Dusk Till Dawn

40

Her skill was so precise that Itachi watched in amazement as Sakura's body healed. Tsunade caught his look and spoke while she worked;

"Sakura's body is adapted to medical chakra anyway so it's just a case of allowing mine to heal what has been waiting to have the go ahead from her. In a way, her body heals itself and if she placed a seal such as the Genesis deal upon herself then she would most likely be fine by now. As it is, she has chosen the better option and decided against the seal... for now at least. She should be conscious in a few minutes."

Itachi waited until Tsunade's hands removed themselves from Sakura's body and she nodded in satisfaction.

"She'll be awake in a moment. Then you can handle all the questions she asks. I'm returning to the chakra circle for now, good luck."

Itachi's eyes followed Tsunade as she seated herself back in the centre of the room, hands forming a seal before her chakra flared. His eyes lingered a moment longer before he heard a change in Sakura's breathing pattern and looked down to see her eyes focusing on him.

Itachi knew that there would be some explaining he needed to do, as well as revealing that he was the bird... and how exactly everything had come to play. The first words out of Sakura's mouth, however, startled him into silence;

"Itachi, it's about time."

Even Tsunade looked up, her eyes wide in surprise. Sakura tested her leg, stretching the muscles out and dodging eye contact of the two shocked Shinobi. She nodded to herself, said her thanks to Tsunade, before emerald eyes finally looked into the dark confusion that plagued Itachi.

"I figured it out when Sasuke told me that you were innocent. Izumo and Kotetsu had told me that after we tried to find Sasuke, Naruto came back a little later than the rest of us... even when they hadn't seen him leave and no log had been made."

Sakura took a deep breath and Itachi glanced to Tsunade who sat with her bottom lip between her teeth. She glanced down at the ground before admitting,

"The Advisors wanted to keep Naruto here for good and I denied their whims. Instead they settled for tracking his entry and exit, in case anything should happen."

Itachi felt the heat of the Sharingan settle in his eyes as he realised that the very people who were part of manipulating him had wanted to do the same to Naruto. Instead of showing the emotion aggressively, however, Itachi put it away, storing it for a time when he could convert it into something useful.

"You were the bird weren't you? That's why you made Naruto call you Itachi... but you were dead. We had enough confirmation to say you were dead. What did Naruto do?"

Sakura's eyes were wide and Itachi pushed the hood down from his head, revealing his features to the room. He could see Sakura's eyes searching his face, no doubt comparing it to ANBU or Akatsuki pictures she had seen of him, aware that his face had softened now he was back home and wondered exactly how different he looked.

"It's not just a case of what Naruto did, the Kyuubi intervened."

The room's light darkened as Tsunade cut her chakra again, moving over to the pair. Itachi watched as she took another biscuit, rubbing her eye with one hand, and looked intently at the Uchiha.

"Do you know what that means, Itachi? I would have told you before but I remember saying that I didn't want to know how you came to be alive... Did Madara tell you anything about the habits of the Kyuubi?"

Itachi shook his head, feeling useless. It was a novel concept; it was always the world that had felt useless around Itachi. Here was something he not only didn't know, but had never thought about knowing.