Weight of the World
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Chapter 8
Dawn of a New Danger
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Recovery from invasion was slow. I'd never seen the village in such a state before, but it was true. A good portion of my home had been destroyed, many ninja, more than I cared to find out, had died. Including the Third.
I hadn't realized how close I was to the man until he was suddenly not there. He'd been Naruto's grandfather figure, and though he hadn't quite filled that role for me, I still held a lot of respect for him. Might have even loved him in my own way. And now he was gone.
I'd been the one to hold Konohamaru when he found out, curled up in the Hokage's office with his snort dripping nose pressed into my collarbone and tears staining my own cheeks. Asuma, upon being informed, had walked from the room without a word. The rest of Team Seven -we'd picked Kiba and Jiraiya up along the way to the Hokage Tower- were gathered around us, looking very, very awkward.
It wasn't until Shisui had burst into the room, frantic, that Sasuke had shown any emotion of his own, all but throwing himself at the older Uchiha and refusing to let go until he was sure it really was Shisui. The two Uchiha had then proceeded to join me on the floor, becoming one big ball of emotion, curled up in the centre of the room.
It wasn't until Shisui had stiffed that I realized we were no longer alone, that Danzō had shown up. I'd never seen Shisui so tense, and I knew instantly that there was more history between the two than I'd first expected. Jiraiya had given Kakashi orders to not let myself or the two Uchiha's out of his sight, and while Shisui had grimaced at the command, he'd come along willingly. It wouldn't be the first time someone had tried kidnapping a bloodline user while the village was weakened. So we'd all ended up retreating to my house, using it as a base for the next few days.
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Inhaling another mouthful of noodles, I looked across the table at Sasuke, who was picking at his own meal.
"What's up Sasuke?" Placing the chopsticks down, the dark haired boy sat back in his seat, eyes dropping slightly to stare down at his almost full plate.
"I just feel like I could have done more, that I should have done more."
"Sasuke. We're Genin. We can only do so much, everyone starts somewhere. Kakashi gave us orders, and we followed them. We stopped academy students from being attacked. I can't imagine wanting to be somewhere else and allowing that to happen."
The Uchiha grunted, but nodded his head, conceding to my point.
Twirling the noodles about on the end of my chopsticks, I looked back up at the Uchiha opposite me, chewing on my lip as I thought. Not once had he called upon the power of the curse seal since he'd received it. He'd developed as a person, far past the moody child that'd been introduced to team seven alongside the incredible bundle of noise that'd been Kiba. They'd both matured so much.
I wonder if I had done the same, if had changed, began interacting with them differently. I know I'd opened up to them a bit more as time had gone on. I wasn't as scare to approach them, to elbow them in the ribs whenever I was teasing them, to hug them whenever they'd worried me. Or if we weren't going to be seeing each other for a while. I'd hugged Kiba earlier today when he'd skipped out of my house, heading to the Inuzuka compound to run some chores for his mother.
Jiraiya had stopped by the day before, telling me that he'd be dragging me across the country to find Tsunade and that I was to pack everything I'd need up. Only, it didn't seem right going without Sasuke. Not when he still had that seal on his neck. Not when we could possibly do something about it. So I'd nagged at the man, until he'd caved and agreed to take Sasuke along with us, muttering that it'd probably be for the best anyway. What he meant by that, I had no idea. But I'd find out, that much was obvious.
As long as Jiraiya wasn't trying to bully Sasuke into something the dark haired boy didn't want to do, I didn't care.
"When were you going to tell us you had nightmares."
I dropped the noodles I'd been holding up.
Sasuke was staring at me with dark eyes, having finally decided he was not hungry and pushed his plate away to the edge of the table. Slowly placing my chopsticks on the edge of the bowl, I laid one elbow on the table, cradling my head in my hand.
"How long have you known?"
"I recognised one of your seals was for stillness and silence, the one on your right arm three nights ago. When I turned it off, you started screaming and thrashing in your sleep."
Looking away, I clenched my hands and tried not to scream at the boy. That was a brutal invasion of privacy, completely brutal. Not even Kakashi knew I had nightmares anymore, he thought I'd gotten over it, that I could forget the feeling of a blade tearing through my skin, puncturing my lung. Sure I'd gone through conditioning to break me of my fear, so that I'd be able to take a hit and not attempt to dodge, only to find myself getting hit with a worse blow. A possible killing blow.
Sasuke was frowning a bit deeper now, arms still folded across his chest as he looked over the table at me.
"That's such a violation of my privacy I don't even know where to start." Dragging my fingertips across the length of my right eye, I looked away from Sasuke, unable to meet his gaze. The scent of my ramen broth curled around in the air, and after a pause, I once again picked up my chopsticks and went about capturing another mouthful.
"Do we really have to do this here?"
"Unless you'd like to tell the rest of the team?"
Grimacing, I chewed extra hard on the food in my mouth, hoping Sasuke would understand I'd rather be snapping his neck than the chopsticks in my hand. Setting aside the broken pieces of wood, I interlaced my fingers together, using them to nest my chin as I stared at the boy.
"I can still feel the blade passing through my back whenever I go to sleep. I can still see your senbon riddled body dying on the bridge. I still see Orochimaru beating both you and Kiba senseless, but it doesn't stop until he's killed you in my mind. If I don't keep that seal on, then I wake everyone up with my screaming. It doesn't happen every night, and there's no such thing as a bad night's sleep for me, Kyūbi heals my body up perfectly. It doesn't affect my work, so I don't see the need to talk about it."
Sasuke was quiet, the waitress rushing over and removing our food from the table, leaving us with the bill. Before I could reach for my wallet, Sasuke had already put down the requested amount of money, along with a little tip as well.
"Sasuke-"
"Consider it my apology for not noticing your sorry state sooner," he whispered, standing up and pocketing his hands, waiting for me to join him. With a sigh, I too slid out form the booth seat, running my fingers down the worn leather as I went.
"I take it you won't accept no for an answer?"
"Not at all." He cared. Whatever exterior, whatever mask he put forwards, I couldn't argue the fact that Sasuke cared.
It left my stomach feeling warm and I stepped forwards, catching him in a hug, my arms wrapped around his waist and my face pressed into his shoulder. Sasuke barely even paused before his arms wrapped around my shoulders, cheek resting atop my skull.
"Thanks Sasuke."
"Ooh-ho! Am I ruining a moment?"
Breaking away from Sasuke, I smacked Jiraiya across the side of his face, staring down at my hand in fascination as I did so. I'd not even thought about it before I slapped him. Was this how females normally reacted to Jiraiya? Was it an inborn response that I'd been suppressing up until now?
"Naw, and you were doing so well 'Ruto. Well brats, I hope you've got your stuff together, we're heading out."
