Chapter One

The window rattled ominously as the chakra driven winds flew past, carrying what seemed to be an entire village's worth of dirt and gravel past. The larger stones nicked the once smooth glass, making it weaker in some sections. Soon, Sasuke thought, he would have to move to another room. He tilted his head slightly, glancing out at the storm. The whirlwind of sand, water, and, on occasion, fire had not let up once since the day that man had died along with one he might once have called a friend. The pencil in his hand snapped and his eyes flashed red, but he calmed himself almost instantly. The wind would be gone soon – moved on to bother someone else – and then he could forget the troublesome memories it carried.

The black-haired missing-nin scratched his shoulder absently. It was merely a habit. No matter how high his anger flared, the curse seal would never spread out and consume him again, though not because of anything the teams sent to rescue him might have done. Orochimaru had removed it himself, having found someone he would rather go after. Someone who was smart enough to steal the secrets of the sharingan after Itachi's death.

There it went again – the red gleam in his eye burning with all the hate he still felt for that man. Sasuke scowled, pushing down his rage once more and settling himself down to begin writing. Yes the seal was gone, but only so that Orochimaru could trade his body to another group of people in return for their aid in the climax of the war with Konoha.

Sasuke's letter was important to everyone on the side of the Sound, which precisely why he was giving it to the Uzumaki – the winds that now traveled the lands. Through some tie the chakra driving the winds still had to the dead boy's body, the Uzumaki could always be counted on to help friends of Naruto's. Sasuke wasn't sure what he counted as, but hoped the winds would recognize his attempts to warn Konoha about something disturbing he'd found not too long ago. Orochimaru had been there, so he already knew, so it wasn't as if Sasuke could be killed for trying to hide information. However, giving it to Konoha was treason, which was why he chose to rely on the Uzumaki.

Tsunade-sama,

The Akatsuki have joined with Orochimaru. He no longer desires possession of my body so has traded me to them. I was sent with Orochimaru-sama to investigate the aftermath of the battle between Itachi and Naruto. No traces remain of either, but there was a strong trace of another's chakra leading to and from the site. We suspect someone from your village. Orochimaru believes it to be a Hyuuga – I do not know why. Watch their compound closely. They have the secret of the Sharingan now and he will come after it.

Sasuke

He thought about adding something at the end – maybe a "I'm sorry I left" or "I didn't want him to die" – but decided that neither sentiment was true. He did, however, wish to return to Konoha, even if it was under parole. There was nothing left for him to do at this point, so honoring Naruto's last wishes and going back to that place seemed like the only goal he could possibly still have.

Maybe he would talk to Sakura a bit more. She never seemed as bad as this lack of purpose he felt now, even in his worst memories of her. Final words settled on, he leant down to write a short note to the pink-haired girl. Hopefully, she wasn't already taken, although he wasn't sure he would care if she was. Just another possible hope down the drain. The Uzumaki had other plans though. Before he could manage more than her name, the winds shifted just enough to break the already thin window and send sliver shooting into him. The parchment ripped out of his hand and was gone almost as quickly, so the blood dripping off him from the stinging cuts didn't even manage to stain the letter.

In an instant, the sand piled into the room, cutting into his skin. Behind him, his current guardian, Kisame, opened the door and watched in annoyance as the wind began to work at the wall surround where the window had been. If only they'd been able to capture that boy before, when he didn't have such an understanding of his chakra. Maybe then the Akatsuki would contain this vast power.

Maybes didn't do anything for him though, and as one of the eight remaining Akatsuki, he understood that. What he had now was Sasuke, someone who might or might not turn into an acceptable replacement for the man lost. If it proved to be the latter, they would steal the Sharingan and continue their mission for power. Perhaps they'd let Sasuke have some other pair of eyes so he could watch them.

The grey-skinned man's eyes narrowed, contorting his face to seem even more shark-like than usual. He studied Sasuke, who had to be aware of his presence, yet didn't turn away from the punishing winds. From the angle he was viewing the scene from, he could just barely see the boy's expression. One maybe that did him even less good than all the others was the most tempting one. Maybe he should just kill Sasuke and let him die with that peaceful expression on his face.

That maybe was quickly squashed, and he grabbed Sasuke's wrist.

"Come on," he found himself muttering, though through the howling of the chakra driven winds, the final remnant of the fox-demon, he doubted even Sasuke's acute hearing would pick up his words, "We need to find new shelter. The Uzumaki's aren't supposed to leave until tomorrow. They'll be heading for the Mist after that, and'll probably pick up some mud, so we can't go in that direction."

Kisame pulled, but the body attached to the arm he was holding refused to budge. Snarling, he jerked Sasuke back. He hated to gritty feeling of the sand, and hated not being able to carry his sword because of it. Having a chakra-eating sword normally came in handy, but it was dangerous to handle if it got too much chakra. Bringing it out in weather like this wasn't an option then.

