Hey all, bit of a shorter chapter this time around. I've decided to try and put the A.N. up here because I think I like the format better.I apologize for being gone so long. School got horrible near the end there and I honestly needed to decompress. I'm excited for upcoming chapters and how the story is going to kick off! I hope you enjoy reading!

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Chapter 6: Purpose

While Itachi dealt with his mission and ensured that Sasuke would remember the events that had happened this day, his clone was running off in the direction that his crow had reported Kiyu coming from. The clouds had darkened at this time and the beginnings of a light downpour fell down upon the clone's chakra body. He flew towards his projected target, disturbing the newly formed puddles along the way.

He could see them, the two children standing stiff at the gate. They were staring down at the dead guards lying on the ground. There was no mistaking what had happened. The Itachi-clone prepared himself to chase down terrified children and herd them back. Only, as he prepared to jump towards the next rooftop, he was surprised by the children below. The obviously identifiable Uchiha girl had grabbed the hand of the young boy he was assuming was Konoha's Jinchuriki and began leading him forward deeper into the compound, despite the obvious danger present. Unfortunately, the direction they had chosen to move would put them directly on path to meet with Sasuke and the real Itachi before the final preparations could be made. He had to intercept them.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Naruto, come on! We have to get to my parents!" Kiyu sharply whispered to her reluctant companion.

They had entered the gate to the Uchiha compound only to see that the usual morning guards were lying in steadily growing pools of murky, tainted water. Immediately, Kiyu's adrenal system kicked into overdrive. Stories her father had told her about the world's strongest criminals and the fame of the Uchiha across the world were running through her head as her mind conjured images of how something like this could have possibly have happened. Now that she was on high alert, it was pretty evident to the young sleuth Uchiha that someone had broken into the compound and by the silence in the air they had either been caught….. or had gotten what they had come for.

"Kiyu, hold on a second. There's something wrong here!" Naruto whispered. He was frantically looking around, desperately searching for the unseen threat. "If they got those guys we really don't stand a chance. Wouldn't it be better if we waited it out?"

Kiyu whipped around, sniffling with tears perched precariously in her eyes. "Naruto please! We gotta find my parents! Please…...I just want to make sure they're alright." She wiped her eyes and took a sharp breath in trying, but failing, to calm herself before her panicked pleading was interrupted by a dull voice coming from a nearby rooftop.

"Everything is as it should be Kiyu." Spoke a figure illuminated by the rising morning sun.

Both the children were startled by the voice above them until Kiyu could identify just exactly who was speaking to them.

"Itachi! Thank kami! What's going on? Is everything ok? Have you seen my parents?" Kiyu's questions were rapid and soaked in relief. The tension had already fallen from her shoulders as she began speed walking towards the storefront that Itachi had now dropped off to, in turn, begin walking leisurely towards the two kids.

"Yes, yes cousin. I saw them not too long ago. You live in the quarter by the stream, correct?" Itachi questioned with a gentle smile on his face, his hair now slightly matted to his forehead by the rain.

"Yes! I live in a little house in that area! Do you mind if you walk us there? It shouldn't be far." Confirmation by Kiyu rang through the air and while it had seemed that the tension and danger of the situation was dissipated, to young Naruto there was something…..wrong.

He couldn't put his finger on it, but looking at the relief on Kiyu's face he guessed he could assume everything was alright. He had heard Kiyu talk about Itachi before and, from what she had told him, Itachi sounded like a total badass so they were pretty safe as long as he was around. "So what is it that feels…..bad about this situation." Shaking his head from his thoughts, Naruto looked over to Kiyu and Itachi before realizing that he had been asked a question.

"Heh…..I'm sorry, could you repeat that?" Naruto chuckled nervously as he scratched the back of his head.

Kiyu, now standing side by side with Itachi, looked at Naruto curiously. "I asked you if there was something wrong. I haven't seen you this deep in thought since you were trying to figure out those chakra control exercises we…borrowed…from the academy."

Naruto looked over towards Kiyu deep in thought. His eyes slowly drifted over towards Itachi standing next to her. Itachi looked tired; Not like a normal tired either. Naruto recognized the type of tiredness he saw in the eyes of Itachi. He would see it on his own face after a night where he decided he didn't want to face the nightmares. He would work all through the night doing various things to stay awake, constantly moving, constantly thinking about what he would have to face should he stop and give into tiredness, into exhaustion.

"Ah…..sorry Kiyu, it's nothing. Itachi-san I don't believe we've met before so please excuse my rudeness but…..Are you ok? You look very tired." Naruto kept eye contact with Itachi as he asked his question. Once he did he noticed a subtle shift in Itachi's demeanor.

"Not to worry…..Naruto was it? I was just in the middle of work when this happened. If you like, you can go on home. I'm going to take Kiyu here to her parents." Itachi spoke with a smile and soft tones. His body language was open and friendly. But Naruto had seen it before.

