Summary: First 9 chapters are being completely revamped as of April 2011. A new enemy rose against Konoha. Tsunade was killed trying to save Naruto, who then lost control of Kyuubi killing all the enemies and destroying a part of Konoha in the process. Danzou seized his opportunity to became Rokudaime and put Naruto into prison hoping to turn him into a weapon. Meanwhile, Team Hawk is sent to Konoha to capture the nine-tails before Pein can get to it. But Sasuke has a plan of his own. What happens when he finds out about the new Konoha and Naruto? When faced with the man behind his nightmare, what will he choose to do? Eventually SasuNaru

Warning: Possible spoilers for current manga chapters if you're not keeping up.

Disclaimer: Obviously if I'm writing fanfiction, I do not own Naruto.

Seeking Vengeance and Finding Absolution

Chapter 3 - Home Truths

(Edited 4/15/2011)

Karin, Suigetsu and Juugo followed their leader as Sasuke climbed rock and walked into a damp cave. They could hardly see a foot in front of them, so their only option was to listen to the sound of Sasuke's feet, which wasn't as easy as it sounded. The Uchiha was practically the epitome of silence.

Suigetsu was actually alright with that because it forced Karin to remain silent. And if there was anything he appreciated these days, it was a reprieve from that woman's voice.

They weren't sure how far they had gone when Sasuke stopped. They stopped just sort of colliding with him. Then they waited while he did a small katon jutsu and lit a torch that he had in his hand. Then he took the torch and dipped it slightly into what looked to be water, but was actually some kind of flammable liquid. It ignited and bright orange flames moved swiftly down the side of the corridor, illuminating their path, much to their satisfaction. Sasuke returned the torch to its place and walked on without a word to his companions. The others fell in step behind him. The four followed the line of dancing flames, going deeper into the caves and winding through narrow pathways until they finally reached a room that seemed big enough to fit a small army. It was completely empty except for the stone chair on one end. Red and white fans – the symbol of the Uchiha Clan - dotted the floor, ceiling, walls, even the one seat in the room, though the colors had faded over time.

"Where are we?" Karin finally broke her silence while she slowly turned around the large room. Suigetsu rolled his eyes and answered.

"Where the hell do you think we are? There's clues all over the room, you know. Idiot."

"Was I even talking to you?" She glared at her teammate and raised a fist as a warning.

"Does it look like I care?" Suigetsu drawled and gave her a dismissive look. Karin screamed in anger and was just about ready to launch herself at the mist nin.

"Silence, or I'll kill you both." A monotone voice interrupted her plans to maim the annoying teammate. Sasuke turned a full force glare on both of them before he turned away and dropped his supplies into a corner. "This will be our hideout until the mission is completed."

"OOH...it's almost romantic!" Karin gushed and looped her arm into Sasuke's.

Sasuke glared, but she didn't - or refused to - notice and he seemed to be having a hard time pulling his arm away from the fangirl without the use of excessive force. Suigetsu snorted at Karin's pathetic fantasy. She heard it and glared at him with venom for his interruption of said fantasy.

"Well...it would be if HE disappeared," she continued.

"Yeah you go ahead and live in that fantasy world of yours. I'm not going anywhere." And to emphasize his point, he plopped down on the floor and made himself as comfortable as one could get on solid rock, with his sword lying next to him. Sasuke also sat down next to his pack. Karin looked down at him first, then looked over at Sasuke and quickly decided exactly where she wanted to sit.

"Sasuke-kun?" He didn't even glance up from his work. "It's SO uncomfortable on the floor. Can I sit with you?" '...or on you?'

He flicked his eyes to her for an instant before looking away. "No."

Karin sighed and found a spot of her own. Still, she arranged herself as close as she could to the love of her life without making him angry. Juugo had already silently found his spot. It wasn't long before all of them were settled in. Karin tossed each of them a ration bar. Suigetsu frowned at the unappetizing meal. Then he looked over at Sasuke who seemed to be deep in thought.

"So, what's the plan?"

Sasuke looked up. He grabbed a scroll from his pack and spread it out on the floor. The others came closer and looked down at the large sheet.

