Sasuke froze at his words. The Third Hokage is dead? Is that what he just said? How did that happen? Hearing the all familiar sound of sand, Sasuke whipped his head to the side and noticed that the sand around Sakura was falling apart. Somehow, he got to his feet and managed to catch her before she could hit the ground.
He settled her on a tree branch next to one of Kakashi’s summoned dogs. “Take care of her”. Was what he said, before he jumped away, back to Akashi. The redhead was still on his knees, but the tear on his face had already dried. His teeth were grit, anger practically rolling off him in waves.
“Akashi, let’s find Naruto”. At the Uchiha’s mention of his brother, he turned to him, eyes widening at his words. He placed a hand on the tree beneath him and pushed himself up, slightly stumbling to his feet. His shoulder moved along with his arm and he winced, grabbing it in pain.
His shoulder was broken, but he didn’t set the bone back before he healed it. Akashi shook his head at his own miscalculation and dropped his arm back down. “Let’s go, follow me”. He turned to the side and took off, following his brother’s familiar Chakra signal. Sasuke followed after him without a word.
_
They found Naruto laying on his stomach in front of Gaara, who was laying on his back. “Naruto!” Akashi called out and crouched next to him, a hand on his back. Sasuke landed on the other side soon after. Akashi looked down at his brother and sensed that his Chakra was almost depleted. He sighed at his recklessness.
“You can stop now, Naruto, Sakura is fine”. Sasuke said to the younger Uzumaki sibling and then looked at where Gaara was. “He must be out of Chakra too, since the sand holding Sakura has released her”. He glanced at the redhead next to him and those chains from before flashed in his mind. How did they get him out of the sand? He really didn’t know the answer.
Hearing that, Naruto dropped his head into the ground, most likely because he was too spent. A moment later, Temari and Kankuro landed in front of Gaara, shielding the youngest sibling from the other’s eyes. “Don’t fight them”. Gaara’s voice sounded from behind them, making them turn around to face him.
“Let’s stop”. He said, before growing quiet, calmly laying on the ground. Kankuro shifted around and grabbed him, picking him up, before the three of them jumped away, disappearing inside the thick forest trees.
Akashi brushed his fingers through the unconscious Naruto’s hair, a fond smile on his face. “You did it, Naruto”. He whispered, his words carried away by the wind around them, spreading them through the forest. On the other side, the Uchiha observed the siblings carefully.
This was what it meant to have a brother. One who loved you and one who cared for you. His heart throbbed in want, his head filling itself with happy memories from his younger days. Memories of his brother… before he did what he did. Gritting his teeth, he looked away, not being able to watch the sight before him. Not being able to watch the brothers.
After all… it brought back too many happy moments he knew he wouldn’t have with his own brother again.
_
They carried Naruto and Sakura back to the village, and were met with the awful news of the Hokage’s death. Even though Akashi already knew it happened, it caused him no less pain to hear it directly come out of Kakashi’s mouth. The man noticed the boys expression and figured out what happened. His heart clenched at the thought.
The boy already knew about the Hokage’s death.
_
Naruto woke up after a few hours, tired to the bone, and was sent back home from the hospital. Akashi’s shoulder was set back in place by the doctor and after that, the two of them walked back to their one-roomed apartment. They had a little time left before the funeral commenced. They spent it in silence, not even looking at one another, too miserable to even start up a conversation.
When the time came, they dressed in silence, their usual lively-colored clothes turned black.
_
Sakura was already there, waiting for them, when they arrived to where they said they’d meet. Sasuke arrived a few minutes later, the seal’s marks were no longer spread across his skin. Seems like they managed to seal it back up.
Sasuke walked past them and Akashi followed, Naruto and Sakura went after them a second later.
_
The Genin of Team 7 stood together at the funeral, and around them stood the rest of ninja of Konoha. The Third Hokage’s photo stood in the middle, in front of them, his kind old face stood still in the photo. When the first drop of rain went down, Akashi raised his head towards the dark sky and soon more followed.
“The funeral for the Third Hokage, who lost his life in this battle… as well as the other victims who gave their lives, will begin now”. One of the elders spoke and in that one moment, Akashi felt nothing. He felt nothing, except…
Hate for himself.
The Hokage gave his life for the village, to save it from destruction, to save the people from certain death. And what did Akashi do? He hated him. He despised him. He argued with him. Blamed him for everything he did, without even knowing the reason for his actions.
