CHAPTER 21

Naruto paused at the door, allowing the prisoners to take a good look at him. He didn't have to read their minds to find out they wanted to rip his head off – the jinchuriiki were never really mild tempered people.

They were quite a colorful bunch. Hachibi's ex host was a mountain of muscle, dark skinned and with white hair and beard. He was quietly studying Naruto, looking for a sign of weakness. He wasn't rapping anymore, apparently he was really fond of Hachibi. Odd, but not really impossible.

Nibi's host was another story. Yugito was a tall blonde woman with athletic body, her eyes were dark. She also had a nice rack. She had a short sleeved black and purple shirt, black ninja pants and red belt around her waist. There was a chain of white beads on her left forearm. And she was trying to kill him with her gaze.

The other girl was angry too, but also oddly relieved deep within. She was Nanabi's host once. The girl had a mint green hair, orange eyes and tanned skin. She wore simple white sleeveless shirt and short white apron, with fishnet under both pieces. There was an orange clip in her hair.

Then there were the Iwa junchuriiki, Han and Roshi. Han was a tall, heavily armored man who radiated anger on principle. Naruto knew he had a difficult childhood, worse than his in a way.

Roshi was shorter, red haired man who dressed himself in a long-sleeved purple shirt and pants, and brown armour. He was the oldest jinchuriiki, yet his hair was still without white color. Rōshi was wearing a large headpiece consisting of a three pointed crown-like ridge, bearing both his Iwagakure forehead protector and ring, and a prominent black piece of armour running across his cheeks and the bridge of his nose.

The last was a man from Mist, Utakata, the host of Rokubi. Utakata was a tall, thin, young man with pale golden eyes and black hair that reached to his shoulders. His side partition let a large portion of his bangs cover the left side of his face. He was wearing a long, light blue kimono adorned with a small emblem of three bubbles on the back below the collar, and an orange sash.

"Hello guys, I bring good news!" Naruto told them with wide grin, much like a cat that caught it's prey.

"What news?" Yugito demanded hotly, feeling angry at the bastard who betrayed them all.

"You're being sent to your homes, as Leader-sama promised." Naruto anounced, causing the jinchuriiki to look at him with surprise and suspicion.

"Is that some kind of sick joke?" Han asked with anger flashing in his eyes.

Naruto shrugged, "I have no idea. You guys are relatively harmless without your biju, so we have no need to keep you with us. What's with your faces, I thought you'd be happy?"

"How can we be happy when you caused us to fail in fulfilling our duties?" Yugito spat angrily. "Not all of us are oathbreakers and missing nin!"

Naruto chuckled at her words. "My, my...how amusing! I'm honestly surprised, those bastards in Kumo certainly know how to raise their jinchuriiki properly. You must've been a nice obedient weapon, heh?"

"Screw you! Let me out of this shithole and I'll grind your balls into mush!" Yugito replied, her face flushed with anger.

"Calm down." Killer Bee told her and Yugito turned to look at him in surprise. Bee gave her a sad grin. "He is too strong for any of us Yugito chan, even without his biju. He is just toying with us."

"Actually, I'm not toying with you guys. Like I said, you'll be set free in a day or so." Naruto said with serious face. "I know how hard it was for most of you to carry your biju; that pain and loneliness and unfair treatment. That's why I joined these guys, to free us from something we never chose. When you are set free, choose carefully where you will go. You won't find home with the Akatsuki, we no longer recruit new members. But let me give you a warning – don't expect a warm welcome in your villages. Most likely you will be accused of treachery and weakness, because you were always the target for negative opinion of your so called comrades and neighbours."

Naruto saw that his words struck a chord in some, while others remained indifferent. It was expected, most of the jinchuriiki were well conditioned to be loyal to their villages. He suspected that Han and Utakata would vanish, never to return to their respective villages. Killer Bee and Yugito would return, so would Roshi, while Fu was just too scared to decide yet.

He left them to stew on his words, while he had other matters to take care of.

Uchiha Sasuke was standing in the meeting chamber along with several other high ranking jounin of the village, as Tsunade and her advisors anounced the formation of the Great Shinobi Alliance. Sakura was with him and so were the rest of Konoha's Rookies since they were among the strongest in their respective fields and they were also the heirs to the best ninja clans of Konoha.

There was the ANBU Commander, flanked by Morino Ibiki and Yamanaka Inoichi. Mitarashi Anko was sitting next to an unknown jounin, looking bored out of her mind. Gai and Kakashi were absent, which was odd, but no one questioned their non-appearance.

"Now, we must hurry with our preparations for the war with the Akatsuki. The ANBU are already at the highest alert. You will help with the preparations for the war also, I want all our ninja recalled from their missions immediately and start making lists of our supplies and personnel. I have named Nara Shikaku my war advisor, so I will be able to deal with the Alliance personally." Tsunade anounced.

"Are these criminals really that dangerous?" One man in the back asked, "There's only ten of them!"

"They posess all but one of the biju, so their power cannot be dismissed easily. And their leader wields the Rinnegan, a dojutsu more powerful than any we know about." Homura said with sharp tone that left no doubts about the severity of their situation.

"There is another important information that must be shared," Tsunade spoke. Her eyes were closed. Everyone saw how her advisors seemed immensely nervous. "At the summit, we have been told by the Godaime Mizukage that Uzumaki Naruto has joined the Akatsuki."

