16 Rebirth of the Uchiha Chapter 16

Team Seven made their way through the small village, Naruto trying and failing to bandage his own head. "I really hate you sometimes, Sasuke." The Uchiha simply scoffed. "We both know that's not true. You're too naive to hate anyone."

"Let's not have another argument, boys," placated Iruka. "We're here representing Konoha, and we all want to make a good impression, right?" The two boys nodded tersely, the unspoken message hanging in the air. 'This isn't over, Uzumaki/Sasuke.'

"There's the bridge!" Sakura called, drawing their attention. The half-finished structure loomed ominously in the mist as they approached, the distant sounds of construction echoing across the water.

"Whoa," the Uzumaki summarised. "Do you think Asuma-sensei and his team are over there?" Iruka nodded. "If not, they're staying at the client's home, I'd bet. Let's just have a look around for one of them here before we get ourselves lost. Okay?" he half-pleaded, as Naruto charged down the bridge, calling out to the members of Team Ten.

"I swear, that kid's going to be the death of me..."

"Hey, Ino-chan!" Ino snapped to attention at the call and turned to see a grinning Naruto, followed closely by the rest of his team. "Thank Kami you're here, Iruka-sensei!" she cried, ignoring the three genin. Naruto held back an irritated Sakura as Sasuke felt a strange sense of relief. Iruka, however, was concerned.

"Ino, what happened? Where are the rest of your team?" he asked, frowning. The girl's eyes watered and she grabbed the front of Iruka's flak jacket, sobbing as she told them about what happened.

"...and now Asuma-sensei is in a coma and we don't know what to do!" she finished, trying and failing to dry her tears, before Sakura grabbed her in a hug. "Don't worry, Ino. We'll take over from here, right, Iruka-sensei?" The jounin nodded gravely, pointing at his blond student.

"Naruto! Give us a defensive line here, while we see what we can do about Asuma-san." Naruto nodded, calling up over a dozen identical copies. "Sasuke, you stay here with the clones, keep watch over Tazuna. Myself, Naruto and Sakura will head back to the village for now with Ino."

"Hai, sensei." the Uchiha agreed, sharingan whirling into view. "Send a messenger clone if you need me." Iruka smiled sadly. 'Acting like kids one second, then totally professional the next. I hope you three can stay this innocent after all this is over... two chances of that, though; slim and none.'

SCENE BREAK

Itachi coughed harshly, grimacing as blood spattered on his hand. Tsunade and Jiraiya (having a supernatural ability to detect when the blonde Sannin needed him) stood ready, though the medic flinched away at the sight of the blood. "Get your shirt off." she muttered, Jiraiya smirking as he heard.

"Well, Tsunade-hime, I should have known you liked younger men after all those times you rejected a world-wise man like myself. Still, even I think you're being a tad forwards with tha-" THOOM! A closed fist occupied the space where the Toad Sage had once stood, as Itachi almost imperceptibly paled at the sight of a shinobi even stronger than himself being so easily dealt with.

'So this must be what Kaa-san meant by a strong woman,' he thought idly, remembering how his mother had tried to set himself and his brother up with various girls in their childhoods. 'Otouto, if you do actually manage to find yourself a strong girl... I feel sorry for you.' he shuddered slightly, both from the cold of the safe room they were in and the male Sannin's pained groans.

"If we're all ready to act our ages, we can begin." the medic pressed on, picking up a needle filled with a pale fluid. "Now, you may feel a slight pinch from the anaesthetic." Itachi dipped his head in assent. 'I can handle pain, and it can't be too ba- SWEET SON OF A PUS-SPEWING WHORE, THAT BURNS!' he screamed internally, with only the slight twitch of an eyebrow betraying his external stoicism. Tsunade noticed, however, and a sadistic smile appeared on her face.

"The big, bad Uchiha Itachi afraid of a little needle? Don't worry, the formula should kick in fairly quickly." Itachi blinked tiredly as his vision started swimming. 'Pretty lights... pretty lady- no, that's Tsunade-sama, show her some respect!' he began swaying from side to side as the two voices in his head began arguing. 'Just because she's helping us doesn't mean we're all friends now! - I'm so lonely... - No, we are Itachi, of the Uchiha clan. We will not cry. We will not cry! - Waaaahh... - Screw it, I'm sad too!'

The two Sannin looked on as Uchiha Itachi, slayer of the Uchiha clan and all around scary missing-nin, curled up into the foetal position and wailed. "And I'll never find true love!" he concluded, before sprawling unconscious on the operating table.

