16

"When-?"

"What the-?"

"How-?"

Questions shot from the mouths of Jiraiya, Kakashi, and Tsunade so fast that they stopped suddenly and looked at each other. Tsunade sighed, seeing that Kakashi was just as completely confused as she was. She noted that Jiraiya wore a somewhat irritated look. But, glancing over to the last two occupants of the room, her irritation quickly outshone her confusion. Naruto and Itachi were both wearing identical expressions of knowing amusement, even if Itachi looked slightly annoyed with Naruto's words from not seconds before. She itched to draw another, preferably larger, more destructive weapon and throw it at both of them.

Damn these brats and their egos. They're gonna kill me.

"Explain." She ordered imperiously, staring down the two said brats. Naruto's grin grew wider, and he backed up to lean against the wall next to Itachi. He glanced up at Itachi and the raven gave him look that said "You explain it to them." Naruto heaved a breath theatrically and started to speak.

"Well, I can explain what I know of the situation. Or, at least, what I've guessed. Itachi was… uh, well… involved… in the Uchiha Massacre under orders of the higher ups of Konoha-"

"The village elders, Danzou, and Madara, specifically, although Madara was the main orchestrator of the entire mess." Itachi interrupted. Naruto glanced at him with a triumphant look at getting the perfectionist Uchiha to talk. Itachi pointedly ignored him, so he picked up where he left off.

"Right, Madara. After that, he left the village and, according to what I've pieced together, he joined Akatsuki as a spy after that. When he fought with Sasuke- or was that a clone or something?" Itachi nodded.

"It was a clone of my own making, which could use all my abilities, even the Sharingan." Naruto looked curious about the technique, but continued telling his theory.

"Anyways, when he fought with Sasuke, right before the clone actually died, Itachi passed on his Mangekyou to Sasuke. He was already nearly blind from using it, anyway, though. Am I right, 'tachi-san?"

Itachi nodded his head, only slightly. "Yes." He took a breath, and Tsunade could tell that Itachi planned to tell the story from there, though she could tell that he didn't really want to brief them on something he had kept secret for so long. "To explain what happened when I found Jiraiya," He crossed his arms in front of his chest. "I was tracking Pein and Konan in hopes that I could follow them to Madara; I'm not so unlike Sasuke that I didn't want my own revenge. When I found out that the two of them were in contact with him, I took advantage of my position. When they reached their hideout, they apparently found Jiraiya-sama sneaking around and started fighting. I hung back to see what types of abilities Pein had- as he'd kept them secret from all the Akatsuki besides Konan- until I saw Pein leaving Jiraiya sinking into the water.

"There's no particular reason why I pulled Jiraiya out, except that I felt it would allow me to gain back some of Konoha's trust and allow me to save my little brother in doing so. The rest of the story is as you see. I took Jiraiya back to one of the Uchiha safe houses. He was in a self-induced coma until just two weeks ago. He woke briefly for a few days at a time after that and he eventually snuck away after he woke up when I went to get supplies.

Tsunade looked to Jiraiya and he nodded, confirming what he could of Itachi's explanation, then the man opened his mouth to speak:

"Naruto, how did you know what happened between Itachi and Sasuke? And when did you sense Itachi coming into the village a little while ago? You moved to in front of the window because you knew he was coming, didn't you?" The white-haired Sannin asked. He hadn't noticed Itachi's chakra until the Uchiha had come into the room, which was reasonable, considering he was still recovering his energy and because Itachi had obviously been concealing his chakras well. But, the point was, neither Tsunade nor Kakashi had sensed the man either; it was only Naruto who'd known the man was coming. This led to another point. How had Naruto known that Itachi was trustworthy enough to let the man sneak through Konoha and into its hospital without saying anything about it?

"Well, about the part between Sasuke and Itachi…I guessed." Seeing the skeptical look on his sensei's face, Naruto elaborated. "When me and Sasuke fought Madara, he said some stuff about Itachi and his fight with Sasuke along with a few other small details. I just pieced it all together with stuff I already knew. As for the other question, I noticed Itachi coming into the village right before you started explaining what happened with you and Pein."

"He mastered the Sage training, Jiraiya. Right after we heard that you'd been killed he left to train." Tsunade told Jiraiya. The man turned a purely shocked look on the blond, then shook his head softly and his expression turned into a proud smile.

"You really mastered it, Naruto?" Naruto grinned and put his hand to the back of his head.

"Uh, yeah, it was really hard though."

"Better have been! That damn training took me years! I only 'died' six months ago! How the hell did you do it so fast?"

"He used my clone training method. It always did work best for him..." Kakashi said, with a bit of pride showing in his voice. Tsunade, Jiraiya, and Kakashi all broke down and started talking about all that had happened during Jiraiya's absence. Naruto smiled at them, his precious people, before turning to Itachi. The man was kneading his left temple as if he had a headache.

"Is it bad?"

"My body's just adjusting to the absence of the Sharingan. Withdrawals, of a sort."

"You really don't have it at all anymore?"

Itachi shook his head. "No, I don't. Strangely, I still remember all the techniques I learned with it, but I no longer have any form of the Uchiha bloodline limit, aside from the ability to anticipate attacks. I assume that it was ingrained into my instincts."

"You can barely see, though, right? Are you going to be able to rejoin the ninja ranks when Granny Tsunade pardons you?"

Itachi raised an elegant eyebrow. Naruto briefly wondered if that trademark Uchiha expression was genetic or not, because all the Uchiha he'd seen could do it. "When? Not 'if'? You believe that she will pardon me? For all I've done?"

"Of course. She can see the reasoning just the same as I can. Whatever you say, you were tricked into doing the council's bidding. The worst sentence any reasonable person will give you, with all the evidence we have in your favor, is house arrest for the rest of your life. You've been around those ruthless Akatsuki too long if you think otherwise."

Itachi looked at him in a calculating manner, as if judging him. Personally, Naruto felt he was being looked at in that way far too often lately. He didn't like it, but he didn't say anything either.

"You're different from when we met in that forest."

"No. Everyone else is just seeing me differently. I am the same."

"So it was a mask." He didn't ask. The Uchiha, far too much of a genius for his own good, had probably guessed that he was more than what he appeared from the first time they met. While Naruto himself had kept on believing the man had betrayed his entire family and not felt a thing about it.

"I'm… sorry, Itachi. I-"

"No. I played my part out. I meant to make everyone believe I did all that for my own gains. I needed Sasuke to hate me. I wouldn't have been able to leave otherwise." He smiled bitterly, just the barest uplifting of the corners of his lips, but it was there. "Will you help Sasuke understand it? Why I did what I did? When you bring him back? I understand if he hates me, so long as he knows why. I told him myself, through the clone, but from my own lips it might not be enough."

"It was enough. I don't think he knows it himself, but he's already long since forgiven you. He just had nothing else to live for without the feelings of hate and revenge he'd been living on before. Of course, you returning from the dead might help, too."

Itachi didn't say anything, but he had a relieved look in his eyes.

"Now. I've got a favor to ask, 'tachi-san." Naruto grinned at the man who raised an eyebrow at him. "I need your help with something."