Beyond Ambitions
by thephaw
Chapter 4: Thoughts and Revelations
Uchiha Itachi just stood there, on the eastern part of the wall surrounding Konoha village, watching the village with his sharingan eyes. Beside him stood his partner, Hoshigaki Kisame, who was busy adjusting the bandages wrapped around his giant sword. Uchiha Itachi is the eldest surviving member of the Uchiha Clan and an S-class criminal who was rumoured to have killed the entire clan himself. Kisame was said to be one of the best of the mist’s seven swordsmen and his sword, the Samehade, has a unique ability of absorbing chakra. Now, these two are part of the Akatsuki, an organization with an ambitious goal of becoming more powerful than any of the hidden villages.
“So, we’re after the kyubi kid again, right?”
“As soon as we have Naruto, we are heading out. Don’t get too carried away, Kisame. Your work, as always, can become a little…excessive.”
“Heh, right. But if we run into any resistance…” he said while swiping his sword through the air.
“Just remember that we need him alive…preferably in one piece.”
“Don’t worry, he’ll be alive. Can’t guarantee he’ll be in one piece though,” said Kisame who saw a crow fly above them.
“There’s the signal, lets go,” said Itachi before they both vanished in a blur.
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Naruto arrived at their old team seven meeting place. It was four in the morning but Naruto was already about half an hour late. Sakura and Lee were already there, waiting for him.
“You’re late Naruto!”
“Heh, sorry about that. Its just that I had to stop by for some ramen on the way here,” he explained.
“You’re gonna die if all you eat is Ramen.”
“Hasn’t happened yet,” replied Naruto, grinning, “Besides, Lee eats almost as much ramen as me.” It was true. Naruto’s ramen eating habits had somehow passed on to Lee throughout the three years that they were on the same team. Of course, Gai-sensei always watched over Lee to make sure he ate more than just ramen. Naruto, on the other hand, had nobody to watch over him. Even Lee was surprised that Naruto can survive on just ramen and milk.
“Hey, lets go you guys. Gai-sensei said he’d teach me a new technique when I come back. Lets get this mission over with.” Lee said.
“Ok, lets go,” said Sakura.
“WAIT!” they heard a voice call from somewhere nearby. It was Tsunade who was heading towards them.
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Itachi and Kisame were jumping across the rooftops of Konoha village when they both stopped. With his sharingan eyes, Itachi spotted someone with a huge amount of chakra in the distance. “That must be him,” he said, “he’s just leaving the Ramen Ichiraku bar now and is heading towards the west. Remember Kisame, don’t draw too much attention. We don’t want all of Konoha’s forces chasing us.”
“Don’t worry,” snickered Kisame, “I’ve already had my fun for today.”
They caught up to Naruto. “There he is,” said Itachi.
“Alright, I’ll handle thi…” Kisame started before he was interrupted.
“Wait,” said Itachi, “Look over there, it’s the hokage.”
“So what?” answered Kisame, “We can take her.”
“Maybe. She was one of the legendary Sannin, it might be difficult,” Itachi said, “Besides, Naruto’s team-mates are also close-by. It would be better to catch Naruto alone.”
“Damn…” he heard Kisame say.
“For now, we’ll just see what they are up to,” said Itachi. The two Akatsuki members then hid behind a large tree, hidden from the view of everyone else.
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Tsunade pulled out a scroll with the Uchiha symbol on it. “I need you to give this to Sasuke when you find him,” she explained.
“Hmm…What is it?” asked Naruto, curious. Tsunade gave him the scroll. Impulsively he opened it. “Huh?” he said, confused.
“Naruto…” she sighed, “You shouldn’t just open scrolls that aren’t meant for you. What if I put a special genjutsu in that scroll that knocks you out when you open it?”
“Uhh…sorry. But what is this for?” asked Naruto. When he opened the scroll, it was blank except for a leaf symbol at the top.
“I wrote the words on this scroll with chakra. Only people with chakra seeing abilities can read this scroll. This was a method used for a long time by the leaf shinobis when sending secret documentations.” Explained Tsunade.
“So only an Uchiha or Hyuga can read these?”
“That’s correct.”
“So…whats it say?” asked Naruto
“Sorry, Naruto, but it is for Sasuke alone. Anyways…you three better get going. Oh, and one more thing, our scouts report that the village of the sound is starting to move again. I don’t know what they are up to but, you guys should be careful.”
“First the Akatsuki, now the sound? Whats happening?” asked Sakura.
“I’m not sure myself, but I must prepare the village in case of an attack. If you three don’t find Sasuke in a week, return to the village. If the sound or Akatsuki do attack, we’ll need as many forces as we can get to defend the village.”
“Right,” said the three Jounins before they vanished. Tsunade then promptly disappeared in a puff of smoke.
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‘So…he’s alive. Not only that, this hokage knows about…that day…,’ thought Itachi.
“Hey Itachi, something wrong? You look a bit weird.” Kisame noted.
“Its nothing, I was just thinking about something. Anyways we must follow those three. However, I do not want to capture Naruto yet. I’m curious to see what their goal is first.”
“Hehe, getting interested in something, Itachi? The last thing you got interested in ended up dead.”