I could feel the questions exploding in Sasuke's head, even more so when I dug a small scroll out of my hip pouch and threw it towards him.
"What's this?"
"Your stuff," I answered, pulling out two bobbles and snapping one side of my hair up into its custom pigtail, the other following not a few seconds after, "seeing as Jiraiya-sensei wants us for a mission I took the liberty of packing you up."
"Ooh? Giving the boy no warning?" Jiraiya slid over to Sasuke's side, throwing one massive arm over his shoulders and stage whispering, "watch out, or she'll trap you in a relationship before you know it."
Kicking the man in the shin, I scowled, doing my best to ignore the giggling waitresses that were scuttling about behind us.
"Let's just start the mission, okay?" The white haired Sannin let out a victorious laugh, snatching up both up in his giant arms and sprinting off.
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Walking out the gates of Konoha, I unzipped my jacket, cocking my head back to enjoy the mid August heat. It was a beautiful day, the summer sun of Fire Country just that much hotter than any other nation. In my past life I'd lived in rainy old England, so I had always had an appreciation for the warmth of the sun. Now I could almost worship it, living in such a warm country was pure bliss, and I would not be told otherwise.
"So what mission are we going on? And why aren't Kiba and Kakashi coming?" Sasuke, walking with both hands in his pocket and occasionally rolling his shoulders -probably noting how good I had it, storing all my stuff in scrolls really negated the backpack business- turned his head to look at Jiraiya, eyebrow raised. My favourite Fūinjutsu teacher just scoffed, turning to look at me and shaking his head in mock disappointment.
"You really didn't tell him anything, did you?"
"Nope."
"We're going to find a woman called Tsunade, the elder's want her for Hokage."
Snorting, I rolled my eyes, offering the Sage a glare.
"No, you want her for Hokage. Because otherwise they'd stick the hat on your head."
Jiraiya grimaced, even more so when I leapt up onto his back, scrambling onto his head and henging into the Hokage hat in question. Jiraiya ripped me off like I burned.
"No thank you!" Forming a cross with his arms, Jiraiya pouted when I sat, forced from my transformed state, clutching at my stomach and laughing at him. Even Sasuke was chuckling, the noise muffled by the fact he'd tried to press his lips together in order to suffocate the sound. Unable to stop the snickers that were continuously escaping from my lips, I forced myself to get up, dusting the dirt from my backside before scampering after the two males that'd clearly been quite ready to leave me behind.
"So, where are we heading first?"
Jiraiya cuffed me over the head, but nevertheless went on to explain that we would be visiting a small town nearby, where we'd pause to sleep the night in the hotel, and then continue onwards for our search with Tsunade.
"The brat nagged me to take another look at that seal Uchiha, so we'll be doing that while we're on the move. But otherwise, I've got some jutsus to teach the two of you." At that, Sasuke perked up. Obviously he'd heard of Jiraiya before, he was a legendary Sannin, there were history lessons on some of the battles he'd participated in.
"Jutsus?"
"Yep, my primary element is fire, so I've got a selection for the pyromaniac among us, and as for you Naruto, I was thinking I'd teach you the wild lion's mane technique. It'll only work if you've got long hair though, so don't go cutting those beautiful locks."
Reaching a hand up to pat at one of the tails of hair in question, I couldn't fight the grin that spread across my face.
"Sounds cool; I don't know what you got about the curse seal, but from what I've managed to piece together, the First Tier is all about manipulation the mind, chipping away at the users willpower until it makes the user rely on the seal. The Second Tier was tied to natural chakra or something, and the Third had a huge chunk of Orochimaru's chakra in it... Jiraiya-sensei?"
The toad sage had just stopped in the middle of the road, his eyes having popped open and was now staring at the two of us, a look of dawning realization slowly breaking across his face.
"What did you just say Naruto?"
"Erm, there's some of Orochimaru's cha-"
"Not that bit. About the natural energy. Natural energy, of course! I never even considered it, but the energy levels all add up, it explains the focus on three when five is usually a better seal number, balancing three chakras..."
Sasuke and I shuffled a little closer to one another, staring at the Sannin with wide eyes. He seemed to be having some kind of break through, a brain wave or something.
"But I still can't remove Orochimaru's chakra in the Third Tier."
"Do you need to? Can't you just convert the Third Tier to a repression seal for the chakra, kinda like my seal is? Or twist it so that it eats Orochimaru's chakra away?"
Jiraiya shook his head, actually sitting himself down in the dirt and pulling out a small notebook to scribble down all our ideas on.
Hesitantly, Sasuke and I shuffled a bit closer to the man, both of us attempting to peek at the pages of hastily scribbled words. I politely ignored the doodled breasts in the upper right corner.
"Can't do that, it'll start eating Uchiha's chakra once it's done with Orochimaru's, but sealing it up? Yeah, I can do that. Same with the First Tier. But how to deal with the Third Tier?" Jiraiya scratched at his head, glancing at Sasuke with a contemplating expression twisting at his lips. Tapping at the corner of his jaw line the man frowned, just as inspiration struck my brain.
"Do you need to? I mean, the toads told me you fight with natural energy, right? Couldn't you just fix it so that it makes it easier for Sasuke to draw on the stuff? Like, he can learn to harness it without the taint of the curse seal if we just turn it into a normal seal?"
Jiraiya made a startled noise the back of his throat, pencil moving faster than before. Sasuke, clearly quite lost until this point, perked up upon hearing words he understood. That he could harness this power without taint. Even if it sounded like there was a lot of training involved.
"The toads won't accept another summoned so soon, but if I can get Anko-chan to hand over the snake contract -hmm, we'll have to fix her seal too if this works out-, well, I'll still need to keep it sealed until he can balance natural energy efficiently, otherwise he'll end up a stone statue."
"I can wait!" Sasuke hastily threw in at that, looking a bit wide eyed and confused. Probably wondering how this natural energy went about turning someone into a statue.
Jiraiya shot to his feet, pocketing his book, but I could tell there were at least six different ideas chasing after their own tails inside his head.
Throwing my arm across Sasuke's shoulders, I grinned.
"Let me tell you how we're gonna take that sucker on your neck and turn it into a seal that can draw on the energy around us. No drawbacks, just a hell of a lot of training required."
Slowly nodding, and sending Jiraiya a cautious look, Sasuke allowed me to start explaining.
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We walked down the dirt path that lead out of Konoha, following crudely made signs that only Jiraiya seemed to be able to read. That or he was just pretending to understand the chicken scratch, I wasn't sure.
