A/N: As per the general consensus, I will be keeping the update schedule to at least twice per week. Good to know that you all still enjoy this story. I just worry sometimes, ya know?

I think you'll all find this chapter rather interesting, if only for one of its scenes. Hope I'm right on this

Time for Chapter 56

Enjoy!


International fame, or rather, international infamy, had a way of fluctuating. Some days, one's mere existence would earn them unnerved, sideways glances from every which person within fifty feet of them. On others, one could pass through a town without so much as a whisper out of place. It was hardly consistent. A small settlement disconnected from any major village could be full of creeping eyes, while a bustling trade post could be completely without suspicion. Thankfully, the tavern Itachi Uchiha found himself sitting near the back of appeared to be closer to the latter.

Extended looks had been received, of course, but they had been entirely directed toward his companion. Kisame Hoshigaki was certainly a sight. Tall, broad, and bearing skin of a nearly reptilian quality, the former member of Kirigakure's Seven Ninja Swordsman was quite far removed from the norm. Even his eyes were far closer to that of a shark than a normal man. Itachi himself had taken several months to grow used to the man's appearance.

"We've been here for almost twenty minutes, and they haven't even brought us our glasses. Lousy service." the swordsman grumbled, cowing a man across the room with a sharp look. Itachi calmly filed his dark nails with a kunai. Multiple days of continuous running had left him sore, and the rest was welcome with or without food in his stomach.

"It's not exactly a slow night. Give them time, Kisame-san." he said, drawing an impatient look from his contemporary.

"Oh, come on. We both need an edge off right now." he countered. Itachi pocketed his kunai and took a short glance at the main bar, where the lone tender was visibly struggling to keep pace.

"You, not we. I don't drink." he corrected. Kisame rolled his beady eyes and began to fiddle with a fork.

"You still haven't let me in on why we're crossing the continent on short notice. The Nine-Tails isn't exactly accessible right now. He's too well guarded." he said, a hint of veiled irritation in his voice. The Uchiha looked the small menu plastered to the table up and down for the dozenth time.

"He might just throw himself at us, but you're not wrong. He isn't our objective." he replied with vague honesty. Kisame eyed him intently, setting the fork aside.

"What is our objective, then? I'm starting to think you're just feeling homesick." he pressed. Itachi's eyes drifted from the menu to the chandelier hanging from the ceiling of the tavern. For such a grubby establishment, it was quite ornate.

"No, nothing like that. Just some maintenance. Maybe a few screws to tighten. It's nothing you need to be stressing about." he said dismissively. Before Kisame could respond, the bartender finally found the space to rush over to their table. Once both men had ordered their respective drinks, the flustered worker bounded back over to the bar. Alone, or close to it, once more, the conversation resumed.

"It's your sister, isn't it?" Kisame guessed, finally drawing Itachi's eyes to his own. For a time, the Uchiha said nothing.

"And if it is?" he challenged evenly. The swordsman held up his hands in faux defensiveness, a sharp-toothed grin on his face.

"No need to be so prickly. Just curious. That entire story has always fascinated me. Especially now that I know you well." he said. Itachi chuckled lightly.

"Not as well as you'd like to think." he shot back. Kisame began to retort, but paused when their drinks arrived at the same moment. Tea was a rare delicacy in such places, but luck had been on Itachi's side. Taking a tentative first sip, the Uchiha finally relaxed a touch. The flavor was imperfect, but there was no room for complaint. It was a luxury to have it at all.

"I'll never understand your obsession with that bland leaf water." Kisame commented, savoring a sip of his stiff drink. Itachi shrugged and took another sip. Mint tea was an acquired taste to be sure, but it had been his only option outside of water or booze.

"To each their own. At least I don't need to be carried after drinking it." he said. Kisame grumbled something under his breath, but kept it to himself for the most part. Over the following several minutes, the two men exchanged few words. There was nothing much to say. The bar was drab, and the drinks were average at best. Extended conversation had never been an aspect of their working relationship when it wasn't required. They had seldom little in common, though they were able to chat when the boredom hit a certain level.

When Kisame had finished his third glass, Itachi chose to cut their pitstop short. The man was quite unpleasant when intoxicated.

"We should move. The moon is out tonight." he said, standing up from the table and adjusting the hat on his head. The swordsman sighed and rose to join him. As smooth as their stay had been in the area, being stationary was unwise. Anonymity was always a temporary blessing. Weaving his way through the crowded tavern, Itachi was quickly joined by Kisame with his bandaged blade in hand. Moments later, they walked out the door and out into the dirt road running through the center of the small hamlet.

