"WHAT?"

"Kakashi, are you CRAZY?" Naruto shouted after he and Sakura recovered from their initial shock. "This is just a kid! How could he be Itachi Uchiha? Have you gone mad?"

Kakashi shook his head as he studied the necklace. "I don't know what happened, but this is definately Itachi. If the face wasn't enough of a giveaway, this necklace proves it." He held up the necklace to prove his point.

"But that's impossible!" Sakura cried out. "How could Itachi just be turned into a kid?"

"Stranger things have happened," Kakashi said vaguely.

"What happened?" Shino asked as he and Yamato appeared leapt from the cover of the trees.

"This mission is cancelled," Kakashi ordered. "We need to get back to Konoha now."

"What is it?" Yamato questioned.

"I'll explain later," Kakashi replied. He said in a lower voice, "Sakura, Naruto, I want you two to keep quiet about this for now. We don't want the village to know before I have a chance to report this to Tsunade." Kakashi casually wrapped up the necklace and stored it in his side pouch as he spoke.

"Right," Sakura and Naruto nodded, still confused.

"Is someone going to tell us what just happened?" Kiba's annoyed tone broke in.

"We're taking this kid back to the Konoha," Kakashi answered simply as he scooped Itachi up. "Sakura doesn't have the proper medical supplies with which to treat him."

"So why don't we just drop him off at one of the nearest villages?" Shino pointed out. "You could even just send Sakura and Sai to Konoha if it's that big of an emergency. Why cancel the mission?"

"I'll explain later," Kakashi replied shortly. "Yamato, we need to leave now." He didn't know what events had led to an eight year old Itachi being left injured in the clearing, but he didn't want to take any chances of losing the kid. For eight years they had hunted for Itachi. There was too much danger involved to let him get away now, even if he had been mysteriously reverted to a child.

Yamato nodded curtly in understanding. He knew Kakashi would explain later. Whatever Kakashi had discovered was extremely important as well as something he didn't want everyone to know about.

"Wait a moment."

The group of shinobi started and turned at the deep voice.

"You," Yamato's eyes narrowed as an orange masked akatsuki member stepped out onto a tree branch.

Tobi gave him an indifferent look before turning to face Kakashi. "That belongs to me. If you want to walk out of here alive, I suggest you put it down."

Kakashi tightened his grip on the young Itachi. "No."

"No?" Tobi's gravelly voice took on a dangerous tone. "Do you have any idea who you're dealing with?"

"You can't have him!" Kakashi said in reply. "Naruto, Shino, Kiba! Keep him away from Sakura!" He quickly handed Itachi to the pink haired shinobi as he spoke. "Sai, Hinata! See that she gets back to the village!"

"Right, Kakashi!" Hinata responded as she activated her byakugen.

"Fools!" Tobi hissed. "You have no idea what you're up against!"

"Now!" Kakashi shouted as he activated his sharingan.

Kiba and Ahamaru ran forward together as Yamato prepared his wood attack. Sakura raced away from the scene, holding tightly to the limp bundle in her arms. Sai and Hinata flanked her, each prepared to meet any upcoming attacks.

Despite the fact that numbers were against him, Tobi evaded capture without breaking a sweat. He easily dodged Kiba and Ahamaru's spinning attack, only to meet up with Naruto's rasingan. To Naruto's dismay however, his attack was futile. His hand passed right through the Akatsuki member, followed by the rest of his body. Tobi didn't even flinch. Yamato immediately set up his move, winding multiple planks of wood around Tobi until the Akatsuki member was effectively trapped. Suddenly Tobi disappeared, reappearing just below the branch.

"I'm growing tired of this," Tobi growled. "Get out of the way."

"Now, Shino!" Kakashi ordered.

The hooded shinobi was instantly surrounded in a cloud of dark insects which swarmed towards Tobi. The insects covered the rogue shinobi from head to toe, keeping him immobile as Yamato prepared his next attack. Without warning the insect swarm dissapated. Tobi was gone.

"He's going after Sakura!" Kakashi realized.

An black and orange blur signified that Naruto was already on his way.

...

Sakura didn't dare look back as she darted through the trees, Hinata and Sai close behind. Itachi Uchiha. She was holding Sasuke's older brother. The thought sent chills up Sakura's spine. The great Itachi Uchiha, one of the most feared Akatsuki members and the murderer of the Uchiha clan, now lay as a helpless child in her arms. Sakura's mind couldn't understand it. What had happened to Itachi?

More importantly, did Sasuke know about it?

"I told you not to mess with me!" The attack came out of nowhere, and Sakura cried out as something slammed into her from behind.