Twisting my fingers back and forth through the hand seals of the jutsu Jiraiya was teaching me, I saw Sasuke doing the same, only with the fire jutsu he'd been gifted, out of the corner of my eye. This was, pleasant. Even missing Kakashi and Kiba, it was still nice. Just Jiraiya, Sasuke and I, calmly traversing the countryside, looking for a gambling addict.
I'd been a bit worried a first, figuring that Sasuke might be a little upset to see that I was learning from a Sannin. But Jiraiya seemed to be happy enough teaching him too.
Pausing, I recalled the picture of Team Jiraiya I'd seen the archives. My father's childish face had stared out at my from the paper and ink, but instead I'd focused on the other two. I had no idea what happened to my father's teammates, but I doubted they were alive. I'd like to think they'd have at least come to take a look at me if they were. But I was pretty sure why the female wasn't alive. She had dark hair, dark eyes, and the Uchiha complexion.
Maybe training both myself and Sasuke brought back memories for Jiraiya, even if we were the wrong gender. It had to be painful too, to drag up those memories of people long dead now. It had to be awful knowing you'd not only outlived your entire Genin team, and that you were actually teaching the younger relatives of those students too.
Jiraiya never let it show though, instead flipping through page after page of his little notebook, scribbling down equations and sketching up different seals. He even ignored a reasonably pretty, curvaceous woman that was walking in the opposite direction, which showed just how much he was focused on what he was doing.
"When do we get to practice these jutsus?" I asked, mainly because I could see Sasuke wanted to know the exact same thing, considering he was getting so fast at running through the handseals.
Snorting, Jiraiya didn't even glance at us, scribbling something out and adjusting whatever information he'd just deleted.
"Not until we pass through the next town brat. I will not be billed for property damage. The Leaf's got enough problems as it is without me getting tied up for monetary debts."
"There's an emergency coffer back at the Leaf Village that I set aside in case we ever had mass property damage, I set it up with some of the money that comes in from my business. It's not a lot, but it should be enough to kick start rebuilding," I murmured, running a hand through my hair.
The Third's death weighed heavily on my shoulders. I could have done more, probably should have done more. But without the Third, Orochimaru would still be able to use jutsus. I really, really didn't like those kinds of odds. I'd warned the village about the invasion via note, and precautions had been taken. But, but it would still never be enough. It'd been a ruthless decision, but I'd done what I could to make sure we'd have a chance to beat Orochimaru in the future. Letting the Sannin off, risking the Sannin being able to use jutsu was too big of a variable. It'd didn't stop me from feeling sick at the thought though.
A hand on my shoulders drew my attention and I looked over at Sasuke, who'd finally stopped running through his handseals and had clearly been trying to gather my attention for a few minutes if the exasperated expression on his face was any indication.
"You and the Hyūga created some kind of jutsu, didn't you?"
Nodding, I stopping running through my own seals, already knowing what was coming.
"You want me to teach it to you?"
Sasuke nodded, not quite frowning but not quite smiling either. Somewhere between, like he was stuck between two emotions and wasn't sure which to show.
"How did you make the jutsu?" Well, he was the first to ask that question.
Scratching nervously at the back of my head, I threw about several different explanations in my head, trying to mash them together until they'd make sense.
"It didn't really start out as a jutsu, it was just suppose to be a chakra control exercise. You know those roller skates that the civilian kids wear?" Another invention I'd come up with and churned out via shadow clone sweatshop. At Sasuke's nod, I continued, "it's kinda like that, but one big, oval shaped wheel instead, like if you'd stood on a ball it kinda caves to your weight? That kinda shape, and just rolling your chakra to propel you forwards. Trust me, there were a lot of explosions when we were first trying that out. We had to get Kakashi-sensei to fix the training ground with an earth jutsu we blew that many holes in the floor."
Sasuke snorted, rolling his eyes before they blazed Sharingan red.
"Show me?" Sasuke knew it was a chakra exercise, much like tree walking was. But he'd still be able to see how the chakra should perform, and that'd be more than enough to get him started.
Focusing my internal energy, I skated forwards, twisting around the duo, going so far as to lift one leg up and stick it behind me as I glided backwards, much like a figure skater. All the while Sasuke's brilliant red eyes followed after me, eyebrows furrowed and focused on my feet.
Circling the boy one last time, I cut off my chakra and casually returned to walking. He'd quickly figure out this took a significant amount of control, more so than water walking needed. I'd made it look easy, considering I'd spent hundreds of hours perfecting how to use this technique. Just as Neji had. No doubt he would eventually end up teaching it to his teammates, so it was only fair I passed it on to mine. We shouldn't hold such a good technique so close to our chests. It had the potential to help every other Leaf Nin. I'd have to talk to Neji about spreading it around when we got back.
"What the hell?!"
The sound of earth forcibly compacting beneath Sasuke's feet had me grinning like mad, completely unable to suppress it. That'd been my seventh mistake when creating the technique. At least Sasuke had avoided carving troughs into the earth like I had the first time I'd attempted to use the glide technique. If he'd been any less composed, I was sure Neji would have laughed himself silly.
Jiraiya was clearly amused by the sound of our antics, if the little smirk on his face was anything to go by, nose still buried in his notebook.
Leaping onto the Sannin's back to get a better look at the seal the man was working on, I felt my face drop upon seeing the design. Or should I say, lack of a design. Because there was instead a naked woman sketched out on the page.
"Don't scowl brat, I've got the suppression of the First Tier done, we can apply it once we get to the hotel."
Eyes narrowed, I slowly let myself down off of Jiraiya's back, instead turning my attention back to helping Sasuke. Clearly our teacher was going to be out of it for a while if his giggling was any indication.
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We arrived at the town just as the sun was setting in the west. Jiraiya had thrown a helping of money at the both of us, sending us off towards the little festival stalls that were selling all kinds of food, running off to who knows where. I had an idea, but I didn't really want to voice it aloud. Sasuke was still thinking the best of Jiraiya, and I'd rather not give the boy any warning before the Sannin was exposed for what he actually was. I wanted to see the respect Sasuke had for the man drain from his face.
Especially when he leant that it was Jiraiya who wrote Kakashi's favourite book.
Smirking to myself, I grabbed a hold of Sasuke's shirt at the hem, dragging him further into the town. The boy grumbled, but his eyes were flashing across the stalls, searching out the best food that was on offer. The two of us stopped by a stall selling meat skewers, which allowed us to pick out our choice of own food to roast on the stick. I went with beef, carrots and potato cubes, and to my upmost surprise -not- Sasuke went for chicken and tomato slices. Walking down the streets I couldn't help but marvel at the feel of the festival. There'd been nothing like this back home, both in my old life and in Konoha. Maybe because just as we'd finally recovered from the Kyūbi attack, Sound and Sand had invaded and ruined all the recovery we'd just gotten through.
