Chapter 3
Sasuke was asleep, purring softly as his way of snoring every few seconds, his left cheek squished into Naruto's pillow and his bangs falling haphazardly across his face. One of his little canines was poking out from beneath his top lip and glinting in the dying sun. He looked peaceful. Adorable.
Why would he not? He had just finished telling Naruto all about his beloved Nii-chan.
Naruto, who lay beside him, was not so peaceful. He was staring up at the ceiling in shock. Who had Sasuke just told him about?
That was Itachi?
A kind, gentle, perfect-yet-humble, cool and aloof older brother? The one who taught him techniques, the one who took walks with him throughout the village, the one who always poked his forehead and told him 'another time'? The one who loved him?
That was Itachi?
That couldn't be Itachi.
Where was the murderer of the Uchiha clan? Where was the demon with kaleidoscope eyes that were the windows to hell? Sasuke had looked into those windows. Sasuke had seen. Sasuke had screamed, and fallen into a coma that lasted over a week.
And then Sasuke, who hated being alone, had cut all bonds with his friends and submerged himself in darkness for three years because that was what he thought was needed to match his brother.
And (Naruto swallowed at the terrible admission) it was. Naruto had known it when he faced Itachi's clone. His clone. He had never wanted to admit it, but he had seen his death in Itachi's eyes.
Naruto put his hand to his forehead. He was confused. So confused. Who the hell was Itachi? How could Sasuke reconcile these two different people enough to actually follow through with his revenge? How twisted did Sasuke need to make his thoughts to make it possible? Did he just throw away the images of the brother he loved? The only member of his family he had left?
Naruto groaned, clutching his hair, threatening to pull it out of his scalp. This was torture! He couldn't do it. He could not believe the two were the same person. And Sasuke… How did he even function? Naruto just heard about it and his brain felt like it was splitting in half. Sasuke had lived it! Sasuke had, at one point, loved Itachi. So what then? Sasuke had killed his love?
Naruto's eyes opened in horror.
Sasuke had killed his love.
Killed his love.
It was the only way. For the sake of vengeance…Sasuke had…
Naruto moved, and in an instant his face was buried in Sasuke-kitten's hair, as he hugged the tiny thing so close to himself.
"Nawuto?" Sasuke mumbled sleepily. Naruto did not answer. "Nawuto, you're shaking." Naruto did not respond. "Nawuto, you're sca'wing me."
"I don't know what to do," Naruto's words were cushioned in his hair, but Sasuke heard them anyway. "I don't know what to do, Sasuke."
"Do about what, Nawuto?"
"You…have amnesia, Sasuke. Do you know what that means?"
"No."
"You forgot something…really, really bad that happened to you. It was something…something that Itachi did to you."
"Nii-chan did a bad thing to me?"
"Yes, Sasuke. But you've forgotten what it was. But it was really, really bad. And it made you really angry at Itachi. It made you so angry at him that you – you hated him. And you swore that you would kill him."
"…That's not true. There's nothing Nii-chan could do that would make me so angwy at him."
Naruto gasped. Sasuke sounded so…sure. So steady and clear headed. And there was no blankness, like in Orochimaru's hideout, when he had coolly looked down at them and proclaimed that their bonds were broken. Sasuke, baby Sasuke had merely stated a fact, with such surety that if he said he could swim the desert to Suna, Naruto would believe him.
Naruto brought his arms back a little to look at the kitten, who was staring back at him with dark, unwavering eyes.
"There is nothing Nii-chan could do, Naruto."
"Sasuke… I know you feel that way, but you really were so angry that –"
"I don't care. That's then. This now." Where had he learned that? "I forgive him."
It had been a long time since Naruto had been stunned into silence. Much less from a kitten. Sasuke…was serious. You always knew when Sasuke really meant something. His eyes would become darker and deeper and immovable as a mountain, daring any and all, the whole world to challenge him. It was the type of passion that only the subject of Itachi could alight in him.
Itachi. Love him or hate him, he was always Sasuke's obsession. His joy, or his torment. His light, or his darkness.
Naruto spoke. "You don't care then, if you remember what Itachi did to you?"
Sasuke shook his head, the one ear that was not pressed to the pillow flopping with the motion. Naruto knew Sasuke was serious. But would this resolve, this feeling really last? If Sasuke's amnesia was cured…
Knock. Knockity knock-knock.
Iruka.
"Sasuke, go hide for a minute. I'll tell you when you can come out."
Sasuke nodded and darted away. Naruto gave him time to settle himself in his spot before he opened the door.
Iruka had simply come to return his book. He had left it at Ichiraku's. They talked and then Iruka turned to leave. Naruto was about to close the door…
"Oh! Can I see him?"
"Who?"
"Your kitten. The one you're taking care of."
Naruto froze. Iruka rolled his eyes and pushed himself in. "I just want to see him Naruto. I'll only take a moment and then you'll get right back to your ramen."
"Uh, uh you see, the thing is Iruka-sensei, he's not here right now."
"What do you mean?" asked Iruka, glancing under the bed. "He's missing?"
"Uh, no. He, uh, he steps out sometimes and…"
"Steps out? A kitten the age you're taking care of doesn't just step out. That is why you got that book, right?"
"You…read it?" It's Iruka-sensei, he scolded himself. Of course he read it.
"You left the window open, right? He must've climbed out. Baka, Naruto, I can see I should've gotten the book to you earlier. Kittens are very explorative, but they don't have the senses to return home yet. C'mon, I'll help you look for him."
"N-no, really sensei you don't have to –"
Something darted between the two at that moment. Something black and furry. It turned sharply and dived under Naruto's bed.
"Ah, is that him?" Iruka smiled, going down on his knees.
