Naruto was training when he received the information.

Kakashi appeared in the trees.

Naruto stood straight and looked up at Kakashi.

" We have some news." Kakashi began.

" We?" Naruto asked, but his question was quickly answered as Sakura appeared behind Kakashi.

After the whole situation with Asuma and Kurenai was explained to Naruto, he sat down and got lost in thought. "Poor Shikamaru, Chouji, and Ino. Though it's probably the worst for Kurenai since she's…" he shook his head and looked up at his teammates who were, in turn, looking at him. " Wow," was all he could mutter.

Kakashi nodded in agreement to Naruto's speechlessness. " The funeral is probably going to be this Friday."

Naruto nodded, and stood up.

Kakashi looked into the sky and broke the silence, " Well I have to go, I'll see you two later." And with that, he left the two of them alone.

After Kakashi left Naruto raised his head and looked at Sakura, " Want to go get some ramen or something?" he asked, ready for a rejection.

Sakura sighed, " Sure, but you're paying, and it's not a date."

Naruto nodded to the conditions and they discussed the sad situation on their way to Ichiraku's ramen stand.

They ate in silence at the ramen stand. It seemed that everyone knew. Although Naruto loved ramen, he was eating unusually slow that day.

Halfway through their meal Iruka came in. Naruto turned around in the middle of eating a particularly long noodle so it hung from his mouth. He quickly gobbled it up and greeted his former sensei. Hey Iruka-sensei."

" Hey Naruto, Sakura." He replied and sat beside Naruto. Iruka sighed. " So you heard the news too?"

All Naruto and Sakura could do was nod. Iruka too was disturbed by the news. " Team 8 is over at Kurenai's right now."

Naruto lifted his head as he slurped up another noodle.

" You know Naruto," Iruka began, " the others don't want me to tell you this, but you kids aren't stupid so might as well tell you know."

This stirred Naruto's interest; Sakura too listened intently.

" Well," Iruka began, then closed his eyes as he said, "he was killed by two Akatsuki members." Iruka opened his eyes to see Naruto and Sakura's reaction, and found them both staring at him in surprise.

It took a while for it to fully register in Naruto's mind, but when it did, he felt so uncontrollably angry.

Suddenly Naruto stood up, causing the chair to go flying. " CRAP!" he yelled out. He was just so mad! Naruto quickly paid for the ramen and ran. He ran to the forest where he could unleash his anger. Akatsuki! This was probably his fault! It was always this damn group, Akatsuki.

Sakura was stunned as Naruto suddenly left. She sighed; she knew all too well about Naruto's connection to Akatsuki. Iruka was upset that Naruto would take it this way, but the boy did have a short temper. He decided he'd give the boy some time to calm down, and then go talk to him.

Naruto was so mad! He punched a tree, and his fist ran straight through. He was just so pissed! Naruto could feel the kyuubi stir inside of him. He had to unleash all this anger somehow! "Rasengan"! He repeatedly attacked the ground with rasengan, but he could still feel the anger welling up inside of him. He cried out in frustration as he kicked a nearby tree, leaving a large dent. The red chakra was coming out, but he didn't care. Akatsuki needed to die! Naruto raised his arms above his head and brought them down to the ground, causing a massive uproar, even though he was still in the no-tailed stage. He repeated it over and over again until the path in front of him was ten meters deep and 50 meters long. He panted heavily as his body began to absorb the red chakra again. He sat down on a fallen log and lay his head in his hands.

Iruka chose this moment to approach the boy. "Naruto can be scary when he has a tantrum." Iruka thought with black humor. He went up to Naruto and placed a hand on his shoulder. He was surprised when Naruto heaved with a sob. Iruka sat beside him and kept him company as he wept.

Somehow, Naruto felt it was all his fault. They were probably after him. Why was it that he was bringing more harm than protection to the ones he loved?

Omnomnomnom

Tobi disliked the looks all the Akatsuki members gave him. He followed closely behind Deidara, who also kept throwing him strange looks. " Tobi is scared…" he said and looked up into Deidara's eyes, who quickly turned away. " Tobi stay here. Un." And Deidara left him in the middle of the room while he went off somewhere.

" Tobi is scared…" he said again as Kisame ran away and hid behind a corner. Zetsu was hiding behind the couch, staring at him. Itachi, meanwhile, was sitting casually on the couch and studying Tobi. Hidan and Kakuzu were out for the day, so Tobi had two less people to worry about. Suddenly Pein and Konan entered the room with Deidara hiding behind them.

Pein looked at Tobi, who was in some way cowering in the middle of the room. " Leader-sama… Tobi is scared." He said feebly. Pein looked around the room. Kisame ran away from the corner and down the hallway. Zetsu just sort of blended away… Itachi remained sitting on the couch, undisturbed. Deidara bravely took a seat beside Itachi, but was clearly seen shaking. Pein sighed. " Alright emergency meeting here. Now."

Kisame came back, wielding Samehade, and Zetsu blended back, and closed himself up, only leaving a crack open. Pein rolled his eyes, and Konan observed the members with no expression on her face. " Now this is just silly." Pein began. " You're all cowering from Tobi for god's sake! It's TOBI! I mean it's not like he bites!"

All the members squirmed uncomfortably on the couch, except for, of course, Itachi. Pein sighed, " Well if this isn't going to work, I'm temporarily changing your partners. Tobi you'll be partners with Itachi, and Kisame you'll be with Deidara." With that he nodded and walked away with Konan following closely behind. " There better not be any more trouble." He said, and then left the room.

