14

"You what?" came a voice from the darkness of the night.

"I offered them lenience from their sentences as rogue ninja in return for services rendered to Konoha." A calmer, quieter voice replied to the loud exclamation.

"You don't have the authority to do that, Naruto!"

"Yes, I do." Naruto said firmly. "I've spoken to the Hokage at length about what I should need to do to avert the wars that afflicted my timeline. He has given me leave to make decisions in his name about rogue ninja without contacting him, amongst other things."

"But what about the council?"

"The Hokage doesn't need to talk to the council in regards to rogue ninja of other countries, Kakashi. He may not hold all the power in Konoha, but he sure holds quite a bit of it. Don't worry. I know what I'm doing."

A sigh. "Can you trust them?"

"Yes."

"Then I suppose I must trust them as well."

A feral grin. "Indeed."

xXx

As Kakashi walked into the clearing, he was welcomed by a splash of water that threw sparkling droplets onto him and his clothes. Laughter reached his ears along with a whined:

"No fair, Naruto! You pushed me!"

Naruto grinned, still chuckling. "You should be able to catch yourself, no matter what, Sakura-chan!"

Kakashi pushed the last, low-hanging branch from his sightline and the amusing scene of his group of genin reached his eyes. He saw a drenched Sakura standing thigh-deep in water of the pond outside of Tazuna's hut. Sasuke bent from his place standing on the surface of the pond, to help her up, and, with seemingly no effort, Sakura regained her footing beside him. However, the thing that made Kakashi pause, more than the fact that two of his genin were standing on the ever-changing water's surface as steadily as any high-ranking chuunin, was the sight of Naruto, sitting cross-legged on the surface in the middle of the pond.

He'd never seen anyone do that before. Sure, it was possible, controlling the output of chakra from a body's chakra points so thoroughly that multiple parts of the body could touch the water and not get wet. Kakashi had only ever seen it done with the hands and feet, which were the easiest parts of the body to manipulate chakra from, and he wouldn't have been surprised had it been a high-ranking ninja or a ninja from a clan that excelled in chakra control, such as the Hyuuga, but to see a genin, even if only just in body, do it so casually…it surprised him enough that he barely managed to cover it before his genin turned their heads to him. The smile he saw in Naruto's eyes, however, made him believe he had been discovered.

"Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto said in greeting. "Who's going with Tazuna today?"

"Sasuke, you, and I will go today." Kakashi said. At Naruto's nod, he continued. "Sakura, I want you to stay behind with Inari and his mother."

He had long set up a guard schedule, having already explained the fact that the hunter-nin who took Zabuza after their battle was actually a fake and Zabuza's accomplice. Sakura and Sasuke had not argued with him after that. And Naruto had taken advantage of their pliancy by suggesting to Kakashi who should go to the bridge this day.

"Hai! I'll see you all later, then." Sakura said as she made her way from the water's surface, waving a nonchalant farewell without turning.

"Well, shall we get moving?" Kakashi asked rhetorically.

As the boys followed him without a word, Kakashi let himself wander in his thoughts, trusting Naruto's clones, which had infested the area around Tazuna's home, to keep guard for the moment. The silver-haired Jounin was looking forward to that talk Naruto had promised him and he was hoping it would be soon. He thought for a second about the looks of grief and sadness that had been directed at Sasuke by Naruto just before he'd sunk into his two panic attacks. There had definitely been a strong bond between the two of them in Naruto's timeline, but Kakashi wasn't quite sure yet what had happened to it. And there was something that was bothering Sasuke; it might have something to do with Naruto with the way the Uchiha looked at him every so often.

Kakashi internally sighed. At least Sakura wasn't developing problems he couldn't handle. It seemed that the girl was even beginning to take her training seriously. He hadn't heard her go on a rant about Sasuke for a full week! Kakashi had decided that he would take the girl to Tsunade when the sannin visited the village again; he had noticed Sakura was very nearly the same as the woman in temperament. He nearly shivered at the thought.

