AN
Caliko: What, but Deidra's already baked for you, Snicker.
DarkRavie: I only wish I'd have put a little more focus on poor neglected Hidan- I'll have to make especially sure to give him some paragraph time next battle he shows up in…
Serenity Maxwell: I got used to the DBZ style of combat writing… in fact if I still had it on FF I'd tell you to go read my Project 2.o, but I took it down since everyone ignored a mass blast of all 52 chapters… besides- I've ran them through about 8 proof reads since the version I uploaded… hehe- and I still find something new whenever I go through them…
xXxKIxXx: Always glad to have another loyal reader, and any review adds to numbers that people randomly searching for stories will spot and think to look at this story 'cause it's got more than a sparse touch of reviews
AH! The plot bunnies are attacking oh my!
YAY! 8k+ hits! Almost 9k now… sooo close…
Ofdarknesschaos: Yay! Another loyal reader- I'd've had the story out earlier but for a mix of writer's block that I overcame slowly over the weekend- and lack of internet- I spent Thanksgiving weekend with my mother's side of the family- and I don't have much if any internet most of the time… so- finally I can post it now…
End AN
"You realized I can't approve this," Tsunade replied.
"Why not," Naruto rose up in a slow building rage. Itachi stood and put an arm on Naruto's shoulder.
"Please, explain."
"First, we don't have any leads; second Akatsuki is a far more immediate threat- especially now that they are after you as much as Naruto."
"We've crippled their operations for some time I can assure you, without Oorachimaru they could get around, without me, Kisame, Kakuzu, and Deidra, they no longer have enough people to perform the necessary rituals to achieve their goals."
"Further- they'll be out there recruiting, we need to know who joins them- also, concede this- Sasuke is after you as well- he still thinks you're in Akatsuki. The best way to achieve both of our goals is through monitoring Akatsuki's movements.
"Understood." Itachi nodded and applied enough pressure to Naruto's shoulder to both comfort and motion it was time to go. Naruto grumbled but followed.
When they were gone Tsunade finally released the fully body shiver she'd been containing. Uchiha Itachi, even though he was supposedly not the monster he was made out to be, he was still brutally cold- "Those eyes…"
naNAnaNAna
"Itachi how can you be so damn CALM."
"Tsunade raises a valid point, if we track Akatsuki, Sasuke will find them, and we'll find him." Itachi reached into his old vest, recovered from his ANBU days, "Besides, I have this."
Itachi pulled out something resembling a Bingo Book, but it had nine pages, he opened to show Naruto the first and last pages were Gaara and himself respectively. Naruto at last smiled. "Shall we look into Akatsuki's operations?"
Itachi smiled, even Naruto found it creepy to look at Itachi's smiles for too long, he turned away, and as he did he remembered why they'd waited so long to ask to go on their next mission.
"First we have to visit Sakura. She's supposed to be well enough for visitor today."
"She's important to you?"
"She's the one I made the promise to, to get back Sasuke. I think, if things had been different, maybe we could have had something in this life- but she loves Sasuke, and I've moved on."
"She means more?"
"She represents to me the whole of the village, when I think of who I'm protecting, she sums everyone else up."
"That's a lot to live up to."
"Yeah, but she's strong enough."
Itachi gave Naruto a sideways glance with a smirk, "I noticed the Hyuuga girl seemed interested in you as well."
Naruto gave Itachi a confused look before he saw the creepy smile on his face to let him know he was having fun at his expence. It was all true, but it wasn't something one would normally bring up right about now, "You know Itachi, you're scary sometimes."
"I'm evil, what's your excuse."
"I'm a demon."
saSAsaSAsa
Sakura opened her eyes slowly, she saw Kakashi sitting over her- as well as something obstructing her vision. She reached her hand to pull it away- to be shocked at how much effort it took to do so. She saw her hand covered in bandages, looked down to see them running up her arm and over most of her body.
"You're just in time," she said in a hoarse voice.
"The road of life is especially clear on matters of friends and family, my team is the best of both."
Naruto came in first, Itachi stayed out in the hall at first. Naruto looked over at Sakura- "The mummy's alive."
Sakura glared at Naruto with very clear death intent. Naruto gave a reassuring chuckle as he came a little closer. "Tsunade said you shouldn't have any scaring."
"Itachi's waiting outside isn't he?"
Naruto looked towards the door, then down at the ground, "Yeah."
Itachi took that as his cue to come in. He knocked first as he pushed the door open and stepped in. "We still plan to save him, knowing his goals he will eventually go after Akatsuki, so we'll do the same until we find him."
"But what about Oorachimaru, he plans- he plans to take Sasuke's body for himself."
Itachi smiled, that same eerie smile again. Naruto took a step away from him, "The hawk is very rarely devoured by the snake."
"What's that supposed to mean," Sakura asked with a sudden infusion of energy, painfully forcing herself to sit up.
"He's my brother, I trust that when all is said and done, Sasuke will remember that, and Oorachimaru will have learned nothing- in fact I'm quite sure Oorachimaru has nowhere near the grasp he needs to conquer the Sharingan." Itachi remembered Oorachimaru's reaction to being defeated at his hands. He looked down at his hands as he did it. "Oorachimaru is not as strong as he believes himself to be, he measures wisdom in strength of force, thinking that living eternally will ensure power."
"That's why he keeps losing, he underestimates all but his elders, who he holds in contempt; truly a sad life, isn't it," Kakshi simplified.
