The Akatsuki from KSUH

Konoha-Suna Union High School Sequel

AU: Itachi/Suki and Sasori/Raven

Chapter 1: After Three Years

They were surrounded. The Akatsuki were the only ones who knew about the looming threat and had put themselves into action as soon as they found all the clues. What they didn't know, was that the enemies' target was not only the Ninja Villages but, in fact, the Akatsuki. It was a set up and they walked right into it.

All that mattered when the battle got this severe, was survival. Being split up into their usual teams, each took a location to defend against the massive numbers that were sent after them. Even though it turned out that they were the first target, each of them still had something they wanted to protect. They could not let the enemy get past them. If they managed to survive, they could win. Sometimes that is easier said than done.

Blood leaked from Itachi's eyes as he used his Susanoo. The dark demon-like aura that surrounded and protected him from attacks also took its toll on the user. Ever since his arms were broken earlier in the battle, Itachi had to place the enemy under genjutsu in the Tsukuyomi and take them down that way. Unfortunately, his chakra is not unlimited and all the jutsu he was holding constant were taking their toll on him.

If the number of opponents appeared to be decreasing at all, he wouldn't be worrying much, however, that was not the case. The dull throbbing in his arms from the broken bones and the blood dripping past his fingertips only reminded him further of his situation. Without the use of his arms, he would have to solely rely on his eyes.

Itachi glanced at Kisame, who seemed to be holding his own despite harboring a few of his own wounds. It would be bad if Itachi had to protect someone else right now. The blood leaking from his eyes was proof enough that he was already pushing his limits and straining his Sharingan. He would have never guessed this would happen.

"How did this happen?" Itachi whispered to himself, just before the Susanoo roared and blocked another wave of attacks on him. The time for pondering was not now.

On the backside of an old brick building that long ago served as the Northern Outpost, Deidara and Sasori were taking cover as several explosions sounded from the other side of the building.

"I told you to bring more clay!" Sasori gritted, "I thought you said you knew what you were doing!"

Deidara whipped around for a moment to glare at the red-headed puppet master. "How was I supposed to know they would also have a bomb specialist? They're hurling those things out of a canon or something, I can't tell where they're coming from or where they are!"

"You better find out fast, I've already lost two of my puppets to guard against those things!" Sasori retorted.

Deidara was about to comment when they had to shield themselves from another explosion and flying debris. Sasori used his puppets to act as shields while Deidara ducked down and worked up his clay in the pouches that hung at his hips.

Sasori released some chakra strings from a few now useless parts of his puppet, not wanting to waste energy trying to put it back together in the midst of the chaos. He wasn't so sure he'd get the chance to put his precious creations back to together afterwards either.

Sasori's eyes flicked around, trying to locate the next incoming bomb, when he heard a whistle of one coming from above. Quickly, Sasori looked at Deidara, who was still trying to create an decent offense with what was left of his clay. With no time to warn his companion, Sasori tackled Deidara to the ground and shielded them both from the explosion that landed right on top of them, destroying both the landscape and the building that served as cover, while burying them in the debris.

From beneath the rubble, Sasori was able to lift a good amount off of him and his companion using his puppet and chakra strings. There, among the rubble, Sasori saw the image of chaos around them on the battlefield. There was no one else around and everything had happened so quickly. They weren't prepared for something like this.

"How did this happen?" Sasori muttered to himself and then winced painfully before dropping to his knees and collapsing in freshly spilled blood.

"Sasori!" Deidara called out to him while kneeling next to him. "Oh man, this doesn't look good…"

Sasori wasn't sure what Deidara was talking about, all he knew was there was a pain in his chest and he suddenly felt like his life force was leaving him, leaving him weak and unable to support his legs any longer. He didn't know what happened. Was all this blood coming from him? It's so warm. Was he wounded? Is it fatal? Was he going to die here?

The birds chirped to each other as Itachi, Shisui, and Sasuke entered the home of Fugaku and Mikoto Uchiha. This spring had been quite warm and the summer season was soon approaching. The boys entered the kitchen and took seats around the table when Mikoto came in and smiled at them.

"How did your search go, Itachi?" she asked, standing behind Sasuke to place a hand on his shoulder. Sasuke was apparently too old and cool for hugs from his mother, so she would do that instead.

Itachi simply shook his head. "Didn't find it," he said, "I looked in three different shops and they all had basically the same thing, which wasn't what I was looking for."

"You don't even know what you're looking for," Sasuke sighed.

"I said I'd know it when I see it," Itachi said and Shisui chuckled.

"Don't worry Itachi, you'll probably find the perfect engagement ring when you're not even looking anymore like I did," Shisui said.

"That better be soon, I actually want to have the ring when I propose," Itachi groaned.

