"So you're saying I can leave the hospital?" The blonde haired woman nodded Keta looked around having become slightly accustomed to seeing the white surroundings. "Tsunade was it?"

"Yes, that's my name. Please come to know it well," Keta managed a smirk and she knew her messaged was received. "I hope I won't have any problems with you."

"None Tsunade-sama," Tsunade smiled as she noticed how quick Keta had caught on. "Well I will be going,"

"Oh, I forgot to tell you," Keta turned around as he made it to the door. "No mission whatsoever, you are all right to move around, but any kind of extra exertion of your strained chakra might put you back in here for an indefinite period."

Indefinite period…

The set of words hung in Keta's mind; he has never known what that kind of thing would feel like. Even though technically he had been in an indefinite coma for three years the fact of the matter was that it only seemed like a week to him. Keta nodded and headed out of the room so he could check out and get his clothes back, after all who would want to wear a stupid hospital smock thingy? As he made his way down each corridor he was still thinking about those two words. "Excuse me," Keta came back from the depths of his mind to look at the receptionist slash Nurse.

"I've been given the ok to go home now so I want to get my clothes." The receptionist nodded wrote down some numbers and handed the paper to Keta.

"You'll find your things in that room number," Keta was bewildered at the small piece of paper.

"But, this was the room I was staying in…" the nurse simply smiled letting Keta depart back for the hospital room.

"So you heard that Naruto and Sasuke finally went at it did you?" The dog-boy looked at the girl with a smirk. "I heard the match was a blowout, Sasuke didn't have any trouble winning." Hearing this the girl moved to interrupt the dog-boy.

"Kiba-kun," indeed Kiba stopped speaking on her request. Kiba was actually just trying to push Hinata's buttons to have a little fun. Knowing she had a soft spot for Naruto he waited to see how she would try and defend him and if her face would change blood red. "I think Naruto-kun would have put up an admirable fight against Sasuke." When Hinata spoke she pushed her two index fingers into each other as she looked into the ground.

"And why would you say that?"

"Um, well that is…" much to Hinata's relief and Kiba's dismay Shino had stepped between them.

"I think our rest period is over, we should go back to training." Hinata nodded as Kiba dug his finger into his ear after feeling something inside it.

"You're never any fun,"

"A ninja's life isn't supposed to be fun." Kiba scoffed at the bug user's response and then the three returned to their practice.

"Man team seven is always having some kinda issue aren't they?" Ino threw a pair of kunais at the target, one of which slid into the bull's-eye and the other a couple of centimeters off. She turned her head to her left to meet Shikamaru's.

"Yea, it would be too troublesome to get involved in such a dramatic trio." That wasn't really the response Ino was looking for. She wanted a "Yea, that group is very interesting, why can't I know more about them." Then she would propose going to see slash spy on them in order to gain more information on this "dramatic trio". The blonde haired Kunoichi looked over at Chouji who had obviously let the whole portion of the conversation go over his head, and that was because his head was so deep inside his bag of potato chips.

Something is going to happen soon, but I can't tell what. There is one thing I can guarantee, and I'm sure Shika, Shino, and all the other Genins except Chouji of course know the feeling as well. That something will happen among us, I just want to know what it is before everyone else!

It's been a whole day since I've been out of that bloody hospital, and I still haven't made too much progress on my recovery. I had heard Sasuke checked into the hospital as well yesterday, but I didn't go see him. While that has no real relevance to my problems I think he'll probably be able to get up and start going in the next day or so…

A familiar figure smashed into the Uchiha knocking him out of his train of thought. "Oh, I'm sorry Keta, but I'm kind of in a hurry. You see…" suddenly another person pounced covering the blonde's Genin's mouth.

"You see what Naruto?" Keta stared at the blonde and the now identified Shikamaru as the sun had just begun to come out over village hidden in the leaves.

"Well I actually needed him to come to meet Tsunade with me. Don't be mad, but it's some personal information that I was instructed to be given out to members of the possible mission." Keta liked Shikamaru's answer so he shrugged and continued walking.

"Why didn't you tell him?" Naruto's volume was almost as low as it could go, which was unusual for the obnoxiously loud Genin. Shikamaru gave Naruto a bonk on the head for not seeing the obvious outcome.

"If I had told him he would have rushed after our target without hesitation, and that is bad for two reasons. One, when you use "rush without hesitation" it usually means he'll be going alone and that is too dangerous. Two, in Keta's condition he probably couldn't even beat a single one of us; let alone the people that are with Sasuke." Shikamaru's statement had made much logic to Naruto as he didn't want anything to happen to Keta so he agreed on keeping the Uchiha out of the loop. With that the two made their way to the Akimichi abode.

"Tsunade-sama, do you really think…"

"Shizune, you must learn to have more faith in those kids. While yes they are only Genin they all have amazing abilities, especially Shikamaru." Shizune nodded recalling to the moment he received the title of Chuunin. They will come back alive," Tsunade had cut off Shizune not only to cease the attendant's doubts, but so Tsunade wouldn't have her own doubts voiced.

