The Little Uchiha - A Naruto Quest

Interlude:

The Hunt - Part I

《~》
​

Namikaze Minato stalked through the winding halls of the Hokage Tower. That little boy's words had struck him more than he'd guessed; the thoughts of recovering Obito's remains had plagued his mind throughout the week.

Neither the secretary manning the reception desk nor the four Anbu operatives hiding along the wallpapers did anything to stop him when he strode towards the Hokage's chamber.

He was one of the preferati after all. One of the few ninja most likely to lift the heavy mantle of the Hokage from the Sandaime's weary shoulders. Namikaze Minato was a possible Yondaime Hokage.

His name carried quite a bit of weight these days and opened far too many doors for his liking. Before, he was merely a talented young Jounin, the legendary Jiraiya's apprentice.

The Third Ninja War changed that. Rather, his actions during the war did. He was no longer just Jiraiya-sensei's student; the shadow of the Yellow Flash ran much longer than that of the Legendary Three. Minato had carved out his own legend from the corpses of a thousand men and women. He had painted a masterpiece with the dull crimson of spilled blood.

"Come on in, Minato," spoke the weathered voice from beyond the door even before he knocked. He entered the room at a brisk pace. Politely, he bowed his head before his aged kage, and then took a seat at one of the chairs lining the ancient oaken desk.

Sarutobi Hiruzen reclined in his own ornately carved throne, remniscent of a warrior king of old in his red and white regalia. An intricately built pipe hung from his lips; the scent of burned cinnamon hung in the air.

"I need a requisition, sir," Minato approached the topic without any hesitation.

"What for?" asked the Sandaime while breathing out a thin trail of hazy smoke.

"A recovery mission," Minato replied. He fidgeted a bit, before adding, "It's a personal mission. Sir."

The Sandaime chose not to speak for a moment, while Minato stared at him with earnest eyes. He finally sighed.

"Very well," Sarutobi mused. "Your work has been nothing short of exemplary, ever since you walked into the academy and started writing on the walls with a red crayon."

The younger man had the decency to look a tad embarassed and apologetic at that.

"I'm certainly not above favouritism," the Sandaime continued, while his eyes took on the mischievous glint of a conniving geezer, "And you're luckily one of the few whelps this old man will pull strings for, hm?"

"Thanks old man! You're the best!" Minato grinned, respect all but forgotten.

"What do you need?" the reigning Hokage asked.

"Trackers. It'll be short term; nothing more than a day at best. A Hyuga and an Inuzuka would do."

The Hokage circled through a list of names in his mind, before making a complicated gesture at yet another Anbu hidden among furniture. The operative emerged smoothly and headed to the window.

"Kuchiyose no Jutsu," he whispered while pressing his hand to a wall. The spiderweb-like imprint of the summoning seal spread out across the wall, and a small messenger falcon emerged from within.

The Anbu tapped out a code on the bird's back, after which it flew out the window to presumably fetch his requested team.

"They'll be here within ten minutes at most. Care for a cup of tea?" asked Sarutobi nonchalantly while pouring over a stack of documents on his desk. "Incidentally, you could look over a few of my yet to be done work. The red stamp goes on the ones you don't like, by the way."

Minato said nothing and pulled the stack towards himself. He supposed he could allow the Sandaime to dupe him into doing his paperwork once in a while.
​

---

"So? Where are we going, Namikaze?" asked he cool voice of the Hyuga he'd been assigned.

"He's just a bit grumpy that you're the hotshot jounin these days," the Inuzuka added after barking out a short laugh. She then turned speculative, "I must admit though, I also wanna know where we're heading."

Minato remained silent for a moment, concentrating to find a marked seal tag in his desired destination. He waved through the hundreds of blips in his mental grid, and eventually located the one he needed.

Gotcha.

I'll bring back what's left of your cousin to you, Uchiha Hibiki.

He opened his eyes.

"Hizashi, Tsume," he addressed them with a slight smile. "We're heading to Kusa."

