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Well, another boring week. No Naruto manga again, but next week we finally get to see more of the Sasuke/Danzou fight and maybe a couple more frames of Itachi. Even as a Genjutsu he's still pretty awesome, xD. I hope Danzou packed an extra pair of undies! But then again, he'll be a corpse soon so it won't matter, LOL.

Disclaimer: Kishimoto owns Naruto

Chapter 49 – That Red-Headed Boy

Both Jiraiya and Kisame were surprisingly sober after an evening spent at the bottom of three bottles of sake. Of course, being Shinobi they no doubt knew a few tricks about neutralizing alcohol and recovering from hangovers. Itachi realized he didn't know any of them and hadn't ever considered it until now. He glanced over at Deidara who had suffered a rather bad hangover back in Mist after a night out with Kisame. The teen was glaring at the two partiers with deadly intent, apparently having realized the same thing.

Naruto was walking behind them singing quietly to himself and ignoring everyone. After his initial hurry to get going that morning he had quickly realized that they were still a couple days from Orochimaru's hideout. Or rather, Itachi had pulled out a map and shown everyone where Sasuke had said he was. Oddly enough, it was about twenty miles from the village hidden in the Clouds. Or perhaps that wasn't odd, but arrogance on the part of Orochimaru.

"So is that red-headed guy your friend now?" Naruto had broken out of his reflective mood and trotted up to walk beside his godfather.

"Not even close." Jiraiya stated firmly. "He's committed way too many crimes to earn anyone's forgiveness any time soon."

"Are you going to fight him?"

"Who knows?" Jiraiya looked up at the cloudy sky and sighed, "It defies imagination… how did this happen?"

"So he's an orphan, like me."

"Yeah."

"Then maybe… I remember what it was like before Fugaku took me in. Only I didn't have any friends like Pein did. But I remember how I felt when Nui and Sheeta and Sasuke rescued me."

Itachi remembered back to that dark day, as he had lain in an underground jail cell after Fugaku had captured and restrained him. Out of all the people who had shared that secret prison, the young boy had, perhaps, been the only one who had been cheerful. He had thought it had been because it was Naruto's nature to never be "down", but he was wrong. For the first time in the orphan's life he wasn't pushed away. He wasn't teased, or feared, attacked or shunned.

"Pein… Nagato… his parents were killed and he nearly starved to death before he was found by Konan and Yahiko." Jiraiya explained quietly. "What concerns me is Yahiko. Danzou apparently, somehow, maneuvered him into a position where he had to sacrifice himself. And he was helping Hanzou. In all my years as a Konoha Shinobi I do not remember any treaties with Rain, except to participate in the Chuunin exams. Either it was so secret I had no right to know, or Danzou has been working behind our backs a lot longer than we had suspected."

It was quiet for a few minutes, except for the crunch snow as the small group continued forward. The temperature was still below freezing and if the sky was any indication, more snow was definitely in the forecast.

The Sannin stopped suddenly and punched a small pine tree as he swore rather loudly. The tree splintered and toppled slowly to ground, dumping what little snow was left on its branches.

"What was that for?" Kisame asked, surprised at the sudden outburst.

"Do you realize that, indirectly, Danzou is responsible for the formation of Akatsuki?"

"That is incorrect." Itachi stepped forward, "Madara and Pein meeting was destined. No matter what, he would have found a way to trap your 'poor little orphan' in his clutches. If Danzou had not existed, Madara would have taken his place that day. One way or another, Yahiko had to die. There was no way to stop Akatsuki from forming."

"That's rather defeatist." Jiraiya commented.

"It is true. I believe I am also correct in stating that Pein realizes this as well."

Kisame spoke up, "It would be just like Madara to pull something like that. Even Sasuke…"

Itachi quickly cut him off, "We don't need to go into that."

The blue man blinked a couple times, realizing belatedly that Jiraiya and Naruto did not know what had happened to Itachi's brother.

However, the Sannin was not so quickly put off. "Sasuke what?"

No one answered his question and an uncomfortable silence descended.

Meditating was definitely near the top of Sasuke's list of "Things I hate to do". Especially when there was a large orange cat curled up against his leg snoring. It was impossible to clear his mind of all thoughts and he suspected those who actually enjoyed the task were, in reality, sleeping or daydreaming. His brother, however, had insisted he get in the habit of meditating and he was trying to follow the teen's suggestion, but it just wasn't working out.

