"I agree its time you told us everything Itachi…" a voice spoke from behind the entire group. In an instance everyone with in the room turned towards the voice that spoke from behind them.
Itachi widened his eyes and then lowered his head in shame.
"…Hokage-sama…." Itachi whispered in to the wind.
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Chapter 6: Revelations
"Hokage-sama!" "Oji-san!" was the cry from both Sasuke and Naruto as they stood a little shocked that the Hokage would pay them a visit on this night.
The Hokage eyed Itachi keenly focused on him and very well aware of his surroundings just incase the older Uchiha would try something. He stood there as he remembered the events that led him to come to the Uchiha manor.
Flashback:
"I have no need for a secretary who doesn't show compassion to everyone" Sarutobi muttered under his breath clearly angry with the way Naruto has been treated. He sighs in exhaustion as the door to his office was opened to reveal two young girls.
He recognized them as Naruto's team mates Sakura and Ino. He noticed the rather shocked and distressed look in there eyes.
Sarutobi raised an eyebrow at this and questioned them "Yes? Can I help you?"
"Hokage-sama, Naruto, he's gone. H-He disappeared!" Sakura voiced out her worry.
Sarutobi instantly stood up from his chair eyeing both girls, he stood his ground firm "What?" he spoke just a little bit above his normal tone of voice. In truth he was worried for his blond would be grandson.
"We were gona go visit him but he just wasn't in his room!" Ino added to Sakura's statement.
Sarutobi entering his 'Hokage mode' simply sighed for what seemed like the umpteenth time this day.
"Okay, I'll personally look for Naruto. You too just go back to your homes and rest ok." Sarutobi spoke with a tired look on his face.
Ino looked satisfied with the answer and turned to make her way to the door. As she got to it she stopped and turned around to see Sakura had yet to move from her spot.
"H-Hokage-sama, at the hospital, and again here at the reception desk, people didn't seem to like Naruto very much, why? I mean he pulls pranks and all that but there seems to be more than jus that. The people spoke about him like he was…a plague, a monster." Sakura spoke with her hair covering her eyes as she stood at attention in front of the Hokage. She spoke in a sad tone; she didn't know Naruto that well but she did know that no one deserved to be spoken of the way the general populace of Konoha seemed to speak of Naruto.
"Demon…" Both Sakura and Sarutobi looked in shock towards the door were Ino's voice projected to them.
Sakura saw the same understanding she felt in Ino's eyes. Sarutobi looked with in her eyes. He was given hope, hope for Naruto.
"That's what they all said…they spat it out like venom" Ino finished in a poignant tone.
"Hokage-sama, what did Naruto do for the people to be so angry with him" Sakura spoke again in little above a whisper.
Sarutobi looked at them with sadness in his eyes. "He…It's not my place to say. Ask him about it, and if he says no then don't push him. He'll tell you when he feels the time is right."
Both girls weren't satisfied with the answer but nodded. Sakura walked up to Ino as she opened the door to leave.
The door closed and all seemed quite.
"……You can come out now, Jiraiya." Sarutobi spoke with his eyes closed, still standing from his chair, pipe in his mouth as he smoked the tobacco.
"You know, I think it be beneficial for the kid if they actually knew, or at least how the village treats him." Jiraiya spoke sternly as he appeared from the shadows of the right corner of the room.
"You as well as I know that that decision is made by him, not us Jiraiya." stated Sarutobi.
Jiraiya closed his eyes and thought.
He spoke again momentarily
"Sarutobi-sensei, Uchiha Itachi is back"
Sarutobi widened his eyes till Kami himself was astonished with the height and with of them.
"WHAT!" Sarutobi all but screamed in panic.
"Don't go ape shit old man, I don't think he did it." Jiraiya declared sternly.
"EXPLAINE!" was Sarutobi's only and rather loud replay.
"I looked at him, the way he carries himself and the way his eyes dance tells the tale of a man who lost nearly everything. If he is the murderer of his own people then why does he carry himself so?" Jiraiya deadpanned.
"………" Sarutobi was speechless.
