Author's note: We'll I'm back again, honestly I'm watching Naruto right now on Hulu as I wright this chapter so who knows how much I'm gonna write, but sometimes you gotta go back to your roots… plus I'm on the Pein arc and it's fun watching Naruto use sage mode for the first time. Anyways enjoy this chapter for what it's worth!

People like to believe that everything happens for some kind of reason. For some it's believing in a higher power, some kind of deity, for others it's following the life their parents set out for them. Whatever it may be there is a reason for everything, what no one would have ever guessed though, is that the world is running the way it is now due to one person… or being rather.

Zetsu had just finished talking with both Itachi and Obito and sat back lurking in the shadows waiting to see how these events would unfold. Itachi was currently sitting alone, he had forsaken Kisame and was trying to figure out how to appropriately respond to the situation at hand. He just found out his brother had the Mangekyou, and knew it wouldn't be long before it was time to face his brother, but there were things he needed to do before that could happen. Safeguards he needed to put in place in case things went the way he seemed.

Itachi stood up ready to leave before he grabbed a tree, feeling dizzy as his vision blurred, the man brought his hand to his mouth before coughing, blood trickling down his fingers and palm as he produced more with each cough. Itachi took a moment to compose himself before standing up straight and taking a deep breath. A small smile came to his face 'That's the first time in almost a year my sense of smell has worked' Itachi took in another deep breath of air before taking off, he needed to get in touch with his contact and find a certain ninja in case of his untimely death.

Itachi wiped his blood on the tree before he took off, he wasn't sure how much longer he could keep going, and honestly he was half tempted to take up Jiraiya's offer of having Tsunade see him and help him. He just wasn't sure if it would work out so well, as far as he knew the new Kage wasn't aware of his status as an informant, that was a very well kept secret. For now Itachi kept looking for answers for his unexplained sickness while doing what he could to show off his strength. It helped that he was a genius beyond measure and could fool Pein and his cousin into thinking he was stronger than he truly was. In reality the only reason he beat Orochimaru was because he scared the older man with his Tskyuomi. His fighting ability has drastically reduced, and he was thankful for Kisame for keeping this secret of his. It's why he opted to use Shadow clones for everything because if they got defeated in one or two hit's no one would question it.

Itachi was heading west, he needed to get to the land of fire, hopefully he could be quick with this. In the meantime he'll send a crow with a letter for Kisame to explain the situation and to meet him in the country.

Not too far from where Itachi was though, Obito was sitting on a tree branch waiting to see the moves his cousin would make. He needed to get a hold of Sasuke first, but he couldn't be too rash. He had to know what the boy's older brother was planning first to make sure he could tie in his plans so that Sasuke would become his. Instead Obito learned how sick Itachi truly was, he knew something was up with that man. But the blood that he coughed up was something else, even with all the power he held, it seems even he was weak to something, and whatever it was, was probably the reason why he was so much weaker than he should have been. Itachi was in the prime of his life, and yet the man he was 10 years ago would have easily killed the man who stood before him now.

The gears in Obito's head kept turning and it finally clicked, Itachi was the one leaking information, he wasn't sure how he was doing it but it made sense. That man always had a thing about loyalty, it's why he and Kisame worked so perfectly together. The man cursed as he punched the tree he was sitting on before he stood up, he was thankful for Kamui, without it he wouldn't be able to track so easily. Now he really needed to watch his cousin closely, because he just may need to kill another Uchiha.

It had been a week since Kakashi, Sasuke and Shikamaru returned to the village. Things had been grim, and there wasn't any new news from T&I about Hidan. It had turned into a waiting game and no one was happy about it. By now it was clear that saving Fuu wasn't even a possibility as much time had passed by. Naruto was blaming himself and taking it out on some of the training grounds. Tsunade wasn't happy about that because she's had to pay more than a few genin teams to clean up the damage that appeared afterwards. All she knew is that if Naruto was strong enough to do the damage he was doing and walk out without a scratch then she was actually feeling slightly worried about these Akatsuki.

There wasn't anything from Jiraiya either about finding Killer B, the man was as elusive as ever and that was making things difficult because Naruto was ready to unleash the Kyuubi's seal by himself. So that brought her to where she was now, "I need you two, to run a mission for me, it won't be anything major, but Sasuke you are team leader."

"What? Why is he in charge?" Naruto yelled while pointing at Sasuke, the man smirking.

"Because he knows the area better and has a more level head than you," Tsunade said bluntly, Naruto deflating at this answer. "Anyways like I said it's nothing to major, I just need you to deliver this scroll to Yakushinta, a small city to the north of the village. It should only be about a day or so trip." Tsuande tossed the scroll to Sasuke who easily caught it and put it in his pocket.

