Rokubi : Family Bonds.

Chapter 1 : A New Threat.

Konoha

The village was quiet, it had been this way for the last few weeks since the third Hokage died. But early that morning the peace and quiet had been pierced by some event, a fight had broken out near the outskirts of the village.

To most people a period of peace was welcomed after all that the village had gone through, but there wads at lease one person in the village who didn't welcome it, this person was Sasuke Uchiha. Ever since the Third Hokage had died there hadn't been any missions for the Genin of the village and most of the Jounin had been sent out on high rank missions. He hadn't been in a fight since his fight with Gaara and even then he had been almost useless, in the end it was Naruto who had defeated Gaara. Plus he never got the chance to face X at the exams thanks to the invasion, that was his biggest regret, not finding out which was stronger, the Sharingan or the Shoutengan. All he could do now was train to be ready for whatever was coming in the future.

Finally Sasuke arrived at Kakashi's apartment and made his way upstairs. Sasuke reached Kakashi's door and walked in.

"Kakashi…" Sasuke stopped when he saw Kakashi out cold in his bed surrounded by Kurenai, Gai and Asuma, they all looked at Sasuke with worried expressions.

"Why's Kakashi asleep?" Sasuke asked the three conscious Jounin.

"And why are Jounins gathered here? What happened?" the three Jounin looked at Sasuke with black faces. Gai was the first to break the silence.

"Nothing much happened"

There are many things that Gai was able to do, but lying wasn't one of them, just as Sasuke was about to ask again the door behind him suddenly burst open and a Chunin wearing sunglasses ran into the room and immediately started speaking in panic.

"I-Is it true that the Itachi came back?"

As soon as Sasuke heard that name, he froze. At the same time Gai turned around and shot the Chunin a look that screamed 'Shut the hell up you idiot!'

"And that he's after Naruto and Ron?" the Chunin finally stopped when he noticed the looks he was getting from each of the Jounin.

Sasuke slowly turned around to face the Chunin, the Chunin saw Sasuke for the first time since he entered the room and realized what he had just said in front of him.

"Idiot" Kurenai muttered to herself.

"I-Itachi…" Sasuke quietly whispered to himself.

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4 Years ago

An 8 year old Sasuke Uchiha quickly made his way home to the Uchiha compound, probably to be scolded by his father for being so late home. As he entered the compound his eyes were drawn to something, a shadow cast in the moonlight. Sasuke looked up to see what was creating the shadow, as he looked up he saw nothing by a communication pole.

'What was that? I felt like someone was there…'Sasuke thought to himself.

Something was wrong, Sasuke felt it in his stomach as he looked down the street through the compound.

"The… the lights are all out… but its not time to sleep yet" Sasuke realized.

Worried that something was wrong, Sasuke ran towards his house, when he rounded the first corner he stopped, the street was riddled with Kunai and small splashes of blood over the walls.

"What happened here?" Sasuke asked as he ran past the battle field further towards his house. He stopped as he spotted something on the doorsteps of his house, two bodies laying in a pool of blood, Sasuke saw their lifeless faces and recognized them immediately.

"U-Uncle… Aunt…" Sasuke addressed them half hoping that they would resond in some way, when they didn't he felt tears threatening to run from his eyes. Sasuke's eyes widened when he remembered…

"Mom, Dad!!!" Sasuke shouted as he ran into the house fearing for the safety of his parents.

Sasuke finally stopped running when he reached his parents room, he slowly reached out and opened the door. The sight he beheld was unbelievable, the walls were splattered with blood and I the center of the room, laid the bodies of his mother and father.

Suddenly Sasuke heared them, footsteps coming from the dark area of the room, Sasuke took a few steps back fearing that the killer was still here, when the figure stepped into the moonlight, Sasuke felt suddenly relieved. The man was dressed in a basic ANBU uniform minus the mask and his eyes were blood red with three Tomoe circling the pupil. This man was 13 year old Itachi Uchiha, Sasuke's brother.

