Thanks for all the reviews!

This is a transitional chapter, so it's kind of short.

So did Danzou want to protect Konoha? Yeah. In the same way Hitler wanted to protect Germany. By ruthlessly killing off everyone he personally perceived as "enemies" instead of learning to get along with them. I don't have any respect for him because of that. And remember, he hid in the underground during Pein's attack instead of defending Konoha. He was sacrificing his own people for personal gain. It almost seems to me that the Uchiha were perhaps the only people to go up against him, everyone else either caved in or were under his Genjutsu. Sorry, but something isn't adding up.

The manga is rather dark, and I wonder what will happen to Karin now that Sakura has showed up. She had a flashback though… and she is still wearing the Akatsuki cloak… don't tell me she's going to be the first Akatsuki to die with her cloak on? I know, she really isn't like an Akatsuki, but for some reason I still find it amusing. Or maybe she'll be the first "extra" to live after having a flashback. Kishimoto is confusing me! I loved that eye collection of Madara's though. That was really cool.

Sorry for rambling, but I'm kind of bored right now. Enjoy the chapter!

Disclaimer: Kishimoto owns Naruto

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Chapter 54 – What Now?

Tsunade carefully ran her chakra over Sheeta's stomach, gauging the chakra level of the child growing inside of her. The exam went on for a few short minutes, after which Tsunade closed her eyes and sat down on a stool next to the examination table. Sheeta pulled her shirt down and slowly sat up, looking intently at the older woman, then at Itachi who was sitting on another stool nearby.

The brightly-lit white room was silent for a couple more minutes as the medic-nin looked over a chart and wrote out a few sentences. Finally, she looked up, "The poison levels are increasing for some reason."

"What? How?" Itachi answered before Sheeta could even open her mouth.

"Good question. Sheeta had the least amount of poison in her body of all the clan. But you, Itachi, had the most. Initially, the baby's levels were low, albeit higher than Sheeta's, but in the last month they have doubled. At this rate…"

"No…." Sheeta's words were almost too quiet to be heard as she grasped at her stomach in an attempt to hold her baby closer, to protect it.

Itachi interrupted, "What can we do?" It had only been two days since he had returned to Konoha and so far, nothing had gone right. Fugaku was in a bad mood, the new clan elders were still trying to find a middle ground amongst themselves, Sasuke's friends were up in arms and ready to go after their friend, and Jiraiya had disappeared again.

"I am going to have to strictly limit everything Sheeta comes into contact with. I am also going to run some more tests. I have a theory…" Tsunade's voice drifted off and she bit her lower lip, lost in thought.

Sheeta looked up at her, and with a small voice asked, "What?"

"What if… some of that poison that was 'time-bombed' passed into Sheeta during conception? We still haven't been able to completely decode that poison and if it was capable of transferring, and activating or even changing somehow…" She sighed loudly and grabbed a piece of paper out of a drawer, "You already gave us a blood sample today, so I'll have that run some through some additional tests. In the meantime, don't eat or drink anything unless I have approved it for consumption. This is a list of foods and beverages and where to purchase them. All are grown and manufactured by Konoha or trusted sources and used for special diets. It's not very tasty, unfortunately, but until we know where the extra poison is coming from we can at least eliminate food as one of the sources. You can continue to get the same bottled water. The Hokage has ordered all water to be strictly tested several times a day and bottled with a jutsu to prevent tampering."

The room went silent again, and once again Tsunade broke the silence, "Itachi, Kimimaru isn't very happy about being here, and ANBU wants his head for his part in Orochimaru's invasion."

"I realize that. I was surprised he even agreed with Jiraiya to come here. What does Fugaku think?"

Tsunade smirked, her blue eyes flashing with amusement, "He hasn't talked to you about it?"

"Ah. Well, he's a little upset with me right now."

"Yeah, I heard all about it." Tsunade was obviously referring to Naruto's inability to keep his mouth shut. "Anyway, he has ordered us to treat him and document the disease as well as we can. He's basically a test subject until he dies."

