Two brothers part 3

Tsunade had traveled for seven days and six nights on foot. She didn't accept missions a lot these days, but that didn't mean she didn't keep herself in perfect shape.

Every night since she had abandoned active ninja duty she had stored her yin-seal with all the chakra she had left. If it would ever come to it she could fight for a month, nonstop, and still not deplete that well of chakra.

Shizune was trailing behind her, holding Tonton just as tightly as she normally did. "How much further Tsunade-sama?"

"We're already where we should be. This is the specified meeting point." Tsunade studied the place around her. It was a good meeting spot. There was coverage provided by the humongous trees; if someone wanted to spy on them it wouldn't be difficult.

"So what now?"

Tsunade walked towards a boulder and sat on it. Rummaged through her sling purse and retrieved a bottle of sake. "Now we make ourselves comfortable and wait."

Tsunade stiffened, ever so slightly, as she noticed someone watching her.
"Shizune, get Tonton."

Shizune didn't waste any time and grabbed the cute little piglet.

"Whoever you are; show yourself!" The Sannin's loud voice made Shizune wince, even if just a little. It was a very piercing voice.

All around them crows started to gather into a murder.

Narrowed, honey brown eyes honed in on the murder of crows that merged into a person.
"Uchiha Itachi."

The man bowed his head out of respect. "Senju Tsunade."

"To think I would see you outside of the village on friendly terms." Tsunade walked towards the younger man and stretched her arm out to give him a hand.

Shizune watched with keen eyes, ready to intercept at the first sign of ill-intent.

Itachi shook the Sannin's hand with his own. "Thank you for coming."

Tsunade cusped the Uchiha's face in her hand, tilted it back, left then right and gave him a stern look. "You're ill."

"I'm not the one-" Itachi started, but Tsunade wouldn't have any of it.

"Don't bother; I know your kind." Tsunade let go of the Uchiha. "Where is he?"

"Follow me."

Harry wasn't sure whether or not the man had left. But he knew he hadn't felt his presence for nearly eleven hours.

Eleven hours, the longest he had been alone in weeks. Harry didn't like to feel alone for treacherous thoughts, guilt, sorrow and self-pity were his only company in those hours.

For a moment he felt nothing, clearing his mind. It didn't last long.

He had hoped this life could be different. Being Harry Potter had been difficult, expectations had chained him down for decades. And after those decades came the centuries of near mindless wandering.

And then he should've died but didn't. He had tried to live a normal live... But it wasn't meant to be. True to his luck he had been born into a family with skills so impressive they seemed like magic. And so he had been sucked into a live possibly more dangerous and unforgiving than his previous one.

Harry's left hand traveled to his face. It was an extremely bizarre feeling to hold his hand in front of his face and not being able to see a thing.

'It feels like a dream.' There was no real darkness that reminded him of keeping his eyes closed, even though they were. There was just nothing.

With the loss of his eyesight, also went his primary weapon. The thrum of his chakra went unchanged, but Harry knew he relied heavily on his Sharingan in and out of battle. There was knowledge stored in his eyes that he wasn't able to retrieve now that they had lost their light.

Most of his jutsu had been copied... Copied and stored in his Sharingan.

Harry walked outside; if he were to return to Konoha he needed to know of what use he could still be. If his shinobi career was over he could always go open a restaurant, or go into politics... The village was far from perfect after all. It could do with some fresh ideas.

Outside the sheer cold battered his senses. He placed his hands on the ground, his warmth made the thin sheet of ice between his skin and earth melt away. Harry collected his chakra and pushed it into the earth.

And he felt connected to the world around him. Suddenly he wasn't as blind as he had previously thought. His connection to the trees and bushes nearby was just as strong as it had always been.

Pine trees. The needled trees that were silent. He liked the trees near Konoha so much more; they had stories to tell. They had history. These trees were sluggish, and felt as cold as the temperature around them.

