Standard Disclaimers apply.
Black Clouds in the Distance
Chapter One - Return to the Past
"Do you miss it?" she asked solemnly, wrapping her arms around his waist. He relaxed in her hold. Blank, red eyes gazed at the bustling city below, but he didn't respond.
She smiled softly, eyes alight with some strange emotion. "I understand," she whispered resting her head against his back.
Konoha. A place of memories.
Muscles sighed contentedly as Naruto slumped into a bar stool at Ichiraku after a long day of missions. Being a chuunin was hard work, but it was paying off as he found his place among comrades and along with it, a sense of peace.
"Oy, a bowl of pork ramen, oji-san!"
The old owner glanced at his most frequent customer briefly before placing a steaming hot bowl of ramen in front of the starved boy.The delicious fragrance of teriyaki pork wafted through the air and inhaling it, his mouth watered.
However many times he had ramen, he would never get tired of it. Naruto smiled, clapped his hands, picked up his chopsticks and as always joyfully said, "Itadakimasu". Ramen halfway to his mouth, Konohamaru suddenly popped in shouting, "Naruto!" To say he was shocked at the sudden intrusion would have been an understatement. He dropped his chopsticks and leapt a good two feet in the air as the whole bowl of ramen flopped and landed quite painfully in his lap.
"Yow!" he shouted fumbling and hopping around trying to ease the scalding sensation. "Konohamaru!" he yelled accusingly, but the little boy didn't even seem fazed.
"Naruto, there are some intruders in the village!" he exclaimed excitedly.
His sour mood didn't lessen, however there was now a growing concern and alarm.
"Where are they?" he asked hurriedly.
Konoha was constantly protected by rotating ANBU squads making sure that only recognized people were allowed in and escorting clients. There were sometimes other ninja present during the chuunin exam, but all other intruders were taken care of and blocked from getting near the village through secondary genjitsu, traps, and if necessary, combat. Whoever the strangers were, they would be very powerful to bypass the ANBU so easily.
"This way," Konohamaru motioned dashing out of the small ramen bar. Leaving some money for his ramen, he got up immediately and followed Konohamaru down Konoha's largest street.
Many of the villagers were standing together off the side of the street staring blatantly at the two strangers moving forward. There were already a group of jounins surrounding the pair and he could recognize Asuma and Kurenai among them. The villagers were whispering fearfully while the curious little children darted in between their parents' legs to get a better view of the rare situation. Naruto stopped directly in front of the crowd and shoved his way through.
He took in the black hair and even darker eyes and immediately recognized the taller man as Uchiha Itachi, cold-blooded murderer of his clan and source of Sasuke's desire for revenge. The fact did not go unnoticed by the other jounins as their hands flexed around their kunai and more jounins surrounded the pair.
"Konoyaro! How dare you show up here?" he demanded. Anger was filling his veins and he was furious, more than that, livid. Half the anger was due to the fact that this was a S-class criminal that just decided to walk casually into Konoha and the other was that this man had caused Sasuke so much agony and turned him to Orochimaru for power. Something even he couldn't prevent. Okay, maybe a little more than half of his anger orginated from the latter.
He didn't care and his rage was so overwhelming he didn't even warrant an answer choosing instead to shout, "Kage Bunshin." Several of his cloned counterparts appeared swiftly behind him rapidly forming a blue ball in his outstretched hand. Then shoving his hand forward to the still stoic Uchiha, he shouted, "Rasengan" only to have his wrist seized away, the ball slowly dissipating.
"That's enough, Naruto," stated a calm voice.
Naruto didn't have to turn around to know that the one-eyed sharingan user was the one that held his hand. "NO! It's not enough! I'll pound him into the ground! Don't you understand Kakashi? This is Uchiha Itachi! He killed all of the Uchiha clan! He made Sasuke to turn to Orochimaru!" he practically roared the last statement ripping his wrist out of said ninja's grip and gritting his teeth together.
"I know... but they must have a reason for wandering so openly into Konoha," Kakashi stated facing the Uchiha waiting for an answer to the unspoken question. "Besides," he stated offhandedly, "you're no match for him."
He remembered the last time he and the other Sharingan user met and clashed. It had ended up with him in the hospital for a month recovering from the three days torture the other had induced on him in a matter of seconds. Looking upon the Uchiha now, he noticed that the man was thinner than he remembered, but that was perhaps due to the absence of his Akatsuki cloak. He was garbed instead in a loose pair of black pants and similar black shirt.
