CHAPTER ONE I do not own Naruto
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"Sasuke-kun, I love you."
"Sakura. Thank you."
Looking out of her bedroom window, Haruno Sakura tried to remember how she came to this point. The pink-haired chūnnin remembered as her beloved Sasuke had knocked her out after she had professed her love to him, then had betrayed Konoha by going to find the Snake-like, S-ranked criminal, Orochimaru.
"Sasuke-kun while seek me out in search of power."
Sakura closed her eyes trying to summon up tears that were nowhere to be found. It had been three years since that had happened and a lot had changed. Sakura was 16 and had spent those three years training under Tsunade, the village's Godaime Hokage. In that time she had grown into a beautiful young woman. Her cherry blossom pink hair fell lightly over her large forehead into intelligent emerald eyes. Her body had grown from her long legs, and slender yet strong arms, to her fully matured bosom. A big change from the small, weak and love-sick girl she had been. Sakura now feared that she had changed so much that her feelings for Sasuke had changed as well.
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"Foolish little brother. If you want to kill me, hate me, detest me, and live in an unsightly way. Run, run, and cling to life."
Uchiha Itachi remembered the time he had seen his little brother and left the village of Konoha. He had just killed his entire clan, leaving only Sasuke alive. He had hated his clan. They had treated him nothing more than a weapon to be used. He had never felt loved by anyone except his mother and Sasuke. He had wanted to leave his mother alive but when he had gone to kill his father, his mother had chosen to die with him. It was his biggest regret. It was for that reason that Itachi had left his brother the way he had, he hoped that Sasuke would return strong enough to kill him for what he had done.
Itachi moved his long black hair out of his face. He was 21 years old and was in top physical condition. His chiseled muscles and handsome face were hidden beneath the black and red Akatsuki cloak. The only part of his face that was visible was the red and black of his kekei-genkai, the Sharingan mirror wheel eyes.
Itachi had tiring of the organization known as Akatsuki. They were making no movements over the last three years except to try and gain a one-tailed demon, Shikaku, out of the Kazekage, Gaara. This had failed. As Itachi left the Akatsuki base, he was aware that he was leaving the only people who would accept him. He had no family, no village, and nowhere to go, but he didn't care. All Itachi wanted was a change from his life. Something to tell him he wasn't all that bad.
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Tsunade walked toward Konoha as if she had a full bladder and as if the village had the only bathroom. The fifty-some year old had left Shizune and Sakura in charge for three days and was praying that the village hadn't gone up in flames. It's not that Tsunade didn't trust her protégés; it was that as Hokage of the Village Hidden in the Leaves, the woman had a responsibility to her people. She would have been able to be back at the village within a day of visiting the sand village, but she wasn't alone. Several of the Village's Elder Council had wanted to accompany her in order to reassess the alliance she had made with Gaara. As old as she was, she liked to look in her twenties, and was able to do so because of her own, special, jutsu.
Ever since Naruto had returned to the village, the Elders had began to question her every move. She was the Hokage for goodness sakes! Not only that, but she was the student of the third Hokage, and the granddaughter of the first Hokage! Tsunade believed in Naruto's abilities and was happy to have him back in the village after three years. Things had been way too quiet. Besides, now that he was dating Hinata, Naruto had mellowed out a little.
Tsunade was so determined to reach the village that she didn't notice the rushing of trees and rocks that were falling over the road they were on.
Tsunade frantically searched for a way to avoid the falling debris. It was evident from the way it was falling that the debris was caused by an explosion. Considering the fact that there was supposed to be no people in the area, Tsunade quickly assumed that the explosion came from an ambush.
Tsunade quickly grabbed her three traveling partners and threw out a field of chakra, forcing the falling rocks to come in contact with her dome shaped power. As the rocks settled over head, Tsunade realized that they were trapped, and someone was bleeding.
"Shit", she said as she realized that the blood she felt was coming from a wound from her head. Starting to get dizzy, she called to the Elders, ensuring they were OK, and tried to formulate an escape plan.