Itachi said nothing.
“Lets go.” Itachi and Kisame then left to follow Naruto and his team.
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The jounin team moved through the treetops. Unknown to the team, however, was the fact that they were being followed by two of the most dangerous Akatsuki members. Its been an hour since they left and it would be a few hours yet before they reached the bridge. So far, they have all been quiet during the trip. Naruto broke the silence.
“Hey, Sakura-chan?”
“Huh?”
“What do you think about this mission?”
“What do you mean?” she asked, confused.
“I mean…about Sasuke. Do you…still like him? Sometimes I see you and you look…I dunno…kinda sad…like you miss someone.” Naruto and Lee looked at Sakura expectantly for a reply. Although Lee is less open about it than was he was before, he still has a crush on Sakura. Naruto, on the other hand, had gotten over the little crush he had on Sakura when they were kids.
Sakura’s eyes became a bit darker. “I…I don’t know,” she started, “it was true that back when he was still here, I liked him a lot.” Sakura paused for a moment then continued. “I never told you guys this, but on the day that Sasuke left, I talked with him before he left.”
“Really?”
Sakura nodded. “I…told him that I loved him that day. I wasn’t sure if I meant it or not and I’m still not sure. I even offered to help him with his revenge that day but…he just called me annoying.” Sakura looked up and gave a faint smile. “After that, I was about to scream but, he did the strangest thing…he thanked me. Of course he knocked me out after, but, a part of me knew that he wouldn’t give into that curse seal and Orochimaru. That wasn’t the end of it either. Later that day, I was in his house, trying to make myself believe that he would be back. I heard someone there in the house with me. I tried to find out who it was but…whoever it was left before I could find out. And, although I wasn’t sure, a part of me somehow knew it was Sasuke.”
“What made you think that?”
“It might have been a thief that wanted to rob the place with Sasuke gone but when I picked up a broken portrait on the floor, only the bottom corner of the picture was there. I recognized the picture right away. It was the picture of the old team seven. That’s when I knew it had to be Sasuke.”
Naruto was silent for a while. Then he grinned at Sakura and asked, “You think he’ll remember us?”
Sakura smiled back. “I hope so,” she said. Lee just kept moving silently. He didn’t know what to say right now, or even what to think anymore. He liked Sakura but…it seems she still has a heart for Sasuke. To Lee, Sakura was just another one of his hopeless ambitions. He felt hopeless for a while, like he couldn’t possibly do anything. But then, his eyes changed and got brighter. ‘I’ll just deal with this like everything else,’ he thought, ‘I’ll just work harder to make Sakura-chan notice me.’
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They finally reached the bridge connecting the wave country with the eastern peninsula that is beside the fire country. (A/N: I believe this is where the bridge is located on the map of the Naruto world. Correct me if I’m wrong.) The bridge was very busy. There were wagons, people, and caravan’s going both ways along the bridge.
“Finally, we’re here,” said Lee.
“Wow, the bridge is really busy now. I can see how important this bridge is to the wave country. But…I still can’t believe they named the bridge after you Naruto,” exclaimed Sakura.
“What did you expect,” he gloated, “I’m so great, it would be an insult to name it anything else.” Both Sakura and Lee sweat-dropped.
“Well, lets go find Sasuke,” said Sakura, “we’ll start where Tsunade mentioned, three miles east of this bridge right? Let’s head out.”
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Sasuke walked along, heading towards his usual training field. His thoughts completely focused until he felt a slight shiver throughout his body. ‘Itachi...’ he thought, ‘I know your close, I can feel you. This time, I will avenge my family, and KILL YOU.’
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Orichimaru was sitting at a desk, writing something down in a scroll. Beside him stood Kabuto, Orochimaru’s right hand man. Across the desk stood a sound ninja.
“Here are the preparations you are to make,” ordered Orochimaru to the sound ninja as he gave the ninja the scroll, “be sure they are completed on time.”
“Yes, Orochimaru-sama.” With that, the sound ninja left.
“Are you sure we have a large enough force for the invasion?” asked Kabuto.
“You doubt me, Kabuto?”
“No, not at all. Its just that last time, we failed even though we had the sand helping us.”
“HAHA! Don’t worry Kabuto, once I have ‘him’ in my possession, the plan will go smoothly,” said Orochimaru.
“You mean Uchiha Sasuke…I’m still curious as to why you didn’t want to control Sasuke 6 years ago when you had the chance. I know you wouldn’t have been able to take his body for a few years but the seal you gave him lets you control him does it not?”
“You are very perceptive, Kabuto. However, I DID want to control back then, its just that I couldn’t”
“Huh? Why?”
“The body that I switched into six years ago…this body…it does not have enough chakra in it to overcome the seal that the brat, Kakashi, had given him. Not only that, Sasuke seems to have a strong will of his own.”
“So what can you do? The chakra in your current body hasn’t seemed to grow at all.”
“The seal that Kakashi put on the boy is slowly wearing out. Once its gone, I’ll be able to take complete control of him.”
“Do you know when the seal will completely dissipate?”
“Yes…later tonight,” answered Orochimaru in a hungry tone.