Old Friends

++++++Review responses:

kinkou: Thanks!!

Rolio87: Itachi IS dedicated and in love with Naruto. But he loves his little
brother, too. There may be some smex later between just Sasuke and Naruto;
I haven't decided yet.

piggyolive: I'm glad you like it. Girl or boy, hm? You'll find out soon,
but not in this chapter.:)

Damp: Yes, Itachi and Naruto are a couple, but I had to give Sasuke some
lovin', too. I'm not a big fan of incest, but when it comes to the Uchihas, I
just like it. Thanks for the review.

Cassandra Incognito: Sorry, yummy-ness has to be put on hold until they can
get our blond baka back. I'm happy you like it so far.


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Tsunade looked up as loud voices resounded outside her office door. The door
was unceremoniously thrown open, revealing the two youngest Uchihas. "What
is the meaning of this, Uchiha?! Most people are polite enough to knock.
What is so important for you to be so rude?"

Taking a moment to catch his breath, Sasuke blurted, "Naruto's gone! He's
been kidnapped!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


~~~~~~Chap.16

Tsunade stared at the raven-haired shinobi, frozen in shock. Then, "WHAT?!
You were supposed to be watching him!" She brought her fists crashing onto
her desk in anger, splitting it in half. "Tell me what happened," she
growled, moving closer to the pair.

Fushigi whimpered. The woman was scaring her, with her loud voice and
violent temper. She clutched Sasuke's shirt and buried her face against
his chest.

Sasuke was annoyed. The Hokage always did this. When someone brought her
bad news, instead of immediately ordering a search party, she had to get all
the details. She should just gather the searchers, and then have the person
give particulars so it was repeated only once. He told her how Naruto had
been out in the garden, when the Uchihas had sensed foreign chakra. It only
flickered for a moment, then was gone, but so was Naruto. He related how
Itachi had gone after the blond, meaning ANBU was probably with him, but they
needed to get a team together to follow.

Tsunade quickly went through a list of those available, and made her
decision. Soon Shikamaru, Neji, Yamato and Sai had joined them, with Sakura
appearing to take care of Fushigi. Tsunade sent them off, telling them
Sasuke would brief them as they went. After they left, she turned to her
apprentice with a frown. "Sakura, it is up to you to protect that child with
your life. Until her parents return, she is your responsibility. Keep her
safe. Dismissed."

Sitting in her chair behind her broken desk, the Hokage tried to massage away
the headache she could feel starting. 'Why did I take this job?' she
wondered for the thousandth time. Oh, yeah. Because the village needed a
strong leader, and she had made that stupid bet with the young Uchiha. When
would she learn not to make bets?!

++++++

Following Itachi's chakra signature, Sasuke gave the team a brief description
of what had occurred. To say they were shocked would be an understatement.
How the hell had enemies gotten that far into the village without the alarm
being given? Where had the ANBU been? There was no time to voice their
questions; they had a friend to rescue.

Using his Byakuugan, Neji scanned the forest ahead of them. There was no
sign of anyone nearby. He let the jutsu drop.

Sai paused for a moment to make a quick sketch, then formed seals to bring
his creation to life. A pack of viscious-looking wolf-like animals sprang
from the page and raced off into the trees. The team of nins followed.

A howl rent the air, quickly joined by others. As the Konoha team drew
nearer the noise, the sound of battle could be heard. Neji activated his
Byakuugan again and pointed off to the right. "There. ANBU and Itachi are
fighting a man and...a plant?! What the fuck!? What the hell is that
thing?!"

Sasuke activated his own bloodline trait. He was planning to be ready for
anything. He wasn't ready for what they saw, however. Neji had been right;
it was a plant of sorts. It had the body of a man, but the head of a giant
Venus flytrap. Talk about freaky... He noticed the Akatsuki cloaks the two
wore. 'Kuso! More of them!' Then he saw a flash of blond hair as the
plant-like guy picked up a bundle of something. "Naruto!" Sasuke started
forward only to be restrained by a hand on his arm.

Shikamaru shook his head at the raven. "Don't go rushing in. We need to get
a sense of how strong they are, what types of jutsu they employ."

Sai's ink-wolves were attacking both the nuke-nins, and dissolving in
spectacularly large splashes of ink. He was busy sketching more to send into
the fray.

Itachi hadn't tried to attack the plant-nin; he knew he couldn't win. He
concentrated all his efforts on the one with the blue hair. He watched Zetsu
from the corner of his eye, to make sure he didn't get away with Naruto. If
he even sensed that the guy was going to use that jutsu, he WOULD attack. No
way was he going to let him get away.

Sasuke and Shikamaru watched the one with Naruto carefully. They saw him
begin to form seals to a jutsu, and that's when they both pounced. The long
shadow of Shika's Kagemane reached out to capture the nin, while Sasuke fired
up his Chidori. It wouldn't be the first time he had to get rid of weeds, he
thought with a mental smirk, thinking back to his genin days.

Yamato reinforced Shikamaru's jutsu with his own. He quickly encased the
plant-ninja's lower body in a wooden cage, making it impossible for him to
move his legs. He didn't want to make it too high because the nin had Naruto
in his arms, and he didn't want to take any chances on hurting the boy.

Zetsu was frozen in place, unable to complete his Hiru Bansho: Boka no Jutsu
(Leech All Creation: Attack Prevention Technique). Unable to take the blond
and disappear into the ground, he attemped to get the boy up to his mouth.
He didn't plan to eat the kid, just hold him where the others couldn't get to
him. The attack on his chakra points was unexpected; the plant-nin couldn't
do anything but stand there as his prize was ripped from his arms. Suddenly,
he felt pain, soon followed by nothing at all as the Chidori blasted through
his head, destroying it and the plant enclosing it on either side.

One down. Now, to help Itachi and the ANBU kill the other one. Neji
withdrew to Shikamaru's side with Naruto clasped to his chest. The shadow
user was near the end of his limits, so all they could do was watch and
protect the blond. They watched in awe as the two Uchihas cast jutsu after
jutsu at the blue-haired nin. Coming at him from different sides, they each
sent a giant fireball at him. The nuke-nin jumped out of the way and
vanished. The fireballs dispersed before reaching the opposite Uchiha. The
Konoha nins looked around frantically for the missing Akatsuki member, but he
was gone. Hopefully, they'd have no more trouble from him.

ANBU checked to make sure the plant-like nin was truly dead, then had Itachi
dispose of the body using a fire technique. After searching the area for
more threats, Itachi joined the two younger nins and took Naruto into his own
arms. He wasn't going to let his blond go again.