He glanced up as they reached the porch of Tazuna's home. The man himself was standing in front of it, waiting for them. He waved at them and started walking down the path as they joined him. The man had lightened up since the battle with the Demon of the Mist. He had listened to Kakashi's advice and had abandoned his bottle of sake and he was now in a considerably better mood most of the time.

Inari was staring after them from a corner of the house as they left. Naruto waved at him and he went running. Inari had obviously gained something of a brotherly attraction towards Naruto, who had told Kakashi what had been said and done. The blond himself had confided that he was confused as to why the boy would admire him after he'd told him off, and Kakashi had laughed.

Kakashi walked on quietly as he noted Naruto's clones forming a tighter ring of security. The blond had warned him that there would be an attack on the residence, and had said that the ninja probably wouldn't be very skilled but that he would leave some of his clones just in case. As for the plan for what to do on the bridge, well, Naruto had been vague on that point.

"Whatever you do, don't try to actually kill them, Kakashi."

"And if they try to actually kill me?" He'd answered back sarcastically.

"I'll deal with them if that happens."

What was worse was that they were putting Sasuke in danger by not informing him of their plans. Kakashi glanced at Naruto for a second, who had pulled a bit in front of Sasuke, who was bringing up the rear of the group. Naruto bumped into Kakashi's shoulder casually enough, relaying his confidence in his plan; or rather the lack of need for worry.

xXx

Sasuke had been observing Naruto for the past week of the mission, and everything he saw made little to no sense. His mental health was suffering from it, too. The worst thing was that he didn't know why he had become so obsessed with Naruto all of a sudden.

The blond was obviously hiding something. Sasuke had seen the way Naruto analyzed situations and manipulated them to his will. He'd seen the easy confidence that came with every step. He'd seen the slow way that Naruto went about "learning" techniques, trying to help him learn them as well. And, most hauntingly, he'd seen the bits of pain that still remained in the blond's eyes every time he turned to look at him. It had been worse when the boy had had the panic attacks, but it was still there, that same look that Sasuke had seen in his own eyes after his brother had massacred his clan.

Every breath that Naruto took was concealing something, and Sasuke could see the fractures that were popping up in the blond's story. Sasuke was losing sleep over it, and he knew that that wasn't a good thing on this mission. But he couldn't help worrying about his only friend, the only person who had managed to make his way through his cold mask.

So, when Kakashi took him and Naruto for guard duty, but left Sakura (who was still obviously the weakest of the team), when he'd been sending Sakura alone for the last few days, it naturally made him wonder what was up. The feeling crawling up the back of his neck, he could feel the hairs rising. It was exactly like before, when Naruto and Kakashi had seemingly been waiting for that Zabuza character to show up.

Sasuke could feel his jaw clenching and forced himself to relax. If Naruto wouldn't come to him and tell him of his own free will, then Sasuke would force him to spill his secrets the moment they set foot back in Konoha. But for now… Well, the kunai and shuriken he'd purchased not too long ago would probably be useful.

xXx

It finally happened about four hours into guard duty on the bridge, about five after noon. As Naruto had just begun to worry that Zabuza and Haku would be late, the suddenly roiling mist banished his worries. For the longest second, he was reminded of the day that his time's Sasuke had been killed by Madara; it had been abnormally foggy that morning as well. The atmosphere made him tense.

xXx

The fog appeared slowly, so much so that he couldn't pinpoint when it first started to gather around the bridge. The hair on Kakashi's arms rose as his instincts urged him to go to his students. He had a bad feeling about this, even if he knew that Zabuza and his student should just be putting on an act. But he trusted Naruto. He'd seen what the boy could do. And he could only hope that Naruto's deal with them worked out.

xXx

Sasuke looked around in anticipation. He had been right. Again. And Naruto hadn't told him anything. Again. The blond could be leading him to his death for all he knew.

He snapped his head around to face Naruto, suddenly furious.

"When we get back to Konoha, I want an explanation for all of this." He hissed.

Almost satisfyingly, Naruto jumped and turned to face him with a surprised expression. Then, rather unsatisfyingly, he smiled and nodded and turned back to observing the mist. But Sasuke heard the words that came under the blond's breath, obviously not meant to be heard by him.

