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Endless Night	By : Cepheus Category: Naruto > Yaoi - Male/Male Views: 1302 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 3
- 4
- 5
Edited: 05�12�2008

Edited: 05�12�2008
Thanks to all the patient reviewers.
Cepheus: I wonder if I don�t have far too many fics to write� anyway, new chapter! I hope you all like :)
��
Rating: M
Summary: (ItaNaru) During a fight, Kyuubi�s chakra
leaks out and causes a warp. Now Naruto and Itachi are both stuck into the
past. The only way to go back forwards� is to work with each other.
Warnings: yaoi,
boy x boy relationship, angsty, torture, and such.
Mental as well. Flames will be used to warm up food.
Disclaimer: Not own Naruto. Masashi Kishimoto
does.

�Talking�
�Thinking�
�Flashbacks, memories, dreams�
��
Endless Night

Chapter 03: Darkness

Jiraiya had not noticed it at first, because he was concentrated on more
pressing matters (such as where he could find the closest onsen), but after the
first few days, it became clear. Every step moved away from Konoha was making
Naruto more distant, warier.
His smiles wavered as he trained every day, shutting himself away from
the man, tiring his body out all day so he could fall asleep (unconscious)
every night. Jiraiya didn�t like this, but didn�t know what to do, so he
decided to leave him be, allowing the teen to drop dead every night as he went
out to the onsen.
The truth was, Naruto had lever left Konoha for a long period of time
before �not even his mission to Nami had lasted more than a couple of weeks,
and that had been a short trip. But this time he was leaving for three whole
years, and despite his agreement with Jiraiya�s proposal, the more he put
distance between himself and Konoha the more it hurt.
He had needed to be reassured, he had needed comforting words that would
quench his doubts, making the separation less painful; he needed someone to
tell him everything would be ok, both with the training and with Sasuke, but he
had never been able to ask for this sort of thing, and Jiraiya had not offered.
Iruka would have known what to say, but Iruka, just like everybody else,
was still in the village.
And Jiraiya, of course, was not the right person to consider; they were
far too similar, both alone, both unused to family matters, both unable to lay
down their pride to admit they wanted each other�s company.
Unfortunately neither had any intention to start. The few attempts at
speaking had failed considerably, talking about anything and yet nothing at
all, only to fall into silence moments later.
It didn�t matter anymore, and each day was a copy of the previous one
�Jiraiya leaving as early as he could, biting his lips in guilt, but unable to
come back, Naruto training and hurting himself all day, so he would not be
awake when the man was back.
Naruto had also stopped trying to get his new sensei�s attention, seeing
as it didn�t matter anyway, and it had hurt them both, to not being able to
change.
They could not understand each other�s pain, because neither knew how to
share their inner pain, and neither was willing to try, in fear of being
rejected. So day after day their journey took them further from Konoha, and
further away from each other.
Until one day Jiraiya returned from his latest onsen trip, his guilt and
worry finally overriding his pride and insecurity, ready to at least try to
tackle the subject with the teen �only to find no one at the camp waiting for
him.
Naruto had disappeared, and the hole in Jiraiya�s chest turned suddenly
emptier.
��
It took Naruto a while to wake up
completely, drowsiness clinging at his eyes stubbornly, but once he did,
standing up in a sitting position, Naruto quickly noticed he was alone in the
room.
Itachi was nowhere in sight, and the
teen sighed in almost relief; the previous day had been a vexing one but now he
felt better, and his brain was also working better; his actions from before
made him flush in shame, remembering the tears and how he had hyperventilated.
Yes, the situation he was in was
incredibly abnormal, and it was excusable to act shocked, but still he felt
ashamed. Itachi had maintained a perfect control over his emotions �or at least
that�s how it had looked to Naruto.
He also remembered how he�d vowed to
not turn into him �so maybe it was ok to be shocked.
Shaking his head at his stupid trail
of thoughts, Naruto curled more on himself, biting his lower lip. He had almost
alerted every Konoha�s shinobi of this time of his presence, especially the
Hokage, and this was a no�no.
Strangely, he felt an eerie calm
wash over him; his mind was clear, clearer than in ages, and he analyzed his
current situation whilst looking around; he could faintly feel Itachi�s chakra
permeate the air, but it was old chakra �probably a jutsu of some sort to
protect the room� and that it veiled any chakra he could feel from outside the
room.
He�d been better at controlling his
own coils ever since he met that expert in Kaminari no Kuni, an old retired
shinobi that had taught him a lot; Naruto wasn�t the brightest student but he
had applied himself, and the results were acceptable.
The man, an ex�serviceman of the
Raikage�s troops, had taken a liking to Naruto�s sunny attitude quite easily
and had accepted to help him out, shaking his head in shame at Jiraiya�s
shameless peeping and taking Naruto under his wings.
He had taught Naruto how to search
out for chakra barriers or seals of certain types, how to scout for enemies and
how to hide his own chakra from others� examinations, even though Naruto had
found difficulties in the latter because of his lack of attention; it had taken
the man an entire week, after which Jiraiya and Naruto bid the man a goodbye
and left, following a trail the white haired sennin found interesting regarding
the position of Akatsuki (lead that in the end amounted to nothing).