"He's going to explain everything to his brother, and I saw Naruto head towards the manor, so…if we hurry we could find out what happened." Once again Jiraiya relayed.
"Let's head there then!" with that said both nins left the office in a swirl of wind and leaves.
Flashback end:
"Well? Care to explain why you decided to come forth with the information now rather than sooner?" Sarutobi spoke in his 'I'm old but I can still kick ass' tone.
Itachi looked at Sarutobi with his emotions well hidden as he appeared to have none at all, but the way his black eyes steeled spoke otherwise.
"Hai Hokage-sama, the truth is that…well, would you believed that the ANBU that where sent to escort me back to the tower where also a part of the conspiracy that happened behind these very walls?" Itachi simply stated his reason for not being able to clear this mess up from the beginning.
Sarutobi raised an eyebrow and questioned "Your own teammates? Why? And what is this conspiracy?"
"This conspiracy Hokage-sama…" Itachi closed his eyes and with in a few seconds he opened them revealing one of the final evolutionary steps of his clan's infamous eyes The Mangekyo Sharingan. As quickly as he revealed his eyes Sasuke widened his and practically fell flat on his ass had it not been for the fact he was already sitting down.
"…Was all a ploy to obtain the last and ultimate level of the Sharingan, the Mangekyo Sharingan by my uncle Teyaki Uchiha and my best friend Shisui Uchiha whom also happens to be my cousin. In addition they seemed to have had other worldly help. To be more precise they had the help of Madara." Itachi finished explaining to which all in the room simply looked shocked at the information they have just received.
Well all but one who had no clue as to who these people where talking about. Naruto simply looked at all of them with his left eyebrow raised. "Judging from the expression on the Hokage's face from the mention of this Madara guy it must be really bad." He thought.
"Itachi, if you didn't kill our clan…then how? How could you possibly have the Mangekyo?" Sasuke asked starting to doubt his brother once again.
"Because otouto, I…killed Shisui after he and uncle…no, Teyaki confronted me and told me that they killed the entire clan. I was already worn from a mission I had, but managed to…kill Shisui and beat the ever living crap out of Teyaki. I of course received the Mangekyo from killing Shisui. I used my newly bestowed abilities to trap Teyaki in one of the most if not 'the' most potent of all genjutsu…Tsukuyomi." Itachi explained.
Everyone was silently waiting for him to continue till Naruto had to voice a question that struck him. "Itachi-nee-chan, how did you know to use such a genjutsu like the Tsukuyomi if you only just received the Mangekyo?"
"Because Kinshou-nee-chan, the Mangekyo Sharingan once activated allowed me to subconsciously call upon the jutsu. The Tsukuyomi is an inherited family genjutsu that instinctively activates once the host…that's me Naruto…senses a threat, call it an auto defensive offensive genjutsu, of course it only goes in to effect once the opponent locks eyes with me."
Naruto for once was not acting like his dumb self and just nodded to this. Sasuke who was in total shock from the information took note that Naruto seemed to understand.
Itachi looking a little short on breath took in a deep breather before continuing with his story.
"Unfortunately Teyaki's Mangekyo also activated Tsukuyomi and we were trapped with in the confines of that world. It seemed that with in that world both Teyaki and my self had equal power, though Teyaki had experience on his side pertaining to Tsukuyomi. In total honesty I believe that the reason why I am even alive today was for the simple fact that my will was stronger than his."
Itachi stopped for a few seconds to hold the views of the people with in the room.
Sasuke's face expressed pride seeing as he wore a smirk, while Naruto's expression was that of fascination.
The Hokage and Jiraiya where eager to listen to the rest of the story and sported passive looks indicating for Itachi to continue, to which he did.
"After the battle in the world of Tsukuyomi Teyaki and I where both physically and mentally exhausted, but I still had a bone to pick with him. I wanted vengeance and I wasn't going to stop till I got it. I tortured him for a good hour before he finally caved in and said some very…disturbing things." At this point Itachi was looking down on the floor hard. He was having trouble finding the right words.
He looked at Sasuke with his Mangekyo Sharingan blazing right through him. Sasuke flinched at his brothers' gaze and managed a hard gulp.
