Itachi rifled through the paperwork on the Hokage's desk, and finally found what he wanted. Luckily this Hokage didn't appear to stay in her office most of the day like Sarutobi-sama.
'Sasuke Uchiha- reinstated'.
Three very simple words, and a date. Yesterday, in fact. Sasuke was alive. Itachi felt a warm feeling bubble up from his stomach and reach his face, while his body made some sort of involuntary jumping motion. He felt his mouth contort into a wide grin just as the light in the room turned on, and a Cat-faced ANBU stared back at him through the doorway.
Itachi paused. There was no good escape plan at this point. The alert would be called immediately, and there was no way to get out of the Hokage's Tower without a large-scale fight. Perhaps, he could-
"The fuck."
What? Itachi turned his attention back to the ANBU who had promptly turned around and left the office. Itachi followed him from a large distance as the ANBU walked briskly out of the Tower, did not report to any other ANBU or authority, and went directly to his apartment, muttering "I've been working too fucking hard." repeatedly.
"Hokage-sama."
Tsunade looked up long enough to note that a mask was being dropped on her desk.
"Yamato?"
"I need to retire from ANBU." Yamato specified. "Last night I had a mental breakdown and saw Itachi Uchiha in your office, jumping up and down like a damn monkey summons with a million-watt smile."
Tsunade blinked a few times, and nodded.
"You do need to retire. And lucky you, I have just the assignment to celebrate your release."
"Iroh-Shishou?"
Iroh stifled a snicker and turned to face his scowling apprentice.
"So, ah… you found out, then?"
Sasuke scowled a little fiercer, but Iroh sensed that there was no more than irritation behind it.
"…Should we leave, then, Sasuke? I am deeply sorry that your other friend is not here, but Tsunade-sama has provided me with a location we could meet him at, if you would like."
Iroh wiggled the piece of paper around the air tantalizingly, and Sasuke snatched it out of his hands quickly.
Sasuke read over the note quickly, and passed it back to Iroh.
"I want to see him, as long as I don't have to spend time with that degenerate teacher of his."
Iroh nodded sympathetically. He would rather volunteer to be fight Azula in an Agni Kai wearing only a glittery, spandex bodysuit than spend more than a few moments in the company of Jiraiya. The man was a hairy, perverted nuisance.
"Naruto!" Jiraiya bellowed, as he waved a stack of papers in the air haphazardly.
The boy in question was currently wedged inside a ventilation shaft connected to their hotel room, and did not respond.
'Just a little closer, Ero-Sennin!' Naruto thought impatiently, as he lay on his belly and tried to keep absolutely still. He'd masked his chakra entirely, and left a bunshin in the shower to throw his shishou off, but the Ero-Sennin was a tricky bastard.
"It's the FIIIINAALLLL COOUNTDOOOWWWWWN!" The bunshin in the shower sang loudly, and Naruto suppressed a wince.
'Is that really how I sound when I sing in the shower?' he thought wistfully, and then mentally shook himself.
'Need to focus, we can get singing lessons later.'
"Ah, taking a shower again. But… this means I have time to start writing on my newest masterpiece!" Jiraiya shouted happily, before sitting at the desk in the room and scribbling in his notebook.
The sounds of giggling and papers rustling almost made Naruto gag, but he valiantly suppressed the impulse, and quietly popped the clone he'd henged into a bug to signal the start of his assault.
The clone in the bathroom continued to bellow various songs off-key, as the other bug clones moved into their positions.
One scuttled into Jiraiya's bag that had been thrown carelessly onto a chair, and waited for the next signal.
The next bug clone that had been hiding under a towel in the bathroom scuttled up next to the one in the shower, as the clone singing in the shower made a familiar signal with his hands, to activate all the specialized seals Naruto had planted all over the hotel room.
"Kai!" It whispered, as it dispelled and the bug clone carefully took its place, singing the next verse of "Lady Marmalade" without a pause.
The seals, unfortunately, took a few seconds to activate, which was why all the deception was necessary. And Naruto was hiding in the ventilation shaft… well, because he didn't feel like getting pummeled by a Sannin today. That's what he had clones for, wasn't it?
"Bang!"
