Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or The Last Airbender.

Bodyguard of Azula

Chapter 67: Darkness and Lies

"Talking"

"Thinking"

"Bijū/spirit talking"

"Bijū/spirit thinking"

(Location: Iwagakure)

They were being escorted to the office of the Tsuchikage by four Iwa ANBU. All weapons had been removed from their person (although that didn't mean they couldn't fight without them) and Akamaru, Akela, and Nyla had been penned and kept under close watch. None of them said a word, as they knew the wrong one would end up getting them killed. They were a little nervous as well, but they kept that in the back of their minds. Now wasn't the time to let that emotion be in control. Jiraiya and Kakashi would take the lead and they just had to follow. They stopped before a set of doors. "Lord Tsuchikage, we've brought them." One of the ANBU in the front said aloud, his voice coming out clear, despite wearing a mask.

"Bring them in." The old voice of the Sandaime Tsuchikage ordered from behind the door. The ANBU in the front pushed the doors open, letting the two in the rear make the group walk into the room.

Despite being the office of a Kage, it looked nothing like the ones in Konoha or Kumo. While it wasn't as large as the Raikage's office, the walls weren't stacked from top to bottom with bookshelves. Instead, the few shelves that were there were within easy reach of the Tsuchikage. The rest of the walls were lined with photos. The man himself sat at the desk (which made the younger members of the Retrieval Team wonder if it was to his height or if he was sitting on something to appear above it). "Ah, a team from Konoha," He said as he looked at them.

"Lord Ōnoki, we apologize if we're intruding." Jiraiya said, bowing his head in respect. The others followed his lead.

"Of course you're intruding. I would like to know why you're intruding." He looked over the rest of the team. "You've even brought your villages' wayward Jinchūriki and his friends, no less." If anyone of Team Paragon were insulted by what he said, they didn't show it.

"We are here on a mission, Lord Tsuchikage. That's all." Kakashi assured him.

The Tsuchikage scowled at the masked shinobi. "As one of the agreements from the last Shinobi World War, if a foreign team must enter a country, said country and their shinobi village must be notified beforehand. I did not receive such a notification."

"I apologize for that. We were put together for a mission at the last minute and we didn't really know where we were going." The Toad Sage explained. "We should've sent a message to the Hokage to let you know about us, but we had been so focused on our mission that it had slipped our minds."

"It must be quite the important mission if Konoha shinobi were in a rush." He drawled with hard-hitting sarcasm. "So, who was kidnapped this time?"

This time, they were surprised by what he had said. "Uh…what do you mean by that, Lord Tsuchikage?" Chōji asked nervously.

"Do you think I am blind, boy?" The old man snapped at him. "I can see quite clearly that you have an Inuzuka in your team as well as Kakashi Hatake, who also known for his tracking skills. For both of them to be in this team of yours, which was supposedly brought together at the last minute, means you're tracking someone and since that you did not realize that you had crossed into the Land of Earth, means whoever you are tracking is a kidnapper and has kidnapped someone of importance to Konoha."

"He's good." Azula remarked quietly. In a way, the old man behind the desk reminded her of Naruto (and to a lesser extent, Ozai) with the way he could see things. Then again, he probably wouldn't have gotten to where he was now and had stayed there by being blind and/or stupid.

"It is as you say, sir." Hinata said. "We're tracking a kidnapper and we've been on the trail for the past few days."

"Ah, the heiress to the Hyūga clan now speaks." The Tsuchikage noted, glancing at her. "The last time your village was in such a panic was when your Jinchūriki ran away. And since he is here, it must be someone else important to Konoha."

"Could you please not talk about me like I'm not here?" The blonde asked with a growl, scowling slightly at the old man behind the desk.

But the Tsuchikage ignored him as a sly grin came onto his face. "Oh, I see. The last loyal Uchiha has been taken. But who, I must wonder? Maybe it was his brother?" He saw the answer on their faces and his grin grew wider. "His brother it is then."

"Please, Lord Ōnoki, we need to get back on the trail with speed." Jiraiya all but begged him. "If we lose the trail now, we may never find it again."

"But why should I let you do such a thing?" He asked back, the grin still on his face.

"How about the fact that if you don't, I'm going to disembowel you!?" Naruto threatened out of the blue, surprising everyone on the team. His hand was already holding a kunai and there was a look of barely held anger on his face.

The ANBU in the room moved to take him, but stopped when the Tsuchikage held up a hand in a stopping motion. "I'd like to see you try, brat. I'd certainly say you'd have the spunk for it." He said with a grin.

"Lord Tsuchikage, he threatened to kill you." One of the ANBU said.

"A lot of people have done far worse to me for a long time." He replied, his tone dismissive. The man who spoke realized what that meant and fell silent. "If I were to tell you where your target might be found, would you believe me?"

They were surprised by the offer, not expecting it. "What's the catch?" Kiba asked, suspicious of said offer.

"The catch, as you call it, is that if you find your target there, I want you to kill Itachi Uchiha." He said simply. While it sounded like an easy request, everyone in there knew that it wasn't. Trying to kill Itachi Uchiha was like to attack Aang while he was in the Avatar State: very stupid and suicidal if you had no idea what you were doing, but very risky if you did.

"Agreed," Jiraiya said, making the team even more surprised.

"Lord Jiraiya, is this wise?" Shino asked him.

