If you haven't read my story 'Quite the Contrary' then you might not get some of this, so I suggest that you go read that first before reading this. For those of you who have read the first story then please sit back and enjoy this sequel.
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.
As Much As You Think
Itachi POV
Itachi clutched his cloak tighter around himself to try and block out the biting wind. The stupidest thing happened to him and his teammate, really. The two of them were heading to Konoha to capture the kyuubi's vessel when they got caught in a snowstorm. A snowstorm, in the middle of summer. Damn that Kisame, predicting it to be warm and sunny.
Speaking of Kisame, Itachi was trying to locate him at the moment. You're probably wondering why. The reason is that they had come across a huge, slippery slope that Itachi hadn't seen because of his slowly deteriorating eyesight. Why Kisame hadn't seen it was beyond him, but back to the point. The pair of them slipped and slid down in opposite directions.
The was how Itachi came to be annoyed and cold, and when you add that to the fact that he's an S Ranked criminal, one who massacred his entire clan to boot, you don't get a very good combination.
Luckily for Itachi though, he was a very lucky person, and he discovered a small, abandoned hut not too far away.
Quickening his pace he hurried over to it and flung the door open. Closing it behind him, he turned around. The sight he saw was definitely not what he was expecting.
Team 7 POV (except for Sasuke)
As Kakashi, Sakura, and Naruto slipped down the slope, they noticed a blue blur speed down the other way. They couldn't pay too much attention to it, however, because they were soon greeted by a face full of snow. Coughing and spluttering, Sakura was the first one to rise.
She spotted Naruto's French-fry-like hair sticking up from the snow and Kakashi's silver hair, but she saw no raven hair. "Where's Sasuke-kun?" She asked when they both surfaced from the snow.
"What do you mean, Sakura-chan? Isn't he with us?" Naruto asked while brushing snow off his hair.
"No, I can't find him! Kakashi-sensei, where could he have gone? He was with us at the top of the slope," Sakura said worriedly. She turned around to stare at Kakashi for answers but he was gazing up at the slope.
"I think that blue blur that went past us was Sasuke," Kakashi said.
"Sasuke-kun is separated from us and is gonna freeze to death!" Sakura wailed.
"Don't worry, I'm sure that Sasuke-teme will be fine," Naruto reassured her, although he himself sounded unsure.
"After all, he is our Sasuke. He's strong, Sakura, a snowstorm won't be able to defeat him." Kakashi grinned at her underneath his mask.
Sakura wiped the tears from her eyes and flashed her sensei a grateful smile. "Thank you, sensei," she whispered.
He nodded to show he heard. "I'm worried about Sasuke too, but our first priority right now has to be to find shelter. Hopefully Sasuke will find somewhere to stay too, and we'll look for him when the storm quiets down."
"It looks like we're in luck, look over there!" Naruto exclaimed, pointing wildly to their left. The other two glanced in the direction that their hyperactive teammate was pointing at to see a small shack not too far away.
With newfound energy and happiness the three bounded over to the hut and burst through the door.
They had only just sat down and huddled up when someone burst through the door, someone they definitely didn't expect to meet.
Normal POV
Team 7 jumped to their feet when Itachi came through the door. Naruto and Kakashi pulled out kunai, but Sakura started crying.
"Sasuke-kun, we were so worried!" She cried out, lunging at him with arms outstretched. She looked up in surprise when Kakashi stopped her.
"Sakura, look closer. That's not Sasuke."
"What do you mean he's not Sasuke? He looks exactly like him." Sakura looked Itachi up and down, noticing the deep wrinkles and cruelness in his eyes that Sasuke never had. "Who is he then?"
"He is Uchiha Itachi, older brother of Sasuke," Kakashi answered, raising his kunai higher. "He's an S Ranked criminal and a member of the Akatsuki."
"Don't forget that he's also the guy that killed off Sasuke's clan," Naruto growled.
Sakura gasped and looked at Itachi with a mixture of fear and anger.
"Kakashi-san please put down your weapon. I have no intention of harming you or your students," Itachi said.
The silver haired jounin only raised his weapon higher. "Did you come here to kidnap Naruto?"
"I admit that it was our first intention, but I'm afraid that I was separated from my partner. It would not be wise for me to take on the three of you-" he paused on the word three and glanced at the spot next to Naruto. "-by myself.
Kakashi followed Itachi's gaze to the space beside Naruto. "Sasuke's not with us, if that's what you're wondering. He was separated from us just like your partner, Kisame, was."
At the cave with Sasuke and Kisame, Sasuke sneezed.
"Bless you," Kisame said.
Sasuke glared at him. "Screw you."
"Hey I was just trying to be polite-" Kisame started before he sneezed.
"Bless you too," Sasuke said sarcastically. "Someone must be talking about us."
Back to Itachi and the rest of Team 7.
"Please Kakashi-san, no good result will come out of us fighting," Itachi reasoned.