With some concentration, chakra and time Harry birthed a normal broadleaf tree. Between his hands, first a small twig but quickly growing into an oak as wide as Harry himself, yet thrice as tall.

His own trees didn't have much to convey yet. They didn't sing the tune of nature, they were too young. 'If Rin-sensei could hear me now...' A small smile made it to his lips. 'She'd laugh herself silly.'

Harry knew the tree he had just made wouldn't survive for long in this climate. So standing up he placed his hand on the impressive oak, as his hand merged into the wood Harry absorbed the tree back into himself.

Harry, out of habit, turned his head sideways. "Are you going to talk, or just stare?"

"I didn't know anyone other than my grandfather could manipulate trees like that." A female voice said curtly.

The words registered in Harry's head and it didn't take him long to connect the dots. "Senju Tsunade." He bowed his head slightly. "Are you here for revenge?"

A moment of silence passed between them. "For it was I that killed your teammate after all."

"Don't be absurd boy. Orochimaru was dead to me the moment he betrayed the village." Tsunade paused and walked towards Harry. "I came here because of a mission..."

Harry stayed still, a mission could entail a lot of different things. "What kind of mission?"

"The nurturing kind."

Back in Konoha Naruto shivered. "Sasuke..?"

"I know, Naruto." Sasuke's eyes were fixated on the girl in front of them. She had held her ground for a good hour, and though she looked to be worse off than either boy in front of her, she didn't seem intimidated by the odds that were stacked against her.

Their objective had been simple. Find and capture Haruno Sakura. Little did they know that the girl was able to counter any- and everything they threw at her.

Sasuke's steel wire? Countered by the magnetized poles she was encircled by.

Naruto's exploding scroll? Sakura had stolen it when the boys had been distracted by a genjutsu.

Sasuke's elemental jutsu? Well it had worked, on the first three bunshin- she kept replacing herself with simple clones.

"We only have ten more minutes... If nothing works, we just might have to try brute force." Sasuke said, placing a hand on Naruto's own and forcing chakra into his teammates' network.

"What took you so long?" The blonde accused more than asked.

"It is not my problem you can't escape her genjutsu without help. Now just spam your kage bunshin and create an opening in her defense, I'll try getting behind her."

Naruto nodded, he knew very well he couldn't perform a genjutsu release if his life depended on it. Still, the sight of Sakura lying dead on the ground for no apparent reason made him realize that he was trapped inside one nonetheless. "Kage bunshin no jutsu!" Naruto whispered intently. Around him a good dozen clones appeared. "Drop your weaponry guys, no use getting pulled into those poles."

His clones followed the orders, and with emptied pockets they charged at Sakura- who did naught but smile as if she had already won.

Within seconds the shadow clones were upon the Kunoichi. But there was no denying Sakura's efficiency in setting up traps. None of the clones managed to get beyond the magnetized poles for the ground exploded under their feet.

Naruto winced, that had been unpleasant.

"Meh, Sasuke... Sasuke?" Naruto looked around- but Sasuke was nowhere to be seen.

Sakura looked like she had lost track of their teammate as well. Which meant that he had taken advantage of the smoke and hubris flying around. "Kage bunshin!" Once again a handful of clones came into existence.

Sakura didn't look as smug as before with Sasuke having escaped her sight. Naruto was just about to launch another attack when Sakura suddenly went rigid, lost her balance and promptly fell over.

"Mission completed." Sasuke said, revealing himself from behind Sakura.

"I don't get it." Sakura said ten minutes later when they sat before Kakashi. "I had countered your wires..."

Sasuke smiled, not a friendly smile; no a smile that said he felt superior. "You had a counter for my steel wire, yes." His hand searched something in a pouch on his leg. "But I still carry the normal ninja wire with me, just in case."

"Well done, all three of you." Kakashi petted Naruto on his head, ruffling the already messy hair. "Now, I have another mission for the three of you."