Itachi slipped from her arms and rolled to the ground where he lay motionless, still wrapped in Naruto's cloak. Sakura dashed forward, only to be thrown backwards by another attack from Tobi. Sai and Hinata teamed up against the Akatsuki member, holding him back for a few crucial seconds before they too were defeated.

"I got him!" Naruto's voice shouted cheerily as he grabbed Itachi and leapt into the tree branches.

Sakura bit back a few choice words at her teammate's idiocy. Why did he have to shout it out to the whole forest?

"Naruto, get out of here!" she cried out.

"Too late!" Tobi shouted as he slammed a fist into Naruto's cheekbone. Itachi flew out of Naruto's grasp as the blond jinchuriki fell off the tree limb. Naruto hit the ground with a crash and tumbled head over heels until he hit a log. Tobi reached out faster than Sakura could blink, catching Itachi with ease.

"Fools," he growled as he held two fingers towards his mask.

"Kiba, stop him!" Kakashi yelled as he and the other ninja arrived.

Kiba had been ahead of the group, and was merely feet from Tobi by the time Kakashi appeared. Before the brunette ninja could reach Tobi however, a swirl of chakra appeared in front of the Akatsuki member. Just as Kiba's fingers brushed the edge of Tobi's cloak, the man disappeared, taking young Itachi with him.

"No!" Kakashi shouted as he skidded to a halt. Sakura's shoulders slumped in defeat.

Kiba sighed. "All right, can somebody tell me what was so important about this kid?"

"It doesn't matter now," Sakura said softly. "We're too late." It's just like what happened with Sasuke.

"We're not too late, Sakura. Not this time." Naruto smiled as one of his clones stepped out from behind a tree. In his arms was Itachi.

"Naruto!" Sakura cried out in ectstacy. "How did you do it?"

"I replaced Itachi with one of my shadow clones after you fell," Naruto bragged. "That guy didn't even realize it!"

"ITACHI!" five voices chorused as the other shinobi stared at the trio in shock.

Kakashi slapped his face. "Bright, Naruto."

"All right, would someone please tell me what's going on here?" Kiba demanded.

Shino folded his arms and Yamato's brow furrowed as they waited for an explenation. Sai, for his part, actually allowed the slightest hint of surprise to register on his face.

Kakashi sighed. "All right. I didn't want anyone to know about this until I had a chance to speak to the Hokage, but its obvious that I can't hide it from you guys. The kid is Itachi Uchiha. We don't know what happened to him, or how it might have affected him. All we can do is get him to Konoha and let the Hokage deal with him."

"That's Itachi?" Kiba asked incredulously. "You've got to be kidding!"

"Look, I don't understand what happened myself," Kakashi said. "What I need you guys to do is keep this a secret. We can't have anyone know about it."

"How long do you expect to be able to keep it hidden?" Yamato pointed out. "It'll only take one person to recognize him before your secret is blown."

Kakashi nodded. "That's why I'm going to let Tsunade deal with it. For now at least, we need to get moving. It won't take long for the Akatsuki to realize their mistake with Naruto's clone."

"Kakashi... what about Sasuke?" Naruto asked in a quiet voice.

Kakashi shook his head. "I'm sorry, Naruto, but this is more important right now."

"And we're wasting too much time talking about it for that matter," Kiba added. "Let's get out of here before that guy gets back!"

Kakashi nodded his agreement and leapt into the trees, the others following. Sakura paused a moment to remove her cloak and wrap it around the still unconscious Uchiha. Feeling oddly protective over the young child, she wrapped her arms tightly around him to make sure he wouldn't fall again, then ran to catch up to her teammates.

...

"I'm getting worried about him," Sakura said softly as they stopped to rest for the night. Gently she tipped Itachi's head back and poured a few drops of water into his mouth. His throat swallowed instinctively, but still he didn't wake.

"He hadn't stirred since we found him," Sakura mentioned to Kakashi as Naruto put several packets of instant ramen into the pot held over the fire.

Sakura poured some water onto a square of cloth and folded it over the young Uchiha's forehead. A quick check showed that Itachi's pupils were still dilated, a sure sign of a concussion. Sakura hoped that it wasn't too serious. Although a hit to the back of the head was the least dangerous when it came to brain damage, there was still a chance he had been seriously hurt.

"He'll be fine no doubt," Shino commented. "From what I've seen, it takes a lot more than that to kill an Uchiha."

Sakura said nothing as memories of Sasuke filled her mind. How much longer could things go on like this? Would Sasuke always be one more step ahead of them?

Sakura's thoughts turned to the events that had occured that day. What would Sasuke do if he saw his older brother in this state? Would he take his chance for revenge, even if it meant killing a helpless child? Sakura's face was troubled as she considered this. It was strange. All her life she had offered to help Sasuke with his revenge, if only it meant she could be with him. Now that she was faced with the object of Sasuke's hatred, she could only feel compassion.