"But what about Sasuke? Will they bring him back?" To that Tsunade interlocked her fingers and began to muse.

"I figured that only three people could possibly stop him from leaving the village. The first was one of the members of Team Seven, Haruno Sakura, but she had already informed us that she had tried to make him reconsider and failed. That left two, and Uchiha Keta, the second of my three choices is currently not in any shape to do this because the people escorting Sasuke would easily defeat him in his weakened state thus marking him out. Finally there is the Genin that I requested accompany Shikamaru, Uzumaki Naruto. He is our last chance at getting Sasuke to return…" Shizune shivered at the thought of so much being rested on Naruto's shoulders only to find herself remembering how many times Naruto came through in a clutch situation. Suddenly Ino came through the door.

"You called for the me Tsunade-sama?" Tsunade nodded after hearing Ino.

"I want you, to keep an eye on Keta. I'm currently looking over Rock Lee's physical examination to see if he can actually go after them, but Keta will not be able to do any kind of mission until another couple days. It is unfortunate that I had Anko take Rei and Kyoji on a mission or they would have been good assistance to Naruto. Anyways, can I count on you to keep Keta from leaving the village?" Ino nodded much to Tsunade's delight. "Well that is all," with that Ino left Tsunade to begin musing once more with Shizune at her side.

I haven't really seen too many of the Genins since Naruto and Shikamaru bumped into me. I guess most of them went on that mission that he was talking about and I was left behind because I can't contribute.

The Uchiha continued to dwell on his injury, and the sheer annoyance that it brought. Physically Keta was fine and would have returned to his normal life probably a day ago, but the fact of the matter is that his normal life isn't all that normal. Keeping in mind that he is a Shinobi his chakra levels are that of a common man or woman. That level of chakra wouldn't suffice for more than one or two low class jutsus until Keta would collapse again. For Keta to return to full Shinobi life he would have to wait until his chakra levels were at the normal capacities of a ninja. This whole time in the hospital made him think about one particular blonde Genin. Keta had never seen Naruto in the hospital for more than one day yet he heard from others that he almost always takes a beating within an inch of his life. It was probably the only thing other than Naruto's outrageous chakra stamina that made the Uchiha a little jealous.

"Hey Keta," Keta swirled around to find Ino walking up to him. Ino paused for a moment to figure out how she was to say this next part without hurting the Uchiha's "pride". "So, do you wanna buy me lunch?" Keta was not really up to the task of having the fawning Ino at his side today.

"What about your diet?"

"Oh, it's a special occasion though. You just got released from the hospital, come on I know just the place." Keta was a little surprised that Ino would just throw away one of her cherished diets, but he wasn't more surprised than when he realized Ino was actually tugging him down the street.

"Look sharp Kakashi, they didn't send us both to this mission for nothing." Kakashi turned his head lazily.

"Yea, yea, but I'm just wondering about how Sasuke is doing." Kakashi had left the emotionally stressed Uchiha back in the village with a simple choice. The way Kakashi had worded it to Sasuke was pretty good in Kakashi's opinion, but there was still a chance. If the copy-cat Nin had to put numbers to it the two sides would probably have been a 65 chance of staying and a 35 chance of him going. While it was 65 percent and all Kakashi knew he that he wasn't one blessed with luck when it actually counted. All this Kakashi pondered as he crouched in the tree with Asuma beside him.

"Well, the faster we get this done the faster you can get back to your precious Sasuke." Kakashi nodded in agreement with Asuma and the two disappeared off the rather thick branch.

Damn! How could I have been so blind?

Keta jumped from tree to tree at a rapid pace chasing after one target. With every tree he landed on then launched off of he felt a bit of the soldier pill's effect wearing off.

Flashback

"I bet it was a little unnerving to be in those hospital rooms, wasn't it?" Keta nodded as he picked up a piece of meat from the plate and threw it into his mouth. Keta was sitting across from Ino at the restaurant that Asuma had always brought Shikamaru and company to eat. Keta heard the door open and turned to see Sakura walk in.

"Do you mind if I join you?" Keta shrugged and Ino slid a bit further inside the booth allowing the pink haired Kunoichi to sit down. Keta noticed that Sakura was constantly wiping her face from any tears that were coming out of her eyes. To be honest she looked like a mess at the time.

"Sakura, what's wrong?" The question seemed to agitate Sakura for some reason as she slammed her hand on the table and stood up.

"What's wrong? What's wrong? Your own cousin has just run…" Ino had her hand cupped over Sakura's mouth before any more could come out. The astonishingly small bit of information was all Keta needed as he began putting the pieces together. It was the reason Naruto and Shikamaru were a tad secretive in the morning, it was the reason that none of the unassigned Genin were missing from the village save Ino, Sakura, Lee, and himself. Instantly Keta began going threw his pockets.

"He won't get away," Keta slammed down the money for the meal and downed a soldier pill before darting out of the restaurant leaving Ino's mouth ajar as she covered Sakura's.