Carefully handling a light amount of
his own chakra (a quantity so small he thankfully didn�t feel any nausea) he
prodded around, testing exactly where the boundaries were; he found a slight
resistance coating the four walls, and nodded to himself.
Itachi had surrounded the room with
a layer of masked chakra that would allow any resident to use chakra without
alerting anyone outside. The jutsu was familiar to the teen, Hiroshige (the
ex�shinobi) had explained it to him with examples from the Great War.
It was a very useful jutsu when in
battle, because it could easily be used to hide camp infirmaries where Iryo�nins
could heal wounded ninja and prevent enemies from finding them. Unfortunately
it required a steady amount of chakra that had to be inserted every few hours,
so it was easily broken, even though undetectable.
Satisfied with that, Naruto turned
his eyes to the seal on his stomach. First things first, he had to see what was
going on himself; lifting up his shirt, he brushed his fingertips on the seal,
wincing as he expected some sort of pain.
He was pleasantly surprised when no
twinges occurred, and felt warm spread from the spiral. Staring down at it he
noticed the skin all around it was red and swollen, and bit his lip �apparently
he�d been scorched by some sort of reaction from the seal.
Despite that, he felt pretty fine,
so everything was looking positively better.
Yawning and with nothing better to
do, Naruto curled inside his blanket again, cocooning next to the wall. Without
Itachi there, he relaxed a bit, trying to come to terms with the whole
situation.
The Uchiha�s words from the day
before had hurt Naruto deeply.
Mostly because, coupled with the
three years he had spent with Jiraiya, growing up but at the same time still
clinging to his belief that, if he ignored everything else, he would reach his
goal.
Maybe this trip to the past (hoping there
was a way back) would prove to be useful in a way. Despite the pain he�d been
through, he still felt better inside.
Maybe he should have accepted the truth way before now.
Eyes flickering towards the window,
Naruto sighed. Recalling how Sasuke had looked, the young Sasuke, brought a
vague sense of oppression in his chest. Even then, Sandaime had been a greater
shock, since at least Sasuke was still alive, whilst Sandaime had been dead for
years now.
He had missed the old man a lot, and
even now he longed to see him again, especially now that he was coming to terms
with the situation; details he had barely paid attention to that now were
everything he could think about, from the strong smell of his tobacco to the
way he wrinkled his forehead when smiling.
All in all, Sarutobi had been
Naruto�s grandparent through and through.
The window was shut almost entirely,
fending off the morning sun that was barely shining through it, and probably
from outside it�d still look like an empty room to anyone watching. He was
safe.
Sighing, he started looking around
again, having nothing better to do. �I
wonder where Itachi is now�?�
What would happen? How did the
Uchiha plan to find a way out? Was it really Kyuubi�s fault if they were in the
past, and if that was so, how had it happened? Naruto wondered if the throwing
up blood had anything to do with it and groaned.
He really wanted to stop worrying so
much, but he couldn�t.
�Ero�sennin, I promise you �if this is really your fault, I will make
sure you can reproduce no more next time I see you� he vowed, standing up sharply from his
futon and moving towards the window.
He staggered a bit, but his energy
was replenished and he felt better now; he wanted to check on his own chakra
too and the small amount he had used to nudge the seal of the room had not
triggered any bad reaction, so he figured that if he were to be cautious it
would work.
Closing his eyes he stilled, drawing
deeply into himself until he could feel his chakra pooling under his skin �and
there is was, the same nauseating feeling from before.
Naruto breathed deeply and gritted
his teeth, refusing to back away, and nudged his reserves carefully; indeed,
they gave off the feeling of something rotten, wasted, and that was the only
word that could convey what he felt.
He didn�t dare touch it, for fear of
throwing up again without anyone to help, and opened his eyes, angered at
himself.
What the hell.
He had no intentions to speculate
alone on his chakra�s behaviour, and without Itachi there he only had his own
thoughts to compare with �which wasn�t helpful. He needed to wait for the older
shinobi to come back.
With a brusque movement Naruto
opened the window a bit more, allowing more sun to pour inside the room, and
blinked, checking the outside of the building with curiosity; the small
training ground Sasuke had been using was just a garden with some
puppet�target, and across the street he could only see the Uchiha compound,
with rounds of houses and shops that spiralled out of sight.
Was it really this big? The Uchiha
had owned an entire side of Konoha for themselves, away from the other shinobi,
and not even the Hyuuga clan used up so much space.
Almost as if the Uchiha had tried to
put distance between themselves from the rest of the village�
No one was around in the streets,
but it was clear that the storm had passed during the night, and the sky was
blue and puffy with clouds.
Nothing interesting to look at,
Naruto pushed away from the window, pouting slightly. There was nothing he
could do at the moment, and Itachi wasn�t there either �but he needed something
to do. He hated staying still too much.
He would not go out for a while, of
that he was sure; his embarrassing actions of the previous day had managed him
to get unwanted attention to last for a lifetime, and until he spoke a bit more
with the older man he would not do unnecessary things.