"You know, there's not a lot that surprises me at this point," Jiraiya pointed out. "But I did not expect that reaction. How strong a dose did you give him, Tsu-hime?" The medic smirked before replying. "Well, I knew Mikoto was training her kids to resist poisons, so I had to use enough to overcome the resistance he should have had. Maybe I went a little overboard."

Jiraiya just chuckled. "You are a scary, scary woman, Tsu-hime. Remind me never to push you too far." She gave him a sweet smile. "You might be a little late there." she crooned, gesturing at the sake he'd been sipping. "Wait, what?" THUD.

Tsunade sighed, pushing her hair out of her face. "Finally I can work in piece."

SCENE BREAK

"So, to sum up, Asuma is in desperate need of medical attention, you three have been running yourselves ragged trying to protect him and your client, and the Demon of Kirigakure is going to attack either here or the bridge, most likely in the next couple of days." Iruka frowned, feeling the beginnings of a migraine. Shikamaru had delivered Asuma's message to the rest of the Konoha-nin upon their arrival.

"What do you think we should do, Iruka-sensei?" the Nara asked, looking uncharacteristically determined. Iruka stayed silent for some time, trying to figure it out himself. "...We stand our ground. Naruto, give us a swarm of messenger clones and send half to Konoha, the other half to the outpost we were at. We could really do with some more backup."

"It's not like it matters. You'll all die anyway." came the sullen voice of Inari. Naruto looked around at Team Ten, pointing a thumb at the young boy. "Who the hell is this brat?"

"No-one can beat Gatou. He's got too many soldiers." The Uzumaki grinned in response. " I haven't met any group who can outnumber me!" he boasted to the unimpressed kid. Inari glared at the happy-looking genin. "Who do you think you are, acting the hero? You don't stand a chance! Why can't you all just leave?" he near-screamed, the blond's expression souring.

"What is wrong with you, kid? Just because you're up against someone strong, you think you can give up right away? Newsflash, life is hard! If you don't work your ass off, you won't get anywhere!" he barked, even as the rest of the assembled genin looked on in surprise. Naruto was almost never this... vehement about things.

Inari was tearing up at this point, but continued his tirade anyway. "Don't think you can lecture me! What does someone like you know about suffering? Nothing! You don't know what it's like to lose someone!" Even as he spat his protests, the atmosphere in the room shifted completely, Naruto practically radiating anger.

"You... how fucking dare you!" he snarled ferally, fists clenched. "You think you're the only one who's lost someone important? You think your suffering is that much worse than anyone else's? Grow the hell up. You've got a grandfather and a mother who love you. Do you care, do you even fucking realise that there are kids out there who would kill to even know who their parents were? No, you don't!" he raged, shrugging off Iruka's attempts to calm him down.

"Just live in your own fucking tragedy, then! But don't you dare bitch about people actually trying to make a difference!" he finished, storming towards the door. Iruka raised a hand to try and stop him, catching only the quickly abandoned jacket. "Naruto, where are you going?" "To break things!" SLAM!

In the confusion that followed, Iruka wound up approaching a sniffling Inari and explaining Naruto's actions, or trying to, at least.

"Naruto's not actually angry at you. But he looks at you and sees the kid he used to be, before he started making friends. He never knew his parents, and he had to learn very young that no-one was going to solve all his problems for him. He just doesn't like to see people like Gatou get away with what he's doing to this country. Am I making any kind of sense?" he half-laughed, patting the boy on the back comfortingly.

"How... how can he be so happy, if he's lost so much?" Inari whispered. Iruka smiled sadly. "Because he made a promise to himself, a long time ago, that he wouldn't let bad experiences ruin his life. He decided to laugh, because it helped him get through things. Eventually, he found people who cared about him, and now, he's really smiling, without the pain of loneliness holding him down."

Inari stayed silent, but he'd stopped sniffling at this point, as Iruka headed off to find his missing student.

SCENE BREAK

Naruto panted harshly, looking around at the clearing he'd made in the middle of the forest. "Right, that's prob'ly good enough for now." he grinned, wiping the sweat off his brow as he stared at the splintered pieces of trees scattered about. "Heh, looks like we won't be needing firewood for a while." he quipped, sighing as he realised no-one was around to hear it.

A twig snapped behind him, Naruto flying towards the sound, kunai in hand. "I'm sorry, shinobi-san," gasped the young girl who'd startled him. Naruto, embarassed, dropped the blade back into his holster. "Hehehe... Sorry about that. I guess I'm a little antsy with all that's going on." he offered lamely. She smiled disarmingly at him, Naruto fighting a blush at the sight. 'Just be cool, Naruto...'