He was embarrassed for his behavior. How dare he act like that? The man did nothing but try and help him, he tried in his own way and that wasn’t enough for Akashi.
The other ninja put their flowers on his monument, and it was Akashi’s turn. He gripped the flower in his hand, almost breaking its body.
His footsteps created fissures in the small puddles on the ground.
Each step he took became heavier than the previous one.
When he finally reached in front of it, he stopped, arms gently raising the white flower in his hand.
He placed it atop the other flowers, its form blending with the rest.
“I’m sorry”. He mouthed towards the picture of the man, but he received no ‘it’s okay’ from it. Of course he didn’t. The man was long gone and he wasn’t coming back.
Swiftly turning around with his head bent down, he walked back to where Naruto was. “The rain has stopped”. Sakura spoke from close to him, raising her open palm towards the sky. From next to him, Sasuke raised his head and looked up.
The rain may have stopped, but Akashi’s heart felt no less heavier than before.
_
And so, a couple of days pass from the funeral, nothing exciting happened. Until that one moment.
Akashi was walking next to the riverbank when he sensed huge amounts of Chakra being used. It was not too far from where he was. Carefully sneaking closer to where he sensed it, his eyes widened at the sight before him.
Kakashi, along with Kurenai and Asuma were on the water, with two unknown ninja in front of them. The biggest issue in that was the fact that Kakashi was kneeling. Carefully going up a tree, he crouched and slowed his breathing as much as he could.
What was going on? Who were those ninja? Those questions ran through his mind, but he found no answer to them. “Are you after the Nine-Tails inside Naruto?” He barely heard Kakashi ask that, but he was sure that was what he had asked. They wanted the Nine-Tails? For what purpose?
Kakashi mention an organization named Akatsuki and how the two unknown ninja were a part of it. All of a sudden, the other ninja, the one with blue skin, jumped at Kakashi, but was intercepted by Guy suddenly appearing in front of him. The blue-skinned ninja was named ‘Kisame’.
A moment later, Kakashi dropped down and started sinking into the water, but Guy grabbed him and threw him over his shoulder. “Don’t look into Itachi’s eyes, Guy!” Akashi froze in place when he heard Asuma mention that name. Itachi? Sasuke’s brother Itachi? He was here?!
Before the fight could escalate further, Itachi and Kisame disappeared, leaving no trace. Akashi let out a breath he didn’t realize he was holding and dropped to the ground, immediately sprinting towards Kakashi. “Sensei!” The other Jounins turned around when they heard Akashi’s yell.
“Akashi?! What are you doing here?!” Guy panicked, seeing that a mere Genin was so close to two S Class missing ninja. Akashi dropped onto the water in front of them and stopped in front of him, looking at Kakashi in worry.
“I sensed unknown Chakra signatures so I came here”. The Jounins sweat-dropped at his words. That was dangerous of him to do, what would have happened if he got here before them? There was no way he would have survived the encounter.
“Guy, we need to take Kakashi back”. Kurenai cut in, her worry of Kakashi overpowering her worry about the Genin in front of them. Guy nodded in agreement and the five of them made their way to Kakashi’s house.
_
After taking Kakashi to his home, Akashi was walking through the streets of Konoha, nothing on his mind, when he bumped into Naruto and Jiraiya. He immediately noticed a backpack on Naruto’s back. “Naruto? You going somewhere?” He asked him, not expecting a serious answer.
He was taken aback when Naruto furiously nodded back in reply. “Pervy-sage is going to teach me a new technique, one stronger than the Chidori! So I decided I was going with him so we could train!” A tick mark bulged on Akashi’s forehead at his words.
“You were going to leave without saying anything?” He calmly asked, his tone contrasting the angry look on his face. Naruto’s excited grin faded into a grimace, a worried expression taking place. He forgot about Akashi’s anger issues.
“I left you a note about where I was going!” He tried to explain himself, but it was futile. Akashi stalked up to him, intent clear on his face. When he was close enough, he grabbed Naruto by the collar of his outfit and brought him closer to himself.
“You weren’t even going to say goodbye?” He whispered and Naruto noticed his hands were shaking. Was he that afraid that Naruto is going to disappear? Just as Naruto went to open his mouth, Akashi released his hold on him, almost making him fall down. He saw him turn to Jiraiya with a blank look on his face.
