Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.
Warning: Spoilers from chapter 403-429!
A/N: Hi guys! It's me (of course) RPG_Fan04 xD This was a request for a friend of mine's birthday! She requested for a ItaNaru one-shot. And like the warning above, it's a BIG, BIG, HUUUUUGE spoiler in chapters 403-429. This story, in a way, is close to me because it took me so long to figure out the plot until I read those chapters and saw the Crow x Naruto fanclub ha ha.
Almost half of the chapter, I DID take the dialog of the translated chapters. So a lot of the credit from this story is to the translation group:
Sleepyfan
Hitsugaara
FrankyHouse_Folen
I doubt that they would read this fic, but I do have to give them lots of credit. Also, BIG thanks to my beta astarte lea! So without further ado, I hope you enjoy "Crow"! Also, happy birthday to my friend!
"I won't bend my words."
"That's what being a ninja means to me."
Even though he was in his illusion, the look in Naruto's eyes was fierce and determined. Itachi knew that he wasn't bluffing and that he wouldn't back down despite the the fact that it seemed impossible. It made the Akatsuki member smile. 'Determined as ever.' Itachi thought. Naruto saw the smile and before he could show an expression...
"Mmph!"
A crow launched and was shoved into his mouth.
'What the hell?!'Naruto thought. Suddenly, a voice whispered in his mind.
"I've given you some of my power."
"I hope...The day never comes when you have to use it."
'...Huh?' What was he talking about? He was an Akatsuki! And more or less, assigned to capture him because of Kyuubi. The unexpected action did make him fall to his knees. With his left hand supporting him as he crouched, he looked at Itachi in confusion.
"Wh...what do you mean?" Naruto said in hesitation.
"You're after me, aren't you?! Then why not take me now?!" Naruto shouted at Itachi as his left curled around the grass into a tight fist.
Itachi simply brushed the statement off.
"I'm going now..."
"I have something more important to do."
In a second, Itachi vanished along with the darkness and crows.
Naruto laid on his bed, thinking about that scene over again. It was before that he was told that Itachi was dead, killed by Sasuke. He had to admit, it scared and (to some extent) annoyed him that Sasuke was powerful enough to kill his older brother. 'He's drifting farther away from me isn't he?' Naruto thought with a frown.
"If that is so then you have to quicken your pace."
What? What was that? He looked around the room in search for the voice. No one was here except him. But that voice...he couldn't describe it, it sounded too disoriented. Naruto shook his head as if trying to wake himself up. Despite the fact that it shocked the hell out of him, he had to admit that him, her, it, whatever was right. 'So what if he could beat Itachi? It just means that I have to work harder than before!' Naruto thought and he sat up. With a determined smile he quickly grabbed his orange jacket and was ready to race out of his apartment.
'I'll bring Sasuke back!'
He only took two steps before he heard someone knocking behind him. He turned and saw Kakashi outside his window.
"Kakashi-sensei...?" Naruto asked.
"The 5th wants to see you. Let's go." Kakashi said.
There was something strange in his voice. It was hard and strict. Naruto began to feel that something bad had happened once he saw Boss Gama and Gamakichi in front of the Hokage tower.
Jiraiya is dead.
Those words hit him like a tsunami. Jiraiya is dead. .Dead. His neck was crushed by Pein, the Akatsuki leader. Naruto had every damn right to be angry at everyone, especially Tsunade. Because she had let his old, peeping tom, senile, perverted...
Grandfather.
She had sent out the only person that Naruto thought of as his grandfather. And now Naruto's the one that's walking down the streets with all his memories of the Sannin. But he knew he couldn't really blame the Old Hag for it. He knew that Tsunade probably tried to stop him from going. Naruto knew that it wasn't anyone's fault.
But it didn't make him feel any better.
The blond nearly cracked a smile when he remembered the first time they met. And then remembering all the things they did for the past two years...
Damn it!
