Disclaimer: Neither Naruto nor any of its characters do belong to me.

Warnings: Um, none yet. They more than likely will appear in the later chapters, though.

Thanks to the reviewers!

Beta'd by: Noleewut. Thx, sweetie!

Enjoy!

-.-.-.-

"The truth is you don't know what is going to happen tomorrow. Life is a crazy ride, and nothing is guaranteed." – Eminem

-.-.-.-

The scent of freshly cooked tomato rice and roasted duck wafted through the big house, filling it with pretence life. On the table sat one plate, one set of chopsticks, one glass of water and one bowl of salad, only one chair was being sat on. Not a sound interrupted the heavy silence that lay over the building, not even the wind dared to startle the quiet that engulfed the entire dark compound, the whole complex captured by the calmness of death, missing the life of its former residents, the busyness of long gone days still echoing through empty streets and abandoned houses. Desiccated leaves were scattered all over the main street of the lifeless district, the dirt and the dust of years offering a sad picture to any soul who passed by. The smell of rotting bodies still lingered all over the place, the corpses may be gone but their presence remained, the screams of the killed ones still hollered through every backstreet, the blood still tainted the walls of expensive houses and the floors of discarded homes. White lines still outlined long buried bodies, remembrances for others to always be guarded, to never feel save, to always look twice over their shoulders and to carefully chose one's friends. To never trust in human nature, no matter how long known.

The children of the village called it the 'Ghost-town', the home of raging souls, unable to find peace in the oblivion of death due to the way they died. They whispered among themselves that one of the ghosts had taken possession of the body of one of the murdered people and strolled through the entire village and the world, searching for the man that had sealed the fate of the mighty clan with cruelty and a katana.

But this man was not a ghost from a long forgotten glory time. This man was a shinobi, full of vindictiveness towards the slayer of his family, a man trained in the arts of assassination, a man that had spent his whole life in preparation for a single fight that would either end his life or the life of the man that had taken so many without second thought.

The moon glowed bright over the deadly silent compound, auguring an eventful future.

-.-.-

He was leaping through the woods as if on fire, not caring about the branches that slapped sharply into his face or the leaves that due to his speed cut his clothes, never slowing down, not even as he passed through Konoha's main gate, only vaguely perceptible as a hurricane of shadow and inflaming wind, startling a few shinobi and villagers as he passed by faster than any other ninja that had just returned from a mission, only the sizzling sounds resulting out of his speed giving him away to the perceptive ears of his fellows.

Dark hair chucked into a pale face as narrowed black eyes scanned the distance that still lay before him, brows knotted in concentration and confusion as their owner once again asked himself why the heck he spurred himself to this suicidal speed.

Cold charcoal eyes bleeding into red, a nightmarish landscape covered in the dead and lifeless bodies of the members of his family, beloved faces warped into one last expression of anguish and fear, besmirched by blood and tears, screams that tore his heart and over it all, the image of his brother, telling him over and over again, in this disinterested cool voice that made his skin crawl in dread and anger, how weak and pathetic he was.

Sasuke swallowed and shook his head once, clearing his mind from the incubus he relived every night in his sleep, unwillingly.

He arrived in front of the Hokage tower, making his way inside and up to his superior quietly, coming to a stop upon reaching his destination. Sasuke stepped forward and knocked loudly, who knew if Tsunade-sama was drunk and sleeping on the desk again.

The Uchiha quelled the upcoming memories of the one and only time he had lost his patience and slammed that door open, waking the hungover Hokage in the process. The back of his head still hurt in ghost-pain as the remembrance of the meeting between the well-endowed woman's fist and itself made a rather violent and unneeded comeback.

"Enter" Opening the door carefully and prepared for any and all sneak-attacks that possibly could be launched on him, he entered the office swiftly. Just in case the Hokage was in a foul mood or otherwise testy he closed the door softly behind him, careful not to accelerate the process of sobering up she most likely was in. It clicked shut with a soft sound, perfectly hearable in the silent room.

