Authors Comments. Wow has time sure gotten away from me. It has been BUSY few weeks now, I just literally have not had the time to write a chapter. Which sucks since this book is coming to an end next chapter.
Fret not though, because it only sparks the beginning of the next one. The second one is called "Corrupt Me."
So this chapter isn't very long, but the last one will be very long. A lot happens. So here's this one, kinda doing the last little bit of set up for the first finale.
Disclaimer: I Do Not Own Naruto.
"You've had six months Kaede, does he suspect you?" It had been six months since I last saw Itachi, We had planned on meeting this day, he appeared to me the night before I left on the mission with Sasuke. A secret mission that obviously included me gaining Sasuke's trust, though for what reason I hadn't been told just yet.
"No, I don't think he does, I've only worked with him a few times since then...why would he suspect me"
"I'm aware, I arranged all of the missions that you were together on." I had a suspicion that he might have been pulling strings. Naruto was working with him, of that I was certain. Maybe this was both of their ways to keep tabs on Sasuke. He was quite the emotional recluse after all. It was hard to tell what he was thinking, even reading the mood of his chakra didn't help at times. He was a loose cannon on the field. He never slipped, but once or twice I thought that he was pretty close to taking out a teammate. Usually after having the mission not go quite the way he liked. "Do you think that he's a threat?"
It was a hard question to answer. I knew that he had a few kids on the way. I followed him once. If he detected me he did an excellent job of hiding it. Maybe he just didn't care that I was following him to begin with. He refused to meet me in the village though. He was keeping his distance. I didn't think that he still trusted me completely, after all, to him I was an impossibility. Deep down, even if he couldn't say it out loud, I shouldn't have existed. I wondered if he preferred that I didn't. Him not liking me though didn't make him a threat. I wondered if he really liked anyone.
"...No, I don't believe he is."
"Sasuke is... troubled, it won't take much to shatter the peace that he has gained here. I don't like him being here, he's stronger than you realize. I don't know if he has reached his full potential. As you already know, much of an Uchiha's strength comes from their will and emotions. It's not just ones vessel that makes someone strong or weak."
"So what do we do?"
"We wait, and watch. Most of all though, we try and prevent any kind of trigger that may set him off."
"Naruto could stop him, and he wouldn't get through me so easily either." I was confident in my abilities, especially after seeing Sasuke in action a few times. Of course he had been holding back, it wasn't like we had run into anything that required him to show his hand. "Not to mention you could help out as well." The last part of my comment obviously didn't sit well with him, the only way I could tell was by his intake of breath. Other than that his stoic stance and face didn't give much away, unless he wanted to.
"I don't know if Naruto could kill him, the last time they fought his failure to kill Sasuke nearly killed him. When all the chips are on the table, Naruto will always spare Sasuke's life." A brief smile appeared at Itachi's lips. It made me wonder what all their history was. I had actually heard of Naruto before coming to Konoha, even before he became the Hokage. Everyone had, he was just something the world had never seen. "If I fought with Sasuke, the bind that attaches me to this world could be cut. It's why I wont risk seeing him."
"Why didn't you ever tell me about your brother?" It was something that I had been dying to ask for a while, ever since that first conversation that me and Sasuke had all those months ago. "He said that he killed you."
"He killed me, because I needed to release him from Orochimaru's grasp entirely. A fight to the death was necessary. Though when that fight took place, I was near blindness, I fooled him into thinking that I wanted to take his eyes for my own, the benefit of which you are already aware of." A brief pang of guilt swept over me. Itachi had never approved of what I did to my sister, I knew he wasn't sure on how I even knew to take her eyes in the first place. It wasn't something that he had ever told me about. Perhaps Sasuke's ideal on changing the Uchiha clans ways was unrealistic. I wondered if it was just instinct that made me do what I did. I told Sasuke a lie about how I gained them. I killed my sister in cold blood, Itachi didn't even know. I did my best at the time to feign what actually happened. As far as he knew, or at least pretended to know. My sister was killed, and I recovered her eyes. He was the one to do the transfer though. I still had my original eyes safely stored away, hidden quite well in my home in Konoha. The nightmares that I often had at night were a constant reminder, but how could I ever forget?
"It would have to be me then...If Sasuke ever had to be stopped, I would have to be the one to do it." It was a sudden realization.
"Yes, but that is why you're here, in training, strengthening your vessel. You have a chance to catch up to him. Hopefully though, you will never have to face him. His hate fuels him. Counter him with your love."
"Love of what?"
