearing that she began to run in the direction of the training ground where she saw Sakura walking a few meters in front of her.

"Sakura!"

"Eh, what do you want Ino-pig?"

"Thank Kami that I found you in time!"

This time Ino had a serious face that attracted Sakura's attention.

"Ino, what happened?"

"Sakura, we need to leave this place, you are making the worst mistake of your life!"

"What are you talking about? Sasuke-kun is waiting for us!"

"That is the mistake!"

"What are you talking about?"

In that moment Ino began to tell her about what happened yesterday, what she did and how she heard what Sasuke really thought about them, that his goal was to say that he managed to take away some of Naruto's friends; after that he did not care about them.

Sakura listened in silence to all that Ino said.

"That is why we need to go, Sakura; this is not worthy, and we are going to be used and then ignored," said Ino.

"I see" said Sakura.

"Thank Kami, now we should leave," said Ino as she tried to grab Sakura's hand so they can leave that place.

But Sakura rejected her hand.

"Sakura?" Ino said.

"I see that you are afraid that Sasuke-kun will choose me over you because I am the best girl in the academy, and if you believe that you can fool me you are very wrong because I know that Sasuke-kun would never do that!"

"I am telling you the truth!" said Ino with conviction.

"I don't believe you, and if you want to go with that fool Naruto and the others you are welcome; they have served their propose and I don't need them anymore," said Sakura.

"You will be used," said Ino as she tried to grab Sakura's hand again, but…

SLAPPP

Sakura slapped Ino.

Ino for her part raised her hand to touch the check that Sakura just slapped.

"There was a time that we were friends, and we allowed a boy that is garbage to destroy our friendship; if you want to make the biggest mistake of your life, fine I won't stop you, but I won't be there to see you face the consequences," with that said Ino turned around and left her alone.

Sakura for her part looked at how Ino waked away, but a moment later she continued her way; after all, Sasuke-kun would now be all hers.

Back with Ino.

She kept walking without a destination in mind; in fact, the only thing that she was thinking right now was to determine how she could be so wrong. She needed to think, and now all she wanted was to be alone.

"Hello Ino, ready to train?" asked Naruto from behind her.

Turning around she saw Naruto, Hinata, Hanabi and Yakumo.

Oh, she forgot about the training that she was supposed to have with them.

"Are you okay? You look a little stressed," asked Yakumo.

"Yeah, I just had a discussion with Sakura," said Ino.

"What happened?" asked Hinata.

"I don't think that she wants to train with us anymore," said Ino, not wanting to say more about the topic.

"I see," said Naruto.

"We can't force her to stay with us; she needs to find her own way," said Hinata as she looked at Ino with a serious face. "What about you Ino? What are you going to do?"

Somehow Hinata knew what had just happened, how, Ino did not know, but she knows that Hinata is asking her what she is going to do from now on.

Ino looked at them and began to remember that even if the training was hard, she actually had real fun with them, but that fun was short lived as she was always arguing with Sakura, so maybe it was time to have real fun with her real friends.

This time she would have real fun.

"I will challenge you to a race to our training place!" said Ino as she began to run.

"Hey! That is not fair!" said Naruto.

"We are training to be ninja, we aren't supposed to be fair!" was Ino's reply as she ran.

Naruto looked at Ino, wondering what could have happened to make her act like this, but she looked happier this way.

"Too slow!" said Hinata as she began to run, being followed by Hanabi and Yakumo.

Naruto stopped there seeing how all of them were running, for some reason that made him happy.

"Hey wait for me!" said Naruto as he began to run.

Back with Sakura.

She has just arrived to where Sasuke was, but part of her couldn't forget the words that Ino had just told her.

"Hello Sakura. I am glad that you arrived, where is Ino?" asked Sasuke.

"She changed her mind, but do not worry because I am the best one of the two of us and I promise you that I will always be here for you."

"I am sure that you will," said Sasuke with a dark look in his eyes that Sakura either missed or didn't want to see. "Now let's see what you can do," and with that said he took his fighting stance.