Checking the room once more, he was
partially deluded as there was nothing he could do; why had Itachi chosen this
room out of all the others? If it was in the Uchiha district it meant it was
empty.
Did its proprietary die, then?
Shifting towards the desk, Naruto
noticed the layers of dust on the wooden surface, which confirmed his
suspicions. The room was probably abandoned to this state, and no one was
willing to come inside anymore.
A shelf attracting his attention, as
he had not seen it in his previous check up, he moved to it, listing the titles
of the books on there; all of them were covered with dust, looking old and
battered, but he recognized some of the titles as belonging to his academy
days.
Whoever the owner had been, he had
obviously had a ninja career.
Reaching for the armoire that had
previously hidden the bookshelf from his sight, Naruto opened the doors, not
surprised to see only a bunch of clothes inside, looking old but still usable.
All of them looked somewhat around
Naruto�s size, or slightly bigger, but only one of them had the distinctive
Uchiha fan on the back, whilst the others were pretty much bland.
Definitely no one lived there
anymore.
He felt a bit guilty to look around
this shamelessly, but he had not seen anything too personal in his searches, so
he didn�t feel too bad about it.
Was this Itachi�s old room?
No, couldn�t be �Itachi was still�
what, twelve�ish? He still lived in the compound.
Concerning Itachi�s age, Naruto
wasn�t sure of the exact point in time he�d fallen into; Sasuke had looked
around six, maybe, and the Uchiha massacre had yet to happen.
When had it taken place then? He
could barely remember, he had never had any interest in the Uchiha back then,
except a few bad memories with them, but he didn�t really remember the exact
moment of Sasuke�s change.
Still it had to be somewhere around
their first academy year or something, because he could remember something
about a meeting with Sasuke, and he had thought the other boy had similar eyes.
Frowning, Naruto realised that he
was in speaking terms with the person that had caused so much grief to Sasuke,
which was still his best friend �despite what said teen could think.
And yet, personally Itachi had done
nothing to him, so the situation was quite strange. He didn�t really want to
ponder too much on this.
Shutting the armoire�s door, Naruto
went back to the table, checking what was on it; there were some bottles of
ointment, some bandages still looking new and some ornaments, but everything
was covered in dust and didn�t look quite as interesting as he wanted.
There were two drawers on the desk,
which caught on Naruto�s attention straight away. The first drawer was locked,
much to his chagrin, but the other was not, so he pulled it open and checked
its contents.
There was a face�down framed photo,
some pens and a bunch of paper sheets, a rusty shuriken and nothing else.
Inwardly cheering to have found a
photo, Naruto grinned, about to pick it up�
�Naruto�kun�.
A voice from behind him made him
stiffen and jump in shock, spinning around and slamming the drawer shut with a
look of clear shame on his face. Itachi was standing there, looking at him
expressionlessly, and he felt his cheeks turn red from embarrassment.
He hadn�t even heard the man come
back.
�Ah! Itachi!� he tried to calm down
his racing heart. �I� I was just��
Why he was trying to justify
himself, he didn�t know, but that didn�t make the situation less awkward.
The Uchiha stared down at him for a
second, then shifted slightly, handing him a can of emergency food. He was not
interested in Naruto�s petty argumentation as to why he was peeking around in
the room �he was used with his companion in Akatsuki doing that too, but this
was quite different.
And yet, Itachi dismissed the flash
of annoyance building inside him with a soft huff.
It didn�t matter anymore �it would
have mattered once, and it would probably still matter if he thought about it
more, but he forced himself to calm down and back off.
Naruto uttered a small �thank you�
before grabbing the can and opening it; the emergency rations were tasteless
and bland, but they contained enough to help his body survive without real food
for a while, so he was not going to complain.
The older shinobi turned around,
uncaring of Naruto�s actions, and despite his previous �disinterest� quickly
scanned the room wondering if the blond had seen anything that could reveal to
him who the owner of the room was.
Then again, Naruto probably had
never heard about the Uchiha that had lived there, so there wouldn�t be
problems. Itachi was only making things difficult for himself, if nothing.
As Naruto ate, he observed how
Itachi�s shoulders tensed up as he stared around, and obviously his interest
sparkled up. Why was Itachi this uptight in regards of the room? Was it really
important?
Torn between curiosity and guilt
about his curiosity, Naruto decided not to question the other, at least for the
moment.
�You should not drop your things
everywhere, Naruto� the Uchiha turned around sharply, dropping the suffix and
shoving something towards the eating teen. �I already explained we cannot allow
any attention to be drawn on us�.
Naruto gulped down his food and
stared at the hand, recognizing with a startled gasp his kunai �the same one
he�d used to cut up his arm and that he�d thrown away in a fit of anger the
previous day.
Coughing down a new flush he grabbed
the kunai and put it back in his pouch. Really, Itachi was careful even with
small details.
�How is the seal doing?�
Blinking up in surprise, Naruto
finally looked at Itachi, taking into notice that the man wasn�t wearing his
cloak anymore �preferring a normal Jounin attire, which was also making him
less noticeable in a village of ninja.
He had even removed his slashed
hitai�ate, placing it around his neck, the symbol�s slash hidden from view.
