Chapter 36

Izumi had kicked them out the apartment early in the morning two days after the Hokage's funeral. Sasuke didn't complain, though Naruto demanded that their team should be in the meeting. He swore it was a meeting about Kakashi, and Sasuke had to admit, he agreed. Guy, Izumi, Pakkun and some random guy with an ANBU mask had already gathered at their apartment.

Izumi said she'd cook him and Naruto for breakfast if they lingered, so they decided to go with the safe option and go train. But afterwards Naruto offered to get them breakfast, boasting about his special free ramen tickets.

Sasuke really didn't want ramen for breakfast, but perhaps one bowl wouldn't hurt. The only problem was that Naruto lost his tickets.

"Oh no! Don't tell me I gave Konohamaru my last ticket," Naruto whined, searching his pockets frantically.

"Typical," Sasuke scoffed. "You offer to treat me to breakfast and yet I've got to pay for it."

"No, no, no!" Naruto cried. "I'm going to sort this out. I swear!"

He ended up actually stripping down to his boxers and shaking out his clothes. Sasuke rolled his eyes.

"Well if you're not paying I'm going to pick somewhere else for breakfast," Sasuke said. "I want tea, and since they don't serve tea here I'm going to have to look elsewhere."

"No! Wait, don't go!" Naruto shook his head frantically.

"Honestly, Naruto, you should always be prepared when you're treating a pretty Omega to food." Teuchi huffed. "Especially your mate. This time it's on the house, but be more careful." He eyed Naruto when he said that, but smiled warmly at Sasuke.

"Thank you." Sasuke bowed his head.

"Thank you so much, Teuchi!" Naruto beamed, throwing his clothes back on.

Teuchi shook his head. "You're lucky you're my best customer."

"We need to eat plenty and keep up our strength for when we go get back Kakashi sensei!" Naruto grinned. "So dig in, Sasuke. You need to get your appetite back up after your time in hospital after whatever that creepy snake lady guy did to you."

"Sure, whatever," Sasuke sighed. He paused at the gentle jingling of bells, but when he glanced over his shoulder there was no one around.

Naruto shifted, distracting him. "What did..."

"What?" Sasuke frowned.

"What did he do to you? Nobody told me." Naruto stared at his neck, then met his eyes. "I heard you were out for weeks, but I was training with Pervy Sage, so I only found out when I got back."

Sasuke stirred his ramen with his chopsticks idly, debating. Naruto would think he was weak and never want to challenge him again, but... They were also teammates and Kakashi sensei wanted them to work together. Sasuke's stomach rolled, and he couldn't help but reach up and grasp the curse mark.

"He... Orochimaru placed a curse mark on me..." Sasuke grimaced. "Izumi said it would make me more powerful if I use it, but will also make me fall more under Orochimaru's influence and help him take over my body in the future?" Sasuke hissed. "I don't know. All I know is that it's bad."

Naruto shook his head. "Well Orochimaru won't take over your body. We won't let him! Team Seven will kick his ass!" Naruto paused. "As soon as we get Kakashi sensei back..."

Sasuke smiled, but made sure it was gone from his face by the time Naruto looked back at him.

"We'll beat this guy who keeps kidnapping Kakashi sensei too," Naruto continued rambling. "I don't care how powerful he is, as soon as I get my hands on him he'd a goner! Especially if he hurts Kakashi sensei or the baby."

"Izumi doesn't really seem concerned about that," Sasuke mused.

"Yeah, but she's crazy." Naruto frowned. "I mean I don't blame her considering what her own mate did, and we're gonna kick his ass too. You better believe it, Sasuke!"

"You're as smooth of a talker as always, Naruto," Sasuke sighed. "You just had to bring up the one person I hate thinking about, never mind talking about him."

Naruto laughed nervously. "Ah, sorry, Sasuke."

"Change the subject before I decide to leave?" Sasuke raised a brow.

"Yep!" Naruto nodded eagerly. "What gender do you think Kakashi sensei's baby will be? I'm going for a boy. Then we can teach him all the cool stuff we know! If it's a girl then guess Sakura will have to teach her all that gross girly stuff. So hopefully it's a boy."

"I don't know, a girl might make Kakashi stop doing weird stuff like shoving his fingers up people's asses."

Naruto shuddered and Sasuke couldn't help but smirk at that. Thankfully Sasuke nor Sakura had ever suffered that, but poor Naruto had on their very first day with Kakashi. At least it taught Naruto to be a little more cautious around their sensei during training. Not that they did much of that anymore, and probably wouldn't for a while with the pregnancy, especially with Kakashi's morning sickness.

Sasuke did not want to be puked on.

.::.