Naruto pressed his lips into a thin line and glared at the concrete in front of him as he walked. He didn't even realize that he declined Iruka's treat for a bowl of ramen or that he went inside his apartment. Out of habit he made a cup of ramen but didn't touch it even though it's been minutes.
Again, he was still thinking about the past.
"That's enough."
...What? Apparently the "voice" came back.
"It's not the time to continue rethinking of pasts that cannot be changed."
"What the hell? You don't have a right to say that to me." Naruto whispered.
"My teacher was killed!"
"People die. It's natural and depressing, but we move on. We have to."
"You have to move on as well. You can't stay depressed forever."
Naruto gritted his teeth.
"Fuck. You." Naruto said as he quickly stood up and stormed out of his apartment.
'What the hell kind of voice is this?!' Naruto thought angrily. He slowed his pace once he reached the stairs. Despite the fact that it was useless to run out of his apartment when the voice is a part of his mind, he felt better. Barely. The blond then noticed a sign hung high up in front of him.
Shop
24 Hours
Without thinking, he went inside and bought a popsicle. He then went to sit on a bench and stared at the popsicle. Naruto didn't know when but his eyes turned blurry and tears fell on the ground. He didn't know how long he cried but when it stopped his eyes felt puffy and itchy.
He heard footsteps and turned to see Iruka greeting him with a smile. The teacher sat down next to him.
"I heard about Jiraiya." He said softly.
Naruto couldn't help but blurt out his feeling to him.
"I wanted him to always watch me. I wanted him to see me become Hokage..."
Naruto paused to smile sadly.
"All he saw was me being uncool. And..." Naruto trailed off as his smile became a frown.
"Jiraiya always praised you."
...Huh?
"He always spoke of you proudly , as if you were his own grandson." Iruka said as he turned his face towards Naruto with a smile.
"He was always watching you...even now. He wouldn't praise you just to cheer you up when your sad." Iruka explained.
"So..." Iruka stood up.
"Just be the same person as you are now. You can't stay depressed forever!"
'What?' Naruto thought as he looked up in surprise at the last sentence. Iruka took the popsicle from his hand and broke it in half.
"You're the awesome apprentice of one of the sannins." Iruka said with a smile.
Naruto stared at him for a second and smiled. He took one of the two popsicles.
"Thanks...Iruka."
'And I guess...thanks to you to.' Naruto thought, wondering if it could hear him. Although the voice was a bastard for telling him at that kind of way, it was still right.
After the talk with Iruka, Naruto did feel better. The voice in his mind hasn't talked to him yet despite his thanks to it. But not even Iruka's encouraging words made his depression stop. It wasn't a day later until Shikamaru came to his apartment asking for his help in cracking the code Jiraiya left. That thing never crossed his mind in the past two days...
Nor did he feel that he could care.
"Oh, sorry! So, what were you saying?" Naruto asked as after Shikamaru asked him what he thought of the picture of the code.
Shikamaru sighed.
"Come with me." He said as he stood up.
He took him to the entrance of the Konoha Hospital to see Kurenai...and her pregnancy. At first Naruto thought that she ate too much yakiniku(1) and had to go to the hospital. And he said it out loud too. After that Naruto suddenly felt a small pain on his forehead, as if someone flicked something at him. The only problem was that no one was in front of him closer than seven feet and Shikamaru was behind him.
"It's a baby, not yakinku. So troublesome." Shikamaru said as he and Kurenai sweat-dropped.
"Eh?!"
It was after he said that that he realized that Shikamaru came to visit Kurenai everyday because he promised Asuma. It took him a few seconds before he realized that Kurenai was carrying Asuma's child.
"That kid will be my apprentice." Shikamaru said with a smile as they watch Kurenai walked away.
Naruto looked at him in surprise.
"Asuma entrusted me with it." Shikamaru continued as he looked at Naruto.
He, along with everyone Naruto knew, heard about Jiriaya's death. He said that he knew what he was going through since he lost his teacher, Asuma, as well.
