You owe the speediness of this chapter to the fact that Naruto Shippuden premiered in Japan today, February 15th! I hope someone uploads the episodes so I can watch them... preferably translated, but I'm willing to do without if I have to! I've watched so much subtitled anime that I'm beginning to understand half of what they say without the subtitles.

In other news, Prince of Tennis now not only says "Tezuka/Ryoma" to me, it also says "Fuji/Ryoma." If only it would stop talking to me! Ooh... Momo/Ryoma... must read...

Sunrise, Sunset: Part Four

Promises

For some reason, the constant dripping noise and the earthy smell were reminding Naruto of the Kyuubi's cage the few times that he had seen it. It was a memory brought up by that voice, so similar to the Kyuubi's in pure evil alone.

Someone's hand unknotted the blindfold. Fluttering, it fell to the ground, allowing Naruto the sight of Akatsuki's leader. He had red hair, an orange sort of color rather than Gaara's red, and red eyes as well. They weren't Sharingan red, not quite, but they reminded Naruto of something all the same.

"Am I supposed to be impressed or something?" Naruto drawled. Shifting his weight back on one leg, he readied himself for a fight as much as he could, tied up as he was. "I mean, you're being all scary and popping out of the dark and stuff. Someone might think you were insecure."

A hand smacked the back of his head sharply. "Shut up, brat! You should be more respectful," Kisame hissed. Naruto shrugged, lifting his eyes to meet demonic red one's once more. He frowned once he did. Akatsuki's leader didn't get worked up the same way that Kisame or even Sakura would have. He just smiled in a way that showed entirely too many teeth for Naruto's peace of mind.

"You never answered my question."

'This is not the kind of guy you'd want to piss off,' Naruto thought in passing. "Why aren't I going anywhere? Jeez, I'd figure that someone would guess it by now." A red eyebrow arched elegantly. Naruto couldn't see Itachi or Kisame beside him, not willing to look away from such an obviously dangerous presence as their leader, but he was willing to bet that Itachi looked annoyed since he had been trying to get the answer out of Naruto himself. "You guys want to Nine-Tailed Fox and the other Tails so that you can be all politically-powerful and dominate the world and stuff, right?"

"That's not quite what I would say."

Naruto waved the reply away irritably. "So, yeah, that's what you want. It's a noble goal, really and truly, but I can one-up you on that." He paused for effect and, unfortunately, received absolutely no response. "See, I made a promise to someone important to me. Well, several promises, in fact, but I can only work on so many things at the same time. I promised to get Sasuke back. I'm sure that Orochimaru gives you plenty of opportunities to save people and trick them into liking you and all that, but it's gotta bother you that he betrayed you. So I figured we could work out a little trade of services. I could kill Orochimaru for you if you teach me how and you could kill me. Sasuke would probably try to kill the Brooding One over here, but it can be part of our deal that Sasuke won't be killed and we'll all be happy. Okay, so Sasuke won't, but he's such a bastard that he never is anyway."

The look that was turned on Naruto was one both regarding and heavy with some sort of dark amusement. "Wouldn't you be a bit unhappy, being dead? Though, I suppose your death is rather imminent."

Naruto grinned. "You'll just have to take it as a given that I won't live up to the deal. Get it? 'Live?' Heh."

Itachi shifted his weight slightly, brushing Naruto's left side with his cloak. For some reason, the movement seemed entirely too loud and entirely too close.

"You would be essentially betraying your village. I would think that someone like you would be bothered by that kind of thing."

Blue eyes were still smiling. "Nah. I mean, Tsunade totally loves me and Sakura would hardly let anyone kill me. So I figure one year confinement to the village, tops, and I might be able to ruin Akatsuki when I'm escaping from you, so you won't be after me anymore. It'll work out."

He received a laugh at that. For some reason, it was more frightening than even that voice or the feral baring of teeth.

"Your audacity is admirable. Perhaps we shouldn't extract the fox... quite yet."

Itachi didn't admire Naruto's audacity. To be quite frank, Naruto's audacity was stupidity in the plainest sense of the word. Naruto had absolutely no clue what he was up against when he threatened the Leader.

Itachi's opinions were, of course, of no consequence, so he was the one that found himself showing Naruto to his new room. Akatsuki's headquarters were a series of interlinking caves, but it wasn't a dank place. The mountain caves were an interesting set up that must have taken a very long time to build. The middle of the mountain was hollowed out entirely to give the hint of sky as well as an inner training area, though it wasn't evident if you looked at it from outside. Very few of the rooms had windows because of the consequence that it was a secret base, but those that did opened to the middle. Itachi had one of these coveted rooms and now Naruto did as well.

"Give our coveted guest one of the good rooms, why don't you?" the Leader had said. "I doubt he would much like any of the others."

Kisame, who did not have one of these rooms, had grumbled quite a bit, but it had only taken one look from the Leader's dangerous red eyes had to quell his protests. Naruto had looked sullen at that- apparently he, too, desired the ability to make Kisame stop talking at will.

Itachi opened the door to the room silently, gesturing for Naruto to step inside before him.

