The Alliance of Fire and Wind (17/?), Naruto, R to NC-17
THE ALLIANCE OF FIRE AND WIND
AUTHOR: fantasylover12001
RATING: R to NC-17
DISCLAIMER: I do not own Naruto. Otherwise this wouldn’t be called fanfiction and I would be making some money off of it; which I’m not.
PAIRING: SasuNaruSasu and many others
WARNINGS: see first/previous chapters and don’t say Ididn’t warn you.
AUTHOR NOTES: Sorry for massive delay, real life got in the way and then the school's internet service decided to shut down last week (grr). Thank you to all who reviewed the last chapter. I hope you enjoy this chapter (it was a pain to write) and please review!
CHAPTER 17:
Two Weeks later and Two Days travel from the City of Konoha,
Naruto squirmed impatiently on the top of his horse who snorted at him. ‘God it’s so BORING’ he thought, but didn’t voice out loud because he knew Sasuke wouldn’t appreciate it. The man would glare at him like the last few times he had mentioned the feeling. ‘Why did I have to get stuck with the most non-sociable man on the planet?’ he thought mournfully. Naruto was a sociable creature by nature and having no one to talk too for these past two weeks except for Sasuke was starting to get to him.
He tried talking to Sasuke like he did with Iruka but it just didn’t work. Sasuke would give simple monosyllabic answers, or simply not answer at all. Usually this was fine for Naruto, after getting the answers he wanted, or chatting to fill up the companionable silence the two of them often had, he could go and talk to other people or find other things to amuse himself. But the problem with being in the middle of a forest was that there was no one else to go and find. He was sorely missing his sensei right now.
Still, he had to admit it wasn’t so bad traveling with Sasuke. The two of them had sort of reached an understanding in Kaze, and as they traveled together, that understanding grew. It was no where near the friendship the two once had but the two got along much better now and Naruto even felt comfortable enough to tease Sasuke like he used too. Still...a part of him was sad that it appeared that they would never have the old bond they shared. This new...thing...between them was different. He wasn’t sure if Sasuke felt this odd new bond that was starting to form between them, but he sure as hell did and wasn’t sure if he liked it or not.
To distract himself from thinking about it, Naruto decided to start a conversation. “Hey, Sasuke?”
Sasuke sighed, “Yes?”
“What’s Konoha like?”
The man shrugged. “A lot like Kaze, actually; though it’s a lot bigger.”
“Do you know why it’s called the ‘the city hidden in the leaves’?” Naruto asked curiously.
Sasuke snorted. “It’s hardly hidden as everyone knows where it is, but my guess would be because it’s in a large valley and surrounded by forests.”
“What are the people like?” Naruto pressed. He knew from experience that if you didn’t keep Sasuke talking, he would just keep quiet.
“Pretty much like every other person around. However, since a majority of the population are Shinobi, there are quite a few eccentric ones.”
“Like who?”
Sasuke rolled his eyes. “If I described all of them, you probably would be scared to set foot in the city. Lets just say that Kakashi is considered almost normal there.”
Naruto’s eyes widened. “No way.”
“Hard to believe, huh?”
The blond nodded as he tried to imagine the people who could make Kakashi look normal. He wondered if everyone there wore masks over their mouths too...Needless to say, he was preoccupied with this until they went to make camp for the night.
SasuNaruSasu
Later that night as they made camp, Sasuke tended their fire and glanced over at Naruto, now sound asleep in his sleep mat. Since it was just the two of them, they decided to forego the tents for the rest of the trip since they just made more work anyway. He was currently on first watch and would be waking up Naruto in a few hours.
Naruto suddenly snorted in his sleep and rolled over, muttering, “More ramen, please.”
Sasuke raised an eyebrow at that and then shook his head in slight amusement. ‘At least some things about him haven’t changed,’ he thought. One thing that had become more apparent to him in these past few weeks was just how much Naruto had grown up. Oh, there were still some immature parts about him that would likely always be there, but Naruto had grown up. Unlike his younger self, he realized when Sasuke needed to be left alone with his thoughts. Of course, that didn’t stop him from babbling constantly still, but he did that mostly to fill silence and honestly didn’t expect Sasuke to talk back. Though he couldn’t help but wonder if Naruto realized his babble gave away his maturity; probably not, knowing him.
