Itachi walked patiently beside the clone of Katsuyu, studying Sakura's body as she lay unconscious on the slug. He guessed that Tsunade had wanted her to be taken directly to where she was so that she could fix Sakura up and that, in turn, would lead to Sakura being able to help others as she was the only competition that Tsunade would face in the field.
They arrived at one of the sub units to the interrogation area, a little way away from where Itachi knew the decoding team would be working. Katsuyu followed the trail of chakra that no doubt connected her to Tsunade and they finally turned into a room, Tsunade seated in the centre with four ANBU delegates around her.
"Dismissed," she said quietly yet one ANBU moved to speak, protesting at such an action and pointing out the stranger.
"He is Naruto's personal guard and I need to speak with him privately. I'm afraid that anything you heard, if you remained here, would result in your death and I am rather fond of the four of you."
The ANBU stiffened and Itachi could tell that their faces were blanched. Little did he know that Naruto had refused the very same ANBU, claiming that he already had a guard set up for him, and that they were more powerful and efficient than the ANBU cell could be, seeing as the ANBU had been thrown together in the last seconds before splitting the units off to aid against the Akatsuki.
They left with the promises of remaining outside the room, closing the door regretfully. Tsunade knew that they didn't trust Itachi but they had little else to do but obey her orders, she was the former Hokage after all.
"I see that you have returned then," she began stiffly, rising from her place in the centre of the room and sighing deeply. Tsunade walked over to the nearby table and took a biscuit from the surface, eating it quickly.
"I found Sakura amongst the Amaterasu that Sasuke had used and I plan to show him that not all actions need be used violently. It is clear that he blames Konoha and I can no longer allow him to abuse the powers that I worked hard for."
Tsunade's face was blank and Itachi lowered his eyes, knowing the silent question. Instead of remaining silent, he answered aloud;
"Naruto means more to me than Konoha and Sasuke would destroy him too if he felt it would achieve his goals. Naruto lives for Konoha and would not allow Sasuke to harm his village in any way."
Tsunade nodded, evidently happy with the answer that Itachi had spoken, and a wry grin overcame her lips,
"Konoha isn't all that he lives for, Itachi. You should know that. You know that Naruto doesn't display his emotions so readily and for him to willingly consummate the relationship between yourselves - oh come on, you don't think that I know when a relationship has changed? Think of my former team members - is a big step. Although he is unsure of what exactly love pertains, I think that our Naruto could just share his love for Konoha with an even greater love for Uchiha Itachi."
Itachi's eyes looked into Tsunade's and he shook his head a little,
"He doesn't deserve me. Do you need my help with Sakura?"
Tsunade nodded,
"I want you to be here when she wakes up to explain just how she got out of that mess. If you have to tell her the truth of your identity then so be it... if you want a true relationship with the Hokage then you better become accepting of being known again. Naruto is loved for who he is and you could be, if people knew the sacrifices you have made."
Itachi remained silent and still as Katsuyu allowed Tsunade to take Sakura from her, vanishing in a puff of smoke. Tsunade worked quickly to clear Sakura's lungs and sent her chakra to the medic's leg, not bothering to splint the leg straight first.
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.
"The Kyuubi is bound to your clan, I'm sure you guessed that from Madara's infatuation with the power the fox brings. The Kyuubi's chakra would respond to Madara - I have read accounts from the Shodai Hokage that muse upon this. Hashirama mentioned that the Kyuubi had been bonded to Madara, forcibly, and that the fox would have no choice but to serve that single Uchiha, rather than the clan itself."
Itachi nodded, eyes focused on the Godaime and drinking the information in.
"Somewhere along the line, most likely when the Kyuubi was sealed into Naruto, this connection was lost and it had only just been allowed to resurface. This time, however, there were two minds that could control who bonded to the chakra - the Kyuubi's and Naruto's. This meant that they both had to be in agreement and that the person they bonded to, or more correctly the Uchiha they bonded to, would have to be in a position where both of them wanted to help."
A light appeared in Itachi's head as he put two and two together;
"So the Kyuubi bonded itself... or its chakra to me? And Naruto was in agreement?"
Tsunade nodded, wiping the crumbs from the corners of her lips.
"As I said before, you mean more to him than you think. Now that Sakura's healed I think you should go show him how much you care."
