Disclaimer:I still don't own Naruto, and Masashi Kishimoto still does.

Reviews please! And thanks to those who have reviewed, I really appreciate it

And I don't mind critics either, so please tell me if I've got something wrong or if you have

any improvements that I should/could make or ideas for me, I'm open to suggestions XD

Here's the next chapter for you, but after this it might take a while unless I get a sudden boost of inspiration and just have to write, 'cause I have several exams and large tests coming up the next weeks...

Random talk: I've listened to Anberlin almost the whole time whilst writing this chapter, for some reason they're my latest music addiction – they're really good though, you should check them out XD

Enjoy!!

Chapter 4

Kakashi was pacing his living room; not knowing what was wrong with Naruto was extremely frustrating, much more so than the jounin had thought it possible. What the heck is up with that boy he thought to himself, I hope he's not doing something stupid...

Getting tired of walking the same track over and over in his small living room, the silver haired male decided to do something - he had to get the blonde out of his thoughts. After a moment of thought he left his apartment; soon to appear at the door of one of his many lovers, greeting her with a long passionate kiss before he proceeded to lift her up, kick the door shut and carry her into the bedroom. He had to forget about Naruto for a while, and he didn't care how, he just had to get the boy out of his thoughts.

That night, no matter what he did or what his lover did to him, there was a certain, blonde shinobi that Kakashi just couldn't get out of his thoughts. The young male in his thoughts annoyed him to the extent that after mere hours he excused himself, saying he had to leave to get some sleep for the next day's training, he and Yamato had agreed that Kakashi would be in charge of training the team for a while, Yamato would still be the one to go on missions and such with the team, at least until they had a clue of what was wrong with Naruto.

As soon as he got home Kakashi slumped down on his sofa, his mind working on overdrive to try and figure out what was wrong with his former student. For a long while he contemplated whether or not he should talk to Jiraiya about it – he knew that the sannin wouldn't tell him what Naruto was hiding, but he hoped that he'd at least get a clue as to what was wrong with the boy, and finally decided that he'd track down his favourite author when he got back to Konoha next week and talk to him.

--

Naruto was sitting on his bed, bandages, antiseptic and a pair of scissors lying on the bed besides him. When Kakashi had grabbed his hand earlier his cuts, which the Kyuubi wouldn't heal, had reopened, so now he had to fix them up again. He had just taken off the old bandages and was about to clean the cuts and put on new ones when the scissors entered his mind. They just looked so tempting, lying there on his bed, waiting for him to pick them up. And he did.

He wasn't as careful this time as the first, he didn't see the need to as he pushed the sharp steel edge of one of the scissor blades into the skin on his forearm until it pierced it, the blood trickling slowly from the wound as he pulled the scissors across his skin. It hurt, but that was what he wanted – needed – to forget about his emotions.

After three new cuts, all the new ones much deeper and longer than his previous seven, Naruto cleaned his wounds and bandaged them before he pulled of the bloodied covers and put on some new, clean ones. He didn't want people to know, that wasn't why he was doing it, he just wanted for the hurt to go away. By the time he was done changing his bed the bandages were soaked in blood, but it was drying now. He carefully removed the dirty bandages, not wanting to reopen any more cuts than necessary, then put on new, clean ones.

As it was almost time to get up anyways, Naruto decided that he'd just pull an all-nighter, sleeping for only a couple of hours would just make him even more tired come morning, so he put on a new black t-shirt and a once-used pair of his trademark orange pants, throwing an orange jacket around his shoulders, and went to the kitchen to get something to eat – which translated into cup ramen, since that was all he had- before he headed to the bridge where he waited for three hours before his teammates arrived, then another two for Kakashi to show.

--

"Ko-ni-chi-wa, Naruto!" Sakura exclaimed happily as she arrived at the bridge minutes before their scheduled meeting time. She was in an unusually good mood, probably because her date with Neji the night before had gone well, Naruto thought. Although the pink haired girl still had feelings for her runaway teammate, she was working hard on getting over him, and Neji had happened to be just the person for helping her with that. They'd been dating for approximately four months now. The blonde had no clue how such a person as Neji could handle being with someone like Sakura, but he knew it wouldn't be in his best interest to ask, so he kept quiet.

"Good night yesterday?" he asked her dully, not really caring, but knowing that if he didn't ask he'd have to hear her happy-chatter all day long, and he really didn't want that.

"Mhm. Neji took me out to this new place and..." Naruto had learned to channel out anything he didn't care to listen too, and simply nodded and oh'ed every once in a while to seem interested. Meanwhile what he was really thinking of was what Kakashi would say today, or if he would say anything at all regarding the events of yesterday.