The Toad Sage looked back at him with a somewhat amused look. "What? Did you think we were just going to grab Sasuke and run?" He asked back, half sarcastic and half serious. "Killing Itachi was always part of the mission."

"Then we have an agreement." The Tsuchikage declared. "There's a ravine about a day's hard run from here. With any luck, your target should be hiding out there."

"And how would you know this?" Shikamaru asked him. It was kinda suspicious that he knew the exact location of where Itachi might've been hiding.

"Because it was always the place the Akatsuki would be whenever I used to hire them." He said shortly.

"Wait a minute, you used to hire the Akatsuki?" Sokka repeated, shocked at what he heard. "Why in the name of the Spirits would you do something like that?"

"I had my reasons. That's all you need to know." He replied with a slight scowl. "You may leave now. I expect to see you out of my village by the end of the day." The team nodded their acknowledgement of the command and turned to leave. He tried to go back to the paperwork in front of him, but when he saw that the Jinchūriki of the Kyūbi was staring at one of the photos on the wall, he looked up. "I said you could leave. Why are you still…?" His voice trailed off when he noticed the exact photo he was looking at. "Leave us." He ordered the ANBU as he floated out of his chair. They obey, making the rest of the team precede them out of the room, closing the door behind them.

All the while, Naruto stared at the photo. It showed the Tsuchikage standing between two between two. Judging by the smiles they were wearing (or at least, two of them were smiling, he couldn't tell with the third), they were happy about the Jōnin flak jackets the other two were wearing. The one on the right was younger than he remembered, the beard was scruffier and not fully formed, and the ponytail wasn't there, but it was clear to the blonde that he was the Jinchūriki of the Yonbi. "You knew him." He said in a whisper when he noticed the Tsuchikage by his side (had that been any other moment, he would've commented on the fact that he was flying).

"That I did." The old man said. "I knew him as well as any uncle would know his nephew."

"And him?" He asked, looking at the man on the left, who was easily the tallest amongst the three. He wore a red straw hat that would've protected him from rain. He also wore a red uniform that left one arm bare but had the other covered by the sleeve. It also went up to his face, covering the bottom half of it as a mask (just like Kakashi did).

"He was the son of the Nidaime Tsuchikage, my sensei, and the Jinchūriki of the Gobi." He answered. "They were the only two students I had ever taken."

"And you just let them be taken." The blonde didn't raise his voice but the accusation was there.

The old man scowled with a harshness that could only come from the pain of losing someone. "Don't you dare accuse me of letting them be taken. I had sent men after Han when I heard he was being attacked by the Akatsuki and I went myself when I heard the same of Rōshi. Both times we were too late. They may have been disliked by the village at the time and they may have returned that dislike, but they were my students and my family."

"Then why didn't you do anything about it?" The accusation was softer, but it was still there.

"What could I do? The Akatsuki is an organization shrouded in shadows and secrecy. I never met one of them personally, just sent the mission parameters to a specified dead drop and then sent the reward once I heard the news. I can't just waste resources of both my village and my country to go hunting for them. It just might lead to a war that Iwa doesn't need." He floated away, back to his desk. "Now leave."

Naruto walked over to the door and stopped with his hand on the handle. "If it makes you happy, you should know that I plan to kill every one of them." He declared without looking back.

"And will that give me my students back?" The Tsuchikage asked him, staring holes into the back of his head. The silence that filled the room was the answer he needed. "Leave." He ordered. The blonde did so.

(Location: Sasuke)

He came too again with something covering his eyes. When he tried to move, he found something that bound both his feet and his hands. "What the fuck is going on?" He screamed inside his head as he tried to move around.

"So you're awake, Sasuke." The voice of his brother made him freeze in place. "I had hoped you would."

"Where are you, Itachi?" He demanded, looking around blindly. It was a reflex he couldn't help but do, even if he knew he couldn't see anything.

"I am here, with you." The man answered simply.

"If you're going to kill me, just get it over with." It was probably what was going to happen to him now that he was like this.

There was a long pause of silence. "…Why would I do that?" Itachi finally asked. "You're my little brother."

That innocent sounding comment set him. "That didn't stop you from killing the rest of our clan! Why should it stop you from killing me?" He shouted into the darkness. The only answer he received was his own voice, echoing around him. When the echoes died, he asked a question. "Why, Itachi?"

"Why what, Sasuke?" asked Itachi in return.

"Why did you and your partner kill our clan?"

"And how do you know I had a partner?" This time, the question was asked with equal parts amused and curious.

"I'm not an idiot. Not even you could kill all of the Uchiha clan. You had to have a partner. Was it Kisame?"

"Very perceptive of you, little brother," He said, praising the blindfolded Sasuke. "Indeed, I did have someone help me kill our clan, but it wasn't Kisame. In fact, he does not matter."

"You still haven't answered my question, Itachi. Why did you murder our clan? And don't tell me that it was to test your abilities! You never once had to do so!" Sasuke shouted into the darkness he could only feel. "You were the best of us! The Uchiha everyone in the clan looked up to! Why would you betray us and murder everyone!?"

Again, there was a pause of silence that seemed to loom large to the bounded Uchiha. For what seemed to be the longest time, he didn't hear a response. "…I did it because I was ordered to." Itachi finally answered.

His brother stopped moving, as if the answer had made him freeze. "You were…ordered to?" He repeated slowly, as if he couldn't believe the words he had heard.

