Last week eight of the Konoha children were rescued from their captors, leaving the missing Sakura behind. After escaping they were set upon by Root Shinobi resulting in Sasuke receiving a life threatening injury. Madara is able to heal him enough to travel and is currently taking him to Konoha.
Thanks for all the reviews and favs
Yay! Sasuke's back! Can't wait for next weeks manga. Time to kick some old people butt! (And Naruto better not stop him either…)
Disclaimer: Yeah… something… same as last week… I don't own anything
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Chapter 17 – That Young Boys Life
The forest flew past Madara at a tremendous speed as he raced through the treetops. The dark evening had given way to morning a couple hours earlier and now the sun was rising steadily on the horizon, waking the birds and animals from their slumber.
He was three-quarters of the way to Konoha, still holding the injured Sasuke in his arms. He had stopped twice to check his condition and give him soldier pills to keep his metabolism up. At this point the boy was dehydrated and needed IV treatment that a soldier pill couldn't provide. Drinking water wasn't going to help either so waking him would be pointless. Blood pills were good at replacing lost blood, but they did so at a price. The blood was created using a combination of a jutsu and herbs that pulled liquid out of the system, turning it into blood. In the field, ninja usually drank them with water or in the hospital they were used in conjunction with IV saline drips. However, it had been hours since the first of the blood pills was dispensed, meaning any water Sasuke drank now would not be absorbed efficiently enough to counteract the dehydration.
The realization that his son might die was extremely unpleasant. Madara had lost all of his children. Back when he was leader of the Uchiha clan he had been married and had a family. Four young children. All became ill, one after the other, and even though there were healers capable of advanced jutsu, they didn't replace the need for medication – something Fire country did not have. Mortality among children back then had been very high.
One of his darkest days was the day his oldest son, sick from pneumonia, had died in his arms. He had carried the dead child to the temple and laid the still-warm body in a casket that had been prepared in advance. Even now he couldn't bring himself to utter the boy's name; the loss had been too deep. The other three had followed their brother over the course of the next two years.
It didn't help that Sasuke was not only a dead ringer for that boy, but the same age. In fact, it made it harder. Genetics was a roulette game at the best of times, but to pull up a face so similar twice was beyond Madara's comprehension – even if the two were brothers.
He suddenly imagined Mikoto's grief stricken face and he felt his heart clench with fear. She held a special place in his life, and while he was willing to let Itachi kill her several months earlier, he was relieved when it didn't come to pass. He had known Sasuke would be safe – there was no way Itachi would have killed his little brother.
During the last few hours Madara had considered taking Sasuke with him and returning to Mist. He could raise the child, train him. He had vast potential, more so even than Itachi, and he had plans for him when he got older. But he had promised Mikoto not to do anything until Sasuke was fifteen. That was the age when Shinobi were considered adults. It was still seven years from now, and that was fine. It would take that long, at the very minimum, to put everything into motion. Then he would have both brothers, Itachi and Sasuke.
A bittersweet smile played on his lips as he glanced down at his son, resting quietly in his arms. If he did die before then he had a contingency plan. Aya. She could give him two more sons, and this time he was being patient, grooming her to become his willing mate. First… she would have to prove herself, and that was where Kyoko came in.
Kyoko was an assassin sent by the Daimyou of Water country to assassinate him. Madara knew this the moment he laid eyes on her. A hundred years of being a ninja had gifted him with the ability to not only detect Shinobi, but to pick out their strengths and weaknesses.
Kyoko's strength was assassination. Her weakness was power. Or, more specifically, the perks that came along with it. Wealth, status, a famous name. And so Madara made her an offer, late one night as he lay next to her… kill Aya without anyone knowing it was murder, or suspecting who did it and he would marry her instead. Kyoko had jumped at it like a starving lion jumping through a hoop for a morsel of raw meat.
The twist was that Kyoko had not been raised in a ninja village. She had been trained in the capital under the tutelage of the Daimyou's personal guard. Operating in a ninja village was proving difficult for her, and the fact that Aya was also trained as an assassin was making Kyoko hesitant and over-cautious. However, Aya considered the older woman to be nothing more than an annoyance and, having nothing better to do, played along.