"You'll never get anywhere if you keep dicking around." Shikamaru said exasperated
Naruto frowned, more annoyed at the comment than angry. As they continued walking Shikamaru then explained that he couldn't dick around anymore either. Asuma entrusted him with many things and that Jiraiya did the same thing to Naruto too. Shikamaru walked ahead of Naruto.
"Don't you think it's time for us...To be the ones that entrust, not the entrusted." He said as he turned his head to Naruto.
"Someday you'll be one to treat others to ramen and be called 'Naruto-sensei'."
Naruto mentally grinned at that thought.
"We can't stay kids forever."
'"We have to move on."' Naruto immediately thought. 'Again...the voice was right.' But you know what? He didn't feel annoyed at that. Instead he smiled. It was same smile that he gave to Itachi, a determined one. He's still depressed about Jiriaya but he felt that he'll be able to move on.
Since there's so many important things to do, you know?
With Naruto back to his old self, they continued to work on cracking the code. With Naruto's help, they figured out that the code was related to the novels Jiraiya had wrote. Luckily Kakashi overheard their discovery and the book they need. "Icha Icha Tactics". They started with using the numbers as pages. Starting with page 31 Shiho told Kakashi to read out the first sentence on the page.
"Er...Um..."
Unfortunately the first sentence was a love confession.
"What's the matter? Just hurry up and read it!" Naruto said oblivious to Kakashi's nervousness.
"Uh...Okay..." Kakashi began to sweat even more.
"D-Do you love m-me?" Kakashi continued as he began to stutter like Hinata.
"Wh-WHAT?!" Naruto shouted blushing since Kakashi was actually facing him when he read it.
"Ow!"
Suddenly a massive headache hit him. "Wh-what was that?' Naruto thought.
"The sentence wasn't meant for you, Naruto-kun."
It was the voice talking to him again. But this time it sounded angry and Naruto was confused about that.
"Naruto are you alright?" Shiho asked while Kakashi looked like he was about to faint.
"Y-Yeah."
"Let's continue." Shikamaru said as he sweat-dropped.
And they started with the next sentence. Same thing happened: Kakashi was sweating as he spoke the sentence, Naruto blushed, Naruto had a headache, and everyone (besides Shiho who was too busy writing) was uncomfortable.
This repeated until the last sentence was finished.
Kakashi looked exhausted and was still sweating. Shikamaru was sweating as well. But poor Naruto was the one who suffered most with lingering headaches. 'Why meee?' Naruto thought wearily. 'Is this what I get for knowing the perverted meanings of who sentences? Ugh, now I know that I hung around Ero-sannin for way too long...'
"Okay! This is all six pages." Shiho exclaimed just as she finished writing the last character.
"What does is say?" Naruto asked, temporarily forgetting his headaches as he turned towards Shino.
"Reading the first characters of each sentence..." Shiho tailed off.
"I get "The Real One Isn't There.""
...Huh?
"What does that mean?" Naruto asked as he cocked his head and squinted his eyes.
"Either way, we're going to have to report this to Fukasaku." Kakashi said.
"Besides he might know since he also fought Pein."
"Alright. Let's go talk to the 5th." Shikamaru said.
"Can I come with you?" Shiho asked shyly as she turned to face Shikamaru.
"Sure." Shikamaru replied.
Shiho blushed and smiled.
"Okay, let's go!" Naruto said.
A few minutes later they arrived at the Hokage tower. They went into Tsunade's office and saw that Fukasaku was already there sitting on top of her desk. Sakura and Gamakichi were standing at the sides of the desks.
"We've finished decoding the message." Shikamaru said as he gave the message to Tsunade.
"Hm...." Tsunade said as she read the message over and over again until she gave it to Fukasaku.
""The Real One Isn't There" eh?" Fukasaku spoke out loud.
"Do you know what it means Gramps?" Naruto asked as he walked up to the desk and looked at him.