"The village is in total shambles after we found not only the Hokage dead, but the elders as well." Tenzo crossed his arms. "I barely managed to make it here, and that's only because Shikaku is distracted."

Shikaku had taken control, no matter how much he complained about it. He had refused to let Danzo do a thing, and well, most of the ninja were more loyal to the Jonin Commander rather than the sadistic fuck who would do anything for power.

Izumi gulped down her whiskey and sat it aside. "That's why we can only afford a small team to go after Kakashi. Shikaku said he would be fine since it was his bonded who took him, but Shikaku had never seen this guy before. He doesn't know how dangerous the masked man is."

"My pack's all out searching the Land of Fire right now, but it will take a while to cover it." Pakkun scowled. "And then we'll have to widen our search even further."

"We'll find him, even if that means we-" Izumi breathed in a sweet scent, with fire, smoke and blood-

Itachi Uchiha

"Izumi-" Tenzo startled.

Izumi leapt out of her apartment, and she heard Guy follow, right on her heels. He did split off at one point, but Izumi ignored him. By the time she arrived Asuma was holding up Kurenai who was limp in his arms, slumping into the water. Asuma was bleeding everywhere, with nasty torn apart wounds, but Izumi barely paid them any mind. No, she landed in between them and Itachi, just as the shark guy charged.

She swung her sword, just as he did his. Their blades collided, but Izumi braced herself against the energy their swords unleashed and twisted her blade to shove him back. Her Sharingan flared to life, but the Shank guy retreated.

"Fuck-" Shark guy cursed, covering his eyes and diving away just as she swung her sword again. "So it's not only you with those fancy eyes, eh Itachi?"

Her eyes locked with Itachi's. It felt like everything snapped into place, a soft, kind warmth blossomed within her, her Omega pleased, but bitter fear clawed at the edges of the warmth, dragging it away slowly.

Blood. So much blood. Sasuke crying in her arms in hospital. Sasuke staring blankly at the Uchiha compound. Sasuke screaming in anger, hitting everything he could reach. Fists bloody. Her fists bloody. His fists bloody.

There had been so much blood.

They only had each other and it was all Itachi's fault.

He murdered them all and Danzo butchered their bodies.

"Izumi!" Asuma gasped. "Shit, we're sorry-"

"Don't apologise," Izumi said sharply. "This is Itachi Uchiha after all."

She didn't except them to stop him.

"No." Itachi eyed Kisame. "This is Izumi Uchiha."

"Ah, your mate. I see."

"You can't see much if you cover your eyes like that," Izumi mocked sharply. "Asuma, get Kurenai to a medic."

"I'm not leaving you here on your own!"

"She's not alone!" Guy landed by her side, taking a battle stance. "We fight together. Right, Izumi?"

"You with shark guy and myself against Itachi," Izumi said dully.

"Good. We just have to hold out here until the ANBU show up. I've already summoned them."

Shark guy frowned. "I have a name. It's Kisame."

Normally that would amuse her, but no. She felt cold, numb and distant. She drew a dagger with her free hand, unhooking the chain and letting it dangle. Izumi lazily spun the chain. Why did she still feel connected? Why did it feel so good seeing him again? Itachi would only make her suffer. He would only make Sasuke suffer. All he brought was misery. If he hadn't saved her during the Nine Tail's attack-

Sasuke would be alone if you hadn't.

Her blood ran cold at the thought. Dammit. Why did Itachi have to come back? Why did he have to make everything so complicated?

"Why did you come back here after all this time?" Izumi hissed. "It better not be for Sasuke, because I'm really getting fed up of people coming after my kid."

"Your kid?" Itachi tilted his head.

Izumi bristled. "Mine."

Itachi paused, a little surprised, but nodded. "I'm not after Sasuke," Itachi admitted, still with that dull fucking voice. Her nails were slowly sharpening, but she kept her grip loose on her weapons. She might need to swing them at any moment. "It's the Fourth Hokage's legacy that we're after."

The Fourth's legacy? He had left something behind apart from the giant face of his carved into the cliff side facing Konoha? Itachi couldn't be after that, right? There was Kakashi, the Fourth's only living student, but why would Itachi be after him?

"I swear if you're talking about Kakashi then that's just as bad as Sasuke. Except Kakashi's already been kidnapped, so good luck with that," Izumi said.

Itachi paused. "Kidnapped?"

"It's not Kakashi," Guy muttered to her.

Izumi frowned. "You know what he's after?"

"Yeah," Guy whispered. "You won't know, you would have been too young to remember, and honestly I only know because I kept challenging Kakashi, but Kakashi had been guarding the Fourth's legacy."

"Well, suppose this doesn't matter either way right now." Kisame eyed Itachi. "Are we going to have some fun here, Itachi?"