“Take care of him, I want him back in one piece”. He threw one last look in Naruto’s direction and shoved his hands in his pockets, turning away and walking away from them. Naruto was left standing with a baffled expression.
_
A little while passed since Akashi’s and Naruto’s quarrel and Akashi regretted behaving the way he did. Naruto was excited about having training, and Akashi got mad at him for wanting to leave for a while. He can’t protect him forever, Naruto will grow older one day and he won’t be needing Akashi’s care anymore.
Sighing, Akashi stopped and looked in front of himself. He somehow ended in front of Kakashi’s house. As he went to knock at the door, from the side of his eyes, he noticed someone was coming closer. Lowering his arm down, he fully looked in their direction. Sasuke was coming closer.
The Uchiha stopped once he saw Akashi there. “What are you doing here?” He asked the redhead in front of him. Akashi put his hands inside his pockets and shrugged his shoulders, a nonchalant look on his face.
“I’m here for Kakashi, I can assume you are too?” The Uchiha nodded his head and walked up to the door. He then raised his hand and went for the doorknob. His attempt at opening the door was haltered when a hand clamped over his wrist. He raised his brows in question.
The other boy just shook his head. “You should knock first, and also… I should warn you, Kakashi’s…”. He trailed off, releasing his hold on Sasuke. The said boy brought his hand back, the warmth of the other boy’s hold quickly disappearing.
“What do you mean by that?” He asked him, patience running thin. Akashi said nothing and just clicked the door handle, opening the door. Sasuke furrowed his brows and pointedly looked at the now open door. The redhead shrugged.
“There’s no need to knock now, come on”. He went inside and the Uchiha followed after him. Akashi led him to Kakashi’s bedroom and when he opened the door, Sasuke saw that Kakashi was sleeping on the bed, a few Jounin surrounding his bed.
“Why’s Kakashi asleep? And why are Jounins gathered here?” Sasuke stepped inside, in front of Akashi, confusion written all over his face. “What happened?” He demanded, going over to where Guy was sitting. Akashi turned back to the entrance and awaited the oncoming ninja.
Before Sasuke’s question could be answered, the ninja burst in through the door. “Is it true that the Itachi came back? And he’s after Naruto?!” He asked the questions, not noticing that the last remaining Uchiha member in Konoha was right in front of him. He stopped and it seemed he, only then, noticed him.
Guy face-palmed from behind him and Akashi let out a breath. This wasn’t going to end well. Indeed, things didn’t go well. Sasuke’s eyes widen, before a murderous look appeared on his face. He dashed past everyone and out of the door. Groaning, Akashi glared at the new ninja and lunged after Sasuke.
_
Sasuke jumped from roof to roof until he landed onto the ground, continuing his running. Akashi ran after him, quickly catching up after him. “Sasuke!” He shouted, but the said boy paid him no mind. The only thing in his mind was what the ninja from before said.
Akashi huffed, still running after the boy. He followed him until Sasuke got to his apartment. He stopped in front of it and before he could open the door, Sakura burst out. “Where’s Naruto?!” Sasuke asked, looking over her shoulder. She said she came here to give him something, but he wasn’t home.
Before Sasuke could resume his search for Naruto, a hand grabbed his shoulder and turned him around. He was met with annoyed violet ones. “Answer when someone’s calling out to you!” He hissed, eyes narrowed at him. “Naruto is not in the village anymore, he left with Jiraiya”. Sasuke shook his hand off and took a step away.
“Where did they go?” He asked, clearly the word ‘patience’ wasn’t in his dictionary. Akashi shook his head, a little annoyed at how he shrugged his hand off, but answered nonetheless.
“I don’t know, I didn’t ask, but I can probably track them”. Sasuke nodded at his words, a kind of relieved expression took place on his face. Was he perhaps worried about Naruto? He shouldn’t be, Jiraiya is with him.
“Follow me”. Not waiting for confirmation, Akashi turned to leave, but Sakura called out to him.
“What’s going on?” She asked, worry etched clean into her tone. Akashi turned to her, and shook his head.
“Don’t worry, nothings wrong”. Without another word, he sprinted off, Sasuke running after him.
_
They took a shortcut across the rooftops and Akashi forced himself to focus purely on one Chakra signal. On Naruto’s. But he couldn’t sense it, he couldn’t focus only on it when there were so many around him.
