Summary: What if Minato and Kushina had two children? What if one of them was Itachi's age and just as skilled? How would it affect the one born under his father's shadow and one under the Kyuubi's shadow? Read to find out.
Kazuki sipped his tea and put the cup down. He ate a sakura mochi filled with koshi-an, smooth red bean paste to balance out the bitterness. As he flipped another page of his book, he reached for the cup, only for it to shatter. Kazuki frowned and cleaned up the hot water and ceramic mess after he set his book aside.
"Kazuki, come with me," Tobi said. Kazuki nodded and was sucked into his eye and deposited in a room barely lit with a candle. Kazuki's eyes adjusted and he saw Sasuke sitting with an expressionless face, tied up.
"Kazuki, is it true?" Sasuke asked desperately.
"What is?" Kazuki raised a brow, wondering if Sasuke was trying to get him to lower his guard by acting nonthreatening.
"That Nii-san and you sacrificed yourselves for the village's sake? That the Uchiha were planning a coup? That you're Naruto's brother? That you truly loved him but acted to hate him to protect him?" the sixteen-year-old asked, his black eyes pleading.
"Tobi, we had a deal," Kazuki said, his voice rising with anger. "You promised you wouldn't tell anyone anything! Sasuke and Naruto were part of the deal!" Kazuki's blue eyes flashed with murderous rage.
"That's where you're wrong. Itachi had a deal. You simply agreed; you didn't state any conditions since Itachi stated them for you. Now that he's dead, I'm free to do what I wish, including tell what I want to anyone," Tobi corrected.
"He's dead?" Kazuki asked, his blue eyes looking shot. Sasuke nodded somberly.
He closed his eyes and let out a long sigh. Keep it together. You can't cry now; you can cry later. Itachi…
"Yeah," Kazuki looked at Sasuke, his eyes hardened to keep the tears in. "Now that you know everything, what are you planning to do?" Kazuki narrowed his eyes at the Uchiha, whose thoughts easily flashed across his face.
"I'm going to kill Danzo. He ordered Nii-san to do kill my clan, right?" Sasuke asked as Tobi released him from his binds. Sasuke stood and stretched a little, his eyes an angry red with three tomoe. Kazuki eyes softened a little.
"Will you help me take him down?" Sasuke asked, his voice angry. Kazuki closed his eyes slowly and Sasuke took that as a 'yes'. Sasuke thanked him and the three ascended to a rocky shore. If Itachi were here, Kazuki would've said something about the prettiness of it and if he wanted a ink painting of it or not. Kazuki looked up at the sky and decided Itachi would've said yes.
Kazuki looked at Sasuke and then at his own hands. Even though he couldn't see it, he knew his hands were stained with blood. They were stained with failures and wrongdoings. Kazuki stuffed them in his pockets. They're already stained. I've got nothing else to lose since Itachi is dead and Naruto is safe with Konoha and his comrades.
Sasuke turned and glanced at Kazuki. "You're the only one who truly knew how Itachi was. Because you have those memories, I'm not going to kill you; I'll follow any order you have if you follow any of mine."
Tobi told the two to get the Hachibi after he handed Sasuke an Akatsuki cloak. Sasuke smirked as he slipped it on. He jerked his head in the direction of Kumo and Kazuki nodded, following.
Kazuki could sense and see on Sasuke's face that the teen wanted to talk. Kazuki wasn't about to initiate a conversation unless Sasuke did, since he was the one who wanted to talk. Kazuki also had a pretty good idea of what he was going to ask and he really had no intention of talking about his dead friend.
Hours passed of the two going at top speed in silence. Kazuki could see the Uchiha was getting more and more uncomfortable and couldn't care less. A day later, at daybreak, they arrived at Kumo. After easily getting information from an unsuspecting Kumo nin, they found the training area where the Hachibi's jinchuuriki was.
As Sasuke distracted B, Kazuki set up a high-level seal to keep B inside the seal so that he wouldn't get out so easily. The seal was set in a sixteen-sided shape and at each corner there were two slips of paper, each two meters by one meter long. One paper was for keeping the seal stable and the other was for sucking up chakra should the Hachibi's chakra be trying to overload the seal, which would cause it to break. So, the second slip was like a circuit breaker.