"No. Pull the plug," Itachi ordered. "We're not here to fight a full scale battle, as tempting as it might be, this is not the way we're handling this."

"Aww, but you're home after so long," Izumi sneered. "I was hoping to welcome you with open arms."

"And possibly a dagger to his back," Kisame laughed. "But that is a shame. This looked like it was getting interesting."

They both disappeared as puff of clouds. Izumi couldn't- No, she had to follow- Itachi was here where Sasuke was-

Izumi leapt out of the river and ran.

"Izumi!" Guy yelled. "Wait, don't go-"

She needed to kill Itachi Uchiha.

.::.

Naruto wasn't happy. He had been training with Sasuke and had finally gotten to treat him to breakfast (sort of), and now it was ruined by the Pervy Sage who asked to talk to him privately. The only good part was that the Pervy Sage was going to teach him a new jutsu. Sasuke had left the shop, so Naruto had left a note for Izumi and Sasuke with his favourite of all time ramen creator and happily followed the Pervy Sage out of Konoha. He had to admit, it was a little sad seeing Sasuke's empty seat by the time he returned to their breakfast, but Sasuke was probably off training again.

"You managed to find yourself quite the pretty date," Pervy Sage said as they trailed down the road. "Sorry for spoiling it."

"He's my teammate!" Naruto protested. "Besides, I didn't even get to pay for it. I couldn't find my free ramen tickets."

Pervy Sage groaned. "Really? That's not a way to treat a pretty Omega, Naruto. Sure, you're both young right now, but he's going to be a beautiful Omega that will attract plenty of Alphas, and probably Betas too. You really should try and show him you're a good Alpha."

A spike of dread hit Naruto, leaving him feel queasy, but he rolled his eyes. Sasuke wasn't interested in that kind of stuff.

Naruto scoffed. "Sasuke's not even into that kind of stuff! All he wants is to kill Itachi Uchiha."

Pervy Sage frowned. "I was hoping that wouldn't be the case still. Izumi and Kakashi said they were handling it."

Naruto rolled his eyes. "Why? We're all going to help Sasuke and beat the crap out of Itachi together. Me, Sasuke, Sakura and Kakashi sensei! That bastard better be scared-"

Pervy Sage's face hardened. "Itachi Uchiha is beyond any of you, even Kakashi, especially Kakashi right now in his condition."

"What is going to happen to Kakashi sensei? Do we have a team out right now? I was supposed to be on that team this time!" Naruto gasped. "Is this the mission? No, wait, you said we were off to find some woman... Kakashi sensei isn't a woman..."

"No, he's not," Pervy Sage sighed. "And right now Kakashi's hounds are trying to track him down. Who knows, we might even run into one of them on the road."

"Maybe we'll be the ones to find Kakashi sensei!" Naruto said brightly. "That would be amazing. He'd have no choice but to finally start training me-"

Pervy Sage groaned. "Kakashi's training style doesn't really suit you right now, kid."

"Eh?" Naruto whined. "But why? He's the best!"

"Kakashi's focus lies in a lot of chakra control, which is something your teammates, Sasuke and Sakura, are good at. Well, something Sakura excels at in fact. It's why I'm training you. I have ideas."

"Like this new jutsu you're going to show me?" Naruto grinned. "One that's even better than chidori?"

"Exactly!"

.::.

"You're sleeping again?"

Shikamaru opened an eye, and smirked at Sasuke. "Your observational skills are intact," he teased. "Yeah, nothing much else to do but sleep. Choji and I haven't been much help cleaning up Konoha."

"I broke a lot of stuff trying to fix things, and Shikamaru kept falling asleep," Choji admitted. "So Shikamaru and I are sitting out. What about you, Sasuke?"

"I was training with Naruto earlier. He offered to cover my food, but of course the moron lost his free ramen tickets." Sasuke rolled his eyes.

"Typical," Shikamaru sighed. "So, how's the search going for Kakashi sensei?"

Sasuke grimaced. "Izumi is in a meeting with some of the other jonin about it. Hopefully they'll get somewhere."

"I hope they find him. The stress can't be good for him or the baby," Choji said softly.

"Yeah, kinda sucks that the best tracker in Konoha was the one to get kidnapped." Shikamaru shook his head. "But I guess we can't do much about that-"

Choji let out a gasp. He and Sasuke blinked, but followed Choji's gaze over the roof and spotted Kiba handing a bouquet of flowers over to Hinata with a bright red face. Hinata flushed, equally red, but she looked pleased.

"That's so sweet!" Choji beamed. "Kiba's actually courting Hinata already?"

"Huh, never thought he'd be trying already," Shikamaru admitted. "Thought he'd still be causing trouble like the rest of us."

