Chapter 1: Itachi's Return--After 7 long years of being away, Itachi finally returns to Kohona.
Itachi sat in a tree, looking down at his teacher, Jiraiya-sama. They were almost back to Kohona. It had been 7 years since he had last walked through the gates of Kohona. It has been seven years since he killed his best friend in battle, seven years since he had this sharingan. Life was so much simpler then, being able to watch and help his little brother train. If he missed anyone from Kohona, it was Sasuke. He was so proud when he had seen his little brother graduate from the Achedemy at the top of his class. He refused to be ashamed of what had transpired that had forced the Hokage to send him on a seven year mission, and of course he just HAD to be taken into the discipleship of the most perverted person in the country. Jiraiya-sama was a good teacher, he would show Itachi how to do something, things that could be copied and things that couldn't be copied, and force Itachi to find ways to use them the most stragically in a fight, one-on-one or him against several people.
Generally, Jiraiya-sama would 'research' while Itachi did this. He had learned a great many techniques, not just the higher level things, but had relearned the basics, how to use them better with his bloodline limit, and was forced to learn how to fight without using his 'special' abilities, the last part was said to be 'just in case' but Itachi had a strong feeling that is was so that the pervert could go spy on naked women. His taijutus was good, very good in fact. Jiraiya-sama had seen to that, he was born to fight, born to kill, he was a shinobi and everything it represented. It just sucked sometimes, always intimidating the other shinobi, he really had no friends other than Jiraiya. As much as he hated leaving Kohona, he wasn't sure about returning. It had been so long since he had seen his brother and his brother's teammates. He wondered if Sakura's hair every changed to a normal color, if Naruto ever learned how to be quiet, or if Sasuke had learned how to master his bloodline limit. Itachi thought about his parents that day for the umpteenth time, how much they must be disappointed in their son, the murderer of his best friend. He wasn't naive, he knew rumors would have flown around the village, making his life when he returned a mess.
"Hey, Itachi, we had better get a move on if we want to get to an inn and a decent bed by nightfall!" Jiraiya yelled while Itachi just looked at him like he had lost his mind. Instead of giving him the satisfaction of being riled, he just got up and started flying through the trees with Jirariya-sama right on his heels. After traveling for a couple more hours by using chakra, they reached the East gate of Kohona. Jiraiya had already sent a frog ahead of them to tell the Hokage that they would be in before night and go immidiately to the Hokage's office. The guards at the gate let them by with not much more than a cursory glance, obviously already having been given orders to let them by to go to the tower. Itachi stopped just inside of the gates and looked at the buildings, the memories assulted his brain as he thought about how much had changed since he last left his home. The Hokage had assured him an apartment until all of the mess about his return settled, so that if he was not welcomed back into his home by his family, he had a place to stay. At the Hokage's office, he noticed that Tsuande still refused to show her age, he smirked, just like he remembered. "So, how was the trip, did you find out any information on the other countries?" Tsuande asked once they were all seated and had drinks and snacks in hand. Itachi answered before Jirariya could speak up. "Hai, Stone is ify-they aren't sure if they want to do something about Kohona yet. Sand is by you one hundred percent and they are also keeping an eye on Stone, seeing as how Stone always loves to stir up trouble, but none of the other villages have any feelings or cares about us one way or the other. They really don't want to be involved in a war and can't really afford it anyway. Especially after the last war, they're all still rebuilding, in all ways, just like we are"
Tsuande looked suprised that they had learned so much about the countries and tried to figure out which political figures they were able to contact. Other than Sand, Tsuande had not been able to come to any solid conclusions about any of the other countries. "Ok, well, good job, Itachi. Jirariya, how is Itachi's training going? And I really hope you had the deciency to behave yourself when you were gone for so long, but somehow I highly doubt that."
Gulp "Tsuande, the boy has been taught well, he has taken his jounin exam and passed and now wishes to try out for ANBU. I think he is ready, he's been doing 'A' rank missions for some time now and has enough experience and mental stability to do well there"
"Very well. Itachi, I will speak with ANBU and let you know when your test dates will be, probably in about a month, maybe two. In the mean time, I want you to get settled and relax, you will have no missions until after your ANBU testing, you need the break. Take this time to talk to your family, especially your little brother, he missed you. He is still on the same team as Naruto and Sakura, they have come to be the strong 3 man team we have, and since Sakura is one of the best medic-nin (and trust me, with those two, they need her on that team) they are very formitable. They all just made jounin, which is rare for all members of a team to make it in the same exam, but they did. Your brother is a strong person, and I'm sure he'll want to see you." Turning to Jiraiya, she said, "you are to stick around for a while, I want you here for his ANBU testing, and I want you to work with Naruto some while you are here, pass on some of The Fourth's techniques to his son, and yes he does know who his parents are. He's proud, and I know his parents are proud of him, I am. Teach him to summon. Ok, well I think that's it for the evening, I've got some more work to finish up before Shizune yells at me for not completing my work, blah, blah, blah. Sasuke, Naruto and Sakura should be here soon if you want to see them now, Itachi, if not, they are going to pick you up for some training tomorrow."