"I'm going to have force things along a little faster." Madara muttered to himself, "Aya must be pushed over the edge. At that point… she can decide if she wants to carry on and become stronger or give up and die."
Aya's insecurities, no doubt left over from her years as a wandering orphan along with her sisters and brother, made her over-emotional and self-absorbed. She was prone to acting without thinking and to prove it had killed a clansman shortly after Shisui had died. From what he heard she hadn't even shown any remorse. No doubt there was more to the story but Madara didn't care.
He knew Aya, despite her problems, was not the type of person to take anything lying down. Every time Kyoko pushed, Aya pushed back. He was sure he could force Aya into making the decision… to kill Kyoko. And then she would accept him.
Of course, he had another reason for wanting Aya to be his wife. She was the beloved older sister of Itachi's finance. Aya would be a buffer between himself and the Konoha Uchiha. Sheeta would never do anything to harm her sister. And that would surely extend to any children he and Aya had together. In this way, if Sasuke did die, he would still have two sons, safe and sound, ready for him to use. It would set him back a few years as he waited for them to grow, but the end result was the goal and worth the trouble.
Madara gave a short laugh, "I can't wait to see what Aya comes up with to get rid of Kyoko. She does seem to have a flair for the dramatic." He doubted it would be a straight "attack and kill scenario".
Sasuke moaned and opened his eyes part way. "Dad? Wanna go home. It hurts." He mumbled as his eyes closed again and he drifted back into unconsciousness.
Madara felt a sharp stab in his heart as he looked down at the boy. For the second time he had mistaken him for Fugaku. But he couldn't deny that he wished it wasn't a mistake and Sasuke would call him "dad". In a perfect world… Mikoto would be his wife and the three of them would live in Mist and share in the power of the Sharingan. But dreams like that were not for him.
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Fugaku stood impatiently just outside the periphery of Konoha's security barrier. He had received Itachi's message and immediately left the house, even though it had been only a few hours after midnight. He had been standing in the shady forest for almost ten hours, waiting and worrying, sometimes pacing, most often leaning against a tree with his arms crossed and his head facing the ground with his eyes closed.
It was a beautiful spring day. The cold, snowy days of winter had given way to a warm, flower filled days filled with birds and butterflies. The village, however, was still filled with darkness and foreboding. Funds were in the red because there weren't enough ninja to take jobs and Stone and Waterfall had ganged up to fight a war cutting the number of available ninja even more. To make things worse, the Fire country Daimyou had cut his funding. Rumor had it that one of his advisors was a Senju or at least a lackey of a Senju and had forced his hand. However, Fugaku found that rumor a little simplistic and figured there was probably much more to it than that.
A few families had left the village, deciding they didn't want to continue living as ninja. Even more had pulled their children out of the Academy and placed them in the civilian school. The pool of future Shinobi was dropping.
The headmaster had suggested a recruitment campaign. He would send several of his teachers to various villages around Fire country and convince children to become ninja. The plan had its merits and Fugaku had given him permission to try. The life of a Shinobi was considered exciting and even if most dropped out after their first year, perhaps a few would stay. The headmaster was also calculating that the offer of free room and board would entice some orphans from other countries to move to Konoha.
He was brought out of his thoughts when a familiar chakra signature was broadcast in one short burst. Fugaku flared his to give his location and then stood in the middle of the small clearing, waiting.
A moment later Madara dropped down to the ground holding an unconscious Sasuke. The boy's clothes, arms and neck were caked with dried blood.
"Oh my god." Fugaku replied in shock.
"The sword entered through his stomach, sliced into his liver, left lung and exited through his shoulder, hitting several muscles on the way. Missed his heart by an inch. There may be a spinal cord injury, I couldn't tell. He said he couldn't feel anything, but then later he was in pain. It could have just been shock. Right now he is suffering from dehydration and will likely need a blood transfusion since I've been pumping him full of blood pills for the last few hours." Madara spoke quickly as he explained the situation.