Kazuki kept a Shadow Clone in the shadows should anything go wrong or if they needed help. Kazuki turned to help Sasuke and ran to block an attack that would've killed the Uchiha. Kazuki brought out his sword fully and stepped into a stance B had never seen before.
"Who are you? With that red hair and blue eyes, I'd say you're—"
"Shut up!" Sasuke yelled as he came whirling back around with his sword. B easily blocked him only to have Kazuki's strange and unpredictable style to battle. It took all of his power to make sure he didn't have a leg or hand cut off. B realized he needed to stop playing around and change places with Gyuuki.
As Sasuke managed to get B's attention back to him, Kazuki unfurled a scroll and let his chakra chains fly towards the jinchuuriki. Kazuki didn't trust his sixteen-sided seal after all because he sensed unbelievable power from it. He doubted that it would be enough alone, so as the sixteen seals sucked up fractions of his power, Kazuki channeled the power from the chains to himself to the scroll after biting his thumb to make a more direct contact.
B noticed that Kazuki was sealing his power into a scroll and sixteen other seals so he figured that he needed to shock the young man.
As B sent poisonous chakra down the chains, Sasuke unleashed black flames to burn the octopus thing. Kazuki's body shook violently as the chakra passed through him. B was convinced the man would fall over, but all Kazuki did was cough up blood and clench his fists until his knuckles turned white. B's eyes widened, as Kazuki didn't suffer more serious effects. Gyuuki dealt with the black flames by replacing the area of burn with a tentacle and let it fall to the ground.
Gyuuki, how is he not dead? B asked in his mind.
Because he's probably been conditioned with another Bijuu. He's got a tolerance level of Bijuu chakra that's really high!
So, what do we do?
I've got an idea. You and I are going to let the rest of my body go as a clone while we, the real ones, are in a tentacle that I'm going to cut off.
Thank you!
Gyuuki promptly cut off a tentacle and as Sasuke unleashed another wave of black flames. Kazuki panted hard and fell over; the only thing he could do was breathe. Through tired blue eyes he watched as Gyuuki's form reverted back into an unconscious body of B. Kazuki's clone came out of the bushes and took B from the fatigued Uchiha. Kazuki shakily stood and asked Sasuke to collect the seals. Sasuke nodded as Kazuki held out the scroll for the seals to dissolve into, making a large pool of Hachibi chakra.
Once everything was done, the two set back to the Akatsuki base.
The two came back a day later having rested at an inn to allow their bodies to recover from the battle that severely depleted their chakra reserves.
"It's a clone," Tobi said, his voice edged with disappointment. "Even so, a piece is sufficient."
"Pein is going to attack Konoha as we speak to get the Kyuubi. You two can go, if you want," Tobi said.
Kazuki had decided to go. With his hat on and one hand hanging out of the front of the cloak, he walked calmly through the gates. Screams and explosions rang out. Kazuki realized that this scene was awfully nostalgic. Sixteen years ago, when the Kyuubi's attack came, it was just like this, except it was night back then.
Kazuki walked through calmly, watching with mild interest as shinobi were being slaughtered, and this time, it wasn't necessarily his fault. A small thought occurred to him: if Pein's Shinra Tensei attack were to be used, he might want to protect his old home. He didn't know why he wanted to, he just did. So, he sent a clone off to strengthen the seal around the house.
Kazuki looked ahead and saw the Hokage tower and decided it would be a great vantage point to watch from. He jumped across rooftops and with a backflip just for effect, he landed silently on the Hokage tower. Tsunade flinched as Kazuki suddenly appeared.
"Before you try to rip my head off, I'm only here to watch," Kazuki said, his elbows leaning on the railing and his hands supporting his chin. Overall, his posture was nonchalant and nonthreatening.
