Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or Naruto: Shippuuden. I only own the plot.

Tuesday, September 1

Everything that could go wrong had done so on this mission for Team Seven. Firstly, Naruto and Sasuke were trapped in an icy dome by Haku, which resulted in Sasuke nearly dying and Naruto unleashing the Nine tails chakra.

After the they were freed, Zabuza and Kakashi fought each other into a stand still, until Haku died to save his master.

Caught off guard by Haku sudden sacrifice, Zabuza was able to sucker punch Kakashi and knock the Copy Ninja out.

Then Gato showed up with an army of mercenaries, and betrayed Zabuza. While the Demon of the Mist did manage to kill the midget, it was at the cost of his own life.

With all of this passed, Naruto was left the only one willing to fight after Sakura's attention fell onto Sasuke's unconscious form. Not at all an ideal situation.

Mostly because there was still the small issue of an army of mercenaries about to slaughter them all.

"Damn Ninja... you killed our meal ticket!" One of the men in the back of the army yelled. "Now how are we going to get paid!"

"We can still raid that dump behind them, it's not like they can stop us!" another one answered his comrade.

The scowl on Naruto's face turned into a full glare when he heard that. There was no way he was going to just roll over and let these back stabbers slaughter hundreds of people.

So he did what any head strong child would do, he prepared to fight each and every one of them. He didn't care if it went against every shinobi rule they taught at the academy, it wasn't like he paid attention to them anyway.

"Look, that little moron wants to fight us!" One of the men jeered again, causing them all to laugh.

Naruto didn't know why, he had been on the receiving end of people's mockery for years now, but he flew into a hateful rage.

It wasn't directed at the mercenaries like it should have been, but it was aim more so at the situation he found himself in.

Naruto was angry that no one was going to be able to help him, he was angry that he was probably going to die here, and most of all he was angry at the world for putting him in this spot.

It wasn't fair to him, that he had to spit in death's face again for the third time.

The most recent was now, against this small army about to grind his face into the cement, while the first one that came to his mind was a few months ago against Mizuki.

However, the first true time he was ever in any legitimate danger was on his sixth birthday, the only time a mob of villagers ever tried to kill him.

Now he knew they hated the nine tails inside him, but that didn't make him feel any better about it. He could remember their punches and kicks, he remembered curling up in a ball begging for them to stop.

They didn't. It only seemed to egg them on, which made Naruto get mad. He remembered their punches continue, but they didn't hurt him anymore. His vision was tinted red, and he let out a feral scream.

Then Naruto felt a hand chop his neck and knock him to the ground, and a sound akin to chirping birds.

After the incident, he could've sworn he saw a pug following him around for a week, but he never was able to get close to the dog.

Right now though, Naruto felt much of the same rage as he did against the villagers then. He felt his world getting tinted red, he felt his teeth grow longer and sharper. His claws hardened and grew lethal points, and even his whisker-like birth marks blackened into thick lines.

He didn't know it, but Naruto's eyes also changed. They were no longer a deep sapphire blue, but were now a blood-chilling red with his pupils a black slit like a predator.

Naruto gave an unconscious snarl before he went onto all fours, a strange red cloak made entirely of chakra beginning to cover him. He was beginning to lose his senses in his anger, his reason going to the back of his mind as he was barely even able to think.

Before anyone could speak, the genin of the Leaf charged like a wild animal. He tore into the closest soldier's leg, digging his claws clean through and ripping off the appendage.

The soldier let out a scream, but Naruto smashed his face with the soldier's own leg and proceeded to keep slamming it down until the man stopped screaming.

Naruto dropped the man's bloodied leg , his fingers stained red with the mercenary's blood.

It was silent enough to hear a pin drop on the bridge, until one man murmured the words that described how they all felt.

"Holy shit..."

Naruto's eyes snapped over to the man and he gave a feral growl. He lunged for him and tore his claws straight through his chest, knocking them both to the ground.

Getting on the man's chest, Naruto started tearing into the soldier, who let out a choked scream. Chunks of flesh and organ were strewed everywhere, blood splattering all over Naruto's person.

While he absolutely brutalized a corpse, another soldier tried to brain Naruto in the back of his head with an axe.

Naruto saw it out of the corner of his eye and got off the dead man's chest, letting the axe fall right into a corpse's throat and decapitate it.

And that was the beginning of the slaughter, Naruto ripping and biting his adversaries while carving through the band of mercenaries like a force of nature. His hands grew bloodier with every passing cut, bodies and limbs piling around him.

By the time the thirtieth man fell, he men began to back away in fear, terrorized and praying for someone to save them.

"NO, PLEASE-" A man tried to beg, but Naruto sank his teeth into the man's neck and jerked backwards violently.