Despite appearances, Sasuke did actually listen to Naruto’s babble and found it not only pleasant to listen too (strangely enough) but very informative at times. The blond babbled about anything that came to his mind at the time. Sometimes he informed Sasuke about what had been going on in Wind Palace since he’d been gone; other times it was observations about mutual people that they knew; and sometimes he told Sasuke about the various things he learned about from his precious books. It was an interesting insight to the blond’s mind and personality and Sasuke found himself more and more interested in hearing Naruto’s opinions and tales. He even found himself encouraging Naruto to talk by asking things.
He was, for the first time in a long while, actually ENJOYING someone’s companionship. It was an odd feeling, and he wasn’t quite sure what to make of it, or the odd stirrings in his chest when Naruto smiled at him or was close. What he did know was that he wasn’t dreading this union as much as he had at first; in fact, he found himself liking the idea of having an excuse to be near Naruto more and more. He frowned over at the man, ‘I knew you were going to make things more complicated...’
SasuNaru
Sasuke sighed as he watched Naruto count out all his books. “I’m sure they’re all there, Dobe.”
Naruto stuck out his tongue at the nickname. “No! I’m missing one! I know it!”
Glancing at the pile, he couldn’t help but wonder how the blond could tell, but kept silent. “We’re wasting time.”
“Oh relax, would you?” Naruto said, studying his pile of books. “We’ll be in Konoha soon.”
Sasuke started to reply but then froze when he felt a familiar chakra nearby; then just as he was about to shout out a warning to Naruto, he saw something whiz by and head straight for the blond. Without even thinking he ran forward and tackled the other to the ground, shielding him with his body. He grimaced when something sharp pierced his back, but otherwise made no sound; he didn’t want to give Itachi the satisfaction.
“Hey, what’s going on?” Naruto said from under him. “What’d you push me for?” Then he gasped and Sasuke knew he saw the wound. “Sasuke?” he asked, in a small voice.
He tried to smile reassuringly at the blond and slowly got up. “I’m all right; it’s not that serious.” All right, so it was a bald faced lie. With any luck, he could get Naruto to escape this place before he passed out from the blood loss.
Judging from his frown, Naruto didn’t believe him one bit. But before the blond could say anything, Itachi decided to show himself. Sasuke quickly got in front of Naruto, or as quickly as he could move with a kunai knife jutting out of his shoulder blade anyway. He heard Naruto suck in his breath sharply and winced because now the blond had a good view of all the blood that he felt pouring down his back.
“That was quite careless of you, little brother,” Itachi said, looking down at the two of them from a tree branch. “I thought you had better sense then to get in front of a kunai, or at least knew how to dodge one properly.”
“Shut up,” Sasuke gritted out; trying to push down the sense of helplessness as he tried to think of a way to get Naruto and himself to safety with himself injured. Unfortunately, dealing with the pain from the wound at the same time, made it quite hard to do so. Then to his horror, he started to lose focus. ‘Damn it! I should be stronger then this!’ Then he sniffed the air and frowned when he smelled the poison that was no doubt coming from the tip of the knife. If it was the poison he was thinking of, it wasn’t lethal, but it quickly made a person lose consciousness no matter how much they tried to resist. It was a good one to use when you wanted to get an opponent out of the way quickly.
He glared up at his so-called brother, “Poison? Sinking a little low aren’t we?” Behind him he heard Naruto say in alarm, “Poison?!”
Itachi shrugged nonchalantly, “I don’t feel like killing you just yet, little brother, but you would no doubt force me too right now when all I want to do is talk with little Naruto here.”
“Like hell I’ll talk to you, bastard!” Naruto burst out behind him. Had he not been fighting to stay awake, Sasuke would have smiled a little at that.
Itachi looked disdainfully down at the blond. “Must you be so loud? You don’t even know what it is I want to talk to you about.”
“Whatever it is, I’m not interested,” Naruto said firmly.
Itachi smirked, “You assume I’m going to give you a choice on the matter.”
Sasuke drew out his sword. “You’re assuming I’m going to even let you have the chance to talk to him.”
His brother shook his head. “Still so stubborn even when you’re about to lose consciousness. You haven’t changed a bit.”
As much as he hated to admit it, Itachi was right. His vision was once again starting to blacken and his grip on his sword wasn’t as firm as it should have been. ‘Damn it! I can’t just let him harm Naruto!’ he thought as he felt his body give out and inwardly cursed whoever came up with the poison currently invading his body.
Naruto’s worried voice and blue eyes were the last thing he saw and heard as he blacked out.
SasuNaru
Naruto hurried to Sasuke’s side the minute the man collapsed and felt the beginnings of panic well up. ‘What now? What am I supposed to do?’ A million ideas whirled around his brain as he tried to think up a way to get them both to safety.