"That's just something that you're going to have to find out on your own." With that he disappeared, our conversation ended about as quickly as it began. Itachi had told me a little about Sasuke, but with huge gaps that I knew would take quite some time to fill. Itachi and Sasuke obviously had an incredibly estranged past. Somehow, they were both the only survivors of the Uchiha clan, my attempts to glean information out of people had been rather unsuccessful. I even tried a genjutsu on someone once, only to find that the information had been forcefully removed from the man. It was strange, something about it just seemed like someone wanted the entire past of Konoha erased. There were only a few people though with that kind of ability in the city. The person behind all this obviously had good intentions though, but erasing memories didn't sit well with me.
"Cryptic as always" I muttered to myself. It would be nice to get a straight answer for once. He may have just been referencing the fact that the sussano'o took its form and shape from your emotions. Even the color was drawn from them. Drawing upon it required a pure emotion. Mine had always been one of fear, resulting in a dark red color. I had been afraid a lot in my life, so it was only natural I supposed. I hadn't seen Sasuke's yet. I could only imagine what he brought his out with.
Our meeting place was not far from the village, in the night sky against the clouds you could see the glow from all the lights. Even at night the streets still had a certain life to them. Most of the people I saw were making their way home from the various bars after having their fill of sake. There was also the police force, keeping a watchful eye. Though the village hadn't really been on alert since the incident nearly a year ago when the Cloud wanted Sasuke. I hadn't been here for that, but it was the closest thing to a war in quite a long time. Still peace was a clever illusion created by all the Kage. Now all the conflict was done in silence.
For some reason I found myself drawn to the Uchiha complex. A rather wide expansion of homes, most of which were worn down from decades of neglect. From high in a tree I could see one home with a few lights on. I watched for a while, wondering what everyone was doing up so late. I had to be roughly three in the morning. In a blur I saw Naruto and Tsunade running that direction. That piqued my curiosity, something was definitely wrong. I wanted to move in closer, but going into the complex was forbidden, Itachi didn't want me going there, strangely Naruto had warned me about it too. I knew at this point that Naruto had been informed of my lineage. It was strange that he kept pairing us up though. It was almost as if Itachi wanted us to be together. I just wished I knew the purpose.
"AHHHHHH it hurts so bad!" Sakura was still screaming on the bed in pain. This was the moment that was almost a year in the making, and yet I was terrified. Tsunade had just arrived and was tending to Sakura while prepping the room. It was too late to take her to the hospital. Just hours before she had been complaining of some pain, the before I knew it she was going into full out labor.
"Sakura I need you to lay back, and try to stop screaming." Tsunade's voice rang out with command. It was clear that she was used to giving orders. She had been Hokage after all. "Sasuke, are you going to just stand there? If so, get out!" She pointed me to the door.
"Come on" Naruto pulled me to the doorway. "Trust me, you aren't going to want to see this." I walked out, Naruto shut the door behind us. I felt a quick pang of guilt for leaving her, but truthfully I couldn't stand seeing her in that kind of pain. Naruto leaned against the wall, while I paced nervously. My mind racing with nothing. It was strange that I couldn't seem to pull one full thought, all I could seem to focus on was all the yelling in the other room. Shizune burst through at one point, not even giving me or Naruto the time of day. She was carrying several blankets, and other things. In the brief moment the door was open I caught a glimpse of Sakura. She looked like she was about to pass out from all the pain.
After that I could hear muffled shouts for her to push. I knew that it was time. Naruto was attempting to calm me down. Though I was doing my best to appear so. I wasn't really listening to what he was saying though. All I could do was just listen through the door as best I could. Finally I heard the first cry. That didn't stop the shouts for her to keep pushing though. At this point I was on the edge of my seat. At last I finally heard another cry. Minutes were hours. Finally Tsunade motioned us in. Sakura was holding them. Words really couldn't express how wonderful they looked.
"It's a boy and a girl." Sakura cried, she had a look pf pure joy on her face. I was sure I did as well since my cheeks were starting to hurt from smiling so hard.
"Have you both decided on any names yet?" Naruto asked. It was a good question, but in truth we hadn't. yet We both wanted to wait until they were born to decide. I personally didn't want to name either one of them something cliched, but something that was more unique to them. A start of something new as it were.
"No we haven't picked the names yet. I guess we'll have to decide now."
Authors notes. This chapter may receive quite a heavy update in the near future. Mostly just to go into more detail. I really wanted to make it longer, but I kind of want to move on to the next part and not updating after so long is really bothering me.