"What?" Sakura was visibly shocked, and so were the rest of the rookies.

"That's hard to believe, is there any proof?" Aburame Shino asked with calm tone, while Kiba was trying to support Hinata who looked horrified and tearful.

"He has unmasked himself to one of the Mist ninja, after killing the Yondaime Mizukage and her escort singlehandedly. It has been confirmed by our men that he was accompanied by none else than Uchiha Itachi who took control of Sanbi and they fled together to parts unknown." Tsunade said with firm voice that sent everyone reeling. But more hits were coming. "His defection has been confirmed by the leader of the Akatsuki."

Sasuke's Sharingan flared to life, blazing with rage, but his voice was emotionless. "Why? What would make him give up his power, the greatest of all biju?"

Tsunade gave him a flat stare. "Apparently he didn't appreciate that fact as much as we expected him to. His early life has left a mark on him, which he hid rather well. The Akatsuki offered him a way out- he is no longer a despised jinchuriiki, and yet he lives. My belief is that he was never loyal to Konoha."

"We should've killed the brat years ago!" Someone cursed loudly, which brought on a whole cascade of long hidden resentment and cursing. The rookies exchanged glances, finally seeing clearly what people really thought of Naruto.

"Ha,ha,ha!" Anko laughed merrily, slapping her thighs. Everyone stared at her. "Look at you morons, no wonder he defected."

"You bitch! Watch your mouth, or..."

"Or what, Ichiro-kun?" Anko purred, holding the terrified jonin from behind, her kunai resting under his jaw. The man trembled under her killing intent. Anko released him a moment later with disgusted sigh. "Pathetic! You better watch who you insult next time, weakling!"

"Anko, cease posturing." Ibiki spoke with cold tone, reminding his subordinate of proper behaviour. Anko grinned and returned to her old spot.

Tsunade cleared her throat to attract everyone's attention back to her. "With the information we have, I have no choice but to pronounce Namikaze Naruto an S ranked misssing ninja who is to be hunted by everyone, with no mercy."

"Namikaze?" A hundred voices shouted in terrible shock.

"That's a lie!" Someone shouted angrily. "There is no chance he's related to the Yondaime!"

"Sorry to dissapoint you, but it's true." Tsunade said with certain smug satisfaction. "Namikaze Minato married Uzumaki Kushina on the same day he was made the Fourth Hokage. When Kyuubi came, he decided to seal it in his only child, hoping that his Uzumaki blood will help him contain the creature more effectively. Besides, what kind of a man would demand someone else's child when he had his own? And we all know what kind of a man he was. You are dismissed."

"But..." Someone tried to ask something, but Tsunade hopped to her feet and released her killing intent which sent most people to their knees, her face was a snarling visage of rage.

"But what, you pieces of SHIT? WHAT? What do you want now that you know the truth?" She was breathing heavily and one lone tear slid down her cheek. "It was you ungrateful sons of whores who belittled him since the day he was born! It was you who taught him to lie, to betray and hate! Why do you make such surprised expressions? After all, he is just a demon brat. What matters who his parents were? What matters that he was my only living relative? Has this village forgotten it's history so easily? I am an Uzumaki by my mother and grandmother, in case you have forgotten! You bore the symbol of his and my clan all this time, yet you spat on him, cursed him, hated him, beat him up, stole from him...what more do you want? Forgiveness? By the gods, my grandfather and granduncle, Minato whom you all loved so...they are probably screaming at the injustice you gave them and their blood! You disgust me! Get out of my sight you snivelling worms! Leave, all of you!"

There was a shocked silence for a few seconds, but everyone obeyed and there was a sudden rush to leave the chamber. The rookies had stunned expressions on their faces, they were moving on autopilot.

When they were all gathered outside in a park not too far from the Hokage Tower, Kiba summed it up in one crass sentence. "We're fucked!" Akamaru barked his consent.

"By the gods, we didn't know!" Ino protested angrily.

"We have been lied to all these years," Sasuke hissed angrily. He also felt Orochimaru's distant laughter, the snake was enjoying all that profoundly.

"I can't believe it!" Sakura said, feeling numb all over. "My parents, they...they hated him always. I remember how my mom used to tell me he was bad, that I should avoid him at any cost."

"The teachers hated him too," Shikamaru said, his hands in his pockets and his eyes looking at his feet. "I remember how Funio- sensei always tried to make him look stupid or to place blame on him for stuff that went wrong."

"Only Iruka-sensei liked Naruto," Hinata sniffed sadly. "He will be devastated when he hears this."

"But, Naruto is now our enemy." Choji said, stumblig a little over that word. He never thought that a fellow classmate would become his enemy.

"Yes, and that scares me." Hyuuga Neji admitted, much to everyone's surprise. "He was the strongest among us back then. I don't wish to find out what did he learn from Jiraiya-sama."

"That is something to consider, but we also have to factor in that he's no longer Kyuubi's container. His enormous chakra reserves are not so enormous anymore. His whole strength is lesser now." Shino said his piece.

"No, he is still extremely dangerous Shino-kun." Hinata disagreed. "I know that most people believe he owes his power to Kyuubi, but I used to watch him a lot and I can tell you he never really relied on it much. What we know of him is still a valid fact. Please, don't underestimate him."