"That's awful!" Sheeta's eyes went wide with concern. "Can't you save him?"

"No, Sheeta, I can't. The disease struck him on a worse case scenario. Your brother suffered for years before he died, but Kimimaru has only shown symptoms for a few months. It's quite rare for the disease to progress this quickly. As good as Kabuto is, he was over his head with this case and the notes Jiraiya retrieved clearly show how frustrated he was. It's too bad his clan no longer exists. I have heard rumors of bloodlines being genetically predisposed to the disease to such an extent that they eventually go extinct. I have to wonder if this was one of those clans. The rate of occurrence in the clans here in Konoha is rather low. In fact, I am treating a total of three people at the moment. Itachi, one Hyuuga and one case that was just diagnosed last week in a young Sugiyama girl that moved here with her clan after the coup.

"We are keeping him comfortable, Sheeta. He is here in the secure wing with a window, comfortable bed, books and a TV. But he is being guarded by the ANBU assigned to the hospital and I promise we won't run any tests or do anything inhuman to him. I'm not Orochimaru after all."

"His Kekkei Genkai…" Itachi was interrupted by Tsunade.

"Was sealed away by Fugaku within two hours of arrival in the village. He can't use it."

"He agreed to that?"

"Apparently a friend of his is under the protection of Sasuke, and Fugaku agreed to abide by that as long as Kimimaru stayed out of trouble. They must be very good friends for him to agree to this imprisonment."

He frowned, remembering Kimimaru and Juugo. The tall boy had gone after Itachi, at the risk of his own life, when he had seen his friend fall in battle. "Yeah, they are. And he made Sasuke promise to be the same kind of friend to Juugo."

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Even though it had only been a short time since Sasuke had been to Mist, for some reason this time it was different. It didn't feel like he was visiting, or that he was moving there permanently, but somehow, it was something in between. The disorientation gripped him firmly, even through everything looked very familiar. The mansion was the same collection of long buildings, the garden was still in the midst of winter, but still green and inviting, the people were warm and friendly, and the room he was given was the same one he had used during his visit a few weeks earlier. In fact, Karin and Juugo had been given the other two bedrooms in the building, much to his surprise.

However, Madara had made it clear that because of their association with Orochimaru, he was keeping them close for one reason: to make it easier to limit their activities. To put it bluntly, Karin and Juugo were under house-arrest. They were not allowed to leave the mansion without an escort and were subject to a curfew.

While Karin grumbled under her breath, Juugo kept quiet and accepted the arrangement. Sasuke wasn't sure what to do and kept quiet. In reality he was relieved. Despite the disorientation, at least he didn't feel quite as lonely as he thought he would. He had feared that Madara would make them live in the village and he wouldn't see them much.

Aya had been very excited over his arrival and was constantly checking to make sure he was okay, even ordering a medic to check him over when she thought he looked a little pale. It was annoying, but at the same time she reminded him so much of his mother that he found himself smiling every time she fussed over him, and when she grabbed Karin to take her shopping for new clothes a feeling of homesickness washed over him. It had reminded him so much of Mikoto and Sheeta that a lump had formed in his throat and he had disappeared into his room.

Which is where he still was when Madara found him sitting on the floor in front of a kotetsu trying to keep warm in the chilly afternoon of the Mist shrouded mansion.

"Why don't you write a letter to your family? I can guarantee it will be delivered, and it would convince them I haven't kidnapped you."

Sasuke jumped, looking up in surprise at the man who had suddenly appeared in his room uninvited. "Don't you ever knock?"

"Don't you ever answer the door?" Madara smirked, "For the record, I did knock."

Well, Sasuke knew he had been deep in thought so the fact that he hadn't heard anything didn't surprise him. Although it wasn't a good sign for a ninja to become that distracted. "Sorry. I'll pay more attention in the future."

"That's okay. I didn't expect you to be all smiles and sunshine when we got here. But don't mope around too much, the servants will start gossiping. And you need to go to visit your girlfriends. They know you're here and it won't do for you to ignore them."