~~~~

Ten exhausted shinobi dragged themselves through the gates of Konoha. They
slowly made their way to the Hokage Tower to report in. Villagers stared in
confusion and whispered to one another. Itachi carried his blond lover
bridal-style, pressed to his chest. The boy had yet to awaken, and he wanted
Tsunade to make sure he was okay.

The guards at the doors waved them in. Curious glances and whispers followed
as they walked up the stairs to the Hokage's office, but were ignored by all
ten. ANBU entered first and gave their report. When they were done, Tsunade
yelled for the others to bring Naruto in. She motioned for Itachi to lay him
on the bed in the next room so she could examine him, then shooed everyone
out. The Uchiha brothers paced in frustration. What was taking her so long?
In truth, it had only been a few minutes, but felt like a lifetime to those
who were waiting. When the door finally opened, Tsunade found herself
surrounded by worried nins.

"Well?" Itachi.

"How's Naruto?" Neji.

"Can we see him?" Shikamaru.

"Is he going to be all right?" Yamato.

"Did they do anything to him?" Sasuke.

"Does he still have a penis?" Sai, of course.

They were all talking at once. "Everybody, SHUT UP!!" To say Tsunade was
annoyed would be an understatement on a rather grand scale. She was
seriously pissed. Naruto had been put under a strong sleep jutsu, and she
hadn't been able to break it. Other than that, both the boy and the baby
were fine. Unless the older Uchiha knew how to break the jutsu, they would
just have to wait until it wore off. Until then, Naruto wouldn't be going
anywhere. She was going to keep her eye on him personally. She explained
all this to the six shinobi standing before her.

