A/N: So this is a transitional chapter to show the character's thought process. It starts out in Sasuke's and then moves to Naruto's P.o.V. The chapter mainly follows the manga but not quite, as with the rest of the fic so far some things will remain the same while others change until it gradually changes altogether. My muse kicked my ass into gear so the next chapter should be up within the next few days.

Beta: angelslaugh

Disclaimer: Already been done.

Chapter 14

He left Kakashi yelling after him and went to find Naruto. He sped through the village in a panic, his thoughts a whirling blur. When he saw Naruto's memory of his brother and heard the theory that maybe things weren't all that they seemed; he was hopeful. After his nightmare he toned it down to cautiously optimistic even if it went against his entire being to do so. Now, remembering that night, he couldn't help but to add up the facts and they weren't painting a pretty picture.

His brother slaughtered their entire clan, he wanted Sasuke to get strong enough to kill him - as much as he hated his brother with everything in him, he had to admit Itachi was a genius. From his point of view there was no reason for Itachi to be going after Naruto. He had been ANBU and on top of that he had been assigned as a watcher for the Kyuubi vessel so he knew what Naruto was and had an opportunity to get him before; so why? The only thing he could think was Itachi set this all up; Naruto becoming his friend, he would eventually have to kill his friend and this was Itachi's way of testing him by going after Naruto to lure Sasuke out and see if he had gotten any stronger. Sasuke had no plans on doing anything his brother expected of him and that included getting close enough to someone like that.

Sasuke stopped at the first place he could think of, "Hey, Old Man. Naruto usually comes here for lunch. After that do you know where he went?" He said in a rush, startling Teuchi, the owner of Ichiraku.

The old man rubbed at his chin thinking. "Naruto, let's see… Jiraiya-San came in and ate with him. He said where he was going… Let's see… He was going to leave town for a little bit, take the cattle road down to the hotel town or something. Jiraiya-san took him along when he left."

"Jiraiya?" Sasuke asked impatiently. He had no idea who the old man was talking about.

"A great ninja. The three's Jiraiya." He said holding up three fingers. "Spotting him is easy. A big white haired man."

Sasuke rushed out not even bothering to thank the man and ignored the shout after him. It wasn't far so he took off out of the village as fast as he could, completely focused on the revenge he would take as soon as he saw his brother.

…

At the entrance to the small town he looked around, there were too many buildings to visit one by one so he hit the first inn closest to the entrance.

He slid to a stop in front of the desk slapping his hand down on the wooden top. "Is there a blonde stupid-faced guy about my age and a large white haired old man staying here?"

The man tipped his head up, "Ummm, yeah I think I know the people you're looking for."

"Which room?" He demanded.

"213." The man told him sneering at the boy who rudely left at a run up the stairs.

Sasuke stopped at the door to the room, slightly out of breath and pounded on it. It seemed like it took forever for the knob to start turning and as soon as the door cracked open he pushed it in shouting his teammates name and scaring the two occupants in side. He stared in horror when he saw that the two in the room were the wrong people.

…

It took a moment for Naruto to snap out of his shock but when he opened his mouth to say something he was interrupted. "However, could this child really be the Kyuubi?"

Naruto's gaze jumped to the taller person behind the Uchiha who had spoken. He looked completely unnatural. He looked like a shark in human form and his eyes darted between the two in front of him.

"Naruto, we would like you to come with us." The older Uchiha said monotonously.

Naruto stared up at him. His face was completely blank but his eyes seemed as if he were trying to convey something, only Naruto couldn't tell what and when Itachi's eyes quickly jumped to the direction of the person still standing behind him, he almost missed it.

Naruto knew he was smart and more than often he was oblivious to body language but there was something going on here. He knew this man long ago and he had been kind and a good ninja. Naruto had liked him and felt safe in his presence. He still felt that way even staring into those Sharingan eyes, but the man behind him raised the hair on the back of his neck. So he went with his instincts; Naruto could only conclude that Itachi was here for him on another's behalf and the man behind him was keeping an eye on Itachi or something.

They could have just grabbed him, he obviously wasn't strong enough to face one never mind both of them but Itachi had asked him to come along. Was he waiting for Naruto to escape or for someone to show up and save him?

"Come out of the room." He spoke once again in that slow emotionless way and Naruto didn't move a muscle hoping like hell that Jiraiya would show up soon because it looked like Itachi couldn't give himself away and let Naruto go but was wasting as much time as possible.

"Itachi, it's time we got started." The strange shrake-like man reached up to grasp the hilt of a sword strapped to his back. "We don't need him running off. We should cut off a leg."

Naruto's eyes widened in fear but he made his way into the hall slowly, trying to prolong them taking him for as long as possible. They moved back out of the doorway and he stood looking up at them fearfully. Itachi did nothing but had Naruto not been watching him as close as he was, he would have missed the minute change in the man.

"It has been a while, Sasuke."

Naruto's eyed his teammate standing at the end of the hall. Why was he there and how did he know where to find them. He shouldn't have been there when they still hadn't figured out what was going on with Itachi and he hoped Sasuke wouldn't do anything stupid but that hope was in vain when he saw the utter hatred on his face.

