A/N: I'm really not good at this am I? *sighs* I hope I haven't made people angry by how long I take to update and I hope this isn't a disappointment after the long wait~

"What do you mean 'I'm the reason'?" Naruto shook his head, trying to comprehend the words echoing through his head. He looked to Gaara for support but only saw the same confused look mirrored back at him, along with some doubt which left a stabbing pain in Naruto's chest. He shook his head, hoping Gaara would believe him. "I don't know what he's talking about Gaara, honest."

Gaara frowned, puzzled as he thought things through. "From what I remember, the first day I was taken there all the kids were older than me...except you Naruto."

"Maybe I'd only just been taken in a little while before you?" Naruto looked down at the ground, hurt that Gaara was suspicious of him. "I don't remember anything before the laboratory, just like you don't Gaara."

"Not just like actually." Itachi cut in. "Most of the others are slowly remembering what life was like before they were taken." He looked over at Gaara, only mildly interested. "I'm guessing you have as well?"

Gaara nodded. "A bit, nothing much."

"More than Naruto has, I bet." Itachi smirked at Naruto's confusion. "You shouldn't worry about it Naruto, you don't have any memories of before the lab because you've always been there."

"Always?"

Itachi nodded. "Apparently so, but you'd have to ask the people who worked there at the time more about that."

"That'd be kind of hard, wouldn't it, Itachi?"

Naruto turned around, Gaara unfazed by it all carried on looking at Akatsuki, in case they made any sudden movements. He blinked at the panting figure behind him. "Sasuke?"

Sasuke ignored him, instead glaring at his brother. "It'd be hard seeing as you killed them all, right, Itachi?" He looked around at the rest of Akatsuki disgustedly. "And your friends of course."

Itachi blinked, shocked, before his smirk returned. "Well, not everyone, little brother. Some people weren't there." His smirk dropped slightly. "Odd, you don't look like you hate me as much as I expected you would."

Sasuke gritted his teeth, his mind warring over what Naruto had told him about the lab and what he'd thought he'd known before. He decided it was best to ignore the remark, instead going for Itachi's answer. "So? Who wasn't there?"

Itachi's smirk widened again. "Actually, this makes it easier if you're here. You know more details than the boys here do." He gestured to Naruto and Gaara. "After all, our Father was one of the co-owners of the laboratory."

"Yeah, well Naruto already knew that and I'm assuming he told Gaara at some point." Sasuke blinked at the guilty look that passed across Naruto's face. "Or not as the case may be."

Gaara shrugged. "I don't really care as he's dead anyway." He frowned as he realised how bad that might have sounded. "I said that wrong, didn't I?" Not that he exactly cared about it.

"Yeah but I understand what you meant." Sasuke nodded towards him, understanding that had his father been alive he would have had to deal with Gaara for what he'd put them through.

"Wait, I remember you saying your family ran the laboratory, so your father owned it?" Naruto frowned.

"Only partly, the other owner didn't really do much research wise, he only funded it and he didn't come to the lab very often." Itachi cut in, feeling like he was being ignored.

The blonde at the back of the group kicked at the ground, his frustration and boredom showing through. "Oi, Itachi, this is taking too long. Can't we just get going already?"

"Shut up, Deidara." Itachi didn't even turn around towards him, knowing he'd go quiet quickly.

"So the other owner was?" Naruto turned to Sasuke, still not trusting the people in front of him.

Sasuke shrugged, perplexed himself. "I don't know."

"Really? You met him before, Sasuke." Itachi ignored the annoyed look he got from his younger brother. "He wanted you to become part of the experiment as well."

"What?" Naruto snapped at this, he didn't know why but the thought of Sasuke, or any of his other friends for that matter, having to go what he and Gaara had made his blood boil. "Why would he want that?"

Itachi's smirk widened as he pretended to ponder. "What was it he said? Something about helping our sons in the future..."

"We have the means to make our sons stronger for the future, what's bad about that?"

Sasuke froze as the words entered his head, the image from his younger self as he watched his father talk to someone he knew at the door, though for once they were rowing over something. He hadn't understood at the time and even now he wasn't sure he completely did.

"Oh, it looks like little Sasuke remembers him."

Sasuke looked up at his brother, trying to keep the glare there but doubt and confusion clouded it. "So? What is this all about? Why does any of this matter?"

"He has a point." Gaara yawned, his face expressionless. "So far your story is more to do with Sasuke, so can we go now?"

Itachi rolled his eyes, annoyance showing through. "I said sons,didn't I?" He glanced at Naruto as his words sunk in. "Why is it, Naruto, that they haven't been able to locate any family for you, I wonder?"