Amber eyes pierced him, goring his very soul in an – doomed to failure from the very start – attempt to see past his relaxed composure and bored expression, but finding it increasingly difficult to do so. The Jounin simply was too used to pretend to be what he wasn't for her to presume what was going through the pale boy's head.

"Okay, I'll make this short and simple. Your brother has been seen not far away from Sunagakure and the Kazekage has asked us to lend him a helping hand in killing him. He and his partner have tried to kidnap the late Kazekage's son for the Akatsuki."

He tried to kidnap Gaara? He could remember the jinchuuriki, clear as day. He could still remember the feeling of helplessness that had taken him hostage when even his Sharingan had proven to be useless against all that sand that followed Gaara's every whim, attacking Sasuke, and very nearly crushing Sakura to a mass of blood and squashed flesh.

Then it dawned on him.

So you've finally emerged from oblivion, Itachi, Sasuke thought, his old hatred for the man that had destroyed his life all those years ago flaring up again with viciousness. "Understood, Hokage-sama." He hated the crazed redhead but if ensuring his safety meant that he would get a chance to hunt Itachi down he would swallow this particular hate gladly.

"I was not finished yet, Uchiha." The look in her eyes changed from guarded to earnest and compassionate. "You may want to sit down."

He shook his head, who did she think she was talking to? Even though if he were to be honest with himself the woman's offer made him a bit uneasy. Tsunade Senju wasn't one to treat someone like a doll, she hadn't done so when she had met him for the first time nor had she showed that much consideration at the departure of - yeah, she wasn't soft-hearted.

The corner of the Hokage's lip lifted slightly, the ghost of a smile making a cursory manifestation on her lightly painted lips.

"Fine", she sighed. "But don't tell me I didn't warn you later, understood?" Sasuke nodded.

"The partner I was talking about is Naruto Uzumaki" For a moment, all sound vanished from Sasuke's world as his mind replayed countless scenes and pictures involving the aforementioned blue-eyed blonde, crying, laughing, looking lost and small amidst mist and ice shards, covered in blood and sweat.

~Flashback~

Hard, cold stone was under him, the bridge, his pain-clouded mind supplied.

"I know that I'm a monster" The words reached him through a haze, his eyes weren't able to see yet, his field of vision consisting of blinding sparks and red-shot dots. He didn't recognize this voice, it was deep and raspy, a dark baritone. He did not know anyone who sounded like that. "But he is not. If you want to kill, kill me. I don't have any purpose, any dream."

"You want to protect him, don't you?" Another, light and unclouded voice asked. A girl? No, he didn't fight a girl…but a boy with a mask…

"He has something worth living for." A mirthless chuckle. "But I don't."

A gasp. The wet sound of flesh being torn apart, blood shattering across the floor, some of it landed on his face.

"Goodbye" The raspy voice was all he heard before darkness enclosed him again.

~Flashback end~

Back then, he hadn't known. But he knew now.

In an emotionless voice that didn't betray his feelings concerning the whole affair he asked, "When will I get going?"

Tsunade smiled for real this time and held out a scroll which he took. "Tomorrow. You may assemble your own team, this is an S-class mission."

-.-.-

The team was carefully selected, each member had his very own purpose to fulfil to guarantee maximum success. Kiba Inuzuka, the best tracker they had, Sakura Haruno as a medical ninja and Neji Hyuuga, since a Byakugan always was useful and the brunette very skilled in hand-to-hand combat. And since Naruto had had at least some kind of bond to Sakura before abandoning Konoha, there was also an emotional pressure ensured. Yes, he had to be very careful and in order to capture a jinchuuriki and an S-rank criminal he also had to take the skills of his enemies into consideration very profoundly so that his team even stood a chance.

He had not chosen Kiba or Sakura for their combat abilities. They may be strong, but Sakura's punches wouldn't work on neither Itachi nor Naruto. She was a good genjutsu user, but nowhere on par with the elder Uchiha, and since they basically knew jack shit about the techniques Naruto had learned in his absence, she mostly was on the team because of her healing abilities. The Inuzuka also would mainly come with them to track the two traitors down, not to fight at all.

