The Last Hope-Revised

This is the revised version of my story the last hope as you can tell from the title… Contains spoilers up to chapter 367 including Yondaime's real name.

Summary: (Post Sasuke Retrieval) after failing to bring Sasuke back, Konoha blamed everything on Naruto. In blind anger, Naruto ran to the only place he could think of the Akatsuki! Gaara, after hearing the news joins his only friend. Neji, fallen into the hands of Orochimaru, earns the biggest secret of the Hyuuga clan.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto and I am not making any money off of this

"Speech"

'Thinking'

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On to the story!


Ch 4

General POV

The entire population of Konoha was in an uproar. The three "unfortunate" chunins found themselves to be the center of attention after the news of the return of four of the most infamous missing nins along with the Godaime Kazekage and the death of the notorious snake sanin spread thorough the village grape vine with amazing speed. In the chunin pub, the three chunin guards found themselves surrounded by others seeking information. The bar was for the first time graced with the presence of already promoted shinobi. Countless jounin including the famous copy-nin Kakashi was also at the bar waiting. Even the frog sanin Jiraiya showed up. Frustrated, the three chunin began to explain the events.

Flashback

Groaning, the three chunin sat up, cursing themselves for being so careless to black out on duty. What if they were attacked? Sitting up, they were surprised to see that the five "intruders" in fact was still there. The elder Uchiha smirked and said, "During my time, the gate guards were so much stronger." Although shacking with fear, the three chunin remembered their jobs and got ready to attack knowing that they can not win. Before they can do anything, they found a kunai at their throat each held by Namikaze Naruto, Uchiha Sasuke and Hyuuga Neji.

"We mean no harm," the former Uchiha ANBU stated, "Please inform the Hokage that we seek an audience."

End Flashback

As soon as the chunins were finished, the chunin pub was filled with chatter as everyone discussed the event, attempting to guess what the elder Uchiha wanted.

Main while at the Hokage tower…


Tsunade POV

I had at first thought that it was a prank when a flustered gate guard informed me that the two Uchihas, one Hyuuga, the former Godaime Kazekage and my precious otouto was at the gate seeking an audience along with Orochimaru's head no less. The guard however assured me that he was telling the truth. Agitated, I told the chunin, "Well, what are you waiting for? If they are really here, go tell them that I grant an audience immediately. If you are lying… then…" I left it at that. The guard should understand.

Palming my forehead, I tried my best to keep my serious face on while trying to figure out whether the guard was telling the truth and if so why the hell are they here. It was proven to be true soon enough. Two minutes later, the five of them had walked in and the younger Uchiha had a bloody parcel slugged over his shoulder. He was wearing was seemed like a mini Orochimaru outfit (just imagine the time skip version of Sasuke. I don't have time to describe everyone's clothing so except Naruto; everyone wears their time skip costume. Itachi does not have the Akatsuki cloak on. Naruto is wearing what Yondaime wore during his jounin days minus the jounin jacket.)

I admit that I was surprised. Uchiha Sasuke is in the same room with Uchiha Itachi and had not tried to kill him yet. I would have thought that they'd be ripping each other's throats out now, instead of just mildly glaring. Reminding myself that they were no longer Konoha shinobi, they are now missing nins and are wanted in all of the hidden villages except for Oto. Actually, if they had really killed Orochimaru, Oto probably wants them too now.

Clearing my throat, I put on my best mean; I'm going to kill you face and asked in my harshest voice, "What do I owe the presence of some of the most famous missing nins in the bingo book?"

The elder Uchiha had sent the younger a look signalling for him to start first.

"Tsunade-sama," Uchiha junior kneeled in a graceful fashion, "First, I must I apologize for all of the damage I might have caused Konoha and all of her allies. I know better then to ask for forgiveness but I offer to repentance for my crimes. I have, brought along with me the head of former Otokage and Konoha Sanin Orochimaru. I have killed him using the fact that he always keep me close to my advantage. My act will undoubtedly brought Konoha some time with the pending war with the Akatsuki and Oto alliance. Orochimaru was killed within the Akatsuki layer, his body still lay there as proof. Thus, the Akatsuki and Oto alliance is finished, and without Orochimaru, it is very likely that Oto will now disband. Please consider and accept my peace offering.

