chapter 125

"Jiji…" Naruto mumbled next to him and Eiji could only imagine how he was taking the news Itachi had just delivered to them. 'So, the story was more or less the same,' he thought to himself.

The Uchiha had really tried to stage a coup in Konoha to take over. According to Itachi, several attempts were made to try and ease the tensions. To try and stop them, but they just wouldn't get over perceived slights and old grudges. To be fair to them, they did have many reasons for their own actions too but they'd chosen to go through a path that just wouldn't allow for a more peaceful resolution.

The "good" part, if it could be called that, was that Itachi had looked into the incident himself at a later point in his life. Apparently, the original orders hadn't been to kill all of them. Simply a select few to prevent the coup from happening.

Apparently, Danzo had decided that was too soft an approach.

'I'm gonna kill that man,' Eiji thought to himself. It wasn't a sudden decision though. That had always been in the plans. Danzo may have helped him get as strong as he did, but that didn't excuse all the terrible, horrible things the man had done through his life. No, he needed to die.

Eiji imagined, morbidly so, that the man may even be proud of that too.

'I'll have to look more into this though, I need all the info before I can tell Sasuke about this mess as I promised…' Eiji mused before his eyes strayed to the side to look at Naruto. 'Better to think about how I'll manage to keep Sasuke's head somewhat clear while I gather facts…'

And what if the Uchiha still resented Konoha? Well, Eiji would have to do his best to stop him from actually doing anything. All their friends lived in and quite liked the village. What Eiji could do for him though was get him a new home somewhere else. It wasn't like other villages would say no to an Uchiha and if the Leaf was offended by that… Well, too bad.

"I've kept up with my brother as best I've been able to," Itachi said, held down on the sand by Eiji's threads. For a split second, Eiji imagined himself in that position for following his own decisions. Itachi had done everything he'd done for his brother and his village. He couldn't imagine doing differently for his own siblings, if not the latter case. If the day came… Then Eiji would take whatever came to him with pride and he imagined the Uchiha was doing just that, judging by the peaceful expression on his face. "Thank you for taking care of him, for showing him that there are people that care, when I couldn't," Itachi told them.

Perhaps the most disturbing thing about the whole conversation, and that was saying something, was that Itachi kept his calm, almost bored look throughout the whole thing. Not once did he show pain or… or anything else. It was impressive, in a sense, but also very unsettling. Eiji didn't even know if he was just like that or if he was just keeping himself under control. The only moments when he showed a semblance of emotion was when talking about Sasuke, really.

"You… But…" Naruto stumbled on his own words, trying to convey a message that Eiji knew and Itachi probably guessed. "You don't have to die," he said in the end and Eiji smiled sadly. "We can take you back to Konoha. Things… There has to be a way to fix this."

"Naruto, an entire clan died," Eiji told him, hating that he had to crush his own brother's wish. "There's no way he'll be left out of prison, no matter what. If he's lucky."

"But he didn't even want to do that-"

"Not entirely accurate, I'd say," Itachi said, a slight, wry smile on his face. Eiji was honestly surprised by that. He hadn't expected a dark joke like that from the guy.

"There were orders-"

"Orders that probably aren't recorded anywhere," Eiji told him with a regretful expression. "Everyone will deny everything and it'll go nowhere."

"I'm dying," Itachi told them, and his tone shifted in such a way that both boys turned to give him their full attention. "It'll happen and nothing can stop it. I've looked for solutions and found absolutely nothing. Not even Tsunade of the Sannin or such names could do something about what's happening to me. Effort put into me would be a waste in the end."

"Don't say that!" Naruto shouted and Eiji closed his eyes. He hated the situation, both for Itachi and for Naruto. There was no way the blonde would let it go and there was nothing that could be done about the former. The whole situation sucked. 'If only I had been placed here before all that mess happened…' But that was a rabbit hole that Eiji refused to go down in. The world he lived in was filled with stories like that. There was just no way he'd have been able to prevent all of them.

