Continuity Disclaimer: Most of the Daybreak universe was outlined/written before the Shinobi World War arc in the manga. For simplicity's sake pretend everything after chapter 500-some never happened while you are reading this. I tried to make this fic canon-compliant to a point, but when the goalposts keep moving fanfic authors just have to throw up their hands and scream 'I GIVE UP' in order to get anything done. Thank you.

Beta Credits: HakorTheEgyptianPharoah


.oO Chapter 28 Oo.


Alone was the last thing Naruto would have wanted to be, but after Kakashi and Shizune had wandered back to the first floor of their hotel for a drink and then not returned, alone was where he found himself. He was too proud to slink downstairs to beg for company, no matter how homesick and lonely he felt, so he flipped on the television and curled up in the impeccably-made bed to waste the rest of the evening in indolence.

Just as he had laid down on the quilt there was a sharp knock on the door. Standing on his toes, he peered through the peep hole. Visible through the fish-eye glass was a rather short, rather round Ame chūnin bouncing a paper bag against her knees. Warily, he opened the door a crack for her.

"Iko Momoka, pleased to meet you, Naruto-sama," she said, folding so low the parcel almost brushed the floor. "Pain-sama has requested a personal meeting with you this evening. Please change and follow me." She raised the bag. "These should fit, I hope?"

"Naruto-sama? I don't think anyone has called me that in my life. It's weird. Please don't," he said, accepting her gift and pulling the door open a bit wider. "And he wants to what? With me? Can I tell Kakashi-sensei where I'm going? I'm not sure he's going to like this."

"Yes, of course," she answered, and giggled, which dimpled her cheeks. "I'm just one of the tower aides; I'm not trying to abduct you. Jiraiya-sama has already explained the situation to your guardians, but you're welcome to speak with them yourself."

He retreated into the bathroom with her package and emerged in his new clothes. He didn't really care for the drab grays, but the new outfit was reasonably comfortable, and neither the borrowed rags nor his own rumpled jacket would have made him feel more at ease meeting a man who commanded the loyalty of shinobi as powerful as the ones he'd met so far. She pronounced the fit perfect and tugged him, politely yet firmly, into the waiting elevator.

The pair at the hotel bar had been enjoying several more than a singular drink. Shizune's cheeks were flushed with several cups of sake and she was laughing softly at something Kakashi had just said. He assured Naruto the woman was telling the truth, told him not to worry, and turned back to whatever anecdote he'd been relating to Shizune. He spared one last glance at Kakashi as Momoka shooed him out the doors. It was hard to tell, under the mask, but he looked like he was smiling. That was something Kakashi hadn't done very often lately.

Naruto's suspicions, if not his nervousness, allayed, he followed his guide through the lashing rain to their destination. The coat and umbrella she'd lent him were surrendered to a doorman, and they rode the dizzying glass elevator to the penthouse. She bid him a cheerful goodbye and left him in the care of the ANBU bodyguard waiting at the top floor. This woman was as dour as his first guide had been vivacious, and she did not introduce herself. Naruto gulped and shuffled across the luxurious carpet in her wake, dripping silently. The guard stopped at a pair of doors, bowed, and turned smartly on her heels to return the way she'd come.

"You wanted to see me, um, Pain-sama?" he asked, letting his voice drift through the crack between the doors. He peeked his nose inside and caught himself staring at the emaciated husk of a man lying in the bed. His eyes were so piercing and alien Naruto immediately found a dresser knob to focus his gaze as he closed the door behind him. "Talking to Haku and Yagura, I was expecting someone…"

"With the strength to get up out of his bed?" he asked. "Then I am afraid meeting me must be something of a disappointment to you."

"No… that's not what I… I just thought… um," Naruto finished, mortified.

"The man you heard Yagura speaking to is a vessel into which I can project my consciousness. I trust you understand why that is necessary."

"Your eyes are so strange… what's wrong with you?" Naruto asked, and slapped his hand to his lips as soon as the question had spurted out. "I'm sorry, that was really rude, wasn't it?"

Looking amused rather than insulted, he answered, "It's called the Rinnegan. It is a dōjutsu of immense power, but using it to its full extent comes at a price. And my illness cannot be cured by medicine or surgery. The only way to restore my strength would be to draw it out of someone else, and very few beings possess enough chakra. The Rokubi, Saiken, nearly did, but to take enough to heal me completely could have killed Utakata. I suspect Fū might–she holds the Nanabi, and you will meet her soon enough–but her training with Yagura has only just begun, and her seal is so fragile I would not dare attempt it."

"You mean I could learn to talk with my bijū like he does? You really are trying to help us, aren't you?" Naruto whispered.

"Teaching you to find peace with the demon you hold inside you serves a greater purpose. If you choose to swear your loyalty to me and my cause, I will tell you in more detail what that is, but it is not a decision I expect you to make tonight."

"You really, really didn't mean for all of that to happen in Sunagakure? The stadium collapsing, Sasuke being taken, my mom and dad…?"

"Orochimaru acted on his own and against my orders. I thought I could control him. I should have been more wary of his promises, and you have my deepest apologies for the damage he has done. Sasori has also been… disciplined for his part in this, but his knowledge of Wind Country and his spy network are too valuable to the organization to relinquish." He folded his hands together and dropped his eyes to the blankets. "If you hate me, I would understand why. The loss of one's parents is a difficult thing to forgive, and Amegakure bears ultimate responsibility for it."

He went quiet, waiting with keen interest for Naruto's answer.

Naruto had been benumbed these last few weeks, and now, finally safe, feeling was returning to his heart. A glob of anger fell into his belly, but he let it dissipate without acting upon the pain. Part of him did hate the Akatsuki. Part of him wanted to attack any target that presented itself within his sight, just like he'd gone wild against Jiraiya the night of the coup. But he knew how much vengeance would cost, in the end, as sweet as it might be in the moment that he took it. The Uchiha would never forget that lesson. What he was being offered–a way to eliminate the threat the Kyūbi posed to his comrades, not simply mitigate it–was priceless, and could not be refused.

"I don't hate you," Naruto said. "And hurting Akatsuki wouldn't gain me anything… I'd be hurting Haku and his friends, too, and I've already done him enough harm. When I was growing up, I was always taught it was the shinobi of Konoha who were my comrades, who would be the ones I could always depend on to protect me. Everyone outside my village was the enemy, not to be trusted." He sniffed. "What a big fat load of bullcrap that was. If Akatsuki can help me stop the Kyūbi from hurting anyone else, you can borrow my chakra in return. That seems fair. That's why you asked me here, wasn't it?"

"No, it wasn't," Nagato answered. He brushed his hand over the valleys above his collarbones. "But I have been sick for a very long time, and if you are freely offering this to me, I don't think I have the will to turn you down."

"What would I have to do?" Naruto asked. "Does it hurt?"

