Naruto was out like a light within minutes of their travels. After all the traveling, regaining a large portion of his memories, and then running from a squad of heavily armed men, it was no surprise. Naruto woke up a few times from the sun streaming in once morning hit and once again for a restroom break. Naruto also noticed at some point, Uchiha had changed his clothes. They were slightly too big for his frame, but it was better than his blood-soaked rags.

During the rest stop – which was off to the side of a mountain road – Uchiha handed him clean clothes pulled from their supplies. With everything going on, Naruto had forgotten about the dried blood on his own clothes. It also gave him a chance to check his own injuries. Uchiha was healed nonetheless, but Naruto's injuries were still healing; however, the smaller scratches were gone as if they had never been.

As their journey continued, Naruto didn't ask where they were heading. At this point, asking wouldn't help. Taking things as they come was easier than trying to plan ahead. He didn't know enough to protest or have any better ideas.

By noon, Naruto couldn't sleep anymore, gaining a headache from having slept so much. The navigation claimed another hour, so he took to watching the passing scenery. Having slept for so long, Naruto would have though he would have been well-rested. On the contrary, he was more tired than before. His dreams were a jumbled mess of past memories, being hunted like an animal, and lastly the moment with Uchiha in the subway. It was the last thing that really bothered him.

He had played off Uchiha's attraction to him before. The kiss in his room and the wrestling match could easily be explained away. It was harder to explain away this one. It wasn't just Uchiha showing interest. He did too, and he was conscious of it unlike the time in his room. He could have told him to stop. He could have pushed Uchiha away. He didn't. He enjoyed it.

Was he really gay? He hadn't been attracted to men before. He had gone to public baths and never once looked twice at another man. In all fairness, he hadn't really been attracted to women either. He was teased about being a virgin and hated it, so he dated Sakura, but as she had said when breaking up with him, he just didn't seem into it even as he went through the proper motions.

And if he was? What was he going to do? Sure, on the surface people would be accepting, but Jiraiya? He would have even more trouble having to admit that his foster son was gay. He couldn't do that to him. Of course, his sexuality had to be inconvenient too. If he was, he would never be able to talk about it or even really admit it. That would cause Jiraiya too much trouble if it got out. Though could he really cause any more trouble after this whole debacle? His name had already been trashed beforehand. Now he was named a terrorist. Being gay would probably be the least of Jiraiya's worries.

"Something wrong?"

Naruto turned his head to watch Uchiha. Uchiha kept his eyes forward on the road, but he had definitely asked.

"Nothing really, just thinking." Naruto rested his head on the window. "Hey, what do you think about all this?"

"I think my brother has us by a leash, predicting our every move," Uchiha answered without hesitation.

"Do you really think he planned that attack in Aomori?"

For a brief second, Uchiha took his eyes off the road to send him a dark look. "Do you believe he couldn't if he didn't want to?"

He had a point. Knowing what Itachi was capable of, it didn't seem impossible for him to be able to send armed people after them. Even so, something did not sit right. Like something was off. But Uchiha would have had more experience dealing with Itachi so if he said it was him, most likely it was. There must have been an angle he was missing.

"We're here."

Naruto looked out the window. "So this is Mount Kurama," he whispered, looking out into the surrounding forest. In front of them was the entrance to what looked to be a temple. The wood was beginning to rot, and it did not appear to be well taken care of, and there wasn't a single person in sight. "Is this Kurama-dera?" He asked. "I'd thought it'd be nicer, not to mention a shit ton of tourists."

"Wrong side of the mountains," Uchiha said opening the door and stepping out. "This property belongs to the Uzumaki clan." Uchiha turned his head to the entrance as well where a young woman in her late teens dressed in shrine maiden's garments was bowed as if waiting to greet them. "I really hate coming here," Uchiha added under his breath.

Naruto stepped out of the car as well, hurrying to the other side.

The young girl righted herself. At first glance, she appeared normal enough. If Naruto hadn't been aware of other creatures, he may have believed that to be true. Knowing better, it was obvious she wasn't human. For one thing, there was no life in her eyes. Not as one would normally define it. She was moving, but Naruto could not sense life in her, and her expression looked of one painted to perfection, to perfect to be real. Lastly, there was a solid circle with a semi-circle facing down over it. The symbol was no bigger than four centimeters in diameter.