His arms snapped out and grabbed them both on the collar before they could react.

They vanished in a flicker of yellow.
.
.
.
​

Kuromaru stared at the spot where his partner and her team had just been in.

"They left me behind..."

《~》

Regular update after this. Part two will come out after that.

*preferati - one of the jounin elite selected as a canditate for succeeding the current Hokage. I decided to use the term as it sounds fancy...

​

 

You decide to reveal your eyes to your sister.

Hikari has always been there for you for as long as you can remember. She played with you when you had been a babe, and took the responsibility for your care when your parents left for war- despite being child herself. You nee-chan deserves to know about your sharingan.

Hikari-nee trains fervently in the grounds these days due to her upcoming graduation exams. She doesn't mind when you follow her one day; she only grins and ruffles your hair. You pick a spot beneath a cherry blossom tree, and curl up on a patch of soft grass and fallen petals to watch your sister train.

Nee-chan dances with the wind. Cherry blossom petals floating in the air are occasionally displaced by her sweeping feet. The only sounds you hear are that of fists cutting through air, and the heavy breaths of exertion.

Your eyes flicker crimson on occasions your sister is too focused to notice. You can't help but watch her movements in awe; the sharp clarity of the sharingan picks apart every shift of muscle and limb.

You watch, and you learn.

The sharingan teaches on its own. You know with certainty that if you try, you can replicate your sister's movements yourself despite never having done them before.

You spend your time sprawled out beneath the blossom tree. The sun shifts overhead, and your sister stops when it's far to the west.

Nee-chan decides to rest at the bank of the Naka river, which passes through the grounds. She dips her feet into the slightly warm water and laughs when you fail to do the same; your legs fall short by just a bit...

"There there. Your legs won't remain that little forever!"

You huff and look away. The waning yellow light of the afternoon almost lulls you to sleep; you lean against nee-chan's shoulders. She pulls an arm around you and hums a faintly familiar song.

There's no one around as far as you know. You decide that there's no better time to tell her.

Roll 36+30 →66
Critical.

"Nee-chan?" you ask softly.


"Mm?"

She stops humming her tune to look at you.

"I have something to show you," you say almost shyly. "I haven't shown it to anyone else..."

Your sister looks curious, and then she smiles. "Show me then."

You look straight at her eyes, the same shade of flinty coal like your own. They widen when they see what you know to be a fascinating sight. Your coal eyes bloom with motes of red firelight, which swirl and become a perpetual crimson. A single tomoe, just as dark as the pupil in the centre, revolves lazily around it.

"Sharingan..." your sister whispers. "Hibiki...how did you...?"

You look away and stare at the river, watching the pinpricks of red in your reflection.

"They awoke a bit more than a month ago," you say after a pause. "When Obito nii-san died."

Your sister pulls you into a hug, resting her chin on top of your head.

"You were really fond of him weren't you?" she asks softly.

"Yeah," you mumble in affirmation. Obito had been your favourite cousin, but he had been more than just that. He was your role model; someone you looked up to. You can almost hear an echo of his last words in the wind whenever you think about it.

We'll make the Uchiha great or die trying, okay?

That's one promise you intend to keep...

"You should show your sharingan to someone higher up in the clan," Hikari finally says.

It doesn't feel fair to you that Obito nii-san never had the sharingan throughout most of his life- but here you are, sitting with the eyes you gained from his death.

Perhaps she notices your unwillingness, as Hikari explains further. "You won't learn to use them on your own as easily as you will if you're taught by the clan. This is Obito's last gift to you; you should use it well, hm?"

You think on it for a moment and nod in acceptance.

"Okay."

Hikari grins, and hugs you tighter.
You're growing up so fast, Hibiki...

Your sister is right.

You need to ask someone to teach you.

The sharingan is just a tool after all. A tool you need to master...

