Clouds in the Distance – Loss and Pain Revisited

Sasuke was being forced to admit that Naruto had his uses. Being able to turn into a one-man construction crew would be the current one that Sasuke favoured. Together, Team Seven had been assigned to Iruka's command to help with the Academy's reconstruction, and Naruto's ability to generate up to twenty clones of himself without breaking a sweat was really helping their progress. The group were often assigned to tasks unsuitable for the students, such as the fixing of the roof which had taken three days of solid work on the part of the trio. Unfortunately, the task Iruka had selected for them to do next was both a blessing and a curse.

Naruto should never be let near paint, thought Sasuke, ducking the paint splatters caused by one of Naruto's exaggerated movements. Sakura was more unlucky, receiving a light speckling of whitewash across her face and the scarf she was using to protect her hair.

"Naruto! The paint goes on the wall, not on me!" She hmphed, then looked at where Konohamaru was giggling with his friends as they 'assisted' Team Seven in their task. "And what exactly is so funny, then?"

"Nothing," spat back Konohamaru, giggling still. "Nothing is funny about a pink-haired monster getting splatted at all."

"Why you!" Sakura playfully lunged at him with her own paintbrush, only to miss as Konohamaru moved away. "Come back here, you!" She chased after him, the two of them laughing even as Konohamaru threw more insults at her to keep her chasing.

Naruto laughed. "Sakura-chan's never going to catch up to Konohamaru. Least they're both laughing."

"Hmph." Sasuke focused on the wall. "I suppose you think it's my fault that Sakura got upset."

"I didn't say that," said Naruto, using the whitewash to paint a spiral on a bare section of wall. "I'm just saying that you two go off to do whatever crazy training Kakashi-sensei is having you do, and then yesterday, when we met up in the afternoon to come here to work, Sakura-chan looks like she's been crying and you look like you'll fry anyone who so much as looks at you."

Sasuke focused on painting the wall. "That's none of your business, Naruto." I don't want to have to explain myself to you when I'm still not sure who you really are. If you're a demon, giving you a weakness is foolish, and even if you're not, you'll never let me live something like this down unless I explain why. I really don't want to have to explain to you why my past makes even the thought of someone messing with my mind… unsettling. He forcefully pushed away the memories of being under genjutsu, knowing that they would be swiftly followed with images he did not want to remember, but could not forget. Ever since the Third died, those images have been plaguing me worse than normal. Death conjures images of more death, and I don't particularly want to lose myself in grief. It gets in the way and slows down my training.

"Oi! Sasuke!"

Sasuke turned with a growl towards Naruto. "What?"

Naruto grinned. "That's better. When you go all blank like that, you stop working. Bad enough Sakura-chan ran off. I don't want to have to do it all."

Sasuke's paintbrush collided with Naruto's head. "Idiot." He then ducked Naruto's retaliatory swipe.

"Who you calling an idiot, you jerk?!"

Sasuke smirked and went back to painting the wall. "You, idiot."

"Hmph." Naruto crossed his arms, splashing more whitewash on himself. "Least you're back to normal now. You being all snappish isn't right, you know?" He went back to painting. "Plus, I think Sakura-chan was taking it kinda hard."

Sasuke blinked. "Why would she?"

"Because it looked like you didn't trust her, duh!" Naruto tilted his head slightly towards Sasuke. "What with you doing all that illusion stuff, she must've been helping you with training. That means that you had to let her mess with your head." He shrugged. "After the snake-bastard, I'm not sure I'd let anyone mess with my head so, really, it's good that you let her try things out on you."

Sasuke kept his focus on the wall. "Believe me, I don't like her doing it either, but Kakashi was right. This is a weakness I must fix." Not to mention, I don't want to totally freak out if I ever do get caught in someone else's genjutsu. It took me long enough to stop having flashbacks every time I stepped into the compound. I don't want to have it happen by having someone's chakra twisting mine. He lowered his brush and examined the completed patch of wall in front of him.

"Hey, Sasuke-kun?"

Sasuke turned to see that Sakura had returned. Although she was breathing hard and had a red tint to her cheeks, she was smiling. Konohamaru, he noted, was covered in white smears from head to foot. He shook his head slightly, trying to suppress a smile. "What is it, Sakura?"

Sakura pouted. "Since you didn't defend my honour from this brat…" She took another swipe at Konohamaru with her brush, which he ducked, laughing. "Will you help me finish my section as you're done and all?"

