Disclaimer: I still own nothing about Naruto.

A/N: Taking a couple of liberties here. Canon never actually says what Itachi has, but it mentions that he's sick with something fatal. I also have no idea if he had Danzo's Root seal like Sai, but that seems like the sort of smart yet evil move that Danzo would make (my guess is that he did, but it never came up in canon). Not a whole lot of action in this chapter, but it covers most of the important stuff in the time-skip. Next chapter should see the characters at Shippuden-age so that I can add some romance to someone other than the middle-aged characters.

Feedback: leave it in the reviews. I want to know what people like and dislike.

Chapter 14

"This meeting of the jonin council will come to order," Tsunade boomed to the crowded room. "I know that there are those present who can bring me Danzo Shimura. I want him here. Now," she threatened.

The entire room was standing, looking at the only jonin sitting. Itachi sat quietly against a wall, not moving or flinching as the Hokage barked at jonin.

"As a preliminary explanation, I'll address Itachi Uchiha's presence," Tsunade started. "Itachi, show everyone the seal." Itachi opened his mouth and lifted his tongue to reveal the seal that kept him from discussing certain things. "Inoichi Yamanaka, send the three best chakra sensors here to analyze the chakra of this seal."

The three looked at the seal.

"And just to be safe, would the three of you mind showing us that you don't have similar seals?"

The three opened their mouths to show that they didn't have the same seal.

"Now, Itachi, tell everyone about Danzo," Tsunade continued.

Itachi opened his mouth, but no sound escaped his lips. The seal began to wrap around him, freezing him in place. After a few moments, the seal receded and he said, "There are certain things that I cannot discuss because of this seal."

"Well, I'd sure like to hear what those things are, but while we wait, what can you tell us about the massacre of the Uchiha clan?" Tsunade said, catching the assembled jonins' attention.

"The Uchiha ninjas were planning to stage a coup d'état. The leader of the rebellion was my father, Fugaku Uchiha. The Third Hokage wanted to talk him out of him, but I was ordered to slaughter the ninja of the clan. I was told that if I did this, my brother would be kept safe. I was not aware that someone else would kill all of the civilians as well," Itachi told as much as he could.

"And who ordered you to kill the Uchiha?" Tsunade prodded.

"I can't say," he said and then opened his mouth, pointing to the seal.

Tsunade turned to the three chakra sensors and asked, "Is the owner of that seal present in this room?"

One of the three looked out and confirmed, "No, Lady Hokage."

The doors to the meeting chamber opened, allowing a man covered in bandages and walking with a cane to limp in. "Ah, Danzo Shimura, leader of the ANBU black ops division. Good of you to join us," Tsunade said, nodding to the ANBU to secure the doors once more. "Is the chakra signature present now?"

The three chakra sensors nodded, with one speaking, "Yes, Lady Hokage. It is Lord Danzo's chakra signature."

Danzo quietly looked around, noticing Itachi and the room of jonin. Some of the jonin were part of his Root organization, but not enough. He stoically looked at the Hokage, asking, "What is it that I can do for the Lady Hokage?"

Tsunade turned to Itachi, who opened his mouth, revealing the seal, and then turned back to Danzo saying, "You can remove your seal from Itachi."

Danzo silently stood still for several moments before replying, "No," without further explanation. Tsunade smiled when he said that.

"It's a good seal. It protects the bearer from interrogation and even makes the bearer immune to the Yamanaka techniques. It is surely one of the lost sealing arts from the Village Hidden in the Whirlpool. However, Itachi has turned himself in for the judgment and this cannot be done by the Hokage's will while the seal persists. Your refusal to remove the seal means that Itachi knows something about you that would be troublesome if revealed. However, if the jonin council agrees, I would like to reinstate Itachi Uchiha to the village," Tsunade lectured.

"Should the seal in some way detonate, we can be sure that it was your will, Danzo Shimura, now that we know it's your seal. And you will be subject to the laws of the village for murdering a ninja, should that happen. Further, we can only assume that whatever information that seal stifles, it implicates you in more than disobeying a direct order from your Hokage, which merely means an immediate suspension of your ninja duties. You will, however, be under increased scrutiny from now on and you are no longer allowed to speak in the jonin council," Tsunade paused to let it sink in.

"Because we cannot verify Itachi's story, jonins of the Village Hidden in the Leaves: you must vote on whether or not to publicly reinstate Itachi Uchiha," Tsunade called. "Before you vote, know that the seal prevents Itachi's full reinstatement. He will be on probation until the seal is removed, just like Anko Mitarashi was while under the influence of a foreign seal."

Many of the jonin discussed it amongst themselves before Kakashi moved in front of the group and called for a show of hands to reinstate. More than half of the jonin voted in Itachi's favor, especially those who had worked with him in the past. Danzo limped out, seething at Itachi's betrayal with the seal restrictions.

