The Lost Heir

9

The spiky, white haired man stared down at Naruto's back. He eyed the curse mark with disgust.
"Orochimaru..." he whispered. He looked over at Lady Mito.
"It's done." She said as she finished drawing a seal on a scroll.
"I've been working on this for ages. It will draw out Orochimaru's senjutsu chakra from the seal and then the seal on Naruto's body will disperse. But, of course, with such potent chakra, we'd need your chakra to do the actual sealing." Jiraiya nodded. Tsunade was on there to lend a hand should Naruto need medical assistance, and to also monitor his health. Sarutobi and two other ANBU were stationed there as well.
"Let's begin." Jiraiya said as he clapped his hands together. He stood stock still, his eyes closed and his hands remained clapped together. Lady Mito formed a half tiger seal and the scroll's seal began to glow.
"It will take some time for me to prepare the seal." Lady Mito said.
"It should be enough time for me." Jiraiya replied. A little while later, Jiraiya's eyes opened, and his appearance had changed. He took on more toad like features, and two small toads, Lord Fukasaku and Lady Shima were now seated on his shoulders.
"Jiraiya boy, why have you called us here?" Lord Fukasaku asked.
"We need to remove Orochimaru's curse mark from Naruto." He replied, feeling the sage mode chakra flowing through his body.
"What!? The child of prophecy?" Lady Shima asked, and she received a nod.
"Ready." Lady Mito said, and the procedure began. Jiraiya forced his senjutsu chakra into the seal, forcefully opening it. The curse mark began to spread out around Naruto's body, by at the same time, Lady Mito's seal began to act, drawing the curse mark out of Naruto's body, and into the scroll. It was a long and painful process, and Hiruzen had winced multiple times. It wasn't the easiest thing for him to watch. Neither was it for anyone there. Tsunade had to look away multiple times as the screaming grew ever louder, her hands shaking from the effort and amount of chakra she'd used to keep Naruto's body from sustaining damage.

-----

"Sasuke." A tall man spoke as he stepped from the trees, where Sasuke was training. Sasuke stopped and looked up at the man. He froze in terror when he realised it was Orochimaru.
"Time for me to give you some of my power... ku ku ku..." Orochimaru grinned, licking his lips as he approached the fear stricken Uchiha.
"Stop, Orochimaru." Another voice was heard and the Sannin immediately took a step back as Itachi appeared.
"My, my, Itachi. It's been far too long, really it has." Orochimaru said, his eyes and ambitious mind turning to Itachi, Sasuke all but forgotten. Orochimaru raised his arm but it was chopped off immediately.
"What!? A genjutsu..." Orochimaru uttered in surprise. "Your Sharingan is so strong..." Itachi rolled his eyes, before morphing them into their Mangekyo Sharingan forms.
"Tsukuyomi." He whispered and Orochimaru was immediately brought into a red and black world, where he was tied upon a cross. Itachi wasted no words, instead, unsheathing a katana and stabbing Orochimaru with it. The process continued to repeat, but the sadistic Sannin only grinned. Outside of the Tsukuyomi, Itachi and Sasuke watched as Orochimaru fell down. Then a second later, it was all over. Orochimaru opened his mouth and a second form of himself crawled out, slick with saliva.
"Itachi kun... there's no way I'd try and face an Uchiha without some counter play... like this..." Orochimaru chuckled.
"Your Tsukuyomi is ineffective against me..." he said. Itachi sighed. He knew Orochimaru was a scheming bastard, but he didn't know that Orochimaru had gotten ahold of some Sharingan eyes. That was what shocked Itachi. Orochimaru was laughing.
"You see Itachi, I happened to come across several Uchiha after you, and they've been very helpful... " Orochimaru grinned. Itachi's face paled. The missing Uchiha, no more like kidnapped and killed by Orochimaru. Orochimaru continued to laugh as he closed his eyes once more. Itachi had had enough. He grabbed his kunai, and appeared beside Orochimaru, slicing straight through his body. Orochimaru cried out in pain.
"Stop messing around, Orochimaru." Itachi said.
"Very well..." came a disjointed voice, as another Orochimaru crawled out of the two halfs of his previous body. They joined themselves together with snakes, which looked really disgusting to the younger Uchiha. Sasuke turned around and vomited.
"You see, Itachi... it took me a long time to get these to work for me, a lot of experimenting, a lot of wasted eyes... but in the end, it worked." Orochimaru said. He opened his eyes, and two red Sharingan blazed in them. Itachi glared at him.
"And I had to kill Kabuto as well... but that didn't matter too much." Orochimaru said with a sick smile. Itachi watched in horror as the eyes changed into Mangekyo Sharingan.
"Too bad, the chakra drain is too much, of course, that's why I need a real Uchiha... a living, young one." Orochimaru said, looking at Sasuke.
"Run Sasuke. I'll deal with him." Itachi said. Orochimaru grinned.
"Good because I've been waiting to test out my new skills..." he ripped half of his shirt off to reveal the face of Hashirama Senju itched into his skin.
"What kind of sick freak are you?" Itachi asked, readying his kunai. Tiger → Ram → Snake
"Wood style! Deep forest emergence!" Orochiamru shouted as a large cluster of tree began to grow from the ground, twisting around Itachi's body, and trapping him in place. Orochimaru laughed.
"This is perfect..." he said as he watched Itachi burst into crows and reform on the branch. The two Mangekyo Sharingan stared each other down.
"You may have the Mangekyo, but you will never be able to use it..." Itachi said.
"Oh I will... that's why I need that Uzumaki brat as well..." Orochimaru said with a grin.
"His DNA holds the key to my immortality jutsu, as well as unlocking the secrets of Senjutsu, and the precious Sharingan... he is the key to infinite power!" Orochimaru said as he looked at Itachi.
"But you've already lost." Itachi said.
"Your use of the Mangekyo isn't nearly as good as mine, nor is yours as strong." Itachi said. Orochimaru realised that Itachi's head was now protruding from his arm.
"Genjutsu! But how?" Orochimaru shouted.
"My name is Itachi Uchiha, the Uchiha Prodigy... your Sharingan is merely from a second rate civilian..." Itachi said, although it pained him to talk down on the previous owner of the eyes. Orochimaru screamed as he realised he was frozen in place, unable to resist Itachi's genjutsu.
"These eyes, will belong to us once more..." Itachi said as he cut them out of Orochimaru's face. Orochimaru screamed. It wasn't in pain. It was one resulting from anger, and frustration.
"I'll get you for this... Itachi. Mark my words." Orochimaru said as he vomited up another version of himself, with his normal eyes present. Orochimaru swiftly formed a Snake seal and his legs turned into that of a snake's tail. Itachi watched as Orochimaru slithered away, back into the forest and to leave Konoha. He looked at the two Sharingan in his hand, before he dropped them onto the ground. Tiger → Ram → Monkey → Boar → Horse → Tiger.
"Fire style! Fire ball jutsu!" Itachi took a breath and blew out a great fireball, watching as the Sharingan were burned to crisps, allowing no one to ever use them again.
"I'll have to tell Lord Hokage and Kakashi." Itachi muttered to himself as he turned around and left.

