Disclaimer: Naruto does not belong to me.

Admit Defeat

Chapter 2: The life of an Uchiha

By: Kisu

---

"Boss, that looks like a nasty injury."

"Shut up, Kiba."

"Uhm…can I sign it?"

"Kiba!" Sakura hissed before resuming cooing over the gang leader.

"Idiot," Shikamaru muttered under his breath.

"What did you say?" Kiba demanded. He shifted to look behind him where a man sat, staring at the screen of a laptop.

"Huh?" Shikamaru looked up with a bored look on his face.

"Sakura, get off my lap." Sasuke frowned.

He felt a headache coming on from all the arguing. The girl with pink hair slid off his lap with a pout and into the empty spot next to him. His eyes scanned the room where his most trusted gang members were sitting around the private room. He frowned and felt the need to cross his arms. But one was in a sling wasn't it?

He bit back a curse.

"You know what you said." Kiba snapped, still stubbornly hanging on to the last comment.

"I didn't say anything." Shikamaru replied, lazily surfing the Internet.

"I saw Naruto today." Sasuke spoke up. This effectively shut them all up and they turned to stare at him in amazement. He arched an eyebrow at them and Chouji was the one to break the silence.

"Kyuubi?" He squeaked while he cleared his throat from a potato chip he had choked on.

"I thought it was him!" Sakura gasped in realization.

---

Naruto had once been one of the most important members in his gang. He had been the right hand man under his leadership. "Kyuubi" was his nickname, taken after a fearsome Nine-Tails demon. A nickname that stuck on him, because when Naruto got into a fight, he fought viciously and was nothing like his good nature. The first time Naruto had heard that nickname he had laughed it off and accepted it.

"It's kind of cool," he had grinned, while Sasuke stared at him in astonishment.

Naruto was one of the reasons why Sasuke had continued to control the gang after Itachi died. The second reason was Gaara. Gaara had met Naruto in high school and the two immediately hit it off. They had some unspoken connection that made them similar to each other. Personally, Gaara unnerved him with his cold green eyes and shockingly bright red hair. Not to mention the tattoo of the kanji letter "ai" on his forehead.

"It's because we are so much alike, Sasuke." Naruto had once explained to him, seriously. "It's because we are both orphans. But then Ryuujin is our family isn't it?"

Orphans.

The chatter of the gang members faded out, as he turned into his own thoughts.

Naruto had been orphaned at a very young age and Itachi had found him on the streets. He had been five years old and Sasuke had been six. Itachi was thirteen. Naruto had been a quiet boy with bright golden hair and remarkably blue eyes. Sasuke fell in love the moment he saw him.

The five year old had no recollection of his past and due to the abuse he had suffered—they reasoned that his parents had been addicts that died from overdoses. Soon after, with their love, they had brought Naruto out of his shell. His bright personality brightened up the house and even their father, Uchiha Kenji loved him. He was formerly adopted into the family as Uchiha Naruto and once again, their name struck fear in people's hearts.

However, good times never lasted long and Kenji died of a heart attack. Itachi had been twenty one and became the youngest gang leader in history. But then two years later, he was killed and Sasuke took leadership at sixteen.

Naruto became withdrawn after that and he refused to fight again.

One year later, he left without a word.

And things slowly went downhill.

---

"Is he coming back?" Neji asked suddenly. His voice stirred Sasuke's out of his thoughts and they turned to stare at him. Neji was a distant cousin of Sasuke's with no blood relation. He belonged to one of the oldest families of the Ryuujin.

"No." Sasuke replied, flatly.

"What?" Neji narrowed his eyes. "What the hell is he doing that is more important than us?"

"He's a doctor at Konoha Hospital." Sasuke told him, tiredly. Neji leaned back in the couch and draped his arm on the armrest.

"Konoha?" he repeated. "My cousin works as a nurse there."

"Is her name, Hinata?" Sasuke asked as the nurse that had helped patch him up, popped into his head. No wonder she had looked familiar.

"Yeah! She's really pretty!" Kiba chimed in from beside Neji. Neji whipped his head around to face him and slammed his fist down onto Kiba's head.