The mercenary fell down to the ground, Naruto falling with him. The blood-crazed jinchuriki rolled off him and again lunged up, his claws tearing into yet another foe, giving one fatal slash through his face and neck before turning to his next victim.

He found it in the form of a man wielding a pike, who was utterly frozen in horror while staring at Naruto.

Naruto gave a savage and deranged grin as he slashed the frozen man's eyes out before stabbing him through both his lungs.

With an alien strength that Naruto himself knew he didn't have, Naruto lifted the much larger person up into the air. With a roar, he threw the bleeding corpse over the edge of the bridge and into the river a hundred feet below.

In doing this, he left himself exposed. A man behind him took advantage of this and stabbed forward with his spear, ramming it into Naruto's back. The point hit nothing lethal, landing right above the boy's right hip.

The mercenary was surprised when he actually landed a blow on Naruto, before his shock turned to confidence and he followed up by smashing his shield down on Naruto's shoulder, knocking the boy to the ground.

The army's confidence return when they saw this, and all thought that the man wielding the spear was about to kill the brat.

Unfortunately for them, Naruto's brought his fingers together again and he sliced off the man's foot.

Rolling back up to his feet, Naruto's foot found the back of the falling man's neck and stomped on it, crushing his windpipe. He whipped his head up and saw the army still charging at him, on all sides, and in the back of his mind knew that it was only a matter of time before one of them landed a lucky blow again.

After killing ten more soldiers, the boy was smashed in the side of the head by a club, a sickening thud resounding through the air.

The attack would've killed most people, but after skidding across the wood and cement bridge until he was about a foot away from the edge, Naruto rolled on his back and stood up on his feet.

Naruto eyed them like a predator would eye prey, growling like a rabid dog seeing a meal for the first time in days.

"Kill the brat before he kills anymore of us!" One of them shouted.

Naruto gave a savage grin, speaking for the first time to them. "I'd like to see you try."

The army ignored the threatening tone and swarmed forward, running towards Naruto with their various weapons. Naruto answered their charge with one of his own, roaring angrily as he ran on all fours, a sound that seemed to awaken his sensei.

Kakashi groaned and opened his sharingan eye after a few minutes of hearing nonstop fighting. He looked up weakly in time to see Naruto killing three men at once. 'Oh no...' The Copy Ninja thought, his sharingan giving him a quick head count of the bodies, finding the total at forty three.

"Naruto..." He croaked weakly, desperately trying to stand and stop this. In the time he took to manage to do that, Naruto had taken out five more men, bringing the body count up to forty eight.

Sasuke was now beginning to awaken as well, groaning and weakly lifting his head in time to watch Naruto smash his claws into a man's brain. He blinked and focused a little to activate his sharingan, still unused to how it worked. He also was able to count the corpses in an instant, the total being forty nine.

Naruto ripped his hand out of a man's skull and began to lunge at another before his luck finally ran dry. A sword, barely even in range of him, blindsided him and slashed across his face, right below his right eye.

"Naruto!" Kakashi's strained voice cried out, though it would've been barely audible to the boy's ears even under normal circumstances.

The man who wounded Naruto smirked arrogantly while he grabbed Naruto by the back of his collar and held him up in the air, holding him up like a trophy at Kakashi. He pulled Naruto closer to him and pressed his sword against the throat of the unconscious jinchuriki so that he couldn't try anything.

Naruto's face was a bloody mess, along with the rest of his body. His orange and blue jumpsuit was shredded, red stains all over the slash marks and stained red everywhere else.

"Step aside, or the brat dies." the man said, snickering as Kakashi was left with a horrible ultimatum.

Sasuke was still on the ground trying to stand up, glaring at the man as if trying to incinerate him with his eyes. He hated feeling weak and useless, and that was what the last Uchiha was feeling at this time.

Kakashi was finally on his feet and standing steady. He could've killed them all on his own if he didn't have to worry about the town behind him, but with Naruto being held hostage, he was stuck between a rock and a hard place. He stilled for a moment, before his head fell in shame.

The Copy Ninja began to turn to the side to let them pass, much to Tazuna's horror, when it happened in a blink of an eye.

Naruto's eyes snapped open, still a terrible blood-red. He looked at the sword at his neck and snarled, moving so fast the man behind him couldn't react. He sank his teeth into the man's hand, ripping off his thumb and making him drop his sword as well as Naruto.

Said boy's feet barely had time to touch the ground before Naruto lunge at the man again, impaling his claws through his chest and trying to tackle him to the ground.

However, instead of hitting the hard cement, they were met with something far worse.

Nothing.

Kakashi watched in horror as Naruto fell off the bridge, every second passing like a year. Something that happened so fast slowed down to a crawl before his sharingan, and it only made him feel worse about himself.

"Naruto!" The boy faintly heard his sensei shout, his masked face appearing like a smudge at the edge of the bridge where Naruto once was. The jinchuriki felt himself crash into the cold currents of the river and his world went black.