"Nothing but hold out your hands. I wouldn't expect so."

Naruto hesitated as he brushed Nagato's skin and couldn't stop himself from shuddering. The man's fingers had little warmth or strength; it was like grasping the hands of a corpse. Nagato close his eyes and initiated the technique. The discomfort was intense but wavered on the threshold of being actual pain, a feeling of suction stressing the chakra pathways of his arms and up into his heart. Swarms of dots surged around the periphery of his vision, and just as Nagato let go Naruto toppled and nearly struck his head on the chair beside the bed.

"Are you all right?" Nagato asked, startled.

"Yeah, I'm fine, I'm good, the room is just... a little… spinny," Naruto murmured, his cheek pressed into the carpet pile. "Give me a second." He massaged his fingers against his eyes and the black ants invading the corners of the room retreated. He turned on his back, resting his hand against his forehead.

The face that was peering down at his own was almost unrecognizable. The harsh years had melted from Nagato's frame. He threw off the blankets, and, with some difficulty, swung his legs over the edge of the bed. "I think I would like to go for a walk. Would you join me?" He gripped the headboard with one hand and extended the other to steady Naruto as he sat up.

"Oh, no, you don't have to help–"

"Believe me, having someone else need my support is a refreshing change. The scar tissue in my legs makes it difficult for me to keep my balance, but otherwise I feel well enough. Excellent, in fact. Your chakra capacity is extraordinary."

He smiled at the compliment and let Nagato pull him up; all the muscle mass appropriate to a healthy man had been restored, and he had no difficulty lifting Naruto from the floor. He leaned back on the rumpled blankets as the last of the vertigo subsided. Nagato depressed a button on an intercom box mounted to the wall. "Have a sweet tray and some tea sent up for my visitor, please." He then made his way carefully to a walk-in closet in the corner of the room, steadying himself on the furniture. There was a lot of rustling and finally a sigh of slight annoyance.

"'Hmm, what?" Naruto asked, kicking at the box spring with his heels.

"I can't seem to find any shoes," came the muffled reply. "How do I not own shoes?"

"This whole big tower is like your house, isn't it?" Naruto pointed out. "You can walk around barefoot if you want to."

The rustling resumed for a few minutes, until Konan came in and laid a tray on the central table. She lifted the teapot to pour out two cups' worth and froze when Nagato pushed open the closet door, leaning against a cane. He was now dressed in a matching black shirt and pants, held closed by a thin green cord tied at his hips.

The earthenware pot slipped out of her hands and smashed on the floor. She barely even noticed the scalding tea that splashed on her toes, or when the pottery shards whisked themselves into the waste basket with a wave of her partner's hand. Naruto pushed himself off the bed, weaving a little, and attacked the tray of pastries. Although he'd just eaten a few hours ago, he was suddenly famished.

Konan's mouth agape, her gaze swept over Nagato's full cheeks. "Where are you going?!" she exclaimed.

"For a walk."

"For a walk," Konan repeated, dumbfounded. "But how did… your face is… that's not possible without killing the…"

"Unless he's the Kyūbi jinchūriki, it seems. It was a lovely coincidence."

She looked down at Naruto, who was straining mightily to chew everything he had just crammed into his mouth. "Why don't I… get you some more of those," she murmured, still struggling to reorient herself.

"Ank ou, Onan-than," he said around the mouthful. A stray crumb of fondant fell onto the table. "Orry."

Nagato started to chuckle at Naruto's predicament, quietly subdued but with genuine mirth. As Konan reached the door, she stopped with her hand on the knob.

"What?" Nagato asked.

"Nothing," she said. "I just can't remember the last time I heard you laugh."

Slightly revitalized by the sugar, Naruto let the older man lead him to another set of doors, the glass panes etched with stylized, geometric flowers. The richness of wet earth and jasmine blossoms almost bowled Naruto over when they opened. The garden was tiny, filling only one of the metal tower's many terraces. Orchids spilled out of perforations in the wall, and the jasmine had all but consumed the arbor. The building was the tallest in the city, and a low rail provided a view over its entirety without exposing them the citizens' gaze. Unable to contain his curiosity, Naruto brushed his finger over the violet tongue that protruded from between two of a flower's white petals. A cabochon of rain slid off the velvet surface to strike the marble below. Naruto folded his arms over the wall, giving it most of his weight. "This place is beautiful. I've never seen flowers like these before."

Laying his cane against the wall, Nagato brought his hands together and then spread them wide, and the clouds peeled back. The last of the sunlight, although gentle on his face, made Naruto squirm. "I kept seeing signs about 'Rain Schedule' in the shop windows. I guess that answers that question." He swallowed, his nerves jangling again. The power to command the sky was frightening indeed. "Why would you bring me here–some kid you've never met before? Yagura said he'd never seen your face, and he's been here for years, hasn't he? He didn't even know your real name."

"Before I tell you what that is, I have a question for you. My sources in Konoha told me you were not born an Uchiha?"

"No…" he answered, reticent and puzzled. "I was adopted. My birth mother's name was Uzumaki. Uzumaki Kushina. It's funny…" he babbled, fiddling with a length of vine. "I don't have many pictures of her, but her hair is exactly the same color as…" Exactly the same color, he realized as his voice died away. With the fullness restored to his face, it wasn't the only thing he could now see Nagato and his mother had in common. The realization stole his breath, and the meager strength left in his legs. If he hadn't been leaning against the guard wall he would have fallen. "I... I have a clan?" Naruto hiccupped. "I have a f-family?"

"Yes. You do. I asked because that is also my name. Uzumaki Nagato."

There had been no tears since Naruto awoke in the burn unit in Sunagakure's hospital–not when he'd learned what happened to Sasuke, not at his stepfather's funeral, not when he'd held his mother's cooling hand for the last time, not when he learned Itachi intended to abandon him for sickness and death. Every drop he had been holding inside was threatening to burst free all at once. Humiliated to be losing his composure in front of a stranger, he squeezed his eyelids shut so tightly it made his brows ache.

Nagato cocked his head, considering the trembling child beside him. "I know what you've lost–as have I. There is a time and place for tears. You shouldn't be ashamed."

With those words, Naruto surrendered to the flood and let it carry him where it would. When he finished, when every drop had been squeezed out onto the leaves, he wiped his nose on his sleeve and said, "S-sorry I got snot on the shirt you gave me. I'm not usually s-such a crybaby."

"It's all right." Nagato leaned closer to whisper in Naruto's ear. "You couldn't possibly have been worse than I was."

"You?"

"Yes."

"Really?"

"Oh, yes. It drove Yahiko insane. He was the orphan who took me in, fed me and shielded me after my parents were killed by Konoha shinobi searching for food during the war." He looked wistful for a moment. "It hurts to lose the people we thought would protect us. But those who truly love us do their best to ensure we're strong enough to protect ourselves when they're gone."

