Politics in the Mist

Chapter 22

Chapter 22

Chapter 22, alright alright alright, (sorry I was watching a McConeghy movie last night), lets do chapter will be a little more focused on Sasuke's meeting with Itachi, but it will also have some of Naruto finding out about Jiraiya and training with Kurama. Lets get this started, thanks for reading and please review.
I

t 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…"
"No, I didn't," Itachi looked up, "I betrayed Orochimaru, I was undercover."
Itachi laughed, "Willing to give up your reputation for those you care about, looks like we're similar after all Sasuke."
Sasuke looked at his brother with hard eyes, "I wouldn't have cared you know, If the village hated me," Itachi looked surprised, "I would have been happy just to have my brother there with me. I would have rather known about all of it, Itachi I looked up to you above everyone else. Itachi, the rest of the clan meant nothing to me compared to what you meant to me. I wish you would have just stayed, I wouldn't care if the whole village hated me." (Hm...that could be a fanfic…I'll have to remember that.)
Itachi frowned, "I realize that now, but it seem like the best thing to do for you at the time. Sasuke I didn't kill everyone there that day."
Sasuke nodded, "yeah I know, who killed the rest of them."
Itachi's face got very serious, "Madara Uchiha, at least that who he said he was. He was certainly as strong as Madara, I could manage to get a single blow on him. He wanted me to join the Akatsuki, I thought that if he was alive I needed to be sure I could stop him for your sake."
Sasuke shook his head, "I still wished you had stayed in the Leaf, we could have gotten stronger together, we could have stopped him together."
Itachi stood up, "Not anymore, I have less than a week before I die. Even less if I were to get into a fight. Sasuke, you need to kill me and take my eyes."
Sasuke couldn't believe what he was hearing, "What!"
Itachi began to show him images of previous Uchiha, "Madara was the only person able to keep the Mangekyo Sharingan without going blind, do you know why?" Sasuke shook his head, "Because they weren't his eyes, each Sharingan has one of two genes, you need both to keep from going blind. The only way to get both is to take the eyes of another. I'm dying Sasuke, and the world is in trouble. I want to put on a good show for Zetsu, kill me, and then take my eyes and put them in your head. What you do after that is up to you, maybe take my place as a spy in the Akatsuki, maybe go back to the Leaf. Whatever you wish, just take my eyes before you go."
Sasuke had tears in his eyes, "Alright, you know it's not really fair. We finally make peace with one another and find out the truth, and now you have to die."
Itachi sat back down in the chair, "Life is rarely fair, now get ready, it's time for my final act as a spy for the Leaf."
Naruto was training like mad. They were staying in the Leaf until they got done with Naruto's training, they had less that two weeks before Pain would attack the Mist. That left Naruto a week and a half to train with Kurama's chakra and Pa, a day to get back to the Mist, and two days to evacuate everyone in the village before Pain got there. It wasn't as much time as he would have liked, but is was all he was going to get.
Kurama was yelling in his head, "Come on kit, your chakra arms are still sluggish and you can barely make a Rasenshuriken with their help. You've gotten faster, but to beat Pain you've gotta be better than this."
Naruto was panting, "give me a break...it's only been two days."
Pa jumped over, "hmph, you think Pain will care we've only had a week and a half to prepare. Don't complain, train!"
Naruto nodded and got back to work, he had a family to protect, and if Pain thought he was going to lay even a finger on his family he had another thing coming.
The hideout was destroyed, Itachi laid there dead. Even with Itachi holding back Sasuke was forced to use Orochimaru's chakra to beat him. Sasuke walked up to his brother and looked down at him. He leaned down and put his hand on his eye, he said this is what he wanted so it's what Sasuke would do. Reaching inside his brother's eye socket, he pulled out his Sharingan, then did the same with the other eye. He pulled a small container out of Itachi's coat and placed the eyes inside. Exhausted, he finally ran out of strenght and feel to the ground. Fading in and out of consciousness, he eventually woke up inside some sort of cave.
A man with an orange mask came up to him, "You performed quite well against your brother, must feel good to have finally killed the man you hated so much."
Sasuke wasn't sure who this was, but he was getting a strong vibe from him, "Who are and why did you bring me here?"
The man lit a few candles, "I am an old friend of your brothers, and I brought you here to tell you the truth."
Sasuke realized who he was talking to and began to get nervous, "Madara Uchiha."
He chuckled, "Smart boy, so brother told you about me in that genjutsu, what else did he tell you about."
Sasuke decided he would try to cover his tracks, "he told me the truth before he died, about the massacre."
Madara nodded, "Good, and how do you feel about that."
Sasuke considered his answer, they just lost Itachi, and they might never be able to get a spy in the Akatsuki again. He knew what he had to do, "I feel betrayed by the Leaf, I want the village burned to the ground for all the pain they've caused."
Madara grabbed something out of his pocket and threw it at him, "Welcome to the Akatsuki," it was Itachi's ring, "now you have two of his possessions."
Sasuke was confused and soon found Itachi's eyes weren't in his pocket, "his eye's, where are my brother's eyes!?"
Madara pointed to a mirror, "in your head, I took the liberty of implanting them while you slept. No need to thank me, you're a member now."
Sasuke looked in the mirror to find he had the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan, "I don't recall agreeing to join you."
Madara began to walk away, "You said you want to destroy the Leaf, I can give you the power to do that. Are you saying no to your own family?"
Sasuke shook his head, "No, it would be an honor to train under you sir."
Madara kept walking, "Good, we begin tomorrow. Be ready, I don't tolerate weakness."
Naruto and Mei had returned to the Mist, everyone was evacuated and Pain was due to arrive before too much longer, "Mei-chan, you and the kids get out of here, we've only got a few hours before he gets here."
Mei didn't like, but nodded, "fine, please be safe. I don't want to feel like I'm going to lose my family again."
Naruto smiled and kissed her, "Please, with you guys as my motivation, he doesn't stand a damn chance."
Mei smiled back and grabbed the kids, making her way with Ao to a nearby village until the fight was over, "You ready Pa, Kurama?"
Pa nodded, "You know it gaki."
Kurama was chuckling in Naruto's head, "Let's fuck shit up kit!"
Naruto smiled and started to get his head in the game, this was gonna be one hell of a fight.