Grimacing at the thought, I took another bite of my kebab. Maybe I could use some of the money brought it by my little business to throw Konoha a festival a little later? When the dead were buried, the buildings remade, it'd do well to pick everyone's mood up out of the slump we'd all found ourselves in.
I'd have to discuss it with Tsunade, should she end up taking the hat. I wasn't Naruto, I didn't have his charisma, but I still had to try and get her back to the village. No was not an acceptable option when everything else was taken into account. That much was clear.
"Do we have a specific hotel to stay at?"
Thrown from my thoughts by Sasuke's voice, I twirled a strand of hair around the fingers of my free hand, nibbling at a slice of carrot as I did so.
"I don't think so, Jiraiya-sensei should be able to feel out our chakra signatures and find us that way, if not," I shrugged, "he's a Sannin. He'll find us eventually."
"How did you end up with a Sannin as a sensei anyway?"
"He's my godfather."
Sasuke blinked. His eyes narrowed, lips tightened before he suspired.
"Of course he is."
Chewing on my bottom lip, I weighed up the pros and the cons, wondering if I should tell the Uchiha or not. The Third had figured I was mature enough to decide if I wanted to tell the entire world about my parentage, I doubt he'd have cared too much if I told Sasuke, who had managed to keep my Jinchuriki status secret until I'd actually had to blow the lid on that one.
"He taught my Tou-san, hell, I was named after the main character in his first book, you've probably seen me reading it before today? Tale of the Utterly Gutsy Shinobi?"
Sasuke nodded, finishing off the last of his kebab.
"You know who're parents are, you aren't just a no named orphan like all the others think." By others, I assume he meant the rest of the Rookies. The Uzumaki clan name had kinda sunk into the background, considering I was the only Uzumaki in Konoha and everyone kinda wanted to forget I existed most of the time.
"Yeah, it's another S-rank secret, so don't go around telling anyone. Kumo tried kidnapping my mum when she was just a bit younger than me, because the Uzumaki clan were known for their longevity, making us perfect hosts for the Bijū." Somewhere in the back of my mind, Kyūbi growled, low and threatening and I mentally winced.
'I'm sorry, but it's true. It's not like I'd particularly fond of that fact either.' A snort followed that thought, and I could almost feel Kurama nestling about in the back of my head, as if making himself comfortable once more to resume his nap.
"She died not long after giving birth to me, and my father died sealing a fox in my stomach."
"The Fourth Hokage," Sasuke lurched back as he spoke, disbelief wrote across his features before he paused, seemingly running the information back through his head, plucking out any and all relevant pieces that could certify or deny my statement. My facial features, my colouring, the seal knowledge, the Fourth Hokage's most famous student taking me on has his own, Jiraiya being my godfather. Once you had all the pieces, it all clicked into place really. It was only because the rest of the village did not want to think about such an idea, that the Jinchuriki was the child of their hero.
"He couldn't really ask for anyone else's kid, not when he wasn't willing to damn his own."
"Tch, you're not damned. It's just a power boost with its drawbacks. You've got that healing thing from it, haven't you?"
My lips tilted upwards and I walked a little bit closer to Sasuke. No matter how many times I heard it, from Sakura, from Neji, from Kiba and from Sasuke, it still always made me feel warm knowing they didn't judge me for the seal on my skin, not like the rest of the villagers did. It was nice. Nice to know that when push came to shove, I'd always have them to rely on. That they'd be there to help me out and it would be because they wanted to help me, not the Kyūbi Jinchuriki.
"How about that hotel?" Pointing to the building in question, I watched as Sasuke effortlessly adjusted his momentum, spinning around to head in the direction I'd gestured to. Yes. I liked this Sasuke far more than the one I'd read about all those years ago.
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We booked ourselves into a room that'd house three people, neither of us paying much attention to the price. That'd be Jiraiya's problem considering that the hotel had been his idea. With a smooth flick of my hand, the storage scroll unrolled, a long tail of paper covered in storage seals. Nipping my thumb, I coaxed a bead of blood free of the skin and unsealed my backpack, full of everything I could need for the night.
Across the room, Sasuke copied me, movements flawless enough that it was difficult to tell he'd never actually used a storage scroll in such a way before. He looked at the pack I'd brought for him, frowning as he did so.
"You haven't forgotten anything essential, have you?"
Snorting, I rolled my eyes, turning back to my own pack and pulling out my usually sleeping clothes. The large shirt was one of the cheap tee-shirts that was usually found on the clearance rails.
The ninja supplies shop were either run by civilians or retired ninja, and they made it easy to tell who had ordered in what stock. The retired ninja would always go for muted colours, or just the traditional Chũnin or ANBU uniform. The civilians on the other hand, they preferred things little more colourful. Hence why the shirt I pulled out was a sleeveless white with red flame like pattern. I'd seen it on the clearance and instantly been reminded of the Fourth's coat, and while it was too big for me to actually wear, it was perfect for sleeping in.
Picking up a usual pair of panties along with the shirt, I escaped into the bathroom to change into my sleeping gear, stripping myself of the usual orange jacket, cropped black top and the matching three quarter tight trousers. The sandals and bandages were the next to come off, leaving me in just my underwear.
Twisting to get a better look at myself in the mirror, I let out a low sigh, one hand running down the smooth plane of my stomach. This body was very in shape, but I was very much looking forwards regaining my womanly curves. I wasn't sure if I wanted a bust as big as the one I'd had in my old life. I'd been blessed with very generous curves in that life there, but looking at the image of Uzumaki Kushina, I didn't think I'd be going the same way this time. Probably somewhere around average. My mother's curves had been visible, but not eye popping like Tsunade's. And that was okay, I can't imagine fighting with a bust that big. I have no idea how Tsunade does it, and I don't think I want to find out.
Turning, I looked over my shoulder, tracing the very light, almost unnoticeable scar where I'd been impaled by an Iwa shinobi. Phantom pain raced through my body but I pushed it back, instead focusing on small patch of puckered skin that rested just below the strap of my bra. It still made me uncomfortable looking at it now, and I doubted it was something I'd get past until I had my next near death experience. And there would be a next one, that much was obvious.
"Naruto?"
At Sasuke's call, I quickly shimmied out of the rest of the material clothing my body, throwing on the pants and large tee-shirt. There was no point in me wearing a bra in my sleep, they were uncomfortable and dug in at all the wrong places, I'd avoid it while I still could. The tee-shirt was large enough to cover anything and I wasn't developed enough for my breasts to draw any attention in it. I gathered my rumpled clothing up and made my way back out the bathroom.
Sasuke hadn't changed yet, leaning back against one of the walls of the room, still in his usual clothes, one leg stretched before him and the other supporting the arm holding up his head.