For a few seconds Fukasaku stood still and was silent. It looked like he was remembering something. But then he held out the message to Naruto.
"I don't know. This is too vague." He replied.
"Well, do you have any ideas?" Shikamaru asked as he creased his eyebrows and frowned.
"I've told you everything about Pein. It seems that he can revive himself is he dies, but that's only a guess." Fukasaku explained.
"It's too dangerous to fight him now. So we have to solve the mystery first."
"Then what about the autopsy from one of Peins bodies and the interrogation?" Kakashi said.
"They're not done yet, it'll have to take longer." Sakura replied.
"How much longer?" Naruto asked as he looked at Sakura.
"It's impossible to say." Sakura said as she shrugged and waved her hand in a careless manner.
"What's that suppose to mean?! We don't have time to sit around and wait!" Naruto said loudly in annoyance.
"I don't know about the interrogation, but the autopsy involves carefully analyzing cells and tissue!" Sakura shouted back in annoyance as well.
"It takes a long time!"
"It'll be a week at the earliest." Tsunade said as she summed up Sakura's sentence.
"That long?" Naruto said as he hung his head down.
'Dammit, that's way too long.' Naruto thought as he frowned, ignoring Shiho's comfort words. 'I can't just stand here and wait!'
"...Be patient Naruto-kun."
Oddly Naruto felt comfort in those words. 'Thanks, er, subconscious mind thing.' Naruto thought awkwardly. 'But...'
"But we've no choice but to wait." Tsunade said.
'I just can't wait! Not now.'
"I'm going to tell them to hurry up!" Naruto declared as he headed towards the door, ignoring the small headache.
"Naruto! I won't let you get in the way of Shizune's work!" Sakura said.
'So Shizune's the one in charge of the autopsy.' Naruto thought despite the fact that they already said so during Naruto's conversation with the voice in his head.
"...I'm going to avenge Ero-sannin!" Naruto said as he stared at the entrance door.
His small headache became a full blown one, but he ignored it. He's not going to be bothered by this headache especially when he already made up his mind.
"I can't just sit around here and wait!" Naruto continued as he turned his head slightly towards them.
Fukasaku was silent, but there was a smirk of amusement on his face.
"Naruto. Once the message was decoded, it has nothing to do with you anymore." Fukasaku said plainly
"What?" Naruto said in surprise as he turned fully to look at him.
"So, come with me." Fukasaku said.
Eh?
"I'll train you the sage arts in Myobokuzan." The frog said.
"Well, if you want to be trained the way little Jiraiya was."
Naruto stood still for a moment and thought about it.
"...Will I be able to beat Pein then?" Naruto finally said as he furrowed his eyebrows.
"I don't know, but you never will with the way you are now." Fukasaku replied.
"Will it be alright Tsunade?" He continued as he turned towards Tsunade.
"Of course." Tsunade said with a small smile.
"Alright. The Sage Arts training will be harder than anything you can imagine!" Fukasaku explained.
"Do you still want to do it?"
"Ero-sannin made it through the training right?" Naruto said with a smirk, his headache slowly fading.
"So there's no way I can let him beat me!"
Fukasaku smirked.
"That's the spirit!"
After saying their goodbyes to Sakura, Tsunade, and Shikamaru they teleported to Myobokuzan. It only took a few seconds before they arrived in an area that was surrounded by mushrooms, large leaves, and many frogs.
"Eh?" Naruto said out loud in surprise.
A second later Fukasaku appeared next to him.
"Naruto."
Naruto turned to the direction of the voice and saw Gamakichi.
"I summoned you." The frog said.
"Ohhh! So that's what happened." Naruto said with his trademark fox grin.
"But first let's get something to eat." Fukasaku said.
The two frogs led him to a house where another frog wearing an apron was waiting for them.
"Come on in! I've got the food ready." The frog said cheerfully as they went into what looked like the kitchen.