"Are you Hatake Kakashi?" came a question. For the first time, both Kakashi and Naruto took notice of the smaller person beside the S-class criminal. She, for the person was definitely female, was short and hardly even reached Itachi's chin. Golden hair, wrapped into one long braid and then slung around her neck in a circle, glinted in the sun like some fanciful necklace. Dressed in a sleeveless red-trimmed black dress to her thighs and a pair of black pants, the two fit together.
"Is this Kakashi, Ita-chan?" she questioned cheerfully looking up at the undaunted Uchiha. He nodded slowly.
"I've wanted to meet you for a long time Kakashi-san," she continued. "You're rumored to be a very good ninja. What was it that they called you?... That's right, the copy ninja. It's very nice to finally meet you."
She was talking in such a cheery manner, almost like they were long time friends rather than opposing forces. There was no doubt all eyes were on her. Naruto for one was stunned into silence, shocked by the fact that the girl had just called the Uchiha Itachi, Ita-chan. Just the fact that she was on such friendly terms with him was enough to deem her dangerous.
If she noticed all those eyes on her, she didn't show it. She looked into up directly at Kakashi's one visible eye and for a moment, Kakashi couldn't breathe. Her eyes were the clearest shade of blue he had ever seen and they contained so much clarity that he was quite literally sucked in. He had seen too much of the world not to know that such brilliant innocence often faded and disappeared as one aged and matured.
The world was a cruel and ruthless place and every adult had faced some tragedy to erase their slate of innocence, something that even the naive Naruto was starting to see happen. He had never seen such eyes, not in such a world as this wrought with death, war, and occasional and often too short lapse for peace, nor did he ever expect to. But those eyes were staring at him at this very instant and he found he couldn't look away.
She broke her gaze and Kakashi found himself drifting back to awareness faltering a bit as he shook his head trying to get rid of his reverie. Her eyes had the same profound effect as Uchiha Itachi's did. They were probably a trick and he was foolish for falling so easily in her trap. No one could have such eyes.
"What are you doing here?" demanded Naruto loudly. It looked like Naruto had finally snapped out of his shock, and without a reply Itachi pulled a bag out of seemingly nowhere and dropped it in front of them.
Naruto's eyes widened considerably as he took in the body-shaped bag. They couldn't be that heartless as to drag in a corpse to taunt them, could they? It was something that Itachi would do, he thought. If only to screw with their minds. As if in answer to his thoughts, the girl smiled and said, "Open it." He approached the bag cautiously as Kakashi watched on and zipped open the bag, body becoming rigid from shock.
There in the bag was the body of a boy, still breathing if one could trust the slight movement of his chest. His hair was a little longer and he had a more haggard and thin appearance than normal, but it was him.
"Sasuke…" Naruto whispered, his voice barely a rasp since he was so shocked.
"We'll have to take him back to the hospital," Kakashi stated finally speaking.
"That's fine," the girl answered. "We'll leave him in your care. However it would be more than considerate of you to direct us to the Hokage. I have some matters to discuss with her." Kakashi nodded and the cloud of jounins dispersed a little to let them move forward.
As they headed off towards Konoha hospital, Naruto carrying Sasuke's body and moving speedily while the others followed silently, Kakashi observed the pair a little more. Itachi had lost his hitai-ate, bangs falling over the bare forehead, and the other girl didn't wear one either. Had Itachi cut off his association with Akatsuki?
Naruto sped up his pace trying to get Sasuke to the hospital faster, and before long, Kakashi and the cloud of other jounins still following, was left alone with the couple. The girl smiled as he looked her way.
"I'm afraid I haven't introduced myself," she stated. "Atashi wa Tsukino Usagi desu." Kakashi blinked and processed her name. Rabbit of the Moon, it fit her although he didn't know why he would think so. He barely knew her at all, and was sure that if anything, an animal to represent a companion of Itachi's would certainly not be a rabbit, but it fit nonetheless.
The rest of the walk was done in silence and soon enough they were standing outside the large building. Kakashi motioned for the other jounins to leave and they seemed to understand as they disappeared, although with still worried eyes. The threesome entered the air-conditioned foyer walking to the Hokage's office. Tsunade looked every bit in power and serious as she gazed at the individuals who had appeared in her office.