"Yes. I was ordered by the village to kill our clan." He said again, his voice quieter now.

"That can't be right." The loyal Uchiha thought to himself. It just didn't make any sense to him. Why would the village do something like that? "You're lying." He accused Itachi. "Our clan was loyal to the village. Why would they do that when we were loyal?"

"Things were not what they seemed at the end, little brother. You were the youngest of the clan, so you had no idea what was going on between the clan and the village."

"What do you mean?" He demanded. He was more suspicious now. "Are you saying that our clan was going to betray Konoha?" That was something he just couldn't believe.

"Yes. After the Kyūbi's attack on Konoha, the elders began to suspect that there was an Uchiha behind it. Their suspicions eventually led them to separate our clan from the rest of the village, putting them into one small corner of it." He explained. "Eventually, the clan began to plan a coup d'état to overthrow the leadership of Konoha as it was."

Sasuke was in disbelief over what he had been told. "There was a faction in the clan that was planning a coup d'état? Why didn't Father stop it then?"

Itachi sighed. Whether from exasperation, annoyance, or something else, the blindfolded Uchiha couldn't tell. "You're not listening, Sasuke." The elder Uchiha said. "It wasn't a faction in the clan, it was the entire clan. The reason Father didn't stop it is because he was leading it."

He wasn't sure what it was, the fact that his brother was so insistent or the memories of the days before the massacre, when everything just seemed different than normal. But for some reason, it was starting to make sense. That scared him. It terrified him down to his bones. The reason it was so terrifying was because it made him realize that his clan was not it had seemed to him. "Why were they planning to overthrow the Sandaime Hokage?" He asked. "Surely it couldn't just be because of the Kyūbi? They could've just come together and talked it out."

"You're right. It wasn't just because of the Kyūbi. But I'm afraid that is something you must learn by yourself." His brother told him. It was followed by coughing, something he had never come from Itachi. "I don't have much time left."

"Itachi, what's wrong?" He asked without thought. At that moment, he wasn't worried about being bounded or blinded. It sounded like his big brother was hurt and he didn't like.

"I'm dying, Sasuke." Itachi said simply. "And since a team from Konoha is on their way here, I figured I would spend my moments of life with the last part of family I have."

"A team from Konoha is coming?" He couldn't help but repeat the words. "Why would a Konoha team be on their way?"

When he heard that, the other Uchiha couldn't help but chuckle. "Because I let them know who took you. Sasuke, please listen to me." He all but begged. "I will probably be dead by the time the team arrives. But before I do die, I want you to understand why I had to kill our clan. All I ask is that if you're going to judge me, you will only do so at the end."

Sasuke was silent as he considered this. It seemed like an easy enough request and yet, he somehow knew if he allowed it, his view of his clan would be changed forever and not necessarily for the better. But if he was going to learn why the village had ordered Itachi to do what he did, it was a chance he was willing to take. "Very well then, start talking." He told his brother.

(Location: Retrieval Team)

They had left Iwa well before the end of the day. The scent of Sasuke was indeed leading to the ravine the Tsuchikage had told them about. However, they soon figured out that when he had said "a day's hard run," he meant it in the sense of a shinobi running at top speed. As Nyla's fastest speed was significantly lower than that and they had to keep their pace with his (as he was the one who was doing the tracking), it was going to be a little longer to get to the ravine.

As such, when the sun had set, they had lucked out by finding an inn. After making sure the animals of the team were taken care of, they sat down and consumed their dinner. "I know we're supposed to be on a time-sensitive mission, but this is some really good chow." Chōji declared as he scarfed down what was in front of him.

"You would be the expert, Chōji." Shikamaru told his teammate as he ate his food at a slower pace. "Speaking of the mission, how far away are we from that ravine the Tsuchikage told us about?" He asked Kiba and Shino, as they were also looking at a map while they ate.

"We still got some distance to cover." Kiba answered as he eyed the map with one eye and kept the other one focused on his dinner. "Other than that, I really can't say."

"Come on, Kiba. You have to give something better than that." Ino told him with a slight scowl on her face.

"Kiba is correct." Shino told her. "This map was for a shinobi who was traveling at optimal speed. As we are not traveling at optimal speed and we don't the Land of Earth like a shinobi of Iwa would, we will take longer than wanted to get there."

"If that's the case, we might as well enjoy this food while we can." Sokka declared, going for another round of food.

While the rest of his team rolled their eyes, it was Azula who said something. "Yes, we mustn't keep Sokka away from any kind of food. Otherwise, what good would he be?" She asked with enough sarcasm to fill the room.

"Hey, I'm also the idea guy." He protested with a piece of meat halfway to his mouth. He turned to look at Naruto, putting the piece of meat into his mouth as he did. When the blonde just kept picking at his food, not saying a word, everyone looked at him.

"What?" He asked finally noticing all the looks as he lifted his eyes away from the food in front of him.

"This is usually where you enter the conversation with something funny and/or sarcastic." June told him. The fact that he didn't was a little unnerving.

"Oh, sorry about that," He apologized. "I wasn't really paying attention to the conversation."

"We gathered as much." Shino said to him.

"Everything okay, Naruto?" asked Kakashi, looking at his former student.

"Nothing that concerns you," He replied with a bit of a snap in his voice. The masked shinobi didn't look offended by the words, yet the blonde's face fell with a small look of embarrassment. "Sorry, that was uncalled for." Then he had a look of confusion. "Wait, what am I saying?"

