This chapter is really short-sentence dialogue heavy, so it looks really strange on a full computer screen...at least, on my computer screen.

I don't own Naruto, but I do own all my OCs. I also own this story, so NO STICKY FINGERS!

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Naruto's lids fluttered open and stared up at the low canopy of trees. It was still dark out. He sat up and saw Kane sitting in the shadow of an oak not too far away. Takeru was nowhere to be seen, probably hiding in the bushes or something like that.

"So you're awake, Naruto-kun."

Naruto jumped at the voice and spun to face- "Oh! Itachi-sama!"

Itachi was leaning against a tree, his eyes closed. He was still in his ANBU uniform, his arms crossed. The eyes opened and focused on the academy student. "Do you remember anything? Anything at all?"

Naruto looked confused. Then it dawned on him. "Oh! Am I still—"

"No, kit." Kane interrupted from the base of the tree trunk. "You are not in your Hanyou form any longer. Do you remember anything else?"

"Um…I remember seeing Itachi-sama outside the Uchiha compound, and then—nothing." Naruto rubbed his head. "Why? What happened?"

Kane and Itachi exchanged a glance that said everything and at the same time told nothing. Itachi turned to face Naruto. "The Uchiha clan has been murdered."

Naruto's heart stopped. "M-murdered? What do you—"

"The smell of blood, Kit," Kane interrupted, "caused you to lose control. It took both me and Itachi to subdue you. When we finally knocked you out, your Hanyou form faded and you returned to normal."

"Forget about me!" Naruto snapped. "What about Sasuke? Is he—I mean, he's not…"

"My Otouto is fine. He was not home at the time of the massacre." Itachi's eyes held no emotion. "He has been found and sent to the Konoha Hospital."

Naruto focused on Itachi, since it seemed Kane wasn't feeling very talkative. "Then why aren't you there with him? He needs you right now, Itachi-sama!"

Itachi looked away. "Sasuke will never want to see me again. I am the prime suspect for the murders."

Naruto's eyes widened. "You? But why?"

"Aside from Sasuke, I am the only Uchiha left alive. They are planning on locking me up as soon as I am caught. Because I have no wish to spend the rest of my life behind bars, I am leaving the village."

Kane noted to himself that Itachi did a fine job of avoiding the question.

Naruto's brain was having a hard time processing this. "But…but! If you leave now, you'll just tack more suspicion onto yourself!"

Itachi gave a small smirk. "It doesn't matter. I am leaving, and I cannot ever return. I will have to be a nuke-nin until the day I die."

Naruto lowered his eyes. "Yesterday, I told Sasuke that I was sure you loved him. He was worried about you, you know. He said you'd been getting really depressed."

Itachi watched Naruto, his eyes betraying nothing.

"I told him that you loved him!" Naruto repeated with anger on his face. "He'll never believe in love again! Do you understand? You've just destroyed what little trust he might have had in people!"

Itachi just closed his eyes and looked away.

"Kit." Naruto whipped around and stared at Kane. "I am not strong enough to subdue you by myself if you go on another rampage. I am too restricted from my demon chakra in this human body. From now on, your Hanyou form is off-limits until we can find someone to aid me in restraining you."

"Why are you talking about your demon chakra where Itachi can hear you?" Naruto thought with disbelief as he tried to shush Kane. However, Itachi stepped in and stopped him. "It's fine, Naruto. I know that Kane is Kyuubi, and I can tell that he want to looks out for you." He smiled, a small but genuine expression. "You two remind me of the relationship Sasuke and I used to have." With that sentence the smile faded to be replaced by a sad countenance. "Naruto…Kyuubi is right about your Hanyou form. You can't use it freely if you cannot keep control. I've left Sasuke something that could possibly help, but I don't know if he'll even use it. Even if he finds it, he won't be able to help unless he figures out that you're a Jinchuuriki."

Naruto looked down. "I don't really want him to find out. He's my friend; I don't want to scare him away."