This way he looked even more normal.
Then he noticed Itachi was holding a
small book in his hand, and a disturbing image of Kakashi and his �Icha Icha
Violence� invaded his mind. Shaking his head in mirth, Naruto quietened up.
�It�s� warm� he replied honestly. �I don�t think I can use chakra without a
rebound of some sort, though. It feels� weird�.
He sighed, not wanting to explain
further. He didn�t like the feeling he got but at the same time he wondered if
he would be considered an idiot for his choice of words.
Rotten�
Eyeing the book with vague interest,
Naruto was finally able to catch a glimpse of the title when the other man sat
down next to him. It was about demons and the five ninja countries, and
Naruto�s attention was piqued.
Where did Itachi get that book? Was
it in Konoha? How come it had books like that one when they tried to conceal
the existence of demons other than Kyuubi, who was said to be dead?
Itachi shifted a bit and Naruto
fought the urge to back away from him.
�I will do a check up on your seal
now� Itachi explained quietly, knowing he�d better have the teen cooperate and
be quiet. With a person like the blond around, much like with Kisame, he had to
talk instead of just signalling things, but thankfully he was quite used to it.
�Define weird�.
Naruto pouted.
�Ero�sennin was planning on trying
to make Kyuubi�s chakra accessible to me without having to ask Kyuubi for his
help� he mumbled, licking his sticky fingers after he finished his ration. �But
something went wrong, somehow. There was a chakra rebound and he decided not to
mess any more than he already had�.
�So he can interact with the demon �interesting� Itachi thought, filing the fact
away. He�d never had the opportunity to study other Jinchuuriki before they
died from the extraction, so this was a first. Was he the only one?
�Then what?�
�Then it started to feel weird� Naruto repeated. �Jiraiya�s chakra
was absorbed weirdly, and Kyuubi felt
pissed��
Itachi fought the urge to roll his
eyes; Jiraiya was said to be one of the strongest man in the whole five
countries, so much he had taken such a name for himself, and yet he was able to
do stupid things as this without researching first.
The man could be stronger than
Orochimaru, yes (not that it was a hard thing to achieve) but he was a real
freak.
�And now it feels like something is�
going bad inside �as if there is something rotten here� the blond teen placed
one hand on his seal from above his shirt. He could feel the heat even like
this. �It�s not just Kyuubi�s, though. It�s mine as well�.
Itachi�s calculating eyes narrowed.
If Naruto had noticed this about his
own chakra, and not just the demon�s, it meant the problem was quickly
spreading. Unfortunately, Naruto�s terminology was the right one for this kind
of situation.
Rotten Chakra Syndrome.
It was quite a rare illness, but
Itachi had managed to find pointers when checking at the hospital�s records
�spending some hours there, hiding from the nurses.
Making a mental list, Itachi made
sure all symptoms matched.
One of the principal cause for the
RCS was usually a drawback from chakra�related operations, like reattaching a
limb using chakra that was not compatible with the patient (much like donating
blood of non�matching type) or a jutsu�in�the�making gone wrong. In such
situation there could be two or more different chakra flows clashing together,
causing harm to the body, and the organism would usually reject both.
The rejected chakra would then
slowly grow unstable and unless extracted, it would burn down the patient�s
chakra coils, and either kill him or, in the best case, render him useless as a
ninja, sometimes crippled for life.
Just like with blood types, chakra
could react to a different type, sometimes aggressively, probably something
related to the theory of the five lines and the kind of chakra influx of each
person.
Strange as it was, because Itachi
had been almost sure that Jiraiya and Naruto were both of the same type, wind.
And yet, Naruto�s body had reacted badly at the forced insertion of Jiraiya�s.
Yet this kind of illness was rare,
because most of the time the insertion of non�compatible chakra caused no
rebound other than a bit of fatigue in the patient� the person�s chakra quickly
converting the incoming surge to work with the body.
This brought Kyuubi into play �the
demon�s chakra couldn�t be placed in categories like humans� could.
As it was, Naruto�s current
situation was dangerous; Kyuubi�s chakra was acting against both Jiraiya and
Naruto�s one, and if they couldn�t find a cure for the �infection�, Naruto
would probably either die or turn crippled�
Not that Itachi cared any way, but
it would be a problem for his organization, because they would not be able to
extract him anymore either way.
The chakra disruption was quickly
spreading through both systems, and it was the reason why Naruto was feeling
this bad �it would only grow worse with time, even though had it been any other
shinobi they would already be forced to bed.
Naruto had quite the strength to
keep up for a bit more, but his being Jinchuuriki probably had something to do,
and would cause different reactions with time.
He needed the Kyuubi to return to
their time so he was intentioned in keeping its bearer as healthy as possible.
�Lift your shirt� he told the teen.
Naruto nodded and exposed his belly
and seal without a word; Itachi leaned closer to take a look, noticing how
Naruto did not flinch nor shift away, and stared at the seal with interest.
He had never actually been close
enough to see it in detail, especially since last time the two of them met
there had been a schedule to respect and Itachi had been stopped by the sennin.
Now he had time to admire the work of art the seal was, and would do it gladly
�it was their return ticket, after all.
