A/N: Yeah, it's going to take about 2 weeks per chapter with the way things are right now. But fear not! I think I have the general organization down now that I realized this and the next chapter actually needed to be 3 and so we should be okay from here on out!

.o.o.o.

Chapter 44: Unrest Among the Uchiha

.o.o.o.

"I hope the meeting went well," Noriko sighed.

"I'm sure it did, senpai," Tenten told her. "I mean, once you get Iwa and Konoha on the same freaking side you've already dealt with the biggest issue."

"She has a point," Hinata agreed.

"Still, they should be back soon," Neji said. "We need to keep a lookout."

Along with a few chunin Noriko usually worked with, the four continued to shuffle around the border post.

"Oh no," Neji said.

"What?" Noriko asked. "What's wrong? Is someone pulling a sneak attack?"

"No, they're back…and it looks like Itachi is badly injured…no, unconscious," Neji corrected himself.

Noriko swallowed, "Right. Arashu, Shiro, go out and meet them. Hinata, get back to Konoha and tell his parents now."

"Itachi's parents?" Hinata asked, heading for the door.

"Trust me on this—and no one else!" Noriko ordered. "Neji, Tenten, stay on the watch, just in case."

.o.o.o.

Hinata tore through the village as fast as she could, only slightly pausing at the gate to show she wasn't a threat. The Uchiha compound was on the outskirts, but she still had to go a ways to the left to get there.

'Only Sasuke's parents. Only Sasuke's parents,' she repeated mentally as she skidded to a halt in front of the compound guards. "I have an urgent message for Uchiha Fugaku and Mikoto from Uchiha Noriko. I have been instructed to deliver it personally."

"Why would you be running it then?" one guard asked and Hinata silently cursed her position as the Hyuuga heiress and therefore perceived-Uchiha-rival.

"Because I was the most rested at the time. Thank you," she said, sprinting between them before they could react. Neji and Lee's speed training had done some wonders all right.

Several Uchiha stopped and stared at the Hyuuga heir running through their compound at top speed, but no one intercepted her before she reached Sasuke's house. "I have a message for Uchiha Mikoto and Fugaku! It's urgent!"

"Hinata, sit down," Mikoto said, guiding the flushed girl to a chair as Fugaku got Tekka and Yashrio to leave. "What is it?"

"The Hokage, Itachi, and Naruto have returned from the summit," Hinata said. "Itachi seems unconscious. Naruto seemed very worried about him. He was being carried by a summon. Noriko sent me."

"So we don't know what happened?" Fugaku asked.

"No sir," Hinata said. "Noriko ordered me as soon as Neji could confirm Itachi's status. They weren't at the post yet."

Fugaku nodded, "Please escort my wife out there, then. I'll deal with things here."

"What about Sasuke?" Hinata asked.

"Still at the hospital. He'll know soon enough," Fugaku said.

.o.o.o.

"What happened, Hokage-sama?" Noriko asked.

"We were attack by a masked member of Akatsuki who claimed to be Madara, though we have evidence to the contrary," Sarutobi said as Enma was dismissed and Arashu and Shiro supported Itachi's weight. "As he demonstrated use of the Mangekyo Sharingan, I'll assume Itachi is suffering from Tsukiyomi. He tried to stall the man with a genjutsu so someone could land a definitive hit."

"Oh boy," Noriko said. "Do we need to send another runner? Hinata is informing Itachi's parents."

"Naruto will go," Sarutobi said. "My boy, I want you to go right to the hospital and find Tsunade and Sasuke. Inform them both of what I just said."

"Got it," Naruto said, taking off.

.o.o.o.

How can look look at yourself in the mirror?

"Shut up!" Itachi hissed. This wasn't real, it couldn't be real.

You've even joked about murder. Such a lovely older brother you must have been. Such a wonderful teacher.

"I don't have to listen to this!"

More images. More things he knew weren't true but had to believe because it was showing them and somehow that meant he had to think about them and he wanted to scream and did but it meant nothing.

Just like you.

"You're wrong!" Itachi hissed against the pain. "Leave me alone!"

.o.o.o.

"Well, that accounts for the high brain activity, despite the coma," Tsunade said. "It was definitely more than a second, sensei, which means his body hasn't caught up with the torture and therefore trapping his mind."

"Is niisan going to be okay?" Sasuke asked in a small voice.

"He should be," Tsunade said. "Pay attention, kid. Knowing how to do this could save someone else's hide someday. It's a combination medical technique and genjutsu release…"

"What do you think this will lead to?" Sarutobi asked Mikoto.

"It won't be good," she said. "You and Naruto came home barely scratched while Itachi…it will look bad to the more deviant members. An excuse."

"Alert me if it gets out of hand," Sarutobi said.

"Fugaku and the police are working on dealing with it," Mikoto said. "Do you know what Itachi was trying to do?"

"Distract the man briefly with a genjutsu," Sarutobi said. "No one could land a definitive hit—it was like the blows passed right through him. We hoped a genjutsu might stop him from using whatever defensive technique he had."

"Do you know who it was?" Mikoto asked only to instantly pin someone who used a Body Flicker to get in the room. "Shisui? Damn it you know you're not allowed to use Body Flicker to get into hospital rooms!"

"I'm sorry, but your husband says we need a public explanation now," Shisui said. "Let's just say a lot of people aren't happy…"

"I'll tell them," Naruto said. "Besides, sensei's going to be okay, right?"

Tsunade didn't answer as she was working on the techniques while Sasuke watched. Itachi shuddered for a second and then seemed to relax a bit. Tsunade nodded, "Okay, now that he can actually rest instead of having his subconscious go in circles, he can probably be up in a couple days. Just let him sleep it off."

"Shisui?" Sasuke asked. "What are you doing here?"