"A true friend will see you, not the fox-demon." Itachi countered. "…But I do understand your fear of rejection. There might be other people who can help. Two of the Legendary Sennin—of course, even if you manage to find them they might not want to help. The Hokage might be able to help too, but I don't think you want to tell him, do you?" Naruto shook his head. "I thought not. My ANBU partner, the one who watches you sometimes, knows about you but not the torn seal. The Hokage decided to keep that information from him because he knew that my partner is still incredibly bitter about the attack." Itachi let his arms unfold and fall at his sides, looking unwilling to continue talking. He glanced towards the tree tops, where the horizon would be. "I must leave before dawn. If I am discovered in the village, I will be arrested. Naruto…I suppose this is farewell."

Naruto looked at him disapprovingly. "I guess nothing I can say will convince you to stay here, will it?" He sighed before putting on a brave face. "In that case, Itachi-sama…I vow to try to be Sasuke's new brother. I'll help him, you can count on me! Just…try to keep in contact, okay? When I become a ninja I won't always be in the village…maybe we could help each other out in the field?"

Itachi gave a tentative smile. The young Jinchuuriki was so naive…he saw a knowing smile cross the Kyuubi's face before returning his attention to Naruto. "I won't make any promises, but there is a chance we may cross paths again…but you can't let on to people that you're allying yourself with a nuke-nin. Just be on guard, okay?"

Naruto pounded a fist on his chest with a grin. "You got it!"

888

As Itachi walked away, he thought about everything that Kane had told him while they were waiting for Naruto to regain consciousness.

"Why would Naruto develop such an extreme split personality as this?" Itachi asked the red-haired 'boy' in front of him, careful to keep his own suspicions about what happened to himself.

Kane was silent for a minute. "He's been hated all of his life…he's been beaten to near-death more times than I would care to remember. I believe that the 'Katsumi' personality is the embodiment of all the hurt and rage he felt as a small child."

"To near-death? What are you talking about?" Itachi questioned. "There are only two instances of Naruto being seriously wounded in his hospital record. One was the day he damaged the seal keeping you in, and the other was treatment for poisoning."

Kane looked away. "That's because those were the only instances the injuries were made public. The times before that were all done by one or two people, in a secluded area where they were sure the boy wouldn't be found. I was left to heal him on my own, sometimes trying for days to revive him because he was so injured. The day I was almost set free was October tenth, remember? The anniversary of my attack and his sealing. Naruto had gone out of his house, and when he was spotted by a group of people they jumped him out of anger and resentment. And, as you know, after that attack he was adopted by Junko-chan, and his antagonists lost their nerve."

"If that were the case, then why has Naruto not remembered the previous encounters where he was almost killed? Something that traumatizing would be remembered even by a very young child."

Kane looked guilty at this. "Back then, I knew that if Naruto remembered the beatings he would be less willing to trust people. I figured that if I sealed those memories away, he'd be easier to trick into removing the seal. Apparently I didn't hide those memories deep enough, because his subconscious is extremely bitter and angry. Unless Naruto manages to gain control of his inner rage, he won't ever be able to control himself when he's a Hanyou."

Itachi nodded. This made a lot of sense, but he knew that there was another cause. The Sharingan. Itachi himself had read the scroll in the Uchiha's meeting place. It was there that he learned that the Sharingan had the power to control the legendary Bijuu.

'That pent-up hurt and frustration may have made Naruto's mental state unsteady enough to be taken over by the Sharingan as well. Since he is a Jinchuuriki, it might be possible for the Sharingan to have some power over him,' thought Itachi.

"But you know," Kane said, interrupting Itachi's thoughts, "I wouldn't think that all of that by itself would be enough to make a Hanyou so vicious…there might be another piece to this puzzle that I'm missing…"

Itachi looked behind him at the village gates, growing smaller with every step he took. He hoped that Sasuke would be okay on his own. 'I hope you'll never make the mistakes that I did…stay safe, Otouto.'

888

When Naruto finally dragged his weary body back to his house, Junko was frantic. She chastised him for being out late, then chastised him about leaving the academy in the middle of the day, then went back to the being out late. Asami was woken by her older sister's rant and wasted no time in telling Naruto, in no simple manner, that he had worried them both and should be grateful that he wasn't getting knocked over the head by both of them. He tried to act cheerful, but as soon as they let him go to his room he collapsed on his bed, looking depressed. Takeru jumped through the window and curled up next to him.

Some day, wouldn't you say, Kit? thought the little fox.

Naruto raised his head and smiled at his friend, resting a hand on Takeru's puppy-sized paw. "I guess so." He turned his head until he was staring up at the ceiling. 'Itachi…I swear I will capture the person that caused you and Sasuke so much pain.'