Naruto was starving and couldn't wait to eat...until he actually saw the food. 'What the hell?!' Were the words that popped into his mind. Octopus legs and whole frogs dipped into a yellow soup. Also worms glazed with a sauce that he never wants to find out what it's made out of. In disappointment (and that the fact that it was hot inside) he had drops of sweat falling on his face and he sighed.
"Eat up! I've pulled out everything!" The Cook said with joy in his culinary dishes.
"Uh..." Naruto said as he couldn't decided whether to eat or to not eat.
The wanting to not eat urge was winning.
"Eat."
It was his subconscious again. 'B-but the food....' Naruto trailed off as he jumped back when on of the frog's right leg twitched. The blond began to sweat more as he thought about his decision.
"You have to regain your strength by eating Naruto-kun." The voice said calmly.
"...."
Unfortunately the voice was right. Plus if he doesn't eat it, it might offend the cook and the cook might do something....bad to him. Slowly Naruto grabbed a chair and started his gourmet. With a spoon he took a sip of the soup. Naruto pressed his lips at the bitter taste.
"I-It's good." Naruto lied as he looked down at his soup.
The Cook clapped his hands in happiness as Naruto continued eating. It was a few minutes before he finished eating and walked to the training ground that he had a stomach ache.
"Oooh...." Naruto groaned as he kneeled on the ground and clutched his stomach.
"No time to kneel, we have training to do." Fukasaku said.
'....You owe me voice person.' Naruto thought as he stomach rumbled in agony again. But thanks to the Kyuubi's healing powers he was slightly better in a few seconds. Fukasaku began to explain the differences between the sage and ninja techniques. Of course Naruto didn't understand it until Gamakichi compared it to ice cream. Fukasaku sweat-dropped at the reference. It was after all the other explanations about natural energy that he saw the real thing.
"Woah! How'd you do that?" Naruto said in surprise as he stared when Fukasaku lifted a huge boulder in front of him.
"It's the nature energy combined with the sage techniques." Fukasaku said, panting as he continued to hold the boulder.
"But, I couldn't see how you did it." Naruto said.
"That's because you can't see the nature energy yet." Fukasaku said, panting and sweating more and more.
"Then how?" Naruto asked as he stood up straight.
"Become one with nature!" Fukasaku replied.
"...How?"
Gamakichi turned his head towards Naruto and with a blank expression he said:
"You have to die."
His headache came back.
It turns out Naruto actually didn't have to die, it was just one of one of Gamagichi's dumb examples. He actually just had to stay still....for a long time. Sure it was easy even for the blond but the thing is was that he had to not move and train at the same time.
So they started on level one: using frog oil.
It worked, for a few seconds.
"Aaaaaahhhh!"
Well until Naruto turned into a half frog. Fukasaku had to smack him on the head in order for him to get back to normal. Actually that's when they really started the training. And after appearances of the 'half frog' and bumps....
"Yes!"
He controlled it. Naruto dropped his stand, crossed his arms, and grinned in triumphant. In the corner of his eyes he saw Fukasaku smirking proudly and Gamagichi blinking in surprise, but was smiling.
"Good. Then your ready to use it." Fukasaku said as he crossed his arms.
"Alright!" Naruto said grinning.
Fukasaku walked past Naruto and stood behind a huge boulder.
"Lift up the boulder behind me using frog oil." He instructed.
Naruto blinked and looked up at the boulder. It was about ten feet tall and very big enough of crush him if he moved it the wrong way. The blond gulped but shook his head to get the fear out. He took barely a pinch of frog oil and rubbed it his right arm. He felt the energy draw into him, forming into him...And he opened his eyes. His eyes were yellow with slit pupils and his eyelids were red. He looked nothing like a frog and instead looked like a fox. Naruto walked towards the boulder and slowly lifted it up....
The boulder began to move higher by his arms until it didn't touch the ground.
"I did it!" Naruto shouted.
As soon as he said that he let go of the boulder and it slammed to ground in a big thud.
"W-What happened?"