"Don't go near her." Neji threatened. "We don't need someone like you to taint our lineage." He closed his eyes sighed. "Besides, she's Hiashi's daughter and she likes the residential doctor. Uzu - something."

"Uzumaki." Sasuke supplied while Kiba shivered at the name of Hyuuga Hiashi. Hiashi had an infamous reputation of torturing guys who came on to his daughters.

"Yeah. Uzumaki." Neji repeated with his eyes still closed.

"Uzumaki Naruto." Sasuke said, softly. "Uzumaki was Naruto's original last name."

"What if we were to talk to him, Boss?" Chouji asked.

"I don't think it'll help." Sasuke murmured. He sighed and stared at his cast. He had been so careless to race against Kabuto, he knew he should have sent someone else to do the job. Now he was a sitting duck, and was waiting for the hounds and hunters to get to him.

---

"Uchiha Naruto."

The voice crept up behind him and he froze. Then, he swung around wildly. "Who's there?" he demanded, his blue eyes flickering back and forth. The underground garage was dimly lit and there was no one around. Besides, he was tired and he wanted to go home to get some sleep.

"Are you him?"

"No. You got the wrong person." Naruto replied, calmly.

"You are foolish to leave yourself in the open." The voice continued. "You shouldn't walk around without bodyguards."

"I'm a doctor. I don't need bodyguards." Naruto said, arching an eyebrow.

The owner of the voice broke out into laughter. "I will take you hostage in exchange for the death of Uchiha Sasuke."

What was he? A woman? Naruto thought, darkly as he frowned in irritation. He really wanted his bed right now. Why couldn't they leave him alone and capture Sakura or something? He was sure that Sasuke would rescue her.

Well…maybe.

"We know you are very close to the Ryuujin leader." The voice continued. Naruto was very irritated now and he adjusted his glasses as the speaker walked out of the shadows.

"I have no idea what you are talking about," he replied, turning to walk away. "I have no business with you." The other man's eyes glittered and he reached into the folds of his trench coat, drawing out a wicked looking knife.

Then he dove forward and sliced down onto Naruto's exposed back.

---

Hinata stopped to catch her breath. She was in a hurry to catch up to Naruto. Tsunade had called for an early meeting the next morning and it was her job to inform him. She rounded the corner and caught sight of the doctor. No sound came from her lips as she saw a strange man appear behind him. She watched in horror as Naruto continued to walk away, leaving his back exposed.

"Naruto!" she screamed with terror.

The blade of the knife glinted as it came down onto the young doctor's back, ripping through the lab coat and the dress shirt he wore underneath. For a moment, the attacker froze as the exposed eye of the Nine-Tails glared at him.

But that was the moment Naruto needed as he lashed out with a back kick into the man's face. It was followed by a roundhouse kick to the man's side, which brought him down onto the floor. Naruto stood there with his hands in his pockets. He hadn't even broken a sweat.

"You truly are…Kyuubi." The man gasped, wincing from the strong kicks. Naruto's gaze slid from the man's face to the tattoo of the cobra on his forearm.

"Tell Orochimaru that I do not take kindly to those who threaten my family," he said in a bored tone. Then he turned and walked away, leaving the injured man behind.

Hinata slid down and caught her breath, shakily. She had seen a glimpse of the fearsome tattoo on Naruto's back. Its eye was the single thing that had been visible to her but it had been enough. Because the tattoo represented what Naruto was capable of and it frazzled her nerves. Naruto, who was the kind young doctor, also had another side. It was a dangerous side that she didn't want to get in contact with.

She turned to look over her shoulder to see the injured man rush off as fast as possible and there was no sign of Naruto. With shaking fingers, she pulled out her cell phone and dialed a number.

---

"What?" Neji exclaimed. "I'll come get you." He got up and grabbed his jacket from the couch.

"What's wrong?" Tenten, his girlfriend stood up as well.

"Hinata told me that there was an attempted attack on Naruto." Neji said. This brought everyone to their feet. Sasuke clenched his can of beer angrily and the contents spilled up and over his bandaged hand. He dropped it unceremoniously onto the floor.

"He has begun to move already," he hissed. "I'll take care of this."

"Wait, Boss! You're injured!" Chouji protested, moving to his side. "We'll go."

