It was a sunny day in Konoha. But a select few couldn't appreciate the beautiful weather. They were worried out of their minds about their impending graduation.
"You'll be fine Naruto-nii," said a little white-haired boy at the breakfast table in the main building of the Senju compound.
The blonde girl next to him nodded eagerly and added, "You're the strongest ninja ever, Naruto-nii! They have to make you a genin! Maybe you'll even be the first to be promoted to chūnin directly!"
The older blonde boy looked at them with a sheepish grin and rubbed his nose when he heard their praise.
"Listen to Dan-kun and Mito-chan," Shizune recommended with a warm smile. "You already know so many elemental jutsu and even learned your father's famous Rasengan. What trouble could a little exam at the academy bring you?"
Naruto's impish grin turned even more foolish, but before he could say something arrogant, a fist landed on his head.
"You're a nobody and could die in your first mission outside. Never stop improving yourself and don't listen to Mito's praise. You're hardly the strongest fresh genin I know," Tsunade chided with a haughty sneer as she appeared behind the son of the Fourth Hokage and her adoptive child.
"Who could ever be stronger than me?" Naruto asked with a wronged expression.
"Didn't your ero-sensei tell you about that Kiri boy he saw during the chūnin exams in Iwa years ago? Or the Kiri girl in Kumo last year who managed to kill two jōnin before her own sensei arrived?" Tsunade asked with a disdainful expression.
Jiraiya was in their household way too often. When he finally figured out he could never land Tsunade, he at least started taking his duties as Naruto's teacher seriously. The Sannin had an obligation to his favorite pupil Minato after all. And it irked Jiraiya to no end that that blasted Kiri jinchūriki told Naruto about the Rasengan first. And that the six-tails vessel managed to figure out how it worked and how to train it, in the very first place!
Jiraiya lost plenty of his frivolousness since then, not that he stopped peeking at women in the hot springs of Konoha and slept around as much as he could. But at least he earnestly taught Naruto chakra control and taijutsu, even though the boy was just an academy student.
"Bleh, as if those Kiri nins are the only ones who are strong. I'll show them during the next Chūnin exams!"
Tsunade looked very unimpressed with that statement.
She knew that Terumi Yoshihiro pumped those academy students full with pills and somehow managed to give them dedicated one-on-one lessons during classes. His vast chakra and a special clone technique were paramount for that, and still no village copied the jinchūriki. At least not openly.
The eight-tails jinchūriki in Kumo was said to have started leading a special class in Kumo's academy since two years ago, but they couldn't know about its effectiveness yet.
"Take them seriously or I will tell the Hokage to withdraw you from the graduation," the Senju princess threatened with a visible tick mark appearing next to her eye. "That old geezer might not heed my warnings, but Kiri is already stronger than Konoha. We are lucky that they no longer seem to be as bloodthirsty as they used to be."
"You seem to know a lot about Kiri, mommy," little Mito-chan pointed out with a suspicious look towards her mother.
Her twin-brother nodded and added, "And you're very defensive, too. Why is that?"
"Is it still because of that homeless-looking Uzumaki uncle I met a few years ago?" Naruto innocently inquired.
A fist to their heads was all the answers the kids received in response.
Elsewhere in Konoha, the joyous occasion of the upcoming graduation did not spark any elation at the breakfast table. Nothing ever did after the incident that changed the family forever.
"You'll be a genin soon, Sasuke," Mikoto pointed out with a gentle smile as her youngest son ate her breakfast with laser focus.
"Itachi-nii was already a jōnin at 12," Sasuke sullenly retorted in a quiet voice. "I'm not even the best in class."
"You're just behind the son of the Fourth Hokage, personally taught by two of the legendary Sannin since young. There's no shame in that," Mikoto, as she so often did, repeated with a loving sigh.
"Itachi-nii and Shisui-nii are both just as strong as the Sannin," Sasuke stated with conviction. "And they taught me, too, until…"
During a mission years ago, the Hokage's advisor Shimura Danzō declared both Uchiha prodigies as S-rank rogue ninja. They were found among countless corpses of Konoha ninja at the start of the conflicts with Kumo.