---

+2 exp to Taijutsu

Learned Standard Konoha-ryu Taijutsu

Rolls with Hikari gain a bonus of 35 instead of 30

---

Spoiler: Training

Taijutsu 5d10》+22
Chakra Control 5d10》+33
Running 2d10》+12

You put in a bit more effort into your physical training throughout the week.

Perhaps it is because of the moves you copied from Hikari or your own dilligence, but you show markedly more improvement in taijutsu. Your forms are more crisp and precise, held back only by your lack of reach and power.

Your intense physical conditioning seems to be working. You can keep practicing taijutsu more and run longer distances.

"Sensei, why is running so important?" you ask once during a run circling the market district.

Ayano-sensei snorts. "Silly boy. A ninja lives on his legs! Be it a mission somewhere within Konoha or somewhere as far as Snow, you'll run there on your legs!"

Oh. Okay.

Your rapidly rising control over chakra doesn't surprise Ayano-sensei too much anymore. You can feel your chakra and make it move; it's just something that comes naturally now.

When Sensei demonstrates how to stick a leaf on her forehead, you feel her chakra movements. You can even understand how she expells it through her tenketsu.

With proper concentration, you move your chakra like your sensei with little effort. The thin layer of energy that emerges from the surface of your skin has adhesive properties- and allows a leaf to stay stuck on.

In the quiet moments when you meditate and practice your control, you also wonder.

Perhaps you could go to Ayano-sensei with your sharingan? Or perhaps your great-grandma Shigure, who would certainly be more knowledgeable on the subject of your clan's bloodline. But a different opportunity comes your way before you can decide.

You are summoned to Lord Fugaku's home for an audience...


The police force grunt who delivers the message looks at you with suspicious eyes.

"What's a pipsqueak like you got to do with Fugaku-sama himself?" he asks.

He then looks at you with even more suspicion.

"Was it you who busted in through the vents of the police headquarters last week, and broke a window to escape with the boss's son?"

What.

"No!" Who would even do that?

"Just asking," the messenger replies with a shrug.

《~》

Nee-chan is still at class, so you go out alone.

The clan head's house is really pretty, you think.

There are wisteria flowers growing to the sides of the walls- and is that a koi pond!?
Fishies! You want to play with fishies! Nyaaa~

"Come on in," Uchiha Fugaku says simply from the door. There's a small smile at the corner of his lips when he sees you looking at the pond.

You marvel at the feeling of the polished wooden floorboards beneath your feet. The inside of the house is mostly a stark white, with often recurring little splashes of color like the red of a painted fan, or the violet crystals of a heart-shaped wind chime.

Uchiha Mikoto gracefully saunters around the dining room with something in her hands. It looks like a box of ice cream, you think after peering carefully.

"Oh hello dear," she says warmly when she notices you. You greet her back, while internally wondering how the hell she moved around at all with her massive round belly. That must be an a secret kunoichi jutsu. You'll have to ask nee-chan.

Lord Fugaku slides open one of the intricate rice paper doors, and guides you to what you assume is the sitting room.

"Hello Itachi," you greet the solemn boy sitting on one of the cushions.

Uchiha Itachi blinks back at you, before offering a slight smile.

"Hello Hibiki," he says while you take a seat. "It's been a while."

That it has. You and Itachi knew each other in passing like all Uchiha children tend to do; you've played a few games of hide and seek together a while back. You haven't visited the local park the last two months however, and Itachi had rarely showed up even before that. He must've begun his clan training at the time.

"I've heard good things about you from Ayano, young Hibiki," Fugaku says after clearing his throat a little. "Exceptionally keen in controlling your chakra since you begun training it not too long ago; a natural hand at kunaijutsu. You've shown much promise."

You felt a little shy at the praise. The clan head himself was praising you...

"I've decided that you'll accompany my son in his daily endeavours."

Huh.

Itachi echoes your sentiment.

Fugaku reaches out to pat Itachi's head, and the boy has an uncharacteristic pout.