"Oniisan! (Brother) Father and mother, who did this to…"Sasuke stopped speaking as something shot past him and struck the wall behind him, Sasuke turned around and saw a Shuriken lodged in the wall and he felt a sudden pain in his shoulder from where the weapon had hit him.

"Oniisan, what are… What are you doing?!!" Sasuke said in shcok that Itachi would throw a Shuriken at him.

Itachi slowly shook his head before speaking.

"Foolish little brother…"

Sasuke watched as Itachi's eyes started changing, the three Tomoe started spinning before combining to create a shuriken shape.

"Mangekyo Sharingan!" Itachi said as his eyes changed.

Suddenly Sasuke's mind was flooded with images, images of Itachi throwing the Shuriken that had killed his aunt and uncle, as he systematically killed every member of the Uchiha clan and as he used his ANBU issue short sword to impale his father and slit his mother throat.

And a moment later it was over, the images stopped and Sasuke fell to the ground as he felt tears flowing freely from his eyes. The truth struck Sasuke, Itachi, his brother, had murdered his entire family.

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Sasuke's eyes widened in horror, after four years Itachi had returned.

Sasuke quickly ran forward and pushed the Chunin who had let the information slip out of the way and ran from the room.

Gai stood up and looked ready to pound some common sence into the Chunin.

As soon as Sasuke was outside he jumped to the nearest rooftop and started heading towards Naruto's apartment.

"He's back! He's back in the village and hes after Naruto and Ron? What's going on?" Sasuke tried to figure out as he reached Naruto's apartment building and jumped up to the right floor and ran to Naruto's door. As he reached for the handle the door suddenly opened revealing Sakura who was shocked to see Sasuke so suddenly.

"Sasuke-kun…"

:"WHERE'S NARUTO?" Sasuke cut her off.

"I don't know, I just got here…" Sakura was about to continue when Sasuke was off again looking for their blond teammate.

"If Naruto or Ron get caught by Itachi they'll be dead! I won't let that happen!" Sasuke mused as he bolted down the Konoha main street towards the Ramen stand Naruto is always eating at. He skidded to a halt as he spotted somebody coming out of the stand, Anko Mitarashi, Ron's mother.

"Mitarashi-san!" Sasuke shouted to get her attention.

Anko turned around as her name was shouted.

"Where's Ron!!!" Sasuke asked her in a loud voice.

"He's gone" Anko answered simply

"WHERE?!!" Sasuke literally screamed at her.

Under usual circumstances Anko would gut someone for speaking to her that way, but this was different, she could almost sense the urgency of Sasuke's voice.

"He left with Naruto and Jiraiya this morning on a mission, I think their heading towards the lodging town a little way north of here."

"Jiraiya?" Sasuke asked, not knowing who Jiraiya is.

"An old man with big white hair… now what's going on?" Anko asked, but before she could get an answer from him, Sasuke was off again this time heading towards the northern gates.

A few moments later Anko saw Gai running down the street towards her. He came to a screeching halt in front of Anko.

"Anko-chan! Have you by chance seen young Uchiha Sasuke?" Gai asked while panting.

"Yeah, I saw him just a few minutes ago, he asked me where Ron was. I told him that Ron left this morning with Naruto and Jiraiya and are heading towards the lodging village to the north… now what is going on?" Anko asked.

"Itachi Uchiha returned to the village this morning, he was here after Naruto and R…" Gai's sentence trailed off as he realized who he was talking to.

"Itachi? As in the Uchiha who killed his almost his entire clan four years ago? And he's after Naruto and…" Anko's eyes widened as she realized what was going on.

Sasuke had asked her where RON was, not Naruto… Anko put two and two together and found her answer.

"Itachi is after Ron!"

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Lodging Village - 11 miles north of Konoha

The lodging village has been home to many different types of people over the years, the streets were always busy with a plethora of different kinds of people, from the most humble merchant to the most ruthless mercenary, and right now there were three people in particular that stood out in the crowd and drew the attention of many people.

