Chapter 8

A/N: Another chapter! I've finally gotten around my writer's block and am very excited to show you all where our favorite characters are going. Since the plot is going to be more complicated, I decided to add in who's POV is and location to give a glimpse into the characters, hope that okay with you guys. Well, let's move onto chapter 8 and hope you all enjoy it xx Please don't forget to review!

Itachi - Capital

"The beast taming artifact was recently stolen from one of our strongholds by the Suna forces, your highness."

Shishui read out the report from Sasuke's camp.

"Fuck."

Before he could filter it out, the curse word slipped out of the usually reserved and polite prince. He never cursed and Shishui have only witnessed his cousin swear when he was frustrated or if someone had fucked up, royally. Which in this case, Sasuke did.

Itachi, clenched his hands, anger seeping through. He knew why they were able to steal them, because the person who was supposed to be guarding it wasn't there to protect it.

That artifact was their upper hand against Suna. They had a select group of knights who were possessed by mythical beasts' essence, which now they cannot use because they do not have the wand to control their animal instincts from turning against their own.

They weren't sure if Suna had the same humans in their camps as well, but the fact that they stole this meant that they do. And now that they have the means to control and use them…

Itachi didn't want to finish the thought.

Foolish little brother.

He felt the spike in mana when he was in Ino's room.

How could he have let this happen? Give the opposing forces one of the things that kept the war in their favor.

Now, the opposing side just became a stronger foe.

Itachi had half a mind to personally head to where his foolish brother was and give him a good scolding.

He'll also personally tear the invitation to his party in front of his face, because he was supposed to be focusing on his job. He was supposed to get his act together and become the serious general he promised he'd become before he left.

Did he not want to contest the seat for the throne?

Itachi brought his hands to his face and massaged his temples. This was a headache he did not want to worry about too, now that the Akatsuki were slowly moving their chess pieces. One of his spies just reported that the Akatsuki successfully got into contact with the beast of Suna.

It will only be a matter of time before they launch a full scale attack.

He also had been thinking about personally training his fiance in order to start building up her untapped powers.

For the first time in a long time, he needed a drink.

He snapped his fingers, and his favorite bottle of scotch materialized on his desk, along with two empty glasses.

Shishui, who knew what that meant, walked towards the table and poured each of them a generous glass of scotch.

"Cheers to overtime for the next few months."

Itachi sighed and brought his glass up and tapped it lightly against his cousin's.

"Cheers."

They both brought the cups to their lips and one shot it.

The alcohol burned as it went down his throat, but he felt slightly better.

He gently placed his empty glass down.

What's done is done. But they at least have one more card up their sleeve.

"Do you have the reports on Uzumaki?"

Shishui placed his glass down as well, and stood up straight.

"Yes, according to Neji, he is showing exceptional improvements just within these few months under Jiraya. He believed that in a short time, there is a possibility that we may find a new swordmaster in the empire."

Itachi nodded, "That's good to hear. I hope that now he's in the battlefield, he will be able to put his training to use and unlock that potential sooner than estimated. Because kami-sama knows it's only a matter of time before Suna makes their move."

Naruto Uzumaki.

He was in the midst of looking for this man, but someone else beat him to it. Now, his loyalties will be with the Yamanaka family, and he wasn't sure how he felt about it. The fact that Ino was able to find him before he did, brought suspicions in his mind. She had a secret affair with his younger brother, which he heard was getting serious, but all of a sudden she broke it off with him. Now, she's also after the Jade mine in the South.

These weren't just coincidences. There was something Ino was planning, and he plans on finding this out himself. He is planning on teaching her how to control her mana, but he would be lying if he said he didn't have ulterior motives. From past histories, he knows sometimes the most innocent people would be the biggest traitors. Ino might not be one right now, but he needed to make sure she would not be a threat to the empire in the future.

He cared about her, but he also had a duty for this empire and her actions that she thought she was able to hide from her family, will not be able to stay hidden from him.

He had a whole team of ravens in the shadows doing his bidding. And it was because of them, that it piqued his interest in the blonde even more after he heard of the breakup. At first he was elated, she's a free woman now and he couldn't help but take advantage of this fact to have her for himself. But with the recent reports about her, the weight of the crown felt heavy.

"Shishui, before you leave, schedule a meeting with my fiance sometime this week."

He felt like he's betraying Ino even before she had the chance to betray him, but he just couldn't take the risk.

The other man nodded in acknowledgment and bowed, before puffing into smoke.