"Where is your master?" Uchiha asked rudely and without preamble.

"This way," she replied not in the slightest perturbed. She merely turned and began to lead them into the compound.

"Hey, you could try to be a little nicer, bastard. She's a girl," Naruto murmured, keeping his voice down as to not be overheard.

Uchiha disregarded his efforts, responding to him in a normal voice. "It's a shikigami. It's nothing more than a conjured spirit given physical form by the master here."

"Your words are quite hurtful, Uchiha-sama," As she walked, she turned her head towards Uchiha. Her expression deviated little and her voice remained polite and patient, but there was a hint of emotion in her words that indicated hurt. "Even us shikigami can have feelings."

Uchiha held his tongue while Naruto looked at the woman with fascination. He had seen shikigami's in cartoons and comics and heard about them in folklore but seeing one in real life was as surreal as when he first met Uchiha. Though instead of fear, he looked on in fascination.

The feature of the compound was the large house in the back that could be seen from the entrance. It was the only thing well taken care of besides the shrine off to its left. The path that should have been cleared was full of weeds, the surrounding walls were beginning to crumble in some places, and the additional housing for other clan members was in the process of dilapidating. A couple of houses had already fallen to the ground which others look like they were on their last legs.

The buildings themselves didn't look old enough to be in such disrepair. They weren't ancient wood buildings you would expect to find in a place like this. They were more modern while adhering to traditional architecture. Besides the main building, it was like a ghost town. Everything had been abandoned.

Not surprisingly, they were led to the main house. They entered the hall and were led down the corridor to a door. The shikigami got onto her knees in front of the sliding door. "Mistress, I have brought the guests.

"Allow them in," came a feminine reply.

The shikigami, opened the door, bowing her head toward her mistress, never leaving her kneeling position. Naruto and Uchiha went in.

Naruto wasn't sure what he was expecting. Perhaps an old man or woman. Maybe a bald monk. Maybe even a buff, young man. A young woman for some reason didn't cross his mind. She was obviously older than him. Maybe in her late twenties. She had a small dusting of freckles that gave her a slightly younger appearance. She was Japanese, but her hair was a peculiar color. A thick, wavy red tied into a ponytail.

She too wore a shrine maiden's garment, though she sat on the couch as a tomboy would, legs open and on the table in front of her. The modern furniture on the old house was slightly out of place, but upon closer look, the room seemed to be functioning as a living room rather than a traditional Japanese room used for receiving guests.

A smile brightened up her face. "Sasuke!"

Sasuke? Naruto clenched his jaw at the over-familiarity directed towards Uchiha as she practically jumped to her feet upon seeing him. It seemed Uchiha knew a lot of girls that talked to him familiarly. Almost every one of them called him by his first name.

"Karin. I see you're slacking off as usual."

Blushing, she turned off the television she had been watching. "Of course, not Sasuke, I was just watching the news to make sure there was no announcement of your capture," she said in a flirty way. "I see my shikigami were able to guide you here safely."

"About that," Uchiha said, walking towards here. "The one outside seems to have grown a conscience and will. Are you slipping?"

"Aw, don't be like that," she hung onto his arm. Creating so many shikigami at once for a long period of time, a few of them will become harder to keep under my command. I'll get rid of them if they become too much trouble."

She said it so casually. Anger rose in Naruto, though he could not explain why. It was difficult to keep the scowl off his face, but he had more than enough training in keeping up false smiles. This woman did save them. He would try to be polite about it. "Thanks for saving us. "

"I didn't do it to save you," she replied coldly to him. "I didn't order them to save you."

Naruto's smile twitched.

"Speaking of knowing, Karin. How were you aware we were in trouble?" Uchiha expertly extracted his arm away from her grip.

His question sobered her. Her flirty, childlike demeanor turned into a very mature woman, her eyes becoming sharp and serious. "For the past 5 years, I have heard whispered warnings of trouble that was brewing. All I could decipher was that I needed to be in Aomori, but as I cannot leave this mountain, I sent shikigami to be my eyes instead. When I saw on the news what happened in Beppu, I figured it would be you I needed to save and bring here." She smiled. "I wasn't wrong."