"N-no, don't sensei, you see, he's shy and –"
"Ouch!" Iruka recoiled. Naruto could see the crimson scratch marks on his palm.
"Sorry sensei," Naruto apologized sincerely, going for a small, tan medical pouch he sometimes carried on missions. A good ninja always had some first aid lying around. "I tried to tell you – he's shy and…"
"Not shy," Iruka winced as Naruto dabbed some rubbing alcohol on the wound and brought out a bandage. "Just attached to you. You weren't welcoming enough of me so that he could see I'm a friend."
At Naruto's fallen expression, Iruka quickly moved on. "But, this is quite a scratch. His claws are sharp, and he's strong. That means he's healthy. Which means you're doing a good job, Naruto. If you do things right, you might even be able to train him as a ninja cat."
When Naruto did not respond, Iruka took to looking around while the boy wrapped his wound. There were a lot of new shopping bags, some of them empty. He smiled at the assortment of fruits and vegetables Naruto had laid out on his countertop.
"Tuna."
"Hm?"
Iruka nodded at the countertop. "Did you buy any?"
"No."
"You should. Kittens love it." Naruto nodded and silence fell once again. It wasn't bad, though. Nor awkward. It was peaceful.
"Where's the litter box? And his basket?" asked Iruka after looking around and seeing those missing.
"He sleeps in my bed," said Naruto casually, never once having felt weird about sharing a bed with Sasuke-kitten. "And the litter box is…"
Sasuke had gawked at the term litter box.
"Naruto, you're joking, right? I'm not savage."
Though having no idea what Sasuke was talking about, he decided that getting a litter box would yield nothing good. So he had gotten a kiddie seat to attach to his toilet, and little stairs for him to climb up.
"It's in the bathroom." It wasn't a lie. But Naruto hated telling half-truths to Iruka as well. Though he thought he would never say this, he wished that Iruka would hurry up and leave. And yes, that sounded just as awful inside his head as it would have had he said it.
The wound was tied up, and Naruto led Iruka to the door.
"Naruto?" a strong hand clapped him on the shoulder, and a wide smile under a horizontal scar bloomed. "I'm proud of you."
Naruto blinked at him, a bewildered sort of half-smile on his face. "What for?"
Iruka looked upwards in thought. "I dunno. It just felt like the right thing to say."
The half-smile grew to maturity in a second. "Thanks sensei."
Then he was gone. Naruto stared at the door for a moment, letting his smile fade. Then he walked over to his bed and crouched beside it.
"Sasuke, you can come out."
The kitten emerged, only to get bonked on the head.
"Why'd you do that?!"
"Why did you scratch Iruka-sensei?" Naruto demanded. "He was bleeding."
Sasuke had the grace to look ashamed. "I didn't mean to," he said in a small voice that made Naruto feel like the villain. "But you try seeing a giant hand coming for you and not scratch it." Naruto had to admit that did make sense.
"Naruto? Was that really Iruka-sensei?"
"Yeah."
To his surprise, Sasuke smiled. "I knew it sounded like him! I came out to see, but I remembered that you told me to hide, so I moved too fast to see his face. He used to teach me at the Academy! Naruto, are we in Konoha?"
Naruto nodded slowly, immediately knowing that he should not have.
"I knew it! Naruto, this is where my family lives! My Nii-chan and Kaa-san and Otou-sama! They're here! I can show you where they live! Can we go there now? Please?"
"S-Sasuke, it's dark and –"
"Kaa-san must be so worried. But you're nice. If I tell her how you took care of me, she won't be angry."
"Sasuke…"
How could he tell him? How could he say that the Uchiha district was nothing more now than a pile of blood-soaked rubble and ruin, completely razed by order of the Hokage? Or that the only place of Uchiha name and heritage that was maintained – was their old clan cemetery that had seen a great number of additions over the course of a single night?
He couldn't.
Soon, a smiling, humming Sasuke, and a Naruto who prayed that something, somewhere would stop them from this journey, climbed out the window of Naruto's apartment, oblivious to Iruka-sensei down below them, or the sharp-nosed kunoichi with which he spoke so amiably.
Inuzuka Hana, or as Iruka still affectionately called her, Hana-chan, was part of the Nijū Shōtai's tenth platoon, and the twelfth team to return to Konoha; empty-handed and exhausted. But as much as she would love to just go home, make some chamomile and sleep in a huddle with her beloved ninken triplets, she knew it would not happen.
Reporting to the Hokage always came first.
From what she had heard about Asuma's death, she supposed she and the rest of her team, who were looking just as tired as she was, should be grateful to be alive.
But no, she was just drained. And maybe a little bitter. Really, how many years had she trained as a kunoichi? And here comes Team Ten, part of the original Rookie 9 and the same age as her little brother, and they take out two S-ranked members of Akatsuki! Granted, she was more a healer than a fighter, but she still had Inuzuka blood in her for Fang's sake!
Then she sighed. That attitude really would not do. When it came to the Akatsuki, things like pride and rivalry had no place. There was no concept of 'age' or 'rookie', no should or should not be, only mission success. Hana snorted. 'Success'. As though the little information her team managed to find would do any good now. Another team was already on its way to find Itachi Uchiha. She supposed it might help them, but only if they got the message fast enough…
Her thoughts silenced as her nose twitched again. They were inside Konoha now, walking the rapidly darkening streets. Clouds were heavy in the sky – another shower was coming. The heavy scent of rain did nothing to mask the small, warm scent coming from deeper inside the village. She had picked it up a few kilometres outside the village, but it was so faint that she thought it was an illusion. Or that she had put too much chakra to her nose and was whiffing that old headband again.
Apparently not. After all, she had trained as a kunoichi how many years?
