Hey there guys! Sorry for the late update I couldn't upload the file for ages when I kept trying and I've been super busy today! Anyway here's the chapter, I hope you guys enjoy the non-Naruto centric chap.
Sasuke had been training with Kakashi when Karin had arrived. He was bent over, hands on his knees and panting, Kakashi in a similar state when the red haired girl sprinted into the training ground they were using, her eyes wide, "Sasuke-san! Kakashi-sensei! I sensed two people arriving in Konoha-"
"Karin-chan is now really the time-" Kakashi started as he pushed himself up so that he was standing, pulling down his forehead protector to cover his eye, wiping away the trail of blood, and Sasuke did the same. "Yeah Karin-san we were busy-"
"Naruto-chan and Itachi-san. At the hospital-" and Sasuke was gone before she'd even finished speaking, rushing past the red haired girl, and Kakashi cursed loudly under his breath, taking off after his student, Karin close behind them both.
When Sasuke did arrive he skidded to a halt, looking around frantically. "Naruto! Naruto-chan?" he called the name loudly, "Itachi?" there was a panicked tone to his voice, and a moment later Rin was rushing into the hall, grabbing Sasuke's shoulders when the boy tried to push past her.
"Sasuke-kun! Sasuke-kun Naruto is gone, she's already left and Itachi's in surgery-"
"Surgery? What happened to him?"
"I don't know exactly, Sakura says Naruto just showed up here carrying Itachi. Sasuke you need to calm down, Sakura-chan is healing him right now. She's in charge of his care-"
"What happened to my brother?" Sasuke demanded loudly, his face pale, "What the fuck is going on?"
"Sasuke-kun calm down." Rin squeezed his shoulders gently, "He's going to be okay you just need to calm down." she glanced at Kakashi and Karin "You two need to get him out of here. I'll send someone to get you when Itachi-san is out of surgery."
"He's my brother I want to see him!"
"I know you do Sasuke! But if you rush in there now you might cause someone to make a mistake and that would be very bad okay?"
"My brother is hurt I want to know what's going on." Sasuke was shaking, fighting back tears and Rin's expression softened as she wrapped her arms around him fully, "I know." her voice was gentle, "I know Sasuke-kun it's okay. It's okay." she let him tuck his face into the crook of her neck, soothing her fingers through his dark hair, "It's going to be okay Sasuke."
"I'll take him." Karin's voice was soft as she stepped forward and Rin slowly pulled away from the hug. "Come on Sasuke-san. You need some air."
And together the teens made their way outside, Karin shoving him so that he sat down on the bench outside of the hospital.
There was a long uncomfortable silence before Karin spoke. "You'll get to see him. You just have to let Sakura-chan do what she does best."
"I know." Sasuke admitted, a frown on his lips as he shook his head, "I just... I haven't seen him in years and then he shows up hurt." he paused "Thank you. For telling me. If you hadn't showed up I probably wouldn't have found out."
"Sakura-chan or Rin-san would have told you."
"Yeah, but when?"
"Probably when they knew what was going on." Karin admitted after a moment. "But you would have been told."
"And where's Naruto? Did she just... how did she even... what led to her being able to bring him here?"
"I don't know. You'll have to speak to your brother to find out." Karin shrugged. "But for now you can't." she paused, "Why don't we get some dango or something, get your mind off it." she suggested.
"I guess that might help." Sasuke said reluctantly, "There's not much I can do before they call for me is there?"
"No, there's not, and of course it'll work I'm a genius."
"Yeah right." Sasuke snorted. "You're almost as dumb as Naruto-"
"Yeah yeah asshole." Karin shoved him lightly, "Don't think I've been nice because I like you or anything, I still despise you Uchiha."
"I still despise you too Uzumaki." Sasuke's lips twitched into the ghost of a smile "Let's go get that Dango then."
It was three days before Sasuke was able to see Itachi-at Sakura's insistence, she wanted the elder Uchiha to be awake
before Sasuke was able to see him.
Sasuke had complained of course, but he'd given in and agreed to wait, purely because Sakura had very firmly told him that was what Naruto had asked for her to do-and clearly at this stage Naruto was more likely to have a rough idea of what Itachi would have wanted in that situation.
But even though it felt like a lifetime the time for Sasuke to see his brother again did come eventually, and he swallowed hard, stood outside of the hospital door, Sakura squeezing his shoulder gently.
"Just relax Sasuke-kun. Itachi-san is okay. He's agreed to see you and he'll be staying in Konoha-if only because he knows he doesn't have any choice right now." she pulled a face, "Not until the infections on his lungs are cleared up."
"He's going to be okay right? I know he's sick but-"
"He'll be okay." Sakura gave a wry smile "He had a lot of nasty infections in his lungs-his immune system was crashing and he was catching everything possible but he's on the mend now."
"Thank you." Sasuke gave the pink haired girl a weak smile, "For saving his life."
"It's nothing." Sakura waved a hand dismissively and, before he could stop her, yanked the door open and shoved him into the room, slamming it shut behind him.
Sasuke stumbled and straightened quickly, his eyes going wide and his cheeks turning pink as Itachi, sat up in his hospital bed, pale and sickly looking but alive, raised an eyebrow.
"Hello little brother."
"Itachi." Sasuke's voice was slightly shaky as he met his brothers gaze, unable to bring himself to move closer "It's been a while."
"It has." Itachi smiled weakly, "You've grown up."
"Yeah."
"I'm sorry. For failing you."
"You didn't-"
"I did. I failed you in a lot of ways." Itachi shook his head, "I failed to protect you from myself. I hurt you. I don't understand why you'd ever forgive me, it's more than I deserve."