Tsunade pulled out an intact forehead protector and presented it to Itachi. "Welcome home, Itachi."

—Uzumaki apartment—

Kushina finished explaining the meeting to Naruto at their apartment. "So Itachi is back?" Naruto asked.

"Yes. He has given the Hokage everything that he knows about the Akatsuki organization, which is considerable. Unfortunately, they may decide to attack the village because of the amount of sensitive information that Itachi has given us," Kushina explained.

Naruto thought on that prospect for a while. "You wouldn't be telling me this unless I was somehow involved," he stated.

"Well… Akatsuki wants the bijuu. All of them," Kushina explained.

Naruto sat quietly, thinking about the prospect of a whole horde of people like Itachi coming to get him. "I need to get stronger," he said, terrified. "MUCH stronger!"

—The Leaf Hospital—

"You have cancer, Itachi," Tsunade explained. "If you don't get treated soon, it will progress beyond the point where we can do anything about it."

"How long do I have?" Itachi asked. He'd just had his physical in order to see if he was fit for active duty and Tsunade was extremely thorough in looking at discrepancies.

"With treatment, you could live another fifty years. Without treatment, you'd be lucky to last two or three years," Tsunade explained. "I'm afraid that if you want to go on active duty, you must get treatment."

Itachi absorbed what the greatest medical ninja in the world was telling him. When he'd thought Sasuke would kill him, it hadn't seemed like such a problem that he might be dying. But Sasuke was in no shape to kill him. Sasuke needed someone to keep him in check while he recovered or he could use his Mangekyo Sharingan to burn the village to the ground.

"Then I must get treatment," Itachi resolved. "Put me in the same room as Sasuke. And if anything should happen to me, save my eyes for Sasuke. He hasn't deactivated his Mangekyo Sharingan since he activated it. He will go blind and then he'll need new eyes."

"Itachi…" Tsunade started. "You have cancer. Even when it goes into remission, if you give Sasuke your eyes, you could be giving him cancer as well."

Itachi paled. "What do you mean? I have tumors in my kidney. It shouldn't affect my eyes," Itachi asked, confused.

"You have tumors in your kidney, right now. We don't know that there aren't cancer cells elsewhere in your body. You could have cancer cells in your brain or your eyes or your bones. We don't actually know. Your treatment will remove the cancer that we can currently see, but you'll have to get regular checkups to make sure that it doesn't come back. You can't donate organs. Not even your eyes. It could be a death sentence for the recipient," Tsunade sternly explained.

"I'll schedule your treatment and you can stay with Sasuke," Tsunade told the horrified Uchiha.

'I could have killed Sasuke by giving him the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan,' Itachi thought. 'I never would have even known if Lady Tsunade hadn't told me. My plans never even considered this possibility. I'm going to need help. And new eyes myself.'

—Hokage Tower—

"Naruto, you are being assigned a long-term mission," Tsunade told the blonde genin. "The organization known as Akatsuki wants to collect all of the bijuu and you are the jinchuuriki for the most powerful of the bijuu. Itachi's information indicates that every member of Akatsuki is at least S-ranked. Your mission, until Jiraiya thinks that you are strong enough to face them, is to evade them and get stronger."

"Hang on a second," Naruto said, thinking deeply. "Does that mean that Pervy-sensei is going to train me away from the village? What about Kushina-sensei? And Sasuke? What about all of my team? My friends?"

"Kushina is an extremely valuable ninja to the village. She will remain here for at least the next year. Kakashi will go back into ANBU until you return. Sasuke will remain in the hospital until his condition improves. Sakura Haruno will apprentice under someone directly. Your friends will be informed of the impending danger and their jonin-senseis will take extra care," Tsunade responded, bored.

"But—" Naruto started.

"Learn to read between the lines!" Tsunade exploded. "Nobody is going to spoon-feed you answers. You must learn to read a situation. That's just one of the things Jiraiya should teach you. Go find the old goat and get out of here!" she screamed.

Naruto left only to be replaced by the elder Uzumaki. "Lady Hokage," she said as she bowed. "You have a special mission for me? Something more important that making sure Jiraiya doesn't slack in training?"

"Yes, Kushina. You will take over as head of ANBU. I need someone capable to take over. Take Kakashi as your top aid," Tsunade ordered. "You will also be tasked with figuring out how to break or remove that seal on Itachi. Your work on Anko's and Sasuke's seals was excellent. Itachi will take a teaching position while he is on probation. His treatments will severely debilitate him for a time anyway."

"Of course, Lady Hokage," Kushina nodded. "I'll begin work on that as soon as Itachi recovers from treatment."

