The Uchiha compound was in an uproar.

Itachi had arrived the day before last, after a four-month long mission, and had been looking forward to a full night of sleep in a comfortable bed. Unfortunately, that prospect had vanished when Shizune, the Hokage's first apprentice, had arrived to their household just before dawn, urging his parents and himself to meet with Tsunade-sama at the hospital.

Not ten minutes later, the angry voices of the Uchiha patriarch and of the Godaime Hokage could be heard throughout Konoha. As Itachi tried to ignore to furious yells of Fugaku, his father, he walked up to where his little brother was currently sitting. Sasuke had his back pressed up against a pile of pillows, but his entire body was tensed under the covers of his hospital bed. Other than a few cuts and bruises here and there, the worse of Sasuke's injuriy was his left leg that was in a cast. The most worrisome wound, on the other hand, was hidden under the thick white bandages that passed over his eyes. Flaring up his chakra to let is Otouto know that he was here, Itachi slowly sat at the foot of the hospital bed and inspected his surroundings. The room was a small white cube, with a single bed and a nightstand with an empty vase. As he was now, Itachi's back was to a window while he faced a door, behind which the irate voice of the Hokage could still be heard. On the far side of the room, to his left, Kakashi Hatake was leaning against the wall; the only sign of his distress being the fact that he wasn't reading that little orange book he was so fond of. On the right side of the room, slumped over in a chair, a very silent Naruto.

Itachi narrowed his eyes at the unmoving form of the otherwise energetic young man. The first time he had met the blond boy was when his little brother had been assigned to Team 7. The two kids had become inseparable friends, much to his surprise. After all, the Kyuubi vessel had a very loud, energetic and goofy personality while his brother had always been more reserved and serious. Then again, Itachi was glad to see that Sasuke had such a loyal friend that would watch his back when Team 7 was out on missions. Moreover, Hatake was their team leader. When the elder Uchiha had first entered ANBU at the age of 11, it had been the Copy-nin that had taken him under his wing and taught him what it really meant to be part of ANBU. Itachi respected the older shinobi greatly, and knew that his little brother was in good hands.

The only thing that wasn't adding up with the scene occurring in front of him was the fact that the fourth member of their little team, the pink haired medic-nin, wasn't around. His brother had always complained how his female teammate would become too much of a mother-hen when one of them was injured; but that only made Itachi smile because he knew that, deep down, Sasuke was a mama's boy and loved that kind of attention.

The elder Uchiha was snapped out of his musings when he heard the door of the room slam shut. Tsunade, a busty blond whose temper was as fearsome as her strength, had just entered the small room, taking in deep breaths in order to calm herself after her rather loud conversation with the head of the Uchiha clan.

"That insufferable man!", she mumbled between clenched teeth before taking in another calming breath.

Itachi kept a steady gaze on the Hokage as her angry features smoothed out, leaving only a serious front as she stood tall in front of them, her eyes resting on the bandages covering his little brother's face.

"Sasuke", hearing his name, his little brother's head twitched to the side, showing that he was listening, "with a few more healing sessions, your eyes should be back to normal. Until then, you are not to be using your Sharingan."

From the corner of his eye, he vaguely saw Sasuke nod his head once as his posture relaxed a bit at the knowledge that he would be able to see again. Itachi found it sad that his clan depended on their Kekkei Genkai so much, but made no comment as Tsunade-sama turned to Naruto, her arms crossed under her generous chest as she spoke with a steady but firm voice.

"Are you ready to explain calmly what happened, or do I have to flick your head through the wall again?"

At her words, Naruto slowly shook his head and kept his slumped over position as he answered, his voice strained with emotion:

"We travelled through Fire without any problem, but when we crossed the border into Iron Country, I picked up the smell of cadavers. After Sasuke activated his Sharingan for further inspection, we couldn't find anything amiss. So we continued towards the mountains, and entered the valley that would have lead us to the rendezvous point. Just before we reached our destination, the acrid smell of rotting flesh became really strong, and Teme couldn't feel a single living soul for miles, so Sakura suggested that we fall back, but…"

The Kyuubi vessel was clenching the orange fabric of his pants in a vicious grip, choking up on his words as sadness and anger came off him in waves. Itachi was surprised when it was his little brother that picked up the story.

"We were ambushed. They were over fifty of them, coming out of the ground and trying to chain us down with chakra sealing cuffs. But I hadn't been able to sense a single one. None of us did, because they had no chakra."

The room fell into tense silence as Sasuke's jaw clenches with frustration before continuing.

"They were moving corpses, armed with relatively new weapons, but no matter how much I searched for it, I couldn't find a single trace of chakra in them."

