I do not own Naruto ...

IS THIS HOPE

He woke up with more energy than he'd ever had since he was 13. The pain he felt was much bearable now. He felt lighter, like his lungs weren't breaking down on him, he would have smiled if he knew he wasn't being carried. Four.

Four signatures and none of them were Satoshi. He frowned, wondering if she was alright.

"How much do you think he'll sell for?" A gruffly voice asked to his left.

"Ehh Meigh, he's probably ain't worth shit. Traveling with a kid and shit." The person who's back he was on supplied next.

"Can't lie, that bitch put up a hell of a fight." Meigh said in a laugh.

"Knock it off you two. Just be glad the girl didn't kill your asses." A female voice called from behind.

"Sure because a child is such a threat." The finale voice called from up front.

"You think this is her father? He's probably going to be pissed that his daughter left him." Meigh said again

"Nah if he's smart he'd be glad his kid got away."

The journey continued on for a few miles. Itachi gathers information about the four- Meigh, Nagomi (the one carrying him), Mei (Meigh's sister, and the only female on the team), and Tenon (the leader of the group). They were bandits looking to make a quick buck by any means necessary-though they drew the line at selling kids. So for that Itachi was grateful. He however was not grateful when the object of his thoughts burst through the clearing throwing rocks at the bandits all the while screaming "WAKE UP MISTER" before she took off at a speed he didn't know she possessed, into the path she just came from.

A genin could tell it was a trap. But as Meigh screamed about "damn brats" and quickly took after her with Mei on his heels he thought that maybe luck was on his side. When the brother and sister were no longer in sight, Itachi slipped his hand into Nagomi's pouch and just as fast slit his throat. His body's sputtered before his body slowly fell with a dud to the ground. He didn't hesitate in pushing himself from the dead body before throwing himself to the side to avoid Tenon's blade. Even with his handicaps the battle was over before it started, he had more energy than he had in awhile, and used that against Tenon. His vision blurred but with an accrete throw, the kunai that was used to kill Nagomi was now embedded into Tenon's head.

He made a fast way of going after the last two bandits by passing Satoshis horrible attempt at traps and started in amusement at Meigh's upside down attached to the tree.

"You and that bitch are going to-" he never got to finish his sentence as Itachi swiftly cracked his neck. Three down one to go. He cautiously made his way through the forest. Following the trail of footsteps and broken twigs before stopping.

"Mister don't come, it's a trap!" he thought about it before stepping into the clearing. Mei held Satoshi by the hair and a kunai pressed at her neck.

"What did you do with my brother?!" Mei screeched at him.

"Don't worry bout me Mister! I can get myself out of this no problem!" his lips twitched downward when the kunai pressed itself rougher into the girls skin. His blood boiled.

There were a lot of ways he could have done this without blacking out after. Those ways all ended up with more blood spilt and taking Satoshi into account he decided not to scar her and closed his eyes. He wouldn't kill her, but she'd never be able to move again. With that thought he opened his eyes as the sharingan sprang to life. His vision paled before he was seeing everything magnified. One glance at Mei and she was one the ground cold.

At Satoshi's startled yep, he came to her. He let his glaze trail her body and frowned at the various scars and scrapes.

"They did this." Her eyes widened and she grinned at him.

"Did you see the big one! He fell for my trap, that dummy!" Itachi smiled at her before turning her around from the scene. Yes he was going to let her live but now. He made quick work of ending her life before taking her weapons with him and grabbing Satoshi's arm and pulling her away.

They traveled in silence, Satoshi kept looking at him. He knew how to deal with children, they were his weak spot. But he couldn't read Satoshi's facial expression without getting close to her so he had no idea what look she had. Her mood itself was sour and he suddenly stopped.

"Satoshi," he said. "I'm sorry." And then the world was black.

When he came again he was promptly hugged.

"MISTER!" She screamed into his chest and Itachi had to fight down a laugh. He failed.

"I'm sorry! I tried to stay awake and I keep drifting and then I fell asleep and when I woke up they was all around us! And they keep saying they was going to make money off of you! And I couldn't let them but I couldn't stop them so I had to run ahead of them and that's when I found you!" She was rambling and Itachi carefully put his hand on his head to stop her.

"I'd rather you not waste your life in my steed but for that I'm indebted to you, thank you." Her eyes widened before she pushed herself directly in his face, and for the first time he noticed her eyes were hazel.