"Got it." Fugaku walked up and took Sasuke in his arms. The boy was very light and he was reminded of Itachi when he was younger. While Sasuke looked sturdier than his older brother, apparently he wasn't.
"Fugaku… this isn't really the time to discuss this… but I will return Rumiko's twins if you sign a treaty with Mist. Itachi can bring it, and Aya's sisters can come as well. They can transport the children back to Konoha."
Fugaku nodded once, "I will consider it. Their grandparents would like the boys back and I still have the murderer of their parents in prison awaiting execution."
"Sitting back enjoying a nice safe cell? That doesn't sound like you, Fugaku." Madara taunted.
Fugaku snorted, "Oh, he is anything but safe. He hired foreign ninja and then let them into Konoha to kill Rumiko and her husband. Thankfully the children and Sheeta survived. But for that… he is a traitor of the worst kind. Believe me when I say he is suffering right now."
"Ha ha ha!" Madara laughed in approval, then turned serious. "I'll let you handle the details, but I won't sign anything that conflicts with my village's safety. We will work this out in private, then make it public when it's all ironed out. In the meantime, announce the Mizukage's engagement to one Aya Uchiha and let it be known that her 'mission' is over. The wedding will be on her eighteenth birthday – I guess that's still a year or two away."
"Humph. Whatever. I'm leaving now." Fugaku then spoke reluctantly, "Thanks for saving my son. Mikoto…"
Madara smiled half-heartedly, "I brought him back because of Mikoto. Do you have any idea how tempting it was to take him to Mist?"
"I do. I am a father after all. I would do anything for my boys." He and Madara shared a look that, for a brief moment, surpassed their shared hostility and repulsion.
Turning around, Fugaku took off into the forest, carrying Sasuke to the hospital.
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Itachi caught up to Yuri and the children a couple hours after Madara had taken off and sent Kisame and Deidara back to Sasori, who was still at the abandoned hospital. Their job now was to interrogate as many ninja as possible for any information about Root.
Shikamaru, who was usually fairly calm and collected lost it when Itachi showed up and ran crying to the older boy and wrapped his arms around his chest. He tried to speak several times, but the only thing that escaped his mouth were the wracking sobs of disappointment and sorrow. Itachi quickly remembered that if Sasuke hadn't pushed him out of the say, it would Shikamaru who was injured. And Madara would not have saved his life. In that regard, it was a good thing that it was Sasuke that had been stabbed.
Placing his hands on Shikamaru's back he stood their patiently for a minute, then pulled the boy off of him, "Sasuke's going to be okay. Tobi has some healing skills and was able to stop the bleeding. He is taking him to Konoha right now," I hope, Itachi thought to himself, "and when you get home you can go see him."
"You promise?" Naruto was also crying, and his words came out sad and dejected.
Itachi looked up at Yuri, who was also wiping her eyes and frowned. He couldn't lie to them. "No. Sasuke is still very badly injured. But… "
"We mustn't give up hope!" Ino stated firmly. "Sasuke will be okay, and Sakura will come home!"
Shikamaru nodded as he quieted down. "Then… we… should go fast…"
"Then what are we waiting for?" Kiba tried to smile as he took off running through the forest, but it didn't reach his eyes.
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It took two days to return to the village. The Academy students weren't at the level yet where they could move quickly through the trees, nor did they have the stamina to run for hours on end – so most of the time the group ended up on the ground walking. Of course, they also had to stop for food and two separate six hour sleep breaks.
They were followed, of course. However, Itachi was able to cast a Genjutsu to hide them and their pursuers ran right by, none the wiser.
Reaching Konoha everyone insisted on going to the hospital to see Sasuke before going home, where they were told that the boy was still in critical condition and no visitors were allowed. The nurse did assure them, though, that he would pull through. He had been pulled off the critical list an hour earlier.