If Ino was caught betraying the empire, he knew that if it came down to it, Itachi would always choose the empire over his own feelings for the blonde.

But for now, he will give her the benefit of the doubt and just enjoy getting closer to the woman he always had a crush on since they were young.

Sasuke - The South

The trumpets sounded, before the knights worked to open the large gate to the large fortress housing Sasuke's army.

The entourage, led by the Hyuuga general, marched into the fortress and bowed towards the tower housing the young Uchiha prince, before marching deeper into the

Sasuke was standing at the entrance of the fortress, with Kakashi standing beside him, welcoming the reinforcements into their turf.

Neji slowly throttled his horse towards his new commander and stopped once he was right in front of the second prince. He got off his horse and bowed respectfully, his right hand on his chest. The rest of his army also got off their horses and bowed towards the second prince.

"Thank you for welcoming us, your highness."

Sasuke nodded in acknowledgment, "Please, tell your knights to come in and rest. They must be tired after the long journey."

The Hyuuga stood back up, "Thank you."

Then, he turned to his army and gestured for the knights to stand up and bring their horses back to the barracks.

Neji was about to say something else, but before he could, a blonde from the back made it towards the front, loudly arguing with a white-hair man, who looked visibly exhausted. His dark circles are darker than Sasuke's hair.

"Naruto, what did I tell you about proper etiquette?"

Naruto, who ignored his teacher's headings, rushed forward to the second prince.

"So you're the new commander we have to follow!"

Sasuke's right eye involuntarily twitches. The loudmouth had the audacity to raise his voice towards him. Not only that, but this idiot was already treating him rudely, like he was undermining his authority, like he wasn't the second prince of the world's greatest and strongest empire. He already knew that this blonde was going to be a pain in the ass.

Jiraya finally caught up to the loud blonde, his hands on his knees as he tried to catch his breath.

"I apologize for his rudeness, your highness." Then, he brought his hands up to Naruto's head and pushed his head down.

"We both greet your highness."

Naruto yelped and straightened his back.

"No, I do not greet anyone! I challenge you to duel!" The blonde shouted loudly that the knights surrounding them looked at the commotion and gasps once they realized that a noob was trying to challenge their commander.

Neji stood at the side, slowly shaking his head, while Jiraya looked horrified. Kakashi shook his head in disapproval and then crossed his arms, anticipating something.

Sasuke's eyes twitched again.

He was trying to hold his anger and annoyance in, but this idiot just challenged his rank in front of his knights.

Well, he guessed this was fine too. This will be a test, to see how great this bastard is. But, he will also show the entire army that this idiot, though a prodigy, still cannot beat him.

Kakashi, Neji, and Jiraya held their breaths.

But all Sasuke did was smirk, "You're going to regret that, dobe."

Naruto - The South

After Naruto challenged Sasuke for a duel, the blonde was quiet. He sulkily sat on the bench, as he picked at his food. Jiraya sat next to him, merrily eating and chatting away with one of the knights, sharing stories of his adventures.

Naruto had always been a natural at the sword. He heard so many compliments from both Neji and Jiraya about how he was improving so fast. He received letters of encouragement from his benefactor too! Ino was so proud of how far he'd come.

He knew of the rumors surrounding Ino and Sasuke from Jiraya and he just couldn't understand what about the second prince that Ino liked! He was a good for nothing bastard who got everything handed to him on a silver spoon. Naruto knew that he shouldn't have been so rude towards royalty, but he grew up in the slums. He won't give respect to someone who didn't prove anything.

The small crush he had on a particular blonde girl may have played a part with why he rushed ahead towards the raven-haired commander and challenged him to a duel.

But the easy win that Naruto thought he had turned out to be much more difficult than he thought. Sasuke was able to predict his every move and dodge his attacks. Then, he counter attacked his moves with his and by the end of their duel, Sasuke looked like he didn't even sweat, while he was breathing heavily.

So how was it that he, a prodigy who's very well likely to be on his way to become a swordmaster, just lost to a royal pompous ass like Sasuke.

Naruto sunk into a deeper depression, shoulders slouched.

The welcome party for the additional Hyuuga army was well underway. The knights were drinking to their hearts' content, feeling relieved to receive extra support from the crown. Morale has been quite in the dumps when the artifact was stolen right under their noses.

Someone approached the depressed blonde and sat down on the empty seat next to him.

Neji took a small sip of the beer, "Don't beat yourself too much about it, Naruto. Sasuke is no easy person to defeat, even with your skills."

Naruto, who was nursing his drink, scoffed, "Yeah, I was obliterated by the bastard."