"ASSHAT!" And he was punched. "You're all I got so you can't go off getting mannapped!"

"Kidnapped."

"What? You're not a kid, asshat." Asshat, maybe he could get used to that.

He smiled fondly at her. She reminded him of Sasuke, more loud but Sasuke nonetheless.

"You… can't leave me ok?" Her voice grew nervous as she shifted on the ground.

"The place we get to will take care of you. You might even find a nice family." He couldn't lie and promise her a good family- especially if she were traveling with him.

"No! I want to stay with you!"

"The place I'm going will not accept me. I'm simply going home to finish a mission."

"Then why go! Let's go away together, we can find another village!" He smiled at her, once upon a time he thought of doing the same thing to Sasuke. How would life have changed if they both left together? It was a bittersweet thought.

"Life as a rogue is not something to wish for. You're a smart 7, Konoha would be happy to have you." He watched as her eyes grew and she quickly closed them before she could cry.

"No one would want me." She glanced back up at him, "everyone would look at me funny please."

"Did it ever cross your mind that I'm a rogue for a reason? That I've committed crimes none would dare to think of?"

"Yes! And I swear I don't care! We've both done unamusedly bad things so-

"I murdered my entire clan. You shouldn't even be sitting next to me." He didn't know what posed him to tell this child anything. He was surprised by the reaction he got. Her eyes widened but not with hate with understanding… what could she possibly understand.

"I killed my kaa-chan." She began softly, "She was in pain and I wanted to help so I gave her medicine but… I gave her too much. And she… she never woke back up." She softly began crying and his paternal instincts kicked in and he was quickly kneeling in front of her,

"At least she isn't in pain." He mentally cursed himself, that was probably inappropriate. But once again she surprised him by tackling him causing him to fall.

"Your right mister-

"Itachi."

She froze, before the biggest grin crossed her face

"TACHI!"

He paused at the nickname she called him. Tachi… the last person to call him that had been Shisui, his dearest friend.

The next week passed by uneventfully as they made their way through the land of fire. He was grateful they were not stopped by Konoha nin but was just as skeptical. Konoha should have been on them the moment he got within 50 kilometers of the village and then suddenly he grabbed Satoshi leaping high into the trees and masking their chakra to that of resting birds.

"Man this is genin work. Our talents would be better elsewhere." What appears to be two ninja emerge from the path, strolling leisurely through the clearing.

"Ehh what do you expect, all the genins are helping rebuild the village and we get missions to gather food! Konoha relies on us in her time of need."

"Ehh here you go getting all righteous on me." The both of them began laughing as they made their way through the clearing.

His grip on Satoshi tightened and he summoned chakra he didn't know he still possessed and dashed through the trees. Konoha. He knew this had to be the Akatsukis doing, but what would possess Madara to destroy Konoha when he wanted to rule it?

He slowed down only when the gates came into view and his breath hitched. This wasn't…. this couldn't be…. Konoha.

"This is the village you call home? It's pretty fucked Ta-chan." He sent her a look, before focusing back on the village that was pretty fucked. How. Satoshi pushed her way out of his hold before taking his hand in hers and leading him through the gates.

"Aye were not taking in any refugees, try Suna." As they walked past the man all he did was groan and mutter "I'm not getting paid for this shit" and went back to cleaning the street. Itachi frowned.

If the man didn't care then he needed a new job, Konoha built on trust and how was Konoha going to rebuild if they kept letting Akatsuki members in.

As they walked through the dirt streets that were once Konoha main road, they took in everyone rebuilding. Even the kids played as they helped their parents remove derbies.

Itachi couldn't help but smile, the will of fire burned deep, Konoha would always be the people and they would always rebuild, this would always be home.

His chest hurt, it would always be a home he wasn't welcomed too.

"Ta-chan, what is this place?"

"This is Konoha, this is home."

"Funny, I never thought the day would come when Uchiha Itachi came walking through the gates claiming this as home." As he looked up all he could make out was a hue of silver. Kakashi Hatake.

He must have been worse than he thought if he couldn't pick up on Kakashi's chakra.

"Kakashi-san" The man appeared in his face grabbing his arms and in quick motion a seal was placed on Itachi's arm.

He felt what little chakra he had left leave his body and with it, all his energy. He mentally rolled his eyes great, this again.

First of all... thank you all for sticking with me! I hope yall enjoy it!

Is this hope, because now our boy Itachi done made it back to Konoha!

Thank you lovelies!