The retort of 'Do it yourself' died on Sasuke's tongue. After all, I owe her something if I upset her as much as Naruto said I did. "Sure, Sakura." He raised a hand as she started to thank him. "But you're still going to do most of it. I don't see why I should do your work as well as my own."

Sakura nodded, still smiling. "Agreed." She got back to work on the wall, still smiling. If you weren't going to do any work except your own, why are you even helping me, Sasuke-kun? You're trying to give this tough-guy act, but really, you're having as much fun as the rest of us. A laugh from Konohamaru caught her attention, and she looked over to see a crude painting of herself with hearts around her head, making her blush furiously. Maybe before the exam, but not now. Something is up with Sasuke lately, and really I can now see that he's not the perfect ninja I always thought he was. Maybe it was having to stand back and let Naruto save us both that did it. She reached over and smeared whitewash through the drawing, ignoring Konohamaru's laughter. That Naruto is a bad influence on that brat. A second brush joined hers and she turned to look at Sasuke, who was carefully painting out the figure before adding a new one with kunai stuck in it. Sakura snickered. "Revenge?"

The word seemed to make Sasuke jerk back slightly, pausing in his work, then he looked away. "More like… balance." His gaze became fixed to the wall and stayed there until he finished helping Sakura with her section of the wall. "I'm going home." He picked up his paint can and brush, turning to leave. "Don't forget that Kakashi wants to meet us noon tomorrow."

"We won't, Sasuke-kun," chimed Sakura back.

Naruto laughed. "Like he'll even be there. We'll be stuck waiting around for ages, and then he'll show up with some lame excuse about cats or something."

Sasuke snorted. "You have a point. Later."

Naruto watched him walk away. "What's with him lately? He's not been right at all since the chuunin exam. Keeps acting… un-Sasuke-like."

Sakura shook her head. "I really don't know. He seems to have a lot on his mind. Maybe he doesn't bounce back from things as quickly as you do, and with the Hokage's death he's having to go through the whole 'loss' thing again."

"Huh. Suppose you're right. The bastard must've had parents once, right?" Naruto scratched at a spot of whitewash on his nose. "Hurts enough losing someone like that when he's the only one. If Sasuke had to go through this before maybe it's just making him think about all that stuff again." He shrugged. "Whatever. It's not like he's ever going to tell us just what's got him all knotted up like that. It's just not his style."

"Right," replied Sakura, smiling. When did Naruto start to understand Sasuke-kun better than me? She turned to the group of kids, still painting in the corner. "Okay, you can go home now. We'll finish off all this and clean up for you."

Moegi and Udon gave up a small cheer, but Konohamaru looked at his feet.

Naruto nudged Sakura gently. "Why don't you take those two home, Sakura-chan? Me and Konohamaru will finish and clean up."

Oh, thought Sakura. Of course. Konohamaru won't have anyone waiting for him at home anymore. He and Naruto are in the same boat now. "Sure, Naruto. I'll see you tomorrow morning."

Naruto gave her his best grin. "Sure thing, Sakura-chan."

Sakura quickly organised the other two children, and then they departed together witha friendly wave.

Naruto was quiet until he was sure Sakura was gone, and then exploded with a yell. "Aaaahhhh! How could I turn down the offer of some time alone with Sakura-chan without these kids around? What's wrong with me?!"

The only answer was Konohamaru's laughter.

Sunset in Konoha in the summer was always a peaceful time. The genin teams would have long ago finished their assigned missions, the change of the village guard had happened an hour or so back, and no one would be walking the streets without good reason. All would be home with their families.

Kakashi loved to use this quiet time to find a good place to finish his book.

Currently, this was an apartment building's roof, leaning against the stairwell's structure jutting out onto the roof. The sun was still warm, and it dyed the world as orange as the cover of the book he held. Of course, the best part was that Junko was just about to reveal to Hanako that their husbands were one and the same person, and so one of them would have to leave him.

"Oh, so the brat wasn't lying when he said you were a fan."

Kakashi did not have to look away from the page to identify the speaker that had approached him with stealth. "Jiraiya-san. Please don't spoil the ending, this is the first opportunity I've had to check out your new book since the chuunin exam."

Jiraiya snorted. "Obviously you're not that much of a fan, then. Tell you what, I'll send you a copy of my new one, when I'm done writing it." He moved to lean against the wall, next to Kakashi. "Of course, it'd be so much easier to write it if your brat was with me for… inspirational purposes."