Itachi nodded, pulling the hood back up. Just as he was about to leave, Tsunade called after him,
"Sakura will be accompanying you until you reach the hospital. Pass by the interrogation unit to see if they have uncovered any more leads too, we need every single upper hand that we can get against your former organisation."
Itachi nodded and Sakura stepped beside him, her face betraying none of the internal thoughts that had to be running through her head. Itachi respected her for that; it had to be tiring; facing against your former team member, having them leave you to die and then finding out one of the people you were never supposed to even think about fighting (for he had run on sight orders) was now on her side.
They walked from the room, passing the ANBU and informing them that Tsunade would accept them back. Sakura bowed to the team and, before Itachi bowed, they tilted their bodies to him. It was a gesture that showed Itachi as higher in rank than them - which, if he had been reinstated, he would be. Because here he was just Itachi, everything fell out of place for the briefest of moments. Sakura nudged him hesitantly and Itachi nodded his head, accepting the standard they had placed upon him.
"Why did they show so much respect?"
Sakura scoffed,
"What, you don't get it? They were sent from the room with assurances that you would be able to protect someone as important to Konoha as Tsunade. Without your skill being higher than theirs, Tsunade would never have suggested it... no matter who you were. They respect you because you won Tsunade's assurances and I'm sure she told them something about Naruto being your charge. Naruto refused that team as his guard, you know."
Itachi looked to Sakura and shook his head, his mouth opening to speak.
"Naruto said he already had a team, you know, the freaky team who go around in cloaks?"
A chuckle slipped from Itachi's throat before he could stop it and Sakura's mood lightened. The Uchiha had shown an emotion she was unfamiliar with from Sasuke, shown her that he was comfortable enough to enjoy the peace between them and so Sakura would reciprocate the favour.
"I lead that team now."
It was Sakura's turn to chuckle and she felt Itachi turn to her, questions brewing. In her head he made the perfect captain for the team she dubbed as freaky. Itachi was shrouded in such mystery that he deserved a sub name; Itachi the freaky.
Of course, Sakura would never say this to the Uchiha on fear of being glared to death. After all, even if Itachi was on their side now, she wouldn't want to cause any offence and Itachi would give as much as he got.
And it just so happened that he was of a much higher level than she.
Turning left, they came face to face with the door to the interrogation unit and Sakura wasted no time in entering, nodding to the assembled team as they sat around a table. It was evident that they were reviewing everything that they had found out and they turned to the newcomers.
Ino greeted Sakura with a smile and nod and Shikamaru merely glanced up, whispering to the woman beside him. She pushed her glasses back up the bridge of her nose and nodded, obviously agreeing to whatever it was the Nara heir had said.
There was an ANBU member in the room and Itachi suspected that there were others with the remainders of the group. It would be no doubt that Inoichi and Ibiki would be interrogating the people Jiraiya had handed them and there had to be another person (perhaps Nara Shikaku) working on the code... unless they had broken it already.
"Tsunade-sama sent us here to see if you had anything to report. Karasu-san here is off to help Naruto and we came to see if there was anything to pass on."
Itachi blinked at the use of his team's name to the group but realised that it made sense; they would reveal his identity at some point but to do so know would cause confusion and then the rate of work would slow.
Ino stood up and ran a hand through her hair, pushing her long fringe back to reveal the other side of her face.
"I don't know what I can tell you from our side, to be honest. He's a hard one to crack... whatever methods Pein used they have really worked. Shizune is leading the autopsy and she should be here any minute with their findings."
Sakura nodded and seated herself as Ino shuffled up. It wasn't long before the slightly tensed silence was broken by the arrival of Shizune and she shut the door behind her with a bang, causing everyone to look round. In her hand was a black object and she dumped it on the table in between the two sofas that everyone bar Itachi was seated upon.
"We've concluded that these are chakra transmitters, suitable for conducting and converting chakra that is sent to them. It's why Pein is allowed to use the Rinnegan for each body and why he can use them in pretty much tandem."
The group was silent before Itachi interrupted,
"And why there is a lag after he uses an attack. The chakra needs to build up again and be converted so that it can be used... but that doesn't exactly help us."
Shizune shook her head, a small smile on her face as she came to stand beside Itachi. Although she said nothing, Itachi felt a hand placed on his arm and the fingers tightened round his skin, showing her gratitude that he was back.
"Couple this with the information of the code; 'The real one isn't there', I think we can assume that Pein, or the real one, isn't among the ones that are here in Konoha."
