Chapter 8.

Pairing: Naruto x Izumi (Female Itachi)

Warning: The main character's age has been adjusted.

Author's note: So, it's almost finally time to figure out what the Uchiha clan's destiny will be in this universe. Will Shisui, Izumi, and Naruto manage to put an end to the coup? Or will there forever be a loop of bloodshed within the Uchiha clan, no matter what alternative universe we find ourselves in?

By the way, a quick message to the guy that still is too scared to turn his PM's on. Yeah, this "punk" will learn to respect his elder, when he decides to behave like one. But if he keeps acting like a spoiled brat, he will be treated as if he was one. If you don't want anything to do with the people on this site, then what are you still here for? Don't ruin our community for your selfish reasons.

Good day to everyone else out there.

Something was wrong this morning. Kakashi had realized that quite fast today. He had come early, and one time for once because he wanted to see how his little brother was faring with the exercise he had him starting yesterday.

But right now, they were doing their warmup of the day. And it was blatantly obvious that something was wrong with the blond. They had started with taijutsu, and this was the one area Kakashi on a normal day would win. But Naruto's movements and attacks were faster and more furious than what they had been the day before.

He had been crying out with anger every time he had put everything he could into a punch and gritted his teeth with narrowed eyes through every roundhouse kick. And when they had switched to use everything in their spar instead of only taijutsu. Kakashi had been beaten within minutes.

Not that Kakashi was weaker than Naruto, no, but he was, of course, holding back compared to Naruto who was letting almost everything he had out on the table. He used his lightning inspired nin-taijutsu from the start, angry crackling lightning following every limb he attacked with.

When using kenjutsu every slash or stab had been intended to kill someone with, and let's not even get started on his ninjutsu. The blond used all high-level attacks he could, and when Kakashi had put his hand up for stopping the spar the blond was standing panting hard. Not because he was tried, no, but because he was angry.

"Why'd you stop?! I'm not done yet!" Naruto yelled and flew over to punch Kakashi in the face, but the ANBU captain had lifted his headband to counter Naruto's attack by flinging him into a nearby tree.

"Yes, yes you are. What's wrong with you today, you are so angry and tense and there is absolutely zero coordination or planning for any attack you make! This isn't like you." Kakashi said in a soft tone.

"Shut up and fight!" Naruto growled but was punched in the gut without realizing it, and soon fell onto his knees while coughing.

"I won't stand for such disrespect, not even from you," Kakashi said with narrowed eyes, making Naruto look away in shame.

"I apologize…" He grunted after a while, and let his hostile body language fall.

"Care to tell me what's going on?" Kakashi asked afterward, making Naruto go deep in thought. He had promised not to say anything about the coup, but what other reason could he use for acting this way?

Naruto grunted as he got back onto his feet, and leaned against the tree he had been thrown into earlier. "Remember that group of Stone Shinobi we found crossing the border last month?" Naruto asked and Kakashi nodded, motioning for Naruto to continue.

"It just makes me so furious! I'm almost certain that they are getting up here, just to make an attempt on either mine or my sister's life! And it's not that I don't have faith in Tou-san and Kaa-san barrier around our property, but the Stone is known for their Demolition Corps! I don't know if the barrier can take several ongoing bombs for hours!" Naruto lied smoothly.

Kakashi sighed and let his headband fall back into place to cover his Sharingan eye. "Is that what you're worried about? Come on Naruto, you should know that the Village's guard units are patrolling around the compounds at least once every tenth minute, so they wouldn't even have a chance to bomb your house for hours. And even if they did manage to set a bomb off, don't you think the village would notice an explosion at the Fourth Hokage's former house?"

Naruto faked an embarrassed expression, "I guess that's right… I just want to be strong enough if the time ever comes, where I got to fight them myself."

"That's understandable, I'd feel the same way. Why did you let it get to you today? You seemed unaffected the other days." Kakashi wondered.

Naruto chuckled with a sad grin. "I dreamt of it last night, them breaking into our home and…"

"You don't have to say anymore, I can feel where you're going with this…" Kakashi said while patting his shoulder.

Naruto nodded in gratitude, even though the dream was fake, he still felt terrible talking about such an outcome for his family. "Want to keep going then? I'll try to remain calm from now on, and I'll put coordination into my attacks again."