Wordlessly, she turned left, detouring from the straight path to the Hokage with her ninken right behind her. Her teammates stopped for a moment, glanced at each other, then followed her as well, having been with her long enough to know when she was on a scent.
And what a strange, strange scent. It was identical to the old headband, but stronger, and alive. But it was not the smell of a man that she had expected. Rather…a child. Another scent too. One that, when she was still a small and foolish girl, would have instinctively made her nose wrinkle.
A cat.
Despite her confusion, Hana marched on, picking up the pace when she could see the somewhat rundown apartment complex that housed the scent –
"Hana-chan!"
She stopped. No one had called her that since…
"Iruka-sensei." She could not help but smile at the approaching man. She remembered him from the days she would pick Kiba up from the academy.
"Coming back from the Akatsuki tracking mission?" he asked. How he always seemed to know which ninjas were on which missions, Hana would never know. "How'd it go?"
"We got some information but nothing compared to Team Ten's work."
"Nonsense," Iruka said without hesitation and with utmost seriousness. "Everyone's work is important when it comes to the Akatsuki."
Hana smiled. The man could encourage a lone wolf to find a pack if he could speak ninken.
"So what are you doing here?"
Hana paused. She did not like telling people about the scents she smelled unless it was essential to a mission or she could confirm it herself. And this was one she needed to confirm. If she misspoke, there would be trouble.
"Just thought we'd take the long way around. Cool off before heading to the Hokage you kno –"
"You don't have to lie to me," said Iruka placidly. Hana blinked. Iruka suddenly looked embarrassed and put a hand behind his head. "Sorry. I'm around kids so much I guess I'm just sensitive to it. And Kiba sort of looks the same when he lies."
Hana did not know whether to be insulted or embarrassed, but soon decided on the latter.
"W-well, I…"
"You don't have to tell me," he said with a wave of his hand. "I was just visiting a friend. Don't let me keep you –"
"You're bleeding." Hana did not have the feral appearance or disposition of her mother and brother, but her bluntness at times was nothing to shame her clan.
Iruka froze, then looked at his hand, where a small patch of red stained the white cloth.
"Oh. Guess the scratch was deeper than I thought."
"Let me take a look," she had already taken his hand, and ripped the bandages with one longer-than-it-should-be nail.
She stared at the scratch, filled with shimmering droplets of new blood that slowly darkened as they oxidized in the cool night air.
This is…
"Iruka-sensei, where did you get this scratch?"
Iruka looked sheepish. "Naruto's kitten scratched me."
Yes, the same scent that she had followed to these apartments was in the scratches. But…wait…
"Naruto? Kitten?"
"Doesn't seem like the cat type eh? But the thing's grown attached to him, and I think it goes both ways."
Naruto having a kitten did surprise her (Kiba had always insisted that the animal for Naruto was a dog, and not those, ahem 'damned slimy toads'), but the admission that a kitten made a scratch like this shocked her.
"Um, it's not infected is it? Naruto put alcohol –"
"No, no. It's not infected," said Hana quickly. "It's just…this is quite a scratch for a kitten to make."
"I said the same thing. He's really raising it well. I told him that it could even be a ninja cat."
Hana chuckled. "Ninja cat? Is he an Uchiha now?" she could not help remarking. Though Iruka laughed, she was only half-joking. Was that the answer to the scent she had been following? Did this all lead to Naruto?
"Why is Naruto here by the way? I heard the team to find and capture the Uchiha brothers left two days ago."
"Naruto…got taken off the mission."
That stunned her. "Why? Tsunade-san wouldn't –"
"Hana-chan? That's a long story and…"
"Then you can tell me on the way to the Hokage tower."
"Eeh?"
"I need to show Tsunade-san this scratch of yours."
"Wh-why?"
"Because," Hana smirked. The scent had long left the apartment building and was now heading over to the ruins of the Uchiha compound. Every so often, Hana's eyes caught a flash of blond glowing in the moonlight, "Naruto has found himself a very special breed of ninja cat."
"You're a really good ninja, Naruto." Naruto wondered if Sasuke would ever know how long he's waited to hear acknowledgement like that from him.
"Thanks, Sasuke." Naruto barely recognised his own voice. When was the last time he had sounded so emotionless?
"Not as good as my Nii-chan, though." Sasuke took Naruto's silence as an opportunity to continue, "He gave me a ride on his back over rooftops once. When he landed, I didn't even hear him, and I barely felt it. And we went so fast it was like we were really flying." Again, Naruto did not answer. "But maybe it's because you're bigger. I mean, you don't hear an ant even when it falls off a –"
"Sasuke."
"Hmm?"
Sasuke looked up at him from where he was nestled in Naruto's jacket. His ears and hair were blown back from the wind, and when he looked up at Naruto, his dark eyes seemed to glow with inner light. Naruto thought it was enchanting.
"Are we…?" Let's go back. "Are we still going the right way?"
Sasuke smiled. "It's just a little further. You can stop to rest if you're tired."
"I'm not. I was just asking."
"Oh. You know, I've never seen Nii-chan get tired, not even in training. I bet he could run for three whole days without stopping!"
You really love him this much, thought Naruto. What would have happened if you really fought him, Sasuke? If you had fought him and killed him? I knew you wouldn't have been happy, but…it would've been…much, much worse than that, wouldn't it?
"We're here!" said Sasuke, as they came up to tall grey walls and an archway decorated with a large Uchiha symbol. "It's bigger than I…remember…"
Naruto stepped inside the arch and came to a stop.
Destroyed.
Rotting.
Ugly.
Once proud. Once beautiful. Once prosperous. Once alive.
It was still alive. Naruto spotted several rats and other vermin quivering in the holes and spaces that only tons of material from broken homes and busted shops could provide. Rubble, debris and garbage was piled as high as five Narutos standing on each other's shoulders, and stretching the span of the entire district.