Kakashi turned a page laconically. "I suppose I could lend him to you. If you don't try to teach him anything out of his depth as payment."

Jiraiya shook his head. "Do you really think your wonderful Uchiha could've done anything against that Sand genin? We must fight demons with demons and even Naruto, untrained as he is in using the Nine Tails, is more than a match for the trained keeper of the One Tail."

Kakashi tried to hide his interest. So Gaara of the Desert is the keeper of Shukaku, the one-tailed demon? No wonder he had such bloodlust. He frowned slightly. But that does not bode well if he, with his demonic-inspired hatred, can see such a mirror in Sasuke. "Still, Naruto is a person first and foremost, not a weapon for us to throw at threats for our own amusement."

Jiraiya shook his head. "Maybe you're too young to remember, Kakashi-kun," he said, drawing out the 'kun' honorific slightly, "but the whole reason that the Village Council allowed Naruto to live, when he was the vessel of the most feared demon who had just killed our loved ones, was because the Third had argued that he was a greater credit to our village if alive and tied to our people in order to protect them." No matter how much he argued that the Fourth had wanted Naruto to be a hero for being the prison, the village elders would not accept such an argument, not when the destruction of Konoha was still so fresh in their minds. To them Naruto will always be a weapon at best, and at worst a liability. "We can use this as proof that Naruto is fulfilling the purpose the Fourth saw for him." He looked out over the village and sighed. "The whole council is in such disarray without the Third to lead them that they even considered me as a good choice to be the next Hokage."

Kakashi gave a half-hearted attempt to suppress his laughter at the thought, turning away from his book to see Jiraiya's reaction to the laughter.

Jiraiya just grinned back. "Yeah, that was pretty much my reaction too. I told them they had to be crazy to ask me." He looked away again, back over the rooftops. "The only way they'd let me off the hook was if I went and got a better candidate."

Kakashi schooled himself back to calm. "Although it would be flattering if you meant me, I'm assuming you mean your former team-mate who doesn't currently have designs on my student."

Jiraiya nodded. "I have a rumour of her location, but it's several days travel from here, and through rough, bandit territory. I thought it would be good for you to have Naruto taken off your hands a while, so you could concentrate on the other two. Especially that Uchiha. Even if it was a reckless thing to do, I can't deny that he must have some skills to learn your imperfect jutsu in a month."

Kakashi shook his head. "If I'm giving Naruto for you, I'll need more than vague excuses of inspiration and being your bodyguard, Jiraiya-san. As the one in charge of his training, it should be me who teaches him what I think he needs to know. I already got rid of him too easily for the exam, now I should refocus my efforts on the whole team as a unit, rather than on specialist skills."

"You make it sound like I'm trying to steal Naruto for some deep and twisted purpose, Kakashi-kun." Jiraiya sighed. I probably should come clean. If nothing else, any pursuers will come here, to Konoha, first. "As you know, in legends, there are nine Tailed Beasts. I believe that Naruto and that Sand ninja are not unique, and that there are other victims, other Jinchuuriki, who have been bound with these demons since birth. Ever since Orochimaru left Konoha I've had my sources watch him, so when he fell in with a group of ninjas who collected unique and powerful items, I heard about it, and them."

Kakashi tilted his head. "And you think Naruto is one of these unique and powerful items that these ninja are seeking? If so, why did Orochimaru focus his attention on Sasuke and not on Naruto?"

"Orochimaru was once a part of this organisation, but they parted ways a while back," said Jiraiya. "When I realised how dangerous these individuals are, I started keeping tabs on them as well. They're a group of nine S-ranked missing ninjas from various hidden villages, and together they call themselves Akatsuki. Mostly they just keep a low profile, but recently my sources have been reporting more movement. Now it seems that they're actively seeking their goals, and the one most likely assigned to retrieve Naruto would be a member of their ranks you would not want to cross paths with your team."

Kakashi thought for a moment, trying to work out why there would be a personal connection between his team and an S-ranked ninja. After all, the only one they've ever met was Zabuza, and I know he's dead. He blinked. "You can't mean… Uchiha Itachi?"