"Let's take it slow for a few miles. I'd rather not hurl." Kisame requested as they began to walk. Itachi nodded as a lukewarm wind blew across the town. The moon was full, shining a bright light down on the darkened land below.

"I'd prefer if we kept this little trip between us." he said seriously. The swordsman latched his oversized weapon to his back and fell into step beside the Uchiha.

"Fair enough. You've kept my secrets. I'll keep yours." he agreed. Itachi gave no response, as his eyes were now fully locked on the vastly distant destination of their journey.

A brutal homecoming was in store.


Satsuki rubbed her tired eyes as she sauntered through the gate of the Uchiha sector without bothering to lock it behind her. She had never been a particular fan of funerals, though few truly were. She had felt no personal sorrow in the passing of Kiba or Hana Inuzuka, but out of respect for the invitation she had received, she had set the day aside to attend the entire solemn event. The service had begun at two in the afternoon, and had stretched on for nearly the entire day. As it turned out, the Inuzuka clan's burial traditions were many in number and lengthy in execution.

There had been a banquet after the fact, and while Satsuki had attempted to weasel her way out of it, she had been guilted into staying by the thanks of Tsume Inuzuka, who had invited her in the first place. It was now close to nine o'clock, and the sun had set an hour ago. To say that the raven-haired girl was exhausted would have been a gross understatement. Her social battery was completely drained, and her legs were numb from standing for hours on end.

'Using a dead body as an excuse to stuff yourself is tacky. Somebody died. It isn't a celebration.' Satsuki thought to herself as she walked through her empty neighborhood. There was value in levity during times of grief, but she had always found the feasts commonly coupled with funerals to be misplaced. The entire experience had been quite awkward for her. Standing and listening to personal stories about both siblings would have been dull on its own, but the addition of crying friends and family members to all sides of her only dampened things. She had not shed a tear. She had not cared for Kiba, and had never met his sister.

Apparently, the Inuzuka heir had died defending his clan compound from a group of Suna chunin, and Hana had met her own end defending his body. It was a sad tale, and their deaths had likely been gruesome. The caskets had been closed. Satsuki revered their heroism, and the honor of dying in battle. She had paid her respects, even as impersonal as the act had been. The service had been crowded, to say the least. It made a fair amount of sense. The Inuzuka Clan was powerful and well-connected. Such a major loss was bound to attract a crowd.

The entirety of the graduating class of that year had been present, save for, conveniently, the Uchiha's teammates. Shikamaru, due to his continued illness. Naruto, because he had not been invited. In the latter case, she had even bothered to ask Kiba's father. The response had been curt and without room for further discussion. Due to the setting and circumstances, Satsuki had held her tongue and accepted the rejection of her teammate without a fight, despite having every desire to argue. Shaking her head and rounding a corner, Satsuki tucked a few strands of hair behind both ears.

'Says a whole lot about me that I was more mad about that than two people dying.' she mused darkly. The more she considered her conduct at the funeral, the more she came to realize that she had likely come off as rather cold. She hadn't made a concerted effort to feign grief or sorrow. She had simply stared straight ahead blankly. In a sense, the impression would have been an accurate one. Her heart rate had not changed a single iota throughout, nor had her bottom lip trembled. She had attended out of respect. Not out of love or sadness.

Truth be told, her mind had wandered elsewhere more than once. She had spent ten entire minutes silently critiquing the poor choices of dress from many of her female former classmates, and another twenty daydreaming about a plate of cut-up breaded chicken when the Inuzuka clan and their family friends had taken turns recounting their memories of the deceased siblings. Deep down, her choice not to empathize had been a conscious one. Loss of a familial nature was far too on the nose. Had she allowed an open emotional channel, the day would have been even longer.

Now that she had returned to her own place of dwelling, the thoughts that had been nagging at her from the furthest corner of her skull were surfacing. Thoughts of her own family, and the fact that they had not been afforded a funeral of their own. Kiba and Hana had been honored and buried with great, if melancholy, fanfare. Satsuki's fellow Uchiha had been taken after a week of rotting, and disposed of. It had all been so clinical. So business-like. The entire procedure had left a sour taste in Satsuki's mouth.

She had long suspected that the bodies had been burned. She had smelt charred decay on the wind later that same week, all those years ago. Scrunching up her nose at the bleak reminiscence, Satsuki stopped at the front steps of her home. The lights were still off, just as she had left them. As she took her first step up the stairs, she hesitated. Something was calling out to her. Something that she usually did her best to avoid thinking about. A mental back-and-forth ensued, with a verdict being reached soon after.

