Naruto, Kakashi and the rest of the team were racing through the trees, hot on Sasuke's trail.

"Will Sasuke be alright? What did they do to him?" Sakura asked, thinking out loud.

"There's no use worrying, Sakura," replied Kakashi. "He is no longer in the Akatsuki hideout, but that may have meant that he escaped, against their will." Of course, the bigger issue is how will he react to us. He cut his ties with Konoha and isn't exactly friendly to us… and there is a limit to the amount we can tolerate…

"We're almost there," said Kakashi. "Be ready."

Sprinting out from the forest, they came out into a clearing. Sasuke was a short distance away, his back to them, standing at the top of a cliff ledge. He seemed to only be staring at the sky. At the sight of him, they came to a halt. Turning around, Sasuke didn't look at all surprised to see them - which didn't surprise the team, since they knew of Sasuke's keen perception – their presence must have been detected earlier. Giving his pursuers an unfriendly look, he made a motion to ready himself for battle, but there was a lack of intensity compared to his earlier encounters with them.

Noticing this subtle difference, Naruto frowned slightly. Leaping forward with a cry of "Rasengan!" Naruto began his sprint, gathering chakra in his palm.

"Wait!" shouted Kakashi, but it was too late to do anything.

Eyes glowing red, Sasuke gave a malicious grin, ready to make another heavy blow at Naruto's dream of becoming Hokage.

Smirking, Naruto plunged the rasengan into the earth, shattering the cliff top upon which Sasuke stood. Before Sasuke could find a foothold, Naruto propelled himself off the cliff, catching Sasuke in midair so there was no chance for either of them to go backwards. Pinning Sasuke's arms to his sides so there was no chance he could alter his flight path, they began to plummet towards the river far below.

Surprised and angry, Sasuke looked at Naruto, since those actions were leaving many openings from an attacking point of view. He could see a non-malicious determination, which meant Naruto could tell something had happened beforehand. Frowning and gritting his teeth, Sasuke resigned himself to their flight path, and readied himself for the landing below.

It was only their advanced use of chakra which prevented them from being killed from such a high fall. Coming up for air, Naruto swam, pulling Sasuke, towards a half-hidden opening of a cave, which was probably only visible from ground level. Angry at simply being dragged around, Sasuke allowed Naruto to pull him along, keeping in mind he could kill Naruto at any time and wearing a predatory look on his face as revenge for the insult.

Stepping out of the river onto the cave floor, and keeping his back to Sasuke, Naruto said "I want to know what happened."

Sasuke's eyes narrowed. "Do you? And why would I tell you? I don't owe you anything."

Angry that Sasuke appeared indifferent to the amount of work he had put into the friendship, and how much he had suffered for Sasuke, Naruto turned around and strongly met his gaze.

"You'd tell me because you're alone, which is a hell I wouldn't wish on anyone. Normally you wouldn't waste any time destroying ties with us and Konoha, but this time you don't seem so eager to fight and I want to know WHY."

Sasuke was exposed and he didn't like it; he continued to stare at Naruto in a threatening way.

"Sasuke, I firmly believe that we would be friends right now if there wasn't something that stopped you. Despite what you say, I know that you liked the feeling of belonging, of sharing. Isn't that true?"

Letting out a small "hm", Sasuke looked to the side. "It doesn't matter," he replied. It was true he valued his companions, but this feeling had been abandoned for what he considered to be a higher priority.

"I want you to trust me, and trust my abilities. I'm good at channeling the kyuubi's chakra now."

Sasuke looked at Naruto, trying to determine if it was only a simple boast, and slightly surprised that Naruto chose to offer him help as a response to his statement.

Naruto continued. "I know you prefer to work on your own, but I want to know what's happening. You can still work on your own, but at least we know what we're facing, and can perhaps help in another location. I promise I won't go off and do my own thing, or act like an idiot."

"Impossible," Sasuke said, smiling a little when Naruto became flustered. But there was some truth; he didn't believe that Naruto or the others were at his level, and were therefore a burden.

Pleased that Sasuke had made a friendly jab even though he knew Sasuke would continue to make his mission the priority, Naruto said "You can trust me. I want to know everything that happened."

Even though Sasuke made an effort to not be affected by others and their wishes, he could sense that Naruto had become stronger. He didn't have any hopes that Naruto and the others actually could help against Madara's plans, but telling him was an easy way to get them to leave him alone, assuming they could be convinced to do so. Or he could give them an unimportant task to distract them. But this was also a test of strength; could he mention the past with all its emotional turmoil and still be indifferent to it?

"Fine," replied Sasuke. "I'll tell you the history of the clan. But you must accept my advice for your actions later. If you don't... if there's the slightest chance you would get in the way, I'll kill you." Angry at the threat, but wanting to find a resolution and realising he needed to trust Sasuke as well, Naruto gave a nod.