Itachi shook his head; he had no idea what jutsu had been used. Each member
of Akatsuki had his own variation of the technique, unknown by the rest. He
asked if he could see his lover, and was granted permission, leaving the
rescue team to give their own report. Inside the room, Naruto lay quietly on
his back on the bed, not so much as twitching. That was so unnatural. Itachi
was used to the boy moving around in his sleep unless held in place by the
Uchiha's strong arms. Even then, the blond shifted his limbs frequently.
Itachi pulled a chair next to the bed and sat down. He wasn't going to move
until blue eyes could look at him once more.

~~~~

Sakura agreed to take care of the youngest Uchiha until such time as Naruto
awoke. That would give Sasuke a break and allow him to go on missions if he
were needed; he was welcome to see her anytime he wanted. Itachi, true to
his vow, hadn't moved from Naruto's side except to use the bathroom. Meals
had been brought to him, only to be taken away mainly untouched. It had been
four days since they had brought the blond home, and he was still asleep.

Sasuke and Sakura had both offered to watch over the boy so Itachi could get
some much needed rest, but had been refused. Tsunade and Shizune frequently
checked on the blond, and carefully monitored Itachi's intake. Neither wanted
TWO strong shinobi out of commission. They even went so far as to doctor his
fluids with vitamins and other nutrients. At least he was drinking plenty of
juice and water.

Day six dawned with dark clouds rolling in on the horizon. Itachi had fallen
asleep around 5:30am, resting his head on the mattress at Naruto's side. He
woke to feel fingers brushing through his hair. Raising his head, onyx eyes
met cerulean blue orbs. "How are you feeling?" he asked, clearing his
throat.

Naruto gave him a small smile, albeit genuine. "I'm fine. What happened?
All I remember is taking Fushigi to the garden. Where are we? Is she okay?"

Itachi was too relieved to answer for the moment. He fought down the lump in
his throat, and leaned up to give the blond a chaste kiss, gently clasping
Naruto's hand. A slight blush settled over his cheeks.

Naruto started to get worried; just what the hell was going on? Itachi never
blushed, and he was rarely this tender.

"Fushigi is fine; she's with Sakura. I was scared that I'd never see you
again. Akatsuki took you. I feared we would be too late to stop them from
removing the kyuubi. Then, when we caught up, and Zetsu dropped you, I was
afraid you'd lose the baby. They used a sleep jutsu on you, and we didn't
know how to break it. You've been sleeping for almost a week."

Naruto stared at his lap, digesting the information. When he looked back at
the Uchiha, he had a hopeful look in his eyes that baffled the raven. That
is until the blond spoke. "Ne, Itachi. Did you bring me some ramen? I'm
starving!"

Dumbfounded, Itachi stared at his lover, before bursting into laughter. He'd
told the boy that Akatsuki had captured him, and the first thing he asked for
was ramen?! Only Naruto could think of his stomach at a time like this!

The door opened behind him to reveal two startled kunoichi. Tsunade and
Shizune had come running in at the sound of the Uchiha's laugh. It was so
unusual an occurance that they had been alarmed.

Looking from one young man to the other, Tsunade let out a sigh of relief.
She smiled at the younger male. "Thank Kami-sama you're awake! We were all
so worried about you. How are you feeling? Is there anything we can get for
you?"

Naruto smiled at the older blond, who was fast becoming like a big sister, or
mother, to him. "I feel great! Can I have some ramen? I'm hungry!" Blue
eyes twinkled as Naruto gazed up at the Hokage. His smile disappeared,
though, as his stomach knotted up in pain. "Aarrgh!" Naruto curled into a
ball on his side.

"Naruto! What wrong!?" Itachi was instantly trying to soothe the boy,
stroking hair from his eyes.

Tsunade pushed him out of the way so she could exam the blond. What she
found was not good. Naruto was only seven months pregnant, but he was going
into labor. It was too soon! She kept the worry from her face as she turned
to Itachi. "We need to get him to the hospital. You are about to become a
father."

The Uchiha, always calm and collected, freaked. "Waah! NO! He's not due
for two more months! I'm not ready yet! This can't be happening!"

There was no time for hysterics. Tsunade motioned for Shizune to get the
Uchiha out of there and to the hospital. While the younger woman pushed him
out the door, Tsunade scooped Naruto into her arms. Glancing once into
pain-dulled eyes, she knew they had little time to save the baby. If she
didn't operate within the next half hour, they might lose them both. After
all, unless she opened him up, the baby had no where to go. She raced from
the room, and through the village to the hospital, carrying her little brother.

~~~~~~

A/N: Sorry it took so long to update. Had writer's block for the longest time. