The Last Namikaze

Chapter 25) Jinchūriki hunt

Akari was trying to figure out where she might find Han, a stone ninja who was the five tails jinchūriki . She was reading reports in the living room and she looked up anxiously, ready to run and hide if it was Deidara and Sasori again. Ever since that night in the hotel they'd been lacking personal space... well Deidara had been. Sasori just became more moody when she didn't express the desire to do it again right away. Sure it'd been fun, amazingly fun, but there were three things holding her back. The first was that she wanted to take things slow and having two men on the same night had been a bit much for her. The second was that she didn't have any particularly strong feelings for either of them. The final reason was that the Akatsuki had a rule. A new member, once they'd had sex with one of the others was required to have it with all of them to make things fair. She wasn't quite ready for that.. Not sure if she ever would be. Technically she wasn't supposed to sleep with them again until she'd been with the others. When the door opened and Itachi and Kisame came in she let out a relieved sigh.

"Tachi, Kisa!" She said happily, momentarily closing her reading material and then more fully taking in the sight in front of her. Itachi looked more worn than usual. "What happened?"

"Just overused my eyes."

"But why?"

"We almost had the nine tails." Kisame supplied. "But that Sanin got in the way."

"Oh!" I wonder which one. Safe to say not Orochimaru.   "Is there anything I can do to help?" They'd come closer and she focused her healing abilities in her hands, bringing them up to Itachi's eyes. As always there wasn't much she could do and Kisame took Itachi upstairs to rest. The following day, when Itachi was feeling slightly better, the two decided to go out for dango. Her treat, after he'd been through so much. They were joking and laughing, enjoying an uncommonly sunny day in the Rain Village.

"Yuri-" Itachi began, looking oddly unsettled.

"What's up?"

"Well.." Suddenly they were standing together in a blank area, just white as far as could be seen.

"Genjutsu, but why? Shouldn't you be being nice to your eyes?"

With a deep breath Itachi explained that he felt he owed her, out of everyone, an explanation. He explained to her why he'd killed the Uchiha clan and how Danzo had manipulated the third hokage's decisions as well as stolen an eye from Shisui. Itachi explained that he'd wanted to save more than Sasuke but that everyone in the village was in on the coup d'etat. Even Haru, who'd been a reasonable person, had committed fully to the coup. He had hated the Hokage since the day Akari had been sent away. He'd wanted to save his girlfriend and parents and so many people, but it hadn't been possible. Itachi also explained about the masked man who'd helped him who he believed to be Madara Uchiha. Based on his description it sounded to her like Tobi. Like Obito. She kept this thought to herself. He shared his plan to allow Sasuke to one day kill him and then stopped, breathing hard as though these words had been trying to escape for a long time.

"You're really alright with us hunting your brother, Akari?"

"There's nothing I can do about it." She frowned. "But after the extraction, could you please do me a favor?"

"What is it?"

"Don't kill him."

"He will die from the extraction."

"No.. no. Uzumakis don't die from it. We have enough chakra not to - it's why my mother was chosen to be a jinchūriki . When the time comes I'll ask Konan to heal him.  Please, just allow him to live afterwards and don't maim him." Itachi's eyes were wide with shock but he nodded his agreement. The genjutsu disbanded and Akari smiled, changing the subject to something lighter. "Now, about these songs you owe me..."