Itachi was lounging at the edge of a river, his arms behind his head while he looked up at the sky in boredom. Kisame had taken to sleeping in as of late, leaving Itachi to stare at the river impassively as a 'lookout'.

He used that term loosely, because the few times he saw other people, they either didn't even know who he was and they were just passing by, or they fled in terror at the sight of him.

Itachi heard a distant splash come from the river, able to see a bridge connecting two cliffs. He had been also able to hear distant sounds of fighting, but given the seclusion he and Kisame had at this spot he chose to ignore it.

Odds were it would've taken hours for them to even find this spot, they were off road and in the middle of the wilderness at the moment.

Back on topic, the Uchiha glanced at the river thinking that a fish jumped, when he spotted an anomaly. Floating down stream was a distinct orange jumpsuit that had several tears and blood stains on it.

The Raven of the Uchiha quickly realized that the boy had just fallen off the bridge. More dried blood was crusting on the right side of his face, which had luckily stayed above the water so he could breathe if he was still be alive.

Itachi watched in fascination as he floated down the stream and washed up on the river bank right in front of him, as if he was guided to Itachi by fate itself.

Itachi stood up and glanced back at Kisame, finding the Shark man was still asleep and unaware of this turn of events. Looking back down at the boy, he immediately recognized the headband tied around his head as a forehead protector for Konoha.

'He must be a genin on his first mission...' Itachi's thoughts trailed off as he got a good look at the boy, and his eyes widened in realization. He knew who this boy was, though it had been years now since he last saw him.

'Naruto... Kami take it.' Itachi swore, remembering that Naruto was one of the nine jinchuriki. The boy was obviously hurt, he had blood coating half his entire face and several other wounds in addition, but if memory served Itachi heard that Sasuke was his teammate.

'My brother must be up there as well...' Itachi looked back up at the bridge, hearing more sounds of combat and screams for mercy. 'now is not the time for him to find me, he won't be strong enough.'

Itachi quickly ran through his options.

First, he could awaken Kisame and take Naruto to Pein. That was a bad idea, one he immediately discarded.

Second, he could kill Naruto and toss his corpse back into the river, and no one would be the wiser. This was another one that was immediately discarded, though for more personal reasons.

Lastly, Itachi could abandon Kisame and take Naruto somewhere he could recover and prepare for the Akatsuki.

Itachi didn't even have to think twice on this one.

An hour or so later

Kisame awoke with a yawn, sitting up and stretching. He cracked his neck and stood up, blinking when he saw that Itachi's stuff was gone.

'What the...?' He thought, looking around. After a moment, he saw a crow standing on a tree stump nearby, a sharingan staring right at the Shark Nin.

Kisame stared dumbly at the bird for a moment, too tired to piece everything together quickly. The bird started flapping its wings and flew away, and by then Kisame already knew what was going on.

"Itachi, you son of a bitch."

Saturday, September 5

Early morning

The first thing Naruto realized was that he was still alive, which he was thankful for. The second was that he could only open one eye, which he was not thankful for.

Naruto was in a dimly lit room, rain padding the ceiling above him softly. He couldn't see the corners of the room, nor could he find the door to get out.

However, that was not the issue that was on his mind.

'Oh god, did I lose my eye?' He thought in horror, feeling himself wrapped in bandages. They were heavily focused around his lower stomach and his right shoulder, along with ones wrapped around his head.

He brought a hand up and felt the bandage covered his eye. 'There's no way the next Hokage only has one eye!' He reached up to yank the bandages off his face, when a voice spoke up and stopped him.

"I would not do that Naruto-kun."

Naruto's was apparently jumpy, and almost broke his neck whirring his head around to see who spoke. "Who are you?" Naruto was trying to sound threatening. In truth he was pretty sure that he couldn't even lift a kunai let alone fight someone right now.

The person that spoke snorted in amusement. "Just the person that saved your life." He said blithely, standing in a dark corner of the room out of Naruto's sight. "Maybe it would be best if I introduced myself."

He stepped into the light slowly, letting Naruto see who he was.

First off, the man was young, though still older than Naruto. He looked only looked eighteen or nineteen years old, and he had shoulder-length black hair. He wore a plain black cloak that fell below his knees and covered his arms.

He also wore a Konoha forehead protector, but the leaf insignia was slashed out.

There was something familiar about him though, Naruto could feel it. He looked a lot like Sasuke did, but that was impossible. The only person Sasuke would even remotely resemble would be...

'Uh oh.' Naruto gulped, having a hunch about who it was but wanting proof. "... You're a Uchiha." It was not a question.

"I am. One of the more famed Uchiha of recent memory since I slaughtered my entire clan save for my little brother, who I've heard is your teammate under Hatake Kakashi." The way he spoke so casual almost made Naruto relax.