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Sasuke was not at the academy for an entire week, and when the students tried to find out what happened, Iruka and Mizuki would merely reply: "He has some family issues going on right now; he'll be back soon." Gossip, however, travels like dandelion seeds, and eventually everybody had heard about the Uchiha Massacre. Of course, not everybody had the right version, but…

"I heard that it was a ninja from another nation who did it!"

"No, my mom said it was Sasuke's brother. He murdered his own family."

"Are you both crazy? They were killed by a rogue ninja's summon! It's true!"

"…"

Naruto did not take part in these gossip sessions. He knew more about the Uchiha massacre than anybody else, but he didn't know who did it, or why. All he knew was that Itachi was letting the blame be pinned on himself, instead of letting Konoha put their energy towards catching the real criminal.

To make things harder for Naruto, Kiba had stopped talking to him. Naruto supposed that Kiba had every right to be ticked off at him—after all, he had tried to help Takeru when the little fox was 'sick', and Naruto had brushed him aside. Because Kiba was angry with him, Shikamaru and Chouji had started spending less time with their other classmates, preferring just the company of each other. Kiba and Naruto were the ones who always got the guys together, excluding Shino, who rarely talked to anyone no matter what was happening.

As Naruto sat at his desk pretending to take notes, Sakura leaned towards him with a distraught expression on her face. Ino was pretending not to be interested, but Naruto could tell that she was listening in. "Naruto, you're Sasuke-kun's friend. Is he gonna be alright?" The pink-haired girl whispered anxiously.

Naruto looked her straight in the eye. "I don't know, Sakura-chan. I don't know."

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Sasuke was back after the weekend. He took a seat in the back corner, farthest away from the window. He didn't speak. He didn't participate. He spent the entire day looking at his desk. The students got the idea and avoided him—even his groupies. This went on for about two weeks before Naruto got sick of looking over and seeing Sasuke simply staring down, not doing anything. He knew that Sasuke must have been hurting. He understood that more than anyone in the room. But Naruto simply could not fathom the amount of pain one experienced when they lost their family. Naruto had been an infant when his parents died, and he'd never come close to losing his surrogate family. If he wanted to see Junko or Asami they were right down the hall. So, he decided that Sasuke needed more support than anything.

"Hey, Sasuke-kun." Naruto said, sitting down next to the Uchiha. Sasuke didn't look up. Naruto continued. "Hey…you know that if you need help with something, I'm right here, 'kay?"

Sasuke's eyes met Naruto's and he raised his head to stare at the blond boy. His face held angry disdain. "You stay away from me…you dobe."

Naruto recoiled, pain and bewilderment on his face. Dobe? Why was Sasuke treating him like this all of a sudden? "Sasuke, wh-"

"I meant it! You're nothing but a dobe; all you're doing is dragging me down. Leave me alone!" Sasuke spat.

Naruto sat there, just staring at Sasuke. He scowled. "Fine. That's just fine. If you want to be a baka, I won't stop you." He went back to his seat and sat next to Kane, who was watching Sasuke with a slightly bored expression. Takeru was curled up on the desk, but his head was up and his eyes were also fixed on Sasuke. The rest of the day Naruto did not participate in class, mentally stewing over how Sasuke had treated him. There had to be some reason for his friend's unfriendliness, but Naruto could not figure out what. He knew that Sasuke would be sad about his parents for some time, but he'd never expected a complete rejection. Well, if he thinks that he can push me away that easily, then he has another thing coming! Naruto firmly decided.

After school Naruto tried again, running to catch up to the Uchiha as he headed out of the school yard. "Hey, Sasuke! Can I talk to-"

"No! Why can't you leave me alone?" Sasuke yelled. "You're always bothering me! Go away, you stupid dobe!"

Naruto drew away from the Uchiha, looking hurt. Kane caught up to Naruto and laid a hand on the Jinchuuriki's shoulder. "Don't go after him, Naruto. You'll only make it worse. I know you want to keep your promise to Itachi-san, but you need to wait for Sasuke to come to you."

Naruto hung his head, looking dejected. "I told him that Itachi loved him…that was the same day his family was murdered. And he thinks Itachi was the murderer." He felt something bushy brush his leg and picked up Takeru, stroking the fox's soft fur.

