Wow, I've been gone for quite some time, eh? Well please read and review and hopefully I'll roll out the new chapter soon :)


Chapter 11: Kindness

The kindest act a shinobi can do is to kill their target quickly and painlessly.


Five years had passed since the massacre, in that time I had taken residence in a small village in the Land of Rivers. There, I lived peacefully under my mother's maiden name and my nickname: Uzumaki Ito. My mother's family was scattered after their village was destroyed so it wasn't unusual for a stray Uzumaki to be wandering about. I made my living by assisting the village temple in creating seals and other jutsu. The temple leaders told me that even at the young age of 17, I was very skilled at sealing techniques.

Itachi went with the masked man into a group called the Akatsuki. He became a missing nin of Konoha and was one of the more feared ninja of our time. However, he still secretly served his village, relaying valuable information not only about the Akatsuki, but about other villages as well.

I didn't see him often over those five years, however, when we were together…well….something had certainly shifted between us during that time.

I served as an informant for Konoha. Friendly spies in neighboring countries would find me and transmit information which I would then get to the Intel unit in Konoha. It was dangerous, however due to my involvement in the massacre, I needed to be outside of the village.

According to the few ninjas I had seen, my peers assumed I went after Itachi. Some believed I went to join him, others believed I attempted to kill him. However, I was spoken of in hushed tones and soon I would disappear from most of the memories around the village.

I wondered if Kakashi was still alive and if he was watching over Naruto as I had asked. If Naruto was doing any better in school, he should surely be a genin by this point. I wondered how Sasuke was holding up, if he had activated his bloodline. If Sasuke and Naruto ever spoke to each other at all. Were they friends? Enemies?

Or maybe they never saw each other at all. Naruto was having a difficult time controlling chakra with the seal…and Sasuke was so advanced.

I was awakened from my thoughts to see a raven sitting outside my window, rapping on the glass. I opened the window and allowed the creature to come inside, knowing full well who it was from. The bird regurgitated the message in the bowl I was holding out and disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Ever careful, Itachi still sent me messages in code. However, my eyes widened after translating the message in my mind.

The Akatsuki was moving toward Konoha in an attempt to capture Naruto, or more specifically, the Kyuubi inside of Naruto. Itachi also mentioned that he would handle it. However, it had been many years since I made my way to the village, and there was no better time but the present.

I went to my cabinets and took out the necessary items for traveling the long distance to the village. If I moved quickly enough, I would get there around the same time as Itachi and maybe I would be able to intervene in case security was slack and they made it too easy for Itachi to capture Naruto. I decided to stay hidden unless it was necessary to intervene, but if it came down to it, Naruto's protection came first.

I would protect my brother no matter what, dattebane.