"I only wish I could have talked with Sasuke myself," Itachi finished, ignoring Naruto entirely and Eiji latched onto that. The Uchiha's form dropped resignedly but his mind started working once more, planning. 'Kage?'

"Well, he didn't lie about anything, you would have picked up on something with Senjutsu," Kage confirmed, a thoughtful tone in his voice. "If you really want to do what you are thinking, there's the spiders."

'Speaking of,' Eiji thought, frowning.

"What happened to my summons?" he asked, so out of nowhere that both of them turned to regard him, somewhat surprised.

"I placed Genjutsu on them. Pretty sure Kisame killed a few," the Uchiha answered, tilting his head curiously. It was a bizarre image, really, seeing a man whose body was literally sewed up to keep him from moving talk so… casually, really. 'Speaking of,' Eiji repeated to himself, using Living Thread to undo his work now that he knew it was somewhat safe. Also because he didn't have enough chakra to try anything anyway.

"Good, that'll make things easier," he said, nodding to himself as his eyes narrowed. "I'll make your wish come true but you'll have to disappear from the rest of the world for a bit. Can you heal yourself?"

"... I can," Itachi replied before a faint mint green glow covered his wounds and started healing them. His chakra was almost depleted, but he had more than enough to heal himself. As he did that, Eiji turned, feeling Naruto's gaze on him as he proceeded with his plan. He wasn't too worried though, he expected his brother would approve of his plan.

A puff of smoke later, Shirakumo stood in front of him.

"Eiji?! What is going on?! Last I heard they were saying you ran after-" she started, shouting, before seeing the situation around them and stopping abruptly. "Eiji?"

"I'll send you back in a bit, everything's fine but-"

"Fine?! Eiji, you lost your arm!" the little spider screamed and he grimaced, suddenly keenly aware of the stump that was now his left arm. He'd almost pushed that out of his mind, for the moment at least. Still, he did his best to do so once again. He needed to focus, just a bit more and he'd be able to rest and deal with things.

"That's not important right now. The situation is somewhat controlled, but the spiders I'd sent here to Suna to look after Naruto are under a genjutsu or dead. I need your mother to organize a team of them to deal with that mess," Eiji said, making the spider go stiff. "And I need you to take him to the spider realm and keep him there for a bit, can you do that for me? Or ask your mother about that."

"Eiji, the Elders like you and so does mum but… " the small spider told him, and he could feel that she was unsure, even without her voice giving it away. "... I'll ask. Give me a few minutes," she finished then, sighing.

With another puff of smoke, she disappeared.

"Eiji," Naruto said then, and Eiji didn't even need to look at Naruto to know where his attention was.

"I'm sorry," Itachi apologized then, having almost finished healing himself. He probably could have been done a lot faster, but he was taking steps to save some chakra. Understandable, considering that his reserves were almost empty. "I didn't think you could take me after getting here and taking out Kisame. I imagined that would have taken you out of the fight."

"Eiji's never out of the fight," Naruto told the Uchiha, sounding as convinced as he could be. It filled Eiji with pride, even if the whole conversation was reminding him of something he'd rather forget for the moment. "Even if he should sometimes. Wait-!" he all but shouted at the end, seemingly thinking of something.

Dashing to the side, Eiji flinched when he picked up his arm from the sand and immediately placed it into a seal. Immediately, he realized what Naruto thought about and… He was afraid of being too hopeful, if he was honest. Crazier things had happened in the world though, surely…

"It probably won't work," Itachi told them, a touch of regret in his voice. "Susanoo wounds are different from normal ones."

"..." Naruto didn't say anything, holding onto the seal like it was a lifeline.

"You are planning to keep me in the spider realm until you can get me to meet Sasuke," Itachi said then. It wasn't a question, it was a statement. Eiji didn't bother trying to say otherwise, instead raising an eyebrow at Naruto who was staring at him.

"I think he should hear it all from you. I'll be there to… calm him down so he'll listen. From there… Well, you are his brother. You should know how to take it from there," Eiji told him. Taking a deep breath in, he let out a weary sigh. The toll of all that had happened was making itself known now that things had calmed down. He wanted nothing else but to find a bed and fall asleep.