End Flashback

Itachi said I was being controlled to help him become strong; my life was set up so that I would live as an eternal puppet. There are only two ways to possibly free myself at this point…the first would be to kill Itachi. The second is to end things with Sasuke, and seeing as how he is my closest target…

"Sasuke! Wait for me!" The next branch he hit he leaped off with particular force leaving a small indent of his sandal.

"We've been out here for three days. Do you really think that these guys are going to show up?" Kyoji was crouching in the tree with Rei beside him. They had gone out with Anko on a mission to the outer regions of fire country to apprehend some bandits that were reported to have some special techniques. It was a "low B ranking mission" as Anko put it.

"Stop complaining so much, when you're assigned a mission you do it to the best of your ability. Then when it is all set and done you can whine and moan all you want." Kyoji gave a small grunt in response to the Jounin. "They are in there, I know they are...I'm just trying to figure out a way to enter the place with the lowest possible ruckus.

"I have a suggestion Anko," Anko's eyes were now set on Rei as she looked at the medium sized building. "Simply use bunshins to go into the building. That way we can position ourselves while they are distracted. Then if they aren't hostile we can simply use the clones to apprehend them, and if they are we will already be in position when they discover our clones are actually clones."

"Very good, I was just about to say that." Of course Kyoji was skeptical, but before he could open his mouth Anko shot him a glare that kept the Genin's mouth sealed. Anko proceeded with the hand seals and a replica of herself appeared. Kyoji and Rei followed suit and now there were three bunshins sitting on the branches with them. Within moments all six were gone from the branches so as to proceed with their plan.

"Sasuke!" Even over the roar of the falls the Genin stopped allowing the second to show himself. "I've found you,"

"I was actually expecting Naruto…"

"I don't give a damn about Naruto! We have to settle this…" Even as they spoke Sasuke didn't bother to turn and look at his relative not wanting to give him the true dignity of his attention.

"Settle what?"

"The day you met Itachi again, well I met him too." This was actually news to Sasuke even though it had happened a while back. Sasuke had heard was that Keta checked into the hospital and would be fine, and that was all he heard before he was whisked away on another mission. "He told me that I was only kept alive to be used as a tool, my life represented a simple doll that he would continue to manipulate even from great distances."

"You're wasting my time," at this point Keta didn't even care whether Sasuke faced him or not. To tell Sasuke what Keta's final decision was on this matter was the only thing of importance.

"Hmph," a smug look appeared on the Uchiha's face as he felt the last of the soldier pill's effects filter out of his system. "Well, I've decided to kill Itachi." At this Sasuke turned around to look Keta in the eyes. Keta was a little unnerved at the new face Sasuke looked at him with. Half of Sasuke's face covered in darkness and his eye twisted. All this Keta chalked up to the reason Sasuke had left.

"Normally I would claim he is my prey, but you are my sibling. I say sibling because we have no other choice, but to be brothers because we are the last. We are the last three in existence and therefore bound together. Come with me and "he" will grant you power as well. I am sure of it, together we can defeat…"

"No," Keta swiped his arm across as he said this to silence Sasuke. "Itachi wanted me to be your stepping stone to reach him. I've realized that you are just as much of a puppet as I am in his game. Maybe you are satisfied with playing his game, but I'm not. There is only room for one Avenger, and the reason I confronted you here…is because I am going to take it." The words actually stunned Sasuke, enough so that he let the darkness slide of his face so he could look at Keta with his true eyes.

"So, you aren't like the rest of them. Wanting me to return to the village and live that hollow thing people call a life. I didn't know if you actually understood the pain that I have gone through all this time."

"No, I don't understand it, but I do feel the pain all the same. You were set with two choices to make…one to stay with your friends and the other to chase after power so you could destroy Itachi. For me, I had to ask myself "Why do I fight?"." There was a short pause as the animosity grew in the air. It was as if the two finally realized that this was inevitable. A fight between them to see who would be able to continue pursuing the prize.

"Your answer?"

"To free myself, I had to ask myself once more to make sure. I don't fight to protect my friends like Naruto. I don't fight to maintain a predetermined status like Neji. No, I fight for my own freedom. Freedom from the heavy task of revenge placed on me by my…our clan." The way Keta had put it struck Sasuke's heart as a tear almost slipped out of his life. Even though the Shinobi before Sasuke had only been awake for half a month he had already come to understand him so much. "I have to be the one to take revenge…and you must be the one to take revenge. So let us grapple…and the loser will relieve his burden onto the winner so he may continue carrying the heavy task." Sasuke understood and was ready to fight. The air grew thick as the mist from the falls enshrouded the two…truly the beginning of the end.

Axelpro: Yes, it has been another good while since I've updated, but here it is. A strange understanding between the two survivors of the extermination incident brings about this large conflict. Well after the next bit I plan to post a chapter long explanation of the extermination theory. Whether or not the theory has been proven or disproven yet I do not know (not too up to date on the magna). Keep in mind while it may not be 100 accurate it is the theory behind Itachi's movements in this story.