"We have a little…problem on our hands," Shisui said.

.o.o.o.

"Temutai's group still hasn't come back," Jiraiya mused. "Orochimaru, are you sure you gave them all the information about that base?"

"Yes, though I did mention that Kabuto or some other member of Sound may have modified the defenses," Orochimaru replied.

"I think I'll go check anyway," Jiraiya said.

"If you die and leave me stuck with Tsunade, I'll never forgive you," Orochimaru said.

"Yeah, yeah. Tell sensei and Tsunade where I went," Jiraiya said.

Orochimaru huffed that he wasn't an errand boy, jotted down a note for Tsunade, and went back to the botany book he was reading.

.o.o.o.

Naruto had to give Sasuke's clan points on the intimidation factor. If he hadn't known how nice some of them like Sasuke and Sasuke's parents were right now, he'd be terrified. "Hi."

"Dummy, you're supposed to be introduced as a witness," Sasuke hissed.

"Why didn't you tell me that on the way over here?"

"Because we thought if we got here fast enough we'd see my dad crack some idiots' heads-"

"Eh-hem," Fugaku said pointedly.

"Sorry, father," Sasuke said.

"My bad," Naruto added.

Motomo started, "Now, Uzumaki, as a very important member of our clan was injured in an unknown way, with you and the Hokage being unharmed, might I add-"

"No, you don't get to add that," Fugaku said. "This is simply for gathering basic information which Uzumaki Naruto already agreed to give. We do not need any insinuations."

"Very well. So, Uzumaki, what exactly happened to Itachi?" Motomo asked.

"Well, this masked member of Akatsuki showed up. The other two jinchurikki and I were put inside a barrier cast by one of the Mizukage's guards. Itachi-sensei was mostly using fire techniques either with the ol—the Hokage or with Temari of Suna's wind techniques. Even with everyone trying nothing seemed to land on the masked guy. He started claiming he was Madara, but the Hokage, Tsuchikage, and the Kyuubi say he's lying-"

"The Kyuubi says he's lying, does it?" another elder asked dryly.

"The Kyuubi is also a he, thank you," Sasuke said sternly. Shisui looked a bit worried as some people reacted to the comment.

"Right, and he said it felt like someone who'd shown up on…on the night of the Kyuubi attack when the Foruth died," Naruto said. "But not like Madara. Something about rawness of chakra, I'm not a sensor, I didn't get it. Anyway, the guy claimed to be Madara, and this was before the Tschikage and Kyuubi made any serious objections besides saying he wasn't using much fire, so they assumed he had the um…Sasuke, what's it called?"

"Mangekyo Sharingan," Sasuke said.

Nearly everyone in the room fell still.

"Right, that, so sensei thought his genjutsu probably wouldn't work since that's a stronger Sharingan than his is. But we didn't have any options and the Mizukage asked if he thought he could try anyway. Sensei agreed and the Raikage helped him get close while the other kage attacked. I think sensei was trying to use Reversal of Heaven and Earth, maybe trying to turn the super-genjutsu back on the masked guy, but it didn't work. He just…dropped. Kankuro pulled him out of the way and the Raikage's hand was set on fire with black flames and it got really confusing for a moment and then the masked guy vanished."

Naruto looked around the room to see how that went over.

"Vanished?" Mira asked.

"Right. We all thought it was weird too," Naruto said. "But the Hokage used a couple sensor jutsu and said the guy had definitely left, so I guess he just wanted to tell his big 'project a super genjutsu on the moon' plan to everyone."

"The plan is to project Tsukiyomi on the moon," Fugaku translated. "And put the entire world under it."

"But why?" Shisui asked.

"Don't know. He didn't give a reason," Naruto said. "Seriously, I have no idea why he showed up just to do that. All it did was solidify everyone being against Akatsuki."

"Maybe he wanted that for some reason…" Shisui's mother mused. "You have to admit, it's kind of moronic, though…but he might have wanted it."

"Yeah, but why would anyone want all five great nations after them?" Naruto asked. "But, uh, anyway, that's how sensei got hurt."

"So he took an order from the Mizukage?" Motomo asked.

"Everyone was taking orders from every kage at that point," Naruto said. "They were just trying to find something that would work."

"Did the plan—and my son's sacrifice—work?" Fugaku asked.

"The Raikage and Baki both managed to hit the masked guy, but then he dropped sensei, set the Raikage's arm on fire, and bolted saying we'd never stop him," Naruto said. "Again, really weird."

"I can see why the clan heads have been called to start making war preparations," Fugaku sighed. "Thank you, Naruto, you may go."

"Uh, okay," the blonde said, getting up and walking out of the room. As he shut the door he heard a massive amount of yelling start. "Uh oh…"

.o.o.o.

"BE QUIET!" Fugaku yelled, managing to silence everyone. "Shisui, release Motomo. Aisha, let go of Noriko's hair. Sasuke, put the shuriken down. We are not going to deal with this like lunatics!"

"this is absolutely ridiculous!" Elder Mira said, showing the male elder she'd had in a headlock to the floor. "It's as if you ninnies want our dissenters to be proven correct!"

"The Uchiha Clan will not resort to violence simply because my son decided to take a major risk and was badly injured for it," Fugaku said. "That is a risk of being a loyal shinobi! And as loyal shinobi of Konoha, all I expect you to be doing is readying yourselves for the coming battles. That is final!"

.o.o.o.

"Finalized," Kabuto said, smirking.

.o.o.o.

"This doesn't look good," Jiraiya said. The base looked successfully destroyed—but there was no sign of Temutai's scout team.

.o.o.o.

A/N: What has Kabuto finished? What will Jiraiya find? And what will some of the less-loyal Uchiha get up to? Find out two of these next time in: Jiraiya's Search!