Sasuke looked at his mother, "I suggested he propose with flowers and take her to pick out a ring afterwards, but he doesn't want to do that either," he told her.

Mikoto smiled and began to leave the kitchen, "I'm going to check on something," she told them.

"Well sorry for not being able to help much, Itachi," Shisui apologized.

"It's fine, your suggestions were helpful, I just didn't find it," Itachi smiled before standing to pour himself and the others some tea at the kitchen counter.

That's right, Itachi was planning on proposing to his girlfriend of three years, Suki Yukimura. Much happened in the last three years since he and his friends graduated from Konoha-Suna Union High School. Shortly after graduating, Itachi left Konoha for about a year for special and rigorous training so he could work for the Uchiha Family Police Force. He passed all his tests and was now quickly moving up the ranks. He had only got to see Suki when he completed his training and returned to his home in Konoha. Things were a little slow starting again, after being apart so long with little communication available, but they were an item again quickly, and were still seeing each other.

Itachi and his father were on much better terms now. They weren't best friends or anything, but they did have a better, more understanding relationship and at work treat each other professionally and try not to step on each other's toes on the job. They still have their disagreements, but they are both able to agree to disagree much easier now.

Itachi still lived with Shisui most of the time, though he would often stay at Suki's place too. Itachi was also looking at buying a house for him and Suki soon since Shisui just got married and was moving into a bigger house with his wife. In the meantime, Itachi was welcome to live with his girlfriend. Moving in with Suki was still gradual, but they didn't want to feel any pressure or overwhelmed by taking a serious step in their relationship. This was only one of the many reasons Itachi felt ready to marry Suki, so far they were living well together, and they were likely to feel just as comfortable when he's officially moved in with her. If that wasn't a sure good sign, he didn't know what would be. Also, even with a busy schedule, he simply liked the thought of going home to her everyday.

The Akatsuki were still working, and Itachi was a double agent who relayed info to the Akatsuki from what he learned in the Police. It really worked both ways though, as he's used the information he gets from the Akatsuki to help out the Police station as well, and make sure the bad guys were put behind bars. Pain was okay with it, as long nothing bad became of it, and he trusted Itachi's judgment. It actually worked in everyone's favor since these were very peaceful times thanks to Itachi's efficiency in his work as a double agent. He had already received a few rewards and a metal for his work and success for capturing some of the worst criminals. Since he didn't do it alone, he was quite humble about it and had turned down two promotions, feeling he didn't really deserve them because of his double agent work and he didn't want to take the credit and reap the benefits that the Akatsuki as a whole deserved. If it wasn't for his friends and his girlfriend knowing of his double life, he wouldn't be able to live it. Luckily, he had all the support he needed at home with the person he wished to always go home to; Suki.

Suki was also an agent for the Akatsuki, but she was now working in the Konoha Information Center, where all reports and requests go through. Anything that might be useful to the Akatsuki, she would relay back to them, usually suspicious activity, crime, personnel, and if anyone is suspecting the real identities of the Akatsuki or where they're located. Itachi was glad that Suki had a low risk job, something where she isn't likely to get hurt. He wasn't sure how Sasori dealt with the fact his own girlfriend goes off on dangerous missions all the time.

As Itachi finished his tea, his mother returned to the kitchen. "Itachi, take a look at this," she offered.

"At what, Mom?" he asked, but she only smiled and came to his side and placed an open engagement ring box in front of him. Itachi knew right away, it was exactly what he was looking for. "Mom?" he asked after a couple short seconds.

"This was my mother-in-law's, then it was mine when Fugaku purposed to me, and his mother wished that I would one day give it to one of my sons to get engaged with," she explained as she took a seat at the table. "Since you wanted to find a ring, I forgot about offering this one, but… what do you think of an heirloom?"

"Can I?" Itachi looked at the ring again, almost afraid to touch it and ruin its perfection.

"Only if it's the ring you want Itachi, I'd be happy if you gave it to Suki, and I know your father would be too," she nodded.

"Thanks, it's perfect," he smiled.

"Wait," Sasuke started with a hard look directed at his brother. "You dragged us all over Konoha to a bunch of girly jewelers, and your 'perfect ring' was right here this whole time?"

Itachi and Shisui chuckled. "Guess so, bro," Itachi grinned and poked Sasuke's forehead with his two fingers, "I'm sorry, Sasuke," he added, somehow knowing that when it comes time for Sasuke to get married, Sasuke would get his payback.

Sasuke's shoulders dropped. "Whatever, at least it's over now," he said.

"Sasuke, Sasuke, Sasuke," Shisui started with a catty smirk. "Don't forget about what's going to happen when she says 'yes', the next step is wedding plans," he winked.