After seeing all the kids home, Itachi headed toward the Hokage tower. He remembered Yuri's words – about the economic condition of Konoha and looked closely at his surroundings as he walked to the government district. There weren't very many people out shopping and several stores were closed, or had limited hours and warnings about stock shortages. He passed by the Yamanaka flower shop and noticed that it had finally been rebuilt, but a sign "closed until further notice" hung on the empty window. He guessed that there was no point selling flowers if no one could afford them.
He heard rustling and banging as he passed an alley and stopped to look. Two children about five or six were scavenging in a garbage can, along with a woman who was probably their mother. By the looks on their faces they weren't finding anything. Reaching into his pocket his pulled out his wallet and emptied it into his hand before handing it over to the woman. Her first inclination was to refuse it, but as her hand paused over Itachi's she glanced back at her two little girls and swallowed her price as she accepted the money. It would be enough for a few days worth of food.
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"Father?" Itachi pushed passed the guard at the door, not giving him time to announce his arrival, "If you have a minute I have some information about the Raikage that could help our situation."
Fugaku, Sarutobi, and of course, Jiraiya were sitting on the two couches going over a map that was stretched out on the coffee table between them.
"You're back." Fugaku stated.
"Yes. But without Sakura Haruno."
"She is not in any immediate danger." Fugaku replied without concern. Itachi had summoned another cat while he travelled with the children and sent a more detailed report to his father during the groups first sleep break.
Itachi wondered what he meant by that, and while he wanted to discuss the Raikage he was suddenly concerned about the fate of his brothers playmate. "We have to go get her."
"We can't right now." Fugaku turned his attention back to the map. "Now what is this about the Raikage?"
The other people in the room weren't reacting and didn't seem too concerned about the girl's absence. Something was up. "First, tell me why Sakura isn't a priority."
"She is now on a mission to retrieve information about Root's training methods." Sarutobi filled him in. "She will be well reimbursed."
"Mission…" Itachi mumbled.
"There aren't enough Shinobi to spare. In the last three days twenty-three ninjas and kunoichis have defected to Root." As Jiraiya spoke his face took on the expression of one who had suddenly tasted something very sour.
"Wh…what?" Itachi mumbled weakly.
Fugaku explained in a tired voice, "It's poor reimbursement for a child's innocence, but since it could take a year or more to train a child at her level she is most likely safe for the time being. The fact that she is very intelligent should keep her in the upper tier of whatever class system they use in their training program. As long as she cooperates, she should be well treated."
"So if you can pull some of the Shinobi from the Lightning country border you can start thinking about searching for Sakura."
"We have to go after her anyway, Itachi. Just not right now. We need to know about their training methods, where their training facilities are and anything else we can glean from those facilities. If she can stay there a few months she can collect more information. Perhaps by then we will have some more ninja available. Frankly, this is something I would like Kakashi to handle but he is busy fighting Stone and Waterfall right now."
"Understood." Itachi paused, "About the Raikage..."
"Go ahead. I'm listening."
"Last year my ANBU team and I tracked a target up into Lightning. We ran into a team from Cloud, one of whom, it turned out, was the Raikage. His village had been tracking the same man and he suspected that, because of the high level of the target, I would be on the ANBU team Konoha would send. We sparred a little, then had a discussion. He was the one who passed on the information about the man who hired the ninja to kill Rumiko.
"He also asked me for a favor… he had somehow found out that Sarutobi had recommended me for the position of Hokage."
"What?" Sarutobi stood up quickly, "How?"
"No idea." Itachi added. "I was just as surprised about it as you. Anyway, he said that if I was the Hokage he would sign a treaty with Konoha. This, of course, would be a real treaty of cooperation and not just the token treaty that was signed at the end of the last war."
"Why you?" Fugaku asked suspiciously.
"He said, as long as it wasn't a Senju or Hyuuga in charge, he could support the treaty."
Fugaku sighed, "That's certainly understandable."
"Completely in character." Jiraiya added quietly.
"I would like permission to travel north and negotiate with the Raikage. Perhaps the offer still stands, and that's why there have been no attacks on that border." Itachi looked over the three men and wondered when the last time they slept was. All three had bags under their eyes and an empty coffee carafe was sitting on the edge of the table.