There were things to do still, unfortunately.

"I'll be there too," Naruto added, narrowing his eyes at the Uchiha, who was calmly regarding the two of them with black eyes. Then, a ghost of a smile formed on the man's face.

"I'm glad Sasuke made such good friends, found such good brothers," he said.

"And who knows? I plan to pull some strings from several medics," Eiji told him with a slight smirk. "You might even get cured."

"Cured enough to get thrown into a prison or to continue living as a missing nin. Not sure either would be preferable," Itachi replied, his smile turning bitter.

"You'd be surprised about your options. And even then, at least you'll live to see Sasuke grow," Eiji told him, knowing that was one of the things he would want if he were in that place. He also knew that dying wasn't going to allow that, from personal experience.

"... If you say so," Itachi said, for the first time looking less than perfectly calm and certain about the situation as his eyes narrowed.

"For the moment, please behave. The spiders shouldn't cause any trouble but I'd be careful just in case," Eiji suggested. Throwing his head back, he was suddenly keenly aware of the sun hitting his body like it was doing its best efforts to make him burst into flames. The fact that he was only wearing pants borrowed from Naruto wasn't helping much either.

The sand under his feet burned something fierce. The smoldering heat urged him to just give up. Nevermind the bone deep exhaustion he carried after all he'd had to do. Eiji just wanted… he wanted…

His right hand – 'My only hand.' – moved up to his chest and made a grabbing motion that almost made him flinch once again. There was nothing there. Where something should be, there was nothing anymore.

"We'll just buy another," Naruto told him, giving him a sad smile when he turned. "The important thing is that you are ok. Who cares about a necklace? We can get another just like that one."

"I guess," Eiji replied, but it almost hurt as much as his arm. That necklace had been with him since the first of Naruto's birthdays they'd spent together. If only… But how…

His right hand clenched, but the reason was on his left side. His arm, now cut at the elbow, hurt. It burned, like Amaterasu was still enveloped around it, but there was nothing. Hell, he never even felt the flames due to Iron Will, but it still hurt.

'Phantom pains,' he recognized with a grimace. With a deep breath in, he calmed himself. He needed his head on straight and his thoughts clear. He could have a breakdown later.

"I think… that's enough time," he decided, pausing for a moment to concentrate. "And then we go back to Suna, I need to get clothes and somewhere to rest."

Good thing he'd given the spiders a few of his things to keep just in case. He'd lost everything he had on him except Nuibari to Amaterasu. Even his new protector had been burned away. 'I'll have to ask the spiders for a new one. They won't be happy I lost it so fast,' He thought to himself.

Fortunately, anything truly important was kept either in the spider realm too or in his inventory. Only thing that really hurt to lose was the necklace, in all honesty. 'And the arm-' he started before stopping the thought right there, shaking his head. His remaining hand trembled as he moved to summon his spiders and get on with the plan.

[}-o-{]

"Eiji," Hachi called, and it was strange to hear her voice after she'd been so silent. Once Senjutsu stopped being necessary, she'd stopped working on it and came back. Eiji could admit that he'd missed her, if he was honest. "I appreciate it, Eiji, but you need to pull yourself together for a bit more."

An hour before, he'd have hated to hear that. Now though, in Suna, with Naruto safe and Itachi being watched and away, he could relax. It wasn't quite the rest he needed and his body craved, but it was enough for the moment. He had the twins and Tsuchigumo to lend him the support he needed to keep going.

Said chakra beast barked at him, sending him the support he so needed at that time. 'It's not the worst view, is it?' he asked in his mind. Tsuchigumo promptly agreed with him, although he wondered how much she actually liked it. The unending sea of sand that was in front of him, shifting as the dunes were made to dance with the wind. It was quite the contrast to the forest that Tsuchigumo frequented in his mindscape. The insistence of the chakra beast made him wonder if he should add a desert setting in some of the Training Ground spaces in his fake Konoha.