The three genin all looked eager to hear their instructions. "When I was assigned your team there was something the Hokage wanted me to prepare you for. You see, once every six months there is a chuunin-exam."

"The Hokage wanted us to participate in them." Sasuke concluded.

Kakashi narrowed his eye. "That is a part of it, but not what was most important. I was asked to train you three, to prepare you for more than mere participation; I was brought in to have the three of you win the chuunin-exams." He let the words sink in.

Naruto didn't seem to think much about that statement but Sakura's eyes gave something away. "Yes, Sakura, do tell what is on your mind."

"Well sensei... Isn't it so that once every six months there are chuunin-exams?" She started slowly, carefully placing her words as if they would lead her to some hidden truth.

"That is correct."

"Then the question we should ask you should be what makes these chuunin-exams so special, what makes it different than the others? Or perhaps, who makes it different?" Now her head turned, and she looked at the two boys on her team with questioning eyes.

Sasuke looked at Naruto while Naruto tried his best not to look at either one of his teammates. The Hokage must've had 'that' conversation with the blonde already.

"Actually, the question we should ask." Sasuke added. "Why are you telling us this?"

Jackpot. Kakashi leaned forward as if he was about to tell them something something incredibly important. "I was brought in to help you win. The Hokages exact words I cannot repeat but because of his orders it will be up to you three to make sure Konoha will have a good show to give when the exams come." With a flick of his wrist he procured a kunai. And made a circle in the ground. "Konoha will host a chuunin-exam the likes of which hasn't been seen before. And I have planned for the three of you to make it into the finals."

Kakashi stabbed the kunai in the middle of the circle. "The three of you have certain advantages, first of all... The exam will be held in Konoha, thus I know exactly what will happen." He took the kunai out of the ground and made another figure in the ground; this time a square. "This is the forest of death. The outer edges are easily to travel through. The three of you will have to focus on the center of the forest. It is your mission to make sure that the forest of death will be the place where you are master. Consider it your home for the next month.

Naruto frowned. "But Kakashi-sensei... Isn't this cheating?"

"Is it cheating to prepare yourself for a mission?" Kakashi asked in return.

Naruto shook his head. "But..."

Whatever Naruto had wanted to say was stopped when Sasuke placed his hand on the blonde's shoulder. Naruto blinked, stared at the Uchiha then nodded. "Kakashi-sensei. Are we the only ones with this mission?"

Sakura's head turned so sudden her braided hair whipped her in the face. "No."

Quickly to ask another question Sakura procured a notepad. "Kakashi-sensei; what else can you tell us?"

Kakashi smiled, he liked this team... They were practical.

Harry was sitting at a wooden table. Near his feet, a small pig was trying to find a way to lie comfortably on the ground.

Senju Tsunade was sitting at the same table, a half emptied bottle of sake was being re-opened. The cork made a popping sound as if it was taken out of the bottleneck with great force.

"Shizune; start disinfecting that room to prepare for surgery." Behind him, Harry heard the young woman steadily walking upstairs.

"So how does a boy like you end up killing a man like Orochimaru?" Tsunade asked before emptying the bottle of sake in one go.

Harry felt uncomfortable. Here was a woman he had read and heard about, but had never met before asking questions with difficult answers.

"I didn't kill him..." Harry caught his hands trying to busy themselves with the hem of his shirt.

"Of course you didn't." Tsunade said, the alcohol on her breath was strong enough to reach him before the sentence had ended. "But humor me."

The pig at his feet stopped moving, having finally found a comfortable spot to sleep. "I enacted a paradox. Trapped him in a place where his actions did take place but didn't have any effect." Harry's hands searched for a bottle of their own to hold. He had heard the man who had taken care of him so far place one just in front of him.

When he took hold of the bottle he uncorked it and sniffed at the smell it released. It was something sweet; with peach. Taking a sip Harry felt, more than tasted, the syrupy liquid slowly drenching his tongue. "If such a place exists he should be where all things go that could've but didn't."