"They did. So did my birth parents." Naruto traced a spiral in the moisture of the wall with the tip of his finger. "Have you ever seen it? Uzushiogakure? No, that's stupid, you don't look much more than twenty-five, so–"

"I'm almost forty," he corrected. "We Uzumaki take a long time to show our age. I was born on those islands, but no, I don't remember anything of them. My mother fled with me when I was very young. She found her way here, to Storm Country, and married a farmer. She wasn't a shinobi and hardly ever spoke of her old life, or the husband she'd had to leave behind. I am sadly ignorant of the clan and their traditions.

"My eyes give me access to all the elemental natures, even a small measure of power over life and death, but of their sealing techniques I know nothing. To my knowledge, we are the last of the Uzumaki left. Most died when Uzushio fell. A few may have gained asylum with other villages, if they could renounce their loyalties to their homeland, but I have no way to find them. The Uzumaki fuinjutsu is lost to time."

"No, it isn't," Naruto said, letting a smile come to his face just as the sun had broken through the clouds. "I met Uzumaki Mito, after Orochimaru summoned her back from the dead. She showed me something, and I want to show you. I don't know if this is gonna work, but the worst that'll happen is that you'll have to go wash your hand." He bit down on his first finger, wincing, and used the blood to draw the crimson whirlpool on Nagato's right palm. Carefully, he worked his way through the signs Mito had shown him, pleased that he'd remembered. Just like it had upon his own hand, the spiral of blood glowed bright for a second, and disappeared. "It's a key," Naruto explained, "to the secret libraries in Uzushiogakure. Don't know if there's still a lock, though. She said they were still standing when she died, but that was…" he counted it up, "probably thirty-five years ago. Well, anyway, even if they're not, my mom taught Jiraiya-sensei some. Maybe he'd be able to teach me. I don't want our clan's ways to die."

"Jiraiya-sensei? He didn't mention that," Nagato said, pleased. "That means we are also brother disciples, in addition to being kin. Jiraiya stayed in Storm Country for two years to teach me ninjutsu when I was a little younger than you are now."

There was a delicate rapping on the door. The same bodyguard that had led Naruto inside appeared at the threshold. "The refreshments are ready for your guest, sir."

They followed her back down the hall, where a new tea set had appeared, although Konan was nowhere to be seen. Still starving from the chakra drain, Naruto polished off the whole plate of cakes.

"Ah... I almost forgot. I have a gift for you," Nagato said. He retrieved a rectangular package wrapped in paper and placed it on the table.

Naruto licked his fingers clean and picked it up, looking dubious, but tearing the wrapping off anyways. Reading was an activity he undertook only under duress. He blinked at the author's name. "Jiraiya-sensei wrote this?" he asked. "No offense, if you like 'em or anything, but his books are pretty boring. I stole one from the bookshop once just because they were in the adults-only section, and it was like twenty pages of kissing and something about a 'quivering cleft'. Do you know what–"

"This is in a different genre," he assured Naruto hastily. "It's the first book he wrote. He thought you would like it. Read the first page before you make your judgment."

Naruto frowned down at the text, which quickly reverse direction. "Heh. The main character is named after me."

"Check the copyright date," Nagato instructed.

Naruto flipped to the inside cover, and then the title page. "Wait a…"

"Yes, Naruto-kun. It was you who were named after him. I would imagine your parents loved that book more than anything else they'd ever read, and I can only assume they hoped for a son just like the man alive in those pages."

"Really?" Naruto said, clutching to his chest. "And I can keep it?"

"You can keep it. As far as I know, it's the only copy in Amegakure. Please take care of it."

-ooo-

After several days of tense discussion, it was agreed the group from Konoha would stay in the city beneath the perpetual clouds. The simple ceremony to induct them into Akatsuki was to take place that morning, at the war council that had been called to meet the threat of Danzō's armies. A messenger came by early to Naruto's room with a request from Yagura to meet a little earlier than the general call. He hastily finished breakfast and followed the aide to the capitol building.

"Good morning," Yagura said, leaning against the wall of the first-floor lobby with his arms crossed over his chest. He unhooked them when Naruto approached.

A girl with olive skin was sitting by his ankles, smacking on a piece of gum. The sleeves of her Akatsuki coat were rolled casually up to her elbows, and the zipper was undone, displaying a rainbow of omamori good-luck charms tied to her belt.

"Before the meeting officially starts, I'd like to introduce you to someone. This is Fū. She only took her ring within the last two months, and until now was the group's youngest member. You will be training alongside her in the hopes of being able to work with, rather than against, your bijū, as I do with Isobu-sama."

"Hey," she said, guarded, pushing herself up. "I'm from Takigakure, I've got the Nanabi, and I'm a discipline problem. The bug's name is Chomei."

Sniggering, Naruto said, "You know how there's a monument to all the previous Hokages carved into the plateau above Konoha? Once I spent an entire afternoon drawing dicks on it. I think we'll get along pretty good." He stuck out his hand, which Fū eyed nervously and did not take. "I swear I washed it."

"I'm not a touchy kind of girl. Don't take it personally."

He let his hand drop. "I won't," he reassured her. "If you grew up anything like me or Gaara, I bet you had a pretty hard time of it before you came here. Messes with your head."

"All of us have, in one way or another," Yagura said. He looked up at Fū, who had a few centimeters on him in height. "A 'discipline problem' certainly is not how I would describe you, not since you agreed to leave Taki with me. If those who command you abuse you, they don't deserve your loyalty."

His gentle tone perked Fū up from her slouch. "So, Naruto… what's your thing? We were all curious."

"My thing?"

"A bijū gives special abilities to their jinchūriki," Yagura clarified for her. "You've already seen mine, the mokuton, a fitting elemental synthesis for a beast that lives on both land and water. Fū's Chomei is a seven-tailed rhinoceros beetle, and what her presence induces in her vessels is incredible strength relative to their body size, like the insect itself. Strong emotion tends to increase the muscle power they bring to bear."

"What does that mean?" Naruto asked.

"It means I broke things a lot… and occasionally people." Fū swallowed, and added with grim bitterness, "I went to hug my mom once and accidentally broke her spine. So like I said… not a touchy kind of girl."

Naruto reached for her wrist and guided her right hand into the handshake she'd initially refused. "I got stabbed straight through the belly, nearly cut in half, and had most of my skin burned off, and every time it healed in less than a day." He gripped her fingers, refusing to let her pull away. "I don't think even you could hurt me too bad."

Touched, she gingerly returned the squeeze. "So what did you get from the Kyūbi, besides the whiskers?"

"I don't think I have any other ability," Naruto said. "Just a lot of chakra. More than Yagura-sempai. So when can I start?"