"Hey, Uchiha, who is this chick?" Naruto asked unable to pretend to be polite any longer. "She's annoying."

"How dare you! How could a useless, vulgar piece of trash like you talk to someone of the Uzumaki clan like-"

"Silence," Uchiha cut through her yelling like a knife without having to yell himself. The cold look he gave her made her immediately back down, averting her eyes down and curling in on herself as if she was truly ashamed of her action. "You will not speak to him that way," Uchiha continued. "You will talk to him with the same respect you show me."

"Yes, Sasuke-san."

Uchiha sat on the couch, making himself comfortable while Karin remained standing. "The Uzumaki are… was the clan considered closest to the heavens. They excelled in communicating with spirits and even the earth itself. Some would go even farther and say they were descendants of the gods. Uzumaki Mikao was a descendent from this clan. He created the reiki technique that is used to heal not only humans, but apparitions as well. Karin is the last surviving member of the clan."

"I don't specialize in the reiki technique though. My family was just one of the branch families. Our job was to record everything about the Uzumaki clan," her tone was much more subdued and polite towards Naruto this time around, though she avoided looking in his general direction. "My specialty is information gathering using spirits and shikigami."

"What happened to them?"

"It is said that they were massacred 20 years ago. I was away for training in Italy at the time, where I met Sasuke," she glanced at Uchiha with fondness in her eyes. Her subdued behavior seemed to lessen. "I needed to learn basic reiki techniques. I was unable to return until my training was complete. By that time, there was nothing left to investigate."

"I'm sorry for your loss." Naruto genuinely meant it. He could empathize with her situation, and unlike him, it seemed she was alone on this mountain.

"It happened a long time ago," she shrugged it off and turned to Uchiha once again. "How long are you staying? Do you need to eat?"

She pulled her collar down until her shoulder was exposed making Naruto's mouth drop at the forwardness of it all.

Uchiha's eyes flickered his direction looking amused. "No. I ate before I came. What I need is for you to find out who sent the people after us."

"Is that all?" She was disappointed, pulling her collar back into the proper decision.

"A room for us to stay in as well. And food for that guy."

"It's not 'that guy', bastard. Use my name," Naruto grumbled.

Uchiha's lip twitched into the beginnings of a smile, "Only if you use mine."

The tension that had been in the room disappeared, with Uchiha being the center of it. In an instant, Naruto's annoyance and unease had been forgotten by Uchiha's words.

Karin cleared her throat, inserting some tension back into the room. "I'll personally see you to your rooms."

Uchiha's and Naruto's rooms were on opposite sides of the house. Karin was all smiles when it came to giving Uchiha his room, and the flirting had seeped back into her tone as time passed. It was really grating on Naruto's nerves. Uchiha did nothing to encourage, remaining rather impassive to her attempts, but he did nothing to discourage it either. He politely thanked her for the room and closed the door after him.

Sasuke listened to Uzumaki and Karin walking away. The further Uzumaki was from him the better. The 13-hour drive had been torture. Uzumaki had decided to sleep the entire ride, leaving himself defenseless in front of him. With the recent taste of Uzumaki's blood on his lips, it was difficult to keep himself at bay from taking more.

He knew the taste of Uzumaki's blood, but it had been almost two months since he had last tasted it. Now it was the forefront of his mind and this time he was attracted to Uzumaki. Now he knew that Uzumaki felt some sort of attraction to him and knew of what sounds he could make.

Sasuke bit the inside of his cheek before his imagination could run off. Uzumaki didn't need more on his plate than he already had. So, he would bide his time and wait before making a move and keep his distance for both of their sakes. Perhaps he could kill this silly infatuation before then.

His pocket buzzed.

He had forgotten about the cell phone in his pocket. Checking caller ID, he answered. He hadn't even spoken a word before his precious hearing was assaulted, forcing him to move the phone away from his ear.

"Young master! Are you alright! Where are you right now? Should I come get you?"

"Calm down," he snapped, making his butler instantly shut up. "Listen carefully."