As the clock struck 9 am Sai appeared with a poof in a cloud of grey smoke, he had made a habit of always being on time, not a second earlier or later.

"Hello, team" the pale boy said in his normal, emotionless voice, Naruto turning to face him as Sakura just kept on chattering away.

"Sai" Naruto merely said in acknowledgement before he turned to stare out over Konoha again. Sai looked at the blonde, he was no longer the same person he'd met when he first joined the team one and a half year ago, or at least he seemed different. The boy back then had seemed happier, much more spirited, the person in front of him now was just a shell of the Naruto from back then – and compared to the boy he was before Sasuke ran away this person was not even a shadow – he was so changed, and not for the better, Sai thought.

"You look tired" Sai stated the obvious as he observed the dark circles under Naruto's no longer lively, but rather dull blue eyes, and how the blonde's whole persona seemed exhausted.

"Yeah..." Naruto wasn't sure what to say, he was running out of decent excuses.

"Did you stay up late last night?" Sai offered, there was some sort of understanding between the boys, a strange friendship that no one really understood but them. Both of them had had bad experiences in the past, neither of them really wanted to talk about it, so they let it be. It worked just fine.

Naruto smiled, thanking Sai for not prying any further, "Yeah, I had some... stuff to take care of."

The two boys remained silent for the remaining time until their sensei arrived, both thinking about different things, Sakura going on and on about her date in the background.

--

"YOU'RE LATE AGAIN!" Kakashi flinched as Sakura's voice reached his ears, he was sure his eardrums had ruptured from the volume. For being so small the girl sure could yell.

"Maa... I'm sorry, but I found a lost bird and had to help it find it's nest..." Sakura stared at Kakashi in disbelief, this man was the famous copy-nin, Sharingan Kakashi, and yet he could not come up with a better excuse?

"LIAR! You're lying!" Sai and Naruto had gone a safe distance away when they saw Kakashi arriving, the two were currently looking at the ongoing situation in amusement.

"But I'm not lying, Sakura..." Kakashi enjoyed annoying his students, it was what he found most amusing about being their sensei.

"Never mind that," Sai walked closer to the two, both of them shutting up in surprise. "Can we start training now?"

"Sure, where's Naru..." Kakashi suddenly noticed the figure standing some meters away. "Oh, Hi Naruto, are you coming?" The jounin, who was holding his Icha Icha book in one hand, used his free one to wave at the blonde boy leaning against the rail at the end of the bridge.

"Mm, I'm coming, I'm coming" Naruto put on his mask again, both he and Kakashi knew it was just a facade, an act to the outside world, but the others didn't have to know that.

As the four were standing on the bridge Kakashi briefed them on the missions of the day, then they headed out.

--

The clock was nearing 5 pm as team 7 arrived at Ichiraku's, Kakashi had told them he'd treat them to a meal before their last 'mission' of the day. So far they'd chased down three runaway kittens, helped out with training at the academy and helped the Akimichi clan find some ingredients they needed for a new sort of soldier pill they were working on (forgive me if I'm wrong, but the Akimichi clan – Chouji's family – work with medicines and such, right?) an easy day, but once they finished eating they had some real work to do. For now, though, all members of the team were happy to just eat and relax. Naruto and Sakura were both busy trying to get a glimpse of Kakashi's face as he ate, or for Naruto's part pretended to be, when Sai spoke.

"So," The black haired boy looked at Kakashi, the silver haired male looking up in response. "You haven't told us what the next mission is yet."

"Ah, yes, there was that. Well, it's a reasonably simple C rank, but we'll be gone all night, which is why we're eating now." Kakashi smiled at his team, who all seemed confused.

"Wait, what? What's the mission?" Sakura sat up straight in her chair and poked her team captain in the shoulder. "Why are we doing it at night anyways?"

Kakashi turned his head to Sakura as she spoke, he hadn't really noticed earlier, but she'd changed too. She wasn't the squealing, selfish, annoying fangirl she used to be – she too had matured. The pink haired girl had become a great medical ninja after training with Tsunade for so long, she'd also gotten rid of that horrible selfishness she used to possess, which in turn led her to be less annoying and better at understanding people. Her voice had not changed though, he thought, it was still as piercing to his ears as ever.

"Oh, I wanted to give you a surprise" Kakashi smiled, in truth he'd just forgotten to tell them what the last mission was about, but it shouldn't be a big deal anyways, it was only C ranked. "Listen up, you too Naruto," Kakashi ruffled the blonde's hair to get his attention, the two others were already looking at him, but Naruto seemed to be lost somewhere in his own thoughts.