"I don't know, what are you saying?"

Naruto just scowled at him before standing up from the table. "I need a smoke." He announced. He walked out of the inn and over to its side, fishing out a cigarette and the lighter. As he lit the cigarette, he leaned against the wall of the inn. Taking a drag and breathing out the smoke, he relished in the calm it gave him.

But the Bijū inside him was worried. "What was that in there, Naruto?" The Kyūbi asked. "One minute, you're snapping at Kakashi, the next you're apologizing to him. When we came back, it would've just been snapping."

Normally, that would've been the point when Naruto unleashed his sarcasm in full force. But instead, he took another drag. "I've got a lot on my plate right now." He answered, blowing smoke.

"Kit, you've had a lot on your plate since you were born, starting with me. How was what just happened any different?" His tone was serious and none of its usual sarcasm or humor.

He looked like he was about to actually shout, but stopped himself. "Can I be honest with you, Kyūbi?" He asked the fox. "Can I be completely, brutally honest with you?"

"When have you not?" The Bijū asked in response.

The blonde didn't say anything in response to that remark. He just started talking. "Ever since we left for Kumo, there's been a small voice in my head, telling me what I should or should not do because I was supposedly loyal to Konoha." He explained, letting it out. "And over time, it's been getting more insistent. It's been trying to change the way I feel about the village. And the scary thing, it's working on some levels."

"Why haven't I heard it then?" The fox demanded. "I live inside of you, Naruto. I should know what's going on inside of your head."

"I don't know. You never seemed to be around when it starts talking." Then again, the two of them hadn't exactly been talking to one another in the past couple of days (aside from the occasional sarcastic quip and the following order to shut up).

"And you're worried that you may be changing your opinion about the village?"

The blonde scowled. "What do you think?" He asked, this time with sarcasm. "But it's not just that. While we were at Iwa, I saw a photo of the Tsuchikage with the Jinchūriki of the Yonbi and the Gobi. Apparently, he had trained them both." He took another drag of his cigarette. "I've always wanted to see to the other Jinchūriki as family and yet, I don't know a damn thing about them."

"That's hardly surprising, Naruto. You're the one who ran away from the Elemental Countries to the other side of the world. Of course you wouldn't know anything about the rest of the Jinchūriki, aside from Gaara and maybe even Killer Bee."

"But wasn't that one of the reasons I came back?" He asked, talking more to himself then to the Kyūbi. "To save them from the Akatsuki and see if I could get to know them?" He scoffed at himself. "Some job I've done with that." He muttered. The fox decided not to comment.

"You are wrong there." The voice spoke. "You did not come back to see if you could see if you could be friends with others like you. You came back to ensure that the Akatsuki would become a threat to Konoha."

"Oh no, not you, not now," He silentlygroaned, taking the cigarette out of his mouth.

"I didn't say anything." The Kyūbi protested.

"I wasn't talking to you, fox." He snapped.

"That other voice is talking? I didn't hear anything." But the presence of the fox felt shunted off to the side, like the Bijū was forcibly being quieted.

"Why you would even believe that you could be friends with other villages' weapons is confounding to say the least. Have you no sense? You would risk the safety of Konoha with a stunt like that." The voice lectured him as if he was an ignorant student.

"Maybe I should do that." He retorted. "Maybe I should give out the secrets of the village, just to piss you off."

The voice chuckled like he had said something amusing. "How could you do that when you have no secrets to give out?" It asked in that same cool, collected voice that always infuriated him. "Besides, we both know that you would never betray the village like that."

"Don't bet on it." He mentally snarled. And yet, he knew that he would never do something like that. It just wasn't him.

"Come on, that's not going to happen. You are loyal to Konoha. Why else would you come back with Lord Jiraiya and listen to his orders? Why else would you be on this mission? It is because you want to save Sasuke and join his team again. You know it's true."

"That last part sure as hell isn't true!" He silently roared at the voice, suddenly angry at the words he had heard.

But the voice just felt victorious for some reason. "Well, at least you're admitting to parts of the truth. Was it so hard?" It disappeared before the blonde could say anything in response, allowing the Kyūbi to come back to the forefront.

"Hey, what in the name of the Sage just happened?" The fox demanded with indignation. "I can hardly believe you would ignore me like that!"

"I didn't ignore you. You just felt like you had been put off to the side for some reason." He protested. He took another drag of the cigarette. As he blew the smoke out into the night air, he noticed Jiraiya standing by his side. "You need something, F.S.-sensei?" He asked.

"Everything okay, Naruto?" asked Jiraiya in return.

"Yeah, everything is fine." He answered shortly.

The Toad Sage frowned. "Kid, don't lie to me. Everything is not fine and I need to know if it's going to be a problem." He all but demanded.

The blonde fell silent, looking at the cigarette in his fingers. "Maybe if I told him, he could help." He thought to himself. He wasn't sure where it would take him, but he was willing to put his faith in his sensei. "Would you believe me if I told you there's a voice in my head that's trying to brainwash me?" He asked almost quietly.

The frown on Jiraiya's face disappeared and was replaced by a serious look. "When did it start?" He asked with concern evident in his voice.

Naruto was honestly surprised by it. "You do believe me?"

"I know you, gaki." The white-haired shinobi told him. "Now when did it start?"

