The Prodigy Namikaze by SoulReaperCrewe

Chapter 17: Becoming Famous

Naruto pushed himself forwards as he ran along the tree branches with his eyes focused on the route ahead of him. Beside him Anko and Mikoto jumped along his right and left all looking towards the front, keeping their eyes focused and their wits about them.

The trio were currently on a scouting mission along the border between Fire Country and Grass Country. They had gotten reports that a missing-nin was seen along this route and had been causing trouble to travelers and merchants who were trying to get to Konoha and Iwa for trading purposes. They originated from Wave since Wave was a major trade point in the Elemental Nations and this missing-nin had caused the trading to get many major delays.

Naruto was sent to investigate alongside Anko and Mikoto. Anko since she wanted to get out of the village for a little while with the Torture and Integration division taking up a lot of her time. While Mikoto was sent since Minato wanted a well known shinobi on this mission in case things did not go their way.

Itachi meanwhile had joined the Anbu and was quickly rising to the rank of an Anbu Captain. Naruto though offered to become an Anbu, settled instead with becoming a Jonin. The life of an Anbu was not the one he wanted.

Anko not wanting to be left behind had managed to get pushed to Special Jonin. While her taijutsu and summons were easily Jonin level, she still had to work on her ninjutsu and stamina portion of her skills, something Mikoto was helping her with when possible.

The trio were running almost on the border between the two countries and they were surprised that they had not run into any Iwa shinobi yet since most would have had patrols in the area similar to what they were doing.

"Do you sense anyone Naruto?" Mikoto asked as Naruto focused on his surroundings. He spread his sensory abilities to two miles wide.

After a moment of silence he opened them and shook his head. "Nothing so far."

"In that case it may be best to stop for the night. It is almost sundown and we do not want to be running during the night since our view would be obscured and it will be more dangerous continuing."

Naruto and Anko nodded and quickly found a small cave formation a little ways off that would be perfect for a camp set up. It was only about twelve feet long into the mountainside but it did give them some cover and would likely be the best thing they would find.

Mikoto had been going on missions more regularly lately since it helped to prove the Uchiha's loyalty to Konoha. When the other clans, shinobi and civilians discovered and were told about the almost rebellion, the Uchiha Clan lost a lot of trust and respect.

Since then Mikoto had become the head of the Uchiha Clan and was grooming Itachi to one-day take over since he was the eldest child. She was teaching him what he needed to know so that when he took over he could be an efficient leader and know when to be kind and when to be strict.

Something unfortunately Mikoto's second son Sasuke seemed to need. When finding out about his father, Sasuke had become a very quiet, broody boy who preferred being alone and shot any one down who wanted to befriend him.

A few times Itachi and Mikoto had to stop Sasuke from pushing Ria around since he did not want a weak sister. Mikoto would quickly discipline her son which only made him brood more. He made his life goal to defeat his older brother and become the head of the clan.

Itachi's only response to that was a flick to the forehead and telling him he would be waiting.

It seemed that while Itachi and Ria had taken after Mikoto mostly, Sasuke's personality was leaning more towards his fathers and his way of thinking.

The one clan though that thrived off the Uchiha Clan essentially being cut in half was the Hyuga Clan. Before the Uchiha Clan was the most powerful but now with their numbers halved, the Hyuga Clan was now the largest of main clans and as well as the most powerful.