The only ones who realistically stood half a chance were Sasuke and Neji, one a Sharingan and the other a Byakugan user, both deemed prodigies of their clans. Sasuke most likely would take on Itachi, while Neji would take care of Naruto and if everything went as Sasuke had planned it, Itachi Uchiha and Naruto Uzumaki would not be a threat to the world any longer as soon as they were done with them.

He impatiently waited at Konoha's main gate in full shinobi gear, glaring at anything and anyone that dared to cross his way, trying to will his comrades to appear by some miracle. Quite honestly, he could understand perfectly fine why none of them was there yet. The scheduled meeting would not take place for another twenty minutes, and since Inuzuka always liked to be late they wouldn't take off for at least one hour.

Che, as if that would make any difference. If Kiba thought he could slack off like this, than he was in for a surprise – what they lost on time now they would make up for while travelling.

-.-.-

One hour later – twenty minutes earlier than he had predicted – the four of them barged through the woods surrounding Konoha, heading south-west towards the general direction of Sunagakure. They wouldn't enter the village though, that would take too much time – the Kazekage would sent an Anbu-squad to lead them to the place where the Shinobi of Suna had lost track of the two Akatsuki members and let them take over from there.

The mood was gloomy, as gloomy as it could get without talking at all. Sasuke knew that the fact that they were assigned to bring Naruto down upset Sakura a great deal – no matter how hard she had always hit him when they were children, she had taken a liking in the blonde – and even unsettled the always calm and collected Neji. The only one that didn't seem perturbed at all was the Inuzuka.

"Oi, Sasuke! You never told us who we are chasing after!" Of course, the mutt couldn't just read the instruction scroll Sasuke had given him, that would be too simple. Sasuke stayed silent, trying to figure out the best way of telling Kiba about Itachi without mentioning Naruto. There may be no way of sugar-coating the sad truth that Naruto had become a renegade but that didn't mean that he had to be a complete asshole and just smack the undeniable verity in his tattooed face.

"If you had read the scroll you would know" Of course, he could just let Neji do it! Why should he dirty his own hands if he had an annoyed Hyuuga at his leisure?

"Do you have to be such an asshole, Neji?!" Kiba hollered. "I wasn't talking to you!" Neji didn't respond, he just looked at Sasuke with those pale and unfathomable eyes of his. It felt as if he was trying to bore a hole through Sasuke's head with his look alone, paranoid as it sounded.

"Fine, if you two don't answer me, I'm sure Sakura-"

"Itachi" Sasuke interrupted him. As the leader of the team it was his responsibility to make sure every member of his squad knew what they were signed up for. Of course one could argue it was Kiba's own fault if he didn't pay attention to his instructions but this mission frankly mattered too much for Sasuke than that he would risk its success only to make a point to the Inuzuka.

Kiba's mouth snapped shut at once. He may not be particularly fond of the so-called prodigy but he knew when to stop poking. Especially when he was poking into a still open, bleeding wound. He had only flown over the paper spending most of his attention to what money the mission would bring him and what rank it was – he still needed some S-rank missions to become part of the Anbu so this was the main reason he had taken it on. His mother had always told him to get his head out of the gutter and learn how to cherish his life – meaning he should be careful which missions he took and to always calculate the risk of dying. But hey, you only live once, right?

Neji shook his head. Why Sasuke had to be all secretive about the blond ex-Genin of Konoha he didn't know but he knew that if he didn't tell Kiba sooner or later the whole thing would blow up in Sasuke's pretty face. But before he could add anything to Sasuke's information, Sakura beat him into it.

"And Naruto, the blond burden nobody wanted to be involved with" Sakura sniffed haughtily, "for obvious reasons" Because honestly, what was the point in lying? Not one person had missed Naruto, he had only always caused trouble and he hadn't been a talented Shinobi anyways. She didn't see him as a threat, much less a danger to anyone, he was too stupid to think up a plan and too clumsy to execute one when given to him. Why Tsunade-sama wanted the annoying airhead back was beyond her, just as it was why Sasuke had tried to get the obnoxious baka back in their lives since no one even cared about him to start with.

