Hashing out Orochimaru's current activities with Ibiki was just as pleasant as Naruto had imagined—in other words, not at all. However, it needed to be done, so she did not complain during the three days she spent squirreled away in the Torture and Interrogations Building. She did make sure to tell Sasuke that it was his turn to use the Human Path next time.

A couple of days after she was done with T&I, Sasuke asked her and Hinata to come to his house for a discussion after team training.

"What's up, Sasuke-kun?" Naruto asked him once they got settled.

"I think it's time to go after Itachi," he said bluntly.

"You think you can take him now?" she asked equally blunt.

He stared at her seriously. "I think I'm more powerful than he is, but I don't think that means that I can take him in a one-on-one fight. However, I hardly need to do so, do I?"

Naruto shoved him in the shoulder and then looked at Hinata. "Look at our Emo-chan—acting all grown up and mature!"

Hinata rolled her eyes at Naruto's antics while Sasuke slapped her hand away.

"Do you think that you can handle Kisame?" he asked in return.

Naruto nodded. "Kisame is used to having more chakra than anyone other than a jinchuuriki and being able to absorb any chakra used against him. While I'm not saying he doesn't have a few other tricks up his sleeves, I'm confident I can handle them—especially with Hinata-chan to back me up."

Sasuke nodded. "That is a pretty effective combination: Overkill-chan to draw and hold his attention while Hinata-chan flashes in for the kill while he's distracted—especially if it appears that Hinata-chan is helping with the other target."

Hinata nodded. "If we used the Byakugan to watch for signals that no one else can see, that could work exceptionally well."

Naruto gave Hinata a high five which the Hyuuga heiress accepted good-naturedly.

"How are we going to find him?" Naruto asked.

"What's the range on your Byakugan?" Sasuke asked.

"Twenty kilometers," Naruto answered.

Sasuke turned to Hinata who answered, "Fifteen kilometers." Naruto had better range, but Hinata was better at details and observing many things at once.

Sasuke turned back to Naruto and asked, "What about that Uzumaki sensing technique that your cousin was teaching you?"

Naruto frowned. "My range with the Mind's Eye is relatively short—only about 500 meters. I've been working on my sensitivity much more than my range because I can use the Byakugan if I need range. Karin-chan's range, however, is much better—she can cover half of Hi no Kuni if she concentrates without any problems."

"What's this?" Sasuke teased. "Overkill-chan admits that someone else is more powerful with something than she is?"

Naruto snorted. "If I wanted to really find someone, I'd make dozens of clones and send them out with their Byakugan. I figure I could sweep all of the Elemental Nations in a week."

Sasuke turned pale.

Hinata giggled. "You know that you shouldn't prod at Overkill-chan like that. You'll just give her ideas."

Naruto gasped. "Hinata-chan! You too!"

Sasuke shook his head. "I'm sorry, but the image of hundreds of Naruto-chans rampaging through the Elemental Nations went through my head."

Naruto slapped his shoulder. "I'm not that stupid!" she snapped.

Sasuke interrupted with a cough that sounded somewhat like the word "anymore."

She glared at him and continued. "I've learned subtlety. My clones would be Disguised as animals or other people."

Sasuke just shook his head and said with mock solemnity, "No ramen anywhere would be safe!"

Hinata started to giggle again while Naruto rolled her eyes—however, she could not stop a grin from escaping and ruining her mock annoyance. She turned thoughtful after a few moments. She had been procrastinating deciding whether or not to teach Sasuke the Rasengan. There was no guarantee that he would learn it in time to help with taking down Itachi, but she was not going to allow one of her precious people to get hurt when she could avoid it by letting go of a little bit of familial pride.

She plastered a vulpine grin on her face and called out with mock honey in her voice, "Oh, Emo-chan. . . You and I have a date with some water balloons and rubber balls." She cackled maniacally just to wind him up some more. The look of foreboding on Sasuke's face almost made teaching him her father's technique worthwhile all by itself.


When the three of them approached the Hokage and explained that they felt they were ready to go after Itachi, she grunted and said, "And do you have a plan for locating the man who has steadfastly avoided hunter nin for the last eight years?"

Sasuke and Hinata shared smirks. Naruto was aghast—Hinata was smirking? What had her years with Anko done to sweet, innocent Hinata?

Sasuke said, "We have two options to find Itachi: the first is to turn loose a horde of Naruto-chan's Shadow Clones upon the Elemental Nations. . ."

Before the Uchiha could finish, the now-pale Hokage interrupted, "The second choice! The second choice!"

Naruto folded her arms and pouted. "Baachan," she complained—her voice did not whine—not at all.

Sasuke nodded with a smirk. "Very well. I'll tell Karin-san that we have need of her services."

"Teasing my apprentice aside," the Hokage said, "do you really think that Karin-chan is ready for a combat mission of this magnitude?"

"We don't expect her to see combat, Baachan," Naruto said. "Once she gets us to within 10 kilometers, Hinata-chan or I can track down Itachi. With her sensor skills, no one is going to be able to sneak up on her."

Tsunade arched an eyebrow at her.

