Chapter 3: Damage Control
Having just awoken from unconciousness, Sasuke found himself strapped to a hospitable bed in a slight haze from what he supposed were the pain killers. He could only assume that Kabuto had saved his body from Itachi and was now healing his body for the soul transfer. Sasuke, being Sasuke was going to have none of that happening while his aniki was still alive so he started to look around for a way out of his predicament.
After a few moments of observation he discovered that he wasn't in Otogakure anymore, no, in fact he was in the last place he wanted to be, Konoha. What really made it set in to Sasuke about his true whereabouts was not the 2 ANBU guarding his door and the probable 2 lookouts on the roof. Nothing changed either when he activated his sharingan so it couldn't have been a genjutsu. It was his team picture with him, Kakashi, Sakura and Naruto. He can't truly say he has no regrets for his actions, to him they were necessary. After the fight with Gaara, Sasuke realized that even with the curse seal there was still such a great gap in the power differences between him and Naruto. He just couldn't understand where the dobe got that kind of power from. Then seeing how easily Naruto was being captured by Itachi and his friend, Sasuke discovered just how much stronger he would have to get to be able to defeat Itachi.
If Itachi was able to dominate Naruto, and then him, so easily he would have to get power some other way since Konoha didn't seem to offer enough. That's when the sound four came, beat him up and offered him his chance. So caught up in his obsession to become stronger than his brother Sasuke didn't notice how similar he was becoming to the thing he hated until it was almost too late. Luckily for him Naruto was no ordinary boy and managed to survive in time for him to grasp onto a small piece of his sanity by the mere fact of surviving his attempts to kill him until he could think properly.
That small piece of sanity is what has helped keep him going through all these years. The little voice in his head that helped him not to give in to his darker desires was simply 'I am not Itachi.' Sasuke went through numerous augmentive surgeries by Kabuto's and his own difficult training program that was only surpassed by Rock Lee's and rivalled by Naruto's. He performed countless missions throughout Otogakure, which he only left with Orochimaru's accompaniment, and never to fire country for fear of him returning there. Orochimaru needn't have worried though. Sasuke felt too much shame for being too weak that he had to betray his friends because he wasn't strong enough on his own to defeat his brother.
Then came his confrontation with his brother. He had wanted to face him alone without any interference which was easily enough done since the sound four specialized in seals and barriers. The only obstacle they had to face was Kisame his partner who would be just as difficult to beat as Itachi almost. Since Orochimaru used to belong to Akatsuki he had quite a bit of information regarding some of its members and Kisame was one of them. With all the information on him Kabuto simply said that he'd handle it. Sasuke knew that he would as Kabuto could handle anything that couldn't surprise him or that he hadn't underestimated. He did manage to go toe to toe with tsunade and her apprentice before.
His memory of the battle itself was still fuzzy from all the adrenaline and hits to the head he had suffered. The only things he remembers clearly is the barrier and then going into the second level of the curse seal before he ended up here.
'What happened to my brother did I kill him? If I didn't why am I still alive, I am sure Itachi was going to kill me this time. Did the sound four interfere? Or did Kabuto? Wait a second if they had why am I in Konoha then. Okay, it seems all I know is that during my fight with my brother I was knocked out and then sometime between then and now a Konoha shinobi picked me up and brought me here.
Who could have managed that? Tsunade had promised not to interfere and that included all the ninja that were with her. Sakura must have been there too since she is Tsunades apprentice and would have wanted to save the baka after getting himself captured. ' That's when it dawned on him. 'Naruto, that Dobe must have escaped that seal and dragged me off with him as he high tailed it out of there. He was the only one who didn't know of our arrangement and that is something the dobe would do.'
But before Sasuke could contemplate further into the probability of past events a familiar masked figure appeared in his room reading the latest edition of Jiraiya's series: Make out nights.
"I see you're awake Sasuke, you seemed to have taken quite the beating. Hope you like the gift I left you, I salvaged it from your home since it seemed to just be collecting dust there." Announced the gray haired jounin.
Looking directly at him Kakashi said, "I didn't expect you to actually respond to that but saying anything right now would be welcome."
"Why am I here?" asked Sasuke.
"Because your friends have missed you and wanted you back." was all Kakashi had said.
"We had a deal! Why did you interfere!" Yelled Sasuke, flustered at Kakashi's too vague response.
