What's up everyone? Turns out that being stuck inside will make you remember that you have an unfinished Fanfiction. Hopefully I will actually keep up with it this time, no promises. ;)

The next morning team seven plus Jiraiya said their goodbyes to Tsunade and Shizune before heading out.

"I'll see you both back in Konaha at the hot spring!" Jiraiya shouted with a thumbs up

Everyone in the group had to scatter when a large boulder that had been next to Tsunade was immediately sent flying at them.

Tsunade shook her head as she heard the boisterous laughter fading into the trees. "When is that guy going to grow up?"

Shizune just smiled and kept silent.

Tsuande huffed and started to walk back to the village at a leisurely pace.

Naruto caught up to his master, "you know I get the feeling she kinda likes you."

Jiraiya smiled wide, "of course she does. Who else do you think she is going to pick up at our age? Maybe that other guy who is insanely rich, strong and knows her better." then he busted out laughing.

Naruto was crestfallen. He had wanted to tease the Sanin, but the statement just seemed to roll off of him.

Jiraiya took the lead, setting a pretty quick pace and noticed that all the ninja following him were now able to keep up at the pace he was setting. He marveled at the determination of the group, he was sure that given his next contacts obsessions that he would easily be persuaded to come back to complete the task in mind.

They had been on the move for half a day now and the ninja following Jiraiya were beginning to show signs of fatigue. He slowed down to a stop near a very secluded town. Jiraiya liked the little town. There were no permanent structures and the village itself moved just about every week. These nomads were the central point of the black market. Any information you wanted, or good you wanted to find could be found or procured through this town. The single street was fairly full with carts and makeshift tents on either side.

They stopped outside the perimeter and Jiraiya led by example and turned into a young lady.

Naruto couldn't help but think that the lady seemed a bit too plain to be the old Sanin, but instead of voicing his opinion turned into a little kid. He wore beat up clothes and a scarf that flowed behind him and when he smiled he had clearly missing teeth.

Jiraiya spoke softly to the group, "Naruto and I need to gather some information. We will be back in about three or four hours."

They then took off and the rest of team seven watched as they walked up to the guards on the edge of town, where they seemed to have no trouble getting into the shops.

After about an hour they saw The same woman and child that they had transformed into walk out of the town and met back up with them.

The both dropped the henge.

Jiraiya looked a little more serious than normal, "we have found out that two of the members of Akasuki are in the area. I don't think they are here for Naruto, but they are probably here for our contact."

Naruto grimmaced, "they said that one of them was blue and looked to be carrying a big sword on his back. The other was a very normal looking man with black hair and painted nails."

Sasuke froze. He then squeezed his hand into a fist and scowled, "It looks like it's time for a rematch."

Naruto flicked him in the forehead. Sasuke immediately tried to swipe his hand away, but it was caught by Naruto who was staring very seriously at Ssauke.

"I know this is what you want and I won't try to stop you from fighting him, but we need to find the contact first. I need to know that you can keep a level head, even in a situation like this."

Sasuke took a deep breath, "I'm fine, but if we find him… I will face him." he then pushed past Naruto

Naruto watched him go and before he could get too far away he grabbed him by the shoulder, "of course you're fighting him if we come across them and don't you worry I'll be right there to back you up."

At the same time sakura came and put her hand on his other shoulder and gave him a loving smile.

Sasuke smirked, "Just don't hold me back."

Naruto sputtered, "ok drama queen."

Sasuke swiped at him again, but Naruto easily dodged the attack. Little did he know Sakura was already behind him cracking her knuckles.

"Why do you have to ruin all the nice moments?!"

Naruto shrugged, "At this point I think it's just a habit."

He then ducked under her punch and took off after Jiraiya and Kakashi who were tired of waiting for the exchange to wrap itself up.

Naruto smiled and then readied himself for a long and difficult battle.

After about another hour of searching the ninja came upon another ninja who was near a hole in the ground and dead. Jiraiya quickly checked the body for how long he had been dead.

"Very recent. Probably within the last ten minutes. Ok everyone, game faces on. This is where our contact is and it looks like Akasuki has gotten here before us."

Everyone readied themselves as the set of down the tunnel that led deep underground. There were dim lights on the walls that only allowed them to see twenty feet in front of them. As they made their way through they encountered more and more dead ninja until they heard metallic clanging sounds from up ahead. Jiraiya took the lead and began to quietly jog in that direction. When they finally got to the large chamber where a man with blue skin was locked in combat with another man. The second man from Akasuki was none other than Itachi.