Tobi was still whimpering in the middle of the room. Itachi still showed no emotion on his face. Kisame wasn't sure whether to be really disappointed or really relieved that he wasn't stuck with Tobi. Deidara was absolutely ecstatic. " Well I'm off. Un." He said and aimed to get as far away as possible for now. " Ah, me too…" Kisame said lamely and walked out the door. Zetsu just sort of blended out… Tobi was left in the room with Itachi.

Itachi continued to study Tobi. " Tobi is really a good boy Itachi-sempai…" Itachi didn't flinch at being called " Itachi-sempai" but was disturbed inside. He stood up and brushed some lint off his Akatsuki cloak. " Oh-no! You're not going to leave Tobi too, are you?" Tobi said in a sort of weird sitting position, making him look like a poor lost puppy.

Itachi rolled his eyes. " Well we're partners for now so I don't really have much choice but to hang around y-" Before he could finish Tobi leapt up and hugged Itachi. " Yay! Itachi-sempai is nice! Deidara-sempai is mean! Tobi is a good boy!" and with that Tobi looked into Itachi's eyes.

Normally Itachi would have just pushed him off, as he'd done so many times with Kisame, but he happened to glance at Tobi's mask, and noticed a red glint in Tobi's eyehole. He grasped Tobi's head and looked deeply into the eye.

Tobi felt awkward in that position.

Itachi searched for that red glint; he searched for a while, but finally gave it up as a trick of the light. He dropped Tobi to the floor and walked off.

" Hey, Itachi-sempai! Are you leaving Tobi?" Itachi sighed.

"Come Tobi." He said. Now he knew how Deidara felt.

Omnomnomnom

After Hidan and Kakuzu came back, the rest of the Akatsuki members that were spooked by the recent event gathered. Around the clearing stood Deidara, Kisame, Kakuzu, Hidan, and Zetsu.

"This is absolutely crazy! Why are we hiding from that little kid?" Kakuzu exclaimed.

" Well for starters he almost killed me! Un."

"This is absolutely crazy, nonetheless. Yeah, it's obvious that Tobi may have a bit of an MPD but at the moment he's just the happy joyous fool he always was."

" Ya I agree with Zetsu. I mean, we all thought he was annoying till yesterday, and all of a sudden we're scared of him? And the poor kid doesn't even remember anything! I say we should just go back to the normal teasing." Kisame declared.

" Easy for you to say. Un. You weren't the one he was choking. Un."

" Oh my gosh you fucking pussy, toughen up you shit! This is the little bastard you were fucking bitching about yesterday! Now you're just fucking acting like a stupid asshole."

Deidara flinched at the comment, but knew he was right. The group fell quiet and didn't look into each other's eyes, knowing that they'd only see fear.

" Well I'm off. Yes we're off. We can't be seen hanging around with losers like you." And with that Zetsu kind of blended away.

Hidan and Kakuzu left without another word, and left Kisame and Deidara.

" What do you think Itachi-san is doing with him?"

" Who knows? Un. I just hope he's killing him." Kisame didn't nod, but deep down inside he was agreeing.

Omnomnomnom

Tobi sat on the couch while Itachi paced the room. Could he have been wrong? Was that red glint just a trick of the light? He turned his head to fix Tobi with another look. Tobi squirmed. Suddenly Pein entered the room.

" Alright Itachi you'll go on a mission with Tobi. Go gather information from Konoha, but leave the kyuubi alone, understand?"

Tobi nodded vigorously and jumped up and down on the couch. " Yay! Tobi is going on a mission with Itachi-sempai!"

Itachi just sighed and walked out the door.

"Wait for Tobi!"

After a while of running through the forest (and Tobi looking at every pretty flower he saw) they settled down for the night. Itachi made a fire while Tobi was busy chasing fireflies. After they had eaten, Itachi observed Tobi while he was catching fireflies. Then Tobi cried out in pain, " ARGH! TOBI IS HURT, TOBI IS HURT!" and went down on the ground, scratching at the hole in his mask.

Itachi came up to Tobi, and was about to take off his mask when… " Ahh, Tobi got the firefly out of his eye!" and then leapt up and went over to the fire where the fireflies seemed to stay away from. Itachi was still wary about his new partner, so he stayed awake as Tobi fell asleep. Itachi was expecting him to sit up as the evil one, like before, but Tobi remained asleep. Itachi shrugged and also went to sleep.

Omnomnomnom

Tobi and Itachi reached Konoha a few days later. Tobi was too excited to sit still. " Konoha! I seem to remember this place…" he trailed off, then shrugged it off as amnesia for some other village. Itachi was always watching Tobi closely. The two of them sat on a tree branch when,

"BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM!"

Tobi was startled. " Wa! That scared Tobi!" "

" Come." Was all Itachi muttered, and ran off.

" Wait for Tobi!" The two came to a clearing a few minutes later, where they saw Naruto beating the ground. " Ah, Tobi doesn't like that boy."

Itachi studied Naruto a little while longer. " That's the Kyuubi boy, we better not mess around here." On that note, Itachi ran off again.

" Wa! Wait for Tobi!"

A new sort of team had formed. It wasn't perfect, but they were definitely working together. Itachi and Tobi.

A/N: edited  so after you guys suggested it quite a few times, I decided it was time to take you guys up on your suggestions… so the story will be edited then I'll try releasing a chapter once a week  not sure how long this editing thing will take though… I'll have at least 2000 words in each chapter 