"She likes that idea," Kage commented and Eiji nodded to himself.

"Everything alright, Eiji?" Naruto asked from his side and he sounded almost afraid. He guessed that made sense. He must be quite the picture at the moment, with his weary expression and his missing arm. Eiji didn't even want to consider the image that was engraved in Naruto's mind from when he joined the fight. He didn't know how he'd have reacted if he'd seen the blonde covered in Amaterasu like that.

"It's… I'm trying to calm my thoughts," he replied, his voice calm as his eyes remained fixed on the sight before him. "Suna isn't as bad as I expected. Could do without the heat though," he said distractedly, thankful for his decision to wear a thin coat open and without a shirt. Freedom it might give, which was why he'd started doing that after Kakuzu, but it also helped quite well with the weather of the Sand Village.

"It's not. People… aren't that bad, I guess. I don't think I like the view all that much, but it's still good," Naruto told him. He also heard him swallow, but the blonde didn't add anything for a long moment. "I miss Konoha and the team though."

"I'm sure they'll be on their way, my team too," Eiji mused. And if he had to bet, Konoha would do their best to pull some Jounin from somewhere to cover for their Jinchuriki. With one more Akatsuki pair dealt with and with another hurt, he hoped it would be enough to ease some things for people. 'Nagato, Konan, Obito, Zetsu,' He thought to himself, already thinking how he'd go about dealing with them.

The worst part was that Pain would get six new bodies before doing anything, and that meant that Eiji would have no idea which was which. On top of that, he'd given away that he knew about their powers, and if he didn't, Nagato had to at least be wary of him now. The next battle would be more complicated, that was for sure.

'Sometimes, it feels like the goal isn't getting any closer,' he mused, sighing.

"We'll get there, Eiji," Hachi told him softly, getting an agreeing bark from Tsuchigumo.

"How long do you think it'll be until then?" Naruto asked, and he sounded nervous. Not that Eiji could blame him, really, with all the shitshow they'd just had to deal with.

"A few days at best. Around a week at most," Eiji replied, checking with the twins to make sure he had his numbers right. It wasn't like he'd been paying all that much attention during the trip.

"Eiji?"

"Yeah?"

"Thanks for coming for me."

"Nothing to thank me for, Naruto, really," Eiji waved off with his remaining hand and the slightest of smiles. Even when he'd have used his right hand before anyway, using it at all reminded him that he only had one now.

"Nothing we can do about this," Chiyo herself had told him just a few hours ago when they arrived and made their way to the medics of Suna. They'd been professional even, perfectly so. Hachi had even come through for him to check with Senjutsu and they didn't seem to have lied.

"I thought I'd die alone," Naruto told him, making his mind focus on the present once more. The blonde looked away from him, towards the desert much like Eiji had a moment before. "Today and before… Well, before."

"Over my dead body."

"I'd rather there were no dead bodies," Naruto commented with a bitter smile that spoke about how much he believed that. "Just… thank you."

"Don't mention it," Eiji told him with a smile that was much more honest than any he'd given that day. "What are brothers for, eh?"

"Yeah," Naruto nodded, grinning just as widely as he'd ever done. "Brothers."

[}-o-{]

"Of course you'd find a ramen stand in here," Eiji commented with a smile as he entered the establishment his brother had dragged him to. "Why am I even surprised at all?"

"I found three," Naruto corrected, looking like a child in a candy store. The blonde was looking around as if this was the best, most fun, most impressive place to be in the entire village. Eiji wondered what the people of Suna would take from that if they had a better read on him like Eiji did. "But this is the best one."

Evidently, someone wasn't as offended about the fact that the place was so much better regarded than the rest of the village and that person was the owner that Eiji could see cooking. The woman all but preened, shooting the pair a confident smile that made Eiji chuckle to himself. From the smell in the establishment though, she had reasons to be proud though.

"Two of the usual, please!" Naruto called loudly, to which nobody reacted. Eiji looked around and people were going about their day as if his loudmouth of a brother was a normal occurrence. He probably was, yeah, but seeing Naruto in public being so open and accepted was almost new.