Sakura for her part did the same, believing that this would be the first of many occasions where they would spend their time together. "Yes, now it's only a matter of time before he falls in love with me," Sakura thought.

What Sakura never realized is that sometimes you must be careful what you wish for because you just might get it.

Back with Naruto and the girls.

Naruto did manage to win the race being followed by Hinata, Ino, Hanabi and Yakumo.

"That was a good way to warm up before the training," said Naruto as he looked at the girls.

"You really are going to tell them, aren't you?" asked Hanabi. When Naruto showed her that he could use the Mokuton, it was the biggest surprise of her life, and she even began to consider that that beautiful golden chakra might be related to that power now that she learned that he is in fact a direct descendant of the First Hokage.

But that was not all, because he also told them what he had inside him. At first the memories of how the adults, even her own guardian treated Naruto began to make sense, but she didn't believe that Naruto was a demon; after all he saved her mom, and her mom, the person she trust most in the entire world, had told them that Naruto was not a demon. But that was something that her sister Hinata didn't need to be told as she hurried to hug him.

That action alone showed her how much her sister cared for Naruto.

However, there were more surprises, because he even told them that the Hokage had decreed that his father's name was a secret, and that he could only learn it when he turned 18 or became a jōnin.

Not only could Naruto use the legendary Mokuton, but had the Kyūbi inside him, he could use healing jutsu, and not only was he related to the First Hokage but his parents' names were still a secret. Naruto's life was remarkably interesting, more than the novels of love and adventure that she liked to read.

"I have to; after all I am going to ask for their help in the future, so it is only fair that they know the truth so they can make their own choices," said Naruto.

Hinata for her part stood next to Naruto and held his hand as a show of support, something that Hanabi did as well with his other hand.

But before he could begin a single ANBU jumped and landed in the middle of the ground, scaring the girls.

"Are you going to tell them about the events that recently happened?" asked the ANBU that had white hair.

"Only the parts that are related to me, the others I will keep secret."

"All that happened is supposed to be a secret, it is for your own good," was the reply.

"The last time that someone kept a secret from me saying that it was for my own good that didn't work so well, did it? I am tired of people keeping secrets about my life saying that it was for my own good when my life has been a living hell!" said Naruto.

The ANBU remained silent, a guilty feeling in his stomach.

"Someone else could see you," the ANBU tried again.

"Besides you and the other two ANBU that are over there, there is no one close enough to this place to see what is happening," countered Naruto.

The ANBU confirmed the report that said that Naruto was a sensor type, one that seemed to be extremely good.

"Besides, with a team of ANBU always following me, it is only a matter of time before they see that something is off," said Naruto.

Seeing that there was no point he returned to where his teammates were.

"Naruto?" asked Yakumo. She wanted to know what was happening, and from the look on Ino's faces she as well wanted an answer.

"Ino, Yakumo," said Naruto. "I believe that it will be easier to show you than explain it."

And with that Naruto stepped forward and after making a few hand signs, a large tree trunk, like the ones in the training grounds grew from the ground.

This surprised Ino and Yakumo.

"That is the Mokuton, but how is that possible?" asked a surprised Ino.

"About that," said Naruto as he began to tell them how he awoke the Mokuton, how he was related to the first Hokage, and finally about the Kyūbi.

To say that Ino and Yakumo were shocked was an understatement. All this new information changed many of the concepts and ideas that they already believed to be true.

"It doesn't matter," said Yakumo attracting Ino's attention. "You helped me when I needed it, and thanks to you my dreams are about to become a reality; besides we are friends, so why I should care for something like that?" asked Yakumo with a smile.

Ino for her part began to consider all that she had heard, how she was and the kind of person that she was, and the truth is that she didn't like it; she wanted to change, the old Ino would have reacted in a bad way after hearing this, but now this was the first step, she would no longer be that old Ino. She will become strong, independent, and a great shinobi in her own right.

"I agree with Yakumo, but why did you tell us this? You could have kept the secret," Ino said.