"Around the time we left for Kumo, but it actually started speaking after we came back." He answered promptly.

"Explain." The Toad Sage ordered. He needed greater detail of what was going on.

"I'm not quite sure, but I think that it had been trying to affect the way I thought somehow. Once we got back to the village, it actually started to talk to me." He looked at Jiraiya. "Do you know what's happening to me?"

Jiraiya was silent for a moment before finally shaking his head. "No, I don't." He told the blonde. "I've never heard of anything like that and I've seen a lot of things. Do you think it's a Genjutsu or a seal?"

Naruto shrugged his shoulders. "I'm not sure. Genjutsu shouldn't work on me and the only seal that I know of on my body is the one keeping the furball inside me." He had checked what parts of his body he could, but a potential seal could be in one of the spots he couldn't check.

"Alright then, for now, we do and say nothing about this." Jiraiya ordered. "I'll pass a message back to Tsunade and let her known about it. Maybe she'll know something or find something. Once we get back to Konoha, that's when we'll deal with it."

"I understand." The blonde answered.

"Good. Are you coming back in now?" He asked, his face becoming softer and his voice losing some of the edge it had. "I'm pretty sure your food is getting cold."

He thought it over for a moment and then shook his head. "I want to finish this." He held the cigarette up, having taken it out of his mouth. It looked almost done, but there were a couple of drags left in it.

Jiraiya didn't say anything; he just turned around and walked away. As Naruto heard the door to the inn opening and then closing, he took a slow drag and breathed the smoke out into the air. "Are you sure that was a good idea?" The fox asked him.

"What do you mean?" He asked back.

"In case you've forgotten, kit, Jiraiya is a Konoha shinobi. A place you have been trying to stay away from for three years." He reminded the blonde.

"I know that, fox. But it's F.S.-sensei. Can you think of anyone else who would try to understand what is going through my head right now and try to help as well?" While his team would definitely try to help in any way they could, they wouldn't really know how to help.

The Kyūbi could see where his Jinchūriki was going, but now since he was aware of the supposed voice (which he was still trying figure out how it got past him); he had to be sure it was Naruto talking and not the voice through him. "So, you'd be willing to go to the Super Pervert of all people for help?"

"Well, yeah." Now that he thought about it, for the short time that he had been with the Toad Sage, the man had been the closest thing to a parent he had (the fox didn't count. He was more like the uncle you tell very few people, if anyone at all, about). He had kept an eye on Naruto, trained both him and his team (although, they qualified it as hell), had given sound advice to them when they needed it (whether they knew it or not), and had just generally been there for him (aside those times when he was either peeping on the fairer sex or sleeping with them).

"Then let me ask you this question, Naruto: if Jiraiya asked you to come back to Konoha, would you do so?" The Bijū asked him with a quiet and serious voice.

He didn't answer right away. It almost seemed an impossible decision. On the one hand, he still wanted nothing to do with the village (an internal fight that he had begun to believe that he was losing). But on the other hand, Jiraiya had been there for him for the past couple of months, teaching him and helping him. Whenever the Toad Sage suggested something, he had a good reason for it and it usually turned out for the best. If he suggested the idea of returning to Konoha to the blonde, would it be so bad? "I don't know, maybe?" Naruto weakly offered.

"…Your cigarette's done." The fox noted, changing the subject. "You might as well head back inside and finished off what's left of your dinner." The blonde quietly flicked the stub of the cigarette into the night and back into the inn. As his Jinchūriki walked, the Kyūbi felt a sliver of something in the back of the blonde's head. A feeling of quiet, yet cool and collected, smugness, something that felt like it had just won an important victory. But when he tried to look deeper, it disappeared. "That must be the voice that's talking to Naruto."He realized before scowling slightly. "Whatever you're doing, it's going to stop. I'm onto you and I'm going to make you stop. The kit will make his choice by himself, not by someone else."If the presence had heard him, it didn't show any signs of it. It was quiet, it was quick, and it was slippery. The Kyūbi knew it would have a hard time trying to find where it was hiding inside his Jinchūriki's head, as it kept moving around before shoving him aside to talk to the blonde, but he would find it. When he did, he was going to tear it to pieces.

(Location: Sasuke)

"Where do you want me to start?" The voice of his brother asked him, his words echoing softly all around him. It was a simple question and yet, one which would give him answers he probably didn't want to hear.

But nevertheless, he needed to know. "Tell me why it was you who had to do it."

"I was in the perfect position to spy for either side." Itachi answered. "As the hostilities and suspicions between the clan and the village elders began to stir and thicken, our father ordered me to spy for the clan, being the only Uchiha in the ANBU. But I couldn't. I knew what would happen in the long run."

"What do you mean?" Sasuke asked.

"Think, little brother," He ordered, his tone hard but also quiet at the same time. "What would've been the outcome if the clan went through with the coup d'état? What would've been the repercussions?"

He would've asked why, had he not already started thinking it through. The space the two Uchiha's were in as the younger looked at all the factors, the causes and the effects, the what-ifs and the could-haves, and all the possibilities. "…It wouldn't have matter if the clan had been successful or not." He said after he realized what the eventual outcome would've been. "Blood would've been in the water and the sharks would've had the scent."

"And those 'sharks' would've been who?" His brother asked him, quietly urging him on.

"Other countries that would've wanted to destroy Konoha or take its place. War would've broken out, another Shinobi World War."

