They found Sasuke when they were on the hunt for Itachi. A few days after the news of Itachi's death hit, they heard something coming from the forest. Hinata used her eyes to see what - or who - it was.
It was Sasuke.
He was headed towards them peacefully and without threat. But when through the clearing of the forest, they looked into his eyes only to see someone foreign. Sasuke usually either had no expression or a smirk. Today, he had neither.
Something felt wrong.
Not only that but it was suspicious that Sasuke went missing, likely captured by Madara, only to reappear days later in peace. If you asked Naruto, it was a good thing. But Kakashi knew better. Madara had seemed confident he would win Sasuke over.
So, why was Sasuke here when he should've already joined the Akatsuki? The second option could be that Sasuke rejected the Akatsuki's offer, in which case Sasuke should be injured from fighting. But he wasn't.
The only other option was that Sasuke had joined the Akatsuki and was tricking the group into thinking he wanted to come home. Then, when Sasuke had them convinced, he'd attack. Kakashi raised his weapons. "Get ready for an attack," he said.
Naruto was visibly confused. "What? Why? It's just Sasuke." Yamato caught on quickly. "Just do it, Naruto." Naruto hesitantly raised his weapons. Sasuke walked closer and closer until he stopped in front of Naruto.
There was tension in the air and they were all waiting for someone to attack. Then, Sasuke smirked. And ran. He ran at Kakashi and Kakashi prepared to attack but Sasuke had no weapons out. He put his own away and quickly decided it would be a bare handed fight.
He was wrong.
Instead of showing any threatening demeanor, Sasuke playfully (playfully?) jumped on Kakashi and wrapped his arms around his neck while straddling his waist. Kakashi was utterly confused. This was unlike Sasuke in every way.
He frowned. The clear answer to this all was that Madara had done something to Sasuke. Kakashi slowly pried Sasuke off of him and set his former student down carefully. "Sasuke. What are you doing?" He asked.
Confusion crossed Sasuke's face before it was replaced with yet another playful smirk. "My name is Raven. I was hoping I could see what your handsome face looks like with the mask off." "Sasuke's" expression turned seductive.
Naruto was consumed with shock. Usually, if circumstances were different, he'd be laughing at how Sasuke was acting but something told him that this situation was more serious than that.
Naruto, who was now serious, walked towards "Sasuke." A sound coming from the direction came interrupted him and the group was back to being alert. Not just one person but instead three people were coming at them.
The three people had Akatsuki uniforms on. Naruto grit his teeth. But, strangely enough, there was again no threat in their demeanor. The one in the front had white hair with blue at the ends and sharp teeth. The one to his left was a large, orange haired man. The one to his right was a girl with red hair and glasses.
The sharp toothed one had a relieved expression when he saw that Sasuke was there. Regardless of their non threatening demeanors, they still wore Akatsuki uniforms which made them enemies. The red haired female was carrying an extra Akatsuki uniform in her hand.
"Sasuke," said the sharp toothed boy. "Where have you been? We looked all over for you. Madara's looking for you." At the mention of Madara wanting Sasuke, the group was put even more on edge. Sasuke looked fearful of the three Akatsuki members and grabbed onto Kakashi.
He looked at the Akatsuki members, clearly offended by their mere presence. "They want to take me back. You should fight them for me," he told Kakashi. Then, his seductive expression was back. "You can fuck me after."
Now, it was Kakashi's turn to look offended. What the hell had happened to his dear former student? The two male members distracted the Leaf Ninja while the female discreetly went seperate ways and found her way to Sasuke.
"Sasuke - er, Raven - we need to take you back," she said. Sasuke glared at her. Halfway through the fight, Kakashi confirmed that this was indeed Sasuke's new team. The two males put up a good fight but they ultimately lost. It was no wonder Sasuke picked these people; they were certainly strong.
Sasuke's team agreed to go with the Leaf to be investigated all too willingly. There was no doubt they were somehow reporting back to the rest of the Akatsuki. Sakura noticed how close the large one was to the birds around him.
He seemed to understand the language of the birds. That must've been their way of communicating with Madara. The red head held on to Sasuke's Akatsuki uniform as he absolutely refused to put it on.
Sasuke stopped his flirting with Kakashi and halfway through the trip, started flirting with Yamato. He clearly had a thing for men older than him. It was hard to believe that this was Sasuke. They asked what "Team Taka" knew about Sasuke's huge change in personality but none of them answered.
It wasn't the fact that they were silent that bothered Kakashi but instead, the fact that they gave each other looks before refusing to say anything. Looks that said that whatever they knew about the situation wasn't good.
They learned Sasuke's teammates' names. The sharp toothed one was Suigetsu, the large orange haired one was Jugo, and the female was Karin. Finally, they were close to home. But Sasuke wasn't happy about that. In fact, he hated it so much that he passed out. Or, at least that's why Naruto thought he passed out.
When Sasuke woke up, he felt the pressure of two arms on either side of him, holding him hostage. He looked around to see his surroundings only to be very upset with himself, with the Leaf, and with the Akatsuki.
He was back.
And what had happened to his uniform? He looked at his surroundings more closely and caught the sight of Karin carrying his Akatsuki uniform. Sasuke sighed. The only possibility was that he'd passed out again.
Sometimes, he passed out and he'd wake up in different places. He was used to it. "Raven," said Karin. Sasuke scowled, clearly upset. "Are you okay?" Kakashi gave him a confused look. Why was Sasuke upset about being called Raven? He himself had told them to call him that.