Once Uchiha was gone, Karin changed as well. She looked down on him. She didn't have to say a single word for Naruto to get the message. Her look told him that she wanted him to disappear. It was hard to look at.

Naruto was more than happy to enter his room. There was very little in it. All it contained was a futon. Naruto was willing to bet money that Uchiha's room probably wasn't so barren. Remembering the few basic manners that were instilled in him by Tsunade, Naruto took the high road and thanked her from the room, expecting her to leave.

Karin stepped into the room, closing the door behind her. That cold gaze intensified on him. It didn't hold the power Itachi's had. It was actually different than Itachi's altogether. It wasn't emotionless, but her stare reminded Naruto a lot of the looks he received daily on the island. It made him feel as if he was a child again under that look.

With Uchiha gone, she acted her age. His senses told Naruto she was a danger, someone worthy to stay at Uchiha's side as a protector. She had the impression of a knight facing the enemy right before a battle, unwavering and standing their ground. She stood tall and proud and regarded carefully as she spoke.

"What are you to Sasuke?"

"Why do you care?" Naruto asked, turning his back to her and taking off his shirt. "Are you his mother or something?"

"I want to know why something equivalent to a tissue is stuck to Sasuke's shoe."

Irked, Naruto turned around but had to remind himself to not lose his temper, though a growl did escape his lips. "If you must know, we're helping each other out. That's it."

"Helping each other?" she repeated, almost laughing as if the thought was ludicrous. "You? I don't need spirits to tell me how weak you are. You're not even a full vampire. So what is it really?"

More than a little annoyed, he shot her a glare, no longer caring about trying to play nice. "Look, bitch. I don't know what the hell you want me to say. Just tell me already so I can go to bed."

She took a step forward, arms crossed, a smile playing on her lips. "You really believe you're helping each other, don't you? You don't even realize how much you're holding him back."

A lump formed in Naruto's throat. "I know that already."

"Do you?" She challenged. "If Sasuke was on his own, he wouldn't be a wanted fugitive across the nation. Hunters wouldn't be chasing him, and despite the trouble you brought to him, he's the one left alone to take care of your mess. You don't even have the decency to complete your change. You're left in a vulnerable state of a fledgling. How much more of a burden can you be?"

Naruto couldn't argue, knowing she was right, and his silence only made her scowl. "You're going to get him killed one day."

"That's where you're wrong. Uchiha wouldn't die for someone like me." His throat constricted at that truth, but he continued. "He's only helping me because it's within his own self-interest." Because Uchiha wanted something from him, he knew that since the beginning. After being targeted by Itachi twice, it probably had something to do with the older brother. He was bait. "And…" Naruto added on with less certainty. "Out of obligation as my friend."

Guardian was what he wanted to say, but the reality of that was too harsh. He wanted a closer relationship than that. Karin wasted no time busting his illusion with a full-bodied laugh.

"Friend? Sasuke doesn't have friends. You're either useful to him or you're not. Or have you not noticed?"

Begrudgingly, he did. He had seen it first hand how Uchiha was kind and polite to people he hated, particularly humans, and cold and distant to those who he was supposedly close with. Naruto fell well in between both, subjected to kindness at times but also held at arm's length, like being kind to the least popular kid in class with no intention of ever being real friends with them.

"I'm well aware of where I stand with Uchiha," Naruto replied. His voice sounded different. Flat. This shouldn't have been anything new. Naruto had known all this, so why did he feel so numb. "If you have nothing better to do than chase after a gay man, why don't you get to doing what he asked of you before he finds no use for you too."

Naruto shouldered his way past her, opening the door and exiting the room. He never hit a girl but today he came dangerously close. If he didn't put distance between them, he may not be able to hold himself back.

But it wasn't like he could go anywhere. He would have to go back to the room eventually. It was rude to wander around someone else's home without supervision. Then again, she was rude first, he thought childishly.

He shoved his hands into his pockets and wandered aimlessly down the corridor. Watching the floor as he walked, he wondered if the house was a safe as it seemed. Aesthetically, the house looked fine, but it was as old as everything else as the compound. His imagination drifted to Karin falling through rotting floorboards or a beam occasionally falling on top of her. That got a small chuckle out of him.