"Hm. What?" Naruto looked up, he'd been too busy trying to ignore the burning feeling from cuts on his forearms to pay attention, a pained expression came to his face as he lost his focus, but he regained his posture in less than a second.

"Did you stay up late, Naruto? You look tired." Naruto nodded his head, he knew he'd have to listen to his sensei lecturing him later, but for now he was off the hook since the rest of the team was there too. "I'm going to brief you about the mission now, so you better listen..."

It took about 10 minutes for Kakashi to explain their nightly mission. Team seven had been hired for the mission by the owner of a small antiquary in Konoha. The man, Matsumoto Jiro, who had requested the team especially, possessed a certain scroll – He said it was a one of a kind which contained information on the 9 demons – which, some days in advance, he had received a letter about. The letter, which Kakashi showed had showed to his team whilst explain, said that unless Matsumoto met the sender at a clearing in the forest about 10 kilometres outside of Konoha and handed over the scroll tonight at midnight his family would be in danger. The mission was basically to protect Matsumoto and keep the scroll safe, and also to capture, or if necessary kill the person trying to steal it.

The group and Matsumoto-san had agreed to meet at the southern gate at 7.30 pm and head out as soon as all of them were there. It would take them somewhere around two and a half hours to walk all the way to their destination, but since they left so early it would leave them approximately two hours to prepare.

At 7.30 Matsumoto, and team 7 minus Kakashi had showed, which came as no surprise to any of the aforementioned, Kakashi was, after all, famous as much for his lateness and laziness as for his skills. Within 5 minutes, to everyone's surprise, Kakashi showed, this was the closest he'd ever been to being on time.

"Wow, sensei, you're almost on time, are you sick or something?" Sakura walked over to her team captain and pretended to check if he had a fever.

"Nah, but there were surprisingly no little animals to help, and the way here was quite easy, so I managed to get here on time..." Kakashi trailed off as he looked at the blonde boy who was standing at the gate, his back leaning against the wall – Naruto had been even quieter than usual today and Kakashi couldn't help but wonder what was the matter with the boy.

"Shall we go, then?" Matsumoto's voice ended the strange silence that had engulfed them all. The small man walked through the gate, Naruto immediately following him, not saying a word. Sai looked at his blonde friend with concern before he too started moving. Kakashi and Sakura formed the back troop, walking together with Matsumoto-san and Sai and Naruto were on guard, patrolling from up in the trees.

--

They arrived at the small clearing twenty minutes past 10, only a little behind schedule, and started getting ready for the real mission. All four shinobi and their employer were wearing headsets so they could communicate as team 7 had already taken their positions up in the trees, now all they had to do was wait.

Time passed slowly as they waited for their target to arrive, and there were only minutes left till he was supposed to show. Suddenly, when there was only five minutes left till midnight, the four Konoha shinobi picked up on a foreign chakra.

"Help..." Sakura's voice was heard across their radios before a strange, crackling noise took over, the three remaining shinobi sharpening their sense, Matsumoto stayed put.

"Well, Well, Team 7, haven't I waited to meet you for quite some time?" A familiar voice came across their radio transmitters. Naruto froze as he realized who the voice belonged to, this was not good.

"No way..." Naruto whispered to no one in particular as his body gave an involuntary shiver.

"Yes way. It's me. Long time no see, Naruto. Kakashi you too, Sai, I don't believe we've had the pleasure of meeting." The cold, emotionless voice again sounded over the radio, this time Kakashi also recognized it.

"Itachi... What are you here for? This isn't about the scroll, is it?" Naruto sounded colder than either Kakashi or Sai had ever heard him before, neither of them knew this side of him.

"No, you figured that much, huh? You've grown, Naruto-kun. Last time we met you were just a knucklehead ninja, your time with Jiraiya must've paid off..." Naruto froze, how did Itachi know what he'd been doing for the past years?

"Itachi, what are you planning on? What's the reason for this?" Kakashi's voice was loaded with anger, last time he'd seen the man he'd been trapped in the Mangekyo Sharingan, now he wanted revenge.

"Well, I suppose you've all heard of Akatsuki, right? Well, we're... Conducting an experiment, one could say, and we sort of need Naruto to complete that experiment. Oh, by the way, Matsumoto down there, that's not really Matsumoto, he's dead, this would be my teammate Kisame. You guys should learn not to trust people so easily, really..."

"Get to the point, Itachi, why do you need me?" Naruto sounded almost as if he didn't care when he spoke.