"Wow!" the fox exclaimed. "This is bigger than my whole apartment back in Konoha." He ran all through it, looking into just about everything as if he expected the room to actually have something other than the basic necessities in it, or perhaps nervous from the time spent alone with his best friend's brother.

Itachi looked around the room. It didn't seem that big to him. It was actually smaller than most of the rooms in his family's estate that now stood empty in the Uchiha compound of Konoha. His room in that house was a bit bigger than this, actually. Sasuke had often played in there when Itachi had been reading scrolls, so it had never seemed too large.

"You have courage, to talk to the Leader like that."

Naruto turned away from the bed, eyes involuntarily meeting Itachi's when he blinked up at him. "Nah, he's nothing compared to the Nine-Tailed Fox," he boasted before smiling oddly and turning back to look out the window.

Itachi was getting heartily sick of being ignored every time that Naruto remembered that he should. It wasn't a feeling that Itachi was used to. Everywhere that he walked, he gained recognition either because of his name or because of the overwhelming presence of his chakra. Having someone not acknowledge at him had never been a problem before. Not being looked at was almost a familiar sensation by now, as people were often uneasy by the sheer penetrative force of the Sharingan, but having someone go out of their way to disregard him was a strange thing.

Perhaps, though, Itachi knew what it was that was disturbing Naruto. "How... was my brother, when you last saw him?"

There it was: the flinch. Naruto did not even turn. "He's a lot like you."

Despite who it was coming from, it should have been a compliment to Itachi. Yet for some reason, Itachi was unable to take it as one.

"I bet he looks a great deal like me now, too. Is that why you're afraid of me?"

That caused Naruto to whirl around and face him, furious blue eyes meeting Itachi's amused crimson ones. "I'm not afraid of you!"

"Then you might try hiding it a little better. I'll leave you to settle in."

He could hear Naruto seethe when he turned his back on him. It almost sounded like a growl. It was even more similar to a whimper of pain.

Naruto clenched his hands against the windowsill.

'Itachi has no right—no RIGHT—to talk about Sasuke like that!'

The power thrummed at his fingertips, as heady as wine. He could feel the pulse of it under his skin. He forced it down, though. Control had been one of the things that training with Jiraiya had gained him, as well as a healthy appreciation of restraint in all sexual matters considering how many women had come up to Jiraiya and tried to kill him. Control was what was keeping Akatsuki's base standing.

An even more uncomfortable thought was that Itachi was a lot like Sasuke in more ways than just how they looked. They acted the same as well. Sasuke would have sneered just like that, but even more obviously. He would have prodded Naruto in the same way, and his words may have been different, but the object was the same. Pissing Naruto off.

That didn't explain why Itachi had looked so very annoyed, but Naruto wasn't a god. He couldn't figure out everything to do with the Uchiha clan and still have his sanity. Though, given Itachi's attitude and the Leader's deadly smile, he probably wasn't going to have his sanity as it was.

Well. At least Sasuke would be back, if Akatsuki lived up to their end of the bargain.

Naruto frowned. The Leader hadn't promised anything, actually. He would have to change that. Hell, he'd make the guy sign his name is blood if he had to.

Naruto had a promise to keep.

To be honest, he wasn't as sure as he had sounded that Konoha would take him back once they figured out what he was doing. They would figure it out, too. Sakura would never accept that one of her boys was gone for good even if Tsunade did. He was scared, not that he was about to say it out loud. Gaining power was Sasuke's thing, not his.

Sasuke and he were still at the same level, pretty much. They could clash over and over again, but the result, for now, would be the same. Naruto needed to make gaining power his goal, just as Sasuke had. Otherwise he would break too many promises.

Otherwise, he would never see Sasuke smile like that again. That slight smile, following an insult so that you could be sure that it was all Sasuke.

He had left so many things behind in Konoha. The friends that he had finally made after being alone most of his life, people that he had wanted to protect, the five Hokage carved into their mountain, Ichiraku Ramen. Everything. Still, he never once thought that Sasuke and his promise weren't worth it. He had turned away from Konoha once to go with Jiraiya, all in the hopes of bringing Sasuke back. This wasn't that different.

If only Konoha would see it like that.

Naruto wasn't honestly all that fond of Konoha. With Jiraiya, he had seen many places other than that village, places where the people didn't treat him like the plague, and he had liked them. It was the people in Konoha who he loved. Neji. Hinata. Shikamaru. Ino. Choji. Tenten. Lee. Shino. Even Kiba, who had never been very nice to him. He didn't know if he could stand it if they hated him for this.

Was he betraying Konoha? It seemed like something he should know.

Naruto let go of the windowsill, reaching into his pocket to pull out one of the two things he had managed to grab before going with Akatsuki: Sasuke's hitai-ate. The scratch across it was a scar against the otherwise bright surface.

The other thing he had taken was the picture of the four of them, Team Seven, with Sasuke brooding and Sakura smiling.

He would keep his promise. He had to.

We will all now thank the gods because last chapter's temporary (no doubt caffeine-induced) insanity and momentary lack of morality has finally been fixed. The insanity has left, the morality has returned, and all is well. I am, of course, referring to the brief interlude when I thought Oro/Sasu was a good idea. The urge has passed, so don't worry. Feel free to review, because all comments, great and small are appreciated.