"You're only thirteen or so, aren't you? If you weren't aware, chakra capacity grows with age. If you already have more than me now, by the time you're twenty you will most likely have more than anyone else on this planet, Pain-sama included. That certainly qualifies as exceptional." He glanced at the clock tower visible from the atrium. "It's nearly ten, we should head upstairs. We can begin your training directly after the meeting, if you like. I don't have any other plans."

Fū pulled one of the ornate rectangles of brocade from her belt and handed it to Naruto. "Don't open it or the good luck will escape," she admonished. "Keep it close by and nothing will hurt you. Yagura-sempai thinks it's superstitious nonsense, but hey, it still can't hurt, can it?"

"Thanks." He tucked it in his pocket and trotted after her as they ascended the double staircase to the second floor. "So what's it like training under that guy?"

"He's one of those uptight mind-your-manners types, but he's not bad. I was in, um, kind of a bad place–like, mentally–when I left Taki, and he really helped me get settled in here. He's been here the longest and gets along best with his bijū, so he sort of put himself in charge of the rest of us freaks. Most of the time I don't mind." She grinned mischievously. "But he's not as much of a stiff as he wants everyone to think. He gets craaazy worked up when you mess with him just right. Rōshi-sempai does it all the time. It's hilarious."

They followed Yagura down the hall to the meeting chamber. Most of those invited were already inside, speaking quietly with each other. Naruto froze when he recognized the redhead striding down the marble from the opposite end of the hall.

"Naruto-kun, stop it," Yagura ordered, grabbing him before he could attack the puppeteer. Sasori only sniffed in disdain and ducked inside the room. "He confessed his disloyalty and Pain-sama elected to spare him. He knows the desert like no one else in Amegakure, and with the situation this volatile and the threat to Gaara-kun so grave, we cannot afford to lose any more members."

"Do you know what he did to my family?" Naruto growled.

"Yes. I do," Yagura said gently, releasing him. "I know this is difficult for you, but I hope you can put aside the past for the sake of the future. Sasori has to do the same. Konoha and Suna faced each other in the Second Great War, don't forget, and he is a great deal older than he looks. There was a heavy toll on both sides."

Grumbling, Naruto entered the room, and, seeing they were the last to arrive, he shut the doors behind him. A man who shared Nagato's rinnegan was waiting inside the entrance. His nose, lips, and ears were pierced by a dozen rings and rods, which made Naruto start. He extended his hand and dropped a silver ring into Naruto's palm. "This is the Deva Path, the body I use most often," he explained to Naruto very quietly. "They all share the Rinnegan. What they see, I see."

The floor was tiled in a circle of interlocking rings, abuzz with chakra. The other prospective members–Jiraiya, Tsunade, Itachi, and Kakashi–took the places whose characters corresponded to the rings they had just been given. Terumï Mei was there as well, and she smiled at Naruto in a brief greeting.

The Deva Path spoke, in a different voice than Naruto had heard before, but with the same intonation and rhythm. "If you chose to don the rings you have been given, you will be swearing your loyalty to me and to the vision of peace I hope to bring to the shinobi world. Akatsuki was founded on the principles of nonviolence and unity between all people, regardless of the borders that separate us. If you follow these ideals as I aspire to, and if we succeed in taking back your respective villages from those that glorify war and hatred, you will be released from your oath to me and be free to return home. If this is a promise you can make, place the ring upon any of your fingers. The only other condition on which it may be removed is your death."

All five of the new members did so, and at the conclusion of the simple ceremony the Deva Path brought his palms together to initiate a long-range communication technique. Two of the empty circles glowed green for a moment, and insubstantial projections of the two jinchūriki from Iwagakure appeared in the columns of light.

The middle-aged man with a hand-rolled cigarette dangling from his lips simply stood there blinking for several moments, as he registered the sudden upswing in membership numbers. He scratched his beard and said, "Where the hell'd you all come from?"

His partner, who was monstrously tall and covered completely in lacquer armor save for a strip across his eyes, shook his head in long-suffering annoyance. "I am Han. This is my partner Rōshi. Ignore him. I usually do. This is… unexpected, but welcome to the Akatsuki." His voice was very deep and mellifluous, although muffled by the faceplate of his helmet.

"Ignore me? God damn stuck-up tomato," Rōshi grumbled under his breath. "So that's the Kyūbi jinchūriki?" he said more loudly, looking unimpressed. "Kids's a shrimp. Great. Now there's two of 'em."

Yagura bristled. "Rōshi-san, I am standing right here," he seethed. "And I am twenty-one, not twelve. Is it really that hard to remember?!"

"It's that baby face of yours," he said airily. "Not my fault I can't keep it straight."

Chuckling, Rōshi let it go when Nagato's Deva Path addressed him with a pointed look. Rōshi removed the stub of the cigarette and ground it beneath his boot sole.

"This is indeed Naruto, and four more Konoha shinobi have joined us along with him–the remaining Sannin, Jiraiya and Tsunade, the Copy Ninja Hatake Kakashi, and Naruto's teacher and the rightful Hokage, Uchiha Itachi. Now that introductions have been made, have you two confirmed the location of any of the Rikudo Sennin's sacred tools?"

"Not yet, but we are making progress," Han answered. "They are kept in separate locations under heavy guard. Extracting them from Lightning Country will be difficult but not impossible. Bribery of his underlings may still be a possibility, but the Raikage himself will not have anything to do with our organization."

"If they aren't in arms' reach, abort the mission and return immediately; defending Amegakure is more important. I would like to move on to the primary reason I have called this gathering… the strong possibility that we have a fourth great war on our hands. Sasori, your report?"

"My plant in Konoha is dead," he announced, "so the information I have is unfortunately secondhand, but Shimura Danzō appears to be all but officially confirmed as the Godaime Hokage. The new Fire Daimyo is only nineteen and terrified of power. He is an even weaker leader than his predecessor, and Fire Country has effectively lost its civilian government.

"Danzō has recast the failed assassination attempt against Itachi as the work of Orochimaru, or more specifically my agent Yakushi Kabuto–whose loyalties are opaque, although it doesn't matter now," he added darkly. "Naruto has been 'abducted' by our organization to use as a weapon against Konoha, his surviving teammate taken as a hostage to ensure his cooperation. According to the official Konoha line, you four are all dead." He looked first at Itachi and Kakashi, and then turned to Jiraiya and Tsunade. "You two are missing in action following a confrontation with a rogue jinchūriki from Kiri."

"There were no bodies," Itachi pointed out.

"Kabuto had exquisite skill at forging corpses, a technique he learned in the Konoha medical program," Sasori said. "Taking into account the damage the fire would have caused, for another medic to present two acceptable replicas for your funeral would be a simple matter."

"His story would fall apart as soon as we make our survival known," Itachi said. "Danzō has no scruples, but he isn't a fool. He's going to twist this into something he can use to his advantage."