“Well, now we can finally get down to business,” Itachi said and Naruto blinked when he jumped to the ground. The blond grabbed the sword Sasuke had dropped, got in front of the unconscious man, and held it confidently in front of him.
“Stay back!” he spat out.
Unfortunately it didn’t have the effect he had hoped; Itachi merely looked at him in amusement. “Just what do you think you’re going to do with that, boy?”
“Make sure you don’t hurt Sasuke again,” Naruto said.
Itachi rolled his eyes, “I have no interest in my little brother right now. Now the one I wish to speak with is you; haven’t I been saying that?”
“What do you want?” Naruto asked cautiously. ‘Maybe if I just let him speak, he’ll let us go. Doubtful, but worth a shot.’
“Boy, do you have any idea what exactly you are?” Itachi asked, catching him by surprise.
Naruto looked at him confusedly. “A Carrier?”
Itachi sighed, “Yes, you’re that; meaning you’re a half demon. Don’t you realize what that means?”
Naruto shook his head, looking at him warily.
“I suppose you wouldn’t. Those old fools at the palace never did realize what power they had at their fingertips. You are the only son of the nine-tail fox demon Kyuubi, therefore, you inherited her power as well as the power of your father, Lord Arashi from the Fire Kingdom. I wager with some proper training you’d be quite the opponent.”
Naruto stared at him. ‘What? How does he know who my parents are? Iruka-sensei didn’t even know where I came from!’ “How do you know this?” he demanded.
Itachi shrugged. “When I first met you at the palace while visiting Sasuke, I became intrigued by the Chakra levels you kept producing without realizing it. I did some digging around and the council has your complete record in the palace archives; not to mention lousy security.”
He frowned at Itachi. “If this is true, then why are you so interested?”
“In a few months, this country is going to be thrown into a war,” Itachi said bluntly. “Konoha and the four countries are going to be under new leadership and run by powerful men and women. I’m offering you a chance to be one of those people in power.”
Naruto stared at him. “What?”
“Come on. Aren’t you tired of the way you’re treated? You have no say in your destiny; your life more or less belongs to my brother now, and I’m sure you of all people know what a difficult person he is to live with. With all that potential of yours it is quite a waste, don’t you agree?”
The blond snorted. “I suppose you want to use my ‘potential’ is that it? Well, forget it. I’d rather die then fight along side you.”
Itachi smirked. “Again, you assume I’m giving you a choice on the matter.” Suddenly he charged straight at Naruto, who barely managed to deflect his attack in time. Itachi raised an eyebrow when he was pushed back by Chakra and then charged forward again.
Naruto frantically dodged and deflected his blows, trying to keep Itachi from the unconscious Sasuke as well as trying to stay alive; all the while forming a plan of escape in his mind.
Itachi paused in his attacks to study the blond in what Naruto thought was slight surprise. “You’ve been trained in combat.”
The blond smirked. “Of course. You forget who Iruka-Sensei was before he became my guardian. I’m not just trained in combat either.” He then let out a series of whistles and Chidori and his horse both suddenly broke into a run. Being Shinobi-trained horses they would head towards Konoha like they had been trained to do. Sasuke had taught him the whistle earlier just in case of emergencies like this. Itachi watched the horses run off with a raised eyebrow and by the time he looked back at Naruto, the blond had knelt beside Sasuke and had started making hand gestures.
Itachi’s eyes widened and he started to run towards the blond but he was too late. Wind started to swirl around the two figures and powerful Chakra blocked him from going further. The man stared in shock (or as much shock as he allowed to show on his face) as symbols started to appear on the ground and a shadow appeared under the blond and his brother and then grew and morphed into a towering figure lifting the two of them high above the forest treetops. When the wind finally cleared the two of them were on top of a humongous brown toad.
The toad glanced around the forest in confusion. “Hmm? What the hell am I doing here? Naruto, you brat! This is your doing isn’t it? Where are you?”
Naruto, though a little winded from the Summoning Jutsu, couldn’t help but smile. “Hey, Gamabunto, I’m up here.”
Gamabunto scowled. “Brat, what have I told you about summoning me? Who’s that with you? I don’t give free rides! You’re bad enough!”
The blond sighed. “I know, but this is an emergency! Sasuke needs to get to a hospital! Do you know the way to Konoha?”
“Yeah, sure. Hey, who’s that down there?”
Naruto blinked and glanced down to see Itachi staring up at the two of them through the trees with an unreadable expression on his face. ‘Why isn’t he attacking?’ the blond thought curiously but decided not to knock it. “Never mind. Go!”