As expected, Sasuke ignored her but in doing so, grabbed his uniform from her and threw it on. Karin was offended but her attraction to Sasuke prevented her from yelling at him.
When they entered Konoha, Sasuke looked around the place. It was different. He knew about the attack from Pain. He wondered if the Uchiha district was still there.
Walking to the Hokage's Office, Sasuke spotted some familiar faces. Some were just passerbys he'd seen often when he was younger while some were his former fellow genin.
The Leaf Ninja safely assumed that Sasuke's team had joined the Akatsuki. The only question was why. Kakashi and Yamato had only a slight idea of what was going on with Sasuke but they weren't sure if they were right. After all, multiple personalities was something both rare and not researched.
There wasn't much knowledge on the disorder so they hoped that it wasn't what was wrong with Sasuke. Their walk came to an end as they reached the Hokage's Office. They knocked on Tsunade's door and when she gave them permission to enter, they did.
She didn't seem surprised to see Sasuke which meant Kakashi probably sent her a heads up before they got there. Although she didn't seem surprised, she looked disappointed and upset. She clearly wanted answers as to why Sasuke and his team were wearing the Akatsuki uniform.
After giving Tsunade the report, the group of Leaf Ninja stood back, waiting for her decision about Sasuke and his teammates. "Uchiha," she said. "Can you explain to me why you're wearing the Akatsuki uniform?"
Sasuke didn't feel the need to answer such an obvious question. Of course he was wearing the Akatsuki uniform because he had joined the Akatsuki. Tsunade sighed, not appreciating the fact that he was ignoring her. She let it slide.
"Why did you join the Akatsuki?" She changed the question. Then, Sasuke started to get lightheaded. He didn't know why. His mind was blank and his vision was going out. Before he knew it, he fell forward. He was caught by Jugo.
The Leaf Ninja gave Sasuke a concerned look. "Lady Tsunade," said Sakura. She stepped forward. "I think there's something wrong with Sasuke." Worry weaved into her voice. Tsunade looked tired. She must've been busy lately.
But regardless of her tiredness, she was still going to help Sasuke and for that, she was appreciated. Sasuke woke up again and ground his footing. Sasuke looked around, this time with worry etched into his face.
Worry? Sasuke was not the type to show worry. Kakashi stepped forward. It was time he shared his own opinion on the matter. "Sasuke blacks out and wakes up like he's a completely different person. When we first ran into him, he presented himself as "Raven.""
Tsunade pieced things together and came to the same conclusion as Kakashi and Yamato. Even so, she was still wary. For one, Multiple Personality Disorder was extremely rare and the only reason they knew about its existence was because it was intriguing.
Lastly, Tsunade was wary because Multiple Personality Disorder was extremely difficult and took much, much effort to fix. It all depended on how damaged Sasuke was. Tsunade sighed. This was going to be a long evening.
Sasuke was on high alert, looking around as if he was waiting for someone to attack. What had happened to him to make his mind split? And when did it happen? With Orochimaru? Or when he killed his brother. Or multiple events?
"Very well," Tsunade said. "For now, Sasuke and his team legally need to go through an investigation. When we have their side of the story, it will be decided whether Sasuke and his team will be jailed or not."
Naruto understood. The fact that Sasuke and his team was wearing uniform of the Akatsuki who destroyed their village, there was no doubt that they would need to be questioned. Naruto clenched his fists.
"Okay," he said as if he was asked for permission. Tsunade nodded. Several ANBU came to escort Sasuke and his team to jail. Sasuke looked around fearfully and jumped when two ANBU grabbed onto him. He tried struggling out of their grip but they were holding tightly.
"Where are you taking me?" Sasuke wasn't paying attention when they had discussed jail. The ANBU didn't answer him and firmly pulled him forward towards the way of jail. His former teammates grimaced while watching Sasuke being forcefully drug away.
Sasuke's fearful look turned into a glare. He wanted to demand to know why he was being taken to jail of all places. Moreover, he wondered why he and the others who were being escorted all wore the same uniform with red clouds and a black cloak.
What did the red clouds mean? And why was he being treated like an enemy of his very own village? Sasuke eventually stopped struggling and walked voluntarily. Maybe, he'd get answers while in jail and maybe he could explain himself.
He thought about how disappointed his family would be if they found out he was being put in jail. His father already hated him enough. At this point, the man would just downright reject Sasuke and possibly even disown him.
And Itachi... A disappointed version of Itachi filled his mind and he imagined Itachi being upset. He had to shake the thought off because it overly upset him. He'd complied only because his family would be even more disappointed if word had it that the Uchiha had struggled against the Hokage.
They finally reached the dark jail. They made Sasuke get changed and put a chakra binding set of handcuffs on him and a Sharingan deflecting eye covering that also made him blind. Sasuke fell asleep from the stress of it all.
When Sasuke was woken up, he felt the hands of a strong man lifting him and leading him down a hallway to the left, then to the right, then to the right and to the left. Then, straight ahead.
Sasuke was forced into a seat and, carefully, his blindfold was removed.
After being asked to confirm his name and birthday, he felt the strong presence of someone walking into the room and heard the person (presumably a man) sit down across from him.
"Sasuke. We are here today to investigate your mental health and your purpose in joining the Akatsuki. Are you ready?" No. No, he wasn't ready. In fact, nothing could've prepared him for being accused of joining such an organization. So, he stayed silent.
"Very well," the man said as if Sasuke had answered. "We shall begin."