"You have never known war, Sasuke. You may have been battles, but a battle is much different than a war." He explained. "I have seen what war is and what is has done to people when I was only a child. It made me never want to see another war again. When our father wanted me to spy on the Hokage, I could see the warnings, even if he could not. So I spied on my clan for the Hokage, for the sake of the village."

"For the sake of the village, huh?" repeated Sasuke. Since he had become a shinobi of Konoha, he had served the village. He had originally served so he could kill the person he was talking to and bring his clan back. But after Naruto had left and he had joined the Police Force part-time, his need to kill Itachi had been put aside. Since he had no clan anymore and he was no hurry to commit murder, he had begun to serve the village for the sake of the village. "Wasn't all of the clan loyal to Konoha?" He asked.

"In word, yes," His brother answered. "But in spirit, they were only loyal to the clan. It was one of the many reasons they were planning to overthrow the Hokage."

"But wouldn't the Sandaime Hokage have tried to make peace with the clan?" He might not have served long enough under the Sandaime Hokage to truly know him; he did know the man was a man of peace.

"He did. Despite how many times things looked grim; he kept trying to resolve things peacefully. But his advisors did not think the same way." His voice had the slightest amounts of grimness and sadness. "They believed that the Uchiha clan had to be destroyed. And they saw in me, the perfect way to do it."

"And so, they gave you the order to slaughter our clan, leaving me the only survivor." The blinded and bounded Uchiha summarized, albeit with a bit of a bite in his voice.

"Yes, they did."

"…Why? Why was I the only one who was spared?" That was the question he wanted to know the answer to. It was a question that haunted him ever since that night, but it had never been in the forefront of his mind (whether by choice or not was never really a concern).

"As I had said before, you were the youngest in the clan, so you had no idea what was going on. Thus, you were innocent. Also, the elders wanted a survivor who would be loyal to the village."

"Those are the reasons of a shinobi who was just doing a mission." He objected instantly. "You're my brother and you were the one who was given the mission to kill your family. So why did you spare me, Itachi?"

It fell silent. To him, it felt like his brother had disappeared from his senses because he didn't want to answer. "…Because I couldn't kill you." Itachi answered, breaking the silence. "You're my little brother, Sasuke. I loved you more than the village, even though I loved the village more than the clan. I originally wanted you to come after and kill me, allowing you to believe that you had avenged the clan."

"What changed then?" He demanded.

"You did. After we had met when you were searching for Naruto, I snuck back into Konoha and watched. I saw how you interacted with your friends. I saw you worked at the Police Force, helping where you could and learning everything that came with it. I saw how tirelessly you and your team searched for your missing teammate. I saw how happy you were after you had put aside your hatred for me. And then I found out what you had hidden from everyone."

Sasuke froze when he heard those words. "Does he mean what I think he means?" He asked himself with worry and fear. "I've never hidden anything from them." He declared aloud.

He heard Itachi chuckle quietly at those words. "Foolish little brother, did you think I wouldn't find out about your Mangekyō Sharingan?"

"…I had hoped to keep it a secret, since I never plan to useit." He admitted after a moment of silence. He had planned to take the secrets and the dangers of the Mangekyō Sharingan with him to the grave.

"An admirable idea, but you must realize that there will probably come a day when you may have to use the Mangekyō Sharingan to protect what you hold dear."

"Do you mean like from Danzō and the other elders?" If he began to not fit their idea of a loyal shinobi, they may come after him. If they did, they might also come after the others as well, just to make him cooperate.

"I doubt that will be possible, as they're already dead by my hands." His brother stated with a cool tone.

If he was honest, he wasn't surprised by that statement. "You killed them when you kidnapped me, didn't you?" He asked.

"Yes, I did." It was spoken with that same cool tone, not betraying any sort of emotion that the elder Uchiha might have at that moment. "It was something I took some amount of satisfaction." He must've seen the puzzled look on his brother's face, as he explained. "When the elders had given me the order, I had thought that they were speaking with the Hokage's voice. But after the massacre, when I went to the Hokage to plead for your life, he had been surprised by what I had done. As it turned out, despite his numerous attempts to settle things peacefully, the elders went behind his back and gave me that order. In response, after promising me that you would be safe from Danzō and the other two elders, he gave me a mission: when I felt the time was right, I was to kill the three elders."

After he had heard all of what had happen to his clan, Sasuke felt some satisfaction at those words. "Our clan was avenged in the end." He declared.

"That may be. But the question I have for you is what will you do now?"

(Location: Retrieval Team)

They had been moving fast ever since they left the inn, following the scent. No one said a word but most of them were wondering what had happened with Naruto at the inn. Jiraiya had gone after him, but when he came back he didn't say anything and neither did the blonde. Whatever they had talked about, they kept to themselves and probably weren't going to tell anyone else.

"We're here." June declared as she reined Nyla in. They all stood on the edge of the ravine the Tsuchikage had directed them to. There was a small stream flowing through it, splitting the land into half. There was small vegetation along the bank of the stream, but the rest of the ravine was rock and dirt. "Sasuke's scent goes down into there."

"We'll take the lead from here." Kakashi told her as he and Kiba walked up beside her. "We don't know if Itachi or the Akatsuki laid any traps to ward off any unexpected visitors. You and your team will stay here while we see if there are any traps."

