Title: The Difference Between
Series: Naruto
Rating: T
Genres: Drama, sorta-angst, adventure, romance.
Warnings: Crack, swearing, shounen-ai, shojou-ai, hetero, authoress running away with the canon?
Verse: Canon Redeux.
DHC: Hahaha another chapter. Beware the crack in this chapter. Other than that, I hope you enjoy! This chapter is dedicated to my dear friend, Jamie. Because without her, half of my ideas wouldn't get written. Thanks! -herat-
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Tsunade was sitting at her desk doing paper work, itching to have a drink of sake when Kakashi, Yamato, Sai, Naruto, Sakura, and Itachi appeared.
Her eyes widened and she stood up quickly.
"Kakashi! Explain."
Kakashi rubbed the back of his head, and instead, Naruto stepped up.
"Baa-chan, calm down. I'll explain why Itachi's here."
The woman untensed just a little before nodded and sat down slowly. Sakura had ahold of Itachi's arm and he looked worse for wear, he would sway every so often. Naruto glanced at him, meeting Itachi's eyes.
The Uchiha nodded his head slowly. "Go ahead, Naruto-kun..."
Naruto turned back to Tsunade. "We were fighting against an Akastuki member with an orange mask. Suddenly he began talking about Sasuke. When I demanded an answer, he... He pulled me into a Sharingan-genjutsu.
Tsunade gasped. "An Uchiha?"
"I will explain after Naruto-kun's tale," Itachi spoke up quietly.
Naruto nodded. "He told me that if I didn't hurry, Sasuke would get away. Sakura and I took off in the direction he told me. When we got there... There was much destruction, but they'd taken Sasuke. We found Itachi there, dead."
Tsunade's brows rose. "Dead?"
Sakura spoke up. "Hai, Shishou. He was dead, but his chakra networks had not shut down completely. I reconnected them and gave his heart a jolt to revive him."
"I told her to, Baa-chan. I thought, we better know more about this guy. Since Itachi's an Akatsuki, he'd know. And... He knows Sasuke best."
The blonde woman sighed, rubbing her forehead. She was, however, inwardly impressed at Sakura's medical ability. It was coming close to rivaling Shizine's and her own. She was proud of that.
"Very well. Continue with the story, Itachi. Who is this other Uchiha?"
Itachi's face shadowed for a moment before he nodded. "Let me begin with a small tale, if I may..."
------
Tsunade's expression twisted. "So you mean to tell me, this being is Uchiha, Madara?"
Itachi nodded slowly. "It is hard to believe, but his chakra is potent, he is indeed alive, I assure you.
Perhaps not alive like us, but he is still existing."
The woman reached under her desk and pulled out a bottle of Sake and a tumbler glass. She poured herself some to the top before knocking it back with a sigh. "And you're saying Madara has Sasuke. But what for?"
"He has a sinister plan to take over this world and overthrow it into a false state of stillness. He sees it as peace, but all it is, is madness. It would never be true peace."
"Elaborate, Itachi. How does he plan to do this?"
"I am not sure of the details, but he plans to sync with the moon by using the Juubi. He wants to release all of the Bijuu to revive the Juubi and become its Jinchuuriki. When he plans to sync with the moon, he wants to cast and reflect his Eternal Mangekyou off of the moon, casting an eternal Tsukuyomi so the fighting will cease and he will control everyone."
Tsunade's eyes widened. "That must not happen at all costs!"
Naruto was nodding along with her. "There's no way he can achieve that!"
"I think he plans on using Sasuke to recover the rest of the Bijuu because of the hypnotizing powers of the Sharingan. No doubt that he will have the Mangekyou now, too. Since I technically did die." Itachi murmured, sighing slightly.
"Then we must recover Sasuke at all costs." Tsunade replied grimly, pouring herself another glass of sake and downed it as well.
"It is my fault that he is the way he is, please allow me to help, Hokage-sama..." Itachi replied, getting down on one knee as he bowed to her.
"I betrayed my family, my village, but I still remain loyal to the Hokage as an ANBU. If you look in the Third's private files under the sixth scroll, you will find the answer you seek about me. If you've any questions about my loyalty, that will settle it."
Tsunade frowned for a moment, before she snapped. "Shizune!"