Kakashi hated himself for it, but he agreed with the Uchiha. He reluctantly sat down and his students followed suit, but none of them put down their weapons.
Itachi also sat down but made sure to stay as far away from the three as possible, which wasn't that far seeing as the hut was tiny. All four of them were uncomfortable with being so close to the enemy, but they forced themselves to deal with it.
Over in the corner Naruto had given Sakura his jacket and the two were huddled together to stay warm. While Kakashi's eyes were glued to Itachi they whispered to each other.
"So he's the person that Sasuke hates and wants to kill," Sakura whispered, her eyes boring holes into Itachi's head.
"Yeah, and he's an evil bastard. It infuriated me when he beat the crap out of Sasuke at the hotel. I mean, who could do that to their own sibling?" Naruto whispered back while glaring daggers at the Uchiha.
"I know! Killing his entire family and leaving Sasuke all alone, he must be really cold hearted," she muttered a little too loudly.
Itachi apparently heard because he turned his head towards them and his glowing red eyes stared her down. She flinched and looked away.
Naruto glared at him hatefully. "What, you gonna beat the hell out of her just like you did with Sasuke?"
That hit a nerve. Itachi's left hand twitched visibly, but he said nothing.
Sakura gathered up her courage and asked the question that every ninja probably wondered at some point. "So why did you kill off the Uchihas, Itachi?"
Kakashi and Naruto looked at the female member of their team in surprise. They didn't think she would be brave enough to ask him a question like that.
They were even more surprised when Itachi actually answered.
"To test my capacity," he said simply.
"Bullshit," Naruto spat. "Is that what you told Sasuke? No wonder he hates you then, you're a freakin' liar."
"…." Itachi didn't reply and the other two were speechless. Didn't Naruto know that he was signing his own death warrant?
"That can't be the truth, because then you would've killed off all the Uchihas. You wouldn't have left Sasuke to live all alone," Naruto said, his words laced with venom.
"He was weak, I didn't bother killing a worthless Uchiha-" He didn't get to say much more because he soon found himself held against the wall by his throat, staring into evil red eyes.
"Don't you ever call Sasuke weak in front of me! You don't know the first thing about him! You've been absent in his life for five years, so you can't say one damn thing!
"He gave up everything to get stronger and get revenge for his clan. He secludes himself and is in his own personal hell! He doesn't care about himself at all, not his own life or happiness, as long as he can kill you! Don't you see what you've done to him?
"I guess you don't care though, seeing as you enjoy watching him suffer so much." Naruto only managed to get that much out before the tables were turned on him and his back was slammed against the hard wall.
Blood red sharingan glared into the glowing red eyes of the kyuubi. "Don't you ever accuse me of liking to put my brother in pain for fun, ever," Itachi spat.
Kakashi and Sakura jumped to their feet to assist Naruto. However, there was no need because Itachi released Naruto and calmly walked back to his original spot as Naruto thudded to the ground.
"Wha…what the hell was that for?" Naruto asked angrily, holding his throat. His eyes had turned back to their normal sky blue color and Sakura was helping him to his feet. "I thought you hated Sasuke, so why are you so offended when I accuse you of enjoying his pain?"
Itachi shot him a glare and Naruto shivered. "I never said that I hated him. It's him who hates me."
Naruto snorted. "So you're saying you care about him? That's kind of hard to believe."
"Yeah Itachi, you don't exactly radiate brotherly love with all that you've put him through," Kakashi said coldly.
Itachi didn't reply to either of them but instead turned his head away and stared off into the distance.
Kakashi observed him thoughtfully. Itachi is acting very strange…
"Naruto, I'm worried about Sasuke-kun," Sakura murmured while scooting closer to her blonde teammate.
"Don't worry, Sakura-chan. Like I said, Sasuke's strong," Naruto said reassuringly, shooting a glare at Itachi. "I'm sure he's fine."
Sakura smiled at Naruto and nodded, but there were still some hints of worry in her eyes.
Kakashi's eyes fixed on Itachi once again. He saw the Uchiha's eyes flit over to his two pupils at the mention of his little brother's name, and the jounin was very confused. Itachi actually seemed to be worried about Sasuke, and that was very out of character for the older Uchiha.
Kakashi pondered Itachi's actions the rest of the time they were in the cave. He was so caught up in his thoughts that he nearly missed Itachi's quiet announcement.
"The snowstorm has settled down," the Uchiha whispered, gazing out the small window on the front of the hut. The other three followed his gaze to see that there was considerably less snow blowing through the air.
Itachi rose gracefully and took and step towards the door.
"Wait, where are you going?" Sakura asked.
"To find my partner," he said simply without turning around.
"Itachi, wait!"
Itachi stopped at Kakashi's voice but still didn't turn around.
"You may not think that Sasuke is stronger than you, but there are two different kinds of strength. Strength of body and strength of heart. I'm sure you can figure out which belongs to who."