"I'll go with them." Jiraiya told them. They had no objections and just watched as the shinobi of the team went down into the ravine and began to look carefully around for anything that might be a trap.

"Is something the matter, Naruto?" Suki asked the blonde when she noticed that he was glaring half-heartily at the Toad Sage's back. When he didn't say anything, she got his attention by waving one of her fans in front of his face.

"Huh? What?" He asked in surprise, blinking rapidly. He sounded like he had just come out of a trance.

"Is something the matter?" She repeated. The rest of the team was now looking at him as well.

"It's nothing, just something I've been wrestling with for the past couple of days." He answered shortly. It was odd how he spoke those words. He made it sound like he didn't want to talk about it and yet, like he wanted to get it out.

"Naruto, you can tell us." Sokka told him. "We're friends, aren't we?"

"Considering you had to bust me out of prison, I'd say so." He fired back easily enough with sarcasm lightly covering the words.

"And that's a point to him." June stated with a smirk. But even though that was usually when the grins and laughs came around, Naruto stayed silent. "C'mon, start talking, Naruto." She ordered him. "If you don't, I'll sic Nyla on you."

He looked at her and then at the shirshu. Nyla seemed to agree with what the bounty hunter had said, as he had hissed at the blonde and showed the tip of his tongue, making it obvious that he was ready to use it. "Alright, fine. Have any of you guys noticed how F.S.-sensei keeps talking like he's coming back with us once all this is over?"

Now that they had thought about it, in the past few days, Jiraiya had been using the word "we" instead of "you" whenever they had talked about the other side of the planet. They hadn't really realized it until now. "You think that he's planning to come back with us?" Azula asked him.

"That wouldn't be so bad." Sokka said before thinking it over. "Well, aside from his perverted side that is." He could still remember the time they had to go hunting for Jiraiya whenever he found someone (and he could still the feel the bruises for when they found out said someone had a boyfriend, fiancé, or husband, which meant they had to make a very quick getaway).

"But he's a shinobi of Konoha and a very famous one at that. He can't just do that." Naruto immediately pointed out. "To do something like that would be tantamount to treason." And he really didn't want his sensei to be a traitor.

"Didn't he wander around the Elemental Countries when he was younger?" Suki asked, vaguely remembering the Toad Sage telling her that at one point. She wasn't sure when that was. It was either in Ba Sing Se or at Ember Island. "He was still loyal to Konoha, right?"

"That's different. He was on the same continent, he could pass vital information back to the village, and he came back frequently."

"So what's stopping him from doing that over on our side of the planet?" June asked. When they all looked at her, she realized what she had just said. "I was talking about the coming back thing, not the information passing thing."

"He's a shinobi of Konoha. He belongs there." The blonde said adamantly.

"But Naruto, I would've thought that you out of all of us would've wanted him to come with us the most." Azula noted. Out of the entire team (as well as Team Avatar), he and Jiraiya got along the best. It was obvious just by looking at how they interacted with each other.

"Well, I do, but…" He groped for the right words to say, but just couldn't find them. In that unguarded moment of vulnerability, he said something he wouldn't have said otherwise. "Argh, maybe it would be better if I became a Konoha shinobi again."

Everyone there, including him, froze when those words were said. In his head, the Kyūbi noticed that same cool and collected feeling. "There you are." The fox declared, moving his chakra towards the feeling. But as quick as it had shown itself, it had disappeared. The Bijū stifled a growl; it was going to be a long hunt.

Meanwhile, everyone else was still looking at the blonde. "…Did I really just say that?" He asked aloud, looking confused. When he saw Azula nod in confirmation, he shook his head like he was trying to rattle an answer out of his brain. "I didn't mean it. I swear to Kami, I didn't mean it." He promised them.

"We know you didn't, Naruto." Azula assured him. "You're just confused about what to do with Jiraiya, that's all."

He gave a semi-relieved look. "Yeah, that's all." He agreed. But he knew that voice had something to do with what he said. If it kept up, he may actually decide to rejoin Konoha of his own free will.

That was when the sound of a whistle being blown rang through the ravine. "That must be the all-clear." June commented as the whistle faded. "I guess we can go down and join them now." As she was readying Nyla to move, she looked back and saw that Naruto was already gone. "What the…?" The others looked just as confused as she was when they noticed the blonde was already gone.

"Get a move on, people!" They heard him shout from the base of the ravine. It appeared that when he heard the whistle, he had already moved.

(Location: Sasuke)

"What do you mean by that?" Sasuke asked, again looking around even though he was blinded by something.

"Exactly what I mean, Sasuke." Itachi replied from the darkness that surrounded him. "Now that you know what happened to our clan and why it happened, what will you do?"

He could tell that it was a loaded question and he should've answered carefully. But to him, the answer was obvious. "What would you have me do, Itachi? Try to betray the village and destroy it? I made the mistake of doing the first once and look what I got in return. The loss of a friend and an evolution of my eyes that comes with too many risks," He declared with a snap of his voice. "I told you before, killing you won't bring back our clan. It's the same for the village. Making it a ruined wasteland won't miraculously revive our family."

"And so, you would serve the village that caused the death of your entire clan?" When he heard that question, Sasuke just knew that there was a smirk on his brother's face, somehow.

"You serve the village just as I do, Itachi. We just served in different ways. I understand why you decided to protect the village. I will do the same. I will protect Konoha until my dying day." He swore.