"Okay. Just… not today."

"Fine. By the way, Juugo's being examined by some clansman. They're curious about his ability and have offered to see if there is a way to help him repress it more effectively." Madara sat down on the floor and folded his hands on his lap.

"Okay." Sasuke wasn't in the mood to talk and began to wish he was alone again.

Madara finally asked, "Do you regret coming here?"

"No." The answer was given too quickly and Madara sighed.

"You can leave if you want."

This time, the boy was quiet for a few long seconds before answering, "No. But… I'll miss Itachi's wedding and the baby being born. I feel bad about that."

"Then go home for a visit. Itachi has a lot of power in Konoha, despite what he might say or think about the matter. If you want to go, and he wants you to come, no one can prevent that."

"You make it all sound so easy."

"Maybe it is."

Sasuke grunted in annoyance, "Don't make fun of me. I know what father thinks of me right now. He hates me."

Madara laughed and leaned back on his hands, "Sasuke, Fugaku will never hate you. It's not possible. I know for a fact that after you left he nearly broke down. You probably mean more to him than Itachi."

"Humph." Sasuke remembered his mother saying almost the same thing to him many years earlier on the eave of the coup. He had asked why Fugaku only ever seemed to pay attention to Itachi, and had been told that it was him that their father doted on. It hadn't made sense then, and it made even less sense now. "I'm not even really his kid. And he made me fight that other kid to the death."

"Well," Madara stood up, "I can't solve all your insecurities. You'll have to figure this stuff out on your own. Anyway, training begins tomorrow at eight in the morning. Some one will escort you to the clan training grounds. Karin will also begin training at the hospital as a medic. Her abilities were truly intriguing when she healed you and Itachi, I think they can easily be expanded on. Juugo, because of his unpredictable nature… I haven't really decided what to do with him."

"Yeah, I know. He's happy do anything, really. He's great with animals though. It's like, he can talk to them or something."

"Hmm. Interesting. The aviary asked for some Genin the other day, maybe I'll send them Juugo instead."

"What about you? Why were you so eager to come get me? I mean… I just asked because I wanted to get away from Konoha, but I wasn't sure you would agree to it."

Madara smiled, "Finally getting to the point, huh? Well Sasuke, I am going to make this world a peaceful place to live. I was using Akatsuki to achieve that goal but their usefulness is coming to an end. That's where you come in."

"That makes no sense."

"Not right now. And I'm not going to tell you everything yet. I'm still working out some of the details. Frankly, I didn't expect Akatsuki to fall apart this soon, but Pein has betrayed me. He is unaware that I know of his meeting with Fugaku, of course, and believes Akatsuki to still be at full force."

"Does that mean you are building a replacement for Akatsuki?" Sasuke wondered what had gone on between Pein and Fugaku and how, exactly, it affected Itachi.

Madara gave a short laugh, "No. Akatsuki is still of use to me."

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"I wish I'd been there." Sakura slunk down in her seat and stared morosely at the wet grass that surrounded the picnic table in the park. The group of friends had just finished listening to Naruto's account of what had happened during the battle between their friend, his older brother, and Orochimaru.

"I would have gotten him to come home." Ino replied, equally morose.

Naruto frowned and clenched his fists together tightly as he gazed at the people sitting around him. They had graduated at the same time and had stuck together in a fashion never before seen in Konoha. Instead of three small teams, they felt more like one big team. And now one of their members was gone.

"What's the Hokage doing to get him back?" Shikamaru was staring absently at his friends fists, "Officially he said Sasuke is on a mission in Mist to act a liaison for Konoha, but dad said no one believes that story."

"He told me…" Naruto paused, "Sasuke told me he won't do anything to hurt us. He's just mad at Fugaku. Not us. So… I guess we'll have to trust him."

"For now…" Shikamaru was interrupted when Naruto jumped up and grabbed him by the front his shirt.