"Yes ma'am, anything more you need from us?" Sasuke asked, trying to make sure he's covered all of his bases.

"Nope, it's just the two of you, so just make sure you leave no later than an hour from now. That should give both of you ample time to pack and leave" Sasuke nodded, understanding that there wasn't much time before they needed to leave.

"Let's get going dobe, I want you to meet me at the north gate in 30 minutes," Sasuke stated, not even looking at the boy as he was exiting the office.

"Baa-chan" Naruto started as soon as Sasuke left the office, the women's attention now on the boy. "Has there been any news yet? T&I? Jiraiya? Anything" the boy wanted answers he was ready to leave on his own and just get things done. He really wanted to, but he knew better because that would cause so much trouble for everyone else, at that point he would be like Sasuke from his time.

"There's nothing to tell you Naruto, I get this has been hard on you, you did so much and became insanely stronger, but for now you just need to try and relax. These coming weeks and months may become difficult and you need to try and keep a level head. I know that's hypocritical coming from me, but you need to at least try." She saw how the boy seemed to be struggling, she hoped it was just because he wanted this Akatsuki thing done and over with. The way Naruto seemed though, it was like more was bothering him.

"I'll try… thanks baa-chan" Naruto turned to leave but Tsunade stopped him.

"What's going on?" Naruto stopped mid turn and looked back at the lady, confusion clearly planted on his face.

"What do you mean?"

"What all is bothering you? I can't tell what's going on, and maybe I'm over reading but I just want to make sure you're okay."

Naruto took a deep breath, "I just… I don't know, how the hell is it that I've mastered sage mode, I can fight on the level of Jiraiya himself, and yet I can't take down some simple fucking Akatsuki nobody's? I have power people can't dream of and yet… it's like I'm powerless" Naruto ran a hand through his hair, he hated this, but it was true.

"I get it, you have the power of everyone in the world and yet you can't even fight a simple bad guy and win. It's not something you want to hear but this is what I'm gonna tell you. Kakuzu literally fought my grandpa, the amount of sheer experience he had is overwhelming, he's also an S rank nin which puts him a cut above the rest. Deidara is immortal as we have just his head and he's defying all logic being able to talk right now. These two are both in league with a group of people who were made to hunt jinchuuriki. These people weren't randomly put together. I looked over their portfolios, both of them. Sage mode or not even I would probably have had a tough time fighting them." Tsunade stopped to breathe and Naruto interjected.

"Still it's fucking bullshit! I mean, I can literally take on fucking Ero-sennin like it's nothing, if I was being extra serious like I do when I'm fighting enemies I could kill him!" Naruto was getting upset, Tsunade stood up and walked around her desk. She grabbed Naruto by the shoulders and forced him to sit down in a seat before she leaned back against her desk.

"Just listen boy I wasn't done talking, I get your upset. I mean hell look at me, I'm the best medic nin in the world, one of the three legendary Sannin, granddaughter of the first hokage. I have power, don't get me wrong, but you put me in a fight against someone like Gai and I'll probably lose. Now you put me with Jiraiya and Orochimaru and we can take on pretty much anyone in this world. Now we look at you, you have power, you're insanely strong, but with the right team even you can be fucking defeated. No one is perfect" Naruto looked down, thinking about what she said.

"Your right… I don't know, it's just hard to believe I'm so goddamn strong. They should easily have been beneath me, but they almost beat me. Fuu was still taken" Naruto stopped talking, catching his breath to calm down as he closed his eyes because they started to water. "I can't even save my goddamn friends" Naruto was shaking as he felt Tsunade hug him.

"I know it's hard, but you can't save everyone. It's hard losing the ones you're supposed to save. I get that, but there will always be more chances to save the ones you care about. Learn from this lesson, and learn to not fight alone, accept the help of your friends. You're not the only one who's gotten stronger, don't be afraid to let people in." Naruto hugged Tsuande back, holding her tight, he can't believe how stupid he was for getting in his head and letting his depressing thoughts overtake him the way they did.

"I'm sorry if I've bothered you or anything baa-chan I know you're a busy person and I need to get going anyways" Naruto said.

"You forget I'm the goddamn hokage, I make the rules now go tell your girl that you're heading out before you see Sasuke" Naruto nodded before hugging the woman again.

"I will, I'll see you soon," Naruto said before leaving the women to her work.

About an hour passed before Naruto was at the gate. "You're late, let's get going," Sasuke stated as he stood at the gate with his arms crossed.

"Oh shut it will ya, I had something important to get done, unlike you I didn't spend the whole time making out with my girlfriend. I had an important conversation with baa-chan… I barely even got to kiss mine goodbye" Naruto said with a pout, upset he couldn't have more time with Hinata.