"As long as you don't try to make me into sliced pork chop with that sword of yours again, I'm game!" Kakashi said getting into a taijutsu stance while lifting his headband up again.

"No promises!" Naruto smirked and flew forward with one hand on the hilt of his sword.

Kakashi sighed and reached up to grab the katana given to him upon entering the ANBU and grinned, "Then I shall make no promises either, let's go!" He called and clashed his blade against Naruto's.

After a few minutes of swords clashing together, Kakashi managed to sweep Naruto's blade out of his hands. "It seems I win," Kakashi said swinging his sword down in front of Naruto to prove his point, but the blond smirked.

Naruto slammed his forearm guard into Kakashi's sword, sending it flying back before he kicked Kakashi in the side of the knee, bringing the ANBU captain down kneeling. "Not today!" He called and spun around to place a foot square in Kakashi's chest, sending him rolling backward.

Kakashi rolled back to his feet and chuckled, "I forgot how fast and flexible Orochimaru's training has made you, I guess I'll have to be prepared for that as well from now on."

"You're right about that," Naruto smirked and reached down to grab his sword.

Kakashi too spun around and grabbed his blade, and the two ran at each other once again. When Kakashi made a slicing motion toward Naruto, the blond flipped into the air and over Kakashi while doing a downward slash.

The silver-haired man countered by flicking a kunai into his hand and blocked the slash. When the blond landed behind him, he threw the kunai his way only to watch it get blocked by one of the blond's forearm guards.

'Should've seen that coming…' Kakashi sweatdropped and got ready to fight the blond close-up.

An hour later Naruto was waltzing through the village while grabbing his shoulder. The spar had gotten out of hand fast, and Naruto and Kakashi tied by them each delivering and bone-crushing right hook to each other's cheek.

If Kakashi had gone all out, Naruto would have lost a lot sooner. It was because Kakashi had a lot more experience, and Naruto knew that if he had used his strongest techniques a simple spar could have resulted in death, so of course, it was forbidden. So, in short, had they both gone all out showing their greatest strengths, the spar could have ended with either one or two deaths.

But he felt satisfied nonetheless. He had to get a lot stronger. If the coup the Uchiha were planning either ended up as a civil war and then a new great war, or simply their forced execution. Naruto knew he had to get stronger, at least double as strong as he was now.

But the reason his shoulder was sore wasn't because of Kakashi and his spar. No, it was because Anko was set on beating his ass for dropping out on a mission yesterday. He just heard from Orochimaru, right after, that taking a dip in the hot springs would help the soreness, and hence the reason he was right in front of the place now.

When he was about to enter the open door, the annoying sound of a very. Very. very familiar giggling hit his ears. Grabbing the door, he shut it instead and walked around the building at a slow pace. When he noticed a big, white-haired man sitting on top of a toad his eyebrow twitched.

When the toad turning around to stare at him, Naruto put a finger to his mouth and whispered "Shhh…" The toad sweatdropped but gave a small nod nonetheless.

Naruto crouched down and went through a couple of hand seals, "Lightning Release: Stinging Bee." He whispered and out of his fingertip, a small bee buzzed into existence as it flew over to the man and landed on his shoulder.

The man looked to his shoulder and raised a brow and said, "A blue bee, what is this, Snow Country?- GYAAAAH!" He suddenly screamed as the bee exploded sending an electric current through his body as he rolled backward and down from the toad's back before he landed on the ground with a loud thud.

When the sound of women realizing they were getting peeped on came in the form of multiple screams, the white-haired man flew up and looked into the hole and looked on in horror as they ran out to the changing rooms.

"Who in the five elemental nations dares to interrupt, The Great Jiraiya-sama! From his research!" The man yelled as he flew around, only to stop as he stared at the very unamused face of his teenage godson.

"What are you doing, Ero-Sennin?" Naruto asked, his eyebrow twitching as his eyes were narrowed immensely at the white-haired Sannin.

Jiraiya raised a brow at him, "What does it look like, I'm researching important stuff."

"You mean that you are researching naked butts," Naruto said with his eyebrow still twitching.

Jiraiya huffed and crossed his large arms, "You'll understand the wonders of the woman body one day, brat. Or… Maybe the reason you are so mad at me for researching is that you are afraid your girlfriend might be in there one day!" Jiraiya giggled.

