It's Quiet Uptown

Itachi had woken up the very next day to find the sky shining and his hospital room sealed so no one without proper authorisation; which in this case meant Tsunade or I, could enter. After examination the entire room he proceeded to wake me up.
"Sleeping on guarding duty, Akira?" I heard him say amusedly. Quickly I shot out of the hospital chair I was sitting in, which resulted in me stumbling over his bed as I had been sitting so close to it. "If you're going in for a hug, you're going for the wrong end of the bed."
"Shut up Tachi!" I shot back, though I was smiling. "When did you wake up?"
"Just now." He responded, his voice slightly hoarse from the lack of hydration.
"Wait a second, I'll get you some water." I stated and rushed out of his room to get him some water. 'Thank you, Kami. Thank you so much.'

"Commander Fox!" a voice called out from behind me and I face-palmed. 'What kind of idiot calls out the codename of someone currently off official duty? If anyone heard that and saw me, they would know that Shunshin no Akira and Commander Fox are the same person, which would be so annoying.' I mentally ranted and turned around to see the moron behind me.
"Sheep, stop being a moron. You don't call ANBU Agents by their ANBU codename when they're not wearing masks!" I hissed coldly, wanting to get this over with so I could give Itachi his water and start telling him about his condition. "Now what is it?"
"Tsunade-sama summoned you to her office. You need to leave at once!" Sheep told me.
"Sure, give me two minutes." I said calmly and started walking over to Itachi's room.
"But she said at once!" Sheep called after me, sounding panicked. "You need to leave now!"
"Two minutes." I sang happily and walked into Itachi's room again. He looked at me with a raised eyebrow, clearly having heard everything. How he managed to send me such a look without eyes was honestly confusing. His empty sockets were covered with bandage that ended just below his eyebrows, giving him the freedom to raise them judgementally at will. "Here's your water, Tachi. Tsunade apparently wants me, so I'll be back soon."
"Take your time, I'm not going anywhere." He said drily and accepted the glass of water. I merely smiled and used a Shunshin to leave.

"You called, Tsunade?" I greeted as I appeared in the window of her office.
"For Kami's sake, either my Shinobi jump through the window or they use a Shunshin to appear in it! Can't you use the door like normal people?" she complained, though it sounded different than how she usually complained. Somehow, it seemed more like she was saying it out of a routine rather than because she meant it. 'Kami, not more bad news…' I groaned mentally.
"What happened?" I asked, spotting the look in her eyes. This wasn't just bad news, but sad ones. She was grieving.
"Jiraiya is dead." She said gravely, her eyes watering. "The leader of the Akatsuki killed him. Jiraiya left us a coded message, I think it's for Naruto, but as you can probably guess…"
"Naruto isn't in the proper state of mind to solve it." I finished her sentence with a deep sigh. "I assume you want me to talk with him?"
"Yes, I think he needs his nee-chan now." Tsunade told me, a single tear rolling down her cheeks.
"And you? Who's looking after you?" I asked softly. Grief was horrible, but it was even worse when one had to bear it alone.
"Take care of Naruto, Akira. That's an order." Tsunade said, drying the tear. "Shikamaru will visit him tomorrow and we need to solve it as quickly as possible."
"I'll talk to him."

It had been easy to find Naruto. He had been sitting on a bench all alone in the darkness, a single streetlight shining down on him, clearly showing the tears streaming down his cheeks while he was holding an ice-cream meant for two. Just like the one he had told me Jiraiya used to buy for him. I took the ice out of his hand and split it into two, handing him the biggest piece.
"I just spoke to Tsunade." I said softly and sat down next to him. "Don't worry, Naru-chan. I know he'll keep watching over you. You are his most prized student, after all."
"How can you know that? I only showed him my bad sides." Naruto told me, crying harder.
"He bragged a lot about you, you know. Uzumaki Naruto, his wonderful student." I told him, smiling kindly at him and ruffling his hair. "Don't be so scared of him thinking you're an idiot or something. He showed you a lot of his bad sides as well. Why else would you call him Ero-Sennin?"
"He really was a super pervert." Naruto chuckled slightly. "But still… I wanted him to see me become the Hokage. I wanted him to see how great of a teacher he is… was."
"You know, the ones we love never truly leave us." I told him and grabbed his hand, lifting it up and placing it on his heart. "As long as we still love and remember them, they stay with us, right here."
"You really think so, nee-chan?" Naruto asked, looking slightly hopeful.
"Yes, I do. He'll be so proud once you take the hat. Just like how he's always been proud of you. Out of all his students, you are the one who's the most like him. I think he always considered you like his grandson." I smiled warmly, meaning every word I said.
"Thank you, Akira-nee-chan." Naruto smiled, and somehow it didn't look forced. It was a far cry from his normal bright smile, but it was genuine. 'He'll be alright.' I assured myself.
"Shikamaru will probably stop by your place tomorrow. Something about a code?" I wondered, pretending like Tsunade hadn't told me about it previously.
"Ero-Sennin left a message." Naruto explained. "But I don't know why they would think it was for me and not Baa-chan."
"Because you're his prized student." I simply responded and pulled him into a hug. "Don't worry, otouto, we'll always watch over you, even if you can't see us. You won't ever be alone again."