"I agree. But I have to wonder if he will really come against us with intent to kill?" Shikamaru asked, causing everyone to flinch slightly.

"We must assume he will. Naruto that we all knew was probably just a fake he presented for the authorities. He used the village's resources and stole Jiraiya-sama's secrets, then left. He was never our friend." Sasuke said, and everyone knew he was right, no matter how hard it was to accept.

"What do we do then?" Rock Lee asked, his bright smile gone.

"We fight to defend our home." Choji rumbled, his eyes blazing with grim determination.

"Yeah, it's a home full of lying shitheads, but not everyone is guilty. We gotta fight to protect those who were good people and still are." Kiba muttered angrily. He was going to have words with his mother.

"It's actually scary when you think about it closely," Ino said with strange smile on her face. "All those people we know are nice and decent, who have families and who always smiled at us...how could they hate him for so long and so blindly? How? He was just a kid born at the wrong time and wrong place."

"They were scared, so they lashed out at him." Shino said, reminding everyone that he and his family weren't that popular either because of their bug hives they hosted within their bodies.

"I believe it's all useless now, we must deal with this no matter how we look at it. Naruto is now our enemy and I will not let him hurt me or my friends, no matter how sorry I feel for him. Nobody deserved that kind of treatment, but I didn't hate him or hurt him. Neither my family has. I refuse to let him hurt us or you guys." Tenten said with firm voice.

Everyone nodded at that, it was just the way it was. Life really sucked sometimes.

Tsunade was sitting in her office, looking out of the window at the village and took a long drink from the sake bottle. She was still angry at those stupid prejudiced idios who spent so much time pissing on her family, unknowingly yet very persistently. It was always easier to hate and blame others.

She shivered in sudden premonition of doom; somehow she knew that Naruto was that one enemy Konoha just would not beat. They have underestimated him too much and now he would be coming to show Konoha what it meant to piss of an Uzumaki.

"Gods help us, but we're all dead." Tsunade muttered and took another swig.

Uchiha Sasuke walked in his house slowly, his whole body trembling with anger. There was also some hurt in it all. Despite what he claimed, Sasuke came to respect Naruto's strength and skill. Now, he came out to be us deceitful and cruel as That Man! They even worked together now!

It was surreal to even consider; Naruto was the son of Konoha's greatest hero since the First Hokage's time – and now he was a missing ninja. It was crazy and humiliating, the other ninja villages would consider them idiots and incompetents.

Sasuke shivered suddenly; there was a scary thought that assailed his mind – did he master THAT jutsu? If he did, they were all dead.

"A ryou for your thoughts, Sasuke." Came a familiar voice from the backyard and Sasuke shunshinned on the roof to observe from safer position. His eyes widened, it was that masked bastard!

"You? What are you doing here?" Sasuke growled, but didn't bother to attack or call for help. He knew that this guy was impervious to all attacks.

"It's time for you to meet your destiny."

"What?" Sasuke asked with narrowed eyes, his Sharingan activated. He stiffened when the masked man moved his left arm slowly and removed his mask. Sasuke's eyes widened in shock! "Naruto?"

"Your face looks so funny!" Naruto grinned, chuckling merrily.

Sasuke didn't feel amused. "Why? Why did you betray Konoha? Hokage-sama was crying when she anounced your betrayal! Kakashi sensei must be hurt too."

"No skin of my back," Naruto shrugged and looked quite calm about it. "I did what I needed to do and now I'm doing what I wanted to do for a long time. I assume people now know who I really am?" Sasuke nodded tersely, still too shocked to make a move. Naruto smirked. "Heh, I wish I could've seen that. I bet most of them refused to believe that I'm their beloved Yondaime's son, at least at first."

"Don't you feel obligated to follow his example and come back?" Sasuke tried to reason with Naruto. "I know it was hard, but you ..."

"Stop!" Naruto cut Sasuke off. "You have no idea what are my reasons for doing what I do and you would never understand. I will tell you this; this place is of no concern to me. Whether Konoha survives what is coming or not, it's all same to me."

"What could be so important ?" Sasuke asked stubbornly.

"Indeed, but that will have to remain my secret. Now, are you ready to face Itachi?"

Sasuke scowled. "Where is he?"

"I will take you to see him now." Naruto said.

"Like you did the last time?" Sasuke challenged him, getting ready to fight. He channeled chakra subtly to his limbs, preparing to attack at the first chance.

"That was different, Orochimaru is gone now. I will take you to Itachi."

"No, I don't..." Sasuke begun replying when something pushed him of the roof and he found himself hanging in the air in front of smiling Naruto.

"I never said you could refuse," Naruto commented and moved closer to Sasuke. In the next moment their surroundings changed, they were in the forrest, somewhere. Sasuke fell on one thick tree and balanced himself easily. Naruto was standing a ways off, pointing in one direction. "We are in the woods surrounding the ancient Uchiha temple. It's that way. Itachi is in there."

"Alone?" Sasuke asked feeling suspicious.

"Yes." Naruto replied and vanished. Sasuke grimaced, apparently his worst fear was true – Naruto had mastered the Hiraishin. He had to win his fight to inform Konoha of that.