Kyuubi�s power had always fascinated
him �Itachi had been considered an adult and thus had known about the sealing�
and to think Akatsuki hadn�t found a way to get its power without killing both
the demon and the Jinchuuriki caused Itachi to frown.
It was a waste to watch as the
organization continued to convert demons into pure energy, as each Bijuu had
special powers, most of which unknown to humans, and the demon containers were
the only ones that could unlock this power.
And Kyuubi, the strongest of all the
Bijuu, had been sealed inside Naruto, who on his own was� an interesting
person. Itachi had been barely seven when the Yondaime had sealed the demon inside
his son, dying and forcing the retired Sarutobi to come back and resume his
work, but he remembered it clearly.
He had met Yondaime only twice
before he had died, in company of his father. Bright blue eyes, a sunny
attitude �Itachi remembered this of him. The opposite of Uchiha Fugaku, and yet
the two had been good friends.
And Naruto was the splitting image
of the deceased Fourth Hokage.
Yondaime had been a master of seals,
one of the few that had completely learned the art of sealing, and the one on
Naruto�s stomach was his last and most perfect one. Yet, the only one he would
be remembered for.
Once, many years before, Itachi had
been interested in sealing; being such a prodigy of his clan, though, had meant
his family had directed his skills to different branches. Yet he still
remembered enough to know the seal was still untouched.
The problem had nothing to do with
it �so, without a doubt, this was really the RCS.
�The seal looks fine� he stated.
�Probably it is designed so to repel any attempt at messing with its primary
function. With three chakra active around it, it rejected any that felt like a
threat�.
Naruto nodded.
Itachi stared at him in silence for
a moment, then explained what he thought the problem was, and what was the
cause of it. Meanwhile, he analysed Naruto�s reactions and health carefully,
knowing the only person that could deal with this properly was in this current
timeline travelling somewhere in the Hi no Kuni, away from Konoha, drinking and
gambling.
He was not a medic�nin, but he had
to do his best to heal the teen without any help.
�Damn you, Ero�sennin� he heard the
blond mutter as he applied a bit of his chakra on the seal, prodding at it
carefully. �I will seriously castrate
you��
The seal flared suddenly, shutting
the Genin up and Itachi retracted his hand, barely saving it from being
scorched by the now burning seal.
The raven haired man�s eyes narrowed
in concentration, and Naruto blinked, unsure of what he was seeing.
They were inches from each other,
and it was the first time Naruto had been this close to Itachi without being
scared shitless, bad�mouthing him, or running for his life; he stared in almost
fascination, his brain automatically comparing the older brother to the younger
one.
Itachi was� interesting. A strange
person and Naruto could not read him.
People like Konohamaru, or Kiba,
were easy to read. Naruto could understand them and interact without too many
problems� others, like Neji or Gaara, were more difficult, and yet Naruto had
managed to understand them as well.
After all, in a way, both teens were
like him.
Others were completely unreadable in
a different way, but he blamed his lack of comprehension on his lack of
information on them �Kakashi was one, and Jiraiya another, even though he now
could boast of knowing the sennin better, after three years with him.
Sasuke� Sasuke was both hard and
easy to read. Naruto had known of his plans and his pain only lately, but he
knew they had an agreement of sorts �they were rival. First teammates, then
rivals, then friends. They pushed themselves to be stronger thanks to the
other.
Sasuke�s mind� Naruto could
understand that too.
Itachi was different.
Naruto had always considered the man
as a simple enemy, but deep down he had grudgingly felt a small trail of envy
towards him as well.
Coming down to it, Naruto respected
strength. Not the kind of strength one could acquire by external aid �he meant
the strength that came from hard work, training or personal ability.
A Kekkai Genkai meant very little to
him, as he saw it as a gift that most people overlooked �a real shinobi could
be strong without having to use their family bloodlines all the time, learning
not to rely on them.
No bloodline was perfect, but having
a strong one brought people to dismiss enemies, and caused them to start
slouching off.
Naruto was proud because he had no
bloodline of sorts, and yet he could still rival any family special bloodline.
There were clans that learned how to grow strong without having to rely on
their Kekkai Genkai, others that relied on them but still could take head on
enemies without it �and others that counted too much on a bloodline.
Besides, Naruto had a curious
personal opinion on strength; to him strength was strength, no matter whom it
belonged to. People would respect strength, or fear it, but it still was the
same �what made the difference was how it was used.
A strong, evil person was someone
who used his power to hurt �but that didn�t mean their strength was wrong, it
simply meant it was used in the wrong way.
In his life he�d met many strong
people, all on the same side �Kakashi, Jiraiya, Tsunade� and their strengths
had revolved around their decisions, their beliefs� their respect for the
village but most of all, they had been strong thanks to their experiences in
life.
Their strengths varied of intensity,
but had been channelled in the same way.
Itachi instead was an enemy �a
missing�nin, an opponent; and yet they had reached a truce of some sorts, urged
to collaborate, almost unrealistically so.
Where did his strength come from?
What kind of belief had caused him to turn his back to Konoha? Naruto�s natural
curiosity was drawn to this. What had he sacrificed, to gain what?