Orochimaru seethed in anger. Itachi had burned his most successful Sharingan eyes. All the others were failed experiments, but this one had worked for him. Fortunately he still had his wood style from Hashirama's DNA which he'd cultivated.

-----

Naruto awoke. His entire body was sore over, but it seemed to have been a long time since he'd been admitted into the hospital. He had heard the results of the preliminaries and was surprised, as well as pissed that Neji had almost killed Hinata. Getting out of bed, he found that someone had undressed him. It was probably Ashina. He selected a black shirt and black pants, with a blue sleeveless cloak, and wore his Uzumaki necklace, which had belonged to his mother. He opened the door of his bedroom and was immediately jumped on by Karin.
"Naruto!" She squealed happily. She was glad that her cousin was safe. Lately, she'd been the centre of attention of the Konoha Genin, all asking her about Naruto and this and that and it was really starting to annoy her. Plus, she had some questions of her own.
"Oof - Karin, what's going on?" He asked. Karin looked at him before adjusting her glasses.
"Kiba and Sasuke are so weird. Sasuke looks like he's constipated whenever I talk or walk with him, and Kiba just never talks! What's up with them?" Karin asked. Naruto raised and eyebrow. He'd never seen those sides of them before.
"I don't know. But something is definitely weird."  Naruto answered. A deep booming laugh was heard by Naruto from his mind and he didn't even know whether he should be amused or annoyed at the Fox.
"Apparently being dense runs in the family!" Joked the Fox from inside Naruto and Naruto pondered on what that meant for a moment.
"Let's go. The ceremony is starting." Karin said. Naruto was puzzled.
"Hold on... what ceremony? Karin, I've been unconscious and what not for a couple of days..." Naruto said.
"Oh right. It's your ceremony. This is the official ceremony which announces you as the Uzumaki clan heir, and appoints you Crown Prince, not like there are any other candidates, for the clan." Karin said as she dragged him along with her down the stairs.
"Wait what? Slow down, Crown Prince?"
"Yes."
"Ok..."

They arrived at the gates of the mansion, only to be met with a large crowd of cheering civilians, where the cheering seemed to swell as the figure of the prince appeared. Ashina and Uru were standing by a carriage which had its door open.
"In you go, your highness." Karin said, with a bow. Naruto blushed.
"Stop it." Naruto whispered.
"I can't, your highness." Karin replied. Clearly she was having way too much fun. Naruto climbed into the carriage and the doors were shut behind him. Karin then joined Lady Mito in her carriage which was in front of the one Naruto was in. The carriage procession headed off towards the Hokage tower, where on the roof, Hiruzen had given permission for the ceremony to be held. They arrived there with a large crowd cheering behind them, and Naruto looked out the window of his carriage. He could see a lot of Leaf Ninja standing closest to the tower. I guess it makes sense, Uzumaki is the closest allied clan and the Village of Whirlpools was the oldest allied village to Konoha... Naruto thought and was jolted out of his seat by the sudden stopping of the carriage.

The crowds were silent. It was going to be the day where the prince would step forth for the first time and be recognised by everyone. Everyone was completely quiet, waiting to catch a glimpse of the rumoured handsome prince as he made his first public appearance in Konoha. The first carriage stopped and the doors opened. Out stepped Lady Mito and Lady Karin. Lady Mito had on a long flowing green dress, making her look simple yet elegant. Lady Karin was wearing a similar dress, but it was red. Of course, since the day was for the Prince, he'd be dressed elegantly and more so. Kiba's heart stopped when he saw Lady Karin step from the carriage. All those times he'd been with her, it was just Karin. And now she was being Lady Karin and she was even more breathtakingly beautiful than he could ever imagine. Sasuke felt his heart beat faster. Karin was everything he wanted. That was all he could think as he watched her gracefully ascend the stairs behind her mother. Then the crowds attention was drawn to the second carriage as the two clan guards stepped forward and opened the door. There was a silence as someone with blond hair, combed back neatly stepped from the carriage. He was wearing black shirt and black pants, followed by a blue sleeveless cloak, because he hadn't changed into anything else in the morning, and he was wearing his mother's clan necklace. He was the Prince. The crowd was quiet as the caught a glimpse of the Prince but not his face. The two guards gave deep bows to the Prince who nodded back. Then he turned and began to walk towards the Hokage tower with the two guards behind him. Everyone recognised him. It was Naruto.