"You were a kid." Sasuke hesitated before moving to the chair next to the hospital bed and sitting down, not taking his eyes off of his older brother. "You didn't know what else to do, you made some mistakes but you did the best you could."
"I could have done better-"
"No. No you were a kid." Sasuke looked down. "Are you going to stay? In Konoha I mean."
"I don't know." Itachi shifted, "Naruto-san kept insisting I should.. I was planning on trying to deal with Obito and Orochimaru first but they're difficult to get to and... well I ended up here anyway."
"What happened?" Sasuke's voice was suddenly curious, "Sakura-chan said there was some kind of fight and because you were sick you got hurt."
"That's a fairly apt summary." Itachi nodded, grimacing slightly as he shook his head, "I bit off more than I could chew. I decided if I couldn't get to Obito perhaps I could draw him out by getting in his way-I ran into Naruto-san and told her that the Akatsuki were targeting a Jinchuriki from Taki and she decided to come with me to help. We split up, we decided to deal with one Akatsuki member each... I presume Naruto-san handled hers fine but I had a coughing fit while fighting my opponent. It's rather fuzzy but I believe Naruto-san arrived in time to save my life-I'm not sure if she killed Kakuzu or not but I do know that she brought me here." he paused, eyes flicking to the small table on the other side of his hospital bed, and Sasuke
followed his gaze, frowning, "A forehead protector?"
"I think it's Naruto's. She gave it to me."
"Huh." Sasuke blinked, "She has two so I guess it's not that strange."
"Two?"
"They're her parents." Sasuke admitted, "I don't know which one she gave you."
Itachi blinked, a surprised look on his face, "I see."
"Doesn't matter." Sasuke shook his head, focusing on Itachi again. "I want you to stay. I know it won't be easy but... you're my brother I need you." there was a thread of desperation in his voice and Itachi hesitated, watching his brother closely for a long moment before he sighed softly.
"Fine. Fine I will stay in Konoha. Apparently it will take some time for me to heal anyway so I don't have that much choice in any case." he shifted slightly in the hospital bed, reaching out for Sasuke's hand-and Sasuke slowly extended his own hand, gripping Itachi like a lifeline.
Too much had happened for them to be completely over it yet, but it was a start of healing.
They say like that for several minutes before Itachi spoke again. "Can you fetch me a glass of water?"
Sasauke nodded, leaping to his feet and darting over to the sink on the other side of the room, grabbing a glass and filling it up before heading back to Itachi, sitting and holding it out.
He frowned slightly when Itachi reached out just a touch too far to the left. As if he couldn't see it properly.
"Itachi..." he hesitated, "Is something wrong with your eyesight?"
Itachi hesitated before nodding, "It's the Mangekyou. The strain of repeated use leads to blindness."
"Oh." Sasuke paused, "I guess that explains the bleeding-"
"You've been training."
"Yeah. I didn't know about the blindness thing." Sasuke paused, "Is there any way to prevent it?"
"Well supposedly getting someone else's Mangekyou transplanted into your eye sockets, but I don't know for certain."
"Huh." Sasuke frowned, clearly thinking for a moment before he spoke again, "Itachi. I might just have an idea to stop us both from going blind.
With Jiraiya.
Jiraiya arrived in Konoha a week after Naruto had dropped off Itachi, an incredibly sheepish look on his face as he stood across from Tsunade, who did not look impressed.
"Where is Naruto?"
"Uh." Jiraiya shifted nervously, "I don't know? I had to follow a lead and I left her, I thought she'd stay in the same rough area but she was gone by the time I got back and I haven't been able to find her."
"I said two years-"
"In my defense that two years isn't over for two days." Jiraiya protested, "I'm sure she'll come home before then-"
"If she doesn't you're dead." Tsunade glowered, "As it is we do have some idea as to where she was last?"
"You do?" Jiraiya's eyes widened, "Where?"
"Takigakure with their Jinchuriki. We know because she and Itachi-san worked together to take out two Akatsuki agents and she dumped him here at the hospital for us to save his life when he got injured."
"She what?" Jiriaya's eyes widened and his mouth dropped open in shock, "So Itachi-san is home but she left again."
"Yes." Tsunade leaned back in her chair, eyeing Jiraiya, "What were you thinking, leaving her alone! I know it seems that she got lucky running into Itachi-"
"More like he got lucky running into her." Jiraiya corrected, "Tsunade-hime. Naruto-chan's grown a lot since you last saw her." his voice was proud when he said that, "She's a strong shinobi, you'll be proud of her when she returns."
"Did she manage it then? Either of your goals for the trip?"
"Both." Jiraiya gave a proud smile, "Nohara Naruto is a perfect Jinchuriki and a Sage. Hime she's going to be the best Hokage Konoha's ever had."
Tsunade smiled at that despite herself, a fond gleam in her eyes, "I'm glad." she admitted, "If anyone deserves the success it's Naruto-chan. I just hope she gets home soon so I can get away with drinking myself sick and taking a long break."
Jiraiya laughed, "Don't let sensei hear you talking like that, he'll give you that disappointed look."
"Eh to hell with the disappointed look, the only reason I agreed to take over as Hokage was because I knew it wouldn't be for too long, I want the brat home so I can start shoving all the paperwork on her and call it training."
Jiraiya burst out laughing, shaking his head, "Y'know Hime, I'm sure Naruto-chan is grateful."
"She better be." the woman pulled a face, "And if she isn't home soon I swear I'm gonna pummel the brat."