"Well, point being, me and dear Kisame down there know where all of you are, and I've got your dear little Sakura-chan here, I can kill her whenever I want seeing as she's unconscious – she might be one hell of a medic nin for all I care, but she's really bad at noticing things around her – anyways, Naruto, if you come with us we'll leave her here alive, if not then it's bye bye Sakura. What do you say, hm?" Now it was Kakashi's turn to freeze, he knew what Naruto's answer would be, and he had no idea how to stop him. He was about to say something when he heard Sai's voice across the radio.

"Naruto, I already know that you are going to do it, but it's stupid. We'll come for you, though, promise."

"Thanks, Sai" Kakashi couldn't believe what he'd just heard, was Sai just going to let the blond go.

"Naruto..." He was broken off by the blonde's voice.

"I'm going, Kakashi. It doesn't matter if they get me, hell, people will probably be happy about it. Itachi, once I go down to Kisame you drop Sakura down in the clearing, ok? If not I'll have to put up a fight, and that'll be unnecessary for all of us."

"Hn" It wasn't much of a reply, but the signature Uchiha grunt was enough of a yes for Naruto as he jumped out of his hiding spot and down to the strange person standing down at the clearing. Once he got down Kisame took Naruto's radio, along with his own, and crushed them.

"'Atta boy, Naruto." Itachi jumped out from his position in the trees and threw Sakura to the ground. "And here's your girl, Kakashi, She's unharmed, just sleeping like a princess." With that Itachi also took out his own radio and threw it at the pink haired girl lying mere meters away from him, then he smirked.

Kakashi and Sai both remained silent up in the trees as they carefully watched what was going on down on the ground.

"Kakashi, too bad we didn't meet face to face this time, but I'm sure we'll meet again in not too long, and then I'll fight you. I want to kill you with my own two eyes." Itachi Talked loud enough for Kakashi to hear, an evil grin plastered across his usually stoic face as he spoke.

Naruto, who had just been standing there, suddenly turned to face where he knew Sai was hiding. "Sai, you better keep that promise, 'cause I don't really want die some stupid way... I gotta get back Sasuke AND become hokage before I can die, you know." All of a sudden Naruto collapsed, Itachi gracefully picking him up from the ground and holding the teen bridal style, it took all of Kakashi's willpower not to jump down to the clearing and do something stupid. The copy nin wondered how Sai could stay so calm even in these situations.

"Don't worry, Sharingan Kakashi, Naruto's just sleeping, Kisame gave him a little sedative when he jumped down here, it's not the Mangekyo if that's what you thought, he's so cooperative I didn't have to use that" With that and an annoyed grunt from Kisame the duo, and Naruto, disappeared in a cloud of smoke – caused by smoke bombs, Kakashi thought - and Sai and Kakashi both arrived at Sakuras side to check on her.

A few minutes passed before Sakura woke, slightly dizzy but nothing else was wrong with her.

"What happened...?" Her voice was confused as the asked. "Where's Naruto?"

Kakashi quickly explained the situation to her, when he was done she was hitting herself on the head over and over for having been to careless, tears running down her cheeks for knowing it was her fault they'd gotten Naruto.

The three remaining members of team 7 discussed what to do for some minutes, finally settling on a solution. They still had two intact radios; Sakura, who was still a bit out of it, would take one. She would return to Konoha and report the situation, then get more shinobi to help out in the search. Kakashi and Sai would take the other radio. They would also follow Naruto and Itachi's trail, the faster they could find them the better.

As soon as they made sure Sakura was ok to get back to the village on her own the three shinobi split up and ran into the night.

--

Itachi and Kisame were running through the woods, they had a long ways to go.

"Damn, this would be so much simpler if the brat was awake, can't you just wake him – it's not like he's gonna run anyways..." Kisame had been nagging Itachi for quite some time about waking Naruto and letting him walk himself.

"I suppose you're right. God knows what they've done to him in that village, but I sure don't mind, cause it's made our job a lot easier."

It took a few minutes after Itachi injected him with the antidote to the sedative he'd been given earlier before Naruto completely regained consciousness. He looked around him for a while before he noticed the two males that were standing around him, the memories of earlier that night coming back to him.

"Where are you taking me?" Naruto didn't care what they did to him. Kakashi hadn't even tried to stop him, he didn't care. Naruto didn't know why, but every time he thought about the male his heart skipped a beat, it was as if he was trapped in a dream that someday Kakashi would care for him, but he'd long since resigned himself to that that day would not come, so he didn't care what happened to him anymore.

"Wait and see," Itachi looked into his eyes, but instead of the sharingan Naruto expected there were only onyx eyes looking into his blue. "Just wait and see."