"He never was slow to catch on. I hadn't expected it to last much longer anyway."

Sasuke puzzled over the words. That is, until a leg came flying at his face. On pure instinct reaction, Sasuke back-stepped and flipped so that he could turn his newly found backwards momentum into a kick at his attacker. The person maneuvered their kick so that their legs struck each other and the force of the blows sent them both away from each other by a few yards.

Sasuke was left with a numbed leg from the exchange as he waited for another attack.

"Sasuke!" Came the shout from Naruto.

"I'm fine. Where's Kakashi-sensei?"

"Here." The Jounin landed at his side.

xXx

Although Sasuke's comment has surprised him, Naruto made himself focus.

He'd already sent his clones to surround Tazuna. For some reason, the bridge was now eerily deserted. Making sure that Kakashi and Sasuke were within his sights, he directed his gaze at the thickest spot in the mist. It would all be up to Zabuza now; whether everyone won (except Gato) or whether Naruto just went ahead and dragged the both of them to Konoha's best intelligence operatives for betraying his trust.

He rolled his shoulders as Zabuza stepped from the mist…alone. And suddenly, Naruto knew what the Demon of the Mist was planning. He growled, searching the area around him quickly. A few paces to his right, he spotted Haku.

He watched as the noh-masked boy's foot swung towards Sasuke's face and he barely stopped himself from going to block the attack for his friend. He knew that he would not always be there to help Sasuke, and he had to make sure that the boy could take care of himself when he wasn't around.

Sasuke reacted admirably, blocking Haku's kick with his own and then creating space between them to give himself a moment to think. Naruto knew Haku would have attacked with senbon if Kakashi hadn't jumped to his student's side.

Naruto knew that Haku could have already begun a full-fledged fight with Sasuke. He also knew that Zabuza could have already done the same with either himself or Kakashi. That meant they were keeping to their deal. And that was the only reason why Naruto was clenching and unclenching his fists, trying to keep himself calm as he saw Sasuke shake out a numbed leg.

He hadn't realized how much seeing in Sasuke in a situation where he could be killed would affect him. He supposed it was normal, considering how he had reacted when the Demon Brothers had attacked them, but he couldn't really tell that to his shaking hands, now could he?

"How are we going to do this?" Kakashi asked Zabuza, who had come forward to Haku's side.

"We fight, of course." Zabuza said, with a side glance to Naruto. "I don't care much for Tazuna at the moment."

Naruto nodded at the man. All of a sudden he had the strongest urge to make sure his plan was running smoothly. He sent one of his clones to scout the area surrounding the bridge; above, below, and at both ends.

As soon as he did, Zabuza rushed Kakashi, which surprised Naruto. Zabuza's style was the silent kill, which was usually opposite of rushing at your enemy head on. Obviously, this surprised Kakashi and Sasuke as well, as they both jumped apart.

At the same time, Haku began throwing his senbon needles at Sasuke, who dodged as he pumped his feet full of chakra and began to make his way through and around the projectiles towards Haku. He was handling himself well.

Naruto stayed where he was, ready to aid his teammates should the deal be broken. He ached to fight with them, never before feeling so acutely the urge to use his strength as he did now. He saw Sasuke and Haku practically dancing just above the surface of the wet bridge, exchanging blows evenly, without ever seemingly taking a breath. He saw Zabuza raining powerful blows upon his teacher, and saw Kakashi wipe them off as if he were just in an everyday spar.

He recognized the power of all four genius' standing in front of him and he suddenly felt like he had cheated them. He'd lived nine years that they would never experience. He'd fought through a war they would probably never know, if he had any hand in it at all. It had been a harder war than any of them, even Zabuza and Kakashi, would ever know. And he had the experience of more than a thousand years with the Kyuubi living inside him. He was manipulating their lives as if he were a puppet master.

He hated himself for that. He felt Kyuubi send calming feelings through their bond. He was almost surprised by her action, seeing as she had been sleeping on and off for long periods of time lately, not being able to function with so much of Naruto's old chakra as well as the Yondaime Hokage's old seal still up and functioning.