Almost.

"What I have is not a dream, because I will make it a reality. I'm going to restore my clan, and kill a certain someone." Sasuke's voice repeated the statement he made when they all first met Kakashi in Naruto's head, and his suspicion was confirmed.

"You're Itachi!" Naruto tried to act calm, but it was a little more than difficult.

Uchiha Itachi was standing in front of him. A person strong enough for people to actually consider a future successor of Saratobi Hiruzen's second term.

Also one of the few people in Konoha that never was a jerk to Naruto, but he left long before Naruto could really remember much about him.

However, he did have one distinct memory of the Uchiha prodigy taking him to get ice cream on more than one occasion, he had been asked by Hiruzen to watch over him.

Looking back on it, whenever Itachi was with Naruto, he always felt safer.

Another reason Naruto was wary was the more obvious one. Itachi could snap Naruto in half with both hands tied behind his back and a blindfold over his eyes if he so chose. The sheer fact that Naruto was still alive and in front of him was a mystery to him.

"Yes Naruto-kun, I am Uchiha Itachi." Itachi's face gave nothing away, though his stony eyes seemed to show bemusement. "I am curious, has Sasuke awakened his sharingan yet?"

"..Yeah, he... got them on the bridge." Naruto sobered up considerably, the events on the bridge flashing in his mind. "He almost died to activate them though. And now he's probably are dead, along with my team."

"Naruto," Itachi began. "Team seven is alive and well. They left Wave around a day ago, with the builder Tazuna naming the bridge after you to honor your sacrifice."

Naruto smiled in relief when he heard his team was okay.

"After you fell, Kakashi and Sasuke went on a rampage and slaughtered that army within minutes." Itachi went on to explain. "If anything, your fall was a catalyst for them, giving them strength and courage. Add in the fact that you took out almost half of them... I see the potential of greatness in you, something I want to see you achieve."

'What?' Naruto thought, a little confused.

From the sounds of that, Itachi... wanted to help train him. That didn't make any sense to Naruto, it wasn't like he was a prodigy so why would Itachi even consider wasting his time with him?

"...are you offering to train me?" He asked slowly, a little hesitant.

Itachi gave him a genuine smile. "Only for a short period, for two months. With the Chunin exams are in three months from now, I doubt that you'll want to be left out of that."

"Why would you want to train me of all people?" Naruto asked. I mean, I'm awesome and all, but you... well, you don't seem like you like Konoha."

"This has nothing to do with the leaf village." Itachi stated, his posture turning stony again. It had a lot to do with the leaf, more so than Itachi ever hoped Naruto heard about before Itachi died. "This is about you being one of the only innocent members of my clan."

Naruto stared at him dumbly "...What?" He asked meekly.

"I thought I was very clear, but perhaps that was too subtle." Itachi said dryly. "You are from my clan, you are a Uchiha."

"...I'm a Uchiha?" Naruto repeated questionably, as if testing the waters. Then he turned incredulous. "I am a Uchiha? There are so many things about that that don't make sense, I should take you to go get your head examined!"

Itachi pretended he didn't hear that remark. "Your mother was a Jonin of the Leaf named Uchiha Kushina, and she earned the nickname 'Red Hot Habanero of Konoha'. She had a little brother named Uchiha Obito, who died long before I was born on a mission in the third shinobi world war." Itachi explained.

Naruto stared at him blankly, not knowing what to do or say.

"Your parents named you Uzumaki because they were a famed clan that was known for their luck, and to help hide your true identity so that you wouldn't inherit their enemies." That was at least Itachi's assumption, They were both likely aware of the planned coup as far as Itachi knew. "That a good enough explanation?"

For Naruto, it wasn't. "Dude, have you seen me in actual light?" he asked. "I look nothing like a Uchiha, I have blond hair and blue eyes and on top of that, I suck as a ninja. The Uchiha always are the best, and I failed three times before graduating because of a fluke."

Naruto hated admitting it about himself, but it was the truth. In most realities, he wouldn't had ever earned his forehead protector.

"Appearance is irrelevant." Itachi stated calmly. "And your academy instructors hated you Naruto. You're a walking reminder of the Kyuubi, the being that nearly tore Konoha apart brick by brick."

"Iruka-sensei doesn't hate me." Naruto disputed Itachi's claim, immediately thinking of the scarred-faced teacher that had been a surrogate brother for him. "He's one of the only people who have ever cared about me."

"And I said nothing about one particular teacher." Itachi pointed out. "If I did, I believe the first teacher that comes to mind would be Mizuki. But never mind that Naruto, just know that I am doing this because your mother was a member of my clan, and by extension, that means you are as well."

Naruto went silent as he let all this digest. While he honestly didn't believe this for a second, what did Itachi gain by lying to him?