Had someone told him three years
before that one day he would be sharing a room, and speaking, to an Akatsuki member, Naruto would have laughed out
�loudly and maniacally.
And there he was �and the Akatsuki
member was Itachi. Sasuke�s older brother. The person who killed his whole clan
to be stronger.
Naruto sighed, closing his eyes.
There was something else that bugged him. If enemies could work together from
day to day, it was also because of the mission itself. Doing their job, as
ninja. It meant that any grudge couldn�t be taken personally, because they all
did what they did in respect of their own beliefs, no matter what they were.
No matter what others could think
�each had something to follow, to grasp onto.
So� it made Naruto wonder. If it had
been Sasuke in Naruto�s place, would he place his hatred behind, if only enough
time to work together?
�No �he wouldn�t�� Naruto groaned.
He skimmed through all the people he
knew, searching for someone else who would rush blindly and act like Sasuke. No
one. But there again, Sasuke had a personal reason to hate his brother.
Naruto had nothing against the older
man per se �Akatsuki wanted Kyuubi, of course, but� the organization�s members
had chosen their own path, which also meant they would not stop until their
goal had been accomplished.
Even if it meant to kill people they
did not know.
�Would I be able to act this way too? I always say I�d kill to protect
my precious people, but� with Haku, I wouldn�t have done it in the end �I
couldn�t have� he
thought, vaguely uneasy. He had never killed someone.
But if someone were to hurt his
precious people�
Tsunade, Iruka�sensei, Kakashi�
Jiraiya, even Sasuke� then�
But Itachi had hurt Sasuke. Why didn�t he hate the older man? Just because
Itachi had nothing against him,
against Naruto, personally?
What kind of twisted reasoning was
this?
And yet he felt this way. It made
sense in a deep part of his mind, but when trying to put that feeling into
words only served to confuse him more. And yet, there was difference between
Itachi �the person� and Itachi �Akatsuki member�.
If Itachi had been another hidden
village�s shinobi, Naruto wouldn�t have had any ethical problems.
The focus of the problem was, the
Uchiha clan.
Sasuke had been blinded all his life
with the need to kill Itachi, going as far as to try and kill Naruto, his best
friend, to gain the same power Itachi had; and yet Naruto knew Sasuke would
never gain this kind of strength. Not by asking the aid of Orochimaru.
Itachi was, honestly speaking,
older. Stronger, and with different beliefs. With different experiences. He was
born in war time. His emotions were tightly controlled.
Sasuke had never been able to do
that �his emotions were as clear as Naruto�s. He�d tried to act coolly but had
failed miserably, his feelings controlling him; and in the end, they had pushed
him in the wrong direction.
Sasuke would never become like
Itachi.
Sasuke grew in a different
environment, coddled by the village, fuelled by hatred. And yet he tried to be
like his brother.
Surrogate powers would not bring him
far enough.
Naruto could not hate Sasuke for
almost killing him. In the same way he couldn�t hate Itachi because his
organization wanted him dead, either.
It made more sense in his mind.
Besides, something felt wrong with
the whole Uchiha massacre thing, and it always sent Naruto�s sixth sense
spinning.
How could Naruto decide that
Itachi�s behaviour was wrong when he�d allowed others a chance? He had cared
nothing if Gaara had killed his uncle and many others. He�d still offered him a
hand, and his friendship.
He had cared nothing if Neji thought
he was inferior �he had beaten the truth into the Hyuuga, and then had offered
him a hand and his friendship.
They had both accepted.
He had cared nothing if Haku had
been his enemy. Haku had been too pure, and in the end he�d died, refusing
Naruto�s hand �but Naruto still considered Haku a friend. They would have been
friends had things been different.
Same with Sasuke �the teen had
rejected his friendship because he was only looking at the shadow of his
brother. Yet he was still alive. There was still hope.
If Naruto hadn�t had Iruka, nor
Sandaime, if he�d been living like them �wouldn�t he act like this too?
Everything was done for a reason that felt right for those taking it.
Then, how could he judge the older
Uchiha for what he did?
�I�m so messed up� Sasuke would probably kill me if he knew what I think� Naruto groaned.
Sasuke� a puppet in Orochimaru�s
hands now.
Despite this depressing thought, the
fact that his own mind was enough messed up that he could easily accept Itachi
made Naruto snicker.
Had it not been Naruto, Sasuke would
have tried to kill someone else �if there had been anyone who could have
rivalled the stubbornness of one Uchiha Sasuke. Then again, Sasuke could have
chosen another path to walk on. His hatred was his own alone, and Naruto didn�t
want to be caught in�between a family fight.
It was not his place to be. Whatever
conclusion the two brothers reached, Naruto would not be a part of it. If
Sasuke were to win, he�d welcome him back home, but more than this, he could
not do.
Sasuke made his decisions, and now
Naruto had to make his own. He could not live running to catch Sasuke as Sasuke
was running to catch up to his idea of Itachi.
�You�re similar to him in a way�
Naruto muttered, unaware he�d been talking aloud, attracting Itachi�s
attention.
The Uchiha was still prodding at his
seal, but Naruto�s words made him stop �who was Naruto thinking of? Probably
Sasuke, he realised.
