Politics in the Mist «Completed»

22

It took Sasuke a some snooping, and the occasional beating of low life thug, to find out where his brother was. Sasuke could clearly see that Itachi was purposely leaving him a of sorts to follow. Itachi wanted to his brother before he died, even if he thought Sasuke still hated him. Sasuke knew his brother loved him, he wouldn't have done all of this if he didn't. He wasn't sure what he would say when he saw his brother again, he wasn't even sure how he would react. Itachi sacrificed everything, even his own humanity, for Sasuke. What was Sasuke supposed to say to him, thank you, how are you, why didn't you stay, what? Guess he'd have to wait until he got to the old Uchiha hideout to find out.

Naruto cuddle his newborn daughter, doing his best to pay attention to what Tsunade was telling him, "Naruto, I don't quite know how to tell you this...Jiraiya went to the rain to take on Pain and...he lost Naruto, he's dead."

Naruto stopped talking to Mito and looked up, "What, are you sure!"

Tsunade and motioned to a small toad in the corner of the room, "this is one of the toad sages, he was there when Jiraiya died. He managed to get us some pieces of Pain to study, and he said he has a message for you."

The green toad hopped over, "Just call me Pa, I was Jiraiya boy's teacher in the way of the toads. He spoke very highly of you."

Naruto smiled, "glad to hear it, I thought pretty highly of him."

Pa smiled, "he left you message, Pain intends on going to the Mist and taking you personally. He's no slouch, but unlike Jiraiya you have the advantage of knowing how he fights. I'm going to train you in everything we've found out about him. We've only got two weeks, so we've gotta make it count."

Naruto got a determined look on his face, "Kurama's finally working with me, with his power and your knowledge, Pain won't know what hit him."

Pa smiled, "I like this kid, I think we'll work just fine together."

Naruto turned to Tsunade, "Can you help Mei with the kids while I train."

Tsunade smirked and grabbed Mito, "You have to ask? I'm gonna love some time with my grandbabies."

Naruto looked at Pa, "Let's get training, we're losing time as it is."

Sasuke looked around the building he was in, the walls were a light shade of blue to the point they were almost gray, everything around him was made of some kind of concret. The Uchiha symbol was everywhere, which made sense considering this was the Uchiha hideout. He walked down the corridor until he reached a large room with a chair at the end. Itachi sat in the chair, a small smile on his face, "little brother, it's good you came. It's time to settle things between us."

Sasuke looked up his big brother, "yes it is."

Itachi was still smirking, "have you nurtured your hatred, has it made you strong enough to surpass me?"

Sasuke activated his Sharingan, "why don't you find out."

Itachi activated his Sharingan and place Sasuke in a genjutsu, "I'm eager to see how you've grown little brother."

Sasuke's demeanor suddenly changed, "we're in a genjutsu, can anyone else see what we're doing inside of it?"

Itachi scoffed, "Please little brother, you know I'm finest genjutsu master who's ever lived. Of course no one can see inside."

Sasuke face is brother, "In that case I can just tell you. I know the truth Itachi about everything."

Itachi didn't falter, "What do you mean?"

Sasuke sighed, "Don't play dumb, it doesn't suit you. You saved my life, you gave me chance to make my own path."

Itachi finally chose to show some emotion, he looked at the ground, "You still chose to betray the Leaf…"