And the smell. A mix of urine and faeces, all perfumed together with the cloyingly sweet stench of rotting wood; it made Naruto's head spin and pushed him a few steps back.
Sasuke, who had been unnaturally silent for the few minutes it took for the sight to sink in, just as silently fell out of Naruto's jacket, landing on his feet only because of inbred reflexes.
"What…happened?"
We shouldn't have come.
"What…happened?"
I'm so sorry, Sasuke.
"Where is everyone?"
Gone. Dead because of Itachi's madness.
"Kaa-san! Otou-sama! Nii-chan!"
Itachi did this. Itachi emptied this place. And I was confused about him?
"Itachi...? Itachi!"
"Sasuke –"
"The cemetery." Naruto froze, as Sasuke turned to him with glowing eyes that glittered with unshed tears. "Nii-chan's at the cemetery."
"How do you know?" With a sudden taste of dread, "Can you smell him?"
Sasuke flinched and a few tears escaped. No, he could not. But hope was all Sasuke had left now.
"He's there!" Sasuke said again and ran off, this time on all fours. Naruto had to run after him, passing the lone patrol that had been knocked out by the clone he sent ahead of them.
"Sasuke, slow down!" They were heading towards the old Uchiha training grounds which, having been left unattended for near a decade, were overgrown and had not much difference to the wilder forests that surrounded Konoha. A cloud was passing over the moon, and Naruto had to squint to keep from losing the little black kitten in the undergrowth.
Then a bat flew past him and he involuntarily blinked. The kitten was gone.
"Sasuke, say something!" he called. "Tell me why Itachi would be in the cemetery."
Sasuke spoke and Naruto veered right, dodging around a large, mossy rock only to trip on the rusty kunai lodged in a target behind it.
Naruto cursed and stood, paused, then looked at the kunai that, with years' worth of rust, had bonded to both target and ground and had only shifted a little from its formerly upright position.
It looked like someone had just stabbed the thing into the earth. "What kinda crazy throw –?"
"Naruto? Can you hear me?"
"C-coming!" For some reason, that kunai freaked him out. "Keep talking, I'm catching up to you."
"Nii-chan liked to walk in the cemetery sometimes." Well that was just lovely. "I asked him why. He said that when he starts getting too full of himself, walking through the tombstones and seeing the names of dead Uchiha who were stronger than him brings him back down to earth. Because it reminded him that even the greatest die the same as the nameless."
"I see." How did one statement send him into a spiral of confusion about Itachi again?! The rubble, remember the rubble. The destruction. The emptiness. All those homes were once full of people and life, now nothing more than mouldy boards and rat-infested –
"We're here!"
Naruto looked. Well, it was a cemetery. Not the same as the one for Konoha's heroes, with their neat and uniform rows, and polished square tomb markers.
The Uchiha cemetery, was a classic. Since most of the clan was cremated upon death, the tombstones that littered the cemetery were nothing more than memorials.
They were very normal tombstones; the worst off had vines winding around them, as though a spirit or two still clung to its tiny semblance of life. Most of the tombs were the standard domed slabs, some had more ornamented tops like curves or flames and a few rare stones (probably belonging to the more well-to-do of the clan) were in the shape of the clan symbol's fan, or great tongues of fire, or even both.
Like the entrance to the district, the cemetery also had an arched entryway, blocked by a heavy, black wrought-iron gate whose top spikes were crafted into fans and flames.
The gate was not rusted – the job of the highest quality black paint – but it was still covered in vines, making it look eerie. The cold wind that made the leaves whisper secrets to the night did not help with Naruto's rapidly failing nerves.
"Sasuke I don't think –"
The kitten had already pushed at the gate, managing to open it just wide enough for him to slip through.
Naruto sighed and pulled out a kunai to tackle the deadbolt and chain that prevented him from doing the same.
He thought he heard Sasuke gasp, but dismissed it as the wind. Then he heard it again, a strangled cry of despair.
"Auntie? Uncle?"
Naruto gave up on the gate and prepared to jump over the arch. "Sasuke, stay where you are, I'm coming to get you!"
"Y-Yashiro-san? Tekka-san… Inabi-san…"
Naruto landed on the other side of the gate and manoeuvred through the old, cracked, and grimy tombstones. Though rundown, however, the cemetery was not as overgrown and wild as the Uchiha training grounds. They were abandoned more recently.
"Sasuke?"
Sasuke… Had he…? Naruto suddenly felt his head spin. The sadness of a twelve-year old Sasuke coming here and cleaning all these tombstones by himself on a lonely afternoon…was too much.
"Sasuke, we're leav –"
"Kaa-san. Otou-sama."
Naruto ran, not caring that he bumped into tombstones and even knocked some of the smaller ones over. He ran to the only sepulchre in the entire cemetery. It was an impressive structure – a veritable building of white marble that fought to gleam despite three years' worth of grime, elements and plant growth.
As he approached, he realised the sepulchre's four corners were august pillars, their tops connected by heavy arches. Nestled in the centre, like a massive egg in a small nest, was an Uchiha symbol standing tall and proud in a bed of dancing flames.
The only 'door' to the structure was a removable slab of marble, covered with shining black ink spiralling into seal script, and making a hole only large enough for a casket.
This was obviously the resting place for the clan heads. Apparently they were not cremated like the others.
In front of the tomb, also in marble but black as the surrounding night was a stone, a lopsided obelisk similar to the memorial in front of which Kakashi always stood, but with far fewer names.
Sasuke was staring with glowing eyes at those names, swaying lightly as though in a trance.
"Sasuke?"
"Kaa-san…" Sasuke repeated, his voice shaking with hollowness, "Otou-sama…"
For the second time that night, Naruto asked himself why he let Sasuke come here. Even though he already knew the answer.