He was wrong, though. Sasuke was
nothing like him.
�I�m not my brother� he replied just
as quietly, with a flicker of annoyance.
Naruto blinked, looking straight at
the man in front of him, and then snickered loudly, shaking his head in mirth,
realising he�d been speaking instead of just thinking.
�Nah �it�s true, Sasuke�s nothing
like you� you wouldn�t have chosen Orochimaru at all� he sighed, the smile
still in place. �You remind me of Zabuza, though�.
Itachi was actually taken aback.
Zabuza of the Mist? The Demon Swordsmen that had once been part of the Kiri no Shinobigatana Nananin Shuu?
Personally, Itachi had never met the man, but Kisame had once been part of the
same group, and sometimes the name popped up in their (one�sided)
conversations.
Had Naruto met him then?
A part of him wanted to ask why he
thought so, but he squished that curiosity before it blossomed too much. He
didn�t really care.
There was something in the older
Uchiha that reminded Naruto of Zabuza. His first C�rank mission was still in
his thoughts, carved forever in his mind, Haku�s pain and his confession, and
how both he and his master had died.
Zabuza had exterminated all his
classmates in order to graduate, a feat that no one had done before or
afterwards, and maybe it was this that reminded Naruto of Itachi� or something
more subtle, he didn�t know.
Zabuza had been forced into his
actions, and then had turned stronger in order to protect himself �Itachi had
created new beliefs out of reasons Naruto did not know. Naruto had learned more
with his first mission than with any theoretical teaching at the academy, and
first was, never judge a man without knowing his background first.
Haku had died to protect his most
important thing, even going against others� beliefs; Zabuza had lived his life
without caring about what others thought, and Naruto respected this� it was a
different kind of strength altogether.
Zabuza was considered a demon by an
entire country, and even outside, people who heard his name still shivered in
fear for the heartless demon, and Haku had been hunted down for his bloodline,
and considered a monster because of that� and yet Zabuza had taken Haku under
his wing, and Haku had died to protect Zabuza.
Naruto had known both, if only for a
short while, and above everything else, he knew one thing�
Neither was, or had ever been, a
demon or a monster.
They had made their choices, and
followed through without regret, searching for a place that could accept and
respect their decisions and not biased for them. But others would never know
this.
Maybe Itachi had his own reasons for
acting like he did, for the massacre, for turning his back to his village� for
acting cold and uncaring. Naruto couldn�t know. But he wanted to. He couldn�t
hate Itachi because he didn�t know it all.
Prejudices would not cloud his
vision just because he knew only one side of the truth.
�I�m not excusing him for what he did, of course, but�� Naruto stared at Itachi. �But��
�One day� he muttered, ignoring
Itachi�s questioning gaze. �Maybe this
problem here will allow me to know� and one day I will be able to see it all
and decide for myself�.
A wave of dizziness stopped his
thoughts and he gulped down his nausea, feeling a stronger prod at his seal.
�Hey, stop� he protested, growling at Itachi.
The older man nodded, satisfied.
�Don�t use chakra. If you don�t want
to start chocking on your blood again, do not use your chakra, especially if I
am not around�.
Naruto rolled his eyes. He knew that
already. He wouldn�t try it.
Itachi pulled away and Naruto
sighed, vaguely missing the close contact �he was kind of cold, and he�d
enjoyed the heat coming from Itachi�s body.
�Gah. I�m truly sick if I start thinking this
way� he scolded
himself.
�I will scout the village again,
don�t move from this room until I am back �I�ll probably return this evening�
Itachi continued, standing up and moving towards the door.
�Hey! I�m so not going to stay here all day whilst you work your ass out and��
The book Itachi had been previously
holding hit him square on his face, making him stop his rant.
�Read this. It might hold some good
information on Kyuubi�.
With that, Itachi left, shutting the
door close behind his back.
Anger boiled in Naruto�s veins as he
stood up, growling and throwing the book against the nearest wall. �What the fuck!�
All his good intentions of staying put
for a while vanished �he didn�t like being told what to do. He wasn�t a kid.
Itachi was just treating him like a baby.
�I don�t care!� he yelled. �It�s not
like I have to follow your orders, prick!�
Besides, he wanted to see Sandaime
again. This was an unexpected chance and he would not waste it. And what about
the village at this time? Places he had been unable to see when young, he could
see them now. Watch just how much Konoha had changed.
He would not stay there and grow
moss on his head just because Itachi ordered him to. Definitely not.
His curiosity demanded to go around
and take a look. It was only fair.
Standing up, Naruto straightened and
stretched his back and moved to the armoire, opening it and taking out some of
the clothes he�d seen there before. He knew better than go out with his attire
(even though it was different from his old one, it was still too bright), and
the only blonds in Konoha were the Yamanaka and himself.
Picking a brownish shirt up he eyed
it carefully, noticing with satisfaction that the Uchiha fan sewn on its back
was small and it would be easily covered with a bandana. Pulling on the shirt
and a pair of brow pants equally covered in dust (he shook them to get it off
first, of course) he nodded, tying his pouch around his waist and hiding it
underneath the shirt.