"This is a map of Konoha. Here," he pointed to a spot, "is the hokage tower." He pointed at different parts of the map in succession. "These are the larger clan compounds. And these here are the slums." He pointed to a section on the other side of the map. "This is where N- 'Naruto' the Kyuubi-vessel lives. At least it was where he lived when I was last here."

Suigetsu threw a quick glance at Sasuke. He didn't know if anyone else had caught that slip, but he sure did. There was something more to this jinchuuriki, he was sure of it. Sasuke was always the perfect picture of calm. He never slips or stutters.

Their mission just might end up a bit tougher than he thought.

"You have your official papers from the mizukage..." Sasuke continued. The mist nin smirked and nodded in confirmation. The leader of Akatsuki, because he used to be mizukage, still had ways of being able to get official papers drawn up. He didn't tell...and Suigetsu sure wasn't about to ask. He wasn't stupid enough to think he could rival the kind of power the leader seemed to have.

"Good. The three of you will go there tomorrow. Security shouldn't be a problem since you have papers. It has always been pretty easy to get through anyway. Konoha always has been way too open and trusting. Scope things out, find the vessel, and watch him for a couple of days. Then come back and report." All three of them nodded.

"Karin?"

"Yes Sasuke-kun?"

"Your job is to take care of getting food."

"Anything for you Sasuke-kun!"

Suigetsu rolled his eyes and gagged. He wanted to heave. If he'd have asked her the same thing, she'd have gone on a rant about not being his woman/maid/whatever other term she'd come up with. This girl was certainly a piece of work.

It took quite a bit of control to keep Sasuke from shuddering at her obsessive tone. He was reminded of a pink haired fangirl from so long ago. It wasn't a good memory.

Suigetsu listened to Sasuke who was tossing and turning. Normally, even if the stoic ninja couldn't sleep, he'd be so quiet you'd still think he was asleep. A few minutes later, he saw Sasuke get up and leave the room. Whether it was the village or the jinchuuriki on his mind, either way, Sasuke was showing his anxiety, which wasn't good for any of them. It only took him a few seconds after the Uchiha left for him to decide to follow. He stood up and stretched the kinks from his limbs and followed him at a slow pace. It wasn't like he cared much about him in particular, but whatever was in his head needed to be dealt with for the sake of the mission.

He found him at the mouth of the cave staring out at god knows what. He knew that Sasuke knew he was there. It wasn't like he was all that quiet about following him anyway. He stood next to the dark haired ninja and looked out at, well, nothing. Finally, he sighed. He guessed there was no time like the present to say what was on his mind.

"So, Sasuke...who is this jinchuuriki to you?" Sasuke never even turned his head.

"No one."

"Right... Then why are you here instead of sleeping?"

Sasuke turned his head, just slightly, and glared at his teammate.

"Or is it being back in this village that's got you out of sorts?" Sasuke snorted at this.

"I could care less about this pathetic village. Why are you asking me stupid questions?"

"Why aren't you answering them?"

"Go away Suigetsu."

Suigetsu grinned. "But you haven't answered my questions."

"And I won't. Now go."

Well, the mist nin never was much for following orders when he didn't want to, so he stayed where he was. "Look, Sasuke. I don't really care about any of this stuff. I don't care why you hate your village, I don't care what your relationship is with anyone in that place. And I don't care why you want to follow that creep of a relative of yours. The three of us don't follow him. We follow you. For me, it's one big adventure...fight it out, spill some blood, grab some swords...it's a prime chance to hack some random people apart. But him...I don't trust him one bit. He reminds me of the snake and that's enough negative vibes for me to want to steer clear of him. But I don't, because it doesn't matter what I think as long as you trust him."

Sasuke still stared ahead, but Suigetsu could see his eyes narrow. "I don't trust anyone."

"Then why the hell are we here? Why are we doing this?"

"To get the Kyuubi vessel-"

"Which happens to be someone you know."

"Leave it alone Suigetsu." Sasuke said sharply.

He shrugged and raised his hands in a placating gesture. He knew when to stop pushing. "Hey, it's your show. Do what you want. But if you're going to do this, don't let whatever it is that's bothering you get in the way." With that said, he turned away and walked back down into the cave.

