My Life As A Shinobi Ch. 3
The name came as a whisper, barely audible, "Aniki…"
Itachi had an expression of stoic emptiness, but you could see shock envelope behind his eyes. "They have told you? I would have thought they wouldn't want to associate you with more evil. Have you spoken to Sasuke then?"
Naruto bore a look of pain, "He didn't believe me, I even showed him my fourth level Sharingan. He said that only you were his brother, a murderer, not me. He was adamant about believing that I couldn't possibly be related to him."
Itachi remained emotionless, but his curiosity sparked with the knowledge of his little brother's fourth level Sharingan. "You have already gained the fourth level? So you have merged with Kyuubi then? Kisame, my accomplice and I have been sent to capture you, if you come willingly then we won't have to shred your soul to extract Kyuubi's powers. If you choose to resist, we will not hesitate to disable you and your little friend."
Sakura looked distraught that they could find her so simply, but revealed herself to the group. She stood uneasily beside Naruto, Kisame grinned maliciously while drumming his fingers along the hilt of Samehada.
"Kisame, quit it, your being foolish. Don't be menacing. What is your decision, Naruto-kun?"
Naruto willed Kyuubi to be seen, he looked at Sakura and put a determined face on. "I will come, on one condition. You let me bring my team, whether they want to or not. Will you assist me in gathering and bringing my teammates to the Akatsuki hide-out? If you do, I will be completely willing in any and all training you wish to put me through." Sakura's face drained of color.
Itachi looked almost pondering before he answered, "Yes, Kisame and I will aid you. Who are on your team?"
"Sakura, Sasuke, Kakashi, that's it. Sakura is already here. Who will you be getting?" Naruto answered.
Kisame appeared slightly amused, "I call Sharingan Kakashi."
"That leaves us with Sasuke. Kyuubi-chan, can you keep Sakura here until we come back?"
"Sure thing, kit!"
Kisame flashed a last sharky grin before heading in what was supposedly Kakashi's direction. Naruto started walking with Itachi. They traveled at a casual pace, no need to rush. They were headed toward the Uchiha manor. That was where Sasuke was most likely to be. After a while of silence, Naruto piped up.
"Itachi, can I call you Aniki? I mean you are my aniki after all…if you don't want me to its fine, but I thought that it would be kinda nice to be able to call someone …" Naruto just rambled off while Itachi felt (omg, he actually feels emotions) an overwhelming amount of emotion from the possibility of being called aniki again.
"Its fine by me, call me what you wish, Otouto." They reached the Uchiha compound and felt their chakra out, to sense Sasuke's location. Sasuke was in the what used to be his parents bedroom, from what Itachi could tell. Naruto just went straight to the door and knocked. Itachi looked at him like he was on some veerry good crack.
"Have you no skill?"
"Just watch Aniki, this will work." They heard the door open.
"Why won't you damn fangirls…oh shit." Sasuke just stared blankly at the pair, wondering if he had fell asleep, or if someone slipped something into his food – like some veerry good crack. (couldn't resist…it wrote itself!)
Naruto spoke in a serious tone, eerily similar to Itachi's. "Come, we're leaving. The whole team. Special training, very powerful instructors." With that he turned and motioned Sasuke to follow him and Itachi. Sasuke nodded and followed, much to Itachi's surprise. Naruto knew that the only thing that would possibly work in their benefit would be to take Sasuke willingly. And how do you do that? Simple, same as any other man – offer him power. Sasuke walked closely to Naruto, on the opposite side of Itachi. When they reached the clearing, Kisame with a startled looking Kakashi were already waiting.
"Naruto, your alright?" Kakashi looked disbelieving and relieved at the same time.
Kisame gave a wide smile, slightly guiltily, "I told him you were in trouble, its just easier."
Naruto nodded and looked toward Sakura, Kakashi, and Sasuke, "I believe you all want explanations. I have volunteered to join the Akatsuki, along with all of you. You do not have a choice in this. However, you will probably want to stay there willingly after I tell you a few details. First, you all will be trained by the most powerful ninja in their respective villages. Second, you will be returned in two years, if you find some reason to stay, you may do so. Now, aniki will lead us to the Akatsuki lair. We will be in pairs. There is just one more surprise," He made a few handseals, bit his thumb, and shouted his jutsu, "KUCHIYOSE NO JUTSU!!! We will all be riding foxes." Naruto took the time to memorize the reactions, everybody looked extremely stunned. But, Sasuke was more shaken by Itachi being called 'aniki' and not killing Naruto.