"Itachi Uchiha." His voice dripped with disgust and contempt.

"Today is a special day indeed. This is the second time I've seen another Sharingan." The blue man mused aloud.

"I will. Kill you." Sasuke's words were nothing but a growl as he ignored anything but his hated brother.

"You seem to be familiar with Itachi." The shark man said over his shoulder at Sasuke. "Who is this guy." He said to his partner without waiting for a reply from the younger Uchiha.

"He's my… younger brother."

The taller man looked surprised by that. "I heard the entire Uchiha clan was wiped out… By you."

Once again Sasuke ignored the byplay between his brother and the unknown man. To him Itachi was all that mattered here. "I've been wanting to say this to you… I've lived hating you and I've lived to only kill you." He raised his hand and channeled his chakra forming the chidori. "I have lived for this." He screamed the words, his eyes holding gleam of madness.

He ran at Itachi, gouging the wall of the inn as he rapidly made his way to his brother. Itachi had no intention of moving and as soon as Sasuke was within reach, he grabbed the younger boys forearm stopping him in his tracks.

Naruto had been scared before but now he was terrified. He had no idea what was going on but he knew he had to stop them until he had more information so he reached for the Kyuubi's chakra and began channeling it. He heard the murmur of Sasuke and Itachi's voices but paid no attention to them until he heard the distinct sound of bone snapping. "Sasuke!" Naruto shouted, his voice wavering with fear. He hadn't gathered nearly enough chakra to summon any one of the helpful toads but he could hold off no longer, even if this only helped to distract them long enough for he and Sasuke to get away.

Naruto started the hand signs for the summoning jutsu," Ninpou. Kuchiyose no-" He was interrupted by the swipe of a huge sword. However the swing of that sword not only cut off his jutsu, he now couldn't feel any of the chakra he just gathered.

"My Samehada eats chakra." Naruto looked up at the unnamed ninja, shocked. He had no idea that was possible. "Now that your jutsu is gone you should be no problem. First, should I chop off an arm or cut off a leg?" Naruto had no time to even take a step back before that sword was once again swinging his way.

He did jump back in surprise when a toad twice the size of him, appeared between him and the shark guy, stopping his sword in mid swing. Then he hears a familiar voice behind him. "You don't seem to know very much about me… I'm better at getting girls than they are at trying to get me. Even though it doesn't look like it, It's my specialty. Naruto smiled slightly; leave it to the pervert to be conversational about women in a dangerous situation.

"I, Jiraiya, the epitome of manliness, will fall for no women's wiles. When you're someone like me, you only have to flash that sexiness to have women fall at your feet."

Naruto wanted to shake his head in exasperation or slap the man behind him for his proclamation. He was guessing that either the women had been a distraction or the pervert had struck out. He looked over his shoulder at the Sennin. The woman was thrown over one large shoulder, out cold. Distraction then.

"So it's one of the legendary three ninja, the great Jiraiya eh? You like beautiful women but we weren't thinking that such a simple method could successfully stall you anyway." The man grinned showing off a mouth full of needle sharp teeth. "In any case, it seems you have already undone the Genjutsu binding the woman."

The old man gently removed the woman and set he down to lean against the wall out of the way. "You guys wanted to draw me away so you used the Sharingan to cast a Genjutsu on a woman, huh? Not a very manly way of doing things." He said conversationally, stepping back up behind Naruto. "So you really are after Naruto?"

Having it said so blatantly sent a frown to Naruto's face. He already knew they were after him this was just confirmation after the fact, but that still didn't clear anything up for him. He knew Itachi knew about the Kyuubi and had for years and Itachi had plenty of opportunities to get him when he was in ANBU or even the night he left the village. There were too many questions and no answers. It was something that Naruto was going to have to talk through with the pervert, maybe a fresh set of eyes would be able to see what he was missing.

"No wonder Kakashi knew about this, you were the source of information." Itachi's words were soft spoken, almost thoughtful. "To abduct Naruto. Those were the orders given to us by the higher echelons of our organization, Akatsuki."

Naruto's frown deepened. It wasn't much but why would they give the enemy more information and it was obvious that Jiraiya knew more than naruto had thought so talking to the old man was a must at this point.

Jiraiya scowled, "You won't get Naruto."

"And why not?" Itachi replied once again emotionless.

"Because right here and right now you two will die by my hands."

"Don't do it," Naruto sighed softly. Everyone called him the idiot but even as terrified as he was he could still see that he was no match for these men, why couldn't Sasuke see that after he just got his arm broken and that was after his brother stopped the Chidori.

"This guy is mine." Naruto couldn't understand how anyone could hate to the point that their words reflected the feeling.

Itachi's eyes narrowed down at Sasuke and Naruto knew that this wasn't going to end well. Sasuke should have just stayed down, because at this point it looked like he was forcing Itachi's hand. The older Uchiha hand made no move to do anything until Sasuke attacked first. "I have absolutely no interest in you right now." He kicked his leg out, throwing the younger boy into the wall.