Itachi spoke, but this time he spoke with pain laced in his words.
"Sasuke…you don't know this, but about six months after you were born Teyaki sealed a spirit with in you."
Sasuke's eyes widened in total shock, had he heard right? Did his brother just tell him there was a spirit sealed in side of him?
The people in the room were quiet.
Sandaime was thinking along the lines of 'Holy shit!'
Kisame's chain of thought was around the same as Sandaime's
Jiraiya looked shocked then sighed 'great now I have to keep an eye on BOTH of them'
Sasuke on the other hand wasn't coping too well. 'No it must be a mistake! I can't have a spirit in side of me? Can I?' Sasuke thought on the verge of being catatonic.
Naruto's eyes showed surprise and unconsciously placed his right hand over his stomach. 'So…Sasuke has a spirit in him like me huh?' Naruto looked over at Sasuke and saw that his rival was having trouble with the information.
"Sasuke…" Naruto spoke in a whisper. Sasuke looked at Naruto still in his panic stricken stage, Naruto knew well what was going through his mind…'am I me?...or am I it?...what am I?'. Naruto knew those question quite well because he had asked them himself. As Naruto and Sasuke locked eyes a level of understanding and silence was encasing the room as both boys stared at each other.
"Naruto!?..." Jiraiya spoke up locking eyes with him.
"Are you sure he can handle it?" Jiraiya spoke in his unnaturally serious tone.
Naruto only nodded. He turned back to Sasuke and spoke again.
"I know…what its like to have something you don't want, because I have something living in side of me to." Sasuke listened intently to the revelation that Naruto was giving him. Was Naruto like him?
"13 years ago the Kyuubi attacked Konoha. The Yondaime Hokage was having trouble killing it, then he found out he couldn't, no matter how hard he tried. So…He sealed it away in a little kid a baby actually." Naruto chuckled darkly as he spoke, his words laced with sadness.
"If you haven't figured out who the kid was then you're more stupid then you look teme." Naruto laughed a little.
Sasuke simply stood there. He didn't know how to react to this, to any of it, Naruto and him having spirits inside of them, Itachi stating that a conspiracy has been plotted amongst the Uchiha and for the past few years he's lived a life full of lies.
Sasuke stared long and hard at the floor, like it would tell him it was all a lie, but it never spoke. Everyone was silent, no one moved or blinked.
A hand was placed on Sasuke's shoulder and he tensed so much he himself felt the constriction of his body. He turned to look at the owner of the hand, and there staring at him was Naruto in his full blown fox like grin.
'Why is he smiling?' Sasuke thought bitterly.
"Sasuke, do you feel any different?" Naruto asked sternly coming back to a serious expresion.
"…" Sasuke didn't respond right away, too many things have been plaguing him at that very moment. The answer finally came "No".
"That's right you don't. Don't let some stupid spirit rule your life simply because it exists with in you. I know I haven't…and mine is a demon." Naruto chuckled yet again.
Sasuke visibly calmed as he felt the tension leave his body. He took in a deep breath and let it go.
Sasuke Smirked as he returned to his calm self once again "Heh, your right dobe"
Naruto irked at the "dobe" comment but let it go because Sasuke's had enough shit to deal with for the night.
Itachi was a bit surprised Sasuke took the information better than what he had initially thought. Naruto had managed to calm Sasuke down quite a lot. 'Thank you Kinshou-Nii-Chan…' Itachi smiled that seemingly microscopic smile that he rarely showed to the world.
"The world is too cruel for people like you and Naruto Sasuke, that is why this secret was kept from everyone with the exception of the head of the Uchiha clan and his younger brother, now turned betrayer." Itachi spoke crest fallen.
"Itachi…" Sasuke spoke sternly. He looked Itachi in the eyes as he walked towards his older brother. He stopped in his tracks just two feet from him and smiled; he smiled a brothers' love kind of smile and hugged him. Itachi was too stunned for words he simply tilted his head down to look at his brother. His eyes rather enlarged by the action. As quickly as the action took place it was finished as Sasuke now stood face to face with Itachi. Itachi did something his little brother rarely saw, he smiled a genuine happy smile, not too big but definitely not small either.