Jiraiya nodded. "He's one of the nine members of Akatsuki, and most likely to be sent on a retrieval mission to Konoha to gain Naruto. In fact, it was probably he who told Akatsuki of Naruto's existence as a Jinchuuriki. This is why Naruto must come with me on my travels for now." He cast his eyes over the village, his gaze stopping at where there was obvious reconstruction going on. "Right now Konoha is weak, and because the attack happened during the chuunin exam this will be well known throughout the world. Our Hokage is dead, and with him goes any protection Naruto, our Jinchuuriki, had. No one would bat an eyelid if he was to just 'disappear'."

Kakashi nodded slowly. So to protect Naruto you turn him into a moving target, always accompanying one of the few ninjas who would be able to put one if not two S-ranked missing ninja in their place. "Then surely it would be best if the whole of Team Seven left. Sasuke has made great progress in recovering from what his brother did seven years ago, but an encounter between the two of them should be avoided at all costs. Sasuke is probably the only person who can ultimately stop Itachi, but only if given time to grow and realise his potential. I don't know what the news of Itachi trying to destroy the flimsy family he's managed to rebuild would do to him."

"Sasuke stays here. With you." Jiraiya scratched his head. "I'm not as young as I was, Kakashi-kun. Naruto is enough responsibility for me to look after without him and Sasuke fighting like brats at every available opportunity. Plus, I couldn't hope to teach him as much about the sharingan as you can, and the boy needs every weapon he can get. Sasuke stays here, and Naruto goes with me. It's the only way forwards."

"I guess I can spare Naruto a while," replied Kakashi. "As long as you agree to train him further in the basics and don't teach him anything out of his league."

"I wouldn't dream of such a thing," replied Jiraiya, far too quickly for Kakashi's tastes. "And you can be sure he'll get a broad education while travelling with me."

"That's what I'm afraid of." Kakashi sighed and pocketed his book. I really need to find a new quiet spot to do my reading now.

As he walked down Konoha's main street, Sasuke supposed that he had lost out somewhat to Sakura with regards to their task. When Kakashi was late to a prearranged meeting it was hardly anything to worry about, however he was rarely more than two hours late. The three and a half they had been waiting for was highly unusual, as it meant most of the day was gone and left little opportunity for whatever task Kakashi had arranged to torture them with.

Naruto's absence was much more noticeable.

The idiot has never missed a meeting yet. Not for illness, and not from me beating the crap out of him the day before in training. He's always there with a smile. Sasuke scuffed at the ground with a foot on his next step. Maybe it's something to do with that red chakra… or maybe Orochimaru has struck again. He sighed. Or maybe the moron overslept and I'm just letting my imagination run away with me like some stupid child. He kept walking, heading towards Kakashi's apartment. At least Naruto's place is a known quantity to me, dirty kitchen and all. Who knows what kind of depraved objects that perverted jounin might have in his place. He sighed, realising that his insistence in knowing about his team and teacher had meant that he was the only one out of him and Sakura who knew where Kakashi lived. So to achieve more quicker, they had split up, him to find Kakashi and she to find Naruto.

It helped that Kakashi's apartment block was next to a public building, so Sasuke simply scaled a rooftop then jumped over to the walkway running along the entrances to the second floor apartments. A few seconds of lock picking caused the door to swing open, and Sasuke carefully checked for traps. Finding none, he advanced, noticing that a conversation towards the back of the apartment had been abruptly cut off as he entered. That's odd. I didn't think Kakashi liked having company here. "Kakashi?" he called out. "Are you in here?" Reaching out to the door he had heard voices from, Sasuke was surprised to find the other three jounin-sensei from the rookie squads spread around what seemed to be Kakashi's bedroom.

From the tuft of silver hair Sasuke could see, it seemed that Kakashi was in bed, safely tucked beneath a quilt with a shuriken pattern on it. What is he, eight years old? "Why's Kakashi asleep? And why are there jounin here?" He turned to look around the room, noticing that they all were reluctant to meet his eyes. "What happened?"

The jounin dressed in the spitting image of Lee shrugged. "Nothing really." Sasuke finally managed to connect the name of 'Gai' to the man, before hearing the sound of running footsteps along the hall. Turning, he saw another ninja, dressed in a chuunin jacket, come hurrying in.

"Is it true that the Itachi came back? And that he's trying to catch Naruto?"