"Girlfriend?" Naruto asked with a raised brow.

Jiraiya let out a loud laugh, "Oh come now! Don't tell me you aren't with that girl yet, Izumi was it?"

"Izumi is my best friend you perv," Naruto says with a pink hue getting onto his cheeks.

Jiraiya swings and arm around Naruto's shoulder and winks, "Come on now, the way you always talk about her? I'm surprised if she hasn't figured you out yet."

"What the hell are you talking about?" Naruto asks with an annoyed glare.

Jiraiya motions for him to sit, as they walk over to a bench in front of the lake supplying the hot springs. "Why are you denying yourself this? Is it because of the Uchiha's rebellion?" Jiraiya said, but the last part was in a whisper.

Naruto's eyes widened, "How did you know, that I…"

"Come on! You are Shisui and Izumi's best friend, and the Hokage just told me that Izumi was there earlier to see him and then she told him about the coup. And then later, he informed me when I returned. I'd be surprised if you didn't know." Jiraiya admitted.

Naruto sighed and looked away, "Shisui told me, Izumi wanted to keep me out of it. Shisui said it was because she meant it wasn't my problem."

"So, she wants to protect you. Yet another reason for why you should tell her how you feel inners in." Jiraiya informed and put a hand on his shoulder.

"She is my best friend, whatever you think is going on, isn't," Naruto said with narrowed eyes.

Jiraiya gritted his teeth through annoyance. "It feels like we are playing a game of 'Whack a Mole' here! Stop denying yourself this! If this entire coup thing is going to get messy, who is to say she will make it out alive?!"

Naruto's eyes widened in horror at that. He hadn't thought so long yet.

"You'll regret not telling her for the rest of your life," Jiraiya stated as a matter of fact.

Naruto frowned and looked at his feet, "I… I can't do that to her right now, it isn't the right time! With the whole coup thing going on, and her having to take a stance with us instead of her clan… I just can't do that to her, ya get me?"

"No. No, I don't. What if your support, as a boyfriend instead of a friend is the thing she needs right now? Maybe you standing with her like that, is a thing that truly ties her loyalty to the leaf in the end?" Jiraiya asks with a frown.

Naruto gritted his teeth, "Don't speak about her loyalty like that, she is even more loyal than me!"

"Look at you, defending her honor already." Jiraiya grinned with a smirk, much to Naruto's embarrassment.

The two sat in silence afterward. At least Naruto had somewhat admitted that he liked the girl right now, but why was he so damn scared of it? What could the reason be? There had to be something… 'Don't tell me…'

"You're afraid that you can't protect her, aren't you?" Jiraiya asked with a surprised gaze.

Naruto's eyes widened in a second, how did he?

"I was unable to protect my parents, I feel that I can't protect my sister well enough either," Naruto admits after a minute of sitting with his eyes glued to the ground.

Jiraiya shakes his head in amusement, "Naruto, your sister adores you! You protect her more than you should have to, you are as overprotective as it gets. And don't worry about Izumi, she's a big girl alright! She can handle herself."

"But you just said that the coup could get messy, and she might die!" Naruto argued but was answered with a slap to the back of his head.

Jiraiya glared at him, "Don't twist my words you brat."

Naruto glared back at the old pervert but kept silent for now.

"On a serious note though, what do you plan on doing about the coup?" Jiraiya asked, his tone changing from teasing to being serious.

Naruto looked at the older man before answering, "As I told Shisui, I'm willing to fight beside him and Izumi. Even if it has to be in the name of an execution…"

"You know they'll recognize your chakra and presence in the area right?" Jiraiya asked.

Naruto nodded his head, he had thought about this at least. But it didn't change a thing for him, he was still going to be there for them. They were his family, and he had given them his word, or well, given Shisui his word that he'd fight with them.

"But fear not! I think I'll be able to help if it does come to that." Jiraiya smirked a sour smirk.

"What do you mean?"

Jiraiya took out a pen and a piece of paper and waved them around, "I'll draw you some seals, or actually, I'll teach you how to draw them yourself. This way you are prepared to be there, without anyone ever finding out, and you'll start to train your Uzumaki heritage."