Many things were suspicious about that, but both Uchiha fled the scene before they could give their point of view. So nobody ever questioned why the dozens of Uchiha corpses lacked their eyes, or why they all died in the first place.
Danzō set the narrative and painted a grim picture.
'Dissatisfied with the village's strength, the two arrogant Uchiha prodigies wiped out their comrades to prove their own overwhelming might.' Somehow Danzō even managed to find a survivor who withstood the scrutiny of the Yamanaka clan's secret techniques and confirmed that these two wiped out the 100-man reinforcement squad for the frontline.
Mikoto looked at her son with deep heartache. As the clan leader's wife, she knew that things weren't as they seemed. But she couldn't tell Sasuke about any of that, not until he earned the right through his strength.
Strength that was indeed lacking compared to the son of her late friend Uzumaki Kushina.
Jiraiya had included Sasuke in his training sessions with Naruto because of their relationship, but her son never managed to catch up once the little blonde boy got ahead. As a jinchūriki, Naruto simply had more energy, more endurance, and much more chakra, they all judged.
"Believe in your clan," Mikoto gently advised. "Once your Sharingan evolves, you will catch up."
Sasuke mutedly nodded in response. He was a genius, too. He had awakened his one-tomoe Sharingan on the day news of Itachi's betrayal reached the village.
… and he was still bodied by Naruto in a pure taijutsu spar each and every time.
The young Uchiha boy was sure that Naruto somehow cheated. He just didn't know how.
It was too bad his father was on the battlefield with Kumo and couldn't help Sasuke figure it out or help him grow stronger.
—————
"Okay Naruto. We just need you to use the clone jutsu and you will officially be a Konoha shinobi," Iruka-sensei instructed as he sat there with his fellow teacher Mizuki-sensei.
Naruto was shaking in excitement and nearly fumbled his hand seal, but even then he flawlessly created twenty clones that all looked like beautiful girls.
Umino Iruka's smile turned foolish for a moment, just like Mizuki who seemed to be on the verge of drooling.
"Uh, sensei?" Naruto asked with an impish grin that slowly shifted into an innocent smile. "Did I pass?"
Iruka snapped out of his daydreams, elbowed Mizuki to come back as well, and told Naruto, "Release the jutsu."
When he did, the teacher stood up and handed Naruto a Konoha headband with a proud smile that hid his embarrasment, "Well done, Naruto. It won't be long before you surpass me and become a jōnin. Work hard to fulfill your dream of becoming Hokage. I'll be cheering for you all the way."
Naruto gave the two a blinding smile and ran out of the room to celebrate.
Before long, the two were testing Uchiha Sasuke, who merely gave them a nod as a greeting and showed an impressive clone technique to pass the test.
Just as the boy wanted to leave the room, Mizuki stood up and called out, "Wait for me, Sasuke-kun. There's a last lesson I want to impart to you before you leave the academy for good."
Giving Iruka a small nod in reassurance, Mizuki and Sasuke left for a quiet and empty classroom down the hallway.
With arms crossed and an indifferent expression, Sasuke asked, "What have you brought me here for, Mizuki-sensei?"
"Ah, don't be like that, Sasuke-kun. I want to propose a deal to you. Something to help you bridge the gap in strength between you and that fox demon," Mizuki offered as his usual gentle smile slipped from his face to show a ferocious grimace.
"Fox demon?" Sasuke mumbled with furrowed brows.
"Pah, thanks to Tsunade-sama, nobody dares speak ill of him openly. But we all know that Naruto is the nine-tailed fox that killed the Fourth Hokage, his 'father', and half of the village all those years ago," Mizuki mockingly exaggerated. "And there's no way someone like him deserves to be better than you and remain in the village while your brother is branded as a criminal."
Sasuke openly showed himself to be agreeing with Mizuki but was inwardly debating whether or not the guy was alright in the head.
"How do you want to help me?" Sasuke asked, still with his usual bored tone of voice since he didn't know how else he should be acting.
"What you're lacking are powerful jutsus, like the Fourth Hokage's Rasengan. Tonight during the celebrations for the new graduates, the Hokage tower will be empty and someone with your skill should be able to reach the Hidden Scroll of Seals," Mizuki explained with a mad grin he quickly schooled to look merely excited. "I will lead away the ANBU guarding the Hokage's office and you can go inside on my signal to steal it. With the scroll, you can learn all kinds of secret techniques invented and gathered by the Second Hokage and his successors."