While I personally thought I had no talent consoling people, my talk seemed to have worked and Naruto had figured out what the code for the message was the very next day. Though none of us could figure out what its intel meant. Not even Fukasaku who had fought with Jiraiya knew. As the probability of figuring it out without facing Pein was low, Tsunade put all of her trust in Shizune and the autopsy, and the T&I and the prisoner Jiraiya had sent back from Amegakure. With Naruto leaving Konoha to train senjutsu at Mount Myoboku and all of the highest ranking officers in Konoha working hard to prepare for a possible clash with the Akatsuki, it was finally time for Itachi and I to leave and get Itachi to the safe house prepared for him a few towns away from Konoha. Since Itachi was strong enough to both walk and use chakra again, we could easily slip out of the village with putting Itachi in a Henge. Tsunade had assured us that there would be no Hyuga close by to see through the illusion, and with my clearing, the two of us had just walked out of Konoha with no problem or security checks.

"We should take a break in about an hour, you just got out of the hospital after all." I stated while holding Itachi tightly, to lead him. Because of his strong abilities as a ninja, he probably wouldn't walk into anything, but with neither of us wanting to risk it and both of us wanting to keep a low profile, we decided it would be smartest for me to lead him by holding his hand.
"It's just a two hours trip, I can walk the entire way." Itachi tried to insist but I was not having it.
"Itachi, you literally got discharged ten minutes ago…" I deadpanned with an eyeroll. "And besides, I'm currently highest-ranking officer, so I'm in charge."
"I technically have the longest experience." Itachi shot back playfully and I smirked.
"Yeah, but then you became a missing nin, so now I'm miles ahead." I stated arrogantly.
"That was counted as a mission, so I'm still an ANBU Captain." Itachi smirked back, continuing our banter.
"In my ANBU Force, meaning I'm in charge." I stated smugly. "And besides, I've got the most experience as a Captain, got promoted before you, remember?"
"You're never going to let me live that down, are you?"
"Just like you're never going to let me forget that you were recruited to ANBU before me."

After walking for one hour, having lunch and walking on for yet another hour, we finally reached the prepared Safe House. It was filled with protection seals, curtesy of the deceased Jiraiya, the medicine Itachi needed, curtesy of Tsunade and pretty much anything else a man would need to live, curtesy of me. Itachi had been extremely tired after the journey and pretty much just collapsed onto the couch, leaving me to prepare some food for him.
"I'll need to leave after dinner, or Kamiko might actually kill me." I told Itachi while stir frying.
"Why would your teammate and closest friend kill you?" Itachi snorted in amusement.
"Because I have a meeting with Tsunade tomorrow and if I'm not back, then she'll have to attend in my place." I explained, equally as amused as Itachi. Kamiko's hatred for speaking with people could be a bit problematic at times, but it also brought me a lot of laughter's over the years. The girl was one of the strongest Shinobi in Konoha but was brought to her knees at the idea of a conversation with a stranger.
"You pick the strangest people to spend time with." Itachi commented while sitting down by the table to eat the dinner I just finished making. "Your best friend is a psychotic who loves to torture people with rusty weapons but fear talking with people, your boyfriend is a public pervert who's late to everything and your youngest adopted otouto is a crazy prankster who has an unhealthy obsession with ramen."
"Yeah… Then there's my twin brother who faked his death after living his life as a missing nin for a crime that wasn't his to bear and his younger brother who's still a missing nin with an unhealthy obsession with vengeance." I continued his list with a smirk. "But it's all for the good sake of spreading my awesomeness to all of you. Only Naruto seem to soak it up though…"
"Dear Kami I hope he stops."
"Rude, Tachi, so rude…"

Once I closed in on Konoha, I quickly realized that something was wrong. For once, it was completely silent. With my currently closing distance to the village, I should be able to hear the normal noises from inside the village, but instead I was only greeted with silence. Once I was able to see the village, I knew something had gone wrong. The entire village was levelled to the grown. 'No! Kakashi! Kamiko!' was the only thoughts in my head as I started sprinting through Konoha, desperate to find him or Kamiko. Konoha had turned into a crater, but there was no fight happening and no sign of any enemies. I witnessed a couple of nins trying to get their teammate out of a block of a building that had been destroyed and some crying desperately for someone to wake up. I still hadn't sensed either Kamiko or Kakashi but kept searching desperately. 'Did I leave the village to save one precious person, only to lose two?' I asked myself in panic while running. Then I saw him. He was only visible from his torso and up, and it looked like the only thing holding him up was the large amount of rock he was trapped in.
"No." I whispered and ran up to him desperately, quickly checking for his pulse. "No!"
There was nothing. His heart wasn't beating, and he wasn't breathing.
"No! You promised!" I insisted desperately but wasn't even able to convince myself. He was gone. He left me. My heart was tearing itself apart in pain as I cried out in anguish. "You promised me you'd stay alive, you moron!"
Then I was crying. Tears were streaming down my cheeks like rivers and I hugged his cooling body tightly. 'He can't be dead. He can't be! Please don't do this to me! I can't lose anyone. I can't lose him. He's my lifeline. I need him with me.' I panicked and clutched him tighter, as if that would magically bring him back to me. But I knew death didn't work like that. Death doesn't discriminate between the sinners and saints, it only takes and takes, leaving solely pain and sorrow in its wake.
"Kashi… Please… I can't lose you too." I muttered desperately, clinging onto him. "I can't! Please, please, please…"
But no matter how much I prayed and begged, no matter how hard I clung onto him, I knew he wouldn't wake up. He was gone and I had lost yet another precious person.