There was a weight upon Itachi's soul as he waited for his brother to come. This was the moment he had been waiting for for many years, also he was reluctant to accept that it came – he never wanted to fight Sasuke.

But his path was sealed for him when he met that monster Madara. A short moment of hope came when Naruto informed him of Madara's death; but that was it – Naruto concocted his cruel plan and made him agree to it. Pein even sealed the deal when he healed him a few days ago with his mystical power. The Rinnegan was truly the eye of Rikudo Sennin.

"He will be here shortly, Itachi." Naruto said, after suddenly appearing next to the chair of stone where the prodigious Uchiha sat.

"I find your teleportation ability most disconcerting, considering that Madara had it too." Itachi commented, never showing any sign of such sentiment.

"I find it most amusing, he was very vain of his Mangekyou based powers. And my father merely had to draw a seal formula to replicate it. I perfected it, according to his designs. And here we are." Naruto smirked, enjoying the fact he was lying through his teeth and no one could tell.

"Wasn't there supposed to be a seal to mark your arrival point?" Itachi asked, this time not feigning his curiosity.

"That is still necessary, but my range around it has been vastly increased. My father had seen the limitation of the original seal and worked hard to remove it. He made some progress, but he died too soon to finish it. I did that, but I'm still tied to the seal. Only my range has been improved."

"Impressive. I will ask you to not interfere in this battle, I intend to test my brother immensely."

Naruto shrugged. "Do as you wish, just remember our deal. Sasuke lives, but you steal his eyes. I'll seal the wounds so that no one can shove more Sharingans in. When all is done, he'll get your eyes, his eyes, back."

"For a spy, you're awfully good at acting Naruto. It's quite possible you will never be able to prove your innocence." Itachi noted, feeling suspicious in the depths of his mind.

"I have taken that into consideration. It's a small price to pay for what must be done. I think I don't need lectures from a man who killed his whole family on orders and now will mutilate his beloved brother."

"How do you intend to stop Pain? In a few weeks, he will have all of the biju."

"I thought you'd have realized my plan by now." Naruto smirked.

Itachi paused momentarily, thinking hard. "You can't beat Pain fast enough to..." Itachi went still for a few moments as his mind worked furiously. He smiled in the end. "I see, you're going to steal the biju with the Hiraishin. I assume you have already placed seals on it for transportation."

"I have, but not these. I had to mark the statue with special formulas that will remove the bond between Pain and the statue, as he can summon it to his location at will. I will send it via Hiraishin in the orbit where no one will be able to reach it. "

Itachi was stunned. "In the orbit? How will you place your seal there?"

Naruto chuckled in response, "I've already done that! I simply used Hiraishin to send two metal plates with Hiraishin's formula placed in between them to be protected from the cold and vacuum. It is possible to send an object remotely with that jutsu. A small object like that, I just happened to have enough chakra for it when in the Sage Mode."

"Impressive," Itachi admitted, mentally marking the fact that Naruto could use Jiraiya's strongest skill.

The Sage Mode was something he never saw, but the rumours were that it made him at least a few dozen times stronger, which was something terrifying to contemplate – Jiraiya was already a Kage level in his normal state. Naruto was probably even better.

"What will happen to the statue, once it's up there?"

"I will detonate it. The blast will be terrible, but no one will be harmed by it. The biju will eventually reform on the surface, hopefully."

"What if they return to the Moon? The Juubi..."

"Pah! Madara was an idiot. No matter how strong Rikudo Sennin was, he couldn't create the Moon. Do you know how massive that thing is? It's only six times smaller than our world. We're talking about a mass inconceivable to a human mind, besides the abstract general number and numerous zeroes trailing after it. No, Juubi is now nine beasts that have no desire to loose their individuality, a gift of separate intelligence by the Sage. He was a clever bastard all right, he gave them true consciousness out of his own and that ensured they would want to stay separate."

"How did you figure that out?" Itachi asked with some surprise.

Naruto shrugged, "It was obvious. You have heard the legend of the mad priest who infected Shukaku with madness when he merged their spirits?"

"I see, that makes sense. The legend was old, but some truth was hidden in it." Itachi realized, forced to admit that Naruto's thoughts might be truer than Madara's.

"I gotta go, Saskue is coming." Naruto said and vanished without trace.

Itachi immediately fell into his 'cruel, uncaring' persona, ready to face Sasuke and make sure that his clan was resurrected and it's tainted history cleansed once and for all. Maybe Naruto will agree to killing Koharu and Homura and those few among the ROOT, to ensure the real fresh start for his brother.

Uchiha Sasuke paused at the entrance to the temple, momentarily struck by the weight of the moment that was upon him – another step and he would be standing in front of the man who took everything from him, even himself.

The massacre, the sight of his dead parents...they were terrible. But the worst was the fact that Itachi was the culprit, that he never loved him back. Sasuke worshipped his older brother who made him feel appreciated in ways his father never had. It was Itachi who was there when he started to crawl and walk, when he said his first word ( it was 'momma', but his mother wasn't there at the time). Itachi taught him his first handsign, his first kata...and then he made it all a lie!

He should've seen it coming, because Itachi was less and less present in his life as he grew older, until the first year in the ninja academy. Itach was practically just a guest at their home, a kind but aloof cool cousin who had no time for even a simple kunai practice with him. He was most likely already well set in his intent to ruin everything, so he didn't even bother to pretend so much anymore.