"Yeah. We'll take care of this." A voice commented as its speaker stepped away from the wall. All of them turned to stare at the man with dark glasses. He wore a turtleneck that was pulled up over half of his face. Somehow, it looked strangely intimidating.

"Shino! You were there all along?" Kiba asked in astonishment.

"The wall has ears." Shino replied in his eccentric way. They all gave him blank stares until Neji, Shikamaru, and Tenten grabbed their belongings.

"Chouji stay here. You too, Tenten." Neji ordered. "We need people to watch over Sasuke." Tenten nodded as she sat back down and Chouji shrugged as he opened another bag of chips. "We'll be right back, Boss. Don't go anywhere." Sasuke sat back down and watched them exit the room.

He closed his eyes tiredly. How had his older brother handled this?

---

"Boss, I did come across Kyuubi as you said." The man from before said, ducking his head. The gang leader of Shinja was a man in his early thirties. Orochimaru was a man with a pale complexion and long dark hair that cascaded down his shoulders. He was a man that was hard to please and easy to anger.

"Good." Orochimaru said, slowly. "Now we know where Uchiha Naruto resides."

"Yes, he mentioned that he was a doctor." The man told him with courtesy.

"Kabuto." Orochimaru called out as his favorite henchman. The man with silver hair bowed politely as he stepped out of the sidelines. "Your task is to capture Kyuubi. Alive."

"As you wish, sir." Kabuto said, solemnly.

"Soon, Ryuujin will be brought down." Orochimaru smiled.

---

The motorcycles screeched to a halt and Hinata rose to her feet. Her silver eyes were filled with relief as she walked out to meet them.

"Hinata." Her cousin got off his motorcycle and walked up to her.

"Neji!" she smiled, shakily.

"Are you hurt?" he asked her. She shook her head.

"Hinata!" Kiba yelled as he ran forward. Neji purposely stuck out his foot to trip Kiba, and soon he was sprawled on the floor.

"Damn cousin complexes," he muttered as he got up.

"Neji, the man took off." Hinata told him.

"Was Naruto harmed?" Shikamaru asked, turning off the headlight on his motorcycle.

"No, only the man." Hinata said.

"Which way did Naruto go?" Shikamaru prompted. Hinata raised her arm and pointed to the direction of the rest of the parked vehicles in the garage.

"He went that way."

"What happened to Shino?" Kiba asked, suddenly. They looked around and indeed the man was missing.

But he was always missing, wasn't he?

---

He found him on the bridge, overlooking the city and a large body of water.

"Naruto."

The blonde man gave him a glance before taking the last drag from his cigarette. Smoking had been a habit that he had picked up from Itachi. Sasuke had always despised the smell of tar and nicotine.

"Shino, what are you doing here?" he asked him as he dropped the butt of the cigarette onto the ground. Then, he snuffed out the dying embers with the ball of his foot.

"You look well." Shino nodded.

"Hm, you do too." Naruto replied, pleasantly. He turned and leaned onto the railing and inhaled deeply. Shino walked forward and stood next to him, observing him through his dark glasses. How he could see through the glasses in the dark was always a mystery.

"Are you all right?" Shino asked, quietly.

"Why wouldn't I be?" Naruto turned to look back at him with a confused look. The wind ruffled his blonde hair and the torn shirt he wore. Shino knew that the tattoo on his back was exposed, even though he couldn't tell in the dark.

"We came to look for you." Shino told him. "Hinata called us."

"Hinata?" Naruto repeated. "She's Neji's cousin, isn't she? They look alike."

"They might try to attack you again. You will be safer with us." Shino commented.

"I'll never be safe anywhere." Naruto laughed, good-naturedly. "Besides, I'm a doctor now. I help people." He reached over and patted him on the shoulder. "If I leave now, who will help them?" He turned and looked away with a crooked grin on his face. "I can take care of myself. Just make sure you take care of Sasuke."

Shino watched as Naruto walked over to his bike and strapped on his helmet. "It was nice seeing you again, Shino. Ja!" Naruto turned his bike around and tore down the street.

Shino raised his hand in acknowledgement and dropped it when Naruto was out of sight.

Well he's done his part.

---

Kisu.