Hard to believe Christmas is fast approaching, but I'm still excited despite everything happening! :D Better to be positive than dwell on the negative.

Chapter Thirteen

Honoring Tsunade, Lady Hokage

She died in this hospital. She was free rather than remaining any longer trapped in the village that became a hellhole. And she had people who respected and loved her rather than being all alone. But to look upon the frail, lined face - her true age - made Naru sob and break apart harder than before. She began to count off those gone from her life now in this order.

Jiraiya-sensei.

Konohamaru.

Now Tsunade.

Who next?

The numbers are just going to keep growing and growing.

Naru cried for a long time, leaning herself on Tsunade's body, head resting against her heart while Shizune was at the abdomen, spilling her own share of tears. Tonton whimpered and moved to curl into her dead mistress's side. She felt Itachi's warm hand rest on her shoulder as a small means of comfort. "She's gone off to a better place - to see her loved ones -" Her younger brother and the man she loved, maybe her grandfather and others. "- and she believes in us," Itachi told her gently, and she sensed him kneeling beside her, the ends of his cloak rustling.

"What was she talking about, Itachi?" Sasuke suddenly demanded. "What truth?"

"Not now," the elder brother said coldly. "Your friend lost someone near and dear to her, so show respect and let her mourn."

She had no will to speak, but Shizune did. The raven lifted her head and scowled. "Itachi, you're taking him outside now and keeping him on a leash as you do what Lady Tsunade wants you to. If anyone can keep him in check, it's you," she stated, forcing a smirk to one side of her tear-stained face.

He rose again. "Very well then. I'll leave you both alone. And Karin, stay with them."

Granny wants him to do what he doesn't want me to do. But what if Sasuke...?

Naru didn't know what to say to the redhead who just watched them mourn the passing of the Fifth Hokage and mother figure to them both - until Karin broke the silence, hoarse and still restrained. "It's like when my mother was taken from me."

~o~

He had no choice but to follow Tsunade's wish, but if Sasuke did go the way he was envisioning - further down than he already was - then there was Naru. Because of what Itachi gave her that day...

He and Sasuke were alone for the first time. He made sure that no one else was in the vicinity, and if anyone was coming, surely Karin or Naru - or any of the men - would alert them. He just hoped Sasuke would hear him out, though he was positive that his brother would deny everything, prefer believing the lies that he was fed.

"Well, talk. What did the Hokage mean by 'the truth'?"

He sighed at the impatience. "It won't be easy to explain, but I never wanted you to know it, because it was for the best - just as it was best for you to live the way you do now and kill me in the end. What happened that night was what you saw, but you have no idea what was truly behind it. But no one can know this besides you, Naru and I, and Shizune since she knows. So had Tsunade. I...acted on orders to eliminate our parents and our clan," Itachi said, lowering his voice.

"O-orders?" Sasuke repeated after a long, heavy pause and a burst of the eyeballs as he NEVER expected this. He didn't know what. "What are you talking about?!"

"Exactly as I said. Our clan, led by our father, was intending to overthrow Leaf's leadership and take over the village. I was in between joining our clan and the Leaf, but you would never know any of this. Because you were just a child and had no part in this. I wanted to protect you from everything."

Sasuke's face was tight, though his eyes flashed red. He wasn't believing this, calling it all lies without saying it directly. Finally, he spat it all out. "You're lying again. Just like you masqueraded as the brother I thought was my everything. And that means you brainwashed Naru -"

Itachi interrupted him harshly.

"I did no such thing. I have no physical evidence to give you, and it's for the best that no one but you and I as well as the women know. If I were lying, why did Lady Fifth tell me to finally confide in you? Ask yourself why everyone has treated me with such respect." His brother hissed through his teeth. "Then silence your tongue and listen to me...or perhaps I ought to show you in a moment just like I showed Naru, to make things faster." And just like that, Itachi activated his memories to show his brother - and he meant everything.

When it was all over, Sasuke was bent over halfway, panting and gasping for air. "Itachi, you..."

"Now, do you see it? See how you were never able to read between the lines? Understand why I did all of it...for the village, but most of all for you."

A crystalline tear began to streak down a cheek, followed by another. His entire body was wracking as he tried not to sob...before Sasuke collapsed to his knees, wrapping his arms around himself. Just moments ago he was arrogant with his head high, and now look at him. Itachi felt himself twinge inside; seeing him like this made him think of the child he used to be.

I should comfort him, but he wouldn't allow me.

"I-Itachi..."

Sasuke raised his head and showed eyes that were clear and wet, but reddened from heavy tears, overwhelmed and having no idea what to do anymore: whether to stick to his revenge or just accept the facts and give up altogether to finally help save THEIR VILLAGE.

His voice was croaked. "You...were made to kill our parents and our kin, against the Third Hokage's wishes. I hate Danzo more than the other elders." Which meant he knew of the deaths of the other two who were also involved. "You had to live like a criminal and became an Akatsuki, and I hated you...I still want to..."

Then the younger Uchiha reached and wiped his eyes with the back of his hand, dropping it into his lap before rising up and standing with his eyes still closed, until they opened in a flash to show they were still red. Furious and more vengeful than before, though calm.

"I'm never going to forgive Danzo, so that's why I'll help you and Naru take him down. Just for my brother and my...friend."