Naruto's eyes widen in shock as he stood before the gates of the ruined Konoha. The bag he clutched on his right shoulder fell with a thud as he looked at the debris and destroyed buildings from afar. The dark clouds that are covering the clear blue skies only made the village look more haunting. A second later he sprinted through the gates.
"Wait Naruto!" Fukasaku called out.
Naruto ignored him and continued to rush pass destroyed buildings. There were times where he turned his head to see if there were any injured people. He then saw people, both ninjas and civilians, picking up the remains of the buildings. When they saw him rushing past them, he could feel the heated glares behind his back. He already knew what they were thinking:
"He caused this!"
"It's always him! If it weren't for him, the dead would still be alive!"
"Damn him, that demon!"
Naruto clenched his teeth as he continued sprinting towards the Hokage tower. Once he arrived in front of the tower he quickly looked around for Tsunade and the others. The tower was just as damaged as the others. White stones that were used to form the glorious tower were now lying on the ground in rubbles. While he looked around he slowly began thinking. 'I knew that Pein attacked Konoha, but I didn't know it was this bad!' Naruto thought as he stopped searching and twisted his face like he was in pain. 'If I was here sooner-'
"Now is not the time to think of that." The voice in his head said sternly.
Naruto snapped out of his thoughts and nodded to himself.
"Naruto!" A voice called from behind him.
Naruto quickly turned around and saw Kiba and Akamaru running towards him.
"What happened?" Naruto asked quickly once they stopped in front of him.
"Pein and his clones ambushed us." Kiba said with a frown.
"Where's the Old Hag and Sakura?"
"They're at the hospital taking care of the wounded. Let's go."
Both ran off to the direction of the hospital. As they got closer Naruto saw the hospital, or what was left of it. The hospital was gone, its wall and doors were completely blown away. All that was left was the concrete that was attached to the floor. A big green tent covered the half of the hospital and Naruto looked at it when they got closer. He could make out Tsunade, Shizune, and Sakura surrounded by hundreds of the wounded and the dead.
"Sakura! Old Hag!" Naruto yelled out.
"Naruto!" Tsunade said as she turned her head towards him.
As Kiba and Naruto arrived in front of the tent, Naruto looked at Tsunade and Sakura.
"Are you guys alright?" Naruto asked as he began looking at the bodies around him.
"Yes, but we're in a bad situation." Tsunade said as she began bandaging an arm wound.
Naruto gritted his teeth as he smelled the large amount of blood and heard the moan of pain. 'How...how can he do this?!' Naruto thought as he clenched his hand into a fist. 'How can he just kill bystanders that were harmless!' His eyes moved to look at Sakura. Her head was down and her hair was covering her eyes as she continued treating the wounded.
"...Sakura-chan." Naruto called out quietly.
In a second she stood up and walked over to him.
"Wha-"
She raised her right hand and slapped him. His head turned at the impact more from surprise than pain. Naruto looked at Sakura in shock and with his mouth slightly open. Everything went silent as he saw Sakura breathing heavily and with tears in her eyes.
"Why...." She whispered.
"Why didn't you come sooner?"
"Sakura-cha-"
"WHY couldn't you come here sooner!" She shouted as she raised her head up higher, tears streaming down her face.
"If you came here sooner, hundreds wouldn't have died! Kakashi-sensei and my parents wouldn't have-"
"Sakura! That's enough!" Tsunade shouted at the now weeping girl.
'What?' Naruto thought as he looked at Sakura. 'Kakashi-sensei, he didn't...' Naruto lowered his head and shut his eyes tightly. 'No, he couldn't!'
"We will talk about this later, but right now we need to treat these people." Tsunade said with an authority tone.
"Shizune! Bring me that gauze."
"Uh, okay!" Shizune said as she walked over to them.
'Kakashi-sensei couldn't have died, right?' Naruto looked at Tsunade, searching and hoping that he was right. Tsunade looked up for a moment before looking back at her patient. But that was enough time for him to know....what Sakura saying was true. Still Naruto shook his head in denial. He took a step back, he wanted to run away from this.