He would be better off by faking to
be a villager instead of a ninja, so he untied his hitai�ate and left it on the
desk, then proceeded by wrapping a green bandana around his hair. He had no
chakra to spare for a henge, besides any Chuunin and Jounin would notice the
jutsu as soon as they saw him passing by.
It wasn�t that bad, he mulled
watching his reflection in the mirror inside the armoire. He did look normal,
and would easily be ignored with his bland looks and worn�looking clothes.
�Well, that�s a surprise �I don�t
look like myself anymore� maybe I should have done that before� he laughed at
himself, moving back to the desk.
He�d seen various concoctions there
before, and one of them was a camouflage cream. Carefully he applied some on
his cheeks, effectively hiding his too�recognizable whisker�marks, and nodded.
Perfect. He just had to keep his
eyes low �blue wasn�t that uncommon, opposite to the far too rare blond hair
colour, but his particular shade was a bit too bright anyway.
This was� a nice change, for once.
Why had he never tried non�orange colours ever before?
�Ok, I�ll just have a quick walk around, no need to be picky� he assured himself, knowing he
still had to be wary of this Konoha. �Better
ignore Sasuke for now� I�ll just wander for a bit�.
Shifting out of the window he left
it barely open, knowing he needed a way back in the room without having to
search through the building every single door, and then jumped down.
Checking his surroundings to
remember where the room was, Naruto felt a rush of excitement burn through his
body.
�Here I come, Konoha of the past!�
he stated, pumping the air.
��
�Sasuke�kun, please, stop running
around!�
Itachi was sitting on a tall tree,
so still he could easily pass for a statue, his back firmly pressed against the
trunk and his eyes were fixed on the window in front of him, or more exactly on
the people inside the room.
His stillness had nothing relaxed
about it �he was tense, terribly so, knuckles white in his lap; the sight was
causing a whirlwind of thoughts and buried feelings to resurface but he could
not look away.
�I said stop! Be a good boy, Sasuke�
a tall woman with silky black hair was moving through the room, chasing a small
boy who was laughing at her.
Itachi�s eyes were fixed on the
woman�s face, unwavering, carefully burning into memory all of her expressions
whilst she tried to follow her son.
How she smiled at him, suddenly
looking half her age� how a grin would create a small wrinkle at the side of
her mouth� how her eyes sparkled with affection.
The familiar way she curled one
finger around a strand of her hair, twirling it up and letting it go a second
later� how she finally caught Sasuke, hugging him close and kissing his cheek,
causing him to fidget and pout.
Itachi was not watching Sasuke �he
didn�t matter. He was watching his mother instead. He could not look away, not
even with the pull in his chest demanding him to.
�Sasuke�kun, stop playing around
now, ok? Your brother should be coming home soon so be a good boy!�
�He promised me he would train with
me today!� Sasuke chirped, grabbing Mikoto�s hand and pulling it down.
The kind woman smiled, happy to see
her younger son�s eyes fill with such love for his older sibling.
Mikoto�s words caused the hidden
Itachi to flinch lightly, finally snapping out of his staring. Blinking twice,
he stood up with a fluid motion on the tree branch and shook his head.
He had not realised how much time he
had wasted (spent) watching.
Without further ado he stepped
backwards, hiding further in the leaves and disappearing silently from the
Uchiha Main House�s garden. A door slid open in the room in front of the tree,
and a much younger version of the missing�nin quietly entered, nodding to his
mother and muttering a quiet �Tadaima�.
��
Cepheus: well, I guess I don�t need to ask
you to review :) if you feel up to, please do and tell me if you liked!

Glossary: (to those that are not familiar
with Japanese)
Kaminari no
Kuni � Land of
Thunder.
Iryo�nin � medic�nin.
Kiri
no Shinobigatana Nananin Shuu
� Seven
Swordsmen of Mist. Kisame and Zabuza were part of that group.
Raikage � Kumogakure�s Kage.
Kumogakure � Hidden in the Clouds.
Jinchuuriki � Human sacrifice.
Bijuu � Tailed Demon. In Japanese
mythology there are nine tailed demons, each one with a special power and a
certain number of tails. Shukaku no Ichibi is the first, in Naruto manga it�s
Gaara�s demon �a Tanuki. Then there is Nibi no Nekomata, the second one (in
form of a cat), and up to Kyuubi no Kitsune, the fox.
Kekkai Genkai � bloodline. Strictly speaking,
bloodline includes any type of special ability that cannot be learned outside
of a family. For example, Baika no Jutsu, Akimichi�s special technique, is not
a bloodline because despite being used only by Chouji�s clan, it is a normal
jutsu that could be learned by others too, and yet it belongs to the Akimichi
(meaning they created it and own it). On the other side, Sharingan and Byakugan
and Haku�s mirrors are all Bloodlines, because it can be used only by Uchiha,
Hyuuga and� well, Haku�s dead clan. Any technique solely based on a bloodline
is a simple jutsu created to suit the bloodline.
Tadaima � it can be translated with �I am
back�. As a reply you usually say okaerinasai
or just okaeri, meaning
�welcome back�.
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Endless Night