After a minute, he asked the obvious question. "Will I ever have a sharingan?"

Unlike most obvious questions, this was one that Itachi didn't know the answer to. On one hand, it was in his blood so the potential should be there, but Naruto looked so much like his father it was almost unnatural.

"Truthfully? I don't know." Itachi answered. "Your bloodlines are both dominant, and since you look so much like your father, you may not be able to under the same type of training that I had to do."

"...But you think I can, right?" Naruto asked, his brow furrowing.

Itachi paused, before he spoke "We will discover over the course of your training under me. Speaking of that, you should rest. Dawn is in a few hours, and we will begin then."

Naruto nodded, not asking how Itachi could tell what time it was and laid back down on the bed he had been sitting on. Itachi turned away and left the room, and Naruto closed his eyes.

Undisclosed location; same time

This discussion had been going on for hours now, two old friends talking over sake.

"What do you say, old friend? If you rejoin us, we'll aid your new village." A man spoke. He was outside of his protective puppet for the first time in years now.

However, as a sign of trust, he went without it for the time being.

"Hm..." Came the response. "Tell me Sasori, who was it that died this time? Was it Deidara or did Kakuzu finally find a way to kill Hidan?"

The Puppeteer didn't dignify any of that, because none of it had occurred.

"There is no way the Akatsuki would be desperate enough to try to bring me back into the fold unless a core member... was no longer with the organization."

Sasori ran a hand through his hair. "It was Itachi... he left." Sasori said in a rather bland tone. "Though I assumed you already knew this, Orochimaru. You have a very well equipped spy network of your own, you surely were aware of how Itachi was actually intelligent about it, waited until Kisame fell asleep before he left."

"So the Weasel tricked you all, eh?" Orochimaru chuckled at his own bad joke, referencing to how Itachi's name meant weasel. "Too bad then."

Sasori ignored the Sannin's tone. "Will you rejoin the Akatsuki, or not?"

"Hm... " Orochimaru pretended to think about it. While it wouldn't really benefit him at the moment, he could use it as a way to achieve his own goals. "Why not? It will be a good way for me to gather samples for new... plans of mine."

"Good." Sasori said, sipping on the sake in his cup. His body couldn't digest sake properly so he had to take it in as more of a wine to be sipped and savored.

However, he was fully aware of what Orochimaru was implying. Not that he really cared, everyone in the Akatsuki had their own motives.

Kisame sought out fights, Deidara wanted to prove to the world that art was an explosion, even he wanted to collect more corpses for his human puppet collection. Throwing Orochimaru's probable plans of gaining immortality was nothing that phased him.

"You know, I was sent to retrieve your ring by any means." Sasori casually remarked. "Which meant I either had to recruit you back or kill you. Thank you for choosing the former, it would be a waste of both my time and yours if we were to fight."

"Yes, we both know how much you hate wasting time." Orochimaru drawled with a smile. "Same location as last time?"

"Same location, same jutsu." Sasori confirmed, standing up. "Be there tomorrow at dusk for your re-introduction into the Akatsuki."

"My, the leader isn't afraid of former members is he?" Orochimaru grinned while pouring himself another drink. "Only coming after me when another member left..."

"No, you're just overly careful." Sasori replied. "It took you starting the foundation of a country to track you down, we've been one ring short for almost a decade now."

'True, but I only did it because I know that I am the untouchable one here.' Orochimaru thought with a smile, downing his cup of sake. "Should I show you the door?"

"No." Sasori said bluntly, disappearing in a poof of smoke.

Orochimaru grinned to himself, a voice speaking to him. "He isn't a talkative man, is he?"

The snake sannin chuckled. "No, but dear Sasori was never one for idle chatter."

He turned to see a man leaning against a wall unnoticed by Sasori.

This man had a hood covering most of his face, leaving only his mouth exposed. He wore a navy blue jacket with gold trimmings along the collar, pockets, and a gold line running down both sleeves. He wore gray pants and despite the unspoken shinobi dress code of wearing sandals, wore a pair of combat boots.

A katana with a crimson handle was in its plain black sheathe across his back, the handle poking over his shoulder.

"How goes our... phase one?" Orochimaru asked.

"It went well Orochimaru." He plopped down on the couch across Orochimaru. "My clansmen filled most of the vacancies, however the various minor clans that have gathered here helped tremendously. "Phase two has already begun, and thanks to the civil war in Kiri, neither side notices the missing bloodline users..."

"We need more than just Ninjas from that backwash nation." Orochimaru pointed out, his tone trying not to sound testy. "I want more than just Kiri, I want you to scour the world, pick off a few at a time. Bring them to me, and I'll do the rest. If need be, rob a grave or two for the perfect test subject."