Stretching his legs he stood up and yawned. The small room he had been given was carved out of the earth and fortified with large stone blocks. As near as Sasuke could tell it was a perfect a square. A small bed, dresser and a nightstand with an oil lamp made up the only furnishings. It was sparse, and the thick quilt barely kept him warm at night, but it was his room and he almost felt comfortable when he was there alone.

Still, he missed home. His mother who would fix meals that were edible, wash his clothes with actual soap and water, and was always pleasant and caring. His foster-brother Naruto was always cheerful and ready to spar or watch the latest ninja movie on TV. Sakura with her long pink hair and bright green eyes could light up a room with her smile, or knock him into next week with her right hook, somehow had a way of making him relax just by being around. And Sai was just fun to argue with. The boy knew very little about how to live an ordinary life despite two years as a foster-son to the Yamanakas and his laid-back stubbornness was amusing, to say the least.

As he ran through the list of friends he had in Konoha, he found one person who no longer made the list. Fugaku. The man who was responsible for the Mangekyou Sharingan that now cursed his eyes, and the elders who had tormented him mercilessly for years. When Itachi showed up he would insist on returning to Konoha.

But he couldn't do that. He couldn't face his father, or the elders, or even the rest of the clan that supported them blindly. And if Itachi insisted on supporting them as well…

Sasuke dropped down onto the red quilt and lay on his back. What would he do if his brother refused to see reason? There was no way he could beat him in a fight, and every possibility the teen could subdue him and force him to return home. Escaping would definitely be harder with Itachi on his tail.

Unless…

"What are you doing?" Tama's sleepy voice was surprisingly loud in the small room, where there were, literally no other sounds.

"Thinking."

"Humans think too much."

"And cats don't think enough."

"Grumpy, aren't you?"

Sasuke turned his head and saw the cat still lying where he had left him a few minutes earlier. His head resting on his paws and both eyes half shut. The stone floor was cold and he was surprised the heat-seeking cat had not joined him on the bed. Then again, that would require getting up, walking across the room, jumping up onto the bed and finding a spot to lie down. A lot of work, really, for a cat known for his laziness.

"Tama, what do think of Madara?"

"Madara? That question came out of nowhere."

"Yeah it did. So… do you have any opinion?"

"Hmm… his estate was depressingly mouse-free."

Sasuke shook his head. What exactly had he expected the cat to say? All he ever thought about was food and sleeping. "The maid had a mouse at her house didn't she?"

Tama laughed. "Yeah, I got that one pretty quick. There weren't any others. But that wasn't what I was talking about."

"What?"

"You are naïve, little boy."

Sasuke was getting angry and sat up, throwing his bare feet onto the ground he glared at the fluff ball five feet away from him, "Spit it out, cat. I'm not psychic."

Tama chuckled, "No one gets in or out of the Mizukage's mansion without him knowing. Everyone is blindly loyal to him and every attempt by the Daimyou's… or I guess I should say the 'late' Daimyou's or anyone else had failed."

"Hmm." Sasuke was silent for a few minutes as he stared at the far wall deep in thought. "Dad doesn't like him."

"Probably not."

"Itachi seems to act strangely around him. Kind of like… I don't know. Wary, or on edge or something. It makes me wonder of that means Madara is more powerful than big brother."

"He is." Tama confirmed. "Or perhaps, equally matched. Either way, the result of a fight between them would be uncertain enough to cause both to hesitate before issuing a challenge."

Sasuke wondered how the cat knew so much, but decided it could probably be chalked up to being a cat. He got around quite a bit and no doubt heard a lot from people around him. He stood up and knelt down next to the small creature. "How long would it take you to get to Mist?"

The cat winked, "How quickly do you need me to be there?"

"You aren't going to like what I have to say." Tsunade was sitting on the couch in the Hokage's office with her arms folded across her chest and one leg crossed. Her heeled sandals had been replaced with boots to accommodate the foot of snow that had fallen on Konoha over the last few days.

Fugaku shook his head, "Probably not. So what have you found?"

"Poison was being pumped into the Uchiha compound's water supply for almost thirty years. It stopped after the coup, of course, directly implicating Danzou. That date corresponds very closely with the mandated sealing of the Hyuuga bloodline. I take it you were also ordered to undertake a similar measure at that time?"