"Tsunade-sama," the Hyuuga kneeled the same fashions as the Uchiha junior, "if I recall correctly, the last mission I received as a Konoha shinobi was to retrieve Sasuke Uchiha from the hands of Orochimaru by all means. I believe that now I fulfilled that mission. I am of course aware of the fact that I did much damage to Konoha's forces during that mission. So in return for what I did, I offer all information that I uncovered during my time with Orochimaru, including much of the data on his experiments. Orochimaru, in order to assure me that he had not planned to take over my body, had given me data to many of his experiments that only Kabuto and he himself know. I am sure that Konoha can find useful information there."

Those smart little bastards…. They know that I can not turn them away. The counsel for one will most definitely not allow me turn away a Hyuuga and an Uchiha. Even if I do so anyways, I will be reviving Oto. I wouldn't put it pass them to blame Orochimaru's death on the Akatsuki and take over the sound army. After all, Orochimaru probably put either one of them or Kabuto as second in command for his forces.

Turing towards the Akatsuki three, I demanded, "What are you doing here then? Gaara, I have no authorization over you, Naruto, we'll talk later… but Itachi Uchiha, do explain what are you doing here and why is Sasuke not attacking you."

"Yes oni-san, you said that you had something that you will show me to prove that you did not murder our clan." The younger Uchiha interrupted.

Uchiha senior just threw a key on my desk and said, "Third drawer on the left." He was talking about the cabinet of all S-class information that was in the Hokage tower. Sliding the key in, I was surprised that the drawer slid right open. Except for the Hokage, the only person knows how to open a drawer in the cabinet is the person that the information directly relates to. It's usually a jutsu or blood seal, but a key? Checking a scroll I received the day I became Hokage, I was surprised to find that the drawer did in fact is one that's under Itachi's name. My eyes widened, the third drawer meant it was the third most important secret in the village. I know the first one is about Naruto, his father and Kyuubi, and the second one belonged to the leader of the Hyuuga clan, whoever s/he is at the time. That one's defective though, Hiashi still hasn't figured out how to open it, my scroll says blood, but it wont work.

Reading the scroll, I blanched. It turned out that the elder Uchiha was actually adopted from the branch clan of the Uchiha clan, chosen for his early show of talent. Fugaku Uchiha, power hungry like all clan heads, managed to some how find the Hachibi Orochi the eight headed snake and sealed it into Sasuke using Itachi's real father as the sacrifice. Later he plotted to take over Konoha by using the Uchiha branch clan. The plan was later discovered by Uchiha Shisui, who then told Itachi and offered to be killed so Fugaku could be stopped.

But when it comes to the Uchiha clan, nothing goes according to plan. For some reason or another Fugaku snapped and murdered his entire clan, Itachi did not arrive until too late and managed to kill Fugaku only to be walked in by his brother. After discussing the situation with the third, it was agreed that no one was to know the truth so Itachi can use his new status as an S-class missing nin to infiltrate the Akatsuki.

Sighing I looked at the scroll in shock. How was it possible that the existence of one of Konoha's most infamous missing-nin was only a hoax planned by the Sandaime? However, the signatures of ten ANBU, Sandaime himself and even Danzo of the Root of all people prove Itachi's innocence beyond a shadow of a doubt.

Smirking, I explained Itachi's situation to the younger Uchiha. I was very satisfied to see a shocked expression on his face. I guess I still hold a grudge against that little runt for putting a hole in my little brother's, no Naruto's stomach. I can't afford to still feel compassion for the little baka right now, no matter how much he reminds me of Dan (tell me if that's Tsunade's brother's name… I can't remember.)

Not really hearing the younger Uchiha's quiet murmur of "Is Hachibi the reason behind Orochimaru couldn't possess me and my ability to actually pull off the Kage-bushin training?" I turned to Minato's heir. I tied my best to sound stern and asked him, "What is your reason for returning to Konoha then… assuming that you are here because you want to return of course."

The runt gave me a foxy grin and said, "I had assumed that Konoha wanted me back from the "live only" bounty. If I'm not welcome, I'm sure that Pein will let me back into the Akatsuki, I'm his favourite "brat". After all, they are short on people now that Itachi and Garra deserted and Orochimaru bit it. It's also to my understanding that when I turn sixteen, I will fully absorb Kyuubi... Even though that they are in war, they are still looking for the Bijuu."

Sighing I just glared at him… the brat got himself a brain. Suddenly, I remembered something, Uchiha opening the drawer reminded me of the Hyuuga drawer… I asked Neji if he knows why the drawer won't open. Before I could remind myself that Neji is a branch clan member and probably has no idea what the hell I'm talking about, he stood up walked to the drawer, bit his thumb and opened it.