Something was niggling in Itachi's brain at that thought but it was like grasping at water; it slid through his fingers and into the deep pool of his brain, lost until he forged a bucket to forcibly drag it out.
"So he's not actually there... or he's not in the group or he's controlling them like puppets?"
Shizune shrugged,
"That's not my job is it? I don't understand it fully but there has to be something we're missing. Like the bodies, didn't you say that you saw one of them dead in the memories of the Shinobi?"
Ino murmured in the affirmative before everyone lapsed back into silence. The ticking of a clock was the only sound before Itachi glanced around the room and turned,
"I'm going to find Naruto... I have to tell him something."
目
Naruto's steps fell heavier as he walked through the village, seeing his Shinobi either evacuating buildings or fighting against the wreckage that Sasuke's former team had caused. How did he know it wasn't Pein who had caused this damage? Simply because the man had promised they would fight outside of Konoha, and there was no point in wasting effort on something that you didn't want anyway. Naruto was the only thing the Rinnegan master wanted and now that he could obtain him, there was no need to lay siege to the village.
Sasuke, on the other hand, would no doubt be returning when Naruto was fully restrained. There were still two old fools to seek out on his behalf and Naruto hoped that, if worse came to worse and he was detained, Sasuke would be satisfied with the two deaths on his hands.
Somehow Naruto didn't think Sasuke would be satisfied until Konoha was rubble, just another wreckage caused by one of many wars.
A few Shinobi and Kunoichi stopped to pass a look at their Hokage, worry filling their eyes at the sight of Pein and Uchiha Sasuke flanking him yet Naruto bowed his head, a glint in his eye. The passing ninja would smile wryly before nodding in return, confidence restored in their Hokage and that he would be able to take on the Akatsuki without a hitch.
"So I noticed earlier that you named the failure of the Amaterasu as another failure of Sasuke's... may I enquire as to what the predecessors were?"
Sasuke glared at Naruto and Naruto smiled. Pein looked sideways at the blond and decided that maybe it wouldn't be so bad to indulge him on this small snippet. He probably knew of the reason anyway.
"The Hachibi no Oushi was to be collected by Sasuke and it seems the Jinchuuriki managed to work in a very close tandem to the ox, avoiding capture."
Naruto chuckled,
"Of course, though it seems odd you would come for me instead of going back to get the eight tails."
Naruto's consciousness sparked as he spoke of Bumble Bee, and he knew that the fellow Jinchuuriki had 'tuned' into their connection. It was without doubt that he would feel the presence of Akatsuki and Naruto hoped that Bee wouldn't get the wrong idea.
"Have you been in contact with the Hachibi? You didn't seem surprised to hear of the failure."
Naruto shook his head,
"It's not that but I personally wouldn't have sent Sasuke. It's clear that he is nothing like Itachi and Itachi always completed a mission. Sasuke would obviously do the opposite, wouldn't he? It seems to be the running theme."
Sasuke clenched his fist as Naruto's dirty mouth spoke of his brother and Naruto's eyes lazily tracked the movement.
"Getting stressed over a few words? It seems Itachi's death took quite a lot out of the old Uchiha pride then."
As Sasuke's teeth clenched together and his jaw worked in the process of beginning to speak, Pein cut into the conversation.
"Of course Naruto would know everything about Itachi, wouldn't he? Maybe you should focus less on the dead and more on the people who will be the ones to put you in your grave."
Naruto's eyes moved upwards to stare straight into Pein's and a look of pure hatred was shot his way. They stepped through the boundaries that marked Konoha's giant gates and Naruto pointed off into the woods.
"We'll fight there."
Pein nodded before raising a hand. In one moment, five other bodies surrounded him and Sasuke raised a hand to his eyes in order to shield them from the dust that had been stirred up by their arrival. Naruto blinked away the dust, determined to keep his composure as calm as Pein had his.
"Well then, Naruto, where are your precious guards? Or will you stand alone knowing that you'll be defeated?"
Naruto walked off, making his way into the dense foliage of the forest. Instead of replying he ran at a moderate pace, checking to see if Pein was following. Upon seeing the orange haired group, Naruto smiled and picked up his pace a little, knowing very well where he would be at an advantage, especially if Itachi should join him later.