"Because we are friends," was Naruto's answer. "Besides, I need your help."

"Our help?" Yakumo and Ino asked in unison.

"I have spent my all life being called a demon, an orphan who was abandoned by his parents, and many other things that I do not want to repeat. Now I know that I have an aunt out there, but she did not know that she had a little brother, much less a nephew. I am finally been able to learn things about my past, my family, but the last piece that finally reveals all my past, my history, won't be revealed until I become a jōnin and for that I need your help," Naruto spoke passionately.

"Our help, but you are the strongest student in the academy, you can become a chūnin in less than a year after you graduate, and a jōnin after that, how can we help you?" asked Ino.

"Because if I want to become truly strong, it is not something that I can do alone, and I am worried that I may lose focus of who I am and what I want. I need someone who if I begin to lose my way, will be there to help me find the right path again," said Naruto.

The girls looked at Naruto, he seemed so mature; no other boys they knew would even admit that they needed help, and even less would ask for it. How he became like this even after all that he must have gone through was something that they could admire and respect.

"But what can we do?" asked Yakumo.

At this Naruto just answered. "Do you want to become stronger with me?"

None of them expected that answer, they began to look at each other as they began to think about what they had heard. They may have had their own reasons for being here, but they all agreed that their propose is linked to this boy, and that whatever would happen from now on, it would be fun.

In that moment they had their answer.

That night, in the Hyūga compound.

Hanabi was in her room, looking at the ceiling from her bed, trying to fall asleep but with the recent events still playing in her mind.

She could barely believe it, the boy that her big sister loved, turned out to be some kind of prince, who has a mystical power and a dark secret and was asking for their help to achieve his goals; this was like those novels that she loved so much.

But more importantly, she was incredibly happy for her sister. Ever since she became closer to Naruto, Hanabi had seen how Hinata was becoming more confident and strong; it was as if she was the heroine of a novel. She really was happy for her, but at the same time a little jealous — not in a bad way — it was just that she had always dreamed to live a love story as romantic as this one, but after hearing Naruto's story she was sure that there was no other boy with such an amazing background and intensity, and even if her sister did not want to admit her feelings yet, she was sure that she and Naruto are meant to be together.

There is also his chakra; by Kami, she didn't know why that golden chakra attracted her so much, could it be because of the Mokuton? Or the Kyūbi? Maybe both. But that did not change the fact that he had the most beautiful chakra that she had ever seen, and she wanted to see more of it.

"This is useless," said Hanabi as she realized that she would not fall sleep anytime soon, so she got up and went to the Hyūga clan library.

Normally there were only official books there, but there was also a small section that was reserved to recreational books. Therefore, she went to see if she could find a new book to read, hoping to get sleepy after reading a few pages. She was looking for something new to read as she read the titles of the books.

But then she saw something; it was not on the book shelf, but on the floor. It seemed that a board was loose; at first she didn't pay it too much attention, but then she saw that it wasn't just a corner of the board that was lose, but the whole table. It also seemed that someone had move that board and that was strange, because why move a damage board in the floor and not fix it?

It was then that she tried to fix that board in the floor when she saw that there was something under the board, it was a packet. Feeling more curious about this she opened it and saw that they were some books.

"Books? Why would someone put books here? Let's see what those books are about, uhm, Icha Icha Tactics? What a strange name, but wait a minute, the author of this books is Jiraiya of the Sannin! Maybe this book is about his battle tactics and techniques?!" said Hanabi with great emotion.

"Maybe that is why they were hidden, because they are too important, and if that is the case these books may be the key to help us to become stronger; but first I have to read them to see what kind of battle tactics are shown in them," said Hanabi as she took all the books to her room.

"Let's see, this appears to be the first one of the series, 'The Two Moon Princesses and the Rōnin'? What a strange title for a shinobi book," Hanabi said.

With that said Hanabi opened the door that would lead her to the wonderful of the Icha Icha Paradise series, something that would help her in a future to achieve her own happiness, and the happiness of others.