"I take it that you're going to explain why a S-class criminal and his accomplice are standing in my office," drawled Tsunade, looking pointedly at Kakashi.
"They wanted to speak to you about something," he answered blankly as if that was all the reason in the world to let the criminals inside the Hokage's office.
"And I suppose if Orochimaru were to show up and say he wanted to chat about old times with the Hokage, you would comply," Tsunade bit back sarcastically. Kakashi stayed silent. Tsunade did not take surprises very well and it was useless and out of his place to talk back to the Sandaime when she was ticked.
"I thought you would have been happy to see me Tsunade." Tsunade turned to face the said criminal and accomplice zoning in on the shorter girl who was now fiddling slightly with the end of her braid.
"And who are you?" she questioned bluntly. She had never been one to play with words.
"I'm a hurt that you've forgotten about me," the girl responded pouting just a little playfully. "Atashi wa Tsukino Usagi." And just like that, Tsunade's face lit up in recognition, then disbelief and finally joy.
"Usagi, I thought you died…" she trailed off.
"Well as you can see, I'm fine."
"But how?" Tsunade continued.
"Never mind how," Usagi commented.
"I really need to speak to you about Orochimaru." She paused allowing Tsunade to digest all she had said.
"I've come here to ask for a alliance between the Hidden Village of the Leaf and my Hidden Village of the Moon. Orochimaru has become a major threat recently, more so than I could have imagined. We all knew about his obesession with immortality, but his ambition to destroy Konoha has really blinded him. He's planning to call upon a demon known as Chaos, and if we don't stop him this world may be destroyed. Chaos is the epitome of all evil in the world, and if it was called to this world, there would be countless deaths. I wanted to stay out of all this bloodshed, but it looks like I'm going to have to join in on all the activities after all and I need your help by joining the alliance."
"Before you answer, listen to what I have to say," she continued. "I have already made a pact with the other villages and if you ally with the Hidden Village of the Moon, you will be allying yourself to all the other villages as well. We need to be united as one strong force to be able to defeat Chao and we would be working for the good of all villages not just yours and mine. Right now, the Village of the Mist is getting blockaded by Orochimaru, and we need to send nin to help them." All of this was spoken in a very diplomatic and professional edge, something one would not expect from the previously playful girl.
Tsunade sat contemplating. If she allowed this alliance, there would be many protests from her people when they found out that the alliance was not only for their benefit, but working towards the benefit of all villages. Not to mention that right after the alliance was made, Konoha's ninjas would have to set off immediately to help the Village of the Mist.
She didn't want to believe it but the villagers were selfish and would no doubt oppose this alliance that would cause them more trouble than good. "I will discuss this with the council although I don't think that the people will agree with this alliance. There are many in the village that still believe that Konoha is a strong village and that it doesn't need any alliances other than ones that benefit Konoha or both sides equally. I could understand if Konoha was just allying itself with the Hidden Village of the Moon since we would both benefit equally, but to ally and help with all villages would only hinder Konoha."
"Not to mention that you have beside you, a most wanted criminal of this village. I would be hard pressed to persuade my village to ally with someone who harbors Itachi." Here Tsunade stopped to stare directly at Usagi's companion. "It could become negotiable if you handed him over peacefully." Usagi's hard, determined gaze answered no. "However, I will do my best to convince the people, but I can only promise that."
"I will stay and await your answer then." Usagi smiled now that they could speak as friends and not diplomatic leaders.
"Now, how have you been doing Tsunade?" she queried.
Kakashi and Itachi both prepared to leave to give the women privacy and time to catch up with each other's life. Both were out of the door in the next minute, Itachi with a brief nod towards Usagi and Kakashi with a glance at the Hokage promising that they would talk about this later. They both exited the door, but while Kakashi continued walking down the hall, Itachi stayed and leaned against the wall outside the Hokage's door. Kakashi stopped in his tracks as well and turned around to gaze at the Uchiha. Why was he staying outside the door?
"I must guarantee that Usagi-hime will not be in danger," the other stated answering Kakashi's unspoken question. It was the first time, Kakashi realized, that Itachi had spoken up. Hime? He had thought to go and check on Sasuke at the hospital, but now Kakashi realized that it would probably be more productive to gain some more knowledge by questioning the Uchiha. As far as he knew, there was no Vilage of the Moon, but Tsunade seemed to know what it was. From her reaction, he could also take a guess that it was a pretty powerfull village too.