"He already has," Sasori said, his tone shimmering with malice. "He's begun a purge of ANBU and the other high-rank shinobi loyal to the previous Hokages, on the pretext that they have been compromised with a memory-suppression seal and are sleeper agents for Akatsuki. The same is being done in Sunagakure."

"A witch hunt," Tsunade said.

"It was a stroke of genius. I can't help but admire that kind of finesse," Sasori said. "Kabuto did have a memory-suppression seal on him—mine. It was the same one I had placed on Yura, the Kazekage's councilor, in whose body they have doubtless also isolated it. The seal cannot be found except on a thorough autopsy. Ergo, the supposed sleeper agents must be dead before their loyalty can be confirmed. It provides the perfect pretense for Danzō to imprison anyone who opposes him.

"He is whipping Konoha into a paranoid froth, and fear will allow him to bring his final and most dangerous weapon onto the field. The appearance of Senju Hashirama and Uzumaki Mito was witnessed and confirmed by dozens of people from multiple villages, as was their loyalty to Akatsuki. To counter this technique, he is attempting to convince the rest of the Konoha leadership that there is only one way to fight soldiers that cannot die… summon your own."

After the gasps echoed away, Sasori continued. "Orochimaru confided in me that he was forced to flee Konoha so quickly that he never had the opportunity to destroy his notes or the works in his laboratory. They are in Danzō's hands now, and it is very likely he will be able to plunder Konoha's graveyard with the blessing of his men. No one interred there is safe. Besides the obvious durability of the resurrected shinobi, the psychological factors of their appearance are almost as powerful. If I were you, I would expect to be seeing familiar faces again." He looked piercingly at Kakashi as he said it. "If any of you 'deceased' from Konoha were to be sighted wearing your enemy's uniforms, it would only lend strength to his deception."

"This is deeply troubling news. We couldn't attack Konoha directly?" Han asked.

"We cannot," the Deva Path said. "Leaving aside the tremendous death toll such an action would cause, they have a hostage. I cannot simply storm the village for the same reason Madara could not–I risk killing the bijū he removed from Utakata and resealed into one of his own agents. If the vessel dies the chakra will disperse. Although bijū are impossible to kill in the traditional sense of the word, it can take years for one to reform and we could all very well be dead by then.

"Having lost the Kyūbi, we must also assume Konoha will target the Ichibi. Removing Gaara-kun to Amegakure is now one of our highest priorities. However, the beast is notoriously unstable, and the seal that binds him is the weakest of all nine. To protect Gaara, he will need to be taken within the city, but that puts the citizens of Amegakure at an unacceptable risk if he were to lose control again. His seal will have to be strengthened until he learns to communicate properly with Shukaku."

"Fuinjutsu of that level of power and complexity is beyond anyone alive," Sasori said. "Only a master of Uzushiogakure would even attempt something so dangerous."

"Oh, I wouldn't say that," Jiraiya put in. "Just because your village can't seal bijū worth a damn doesn't mean we're all hopeless at it."

Sasori glared at him.

"The seal which Uzumaki Mito used on herself and her successor Kushina was unbreakable," the Deva Path said. "Naruto-kun has good reason to believe the secret libraries of Uzushiogakure still exist, and it is probably recorded there, along with a wealth of other material that will likely prove invaluable in combatting Edo Tensei. Mito herself was able to break the compulsion controlling her, and the foundation of all summoning jutsu can be traced back to the techniques of the Uzumaki. That is why Jiraiya and I will be traveling to the ruins to retrieve as much material as we can. A living Uzumaki clan member would be the only person capable of opening the locks.

"Sasori—you know the desert and Gaara will remain your objective… but you are in need of a new partner after Orochimaru's desertion. Achieving our goals will be difficult, if not impossible, if the jinchuriki view us as their enemies. If Naruto has formed a bond of trust with Gaara, it may make the difference between success and failure. That is why I would like him to accompany you on this mission."

The Konoha shinobi all erupted into protests equally as loud and vociferous as what Sasori flung at their leader. "Is this some kind of joke?" he snarled. "I am not a babysitter."

"I'll go," Kakashi said, before Itachi could open his mouth to volunteer. "The kid will be my responsibility."

Hatred was boiling under the surface of Sasori's vacant eyes. "I will do whatever you order me to do, Pain-sama… but not with a Hatake."

"When you joined Akatsuki you agreed to put aside personal matters of this kind," the Deva Path said. He looked to Naruto. "As will you."

"But he–" Naruto screeched.

"Allowing Naruto into disputed territory is too dangerous," Itachi said. "I can bring Gaara back myself. I've spoken to him before and it is highly likely I could persuade him to return without resorting to violence."

"Nice try, but no, and he's backing me up on this," Tsunade said, thumbing in the direction of the Deva Path. "You're both a wreck and still contagious. Three weeks of strong antibiotics and close medical supervision and you should be fit for missions again. You try to squirm loose of the treatment course, and you get to find out whether or not I was joking about breaking your legs to keep you in a hospital bed."

"Tsunade will remain here to overhaul the Amegakure Medical Corps and manage logistics in cooperation with Konan, who will be leading Amegakure in my stead and coordinating country-wide communication with her paper techniques. I am keenly aware of the advantage Tsunade's medical and organizational expertise gave Konoha during the last war. Mei, I would like you to take primary responsibility for the defense of Amegakure and the surrounding countryside."

"You gave the shinobi who followed me from Kirigakure shelter when we had nowhere else to go," Mei said. "We intend to repay the favor. No troops loyal to Shimura Danzō will cross the bridges of your city as long as there are Kiri shinobi alive to defend them."

"Yagura, Fū, Rōshi, Han–you will be under Mei's direct command. Konoha's numbers are far greater than ours, but I am confident four jinchūriki will go a very long way toward evening out that imbalance of firepower."

Yagura dipped his head to the Deva Path. "We'll do nothing less than our best, Pain-sama."

-ooo-

Naruto puffed out his cheeks in a sigh. He resettled his backside against the cushion in the small conference room Yagura had claimed for them, trying to concentrate on what his newest teacher was saying. He was worried about Itachi, and the prospect of going anywhere with Sasori disgusted him.

"I know this may be frightening, but Isobu-sama and I will be with you, and you have an excellent seal," Yagura assured Naruto. He was sitting cross-legged across from the boy, his coat on a peg mounted near the doorframe. "The culmination of this training is extremely risky, but in these early stages you have nothing to fear. I have heard there are secret training grounds in Lightning Country that could have aided you, but the Raikage is no friend of ours and we'll have to make do without them… the slow and steady way."

"Not gonna lie… I hate slow and steady," Naruto complained. The other man's manner, conscientious and strict but not unkind, reminded Naruto of strongly of Umino Iruka. Yagura held out his hands, pale and delicately boned. Naruto gripped them, as he'd been instructed, and felt himself being pulled away from the room in which they sat.