Gaping at the man's offer, Naruto soon smiled in gratitude. "I'd like that."

"Can't have my godson become a rogue ninja, can I?"

Naruto chuckled darkly, "But listen closely, Ero-Sennin. If you ever peak on Izumi, I won't care whether it was a mistake or not. I will find you, and I'll shove your balls down your throat."

Jiraiya let out an audible gulp, as he sweatdropped as the evil glare coming from his godson's eyes.

With Jiraiya home again for now, in case of a civil war breaking out. Naruto's training was increased beyond anything he could have imagined. Jiraiya was training the shit out of him. And with Kakashi, not wanting to be left out, he had learned a ton of new lightning moves the past week.

Even one he wasn't supposed to learn.

With the Shadow Clone trick to help him, he was absorbing jutsu and knowledge like a sponge, and one time when he and Shisui had spared this last week, the young Uchiha had given him much credit for getting so strong, so fast.

At the moment it was the afternoon in the leaf, Naruto was found sitting upside-down on his couch, he was holding an out folded scroll within his hands as he held a brush between his lips.

Akeno wasn't so happy about having to leave her brother in the living room alone today. It didn't sit quite well with her, so to give him some company she ran down the stairs and flung the door open to quite the sight.

The redhead's brow raised as she stared at her brother that was clad in a casual outfit inside the living room and were writing on a scroll while sitting upside-down in the damn couch.

"Nii-chan, what are you doing?" She asked with curiosity and Naruto who had been too caught up with his little project to notice someone's arrival gave out a startled flinch and rolled onto the floor dropping the scroll.

"Akeno, what are you doing in here?" He groaned rubbing his sore head as he picked up his scroll again while looking at the energetic seven-year-old.

"I came here to see what you were doing…" She sighed and looked at the scroll.

"You were writing? Oh no… Nii-chan! If you are writing for that adult stuff then you know Oji-chan is going to skin you alive." Akeno said with wide eyes.

"What? No! I am working on a new seal." Naruto defended himself with an outraged expression, to even think she would suggest he was doing something like that was beyond him.

"Oh! Tell me more! It isn't the oh so secret seal you and Baka-Sennin are working on, so you can tell me! Please!" She pleaded with much energy.

"Alright, calm down and sit here." Naruto sighed and padded the floor next to him and then he did a quick transformation jutsu on the scroll and made it look like an entirely new seal.

Akeno did as she was told and fell on her butt beside Naruto, who took his scroll up so she could see and started to explain.

"This is two in one seal, this portion on the left is a storage seal while the seal here on the right within the overall sealing formula is an attachment seal," Naruto explained in a short version.

"That's easy to do Nii-chan, Baka-Sennin already taught me so I can already make those!" Akeno said with pride.

"I know, I can also make them as you can see, but the overall idea is to put them together into one seal so that the seals will compliment each other," Naruto explained in a bit more detail.

"Sounds complicated! What do you want them to do when they are fully put together?!" Akeno asked with a lot of energy and enthusiasm.

Naruto chuckled, "I want to place the seals on my gear's forearm guards, and then when I activate the overall sealing formula the storage seal will first release an item, and then the attachment seal will kick in right after with an almost zero second delay and stick the desired item onto my forearm guard."

"Ooooh! That's so awesome! Which items will you store in there? A big sword? Or a chain maybe?!" Akeno grinned.

"Could you be a little less energetic in the afternoon Akeno-chan?" Naruto sweatdropped as Akeno flinched while scratching her head in embarrassment.

"I plan to maybe seal a grappling hook in one seal and then a shield into the other. After my spar with Orochimaru-sensei yesterday, I came to realize that there will be attacks I can't just block with my armguards, or run away from. So to counter the stuff that I can't avoid, these seals are going to help me fight the situations better and come out victorious. By giving me my desired tools or weapons, that is." Naruto said.

Akeno nodded trying her best to stay calm, but her brother was so smart and innovative so it was quite hard.

"I will also need to improve the seal after the basic version is complete, maybe improve it in the storage area so I can store more than one item within my armguards." Naruto mused.

"How is this going to work with the one you and Baka-Sennin are working on?" Akeno asked with a glint in her eyes.

"Nice try brat, I am not going to tell you about 'Baka-Sennin' and I's seal," Naruto said ruffling her hair as he stood up.