At Sasuke's words, Tsunade had begun to pace the room, nervously biting on her nail as she listened to the young Uchiha's description of their attackers.

"They held no distinct headband, but their shinobi gear seemed to date from the third war. We tried to strike them down, but they would just… regenerate. We couldn't destroy their bodies, and sealing their chakra was completely useless; they kept moving as if they never got tired, and they just kept coming at us. We were getting nowhere, and steadily depleting our energy reserves while they didn't. Naruto got caught by their cuffs, unable to open his chakra points, which he had been able to do when he had fought against Neji during our Chunin exam."

Sasuke's words were slow and steady, detached from the story as if doing so would make it fake.

"They slowed down when I cast a massive genjutsu, but that only lasted a few seconds. I knew I was straining my eyes, but Naruto had been taking a beating, so I told Sakura to take him and leave while I held them back."

His little brother was now gripping at the bed sheets that were covering his good leg, frustration clear on his features as he forced the next words past his lips.

"But Sakura knocked me out before I could cast another illusion."

Itachi heard an amused snicker come from Tsunade, but only pain could be read on her features.

As the room fell silent, Naruto stood up abruptly, making the chair he had been sitting on topple over. His head was still bowed so that his blond hair covered his eyes, and his fists were clenched tightly at his sides, but he still continued where Sasuke had left off:

"She had broken the chains holding me down, then knocked Sasuke out before smashing the ground from under us. The valley caved in, and that gave her enough time to get us out of there before things got anymore disastrous. I think I had a punctured lung, so she couldn't take us far, but she got us to a small cave. Once there she put up a few shielding jutsus and tended to my ribs before opening up my chakra points again, letting Kurama's chakra help with my healing. Teme was out cold with a broken leg, but I saw her heal his eyes before she told me to rest. The next thing I remember was waking up to Sasuke shouting my name because he couldn't feel Sakura's presence anymore… and because his vision was gone."

Naruto had come a long way from the obnoxious little boy that had only fooled around during the Academy years, and had become a great shinobi that the entire village respected. But at that instant, Itachi saw Naruto as the helpless boy that everyone said was too weak and dumb to amend to anything. The defenseless kid that was hated by the entire village without ever knowing why. Even his little brother, who had worked harder than anyone else just to get their father's approval and praise, looked completely defeated. Itachi could see the ghost of that small six years old boy, his shoulders hunched over and his head bowed towards the lake as his spirit broke when he hadn't been able to show Fugaku a 'suitable' Katon jutsu.

"We waited for her that night", Naruto's voice was laced with anger now, "but by sunrise she still wasn't back. I couldn't let Sasuke by himself, so I carried him out of our hiding spot, but the stench of rotting flesh was too strong for me to get a lock on her, and Sasuke couldn't see… So I ran back to Konoha."

The Jinchuriki's last words had come out as if he was disgusted with himself; he had abandoned his teammate. His body was tensed and shaking in anger, his head snapping up with bright blue eyes pleading at Tsunade's posed form. Konoha's Kage hadn't moved from her stance since she had stopped pacing the room, but was clearly not pleased with their story.

"Tsunade-baa-chan, we have to go back for her! Let me-"

"Shut up brat!" Snapping at him, it was now the Hokage's turn to glare down at Naruto as she cast a silencing jutsu over the room before talking again, frustration clear in her voice.

"Officially, this was a solo mission for you. Meaning that you were their target, Naruto. If they tried sealing your chakra, that means they wanted to capture you, not kill you. And to keep a Jinchuriki detained means that they needed to bring you back to a specially prepared base. Sakura probably figured that once you were caught, it would be very hard to get you out. Moreover, that would also mean that her and Sasuke would have been disposed of if hey had been caught. Keeping that in mind, she probably lured them away from you two so that you could get away, otherwise they would have searched for you relentlessly, and they would have caught you. But now that you've escaped, they will probably keep her as bait to lure you out."

"Than the more reason to go get Sakura-chan!", he stubbornly yelled back, almost whining like a child. At his words, even if Sasuke stayed quiet, he still nodded in agreement to Naruto's words. Itachi knew that the members of Team 7 had always been very close to one-another, but seeing the two boys going up against the Hokage just to go after a teammate, that was probably already dead, made him frown inwardly. They were ninjas. Losing your comrades, and accepting their death, was something they should be accustomed to. Then again, he could only feel a pinch of jealousy for the bond his foolish little brother seemed to have with his two other teammates.

"I can't let you go back", Tsunade answered, her tone definite, "They will be waiting for you, and if she sacrificed herself to get you two out, then there was probably no other option. I will not render her actions useless by throwing you back into the wolf's den."