There was a burst of cold against his skin, and panic came with it as he realized he was deep underwater. He kicked up towards the sunlight above his head on pure instinct.

"Naruto-kun, calm down, calm down," Yagura ordered, pulling him back down toward the sea floor. "Your body is still in Amegakure, and breathing here is completely optional."

Yagura's words made it unimpeded through the seawater, and as Naruto ceased struggling, he realized he was fine. Neither his lungs nor his eyes were burning from the salt, and he could breathe the liquid without ill effect.

The two of them were suspended before a massive reef. The interior was hollow, and broken chunks of the wall littered the sandy bottom, caressed by rippling sunlight. The remains of a seal were still visible, carved into the coral.

A dark shape was approaching from the direction of the open ocean. The shadow tripped a primal fear, and Naruto couldn't help but shrink from it. Yagura didn't. The turtle shape drew more distinct as Isobu drew nearer, propelled by his three muscular tails. A single crimson eye pinned Naruto against the reef wall, peering out from the spines obscuring his face.

Yagura kicked up to place his hand on one of the organic spikes, completely at ease. "I'm sorry to wake you again so soon, but Naruto was anxious to begin and I know how much you enjoy telling this story."

"I do, at that," the beast answered. "I enjoy telling stories… when there is someone to listen to them."

Yagura motioned for Naruto to join him on the beast's head. "All ears," Naruto said, nervously, as he settled himself against the turtle's neck.

The tails began to pump again, sending them leisurely around the perimeter of the reef. There were no fish, but the knobby coral, sponges, and sea fans were a riot of colors and textures. "I remember when we were as one. We all remember. And before that, still, I remember," Isobu intoned. "The world was born in fire and poison. The whole earth shook and boiled without cease, for a span of time that was millions upon millions of lifetimes of men. After these many years the great rifts slowly filled with cool water, the stone ceased its trembling, the green things came, the air cleared. The power beyond measure continued to slumber inside the earth as its surface was populated with all matter of creatures. When it stirred, it would thrust up mountain ranges or lay waste to them, birth islands or destroy them, carve rivers or dam them.

"It was not until one particular creature came to be, in a fraction of a sliver of an eye-blink in the lifetime of the world, that the power began twisting in on itself, growing stagnant and rotten. When the Jyūbi rose from the smoking peaks it took the shape of a man. It came to this earth cloaked in the flesh of those who made it and unmade it."

"Made it? What do you mean?" Naruto asked.

"There were no demons before there were men," Isobu said.

"You mean... humans created the Jyūbi? How?"

"Not even the bijū are sure," Yagura said. "But I believe it was simply a mirror. There is nothing in this world as cruel as a human being. That was what gave it its form."

"When a human vessel calls on their bijū's chakra, our will comes along with it, polluted with the hatred we have felt for so long," Isobu said. "What few have realized is that the reverse is also true. Madara's binding upon Yagura's mind mingled the will of a caring, generous young man with that of a demon, and, unlike chakra, a spirit is not a finite thing. A man and a monster are potentially equals.

"There was a reason we were originally sealed into human beings rather than any other vessel. Most of you humans have heard the story of the sealing of the Jyūbi, a folktale that entertains your children, but your version is incomplete. You know the Rikudō Sennin faced the beast and sealed it within himself, becoming the first jinchūriki. When he was old and sick and near death, he used the last of his power to give imagination form, and split the chakra into nine distinct creatures so that others could take up the duty his failing body had forced him to relinquish.

"The part that is never told, for we are the only ones who know it, was that the Rikudō Sennin couldn't complete that task alone. The creation of a jinchūriki has always required a human sacrifice, and for the first of them it was no different. It was his wife and the mother of his two infant sons that offered her life for the peace of the world. Every sealing thereafter was meant to be self-sacrifice. We bijū were to learn of the pure love that would drive one human being to willingly give their life for another.

"Once we fully comprehended the power of this sacrifice, the darkness we carried inside us would have dissipated. Over the centuries, the jinchūriki were intended to cleanse our chakra just as a marsh cleanses polluted water. The massive power stored in each jinchūriki would be released harmlessly into the world, purified and unified. I myself spoke to the Pain that leads you, and convinced him the path to peace could not be achieved as long as we were still trapped in these tainted forms."

"But you'd die," Naruto breathed.

"We cannot die, not as long as this planet still spins. We would only be returning home, and I, for one, would welcome it. I told you before… this is a lonely life we lead."

Leaving Naruto to chew on that tale for a bit, Yagura finally said, "We can go to speak to Kurama when you're ready. All the bijū's minds are still connected, and if their vessels are in close proximity they can converse, if they wish."

Naruto nodded. "Ready."

He felt another mental tug as Isobu brought them to his own mindscape, so forbidding and dank after colors and freedom of shallow sea. Two massive, gleaming orbs appeared in the darkness beyond the gate, flashing green and then red as the Kyūbi shifted its massive body to face him. It lowered its head, so its snout was nearly pressed against the bars. Its fetid breath sent his clothes fluttering.

"What are you doing here?" he growled, addressing the turtle as he pushed his way through the unfinished stone of the floor. The hall seemed to grow, the ceiling rising into the darkness, to accommodate his bulk.

"I asked him to come," Naruto said. "To break the cycle of hatred, I think I'd better start with you and me, Kurama."

The Kyūbi blinked at him once, visibly startled at being called by name, then began to roar with laughter. The sound made the stones of its prison thrum. "We bijū are hatred. Would you ask a wolf not to hunt? A scorpion not to sting? To succeed you would have to kill us all, a task not even the Rikudō Sennin could complete." It chuckled one last time. "And you are no sage. You are one small, powerless, insignificant child."

"If that is true…" Yagura said, placing his hand on Naruto's shoulder, and addressing the fox without fear, "why are you so hesitant to listen to what he has to say?"

"I think you're full of it," Naruto told him, refusing to let the opinion of a millennia-old demon wriggle under his skin. "Yeah, the sage did know he couldn't do it. I think that's why he was a teacher. He knew someday, someone would come along who could."

"And you believe that someone is you? How painfully naive. Unless you require my chakra, or are interested in removing that insignificant scrap of paper, I am going back to sleep."

"Fine by me," Naruto said, settling in for a wait. "I know your fox ears can hear everything I say, so I'm just going to keep on talking. It's not like you can kick me out of my own brain. I've never been in a war, but I've heard the longer you spend with your enemies, the more alike you realize you are. I think you've seen an awful lot, looking through the eyes of the jinchūriki that came before me. You probably know my birth mother better than just about anyone left alive. You're really old and really powerful, but I'm not so sure you're evil."

"How sweet. But I do not care one whit for humanity's welfare and I never have," Kurama said archly.