He enjoyed his small fantasy.

As he walked, he saw moonlight streaming through one of the cracked open sliding doors. Thinking it lead to a courtyard of some sort, he opened it. There was a courtyard, but there was a room in between. There was little in the room. Some scrolls hanging on the walls. A few pillows used for sitting on and a Japanese Koto in the center. In front of where the Koto player would have been sitting was an open door leading to a courtyard where a giant sakura tree was in bloom.

Naruto stepped inside the room, eyes fixated on the tree, illuminated by the sunlight. It didn't even seem strange to him that it was December and that it was blooming way out of season. The pink petals were fluttering down with the gentle breeze.

Naruto approached, fixated on the tree. Why did that tree seem so familiar?

He tripped over the koto, falling over himself as to not step on it when he knocked it over. Cursing, he rubbed his toe.

Looking up, the tree was still there, still in bloom, but was no longer entranced by it. What was he doing? A tree blooming out of season was probably the least weird thing he had seen lately. He sat on the walkway bordering the courtyard, watching the limbs sway. He could see this being a place to sit under the moonlight drinking sake.

The presence inside him warmed as if in agreement, and Naruto smiled in content, being able to feel Kurama again after so long. Maybe because of the mountain they were on. Was the mountain named after him or vice versa?

Naruto slid off the walkway and approached the tree, forgetting about his lack of shoes. The earth under his feet was soft and moist. The night air was crisp from the cold air, but clean compared to the city. It reminded him a lot of the mountains at home. Jiraiya would take him into the mountains to play a lot when he first arrived. As he got older he went there less, but anytime he was overwhelmed, he would go into the forest.

He placed his hand against the trunk, closing his eyes. It was warm around the tree, as if there was an invisible bubble around it. Being inside that bubble was like being in a warm embrace. He was happy but also sad. He was mourning but also rejoicing. The true master was home.

"Uzumaki?"

"Wha-?" Naruto dropped his hand and stepped away, looking for who called him. Spotting Uchiha emerging from what was probably his room, he was at a loss for words. They hadn't really talked since they reunited in the underground station, not without awkward tension hanging around them. "Thought you'd be sleeping by now, bastard. What are you still doing up?"

"Sleep is eluding me at the moment."

"Eluding? Really?"

"It's not my fault your vocabulary is lacking," Uchiha walked further out, jumping down from the walkway into the courtyard as well.

"You just don't like the fact that you were caught being an old man again," Naruto teased. And just like that, the tension was gone. The warm breeze picked up, ruffling his hair, and Naruto was drawn into the wind's caress. He sat at the base of the tree, yearning for a drink to fully enjoy the tranquil bliss. "Are you still hungry?" Naruto asked, leaning against the tree trunk.

"Yes," Naruto could hear each step, the pebbles then eventually grass being crushed under his feet. "Why? Are you offering?"

Slowly, Naruto opened his eyes. They felt heavy as he met Sasuke's hungry gaze. "I wouldn't ask otherwise."

Uchiha stared at him, his hungry gaze lingering for what felt like forever until he pulled his gaze upward into the tree branches. "No, it wouldn't be a good idea."

"I suppose not," Naruto agreed.

Uchiha took a seat beside him, and Naruto's heartbeat quickened at how close he was. It wasn't as if Uchiha was sitting closer than he normally did. Naruto was just now hyperaware of how close he was. Even Kiba had sat closer to him in the past, and he had felt nothing. It was a cliché. Every movie, every cartoon would describe this moment as their heart beating out of their chest worried that the person next to them could hear it. Naruto wasn't worried about that. Naruto knew Uchiha could hear his heart beating. He just wasn't sure what to do about it.

"Do you know what you were doing just now?" Uchiha asked.

"Just now? Touching a tree. Why?"

Uchiha turned his body so he could speak directly to him. "You weren't just touching it. You were channeling energy." Uchiha was met with a clueless stare. "Every thing, every creature with a consciousness contains chakra, right?" Naruto nodded, unsure of what he was getting out. "But not all chakra is the same. It's a wavelength unique to each being like a signature. To an extent, you can change your wavelength, but it's difficult. There are a few exorcists who have a variation of this ability. They are able to read imprints, or residual wavelengths, left by the appearance of an apparition or when strong emotional events, usually tragic incidents, happen and view memories or emotions left on the area."