"That seal you used to break the building during the invasion, can you make me one?"
Sealing up the clothes I'd been using, I pulled my paintbrush out of my pack along with a bottle of ink, gesturing for Sasuke to come and sit beside me instead of answering verbally. The boy did so without any resistance on his part, sitting himself down and pulling off the arm warmers that usually shielded his forearms.
Instead of putting brush to skin right away though, I placed one finger against the back of his wrist, sending out a pulse of chakra into the limb like Neji had taught me to do so long ago. It wasn't aiming to close a tenketsu point, instead to just get a feeling for how good the flow of chakra was around that specific area. Sasuke twitched slightly at the feeling, but nevertheless remained still.
"Send some chakra to the point where my finger is, exactly to that point." The energy welled up under my finger just as requested and I let go of the limb, unscrewing the cap from my ink bottle.
"That's where I'm going to put the seal, it's only good for one super punch, so whenever you use it in battle you'll have to make it count, because it takes a steady ten minute stream of chakra to refill the seal with enough power required. Jiraiya-sensei told me that the original technique that this is based off doesn't require that much chakra, that it's all about control. But we're using a seal to negotiate a lack of control, and because of that the chakra cost is higher, you with me so far?"
Sasuke nodded, clenching and unclenching his hand as he did so. No doubt to rid himself of the foreign chakra now in his system.
"Great, I can only put one on each arm, and it'd be best if you only had one on your dominant arm until you've gotten used to using it, that's what I did. Got all that?"
"Yes, get on with it." Cuffing him around the head, I shook my own at the blatant impatience, not missing the grin on Sasuke's face as I dipped my paintbrush into the ink.
"Stay still, wouldn't want me to blow your arm off, nee?"
.
Ten minutes after completing the seal, I came back over from where I'd been getting my bed ready for the night, inspecting my work. Sasuke had been steadily filling the seal with his chakra just like I'd asked him to. As his reserves would increase it'd seem like less of a drain, but right now, it required about a twentieth of his full chakra capacity.
I didn't even need to ask to get him to hold his arm out, taking the limb in a light grip and running my fingers over the dried pattern, assessing it with fingers coated in a very light layer of chakra. The Fūinjutsu gloves were only for unknown seals, since this was one of my own I knew it like the back of my hand. There was no danger of me setting off some unknown component.
"So it's ready to use?" Sasuke asked when I let go, Sharingan bleeding into his onyx eyes so he could memorize the design.
"Yep." Jogging back over to my bed, I dropped onto the fluffy mattress, immensely glad I'd picked a hotel with real beds, and not the kind that sat on the floor without a mattress.
Then, in a softer voice than I'd have thought Sasuke possible, the boy asked, "will the two of you really be able to get this seal off?" I knew what seal he was referring to right away, it was blindingly obvious after all.
"I doubt we'll ever be able to really get it off," I murmured, the truth tasting like ash in my mouth, "but twist it until it's something completely different? That we can do. Jiraiya's right about being able to seal off Orochimaru's chakra and the influence, they didn't do that to begin with because they didn't know what the other component is. But now that he's sure it's natural energy, it's only a matter of time until it's sorted."
"And what is natural energy? You said Jiraiya fights with it, but you never expanded on it."
"Oh." Scratching sheepishly at my cheek, I burrowed deeper into the duvet atop my bed, only my head peeking out from the little cocoon. "Well, you know chakra is made up of physical and mental energy, right? Well, Sage Mode is where you take the natural energy around you and balance it with the two.. Erm, it's kinda like an awakened state, the best way I can describe it is that it increases the potency of your chakra from what I understand. Attacks hit harder, and I'm sure there's katas specifically for Sage Mode as well. It'll take a while to get it though, when I asked the toads they said the body isn't ready to use that kind of energy in battle until fifteen or sixteen, something about chakra networks and stuff. The medical bit was kinda lost on me. But Jiraiya-sensei is the only Sage around at the moment as far as he's aware, so if anyone can help you with it, he can."
Blinking, I looked over at Sasuke, who was staring down at his hands before a calm smirk made its way across his face.
"That sounds good. No taint from the seal, instead just making it aid me." The Uchiha closed his head, leaning his head back against the wall. He had the posture that said everything was finally coming together and my stomach squirmed slightly.
I would have to start subtly pushing Shisui towards telling Sasuke the actual reason behind the Uchiha massacre, otherwise we were going to have a problem on our hands. Of course, I had to make it seem like I had no knowledge on the subject, and with Shisui, that could be tricky. Not that I needed a solution right away after all, I still had several years until Sasuke would be strong enough to actually go chasing his vengeance.
But I was hopeful. The more I spoke with him, the more time I spent around him, the more it seemed like he was going to stay in Konoha. Things were looking up.
A knock at the door broke me from my thoughts and I turned to the window, noting the stars and moon that hung in the sky. It seemed that Jiraiya had finally come crawling back.
"I've got it," I grumbled, forcibly removing myself from my toasty warm nest and plodding across the room, wooden floorboards far too cold against the soles of my feet. Sasuke seemed quite determined to fall asleep sat up against the wall from the looks of it, evidentially he had no will to go and answer the door.
When I opened the threshold, I was glad that was the case.
.
Two red eyes stared down at me, barely visible from my height with that large dark collar in the way. I knew instantly who it was, and panic surged through my veins. This wasn't supposed to happen yet, it'd still been daytime when Itachi and Kisame had first come calling on Naruto in the manga, why the hell were they both stood outside of our hotel room in the middle of the night? In fact, where the hell was Jiraiya? This was kind of important.
The slash through the leaf headband made me cringe internally, especially since I knew the man wearing it would be the last person to turn missing nin had he a choice.
"Could this child really be the Nine Tails?"
My head snapped up and over to look at the other figure and I grit my teeth, nails pressing into my palms sharp enough to draw blood. Kisame had spoken quietly enough that Sasuke wouldn't have heard him, but he'd also have expected to hear Jiraiya's boisterous voice by now. It was damn lucky that there was a corner to round before the room opened up from the doorway, because I had no doubt that Sasuke would not be this peaceful if he knew who was actually at the door.
"Naruto-chan, we would like you to come with us." Itachi's voice was smooth, dark and completely emotionless. It also happened to be one of those perfectly recognisable voices that you could pick out in a crowd from three hundred feet away. I could hear Sasuke stop breathing and knew instantly that I'd lost all hope of him not getting involved.
"And if I refuse?" I asked, clenching my fists. I didn't have my weapons pouch on me, nor the seals that usually sat in my trouser pockets. All I had were the seals etched onto my skin, and I could see both Akatsuki member's eyeing my arms curiously. The kind of detached curiosity that a predator showed, as if the prey's coat was a colour they'd never seen before, and they'd take a moment to appreciate such a variation before they ate it up all the same. I was never sleeping without my weapons pouch again.