Sasuke never moved, but he heard Suigetsu walk away. He knew the nin was right...he was avoiding the questions. Being back here was disturbing the calm demeanor he tried to keep. Stupid memories of his family and so-called friends were assaulting him to the point of restlessness. He he hated being anywhere near Konoha.

He clenched his hands into fists. He had already broken all his bonds. There was nothing left in that village for him. So why was he so bothered? More specifically, why did visions of a blond ex-teammate haunt him when he closed his eyes? Why did he feel like his family's souls were upset with him? Damn this place! His eyes flashed red. The sooner he got away from Konoha, the better. He would avenge his family. Once this mission was complete, he wouldn't step foot near this place again unless it was to tear the village apart for destroying his family.

With that final thought, the avenger spun on his heel and walked back down into the darkness.

Loud knocking woke Kurenai from her sleep. She first tried to sense if there was a threat. She frowned slightly at who she sensed at her door and quickly pulled on a robe as she rushed to the door, hoping the baby didn't wake from all the noise. It was hard enough to get the little one to sleep the first time. She didn't want to have to go through the process all over again. She peeked through the hole just to make sure she was right before opening the door to the Godaime's secretary.

"Shizune? What are you doing here?"

"Kurenai, I'm so sorry to wake you at this time of night. But I really need some help. I couldn't think of anywhere else to go at the moment."

Kurenai opened the door wider and waved her inside. "Come on in. I'll try to help you if I can." Shizune nodded and stepped inside, Ton Ton in one arm and a couple of big bags in the other. The genjutsu specialist hadn't noticed the other woman's hands were full until she opened the door fully. The darkness had also hidden the light red streaks that marked trails of tears that must've fallen earlier. Her eyes widened. "Shizune, what happened? What's with all the stuff?"

Shizune placed her bags by the door and slipped out of her shoes, but she never let go of the pet pig. In fact, she held onto it like it was the only thing holding her together. Kurenai took the distraught woman by the elbow and guided her to the couch.

"I'll be right back. I'm going to get you some tea. After that, we can talk." Shizune nodded and gave her a slight smile, though it didn't reach her eyes.

"Thank you."

Five minutes later, Kurenai returned with two cups of hot tea. She placed one in front Shizune. The other she held in her hand as she sat down next to the somber secretary. She said nothing for the moment and allowed the poor woman a chance to calm down. After a few sips, Shizune sat the cup down and sighed.

"Danzou kicked me out."

"What?" Kurenai was surprised. Not so much that he did such a thing, but that he would do such an underhanded thing in the cover of night.

"Surprised? I'm not...not really. It's just it would've been more polite if he'd done so before all of Konoha was asleep." Shizune sighed and finally raised her eyes to the woman next to her. "Kurenai, I know this sounds like a strange request. But do you mind if I stay here...just for tonight? I won't be any trouble, I promise. I'll just take the couch. I'll find somewhere else to stay tomorrow."

Kurenai placed a hand on her shoulder before she could keep rambling. "Sure you can stay. And don't worry, you can stay as long as you need to. That is, if you don't mind being disturbed by a baby every once in a while."

That got a smile from Shizune. "Oh…oh thank you so much! And I don't mind babies at all. But, are you sure you don't mind Ton Ton?"

"Well, from what I've always seen of him, he seems pretty well behaved. As long as he stays out of trouble, it won't be a problem. Just keep him out of the baby's room.

"Sure, no problem. Oh Kurenai, thank you. I don't know what I would've done."

"Don't thank me...what kind of kunoichi would I be if I didn't help a friend in need. Make yourself comfortable, I'll go get a pillow and blanket for you." Kurenai left to get what she needed to make up the couch. It also gave her a moment to think. She wasn't surprised that Shizune was no longer needed. Danzou was sure to fill that position with a member of Root. Having Shizune removed when there was nowhere for her to go was probably meant to be one final snub to Tsunade. That man was despicable.

By the time she was back in the living room, Shizune was on the couch putting some folders back together. "You can do that tomorrow you know. Why don't you get some rest? I'm sure you could use it."

"Actually I'd rather take care of this now before I sleep."