“Since you’re obviously worried about your little boyfriend I’ll take that as a request,” Gamabunto grumbled and then with one giant leap was miles away from where they were. Naruto used Chakra to ground himself and Sasuke and on the way worked on Sasuke’s wound as best he could. He got the kunai knife out of his shoulder, and used parts of his tunic to block the blood that started to pour out; unfortunately he only had the basic knowledge of healing and limited sources so his best hope was that they got to the hospital before the would got too serious. In the back of his mind he wondered why Itachi didn’t just follow and attack on the way but decided not to dwell on it and be thankful.
He looked down at Sasuke’s head, now resting his lap and huddled protectively over the man’s form. “You’ll be alright, Sasuke. I promise,” he murmured softly, pushing back black strands of hair gently.
An hour into their journey, Gamabunto finally spoke directly to him, “This Sasuke wouldn’t happen to be the same Sasuke Uchiha you wouldn’t shut up about earlier would it?”
Naruto had the grace to blush as he remembered the rants he got into about his friend in the early days of his absance. “Yes,” he said; then glanced down at the for once peaceful face. “And no. It’s a bit complicated.”
Gamabunto snorted. “Things usually are with you humans. I don’t even want to know what you’re doing this far out of Wind Country. Probably causing trouble again.”
The blond smiled a little. “I missed you too, Gambato,” he said teasingly, knowing it would make the proud toad grumble even more.
“Shut up.”
SasuNaruSasu
Kiba Inuzuka hated patrol. It was an annoying pain on his side and boring to boot. He was someone who craved action and hated silence so it was really no wonder why this was his most hated part of being a Shinobi.
“Will you stop fidgeting?” Shino Aburame asked from the post next to his.
“But I’m bored!” he said, not caring if it sounded like he was whining. If he cared about his dignity he would have stopped hanging out with his friends a long time ago.
“I swear, you’re three years old sometimes,” his glass wearing friend muttered.
Akamaru’s sudden barking saved Shino from his reply. “What is it, boy?” the brown haired man said, suddenly sounding more like the trained Shinobi he was.
“Something’s out there,” Shino muttered, looking over the tall wall they were on top of into the surrounding forest area. The two of them peered over the wall and Kiba then felt it: an enormous Chakra signal heading straight for them.
He let out a low whistle. “That’s some power. You think it’s Uchiha? He’s supposed to be coming here with that fiancé of his in a few days right?”
Shino frowned. “Uchiha’s never given off this kind of Chakra before...it’s different from his. It’s almost like Gaara’s...”
“That’s because it’s Uchiha’s fiancé,” a voice came from behind them and Kiba jumped and glared at Neji Hyuuga.
“Don’t DO that!” he said. Neji just looked at him disdainfully and looked out at the forest. ‘Arrogant ass,’ he thought. ‘I still can’t believe he and Hinata are related.’‘Something tells me things are about to get more interesting around here.’
SasuNaruSasu
Itachi watched from a safe distance as the giant toad landed in front of the gates of Konoha
“You let the brat escape awful quickly,” Kisame said, appearing behind him.
Itachi shrugged. “I told him what I wanted. Now all I have to do is wait for him to grow bored in that city.”
“What makes you think he will?”
“He’s part demon. It’s in his nature to be restless. The more my brother tries to control him, the more he’ll rebel. Soon he’ll grow tired of being protected and leave the city and when he does, he’ll be mine.”
“If you say so,” Kisame said, his voice doubtful.
Itachi chose to ignore the doubt. The man did not see how his brother interacted with the blond when they were younger or been watching the blond closely over the last few years. All he needed to do was wait for the two to clash again and then he could take the blond’s power; willingly or not.
END PART I
TO BE CONTINUED...
AUTHOR NOTES: Finally done. I meant to have this out about two weeks earlier but schoolwork got in the way (five weeks until college graduation!) Plus writing action scenes always takes me a little longer then usual anyway because it’s not my forte.
NOTE ON FIC: I’ve decided that this fic is going to broken up into three parts. The first part was obviously their journey to Konoha as well as trying to get to know one another again. The second part will consist of mostly life in Konoha as well as more developments on what Itachi was talking about, and then hopefully part three will tie everything (including their relationship) up. It will still be all archived as one fic so as not to confuse anybody. Each part will average from fifteen to twenty chapters depending on how things go for each which was why I was thinking it was going to be fifty plus chapters. So God knows when this thing is going to be done. I just realized it’s been almost a year since I’ve started this already.
