"Why do you think the Anbu was there?"

Itachi and Mitsuki strolled slowly down the almost-empty back roads to the Uzumaki home. Mitsuki offered to take him after Sakura released him, helping him get home safely since Itachi admitted he may have not totally remembered how to get home; he could see a vague outline of the house but didn't know the streets to get there. He was patient while Itachi limped along after refusing any help; he wanted to regain his strength on his own.

"I don't know. I think they might want to talk to you and work with you."

"Me?" Itachi asked. "Why me?"

"Because of the mission the other night."

"But I don't remember anything from the mission," Itachi snorted, "so I think that would be futile. Why don't they ask someone else?"

"Because Sarada said you were trailing someone and went off on your own before you got hurt. You yelled that you found something then went quiet. Then she found you. That's around the time your dad showed up and they retreated. ...Are you okay?"

Itachi stopped limping along for a second as Mitsuki's words sank in. So Boruto saw something. Maybe the reason he was back was tied to whatever Boruto had seen; maybe there was a connection.

"Yeah...sorry." He started walking again, banking the thought to continue later.

"If you saw something, they would need to talk to you," Mitsuki continued. "Whether you remember or not they'll be able to get it out of your head. You have important information locked in your brain."

But the Anbu? What about just the intel unit? Why was the Anbu involved with this?

"So where were you during all this?" Itachi asked. "Was our whole team out together?"

"No." Itachi noticed that for the first time in their conversation Mitsuki averted his eyes. It was nearly imperceptible and only for a millisecond, but Itachi's- or rather Boruto's- eyes were trained well enough to pick up on this.

"Were you on another mission?" Itachi pressed.

"Something like that."

Itachi opened his mouth to respond but, but at that moment Mitsuki stopped walking in front of a house. "Well," he said, changing the subject. "You're home. I know you're unable to train with us for a while, but I promise I'll visit tomorrow with everyone."

Itachi glanced at the house and gestured at it. "Do you want to come inside for a bit?" he asked, desperate to continue their conversation. "No need to rush out."

"No," Mitsuki said and began to step backwards. "I have some things to take care of. Tell me what the Anbu says?" he added.

"Yeah…sure…" Itachi replied softly, and watched as Mitsuki disappeared in thin air.

Weird. He didn't know Mitsuki, obviously, but he knew enough about teammates to know that he was overly vague. Teammates share everything when it comes to a mission. He knew he needed to follow that mystery too,

"You were released?! And walked home?!" Itachi's head snapped to see Hinata running toward him, clearly in distress. "I missed Sakura's call that you were coming home. How irresponsible of you! Can you move okay? I can't believe you actually walked home when you just had surgery yesterday!"

Itachi opened his mouth to speak but Hinata wrapped her arm around his shoulders and continued on. "I guess nevermind all that; what's done is done. The Anbu just paid your father a visit and want to talk to you. They wanted to speak to you in his office but I don't want you traveling and putting too much strain on your body until you're ready." She stopped for a moment to stare into his eyes as though to make him realize the weight of the situation. "Your father is coming home and they will interview you here tonight. And before you make a big fuss, your dad will actually be home, he is not sending a shadow clone."

Shadow clone? Why would he care about that?

"O-okay…" was all he could say.

"Big brother!" A small child suddenly busted out of the door and into their path. Himawari, the small voice in his head whispered.

"Hima, be careful! He's still weak."

Himawari grabbed onto his shirt in lieu of hugging him and stared lovingly up at him. "I was so worried! I'm so glad you're home!"

Itachi felt a familiar warmth flow through him; so Boruto had a doting younger sibling, too. He didn't know much about Boruto still, obviously, but he could say for certain that he loved his sister with every fiber of his being and would do anything for her. As long as he was here, he would treat Himawari as his Sasuke. He didn't need to know Boruto to know how to be a good big brother.

Itachi let Himawari tug on his arm as she led him into the house. She babbled on. "Daddy is coming home tonight so I helped Mommy make a big dinner for him and you!"

"Well, remember, Daddy still has to work," Hinata piped in. "We're having visitors tonight so Daddy can't eat until he's done." So Naruto must not be home a lot, Itachi noted.