But Sasuke still had to hear the full explanation, so he set his shoulders straight and walked in.

"Itachi," Sasuke said coldly to the man sitting leisurely on the stone chair across the circular chamber. The walls were smooth empty oval, only behind Itachi were painted the Uchiha fan and strange drawings of what seemed like stylized tails or tomoe of the Sharingan.

"I see you still lack the same eyes as mine, foolish brother." Itachi replied, mentally cataloguing everything about Sasuke. His younger brother seemed very strong now, he could feel his potent chakra. His Sharingan was fully matured as well. In looks, Sasuke favored their mother.

"I would never stoop that low!" Sasuke answered. "I am strong enough to win my battles as I am. Before we begin, I want a real reason for what you did. I'm sure Danzo didn't know all your thoughts, no matter what he believed."

Itachi gave a cold smile, "I see. Well, I suppose it won't matter anyway. As you guessed, I had an ulterior motive. You are aware that Madara was alive until recently?" Sasuke nodded. Itachi closed his eyes for a moment and smiled. "It was his plan and I went along with it. I wasn't as keen on it, but then I came to realize that our clan deserved to be destroyed, even if not for Madara's wounded pride."

Sasuke stared in dumbfounded shock. Itachi noticed it. "It's hard to believe that, yes? Let me explain then, little brother so that you may fully grasp how low our blood has fallen. I know you are aware of the Mangekyou and how to obtain it, I sent you to that secret shrine so that you may understand the curse of the Uchiha legacy."

"Curse? I don't understand!" Sasuke growled.

"I will explain. You see, I lied when I told you that you would be only the third to obtain the Mangekyou, if you succeeded in getting to that level. There were others, meticulosuly hidden from open scrutiny by our Elders. The first two were Uchiha Izuna and his brother Madara. I know you know of the ill effects of the Mangekyou."

"I also know of the way to escape them." Sasuke interjected with angry glare. "That was your intent in the first place, to steal my eyes."

"Hmm, so Danzo informed you of that. He was well aware of our secrets it seemed." Itachi commented, but that didn't phase him at all. " Yes, Madara stole Izuna's eyes and grew even more powerful. He claimed that Izuna gave them freely, but why did he die shortly after? As it turned out, the rest of the clan begun slowly fear him and after the First Hokage was chosen they shunned Madara openly, for he was trying to make them take up arms against the so called Senju conspiracy to subjugate the Uchiha. It was madness and he was forced to leave, later he lost his last battle against his eternal rival. But he wasn't forgotten, little brother. His dark deeds left a mark upon our clan, the dark desire for more power at any cost. We have never known of the Mangekyou until he came and of the Eternal Mangekyou we haven't even dreamed. But after him, we did do so."

Sasuke wasn't slow to pick up on that hint. "There were other attempts to replicate his feats?"

"Yes, a number of our beloved cousins attempted to slay their best friends to gain more power that way. There were never straight records on some of the 'accidents' that occured through the years, but I found some suspicious cases that were never investigated fully. There was some advantage in the fact that the Uchiha were sole members of the police force. And then some Uchiha were found dead in certain cases, with the clan actively obscuring any evidence- those were the ones who tried to do the forbidden and were punished for it. Some were spared, to be used as weapons during the wars. Their eyes lost their light after a time, those were the ones with no siblings to avoid their fate. So you see, our clan was rife with betrayal and lust for power and I chose to end it once and for all."

"How can you say that when you killed everyone? Where is your excuse?" Sasuke demanded.

"Like I said, I erased them from existence in order to have a fresh start. Danzo was a clear proof that our darkest traits were being exposed to the outsiders. I let him believe I was as evil as the rest of us. I used him and here we are. I will remake the clan in my own image, as Madara did once." Itachi dropped the bombshell upon his beloved sibling, dangerously getting close to full admission of his sins.

"You...?"

"I have decided to give you a chance to do the same, to start over – if you can beat me. Only the stronger of us can do this. That is the purpose of our meeting, here and now. I expect a good fight, brother."

Sasuke fought the bile in his throat, his brother was insane. "What happened to you to make you so cold? You killed our mother, for Kami's sake! What did she do, took away your favorite toy?"

Itachi gave him a sad stare. "I was hoping you'd never ask that. While our father only wanted us as clan's best warriors, our mother cared for us in her own way. Have you ever wondered why she stopped being a ninja?"

"To take care of us," Sasuke said automatically, dreading the next words from his brother. Itachi was crazy, and that included the ability to spill truth without a care for the consequences.

"That was when we were younger, but she could've easily left us to be watched by our aunts and uncles. The clan takes care of their own, you know that. No, she had a dark secret that I worked hard at unravelling, ever since the Kyuubi attacked."

"You were five then!" Sasuke stated in disbelief.

"Yes, I know. I was already old enough to watch you, while our parents did the stuff they had to. That night, our mother was not with us, and I always wondered what was she doing. I took the answer from her head before she died, Tsukiyomi is a useful tool for such purposes."

Sasuke shook with rage, Itachi used that abominable jutsu on their mother!