Tsunade blinked and recognized him finally. She narrowed her eyes. "You know, I've always wondered why you betrayed Konoha. Minato and Kushina loved you so much and then seven years later, you aid the Uchiha Massacre. What happened to you?"
"I'm not about to tell you my sob story," Kazuki said boredly. "I'm here to watch. Unless you'd like for me to assist my colleague in killing the citizens of Konoha, you're going to leave me alone." Kazuki's blue eyes moved to look at her out of the corners of his eyes with anger flashing in them. Tsunade pursed her lips and summoned Katsuyu to help heal those injured.
"You're not going to do anything? Not even search for Naruto? Isn't he what you're after?" Tsunade asked, leaning against the railing but not lowering her guard.
"He isn't here. That's obvious," Kazuki said. "Pein hasn't come to me, asking me if Naruto is here or not so I'm not going to talk."
"You Akatsuki members travel in twos. According to Jiraiya, your partner was Itachi. Why isn't he here?" Tsunade asked.
"I thought I told you to leave me alone," Kazuki said calmly, as if ever patient. The truth was, neither him nor Itachi were patient. Not in the slightest. Kazuki looked up as Pein's figure rose high into the sky. Here it comes. Kazuki disappeared to the top of the Yondaime Hokage's head and watched as the village was obliterated with Pein at the epicenter.
A few moments later, a puff of smoke appeared in the epicenter. Large frog summons were more visible once the smoke cleared and Naruto began to beat several of the Paths until only one remained.
Kazuki let out a soft chuckle as Hinata stepped in front of Naruto to protect him. He knew that even the Hyuuga heiress couldn't beat Pein, but it was worth a shot. As Hinata was falling headfirst towards the ground, Naruto's eyes widened. Kazuki debated whether or not to help.
He shook his head. Pein would probably easily beat his ass in a battle and Naruto would make a fuss of why he was here and try to kill him and then be captured because he wasn't focusing on the true enemy: Pein.
Suddenly, Naruto's seal loosened tremendously. The ground shook and rippled with raw power as Pein lured him out of the village slowly. Kazuki jumped down to Hinata and took out a seal that, among other things, had iryo-ninjutsu in it. He set the girl onto the center of the scroll and activated the seal. It glowed the usual green and Kazuki stopped once she regained consciousness and she didn't seem to be in so much pain.
"Why did you help me?" Hinata asked, surprised she didn't stutter.
"It's a long story. However, I'll let you come to your own conclusion. You and Naruto like one another and if you have no ties to me, then Naruto does. Of about what kind of tie, I'll let you figure that out," Kazuki said, his eyes looking on as rocks rose into the sky, growing in size. Kazuki's eyes widened in shock and fear as the Kyuubi was almost visible. All that was missing was its orange-reddish fur.
"Is that the Kyuubi?" Hinata asked with her Byakugan activated. "So much chakra…"
"Tou-san's seal has broken. Let's hope it had some kind of failsafe plan in it," Kazuki said.
"Don't you have a kekkei genkai? Naruto-kun said that you did once…" Hinata said, her eyes looking at him.
"I do. Pein would've killed me if I'd defied orders and judging from this, Naruto isn't strong enough to protect himself from the Kyuubi. I can't die yet. Once Naruto and Sasuke are strong enough on their own, I won't have to stick around," Kazuki said.
"Sasuke? You know him?" Hinata asked.
"Uchiha Itachi was my best friend. I've got to protect Sasuke too. It'll be my final act of gratitude towards him," Kazuki turned to her and cocked his head. "You're a strange girl. I'm telling you things I'd never say. I've got to look into this."
"I…I won't tell anyone what you said, if that's what you want. I think I've come to a conclusion: if you want to protect Naruto, which means he's important to you. Is he a distant relative, or a friend? But…your eyes are the same color and your chakra is almost identical," Hinata frowned. Her eyes widened comically again.
"Naruto and Sasuke are alike in more ways than you think. Revenge on certain people, for example," Kazuki said. He looked up and saw Kakashi carrying Naruto. He picked Hinata up with one arm and put the scroll away with the other. Green lights swirled above the village and Kazuki disregarded them, not caring anymore.