Without his eyes it was nigh impossible to know how the female Sannin reacted. Though her clipped answer gave away enough. She found it hard to believe.

With the conversation seemed to be done with as silence was all that remained. Harry downed the last bit of the syrupy drink and threw the bottle where he knew the bin was. The dampened sound of the bottle hitting a surface told Harry his aim had been true. "So... The Hokage knows?"

Tsunade snorted. "My old sensei knows a lot of things."

Harry started to dislike the woman, her attitude was... Brash. As if everyone around her was hardly worth her time so she just discarded their feelings. "I meant about my survival."

"He knows."

Apparently the conversation was over because Tsunade stood up and walked out of the room.

Folding his arms Harry let himself lean backwards into the comfortable chair. The pig at his feet was already sound asleep if the soft snoring was anything to go by.

But just as his head started fall sideways, the man walked in, and Harry couldn't help but become fully awake. "Why did you ask for her?"

The man stopped walking. "I promised you, I wouldn't leave you. She will fulfill that promise for me."

The man had betrayed him before and hurt him in ways a stranger could never do. The death of his first real sensei was still freshly edged in his mind. Despite that he still missed him. Still loved that man like a brother. "What do you mean?"

"You will see."

That wasn't the kind of answer Harry wanted from the man.

Harry stood up. "I'm going to rest." At his feet Tonton stood up as well and followed after Harry, as he made his way to what had become his room.

In his room Harry lied down on his bed. His head was hurting; soon the time would come for him to go back to Konoha. And he would have to be in the same village as Koh's family. In the same village as Yuugi's clan.

For a moment, an intense flash, he remembered their faces. Dead bodies. But before he could delve into his darker feelings the pig that had followed him jumped on the bed and buried her snout under his arm. "You would've like them." Harry raised his arm to give the piglet more space.

And for some reason he started to talk to the pig. And he was sure she understood. "Yuugi would probably declare me insane... Would've..." Harry swallowed something, he wasn't sure what. "She was never the kind of girl to go easy on anyone, no matter the situation. It was what made me like her, you know?"

Tonton just laid still; but it was comfortable and easy to talk to the little creature. Harry hadn't been able to do that a lot lately. Talk that was. But now that he started to, he couldn't stop. He told stories about his teammates, their history; the way Koh could sit still for hours on end training with his bugs. How Yuugi would slap him on the hand when he wanted to take the last bun during lunch.

He was asleep before he had run out of stories to tell. But for once his dreams weren't plagued by their ghosts.

When he awoke next, a new day had clearly dawned. Not that Harry could see it, but the smell of eggs was unmistakably there. And eggs meant breakfast.

A full nights' rest had done him good. His head felt clear and despite the early hour he was energized.

Stretching his arms out, a yawn escaped him. "Slept well, I presume?"

Harry nodded, and the voice started to giggle. "You look a right horror, come sit- let's get a comb through that mop of hair."

"I haven't really been able to see how I look, but a 'right horror' sounds a bit much." Despite his words he made his way to where he knew his chair was and sat down.

With a pulling motion his head was snapped back. It felt unnatural, as a ninja, to let someone get so close, have someone in the position to snap his neck so easily. But right now he just had to trust his gut feeling; Shizune could be trusted.

"When I was little my mother combed my hair like this every day." Harry felt his hair being pulled methodically out of his scalp. "I hated her vanity. The way she braided my hair, pulled it so tight I would cry." Her voice was soft, demure but somehow there was an edge to it, something that didn't belong, Harry couldn't quite put his finger on it.

"I didn't understand my mother. She was at home while my father fought for our country in the war." Harry was sure he had lost a handful of hair by now, but the young woman kept on brushing. "I was a child, not much older than you are now when Kumo invaded the village my mother moved us to. I still resented her and her weakness. While shinobi were fighting for our lives on the street my mother was simply brushing her hair. All she told me was that everything was going to be fine."