Sasuke snorted. "Must like Hinata a lot then. Not sure why, but then again, I don't know much about her. She was always so quiet."

"That's saying a lot coming from you," Shikamaru said dryly.

Hinata stammered, her fingers tapping together, and Kiba looked nervous, but he pointed to a cafe nearby, grinning hopefully, and yelled happily when Hinata nodded.

"Heck yeah!" Kiba cheered.

Sasuke rolled his eyes. "Urgh."

"I think it's sweet," Choji smiled.

Shikamaru was about to remark on that but something caught his eye. Asuma sensei covered in wounds and blood, was carrying Kurenai sensei into hospital, Guy sensei right on their heels. "Um, what the?"

Choji and Sasuke frowned at him, then faced the way he was looking.

"What's wrong?" Choji asked.

"Asuma sensei just carried Kurenai sensei into the hospital, and he looked pretty bad off too." Shikamaru frowned. "Let's go!"

Choji nodded sharply. "I have a way to get there quickly."

Before Shikamaru or Sasuke could protest, Choji used his expansion jutsu to belly whack them across the rooftops. Sasuke managed to land on his feet by the time they reached the ground, the Uchiha looked horrified having been sent soaring through the sky like that. But Shikamaru was used to it, and easily caught himself and landed on his feet beside Sasuke. Choji bounced from rooftop to rooftop until he landed beside them, groaning and swaying from the self inflicted dizziness.

"Who said I wanted to come along?" Sasuke scowled. "Especially like that!"

"Choji launches people through the air often," Shikamaru admitted. "You get used to it. Besides, wasn't there a lot of jonin at that meeting with Izumi? Shouldn't you be worried that something went wrong?"

Sasuke seemed to consider the point because he nodded and followed after them. Shikamaru, Choji and Sasuke sought out the jonin, and found Asuma and Guy watching over Kurenai in a private room. Their muffled conversation had gone abruptly quiet.

"You look like crap, Asuma sensei," Shikamaru said bluntly. "Did you get into a fight with that Tora cat or something?"

"Or something..." Asuma grumbled.

Footsteps raced into the room and the door slammed open. "Is it true?!" Aoba? Was it Aoba? Shikamaru wasn't sure. "Itachi Uchiha has returned and killed someone already?"

"Kurenai isn't dead, you dumbass!" Asuma snapped.

"And that he's come here to get Naruto?"

Shikamaru winced at the bloodthirsty and terrified scent that instantly smothered the room. He almost backed away from Sasuke, Sasuke who gained an almost crazed look in his eyes. Sasuke took off, but Shikamaru was on his heels, Choji right behind him.

"No! Stop!" Guy sensei yelled. "Not you too!"

Why the hell would Itachi Uchiha be after Naruto? Why the hell did he even come back here in the first place? Was he trying to fuck over Sasuke again or something by going after his teammates this time, or was this something else? Maybe something to do with that orange chakra Naruto had used during the exams? He had never seen anyone use something like that before, and Naruto was only a genin.

What the hell was going on?

They followed Sasuke to his house, but nobody was there. They went to Naruto's old apartment, but nobody again. They almost ran over Sakura who barely scrambled out the way, tackling Ino aside when Sasuke nearly stormed over her too. Choji blurted out an apology as they went. They went to Naruto's favourite ramen place where Sasuke and Naruto had been earlier, but the old man told them Naruto was out of town with the Sanin and handed Sasuke a note. Sakura yelled at them, and Shikamaru realised she was following, Ino right on her heels.

Great, it was like a genin field trip here. All after each other.

"You would think Naruto would be safe if he's with a Sanin!" Shikamaru insisted to Sasuke, who was still racing on ahead.

"I can't let Itachi kill him!" Sasuke snapped.

"Yeah, but we gotta think about this too-"

"Why are you even following me?"

"The squirt is one of us. Like hell I want some psycho trying to kidnap him!" Shikamaru scowled. "But we can't just charging in thinking we can defeat a serial killer."

"Izumi wasn't at home. He could have hurt her-" Sasuke stopped in his traps, frozen, before snapping out of it, the stench of absolute bitter fear pouring from him. He took off again. "No! No, he could have killed her like he did to everyone else. She told me he wouldn't-"

Shikamaru kept right on his heels. There was no way in hell he could just let Sasuke chase after Naruto alone, especially not so close to a mental breakdown. Choji whimpered, distressed by Sasuke's scent, but Shikamaru let his own calm sooth the Alpha pup's concern, and allowed his scent to brush over Sasuke too.

They were just going to have to deal with this in whatever way they could. But hopefully they could warn the sanin and get somewhere safe without anything happening.