The announcement caused a flurry of activity amongst the jounin, but Sasuke was beyond noticing. Itachi. Itachi came back. He came back and he's already hurt Kakashi, and now he's going after Naruto. His fists clenched, hard enough to draw blood. Naruto… He darted forwards, roughly shoving the ninja in the doorway aside in his hurry to get out of the apartment. Sakura was going to Naruto's place. If Itachi is there then… He winced as his imagination creatively fused the images that still haunted his sleep with Sakura's form, dyeing her pink hair red with blood in his mind's eye. He's going to kill them both. Sakura and Naruto. He's going to leave me alone and weak again. He took to the air, running from roof to roof, sending as much chakra as he could to enhance his speed without destroying the buildings. I won't let him. I won't let him take anyone else away from me. I don't care what Naruto might be, if Itachi catches him, Naruto's dead! He tried to force down his feelings of panic. I'm not a child anymore; I won't just stand by and let it happen again. At the speed he was travelling at, he had to skid to a halt, using chakra to grip the cement, and grabbed the handle to Naruto's door, yanking it open.

Sakura shrieked at she was pulled out of the door, her hand on the other side of the door, obviously in the process of leaving. "Sasuke-kun?" He looks so pale and he's breathing hard, like he's run all the way here. What's happened?

"Where's Naruto?" bit off Sasuke quickly, trying to look around Sakura and into the apartment. "Is he here? Did you find him?"

Sakura shook her head. "I looked around, but he wasn't anywhere." She stepped closer and tried to speak more forcefully. "Sasuke-kun, what's wrong?"

"We need to find Naruto. Now." Sasuke spoke with a coldness that surprised Sakura. "Get out into the village and look for him. You find him, you both head over to Kakashi's place as fast as you can run. Ajisai Apartments in the eastern sector. There's a load of jounin there, they'll protect you." He took off, running.

"Wait, Sasuke-kun! What's going on?!" called out Sakura, but received no answer as Sasuke turned a deaf ear to her questions as he ran.

Where can he be? wondered Sasuke as he ran through the streets searching for a flash of orange. He wasn't at the bridge, wasn't at his apartment… He ran along the bridge to double check, startling a civilian woman in his rush. The only other place would be at Ichiraku. He skidded to the left, into a side-street, trying to ignore the curses that many civilians were uttering at his passage. Be there, Naruto. He skidded to a halt and ducked under the curtain, looking around for Naruto. Not finding him, Sasuke turned his attention to the stall owner. "Old man! Naruto's always here usually. Have you seen him lately? Do you know where he went after he last left?"

"Oh, young Naruto? Let me see…" The man seemed to think for what to Sasuke was an agonising period of time before he seemed to think of something. "I last saw him early this morning. He and Jiraiya-san had ramen together, then they decided that they were going somewhere together."

At last, a lead on where Naruto might be! "Where did they go?" asked Sasuke tersely.

The ramen seller seemed to pause to think again. "I think the lodging town a little way away from the village." He smiled down at Sasuke. "He left here with Jiraiya. I think they were going straight there."

Sasuke frowned. The name sounds familiar but I'm not sure from where, or when Naruto met this 'Jiraiya'. "Who is this 'Jiraiya' you keep mentioning?"

The man smiled. "How can you not know of the great Jiraiya, one of the three genius ninjas of Konoha?" He shook his head. "I can see why you might be fooled though. He really does just look like a big, white-haired old man after all."

"Big, white-haired old man," repeated Sasuke, nodding slightly. Naruto's Ero-sennin? Naruto called one of the greatest ninja of the Great Wars a perverted hermit? He blinked a few times. "Thanks for the information, Old Man." He took off running towards the village gates.

Naruto and Jiraiya are heading towards the village that's half a day's travel away on foot. Assuming that I accelerate once I clear the gates, I can be there in an hour or less. Hopefully Itachi doesn't know where Naruto is, so I can get him and Jiraiya up and moving and out of there before Itachi figures out where they've gone. He paused in his thoughts. How could Naruto manage to get one of the Sannin to supervise his training? Is that why he could suddenly summon that huge frog? Did Naruto find him, or is Jiraiya trying to use what I think Naruto might be? Is that why Itachi is chasing Naruto, or is it because he wants to cause me pain? He shook his head, accelerating as he cleared the village gates, his feet starting to kick up dust clouds as he passed. It doesn't matter what Naruto is, human or demon. I'm going to get him and this Jiraiya, and then we're going to run for it. He focused his eyes on the road ahead. I just hope I get there in time.