Itachi waited till his brother calmed down, but he relized it was good he was telling him this. Sasuke would grow only more deternmined to fight him afterwards. "It was very dissapointing, in my opinion. In the end, our mother was as tainted as the rest."

"What?" Sasuke asked in confusion.

"It's really disgusting. She used to best friends with Uzumaki Kushina, Naruto's mother. She also loved being kunoichi, but she had to marry our father for it was arranged by our grandparents. It was a good match obviously, since she birthed me and you, and we're obviously more talented than most Uchiha in the last fifty years. Are you getting it now?"

"No! It's not possible!" Sasuke denied vehemently,"Mom would never..."

"But she had." Itachi snapped sharply, cutting Sasuke off. "She betrayed her best friend that night to Madara, who needed to know when she would be giving birth to Naruto. Because Uzumaki Kushina was the previous container of Kyuubi. He used her weakness at that time, took Naruto hostage to distract the Fourth and steal her away. He ripped the Fox out of her, as our mother watched from distance. Then he sicced the Fox at Konoha, but the Fourth overpowered him and saved the village."

"I don't believe you!" Sasuke yelled.

"I don't care, it's true. Our beloved mother had these eyes and soon realized she was loosing sight. That's when she realized she had no siblings to steal new eyes from, so she stopped using chakra altogether and became that stern but loving woman we knew. It was the ultimate end of her desirevto be the strongest kunoichi in Konoha. She loved fighting like so many of us."

"You said that the clan punished those who gained the Mangekyou, why was she left alone?" Sasuke asked, thinking fast to refute Itachi's claims.

"Everybody knew of their friendship and when the news came, our mother openly grieved. That's when she presented her eyes and everybody believed it was just an accidental reaction of grief, of true remorse. And father vouched for her, so she was left alone." Itachi explained. "When I killed Shisui, I gained these eyes because I truly cared about him. But Shisui knew me too well and was onto me, I had no choice but to defend myself when he came to arrest me. I had to do what I was planning, no matter what."

"I won't forgive you, Itachi!" Sasuke yelled, his body shaking with rage. "You are insane and I will end your existence."

"Let's see if you really can." Itachi murmured, ignoring the blade protruding from his chest. It was just genjutsu within genjutsu, the first test of his brother's prowess.

"Hmm, Itachi sure can spin a tale." Naruto chuckled as he observed the fight through the Force, mentally projecting his vision from afar. He didn't care if it was true what Itachi said about his mother, it was something that had no actual bearing on the current situation.

Sasuke screamed in rage as he felt Tsukiyomi trap him, as Itachi begun torturing him with various all too real methods. Then something snapped within him, a cold but immense intent to crush and destroy, and Tsukiyomi fell apart.

He was almost ready to collapse from the intense pain still lingering, like ghosts of torture still clinging to his limbs and he watched as Itachi also stopped to gain breath, his left eye was bleeding.

"Most impressive Sasuke, you broke Tsukiyomi. You are strong, but I see you had some help."

Sasuke looked at his shoulder slightly, and saw a leathery limb protruding from his upper right back- a monstrous wing-hand appendage whose clawed tips tried to hurt Itachi. His Cursed Seal reacted to his distress and he partially transformed. He willed the thing to go away, and glared at Itachi. "It's just a tool in my arsenal, nothing more."

He sent a massive array of weapons at Itachi, pulling them from hidden storage seals on his wrists – an idea he got from Tenten, and watched as Itachi blocked each one. He smirked and pulled on the wires and renewed the attack, using his Lightning chakra to make the various weapons much deadlier than before.

But Itachi already had a Kage Bunshin emerging behind him, using a powerful Katon burst to deflect the attack, while the real Itachi escaped, using his considerable speed to attack Sasuke from close up.

Sasuke managed to keep up, grateful for all the physical condidtioning Danzo forced on him. The bastard was a good teacher. He ripped off many of Gai's methods, no matter how ridiculous they seemed.

Sasuke wanted to use Lightning chakra on his sword, to increase it's cutting power but that was a waste of energy Danzo didn't tolerate. Itachi wasn't enhancing his kunai, so why should he do that for his sword?

Sasuke swung expertly his chokuto in short, dizzying arcs, using his larger range to keep Itachi at bay. Itachi was skilled with his kunai and managed to keep him away. Sasuke was on constant guard against his genjutsu, already dispelling two subtle attempts to make his perceptions askew.

He attacked harder, pressing with his chokuto in stab-hack pattern until his hand was just a blur. Itachi had to retreat, using space around him to evade the onslaught. Then he caught the tip of chokuto between his kunai and lifted it aside, aiming a sidekick to Sasuke's knee. Sasuke activated his Chidori Current and lightning coursed through him and arced in wide sphere around his body, hitting Itachi hard.

Sasuke suddenly rolled, avoiding an attack from behind while Itachi in front of him faded into nothingness, signalling the end of that genjutsu.

He glared hatefully at his older brother, "I can see through your illusions brother! Stop underestimating me!"

Itachi gave him a cold stare. "This isn't a contest Sasuke, I will not go easy on you. You still haven't learned what it takes to be the best."

Sasuke retaliated with a barrage of Chidori senbon, Itachi had to run at top speed to evade them. The senbon made dozens of tiny holes in the wall of the temple.