AUTHOR: fantasylover12001
RATING: R to NC-17
DISCLAIMER: I do not own Naruto. Otherwise this wouldn’t be called fanfiction and I would be making some money off of it; which I’m not.
PAIRING: SasuNaruSasu and many others
WARNINGS: see first/previous chapters and don’t say Ididn’t warn you.
AUTHOR NOTES: Sorry for massive delay, real life got in the way and then the school's internet service decided to shut down last week (grr). Thank you to all who reviewed the last chapter. I hope you enjoy this chapter (it was a pain to write) and please review!
CHAPTER 17:
Two Weeks later and Two Days travel from the City of Konoha,
Naruto squirmed impatiently on the top of his horse who snorted at him. ‘God it’s so BORING’ he thought, but didn’t voice out loud because he knew Sasuke wouldn’t appreciate it. The man would glare at him like the last few times he had mentioned the feeling. ‘Why did I have to get stuck with the most non-sociable man on the planet?’ he thought mournfully. Naruto was a sociable creature by nature and having no one to talk too for these past two weeks except for Sasuke was starting to get to him.
He tried talking to Sasuke like he did with Iruka but it just didn’t work. Sasuke would give simple monosyllabic answers, or simply not answer at all. Usually this was fine for Naruto, after getting the answers he wanted, or chatting to fill up the companionable silence the two of them often had, he could go and talk to other people or find other things to amuse himself. But the problem with being in the middle of a forest was that there was no one else to go and find. He was sorely missing his sensei right now.
Still, he had to admit it wasn’t so bad traveling with Sasuke. The two of them had sort of reached an understanding in Kaze, and as they traveled together, that understanding grew. It was no where near the friendship the two once had but the two got along much better now and Naruto even felt comfortable enough to tease Sasuke like he used too. Still...a part of him was sad that it appeared that they would never have the old bond they shared. This new...thing...between them was different. He wasn’t sure if Sasuke felt this odd new bond that was starting to form between them, but he sure as hell did and wasn’t sure if he liked it or not.
To distract himself from thinking about it, Naruto decided to start a conversation. “Hey, Sasuke?”
Sasuke sighed, “Yes?”
“What’s Konoha like?”
The man shrugged. “A lot like Kaze, actually; though it’s a lot bigger.”
“Do you know why it’s called the ‘the city hidden in the leaves’?” Naruto asked curiously.
Sasuke snorted. “It’s hardly hidden as everyone knows where it is, but my guess would be because it’s in a large valley and surrounded by forests.”
“What are the people like?” Naruto pressed. He knew from experience that if you didn’t keep Sasuke talking, he would just keep quiet.
“Pretty much like every other person around. However, since a majority of the population are Shinobi, there are quite a few eccentric ones.”
“Like who?”
Sasuke rolled his eyes. “If I described all of them, you probably would be scared to set foot in the city. Lets just say that Kakashi is considered almost normal there.”
Naruto’s eyes widened. “No way.”
“Hard to believe, huh?”
The blond nodded as he tried to imagine the people who could make Kakashi look normal. He wondered if everyone there wore masks over their mouths too...Needless to say, he was preoccupied with this until they went to make camp for the night.
SasuNaruSasu
Later that night as they made camp, Sasuke tended their fire and glanced over at Naruto, now sound asleep in his sleep mat. Since it was just the two of them, they decided to forego the tents for the rest of the trip since they just made more work anyway. He was currently on first watch and would be waking up Naruto in a few hours.
Naruto suddenly snorted in his sleep and rolled over, muttering, “More ramen, please.”
Sasuke raised an eyebrow at that and then shook his head in slight amusement. ‘At least some things about him haven’t changed,’ he thought. One thing that had become more apparent to him in these past few weeks was just how much Naruto had grown up. Oh, there were still some immature parts about him that would likely always be there, but Naruto had grown up. Unlike his younger self, he realized when Sasuke needed to be left alone with his thoughts. Of course, that didn’t stop him from babbling constantly still, but he did that mostly to fill silence and honestly didn’t expect Sasuke to talk back. Though he couldn’t help but wonder if Naruto realized his babble gave away his maturity; probably not, knowing him.
Despite appearances, Sasuke did actually listen to Naruto’s babble and found it not only pleasant to listen too (strangely enough) but very informative at times. The blond babbled about anything that came to his mind at the time. Sometimes he informed Sasuke about what had been going on in Wind Palace since he’d been gone; other times it was observations about mutual people that they knew; and sometimes he told Sasuke about the various things he learned about from his precious books. It was an interesting insight to the blond’s mind and personality and Sasuke found himself more and more interested in hearing Naruto’s opinions and tales. He even found himself encouraging Naruto to talk by asking things.