Itachi looked up quite surprised to see the group of ninja in the entryway, but it only lasted for a split second before he was up and moving. He drew in a large breath as he went through the signs for a fireball justu.

The fire ball took up the entire side of the room they were on, but before it could reach Kakashi slammed his hand on the ground and summoned a wall between them and the fireball.

Itachi smirked as his plan to obstruct their view worked and he made a shadow clone to leave behind and stall the group. He yelled at Kisame, "It's time to leave, NOW!"

Kisame grunted his acknowledgement and as he deflected the sword of his opponent he let out a torrent of water in his foe's direction forcing him back. Itachi and Kisame made for the other exit to this large room at top speed.

When Kakashi lowered the wall Jiraiya was the first one to be in the shadow clone's sight. The clone of Itachi used all the chaka it had in order to activate the mangekyou sharingan and used tsukuyomi on Jiraiya who didn't look away in time.

"Jiraiya-sama, that was very foolish of you."

"Yeah you may be right, but it's not often we get to talk and boy do I have some questions for you."

Itachi seemed to consider this for a moment, "What do you wish to know?"

Jiraiya scratched his chin, "for starters why did you take the blame for the eradication of the Uchiha clan, I could see Danzo's handy work all over that place. Second, why have you joined Akasuki?"

Itachi signaled for him to have a seat on the chair that had appeared from nowhere, "I think I will take this opportunity to let you in on what I am doing, but you have to promise that you won't tell anyone without my permission, unless I die."

Jiraiya thought about it, "I suppose I don't have much choice"

Itachi stared at him hard without saying anything.

Jiraiya sighed, "fine on my word as a ninja and pervert"

Itachi's eye twitched, but he decided to press on. "I was there when my clan was murdered. I fought the invaders just like everyone else. These fighters were skilled and there were more of them than anyone could have guessed. They were all dressed in black with hoods covering their face, but it was clear that they were Konoha ninja. Their gear and weapons gave them away. I must have taken out a dozen of them before they were able to capture me. Once they did to my surprise they took me to my house where my mother and father had been tied up and there was an old man with lots of bandages with his back to me. He introduced himself as Danzo.

-flashback-

Danzo perused the wall art on the back wall of the Uchiha home he was in as his men finally brought Itachi Uchiha to him. He shuffled around to see Itachi who was forced to kneel before him. "Hello young one. You have been an excellent soldier for Konoha and vital for our village's safety. Here is another opportunity to demonstrate your loyalty. You see your father was attempting to start a revolt and many of the Uchiha were going to follow his lead and start a civil war."

Itachi struggled, "that's not true! He would never!"

His struggling resulted in a hard punch to the face.

Danzo sat before Itachi and grinned ever so slightly, "that is the truth, because I say it is the truth. I am in need of a scapegoat for all of this you see, and who better than the most gifted Uchiha?"

Itachi's eyes widened then he stilled, "I won't go along with this, I'll tell anyone who will listen!"

Danzo smiled, "not to worry we have a plan B, but please know that you are not the only survivor of this masacre. In fact if you go along with our plan there will be exactly two of you left. You… and your little brother."

Itachi's breath grew short, "don't harm Sasuke, I'll do anything."

Danzo straighted, "of course you will, did you think we picked you at random? This is how it will happen Sasuke is going to come home and see you kill your parents, giving us an eye witness and then you are going to flee the village and become a missing-nin."

Itachi was streaming tears and was too choked up to answer when his father and mother spoke up, "you must do it Itachi. You must protect Sasuke. I am sorry that you had to bear this."

Danzo caught the eye of one of his elite guards and nodded, "the choice is yours, but either there will be two of you or none. I'm sure this goes without saying, but if Sasuke knows then he is dead either way."

All the ninja including Donzo vanished as they made their retreat.

Itachi was still crying and cursing himself for not being stronger as he cut his parents bonds and embraced them."

They both patted him on the head and then his father stood and crossed the room. He lifted up the floor and gave itachi a small chest that looked very old. "This has all of our Techniques for the Sharingan in it. Good luck son."

They both then sat with their backs facing the door so Sasuke wouldn't have to see their faces. "You know that there is no way that Danzo will just let you live right… give him hell son."