"Naruto."
He wasn't even listening to the voice in his head as he continued to shut his eyes.
"Na-"
"Naruto!" Tsunade shouted as Naruto sprinted out of the tent.
The blond sprinted through the streets of the destroyed Konoha. He faintly heard voices of the people he pass by. The voices were filled with sadness, disbelief, and anger...at him. Naruto sprinted harder. He didn't know where he was going, but he knew that he just had to get out. He had get away from everyone.
Without knowing he stopped. Blinking, he looked around in confusion. When he looked up he saw the reason why. In front of him, over looking the village, was the Hokage mountain. The mountain was still intact and not destroyed. The dark clouds surrounded the mountain as if it was making it look evil, but at the same time Naruto felt that it was trying to protecting the village from any other harm. Without thinking, he rushed to towards the mountain.
In a few minutes he was sitting on top of the 4th Hokage's head cross-legged, looking at the village from afar. Naruto let his mind wander around as he tried figure things out. But every time he thought of something, it would always lead back to Sakura's words. 'Kakashi-sensei is dead.' Naruto thought and his heart would be stabbed with pain. The blond broke his gaze from the village and and looked down at his hands.
"If I had finished my training faster. If I had trained harder...then nothing like this would've happened, right?"
"No, Pein would've captured you and still destroyed the village." The voice said.
"If that's true, why the hell am I feeling so regretful?!"
"Everyone that tried to protect the village died because of me! Even Kakashi-sensei...." Naruto whispered.
He's becoming crazy. First he was talking to himself and now he's still talking to himself but out loud. The voice didn't reply and the blond let out a bitter chuckle. He wrapped his arms around him and continued to look at the ground. A sense of déjà vu overcame him and he clutched to himself tighter.
"Naruto, use your kage bushin."
"Huh?" Naruto snapped his head up and blinked.
"Create a replica of yourself."
"Why?"
"You will see."
Naruto hesitated for a few seconds but slowly unwrapped his arms around himself. He raised his hands together.
"Kage bushin!"
A sound of "poof" smoke appeared at his right. Naruto quickly stood up and took a few steps back. He bent his knees slightly in a defense position and his right hand lightly touched the pocket on his right leg strap that his kunai was at. He's going to keep his guard on for any attack even if it's his own clone. He waited for the smoke to disappear.
"I'm not here to fight." A deep, male voice said through the smoke a few seconds later.
Naruto nearly stood up in surprise of the voice. 'That voice...it can't be!' Naruto thought as his eyes widen in shock and fear. The smoke began to fade and a man appeared before him.
Itachi.
He let his guard down in surprise. A second later, Naruto quickly took out his kunai and took a step back. He tensed and raised the kunai in front of himself in a defensive position. Itachi still looked the same even after his 'death'. He still had his long black hair in a ponytail and his Akatsuki cloak on. The only difference was his eyes. He didn't activate his sharingan so now his eyes looked like any other Uchiha member's, black.
"How can you still be alive?" Naruto asked as his grip on the kunai tightened.
"Sasuke killed you!"
"He did." Itachi said as he continued to stare at Naruto with emotionless eyes.
The Uchiha slowly raised his right hand up and Naruto braced himself for any attacks. Instead, Itachi simply pointed at him. Naruto looked at him in confusion and cautiously released his left hand from his kunai. He touched his mouth, guessing that that's what Itachi was pointing at. Everything flashed back to him.
"The crow!" Naruto said out loud as he slapped his hand over his mouth in a comical way.
A twitch from the corner of Itachi's mouth appeared, but Naruto was too busy being shocked to notice.
"The power I gave you, is also part of me. I used the power to create a subconscious inside of you." Itachi explained as he lowered his hand.
"So you were that voice man that was talking to me!" Naruto said, pointing at Itachi with his left hand.