Gritting his teeth, he stopped and Sasuke almost slammed into his back. “What are you doing? Why did you stop?” Akashi raised his hand in a ‘wait’ motion and closed his eyes. He raised his hands into a hand-sign and relaxed. Focus. He told himself. Focus only on Naruto.
He grit his teeth and widened his senses. He thought it wouldn’t work, but there it was… one, single Chakra pathway leading away from the village. Opening his eyes, he bend his legs and took off, following the signal. Sasuke faltered a bit, but managed to keep up with him.
_
They reached the city that Naruto and Jiraiya were in after some time. They just kept running until they reached the hotel from which the Chakra signal came from. Bursting inside, they ran up the stairs and they arrived just in time to see Itachi and Kisame talking with Naruto.
“Naruto!” Akashi yelled out, a furious expression on his face. He was alone! Jiraiya was nowhere in sight. How dare he! He told him to take care of Naruto, and here he was, left alone! “Get away from him!” He shouted, glaring daggers at the two ninja in front.
Itachi remained still, facing Naruto. “It’s been a while… Uchiha Itachi”. Sasuke said from beside him, eyes narrowed at the man in front of them.
Kisame also turned their way, a grin on his face. “The Sharingan… he’s very similar to you”. His eyes shifted to the side and he looked at Akashi. “What do we have here? Another Jinchuriki appeared, right in front of us”. Akashi kept quiet and took a kunai out of his pouch, gripping it in his hand.
“Sasuke is nothing like him… now, do me a favor and step away from Naruto”. He threatened, slightly bending his knees, already prepared to fight if necessary. And seeing the way things were going? It seemed like it would be necessary.
“Is he your little brother? I hear the entire clan was killed by you?” Kisame asked, the grin ever-present on his face.
“He is”. That was all that Itachi said, not even turning around to look at them. Akashi felt Sasuke shift beside him and he looked at him. His eyes were wide open, Sharingan blaring red in anger.
“Uchiha Itachi! I’m going to kill you!” He growled out and only then did Itachi turn around. “Like you said… I hated you, detested you… and just to kill you, I’ve…”. he trailed off and Akashi took a step away from him, sensing the amount of Chakra he just gathered in his hand.
The Chidori blared to life not a moment after, its blue light lighting up the entire hallway. “…I’ve survived!” He shouted at him, but Itachi’s expression didn’t change. “I’m going to kill you!” Sasuke dashed at him, Chidori dragging along the walls, leaving lines of destruction in its wake.
“Sasuke! Don’t!” Akashi yelled after him and his feet moved on their own.
“Die!” Sasuke screamed out and thrust his hand forward. As it was about to hit Itachi, he raised his hand and grabbed Sasuke by the wrist, redirecting his hit towards the wall.
The hallway shook as the Chidori pierced the wall, blowing away a huge chunk of it. The Chidori flickered out of life and disappeared. Sasuke’s wrist was gripped tight, but as soon as Akashi reached them, Kisame jumped in front of Sasuke, sword at hand. “No can do, little buddy”. Akashi stopped in his tracks.
“Don’t call me buddy”. Akashi growled out, feeling himself grow more and more angry at the situation. Sasuke tried to land a hit with his other hand, but Itachi clenched his hand and a distinctive crack was heard. A moment later, Sasuke cried out in pain and dropped to his knees, clutching his injured hand.
Naruto started collecting the Nine-Tails’s Chakra, but as he tried to do the Summoning Technique, Kisame jumped in and slashed his Chakra with his sword. He then explained how his word, Samehada, devours Chakra. Naruto continued trying to focus Chakra, but it wouldn’t come out.
As Kisame raised his sword, intending to slash at Naruto, Akashi threw his kunai to the left, making Itachi dodge to the right. That gave him enough time to slip past Sasuke and slide under Itachi. For a moment, it almost seemed like it was in slow-motion, him glancing up at Itachi’s Sharingan as he slid under. He stood up and dashed forward, hitting Kisame in the side, making his sword hit nothing but air.
Akashi slammed into Naruto, knocking them both to the ground, and as Akashi shifted around to look behind him, a frog about the same size as him appeared and blocked Kisame’s second attack, saving them.
A puff of smoke covered the area behind them and Akashi leaned his head back. Above him stood Jiraiya in all his glory.
AN: If you have any questions about the story, feel free to message me.
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