Himawari finally let go of his hand and continued on into the kitchen, but he paused to stare at the family pictures cascaded on the hallway wall. Fuck. He felt an indescribable ache in his core as he took in each one. In every picture the family looked so happy...and they had no idea that their oldest child was actually gone, that they had lost their only son. Where was the real Boruto now? Where was this boy with the mischievous grin gripping Naruto's hand like he never wanted to let go? Is he where Itachi once was? He couldn't even say where that was.

A noise from the front door distracted Itachi and he turned his head to see Naruto walk through the door. He didn't see Itachi at first, and he watched from the shadows as Naruto distractedly ran a hand through his hair and stared worriedly at the ground. What is he worried about? Only a second had passed though before he detected Itachi's presence and looked up, his eyes lighting up upon seeing his son standing in the hall. "Oh, great, you're home! And standing!" He walked up to his son and held out his fist; Itachi just stared at it for a moment, unsure of what to do.

"What, don't tell me you forgot our bump too?" Naruto cried. He took Itachi's hand and balled it into a fist for him before bumping it with his own.

"Daddy!" Himawari came barreling out of the kitchen again and into her father's arms. Hinata followed quickly behind.

"Are they still coming?" she asked her husband softly.

"Yes. I asked if they'd wait since Boruto is still recovering but they insisted on coming tonight."

Hinata raised her eyebrows at this development. "They...they told you no?"

Naruto shrugged. "I trust them. This is important. I put the Anbu on this afterall; Sasuke and I can't be there to chase after the enemy again, so they need as much information as possible."

"Do you think they'll return soon-" Hinata stopped abruptly like she just realized she was surrounded by her family. Itachi watched her and Naruto stare into each other's eyes for one more second as though communicating silently before Naruto broke the stare and placed Himawari on the ground.

"Okay, Boruto, you ready to talk to the Anbu?" he asked. He began to climb the stairs. "I know you don't have much experience with them yet."

If you only knew. Itachi nodded silently and followed Naruto upstairs. "So," he asked, following him into a room. "Will Sasuke be coming too?"

"Sasuke?" Naruto questioned, throwing empty instant ramen cups away from the large desk in the center of the room and kicking dirty clothes under it. "Why would Sasuke be coming?"

"Oh, I don't know," Itachi lied. "I just thought that since you were here and you and Sasuke both chased after the enemy that night that they'd want both of you."

Naruto stared curiously at him for a moment before laughing. "You really don't have faith in me, do you," he said. "It's always about Sasuke. I know we don't always see eye-to-eye but I think I, as the Hokage, can do an okay job speaking to the Anbu with you without Sasuke. What do you think?"

Hokage? Itachi's surroundings finally struck him. He noticed the Hokage hat hanging on a hook behind the desk and the Hokage cloak draped over Naruto's shoulders. So Naruto not only achieved his dream of saving his brother, he also managed to become Hokage. Itachi's heart instantly filled with pride, and he knew he made the right choice in entrusting his will to this man.

Two sharp knocks suddenly sounded at the door behind Itachi, causing him to jump. The door opened to two masked men and another man in a typical jonin vest; they looked too large and out of place in a cramped doorway in the Uzumaki home.

"Come in, gentlemen," Naruto offered and gestured to the chairs in front of him. He hurriedly ripped a shirt away that was dangling off of one, and balled it up in his fist."Take a seat."

"Thank you for welcoming us into your home, Lord Seventh," the jonin spoke, pretending to ignore the mess. "And for allowing us to speak to your son."

They all looked over at Itachi now who was posted awkwardly in the corner beside the door. He moved to sit in the remaining chair.

"Anytime," he said. "Thank you for allowing the interview to happen in our home to accommodate my son."

The jonin turned his whole body to face Itachi now and for some reason Itachi felt unease; it had been so many years since he had been in the vicinity with Anbu who weren't trying to kill him. "Boruto, I'm part of the Intel Unit and we just wanted to ask you a few questions about what you saw the other night," the jonin said. "Your dad mentioned that you may have limited memory after your accident, and we just want you to know that that's okay. Don't put too much pressure on yourself; any little bit will do. And if you don't remember…" He gestured to the bag at his feet. "We have other ways to search your mind for you. Do you mind if we begin?"

Itachi nodded and noted how calm they all were, probably because they were interrogating the Hokage's son. Usually, even if they were just probing for innocuous information, they were still more aggressive than this.