In thinking about Itachi – which he had done the entire time Sasuke was asleep, and up until they arrived to this rotting piece of flesh in the cancer of Konoha's past – he came to a singular truth about him.
Itachi was a liar.
Whether he had truly hated Sasuke, or truly loved him, he had still lied to Sasuke for the majority of his life.
Naruto then realised that he had lied to Sasuke a fair number of times too.
This put him on equal footing with Itachi.
That single fact was almost enough to make him take a kunai to his own deceitful tongue. He was not a liar, and most of all, he did not want to lie to Sasuke.
So he brought him to the truth. And now he stood watching, as little Sasuke began to breathe harder and deeper, until he retched and vomited in front of the memorial.
Naruto had him in his arms in the next instant. The kitten was shaking and lay weakly against him as his mouth was wiped clean with a black sleeve.
"Naruto." Naruto was slightly surprised. He had expected baby talk, but Sasuke's voice was steady for all the tears spilling down his cheeks. "What happened?"
"Sasuke…you see –"
"No lies." Sasuke looked up at him, his eyes still wet but suddenly piercing. "Tell me the truth."
"Are you sure?"
Sasuke nodded.
"Your clan's dead, Sasuke. You're the only one left in all of Konoha."
The kitten spasmed with the wailing scream of emotion that escaped him. Naruto felt he could rip Itachi's heart out with his bare hand if he suddenly appeared before him. "Kaa-san and Otou-sama too?"
"Yes."
"How?"
Naruto gritted his teeth. He looked down to meet Sasuke's gaze that glowed white in the emerging moonlight. The cloud was passing, leaving everything in a strange in-between of shadow and light.
But Naruto could see clearly. In this strange, ambivalent lightshow, the one constant were the crimson glints of hatred sparking in Sasuke's eyes. But these sparks were only tiny pinpricks that had not grown, and could still be put out.
"Who did it?"
"I don't know." He said it immediately, before he could give himself a chance to reconsider.
The sparks were gone, washed away by the new sheen of tears over Sasuke's eyes. He was crying again. He was sad again. And the hatred was gone, quenched with water from the spring of lies.
"I – I didn't see Nii-chan's name on the stone," Sasuke hiccupped. Naruto said nothing; playing the hypocrite had rendered him mute. "He's not here."
Hope, Naruto realised, always made Sasuke's voice sound so sweet and innocent, and strong.
No, not hope alone. It was the hope of seeing Itachi.
Thinking of Itachi always made Sasuke strong. Whether that strength lay in the darkness of revenge or the light of hope, Sasuke always reached it with his brother as a guide.
And even in the throes of grief, that strength came ringing through with the mere mention of him.
Naruto had a bad feeling, one that he had had quite a few times before. It was the kind of feeling that predicted future foolish, reckless and dangerous action.
It was a strange feeling, really. A thrumming heat blooming in the stomach, a quickening of the heart, a humming energy that spread to all of his limbs. And yet, it was also a dark dread in his gut and a cold, thick slime in his throat and lungs.
In short, it was a rush of adrenaline for the coming action, mixed with a massive fear over what the outcome of this action would be.
Because, contrary to what everyone and anyone who knew Naruto and had seen him fight would believe, the Number One Knuckleheaded Ninja of Konoha did not enjoy leaping into death's den, or facing down impossible odds with nothing but guts and a final Rasengan made with the last few wisps of his chakra.
Therefore, he always solidly classified this feeling that predicted such an event as a bad one. And in addition to its many unwelcome traits, this feeling always had the sickening habit of being correct.
Naruto … no longer knew what to do about Itachi.
And that scared him.
Because it should have been obvious. Stay away. Get back. Fight to survive and flee at the slightest opportunity.
Until only two short days ago, when Itachi had become the only link to Sasuke, those were the three rules that created a mantra Naruto had happily followed for the last three years.
But now…the mantra was becoming foreign to him. Alien. Rules so strange that they were difficult to follow – no – the thought of following them neared unthinkable.
"Itachi is alive."
What…am I doing?
Sasuke gasped. It sounded like a laugh. With tears clogging his throat, it was as close to a true laugh as he could get.
"He's not in Konoha, Naruto. I knew it for a while, because he would've come get me by now. He can smell a lot better than me. I knew he wasn't here…but I hoped…"
"I know you did." Naruto felt awful. He felt sick. His stomach was churning and in the cool night air he was sweating. His mind was swirling, and he was dizzy.
Itachi was guilty. Why couldn't he tell Sasuke the truth?
Why, with each rising pound of his beating heart, was he more and more certain that the rules concerning Itachi had to change?
He did not want to lie to Sasuke anymore. So what was he doing? Keeping him in Konoha? Protecting him from hatred?
Protecting his love for his Nii-chan? How long would that last? Why would he want such a fake love to last –?
That's not true.
'What?'
There's nothing Nii-chan could do that would make me so angwy at him.
'No.' Naruto slowly brought a hand to his head, squeezing around a clump of hair. 'No. That love you had…it was never fake. You really loved him. But after the massacre, you killed your love and hated him, and vowed to kill him.'
I don't care. That's then. This now.
'But Sasuke…'
I forgive him.
'Would you forgive even this, Sasuke? You didn't last time. Would it…could it be different now?'
Naruto's chest shuddered as he inhaled deeply. Sasuke looked up at the motion, and he met the kitten's gaze.
He could not lie anymore. But he could not tell Sasuke the truth either.
Not the whole truth.
"Sasuke. Itachi's coming back to Konoha."
Sasuke gasped again and stared up at him with large, frightened eyes.
"Are you sure?"
"Yes. My friends are on a mission right now to find him and bring him back. They'll definitely do it."
