Gone and Forgotten

Summary: Orochimaru has launched a full out war on Konoha once again demanding for the last Uchiha, Uchiha Sasuke. With the newly appointed Rokudaime, Uzumaki Naruto, Konoha strikes back. A message written in an ancient code that was passed down from Tsunade is to be sent to a strange man. All of Konoha is troubled: Who in the world is this Uchiha Sasuke?

Previous Chapter: Uchiha Itachi meets the Hokage, Naruto's naïve ways make him believe that all is safe. Shikamaru finds out about the Uchiha massacre, and Kakashi takes a walk down memory lane.

Author's Note

I'm having a bad case of writers block. But this should be the last chapter I'm posting until September, unless I find some way to steal my cousin's internet connection. I'm not a hacker! I hate that….T-T Well, this chapter will be confusing. I am confused myself. I kind of want to get everything moving, but my friend advised me to take it slow and make this the best story ever. -.-

Disclaimer: I do not own the Naruto series in ANY way.

Chapter Four: Happy New Years!

"Godaime-sama," the usually stoic boy said, Uchiha Sasuke was sixteen and brought back to Konoha by Naruto just a week before. "Please consider my last request…only one request…one selfish request…"

"Request?" the Fifth Hokage confirmed, she wasn't in the best shape lately. If you really looked at her appearance, you could see that she looked more to her real age then ever. "Uchiha, you execution date is soon. Just a week away, if it's anything that can't be done by then…you know the answer."

"I assure you it can be done, immediately if you wish," Sasuke stated choosing his words carefully, being polite may help him get what he wants.

"What is it?" Tsunade asked wearily, she has some sense of forbidding. An Uchiha's request usually isn't something good.

"I request that everyone in this village to forget about my existence, my clan's, as well as…my brother's," the Uchiha heir seemed to have difficulty calling Itachi his brother. "This will be nothing negative for the village, it may even help."

"…" Kakashi was listening to this so called 'secret meeting,' he was Sasuke's guard. For a month the young Uchiha was placed under house arrest, it was only two weeks ago that the elders decided that a private execution was the best for the village. Sasuke spaced out in the Uchiha mansion ever since that day, no doubt that he had giving this a lot of thought.

"Do you know what you are suggesting?" the blonde asked raising an eyebrow. "For us to forget the existence of the Uchiha clan will bring us down while other villages have full knowledge?"

"For the village to forget about the existence of my clan will stop all requests for reevaluation on my case," Sasuke answered definitely, his mind was all set on this decision. Knowing an Uchiha's stubbornness, he would not back down until the request is granted. "Naruto would be happier, Sakura wouldn't brood all day. You do want the happiness of the one you would call your kin and your apprentice."

"…" Tsunade remained quiet, she didn't make eye contact with the dark haired boy.

Kakashi, even through the door, could sense the inner conflict. Tsunade did want Naruto and Sakura to stop sulking all the time just because of one troublemaking Uchiha.

Sasuke sure hit something dead on, Kakashi thought grimly. So he did put a little thought into this.

"I will think about it," Tsunade finally said, breaking the uncomfortable silence. "I will take this into consideration."

Sasuke let with a hardly visible bow, as he passed Kakashi at the door, he whispered a question one full of doubt, "Am I doing the right thing?"

"Only time can tell, Sasuke," Kakashi murmured, it didn't sound reassuring and it wasn't supposed to. "Only time can tell…"

Their little exchanged was heard by none as the two Sharingan users walked back to the Uchiha district, or what was left of it.

Kakashi smiled at his own response, 'Only time can tell.' It's been four damn years since that request was brought forth to the ex-Hokage Tsunade. Sasuke is dead, no, he should be dead. If anyone looked through execution records, they would find a smudged out name with a red line that crossed out the name. Kakashi knew that Sasuke should be dead, yet something told him that his former student managed to get out of execution. Somehow.

He knows of this event, but Kakashi didn't participate in those that followed. Sasuke choose him, choose Kakashi, as the only one that remember just in case his name comes back up somewhere. The Uchiha choose him to remember, but not know where the boy, now man, is.

On the other side of the village, Nara Shikamaru was forced to test his true skills as a ninja. Finding Uchiha Itachi, god that man disappears to the middle of nowhere and reappears out of thin air. However, the most difficult task was after the finding of this man. Shikamaru was going to confront a man who became ANBU captain at the age of 13, who massacred his whole clan sparing none but his younger brother, not to mention who became the youngest member of the Akatsuki.

His eye caught the familiar cloak of Uchiha Itachi, the man that he'd been observing for so long. There was no mistake. It was him.