"What are we going to do now," Sakura whispered absetly as she stared into the distance.

A small sound escaped Itachi's lips, snapping Sakura out of her musings.

"Itachi?" she asked softly as she checked the Uchiha's temperature. Itachi's face was hot to the touch, and he moaned softly as his head turned to the side.

"Itachi, I need you to open your eyes for me, okay?" Sakura coaxed as she lightly tapped a finger against the boy's face.

"Hey, is he waking up?" Naruto looked up hopefully from where he was stirring the pot of ramen.

Sakura held a finger to her lips and continued urging the young boy. "Itachi. Come on, I need you to open your eyes. Can you do that for me?"

Her persistence was rewarded at last as Itachi's eyelids opened a slit.

"There you go," Sakura smiled. "You've been really sick," she explained softly, forgetting for a moment that she was speaking to an Akatsuki member and not a child. "We were all really worried about you."

Itachi stared up at her with confusion clouding his unfocused eyes, then slowly let his heavy eyelids fall.

"Uh-uh," Sakura said in a quiet tone as she tapped his cheek again. She knew how dangerous it was for a concussion victim to be allowed to fall unconscious right away. "You need to drink some water first, 'kay? Then I just need you to stay awake a few minutes."

Itachi's eyes focused a moment and Sakura could swear he was glaring at her. Then the same lost expression took over as his eyes roved the camp. Itachi blinked rapidly as though trying to clear his vision.

"You probably can't see too well, huh?" Sakura commented. "Don't worry," she added to Itachi's questioning glance, "It's just a side affect of the concussion. Your eyesight should return to normal in a little while."

"How's the casualty?" Kakashi asked as he walked over, his book tucked under his elbow.

"He'll be all right," Sakura said encouragingly, more for Itachi's sake than for anything else. "Here," she said as she gently lifted the Uchiha's head and dribbled some water into his mouth.

Itachi swallowed a few times then closed his mouth tightly, indicating he didn't want any more. His eyes still held that same lost expression as he stared at the ninjas surrounding him. Sakura made a mental note to give him some memory tests later on.

"Easy now," Sakura whispered soothingly as Itachi winced and squeezed his eyes shut. He curled into himself as though trying to block out the world.

Kakashi's eyes narrowed as he looked towards the instant ramen simmering over the fire. "It's the food. It's probably - "

"Hey, Sakura, you want some ramen?" Naruto asked as he bounded over with two steaming bowls. "It's not like Ichiraku's but it's still - "

"Naruto, get that away from him!" Sakura shouted as the overpowering scent of ramen filled the area.

But the damage had already been done. Itachi's eyes widened and he rolled to his knees, only to fall over again as his concussion threw off his balance. Sakura quickly helped him up as the boy finally lost the battle with his nausea. Having eaten nothing but a few sips of water, he could only dry heave for a few minutes. It was a pitiful sight, and Itachi looked so miserable that it was only for the sake of sparing the Uchiha an even worse headache that kept Sakura from screaming at Naruto for his inconsideration.

"Aw man, I'm really sorry, Sakura!" Naruto apologized profusedly as Yamato and the others hustled the ramen away from the immediate vicinity.

Itachi lay panting on the ground, his tiny body shaking with exhertion. He looked up at Sakura with the most pitiful, confused look on his face, and her heart went out to the boy.

"It's okay," Sakura whispered as she began rubbing circles onto the Uchiha's back, a method often used to help children fall sleep. "Everything's going to be all right. You'll see. Shhh. Everything's okay."

Itachi curled up again, the large black shirt swathing him in an almost humorous fashion. Sakura picked up her white cloak from where it had fallen to the ground and carefully tucked it around the boy. Itachi's stared at her, his gaze questioning. Then he squeezed his eyes shut and pulled the cloak over his head.

Sakura shook her head sadly and let him be. Hang the Akatsuki and the crimes written against them. This wasn't a murderer she was dealing with right now, but a lost and frightened child. Sakura wasn't sure what to expect once Itachi's concussion passed, but she silently vowed to protect him as long as he needed her.

...

Aw, poor Itachi! I just got this idea out of the blue and it's already making me feel sorry for him. Please review!

Disclaimer: I do not own the Naruto plotline or characters.

Something you might want to take note of:

If you like this story, I would suggest you leave a comment of some sort (even an "I like this story" will work). Right now this story is in direct competition with my star wars fans, and I will update one story or the other depending on reviews.

So if you want a quick update, let me know you like the story. If not I'll just update as I can. :)