"Come out of the room." That was it. The first time Sasuke might have mistaken his voice for a hallucination, but twice?
Sasuke didn't even hesitate, the soft sounds of his footfalls echoing behind me. Itachi's eyes never even left my face while Kisame let out a low whistle.
"Tch, look, the brat's got a friend. Hey Itachi-san, he kinda looks a little like you."
Behind me, Sasuke's breathing hitched, I could almost feel him trembling with anger behind me, it was as close to pure rage as I'd ever felt, and it was pouring off his form.
Somewhere in my mind, the Kyūbi stirred, assessing the situation and then stopping on the black cloaks and their red cloud design. I knew he'd been sceptical about believing me up until now, even when things I'd already told him about had come to pass. But seeing this now, the Akatsuki that had been started by Madara, one of Kurama's most hated enemies... Well, I only needed to prove myself a worthy partner now. The truth of the situation was right before our eyes.
"Uchiha Itachi." Sasuke's voice was cold, freezing cold. Colder than anything I'd felt so far in this life and the blood began seeping out from between my fingers, nails puncturing the skin just that little bit more.
"Oh, it looks like you have some history," Kisame's chuckle was dry as he hefted the sword from his back, "while you're busy with that, I'll cut off this one's leg. Don't need her running away now, do we?"
I leapt into action.
Pressing my finger against the light seal on my arm, I slammed my eyes shut, praying that Sasuke had managed to do the same. We'd ran through drills before today when it came to dealing with higher opponents, opponents more skilled than us. Had been doing so ever since Wave. Our opening play when we were all free to move was to always, always use the light seal. If I had any luck at all, Sasuke's senses wouldn't have left him and he'd remember that.
The swear from Kisame let me know that I'd gotten him, throwing myself backwards towards Sasuke. It was easy to tell the moment the light died, because my retinas stopped burning. Even behind my eyelids. A concentrated blast of sunlight, not enough to forever harm the eyes -because there was always a chance friendlies could get caught too-, but certainly enough to remove your vision for a few seconds. Ninja had an unfortunately fast recovery time after all.
"Sasuke-" I was cut off before I could even offer up our plan, because the boy was shooting forwards, lightning exploding to life around his fist and a scream of madness bursting from his throat. I didn't need to look to know what was going to happen, but I couldn't look away if I wanted to.
Itachi moved so fast I could barely keep track of it, catching Sasuke' wrist and casually flicking the Chidori into the wall of the inn. I winced. If we got out of this okay, we were so getting billed for that.
Then, Sasuke smirked. I could feel the moment he released the seal I'd put on him not ten minutes before, hear the crack of the bones in Itachi's hand, even if the older Uchiha didn't so much as twitch at the injury.
"You're in the way."
There was a sickening snap and Sasuke dropped to the ground, screaming as he automatically curled the broken limb closer to his chest. A moment passed in which Sasuke managed to get up again, but before he could do anything Itachi kicked him further into the hotel room, the younger Uchiha smashing against the back wall of our room.
A wordless cry torn through my throat as Itachi pinned Sasuke to the wall by his neck, panic surging through my entire being. Even if I knew that Itachi would never kill Sasuke, he would hurt him. If it meant Sasuke would live, then Itachi would strike where it would hurt most. The Nine Tail's chakra answered my call.
For a second, Itachi's head turned as the chakra flooded the air, and then Kisame was there with Samehada, ripping it all away from me. But it didn't matter. Kurama had covered me perfectly, giving me just enough time to gather my own chakra and perform the jutsu.
So when Itachi turned his Sharingan eyes back to his captive, it was me he was holding instead.
Sasuke had grown. The pain throbbed in his hand, the hand he wasn't using to pin his younger brother to the wall. He had no idea how Sasuke had managed to harness a concentrated charka blast like that, but the bones in his now broken hand were telling him that was exactly what had happened. It'd been localized to a point on Sasuke's wrist though, hidden behind the white material that covered his forearms. Uzumaki Naruto's arms were covered in seals, it wouldn't be too big of a jump to assume that his brother had a few as well.
Turning back to his captive, Itachi forced chakra through the pathways around his eyes, activating the Tsukuyomi. And found himself meeting wide blue eyes instead of red.
No.
He hadn't registered the fact the girl had evidentially used the body replacement technique with his own brother, at the risk of her own life, in order to save Sasuke. Appreciation raced through him; Sasuke had truly made a good friend here. He hoped his little brother knew how lucky he was. He'd found his own Shisui, that much was evident. Itachi knew, without question that even now Shisui would take a death blow for him, much like he would do the same for his older cousin.
But that didn't change the fact he'd caught Uzumaki Naruto in Tsukuyomi instead of his little brother.
.
She was a tiny little thing, made even more obvious by the too large shirt she was wearing, thin legs peeking out from under the hem. When she'd answered the door, her hair hanging free around her face and looking so very breakable, he could barely believe that she was the child of his mother's friend and the Fourth Hokage. That'd changed the second Kisame had threatened her.
That seal that'd let out a concentrated blast of light was dangerous, especially to Dōjutsu users. His vision had only just returned in time for him to pin Sasuke to the wall, he'd been relying on his other senses until then. Otherwise, had he been able to use his Sharingan, he'd have been able to recognise the chakra around the seal that Sasuke had used against him.
That she'd managed such a flawless replacement showed she had a great mastery over that particular jutsu, and he had a feeling she'd practiced it until her fingers had bled. She'd appeared so strong fighting the both of them, even if he could see in her eyes that she recognised her chances of winning were zero. That she'd used the fox's chakra to cover her own jutsu showed a quick mind; he'd underestimated her. Something he wouldn't be doing again.
His brother was beyond lucky to have received such a teammate.
And here, sprawled out in his world as she was, she looked even smaller than when she'd answered the door.
"This is Tsukuyomi," he spoke tonelessly, the very image of a god with the world at his fingertips.
Naruto raised her head, her eyes almost dead as she looked at him, and Itachi got the feeling the girl knew exactly what was coming. He did not want to torture her. But to push Sasuke harder, to push him to get stronger, he would do it. The world around them morphed. If the little Uzumaki girl was more than willing, cared enough to sacrifice herself to save Sasuke, then forcing her to watch that night would hurt her as much as it hurt his little brother. Even more so as he twisted the timeline, twisted it so that Sasuke didn't get away, so that a kunai cut into his jugular, so that a sword pressed through his tiny back and out through the front. The girl screamed at that one, and Itachi instantly knew she'd suffered a similar injury with the way one hand flew up to clutch at her own rib cage.