Before Naruto there were three foxes, one a golden color and the other two a copper red. They were each easily about eight feet tall. Kisame picked up Sakura and leaped to the gold one, same with Kakashi and Sasuke to one of the reds. Itachi and Naruto rode the remaining copper. Kyuubi transformed to a small kit and ascended to the fox with Sasuke and Kakashi, to watch over them. Naruto and Itachi were affront the group. Kisame took up the back with Sakura, who looked to be terrified.
They took off into the woods at alarming speeds, dodging trees and branches. Naruto had almost fallen off his place behind Itachi, but Itachi had grabbed him and set the boy on his lap, wrapping his cloaked arms around him. They shared a look before turning their eyes back ahead of them. Jealousy consumed one, Sasuke Uchiha watching this exchange from behind the siblings, glaring all the while. The group reached the border between fire and rice. They found a clearing to camp in, the foxes stayed with them as guards of sorts. After the four tents were made and the fire sizzling, the odd band settled around the blaze.
Itachi stood and made his way around the fire to Naruto, "Otouto, care to train? I wish to test your strength. I should also teach you to use the Tsukiyomi."
Naruto replied with almost dazed awe, "You'd train me? Thank you aniki!" Naruto lunge/tackled him and threw his hands around Itachi's waist. He smiled and buried his head into Itachi's middle. Itachi laid there, confused as to how to respond to this act of open affection. He decided that returning the hug would be a beneficial start. They were in the process of detangling themselves when a prankster shark yelled 'nin-pile!' and jumped on top of them. Itachi was going to injure Kisame very devastatingly but a pair of lips came into contact with his, shutting him up quite efficiently. The weight had pushed Naruto down on Itachi, their lips forced together in a tight locked kiss. It grew silent. Kisame slid off Naruto and slinked away towards the opposite side of the bonfire, fearing the slow painful death sure to come to him. Naruto's mind was numb at the sensation but Itachi ended that quickly when he sprang away as if burned. Naruto sat up with a glazed expression, scrambling after Itachi as he walked into the woods.
"Aniki, wait!" Naruto caught up to Itachi's long strides panting harshly, "What did you have in mind for training?"
Itachi looked perturbed when he turned to face Naruto, but the face was expertly covered by the normal stoic mask he wore daily. "We will have a one on one match, if you manage to pin me you get three favors from me, however if I manage to pin you…I get to sign the summoning contract of the foxes."
Naruto nodded and they shook on it. Both were eager to try out their skills against the other. The match had begun.
They said nothing. Neither one moved a muscle. They didn't even breathe. One breath might shatter the moment. Naruto decided to start things off by throwing a trio of kunai at Itachi, who deftly blocked them. However, while Itachi's concentration was on the kunai, Naruto body flickered directly behind Itachi and aimed a punch at the back of his head. Itachi blocked it with ease, before turning around and continued dodging Naruto's attacks. Just as Itachi got inside Naruto's guard, aiming for a shoulder strike, Naruto body flickered back to roughly where he had started.
"Your very good Otouto, but you will not beat me with such miniscule Taijutsu attacks."
"This fight isn't over until you're laying on the ground, not being able to move a muscle, and believe me, that's the way this fight is going to end up. Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" The entire clearing was filled with solid Naruto clones. The clones moved as a mass and surrounded Itachi, exchanging blows with the crimson eyed boy. Itachi quickly dispatched a large group of the clones. He noticed from his left a single Naruto figure attacking. "You'll have to do way better than that, Aniki!" The punch connected with Itachi's face, or so Naruto thought. Naruto immediately noticed what was happening and body flickered away, just as the Itachi clone exploded. Naruto flew back with the hint of a smile on his face. Naruto landed on his stomach and started laughing weakly, causing Itachi to look at him.
"Exploding clone…very thoughtful, aniki. But, its time to get serious!" Naruto shouted with determination.
"You don't have any more chakra, Otouto. What will you do now?" Itachi looked almost hungrily at Naruto.