There the quietest laugh one would ever have heard in response. "There's no need to go that far." Itachi told him. "I would think you'd want a family at some point. But how will you serve Konoha? Will it be as the Hokage?"

He snorted in derision. "I would never make that far and I don't to be the Hokage either. Konohamaru is the one who wants to be Hokage. If he has what it takes, which I think he does, I'll stand by his side as the leader of the Konoha Military Police Force."

"…Who is Konohamaru?" It was a question filled with curiosity. It made Itachi sound like he didn't know who his brother was talking about (which Sasuke would realize that he didn't).

"He's the grandson of the Sandaime Hokage. He wanted to be Hokage after Naruto was done. Now, he's training hard to take on the mantle from Lady Tsunade." And every day, slowly but surely, he was proving his worth.

"I can see you've made your choice, Sasuke." His brother said. It was followed by a loud hacking cough. The sounds of Itachi coughing filled the air and made Sasuke both nervous and scared. "…As I have made mine." The sounds of someone standing up and moving away filled the darkness. "I hope you will be grateful."

"What did you do?" He demanded and yet all that answered him was the sounds of Itachi moving. "Itachi, what did you do?!"

The sounds of moving stopped, making the darkness go silent. "You know that if you use the Mangekyō Sharingan, you will have power, power enough to tame the Kyūbi but eventually you'llgo blind. You've said that it's too much of a risk and refuse to use it. But you weren't aware of this: the blindness of the Mangekyō Sharingan can be stopped and cured by having another pair transplanted into the recipient. It's best done between siblings."

He immediately understood what that meant. "I have your eyes?" He asked in horror.

"That you do. I hope that you will see this as the last good thing I ever done for you." The sounds of feet moving began again. "This will be the last time we talk, Sasuke. I only ask you to do one thing: never let the truth of the massacre become known to the village. Let them be remembered as a clan that was loyal to the village and protected it. I want you to find someone who loves you for you and you love her in return. I want you to have that family I took from you." There was a brief silence before he spoke again. "Goodbye, otouto."

The sounds of Itachi moving began to fade away. "Itachi?" Sasuke called out to the sounds. "Itachi, come back. Come back here. You come back here right now, Itachi!" He demanded. But as the darkness went silent, he started begging. "Please come back. Don't leave me alone! Come back! ANIKI!"

But no answer came back to him. He started to struggle wildly against his restraints, trying to break free. But whatever bounded his limbs was well done, for no matter what he did, he could not get loose. But that didn't stop him. He kept on trying, often collapsing into sleep. He did not known how long his periods of tried sleeps lasted, but every time he awoke, he kept trying to break free, often calling for Itachi to come back.

He wasn't sure how long he was there. He didn't even want to remember. He just wanted to be free. He wanted to be free of the binds holding him down. He wanted to be free of the darkness. Most of all, he wanted to go home. That was why he kept trying to break free. So he could leave this nightmarish place and go back to Konoha. It was that thought (as well as the image of a pink-haired green-eyed shinobi) that kept him going.

He didn't know how many times he fallen unconscious by the time he heard a different noise fill the darkness. The only noise that had been made was by him as he tried to free himself again and again. This was a new noise, the sound of something being smashed through. "Hello?" He called out. "Is anyone there?"

"Is that you, Sasuke?" A faint voice called out in return. It sounded far away, but it filled him with hope.

"I'm here!" He shouted loudly. "Can you hear me!? I'm right here!" He hoped and prayed that whoever was there were friendly.

The sounds of feet running filled the darkness, giving him hope. When they stopped and the voice the feet belong to spoke, he was surprised. "Sheesh, we run all this way to rescue and here you are, just lying there. Had we known that, we could've taken our time." He heard the sound of a kunai being drawn. "Just give me a minute."

"Is that you, Naruto?" He asked, not sure if it was or not. "I'm not dreaming, am I? You're actually here?" He felt the binds holding his limbs go slack, which allowed his hands and feet to go limp. Wanting to see if he could still move, he tried lifting his right arm. While he did succeed in raising it into the air, it soon felt heavy and he began to drop it.

But then another hand grabbed it and took a firm hold on it. "Yeah, I'm here, teme." Naruto told him as he pulled him up. "I'm here."

End

Author's note: Thank you for all the reviews you've sent me.

I know the rule is that a Jinchūriki should someone be related to the Kage of their resident village. And since Rōshi apparently knew Ōnoki, I thought it was best to make them nephew and uncle. And I don't know about the rest of you, but I think Han is definitely related to the Nidaime Tsuchikage. They're both on the tallish side (Han is a bit taller), they're wrapped up from head to toe, and they both look like they could silence you with just a look.

Well, now you all know why Itachi had kidnapped his younger brother. If you're going to wonder and ask why he would give Sasuke the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan if he never plans to use it, all I ask is that. It will be revealed in due time.

And course Sasuke wouldn't try to avenge his clan by destroying Konoha. He didn't try to avenge them by killing Itachi, why would he do it with the village? It doesn't matter if he learnt the truth or not, he made his choice a while back and he is going to stick with it.

As for Naruto, Jiraiya, the Kyūbi, and the small voice in Naruto's mind, it's the start of the endgame for that little thing. Now, don't go assuming by what you've read in this chapter that Naruto will be joining Konoha once everything is done. When was the last time what I revealed to you all was what you had initially suspected?

I'll see you all next chapter!