"What does that mean?" The blond yelled loudly, his voice echoing over the empty park.

Ji stepped forward quickly, followed by Kiba and helped separate the two friends. The four boys stood staring at each other, waiting for Naruto to attack again, but instead the boy's shoulders slumped and his face filled with sorrow.

"He saved my life back then. His family did. And now I live with them. No one else would give me the time of day." He raised his head and stared directly into Shikamaru's eyes, "You don't know what that was like! Or how grateful I am to them for helping me when no one else would! Sasuke's my best friend and I'm here for him no matter what!"

Shikamaru grunted, "Then prove it. Go get him and bring him home."

"No." Sakura and Sai said simultaneously.

Sai continued, "It's much too dangerous for Naruto to go to Mist. Why do you think Fugaku didn't even take him to the wedding? Let Itachi handle this."

"Itachi knows what's he's doing." Sakura continued. "We can offer to help him, and he probably already knows how we feel, but we shouldn't act rashly or fight amongst ourselves over this." Quiet settled over the group as everyone considered their words. They already knew that of course, but it didn't make it any easier.

"But if I don't do anything…" Naruto began quietly, "I'll feel like I'm betraying him. I trust my friends, Shikamaru. All of them."

Shikamaru nodded once, but couldn't look Naruto in the eyes, "Dad is suspicious of Mist and thinks they are up to something and he also thinks something is wrong with Sasuke. He said that Fugaku fired the clan council after Sasuke ran away."

Naruto glanced over at Hinata who was still sitting next to Sakura and wringing her hands. She sighed as she returned his gaze, "Naruto isn't supposed to talk about stuff like that, Shikamaru, so please don't get him in trouble. Clan affairs stay in the clan for a reason. I guess… its hard to explain unless you actually are in one… but please try to understand."

"How can I understand when it tears apart my friends like this?" Shikamaru grumbled. No one could think of an answer to that and silence descended on the group. Finally, after a few minutes Sai stood up, followed by Sakura.

"Sakura and I have to go on patrol now." Sai adjusted his jacket and started to check his weapons.

"Can I come?" Naruto asked half-heartedly. Because of Sakura and Sai's extra training as ROOT operatives they were often called upon to assist ANBU with routine patrols or to fill in gaps in low-level missions. Occasionally they would let him accompany them.

"Not this time." Sakura gave him a smile that didn't reach her eyes and he looked carefully at her face wishing desperately that he could read her thoughts.

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Evening fell quickly in the mid-winter forests, and the pitch black night that followed was filled with sounds of creaking branches and the occasional rustling of small animals running through the bushes. It was a perfect night for telling ghost stories, Sakura thought to herself, or it would have been if it wasn't for the fact that the ghost they were currently waiting for was real, and twice as terrifying as the stories.

Sai was nearby, leaning against a tree when he suddenly dropped to the ground, kneeling on knee, followed closely by Sakura. In front of them, a few feet away, was a man dressed completely in black and leaning heavily on a cane.

"I can only stay for a few minutes, Sai, Sakura." The man's voice was clear, despite his obvious age, and strong, despite the bandages that wrapped around his head and torso.

"Yes Lord Danzou. What is your command?" Sai and Sakura answered quietly.

"Konoha will no doubt send Shinobi to track down Kabuto. I need you to obtain intelligence on their efforts and sent it to me. If they should capture him before we do, I want you to arrange his escape."

"Why do you need him?" Sakura asked.

"He is one of the best healers in the ninja world. I heard that even Tsunade has praised him as being her equal. That talent should not go to waste. The future of the Shinobi world depends on this. Peace between the villages and peace among the countries. That is our goal. We are moving forward with our plans to retake Konoha, despite the loss of Orochimaru. Kabuto is invaluable to that plan." He paused, looking closely at the children kneeling in front of him, "You are both good Shinobi. Your peers should work harder to emulate your loyalty. Sacrifice is the way of the ninja. Never forget that."

The pair looked up as their leader disappeared in a small could of smoke. Standing up they scanned the area, verifying that there was no one else around, not even Danzou.