"Twenty Three Hours, Fifty Nine minutes to go." But just as he said it, that was where it all went wrong. His world twisted again, but this time it was not of his own doing.
And then he came face to face with the very thing that had first taught him true fear.
.
The Kyūbi no Kitsune, in all of its demonic glory, stood tall and proud, it's host curled into a small ball between its two front paws. Hot, moist breath traced every curve of Itachi's face and the Uchiha found he couldn't move, could scarcely think with the killing intent that was flooding his world. Two red eyes, far bloodier than his own, stared down at him as the landscape twisted and he was treated to the real version of events, not what he had made Sasuke see all those years ago.
The tears that ran down his face as he killed his parents, their tender acceptance of his choices. The orange mask. He cut it off as soon as he realized what was happening, the Kyūbi having twisted his own technique back on him. But it was too late.
Bright blue eyes had opened to watch the scene, and were now looking at him, flooded with tears of pain and sympathy. She knew. He had to silence her somehow, make her forget. Because he would not have Sasuke turn against Konoha, would rather not see the Uchiha name disgraced in such a way, but-
"This one is mine," The Kyūbi rumbled, and Itachi felt his eyes widened when he realized the fox was speaking of the girl. That he was towering over her protectively, positioned so that if Itachi attempted to go for the host, he was find himself having to dodge nine sharp tails, two front paws and a set of vicious teeth to do so. He wouldn't manage it.
"I don't care for people that harm what is mine."
And under a sudden influx of demonic chakra, his world shattered.
Sasuke couldn't understand what was happening. He'd been pinned to the wall effortlessly by Itachi. True he'd gotten one good shot in with Naruto's seal, even managed to break a bone from the sound of it, but it hadn't been enough. Itachi was toying with him.
And then suddenly he was laid out on the floor on the other side of the room. His head swirled for a second, pain thrumming through his veins as his broken arm screamed for treatment. And then another scream, an audible one, tore through the air, snapping Sasuke's head up without any conscious thought.
Naruto.
Naruto had switched out with him. He hadn't felt this helpless since the massacre. And now she was under his brother's tender mercies and she was screaming. God she was screaming and he was using that technique against her and who knows what he was making her see.
Then, Itachi flung himself away and demonic red chakra burst out of Naruto, surrounding her form as she dropped to the ground, unable to support herself. The Sannin had shown up now, putting himself between Naruto and the enemy, but Sasuke couldn't focus on anything else.
He pushed himself upwards, stumbling to Naruto's side despite the cries of protest his ribs and arm made.
What had she been thinking?! Swapping herself out against that man, putting herself in danger when Itachi was his to take down.
Falling to his knees beside her, Sasuke absentmindedly noting the odd pinkness of the floor that'd once been highly polished wood. He tried reaching for Naruto, but the red chakra snarled and burnt his skin when he attempted to take hold of her. Sasuke tore his arm back, fingers twitching at the angry red blisters that spread across the skin there, burning hot.
Then the chakra was gone, and it was just Naruto crumpled on the floor, the blue eyes that were usually so intense and focused now nothing more than a glassy sheen, tears trailing down the curves of her face. She'd bitten clean through her lower lip trying to hold that scream in and Sasuke clenched his eyes shut. She'd been hurt because he wasn't strong enough, wasn't fast enough to take Itachi down before he harmed anyone else.
Painstakingly gathering the girl up in his arms, even if his left arm and ribs were in a symphony of pain, Sasuke pressed his nose into her hair, inhaling the familiar smell of sweat, warmth and undertone of fox that was Naruto's scent.
This was why he'd not wanted to get close to anyone. Itachi had stolen everyone, everyone he cared about once before, he hadn't wanted to risk getting hurt like that again.
But Shisui survived, another part of his mind whispered and Sasuke clenched his teeth, pressed them together until his gums hurt.
Shisui had survived.
And he was stronger, he'd actually managed to injure Itachi thanks to the element of surprise, thanks to Naruto's help. Was it worth it? To risk losing more people to that man, to get strong enough to beat Itachi?
The seal on his neck tried to make a suggestion, but Sasuke pushed it away, looking back up to find it was only the Sannin in the room. Itachi and his partner had fled in the face of the Sannin. The Sannin that could teach him to harness an energy no other than he himself used. If Itachi was hesitant to tangle with Jiraiya...
Then Sasuke just needed to get him to train him too.
The man seemed happy enough to teach him alongside Naruto, could teach him to better himself and use that natural energy he'd been talking about. He'd get stronger, strong enough to take Itachi down. He wouldn't hurt anyone again. His clan would be avenged.
Clutching Naruto tighter to his chest as her eyes fell shut, he watched the exhaustion overtaking her body. Not a surprise really, he'd been in a coma for weeks after that technique, but Naruto had a demon fox that could break her out of any genjutsu. Who knew when she'd wake up.
"Kid! How's Naruto, what happened?!" Swallowing around the lump in his throat, Sasuke looked up at Naruto's godfather had began to explain.
If his voice shook a bit, then the man never mentioned it.
"You h-helped me?"
Above me, Kurama snorted, a look of revulsion crossing his features and I curled up on his paw, tiny hands clutching at the thick orange fur I found there.
I felt like I was drowning.
Watching Uchiha after Uchiha get cut down, seeing the glassy black eyes staring out from Sasuke's face-
I shuddered, pressing my face deeper into Kurama's fur and hoping that my body was radiating as much gratitude towards him as it currently was terror. I never wanted to see that again, never see my friend hurt in such a way. Never have to see him die.
My limbs trembled again as a sob escaped my throat, Kurama giving a disgusted scoff above my body.
"Do not get your filthy human fluids in my fur."
Forcing myself to sit up, I remained on the fox's giant paw, fingers still tangled in the fur but my legs curled under me in order to catch whatever tears could fall. No doubt there was snot running down my face too. No wonder he didn't want me pressing my head into his glossy fur.
"You were right though, the ningen truly regrets having to kill his family. I do not see why it affects you so much."
Choking, I ran the back of my hand across my eyes, a useless attempt at gathering all the tears in one place. I no doubt looked a mess. From the way Kyūbi was treating me, I couldn't believe anything else. At least he hadn't thrown me across the seal yet.
"Thank you. Thank you for st-stopping it."
"Tch, wake up brat. Your fellow monkeys await your return."
.
When I opened my eyes, I was curled up on one of the mattresses in the hotel room. My internal clock told me only a handful of hours had passed, that we were easily into the early hours of the morning, but not enough for dawn to break across the sky. Inhaling, I caught both Sasuke and Jiraiya's scent, both strong. They were in the room.
Slowly sitting up, I felt my muscles twitch, not happy at all to be moving around so soon after taking such a strong genjutsu. But I forced my body up regardless, looking around the room.