Deciding to wait around for his brother and friends, Itachi sat in the hall, and big surprise, Jiraiya decided to go hit the bar and maybe the pools. Itachi smirked, knowing his sensei's habits so well. After about twenty minutes of waiting, he heard a loud laugh and soft giggling, followed soon by three people turning the corner only to spot him sitting next to Tsunade's door. All three stopped dead in their tracks. Itachi merely got up, not being one to shop lots of emotion, and just gave a slight wave while locking eyes with his little brother. He had grown up so much, he was 19 now, and a man. He was tall, with long black hair, similar in style to that of Itachi's. He wore solid black shorts and shirt with the family emblem on the front of the shirt. The jacket he was wearing was, surprise black, with the family emblem on the back. The ninja shoes he wore were black, as opposed to Naruto's and Sakura's blue shoes. Itachi thought of how much they really looked like brother nows, except for the family emblem missing in Itachi's clothes, the outfits were almost identical. Sakura still had the vibrant, pink, hair, but now chose to wear a black tank top that barely covered her tight, well-toned stomach, and lose black shorts, much like Sasuke's and the blue ninja sandals. Naruto, had traded in the orange outfit for something in black, that looked amazingly similar to the orange suit he used to wear, and it still sported his fanimly emblem on it as well. Itachi thought to himself 'what is up with the black in these guys!' Smirking he said, "Well, Little Brother, you've grown, look good, any girlfriend yet"
Sasuke smirked right back at him, like no time had lasped between them, and replied "seven years of being away and the first thing you ask is if I have a girlfriend! Geez, whatever happened, to 'hi, how are you, how are the folks?' Itachi, it's good to see you, I am glad that you're back safely. Sakura, Naruto, you should remember Itachi, my brother. He used to watch us practice before he left for that seven year mission." Sasuke stepped forward and hugged Itachi in a quick manly hug. "Itachi, I'm glad you made it back safely, Sasuke-kun would have been very sad had something happened to you. I hear that you're a jounin now, maybe you could teach us some new techniques on your time off, that is if you don't have anything else you need to do. Naruto, stop looking like that, Itachi-san could probably teach us lots of new techniques"
"Hai, hai, Itachi-san, please, teach us your techniques, we'll be sponge-like, nice and absorbant" At this point Itachi just started chuckling at this point. Just as Sakura turned to tell Naruto off for being an smart ass, Itachi jumped "Please, don't be so formal with, 'Itachi' is fine. And yes, I've got a month or so off and Tsunade-sama asked me to watch you guys, maybe teach you some new jutus. I want to catch up with Sasuke and our parents, but other than that, I'm all yours. Naruto, stop looking at me like that or I'm going to practice a few jutsus on you to make sure I have them down right." At this point, Sakura was trying very hard not to laugh at Naruto's crestfallen facial expression, and Sasuke just smirked knowing he would have threatened something along the sames lines. "Well, guys, I'm starving, it's been a long trip and a while since I've had some decent food, so where are we going to eat"
Sasuke just smirked knowing that ramen was going to be the choice of food for the blond. Sakura sighed, tired of eating ramen all of the time, and thinking that they really had to find him a new food to eat. Naruto just grinned knowing that he could easily talk them into getting ramen, half of the fun being to drive his two teammates nuts. He liked ramen, but he didn't eat it nearly as much as what he allowed them to think.
During dinner, the four of them enjoyed a couple of hours of catching up, Sasuke came out of his shell to tell a couple of stories about how much of a dobe Naruto is on missions. Naruto telling story after story of how great the three of them work together as well as stories about Hinata, his girlfriend. Sakura just sat there and enjoyed the conversation flowing around her, observing Itachi, she had taken to being almost as quiet as Sasuke sometimes, something many people found unnerving. There was something about Itachi that caught Sakura's attention, she wasn't sure what it was, but was intrigued enough to want to find out sometime in the future. Itachi told stories about his sensei and all of the trouble he seemed to cause no matter where he went to. During all of dinner, Itachi saw Sakura watching him, not openly, but she was definately thinking something. Writing it off as pure curiousity, Itachi decided to call it a night and thanked Naruto for the wonderful ramen. As he was leaving he could hear Naruto pitching a fit and Sakura laughing at him. Sasuke came out right behind him. After walking around town a couple of times, Itachi decided he would have to talk to Sasuke about whatever was on his mind if he was going to be able to go to bed anytime soon. Turning around and stopping, Itachi wispered "I know you're there, Sasuke, come out and say what you have to say, I've had a really long day and want to get some sleep"
"Hai, I was just wondering about the rumors that flew around about HIS death. You left right after it happened and the Hokage refused to even listen to what people said or answer questions"
"I figured that was what this about. Sasuke, I don't know what the rumors where, but I can only imagine. The prodegy, before he even reached full potential, up and killed his best friend in cold blooded murder." Pause. "It was seven years ago, almost to the day, but I remember it so well. You and mom and dad were asleep. I was planning on leaving, I couldn't take the stress of being the son that dad wanted me to be. I was going to start over somewhere else with that . . . that bastard. He wanted to kill the whole village, you, mom, dad, all of our cousins and family, EVERYONE. But I couldn't let him do that, not to you most of all. You were so innocent, so young, I could NOT let anyone spill blood like that, no matter what the reason. Our parents . . . our parents, they would have almost deserved that, the pain and agony they pushed me through to be so perfect, to make them proud. I hated them for it, I really did. But I loved you, I loved you so much, and your innocence that I couldn't let him take that from you. I killed him to keep him from killing you. I'm sorry for the pain that you felt, thinking I abandoned you, I didn't. I'm glad you became what you are. You're a good man, and you'll make the girl you're thinking of very happy one day." Itachi winked as Sasuke and then left him standing there with his jaw hanging open like a fish.
I will not be posting this as often as what it first seems because I have already gotten the first few chapters done. So enjoy, and I'll try and get them up as soon as I can.