"Shisui usually carries out the role of being Itachi's right hand, but that boy is a bit too wild. You seem like a sensible kid; I'm hoping you'll be a calmer influence on the both of them."

Traditionally, the heir to the clan is assigned a conpanion; a confidante and later bodyguard their age. It is a position of great honor, you know.

Someday, when Itachi will rule as clan head, you'll be one of his right hand men.

You don't know Shisui too well beyond his reputation as a genius; though he seemed quite cheery the few times you'd seen him.

You wonder if he has anything to do with kidnapping Itachi and the broken window...

The thought is quickly shaken from your head as you focus on your alternate purpose in coming here.

"Lord Fugaku," you begin. "There's something I need to tell you."

"What is it?" he asks.

For the second time, you reveal your eyes. You see him raise his eyebrows, and Itachi stare wide eyed.

"I awoke the sharingan," you say in an unwavering tone. Uchiha Fugaku's own eyes spin awake, though his are fully matured with three tomoe. His eyes gaze at you, searching for something.

"There are cases," he says slowly, "Rare ones, where a child awakens the sharingan too early. The eyes are damaged, and slowly degenerate."

He gestures at your own set. "Yours seem to have no such irregularities thankfully. How long have you had them?"

"A bit more than a month," you reply.

Fugaku thinks on it a bit, but doesn't ask anything further. He doesn't ask what caused your eyes to wake.

Perhaps he guessed.

"This changes things," he muses out loud while tapping his fingers absently. He then looks at you.

"I will make arrangements. You will join Itachi and train under my own tutelage."

Itachi smiles slightly at you. "Shisui also joins in from time to time."

The clan head himself will train you! You feel a bit out of your depth.

"Thank you, Lord Fugaku," you reply at a lack of finding anything else to say. "I will...try to live up to your expectations."

Your clan head smirks.

"You either do or do not, boy. There is no try."

---

You walk out of the clan head's house, ogle the koi pond a bit more, and then make your way home.

You're halfway there when a sound stops you.

"Meow."

It came from above.

With a strange feeling of deja vu, you look up to see a black and white tabby cat- stuck atop a streetlamp this time.

"Oh. It's you," you say dully.

The cat meows with a sad look in its eyes. How did it even get up there? You see no footholds on the smooth metal surface of the pole, and the adjacent wall to it is too low for the cat to jump up from.

Your hero complex urges you to again save the cat, but you're a bit stumped on how to do it.

Wait...

[ ] Use your knowledge of Leaf Sticking to attempt climbing up

[ ] Try to persuade the cat to jump down into your arms

[ ] Chakra allows you to jump much higher heights than normal. Climb up the wall and leap off it in a daring move...

[ ] Find someone else to do it? (Negated by Trait Into The Fray)

---

Uchiha Fugaku himself will oversee your training from this point. You have 20 exp to use.

Vote in plan format for training-

[ ] Taijutsu - Worthless (14/50)

[ ] Running - Worthless (6/50)

[ ] Chakra Control - Novice (16/100)

[ ] Ninjutsu - Dreadful (6/10)

[ ] Genjutsu - Dreadful (0/10)

[ ] Kunai Throwing - Worthless (9/50)

---

《~》

Spoiler: Changes

Taijutsu - Dreadful (2/10) → Worthless (14/50)

Running - Dreadful (4/10) → Worthless (6/50)

Chakra Control - Worthless (33/50) → Novice (16/100)

??? Talent Progression (2/3)

Spoiler: AN

Helping out Shisui would have ended with you wrapped up in rope and face to face with a disapproving Fugaku in his office in the military police headquarters.

Nee-chan would've then spanked you once you'd returned home.

^_^

You've gained the title The Uchiha Prodigy. You possess exceptional talent in the ninja arts, and have successfully awakened your bloodline at an unprecedented age. Great things are expected of you, little Uchiha.

*You have copied the Standard Leaf Style taijutsu from your sister.

+2 Taijutsu exp gained. Someone roll a 2d10.