Chapter 6
Once you are Real you can't be ugly, except to people who don't understand.
When Itachi awakens and they stop to set up camp, it's unbearably awkward.
They skirt around each other as they assign chores, set up the perimeter, and decide the order of the watch – Itachi volunteers first since she's been carrying him all day. But all of it is done hesitantly, their years apart making them unsure how to mesh with one another again.
Now no longer under time constraints Naruto is tongue-tied in Itachi's presence, all the words she had saved over the years deserting her now that he's actually here.
What should she say to him? Where should she start? What if Itachi doesn't like the person she's become?
Naruto desperately longs to break the tense silence that has descended upon them, but she's suddenly shy, nervous to the point she feels her own hesitance is ridiculous. She fought for so long to reunite with Itachi, why is she like this!?
The redhead busies herself with making sure camp is perfect, fussing over their dinner and unrolling her bedroll. A tarp is strung up between the trees to keep the snow off them, and because it's winter, she makes sure to unseal an extra layer of warmth from one of her scrolls. She's just settling next to the fire when the Uchiha returns from checking the perimeter.
Itachi blinks upon laying eyes on her sitting in front of flames, cup of melted snow in hand and appearing to all the world as if she's some sort of orange yeti-human hybrid.
"You still have that? And you brought it with you?"
"Of course!" Naruto exclaims, offended on behalf of her faithful fluffy comforter. "First thing I packed."
Itachi grimaces, Naruto frowns, and their eyes meet across the campfire.
Both of them can't hold back their smiles.
Laughter rings out in the night air, the awkwardness between them melting away and it's like the entire world has realigned. Its pieces slot back into place and the cracks between them smooth away until they leave not a trace behind.
They settle into their bedrolls and despite knowing she should be getting some rest, Naruto peppers Itachi with inane questions:
Does he still read all those history books?
Is his favourite food still cabbage and onigiri, or has he finally come to his senses and realised the wonder that is ramen?
Do the Akatsuki really paint their nails?
Itachi snorts at that last one causing Naruto to protest.
"Hey, it's a legitimate question, enquiring minds need to know!"
Just the image of all those scary S-ranked nin painting each other's fingernails at sleepovers like she and Hana did makes her laugh. Not even the pang of sadness at the thought of her friend can quench the glow that settles deep within her chest, warming her in ways mere physical heat has always failed to do.
The Uchiha rolls his eyes faintly.
"Go to sleep Naruto."
The Uzumaki quashes the last of her giggles. "M'kay."
She snuggles beneath her blankets, peering up at him with earnest purple eyes.
"'Night Itachi."
He looks fondly back at her.
"Goodnight Naruto."
As she drifts off to sleep, she realises he never answered her question.
He must be embarrassed. He totally did paint his nails, I knew it!
Sheltered under Fire Country's trees, stars peering down through the canopy of leaves, Naruto falls asleep with a wide smile on her face.
The next morning, bright and early, they discuss their next move.
"Are you sure they'll be coming after us so soon?" Naruto asks. "I mean, they let Orochimaru defect and he's been left alone so far, right?"
"They left Orochimaru alone," Itachi acknowledges, "but with Kisame and myself now gone they're lacking three rings instead of one. They need them to seal the bijuu within the Gedo Maze, so they'll be coming for the two they believe are in our possession."
"So we should be expecting company."
"Yes. As I mentioned before, Pein never leaves Ame, and Madara will not move when he has pawns to move instead. With Kisame dead and Pein and Konan not in consideration, they will send Deidara, Sasori, Kakuzu and Hidan."
Naruto purses her lips over her bowl of oats. "Four of them." She hums. "They can't be that good at working together."
Itachi flicks her an approving look. "They're not. Kakuzu and Hidan have practiced enough that they are quite capable as a duo. Their preferred method is for Hidan to run point while Kakuzu uses his thread bodies to herd the target and kill them.
"However, Sasori and Deidara do not work well together – Sasori's wooden puppets can be destroyed by Deidara's explosives, who isn't good at minimising collateral damage. They prefer to fight individually. As a squad of four, they have never worked together before to my knowledge."