Stepping back down onto the street, Satsuki continued walking. It was a reasonably lengthy walk, even though her final destination was within the bounds of the Uchiha sector. As she trekked on, she felt pressure beginning to mount with increasing speed. She tended to steer well clear of the deeper half of the neighborhood, as it contained the vestiges of her best and worst memories. Too far in either direction almost always ended in pain for one reason or another. The last time she had walked so far, she had been accompanied by Naruto, and though the blonde did not know as much, she had slinked into his arms that night for emotional comfort far more than shielding from the cold.

She would not have his company this time around, and that reality was not lost on her. Shaking the nerves as best she could, Satsuki inhaled deeply through her nose as the centerpiece of her fears came into view. The former house of her family. The once-proud head estate of the Uchiha sector. It was tall and foreboding as always, with an aura of significance that had never truly left the structure in all its years of inertia. Slowing her pace as she drew closer to the house, Satsuki swallowed the nervous lump in her throat. Gravity almost seemed to increase with every step. She could practically taste the bloody history.

By the time she reached the steps, she had to actively remind herself to breathe. Her heart was threatening to burst out of her chest, and she was beginning to sweat. Memories were crashing in at a speed she could barely manage. Turning off her brain as much as possible, Satsuki slowly ascended the steps. Reaching the porch, she took two numb steps forward. Now standing before the door that had beaten her three times prior, she reached forward. As her hand touched the rusted handle, her arm began to shake.

Satsuki was afraid of very little, but fear was exactly what was freezing her. Fear for what she would inevitably see, and the memories it would incur. The nightmares should have desensitized her to them years ago, but to truly walk upon the floors her parents had been piled on and to smell the must intimidated her greatly. Try as she might, she could not break through the wall. Letting her hand limply drop from the handle, Satsuki stood motionless with her eyes downcast for several moments. She had been beaten by the door again. She was still not strong enough to face the foyer. Not alone.

"Everything. Every single time." she murmured into the cold night. Overwhelmed and marked by Orochimaru, battered and bludgeoned by Gaara, and now, broken and repelled by a wooden door. She had not been fortunate enough to rise to the occasion when it truly mattered of late. Any accomplishments in between were all for naught from her ever-darkening perspective. Curling her hands up tightly, Satsuki slammed one of her fists into the wall to the side of the door, shaking the structure and causing dust to fall all around her. Her frustration was immense.

She had spent years striving to overcome the pain and reticence that Itachi's cruelty had inspired in her. She had gone over it all countless times. She had tried every method to make peace. She had even managed to achieve some modicum of contentment at points, though it never lasted. She had made progress. Even as angry as she was, she knew it to be true. Yet, no matter how far she had come, the same barrier persisted. She could not look the tragedy in the eyes and face it directly. She had grown, but not enough, and it was beginning to feel as though she would never reach that benchmark.

What she hated even more than her own failure, with a venom that only shame could produce, was the solution she had automatically turned to within her mind without a second thought. She had planted the seeds herself well over a month prior without even realizing it, and they were now bearing a fruit her ego wanted no part of. Dedicating a significant amount of mental stamina to suppression, Satsuki's nails dug into her palms. For the second time that night, she was beaten.

With bitter reluctance, the Uchiha girl trudged down the steps and set out down the street again, this time in the direction of the entry gate. Along the way, she made several futile attempts to convince herself to simply give up and resign to sleep for the night. She was too stubborn, and paradoxically, too proud. As much of a blow to her self-esteem as what she was in the process of doing was, she refused to be a slave to the door any longer. She would not accept defeat for a fourth time. She would overcome the foyer, and she would do it tonight. Loss was not an option, no matter the cost.

Finally reaching the front gate after a few minutes' travel, Satsuki stopped. It truly was the last thing she wanted. She had said as much the first and only time the topic had arisen. Regardless of these feelings, her desire to enter the house was stronger.

Choking down her pride, she set out to find Naruto.


Naruto had come to appreciate slow days greatly.

At an early time in his life, he had done anything and everything to fill his time with activity, no matter what it entailed. As with many children, his younger self had been a ball of boundless energy without a proper outlet. He had gotten himself into plenty of trouble simply trying to keep himself busy. As he had aged, his capacity for constant activity had waned, and his desire for down time had increased. This trend in temperament had only been hurried along by his entrance into the Shinobi ranks, as he was now quite tired more often than not.

From the endless training required to stay in peak physical condition to the more dramatic side of things, there was rarely a lackadaisical moment. He was busy at least five days per week, and it left him spent. As such, the past week had been incredibly refreshing. Though facilitated by the less than ideal catastrophe that was the invasion, Naruto and the rest of his comrades had been granted a month's leave as compensation for their work during the attack. He had been able to sleep in multiple mornings in a row for the first time in months. He still awoke rather early, but the fact that it was his own choice rather than an obligation was comforting in and of itself.