I don't know what to do, Kyuu.

I know, Kit. But you should just do what feels right to you.

That's what's giving me issues. Naruto smiled bitterly.

Just follow the plan for now. When we all get back to the village, you can decide who you'll tell there. Sasuke's already demanded an explanation. Soon, you won't be alone with this anymore.

Naruto smiled again. I've never been alone, Kyuu.

I'm glad to hear that.

Suddenly a shiver went down his spine. A picture of black eyes, Uchiha eyes, flashed through his mind. A twinge in his chest told him that one of his clones had been killed by the jab of a kunai through the heart.

I hope that's not who I think it is.

Unfortunately, I think it is.

Kyuubi didn't bother to wonder why Uchiha Itachi was watching their battle from one end of the bridge, and neither did Naruto. The only thing Naruto did was immediately switch places with a clone and leave.

xXx

"What are you doing here?" Naruto asked bluntly, stepping out from the still thickening mist to join Sasuke's elder brother at the end of the bridge. The blond had the pleasure of seeing Itachi taken aback at his entrance, although the man was hardly surprised.

"I don't suppose that's any of your business… whoever you are." Itachi said smoothly, not one to let an unexpected appearance take his wits from him.

"It is if Akatsuki is targeting your brother."

This time, Itachi was speechless. Naruto tried to imagine himself being an elite- rogue- ninja, and having a genin walk up to you and start talking about an S-class secret. He didn't think he'd react well either. So, when Itachi's eyes flickered red, he jumped away from the spot he'd been standing in.

"Who are you?" came a deadly voice from beside his ear just after he landed. Naruto stiffened at the feel of a blade pressed to the back of his neck. After a moment of silence, he spoke, his voice becoming more irritated with the situation as he continued.

"Uzumaki Naruto. A Jinchuuriki. Sasuke's friend. An ally. Distrust me if you want, but don't let your brother suffer for it, damn it! Why is Akatsuki targeting him!"

There was silence, then…

"How do you know we're not targeting you?" Itachi said.

"Because you would have already attacked me while my other teammates were occupied."

"…"

A clone of Itachi came from the trees, not far from them, to stand in front of him, presumably to see his reactions. "How are you so sure that I care so much about my brother that I would come to protect him." The clone asked in the same monotone that had sounded from behind him. Naruto met the Uchiha's eyes brazenly. He could tell that that action in and of itself had unsettled Itachi at least a little bit. Naruto had made sure Itachi knew that Naruto knew who he was, after all.

"I never said that you had come to protect him." Naruto grinned at the expression that could almost be called dismay on the clone's face. He'd never imagined that The Uchiha Itachi could be caught in a simple word trap. Or that the man was just as expressive as Sasuke was if you looked in the right places. Then again, Naruto hadn't really cared about the man's emotions until after his death.

"What do you know?" Itachi asked before pulled his knife from Naruto's neck and sent the clone back to the trees.

"About what?"

"Akatsuki."

"Everything. The members, their agendas, everything. I know you. And I know that you are trying to protect your brother, but I don't know what from."

"And what do you think you know about me? You, little more than a child." Itachi's voice had a bite to it, but he doubted he would have been able to hear it had he not known the man before this time.

"This child knows that you massacred your family to stop a coup d'état. That the people innocent of the coup had already been killed when you arrived. All but Sasuke. And you manipulated his memories to reflect your 'crime' after you killed the real criminals. And now you are only among Akatsuki under the Third Hokage's orders."

"Only Hokage have access to that knowledge."

"And me, it seems. Now, tell me. Is Akatsuki targeting Sasuke! Why!" Naruto growled out, quickly becoming irritated with the man's stubbornness. He had a battle to get back to.

Itachi clearly hadn't been expecting any of this, but Naruto didn't have the time to deal with him. He growled aloud.

"Fine, think it over. Find me after this fight is over. I'll make sure I'm alone for a while."

At this, Naruto jumped away into the mist. He was now irritated and stressed. Whatever Akatsuki had planned had spooked Itachi enough to make him come play bodyguard for his brother. And if it spooked Itachi then it spooked him.