Naruto kept his glare steady on Tsunade, but didn't dare to interrupt her. She was into her Hokage persona, and would have literally crushed anyone opposing her right now. Especially Naruto if it meant that it would stop the rash idiot from dashing out of Konoha to search for his pink haired friend.

"Moreover, we have no idea where she went. You three were right next to Sound's borders, I can't blindly sent out squads into Iron and Sound just to search for one Kunoichi-"

"It's SAKURA!", Naruto bellowed, fuming with rage as his canines sharpened in his anger, the Kyuubi making himself known.

"Enough!"

With that last word, Tsunade had smacked the wall next to her in anger, making it crumble to dust under her palm. The Hokage was shaking with fury, but only grief could be seen in her eyes.

Itachi then saw the shocked expression on Naruto's features, and the younger boy turned his gaze away from her, looking at his feet like a pouting child.

"I know that you are worried for her."

The Hokage's voice was raspy from all the shouting she had done, but the eerie silence that had fallen around them made her whispered words clear. After a few seconds, Tsunade cleared her throat and straightened her back, crossing her arms under her chest once more.

"A top secret mission between Fire and Iron has been compromised. Iron has always been a neutral country, and has stayed clear of all fights during the wars. Whoever attacked Team 7 waited for them to cross the border before ambushing them. It doesn't matter it they were shinobis from Iron or not, the treaty that Naruto was supposed to deliver is still in our possession."

Itachi drank up every detail his Hokage was giving them, having the feeling that he would be leaving for another mission before the end of the day.

"I have received a messenger hawk last night stating that the Ambassadors of Iron, the ones that should have met up with Naruto, had been found dead before even leaving Three Wolves Mountains."

Even if her voice was neutral, Tsunade's hard and steady gaze was back on Naruto, pinning the blond in place, daring him to try and defy her. When the Jinchuriki still made no indication of moving from his pouting position, she continued:

"I cannot send Naruto back, and Sasuke will be out of commission for a while."

In one swift motion that had her green robes spin around her, Tsunade turned around to face the bored looking Copy-nin.

"Kakashi, I'm going to need you to head for Iron, and deliver the Merchant Treaty to Mizune-san personally. I also want you to see what he has to say about this attack on his lands, and help them track down the bastards whom compromised this S-rank mission. You are to stay there as a diplomatic Ambassador until further notice. Nothing else."

The copy ninja slowly nodded his head, but his tense posture clearly said that he wasn't too happy with her not letting him go after his student. After all, tracking down people with his nin-dogs was one of his fortes. Then again, maybe that was also why he was being sent over to Iron, to track down the culprits.

Not stopping to acknowledge Kakashi's nod, Itachi saw Tsunade turn over to him. Her tone was as serious and indisputable as when she had given her previous orders, but a slight waver could still be heard in her voice.

"Itachi Uchiha, I want you to go on a recon mission, see if you can find a trail that would lead to the source of those 'undead shinobis'."

At her words, Naruto's head perked up, but the blond woman ignored him and turned around, ready to leave the room. Stepping over the rubble she had caused, the Hokage glanced back towards Itachi before adding in an off-handed tone:

"Of course, Uchiha-san, if you so happen to fall upon a comrade from Konoha, there's no need for me to add that I expect you to do your best in order to bring him back to us."

As the Hokage left the partly damaged room, Naruto was now closing in on Itachi, a stubborn frown marring his features. The elder Uchiha didn't have time to wonder what the younger man was doing when a finger was angrily pointed at his nose.

"Oi! Teme's brother, you better bring my Sakura-chan back, or I'll beat the crap out of you!"

Itachi slowly raised a single brow towards the loudmouth that was trying to threaten him, but it was Sasuke that answered, seeming exasperated with his best friend's antics:

"Shut up Dobe. If anyone can find her and bring her back, it's Aniki."

At his words, Naruto stomped towards the younger Uchiha, clearly riled up:

"What you call me, duck-butt?"

This time, Itachi saw the annoyance cross his Otouto's features, clearly not enjoying the nickname.

"I said-"

"Alright boys, lets calm down", Kakashi cut-in after having had finally crossed the room to stand in front of his two students. His voice was calm and composed, but the way his closed fists were still digging into his pockets betrayed his sour mood, "Naruto, I'm counting on you to watch over Sasuke while I'm gone. And Itachi-san, I'm counting on you to bring her back."

His last words were somber, but the Copy-nin tilted his head to the side, watching the elder Uchiha with his good eye. When Itachi only nodded his promise, Kakashi vanished in a cloud of smoke.