The source of the snores was evident, Jiraiya's form thrown over one bed and easily dwarfing it, mouth hanging open to broadcast the noise across the room. Sasuke...
Sasuke was sat with his back ridged straight against the wall, glowing Sharingan eyes spinning in the darkness and bloodshot. Focused on me. Intensely so.
He was across the room a heartbeat, stood by my bedside and I flinched at the sudden movement. All the same, I took a moment to take in his appearance. He was in a simple pair of sleeping bottoms, shirt off and bandages wrapped around his torso. His left arm was in a sling, right hand wrapped up in more bandages and smelling distinctively of burn healing paste.
"Sasuke?" The word that left my mouth were sluggish, tumbling off my tongue with none of its usual grace, falling flat instead of dancing through the air like normal.
When it fully registered in my mind that it was Sasuke and his eyes were bloodshot and tired but oh so alive, I snatched up his good arm, forcibly pulling him onto my bed and then crawling into his lap like a child. I hadn't done that since desensitization training with Kakashi, when I had been asked to pierce by palm with a blade. I'd done it, and then proceeded to have a nervous breakdown.
The silver haired man had held me just as awkwardly as Sasuke was doing now.
My arms were tight around his upper torso, taking care not to put any pressure on the site where the bandages were wrapped around. But I held on as hard as I dared, my fingers probably digging uncomfortably into his skin.
"Naruto. Never do that again."
Pressing my face into Sasuke's neck, I knew he could feel the tears that were leaking from my eyes without permission. I knew it'd been a genjutsu, I knew it hadn't been real. But that didn't stop the terrifying thoughts running through my head, the idea that I might go to sleep and wake up to find Sasuke gone and that was unacceptable. Completely unacceptable.
"Kyūbi saved me," I whimpered, nose pressed up against the jugular vein of Sasuke's neck and feeling the reassuring thumpthumpthump of his heartbeat, of the blood pulsating through his veins. "He broken the genjutsu, he turned it back on him. Sasuke... There's something not right about it... It wasn't just him. He was crying and there was a man in a mask... Kyūbi attacked because the man in the mask made him."
Sasuke went still beneath me.
Sat on his lap, I curled a bit tighter in on myself, cried a little harder.
It hurt. Genjutsu had never effected me like this, but I'd never been put under anything that attacked me half as bad as that. The only reason I wasn't in a coma was because of Kurama. The only reason I'd not had to watch it over and over again, watching Sasuke's body hit the floor again and again, was Kurama.
'Thank you.'. I received no mental reply, but I knew the fox had heard me.
"What are you saying Naruto."
"I, I don't know. Kurama twisted it back on him and the images had to come from somewhere. The masked man is real, Kyūbi knows that for certain. He had a Sharingan... There's more to it. Kyūbi, he hates the masked man. More than anything else. I've never felt such hatred before."
Sasuke's good arm finally wrapped around my back, pressing me close to him.
"I'll get stronger. I'll find out the truth. I'll make Itachi pay. And if there is a masked man, he'll pay as well."
I couldn't confess Itachi's innocence, Sasuke would deny it instantly, would think Itachi had tricked me. But getting him to question events was enough right now.
Curling up closer to Sasuke, I let my tired eyes droop until they shut, already knowing I wasn't going to fall asleep without Sasuke's hearing heart beating beside my ear. His fingers pressed against my wrist, feeling the pulse there as he leaned back against the wall beside my bed, chin resting on my skull and holding tighter with his good arm.
I'd been hoping to avoid Sasuke meeting Itachi again, and the meeting hadn't gone well at all. But it could always have gone worse.
Omake; The Reason Behind a Late Arrival!
"For gods sakes Itachi!"
Ignoring Kisame's impatient groan, Itachi narrowed his eyes, looking between the two products he was holding in each hand. This would quite possibly be the last time he would be able to slip into Konoha in person, and he was going to make the most of it.
He had already checked up on Sasuke, seen him eating dinner with the Kyūbi Jinchuriki before Jiraiya of the Sannin had appeared to take them off elsewhere. He'd checked up on Shisui, who was housing several different civilian families, the one's that'd had their own homes destroyed in the invasion, within the Uchiha district. He didn't doubt that his friend had sensed him, knew that he'd come to make sure the Leaf was still strong.
He'd also taken the time to let Danzō know he was still alive, that his threat still stood. If a hair on Sasuke's head was harmed, every secret the Leaf had would be on all the Kage's desks the next day. Danzō seemed to have thought that Shisui was under this protection as well, and Itachi hadn't seen the need to correct the man otherwise.
Which left him with one last job.
.
Stood just a few steps away from the counter, Itachi looked mournfully between the two different chocolate bars, one with jellybeans and popping candy inside, and one with a filling known as 'Turkish delight'. He'd never tried either of them, and he desperately wanted to.
As was the case with every other new sweet that was currently in the shopping basket hanging from his arm.
But he'd not brought enough money for it all.
Although there were plenty of different candies being sold across the nations, it was obvious that Weasel-kun's Whimsies kept all the new and better sweets in their only store within Konoha.
"That's it!" Kisame snatched the basket from his arm, drawing out his own wallet and dropping the container before the startled shop assistant.
"We'll take all of that, including whatever he's got in his hands." Below his breath, Kisame muttered, "the Jinchuriki will be halfway to Iwa by the time you've finished deciding."
Face blank but smiling on the inside, Itachi handed over all the money he had on him, Kisame making up the difference as the woman packed his purchases up in a bag, handing them over and offering them a cheerful goodbye. She never even noticed the genjutsu that hid their true faces.
The second they stepped outside, Itachi registered three Jonin level signatures following them, one he knew very well.
"Great, and now we've got a tail," Kisame snarled, clearly unhappy with the situation.
Not that Itachi cared. He'd gotten all the new confectionaries he wished to try.
The tail would be easily dealt with, so he considered it worth it.
.
Righty-oh, so there's my plans for the curse seal, Naruto has a mental breakdown/anxiety attack or whatever, and a little omake that could, if you wish it, explain what took Itachi and Kisame so long to catch up. If you want it to that is.
No, Sasuke won't start learning Sage Mode until somewhere around the time Naruto does. Or at least, when it comes to using it effectively in battle. Itachi got his Mangekyo from killing his parents. Will Sasuke get one on the future? I have plans for that I guess, whether they'll be the same when I get to that point, I don't know.
I wanted to finish the first part of Naruto before I go back to Uni -there's only two chapters left I believe- but I'm doubtful if I'll manage it, seeing as there's two to go and a lot to get through in them. So there might be one more chapter before I disappear for a while, or this might be the last one. Or, by some miracle, I might get both done. Who knows?
Tsume
xxx