Her voice cracked, emotion drenched her next words. "I was wrong, I resented my mothers' weakness not seeing how strong she actually was. When the fighting died out, the door to our house opened and I'll never forget my mother standing in front of me. Wearing the apron she always wore while cooking in the kitchen. They killed her."

Shizune stopped. As if she was contemplating on what to say next. Meanwhile Harry felt entirely uncomfortable by the private story. Sometimes just keep silent was best.

"It was only when my uncle and Tsunade-sama took me in that I realized my mothers' strength. There is power in being presentable. To look like you could face a battalion of Kumo-nin even when you're at your frailest." Shizune placed the comb on the table and used her hands to style Harry's hair further. "Now that is better."

Harry wasn't quite sure what to say, he didn't know this girl... At least not really. And she didn't know him, yet she had shared such a personal thing. "Thank you." He said. He didn't specify what he was thankful for.

Shizune petted him on his head. "No problem Uchiha-san."

"Harry." He returned. "Call me Harry." After all, that was all he was. Just Harry.

"Sure, Harry." Shizune walked towards the kitchen. "Do you want anything to drink?"

"Is there still some of that syrupy juice I had yesterday?" He asked.

"Syrupy juice?" She asked while Harry also heard the refrigerator being opened. "There is only water in here."

"Oh." The sound of two bottles of glass clinking told Harry she had already picked his drink. "Some water is fine as well."

Harry held his hand out for Shizune to place the bottle in. The water bottle felt cold against his skin, he sipped the even colder liquid and let it slowly go down his throat. "So you and your brother?" She tried.

Harry couldn't help but raise his eyebrow. 'That talk earlier was to ease me into this conversation... What a nosy little girl.' "What about me and my brother?"

Harry didn't like it when people pried. Nothing good ever comes from people that wanted to know about him and his. Especially not people who tried to do it in such a manipulative way.

"You two don't really seem to talk much." She tread carefully, her voice sweet as if she was talking to a child.

Of course she couldn't know that Harry hadn't been a child for a long time. Not feeling like playing this game Harry placed the bottle on the table and crossed his arms while sinking back into his chair. "What is it you want to know, Shizune?"

If the sudden change in attitude surprised her she did a good job of hiding it in her response. "Itachi-san seems to care a great deal about you, going so far as to call in Favors from the Hokage to summon Tsunade-sama here. Yet you've hardly acknowledged his presence so far. Why?"

Harry relaxed. 'Was that all she wanted to know? I wonder if this is out of personal interest or because she has orders to investigate the relation I have with... That man.' For a second Harry didn't answer. Until he came to a conclusion and answered honestly. "It's not your business."

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to pry." She started.

But Harry wasn't feeling it. He didn't have the patience or respect for this girl to play this game. "Don't lie. Our entire conversation and this setting was carefully crafted so you could interrogate the fragile and perhaps even traumatized child soldier you thought me to be. But let me rectify that image for you." Harry stood and let his chakra build up. "I am not fragile, weak or easily swayed. I am however tired of people underestimating me, next time if you want to know something don't tiptoe around it." The air of eggs that had first lured him into this room suddenly smelled repelling.

With those words Harry left, walking towards the door, he needed some fresh air.

"He's in a clearly agitated state, Shizune. What with the door slamming and foul look he is giving everyone... It makes me wonder; what did you do?"

Shizune felt her heart beating in her throat. "Tsunade-sama I... I..."

Tsunade rubbed her forehead as if she had a headache. "You tried to -talk- to him, didn't you?" The Sannin didn't even need a verbal answer as the medics' face betrayed her. "You need to stop caring about every poor soul you see."

Shizune looked away as if ashamed before steeling her resolve. "He saw his teammates die in front of him. He will need someone to talk to. Needs someone to help him make sense of this world again."