"Go check on Sasuke," Itachi uttered facing away from the Konoha jounin.
"Why did you save Sasuke?" Kakashi questioned. Itachi didn't answer for a while and he almost gave up thinking that the nin was ignoring his questions, but at last he replied.
"Usagi-him ordered it," he said emotionlessly. "I wouldn't have cared at all whether he lived or died since it was his own fault for joining with Orochimaru so recklessly. Besides, someone that weak will only die in the end anyway, but Usagi-hime thought that bringing him might sway your minds to agree with the alliance." His cold statement and his blatant disregard for his younger brother, of his flesh and blood, reminded Kakashi once more that Itachi was a murderer and an S-class criminal. Why he had thought otherwise just because he seemed no longer apart of the Akatsuki, he had no idea. Then again, it might have been the fact that he was traveling with Tsukino Usagi and he couldn't imagine anyone corrupt as her companion.
"You called her hime. Why?" Kakashi continued his questioning.
"Go check on Sasuke," Itachi reiterated completely ignoring his question. With the blatant dismissal, Kakashi turned around and left knowing that trying to question Itachi when he was resolute in not answering would prove useless.
Sakura stared at the nonchalant boy on the hospital bed. Boy because three years had finally made them strangers to one another and caused a rift in their relationship, despite all pretenses and thoughts on her part. The feeling of caked tears on her cheeks was uncomfortable, but she had been so happy when Naruto had come rushing to her declaring that Sasuke was back. But now, standing in front of the cold young man in front of her, she felt a sort of detachedness.
Where there was once a blazing, bright fire of friendship and first love, there were now only dying embers. It was true that somewhere deep within her heart that she still held onto the love that she harbored for him, but that was for a Sasuke of the past. What was left here was only a shell of the boy she loved.
As Sasuke left Konoha and chose Orochimaru and revenge over friendship and her love, she had held on to some hope that he would return. As Naruto came back to the village, beaten and bruised from looking for Sasuke, she slowly gave up on him and realized that she wanted to forget him forever.
Life had moved on and slowly she and Naruto had gotten closer as friends and now with his appearance at the present after so many years past, she despised him. He had left them, but now he had returned to disturb their long earned peace. How dare he! His appearance alone had shaken up all the emotions in the remaining group 7 members. Naruto would no doubt be happy that things could go back to normal with Sasuke here, but she knew better. Things would never go back to the way they were before. They could never go back to the way they were before, she thought sorrowfully, and she and Naruto would only face more disappointment and pain again.
Sasuke sat upright on the hospital bed, its white sheets seeming to engulf his thin, frail frame. He continued gazing out the window keeping silent and Sakura didn't feel like speaking to him because that would be acknowledging him and she wasn't ready for that yet.
However, where Sakura was hesitant, Naruto was not. Although three years had passed, Sakura had no doubt that Naruto still held Sasuke as a best friend just as he had in the past. Naruto approached Sasuke smiling.
"Hey Sasuke!" greeted Naruto exuberantly. If Sasuke heard, he made no indication of hearing, but Naruto continued on.
"You don't look too good," he playfully jibed. "You should eat more. Sakura brought you a fruit basket." With that cue, Sakura felt obligated to step up and place the basket on the small, bedside table. Sasuke continued ignoring them, but Naruto was undeterred.
"You should eat up if you want to keep up with me. I've learned a whole bunch of new techniques and I bet I could beat you any day of the week," he boasted lightheartedly.
Naruto rattled on talking about the training he and Sakura had done, how the other rookies were, and all the missions and fun they had over the years. "Well, what've you been up to?" Naruto inquired hoping to illicit a response from the still silent Sasuke. Seeing Sasuke's reluctance to speak or in any other way recognize them, Naruto sighed and placed his hand on the other's shoulder hoping to comfort him in some way and show that he still had a friend in him. The effect was immediate.