Kane didn't meet Naruto's gaze. "Come on; let's go to the training field."

Naruto looked up. "Kane, can I just go home? I don't feel like training today."

Kane didn't sigh, like Naruto thought he would. He studied the blond-haired boy's face with his intense blue eyes. "Okay. You deserve a day off. I know you're hurting for your friend." He put his hands in his pockets and walked down the street in the direction of his apartment. Naruto put Takeru down and told him to go with Kane. Takeru looked like he disapproved, but left anyway. Naruto watched their fleeting forms before turning and walking in the direction of the Uchiha compound.

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The Uchiha compound was roped off with strips of police tape. As he stood in front of the Uchiha compound's main gate, Naruto could just pick up the scent of old blood. His senses had vastly improved since he had gotten his Hanyou form, smell being the most improved. The smell tickled his nostrils and made him shudder, remembering the drunkard shinobi that had confronted him three years previously and wound up paying for it—with his life. As Naruto ducked under the police tape and walked past the gate, he looked to his right and saw what looked like a small shop. He approached it and recoiled with a sharp intake of breath—the smell of blood was strong here, even after three weeks. He could pick up dried blood on the wall of the shop, along with…a child-sized handprint? He started to walk closer, but the stench got the best of him and he continued past the shop. He looked to the left past the shop and saw a street. He turned and crept down it, the silence making him almost afraid to breathe. He passed bloodstain after bloodstain, holding his breath and running past the big ones to keep the dusty iron smell from fully reaching his nose. He turned another corner and saw what looked to be the largest house in the district down the pathway. He got closer and closer until he was standing directly in front of the house, staring at the door.

It was ajar.

Naruto approached the door and peered in the house. It was cold and unfriendly, and there was the thinnest layer of dust beginning to coat the surfaces. He started to enter the house and looked back to see if he was being followed. His eyes landed on a crack in the wall across the street, in the middle of an Uchiha crest. His eyes lingered on that for several seconds before entering the house. The beams groaned and creaked, as if they did not like welcoming a stranger into their midst.

There was a kitchen area to the right, and to the left was a hallway that Naruto assumed was where the bedrooms were. He took the hallway and walked down it, staring at the closed doors but not wanting to open them. He found what looked like a pass-through between the house and the yard and entered it, being careful not to knock his shin on the low table in the center of the room. Past that room, there was a wraparound porch that circled the majority of the house. A small garden was set up out here, with a fountain and deer-scare in the middle of a decorative pond. Naruto followed the porch until he found a wide double-door leading to another room in the house. Naruto was going to ignore it, but his curiosity got the best of him and he pulled the heavy antique doors open.

This room reeked of blood. Naruto's hand went to his face and he pinched his nose shut, blocking out the horrible smell. The room had been closed off so the stale air was still strong with the blood scent. There were bloodstains all over what Naruto deduced was the tea room, with the largest being splashed in the center of the floor. It looked like there had been a struggle, and when whoever was in here was subdued, their body was dragged to the middle of the room to continue spilling life fluid. Naruto had seen enough. He turned and ran from the room, out of the house, ignoring the black cat that hissed accusingly as he passed.

Outside the house, Naruto breathed a sigh of relief that was cut short as his eyes found the crack in the wall again. It intrigued him. He stepped closer to see the crack better…and heard a faint splash from down the alley.

Naruto backed away from the wall and set off in the direction of the sound. "Everyone here is dead, who is making noises?" He zigzagged through the labyrinth of streets and alleys until he found what appeared to be a park. There was a garden set up, with benches that looked down on a middle sized lake at the bottom of the hill. Naruto walked to the top of the steps and stopped to scrutinize the figure sitting on the dock down there, dripping wet. It was Sasuke.

Though Naruto was some distance away, he could pick up on faint mutterings coming from the lone Uchiha. He concentrated chakra to his ears, taking Kane's advice on how to better improve his senses. He could make out Sasuke's words, being repeated over and over to himself.

"…hate you, despise you…I will surpass you, brother. One day, I will be the one to see you to your grave. Count on it."

Naruto had heard enough. Anguish, sorrow, and regret welled up inside of him. He gave the boy on the dock one final glance before turning and leaving.

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Nuke-nin: Rogue Ninja

Dobe: Dead last