AN: So, there were plenty who were questioning Yuri's decision and motivations on leaving with Itachi.

One of the reasons I waited so long to upload this drabble-story was because even I wasn't sure I liked where my own plot was going. In the end I decided to go ahead with it, realizing it worked with Yuri's personality and showing the differences between her time as Hera and her new life as Yuri.

So, let me explain a little better. Yuriko is being selfish in her actions and even she knew that. But once she learned of Akatsuki, Itachi's mission to join them after he left and what the organization was after, she realized she had an opportunity to protect Naruto from the inside.

Her mission, given to her by the Sandaime after he realized Yuri's idea had merit, was to join Itachi in Akatsuki and gather information to send back through her summons (yes, she has a summons which has been hinted at). In other words she is one of Jiraiya's contacts while she's in Akatsuki.

I wrote the story the way I did to show that Yuri, despite years of knowledge from her first life, is not perfect. She is considered a prodigy, but she isn't a true genius since she had memories of her first life to help her along.

She is still reckless, and while her life as Hera was very self-sacrificing, more so than even her life as Yuri is – having had to give up her childhood, what little there was as a ninja-in-training, to raise Naruto mostly by herself. Whereas Hera she died martyring herself to bring down Voldemort. Sacrificing not only most of her childhood for a war children really shouldn't have had to deal with, but also the future she might have had if she'd lived.

Her new life is much different, and as self-sacrificing as she is she is also capable of being selfish. Itachi has been with her practically since they were born, their mother's having been best friends and pregnant at the same time. While Naruto means the world to her, she wasn't willing to sacrifice her feelings for Itachi, knowing her best friends illness would end up killing him, if his idiotic plans didn't first.

In the end, as much as Itachi means to Yuri, if she didn't know how to create a Blood Clone than she'd have never left Konoha. Naruto doesn't realize what his sister has done, because he's not alone. As you'll learn there is literally no difference between Yuri and her blood clone, expect in power and maybe in thought process since the clones main purpose is to care for, help train, and protect Naruto before anything else. Her blood clone isn't quite as powerful as Yuriko either, being just a clone.

Anyways, that's as simple as I can make her motivations. I understand the way I've decided to go with the plot will repel some people, that's fine. I myself wasn't fond of the plot direction in the beginning, but at least this way Itachi and Naruto can have happier endings and beginnings.

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Yellow ~ The color of the mind and the intellect. It is optimistic and cheerful. However it can also suggest impatience, criticism and cowardice.

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Colors.

Chapter 3: Yellow.

Coward, betrayer, selfish... a slender redhead rubbed her eyes with the palm of her hands as she sat on the edge of the Hokage monument. To anyone else this girl was Uzumaki Yuriko, daughter of the late Yondaime and his wife, but in truth the only thing she was, was an impersonator.

Nothing more than a poor copy with little free will other than what she'd been designed with. She was a clone, a blood clone, with the purpose of raising her little brother – no, she wasn't even sure if she could call that ball of sunshine her brother. It was the real Yuri's brother.

Yuriko sighed again. The first year was normal, she went about her day as she would if she was the original. She was no longer a ANBU agent though, seeing as the real Kojika was out there with Itachi. She couldn't help but feel resentful of her real self. Out there, free to do what she pleased (though Yuriko would never dream of leaving without Naruto). At the same time it was for this she grew to be angry at Yuri, maybe even hate her. The girl had a little brother who nearly worshipped her and at eight years old she had abandoned him... for a boy.

She was selfish! But she was also Yuri, made from her blood with the same personality and appearance. So, she understood why she'd done what she'd done. Yuri wanted to save Itachi, a boy she was beginning to feel more than friendship for. She wanted to help protect her brother by infiltrating an organization now known to have an end goal of extracting all nine bijū, one of which was inside her brother.

So was she really so selfish after all? Once Yuriko's use was over she'd be dispelled, which was a bit messier with blood clones, and all that would be left was the original and the memories she'd gain. In a way it would be like she'd never left. It was a plan which was almost fool proof, but Yuriko couldn't help but worry.

Weren't the best laid plans the ones that you had to worry about the most?

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She sat with her legs dangling over the edge of a large building in Amegakure. She'd recently returned from a mission with her partner, Zetsu. The half-plant being didn't talk much and she didn't initiate conversation. She didn't like the feel of Zetsu's chakra, it was... confusing, but dark enough she tried to keep her distance. That proved to be a little harder after the leader had partnered them together.