Damn, she thought, I can't use my strength to get out of here because the rocks will fall and crush the Elders. I'm fast enough to get out in time, but I doubt they are. Plus, I'm injured, and don't have enough chakra to heal myself and get us out AND fight whoever it was that did this.
"God, what am I gonna do?"
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Itachi was running through a forest near Konoha when he heard an explosion. He went to investigate in time to see the Godaime Hokage of Konoha try and protect three old bags as a heavy rock-avalanche fell onto them. Itachi figured that the new Hokage would handle things and prepared to move on as he saw a hole in her chakra barrier. He watched as a large boulder hit the great Tsunade in the head because she was too busy worrying about the others.
Itachi never did understand what made him go down to the site of the trapped Hokage.
Appearing before the tomb, Itachi began to wonder how long they would last. Hearing a bristling noise he turned on his heel to face a squad of four shinobi from the village hidden in the grass.
The largest, and clearly the leader, stepped forward. He didn't recognize Itachi because he had forgone hi Akatsuki robe in order to hide better.
"Hey little one", the Rock shinobi sneered. "If you don't want to get hur-, Aggrrggh!"
Itachi moved from the man he had just killed in order to work on his teammates. Itachi finished them quickly, leaving no time for them to scream. Itachi turned from the corpses and began to remove the rocks off the falling travelers.
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Tsunade couldn't believe her eyes. Uchiha Itachi, the S-ranked criminal, missing-nin, and murderer of his clan was pulling her and the Elders out of the rocks. S-A-V-I-N-G THEM!
The only thing she could ask was, "Why?"
"I don't know" was his reply.
As Itachi turned to leave, Tsunade had a thought.
"Uchiha Itachi. You have just saved the life of the Hokage and the lives of members of the Elder Council of Konoha. Where do your loyalties lay?"
"You mean, 'Have you left Akatsuki?' and, yes, I have."
"And where do you plan to go?"
"I have nowhere to go."
The Elders had listened to this exchange, and called Tsunade over into a conference. Itachi stood at the side of the road as the Elders spoke to the Hokage.
" WHAT?!'
"What do you mean 'what?' he did save our lives after all."
"Yes, I know!" Tsunade grumbled, "but he is Uchiha Itachi! Are you so old you can't remember what he did?!"
"I remember perfectly well what he did!" screamed the oldest, "Many of the people he killed were my friends! But still…I can only wonder why he had saved us. And let's remember that even though he left, he never really did any harm."
"Never did any harm?! He put Hatake Kakashi and Uchiha Sasuke into a coma, injured several other jōnin, AND tried to kidnap Naruto!"
"Here we go; you always bring Naruto into everything!"
"I do not!" said Tsunade vehemently.
"Tsunade. We of the Elder Council have let you do what you have wanted concerning the Kyubi, despite our better judgment. We are asking you now to trust us; and to repay him for saving our lives."
Tsunade put up her finger. "First things first. Naruto is a good kid, NOT A MURDERER! Second, what about Sasuke?"
"The youngest Uchiha has abandoned the village; there is nothing we can do. Tsunade, we are not asking you…"
"Very well..." Tsunade turned to Itachi. "Uchiha Itachi, you will return with us to the village, and will await our decision on your future. Now that I have healed my wound, and recovered, somewhat, if you try to escape, I will personally, chase you down and kill you."
Somewhat startled, Itachi tried to keep the surprised look off his face as he looked for one person to the next. What were they thinking? Itachi didn't know. He knew for a fact that Tsunade would kill him if he tried to escape, so he just nodded.
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It was getting late as they started for the village, and it was dark as the Hokage locked Uchiha Itachi into a hidden jail cell, pondering the conversation they had had on the way there; Praying that the Elder Council wouldn't do anything to make her look too bad.
"We of the Elder Council have decided. For saving the lives of the Hokage, and three of our most important members, as well as, stopping the possible invasion from the Village Hidden in the Grass, essentially saving the lives of many ninja, we grant Uchiha Itachi amnesty for his crimes, past and present. And in addition we shall help him restore his clan by arranging his marriage with the girl of our choice."
Upon hearing this Tsunade's jaw dropped to the floor. "WHAT?!"
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Well that was chapter 1! please review. flames will be ignored! Please comment!