Sasuke tilted his head. One ear dropped while the other stood upright. "Really?" He was sceptical.
"Sasuke. I'm your friend, right?"
"Yes."
Naruto smiled. "If I said I'll do something, you'd trust me to do it, right?"
"Yes."
"It's the same with my friends. They said they'll bring Itachi back. I trust them."
Sasuke slowly blinked at him. His eyes widened, and Naruto saw a single spark of light.
Hope.
Sasuke believed him.
"Naruto? When Nii-chan gets here, you'll take me to see him right away, right? I don't want to wait for him to get me."
Stay away. Get back… Fight to survive... ...then flee at the slightest...
"Sure."
Sasuke stood in his arms, placing his hands squarely on Naruto's chest and fixing the blond with a dark gaze of such intensity that the owl roosting on a tree branch a few meters above Naruto's head suddenly stiffened.
"Promise me, Naruto. Promise me that, no matter what happens, you will take me to see my Nii-chan. Promise."
Naruto did not even take a second to answer.
"I promise." Then the corner of his lip suddenly jerked upwards and he squinted his eyes in a somewhat strained version of his true joyous grin. "Actually, y'know Sasuke, (the rules have to change – I – no, we need to get some answers) I wanna see Itachi too. So I'll make sure that we both get to see him." He gave the thumbs up sign, and his strained smirk became a little truer.
"It's a promise."
Through the tracks of grief-laden tears on his face, Sasuke smiled. It was small, and shaky, but to Naruto, it was real and that was enough. Sasuke would be all right.
The strain disappeared, and Naruto smiled too.
He was not a Hyūga, an Inuzuka, a Yamanaka or a Nara. He was an Uzumaki. All he had were his guts and his instincts.
The fact that he was unsure about Itachi, even when faced with all he had done, with all of the graves he had filled, it scared him.
He believed in his friends. But what if Itachi escaped them? If they came home and Itachi was not with them?
What would he do then?
He would still want – no, need – to meet the Uchiha face to face. And, not needing to say 'I promise' to be bound by his word, he had not once but thrice promised Sasuke that he would take him to his Nii-chan.
The S-ranked missing nin who, from all that Naruto understood, hated and still wanted to kill Sasuke. Not to mention the man who also wanted to drag the Kyūbi out of Naruto's body, murdering him in the process.
The feeling suddenly returned. The one that (accurately) predicted future foolish, reckless and dangerous action.
Naruto endured it.
He could not run. His name gave more than enough explanation for the reason.
He could not stay away. Not now. Not after he had seen Sasuke's love, and knew of the love Itachi once had. Naruto could not accept that it was all fake. No one could fake such a simple yet powerful bond.
Naruto knew from experience. And even Sasuke had admitted to the same once… a long time ago.
He could not flee. He could fight, if he had to.
But most important, most binding of all. He would not – would NEVER – break his promise to Sasuke.
So, he did the only thing his guts and instincts could, and would ever tell him to do.
Collide with him head-on. Don't back down – never give up – and fight him to hell and back until he starts telling the truth.
Sasuke slumped in his arms, nodding faintly to Naruto's promise, and maybe sealing his own determination to see his brother as strongly as he could. He turned and looked at the memorial stone one last time.
"Can we go home now, Naruto?"
Naruto tucked the kitten into his jacket and zipped it up, protecting him from the cold night air. As he turned to leave, he felt a wet spot grow in the middle of his shirt and tiny claws digging into his stomach.
Lying to Sasuke about his family would not have done him good. Naruto knew that. He just wished he could have spared Sasuke just a little bit more.
He sighed and zipped up the jacket further. Seems the cold would be the only thing he managed to protect Sasuke from that night.
"Itachi Uchiha is sick?" Tsunade's eyes widened at this news, delivered to her by Hana Inuzuka, her three ninken, the rest of her team and a very nervous-looking Iruka. She wondered if she should tell Hana that Iruka was beginning to bruise from the iron grip she kept up on the man's wrist.
Nah, she decided with a shrug. She could always heal it later, along with those nasty scratches on his palm.
"Yes. We found traces of his blood with saliva remnants in them along with traces of sputum. We believe he is suffering from some sort of lung disease. We investigated several apothecary sales records, and found that his purchases correspond with ingredients or medicines that would relieve these symptoms. However, the locations of these purchases were so haphazardly spread that we could not identify a consistent pattern. Our investigation ended there."
Tsunade nodded, absorbing the information. "Team 10 of the Nijū Shōtai, you've done excellent work. Jin!" One of the seemingly omnipresent Anbu inside and around the Hokage's office appeared and landed without a sound. Hana knew he leaped from somewhere, but everything in the office was unchanged.
"Send this information to Kakashi's team as fast as possible. They can only use it if they get it in time. Go!"
The man leaped again; Hana swore he should have hit the ceiling, but again the office was left undamaged.
"Again, that was excellent work," Tsunade nodded. "You are dismissed."
The rest of Hana's team and Iruka turned to leave, but stopped for different reasons: the team because their leader was not following, and Iruka because if he made another step, his shoulder would dislocate. He tugged a little at Hana's grip; the woman did not budge.
"Tsunade-san, I would like to speak to you on a different matter."
"One that involves Iruka?"
"Yes."
"I see… The rest of you can go then."
Reluctant, but not daring to disobey their Hokage, they trudged out the door, leaving Hana, her ninken, Iruka, Tsunade and a silent Jiraiya alone in the office.
As soon as the door clicked shut, Hana marched up to Tsunade's desk, tugging Iruka along for the ride, and showed Tsunade his palm.
"These scratches are what I wanted to show you. What do you make of them?"
Tsunade blinked. She peered closer, her nose almost touching the dried blood around the wound, and blinked again.