The brunette next to him chuckled, "Be careful, Naruto. He's still part of the royal family."

He took another sip.

The blonde deflated even more and pouted, "Whatever, one day I will beat the crap out of his ass."

Neji only sighed in response. There was no use in telling the blonde that the reason why he lost to Sasuke was because he had his Sharingan on the entire time. Since Naruto had no experience in fighting against a Sharingan user, he would never know how to fight him.

Kakashi - The South

On the other side of the hall, Kakashi was smoking quietly as he took in the cheerful knights drinking their night away.

Then, he felt a presence walk closer to where he was.

"Do you know where Sasuke is?"

Kakashi didn't have to turn his head to know that Itachi Uchiha had shown up.

The silver-haired commandeer took another long drag of his cigarette, knowing very well why the Crown Prince would be paying them a visit this soon. Then, he turned his head to where the Crown Prince was and inclined his head.

"Your highness."

He took another drag and puffed out, "He's in his room."

Itachi, who was used to the seasoned commander, nodded his head in thanks.

"How's the situation?"

Kakashi sighed.

"Team morale was down, but now that reinforcements have arrived, our knights seem to be more optimistic, thanks to your quick thinking."

"We need to be on the offensive."

The quiet prince silently agreed, but Kakashi followed his gaze, which moved towards the blonde inside the hall, trying to out drink his comrades, though he was depressed only seconds ago.

"I agree and we need to push Uzumaki. He needs to reach the swordmaster level soon, because Akatsuki is already making their moves."

He took another puff of his cigarette, as he slung his arm around the shoulder of the person he used to train with.

"Don't worry. I'm sure when they strike, they won't know what hit them. He almost beat Sasuke today, though I don't think he realized that yet." Then, Kakashi gestured his chin towards the direction of where Sasuke was.

"Him, on the other hand, needs to get his head straightened out. He's been distracted."

Itachi nodded his head and walked towards where his brother was, not before raising his hands and waving as farewell to his former comrade.

He knew Sasuke was going to be in big trouble, not telling his brother the whole story. But he understood why he didn't share his plan with a larger group of people, the less people knew, the more successful his plan would be.

He shrugged his shoulders.

He knew that there was another factor causing tension between the brothers, and he was happy staying on the sidelines, watching the drama unfold.

Kakashi's attention shifted back to the loud-mouth, as he started to get increasingly drunk and making a huge ruckus.

He sighed.

He was not paid enough to take care of another brat.

Sasuke - The South

Sasuke was sitting in front of his desk, reading the reports his spies sent him. It seemed like they were getting closer to discovering where the Suna forces were really hiding. They've been launching guerilla attacks on their turf, which always ended up with the Suna forces disappearing into thin air. They tried to track their army, but it always stopped when they reached the shoreline.

Well, in a few more days, they will be able to find out exactly where the rats were hiding.

He heard the laughter permeating from the jolly celebration below him, which reminded him of the duel this afternoon.

Neji wasn't joking when he said that Naruto was a strong asset to have on their side. He wouldn't admit it out loud, but he almost had him. This prickled his pride, which made him determined to train his sword talent more.

He's been focusing too much on his mana training and has almost abandoned his sword training. Maybe Kakashi would have some spare time to train him like before. He cannot lose to that dobe. No, he will not lose to him, even if he reached the swordmaster level. His pride wouldn't let him lose to someone from a fallen family.

Someone knocked on his door.

Sasuke sighed. He knew that when Kakashi drafted the report to send to the Capital, that his older brother would soon be paying him a visit.

Best to get this over with.

It's not like he can reveal to Itachi his plan, when he knew deep down that he had no faith in his younger brother. Well, let's just wait and see, Itachi. He wasn't the naive brother he knew growing up.

He willed his mana and opened the door, knowing full well who was standing outside his door.

Itachi - The South

"What are you doing here?"

He sounded disgruntled.

Itachi's eyes roamed around his brother's room before resting on his brother. He turned around his chair, complexion pale and noticed that he seemed to have lost a bit of his baby fat and gained a bit of muscle. He also looked to have matured a little, which made the older brother smile.

But he quickly wiped his smile away.

"Sasuke."

The younger Uchiha grunted and rolled his eyes, as he opened the door wider, letting Itachi in. He stood up from his chair and shrugged his shoulders as he walked towards his brother.

"Save your lecturer. I know I fucked up when the artifact got stolen, but I had good reason-"

Itachi cut him off, anger evident in his voice, despite the low tone.