"That is disturbing. Yes, the Uchiha elders were approached by the Konoha elders and given an 'order' that was promptly ignored. There was no way to enforce such a thing and no proof that it was even needed. We were surprised the Hyuuga took it so seriously. So you are saying the poison was punishment for not sealing our eyes?"

"We know the elders were following Danzou instead of Hiruzen so more than likely any punishment for not adhering to their requests would not have come from the Hokage. Therefore, Danzou would have had to of acted surreptitiously instead. He is nothing, if not patient. The poison was given in an amount designed to caused birth defects but not kill those who ingested it outright."

Fugaku was silent for a moment as he gazed out of the large plate-glass windows that lined one wall of the room. Snow had begun to drift from the sky again and it was swirling around as if being driven by a strong wind. "So our low birthrate was Danzou's way of killing us off. And that was why Uchiha who didn't live in Konoha had more children than those who did."

"Aya's mother had four despite living in Konoha as a child." Tsunade added.

"She married when she was fifteen and left a few months later. Most Kunoichis wait until their mid-twenties to have kids, but she had her first one when was sixteen. She never returned to the village."

"And her eldest turned out to have a Kekkei Genkai related disease. Aya told me her brother was often ill, though, as he was growing up. He caught colds easily and would even be sick for a couple days after a vaccination. We still had tissue samples frozen away and when I pulled one and sent it to toxicology it came back positive."

"He was living here, he would have ingested the infected water."

"The poison was older than that. It's like lead – it builds up in your system over time. The amount he had could only have gotten there if he had been born with it. I tested Aya and Sheeta and they both have less, with Sheeta's level being the lowest. Apparently not ingesting it limits its effectiveness."

Fugaku frowned, "Wait… that doesn't make sense…"

"When you are a fetus you get nutrients from your mother, who is ingesting poisoned water. That gets absorbed into your system and starts breaking it down. You are then born and somehow survive. However, once out of your mother's body you no longer ingest the poisoned water. You always carry around the poison that's already there, and whatever damage it already caused, in Fumitake's case it apparently damaged his immune system. The fact that he inherited a dangerous disease was just an extra burden that had nothing to do with the poison.

"Anyway," Tsunade continued after taking a deep breath, "Even though it is always there, it does start to break down if the poison is not continuously renewed. That makes it notoriously hard to find. We already had to do a special test to even detect it, but finding it in a man who probably had only two or three years worth of the substance in his body was nearly impossible. We ran the test five times to verify the results. That was why Sheeta had the least amount in her body when she was born, and why her mother was able to have so many kids."

"Okay." Fugaku was wondering how he was going to break this news to the clan. It would devastate them to learn that their children had been murdered. "So the reason children are being born again is because the poison is wearing off?"

"To a degree. You are aware that one woman had a miscarriage a month ago, while you were away."

He sighed. The news had been alarming, especially since the baby was six months along. "So it wasn't because Aika was forty-two?"

"Definitely not. While the chance of birth defects rises slightly the older you are when you get pregnant, it was definitely the fault of the poison. In fact, when examining the tissue sample of the baby he was found to have had a large quantity of it. The poison effectively robbed him of oxygen and prevented him from getting enough nutrients. It was like… he starved to death…" Her voice faded and she averted her eyes to the floor. She could still remember the woman's pleas to save her baby and the hysterical sobbing that had followed when she had to tell her he was already dead.

"Itachi… he didn't have any problems…"

"He did, Fugaku. Mikoto was lucky and had a normal birth, but I reviewed Itachi's records and his emotional problems are directly related to the poison. The baby wouldn't respond when picked up, didn't want attention, and didn't cry unless he was hungry or wet. They are similar to symptoms seen in the babies of drug addicts. If Mikoto hadn't been there for him…"

"I always thought…" Fugaku stopped talking. He had thought his eldest son's distance was because of the way he had abused him as a child. He mentally cringed as the memory of him breaking the four-year-old Itachi's arm passed in front of his eyes.

"It was your fault?" The woman was observant and Fugaku frowned. "Partially, yeah. People argue, 'nature versus nurture' but its really a little of both. However, Itachi is at a disadvantage and will show some sociopathic behaviors because of this. However, I can't stress enough that he is not a psychopath." Tsunade snorted and gave Fugaku a half-smile, "Well, insofar as you can even say that about a Shinobi who kills for a living."