He didn't trust her and Itachi to be partners, which wasn't surprising. For a while Orochimaru had been apart of the Akatsuki, which had made her more concerned about the threat Akatsuki posed. Not long after they joined though the snake sannin attacked Itachi, and ran after Itachi showed him exactly why he was known as the Uchiha's greatest prodigy since the clan wars.

Her place inside the organization was tentative at best in the beginning, but after nearly four years that had changed. The leader had begun to trust her and Itachi, and they had made their mark inside the organization. That made her mission easier.

Yuri had gotten used to wearing her ANBU mask nearly all the time, and it was only when she and Itachi were sure they were alone and outside Amegakure that Itachi ever called her by her real name. When Yuriko was alone she finally got to take off her mask, revealing her true dark ruby hair and green eyes. This was not one of those times. To anyone who noticed her she looked like a seventeen to eighteen year old girl with long black hair and red eyes.

"You're rather thoughtful tonight, Kojika," Itachi's familiar voice spoke up behind her. She grinned behind her mask and turned her head slightly to the side.

"I'm just thinking about... life."

True enough, she had originally come up here knowing Naruto's birthday was passing soon. Some days she regretted her decisions, and then she remembered why she had chosen this course of action. She was here to help her best friend, and protect her brother from the threat Akatsuki proved to be the longer she stayed with the organization.

Itachi grunted and took a seat beside her. The view wasn't as good as the Hokage Mountain, but it was still a view. It would have been better if not for the rain that pounded down around them. The only reason she wasn't getting wet was the chakra she'd spread around herself like a shield, something which mirrored a spell she knew from her first life. Given Itachi wasn't wet he must have been using the same technique to keep the rain away from him.

"I'm sorry," Itachi muttered, knowing exactly where her thoughts must be.

He thought of his life before the Massacre quite often, and how his little brother must be fairing now. But as the days came and went he slowly began thinking less and less about it. He'd made his choice, and he was content to let himself die when Sasuke was strong enough, but he knew it would be a struggle.

He was no longer sick, he hadn't been for a while now. Yuriko had made sure of that with her unique healing ability, and he knew she wouldn't allow him to become a martyr. He wondered how this would change his decided fate. But as time passed and he accepted his feelings for Yuri, Itachi was unsure he truly wanted to die. If it was even a choice now that his illness wasn't killing him.

"Why?" she asked. "You have nothing to be sorry for." That wasn't entirely true, she supposed. She knew how the massacre had truly effected Itachi, and though he no longer dwelled on it as much she knew he wished it hadn't come to that.

"It's almost October 10th." Itachi looked at her with hidden regret. Hidden, at least, to someone who hadn't known him their whole life like Yuriko did.

She grimaced slightly and looked down at the ground far below them. Reaching into her mesh armor shirt she pulled out a delicate silver chain, a silver locket hung from it, the Uzumaki Spiral carved into the front. A set of rings hung on either side of the locket, one more petite and made for a woman, the other a males ring. They were her parents wedding rings.

She remembered that her mother and father usually only wore them on their anniversary, or on occasion when they were home. When they went out or were training, her father had his in a small lockable trinket box in their room, while her mother preferred to wear hers around her neck on a chain. When they died she'd held onto the rings to remember them by. And to some day pass down to Naruto, should he ever wish to marry someone.

Smiling sadly at the locket and rings, she tucked them back insider her shirt, and looked over at her best friend and secret love interest. In a split second Yuriko made a reckless choice, but one she'd been thinking about for a long time.

Leaning over she lifted the bottom of her mask, praying her genjutsu-seal wasn't disrupted by the action. Itachi's eyes widened, and as blurry as his vision had become after use of his Mangekyō (they'd found out doses of her Phoenix tears did cure it for a time until he over used it again), he noticed instantly the lightening of her hair under the gloomy sky when she lifted her mask.

Thankfully her hair remained black, but with red highlights proving that if she moved it anymore the seal would be disrupted. He opened his mouth to warn her, maybe even chide her for the reckless action inside Amegakure, when her lips collided with his with an unsure gentleness.

His first thought was that her lips were as soft as he'd imagined. His second was to pull her closer, and though it was a little awkward at first, with her mask still partially in the way, the two made their first kiss work. Itachi's arms had snaked around her slim waist and pulled her closer, and her arms wound around his neck, one hand running through his long black ponytail. Neither had much experience kissing, as it deepened it became clear they'd both enjoy practicing.

Maybe things wouldn't be so bad, as long as they had each other to lean on.