"Uchiha Itachi," Shikamaru began, he paused waiting for an acknowledgement of any kind. Receiving none he decided to just continue. "I looked up your records, hard as they were to find, you are a potential S-classed criminal. How you slipped into Konoha without any recognition I don't know. Neither do I want to know."

Itachi didn't respond or move at all. Shikamaru gathered his courage, and stated, more like proclaimed, "You are accused of murdering your clan at the age of 13 leaving only one survivor, who is the person that caused this mess, Uchiha Sasuke. Not to mention you are affiliated with the Akatsuki. Personally I don't want to fight you, since you have already proved to be quite skilled from records of your childhood. If you continue to seek out Kyuubi through such ways, getting too close to Naruto, I will be forced to take action…"

However Shikamaru didn't finish his sentence, a fairly heavy gust of wind blew and the figure of Itachi crumpled in the wind. The Nara inched toward the fallen body cautiously, examining the body quickly he came to the conclusion being the genius he was.

"Noway," the genius breathed. "It's a doll."

Shikamaru was too absorbed in his latest find to notice a flash of pink dart away from the scene. Sakura was also breathing heavily, she's been there before Shikamaru trying to strike a conversation with this odd man. Her emerald eye flashed a glance at the necklace she held in her hand, she had found it on the ground next to the Uchiha.

Sakura combed her bright pink hair quickly with her fingers, pushing some stray hair back. She had trouble processing all the information taken in that Shikamaru had provided.

"…you are a potential S-classed criminal…"

"…accused of murdering your clan at the age of 13…"

"…leaving only one survivor…Uchiha Sasuke…"

"…affiliated with the Akatsuki…"

"It's a doll."

She was Chunin now but such information was hard to process since she thought she'd killed the man. The necklace was pulsing with some chakara, if what Shikamaru said was right. Then this necklace was how whoever out here controlled the doll at such a range. Then again, it could have been a close range jutsu. If only there were more clues.

I remember why I hated mysteries, Sakura mused in her mind. It's because their damn confusing.

Away from all the residences in Konoha, one man plotted in the shadows of the forest that boarded the Hidden Village of Leaf.

"Orochimaru-sama," one of the man's minions bowed respectfully and fear. "Our troops will be ready to attack the first month of the calendar."

"If I remember correctly foreigners called it 'New Years'?" one man with silver hair much like the Copy Ninja's, his glasses reflected the almost full moon.

"Oh, is that so?" the man called Orochimaru smiled in a twisted manner. "One more week before this 'New Years.' "

"One more week," the silver haired man echoed.

"Happy New Years Kabuto," Orochimaru said out of the blue. "I would wish Konoha a Happy New Year if only their destruction wasn't that date."

Far from both Konoha and Orochimaru, in Suna, one boy with bright blond hair that looked white bounded across the street. His location was his sensei's house. His sensei was a great doll maker, his dolls could come to life as if real. The man wasn't just a doll maker, he was also a ninja.

"You're early Kinshi," a doll greeted him, it was one of those dolls that did work around the house. This one was special though, Meru could almost be called human. Her joints were invisible, just as humans she would blink and breathe. Not even her ears gave her off, she was a perfect doll. One that his master had made.

This knowledge made Kinshi flush in pride. After polite greetings with Meru, he ran to greet his master. The workshop door was closed, which was odd, it was never closed. From within he heard voices.

"…no, I would not do it…" came his master's voice.

"…I'm practically begging you now…" was a voice he recognized too well.

"…that's such a risk…"

"…I must take that risk…"

"…you're still a boy…" Kinshi could hear the irritation in his master's voice.

"…I'm a man now…"

Kinshi flinched as his master's loud yelling came unmasked by the thin doors and walls. Only toward him would his master get so irritated and bother to raise his voice.

"YOU WILL STAY PUT; I WILL MAKE SURE OF IT UCHIHA SASUKE!"

Kinshi sighed, Sasuke-san was here again.

A/N: When I finished this chapter I was like a goldfish out of water: OoO Yeah, like that only that my mouth reached the floor. HAH! Uchiha Itachi's a DOLL, not the real thing. Now we learn that in Suna, Kinshi's mysterious master affiliates himself with Sasuke. Who's this master? -evil crackle- Now we know about Sasuke, or at least you think it's Sasuke.

NOTICE: This is the last chapter I'll be posting before I leave for Asia, which I am tomorrow. I will come back by mid September at the latest.

Preview

Shikamaru reports his find to the Hokage, at the same time Orochimaru is sighted near the boarder. Konoha goes into panic while Sakura traces the necklace into Suna, can she get there in one piece though? Will she ask for Naruto's help or be foolish enough to try and cross the boarder herself with Orochimaru lurking somewhere in the forest? Is it an accident or fate that Kakashi bumps into Kinshi after finishing a tedious mission?

In the next chapter: Doll Master's Apprentice