"One last thing before you leave," Tsunade softened as she added, "Could you teach me the shadow clone jutsu? The paperwork is killing me…"

Kushina laughed, nodding. "Of course, Lady Hokage!"

—Leaf Hospital, weeks later—

Wet coughing and splashing sounds echoed from the toilet in Sasuke's room. Sasuke's vision was starting to blur, but he could still see chakra patterns. Itachi turned from the toilet, wiping his mouth. Itachi's hair had started falling out and he decided that shaving his head would be better than leaving chunks of hair in Sasuke's room.

"Brother?" Sasuke asked, seemingly lucid. "What happened to your hair?"

"I shaved it, Sasuke," Itachi replied again. "I… am so sorry…"

"Why? You wanted to test your skill, so you killed everyone. I understand," Sasuke smiled.

"That wasn't what happened back then, but that doesn't matter now. Orochimaru broke you," Itachi explained again. "And we won't discuss it again until—" Itachi hurriedly turned back to the toilet, making the same sickening cough as he vomited again. He stood, hobbling back to his bed this time.

"Brother?" Sasuke asked again. "What happened to your hair?"

"I shaved it, Sasuke," Itachi replied again. "You shouldn't have had to shoulder the burden alone."

"What burden?" Sasuke asked.

Itachi laid himself quietly into the bed next to Sasuke. He barely had enough chakra to keep his sharingan active, which was necessary to see through the madness Sasuke's Mangekyo Sharingan exuded. Sasuke had driven three nurses mad already, forcing them to take long absences while they recovered. Only Tsunade, Itachi, and Kakashi could manage to spend more than a few minutes in the room.

"Brother?" Sasuke asked, looking at Itachi lying in the adjacent bed. "What happened to your hair?"

Itachi started crying, his normally calm exterior cracking in the face of his broken brother. "I'm s—sorry. I—I'm s—so sor—ry, S—Sasu—ke. I'll f—fix th—this," Itachi managed to choke out through tears while thinking, 'Stupid chemicals are messing me up. I should be able to control myself better than this.'

—After several months on the road, Naruto and Jiraiya—

"How am I supposed to learn about information gathering if I always wait outside, Pervy-sensei?" Naruto pestered.

"I'll make sure that you learn my super-secret information gathering techniques after you turn sixteen. For now, I'm going to pump some sources for information," Jiraiya smiled at his double entendre as he walked into another brothel. "Practice your chakra manipulations."

Naruto sighed, not understanding the joke, but getting to work on the drills he still hadn't mastered and a few that he had.

—ANBU headquarters—

"Dog, report," Kushina ordered.

"Mission: successful, Lord Fox," Kakashi replied as he set the takeout on the desk. "Also, pig, horse, and snake report that the targets have been eliminated."

"Excellent," Kushina replied. "Lunch time! And then we visit Sasuke."

—The Leaf Academy—

"Konohamaru Sarutobi, you have to put time into practice," Itachi lectured from his wheelchair. He was still recovering from his treatments. "You should be first in the class. How do you expect to be a great ninja like your grandfather if you don't practice?"

"Gramps never practiced," the boy muttered.

"You never saw him practice, but he worked incredibly hard to get where he was," Itachi explained. "If you don't practice, you will fail out of the academy."

"You can barely walk, Itachi-sensei. I bet I could beat you," Konohamaru started to yell. "How come all of the teachers here are such weaklings?"

"Genjutsu," Itachi said, mostly for the other students. Konohamaru's eyes glazed over for several minutes as Iruka got on with teaching the class throwing techniques.

—Leaf Hospital, months later—

"It would appear that the cancer has gone into remission," Tsunade explained. "You are officially off of the medically disabled list, Itachi."

Itachi maintained his calm, but was internally excited to be able to spend more time working with Tsunade to treat Sasuke's trauma. "Lady Hokage, may we discuss Sasuke now?"

"What's on your mind?" she replied.

"There is only one genjutsu that can pierce the Mangekyo Sharingan: Kotoamatsukami," Itachi explained.

"And that was the genjutsu of Shisui 'the teleporter' Uchiha. Who died years ago," Tsunade narrowed her eyes.

"Is there any other way to help Sasuke recover? He hasn't made any progress in the last eight months. His short-term memory is still shot and his long-term memory is jumbled. When Orochimaru set out to break Sasuke, he did an extremely thorough job," Itachi commented.

"Let's discuss the limits of the genjutsu. I'll clear a place to meet. Kushina and Inoichi will join us…" Tsunade trailed.

—Somewhere in the Land of Water—

"Lord Jiraiya, the Hokage requires you and your apprentice in the Village Hidden in the Leaves. Immediately," the tiny slug informed the sannin. Jiraiya looked over at Naruto balancing a tiny rasengan on each finger.