Naruto had seen those same expressions in the caretakers in the orphanage when the Hokage visited. It was kind, it was friendly, it was calm, and most importantly, it was strained, impatient, and fake. It was the type of friendly demeanor that was born from inconvenience and maintained by outside incentive. It was as if at any moment when whatever was holding Itachi back, whatever the metaphorical Hokage was in this situation left, all hell would break loose.

Naruto, now growing more confident that something was very wrong, spoke as confidently as he could. "Actually Itachi-san, today is the first day of the academy and me and Kiyu were just going to be picking up her lunch before we left for our first day. If it's alright I'd like to come with her."

Itachi stared for several moments. The tension in the air grew uncomfortably thick. A bead of sweat rolled down Naruto's forehead as he seemed to wilt under the intense gaze of the seasoned shinobi. Then suddenly, it was all gone.

Itachi sighed. "Forgive me Naruto, but I just can't risk it. Konoha first." "Honestly, you really can't take a hint can you? You aren't Uchiha. You won't be a proper test of my power. Get lost child. You're only getting in the way."

Without hesitating Naruto jumped, launching himself at the confused form of his only friend with surprising speed. His unique physiology allowing him to reach her much faster than Itachi had been anticipating from the sudden move. In order to contest the sudden move, Itachi pushed a kunai into his hand and began cutting through the air, Kiyu's throat as the target.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Just what the hell is going on?" Kiyu thought to herself. She had begun today excited for her first day of school. She was on the cusp of beginning the most important journey of her life and she was going to share it with Naruto, her best friend. Her excitement ended when she saw those dead guards at the front gate. Thoughts of the academy faded and worries about her family, her parents, the people she loved ran through her head and consumed her thoughts. Relief had flooded through her like cool spring water the second that she had laid eyes on Itachi's form. She just knew everything was going to be ok.

Itachi was the pride of the Uchiha. Itachi was the protector of Konoha. Itachi was a hero and a direct servant to the hokage. So why was Naruto looking at Itachi like he was holding an explosive note? She heard him ask something and, from her familiarity with Naruto and his preferred methods of fighting, saw his body coil like a snake, ready to strike. Then Itachi had said those words.

"Honestly, you really can't take a hint can you? You aren't Uchiha. You won't be a proper test of my power. Get lost. You're in the way."

And Naruto had leaped into action, more desperation in his face than she had ever seen before. Over what? What was she missing? She turned her gaze over to Itachi in order to figure out what was going on. That's when she saw it. He had pulled a kunai out from his sleeve. That kunai was heading down in a short, horizontal ark directly towards her throat.

"Oh." Thought Kiyu. "I'm in danger." Her world passed by in slow motion; it seemed like minutes passed for each inch the sharpened instrument grew closer to her throat. She was paralyzed; unable to command her body to respond in any capacity. As the knife inched towards her throat her mind locked onto the gleaming piece of metal and became fixated on one single phrase. "I'm really going to die." Hey eyes shifted over towards the form of Naruto barreling through the air, but his trajectory was off, that was weird. It almost seemed like he wasn't aiming for Itachi in the first place…..

"No!" Kiyu screamed.

With the intensity of an explosion, time snapped back into its normal pace as Naruto collided with the young Uchiha. Immediately after the impact Kiyu felt as the young boy threw himself onto her, she felt another impact; However, this impact was more precise and felt through Naruto's body in the moments that they were dropping to the ground.

Itachi stood looking dumbly down at the two children. By the time he had realized where the trajectory of the boy's leap would lead him the momentum of his swing was undivertable. He had plunged the kunai to the hilt inside young Naruto's neck. He could see the tip of the knife peeking out the other side.

"He used himself as a shield…" Itachi maintained his cool, detached persona outwardly, but on the inside, Itachi was disgusted and slightly panicked. It was not the fact that he had killed; it was not even the fact that he had killed a child, though that was never his favorite part of his job. His entire life had been dedicated to the protection of Konoha. Even now, his mission was to sacrifice everything and everyone he had to preserve the future of Konoha. Yet, here he was; He had just killed Konoha's Jinchuriki. Accidentally of course, at this point Itachi was running on fumes and it was only a matter of time before his mind began to make mistakes, even if the one committing the mistake was just a clone. Now, standing above the body of this dead, steaming child…..

"Wait, why is he steaming?"

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

*Twitch*

"It's dark." was Naruto's first thought after the kunai had nearly decapitated him. He had a dull throb running through the length of his body, emanating from the knife wound in his neck.

*Shudder*

His mind felt hazy, as if his thoughts were a stream and he was desperately trying to catch them as they flowed seemingly with a mind of their own; slipping through his fingers to continue their foreign, destined path. Controlling his bodily functions, even slightly, seemed like the most monumental of feats. So then, why could he feel himself moving?

The other observers stared in growing horror as the young, slain boy pushed against the ground in an obvious attempt to stand back up. Naruto's head was nearly limp but fixed in place by the weapon penetrating it. However, to the young boy the knife seemed to be merely an inconvenience. A mere annoyance in his efforts to push against the ground and rise rise to his hands and knees. The steam wafting off his body was no longer gentle and rolling. Rather, it had taken on a blood red tint and was pushing against the air with an almost noticeable hiss.