"So you're saying I'm checking out a movie from a rental store, except instead of a tape, their memories?"

Uchiha rolled his eyes at the analogy. "You call me old, and you still go to video rental stores?"

Naruto shrugged. Uchiha's explanation made some sense. The memories he had witnessed when they were at the laboratory were similar to what Uchiha described. Why he saw it in third person rather than through his own eyes.

"What you were doing just now was a step further. You completely matched your chakra with that of the tree and drew chakra from it."

Naruto didn't like the sound of that. His amusement turned into a downturn of his lips and furrowed eyebrows. "What are you trying to say, Uchiha?"

"You have the ability to take chakra and use it. Theoretically, that is."

That sounded disappointing. When Naruto imagined having a chakra technique, he imagined something cool: fire, telekinesis, flying. Admittedly, he wasn't sure if the last two was possible, but he kind of wanted something flashy. "That kind of sucks."

"It may have been a fluke. This is Mt. Kurama. What are the chances, the mountain was named after him?"

Or he was named after it. Maybe Uchiha was right and that ability was just something that involved him. Maybe he still had the chance to get something cool.

Thinking about the being inside of him brought back the sense of loss. He didn't know what Kurama was. He just feared him. Feared the things he said. Feared his presence. Feared whether he would take control. Thinking about it now, Kurama's words could easily be misconstrued into something villainous, and Naruto feared Kurama because he was conditioned to without realizing it. He wanted to judge for himself this time. "Do you think I'll ever get a chance to ask him again?"

"I don't know."

Uchiha could have lied, saying everything would work out or that Naruto should have confidence that he would. Uchiha was realistic, but rarely ever crueler than he needed to be. He told Naruto how it was, being straightforward with him. For that, Naruto was grateful. His hand inched closer to Uchiha's but stopped before they touched.

"What happened between you and Itachi? Why do you want to kill him so bad?"

The air around Uchiha turned cold and dense as if protecting him, forcing Naruto to move his hand or possibly be cut by it. Naruto had only seen brief glimpses of Uchiha's power, being limited to a small weak wind during their training together and the aftermath of it in Beppu. Uchiha did not appear to have as much control as he liked, and it showed by Uchiha's stiff posture afterward.

He did not apologize for almost attacking Naruto, not that Naruto expected one. If Naruto understood anything, it was not having control of emotions or actions.

"Sorry. None of my business. I'm just not sure if I'm any good. What I mean to say is, I know Itachi is targeting me for some reason, and you're looking for him, but aren't I just making things harder? You've helped me a lot. You have no obligation to keep helping me. Itachi is out in the open, so if you leave me, you could find him faster without me slowing you down. We're not even friends so you don't have to feel any─"

"Stop talking idiot before I throw you off the mountain." Naruto shut his mouth. Not because Uchiha was being rude. Despite the rough language, there was no hostility in it, just a slight irritation. "What do you mean we aren't friends?"

"I don't know," Naruto hunched his shoulders. "That bitch Karin brought up some valid points earlier and I just…" Naruto trailed off, playing with the grass absentmindedly between his fingers.

"Karin," there was more than a little annoyance in his voice that time, not going so far as to scowl but close enough. "She has a habit of scaring off people around me. When she was 7 and training at the Vatican, she ran off. There was an incident, and I saved her life. She stayed with me for a year until I could find a place to put her. Since then, she's been treating me as a surrogate father and has been extremely clingy. I was hoping that she would be able to locate Itachi during that time, but she was unable to. It was the only reason why I bothered."

"So we're friends?"

Uchiha inhaled deeply and slowly. "When I was child and still human, my brother killed my parents.

"It was a summer evening. We were at our summer home in England. Though human, I always knew I would become an immortal. My family had a tradition. When we marry and have two potential offspring to carry the name, we are turned by the previous generation. In truth, Itachi is only my half-brother. My father and his wife were having trouble conceiving, and the elders of the clan urged my father to take a mistress, so he could have a child.