Sitting themselves down, Sasuke mentioned about what happened the night the clan was destroyed, the conditions behind gaining the mangekyou sharingan, his brother's words and advice when they had fought after their first meeting in years, the Akatsuki's beginning, Madara's actions in the past and his current place in the Akatsuki, the final battle with Itachi, Itachi's transference of eye techniques, and the way Madara had turned his world upside down by mentioning that Itachi had wanted to protect him all this time.

"All along, killing my brother was my only goal in life. And he was right; the hatred did make me stronger. But now I find out that he wasn't the monster I thought he was, that Madara instigated the attack on the clan, that Itachi only killed his best friend in self defense… and I killed him. He sacrificed his life for me, and I couldn't even thank him."

Speechless, Naruto remembered his fight with Sasuke at the waterfall, realising now that Sasuke chose to not kill him, letting go of the mangekyou. Removing his forehead protector, he gazed at the symbol, gaining strength from the bonds within the village… and realising Sasuke's pain at wanting his brother's affection, overcoming the grief and steeling himself to cause his brother's downfall, and then realising he had his brother's affection all along. He looked back to Sasuke.

Sasuke was looking down, with clenched fists and jaw, and trying to remain unaffected. His arms started to shake, and he began to stare forward blankly, eyes widening and muttering something.

"Sasuke, I can't hear you…"said Naruto, leaning forward.

Suddenly, Sasuke reacted, and with a gaze like a threatened animal, swiped at Naruto. Naruto was just able to pull back, but Sasuke's fingertips made slight contact with his forehead.

Recovering and standing up, Naruto put on his forehead protector. He intuitively knew what he had to do.

"Sasuke, stay here. I'll be back as soon as I can. Trust me." He grinned, and gave his 'nice guy' pose.

Still in that state, Sasuke turned and looked at Naruto with a frown on his forehead, not showing any kind of confidence in Naruto's words. There was no guarantee that Sasuke would wait, but Naruto also knew that Sasuke wouldn't let anyone see him like that. He had to hurry.

Disappearing, Naruto raced at the speed of a bullet out an opening near the top of the cave.

--

Seeing Naruto's actions against Sasuke, Kakashi could sense that something other than a typical battle was happening. Not wanting to interfere, he decided to wait, letting the team rest.

Later, he noticed a speck of orange in the distance speeding away from their location. Nonchalantly giving the order for the team to wait while he scouted the area, he disappeared in pursuit of Naruto.

Coming to a landing point, he could see many ninja from the hidden village of cloud lying on the ground, unconscious. From their positions, it looked as if they had been guarding the wagon nearby. Fully alert, Kakashi approached, not liking the sense that this was something unusual for Naruto to do, especially at a time like this.

Entering the wagon, he could see Naruto using a strong medical jutsu on a body wrapped in cloth. The amount of green chakra was almost blinding. He knew something was wrong – Naruto didn't know medical jutsu.

"Kakashi," Naruto said, surprised and annoyed.

Always preferring to play dumb to let his opponents reveal themselves, Kakashi looked at Naruto with mild surprise and said "What's all this about, Naruto?"

"I can't tell you yet," was Naruto's reply.

Disliking the cold expression in Naruto's eyes, Kakashi started to move forward.

"Mangekyou sharingan!" shouted Naruto, with black blades on a red background appearing in each eye.

Shocked, Kakashi couldn't help but be engulfed by the jutsu. He wasn't being tortured this time, but instead was being shown scenes of the Uchiha clan's demise, over and over again. Coming out of it and gasping for breath after what felt like a day, Kakashi regained his balance and leaped forward to attack.

"Stay back!" Naruto said. He had taken a kunai from his holster using his spare hand and was holding it against his own throat.

Keeping his distance, Kakashi said angrily "Itachi Uchiha."

--

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A/N:

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, and I don't know if the guy who does own Naruto's first name is Kishimoto or Masashi.

I was basing 'previous encounters' from Shippuuden episode 1, where Sasuke tried to chop off Naruto's head. Also, even though there were many scripts of 398 (and all quite different), the one I felt was accurate was the one which showed Shisui attacking Itachi to gain the Mangekyou Sharingan, and Itachi killing Shisui in self defense. That made sense to me, since it would explain why Itachi got angry at the clan police, when they showed him the suicide letter and were implying that Itachi had murdered Shisui. If Itachi was guilty, I don't think he would have attacked them.

I made Naruto and Sasuke's conversation a bit long, sorry… because I didn't want Sasuke to act out of character.

So, to make it clear, I made it so Itachi transferred his whole consciousness, not just the eye techniques, into Sasuke. In turn, Sasuke transferred Itachi into Naruto, with the techniques.

And I assumed the unintelligible words Itachi muttered to Sasuke were like a jutsu summoning.

There was a lot of talking, etc. but I wanted to make it in character as much as I could. Hopefully the privacy of the cave would allow them to open up more?

Next chappy: Sasuke meets Itachi again.

I hope you enjoyed it! If you feel inclined to review, I'd appreciate it!