The young medic-nin ran in. "Yes, Tsunade-sama?"
"Bring me Sarutobi-sensei's private files. I must confirm something."
"H-hai! Right away!"
The woman turned back to the still-bowing Itachi. "Stand," She ordered.
He slowly rose to his feet and stared at her calmly.
After a long moment, Shizune returned with a box that was marked with the Sandaime's signature.
Tsunade stood and sifted through the scrolls and papers slowly. Once she reached the sixth scroll, she pulled the paper underneath it. She let her eyes scan the contents.
With a startled gasp, she looked up to the still-calm looking Uchiha.
The others around looked confused.
"Is this true, Itachi?"
"Yes. I murdered the Uchiha Clan under orders of the Council and the Sandaime."
The soft gasps from Naruto, Sakura, Yamato, and Shizune didn't go unnoticed. Kakashi's brow furrowed. So that was the reason it was so hushed up.
"Afterwards, Madara took me into the Akatsuki. I loved the village, I'd seen war when I was four. I
never wished for it to happen again. I chose the sake of my village over the selfish ideals of my family. I just...couldn't kill my otouto. He was innocent. I beseeched the Sandaime to protect him."
Tsunade slowly sat down, still reading over the paper and listening to Itachi's words, letting them sink in.
"Itachi..." Naruto began softly.
"Do not give me your sympathy, Naruto-kun. I do not deserve it. Look at what I have done to your best friend, my own brother. I love him more than anything, but I turned him into something terrible."
Itachi replied, looking down at the blonde haired boy.
"You were doing what you thought was best! You can't be blamed for that. And even if you don't want my sympathy, I cannot help but feel it. Because for me, I wish with all my heart I truly had a brother that loved me like you love Sasuke." Naruto replied solomnly, eyes downcast. It made most of the members inside of the room's heart squeeze.
"Naruto-dono... Did you not say that we were family, no matter of blood relations?" Sai questioned softly, breaking the blonde out of his small self-depression. A small, but bright smile came to his face.
"Yeah, I did. You're right, Sai. We're family. And as of right now, we still have one family member missing that we need to get back. Cell Seven isn't complete without the local teme."
Kakashi gave a light chuckle and even Sakura managed a smile. Sai gave one of his weird unblinking smiles and Yamato merely grinned.
Itachi observed in silence, amazed at the blonde's strength of will, unflinching, unbreaking. In a way, he was jealous of his brother. And at the same time, angry. How could his foolish brother throw away something so precious as this person's friendship? It was pure and untainted. He could remember the days he had idolized Shisui, but that was an entirely different matter.
A knock came to the door and brought everyone's attention back.
Tsunade cleared her throat. "Come in."
The door opened and Naruto's eyes widened. Three figures he wasn't expecting to see were at the door.
"G-Gaara!"
The redhead stepped into the room, accompanied by his two siblings. He nodded to the blonde boy, but his eyes were locked with the onyx-eyed Uchiha.
"Itachi-kun..." Gaara murmured softly, voice holding an odd vulnerable sound to it.
Temari and Kankuro shifted, looking a little apprehensive at this entire situation, surprised to see the S-Class missing nin, and also anticipating what the outcome would be.
"Gaara-chan." Itachi responded, just as softly.
The redhead approached the dark haired male, and the other didn't move an inch.
Catching everyone off guard, the Kazekage fell forward into the tall male, arms winding around him in an embrace, hiding his face in their chest. To which, even more surprisingly, the Uchiha returned the simple embrace.
Everyone stared in silence.
"Uh... What the hell?" Naruto asked.
"You've returned?" Gaara asked, voice muffled against the material of Itachi's shirt, ignoring the blonde's question.
"Yes," Itachi responded, hugging the redhead tighter, in a slight possessive way that didn't go unnoticed by several of the members of the room.
Gaara pulled away after another moment, regaining his composure as he turned, and pulled a large scroll out of nowhere and approached Tsunade's desk. Wordlessly, he handed it to her.
"I've known Gaara since he was a child," Itachi spoke, as a way of an explaination to the clueless people of the room.
"I was sent to assassinate him, but I... I could not. I would not kill an innocent, Jinchuuriki or not. Instead... Instead I protected him. I killed all of the other hunters that came after him."