After a few minutes, they disappeared into the bodies of shinobi.
As Naruto was being thrown up and down, he set Hinata down and she thanked him and took a few steps forward.
Kazuki jumped out of sight to the cliff where Kakashi and Naruto had emerged. Kakashi was still standing there, looking shocked to see him.
"Kazuki," Kakashi pulled out a kunai and pulled up his hitai-ate to reveal his Sharingan.
"Kakashi-san, do you hear that?" Kazuki turned his head to look into the forest.
Naruto? Kazuki? Kakashi?
Anyone?
Please!
Kakashi's eyes widened and ran into the forest with Kazuki. In a small area where there was sunlight and grass was a person laying on the ground, his clothes dirty and his body looking frail, but not old. He looked starved, to say the least.
"M-Minato-sensei?" Kakashi asked in disbelief.
"Kakashi, is that you? You look…mature," Minato said, looking for the right words. "Where is Kazuki? He's not too old, is he?"
"Kazuki?" Kakashi turned and saw that he was gone. "Kazuki!"
"Kakashi, how old is he now?" Minato asked, afraid to hear the answer.
"Twenty-two," Kakashi said. "How…how are you alive?" Is it the same reason I'm alive? Because Pein revived us?
"I don't know. I can't move very well, though. It's been a long time since I used my muscles. Where is Naruto? Is he alright?" Minato asked, sitting up. His blonde locks glinted in the sunlight.
"Yeah. Naruto is over there," Kakashi said.
Kazuki put on his hat suppressed his chakra until it was barely detectable. Kakashi was elsewhere, dealing with something else, so he wasn't guarding the tent. Kazuki's hand reached out to open the tent where his father and brother were but his hand stopped just short of the fabric. His hand shook and he put his arm down, not heeding the offer to come in. Those words were too kind. They were too forgiving. These words would allow him to be so close to the people he'd failed in life and he couldn't take it.
Naruto opened the fabric to look outside to see who had been standing there, only to find that no one was there.
Kazuki had already ran out of the village and Tobi sucked him into a dimension at the gates to spit him out at the Akatsuki base where Sasuke was, still. Kazuki looked disoriented for a moment before his face returned to its normal state.
"What happened?" Tobi asked.
"Pein failed. Namikaze Minato has been revived as a result of Nagato's Rinne Rebirth Jutsu," Kazuki said. "What is next?"
"The Raikage has ordered a Five Kage Summit in the Land of Iron to be in a week. I suspect Minato is in no condition to go, so Danzo will probably go. Just for publicity, he'll probably bring Minato along. If he doesn't, we can just go into Konoha and kill Minato. Also, Zetsu has word that the Five Nations have decided to kill Uchiha Sasuke and the other member involved with taking the Hachibi. I want you two to go to that Summit. I'll be there eventually to declare war on the shinobi world to make them give me the Kyuubi," Tobi exhaled.
With that, Sasuke and Kazuki walked off into the Akatsuki base to prepare to leave. Kazuki changed out of his Akatsuki cloak and slipped on a short-sleeved greyish-blue shirt with black pants. Under the shirt was a fishnet and tied and inside against his sides and back pockets were scrolls, exploding kunai, exploding tags, other slips of paper for sealing, and chakra pills. Also on his side was his sword.
Sasuke stood in the doorway, looking into Kazuki's room.
"You're awfully traditional, aren't you?" Sasuke looked at the kotatsu and andon, lamp. An ink stone and paper and scrolls and multiple brushes were in a small box decorated with awabi, abalone, shell insides and painted sakura petals.
"Here," Kazuki tossed him a scroll.
"What's this?" Sasuke deftly caught it and looked at it.
"It'll reverse summon me to you if you get hurt. I have an iryo-ninjutsu scroll, a few actually, to heal people. It'll heal pretty much anything unless you've lost too much blood and get anemic or something," Kazuki said as he slipped on black standard ninja shoes and took off his scratched Konoha hitai-ate. The two nodded and they departed to the Land of Iron.
A/N Sorry for the twist…hehe…