Kiba's huff of revulsion in apparent approval of Sasuke's fangirl wasn't lost to neither Neji nor Sasuke.

While Neji just shrugged it off, not caring about his teammate's opinion, Sasuke didn't say anything to contradict her he just continued to leap through the woods pretending he hadn't heard anything at all. He didn't want to get into an argument now, he needed his team concentrated and depending on and trusting each other. Discord just wouldn't do on a mission as important as this one was, no matter how much he wanted to stop and lecture Sakura to the ground about vessel of glutinousness and fortitude that was Naruto Uzumaki…or rather had been. He wouldn't even pretend to know something regarding the jinchuuriki's character after he hadn't seen him in five years. A lot could change in time especially when so much passed by in the world of Shinobi.

With his face set in a determined expression, he moved even faster, forcing his team to speed up to keep up with him.

-.-.-

They had travelled for three days with top speed and no interruptions (meaning enemy ninja trying to kill them) and were currently about twenty minutes away from the border of Hi no Kuni and that surprises even the Uchiha. The dense forest that was prominent throughout the land of fire had slowly but surely changed into a barren desert landscape, the air had become dryer and more heated. The sand dug with raw claws on their skin and the unaccustomed air they breathed was scratching up their nostrils.

Sasuke came to an abrupt halt as he recognized the two Shinobi that were close to clashing with them. They hadn't made a move to disguise themselves so Sasuke assumed that they had been sent by the Kazekage to lead them to their final place of operation.

"Uchiha" Temari's eyes were the same chilling blue they had been back then and Kankuro's body language clearly gave away that he definitely didn't want to stand around like that, clear visible for all sorts of attackers.

"Temari, Kankuro" Sasuke answered emotionless. "Lead the way" They both nodded their compliance and took off. Sasuke and his team followed as Sasuke made sure to be the closest to the blond Kunoichi in order to talk to Temari. Her stance told him that she was the leader of the team when Gaara wasn't around so she was the one that would give him the information.

She spared him a glance and without his request started talking. "They came in the middle of the night. One of them sneaked into the jinchuuriki's room but Gaara wasn't there since it was a full moon and he always is on the rooftop in such nights, so the intruder waited. When the vessel came back, he attacked him-"

"Why didn't he just knock Gaara out?" Sasuke interrupted.

"They apparently know that the Ichibi is able to take a hold of its jinchuuriki's body once they are unconscious or asleep. The sounds of their fight alarmed other ninja and they tried to interfere, but all of them got killed. We lost twelve very capable shinobi in that battle, Uchiha. But they didn't success in kidnapping Gaara, though I just can't wrap my head around the cause of their sudden disappearance. They seemed hell-bent on capturing Shukaku's vessel." Sasuke proceeded her words carefully and secluded all information.

"But how do you know their identities?" Sasuke asked after a while.

"We followed them" Kankuro explained from behind Sasuke. "It was one hell of a fight but we managed to escape, or more Itachi said they would let us go since we weren't the ones they are after. Naruto just complied."

"We also did not fight against Naruto, and Gaara refuses to tell against whom he fought. He just told us about the Akatsuki cloak."

"Hn" So Naruto's ability in battle was questionable. Given his membership in an organization with standards as high as the Akatsuki however it was safe to assume that he was at the very least Anbu level since Akatsuki's members all were S-rank criminals and therefore exceptionally stronger than a ninja with Jounin rank. That didn't necessarily equal in Naruto being a Shinobi of his brother's rank, oh it sure as hell didn't but it still made him a bit uneasy.

"Of course Naruto didn't fight! He is the loser and nowhere near our level in a fight" Sasuke gritted his teeth. "Sakura" his voice was cold as ice, "shut up. You of all people should know that time can change a person as well as training." Or in other words 'You were worse than him, so suck it up' just not as hostile.

Before Sakura could give a retort, Temari stopped and turned to them.

"This is where we lost them. I wish you success."

And with that, the Shinobi of Sunagakure were gone and they were alone in the middle of nowhere in a mixture of forest and desert.

-.-.-.-.-

Okay guys I hoped you liked it, let me know!

Thanks for reading!

~Dark