Slowing to a walk once the trees thinned and ended, Naruto rounded to see the group arrive. As expected, none of them were winded yet Naruto took particular pleasure in seeing the widening eyes of Sasuke as he realised where Naruto had brought them.
"Brings back a few memories doesn't it?"
Sasuke's eyes traced around the Valley of the End before finally settling on the huge statue of Madara.
"Does it bear any resemblance to the man himself? I'm sure he took that mask off to see you..."
Sasuke snapped his attention back to Naruto, his eyes whirling with the Mangekyou. A low whistle escaped Naruto's mouth and he grinned,
"That's pretty snazzy, if I do say so myself."
Sasuke moved to strike yet Pein intercepted with a single arm, holding the Uchiha back.
"Sasuke, he's mine."
As soon as Sasuke had stepped two paces back, two of the paths moved forwards, sending Naruto skidding onto the water. Naruto closed his eyes with a smile as he noticed one of the trees nearby ruffle and spun his body round on the surface of the water, arms spreading wide as two huge torrents in the form of dragons rose up and smashed into the two paths that had begun the assault.
Although they had not destroyed the bodies, or harmed them even, it was a signal of the very reason Naruto had needed the vast water body; for, out of the shadows, stepped one darkly cloaked figure and Naruto smirked, teeth glinting as his eyes sought the familiarity of Itachi's eyes in the darkness of his hood.
目
Since leaving the interrogation block, Itachi's thoughts had been in turmoil. Everything had finally clicked and he realised how offhand comments could mean so much. Once, a long time ago, Madara had commented that he was going to check upon Pein, when Pein had just left the room. The exact words had been muttered;
"I'm going to check on him," and he had walked out of the opposite door.
It made sense, finally, to Itachi. It was clear that something had been missing before and now, now they had a way to finally defeat Pein.
It was clear from the message Jiraiya had left behind and the chakra transmitters that 'Pein' was just six bodies, not even the God Path being the true Pein. They were all receivers and, for some reason, the God Path had been the favoured one out of all of them.
He understood it; there was the real Pein, who probably wasn't even called that, who was somewhere in the network of wrought iron that was the Akatsuki's main base in Amegakure. He was transmitting his chakra into six bodies, swapping them if any harm came to them and placing each ring of the Rinnegan into each. It was why they all had specific jobs, and why there was a time lag.
If there was ever a moment that Itachi wished non-Namikaze clan members could learn the Hiraishin no Jutsu, it would be now. There was never a more urgent time to reach Naruto than now and it didn't take Itachi long to find the trail they had followed.
Nearing the Valley of the End, Itachi couldn't stop the smile that was brought to his lips. He knew Sasuke would be with them and knew that he would be taking him on again, seeking to disable rather than get himself killed this time, and he knew that Naruto would be able to wreak havoc on Pein, especially if this new intelligence was given.
Hearing the familiar sounds of a battle starting, Itachi's Sharingan flickered instinctively and he moved through the last of the trees, his hands forming the long chain of seals to activate a Jutsu he was only partially familiar with; Suiton: Suiryūdan no Jutsu. As planned, twin dragons raised from the water on either side of Naruto and each slammed into a path, knocking them from their course.
Stepping calmly from the trees, Itachi stood a little to the side of Sasuke, waiting for the acknowledgement Naruto would show him, if the small smile on his face was anything to go by.
"Forgive me for my late intrusion, Hokage-sama, but I had to see Sakura-san to the hospital so she could continue her work."
A grin spread over Itachi's face as Sasuke stiffened. As always, the elder brother knew how to irritate the younger and even Naruto found some amusement from the situation. Moving swiftly past the Paths that blocked the way, Itachi stood by Naruto's side, close enough to whisper his message;
"He's not with them; these are just bodies that are disposable. To get the real one we would have to go to the Akatsuki base."
Stepping back and nodding to the enemy, Itachi reached a hand inside of his cloak and loosened the cork to the gourd of sake he had at his hip. Inside, contained in the sake, was the sword of Totsuka and he would rather the process of unleashing the legendary weapon be smooth and quick, rather than wasting time.
A sideways glance to Naruto showed that he was mulling over what Itachi had just said. It was only when he pushed the sleeve up his arm to reveal the white fox that he seemed to make a decision, nodding to Itachi.
It was now that the real fight had begun; Pein against Naruto and Sasuke unknowingly facing Itachi.
And Itachi vowed that he would never let Naruto fall, even if it would cost him his life.