It was a bittersweet observation to make that his brother was more welcome in Suna than he was in Konoha. Although, to be fair, the situation back home had been improving for years by then. It seemed that a little improvement to Naruto's more obnoxious tendencies had gone a long way. Which was also annoying to Eiji, since the village itself had been the one to cause that.

"You haven't been here all that long," he pointed out after a moment of looking around. Naruto was oddly quiet, he'd noticed. "How do you have a "usual" already? How often do you come here?"

"... Well, um… You see… I was trying to find good places to eat and… Well, one thing led to the other and…" the blond stammered and Eiji's expression turned more and more unimpressed as he went on.

"And you've been eating here almost everyday, I'm betting," he finished for the blonde, who instantly brought a hand up and scratched the back of his head sheepishly. He could only sigh at that. "I thought I taught you better. I know you love the stuff, but you have to eat varied stuff, Naruto," he told him, something that he'd repeated many times throughout his life.

That last thing might be why his brother seemed to be happy instead of ashamed or anything. 'My brother is an idiot,' Eiji thought, even though he was smiling too.

"They have varied stuff!"

"That you wouldn't have tried if I hadn't noticed this is all you eat," a new voice joined in then and Eiji looked at the cook placing two bowls before them. Eiji also noticed the way she looked at Naruto. It seemed that the blonde had managed to make a friend, as usual.

"And the usual…?" Eiji asked, turning towards the woman. He noticed, with some amusement, that both bowls were different.

"The usual is whatever ramen I think will give him different things instead of the miso ramen he'd ask for all the time," the woman told him with a chuckle that he shared. "I take it you are the famous Eiji? His brother? He'll never shut up about you."

"Only half the good things are true and none of the bad ones," He said instantly. "But yeah, I'm Eiji Satou, nice to meet you."

"Eiji Satou…" the woman whispered, frowning. For a moment, he wondered if she knew of him. He was starting to become that kind of person, especially in ninja villages. Fortunately, she seemed to be civilian enough to just shrug and keep going. "Yuka Morita, nice to meet you. Now, I'll leave you two to enjoy the meal. You know what to do when you are done!" she said, going back to cooking.

As she did, Eiji turned to give Naruto a raised eyebrow.

The blonde laughed awkwardly.

And then Eiji sighed and looked at the ramen in front of him. Miso ramen, which he guessed was fair. Naruto's "usual" would surely be that if he actually got to choose every time. He took a deep breath in and prepared himself to eat. Picking up the chopsticks, he moved slowly.

Next to him, he saw Naruto flinch as he moved. Eiji just rolled his eyes at him and focused on the food. It'd been a whole day since the whole mess. Sleeping and eating something had done wonders for him, but he was far from alright. Even Tsuchigumo was recovering from all the energy she'd spent and Hachi had been very active after all the time she'd spent with Senjutsu. Kage had even offered to practice some more on that, to take the next turn instead of her.

Back to the point though, the blonde still hadn't – understandably – gotten used to seeing him use wires instead of his hands for stuff like eating. In this case, he used them to hold the bowl while he used the chopsticks with his one hand. It was… strange, really. He'd used wires for lots of things like that. Hell, he'd probably used wires to manipulate Nuibari just as much as he'd used his hands.

However, those mundane tasks had never been done like that and he found the act incredibly strange.

"Hm… This is good," he commented, after trying the first bit of food.

"I know, right?" Naruto replied hesitantly.

Eiji sighed, but decided to continue eating. It wasn't like he could do anything about his lack of arm at the moment. The wires would have to do for the moment. Maybe even permanently, but he had some ideas to take care of that particular problem.

One of them had been to fashion himself an arm made with ninja wire. With all his training using Living Thread, surely he could manage that, right? And the answer was yes, but it was incredibly strange and complex to do. It just wasn't worth the effort in the end. Might as well just use the threads separately than go through all that trouble. If all else failed though, he might come back to that idea.

Anything to try and fill the hole on his being that he was now permanently feeling on his left side.