The guest paid little mind to Orochimaru's tone, though he did smirk slightly at the mention of robbing a grave. "I'll have my clan do the grave robbing Orochimaru, but I will not sully my own hands in such an act." The guest said, his voice sounding amused.

Taking that as an affirmation that he'll see to it, Orochimaru relaxed. 'I cannot afford to lose his support over a disagreement.'

"With the extra aid from the Akatsuki, I believe that this village has a bright future ahead of it." The guest smirked, putting his hands behind his head and kicking his feet up on the table in front of him.

"As I have said," Orochimaru's smile grew sinister. "everything will eventually just fall into place. Konoha will be the only obstacle in our way, and even then they would only be the size of an ant before a bijuu. Both of us will have what we seek, and then some." Orochimaru said, pouring a new cup of sake and offering it to his guest.

The guest took it, and gulped it down like a shot. "I will reclaim what was stolen and you will gain what you deserve. But what of the now, what shall we do in the mean time?"

"For now, The Akatsuki will be attempting to size the jinchuriki up while amassing funds." Orochimaru explained his plan. "A perfect opportunity for us to do the same."

The guest's smirk curled into a smile, chuckling to himself. "Indeed."

September 5, a few minutes later

Itachi sat in the throne room of the hideout, deep in thought. He had come here as soon as he left Naruto's quarters, and was listening to the sound of rain still padding the roof.

A few days ago, he sent a letter via his ravens to inform Hiruzen of Naruto's survival and Itachi's intention of preparing Naruto for the challenges that lay ahead of him. Like he told Naruto, he wouldn't hold Naruto for to long, the boy would be back in Konoha with a month before the chunin exams.

While for most people, two months of training would not be efficient, Itachi was sent reports from the Hokage about Naruto so that Itachi will know how to keep the Akatsuki off his trail.

He had a plan to make it so that Naruto would grow to become stronger than anyone thought possible for him in a short amount of time.

Out of the blue, he saw a poof of smoke all but appear before him. "You know Itachi," A man in the smoke said. "I don't know whether to hit you or hug you right now."

Itachi cracked a smile. "Hello to you as well Jiraiya." He greeted. The smoke dissipated and a tall man with spiky white hair stood proudly before the Uchiha."You were supposed to be here an hour ago."

"I was busy." Jiraiya said with the most serious face possible, crossing his arms.

Itachi raised a brow. "The nearest hot spring is thirty miles up the road."

Jiraiya smirked lecherously. "I know."

Itachi rolled his eyes and shook his head, while Jiraiya lost the humor for a moment.

"I know you just saved Naruto's life and all, but did you have to ditch the Akatsuki?" Jiraiya asked, sitting Indian-styled on the floor. "We needed our eyes on the inside for a group like them."

"I did what I had to." Itachi stated. "What else could I have done?"

Rhetoric question or not, Jiraiya raised a brow before he spoke in a blunt tone. "Killing Kisame before you left might have helped us out."

"That was a split second decision." Itachi answered. "I didn't want to risk starting a full fight with Kisame if Naruto is going to bleed to death while its occurring."

"Still..." Jiraiya stood up, growing bored sitting down. "Leaving a crow behind to mock him wasn't a good idea."

Itachi kept a blank face, the look almost glued to his face. "It was my way of making sure he didn't wake up while I was in the area, I can see from the eyes of my birds."

"Then you know he slept for another hour, well after you already left." Jiraiya deadpanned.

Itachi again raised an eyebrow. "How do you even know that?"

"Because I'm a badass motherfucker, that's how!" Jiraiya said rather loudly, while striking a pose.

Itachi sweat-dropped after watching Jiraiya's antics. 'This is the great toad sage of Konoha.' He thought, a wry smile crossing his face.

"But on a more serious matter..." Jiraiya's turned serious again. "The Akatsuki... there's been some reports that they might not be the only problem we have anymore, nor are they our biggest concern."

"What?" Itachi asked. "What could possibly be more dangerous than an organization with core members being S-rank shinobi?"

"An entire country full of them." Jiraiya said back. "Granted, none of them have criminal records, it's still big news when entire families from Iwa, Suna, and even Kumo all high tail for this 'Otogakure."

"Otogakure?" Itachi had heard rumors about it. "Do they have allies?"

"That's the kicker." Jiraiya stated. "They are in talks with Ame, but have refused contact with all other nations at the moment."

Itachi was now paying close attention. "Ame... the Akatsuki..." ,

Jiraiya nodded grimly. "If that's not bad enough, Kumo and later Iwa tried to sneak in and scout the area, that was months ago. Not a single person had reported in since they entered the country, they are presumed deceased."

Itachi raised an incredulous brow. That was just... unbelievable. A new country shouldn't, no it couldn't be strong enough to repel two of the great five nations, it's outright insane.