"So they're going to divide and conquer, while we're going to want to stick together." Naruto summarises the obvious conclusion, nodding.
While she and Itachi have zero experience fighting together, they trust one another and know betrayal won't happen – and that offers them possibilities not available to the Akatsuki.
Kakuzu would happily turn them in for their bounties and lie about who, exactly, killed them, while Hidan would gleefully sacrifice the lot to his bloodthirsty god. Deidara cares nothing for collateral damage and Sasori would likely turn their bodies into more of his creepy puppets.
Naruto thinks every member of the criminal organisation sound like complete maniacs, and they all need serious psychiatric help. She's even more glad she convinced Itachi to defect, because what if their crazy is contagious?
Itachi gives her far more detailed descriptions of each member, running through every technique he's seen and all the speculations he has. Once he finishes the brief, Naruto gives him an extensive list of her own abilities. Itachi returns the favour and the rest of their trek is filled with brainstorming.
They arrive at their destination in the northern part of Fire Country at noon of the second day, and Naruto can't contain her laugh when she sees it.
Situated in the centre of the fortress Itachi has guided them to is the most ugly and gaudy throne Naruto has ever seen – not that she's seen all that many, but it's still really hideous. Even ignoring the crumbling stone and state of disrepair, the Uchiha fans painted on it and the gaudy swirly tomoe make it rather gauche.
"What's with the ridiculous throne." She snorts.
Fittingly, ironically, the kanji on the wall directly above the head of the person to sit it, says 'kitsune'.
"The Uchiha clan was rather prone to dramatics." Itachi says, with only a hint of sardonicism betraying his own opinion.
"I'll say. Did they actually use it?" She asks incredulously.
"Seeing as it exists, I would think it likely."
The rest of the old Uchiha fortress is built entirely for function, proving that grandstanding tendencies aside, the Uchiha were shinobi after all.
Naruto shows Itachi her seal collection – having added to it extensively after their reunion – and together they lace the fortress with them. They plan and practice and drill over and over, but they also have to make sure they're rested enough to be ready to fight.
They only get two days at the fortress undisturbed. For at sunrise on the third, one of Itachi's crows returns with a squawking cry that instantly gets their attention.
Purple eyes meet red and they move.
When four of the most feared men in the elemental nations walk into the northern Uchiha fortress, Naruto and Itachi are waiting for them.
Naruto is – hilariously enough – reclining on the kitsune throne, more sprawled than seated in an arrogant boast. Itachi leans against the armrest equally as casually, watching his former colleagues expressionlessly.
As she surveys the missing-nin for the first time, Naruto makes sure her face is regal, confident, and in control.
"Welcome."
Her voice echoes through the cavernous stone throne room, bouncing off the high ceiling as the men cloaked in red and black survey their surroundings.
She curves her lips into a smile. "We've been expecting you."
Naruto wonders how they appear to these men – a fourteen-year-old girl lounging on a throne far too big for her, covered in Uchiha symbols and their rogue heir at her side.
…They probably look ridiculous.
A man with platinum hair and purple eyes confirms her thoughts as he snorts, staring at them incredulously. "What the fuck?" He bursts into raucous laughter that fills the entire room.
"Shut up, Hidan." The masked man Naruto identifies as Kakuzu snaps at his partner.
"Yeah Hidan, be quiet un. We've got Leader's permission to blow you up, Itachi!" The blond says gleefully, looking with anticipation at the Uchiha who hasn't moved an inch. "I always knew this day would come."
Itachi apathetically eyes his former colleagues.
"Is that so?" He says tonelessly.
"That's right, you arrogant bastard." Deidara snaps, and Naruto can feel his animosity. "I'm going to show you what real art is!"
"Art?" Naruto interjects, letting her lips curl up. "If you wanted to see real art, I would be happy to show you."
Blue eyes snap to her in outrage, but she doesn't allow him to continue as she stands from the throne with a fox-like grin.
"Seal!" She commands, and the ground beneath their feet turns black with ink.