Sasuke just shook his head as they turned around and left to leave the village. The first few minutes they jumped along in silence before Sasuke spoke up. "So Naruto, I have something I need to ask you"

"Whats up? Naruto asked with a frown, the boy's tone changed and he seemed nervous for some reason.

"What all happened with your training trip? You were gone with Master Jiraiya for a long time, longer than you were supposed to be. A lot of people became worried, and we had no idea what was going on. It's no shocker you came back with even more strength than when you left, hell Kakashi had to explain what a Sage was and just how big the gap is, but just so you know… you're not the only one with a few new tricks. So I hope you can keep up with me."

Naruto smirked, "Well for starters we had a lead on the Akatsuki and ended up having to go off the grid in order to keep up with them. It worked for a while, but they proved to be too elusive for even Jiraiya and me. Though I already talked about this before on the last mission, as for sage mode I was taught it by the toads. While training Jiraiya had mentioned needing to finish his own training that he had been working on for years, turns out the influx of missions from the village kept him top busy and stunted him, he was never able to finish this area of training. Tsunade gave us two months off to go and train with the toads and there I learned about the power that makes one a sage." Naruto stopped as he reminisced about the training he had with the toads.

Flashback

"Jiraiya-boy where did you find this kid? He's just like Minato when he took up senjutsu training! It's only the first day and yet his body has already fully alcumented to the sage oil. He's had zero problems, this is unheard of!" Fukasaku was beyond impressed by what he was witnessing.

"Heh, I told you he would be fine to take this up, just like me he's a natural" Jiraiya said with a chuckle while the older toad laughed, but for different reasons.

"Man you sure are getting old, last I checked you still take toad like features even when me and Ma fuse with you. You have a long way to go, if anything this boy will surpass you by the time you leave here. You need to get back to training anyways, go get your bored, you and Naruto can practice together at the top of the spikes" Fukasaku said with a grin.

"Oh shut it you old told! No need to bring up my looks, I know I still need to train, it's why I came here dammit!" Jiraiya yelled, the two started to bicker while Naruto started to laugh, he couldn't help it. Things had been going amazing and everything just seemed so perfect for him. Jirayia and Fukusaku started to laugh as well, it just happened to be a good day.

End flashback

Sasuke stayed quiet for a bit, reflecting on what Naruto said and thinking of what to say next. "It's crazy to think how far the two of us have come isn't it" Naruto chuckled hearing the boy say that.

"Yea you were just some punk ass emo kid getting beat up by me, now you're a grown punk ass emo kid trying to catch up to me" Naruto said with a grin before breaking out laughing. That was until he smacked straight into Sasuke's outstretched arm that he would have caught had he not had his eyes closed from laughing.

Sasuke started chuckling as Naruto's body dropped to the ground, "How about you shut up, you haven't beat me in a fight in a while. I'd like to see you try, you don't know what kind of trai

ning I've been through. I'm not the same guy I was before though, I've grown a lot."

Naruto stood up and wiped the dust from the ground off him before jumping back up into the tree. "Whenever you're ready to lose to me again let me know and we can duke it out. It would be fun to beat you up again, anyways we need to hurry up and finish this mission, I'm getting a bad feeling" Naruto said. He didn't know what it was but he was getting an ominous feeling, they had put quite a bit of distance between themselves and the village and something just felt off.

"Whatever dobe, it should only be another two or three hours before we get to the village, we can have a match after we finish up there."

Naruto nodded and the two took off once more, the feeling in his gut didn't go away at first, but after another hour of traveling he felt better. After a while, Yakushinta started to come into view, Naruto and Sasuke shared a look, they both smirked knowing what was about to happen.

"When I win you buy ramen!" Naruto shouted as they both took off as quickly as they could muster.

"More like you can buy the DANGO!" Sasuke shouted louder the two sprinting as hard as they could, mustering so much force tree branches were falling and breaking off with each leap. The two were neck and neck as they approached the village, until a tree branch snapped before they could let off and both boys fell to the ground smacking it harshly. Sasuke tried to roll with it and went to jump but jumped right into a tree, Naruto tried the same thing but hit a concrete wall, the one surrounding the village.

"OW, son of a bitch!" Both boys said at the same time while holding their own faces nursing a now bruised face.

Naruto quickly stood up and walked inside the gate, "YOSH! TAKE THAT YOU EMO PUNK I WIN!" Naruto didn't even realize that people were looking at him and most importantly the people guarding the gate were giving him a funny look too. "Heh heh, sorry for disturbing everyone" Naruto stated while rubbing his cheek.