Naruto suppressed a giggle as all the seals went off, spraying neon paint all over the hotel room. In the confusion, the henged clone in Jiraiya's bag reverted back to its original form, and sprinted out of the hotel room.
That clone would be trading bags with a clone just down the hall, who would duck into the room the cleaning service helpfully left open while they waited to restock the linens (which another set of clones had thoughtfully delayed by sabotaging the washing machines).
Then Naruto would have the bag, and Ero-Sennin would be thoroughly pranked, and forced to recognize his awesomeness.
'Can't deny teaching me a cool jutsu then, can ya, Ero-Sennin?' Naruto smirked, and made quiet fists in his excitement.
"GAKI!" Jiraiya roared, as he tore off out of the room, covered in paint.
Naruto took this opportunity to wriggle farther into the ventilation shaft, but didn't dare stop suppressing his chakra as he made his way to the rendezvous point with his clone. If Ero-Sennin found him right now, he'd be in a world of pain.
After a quick crawl through the ventilation, Naruto popped out of the shaft and took the proffered bag from his clone.
"How many clones do we have left working on distracting the pervert, boss?" his clone asked, while Naruto rummaged through the sack to grab some important-looking papers.
"About thirty left." Naruto grunted, as he skimmed the missive in his hands.
"What is it, boss?" the clone asked, as it attempted to peer over the top of the paper, but Naruto just stood entirely still.
"Sasuke." Naruto breathed, and the clone twitched.
"Boss?" the clone asked hesitantly, as it backed away slightly. Naruto being still was rarely a good thing.
Naruto felt the world caving in around his ears, and a heat rising from his gut up to his throat. It built up quickly, and left him feeling like he was about to explode.
"ERO-SENNIN!" Naruto suddenly screeched, as he whirled around towards the open window and leapt outside in pursuit of his teacher.
'For one who was impossible to find for three years, Sasuke is proving pathetically easy to locate now.'
Itachi mused on this from a comfortable distance under a henge as he followed his wayward brother and his geriatric escort through the streets of Tanzaku Gai. Maybe Sasuke wanted to be found now?
Or maybe three years without proper ninja training had made him lax and out-of-shape.
It was an impossible question to answer without confronting his brother, if Itachi wished to be entirely honest with himself.
Instead, he felt for Sasuke's chakra signature, and basked in the relief its familiarity brought him. Its presence was a source of great comfort in his childhood, when he came home from danger-frought ANBU missions. He always knew Sasuke was there, safe in the clan compounds' walls.
It felt even better now, after years of panic-fueled searching. He could almost reach out and touch Sasuke on the shoulder, but Itachi held himself back.
Sasuke would not respond well to his presence, and justly so.
Itachi wallowed then in the guilt that threatened to swallow him whole, and slowed his pace to increase the distance between himself and Sasuke.
It wasn't a good idea, to be honest. Itachi's vision had degraded almost to the point of blindness now. The Akatsuki did not care if Itachi damaged himself in the pursuit of their goals, they cared only for results. And every time Itachi was forced to use his Sharingan, his vision worsened and the headaches felt like they were going to tear him apart from the inside.
He only hoped that Sasuke would be ready soon. Itachi could hardly remember what it felt like to breathe comfortably anymore.
Itachi prayed that Sasuke was never afflicted by the same disease. It had been in the clan for generations, due to the inbreeding and occasional ill-effects from a parasitic dojutsu.
The Uchiha had always lived pathetic half-lives, teetering on the brink of humanity. Itachi would not be the first to fall.
He did hope he was the last.
Itachi felt out again for Sasuke's chakra, and felt it resting somewhere only a few streets away. Enough that Sasuke would not notice his presence, but close enough that Itachi could feel him. It was as close as Itachi dared get to his only family, but it was enough for now.
So, some fair warning. At this point in the story, I'm starting to run out of things I want to do. So if you have something you desperately need or want to see, shoot me a review. I'm just running out of steam on things I want out of this particular story, though even if I did end it in a few chapters, it's entirely possible that I would pick it up again later when some ideas smack me on the head. For now, if you don't mind, I'd love it if you would want to check out the two new fics that I'm starting to put up and tell me what you think.
Thank you!