"A kid with sharp nails," was the dully given diagnosis.
"Exactly," Hana nodded, relieved that her hunch had been right after all.
Iruka looked flabbergasted. "What?"
"Take a look for yourself."
Automatically obeying Tsunade's words, Iruka stared at the wound. His jaw dropped. "You're right. I didn't look at it before, but this looks like the kind of scratches Kiba used to make, only smaller."
Hana nodded briskly. "I thought so too. They're about the same size as my little brother used to make when he was two, though the shape is a little different. And from the depth, this scratch was made with purpose. It was no accident."
"So what?" was the bored question from Tsunade.
Hana took a breath. "Well, Iruka said he got this from Naruto's kitten."
Tsunade's eyebrows, previously slack from drowsiness, now snapped to a thin line above her eyes. But the next words she spoke stunned them both.
"Naruto again?"
"Again?"
"What do you mean again?"
Iruka leaned forward, his nervous and bewildered expression falling swiftly in the path of growing concern.
Tsunade and Jiraiya glanced at each other. Finally, Jiraiya sighed and came off the windowsill that was previously his couch.
"Naruto's been acting strangely ever since he got taken off the mission."
Iruka stiffened. Tsunade did not miss the quick dart of anger directed at her, though Iruka's eyes managed to hide it with impressive swiftness.
"He tried to escape," Tsunade began, meeting his gaze. "Right after the team left, he tried to follow. I stopped him at the gate. And I hated having to do it."
Iruka blinked. "Then why not let him go?"
"Because Naruto would have hindered that mission. The risk of him losing his temper and subsequently losing control of the Kyūbi's chakra is always there, but never so high as when the subject of the mission is Sasuke."
Hana flinched, but no one noticed.
"The goal of the mission was to capture Itachi and use him to lure Sasuke. However, as the cause of Sasuke's pain and desertion, he is the perfect catalyst to Naruto's anger. He would invoke the Kyūbi's wrath, and would likely use the commotion to escape or to capture Naruto himself. People would get hurt. My people. After that was pointed out to me…I couldn't let him go." She gritted her teeth, and shut her eyes so tight for a moment that her forehead was in danger of being imprinted with the wrinkles that were true to her age. "And I hate it."
Iruka reeled back a little, his eyes widening. He was thinking of an argument to raise in Naruto's defence, but just as Tsunade had discovered before him, all of them were weak and insufficient. In a mirror image of defeat, Iruka bowed his head.
"I understand," he said in a soft monotone that reminded Tsunade of Naruto's unnerving blankness. "I hate it too."
Then he looked up and gave her a small, apologetic smile, and she was strangely soothed.
He really is Naruto's big brother.
"I think Naruto's still upset, but what d'you mean he's been acting weird?"
Tsunade laced her fingers beneath her chin and studied him. "He hasn't been to see me."
"I don't –"
"Since his last attempt to follow the group two days ago, he hasn't tried to escape again, and he hasn't come here to try to convince me to let him go. In fact, he's been relatively well behaved. You know him best Iruka. Don't you think that's strange?"
"Yes," Iruka said, scolding himself for not seeing it before. "Definitely."
"Seeing as he went missing a day after his attempt, I thought that he had tried –"
"He was in the library," Iruka supplied blankly. Tsunade stared. Iruka stared back.
Then blinked.
Then noticed that she was searching for signs of any recent blows to his skull. "I'm serious! He was in the library all day that day!" She was still searching.
"You can summon the librarian and ask her yourself," Iruka suggested, trying not to sound as offended as he really was.
Tsunade did just that.
"Yes, he came in early that morning, settled down with some books and scrolls and a few shadow clones, and then I didn't hear a peep from him for the rest of the day," the librarian, Kanade, reported, albeit with a blush, a nervous twirling of her pen and eyes that could not seem to stay on the Hokage.
"I see," Tsunade still sounded disbelieving. Kanade noticed.
"I was shocked as well. I worked in that library for ten years and, honestly, I did not think Naruto even knew Konoha had a library." Tsunade raised her eyebrow at the absence of an honorific, but said nothing. "Honestly, the number of times that boy walked past the building and did not even acknowledge it, like it just did not exist. Then he just bursts in, all bright and orange, and starts asking for books like it's the most normal thing. I could call it the shock of my life."
"What books did he ask for?"
"Kittens." The entire room stared. Kanade blinked. "I-I'm serious. I remember people's reading selections very well, a curse and a gift. The first thing he asked for was a book on, in his exact words, 'cats, uh, baby cats'. Then he asked for a book on 'when you forget big chunks of your life' – I pointed him to the amnesia section. And then he asked for jutsu that turns people into kids. Or cats. Or both. I have to admit, that last one almost shorted out my pacemaker."
"Y-yeah," Tsunade's eyebrow twitched, a mild showing of the turmoil in her mind. What on earth was Naruto…? "Kanade, are you sure that was Naruto?"
"Nope." Tsunade blinked. "How can I be? I don't have a drop of shinobi blood or chakra, and I can't tell a Henge from a paper bag. You can ask Iruka-san though. He came and picked him up."
"It was him."
Iruka, over the many years of his teaching career, must have seen hundreds of Henge. If anyone would know, it was him.
"I see… Thank you Kanade. If there's nothing else, you can –"
"Actually, he came back."
"Who?"
"Naruto."
"To the library?"
"Yes, later that night at around… 10:33? Oh, and don't worry about my hours Hokage-sama. I live in an apartment in the library's upper floors, so that place is my home as literally as it is figuratively.
"Anyway, he came in, all in a rush, and asked for a book on children's illnesses. He was so frantic that I gave him the most expansive book we had and he jumped out of the building – one of those ninja leaps – while reading it. If I didn't know any better, I coulda sworn he had a dying child at home or something." She said it with a laugh, but Iruka swayed a little on his feet. The scratches on his palms started stinging terribly, reacting to his clenching fists.