"Didn't you learn anything while I was training you? A shinobi who doesn't follow the rules is trash, but a shinobi who doesn't help his friends is worse than trash." Stated Kakashi.
"..so the dobe finally managed to bring me back huh?" said Sasuke.
"My for the Uchiha prodigy you're alot denser than you should be. Did I not also tell you to look underneath the underneath? Naruto rescuing you would not have been against the rules. No, it was Sakura who did." Kakashi replied quietly.
Sasuke was stunned to hear this. 'Sakura did? How could she have gotten me away from Itachi? Is she still so hung up on me? I thought I made it clear enough that I didn't care. Dammit she must have gotten this stubborness from Naruto.'
"Where is the dobe and Sakura? Shouldn't they be barging down my door right now demanding to see me? I don't think Naruto could have learned patience this quickly, I should at least be able to hear his yelling about wanting to kick my ass by now." Sasuke said. (Author's note: No sasuke is not joking. He should at least have been able to hear him by now screaming bloody murder about not getting to kick his ass properly.)
"Sakura has been forbidden to see you by the Hokage for now until she can decide what to do with you. You're lucky you know that right sasuke? If it had been anyone else the council who have ordered them interrogated and then executed. Half the council is all for reinstating you as a genin and to offer you any incentives to stay. The hardest line comes from the Nara clan head who says that you can't be trusted and should never be reinstated as a shinobi and be jailed indefinitely. Although Hyuuga Hizashi could arguably have it worse for you. He just wants to make you a branch member before reinstating you as a shinobi." Kakashi let that implication of the Hyuuga seal be planted into the Uchihas mind.
Sasuke began to contemplate when he noticed something that Kakashi failed to mention. "What about the dobe?"
"We don't know where he is right now. Last anyone had seen him he was holding off Orochimaru to buy enough time for Sakura to get you away. He hasn't been seen since. " replied Kakashi.
'Stupid dobe.' thought Sasuke. 'Just like him to pull off something idiotic like that. That baka, why can't those two just let me be to get my vengeance, all I wanted-' but Sasuke's thoughts were interrupted by Kakashi.
"Well no matter what happens I hope in the future you can make better choices. You hvae alot to learn still and right now, to me, you are lower than trash. I tried to get through to you but I failed miserably didn't I? You've been given a second chance Sasuke. Not many people, much less shinobi get a chance like this, so don't screw it up. Besides, don't you have a clan to rebuild?" Kakashi said.
With that Kakashi started walking towards the door to leave when Sasuke quickly spoke up. "What about Itachi?"
"Oh him. Well Kabuto killed him, stabbed him in the back when he was fighting Orochimaru." Kakashi stated simply, and with his eye upturned in that odd little closed eye smile of his, Kakashi poofed out of the room leaving only a quickly dissipating cloud and an astonished look upon the face of his former pupil..
Meanwhile at the gates of Konoha two chuunins were awaiting their group leader on instructions for their next mission.
"So Hinata, what rank do you think we'll get? Maybe this'll be a B rank. Kami knows I am getting tired of all these C rank missions." Complained a dark haired boy while his horse size dog bark amiably in agreement.
"I don't know Kiba-kun. I am sure Shino will tell us once he gets here." Spoke a small, dark blue haired girl quietly.
And as if by divine intervention there arrived Shino dressed in a full length trench coat complete with hood and dark sunglasses. The only distinguishing features visible was his small nose and dark brown hair visible by the fringe left visible on his forehead. This may have seemed odd had his companions not also been quite originally dressed. The short, quiet and shy girl by the name of Hyuuga Hinata was standing on a nice warm Spring day wearing a full winter coat and tight dark blue pants. Her blue hair was pulled back behind her ears and reached just passed her shoulders leaving her bangs parted at the front to frame her face. The girl's face would not have seemed out place normally, what with her small nose, creamy complexion and full lips, had it not been for her eyes. Since she was a Hyuuga she possessed the Byakugan, the all seeing eye and this left her with a pair of lavender pupil less eyes which would have been intimidating had they not been on this rather timid girl.