Naruto rolled her eyes. "While I think you guys are overreacting to me using clones to find him—I have learned subtlety, after all—using Karin-chan is not a bad idea. Depending on where he's hiding she could be faster."

"There still that matter of selecting a jounin to accompany you," the Hokage said. "Even if you wait the remainder of his recovery time, I can't afford to send Kakashi-san with you."

The three chuunin looked at each other. "I thought he was assigned to anti-Akatsuki efforts with us," Hinata said.

Tsunade sighed. "Certain elements within Konoha are claiming that there is no evidence that Akatsuki is planning to move against Konoha or Hi no Kuni and are agitating for Kakashi to be reassigned. These elements have the political influence to cause problems for me if I ignore them."

Naruto's jaw dropped. "They just tried to kidnap the Kage of our staunchest ally!"

The Hokage snorted. "And you bloodied them quite thoroughly. These elements claim that Akatsuki would be foolish to attack us now."

Naruto palmed her forehead. "Idiots!" she ground out.

Tsunade cackled. "Still want to be Hokage, Brat? Since these elements are typically advocate for a more hawkish stance, their attitude is lulling the neutrals into thinking we're fine."

"Danzou and his games!" Naruto growled.

"You expected anything different from him?" the Hokage asked. "Now, I can assign you another jounin—but probably not one of Yamato-san's skill level much less Kakashi-san's."

The three chuunin looked at each other again before Naruto spoke, "We could probably work with Yamato-taicho again, but. . ."

"Anyone of lesser skill would just slow us down," Sasuke interjected bluntly.

Tsunade arched an eyebrow.

"You said we were jounin level skill-wise, Baachan," Naruto stated. Hinata nodded in agreement.

The Hokage steepled her hands and said, "That is true." She stared at the three of them. "You three have been attracting some very positive attention with the rescue of the Kazekage and the death of Sasori and Kabuto. I could make one of you a jounin without messing up our plans. . ."

Hinata and Sasuke shared a look before shoving Naruto forward.

"Really, guys?" she asked them. "Are you sure?"

Hinata smiled and nodded.

Sasuke shrugged and then smirked. "You're the one that wants the Hat. Personally, I don't see why you want to be Hokage—too much talking to people instead of setting them on fire." He shuddered theatrically.

The Hokage cleared her throat. "Yours would be the easiest promotion to sell, Brat. You're easily our most powerful shinobi since my grandfather, the Shodai, your work at the Hospital shows leadership, and your recent defeat of several A and S-rank shinobi shows you also have a high level of combat skill."

Naruto blushed. "Well, I'm certainly not going to turn down a promotion."

Unlike promotion to chuunin, promotion to special jounin and jounin were done by the Hokage rather than a committee. There also was not a formal test, although there was often an unofficial one. Usually, a person was nominated by their department head—although strictly speaking, Tsunade was the equivalent of Naruto's department head since she reported directly to her for the hospital and her apprenticeship.

"Does this mean that my apprenticeship is over, Baa-shishou?" she asked.

Tsunade smiled. "Your official apprenticeship is over, Brat," she said, "but don't think this means I don't have anything else to teach you."

Naruto ran and hugged her. "Of course not. You'll always be Baa-shishou to me."

The Hokage grunted and pushed her away. She threw a paper weight at Naruto as she danced away; Naruto knew her teacher's habits and dodged it easily. "Don't call me that," Tsunade grumbled by rote.


Karin was happy to help them track down Itachi. Naruto thought her cousin wanted a chance to ingratiate herself to Sasuke, but since she and Haku had managed to temper the worst of Karin's fangirlisms, she was not too concerned about it. Haku, who was Karin's roommate, was present when Karin was asked, volunteered to go with them so that Karin would not be left alone when Naruto and her teammates confronted Itachi.

Karin and Haku had both completed their basic med nin training and worked shifts at the hospital. Neither one of them had a real desire to be active shinobi, but Haku had kept her training up after their run in with Kimimaro three years ago and had insisted that Karin train with her. The ice nin never wanted herself or her friend to be helpless, having experienced the feeling several times in her life. The two were in the reserves and only took a few field missions a year.

Their actual departure had to wait a few days for Naruto to get an orientation on her new jounin responsibilities. They all boiled down to: do not embarrass Konoha. Naruto thought the whole thing was silly. She already knew the points they covered due to her responsibilities in the hospital and as the Hokage's aide. However, she put up with it without comment since only experienced and established jounin like Kakashi were allowed to be immature.

Unfortunately, Sasuke had stalled out in his progress at learning the Rasengan. Naruto gave him more hints than Jiraiya had given her, but learning to shape chakra was difficult and he was still working on the second stage. Sasuke, while appreciative of her efforts, was not willing to wait—so they departed the day after Naruto finished her orientation.

The five of them left Konoha and spiraled out from there. Naruto sent out clones to scout as was her practice. While technically they did not need to with Karin with them, Naruto thought it best not to get lazy—besides this left Karin free to concentrate on their target.

After three days, they had looped around Konoha several times and were approaching the border with Kawa no Kuni from the northeast when Karin called for a halt.