"It's... well, scary to me that two of the great five nations, two of the strongest of the great five nations and our greatest rivals over the years can't get through the defenses of a newly formed nation. It's scarier to think that it's formed out of the remnants of Uzushiogakure, right above the land of Fire's borders."

Itachi remained silent. He didn't really have anything to add to that, and pondered Jiraiya's words.

The Toad Sage glanced back at Naruto's room, deciding to change the topic. "What are you going to do with Naruto? Two months isn't nearly long enough to train someone in more than basics."

"It's plenty of time." Itachi smiled lightly, happy to be able to relax. "I'll be using the shadow clone training method with him, he'll be chunin level before he leaves here.."

"How many clones can he make?" Jiraiya asked, a little flabbergasted. The training method was an extreme measure, one where someone summoned as many shadow clones as they could and then each of them did exercises.

To make it effective, multiple clones were required, but most shinobi couldn't even make one.

"Against Mizuki, Hokage-sama told me he made over a thousand." Itachi answered in a monotone voice. "With me, I will limit his clones to one hundred."

Jiraiya just stared at Itachi like the Uchiha grew a second head. "A thousand... that's... bijuu level chakra reserves! And a hundred, damn it, that's more than I can make!"

"You don't even need to be a sensor to pick up on how much chakra he has, he's like a walking chakra battery in that aspect." Itachi gave another wry smile, before changing the subject. "So, what brings you this way? It isn't like Konoha is in this direction."

"Remember what I said about Otogakure, how they're right above us?" Jiraiya asked. "I'm to infiltrate it and find out what I can."

Itachi looked at the Sannin. "I'd wish you luck, but you won't need it." He said, confident in the Toad Sage's abilities.

Jiraiya nodded, before he glanced at the large door behind him. The sound of rain had grown louder, and the two could hear distant thunder. "Why do I always work in the rain?" He mused aloud.

"Dramatic flair." Itachi shrugged, still sitting on his throne.

"Meh." Jiraiya headed for the exit, before he stopped with his back to Itachi. He looked back with a wide grin on his face."Make him great Itachi."

Itachi smiled. "I intend to."

Monday, September 7

Afternoon

Kakashi stood in the Hokage's office, a frown hidden beneath his mask.

He had not seen Sakura or Sasuke since they returned to Konoha a few days ago, both of them returning to their home without uttering a single word.

The Copy Ninja didn't blame them. He understood more than they realized that right now, they wanted nothing but space from each other to mourn and grieve in private, to berate themselves for what they perceive as their greatest failures.

When in reality, it was Kakashi's fault. That was how he felt anyway, and on record, it looked like it.

Sakura was protecting her teammates as well as the bridge builder, Sasuke was out cold, but Kakashi? He just got sucker punched and was floored. The top shinobi of the leaf, got beat by Momochi Zabuza.

Whether it was luck or skill did not matter, the result was Naruto fell a hundred feet off of a cliff and probably died because of his incompetence.

And the real kicker was that no one else aside from the Hokage had read the report, no one knew what was going on with Team Seven. For over two days, Kakashi stood at the memorial stone without even moving, something that Gai brought to Hiruzen's attention.

"Kakashi..." Hiruzen's eyes held nothing but sympathy for Kakashi, knowing that the man had given more than any other in the entire village.

Kakashi had lost his father at a young age, had lost both of his teammates, had lost his sensei and role model, and now he had lost his student, the last living legacy of Kakashi's own sensei.

A normal man would've already broke under the constant death, yet Kakashi still stood.

Shaking, trembling, blaming himself, but still standing.

"Team Seven has been put on inactive duty to cope with the loss of Naruto, but Kakashi... It should the entire rookie class. They are still rookies, with the mind sets of children. None of them have experienced tragedy before, none of their friends have fallen until now. Why do you refuse to tell them what has happened? Why do you refuse to let me tell them what happened?"

"I haven't refused." Kakashi disputed weakly. "I just... I haven't gotten around to it."

"Well then, should I call both teams in here so that you can tell them?" Hiruzen asked, to which Kakashi shook his head 'no'. "Then we have an issue, because they are going to learn about what happened. Whether from you in private like all shinobi deaths, or if I have to public announce Naruto was killed-"

"No." Kakashi's voice was surprisingly heated, his relaxed posture turning as stiff as a board in an instant. "Don't announce it to them... not yet..."

Of course, Hiruzen wasn't actually going to do that yet. The celebration the villagers would have would make people think the Yondamaine himself returned back from the land of the dead.

Seeing that might send Kakashi into a rage that would result in half the village population being killed and Kakashi being executed on the spot.

"...I'll tell them today Hokage-sama..." Kakashi said, letting out a breath he didn't know he was holding. "Tell Asuma and Kurenai to bring their squads over to training ground Seven. I'll be waiting for them there."