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. "I'm not going to have to help with that too, am I? I mean, isn't that the bride's job?"

"Sure, the planning is up to the couple, but we still get to help them," Shisui grinned. "Remember my wedding, you should, it wasn't that long ago?"

Sasuke remembered. He wouldn't be forgetting about all the stuff he was asked to carry and deliver. Then he had to be super charming to every family member at the reception to make a good impression. The worst part was all the times someone pinched his cheek for being 'cute' despite that fact he was going to be entering high school at KSUH in the fall. Sometimes he hated being the youngest Uchiha of his generation.

"Psh, whatever, I have stuff to do," Sasuke said, excusing himself and then muttering profanities as he quickly left.

Itachi sighed with a smile, holding in a comment about Sasuke being a prick in front of their mother. "So Father gave this to you?" Itachi inquired to his mother.

She nodded with a soft smile. "Yes, when he proposed, but now it's time to pass it on."

Itachi closed the box and held it. "Are you sure?" he asked his mother.

Both Mikoto and Shisui chuckled softly. "Very," she answered.

"What, Itachi? Having second thoughts?" Shisui teased.

"Nah," Itachi brushed it off. "Now I just have to wait until I can ask her," he said.

"A bit nerve wracking, isn't it?" Shisui laughed. Itachi didn't say anything, but just smiled and nodded. Everyone close to him knew that he was planning on proposing soon, and he was well aware that it had got at least a couple of his friend thinking, one being Sasori who had also been dating the same person for the last three years. Itachi wondered if Sasori would ever do something like he was about to do and get ready to tie the knot. Sasori hasn't said anything about it to him, but if Itachi knew his friend, that didn't mean he wasn't thinking about it.

"Uncle," Sasori said from across the table in his grand uncle's home. "What do you think?"

His uncle continued to ponder Sasori's dilemma. "The fact that you are able to ask yourself those questions proves it, my boy," he said.

Sasori frowned, "I thought you might say something like that, but I want your advice, Uncle."

"Have you spoken to your Grandmother about this?"

"Hell no," Sasori stated instantly, causing the older man to laugh.

"You still talk to her since you moved out, right?"

"Of course, but this isn't something I could go to her about," Sasori said. "Uncle, please."

"You're always so unsure of yourself when it comes to these matters, but you've been making the right decisions along the way, haven't you?"

"I guess, that doesn't mean I haven't messed up––or almost messed up," he said softly.

The older man thought for a moment and then placed something in front of Sasori, who looked at him questioningly. "That's in case you decide, your grandmother knew you would be asking me about this sooner or later, so she's had me hold onto that for when you did," he chuckled.

Sasori sighed. "Thank you," he said before standing up. "I must go now, I have work to do," he explained.

"Of course, and good luck," he waved.

Sasori thought deeply during his fifteen minute walk home. After graduating high school, his first goal was to move out of his grandmother's house as soon as he could afford. He ended up getting a place with a large garage, prefect for his work, with a small townhouse above it. Since it was just him living there, it was perfect. His home's location being built into the side of a hill made for a great view of the park and the sunrise from both his bedroom and living room.

As for his work and need for a large, private work space, Sasori was now a part of a joint faction to work on new poisons, weapons, and antidotes, as well as metals and plastics that can stand up to some of the poisons so they don't destroy their weapons, just the enemy. He found he liked being able to work at home like he does, being a very private person, and as long as he produced results and reported everything he was doing, he was free to work on whatever he wanted. Of course, he didn't document everything he was doing, some of it being secret projects for the Akatsuki.

Not bothering to use the stairs once he got home, he unlocked the garage and lifted the large door to his work space, filling it with sunlight. He noted the odd stench from both the metal and wood oils as well as other chemicals he used, so it was time to air out the place anyway.

Since he was going to air out the place, he couldn't actually work on much, so he grabbed a broom to start sweeping up the dust and debris from his woodwork. There was more than he thought. Took him nearly a full hour just to sweep off the surfaces and floor before he started sweeping outside the garage and the walkway leading to the stairs of his front door.

When he completed his task, he put the broom away in one of the storage closets of the garage. With a sigh, he closed the closet door when a familiar voice caught his attention.

"Looks pretty good," she said.

"Huh?" Sasori looked over to find Raven, his girlfriend, standing just outside the open garage. He smiled and motioned her over to him. "You're back early," he said, drawing her close for a quick hug.