He was, for the first time in a long while, actually ENJOYING someone’s companionship. It was an odd feeling, and he wasn’t quite sure what to make of it, or the odd stirrings in his chest when Naruto smiled at him or was close. What he did know was that he wasn’t dreading this union as much as he had at first; in fact, he found himself liking the idea of having an excuse to be near Naruto more and more. He frowned over at the man, ‘I knew you were going to make things more complicated...’
SasuNaru
Sasuke sighed as he watched Naruto count out all his books. “I’m sure they’re all there, Dobe.”
Naruto stuck out his tongue at the nickname. “No! I’m missing one! I know it!”
Glancing at the pile, he couldn’t help but wonder how the blond could tell, but kept silent. “We’re wasting time.”
“Oh relax, would you?” Naruto said, studying his pile of books. “We’ll be in Konoha soon.”
Sasuke started to reply but then froze when he felt a familiar chakra nearby; then just as he was about to shout out a warning to Naruto, he saw something whiz by and head straight for the blond. Without even thinking he ran forward and tackled the other to the ground, shielding him with his body. He grimaced when something sharp pierced his back, but otherwise made no sound; he didn’t want to give Itachi the satisfaction.
“Hey, what’s going on?” Naruto said from under him. “What’d you push me for?” Then he gasped and Sasuke knew he saw the wound. “Sasuke?” he asked, in a small voice.
He tried to smile reassuringly at the blond and slowly got up. “I’m all right; it’s not that serious.” All right, so it was a bald faced lie. With any luck, he could get Naruto to escape this place before he passed out from the blood loss.
Judging from his frown, Naruto didn’t believe him one bit. But before the blond could say anything, Itachi decided to show himself. Sasuke quickly got in front of Naruto, or as quickly as he could move with a kunai knife jutting out of his shoulder blade anyway. He heard Naruto suck in his breath sharply and winced because now the blond had a good view of all the blood that he felt pouring down his back.
“That was quite careless of you, little brother,” Itachi said, looking down at the two of them from a tree branch. “I thought you had better sense then to get in front of a kunai, or at least knew how to dodge one properly.”
“Shut up,” Sasuke gritted out; trying to push down the sense of helplessness as he tried to think of a way to get Naruto and himself to safety with himself injured. Unfortunately, dealing with the pain from the wound at the same time, made it quite hard to do so. Then to his horror, he started to lose focus. ‘Damn it! I should be stronger then this!’ Then he sniffed the air and frowned when he smelled the poison that was no doubt coming from the tip of the knife. If it was the poison he was thinking of, it wasn’t lethal, but it quickly made a person lose consciousness no matter how much they tried to resist. It was a good one to use when you wanted to get an opponent out of the way quickly.
He glared up at his so-called brother, “Poison? Sinking a little low aren’t we?” Behind him he heard Naruto say in alarm, “Poison?!”
Itachi shrugged nonchalantly, “I don’t feel like killing you just yet, little brother, but you would no doubt force me too right now when all I want to do is talk with little Naruto here.”
“Like hell I’ll talk to you, bastard!” Naruto burst out behind him. Had he not been fighting to stay awake, Sasuke would have smiled a little at that.
Itachi looked disdainfully down at the blond. “Must you be so loud? You don’t even know what it is I want to talk to you about.”
“Whatever it is, I’m not interested,” Naruto said firmly.
Itachi smirked, “You assume I’m going to give you a choice on the matter.”
Sasuke drew out his sword. “You’re assuming I’m going to even let you have the chance to talk to him.”
His brother shook his head. “Still so stubborn even when you’re about to lose consciousness. You haven’t changed a bit.”
As much as he hated to admit it, Itachi was right. His vision was once again starting to blacken and his grip on his sword wasn’t as firm as it should have been. ‘Damn it! I can’t just let him harm Naruto!’ he thought as he felt his body give out and inwardly cursed whoever came up with the poison currently invading his body.
Naruto’s worried voice and blue eyes were the last thing he saw and heard as he blacked out.
SasuNaru
Naruto hurried to Sasuke’s side the minute the man collapsed and felt the beginnings of panic well up. ‘What now? What am I supposed to do?’ A million ideas whirled around his brain as he tried to think up a way to get them both to safety.