Wind rustled the branches of the smaller trees and a small black and white cat poked its head through a bush, catching Sakura's eye before disappearing. Sighing, the girl closed her eyes and leaned wearily against a tree.

"Tired?" Sai asked calmly.

"Yeah. Tired of everything." Sakura answered truthfully. "That man was responsible for the deaths of my parents, yet he speaks of peace."

"Ninja fight in the shadows, Sakura. You keep forgetting that. From Danzou's perspective… from the perspective of a true Shinobi… your parents gave their lives honorably in the defense of Konoha."

"I know he thinks that! That's why he's so sick!" Sakura buries her face in her hands as tears began to leak from her eyes, "He's sick. He doesn't realize… he doesn't know that ninja are human beings, that we have feelings. To him we are tools. He wants us to die, Sai. He just said that a few minutes ago."

Sai gazed up at the stars peeking through the branches of the tall trees. They were bright, but at the same time, very cold, "I know. And after living in Konoha I'm beginning to understand what it means to be a human being. I…" He turned his gaze to the pink haired girl standing a few feet away from, "I don't want to give that up again."

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"He was here? Outside the village?" Fugaku roared at the small animal sitting patiently on his desk in the Hokage tower.

"Didn't I just say that?" The cat responded calmly. "Anyway, Sakura and Sai have been tasked with passing on any info you get about Kabuto and freeing him if you catch him."

"Humph." Fugaku dropped down onto the couch and propped his feet up on the coffee table. Because of the seal that had been placed on the tongues of the two children, the cat summon had been assigned to follow them around and relay and information they couldn't speak of themselves. "If that's all, you better get back to them."

The cat disappeared without a further word, leaving the Hokage alone in his office. He thought back to that morning, and the proposal Itachi had presented to him concerning the white-haired missing ninja. At the time, it had seemed absurd, a product of the teenagers guilt over the loss of his friend. But now…

Standing up, Fugaku performed a transportation jutsu, arriving outside his home a few seconds later. He could hear grunting and feet skidding over dirt, indicating someone was sparring nearby. From the chakra, he could tell it was Itachi and Naruto.

Making his way to the other side of the house he entered the alley next to the rarely-used front door. He could see the hole in the Uchiha crest painted on the cement barrier across from the house. Itachi had thrown a kunai into the wall, cracking it. It had never been repaired, and truth be told, it was one of the reasons the elder Uchiha hated to use that alley. The events of that day… of that week… had been far too painful. Yet he couldn't bring himself to repair it either. And no one else ever offered.

"Itachi, I need to speak with you." Fugaku yelled across the alley at his son. Itachi immediately stopped his sparring and stepped patiently to one side as Naruto, distracted by Fugaku's sudden appearance, ran straight through where his foster brother had been a moment earlier and into the wall behind him.

"Ouch! That hurt!" Naruto was sitting on his rear end and rubbing his forehead, where a bruise was quickly forming, followed by a small amount of blood. "No fair moving!"

That was too much and Itachi broke out laughing, "I hope I'm there when you say that to someone who's trying to kill you."

Naruto blushed at his blunder, "Oh, yeah. That did sound stupid didn't it?"

"What do you want?" Itachi directed his attention toward his father.

Fugaku stepped forward, smiling at his foster son, who was now wiping a small cut with a handkerchief as he stood up. "About your proposal to go after Kabuto. Something has come up, and I give your permission to go forward with it."

The mood instantly darkened and Itachi gritted his teeth as he gazed at his father. While it was his plan, thought up carefully over a period of several hours, it was not something he looked forward to carrying out. However, it was the only way he could think of to save his friend, and get close to Danzou.

Itachi closed his eyes and sighed, "I'll contact Jiraiya immediately."

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Next week, Kabuto becomes Konoha's most wanted.

The chapter jumped around a lot. I tried to get several perspectives of how the events were affecting different people. Hopefully it ties together.

Please review

Updates on Fridays.