At that moment Sasuke entered their house just in time for him to see Itachi decapitate his parents.

"Good evening Sasuke" even he was surprised by how little emotion was in his voice "I have killed the whole clan except you. Just think, if you were stronger than me you could have stopped it all. I think I'll let you live, come challenge me when you have eyes like mine." to accentuate his point he looked at him with his mangekyou sharingan.

Sasuke who had been crying and screaming had been pushed over the edge and passed out.

Itachi popped a chakra pill and readied himself for the next part of this fight.

As night became morning Danzo was sitting in his subterranean office when there was one sharp knock at the door. "Come"

One of the elite guards entered and handed Danzo a blood covered note. It was from Itachi who had managed to escape. It read; 'if you harm Sasuke in any way, not only will I form an actual revolution, but there will be no one living or dead that will be able to save you from my wrath."

Danzo grimaced, 'I can't recruit Sasuke until his brother is dead… No matter; he will be added to the Bingo book with a high reward and be dead before Sasuke is too old for indoctrination."

-end flashback-

Jiraiya closed his eyes and nodded his head, "I wonder why he would do that though. He hasn't led a coup or anything."

Itachi smiled, "surely you have heard the rumors that someone on the council is secretly getting ready for a coup."

Jiraiya nodded, "I couldn't find any leads so I assumed it was just miss-information."

Itachi shook his head, "I planted the rumors. I figured if people were on guard and looking for one, it would be harder to initiate one."

Jiraiya shook his head, "I still don't understand why you are part of Akatsuki."

Itachi shrugged, "it is a collection of really powerful missing-nin. It is probably the safest place for me to be. Plus their plan to collect tailed beasts is a total dud right now. They lost one member just trying to get the one tail."

Jiraiya nodded and put a huge grin on his face, "that's because my pupil beat the snot out of those morons." Jiraiya then turned serious, "If you help them go after Naruto I will not hesitate to kill you, no matter how sad your story is."

Itachi accepted that, "I don't think they will try to go after him until they already have the eight tails."

Jiraiya seemed to have an idea and perked up, "what if I just kill Danzo when I get back? Then we could expose him and your name could get cleared… although Danzo probably has a back up plan for if that happens."

Itachi nodded gravley, "He can still get to Sasuke and I can't risk it. That is why I want Sasuke to be so hell bent on getting stronger. That way he can defend himself if they ever move against him."

Jiraiya crossed his arms and thought.

Itachi interrupted him, "It looks like this illusion is coming to an end, this is a shadow clone afterall."

Jiraiya looked flustered and then shouted, "If I'm confident that I have every precaution in place I will give you the code word 'pineapple!' That will be the sign that everything is taken care of and it is time to come back!" He didn't get to hear Itachi respond as the illusion broke apart.

Jiraiya faked a fall forward once his original senses were returned. This made the group behind him pause for a moment too long and before they knew it the two Akasuki members were gone. As they had escaped Itachi had lit the hallway on fire with a black flame that stopped all chances of pursuit.

The man who had been fighting Kisame walked over to the group and hissed, "great more dissssstractions."

He promptly turned his back on them and went back to the experiments he had been working on before either group had gotten there.

The group was about to attack when Jiraiya spoke up from his place on the floor, "Is that any way to talk to an old friend?"

The group visibly relaxed and then after catching up with the events that had just happened the all retensed and glanced at Sasuke who seemed to be taking it pretty well until he fell to his knees and started punching the ground with chakra infused hands making a crater every time. Since he didn't have the protection that Sakura used with her punches it wasn't long before his hands were bloody and broken. Sakura slowly approached him and took him by the hands which started to heal slowly. In a rare moment of weakness Sasuke rested his head against Sakura's shoulder as she healed him.

Naruto was so close to ruining this moment, but at the last second decided to ruin someone else's day for a change. He walked up behind the Snake Sanin Orochimaru and saw the huge array of vials and test tubes. Naruto slapped on an extra set of goggles and a white trench coat that was on one of the chairs and immediately started to mix random vials laughing like and evil scientist.

Orochimaru's eyes widened, "What are you doing you brat!" Faster than Naruto could react, the Sanin rushed at him with five glowing fingers and hit Naruto in the stomach.

Naruto felt excruciating pain and then everything went dark.

So how was it everyone? Let me know, I read all comments. Until nest time, peace out girl scout!

Konoha Civilian