"It was worth a try…" Akeno then sighed.

Naruto chuckled and stopped ruffling her hair and smiled, "Why don't you go out and grab your Shuriken, and I'll train you for a little bit?"

This seemed to get her interest, and the child ran outside almost falling on the porch.

Naruto let out a relieved breath as he released the transformation jutsu, only to reveal the scroll in his hand having notes on a barrier seal.

Naruto sighed, and started to mentally write down the lies he had told Akeno. The seals were made up, but, they were an okay idea to work on some time.

'That was a close one, not even Akeno can know what I'm planning. God, I hate lying. Especially to those close to me…' Naruto thought to himself, as an image of Kakashi and Akeno appeared in his head while rolling the scroll up.

"Nii-chaaaan! Are you coming or what?!" Akeno yelled and Naruto groaned.

"I'll be right there!" He called back and muttered to himself with a smile.

"Impatient brat."

One of the few joys he had these days were watching his sister grow up. She was getting big, and fast at that. She was already quite tall, it must have been in their genes because Naruto could remember himself also being quite tall at that age compared to people his age.

Her hair had grown, and she had asked him to make a ponytail for her this morning, much to his amusement. She hugged him and run off to the academy right after. Yeah, she had started at the academy. As he had planned on earlier, he would support her in her decision if she wanted to be a kunoichi, but he still wasn't happy with her risking her life in the future.

Was this how parents felt about their kids when they started training to become a shinobi or a kunoichi? It had to be.

When he had packed his stuff up, he made a clone and handed it to him. The clone soon vanished into his father's former study, that he used himself now, and packed the stuff away.

Sighing he turned around and went outside, his sister as impatient as she was, was already throwing with her Shuriken. Of course, she failed to hit most of the time, but there were some quite impressive throws among the horrifying ones.

He started thinking back as he watched her. These days have been hectic, and he had found himself avoiding his best friend these days. She had hurt him a bit. He had always said that if there was anything, no matter how big or small it was, he wanted to know so he could be there for her.

And even after that, she felt like not telling him something this important. Didn't she trust him yet? He'd trust her with his life, whether he had to, or not. It felt like a punch to the stomach, and he just couldn't understand why.

He was about to walk down to Akeno and give her some pointers when a crow landed on his shoulder. 'Shisui's I assume... ' Naruto sighed and took a piece of paper tied to the bird's leg before it flew away again.

Unfolding the neatly folded piece of paper, Naruto started to read Shisui's handwriting.

It seems like decisions will be made at tomorrow's meeting. Meet me at our usual meeting place at the Naka River tomorrow at sundown. Be on time, and be on alert, Danzo is acting out this evening.

Summoning a bit of lightning chakra to his fingertips, just enough for the piece of paper to get on fire, Naruto's mind wandered loose. Danzo… That man, he hated him with all of his being already.

On his tenth birthday, the man had shown up on his property and claimed that his gift for him was training. First of all, he didn't know this man at all, so he refused politely by saying that he already had more teachers than he should.

Then he had gotten angry with him. Saying that this was a child's defiance. Still trying to be polite, Naruto kept refusing the offer until Danzo had grabbed him by the color. He had said, "The leaf requires a new weapon, and it needs to be you!" Seconds later, Hiruzen's personal ANBU had shown with the Third Hokage himself right behind them.

When Naruto had been asked what was going on, he had said exactly what Danzo had been doing, and well, Hiruzen's reaction had been banishing Danzo from ever talking or going anywhere near the boy again. If he did on purpose, there would be a prison cell waiting for him. To say Danzo was furious after was an understatement, the man had left with smoke coming out of his ears and his eyes red as if a bull had seen something red.

Shaking his head free of these thoughts, Naruto made a discreet Shadow Clone and body flickered into his study. He didn't have a lot of time, and in case he had to fight tomorrow he needed the last three seals to be done.

Another chapter out, I hope I'm not rushing too much through all of this, I feel like I am? But at the same time, I have no idea what else could have been written to make this feeling go away. Anyway, I hope you still liked it, and I especially hope you like Jiraiya's entry to the story.

Question: With Naruto in on the coup, do you think Shisui will die? Looking forward to your theories.

Anyhow, see ya next week hopefully!