The Akatsuki scatter but it's too late for Sasori as his puppet body is suddenly gone, sealed within one of the many storage seals Naruto has hidden on the floor.
Simultaneously Itachi appears behind them, a long, flat blade flashing as he swipes it straight through Hidan's neck.
Sasori, Deidara and Kakuzu leap for safety as it becomes clear the entire room is laced with Naruto's seals, but Hidan just shouts in outrage as his head is separated clean from his body.
Next to Naruto, Itachi's illusory self dissolves as he unravels a body scroll, sealing away the headless corpse.
Living things can't be sealed, but neither Sasori nor Hidan's bodies are alive.
With two simple seals they've just gotten rid of both.
Of course Sasori has another – his redheaded form inside his puppet – but Hidan is out of the picture entirely. Detaching his head means the rest of him dies and thus can be sealed. The most he'll be able to contribute to this fight is angry swearing, which he proceeds to do.
"You heathens!" He screeches as his head soars through the air. "Kakuzu! Get me my body back! Oi Kakuzu!"
Hidan is ignored entirely as the room dissolves into chaos, explosives and ninjutsu taking apart the fortress walls, ceiling falling in on them as Kakuzu and Deidara blast her seals away.
Itachi joins her on the crumbling roof and then they have to leap again as more explosions go off, causing the fortress to cave in completely. Itachi makes the tiger seal and Naruto channels wind through her fans, the resulting firestorm swallowing the remnants of the Uchiha stronghold entirely.
Senbon come shooting out of the conflagration along with disgusting ink-like thread creatures, and the Uzumaki folds her hands into a familiar cross-shaped seal.
The field is suddenly filled with thousands of her copies, a good fraction of them immediately launching themselves at Kakuzu and Sasori without a care for their safety. The drumbeat of hundreds of footsteps sound, and her army roars as they begin to dog-pile the two Akatsuki members still on the ground.
It's absolute anarchy as the battlefield is filled with screaming Naruto clones, half of whom set off explosive tags filled with fire, poisonous gas, and several of her prank seals are even mixed in as they erupt with glitter and slime; it's a mess of epic proportions.
Itachi covers Deidara's vision as he fills the sky with flashy fire ninjutsu, preventing the flying ninja from seeing what the rest of her clones are doing.
Then a huge wave of iron sand erupts from Sasori's position and the redheaded army is wiped out by metallic particles.
Kakuzu's thread creatures split up to flank her and Itachi, masked maws opening wide, enormous blasts of lightning and water jutsu hurtling towards them.
The two ex-Konoha nin ignore it and race towards the puppeteer as Kakuzu's attacks dash against transparent walls that suddenly flicker into existence. The barriers break with a tinkling crash, but by then it's too late and they've already cleared the blast zone. They swerve around several of Deidara's clay creatures and ignore those too as even more barriers protect them from the explosions.
Sasori sends his summoned puppet forwards – the Sandaime Kazekage, yikes – and they have to dodge enormous blocks of iron sand that try to crush them. Naruto attempts to seal one away but nothing happens, the metal obviously charged with too much chakra to go into a simple storage seal.
Itachi dissolves into crows, their ominous cawing filling the air as Deidara divebombs his former position. A second later Naruto is yanked clean off her feet by wires that have wrapped themselves around her waist, and she goes soaring straight at one of Kakuzu's masks.
The swirling blue sphere of her rasengan destroys it and she bursts out the other side, Itachi catching her as she reaches the end of her flight arc. He sets her down and turns, releasing a jutsu she didn't even see him cast at another mask, the creature deflating into a pile of inert black strands as it's punctured.
When choosing her sealing specialisation, Naruto confesses she chose barriers solely because her mother was famous for them. It's proven a wise decision as her clones – transformed into pebbles and hidden on the ground – activate more seals at just the right time to halt Sasori's incoming puppets.
The wooden constructs – hundreds of them now, his entire army unleashed – crash gracelessly into walls that didn't exist previously, some crunching and breaking into pieces, others being yanked back in the nick of time.