"Suit yourself." Kurenai shrugged and left the pillow and blanket on the side of the couch. "What is it anyway?"

"Oh, just a couple of important files."

"As in personnel files?"

Shizune nodded while Kurenai looked at her in confusion. "Wouldn't those be in the hokage's files?"

"Normally, yes. You see, I overheard Danzou planning to burn these."

"So you stole them?"

Shizune shrugged. "Better that then for the truth to be hidden forever."

"What do you mean? What truth?" Kurenai eyed the two folders as she sat back down next to her. "Uzumaki Naruto and Uchiha Itachi?" The red-eyed kunoichi had a feeling things were about to get very complicated. The fact that Danzou wanted to burn Naruto's files validated everyone's assumption that he had something to do with Naruto's disappearance. But why would he want to destroy Itachi's file? He was a missing nin, everyone knew that. What could there be to hide?

"Yes. Since the day she became hokage, Tsunade suspected Danzou of foul play, though she could never find any evidence of it. So she kept a few things in her own personal files just in case he ever tried anything. These two files are probably the most important things she kept. He won't know it, but the files he plans on burning are dummy files. She made copies a year ago that only have partial information. These," she gestured to the fat files on her lap, "are the real files."

Now Kurenai was curious. But another question kept her hand from reaching out just yet.

"Are you sure he won't notice?"

"He'll be too busy celebrating being in power and destroying the truth that I doubt he'll even look beyond the name on the file folder."

Kurenai nodded and stared at the files in front of her. What could be in those files that would make Danzou want to destroy them and make Tsunade go through the trouble of keeping them away from Danzou? She took the Uchiha file and placed it on her lap. She hesitated before flipping open the file and reading the first page. It was typical shinobi identification information. Name, rank, number, skills, etc. The next few pages outlined his medical history. She quickly perused them, but found nothing out of the ordinary. It wasn't until she started reading the next few pages that her attention was drawn. First, there was a note from the Sandaime and then a document signed by him and the elders. Slowly her eyes got wide. Soon her mouth dropped open in shock at what the two documents had just revealed. "Uh…Shizune?"

"Hm?"

"Do you know what's in these files?"

"No, I have no idea what's in Uchiha Itachi's files. Only what's in Naruto-kun's. Why?"

Kurenai didn't bother answering. She held the two documents up to Shizune's face. Shizune gasped as she read. "Is this really true?" she asked in a small voice her eyes wide.

"The seal and signature is unmistakable. It's definitely the third's. And if Danzou's so interested in getting rid of evidence, this only proves that it must be true. "

"But, if this really is true…"

"Yes…I know."

Neither was able to say anything else. Both females sat engrossed with their own thoughts on what this really meant for Konoha...even more for the individuals it affected. No wonder Danzou wants Itachi's file gone. If this information ever got out, it would change everything. Kurenai knew there was no way she would be getting any sleep now. She was wide awake and if she was going to be awake with her thoughts, she might as well finish reading. She started on the next document.

"Uh…excuse me, Kurenai?" Shizune tried to stifle the yawn that escaped her.

"Yes?"

Shizune twisted her hands and gave a little laugh. "Uh…I'm kinda tired."

"Oh…yes, sure you are. I'm sorry. I'll let you sleep. I'll finish reading this in my room." She got up gathering the folder in her arms.

"Kurenai, I'm not so sure that's…"

"Oh, don't worry, I'll take good care of it." She replied with a soft smile. "I'll give it back to you in the morning. Now, get some sleep."

"O-okay. Thanks again for letting me stay here."

"You're welcome. Goodnight."

"Goodnight."

Kurenai checked on the baby first before going back to her room. She sat on her bed and turned on a small reading lamp on the nightstand then stared at the large file in front of her. If she made it through this one tonight, she could check out Naruto's file in the morning. This had just become her self-appointed mission. It wasn't out of just curiosity, she felt she had a duty to learn the truth. Especially in the case of Naruto. If her reading his file meant that they would be able to find some way to save him from whatever fate awaited him, then she would do it. And then she would tell what she learned to their small group of Naruto supporters.

She had a feeling the next late night meeting would be quite interesting when she shared this information. She sighed and pulled the next document. 'It's going to be a long night.'