The first was a young blond boy with whisker marks on each cheek and wearing a bright orange jumpsuit and a Konoha forehead protector, this boy was Konoha's number one unpredictable ninja, Uzumaki Naruto.

The second was a tall old man with long bright white hair, he had a giant scroll strapped to his back and ware a forehead protector with the Kanji for 'Oil' engraved on it, this man was one of the three legendary Sanin, Jiraiya.

And the third person had brown eyes and blond hair being held back by a Konoha forehead protector with a black strap, he wore black cargo pants, a black long sleeve turtleneck with a green Chunin jacket and over one shoulder was slung what looked like a Katana wrapped in a white bandage. This boy was the only one out of all three that looked normal… if it wasn't for a girl with long raven hair and green tinted skin being carried on his back. This boy was Ronald Mitarashi and the girl he was carrying was Sheila.

As they made their way down the main street Ron notised that Jiraiya was looking left and right, he was supposed to be looking for a place for them to stay for the night but instead he was getting sidetracked by every woman with large… assets.

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Across the village from them two shrouded figures entered through the main gates of the small village. They both wore long black cloaks with red clouds and high collars that hid half of their faces and straw hats that covered the other half of their faces, the taller of the two had a large sword strapped to his back that was wrapped in bandages and the shorter one had his hat lifted slightly to reveal two blood red Sharingan eyes. The one with the Sharingan eyes turned and looked up at his partner,

"Kisame, you go after the Rokubi container… I'll go after the Kyuubi container" and without waiting for a reply, he started walking away.

Kisame smiled as he fingered his sword gleefully, it had been a while since had had a chance for a real fight, hopefully the Rokubi container would last longer than two minutes.

"Kisame…" the voice came from the Sharingan user, "… don't forget, we need them alive"

Kisame nodded reluctantly,

"I haven't forgotten Itachi" Kisame said to his partner as he left to find the Kyuubi container,

As soon as Itachi was out of earshot Kisame muttered something to himself.

"I'm sure he can live without a few limbs"

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Eventually Jiraiya got his head out of the clouds to actually pick an Inn, but as soon as he had the key in his hand he spotted a beautiful young woman eyeing him from the entrance.

"Hehe, ok, take the key and go upstairs, mold some chakra, train and go to bed… I'll be back later after I've done some… research" Jiraiya said as he tossed the room key to Naruto and ran out of the Inn after the girl.

Ron and Naruto made their way upstairs to their room, after going inside and setting down their bags Ron slowly laid Sheila down on a bed. Naruto sat down on the only other bed and started training. Ron shifted his sword so it was on his back properly before walking towards the door.

"Naruto, I'm gonna go pick up some supplies, I'll be back soon" Ron said as he reached for the door handle.

At this point Naruto jumped up and pointed at Ron.

"Hey! Ero-Sennin (Perverted sage) said to train and then go to bed! How come you get to go out?"

Ron turned around to face Naruto.

"Actually he said that to you, not me. He's not my sensei and we're gonna need some supplies now before that pervert spends all our money on booze and girls"

Naruto found Ron's argument very convincing and suddenly had an idea to get out of training.

"In that case why don't you let me worry about getting our supplies…"

"NO!" Ron almost shouted, "as much as I may like it we can't spend all of our money on cups of instant ramen either"

Naruto was shocked.

'H-He read my mind?'

"Look Naruto, I'll go get the supplies, yo just stay here and look after Sheila for me ok?" Ron said with finality as he turned to the door again.

But Naruto wasn't about to give up that easily.

"and why exactly should I listen to you? Hmm?" Naruto asked with a smug smile.

Ron suddenly had an idea, he had recently been given a new rank so he may as well use it.

"Consider it an order from a superior!" Ron said with a smile.

"Superior?" Naruto asked confused.

Ron turned to Naruto and pointed at his green jacket.