Naruto gave a sub-vocal groan and slowly rose to his feet, swaying gently as if he were drunk and not murdered. The muscles in his throat wriggled beneath his skin around the kunai before puckering slightly around the wound. To the Uchiha observers, it appeared that Naruto took a moment to attempt to say something. Unfortunately, the only noises that left the child's mouth were deep, wet gurgles. Then, as if there were some unforeseen trigger, the muscles in Naruto's throat lurched and spit out the kunai; The resulting spray of blood painting the front of Kiyu's shirt-jacket combo. The unfortunate girl immediately wretched, spraying what little was in her stomach onto the wet grass.

Then Naruto moved.

It wasn't a lurch. There was no stumble. Naruto launched himself backwards, spinning in the air to face Itachi. His eyes were glassy and unfocused but blood red and full of hatred. Itachi could see whisker like scars elongate across his face even as he flew forewards, focusing his murderous intent. Naruto stretched out a hand, now clawed to part the air like only the sharpest of kunai. There was nothing discernibly human or childlike left in his demeanor.

However surprising, Itachi was a still seasoned warrior with reflexes honed through decades of rigorous practice. No amount of the unexpected would override that. Once Naruto got into range Itachi responded with a textbook Uchiha counter; Gripping his arm, delivering a sharp blow to the shoulder to dislocate and disable the joint, and using the momentum to wrench the boy to the ground.

To Itachi's surprise, and slightly to his disgust, the connective tissue underneath what should now be a limp, dislocated arm corrected themselves. As Itachi moved to connect the child to the ground, he heard a wet pop and saw the arm he was holding seemingly reattach itself backwards. His theory was proven when the boy he was attempting to grapple used his backwards facing arm to grip Itachi's forearm as a point of leverage and spun before hitting the ground. Once again, any connections that would have been strained rearranged beneath the skin before damage would typically become permanent.

Now laying on his back with a grip on the older teen's arm, Naruto pulled, attempting to wrap his legs around Itachi's throat. In response, Itachi ducked and struck out towards Naruto's point of leverage in an attempt to remove the berserker's grip on his person. Yet another wet snap was heard as the young boy's wrist was broken, causing the hand to go limp long enough for Itachi to pull his arm away.

"What the fuck was that?" Itachi thought to himself. "He should be dead! Even if he somehow wasn't killed by that kunai there's no way for a body to move like that. It's like every muscle fiber he has is alive and rearranging itself to best address a threat." His thoughts were interrupted when the boy lurched forwards again, this time throwing a wide sweeping claw with his unbroken hand in an attempt to disembowel the offending Uchiha.

Itachi drew his tanto and positioned it in front of the clawed hand in an effort to deter the swing. However, much to his confusion, the hand continued forwards making contact with the sharpened blade triggering an impromptu amputation of four of the clawed fingers and half the child's hand. The resulting blood splatter ran the length of his chest and ended its ark shortly after painting his face. Whatever this...thing...was didn't even slow down.

"I wasn't aware that he was so…..connected…..to his biju. This could be annoying." Itachi thought in exacerbation.

Itachi adjusted to the new flavor of combat on the fly. He moved backwards with his eyes closed in order to prevent the foreign fluids from damaging his eyes. He put just enough distance to throw a small water skin in the air, taking note of the power of the throw and the ark of the bottle, then, quickly closing the distance, he delivered a kick to where he could recognize through sound and feeling where the child was. The kick connected and Itachi felt an unsettling amount of ribs snap under the force he exerted. Using the new, greater distance created, Itachi took the opportunity to throw a kunai at where he had calculated the water bottle would be causing a spray of water to eject from the canister and fall into Itachi's face. The water running down his head proved effective enough to loosen the majority of the unsettlingly warm blood that the small drizzle couldn't remove and he quickly removed the last of the substance with a swipe of his sleeve.

Viewing the battlefield with now unobstructed eyes, Itachi saw the creature kneeling in front of a well damaged tree he had more than likely just peeled himself off of swaying drunkenly….limbs undamaged once more.

"Nothing can ever just be easy can it?" Itachi muttered to himself

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

To Kiyu's credit, she recovered relatively quickly all things considered. Once she had gotten over the shock of seeing her best friend throw himself in front of a killing blow and get back up seemingly impervious to damage, she had done her best to quickly leave the clearing they were dueling in. She wasn't a coward. No, she had realized that there was nothing she could do to help Naruto in any way. So while he was distracting Itachi she was going to get someone in the compound to help.

"Hang in there Naruto. I have no idea what the limits of whatever you're doing is but I promise I'll get help." Kiyu swore to herself as she traveled deeper into the compound in search of rescue.

Tragically, as she ran in search of help, her kin-slaying cousin's clone smiled as he worked to disable the demonic child in front of him. A crow cawing up ahead signaled that the original was done and was ready to receive the girl. His only duty was to stall out the Jinchuriki and any extra forces that would be making their way towards the original's location.

Itachi would complete his missions on this day.