"Yeah. I was just thinking the same thing. So Sheeta's baby should be okay, in terms of the poisoned water."

"There is a small enough amount in her to assume so, but I'm not going to bet my life on it. Drinking clean, bottled water will protect her in case the poison is re-introduced into the water supply. I have all pregnant women in Konoha on bottled water, in fact, and the hospital is providing coupons for those who can't afford it.

"Unfortunately, the poison Itachi was injected with when he was in Root could cause problems. It's still too early to tell, but it's possible it was passed to the baby when he or she was conceived. If that's so, then Sheeta and the baby are going to have problems. Remember, the baby is a part of Sheeta and if the poison is in the baby, it very likely re-circulated into her blood stream by now and infected her as well. I am monitoring her on a weekly basis."

"Alright. I'll call in the councilman in charge of the water supply and discuss the matter with him. People are going to start panicking now that you have ordered a certain population to drink bottled water. Shinobi tend to have sharp minds and when they put two and two together they are going to want to drink bottled water as well."

It was quiet for a few minutes, and Fugaku wished it warm enough to open the windows. Being cooped up in an office was not enjoyable and he found himself wishing he was the chief of police again. Back then, whenever he started feeling claustrophobic he could just step outside and patrol the village. Now… all he had to look forward to were meetings, paperwork, and more meetings.

"So is there a way to neutralize the poison?" Fugaku finally asked.

"Not yet, but I'm working on it. It's one of the most advanced poisons I've ever seen and I don't recognize its source."

"So Danzou had a poison specialist working for him that was better than you or Chiyo of Sand village. And you have no idea who that was?"

Tsunade pursed her lips and glared at the man in front of her, "Absolutely none at all. Whoever this person was, he or she was kept in complete secrecy."

"Danzou is the king of secrets, it seems."

"As the saying goes, Fugaku, 'the only secret is the one you don't tell yourself'. Therefore, I will find an antidote. The fact that I even discovered it…" She gave a short laugh, "means it's no longer a secret."

An abandoned farmhouse outside of a small village caught Deidara's eye and he dropped his clay bird down closer to ground as he zoomed his eye scope to give it a closer look. It hadn't been abandoned for long, perhaps one season.

"Farmer probably died." The teen mumbled. Snow covered the fields which couldn't have been more than ten acres. A ring of trees surrounded the farm, giving it complete privacy from the nearby road and, oddly enough, there was still firewood stacked in a lean-to attached to the house. It was probably wet, but that was never a problem for a Shinobi.

Turning the bird around he flew back to the group, and jumped off the bird when it was still twenty feet off the ground. His feet hit the ground silently as the bird exploded in a flash of red.

"Find a place to stay?" Kisame asked, smirking.

"Yep. About five miles down the road. An abandoned farmhouse ready and waiting, un."

"Un? I thought we were curing you of that." Kisame added, laughing.

Deidara joined him, "Not likely."

"Sounds better than a cave. Can't wait to get there!" Naruto said happily. "By the way, how come Itachi hasn't come back yet?"

"Don't know." Kisame added. "He's been gone for hours. Probably sulking or something. Well, actually he would call it 'thinking' or 'strategizing'. I call it sulking."

"Ha ha! You know our Itachi very well, it sound like." Jiraiya laughed. "He didn't particularly approve of that conversation we had this morning. Something happened to Sasuke, that's clear enough."

Kisame smirked again, "If your fishing, I'm not biting."

That made Jiraiya laugh again, considering the man's resemblance to a shark, "Don't worry, this is Itachi's business and even if it is part of the reason Sasuke ran away, its for the two brothers to work out."

"Meaning you already figured out what happened." Kisame stated simply. He had been kicking himself all day for the slip-up, but at the same time, wasn't feeling particularly repentant about it either.

"Yeah." Jiraiya's voice sounded exhausted. "I'm sure Itachi realizes this and that's why he's off 'sulking' as you put it."

This was too much for Naruto and he butted into the conversation, "So what happened to Sasuke?"

"None of your business." Jiraiya said seriously.

Naruto started to yell, "Is too! He's my brother, too! You can't keep secrets from me like that! I have a right to know what going on with him!"

"I realize that, and that is why I won't say anything to you. This is something Itachi and Sasuke need to discuss with you on their own terms. Itachi probably wants Sasuke to tell you himself. You'll just have to wait."