Kisame on the other hand was just too stunned to speak as he lay there leaned against the far back wall of the room with his left side to the people with in the room. Kisame felt bad for both brothers because their trials seemed so much more than his own. He too sported a smile though to the people in the room it seemed sadistic it held his good grace to the brothers. 'For one, I never seen Itachi smile, so for him to smile more than once is a rare occasion indeed.' Kisame thought. He turned to look at Naruto and found something he didn't see initially with in the boy before. He noticed Naruto had an aura around him, not visibly but one could feel it.
'What the hell is this? Its like…well I can't really explain it but, it's a feeling I'd like to keep. Perhaps that is why Itachi likes him so.' Kisame mused to himself.
"Ok, I think it's safe to say that we can call it a night. We're all tired from the revelations of tonight's events." Sarutobi spoke calmly as he puffed his pipe with his eyes closed in thought.
Sasuke already looking drearily from tonight with Naruto not too far behind nodded and turned to his room, as he made his way he stopped and turned towards his brother Itachi.
"You can have your old room back if you want." Sasuke spoke sleepily.
Itachi looked at Sasuke with gratefulness in his eyes "Sorry Otouto, but I can't stay in Konoha for long"
'What! Why?" Naruto all but snapped out of his sleepiness and yelled rather loudly.
Sasuke had his right eyebrow raised in question and awaited his brothers response.
"Because…I am Jiraiya-sama's informant from with in the organization known as Akatsuki." Itachi revealed.
Jiraiya fell flat on his ass when he heard this and had on a shocked expression that quickly turned to one of anger. He clenched his fists and nearly broke his teeth from the force his lower jaw was applying to his upper jaw.
'Akatsuki?' The old Hokage questioned, not quite knowing what was going on.
"You mean to tell me that your Kisara Minomoshi!!!" Jiraiya yelled at Itachi as he managed to get himself off the floor in one single action that resulted in an accidental loud crunch sound coming from his back. "AAAHHHHH" Jiraiya whimpered for a few seconds before he straightened out and faced Itachi with a very serious expression.
Everyone with in the room had sweat dropped at the Sanin's actions. They also had no clue as to what these two where talking about.
"…You wouldn't have listened to what I had to say if I showed up as a man and less as myself." Itachi dead paned with an exhausted look in his eyes.
Sasuke was rather shocked at how low his brother had to go just to give out information about an organization he has never heard of before.
Naruto on the other hand had fallen to the floor laughing and couldn't seem to stop, making Itachi rather irritated.
Kisame had a hard time controlling him self from having a repeat performance of what Naruto was currently doing.
The Hokage was doing something similar to Kisame but with one distinction, he was succeeding.
A moment of silence passed and everything went back to somewhat normal circumstances.
"I think that is enough for today, we will continue tomorrow it's late." The Hokage once again tried to end the night.
"Indeed, I'm tired and I need some rest" Itachi answered.
"Hm" Sasuke retorted.
Naruto…well Naruto was Naruto and ended up falling asleep on the floor.
Jiraiya and Sarutobi looked at Naruto and sighed in unison
"Looks like I'll be taking him to his apartment." said Jiraiya with a tired face.
He walked to Naruto and kneeled down to pick up the tired boy bridal style. He was heading for the door when the Hokage stopped him.
"Jiraiya, what is this Akatsuki?" the old man Sarutobi asked.
Jiraiya sighed, he seemed to be doing that a lot lately. "Once I take the boy home you and me have a longer night, Sarutobi-sensei"
The old Hokage nodded in understanding and let Jiraiya go as he took to the roofs.
The Hokage burst in a cloud of smoke and left. Itachi and Kisame did the same leaving Sasuke alone for the night.
Sasuke looked at the floor to his home and adopted a sad smile.
'At least nee-san isn't who I thought he was, and then there's the fact that Madara and Kyuubi are sealed in side me and Naruto…but it's like Naruto said I don't feel different so I shouldn't act different.' Sasuke went to bed that night and enjoyed a dreamless sleep for the first time in many years.