"My family put me there?" Naruto stared at the ground. All this time of wondering who his family were, to find out that they might have volunteered to have him taken away? The thought dug painfully into his chest.

"Your father did, but he obviously saw it as a good thing. Something that would help you later in life and he hoped our father would do the same." He looked over at Sasuke. "Our father refused, are you proud of him? He did however carry on experimenting on other children just as he was asked to."

"But why?" Naruto stopped the retort that Sasuke had been about to utter, not wanting to listen to the sibling fight right at this moment. "Why would he think it was a good thing?"

Itachi shrugged. "How would I know?" He looked around at his ever impatient 'friends' as Sasuke had called them. "Anyway, we have a proposition for you two."

"A proposition?" Gaara stared at him warily, tensing slightly.

"You do understand that if people found out about you, you'd be treated as monsters, right?"

"I guess." Gaara looked over at Naruto, who was still lost in thought and not really paying attention to the conversation.

"Well, why not just act like monsters?"

"Huh?" Gaara blinked at this, shocked, though he tried to keep his face impassive.

"Why act like something you're not? Act like how they've made you, strike back." Itachi's face was determined.

"The other seven kids have already agreed to join us, but we'd like the whole collection." Kisame grinned next to Itachi, watching for their reactions. "After all, you work better as a team."

"Not really, we've always been taught to attack each other."

"Only to get rid of the weak ones." Itachi sighed. "They didn't want weak emotion-filled kids; they wanted fighters that could kill dispassionately. Biological weapons that could be used whenever you were needed." He frowned. "Well mostly, obviously their experiments didn't work completely as you two definitely have emotions but that's not the point. Your genetics have been changed so that you each had a special component, designed to be effective in different circumstances, so that you were effective as a group." He gestured to those behind him. "Experiment Dawn, the prototype had the same tests done to them but the hold wasn't as strong. You children on the other hand looked completely normal after the tests and were much more stable DNA wise."

"I'm supposed to care?" Gaara raised an eyebrow, still not understanding where this was headed.

Itachi sighed. "I'll take that as a refusal of our kind offer?"

"Yeah, you should. It sounds boring anyway." Gaara turned to Naruto. "Right?"

"Huh?" Naruto turned, not having heard any of the conversation.

"He wants us to join them and 'strike back' or something." Gaara stared at Naruto, knowing that if Naruto chose to do as he said then he'd probably follow suit to look after him. "What do you think?"

Naruto let it all sink in for a second as he tried to understand what he'd missed in the conversation. "Sorry." Naruto turned to Itachi, grinning. "But I think we're happy as we are right now. Right?" He glanced at Gaara for confirmation.

"Yeah, I like things as they are." Gaara turned away from the group, looking past Sasuke. "Let's get back to school before Iruka goes frantic."

"I think he might have already." Sasuke stepped to the side so that when Naruto and Gaara came forward they could walk together. He stared at his brother though as he waited, he couldn't imagine that he would let them go that easily.

"That's a shame." Itachi shook his head while the others moved forward to intercept them.

"We didn't say you could leave, did we?" Kisame glared at Naruto and Gaara as they came to a halt and slowly turned back round.

Sasuke winced as his suspicions were confirmed.

"I didn't know we had to ask for permission." Gaara glared back at him, ready for a fight.

"Unfortunately for you, we were just trying to be friendly and offer."

"But forcing you is just as fun." Deidara grinned as he came forward.

"Then again, not a lot of force would be needed with these two." A red head looked at them dispassionately from where he stood beside Deidara.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Naruto growled at the insult, slipping slowly into a fighting stance.

"He means we have ways of making you do what we want."

"Sasuke, I'd stand back." Naruto looked at him for a second until he was sure he was out of the way.

Gaara slipped into his fighting stance next to Naruto. "Whenever you're ready, Naruto."

"K." Naruto turned back to Akatsuki, a grin on his face. "Let's see what you've got then!" He ran forward, Gaara close behind, ready to shoot past him and leave a dust cloud in his wake. He frowned as none of those in front of them moved, until Itachi caught his eye, pulling something out of his pocket. It took only a few seconds for Gaara and him to come to a skidding halt.

"Naruto? Gaara?" Sasuke warily took a step forward, not understanding the sudden stop.

Naruto held his head, a shooting pain going through it making him shut his eyes. He opened them a crack to see Gaara trying as usual to be emotionless, though the wince of pain every so often and the way he clenched his teeth gave it away. "Does your head hurt, Gaara?"

"Something like that." Gaara glared forward, still trying to cope and carry on with his fighting.

Itachi grabbed their attention, shifting the object in his hand to the other. "I told you we had ways of making you do what we wanted."