"Itachi was the result of that affair. His mother died during childbirth. She had been good friends with my mother, and my mother was the one who asked her. Mother was more than happy to take care of and raise Itachi."

A small smile cracked on Uchiha's face at the memory. "Itachi was everything anyone could want in a first son. He was smart, strong, charismatic when he wanted to be, and kind. When several years passed, and my mother was finally able to have a child, he wasn't threatened that he would lose everything to the 'rightful heir'. He was the perfect big brother. He protected me and cared for me.

"My father adored Itachi. Because he was so perfect, I was often compared to him. The bastard child was the one to look up to and the truth is, I did. He could do no wrong in my eyes."

"Then Itachi went away for training for 6 months. When he returned, he wasn't the same. He suddenly became too busy to pay attention to me, and my father and him fought often. It was during that time when I saw my father lay a hand on his child for the first time. He struck Itachi across the face hard enough to send him to the floor. I remember standing there. Too shocked to even believe Itachi was even capable of angering my father.

"I never knew what the fight was about, but my parents were worried about him. He had become so anti-social and talked about forbidden subjects. They wanted to help him.

"Then one night, I came back to find my parents' dead bodies in our parlor." Uchiha took a deep breath, struggling to keep his face neutral. "Father and Mother had become immortal after my birth." He met Naruto's eyes. "He decapitated them. He held their heads by their hair in his hands.

"He told me that he killed them because he found them incompetent. He thought they were weak. He wanted to prove it by showing how their human son managed to kill them." His voice was thick with emotion now. "And when I ran, he ran after, hunting me, and when he caught me, he told me how immortals were meant to inspire fear. That immortals should use their strength not hide it, and then he told me that I wasn't even worth killing."

If Uchiha was not worth killing, why hunt him? But Naruto kept his thought to himself.

"That night I vowed revenge, but Itachi went into hiding after that. If I find anything relating to him, it was years old. After a century, I've only found 4 leads until I met you when he came out of hiding. This is the closest I have ever come to finding him."

Well when anyone puts it like that, it almost felt like an honor to be bait. "You know when I was staying with him, I saw a glimpse of that Itachi. He was kind one moment then he makes me behead some guy in a basement the next." He clamped his hands together to keep them from shaking. He chuckled uncomfortably as he continued. "In a way, he made me accept what I am and what I was becoming. I am thankful to him for that."

"Don't be. Any weakness or leeway you give him, he'll use it against you and make you trust him."

"I know," Naruto sighed heavily. "Should we head back? Don't want to catch a cold."

"Idiots can't catch colds remember?"

A soft chuckle left Naruto at the gentle reminder that he probably wouldn't get sick anymore, not that he had ever been sick before. "Right," Naruto moved to stand up when Uchiha grabbed his hand. There was a prickling sensation followed by warmth spreading through the contact. Flustered, Naruto looked ahead. "Did you need something?"

"No." Uchiha let his hand drop and stood as well. "You should relax while you have the chance. We're leaving in the morning."

"Where are we going?" Naruto asked tired and more than a bit curious. In truth, he was getting tired of moving around so much.

"Back to Konoha. I need to talk to some people, and I'm sure you want to check up on your guardian as well."

Slowly a smile spread on Naruto's face. There was a mixture of dread of the trouble he had brought to Jiraiya while he was away, and happiness in being able to see him. There were questions he wanted to ask about his father, about the lab, and if he knew about Kurama. Perhaps he was a little homesick after all this time. "It wouldn't hurt to see if the old man's been sticking to take out while I've been gone."

Naruto stretched, groaning as he did and his spine realigned. "Since it's still day, want to snoop around?"

"I find it odd how you think committing a crime is a form of viable entertainment."

"It's not like there isn't anything else to do. Plus, you don't seem to like her either."

Uchiha tilted his head in concession. "There is a shed behind the main house."

Naruto perked up with a mischievous look crossing his face. It was similar to a bird getting ready to fly once the cage was finally opened. "Race you."

Uchiha huffed derivatively. "Like I would run for something so stupid."

Naruto wasn't listening. He was already running towards the house, planning to make a shortcut through it.

Shaking his head, Uchiha waited 5 seconds before running after him.