Sasuke saw where Itachi might go and raised his chokuto, producing a Chidori blade several metres long. Itachi used kawarimi with a piece of debris to avoid getting cut in half, but Sasuke waved his chakra weapon after Itachi, making considerable damage to the temple in process.

Itachi's counter attack came swiftly in the form of exploding tags, a whole lot of them. The explosion shook the chamber, smoke and stone obscured Sasuke's form. Itachi waited patiently, inwardly pleased with his brother's performance so far. That modification of Kakashi's jutsu was impressive by anyone's standards.

He glared at the sight of massive serpents encircling his brother, Orochimaru was in him still! It explained how strong his brother was. Perhaps it was good that Pain healed him, his chakra was still strong. Orochimaru had to go!

Naruto found his interest increasing as the fight developed. Sasuke had some nice moves, although still utterly inferior to his own. His overall power was much less than his, even without the Force.

Orochimaru's chakra apparently also gave Sasuke access to Orochimaru's snake contract.

Sasuke waited on the roof of the temple, expecting that his brother would follow. As Itachi blurred through, Sasuke's Kage Bunshin lanced him with a lightning jutsu, dispelling the clone. But that clone exploded, distracting Sasuke for a moment and Itachi was now with him, already breathing out a truly powerful Grand Fireball!

Sasuke responded in kind, while drawing on the seal and hating himself for it – Itachi was so strong! But satisfaction came to him when his jutsu begun overpowering Itachi's. He sensed something and shunshinned away, narrowly evading the fire that swallowed his own when he ceased his jutsu to avoid a secong clone that climbed the dome from the outside...Itachi already planned this! Luckily Sasuke was truly a master of Shunshin no jutsu.

Sasuke scowled and summoned a few gigantic snakes, big enough to eat a man in one swallow and they swiftly attacked Itachi, moving too fast for most ninja. Itachi wasn't one of them and used several powerful Earth jutsu to dispell them. Sasuke already hid himself below the dome and used a multiple Fire Dragon attack, creating many devastating attacks that exploded from below in the attempt to catch Itachi by luck. Itachi dodged and waited.

Sasuke cut loose and summoned a truly huge triple headed serpent that annihilated the dome and forced Itachi to retreat. "Eat him!" Sasuke screamed angrily, whipping his chokuto angrily in Itachi's direction.

The serpents obeyed, slamming down on the dome, causing firther devastation as Itachi desperately evaded them and Sasuke, who was using his Chidori sword to shield the flank and the rear end of his summon.

Itachi fell back town to the floor of the temple which was now open to the sky and shot a stream of black fire on the snake and Sasuke. The fire caught them quickly and the summon was soon gone, dead for certain since Amaterasu fire burned for seven days and seven nights.

He ceased his attack and ignored the half burnt remains of his brother, he had recognized Orochimaru's skin shedding technique. Sasuke used it well. He found Sasuke rushing him from behind, his Chidori blazing angrily. Itachi blocked his thrust with skilled redirection of momentum as he swung Sasuke singlehanded over his head and into the hard stone ground with a mighty slamming sound, the stone broke under the force.

Itachi's eyes widened in alarm as Sasuke's body erupted in lightning explosion.

Sasuke walked cautiously from behind a large piece of he dome, and found Itachi cradling his left arm. "Heh, you didn't escape that fully."

Itachi nodded. "It was a clever move to use a Lightning Clone, although it cost you half of your chakra. I take it Kakashi taught you that one. I never saw it before, it fooled my Sharingan because your chakra is Lightning natured and it's hard to see through the layer of Lightning chakra. But I'm always careful."

The thunder boomed in the sky that was grey, filled with rolling lightning filled clouds. Sasuke snarled in anger and shunshinned above, while Itachi followed at a slower rate to laet his arm recover, he couldn't use handseals at the moment. But he still had a decent amount of chakra, while Sasuke spent a great deal of his own.

He found his brother at the very top of the temple, standing tall and defiant on the monolith that topped the dome as if trying to reach heavens.

"I have fired those Fire Dragons with a purpose Itachi, witness my ultimate creation!" Sasuke roared and raised his hands glowing with the white blue corona of two Chidoris. "Behold the wrath of the nature, Kirin!"

Itachi reacted instantly, as his Sharingans morphed again into Mangekyou form and he whispered, "Susanoo."

Naruto whistled in amazement, Sasuke sure pulled out all stops! He muzzled the lightning itself, a force of nature strong enough to power a small city for a year. Now, that was something worth seeing and learning...

"You! Why don't you just die already?" Sasuke secreamed angrily when he saw Itachi was alive and shielded by some sort of red energy looking like ethereal skeleton.

"I'm sorry Sasuke, but this is as far as you will push me. I commend your power and skill, I haven't used this jutsu on anyone so far. But Susanoo is an impenetrable defense, a result of two Mangekyou Sharingan working together." Itachi explained and begun walking towards his brother.

"Eat this!" Sasuke screamed in turn and raised his hands and lightning obeyed him again. "I have enough chakra to do this again!"

The lightning descended again, wreathing like aliving beast above Sasuke and falling upon the red figure, creating a flash of white that blinded both warriors. The noise and minor earthshakes ensued, showing the true might of the attack.