When one of the remaining thread creatures smack into yet another barrier, the former Taki-nin growls in frustration and runs through a set of hand seals. The ground beneath them quakes and heaves, and all her clones are dispelled as an earthquake shatters the dirt and shakes the area.
Naruto and Itachi fight to keep their footing as explosives fall like rain from above, and she can hear a cackled cry of "ART!" above their heads.
There is something deeply wrong with Deidara – with all of them really – but the blonde's psychosis is particularly noticeable. Naruto wonders how on earth Itachi put up with him for so many years without doing something inadvisable.
Though it's likely he did do something because Deidara has been focusing single-mindedly on Itachi since the start of their fight, and the glee with which the former Iwa-nin is trying to explode him definitely says it's personal.
Naruto yelps as she feels something hit her back, and she is tossed head over heels and smacks her head hard on the ground when she lands.
The familiar feeling of falling inwards occurs and she finds herself once more standing before the kyuubi.
"Pathetic."
The ninetails insults her before she can even get her bearings.
Naruto flushes. "I was doing fine, send me back and I'll prove it!"
The enormous fox snorts derisively. "You've been poisoned with an extremely toxic substance; it's already attacking your organs. Without me you would be unconscious."
"Oh."
The Uzumaki flinches at that. She hadn't even felt Sasori getting behind her, she thought she had dodged everything.
She rallies a moment later, never one to stay down for long. "Then help me."
The ninetails laughs as if she's said the most hilarious thing ever.
"Why should I?"
"You don't want to be taken by the Akatsuki any more than I do!" She sputters, incredulous that she even has to point it out. "And if I die, you die too. Permanently. Jiraiya told me the seal the Yondaime used was made by the Shinigami, not even you can escape death this time."
The ninetails growls at the mention of the late Hokage, bristling in his cage.
Naruto squares her shoulders, looking the great beast straight in the eye. "I'm no longer a Konoha kunoichi. I don't care about the stupid balance of power or anything that jinchuuriki are supposed to do. If you help me, do your best to keep both me and Itachi alive, I'll release you from my seal before I die."
The fox glares at her with distaste, looking unconvinced.
"Look, you heard Itachi. They're stealing the bijuu and sticking you guys in some creepy nine-eyed statue!" She waves her arms around for emphasis. "It's either you're stuck in me, or you're stuck in a statue. At least with me you know you'll be freed after a couple decades, or do you want to be a stone ornament for the rest of your life?"
The ninetails stares penetratingly, looking contemplative.
"How do I know you aren't lying to me and will just use my chakra only to drag me with you when you die? Or worse, pass me on to another of your accursed clan?"
Naruto doesn't get offended by that; if she had been kept trapped in a cage for decades, she'd probably be just as cynical.
"I'm Uzumaki Naruto." She says her name like it means something. And it does, it has always meant something even if the people around her have never realised it. "I never go back on my word."
The ninetails regards her and she stares back, trying to convey her sincerity with her eyes, her posture, everything. She needs him to believe her.
"Very well." The great chakra beast rumbles. "In return for my freedom upon your death, I will give you access to my full power."
"And you'll do everything in your power to help both Itachi and I as best you can." Naruto says emphatically.
"Yes, yes," he grumbles, "I'll even save your Uchiha."
Naruto lights up, joy and accomplishment shining on her face.
"I'll be watching you, so don't even think about betraying me." The fox snaps.
"I won't! Thank you so much, kyuubi!"
"It's Kurama." He huffs. "If I'm going to have to work with you humans, at least use my name."
"Kurama." The Uzumaki blinks, then smiles. "Let's do this!"
And Kurama begins to flood her body with red-hot chakra. The feeling of being filled with so much energy is indescribable, and for a moment, it feels like she could take on the entire world alone. But just as they reach all nine tails' worth, the feeling abruptly deserts her and the huge fox finds himself bound by chains that shoot out from the water beneath their feet.
Naruto flounders for a moment at the sudden loss of chakra and whips around, gasping when she sees who's right behind her.
"Kaa-san?"
Uzumaki Kushina smiles at her daughter, face to face for the first time since the day of her birth.
"Hello Naruto."