"Grow up Shizune. Don't be so naïve. He's a shinobi. They deal with death on a daily basis. If he can't get over his self-pity or guilt that is his problem. Not yours." And with that the talk was over because Tsunade switched subjects. "Have you prepared everything for the surgery?"

"Yes Tsunade-sama."

"Good. You will do the extraction. I shall do the implantation."

"Of course Tsunade-sama."

The look on the Sannin's' face softened. "Shizune, just don't get attached to kids like that. They'll only end up hurting you. They'll just end up dead."

Shizune looked down. "I understand Tsunade-sama."

Shizune walked to the window, looking outside while her arms rested in a folded position. It pained her to hear Tsunade say things like that. Her aunt in all but blood had changed so much from the warm person she used to be.

Shizune understood the bitterness she felt towards the world, the village and ninja. But it was the stubbornness in the way Tsunade held on to that pain that made it difficult to help her.

She could handle the drinking and gambling. She could handle the isolation from the rest of the world. But it was difficult to handle her sensei's attitude when it came to people who needed help. Because it went against anything Tsunade had taught her before.

Still, she owed it to her uncle, and to the Sannin to take care of her. To keep her company.

'I just hope that one day she will be able to forgive herself for not being able to save him.'

Being surrounded by nature had always calmed him. There was something about it that eased his mind. "You have changed."

"Not as much as you might think. Itachi." The name was added as if it pained him to say it.

"You're not my naïve little brother anymore. Shinobi life tainted your innocence." Itachi sat down beside him. "Of course there is only me to blame for that transgression."

It felt like a punch in the gut, those words. They hurt. "Burdens aren't meant to be shouldered on just one person." Harry tightly wound his arms around his legs; as if hugging them. "But then again, a pot calling the kettle black. It is easier to share words of wisdom than living by them."

Itachi's chakra pulsed, it was interesting to notice the lack of sight forcing him to focus more on his other senses. "How is Sasuke?"

"Better, there was something, but I took care of it." The way he said it sounded accusing. 'Why am I so angry? I had forgiven the boy, yet here I sit next to him and all I want to do is scream at him.'

"You're a better brother to him than I am." Itachi's words were slow to register.

Again anger riled up. And this time Harry decided to vent it. "I am."

Itachi didn't respond. But Harry knew he was being unfair, was being spiteful. Itachi had sacrificed everything he had, everything he was for Sasuke and him. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said that."

"Reality is cruel; and it is seldom, very seldom people are this real with me Harry." Itachi inched closer so they sat side to side, like they used to sit on the porch. "Thank you."

"Don't be like this Itachi. Don't be such a martyr, don't just sit there and take it all."

"You're angry."

"Of course I am! You let him kill her!"

"Rin." The name came out as if long forgotten.

"Yes, Rin!"

Itachi's body was like a statue so hard. "So even after having killed Orochimaru you feel this resentment. It is natural; to feel pain for those we lost. But it is unhealthy to harbor all that pain, that hatred inside of you."

Harry sighed. "You are trying to fix me. Don't, Itachi. I am not broken. It's just that I don't understand why you let him her. There must've been a hundred ways in which you could've warned us, me. But you didn't and I want to know why."

"Because he would've killed you all."

"How do you mean?"

"Our mission was simple. Kill Rin. And kill everything that stands in your way." Harry felt Itachi shoulders go down a bit. "I made sure you were out of harm's way. You weren't supposed to know she was dead until a few hours later."

Harry let that information sink in. "It doesn't make it right." He said honestly. "But I understand."

They sat outside until Harry got too cold. 'I'm getting too old for these temper tantrums.'

AN: A slower chapter once more. I keep finding it difficult to write Naruto's character... Because I changed him in some ways but left him unchanged in a lot of aspects as well. I can't wait till this arc is over for the next arc has a lot more action in it, which is easier to write than conversations.

Also, let me know what you thought of manipulative!Shizune.