Naruto couldn't stop his teammates name from passing his lips. Naruto took a step forward, intending to bypass both ninja to check on Sasuke but was stopped. "Naruto, I told you don't. This fight is mine." He was taken aback by all that hatred turned his way.

He just wanted to make sure his friend was okay; he was still sitting there with blood dripping down his chin and he was provoking Itachi. "Come on!" When Itachi started walking slowly towards his brother Naruto's breathing picked up, his heart was pound in fear for Sasuke. All Itachi did though was punch him in the stomach, he wasn't putting any effort into subduing Sasuke.

"No mercy at all." The comment was paired with an amused chuckle.

Naruto didn't see it that way at all and as much as he wanted to stop what was going on he had to grit his teeth and watch, cataloging everything in the back of his mind. He watched Sasuke slump to the ground and then Itachi picking him up by his neck to stare him in the eye. In a split second Sasuke screamed.

"Itachi I would advise you against using your eye so many times in a single day." There was no concern or worry when the other man spoke, only fact. Sasuke had stopped screaming and Naruto wanted badly to go to him and make sure he was alright.

Finally though the pervert behind him did something, "Ninpou. Gama Guchi Shibari." Naruto's head swung back and forth, the walls, ceiling and floor had turned a nasty pink color and looked squishy; not that he wanted to reach out and touch them. And Jiraiya's next words turned his own stomach. "Too bad Itachi...Kisame. You're already in my stomach. Black magic to summon the esophagus of the giant toad from Myoboku Mountain Rock Inn. You wanted criminals, I hope you enjoy being food for Iwagama."

Naruto was having trouble staying upright because of the gently undulating mass of tissue beneath him and he was working very hard not to think about just what he was standing on. "Naruto stay still. Don't worry it's just my jutsu." Jiraiya reassured.

Itachi had spun quickly towards his partner, "Kisame come."

Kisame took a step to follow Itachi before he realized his sword was being held fast by the flesh below them. "Shit." He jerked it free and held it away from the walls and floor as he rushed to Itachi's side.

"No one sneaks away from here without my awareness." Jiraiya said lowly and then the walls started closing in as Itachi and Kisame sped down the hall away from them. For a moment it looked as if they would be caught but somehow they got free and from the look of jiraiya he wasn't sure how. When the older man opened the closed portion of flesh, the hall was completely empty and there was a large hole where they escaped through. They approached the hole to find the edges of it burning with black fire. It didn't matter how close Naruto got to it there was no heat and he was scolded by the pervert when he got too close.

He moved back to stand in front of Jiraiya when he knelt down and pulled out a scroll and brush. He watched in fascination as he painted out a seal and then sealed the black fire in the scroll. He stood back up and tucked the scroll into his Haori. "Well now, everyone alright then?"

Naruto startled, he had forgot about Sasuke. "Sasuke?" There was no answer and he ran to where Sasuke was stuck in the still pink wall. "Sasuke!" He yelled as Jiraiya released his jutsu and the walls went back to normal causing Sasuke to slide down and slump to the floor. Naruto knelt next to the younger Uchiha and placed a hand on his shoulder. His eyes were open and he was breathing but there was no response from the boy. He tilted his head to look him in the face and pulled in a sharp breath at Sasuke's absolutely blank eyes. Before they could do anything though there was a loud shout and green blur. "Dynamic Entry!"

"Gai?" Jiraiya exclaimed in surprise just as he was knocked back by a kick. Jiraiya sat up and glared at the green clad ninja.

Gai rubbed at the back of his neck sheepishly. "Sorry for the direct attack. I was in a rush and using my Hitai-Ate as a mirror and I didn't mean it. The reflection didn't give a clear picture so I hit you by accident."

"You didn't do it on purpose? Well that's alright then but Sasuke needs to get to a hospital. He seems to have a broken rib and for some reason the Sharingan cause a mind attack to make him lose his senses."

Naruto looked up at the white haired man worriedly. "Is Sasuke going to be okay?"

Jiraiya frowned, "He took a tolerable amount of mental damage."

"The same thing happened to Kakashi," Gai told them unusually serious.

"Kakashi-Sensei." Naruto said loudly his mouth getting away from him once again.

"He has to stay in bed until his senses return. When students are injured… Well, this time I think it's harmed his mind. Medical care specialists should be around in case this should continue to happen, don't you think?" Jiraiya narrowed his eyes at Gai and Naruto had a feeling that once again he was missing something.

Gai placed Sasuke on his back and they followed him out of the Inn. He stopped and turned toward them, "Please find Tsunade and bring her back." Naruto figure that whoever it was they were talking about could help Sasuke and Kakashi.

"Don't worry we'll find her just please take care of Sasuke, bushy brows."

Gai leaned down, "Naruto, you've got guts kid. I like that. I'm giving this to you." He reach into his Jounin vest and tossed something to the blonde. Naruto held up a jumpsuit just like Gai's and Lee's and his face faltered. He didn't hesitate to ignore the enthusiastic speech about it and then thanked the man politely after. Naruto watched him make his way back to the village while he and Jiraiya continued on with their mission.