Hiruzen stared at Kakashi for a moment, before he nodded. "Alright Kakashi." He said, taking his attention from the Jonin and packing tobacco into his pipe.

Without another word, Kakashi left the Hokage's office to give the bad news to the rest of the rookie nine.

"I hope I'm not making a mistake..." Hiruzen muttered once he was alone, turning around and looking out the window. A letter of Naruto's well being was crumpled up in his free hand under the desk, bearing the signature of Uchiha Itachi.

September 7, Evening

It was a tense atmosphere in the training ground, six of the rookie nine all present. Their teachers had left them there to mourn with each other in private, remembering the first time they all lost a comrade.

No one said a word as what they heard from Kakashi sank in. "Naruto... is dead."

"...I can't believe it." Choji murmured softly to himself, the first one to regain his voice. "Naruto's... gone?"

Aside from Shikamaru, Naruto was one of the few people that didn't pick on him for being overweight. While admittedly they weren't best friends like he and Shikamaru were, Choji still considered him a good friend.

Across from him, Inuzuka Kiba grunted. "Believe it." he said in a bitter tone, mocking Naruto's old saying at the same time. Akamaru whined above his head, and Kiba absently scratched him behind the ear.

"It's... it's not right." Shikamaru said aloud, looking up at the cloudless sky. "Sure, he was the dead last and all, he did worse than I did in the academy... but he was Naruto." The Nara looked conflicted. "He can't be... dead."

"... He's not dead." Ino muttered, before she started ranting. "Sasuke-kun wouldn't let him die, neither would Kakashi or even Forehead! This is probably a stupid prank of his! It's not funny you-"

"If it was a prank, why did it look like Kakashi-sensei had been crying?" Kiba snapped at her sharply. "And why have Sasuke and Sakura been at home and refusing to come out since they've gotten back? Face it Ino, Naruto is dead and this isn't a fucking prank!"

The tongue lashing from the Inzuka clan heir did nothing to stop Ino from glaring back at the Inuzuka heatedly. "Naruto can't be can't be dead, he's our age! Some of us aren't even teenagers yet and you expect me to believe that baka is dead!"

The Inuzuka clenched his fist in his lap. Akamaru whined and looked up at Kiba, trying to tell him to stop arguing with the Yamanaka heiress.

"He isn't dead!" Ino insisted, standing up. "Naruto might be an idiotic, brash, no good jerk, but he isn't stupid enough to go get himself killed! Even if he was, he has Kakashi-sensei and Sasuke with him on missions doing the heavy lifting!"

"Actually... Kakashi told us that Naruto killed more people than Sasuke and Kakashi combined." Shikamaru reminded her absently. His voice was hollow and cracking, desperately trying to hold back the dam of emotions about to come to the surface. "And Naruto did it on his own, protecting both of them along with that village."

The Inuzuka scoffed. "So he died a hero." Kiba looked away from his former classmates, tears glistening in his eyes. "Doesn't change the fact that he is dead."

"I have to agree with Kiba-san." Shino said, his tone still as blank as ever. The Aburame's high collar and sunglasses prevented everyone from seeing the tears rolling down his own face. "Logic dictates that Naruto died in the fall, or if he survived it he bled out in the river."

"...I also agree with my teammates." The Hyūga heiress spoke in a very uncharacteristic cold tone, not that anyone else paid mind to it. "He's dead, and that won't be changing anytime soon. Get over it."

Ino glanced back at her teammates, expecting them to come to her side of the argument.

However, neither Choji or Shikamaru even looked remotely interested in the conversation. Choji because he was crying into his hands, and Shikamaru because he was staring up at the sky.

Shikamaru would never admit it aloud, but he was praying to anyone that was listening for guidance. He was praying for a sign that everything was going to be alright, a sign that told him his friend wasn't actually dead.

He never got it.

"You... you're all wrong!" Ino shouted, not caring how her voice cracked. "...completely wrong."

Kiba relented a depressed sigh. 'I wish we were Ino.'

Team eight eventually took their leave, albeit at separate times. They wanted to mourn in private, not in the company of others at this point. Team ten however, was comfortable enough with each other to remain together, and cry their hearts out.

Ino sniffed quietly, still standing up after Team Eight left. "Do you... do you guys think he's dead?"

She turned to look at her teammates again, hoping at least one of them would say no.

However, Choji didn't even look at her to answer, he didn't even register the question. The Akimichi was too busy crying into his hands.

But the Nara boy next to him did register the question, and he stared at his blond teammate with eyes like shattered glass. He opened his mouth to speak, but no words came out. Shikamaru closed his mouth and just stood up and began to walk away.

Saratobi Asuma looked down at his team sadly.

"Get used to the feeling kids..." He mumbled, putting a cigarette in his mouth and lighting it. "You'll need to."

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