She nodded as he held her hands for a moment longer. "The assassination was called off," she said. Raven goes on assassination missions as a sniper sometimes, but those jobs are few and far between. While on those missions, she gets to try the new poisons from Sasori's lab. Usually, she works as an interrogator, working closely with Ibiki, and does the jobs where they want a woman to try, especially if children were involved since kids feel more comfortable around a young woman compared to a big scarred man. Sometime after graduation, she had left for about a year for special training on those jobs. Whenever there's times she's low on work, she still trains ninja cats at home. Sasori left the village several times during that period, searching for new information and components for his various jobs. His travels took him all over the map, but once he was with Raven again when she returned, he tended to like being home more often.

"So what's up? Come to spend some alone time with your boyfriend?" he teased, swinging their hands between them.

"Nope," she said straight-faced, but he continued to smile at her, knowing there was more. "We're going to go meet the others, Suki's got news," she added.

"Right now?"

"That's what they said, they also said that they tried calling you, but since you didn't answer, meaning you were either out or down here," she said.

"They were right," he said. "So where to?"

"The usual place," she said.

"Know what this is about?" he asked her when they left the garage and he closed it up.

"Yeah," she nodded.

"Are you going to tell me?"

"You'll see when we get there," she winked. Sasori wondered if Itachi finally proposed. Seemed a likely possibility. If that was the case, he thought he should prepare himself for a party or something that would result in a hangover.

As they reached the Akatsuki's meeting place in the back room of a nail salon, they were met with greetings from the rest.

"Alright, so now that everyone's here," Suki started from her place resting on Itachi's lap, "I can tell you all my news!"

Sasori raised an eyebrow, noticing that there was no ring on her finger and that Itachi seemed just as confused.

"I got promoted!" Suki cheered. "That means I'll have access to higher class information all the way up to Sector S," she said.

"That's great, Suki," Itachi hugged her while the others also congratulated her. Sasori chuckled, thinking how wrong he had been on what this was all about.

Pain seemed quite pleased about the news and approached Suki to shake her hand, congratulate, and personally thank her for the work she's been doing for him.

"Let's break out the drinks!" Hidan cheered. He liked any reason to celebrate and have fun. Sasori chucked to himself again, thinking about how right he was on that part of this get together.

It took Sasori a moment longer to realize that everyone was here for once. Over the past few years, everyone had been traveling, training, and working. It seemed that with everything settling down in a routine, that they were able to get together again after so much time. It was nice. Not that Sasori appreciated all of his friends' antics sometimes, but the fact that everyone was here and well was a good sign. Things were looking up, not just for them, but for the village as well.

"Things are looking up, aren't they," Raven smiled to him.

"My thoughts exactly," he chuckled. Even after three years, they seemed to be on the same wavelength. Sasori looked back up at Itachi and Suki, he was spinning her around as Deidara put on some music and Hidan and Tobi got out some champagne they had stashed there. Yeah, things were looking pretty good around here. Sasori smiled at that thought as he gently clutched the item his uncle gave him which was still in his pocket. Then he looked at Raven and pulled her closer to him so she was leaning on him. Yes, things were good right now, and he planned for it to get even better very soon.

Far away, not a single alarm sounded as security guards in a high security prison dropped like flies. One body of a guard was dragged into the darkness and a snake slithered out and along the now empty halls.

"Good work," the snake whispered. "Have you acquired what I have asked for?"

A pair a silent footsteps stepped out of the shadows and a cloaked man bowed to the snake. "Yes, and I have also gained some very… interesting information that will help us and get the upper hand on the ones that betrayed you."

"Excellent," the snake whispered. "They will pay for my sufferingsss… four yearsss, they will pay dearly for those yearsss… and for ruining my plansss," it hissed.

"Of course, my lord," the cloaked man smirked. "Everything is prepared for you, please come."

"Yesss," the snake grinned.

Author's Note

This was mostly an introduction chapter, with some teaser to prove that, yes, this story was planned out beforehand while also getting us caught up of the events of the three years between this story and it's prequel "Konoha-Suna Union High", which you don't have to read first if you don't want to since it's nearly 80,000 words. Whatever from the last story that is important for this one is mentioned in this story, though it is recommended if you are willing.

So how are they going to end up in a terrible battle from at the beginning of this chapter? Will Itachi propose soon? What is Sasori thinking about doing? Who is the cloaked man and the snake? How bad of a hangover will their party result in (kidding)?

SOMETHING TO NOTE: Tobi is just Tobi in this story… not Mandra, Obito, Sasuke from the future, or an evil spirit-thing, heck, he's not even really a villain because this story is not about him or team 7 and the demons. And it's especially not about Sasuke, so no "wah my clan was killed so I hate the world" for him. It's was about a Ninja high school, and now what happens after that high school.

I do my best to keep everyone in-character as much as I can for this AU. While writing these Akatsuki stories, I realized that we don't know much about Sasori's personality, or how Itachi used to be around his friends and comrades. I tried to work with what we were shown, and it's up to you to decide if it's acceptable and believable.