Jiraiya spoke up quickly, "I would like to go with him. Itachi has no experience with negotiating and since I also have no Senju connections, being an orphan and all, it should meet with their approval."
Fugaku gave them a small smile, "Okay. I'll start the process to have a treaty drawn up. I'll let you two know when you can leave."
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Sasuke was sitting upright in his bed with a coloring book and crayons spread out in front of him. Coloring wasn't his favorite activity, it was too sedentary for the active boy, but he was still very sore and weak. He was looking forward to going home, and the doctor had told him that morning that he would decide in a couple days if he was ready to be discharged. Although having his father visit him in the middle of the night was nice. It was one of the only times in his life he could remember having the man all to himself and while he would only stay for fifteen minutes (the nurse was very strict about that) he would talk to Sasuke and reassure him. He knew that once he was back home the visits would end.
Glancing at the clock next to his bed he noticed that visiting hours would be over in half an hour. While all his friends had come to visit that day – the first day he was deemed well enough to have visitors apart from family – Shikamaru had not come. He felt a little dejected, and wondered if maybe something was wrong. However, his fears were soon allayed when the youngest Nara poked his head in through the door.
"Hey, I hear you're feeling better." Shikamaru walked in and took a seat next to the bed. "Where's your mom?"
"She's doing laundry, but she said she'd be back later." Sasuke had a wide grin on his face.
"I brought you some Sudoku puzzles. Mom said they would be too advanced for an eight-year-old but…" He shrugged as he put a small paper-back book on the tray.
"I can do these. Thanks. I'm getting tired of coloring." Sasuke looked at the book, still smiling. His mother had shown him how to work the puzzles a few months earlier while he had been in the jail.
"I… um…" Shikamaru stood back up and bent forward in a stiff bow, "Thank-you for saving my life. I… I… I'm so sorry you got hurt." When he sat back down he had to wipe a tear out of his eye.
"S'okay. I just… I just moved automatically. But I'm glad I did. I don't want to see any more dead people."
"Choji and his mom." Shikamaru stated morosely.
"Yeah. I keep having nightmares about that. Ami and her family was there too. And other kids… I didn't know their names." Sasuke's voice was now very quiet and his smile was gone. The nightmares were constant. Every night he watched his friends die, or ran into their corpses while running through a decimated village. They had gotten worse in the last week, but the doctor told him it might be stress and would go away in a few months. Or at least lessen.
"I have dreams about Choji. But… they aren't nightmares. We're just talking or walking around like we used to do. In my dream I know he's dead but it doesn't bother me or scare me."
Sasuke's eyes closed and he dropped his head, "I wish I could have one of your dreams…"
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Locking his door Itachi turned around and looked at his room. He had been up here briefly before leaving on the rescue mission, but now that he was in less of a hurry he took the chance to look around more closely. Surprisingly, it was dust free with a faint scent of lavender. Or perhaps it wasn't so surprising. Even though he had asked his mother not clean the top floor she was doing it anyway. Or more likely making Sheeta do it as part of her "training".
Exiting his room he walked to the disused living room at the end of the hall and turned on the TV. Smiling, he switched it off again. It was set to Sheeta's favorite movie channel. His mother liked to watch Samurai movies, but Sheeta was a fan of science fiction and romance. He doubted the boys had been up here since Sasuke had a TV in his room and they never watched movies, preferring anime or other thirty minutes shows. He himself preferred video tapes to TV and Fugaku would watch whatever everyone else was watching, since he was usually reading or doing paperwork anyway.
Suffice it to say, it was obvious it had been his fiancé cleaning and it was probably safe to say that she was not very happy about it. Well, her birthday was coming up in July maybe he could find something. Or perhaps Jiraiya knew something that would make her happy. He did write romance stories after all – he must know something about girls.
Returning to his room he once again locked the door and moved to the middle of his bed. Slipping on his Akatsuki ring he called Leader. The man's strong voice echoed in his head, and Itachi felt the power and ominous chakra that always accompanied it.