"What do you mean, shinobi-san?" the girl questioned, seemingly unaware of Naruto's thoughts. The blond paused for a second before shrugging and gesturing widely. "Everything. I mean, you've got Gatou and his hired goons treating everyone in the village like dirt, and they've all just given up and accepted it. It really gets on my nerves, you know? I mean, if you don't try and change things, they'll just keep getting worse, right?" he smiled sadly, surprising the newcomer.

"I know exactly what you mean, shinobi-san. My friends and I have been trying to change things for ourselves for years. That's why I'm out here, my friend was injured and I'm collecting herbs to help him recover." Naruto stood to attention, grinning. "In that case, I'll help. It's pretty dangerous for civilians to be wandering around with Gatou's thugs, right?"

"True, shinobi-san, very true." she laughed softly. The Uzumaki grinned, embarassed. "Call me Naruto. Shinobi-san sounds too formal for me, erm..." he trailed off, realising he didn't know the girl's name. "My name is Haku, Naruto-san." she smiled, turning back into the forest and picking up a plant from the floor. Naruto followed eagerly, ignoring the fact that he had no idea what he was doing.

"Haku-chan?" he piped up, after several minutes of collecting. "Why were you out here by yourself?" he asked, brows furrowed. None of the villagers he'd seen were inclined to go anywhere near the woods, or anywhere at all really, what with mercenaries swarming the area. Haku frowned momentarily before replying. "Because it's my duty, Naruto-san. I have someone important to me, who I must protect. I believe that when you have someone precious to you, you can become truly strong."

Naruto fell silent, thinking about all the people he cared about: the Hokage, the Ichirakus, the Uchiha kids, Iruka-sensei... the list went on. He remembered his fights against Kazuya and his brother, pulling out power from the demon sealed in him to protect his friends. "I know what you mean, Haku-chan. Believe me." he smiled, as Haku nodded approvingly, closing up the basket she held and bowing to the boy.

"I'd best get going, Naruto-san," she said, turning away from him as he waved cheerily. "But just so you know, I'm a boy."

Iruka would soon find his favourite student paralysed in the middle of a clearing, muttering to himself. As they approached Tazuna's house, Iruka could have sworn he heard the blond say something like "...cuter than any of the girls I know!" Much as he loved the kid, Naruto could be really strange sometimes.

SCENE BREAK

"Jiraiya, hold him down!" Tsunade shouted, as the unconscious Itachi began convulsing on the operating table. The white-haired sage moved to do as ordered, summoning up a Tsuchi Bunshin to assist. "What the hell is happening, Tsunade?"

The medic wiped a drop of sweat from her forehead, hands glowing with green medical chakra as she focused. "The blockages in his lungs are all linked in with his chakra network. Trying to get rid of them sent his chakra circulatory system haywire, leading to a seizure. Last time I saw something like this was back in the second world war. Those bastards from Kusa, the sensor nins." she grunted, forcing the teenager's system back to stability.

"You can let him go now, just make sure his airways are clear." she eventually panted. Jiraiya released his grip on the uncomfortably thin Uchiha, dispersing his clone into a pile of dirt. "I haven't heard you talk about the war before, Tsunade." he commented, staring sadly at the young man on the table.

"I don't ever want to talk about it, Jiraiya, you know that." she panted, pulling out a soldier pill and swallowing it. The man offered a hand to help her up, but she waved him off, stumbling slightly. "Hime, in case you forgot, I was there too. It kills me to see what it did to you. What Dan's-" "Don't!" she snapped, cutting him off mid-sentence. "I can't, I can't, talk about that. Just please, give this to sensei and leave me alone." she pleaded, handing him Itachi's note as she left the room.

Jiraiya stared after her, solemnly. "I could never leave you alone when we were kids, hime. How can I let you suffer alone now?" he muttered, flipping open the note and skimming through it. Silently, he pulled up a chair and sat down next to Itachi, waiting for the anaesthetic to wear off.

'When you wake up, kid, I'm going to find out everything you know about Konan, Yahiko and Nagato. I'm not going to lose anyone else if I can help it.'

SCENE BREAK

Iruka rushed ahead to the bridge, a foul sensation permeating the air. Sakura, Sasuke and the genin of Team Ten followed as closely as they could. Naruto had volunteered to stay behind at Tazuna's and guard the slowly-recovering Asuma, as well as the bridge builder's family. While Iruka was wary of leaving any of his genin alone, Naruto was quite possibly the only shinobi in the world who couldn't be outnumbered. Coming to a halt at the bridge the jounin found his worst fears realised, Momochi Zabuza standing in the midst of a ring of bridge workers, all on the ground begging for mercy. Iruka gulped as the genin fell into formation behind him, clenching his fists.

"You five get the workers to safety as quickly as possible," he instructed, staring intently at the swordsman. "I will deal with Zabuza."

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