Gaara nodded his head, eyes going a little glossy in memory. "Itachi-kun was my only friend back then... When he left... I turned cold."
"I'm sorry, Gaara-chan."
"There was a reason you left, even if I hadn't understood it then. You needn't apologize."
Tsunade began to read the scroll. "You all are free to leave. Kakashi, Yamato, please stay and give me a report. Itachi... Please keep a low profile for now."
The elder Uchiha nodded and turned. Gaara took his arm immediately, like a lost child almost.
Itachi glanced to him, before he nodded. They made their way past Temari and Kankuro, who split apart at the door for them. Slowly, one by one, the members of Cell seven left, minus Kakashi and Yamato.
Temari came out after them, leaving Kankuro to stay, but she was smirking because she knew she was gonna win that 50,000 ryo. She dissappeared in a poof of smoke to go off to find her favorite Hyuuga heiress and pester her.
-----
"What should we do for now?" Naruto asked as he, Sai, and Sakura made their way down the street. Itachi and Gaara had made their way off towards the direction of the Uchiha district.
"Good question..." Sakura replied, getting a thoughtful look.
Sai only hummed as a response, he had his sketchpad out and was sketching avidly into it.
"Wanna go get something to eat first? I'm hungry after all that travelling!" Naruto grinned.
Sakura laughed. "Alright, alright. Ichiraku's?"
"YEAH!" Naruto cheered and immediately began a bee-line for the ramen stand.
When they got there and had sat down and ordered, Sai proudly held up his sketch.
It was of Gaara and Itachi locked in a liplock, looking rather passionate.
Sakura's eyes bugged out, and Naruto stared in a comical fashion.
"What the hell, Sai?!" Naruto demanded.
"Well... I couldn't help but notice how close those two seemed... I could see some foreign emotions I'm unfamilliar with in their eyes and so I thought..."
Sakura blinked. She hadn't really noticed anything, but that was because she'd been too shocked at seeing Gaara of all people hugging Uchiha, Itachi.
Setting away his sketchpad, their ramen arrived and they began to eat. Several minutes later, Temari was walking down the road, her arm looped through Hinata's, a fine blush was on the smaller girl's face and Temari was grinning widely. She gave them a wave.
No more than thirty seconds afterwards, a high-pitched, shrill scream came echoing in the direction of the Hokage tower.
Looking up towards the sky, she barely made out the miniscule shape of her brother sailing through the air at high-speed. She started laughing. "Yup. He owes me 50,000 ryo now."
"U-Um... F-for what?" Hinata asked.
She grinned evilly. "Oh, I bet him that he couldn't go an hour without pissing Tsunade off in some way or another. He probably made a perverted crack at her. Idiot."
The girl blushed even brighter. It was mostly a low-kept secret, for obvious reasons, but Tsunade was in a relationship with Suna's puppet wielder. How, when, or why was mostly a mystery. Tsunade herself was tight-lipped about it, and Kankuro would just shrug and make some lame excuse that no one believed.
The council elders would have heart attacks if they knew, and the ancestors were probably rolling in their graves...which, now that Hinata thought about it, was probably why they were doing it. Those two were never one for tradition.
"Anyway, let's go, Hina-chan. We wouldn't want to miss our nice appointment at the hot spring~" Temari sing-songed and began to lead the girl down the road again, making the heiress blush even brighter as they disappeared from sight.
"If this keeps up, Temari's gonna be so damn rich she could buy her own country," Naruto chuckled as he slurped up his ramen.
Sakura snorted. "I kind of doubt Kankuro has that much money. But I agree, she's definitely going to be richer by the end of this trip they're on."
Sai looked thoughtful. "I still don't entirely understand why Kankuro-san is involved with Tsunade-sama... She's much too old for him."
"Love is a fickle thing, Sai." Sakura replied with a shrug.
"Yeah, look at Shino and Ino. That came as one hell of a surprise." Naruto pointed out.
"Hm... If you say so, Naruto-dono." Sai replied.
It was a mostly peaceful afternoon for everyone in Konoha, only disturbed by the minor outbursts from Tsunade which sent random objects--including Kankuro--flying out the window, but, all was looking a little brighter than they had before.
TBC