"Is that so?" Isobu asked, his voice sly and gravelly. "You've shed tears for a mortal before."

A shiver ran down the Kyūbi's spine and his ears momentarily folded back. The merciless butcher, the destroyer of villages, a beast whose scream could rend the earth itself, was embarrassed. "Pay him no mind; the turtle is an inveterate liar."

"Shall I ask Han and Kokuō here as well, when they return from Lightning Country? She remembers it as well as I. You were the last the sage made… the youngest son. You mourned his passing more bitterly than any of us."

The Kyūbi's ears began to twitch in irritation, as if troubled by a pesky fly.

Naruto looked at the fox with new eyes, his heart still raw with his own grief. "I didn't know. I'm sorry."

Kurama exploded with anger, leaping to all fours and bristling his tails. The strength of his voice sent Naruto stumbling back a few steps. "Leave me! I don't want your pity!"

Naruto came closer instead, reclaiming the ground its forceful breath had cost. "You killed my birth parents, and a lot of other people besides. I figure I have two choices. I can keep on hating you." Naruto took a heavy breath. "Or I can forgive you. You've been kept a prisoner in Konoha for a hundred years. If that had been done to me I probably would've gone crazy with pain when I was finally set free, too.

"You know what I think?" Naruto continued. "I think you really are lonely. There's this huge, amazing world out there, and you can never be part of it because you're trapped here in the dark. You keep yourself angry all the time because feeling anything else is even worse."

The Kyūbi snorted, turned his back to Naruto. "Your sense of empathy is astounding. I've realize the error of my ways. Let me out and we can go frolic in a meadow."

"Huh. Now you're not even trying. Don't you ever think about anything other than trying to trick me into releasing the seal?"

"Killing you and everyone you hold dear. Slowly and messily." It grinned maliciously, looking over its shoulder. "That list has been growing thin of late, hasn't it? I have seen the scourge that is taking Uchiha Itachi take many others. Their suffering was exquisite."

"Tsunade is gonna take good care of him. She's the best healer in the world," Naruto said.

"The sickness in his body isn't what I meant," he said, enunciating each word so they bit like razors. "What ails him is something no physician can touch. There is no pill, no tincture, no liniment that can heal your brother. I watched as it felled Kushina's teacher, a shinobi of great power and renown. He became a shadow of himself, until he faded away into a pathetic, helpless, broken old man. And there was nothing she could do to save him. Nothing."

-ooo-

When the meeting was dismissed, Itachi slipped away to scale one of the rusting hulks that towered over the city. Invisible, he tucked himself into a tangle of exhaust vents and service ladders to shield himself from the rain. Ame was at roughly the same latitude as Konoha, but even in summer the air retained a hint of chill. It sank deeper into his fingers and toes as the sun set.

He was avoiding Kakashi, Naruto, and Sakura, and not because of the sickness that was festering his lungs. He had always found great comfort in solitude and silence, but today it only made his head feel like a jar of rusty screws, filthy and jangling with the scorn his own mind was screaming at him for his failures. Not only had he lost hold of his mother, brother, and stepfather, but all of Konoha was now bereft of a leader who could have led them with humility and compassion.

A war like no other was threatening to smother the shinobi countries and the millions of people that called them home. Stopping a conflict like this had been his singular goal, ever since he had awakened his sharingan at the age of four to the carnage that the Third Great War had brought to Konoha's walls. There was nothing he had wanted more than to spare his brothers that horror.

And he'd failed.

His fingers were white and numb when he finally slunk back inside the service door atop his hotel. Naruto was waiting for him at the entrance to his suite, his face locked in a scowl.

"Please move," Itachi said.

"I need to talk to you," Naruto said, refusing to pick himself up from the carpet.

"I asked you to move," Itachi repeated.

Naruto stuck out his chin and pulled his crossed arms tighter against his chest. "Make me."

Itachi didn't. He could have, in a hundred different ways, but he didn't.

Emboldened, Naruto grabbed the doorknob to heave himself up. "Gimme your key," he ordered, holding out his hand.

Itachi had no patience left for the nigh-unscalable wall of his brother's stubbornness, so he handed it over, briefly considering, and then discarding, the idea of shoving the boy out and slamming the door in his face. Itachi pulled the elastic band from his hair, massaging away the ache of keeping it pulled tight against his scalp. "What is it that you wanted to say to me?"

"How are you feeling?" Naruto leaned against the desk, rocking against the edge in agitation.

"Fine."

"You're not fine. You're the opposite of fine!" Naruto exploded. "You are so good at pretending you're okay, when really you're hurting so much inside you want to die." Naruto let his hands slip free of the wood. "Nii-chan… say something. Please!"

"Get out of my room."

Naruto recoiled as if he'd been struck. "Why are you doing this to me?!" he cried. He stumbled backward into the wall, hugging his forearms to his belly. Drops of anguish began to slide down his cheeks. "I let the Kyūbi hurt you. I hurt you. You told me it was okay, when we were coming back from Suna, but it's not. It's never gonna be okay. You did love Sasuke best. He had the sharingan, he was a genius, he was growing up to be just like you. I was just... I was never... I was never an Uchiha. I'm never going to be.

"But you now what? I. Don't. Care," he said, straightening to scrub fiercely at the tears. "You can't kick me out–I quit. I found my real clan. I learned I'm not the last of the Uzumaki. That's what you can call me from now on. Uzumaki Naruto."

He was waiting. Itachi could tell. He was yearning with every fiber of his being for his brother to tell him he was wrong… which he was,. But if there was someone else that would care for him now, he no longer needed the Uchiha, and especially not someone who had caused him as much grief as Itachi.

When he said nothing, Naruto moved to leave, hunched like an iron bar had been pressed down on his shoulders. Lightheaded from the chill and the lies and the soreness in his chest, Itachi sank down on the bed. "Naruto," he said, when his brother had just passed the threshold. Naruto padded back across the carpet a few steps. "Before you go… I'd like you to know that there was never a moment when you were unwanted. Wherever your life takes you, I wish you luck. All this death is my burden, and I–not you–should pay the price for it."

Naruto took one more step forward and then closed the distance between them with a few bounds. He slid his knee on the mattress and threw his arms around his brother. "That is the wrongest thing that's ever come out of your mouth," he said, quiet but ardent. "You're not as different from Ka-chan as you thought. You're not above the Uchiha curse, not if what you do when you lose someone is turn that hatred inside." Still hanging against Itachi's shoulder, Naruto nestled his cheek against the fabric of his brother's sleeve. "You were always so kind and patient with me and Sasuke. How could you be so cruel to yourself? You're worth forgiving, Nii-chan–I already have. And we haven't lost Konoha yet. We have friends now we didn't know that we had. It'll be hard, but it's not hopeless. As long as we're alive, it's not hopeless."