"Leader, I have been assigned a mission in Lightning." Itachi got to the point.
"Refuse it."
"I can't." Itachi said plainly.
"You work for me. As long as you are in Akatsuki you will follow my orders." Pein's words were threatening but Itachi was long past the point where that affected him.
"I am." He explained calmly.
"Explain."
"You are aware Danzou's body is missing from Konoha."
"Yes".
"That could only have been an inside job here in Konoha. They have also had a large number of desertions in the last few days – something that hasn't happened since the coup."
"A feeble excuse at best, Itachi. It seems to me that you are having trouble with your priorities."
"Call it what you will."
Surprisingly, the leader sighed, "Itachi, have you forgotten my warning already? Did that village's destruction really mean so little to you? You stated that you had accepted a mission that would take you to Lightning country. To track Danzou's body you should at least have stated that you were staying in Konoha."
"True… but since lies are easier to forget than truths being up front is probably the best course of action."
"Then tell me what is going on."
"Konoha is in dire straits right now. There aren't enough shinobi to run missions so income is down. I have been asked to negotiate a peace treaty with the Raikage so that Konoha may pull ninja away from Lightning's border."
"Dire straits, huh?" Pein sounded amused.
"I cannot stay in Konoha without going on missions."
"Humph. That is true enough." Pein was silent for a couple minutes and when he spoke again there was a different tone in his voice that was, somehow, more ominous that his usual voice. "Okay, stay in Konoha for now. Madara will have you for a few weeks in July anyway so it can't be helped. Our priority is Danzou anyway. Anything that can be done to get more information about his life or death is approved. Sasori, Kisame and Deidara went through that hospital, but didn't find anything of value. It was, apparently, a recruiting facility and held no organizational information. Most of the people escaped while you were saving those children." He paused again, "That reminds me… one was missing?"
"Umm… yes." Itachi wondered where he was going with this.
"Is Konoha abandoning her?"
"No. But… there aren't enough people to look for her now so they are going to leave her where she is, let her gain information about Root and then retrieve her."
Much to Itachi's surprise the Leader actually laughed, "So that's what Konoha calls it. And what if she decides she has been abandoned and changes loyalties? Are you prepared to kill her?"
Itachi's eyes opened wide with shock as a cold dread settled over him.
Pein continued, "Children are much stronger than we give them credit for… but at the same time they are also very fragile."
"I will do what I have to do to crush Root. If that means killing the child, then that is the way it is." Itachi finally spoke, his words calm and measured. As distasteful as it was, it was also true.
"Humph." The communication was cut and Itachi removed the ring and threw it across the room. It hit the wall a foot away from the bathroom door and clinked as it bounced once off the wood floor.
Itachi stood up angrily and began pacing back and forth. "That bastard knew this was going to happen. That 'mission' is nothing more than a cover-up! He has no intention of looking for her! And when he has her killed he can just blame Root! And Sarutobi knows about it!"
Throwing himself into an upholstered chair he hit his head several times on the back of the plush cushion, disappointed that it didn't hurt. He imagined Sasuke's reaction when he found out another one of his friends was dead. It would hurt the boy immensely and if there was one thing Itachi didn't want it was to see his little brother sad.
But then again, the life of a ninja was like that. Friends died on missions or of complications from past injuries. It was a fact of life. Itachi thought again of all the people he had lost, and of what it would be like if they were still alive. Everything was so complicated and convoluted. If only Shisui was around – he was a genius at reading between the lines. So many times Itachi had felt like gullible fool after speaking to his older cousin. And now Pein had made him feel the same way.
"Itachi?" His mother knocked on the door, "Dinner's ready and your father is here. He wants to talk to you about your mission so please come down." She left without waiting for an answer and Itachi stood up and sighed. He had promised the kids that he would save Sakura, and he would.
His father could go to hell for all he cared, but Sakura would not be joining him there.
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Next week we will be in Mist visiting with Madara, Aya and Kyoko. Aya has a surprise for Kyoko… but will Kyoko like it?
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