Itachi didn't say anything, but his eyes showed that he was right. 'So, Itachi was the one that...encouraged me?' Naruto thought as he unconsciously slumped his shoulders. He immediately tensed back again. 'No, this can't be Itachi!' He thought, shaking his head in denial. 'But if what he said is true then a lot makes sense.'
"Argh! This is so confusing." Naruto shouted as he let down his guard and clutched the sides of his head.
"...." Itachi stood silent as he continued to stare at Naruto with an expressionless face, but his eyes showed amusement.
A large thudding noise sounded and both turned their heads towards the sound. Below them was a cart that was covered with a large cloth and it seemed like it was the source of the sound. A mule was carrying the cart, but one the ropes attaching between them fell apart. The cart fell forward and an arm appeared before from under the cloth.
Naruto heard from the side of women and children now crying loudly once they saw the arm. He twisted his face in pain as he saw people rushing towards the cart with grave and stricken faces. Itachi's eyes turned to see Naruto's right hand clutching tightly in his hand, but he knew that it wasn't in caution. A few seconds later Naruto turned his head away from the scene. There was a minute of silence before Naruto finally spoke.
"For my whole life I've been trying to become better, stronger to protect this village and my precious people." Naruto said quietly.
"I wanted this village to accept me. I wanted to gain their respect and not see me as a demon. When I came back from my training with Ero-sanin a month ago, I walked down the streets and saw that the villagers were looking at me. They weren't looking at me like I was a demon, but as a normal person. During my stay here, I felt like I finally gained their respect. Even when we still had to get Sasuke back or worry about the Akatsuki, I felt so happy." Naruto continued, his vision was blurring.
"And now, all of that is gone in a day. Now everything is restarting except worse than ever. Everyone sees me again as the demon who could've stopped this, even Sakura..."
A tear trailed down his whiskered cheek. Then another. Tears trickled down his face as he lowered his head to cover his face and bit his lips to silence his sobbing. Itachi stayed still as he silently listened to his words. Without a word the Uchiha silently walked towards Naruto. The blond didn't move because right now, he didn't care if Itachi killed him or not. He didn't even flinch or turn as he grasped his shoulder.
With a swift move Itachi turned Naruto towards him and pulled him into a hug with his left hand.
Naruto's red eyes widen in shock and he almost lost his grip on his kunai. Itachi placed his left hand on the back of his head in a comforting way and his right arm continued to stay comfortable in his cloak. Naruto had his forehead on the Itachi's upper chest, right below his chin. 'Wha-?' Naruto thought. Naruto felt Itachi slowly moved his hand though his hair lightly in a rhythmical pattern. The blond relaxed and closed his eyes in comfort, his tears stopping. He slowly reached up and clutched at the sides of Itachi's cloak, his kunai dropping onto the ground with a clank.
"When everything restarts at zero."
Naruto opened his eyes and turned his head slightly at the side. He looked up and saw Itachi looking back at him, a small corner of his lips curved up into a smirk.
"That is the time to rise back up again and become even stronger."
As he listened to the last sentence, Naruto switched his eyes back to the village. He saw people crying, but there were people there who were comforting them and reassuring them. Naruto blinked in revelation. He switched his eyes back to Itachi...
And returned the smirk with an even more confident one.
Itachi's eyes showed amusement as he slowly released his hand off of Naruto's hair and Naruto released his grip on his cloak. Naruto stood up straight and looked at Itachi directly in the eye.
"Right! We still have things to do." Naruto said with a restored grin.
(1)Yakiniku : Means "grilled meat" and is referred to many grilled meat dishes.
A/N: This was intended to be a one-shot, but it most likely going to be a two-shot now -.-; Mainly because I was really, really worried at how I'm going to show ItaNaru scenes and at the same time make them in character. I was especially worried about writing Itachi's character (I haven't given much thought about him, but I do like him paired up with Naruto ha ha), but I think that it turned out well =D
Please R&R!