“Well, now we can finally get down to business,” Itachi said and Naruto blinked when he jumped to the ground. The blond grabbed the sword Sasuke had dropped, got in front of the unconscious man, and held it confidently in front of him.
“Stay back!” he spat out.
Unfortunately it didn’t have the effect he had hoped; Itachi merely looked at him in amusement. “Just what do you think you’re going to do with that, boy?”
“Make sure you don’t hurt Sasuke again,” Naruto said.
Itachi rolled his eyes, “I have no interest in my little brother right now. Now the one I wish to speak with is you; haven’t I been saying that?”
“What do you want?” Naruto asked cautiously. ‘Maybe if I just let him speak, he’ll let us go. Doubtful, but worth a shot.’
“Boy, do you have any idea what exactly you are?” Itachi asked, catching him by surprise.
Naruto looked at him confusedly. “A Carrier?”
Itachi sighed, “Yes, you’re that; meaning you’re a half demon. Don’t you realize what that means?”
Naruto shook his head, looking at him warily.
“I suppose you wouldn’t. Those old fools at the palace never did realize what power they had at their fingertips. You are the only son of the nine-tail fox demon Kyuubi, therefore, you inherited her power as well as the power of your father, Lord Arashi from the Fire Kingdom. I wager with some proper training you’d be quite the opponent.”
Naruto stared at him. ‘What? How does he know who my parents are? Iruka-sensei didn’t even know where I came from!’ “How do you know this?” he demanded.
Itachi shrugged. “When I first met you at the palace while visiting Sasuke, I became intrigued by the Chakra levels you kept producing without realizing it. I did some digging around and the council has your complete record in the palace archives; not to mention lousy security.”
He frowned at Itachi. “If this is true, then why are you so interested?”
“In a few months, this country is going to be thrown into a war,” Itachi said bluntly. “Konoha and the four countries are going to be under new leadership and run by powerful men and women. I’m offering you a chance to be one of those people in power.”
Naruto stared at him. “What?”
“Come on. Aren’t you tired of the way you’re treated? You have no say in your destiny; your life more or less belongs to my brother now, and I’m sure you of all people know what a difficult person he is to live with. With all that potential of yours it is quite a waste, don’t you agree?”
The blond snorted. “I suppose you want to use my ‘potential’ is that it? Well, forget it. I’d rather die then fight along side you.”
Itachi smirked. “Again, you assume I’m giving you a choice on the matter.” Suddenly he charged straight at Naruto, who barely managed to deflect his attack in time. Itachi raised an eyebrow when he was pushed back by Chakra and then charged forward again.
Naruto frantically dodged and deflected his blows, trying to keep Itachi from the unconscious Sasuke as well as trying to stay alive; all the while forming a plan of escape in his mind.
Itachi paused in his attacks to study the blond in what Naruto thought was slight surprise. “You’ve been trained in combat.”
The blond smirked. “Of course. You forget who Iruka-Sensei was before he became my guardian. I’m not just trained in combat either.” He then let out a series of whistles and Chidori and his horse both suddenly broke into a run. Being Shinobi-trained horses they would head towards Konoha like they had been trained to do. Sasuke had taught him the whistle earlier just in case of emergencies like this. Itachi watched the horses run off with a raised eyebrow and by the time he looked back at Naruto, the blond had knelt beside Sasuke and had started making hand gestures.
Itachi’s eyes widened and he started to run towards the blond but he was too late. Wind started to swirl around the two figures and powerful Chakra blocked him from going further. The man stared in shock (or as much shock as he allowed to show on his face) as symbols started to appear on the ground and a shadow appeared under the blond and his brother and then grew and morphed into a towering figure lifting the two of them high above the forest treetops. When the wind finally cleared the two of them were on top of a humongous brown toad.
The toad glanced around the forest in confusion. “Hmm? What the hell am I doing here? Naruto, you brat! This is your doing isn’t it? Where are you?”
Naruto, though a little winded from the Summoning Jutsu, couldn’t help but smile. “Hey, Gamabunto, I’m up here.”
Gamabunto scowled. “Brat, what have I told you about summoning me? Who’s that with you? I don’t give free rides! You’re bad enough!”
The blond sighed. “I know, but this is an emergency! Sasuke needs to get to a hospital! Do you know the way to Konoha?”
“Yeah, sure. Hey, who’s that down there?”
Naruto blinked and glanced down to see Itachi staring up at the two of them through the trees with an unreadable expression on his face. ‘Why isn’t he attacking?’ the blond thought curiously but decided not to knock it. “Never mind. Go!”