Sasuke spun around sharply and abruptly grabbed Naruto's offending hand and twisted it painfully. Naruto snatched his hand back feeling the dull, throbbing pain at his wrist. His wrist would probably show signs of bruising tomorrow. "Don't touch me," he snarled, and Naruto flinched back, hurt even more by Sasuke's words than the physical pain. The boy's eyes alighted a bright red indicating he had activated his sharingan, and Naruto fully backed off and stood by Sakura taking comfort as she placed a hand on his shoulder as he had tried to do with Sasuke.
They vaguely heard the door open, and glanced briefly at it as Kakashi entered the tense room. Everyone eyed each other mutely, Sasuke with his sharingan still activated. Team 7 was finally reunited, but nothing was the same anymore. Sakura felt the dull ache at her heart and glared heatedly at the source of all jumbled emotions while Sasuke looked right past her to Kakashi, and then turned back to the window.
"Sorry I'm late," Kakashi stated breaking the suffocating silence. "An old lady was drowning."
Then again, some things never change.
Light filtered through the windows to highlight the relatively large study as Tsunade opened the drapes. She sat back down at her desk and looked at the familiar face sitting before her.
"Why are you with Uchiha Itachi?" Tsunade questioned. She carefully poured some tea in two cups and handed one to her guest. "Two teaspoons sugar please. I never really liked tea all that much," Usagi replied.
"He was one of my people I've found outside the village," Usagi said absently like an afterthought. Yes, one of her people.
"He killed his whole clan, he's dangerous, Usagi," Tsunade countered. Although she trusted Usagi, Itachi was still a very dangerous man.
"It's up to me to decide, Tsunade," she stated calmly using her spoon to mix her tea and then gently sipping the cup.
Usagi saw Tsunade's disturbed face still and continued on. "Don't worry so much about it, Tsunade-chan. I wouldn't have brought him along if I didn't trust him." Usagi smiled, but Tsunade's fears were not assuaged. "I am the leader of a village after all. I can take care of myself... Although, I am surprised to see that you've taken up the position of Hokage. I remember you saying you hated seats of responsibility," she smiled fondly.
"This position would have been yours if you had stayed in Konoha." Tsunade looked up into her eyes, gauging any reaction, and it wasn't hard. Usagi's eyes flickered in doubt and regret, but then almost instantly displayed finality. She had always been easy to read with her heart on her sleeve. It would be so easy for someone like Itachi to take advantage of her, even if they were one of her people.
"No, it wouldn't have. I would have declined if offered and besides, I'm the leader of my own village now just as my mother would have wanted."
"Konoha was your village," Tsunade went on loudly.
"That's enough. Let's not linger on the past too much Tsunade-chan, it's all together too painful. Besides, the past is the past, and what we should really focus on is the present." Usagi said earnestly.
"You look very young," Usagi said changing the subject abruptly.
"So do you," Tsunade replied slowly, and both slowly cracked smiles.
He waited until all of them had left. Surprisingly, it had been Kakashi who had left last although Naruto had been adamant in staying. He had brushed off Sasuke's actions and reverted back to concerned best friend mode, but Sakura would have none of that and dragged him home so that he could rest and let her take a look at his wrist. It looked as if they had gotten close over the years. They had all moved on apparently, and without him. He squashed the long forgotten and sudden feeling of loneliness. Friends were for the weak. All he needed was power. The power to defeat Itachi.
His rage upon waking up at the hospital had been unspeakable. Knowing that his brother had taken him back to Konoha was a wound to his pride, but now he had found the perfect opportunity to make Itachi suffer. His brother had thought he was unconscious the whole time, but he had been awake for a short while, although barely. He heard the interactions between the girl and Itachi.
Itachi would suffer as he had by once he killed the only person that meant anything to him. The years spent with Orochimaru had him killing and suffering everyday. It was something necessary for him to survive, and now he all he wanted was revenge. His brother would pay. He would kill the girl and flee, letting Itachi feel the pain of losing a loved one, and then once he had enough power, he would come back and finish Itachi off. Then his revenge would be complete and the last living Uchiha would descend to death as well.
The Uchiha clan would at last perish as Itachi wanted. He had at one time wanted to revive the clan, but now all he felt was emptiness and the need for revenge. When that need was fufilled, he would only be an empty husk, and he knew he would only find peace in death.
He slipped on some pants and a shirt he saw in the closet and crept out of the window moving with the shadows until he disappeared from sight altogether. The nurses would wonder later where the young man in room 102 went and why no one saw him leave.