"Good reason? What good reason could you possibly have to risk the safety of our country, huh? I know you visited Ino when she got sick."

Sasuke quietly slammed the door shut, anger evident on his face.

"I almost lost her! Don't you understand?! Well, how'd you even understand how it feels, you only cared about the crown. Sorry, brother, for actually caring about someone I love enough to want to see if she's doing well. Even if she wanted nothing to do with me. Some people, who have emotions and don't think about the crown 247, would actually risk that for the people they love. Something you wouldn't understand."

Sasuke exploded.

"If I had a chance to redo it, I would make the same decision again."

Itachi was quiet for a few seconds.

Then, he raised his fist and punched his brother square in the face. Sasuke, who didn't expect his older brother to be violent, fell down to the ground. His left cheek is red, eyes wide open.

Quietly, Itachi looked down at his brother, sprawled on the floor, and said, "How can you, the prince of this empire, someone who wants to contest the crown, say that they're willing to risk the safety of the empire, for some foolish desire?"

He was angry.

Despite the few months they haven't seen each other, despite the physical maturing of his brother, he still hasn't matured emotionally. This disappointed him greatly.

How dare he contest the crown lightly, when he knew nothing of the responsibilities of bearing said crown?

Itachi couldn't help but think that his mother had spoiled his younger brother too much. He should've received the same lessons he got when he was younger, just so he understood the gravity and responsibility of leading the greatest empire known in history. He knew nothing of what he had to sacrifice just to show his father that he was ready.

When Sasuke begged his father for a chance to contest the crown, Itachi had convinced his dad to let him do it. To prove himself.

But now, he's thinking it might've been a mistake, since Sasuke just gave the opposing side the upper hand. He clenched his fists at how foolish this whole thing was, because this could've been easily avoided if Sasuke just stayed. No intruder will try to intrude if the master of the house is in.

However, one thing that Itachi came to a conclusion on was that someone close to Sasuke was a double agent. Because, how could they know that Sasuke wasn't in the fortress when he simply teleported back to the Capital? It almost seemed like they knew about the ambush and that Sasuke had history with the Yamanaka and used this information to their advantage.

Sasuke made a movement, bringing Itachi's attention back to his foolish brother. He slowly brought his hands up to his stinging cheek, and then brought his gaze up to his brother.

"I know I fucked up. You don't need to lecture me for that, but you also don't need to lecture me for being human, for wanting to be there for someone I care about."

He slowly stood up and squared his chest, "There are ways of maintaining a balance between caring about someone and bearing the weight of the crown. I don't know how, but I swear to you I will find that right balance. You can throw your life for the crown, but I will not do that. I know you think that I should just give up, but I won't. Ino's too important for me to simply give her up."

Long before the two brothers were born, their grandfather experienced trauma that made him write up a will with the Yamanaka's. Fugaku had an assasination attempt that almost became successful, if only Mikoto wasn't trying to sneak into his room, trying to take a peek at her future husband. Her family's captain of the guards caught a shadow in his room and killed the assassin before he could make any move on the Crown Prince.

During this time, their grandfather became paranoid and decided to reach out to the Yamanaka's, a family loyal to the royal family for generations, since the foundation. There had always been scholarly articles on how the power from the Uchiha's and Yamanaka's were unstoppable when combined - the empire will never be able to face defeat again. The Uchiha told the Yamanaka leader of his plan, which the latter agreed to, then drafted the will.

Within the next five generations, if the Yamanaka's first-born was a girl, she would automatically be wed to the Crown Prince in order to create the world's strongest bloodline. Even stronger than the current Uchiha bloodline.

"I know that grandfather wrote that dumb will with the Yamanaka's, alright. I know that their family has an obligation to wed their first-born daughter with whoever is going to be the Crown Prince and I hate that I wasn't the first-born and that I can't marry Ino because she's now promised to you. Do not think that I am not taking this seriously, brother."

Itachi remained silent and observed his brother.

Sasuke stood up straight, hands at his side and determination evident on his face. He almost looked like a leader. And since loved his brother so much, Itachi came up with a test to push his brother further.

"Alright. I will give you one more chance. If you are able to make Ino confess that she loves you, then I will forfeit the crown willingly. If not, then you'd just have to take the crown away from me, brother."

Sasuke fiercely gazed into Itachi's eyes, "Oh don't worry, brother, I know she still loves me. As for the artifact, believe me Itachi, I'm working on it. But since you think I'm still this foolish little brother, I will just have to prove it to you."