'He must think I'm some extra kind of stupid,' Sasuke inwardly argued but nodded to accept Mizuki's plan.
—————
With his mother in tow, both Uchiha slipped into the Hokage tower with disguises on. Sasuke had argued that he shouldn't meet the Hokage alone and his mother had instantly agreed. She knew how deep the darkness in Konoha was anchored so she was sure that things could go very wrong with what Sasuke was about to lay out in the open.
With the attitude the higher ups had for the Uchiha, it wouldn't be a stretch to believe that they could imprison her son on false charges before anything had even happened. Even if his intentions were noble.
Hours later, Mizuki, who turned out to be a rather high-level spy sick of pretending to still be loyal to Konoha, was in custody. A Kiri operative in Konoha, who was no longer in the village, had bought Mizuki's loyalty by promising him a high rank and tremendous strength in return for 'one last mission'.
It had failed, of course, but Kiri never truly cared about that. Haku's ANBU operative who misunderstood his assignment merely wanted to get as much profit as he could from this miniscule investment. In truth though, it was Haku who had misunderstood his sensei when the six-tails jinchūriki talked to his strongest pupil.
"You did well," Sarutobi Hiruzen praised as he stood on a building's roof opposite the Hokage tower.
Sasuke next to him nodded without saying a word.
"Had he found someone more gullible, there was a chance this scheme could have worked," the Third Hokage commented as they watched Mizuki get sealed and dragged away. "Is there something you want in return?"
"It was my honor to serve the village," Sasuke answered with a rehearsed answer he was given by his mother.
"Hmm, is there a direction you want to develop towards, other than your clan teachings?"
Sasuke briefly looked at the hokage before bowing his head. Eventually, he shook it.
"They do call me 'the professor', so I know a jutsu or two. My students are famed far and wide, so I can pride myself in knowing how to educate fresh shinobi. Are you willing to listen to my suggestion?"
Sasuke nodded, "Yes, Hokage-sama."
"Your team's leader will be Hatake Kakashi. Should he acknowledge your team, Kakashi will be a tremendous help for you in this regard," Hiruzen explained and took out a sheathed short-sword from his sleeves that he had prepared for this moment.
The Uchiha were getting unruly once more. With the lack of achievements on the Kumo battlefield and the recent loss of two prodigies branded as rogue nin, it made sense. Sarutobi Hiruzen wanted to foster some more positive impressions with another Uchiha prodigy and splurged a little by taking out a high-quality chakra metal wakizashi – a short sword a little longer than a tanto – from the armory.
"The Hatake clan was famed all over the lands for their impeccable swordsmanship. Your clan's Uchiha Shisui brought home remarkable results with his Sharingan-assisted Uchiha-style kenjutsu. With Kakashi as your sensei, try to see if you can't develop something of your own, like Shisui-kun did."
Sasuke accepted the sword, deep in thought, before he eventually asked, "You don't hate Shisui?"
Something in the Hokage's tone told him that the village's leader still held his clansman in high regard.
Hiruzen lit up his pipe instead of replying, took a deep drag, and sighed.
"Shisui's circumstance is a tragedy of our own making. In time, you will learn what I mean."
The old man couldn't come out and tell the boy named after his own father Sarutobi Sasuke what kind of deals were made in the dark. But the Hokage also recognised that Sasuke could have helped Mizuki instead of coming to him. If he didn't give the Uchiha boy a positive mental image, there was a chance that he would defect or abandon a mission to go search for his brother.
Kakashi was uncaring enough to allow that to happen.
And that would be a disaster for the village's relationship with the Uchiha clan.
———
All the way in the Land of Earth, old Ōnoki, the Third Tsuchikage, was overlooking his village from his office.
"Has Han woken?" Ōnoki asked when he felt someone enter his office.
"No, he remains unconscious," the jōnin leading Iwa's hospital answered solemnly.
Ōnoki briefly turned to look at the man with a menacing glare before turning back to watch over his village.
With clenched fists, Ōnoki thought about the state of Iwagakure.