Itachi remembered very clearly the last time he had cried real tears, not the thick, sticky blood that was the price of the Mangekyō sharingan. It had been almost exactly ten years ago–the day he had taken his first life, and was no more a child. He'd had no one to comfort him then, but now...

Naruto straightened a little and said, "I swear on mom's grave I won't tell if you cry. Not anybody. For as long as I live."

Heat was building behind his eyes–his mother's eyes–and before he could stop it, it was dripping down his face. It was only a few minutes, and in silence, perfect silence. When he finished, a little of the pressure against his soul had eased. Naruto let his arms fall and fetched a box of tissues from the bedside table.

Naruto took a few himself and swabbed his nose and cheeks. "When I was a little kid, what I wanted most in the entire world was a real family," he said. "Then I got one. A great one. It wasn't perfect… but I loved it. Every second.

"I thought nothing could hurt worse than being so alone. I was wrong. Losing someone you love is worse than not knowing them at all. I don't regret it, though. Never. Maybe some people would give up, stop pushing themselves forward until they died where they stood. Maybe some people would have their hearts turned inside-out so all they could do was hate. That isn't who I am.

"What about my friends back in Konoha or Suna? If we don't stop Danzō, their families are going to get smashed up as bad as mine—maybe worse. Do you know what he does to the kids he recruited in Root? He gives each one a brother. They get older. They train together. They learn to trust each other. And then… he forces them to fight each other. One to one. To the death. As much as my heart hurts now, I can't imagine there's anything worse, in the wholeworld, than having to kill someone you love.

"That's why I can't give up. What about our baby cousin? Or Hinata's little sister? What if he does it to them? If someone doesn't stop Danzō, he'll turn our village… the whole world… into something as terrible as the Bloody Mist."

If Itachi's voice had not been dead in his throat, he could have spoken to that from bitter experience. After Shisui had drowned, Itachi's hands tangled in his hair in the icy river water, it was Naruto who had made him feel human again. He had been so small then, all missing teeth and ingenuous eyes and inexhaustible laughter. His world didn't have room for melancholy, and in time he had chased those insidious demons out of the Uchiha mansion with the aptitude of a master exorcist.

"Having the people you care about torn out of your life hurts, really bad, for a long time, but we're shinobi, aren't we?" Naruto asked. "We don't let pain keep us down. Don't you remember what you told us the very first day you became my teacher? I do."

"You can trust to each other's strength when your own fails you," he said, echoing his own words.

"You're part of Team Seven," Naruto said. He tucked his legs under him, worrying at the damp tissue in his hands. "That goes for you too. Sakura and I aren't going to be kids forever. I'm not sure we're still kids now. Learning that the people you used to rely on for everything sometimes need to rely on you is… well… a big part of what growing up means. Tsunade can manage the cough and the fever. It's the inside that you need to concentrate on healing. It's our turn to take care of youjust for a little while. And I think you need to have a good, long talk with Kakashi-sensei. He cares about you a lot and you've been treating him like total garbage."

Accepting help had never been one of Itachi's strengths, but they were wise words, even if he hadn't fully grasped their meaning when he'd said them. "I will… thank you," he whispered.

"Nii-chan, you are Konoha's strongest, sneakiest, brainiest genjutsu super-genius. This war with Konoha… the only way to win it, really win it, is to kill as few people on the other side as we can. And that's the kind of thing you're really good at. Best in the world, even. We need to get back in touch with the other jōnin that would listen to you. We need the people who understand what our village means, so they can help us knock that bastard down from below.

"We can get our home back, but that means you need to be around to do it. Tomorrow morning, you're checking into the hospital. And you have to promise you'll get plenty of rest and eat your vegetables and drink all the medicine Tsunade gives you even if it tastes like month-old dirty underwear."

A ghost of a smile. "I promise."

"That had better be a Naruto-style promise. A real promise," he said, narrowing his eyes. "Not the crummy kind you usually make that falls over as soon as you sneeze on it."

"It's a real promise," Itachi assured him. "Naruto, I need you to understand that if you chose to walk this path with me, your enemies will still be Konoha shinobi, and we won't be able to save them all. You may even find yourself facing your clansmen or your friends from your Academy days. Are you sure you're prepared to shoulder that kind of burden?"

"I don't know," Naruto answered. "I just have to trust that–if I do meet someone I care about on the battlefield–I'll be able to make them understand."

"I have found myself in that position before, during the Uchiha Rebellion." He dropped his eyes. "I failed. But somehow… I think you will fare much better than I did."

They lapsed into silence, comfortable and brief.

"And about finding my clan… changing my name, I–" Naruto began.

"There are dozens of Uchiha, but the Uzumaki are nearly extinct. I understand," Itachi said, forestalling an apology that was not needed. "We are still brothers, and no matter what you choose to call yourself, that will never change.

"I never really wanted to lead Konoha the way things were, with us falling into conflict with the other hidden villages every ten or twenty years, but in this new world of Pain-sama's it's a challenge I would embrace. We are only six years apart. You would have to wait quite a long time to become Hokage… but the position of Uzukage is, at present, unoccupied. If you wanted to take up the task of restoring your clan when this war is over–even rebuilding Uzushiogakure–I'll help you in any way I can. The world could use an example of the new kind of shinobi Pain wants to see. If there could be built a village free of the mistakes of the past… one that serves its country's people rather than being served by them… one invested in preserving peace rather than breaking it… I could think of no one better to lead such a place than you."

Naruto's smile lit every nook and cranny of the room, and he hugged Itachi once again.

"You're welcome, you're welcome–now please let go of me," Itachi said, in better humor than he'd been in weeks. "Tradition takes a long time to shake free, especially when the status quo benefits those in power, and true peace may not be something we can achieve for years, even decades."

"I'll deal," Naruto said, undeterred. "I'm an Uzumaki. I plan on living to be a hundred, no sweat–believe it. Besides, that's what teachers are for. Even if some of us humans slip up, if enough of us show the next generation how important peace is, I think we'll be okay. Now I just have to find a girl who believes in this as much as I do. And wants to have bunches of my babies." On that hopeful note, a yawn crept out of his mouth. He stretched luxuriously and flopped onto the bed. "You know, we have zilch to do right now. When was the last time that happened to you?"

"I don't even remember," Itachi answered.

"Think you could eat something?"

"A little."

"Then here is tonight's agenda: you fill up your big bubbly bathtub, and I fill up mine, and once our fingers are properly wrinkly we get the nice lady at the front desk to send us up some food–you can do it with that telephone thing, it's so neat. Then while we're eating we watch this enormous television together until our brains leak out our ears. You aren't officially Hokage anymore so you can't overrule this plan."

"Naruto, I don't think–"

"No overruling. The world isn't gonna end if Uchiha Itachi takes a break from trying to save it for one night to watch some tv in his bathrobe. Geez."