"This thing isn't for display you know… this morning I was advanced to Chunin"

Naruto was shocked, out of everyone who had participated in the Chunin exams nobody had been promoted until now.

"So as a Chunin I'm giving you an order 'Genin', stay here and watch Sheila" with that said Ron walked out of the room and closed the door behind him.

Naruto sat down with a huff, he couldn't believe that he had to take orders from Ron.

At the same time Ron was smiling as he made his way down to the street after pulling rank on a ninja for the first time.

'I could get used to this' he thought with a smile.

After Ron walked out of the building he failed to notice a man wearing a black cloak with red clouds walk into the building moments later.

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Fifteen minutes later Ron was on his way back to the Inn with a bag of supplies that should last a few days. He had bought several bottles of fresh water that could be refilled later, some Dango for lunch and some cups of instant ramen for Naruto.

As he made his way down the main street he felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand of end, as if somebody was watching him. Ron turned around but saw nobody watching him.

Ron continued towards the hotel when he felt something moving rapidly to his side, instinctively Ron dropped the bag of supplies and grabbed his sword from his back with his right hand, he instantly pulled the sword from his back still wrapped in its bandage to the left and braced himself as another sword wrapped in bandages slammed hard into Ron's Raikiri pushing him to the right slightly.

'That was close' Ron thought to himself, 'another second later and I would have been half the man I am now'

Ron looked behind himself and saw who had attacked him. It was a man wearing a black cloak with red clouds. He also wore a straw hat but it was pulled up so Ron could see most of his face. He had blue skin and reminded Ron of a certain blue skinned mad scientist he had met a few months ago on a mission in America, that was until Ron got a look at his teeth, the man had a set of razor sharp teeth and had three gills on either side of his face, his entire face gave off a shark like presence. He also wore a forehead protector from Kirigakure, the village hidden in the mist and it had a slash across the symbol, the sign of an missing-nin.

"Not bad kid… not many people could have stopped that attack" the shark-man said as he pushed his sword harder into Ron's.

Ron smiled as a memory of the Chunin exams resurfaced. He had pulled off this kind of block once before.

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In the blink of an eye X ran full speed towards Ron with his blade dragging behind him leaving a line in the ground, Ron raised his blade ready to block or even parry the blow, but just as X reached him his image faded as it went straight through him, Ron was confused for a moment, sensing a presence behind him Ron spun the blade and held it behind his head just in time to stop a blow aimed at his neck, Ron craned his head around to look X in the eyes,

"Hmm, the Shadow Crawling technique… not bad, you move so fast that you leave an after image of yourself" Ron said with a smirk,

X smiled right back at him,

"Not bad yourself, not many people could have stopped it…"

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"Not really, I know somebody who also uses swords and I was able to block one of his moves… and compared to his, your technique was a load of crap!!!" Ron shouted as he pushed his sword forward forcing them both apart.

Ron and the shark-man stood across from each other both holding their swords at the ready.

"Hmm, looks like you may last as least five minutes… my name is Kisame Hoshigaki of Akatsuki, and you are?"

Ron smiled, Kisame was following one of the oldest codes of swordsmanship, having the honor of knowing the name of the one who killed you.

"My name…" Ron started as he raised his sword to his right, "…is Ronald Mitarashi" Ron said as he flicked the sword to the right letting the bandages come loose and pool at his feet while staying attached to the hilt, this revealed the shining silver blade of the Raikiri sword.

To Be Continued…

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BooYaa!!! The good thing about sequels, you don't need to spend around five chapters developing your characters. You just need a bit of an update on where the story is and then jump right into the action.

Don't forget to please review and let me know what you think of the new story and its storyline. They inspire me to write more and get my updates done faster.

Oh, and don't forget the sister story to this one. Rokubi : Yamanuchi Chronicles. by xthedarkone. Oh, and check out some of our videos on you tube, our usernames on you tube are the same as here. VINcredable and xthedarkone.