"Found him!" Karin exclaimed.

"How sure are you?" Sasuke asked.

"Almost positive," she responded. "Assuming there aren't any other Uchiha survivors. This guy's chakra is quite similar to yours, Sasuke-kun."

The answer made Sasuke frown, but he remained silent.

"Is he alone?" Naruto asked.

Karin nodded firmly. "Now that I've pinpointed him, I can focus in on the area he's in. There's no other person within several kilometers of him."

The entire group frowned at that. Hinata voiced the thought that was going through all their minds, "What happened to Kisame?"

Karin shrugged and said, "I don't know his chakra signature, so I can't find him with any certainty—all I know is that he's not with Itachi."


Naruto and her teammates left Karin with Haku and proceeded according to the redhead's instructions. A half hour later, Naruto saw their target sitting next to a tree with his eyes closed as if he were meditating. "I see him," she said. "Still no Kisame."

They adjusted their course slightly according to Naruto's gestures and continued on.

When they were just outside of what Naruto and Hinata thought was Itachi's range, they paused for a moment to rest and confirm their strategies.

"You ready for this, Sasuke-kun?" Naruto asked after they had gone over everything.

Sasuke grunted in the affirmative. "I want answers more than anything. There are too many inconsistencies surrounding what supposedly happened back then and later on."

Naruto grinned at him. "You're much better to be around now that you've moved passed the mindless need for revenge."

"I still want justice for my clan, but it doesn't consume me like it used too."

They advanced on the missing nin with Sasuke leading him and the girls flanking him, half a step behind him. All three of them engaged the highest level of their doujutsu in order to protect themselves from Itachi's genjutsu. Sasuke stopped at comfortable distance for a mid-range technique. Naruto had noticed something odd about her teammate's traitorous brother—he had a large amount of chakra cycling through his body continuously. Her medical experience told her that he had been doing it for several days and that it was having a deleterious effect on him.

"Foolishly blind older brother," Sasuke said in greeting.

Itachi's head moved in their direction. There was a visible film over the spinning, red Sharingan. Had his blindness gotten that bad?

"Have you come to donate your eyes to me, Little Brother?" Itachi asked calmly in return.

"Hardly," Sasuke retorted. "I've come for answers."

"I've already told you all the answers you need," Itachi replied. "Do you need me to show you again what happened that night?"

Sasuke ignored him and asked, "Why did you do it?"

Itachi ignored him in turn and said, "You realize that I'm going to incapacitate all of you and then make you watch as I torture your friends to death. Their deaths will be your fault for bringing them here. Once you realize this you will know true power, only to lose it when I take your eyes to replace my own."

"You're lying," Hinata snapped. The Hyuuga heir was a master of using the Byakugan to monitor vital signs and determine if someone was being truthful. Hinata had taught Naruto how to do it also, but she was not nearly good enough to catch someone like Itachi in a falsehood.

"You can barely fight in your condition," Naruto added. "There's no way you can beat Sasuke, much less all three of us." She could see his heart beat faster. "You don't expect to survive," she added uncertainly, "You want Sasuke to kill you."

"You're trying to get me to redeem the Uchiha!" Sasuke exclaimed. "Why?"

Itachi stared at his younger brother for a full minute before finally saying, "It's better if you don't know."

Naruto snorted in a very unladylike manner. "Take it from somebody kept in the dark 'for her own benefit,' it's better to know than to be left to make up your own answers."

Itachi hesitated again. He stopped circulating his chakra before answering, "I did it for you, Sasuke-chan. Father was on the verge of trying to overthrow the Third. It would have surely caused a civil war in Konoha, which would have brought the other villages down on us brought down the Fourth Shinobi World War upon us. You deserved more than to grow up like that."

"You were trying to preserve my childhood!?" Sasuke asked incredulously. "That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard."

"There's no way Jiichan would have had you do it," Naruto said.

"The Third could be ruthless when it was required," Itachi commented.

"To his enemies," Naruto said with her eyes narrowed, "but not to you."

"You're protecting someone," Hinata commented. "Why?"

Itachi remained stoically silent.

"Not the one that had you do it," the Hyuuga mused. "You're protecting Sasuke. The question is from whom?"

"Danzou," Naruto said with a growl. Itachi's nearly imperceptible flinch confirmed it. "He's the only one insane enough and influential enough to have ordered it. Do you know why he did it?"

Itachi remained silent for a while before evidently deciding that trying to convince them otherwise was useless. "Danzou really only has one solution for problems—eliminating them."

The older Uchiha slumped back against the tree. Naruto frowned and noticed the symptoms for chakra shock now that he was no longer maintaining his chakra flow. She rushed forward.

"What is it?" Sasuke asked worriedly.

"Chakra shock," she replied. "It seems he's determined to die today."

"It's better this way," Itachi stated.

"Hah," Naruto ejected. "No way are you dying in front of me."

"Fatal, untreatable illness," Itachi murmured. "Held it at bay for Sasuke-chan."

"Maybe untreatable for someone who's not Tsunade's apprentice," she responded as she got to work.