Sasuke turned then and shook his head. Using what few hand-signs he knew, he managed to pass on his message to his guardian. The Uzumaki is going back to the Fire Country. It's going to be leaving soon.

As his hands flipped through the last of the gestures, the wind died down and retreated to where it came from. Kisame's gaze flicked between the dark-haired boy in front of him and the growing distance between the Uzumaki and himself. Had it been anyone else, he would have been suspicious, but from the very beginning, when the Kyuubi's chakra first exploded and tons of dust into the sky, blocking out the sun's light and creating the Uzumaki, Sasuke had been able to read the winds' path far better than any other, provided he was close to them. When he got right up next to him, he became someone else – someone Kisame thought might be like how Itachi had been at that age: quiet, calm, and content to let his mind go. After those moments, Sasuke always wore a strange smirk that on anyone else might be called a smile.

Something about Sasuke made the winds talk to him, and Kisame hated him for that along with the thousands of other reasons a person could possibly have for hating another. Somewhere within those whispers and biting blows, hid Itachi's final moments. Those were seconds only Sasuke could know. They were seconds that Kisame should have been able to remember – he'd been there damn it! – but couldn't.

Right now, he couldn't allow that hatred to rule him though. He had to be the cool one now. Sasuke could be the one always eager to get into the fight. Among the Akatsuki it was well known that Itachi had always been the one in charge of the missions. The man had time and time again proven to be capable of thinking clearly and rationally when Kisame could not. The missing-nin had accepted that, and life had continued.

This time, however, he would not allow a similar thing to happen. He would prove to be far more collected than Sasuke, and so, even if Sasuke became his teammate, the boy wouldn't get ahead of him. Sasuke would never get a chance to fill in his brother's position, because Kisame would take that away from him before the boy ever knew it was there.

Finally forcing down his urge to yank Sasuke's arm off, Kisame nodded. "Then we'll go back to the Lightning Country the shorter way. Our hostage there is being difficult."

Sasuke nodded. He'd heard a lot about their hostage, and though he was never told the name directly, he had a good idea as to the hostage's identity. It would be nice to meet up with the Sand's newest Kazekage again. The last time they'd met, he didn't think he'd made a very good impression. Sasuke snorted. Not that it mattered what Gaara thought of him. He was just glad to be going somewhere, doing something.

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A candle flared within the darkness of her chamber. Not that it was really hers, but no one else ever bothered to make the long descent down below the Hyuuga compound. Pale violet eyes flitted across the room, inspecting the chakra around her. No different. That was good. That meant that no one knew about her mission.

She was supposed to be at a friend's house tonight, but she'd begged off, saying that her father wanted her to train with her sister instead. She hadn't bothered to inform her father of this development.

Instead, she brushed a tendril of dark hair away from her eyes and studied the body in front of her. It was carefully preserved to keep the blood fresh and usable. She laughed, a nervous sound that seemed to be swallowed up by the oppressive air pervading the room. She would be getting a great deal of power tonight, and with that power she would copy as many jutsus as possible. Without needing to spend hours at a time to learn a new skill, she would have more time to dissect the abilities. Then, once she'd learned enough, she would bring him back.

Hinata glanced over at Naruto's body, which she'd preserved even more carefully than Itachi's. For just a moment, it seemed that he was breathing, and she hurried closer. At the last second though, she tripped, and when she regained her balance, he wasn't moving. She glared at Itachi's body as if the mirage was its fault somehow and walked back over to it with a faint swishing of her robes.

"This – this is very important," she murmured to herself as she drew a kunai from a holder at the missing-nin's side. "I have to – have to bring Naruto-kun back. He's helped me so much and I – I've never helped him any." She smiled softly, cutting away the skin near the eyes and collecting the blood that flowed out. "I'll bring him back, even if it takes forever."

Only a hundred feet above her, the Uzumaki swirled restlessly amidst a row of houses. It wanted to leave, but it couldn't before delivering the message. Finally, when no ANBU guards turned up to collect the note, it folded in on itself and started down the streets, careful not to wreck any of the houses. The people inside watched with a vague disinterest and returned to their lives.

The Uzumaki made it as far as the Hokage's sleeping quarters before anyone thought to stop it. Shizune was waiting in front of the door, hand out to catch the letter. It threw out the paper and disappeared out a window. Shizune watched it for only a few seconds – enough time to notice the spark of fire burning in its nucleus – and shook her head. Rather than think too hard on the mystery that was the Uzumaki, she opened the note.

She ran through the door. Even Tsunade-sama couldn't sleep through this.

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Author's Note: So! I'm back again with a whole new story. If you remember Sakura Trees, you might remember the bit of OOCness I had. All right – the couple tons of it I had. This fic will hopefully prove itself to be slightly better. Other than that though . . . I'm doing a Sasuke-centric fic this time. It's based off of both the idea of a nuclear winter and the story Under the Shadow of the Moon. (Don't bother to look for similarities. If there are any, they're purely coincidental. The connection between the two is very loose.)