Exactly one week had passed since the chaos, and Naruto had spent his days alternating between light exercise, reading, and partaking in miscellaneous activities with Satsuki across the village. He had attempted to visit Shikamaru the previous day, but he had been turned away by Shikaku Nara due to the unambitious genin having come down with an illness. Disappointing as the development had been, it was only a temporary issue. The present day had been the least eventful of the past seven, with the reason being that his only consistent companion had been unavailable due to previous commitments.

He had found ways to occupy his time even without the Uchiha girl, as he had spent most of the day giving his apartment a much-needed cleanup. It hardly made for riveting entertainment, but it was something to do, and that was enough. He had finished forty minutes prior, and since then, he had been attempting to work himself into exhaustion with calisthenics. He was down on the floor between his kitchen and living room, sweating as he held a plank for a fifth consecutive minute. Such a duration would have been a simple matter had he been fresh, but a half an hour of exercise beforehand had left him weathered.

'Wonder if the funeral's done. She said it'd start at around two when she went home yesterday. It's kinda late now.' he thought to himself, focusing on a bead of sweat on the hardwood floor as his abdomen strained to remain stable and straight. He had initially been disappointed to have not been invited, but the more thought he had put into it, the more sense it had made. Kiba had been fairly popular amongst his classmates. He had certainly been crude, but even the Jinchuuriki could acknowledge that the Inuzuka heir had possessed a sense of humor.

It was only logical that his family would choose to invite those their late son had gotten on well with to his funeral, and Naruto did not fit that description in the least. Another bead of sweat dripped down from his hair, the effort required to stay off the ground growing larger by the second.

'I hope he's in a better place now.' Naruto silently prayed, setting aside his disdain for the boy in favor of humanity. Thirty seconds later, he dropped flat on the floor, unable to hold himself up any longer. Rolling onto his back, the blonde heaved deep breaths. He had come to adore the specific type of exhaustion exercise granted him. Endorphins were a wonderful thing. Reaching for the towel he had set out ahead of time, Naruto wiped the sweat from his brow and dried it from his hair.

'I need to buy a few more of these. I used this after my shower this morning.' he noted, adding the task to his mental to-do list that he rarely attended to as quickly as he should. As he stood back up to his feet, a knock came at his door. Naruto sighed tiredly. His sleep would need to be put on temporary hold, it seemed. Wiping a bit more sweat from his arms and shirt, the blonde set the towel down on the kitchen counter and made his way over to the door. When he opened it, who he saw was rather unsurprising.

"Finally done with the funeral?" he greeted Satsuki, who wore a blank look on her face. The Uchiha girl nodded silently, making no move to enter his apartment or to speak. When her lack of a response proved to be persistent, Naruto frowned.

"Alright, what's up?" he asked. Upon further inspection, while her face was lacking in emotion, her body language told a story all on its own. She was stiff and wired, and she was slouching somewhat. Beyond that, her palms appeared to have several scratches dug into them.

"I need you to come with me." she finally said, her tone quiet and hoarse. The blonde's frown only strengthened.

"Can you at least tell me what's wrong first?" he requested gently, well aware from experience that she was in a volatile state of mind. Satsuki took a shaky breath inward, visibly gathering herself.

"The door. My old house." she said shortly. Naruto wracked his brain to recall what his teammate was harkening back to, and while it took him longer than he would have liked, he was able to retrieve the memory, and when he did, his eyes widened slightly.

"You're sure?" he asked. Satsuki responded by reaching out and taking hold of his wrist. She then tugged on his arm. Correctly deducing that it was not up for debate, Naruto grabbed his jacket from the coat rack by his door and stepped out of his apartment, closing the door behind him.

"I'm sorry. I…don't wanna talk about it. Just walk, please." Satsuki apologized, her eyes partially curtained by the bangs that framed her face. Doing as he was told, Naruto followed without a struggle as the Uchiha pulled him along. As per her unspoken instruction, he granted her silence.

Despite all he had seen, he was unprepared for the anguish he was en route to witness.


A/N: Alright, so this chapter is on the shorter side, but I think I made it pretty interesting on a few fronts.

I was on the fence about giving Itachi a scene from his perspective, but I decided to go through with it, and I think it turned out pretty well. He's a tough one to write accurately, so I hope you're satisfied with it.

And, because they're the main event of this fic, Naruto and Satsuki have been set up for something big next chapter. I hope it didn't all feel rushed. My biggest fear haha

Leave me a review if you're able :)

I love you all

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