The final one of the group was in sharp contrast with the others. Where they were quite and conservative in their appearances, if not a little bit creepy on Shinos part, he was loud and attention grabbing. He had red paint on his face that he thought made him look intimidating when in truth his sister put it there to bring out his eyes. The design was a simple triangle on each of his cheeks. His hair looked like he had just gotten out of bed. His lean body encased in fish net and a green chuunin jacket and matching pants that had more pockets than it had stitches it seemed. Each of these pockets were filled with weapon scrolls, kunai, shuriken, smoke bombs and soldier pills not to mention any other odds and ends that he thought may be useful.
Naturally, upon seeing his friend Kiba spoke up first with the only question that he felt was important at the time. "Oi Shino! What's the mission about? Oh, and what rank is it?"
"Hello Hinata, Kiba." Replied Shino softly. "Let's start walking, I believe some privacy may be required and we have a fair distance to cover before we get there anyways."
"Of course Shino-kun" answered Hinata.
"Understood." replied Kiba
'Oh he seems so serious!' thought Kiba 'jeez what am I thinking he's always serious. Never had a mission that we had to talk privately about before. Oh this is gonna be so good!'
So the group travelled in silence for 20 tense minutes until Shino broke the silence. "Hinata can you check to make sure there is no one close enough to hear?"
"Hai." Replied Hinata quickly as she activated her byakugan and scanned their immediate area. It was a tense few moments until Hinata nodded her all clear.
"So what's our mission about that you couldn't tell us until now." Asked Kiba.
"We are to track, find, and observe Uzumaki Naruto until a properly equipped capture team can be dispatched. This is an A rank mission given to us by the Hokage. A few days ago Naruto was kidnapped by a criminal organisation called the Akatsuki." Stated Shino to the muffled gasp of Hinata and Kiba's stunned silence. "The hokage and several other Shinobi of Konoha went to retrieve him and managed to place into disarray most of the Akatsuki for now. Naruto was then seperated from the main force with only Sakura and an unconcious Sasuke." Hinata paled slightly at the thought while kibas mind was busily absorbing this new information. "Orochimaru then came upon them in an effort to regain Sasuke and Naruto stayed back to hold him off while Sakura took Sasuke to go off and get help. That was the last he was seen. The little information the ANBU were able to derive from the scene was that Naruto and Orochimaru had tracks heading towards Otogakure before any traces suddenly dissappeared. I have been told the exact location of where the trail ends and where are to attempt to track him from there."
"B-but why wo-would the Akatsuki be after Na-naruto-kun?" Stuttered Hinata slightly.
"Oh, so that's a secret the hokage won't let you tell us then huh? Basically what you just said was all that you were authorised to tell us, unless something happens that would make us fail the mission unless we're told." Stated Kiba firmly. After years of dealing with Shino, Hinata and Kiba were able to fully comprehend his style of communication. Being not very social and thus dealing mainly with close relatives, Shino is not used to conversing with people that have lower intelligence than he has. This leads to him not being used to vocalising things that his parents, uncles and grand parents can all figure out just as quickly as if he had said it since it would seem only logical. When he speaks to a normal person it feels like he is leaving out whole ideas that he is trying to convey in his speech since he is used to them being understood innately. This took Hinata alot less time to come to terms with than Kiba since her clan practices a much less extreme version of these fractured conversations. For Kiba though, he might as well have been trying to learn a whole new language.
"Ah, I see." Replied Hinata. After getting over her initial gamut of emotions whenever Konoha's loudest ninja is brought up into the conversation she quickly analysed what Shino had said. "So there's a chance that Naruto is either in hiding, or d-dead, or has been captured by the Sound. There's another option too since if it was any of the first 3 we would have been allowed to engage him as he would come back. So whatever it is, it has to do with what Tsunade-sama doesn't want us to know about." Hinata's usual confidence when alone with her team was shaken when she considered that the boy she has been studying (she refuses to consider it spying) for years could possess or be a part of a secret that she doesn't know about.
"Let's go, the trail is already 4 days old and it will take 6 hours for us to get there." Shino stated.
Thus the three shinobi set off at a run with two of them wondering just what could have happened to Naruto while the third was fearing the worst.
Author's Note: Well, I have planned about 3-4 scenes ahead. Yes Shino communicates with bugs who are very simple but remember the only socialising he may do with them is just commands so it won't help his speaking to others. I think you'll be surprised (hopefully) by Sasukes future reaction to the news of his brothers demise.