But Itachi kept moving after each strike, his etheral guardian becoming more fleshy until it became a warrior spirit holding a shield and a sake bottle at his hip. Sasuke tried with numerous explosive notes, but to no avail.

"I win Sasuke!" Itachi said while slowly moving closer, making the younger Uchiha panic. "Your eyes are mine."

Sasuke froze at those words, looking for a way to escape. He needed more chakra so he drew upon Orochimaru's gift, beginning his transformation which was quick. His hair lengthened into a grey mane, his hand like wings erupted from his hard and darkened skin, his nails became short claws.

He fired a massive fireball at Itachi, but Susanoo was impenetrable. Sasuke jumped away, but had to stop his escape as Itachi cornered him with Amaterasu, cutting off his escape with a wall of black flames that burned all around them.

And then Sasuke fell on his knees and cried out – Orochimaru finally set himself free!

Itachi felt tired already, after pulling out Amaterasu again while holding Susanoo active. His cells were burning with intense pain and he knew he had a short time to finish the fight. The whole show was worth it, Orochimaru was out now!

He watched with disgust as the Snake Sannin appeared in the mouth of one of his multiple Hydra summons, gleefully intending to steal his brother's body. He ended the fools ambition with a single thrust of his ultimate attack- the legendary Totsuka sword that sealed it's victims in a realm of eternal dreams. A fitting end for Orochimaru who alway dreamed of power and immortality. He'd have the second, in a way.

Naruto stared in surprise, his true sight still locked on the area far awy, making him seem comatose. He had just witnessed a surprising turn of events; Orochimaru got free from Sasuke, only to fall to Itachi's strange sword.

The idiocy that Orochimaru displayed shocked him, he should've run away and couned himself lucky for surviving. But no, he had to stick to his desire to posess the Sharingan! See where it lead him!

It all happened too fast, otherwise he'd have jumped Orochimaru and sucked his brains dry to steal his jutsu. Oh well, he could do without them anyway. Orochimaru was too disgusting even to him.

It was time to finish this.

Sasuke scrambled awy from his brother, barely having any strength left, but the hungry look in Itachi's eyes left no doubt about the ultimate end of this fight.

He never saw a foot that hit his head and sent him into la-la land.

"Was that really necessary?" Itachi frowned, relaxing as he saw it was Naruto.

"Oh, would you rather take his eyes while he's awake?" Naruto asked with some amusement visible on his face. Itachi shook his head and he nodded. "It'll be quick, he will never feel pain."

Naruto decided to avoid any troubles and used the Force to make Sasuke deep asleep and cut off his sensation of hurt, and then he let Itachi do the actual removal of Sasuke's eyes. He just forcibly healed his empty sockets using the Dark Side for that, which was far from pleasant . The Dark Side could be used for such things, but it wasn't as effective as the Light Side healing. It was also often required that the healing itself was meant for some cruel purpose to work.

A couple of sealing tags later, Sasuke's eyes were properly sealed from any tampering without his permission.

Naruto created a single Kage Bunshin who immediately took Sasuke back to Konoha. The real Naruto took Itachi away, but not straight to the Akatsuki base, he had to keep his teleportation a secret.

"Kakashi! Kakashi!" Someone yelled and the silverhaired jounin looked away from the memorial stone he was staring at for the last few hours, trying to think of a way to fix his mistakes about Naruto.

Kakashi was utterly crushed by the realization that the son of the man he considerd his greatest hero and second father was now a missing nin with a grudge against Konoha as big as Orochimaru's. Or worse. And he was probably as powerful as that scum too.

"What is it?" He asked the unknown chunin while feeling utterly drained of any will to respond.

"It's Uchiha-sama! You must come with me to the hospital!"

"What? Why would he be there?" Kakashi felt dread.

"He...his eyes were removed and he is in very bad shape, as if he were in a battle. Hokage-sama is working on him personally."

Kakashi vanished in a swirl of leaves, leaving the chunin to pant from exhaustion as he was running at top speed to deliver the news to the famed jounin. He really wanted to learn Shunshin!

Hi folks, I'm back! It took me awhile to figure how to write this one, hopefully I've done well.

All for you, naturally. I'm getting closer to the end of this part of Naruto's adventures. There are various endings I'm juggling, we'll see how it goes. Then he goes to the SW reality, although I'd love to get him into X-men or WH40K universe just to have some smashing fun! Think about Naruto as the new Emperor of Mankind or Naruto with Wolverine's healing factor!

I'm also working on basic ideas for Naruto/Smallville crossover, imagine Naruot with CK's powers who goes back home and lays some smack on Madara and Sasuke in a second! It wouldn't be a long fic, well not that part when he goes back, but he could return to Smallville and help Superman patrol Earth! Do you think he'd be a good pair with Kara?

Manga comment: I love mini Raseshuriken, Kishi sure reads fanfics, I think someone already thought of that!

I watched Transformers 3 and I can say it was mostly good, but damn that chick was soo...I want Mikaela back! This one wasn't as good looking, although she wasn't ugly either. Even if the first half of the film was kinda slow, the rumble in the last 45 minutes was un-frickin-believable!

Green Lamp dude wasn't so bad either, but still it felt kind of too short. Special effects rock!

Captain America better be great after Thor and GL, who weren't bad but not great either. So far only Iron Man was great, with Hulk close as second.