"Itachi and I are leaving," Naruto said suddenly, "We're going to track down the other demon-sealed like myself, if we can get all of them to co-operate we'll always know where Akatsuki has to strike eventually."
Neither Sakura nor Kakashi said anything to that. It was a tense moment of silence before Naruto turned to leave-
"Be careful, all the Jinchuuriki may have had a hard life like you, but they don't all care about making connections."
"Even if they're as violent as Gaara was, I come baring a target to focus their hate on," Naruto gave a smirk almost as evil-looking as Itachi. Naruto opened the door and Itachi left first, Naruto brought it almost too before saying his last farewells, "Seriously though, don't worry too much, I have every intention of coming back… I promise."
zeZEzeZEze (A couple days back…)
Zetsu had just finished finding all the remaining bits of Deidra when he sighed, "Man he really went all over…" He held three Akatsuki rings in his hand as his other side spoke this time.
"At least the rings are all still intact."
"Don't you have any compassion? It'll be hard for leader to replace all three of them."
"Of course I have some compassion! We just ate, so I'm all warm and fluffy."
The smell of death was thick through the surrounding area, despite that Zetsu sensed someone coming from a fair distance off. He looked up in time to see a mask with one eye… That eye which stared back with a twirling intensity. A look that seemed familiar- yet completely different- yet Zetsu couldn't seem to recall ever seeing it before. Thoughts turned to haze as Zetsu tried to speak…
"Hello Tobi," Zetsu greeted at last.
"If I get one of those rings, I'll be a full member of Akatsuki, won't I?"
"Well, it'd be a step in the right direction…"
gaGAgaGAga
Gaara wasn't surprised to have unannounced guest wanting to see him; however he was surprised that anybody felt this was worth his time. Temari had let him know on her way out that these guests would be welcome, that made Gaara a little suspicious, but extremely curious. With everyone going to Leaf Village for the Chuunin Exams, who would be coming here?
Gaara frowned as he hoped it wasn't another person seeking to undermine the alliance between Leaf and Sand. Gaara had more than a few good reasons to keep relations in that village. Gaara came to the door where his visitors were waiting. Before he put his hand to the edge he was hit by a wave of familiarity. Almost outside of himself- The sand around him perked up, as if his demon was trying to speak to him. Gaara smiled, realizing he had only met one person before who could stir such a reaction from his own demon.
Gaara opened the door to see Naruto as he expected, but he didn't recognize the man sitting beside him. It wasn't any member of his team, nor any of the others from the Chuunin exam. He looked a touch like Sasuke, especially with the eyes- Sharingan eyes. Gaara's own eyes widened as he recognized who this had to be. Naruto spotted the reaction in time to speak up-
"Gaara, this is the FORMER member of Akatsuki, Uchiha Itachi."
"Former?"
"Well, technically he wasn't ever really a member, he was an agent for us."
"Who killed his own clan?"
"Your reputation precedes you; guess we did too good a job in setting it up."
"Well, it did have to be good enough to fool even people from our own village, it's to be expected that other people will believe it."
"Well, either way, I'd like to get back to why we came."
Gaara eyed Naruto with a new suspicion, 'He's changed, something seems more than a little different. If I hadn't had that reaction from the one tail, I'd suspect a Henge, still…' "Which was?"
"We feel the best way to deal with Akatsuki is to gather all the Jinchuuriki in one place. They want to take out the demons one at a time, two on one, I say let's make it on our terms instead. Especially if we can gather together before they can regroup."
"Regroup?" After a tick Gaara smiled, "What did you do to them Naruto?"
Naruto put a hand behind his head, feigning modesty, "I had some help. Especially Itachi here."
Itachi gave a half-laugh, "Hmh, you had half an army there, three whole other teams in addition to almost another two teams worth. And for it all we managed was to wound the pride of two members, reveal my position as a spy, and- well, kill three of them." Itachi had that creepy grin again, Naruto could barely stand it.
"Be fair, you killed Kisame before we even got there, we only killed two and wounded the pride of two- especially since you blew your own cover."
"You realize as Kazekage my village comes first."
"We'll be sure to come back often- look, Akatsuki is going to eventually come after you- first in fact. And unless we stop them completely- they'll just keep coming and attacking this village and everything else in their way until they get you." Itachi explained.
"I have- obligations. I have a student, siblings, all that in addition to running the village."
"We'll base here, but we'll still need to leave every so often," Naruto tried to plead. "Look Gaara, first we're doing it to protect everyone else who might get caught in the way, friends, family-… students- and innocents. But also think of this, think of all the others other, just like us, hated- knowing nothing but hatred in return- we have a chance to change that, or we can sit idly by and let Akatsuki kill us just to make a new batch and start the cycle all over again."
Gaara didn't even blink for a moment as he thought it though. After a moment he closed his eyes, and with a sigh reluctantly agreed. "In all likelihood if they came here after me, I don't think my bonds with the village are yet strong enough for me to hold the blame, and stay in place. Also, I would hate for someone like Matsuri to become something like us- the most violent of weapons possible to create."
"Make arrangements, and let us know when you can leave, we'll stay in the village until then."
"Wait, I have to judge the Chuunin exams, we can't leave until after those."
Itachi gave one of his smiled again, aimed directly at Naruto. Under the weight of Itachi's smirk, Naruto felt something almost give in his spine. "What are you thinking Itachi?"
"It's time you took the next step towards Hokage…"