"I don't want to wait!"

Jiraiya inhaled deeply and let it out in one big, drawn out breath, "We'll be meeting up with Sasuke in only a few days. It won't be a secret for much longer. Okay?"

Naruto frowned and started to kick at the snow in his path, "Okay. So how is Itachi going to know where we're staying if he doesn't come back?"

"Don't worry about him." Deidara laughed, "He's probably hiding his chakra and following us. It wouldn't surprise me if he was close enough to hear everything we were saying, un, or even already at the farmhouse."

The pine trees dipped perilously close to the earth as their heavy burdens of snow weighed them down. It made walking though the forest difficult as one misstep could bring a small avalanche of cold, wet snow on top of you. As a child, Itachi remembered himself, Shisui, Kabuto and Yota running through the forest and pulling on branches to dump snow on each other. They had been practicing a camouflage jutsu and if you were seen you got dumped on. Thinking back, he decided it had probably been nothing more than a ninja version of tag.

"So why are you here?" Sasori's voice pierced the quiet solitude and Itachi glanced over at him. This time instead of grating and unpleasant it was young and easy on the ears.

"I've been walking with you for five hours and now you ask?"

The red-headed puppet nodded its head once, causing the teen to look closer at its body. About the size of a twelve-year-old it looked like any kid, except for the hinged mouth. It wore the standard Akatsuki uniform, ring, and casa hat, although boots had replaced the sandals. The usual puppet Sasori travelled in wasn't good for travelling in the snow so he sealed it away in a scroll.

"Do I need a reason?"

"As long as you keep quiet and don't bug me, I guess not."

"That's what I thought."

It was quiet for a little bit, but Sasori spoke up again, "Deidara behaving himself? I usually have to hit him over the head a couple time a day to keep him in line."

"That explains the brain damage, I guess." Itachi couldn't help it, he had to say that.

Sasori laughed, "Maybe I should stop then." He paused for a moment as if deep in thought, "On the other hand, I enjoy it too much."

Itachi gave a short laugh. He was sure the puppet-man was exaggerating. Deidara moved too fast to get caught by Sasori. He had seen them spar and the young blond's speed when running or jumping was amazing.

"Jiraiya found you out, huh? Not surprised."

Surprised at the change of subject, Itachi tilted his head at the smaller man, inviting him to continue talking. "You heard the exchange between Pein and Jiraiya then?"

"It was nothing I didn't already know. I'm actually about the same age as Nagato and worked with his earlier rebel group a couple times as a freelancer. Didn't realize Pein and Nagato were the same person until a few years ago. I only met Yahiko once, and when I met Pein for the first time I thought the resemblance was nothing more than a coincidence. However… shortly after joining I was invited to Rain to assist Pein and met Nagato himself. It was quite a shock. Even for me."

"You know his secret, then? How he can be two people at once?" Itachi was curious now.

"He's gone mad, you know. Nagato has. His secret is his Kekkei Genkai. The Rinnegan is so far above the Sharingan as to make your blood-line seem like nothing. Still, I would like to have seen you two fight."

That surprised Itachi, "You would?"

"Sure. Who would win? Who would loose? Matching ability to ability is boring. Having two combatants with different skills fight is more interesting."

"Hn." Itachi couldn't argue with that. It was more interesting and it always gave him more opportunities to copy jutsus. "The others are going to be picking out a place to stay for the night, why don't you come with us?"

Sasori sighed, "Sure. Need to check up on that no-good partner of mine. Can't leave him to his own devices for too long."

Itachi laughed, "You make it sound like he's a kid!"

"He is a kid! And so are you! Ever look in the mirror?"

"Yeah, and I was growing a beard, so I decided to quit looking." Itachi made a rare joke.

"You got a long ways to go before it actually becomes one. But I would recommend buying razor soon before Kisame shaves you in your sleep, while he's drunk."

That image made Itachi stop dead in his tracks. "He would, too, wouldn't he?"

"He'd try anyway, then we'd have get you a new partner after you wake up to the vision of a blue shark face hovering over you with a sharp instrument in his hand." Sasori laughed again. "Good times. Good times."

"You are insane, aren't you?" The teen shook his head in amusement, "Let's run so we can catch up to the others."

"Not too fast, I'm not that eager to get to see them again."

Next week – Madara's plans continue to fall into place.

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