Itachi said nothing and continued his walk to the door. Opening it and stepping outside, he was lost in a flurry of glistening snowflakes.
The three remaining ninjas watched the spot where he disappeared. Kakashi sighed and pushed himself to his feet. "Well I guess we should go look for Sasuke now," he said while helping his students to their feet.
The two genin nodded and followed their sensei out into the cold, frosty storm.
Itachi POV
Itachi trudged through the snow, glad that the wind wasn't as stingy as it was before.
"Itachi-san!" A cheerful voice called to him. Said man slowly turned around to face his blue skinned partner. "Did you find shelter?"
Itachi nodded. "I ended up in the same hut as Kakashi-san, the kyuubi vessel, and that girl." And what an interesting meeting it was…
His partner stared at him and said nothing. He seemed to be waiting for the Uchiha to say something more, but when Itachi didn't respond he gave up. "So, did you guys get along or was there a conflict?"
"Eventually we tolerated each other, but in the beginning there were a few problems," Itachi replied. He noticed Kisame grin and he wondered what happened with him. "I expect that you found sufficient shelter too?"
"Yeah, and guess who I met up with?" Itachi nodded for him to go on, but he was only vaguely paying attention. "Your little brother, Sasuke-kun." This caught Itachi's attention, and his hand twitched ever so slightly. He saw Kisame's eyes travel towards it and he realized that he must have noticed it. Damn.
Speaking of Kisame, where's his cloak?
"Kisame, where's your Akatsuki cloak?" He voiced his question.
Kisame seemed to ponder his reply for a few moments. "I left it back at the cave with Sasuke-kun."
"Why?" Itachi asked, confused.
"Because he would freeze if I didn't, of course!" Kisame replied cheerfully. Itachi felt a pang in his chest. Was it anger…no, regret? Why was Kisame acting like the older brother?
"Do you really think your little brother is weak, Itachi-san?"
The Uchiha's attention was pulled back to Kisame. "Yes, why?" He answered automatically.
"No reason," Kisame said, but Itachi could tell he was lying. Itachi, however, couldn't say anything because he had lied too.
Kakashi-san, I now see the answer to your question. I thought you meant that I had strength of body and Sasuke had strength of heart. However, you meant that Sasuke had both, which in your mind makes him stronger than me. Well Kakashi-san, I have to say that you may be right.
Kakashi POV
Kakashi was getting worried. They had tried to wake Sasuke up in every way possible, but the raven haired boy still didn't move.
Sakura was weeping and calling out his name while gently shaking his shoulder.
Kakashi sighed and turned away, not wanting to see the depressing scene. However, something out of the corner of his eyes caused him to turn back around.
He saw a flash of obsidian as Sasuke opened his eyes, blinked, and then opened them again. Sakura cried out his name in joy and embraced him. Kakashi sighed in relief. Sasuke's okay, that's great.
"What's the matter, Sakura?" Sasuke asked sleepily.
"We were afraid that you had died! We didn't know what happened to you!" Naruto answered, trying to hold back the tears in his eyes as he too embraced his friend.
"What, did you guys think that I wouldn't be able to find shelter?" Sasuke asked.
Kakashi placed a hand on his shoulder. "Sasuke, look down," he said softly.
The Uchiha glanced down and his sensei watched his eyes widen in realization.
"When we saw the cloak and when it took you awhile to wake up we expected the worse," Naruto whispered as he let go of Sasuke and composed himself.
"Yeah, so what did happen anyways? Why do you have that cloak and which Akatsuki member does it belong to?" Kakashi asked, although he already knew the answer.
Sasuke opened his mouth then clamped it shut. When he did answer, he spoke slowly. "Well, it's kind of hard to explain…"
Seeing as he wasn't going to get any more answers out of the boy, Kakashi sighed.
"So, what happened with you guys?"
Kakashi observed his student thoughtfully. I wonder how he'll react when I tell him…
"We met up with Itachi at a hut we used for shelter," Kakashi replied, preparing to stop Sasuke if he tried to blow up the cave.
Much to his surprise, Sasuke took it quite well. The boy's eyes flared with hatred and anger and his murderous intent rose drastically, but he simply took a deep breath and was back to normal. There were still some hints of hatred in his eyes bit he tried to mask it.
He's doing better at controlling his anger, Kakashi noted with pride as he watched Sakura help Sasuke out of the cloak and to his feet. He thought back to Itachi's actions.
Sasuke is convinced that his brother hates him. He doesn't really have a reason to think any differently, with all Itachi has put him through, but…Kakashi glanced at the younger Uchiha. I don't think that Itachi hates you as much as you think, Sasuke.
Special Thanks to Sasukefanatic14
I wanted to thank Sasukefanatic14 for giving me the idea to make a sequel to 'Quite the Contrary' showing what happened with Itachi, Kakashi, Sakura, and Naruto. I apologize if Itachi was a little OOC. I hope you liked it.