“Since you’re obviously worried about your little boyfriend I’ll take that as a request,” Gamabunto grumbled and then with one giant leap was miles away from where they were. Naruto used Chakra to ground himself and Sasuke and on the way worked on Sasuke’s wound as best he could. He got the kunai knife out of his shoulder, and used parts of his tunic to block the blood that started to pour out; unfortunately he only had the basic knowledge of healing and limited sources so his best hope was that they got to the hospital before the would got too serious. In the back of his mind he wondered why Itachi didn’t just follow and attack on the way but decided not to dwell on it and be thankful.
He looked down at Sasuke’s head, now resting his lap and huddled protectively over the man’s form. “You’ll be alright, Sasuke. I promise,” he murmured softly, pushing back black strands of hair gently.
An hour into their journey, Gamabunto finally spoke directly to him, “This Sasuke wouldn’t happen to be the same Sasuke Uchiha you wouldn’t shut up about earlier would it?”
Naruto had the grace to blush as he remembered the rants he got into about his friend in the early days of his absance. “Yes,” he said; then glanced down at the for once peaceful face. “And no. It’s a bit complicated.”
Gamabunto snorted. “Things usually are with you humans. I don’t even want to know what you’re doing this far out of Wind Country. Probably causing trouble again.”
The blond smiled a little. “I missed you too, Gambato,” he said teasingly, knowing it would make the proud toad grumble even more.
“Shut up.”
SasuNaruSasu
Kiba Inuzuka hated patrol. It was an annoying pain on his side and boring to boot. He was someone who craved action and hated silence so it was really no wonder why this was his most hated part of being a Shinobi.
“Will you stop fidgeting?” Shino Aburame asked from the post next to his.
“But I’m bored!” he said, not caring if it sounded like he was whining. If he cared about his dignity he would have stopped hanging out with his friends a long time ago.
“I swear, you’re three years old sometimes,” his glass wearing friend muttered.
Akamaru’s sudden barking saved Shino from his reply. “What is it, boy?” the brown haired man said, suddenly sounding more like the trained Shinobi he was.
“Something’s out there,” Shino muttered, looking over the tall wall they were on top of into the surrounding forest area. The two of them peered over the wall and Kiba then felt it: an enormous Chakra signal heading straight for them.
He let out a low whistle. “That’s some power. You think it’s Uchiha? He’s supposed to be coming here with that fiancé of his in a few days right?”
Shino frowned. “Uchiha’s never given off this kind of Chakra before...it’s different from his. It’s almost like Gaara’s...”
“That’s because it’s Uchiha’s fiancé,” a voice came from behind them and Kiba jumped and glared at Neji Hyuuga.
“Don’t DO that!” he said. Neji just looked at him disdainfully and looked out at the forest. ‘Arrogant ass,’ he thought. ‘I still can’t believe he and Hinata are related.’‘Something tells me things are about to get more interesting around here.’
SasuNaruSasu
Itachi watched from a safe distance as the giant toad landed in front of the gates of Konoha
“You let the brat escape awful quickly,” Kisame said, appearing behind him.
Itachi shrugged. “I told him what I wanted. Now all I have to do is wait for him to grow bored in that city.”
“What makes you think he will?”
“He’s part demon. It’s in his nature to be restless. The more my brother tries to control him, the more he’ll rebel. Soon he’ll grow tired of being protected and leave the city and when he does, he’ll be mine.”
“If you say so,” Kisame said, his voice doubtful.
Itachi chose to ignore the doubt. The man did not see how his brother interacted with the blond when they were younger or been watching the blond closely over the last few years. All he needed to do was wait for the two to clash again and then he could take the blond’s power; willingly or not.
END PART I
TO BE CONTINUED...
AUTHOR NOTES: Finally done. I meant to have this out about two weeks earlier but schoolwork got in the way (five weeks until college graduation!) Plus writing action scenes always takes me a little longer then usual anyway because it’s not my forte.
NOTE ON FIC: I’ve decided that this fic is going to broken up into three parts. The first part was obviously their journey to Konoha as well as trying to get to know one another again. The second part will consist of mostly life in Konoha as well as more developments on what Itachi was talking about, and then hopefully part three will tie everything (including their relationship) up. It will still be all archived as one fic so as not to confuse anybody. Each part will average from fifteen to twenty chapters depending on how things go for each which was why I was thinking it was going to be fifty plus chapters. So God knows when this thing is going to be done. I just realized it’s been almost a year since I’ve started this already.