Sasuke quickly showed up by his side taking out his ID, "I'm Sasuke Uchiha of the leaf village, this is my comrade Naruto Uzumaki we were sent by the 5th hokage. We just need to visit whoever is in charge of this city please." Sasuke said with the epitome of importance, unfortunately for him he was out of luck.

"We have been expecting you guys to show up, but you're going to have to wait until tomorrow, our governor is at home enjoying dinner by now and won't be expecting anymore visitors until tomorrow. If you follow me though I can show you to a hotel where you can stay for the night, my name's Seno, it's a pleasure to meet you two" the man said while extending his hand for a hand shake.

Sasuke met his hand shaking it, "Thank you Seno-san that would be most appreciated, by chance are there" Sasuke gritted his teeth saying this, "Any ramen stands nearby."

"There isn't any, I apologize, but we have some good Dango stands as well as some Takoyaki stands" Naruto's head dropped as a wave of sadness surrounded him and he started muttering to himself about no ramen.

"Is your friend going to be okay..?" Seno asked, a little confused.

"Don't worry about him you actually gave me amazing news, I would love to see the Takoyaki stand after we get to the hotel though" Sasuke stated figuring he could get the boy that at least seeing as Ramen was completely unrealistic right now.

The trio started to walk through the village taking in the sights. It was sundown, and the place was actually very aesthetically pleasing to look at. Naruto and Sasuke took in the sights as they walked through the village, it wasn't very large but it was nice. The two got themselves a hotel room at a nice Inn and then were shown where the food stands were. Seno let them know he would report back to their hotel room in the afternoon to bring them to the governor but for now they could relax and get something to eat. Seno departed after that to return to his duties while Naruto and Sasuke left to get some Takoyaki.

The two boys seemed to have a good night, the food was actually delicious. They ended up having a contest to see who could eat the most, Sasuke ended up winning, but in the end he lost once he saw the bill. He graciously paid the bill though and the two went back to the hotel, unable to sleep they started to talk to pass the time away.

"So I have to know… you and Sakura?" Naruto asked, leaving the question kind of open.

Sasuke chuckled, "Yea I know it's a bit of a surprise, I remember when it first started and everyone in the village had thought I was kidnapped and replaced with a duplicate, even Sakura" Sasuke said with a laugh.

Naruto laughed at that too, whole heartedly as he grabbed onto his knee wheezing before falling back onto his bed as he laughed, "Oh fuck that is funny" Naruto wiped away a tear, "God I haven't laughed that hard in a while, anyways I'm sorry but please continue what you were saying."

"But anyways if anything it started the night of the invasion, I don't know when beforehand but at some point I had gotten comfortable with Sakura, it wasn't until that night we became truly close. When we were locked in the Uchiha shrine underground, we ended up really close, and then afterwards though I became very confused with my feelings and distanced myself from her for a while. Then I started training constantly with Kakashi and Gai Sensei whenever I didn't have a mission. Sakura was with Tsunade-sama as you know learning how to become a medic nin, after a while she started coming to my training sites to help me heal after training, sometimes she would bring food and we would talk for a while. At first I wasn't very reciprocative of her coming, but after a while I warmed up to it or even got excited to see her. Then there was that incident where I was kidnapped and afterwards Sakura was with me everyday for recovery, a few times I would wake up to her sleeping on me." Sasuke stopped smiling to himself, Naruto couldn't believe the person in front of him now it was amazing honestly.

"That day was when everything had changed though, I had almost been kidnapped, you almost died, or so I thought… so much had happened. Before Sakura had fallen asleep on me though I was talking with Hinata, a lot was said, and you know some of it I talked with you a bit of course. But at one point Sakura opened the door to my room and I don't know what came over me but I just walked right up to her and kissed her. It was then I realized what almost happened, how I may have never been able to see her again. I talked with her and we worked some things out, and we decided to try dating. It wasn't easy because of how I was and still kind of am, but we found a way to make it work. I'm not one to talk about feelings, and you know this, but honestly I've fallen in love with her and I wouldn't have it any other way. I don't know what the future holds for any of us, but I will do anything for that girl" Sasuke admitted, Naruto smiled, truly smiled and felt at peace. This Sasuke, this man in front of him is already so much better of a person then he was last time.

"Let's get some sleep man, we'll race back to the village tomorrow and see who really is the best of us" Sasuke smirked and nodded.

Sasuke laid back on the bed, it was weird to him how open the two were together, it seemed crazy to him how far they had come in this life. He was glad though honestly, these years haven't been easy on him but with where he was in life he was glad to say that he's truly happy. He closed his eyes as he let slumber take him over, excited to see what the future holds.

Author's note: well I wrote most of this chapter here tonight I'm sorry if it seems rushed but I like the way it turned out. Please enjoy this chapter and leave a review if there's anything more you think I could do to make the future better!