------------------------------------------Naruto's Raged Ass Apartment----------------------------
Jiraiya had just landed on Naruto's apartment and pulled the window to his room open. Walking in, he laid the boy on his bed and pulled the sheets over him. Jiraiya smiled a little as the boy stirred in his bed mumbling something about 'stupid foxes' and the like. Jiraiya for the first time took a look at the boys' apartment and was less than pleased with how he lived.
"…Man does this kid ever clean his home?" Jiraiya spoke softly. He sighed and turned towards the window and leapt off in to the night. If Jiraiya actually paid attention to what Naruto was mumbling in his sleep he would have found that Naruto was having a conversation. A conversation with someone big, red and above all has a bigger mouth than Naruto's.
-------------------------------------In Naruto's Mindscape-------------------------------------------
"WHY IN KAMI'S NAME DID YOU NOT TELL THEM!" Kyuubi roared.
"Because you stupid fox if I had they still would've stacked security on me like flies on shit!" Naruto shouted back.
"…KID, YOU REALLY ARE AS STUPID AS YOU LOOK!" The Kyuubi retorted angrily.
Naruto narrowed his eyes at the great beast in an angry and cynical way. "…and you should have kept that snake of yours in your pants! Instead of going off with my gran gran to make babies!" he spat in a dark and very un-Naruto like manner, much too dark for the Kyuubi's liking. It narrowed its eyes at Naruto "HOLD YOUR TOUNG KID, REMEMBER JUST WHO EXACTLY IT IS THAT YOUR TALKING TO." The Kyuubi spat back with malevolence.
The once great beast that lurked with in the cage turned from a height of over 20 stories high to that of six feet eight inches. Its tails' retreating from existence its fur seemed to shed from its hid and leave skin. The thing that stood in front of Naruto now was not a 20 story nine-tailed demon fox, but a man with waist long blood red hair and pair of glowing slit red eyes to go along with it. He wore only black long Japanese style martial art pants and a pair of martial art black shoes (think Bruce Lee in enter the dragon). The man had muscles on top of muscles but he had a slender frame, his body seemed unreal as it also had what many call the mark of the beast (no its not the pentagram) tattooed on the left side of his chest. The mark consisted of a spiral and with in the spiral was a claw with blood dripping from its fingers and angry black eyes laced in the middle of it.
Naruto simply stood in front of the cage with his arms crossed and eyes narrowed towards the man in front of him.
"I know exactly who I'm talking to…" Naruto responded calmly. He then smiled his goofy grin and displayed his pearly whites to Kyuubi. "I wouldn't get away with half of the stuff I do to you if I didn't know who I was talking to…gramps."
"…YOU KNOW THE ONLY TWO REASONS YOUR STILL ALIVE IS BECAUSE OF THE SEAL AND THE FACT THAT WE ARE RELATED, RIGHT." The Kyuubi dead panned with an exasperated look on his face.
"YUP!" Naruto shouted a bit too cheerful for the Kyuubi's liking, again giving his truly mischievous smile.
The Kyuubi only sighed at Naruto before he himself smiled that evil smile.
"OK KID, TIME FOR SOME LATE NIGHT STRATEGY PLANNING" the Kyuubi simply said with his owen evil grin that out ranked Naruto's by a mile or six.
"What! Aaawww c'mon!" Naruto yelled "I thought you were going to teach me the signs for a new jutsu!"
"NOW WHAT KIND OF A GREAT GREAT GREAT GREAT GREAT GREAT GREAT GREAT GREAT GREAT GREAT GRANDFATHER WOULD I BE IF I DIDN'T TEACH YOU THE VALUE OF A GOOD PLAN IN THE WORLD OF A SHINOBI AND DEMONS…AND OTHER THINGS…" The Kyuubi smiled evilly as he spoke.
Naruto made a pout face before he gave his undivided attention to his sensei.
The Kyuubi smiled again, but it was the smile that was reserved solely for Naruto. 'JUST A LITTLE BIT MORE AND HE'LL BE READY FOR MY PLANS' The Kyuubi thought as he narrowed his eyes just a little.