And without a care that he was branded a rogue, too. That was what Itachi was pleased to hear...and the fact he started acknowledging him as his brother again, Naru as his friend, but it was still far from over.

~o~

"What are we going to do with her, Shizune? We can't just leave her here! She needs proper burial or at least cremation so that we can put her with the memorial," Naru said as they stood over the body with the sheet now covering its head. Tonton lay further down, curled into herself but struggling to sleep; seeing the piglet made Naru want to break down again.

"I know, and the second option sounds logical. But this center isn't able to get a crematorium of their own, and they would have by now if not for Danzo," Shizune said bitterly. Damned funds limited because of him. Nothing but fighting and torn sides.

"Which means we have to burn the body ourselves," Karin said, uneasy without words and nervously looking at them with her suggestion.

And just who would have to do that job? It felt like a disrespect of the dead, though she'd heard people had done that before. "Itachi can probably do that with his jutsu," Naru said, remembering the Fireball which was essential to the Uchiha. And he wouldn't have any trouble doing something that was hard for him.

The elderly doctor, Maiko, came in, and when she saw the covered corpse of her patient, her face fell. "Oh, dear, I should have been here. You should have called for me," she scolded.

"She didn't want to be saved," Karin snapped. "We offered her in different forms. But now they want to take her and have her burned to ashes before they leave." Then she turned her red attention back to Tsunade's form. "Question out of the blue: was the Godaime always a granny?"

Shizune snapped. "No, she wasn't always! She kept that young appearance of hers until she sacrificed herself for the village, fell into a coma and ended up here. You don't even know anything about her."

"Yeah, Granny Tsunade deserves better respect," Naru agreed, narrowing her eyes at the redhead. "Better respect than Sasuke thinks he deserves." Even though he agreed to help us, but he needs to really earn it before I consider not hating him anymore.

Karin huffed at them both but said nothing, and Maiko broke it up. "Well, if you girls are done bantering, perhaps Itachi can vouch, or his brother, with that fiery spell of theirs," she offered. "If only we had a damned incinerator if not for that damned Rokudaime." She spat Danzo's title with such venom that it made Naru Uzumaki's day. At least another someone might be happy to see him gone.

But here was good news: the old woman had a good, solid vase to put the ashes in for the journey. When she brought it to their attentions, she presented the most beautiful thing Naru had ever seen, and it was embossed with goldwork, accents of teal blue, green and purple, and painted with iris flowers. That's splendid for a Hokage tribute, Kurama said when he read her thoughts.

And would go among the memorial of the other Hokage before her.

"Karin, why don't you go tell the boys what happened and we stay in here?" Naru suggested. "And sense if anyone is coming yet?"

"Right." The redhead gave a curt nod and left them both be.

Naru thought about doing her end, because she wasn't lazy anymore, though she wanted to give that girl a chance since her chakra was so much like hers. She was a sensor, and was two better than one?

She turned on Sage Mode and got it in case Karin was not doing it right away - and just like that, there were two life-forms a hundred yards away coming from the northeast. They're two of Danzo's best dogs. Better to retreat now and find another place to perform the cremation.

~o~

Two of Danzo's best, of course that was who they were. But they were going to lose them if Itachi Uchiha had anything to say about it.

Now wasn't a good time to cremate Tsunade's body, so now they were all in the air and going for the Akatsuki headquarters. He, Naru and Kisame were on one of Deidara's clay birds while the owner himself was with Shizune and Tonton on another, leaving Sasuke and his team on their own. Now they were in distant skies where no one would catch on from below.

He and Naru were the ones holding the dead woman until they got to the rocky mountains crossing with rivers below on a lush landscape. From afar it looked abandoned and with no residents nearby, but this was near the place where the old hideout had been before Sasori was killed by Sakura Haruno, Naru and Sasuke's pink-haired teammate he learned was now the strongest medical ninja after her master. And it was here where her master would be given a private but proper service, beneath the depths of the mountain.

Past the bone gates and arches, the unlikely group built a pyre to accommodate the woman, and Itachi set the blaze with Sasuke's help. He then returned to Naru's side and took her hand into his, hiding it behind the heavy build of his cloak, though Sasuke still noticed as he returned to join his team.

"Tsunade was not only the granddaughter of the very first Hokage, nor was she the first woman to ascend that seat, but she was one of the strongest warriors and healers in our history. Just like all of us, she lost comrades, friends and loved ones, but she persevered like we did. She gave her life and survived once again - only to lose the will to live the way she did...because of one man. But we are not stopping there," Itachi said strongly, heart swelling when he looked down especially into Naru's bright eyes and then into Shizune's to his left.

"Her death is not going to be in vain as long as we are still standing. We all come from different backgrounds and situations, but nothing is breaking that...bond even if we try to."

Just as Konohamaru Sarutobi's and anyone else's won't be in vain.

The word "bond" struck everyone - especially Sasuke whose taut shell was cracked by his elder brother's words alone - making Naru smile bright as the flames licked against the remains of the Godaime Hokage, engulfing her and taking her physically into the next world where her spirit had gone to her loved ones and friends who had been waiting for her.

Itachi really has the habit of making it quicker to show people his memories rather than speak with his own mouth. Well, not everyone can keep it fresh when he talks himself. And it can dry out after awhile.

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