"So," one of the Anbu members began. "Two nights ago, you and three other genin and a chunin were dispatched to recover abandoned documents that were rumored to be in the area that allegedly belonged to the Leaf Village. However, your team was ambushed and came under fire before you were able to complete your mission, and during this time you were separated from your team. Sarada Uchiha said you called to her and claimed you caught the culprit, but by the time she got there you were badly injured. By this point the Seventh Hokage and Sasuke Uchiha were handling the scene of the battle, but they did not see the attackers-" He looked up for a moment at Naruto for verification. "-Is that correct?"

"Correct."

"So what do you remember, Boruto?"

Itachi stopped listening for a moment as he connected the details. This sounded like a routine mission; things like this happened all the time: go retrieve items, attacked in the process, return home. Questions now swirled his head. So what about this mission made it different? Why was the Anbu interrogating him as though this was of the utmost importance to the Village security? And why did the Hokage come to the scene of a mission led by only a chunin? Did this mission go that wrong? ...Or was the mission just that important but they thought chunin could handle it? Who did they think he saw? Is the mystery surrounding this mission also connected to why he was back?

"Boruto?"

Itachi snapped back. "I...I'm sorry. I don't remember anything," he answered truthfully. "I don't remember anything before waking up to Sarada holding me."

"Nothing? You don't remember what you were chasing or what forced you away from the rest of your team?"

Itachi wracked his brain, but the last fleshed out memory he possessed was staring into Sasuke's eyes after locking Kabuto in a genjutsu, and that was who knew how many years ago.

"I-I'm sorry, gentlemen," he finished. "I can't help you."

The three men exchanged glances and the jonin picked up his bag. "Do you mind if we peer inside your mind to extract memories?" he asked. "Whoever attacked you might have wiped your memory to avoid detection but we can see your subconscious."

Itachi just nodded. The man removed a small machine and Itachi noted that he remembered those being so much bigger when he was still alive, and they definitely were not portable back then. He allowed the man to attach a portion of the machine to his head and attach the other half to himself.

"It's okay, Boruto," Naruto reassured before the man switched it on. "There's nothing to be afraid of. You'll be awake before you know it."

Itachi felt his consciousness go black. Suddenly it was flipped back on and thought only a few seconds had passed, but when he opened his eyes he instantly noticed the lighting in the room cast long shadows from the setting sun outside, and all four men were now crowded around him, eyebrows furrowed and mouths set into frowns.

"Nothing?" Naruto said.

"Nothing," the jonin said.

"...Wh-what," Itachi mustered, shifting his eyes back and forth between them all.

"There's nothing," Naruto said. He could hear an edge to his voice. "He can't see anything at all. It's like your memory and all of your subconscious was totally wiped."

"I've never seen anything like it… It-it was like you were never alive at all…" The jonin trailed off.

Naruto stood up suddenly. "Well, thank you. I think we should be done for the evening. If you need anything else you know where to find me." The three men nodded and hurriedly headed for the door.

Naruto followed, but before Itachi could stand to follow he returned. It had all ended so quickly. "It's okay," he tried to assure Itachi as he shut the door behind him.

"What happened?" he asked hurriedly. "Why are we so scared of them? Who are they?"

Naruto sighed. "That's what the Anbu were here for, Boruto. That's what they were trying to find out. You saw something and were the only one who did." He sat back down at his desk and stared down hard at it. "But you don't need to concern yourself with that anymore. You did your part and I thank you." He looked up. "You can go rest now."

But Itachi's mind was flying again. He knew why they couldn't see his memories- because his life had technically just begun- but he didn't know why they were so concerned about whatever Boruto had seen, or why Naruto and Sasuke had come to the rescue on a chunin-led mission. But he knew it had to do with him, and so it was now his business.

"What do you think it was?"

Naruto just shook his head. "Boruto, don't get any ideas. That's why I wanted to be here: this is for me to worry about now. Just leave it alone, kid."

"But-"

"Boruto. Please. Go get some rest." Naruto stared straight into his eyes as a warning, and Itachi knew from past experiences that arguing with dads didn't get anyone anywhere. Maybe all dads were the same.

But he knew that if he couldn't get Naruto to talk about details, he still needed to speak to someone else who was there about it. Plus, if Sasuke was his sensei, maybe that meant he could squeeze some information out of him.

Itachi closed the door to Naruto's office, and using what stealth skills he still had from his Anbu days, slipped silently out the front door in search of his little brother.

Thanks for reading this far. :) Comment some jokes to get us through these trying times, and/or tell me what you think!