'That kid is actually going to get good enough to do that exercise. Even I can't make one on each finger,' he thought as he watched. "How immediate?" Jiraiya asked the slug.

"It's about Sasuke Uchiha's treatment. The Yamanaka has catalogued most of Sasuke's memories, but they need to go through the people closest to him for verification. Naruto is the last one. Itachi and Inoichi are going to use the information to reboot Sasuke's brain. Summon Lord Fukasaku," the slug replied. Jiraiya summoned the elder toad, knowing that he could get back to the Leaf village in a few hours by reverse-summoning to Mount Myoboku first. It took a minute to summon that particular toad due to his power and status. Katsuyu implied that whatever Tsunade wanted was important enough to use that route.

"Naruto!" Jiraiya called. "Collapse your clones and pack your things. We're heading out."

Naruto dispelled his clones in small groups as he jogged over to the sannin. "Is this another hot springs trip?" he complained. "Do you HAVE to get kicked out of EVERY bath house in EVERY country?"

"We're going to Mount Myoboku, home of the toads," Jiraiya explained. "So shut up about the bath houses."

Naruto narrowed his eyes. "Is the next Icha Icha volume going to involve toads?"

"NO! THIS IS BUSINESS! STOP ASSUMING I'M DOING SOMETHING PERVERSE ALL THE TIME!" Jiraiya screamed.

"Calm down, Jiraiya-boy," the old toad soothed. "The kid has you pegged and you know it. Now what's this about going to Mount Myoboku?"

Jiraiya stared at Naruto for a second before turning back to Lord Fukasaku. "We are needed, urgently, back in the Leaf village. It was important enough for Katsuyu to ask us to take the route through Mount Myoboku."

Naruto finished dispelling the last group of his clones and began to pack thinking, 'If summoning is basically a time-space ninjutsu, then it is related to the Flying Thunder God technique. I should definitely pay attention.'

Naruto saw the small, elderly toad dispel and Jiraiya turned to him. "Are you ready to go?" Jiraiya asked.

Naruto nodded. He had several scrolls in his backpack that contained spare clothes, extra supplies, food, blankets, a tent, and a bunch of other camping equipment. The backpack had been mostly for show ever since he'd mastered basic storage seals. Suddenly, he and Jiraiya were no longer in the Land of Water, but at the foot of a massive mountain, surrounded by alien vegetation and a bunch of toads.

"Welcome back, Jiraiya-boy. It's been a while," an elderly female toad exclaimed. "Pa told us that you're in a hurry, but you'll have to wait a few hours until the kids get set up near the Leaf village."

Jiraiya bowed and said, "Thanks, Lady Shima."

"And this is Naruto's first trip to the mountain! I'll make us something special," she smiled, hopping home to prepare grubs and worm and bug delicacies for Naruto.

—Leaf Hospital, Sasuke's room, two weeks later—

"Did it work?" a voice asked. It was like Naruto's, but older. Sasuke blinked.

"Did what work?" Sasuke asked. His vision was completely blurred. He couldn't even make out shapes. "Why can't I see?"

"Sasuke, what do you remember?" a woman's voice asked.

"Who are you?" Sasuke asked, tensing.

"She's the head of the hospital, Sasuke," Kushina's soothing voice cooed. "How do you feel?"

Sasuke thought about it for a minute. 'Kushina is here. Naruto is here. My voice is different than I remember, but so is Naruto's. I must have been unconscious for a very long time. Wait, I remember… Itachi! But he was bald. And thin. Was he sick? This is weird. I can't remember.'

"I don't know. I'm having trouble remembering things," Sasuke responded.

"He's coherent, so that's an improvement," the head doctor said.

"Sasuke," Itachi's voice froze Sasuke in place. "There is a lot that you may not remember. We were as thorough as possible, but the damage was extensive. Please, don't react until you learn everything."

"Why can't I see?" Sasuke slowly asked.

Itachi answered, "You've overused the Mangekyo Sharingan. You had it active for ten months, day and night. Your mind was broken and couldn't shut it off. It took Kushina ten months to create a seal that would shut it off for you. We couldn't even figure out what was wrong with you until then."

Sasuke slowly thought about what he could remember. He remembered Itachi standing over their parents with a bloody tanto. He remembered Kushina hugging him. He remembered playing pranks together with Naruto. He remembered fragments of a pink-haired girl and a white-haired jonin with a single sharingan.

"Don't try too hard to remember. It will take time to heal. When you're ready, Itachi and Kakashi are going to start your rehabilitation," Kushina explained. "In the meantime, you'll be living with me again."

'And when you're ready, we're going to find Danzo and take back the eyes he stole so that you can see again,' Itachi thought. 'Together.'