Both of the jinchūriki of his village were attacked and left for dead years ago. All of his ANBU guarding and checking up on them died with them. There were no traces except for a small piece of clothing from a Konoha flak jacket. No other avenues of investigation for them to go down other than a field of devastation that could have happened through any prolonged fire jutsu. An earth jutsu had cleared all traces in the surroundings of what kind of fire jutsu, though.
And just when the Tsuchikage thought he finally could get those two rebellious jinchūriki back in line and argue that they needed the village, the jinchūriki of the four-tails, Roshi, vanished two years ago.
There was no trace of him or his tailed beast this time around. No matter where he sent his ANBU to search, no matter how much he paid those greedy black market operatives, nobody found any leads.
With Roshi dead or gone, Han finally saw reason and joined back under the kage. His decision was made for him because the vessel of Kokuo said he felt his connection with the bijū weakening. The five-tails jinchūriki even started earnestly teaching a few students like the six-tails jinchūriki in Kiri. Han's massive amounts of chakra allowed for tens of clones to give direct guidance to each student. At least that was how Ōnoki believed Yoshihiro did it.
Jinchūriki were feared because of the power inside them… but they could be used for so much more. Ōnoki was even kind of grateful to Yoshihiro for demonstrating that it was viable to use these weapons for something more productive.
"And his tailed beast?"
"The seal is empty, broken. Han's chakra pathways are seriously damaged… but he should have died long ago. We have no idea how he survived getting his bijū extracted. But his vitality is draining. Even if he wakes up, we do not believe Han will live much longer," the medi nin explained.
Ōnoki's glare hardened.
Both of Iwa's tailed beasts were as good as gone now. Their powerful vessels dead or broken.
And he wasn't getting any younger either.
With a wave of his hand he dismissed the medi nin and gestured for an ANBU nin to bring his son.
Once Kitsuchi entered, Ōnoki solemnly declared, "With our bijū gone, we must go on the offensive before the other villages get wise. Suna's one-tails could be a good target, but the new Kazekage has tightened the security on Sunagakure. Kumogakure could also be a good target, but their jinchūriki are mature and powerful. Finding those two on the battlefield and killing them without getting interrupted will be next to impossible. Kirigakure is not a viable target at all. That Yoshihiro kid is a monster and the three-tails is gone for the moment."
Kitsuchi looked at his father with furrowed brows. He inquired, "And what is it you need of me, kage-sama?"
The solemn tone of voice suggested that his father called him here on official business.
"Kitsuchi. Engage our intelligence division and see how viable it is to steal the seven-tails from Takigakure or the nine-tails from Konohagakure," Ōnoki instructed with a hardened glare. "We can't remain without a bijū under our control. Until we find the ressurected four- and five-tails, we need options and I want Konoha to pay for that first attack on our jinchūriki right after that border station was annihilated seven years ago."
Seeing that his father didn't dismiss him, Kitsuchi kept standing in the office at attention.
Minutes later, Ōnoki slumped a little and asked, "Deidara-kun is gone?"
"Yes. And worse, it seems he was there when Han was attacked," Kitsuchi pointed out with a grave expression. "I specifically had the demolition squad inspect the scene and got the report before you called for me."
"Damn that stupid brat!" Ōnoki cursed with gritted teeth.
Deidara had been one of his most promising students. One of his greatest hopes of finally being able to pass on the mantle of Tsuchikage. The strength of his sons sadly plateaued at a level he wasn't comfortable with, even the strongest one was barely elite jōnin level. They were great leaders and responsible, loyal Iwa shinobi… but they were much weaker than even old Hiruzen, weakened by time like he was, or that Terumi lass in Kiri.
Finding out that the new Mizukage was as strong as she was had cost him an elite jōnin who was a sanctioned rogue nin working in the underground. That jōnin's team of sensory nin brought back a sobering report.
Terumi Mei, just like Kiri's rogue nin Hoshigaki Kisame, was a living tailed beast without a tail in terms of chakra. And not only was her chakra volume frankly sickening, she also had a vast array of problematic jutsu. A true kage-level threat despite her age.
"What the hell are they feeding these Kiri nin that all of them have such vast chakra reserves?" Ōnoki whispered with a displeased scowl. "Is that ridiculous rumor about the alchemist real?"