"He made one last visit, early the next morning before the sun was even up. A book on overall childcare. I asked him if he wanted to be a paediatric medic-nin, but he didn't answer. I think he was as sleepy as I was," she chuckled.
"Is that all?" Tsunade asked, her voice calm and steady, belying the droplets of sweat gathering on her forehead.
"Yep, that's everything," said Kanade cheerfully, her initial nervousness long forgotten. Talking about her library's newest and brightest visitor seemed to reenergize her own innate cheerfulness. "I'm dismissed then?"
"Yes. Thank you for your help."
"No problem. Good night everyone."
When she closed the door behind her, Iruka collapsed to his knees.
"A child…" How did he not see it before? "A child?!"
"Iruka, calm down," said Tsunade, holding a healing palm of chakra to his forehead as Jiraiya got a chair for him. "I'm sure it's not what you're thinking."
"Then what is it?! That night, he was asking me questions about kids too. If he was in the library all day, then the child would have gotten sick due to dehydration. That's why he rushed out of Ichiraku's. Dehydration's simple enough to treat, but Naruto wouldn't have known that. So he panicked and went to the only place he knew for information."
"I think you're right, but that still doesn't mean –"
"How could Naruto do this? He's still got his whole life ahead of him." He suddenly gasped and grabbed Tsunade's shoulders. "Hokage-sama, I'll help him any way I can, so please let him continue to be a shinobi! If you took that away from him, he'd –!"
"Iruka-sensei!" Iruka froze, the added honorific seeming to snap him out of his hysteria. "If you'd calm down for a moment, you'd see there are quite a few things that don't add up!" Iruka blinked with wide eyes. He glanced down at the floor, taking deep breaths as Tsunade's healing chakra finally broke through, cooling and clearing his brain. With a start, he looked up and jolted back when he realised that he was still holding her shoulders.
"I – I'm sorry, Hokage-sama. I – I don't normally…"
"I know," Tsunade smiled. "Naruto's very special to you. I know that."
"I just…" he stumbled back into the chair and took sips of the water offered to him. "When I thought of Naruto having a child I…"
Jiraiya finally spoke – "No need to worry sensei, Naruto barely even knows how to –" – and was quickly silenced (and almost incapacitated) by a whack to the head from Tsunade.
Cold to Jiraiya's complaints and pleas of innocence, Tsunade went to her desk and retrieved a plain, manila folder, which she handed to Iruka.
"This is…"
"Yes. Ayaya Azumi insisted so vehemently that she was innocent that Anbu did a more thorough investigation. They found an affidavit concerning her in a dumpster near the hospital. When dusted for fingerprints, only one set stood out."
"Naruto," Iruka whispered.
"I spoke to the healer personally. While that Azumi was suspect, the child was real. He was suffering from amnesia."
Iruka gasped. "Naruto…"
"Right. He asked for books on amnesia. And now with your and Kanade's testimonies, the pieces are fitting together."
"But I still don't understand."
"Neither do I," Tsunade admitted. "If Naruto is caring for a child with amnesia, why didn't he just come to me? Or let him stay in the hospital?"
"We can't forget about the kitten thing either," said Jiraiya, still rubbing the area around a nasty lump poking out of the crown of his white mane.
"Yeah. I know the scratch is human, but I swear what did it was a kitten. Though, now that I think on it, it was a little big for a kitten."
While the three speculated, Hana, who had stayed quiet since the librarian showed up, finally stepped forward. Her nose, and the noses of her ninken who lay docilely on the floor around her feet, had been following the strange scent that had led her to Naruto's door.
Following as it travelled to the old Uchiha district, a little further to their cemetery, and then back to Naruto's.
She had confirmed it as much as she could. Now was the time to speak.
"Excuse me," she braced her shoulders as three heads turned to look at her, "I think I might have the final piece to this puzzle. As the only able-nosed Inuzuka in the village right now, it makes sense that it was not picked up on earlier. But I've been following a certain scent since I came into the village, and it was a scent that led me right to Naruto's…"
A/N: Oh how I labored over that graveyard scene. The darn thing just refused do what I wanted it to do. I hope it's sufficiently suffocating... I was kinda going for that.
A few notes:
The Uchiha District: Yes. I know. The Hokage did not order the destruction of the Uchiha District. Why I wrote it like that is because... I made a mistake. You see, when I wrote about the district, I used the scene where Sasuke and Orochimaru go there to revive the dead Hokage. The district was utterly busted up then. I thought it was an inexplicable action, so I made a little plot about it. Then... about a month later... I watched Pain destroy Konoha and I had one thought. Whoops. Yeah, so the district (and everything else) was destroyed when Pain threw down that giant Shinra Tensei. And a recovering Konoha just never got around to fixing it up again. By the time I realized this, a busted up district kinda stuck in my story. So... A little deviation from canon. Hope it's forgivable. Well, this whole story's a deviation from canon so...
Sasuke's size: A guest review asked about this so I thought I should clarify. Honestly, when this story was still only in my head, I had trouble deciding how big or how old to make Sasuke. I finally decided on a baby-not-baby kind of thing. Sasuke is bigger than a cat but smaller than a one year old. With his ears standing straight up he reaches about half of Naruto's calf.
Uchiha Cemetery: I got the image for it from the ending theme 'Black Night Town'. One of the pictures showed kiddie Sasuke standing in front of a patch of tombstones. I thought 'huh, that looks ordinary'. The tombstones I mean, not the... Anyway, there you have it.
Thank you everyone who read and reviewed. Hope you enjoyed this chapter.
See you all next time.