"Your right, I don't have anymore regular chakra…but I have a backup supply!" Naruto slowly got to his feet, lightly winded. Naruto formed a ram seal and began a low growl as he bent his knees. Chakra started leaking out of Naruto. However, this chakra was not blue. It was red. Blood red. Naruto's growl turned into a roar as the chakra filled his system, flooding him with power. Itachi was trying to understand what the hell this was when the chakra made it's first manifestation. Itachi could see that the chakra inside Naruto's body had formed a monster's head. The chakra wrapping around Naruto began manifesting in a visible way. First, a tendril grew out of Naruto's tailbone. The tendril thickened and lengthened, before being quickly joined by another. The bushy black tails whipped wildly in the air, breaking trees and uplifting rocks. His human ears receded and two back foxy ears emerged on the top of his head. His eyes were the same as the last time he changed. (there's a picture of his eyes along with Kyuubi's eyes on the bottom of the page.) There was one difference, his normal whisker marks were more feral, he also had fangs and claws too. Naruto put his hands out to his sides and closed his eyes as the chakra wrapped around him and finally reentered his body. Nothing happened for a moment, until chakra started seeping up from the ground, surrounding Naruto in a barrier of chakra that looked surprisingly like a flame flickering in the wind. (Like it did when Naruto fought Neji in the main matches in the anime/Manga.) Naruto bounded towards Itachi with incredible speed, tails flicking everywhere as he went. Itachi just managed to dodge the swipe as Naruto body flickered out of the way of Itachi's return strike. Neji looked through his vision for any sign of the blonde, and saw him out of the corner of his vision racing along the surrounding trees. When Itachi turned to look at him, Naruto jumped off a tree and straight at Itachi, launching three shuriken at the him. Itachi used a kunai to block them and pick them up as they fell to the ground, adding three of his own, hurling all six of them at Naruto with a war cry. Naruto made no effort to dodge, and simply swiped each one away with a his tails, much to Itachi's dismay. Naruto was about to reach Itachi when he body flickered directly behind him and aimed another punch to his head. Itachi just avoided it by jumping sideways, his hair tie was broken and his hair flew wildly. Itachi out a kunai, which Naruto mirrored. They both threw the kunai at each other. The kunai hit in the middle, and they both jumped into the air, catching the other one's kunai and jumping at each other, trading a mid air blow before coming to a rest. Itachi looked up at Naruto as he began speaking.
"You're... Confident about close combat right?"
Naruto held out his right hand and called out, "GENSOUGA!" Itachi was shocked as an incredible looking sword appears in his hand. "That's Yondaime's..."
Naruto smiled as the sword transformed out of its sheath and hastened forward at Itachi in a blind charge, katana at the ready. Naruto smiled and said just loud enough for Itachi to hear.
"Naruto : 1. Itachi : 0." Naruto tackled Itachi to the ground. The immaculate sword was against Itachi's throat and that was the end of the match. Itachi was breathing a little over-exertedly, "You are a remarkable ninja, Otouto. I'm proud." Naruto smiled and resheathed the Gensouga and collapsed on the grass next to Itachi. They lay mirror, recuperating their energy. Naruto was the first to speak, "Aniki? I have a favor to ask you…" Itachi chuckled at this. "My favor is that…well…can I wear your Akatsuki cloak? Please?!"
Itachi sat up and unzipped his cloak, handing it to Naruto. Naruto however, was just gawking at Itachi. Itachi wondered what was wrong and voiced his question. Naruto's response was not what he expected, "Itachi…your hot! Seriously, your drop-dead sexy!" Itachi's face heated up and Naruto put the cloak on.
Itachi's outfit under the cloak consisted of a black fishnet shirt, dark green shorts, black bandages going up one leg from shin to thigh, and black sandals. An ANBU mark was tattooed on Itachi's shoulder, onyx black against creamy white. His hair, no longer restrained by the tie, was flowing out around his shoulders sticking to his forehead and neck with sweat.
Naruto was soon on the edge of reality and dreams, consciousness a faint memory. Itachi became aware his sparring partner was asleep. He gazed at the stars a while longer before picking up Naruto and walking silently to their tent. Everyone else was asleep, with the exception of Kisame who was poking the fire. When Itachi strode into camp with Naruto in his cloak no less, Kisame raised a speculative eyebrow. He was greeted with a kick to the head and a notice to shut his trap. Kisame just laughed to himself as he watched his teammate carry Naruto to bed.