I stared at the Hyuuga in shock… the drawer can only be opened by the blood of the clan head… how the hell did he open it! I then heard Neji softly say, "It seems that Orochimaru wasn't lying for once." Feeling a major headache coming up I looked at the group of missing-nins in front of me and asked, "Just how did you manage to kill Orochimaru and leave the Akatsuki base without notice?"

"Well, two weeks ago, Orochimaru showed up to finish the final confirmation of the Oto and Akatsuki alliance. He followed the conditions leader-sama had set and brought along Sasuke and Neji so they could be "watched" to make sure that Orochimaru follow the conditions of the agreement." Itachi had replied, "In return for monitoring Sasuke and Neji, Orochimaru had demanded that to be allowed to place the curse seal upon Naruto and Gaara."

"Wait…, you mean to tell me that the leader of the Akatsuki had allowed to have the curse seal upon its members?" I interrupted him, "and he allowed the seal to be put on Naruto and the sand brat?"

Ignoring the glaring former Kazekage, I looked at the elder Uchiha and indicated that I want to continue to hear his explanation. "While Naruto and Gaara were out from the seal, Neji and I carried out our plan. We have planned to assassinate Orochimaru ever since our arrival at Oto. Orochimaru was quite tired after putting on two consecutive curse seals on two jinchūriki and he was probably also plotting to see if he can gain to dobe's tenshingan or something like that. I had (insert what happened in the manga, I don't have time to explain.) I had wondered why that Orochimaru can't absorb me, the sharingan was only suppose to make sure that I copy the technique so I can fight back, but he wasn't able to hold me at all. Now I know that it's because of the bijuu." It was Sasuke who answered.

However, before I could answer, the elder Uchiha continued his tale, "Naruto and Gaara were never out cold. They only pretended to be out cold so our escape could be easier. Leader-sama has a weird for Naruto and he has access to much more Akatsuki information than anyone of us. He however is usually monitored tighter than anyone of us. By pretending to black out, he had used the fact that he was no longer tightly monitored and his knowledge of secret routes to the advantage of our escape. Sasuke and Neji had probably helped by distracting the guards with their Orochimaru incident. Later, the five of us had met on our way to Konoha.

"So, with an exception of Gaara, the rest of you are requesting re-enlistment. Itachi, you have never betrayed Konoha and sacrificed many years of your life for the sake of Konoha and was not forced to bear the name of a traitor without able to explain yourself. You are now promoted to head ANBU, from now on; you will be given the jurisdiction over all existing ANBU. Also from now on, you will be given the power to make decisions without following the normal chain of command and your decisions can not be overridden by anyone but myself or the existing Hokage. Nodding to Itachi's acceptance I continued, "Naruto, Sasuke and Neji, you do know that it will be extremely difficult to place you four, right? Two jinchūriki with curse seal and a curse seal bearer."

"Excuse-me Tsunade-sama," I was interrupted by Neji Hyuuga, "I have forgotten to mention that upon agreeing to join the Oto, Orochimaru had sealed the Rokubi no Yoka within me, thus making me also a jinchūriki."

Sighing I corrected myself, "It is difficult to place three curse seal bearing jinchuriki in any village force. Although you each had your reasons, you will still be punished, and here is my decision."

To be continued


Ok… sorry for the late update…. Upon the re-starting of school, my mother had limited my computer time to an hour per week, I will be updating quite slowly thanks to that. I will try to finish as much as I can using the school computer though.

I had not planned to do this until chapter six, but as I might not have the time to plan much now school is in, I will be holding the vote early.

From the poll on my original version of the story, female Haku has held the lead by far for parings with Itachi. However, my fetish with yaoi had grown considerably, therefore I will give you the choice of making Haku either a girl or a boy… this poll will close next chapter because I have not planned to have the vote when I stared my revision.

I will also allow a vote on whether to put pairings with the Naruto, Sasuke, Neji and Gaara. Mind you, if pairings do win it will be NarutoXSasuke and GaaraXNeji. I do understand some people's dislike for yaoi which is why if more people are against the pairing, I will do this fic with pure friendship.

Well, that all! As before, old readers of the unrevised version, please tell me if you like this one better. New reader… what do you think?

Well, gotta go…

Shiho signing off!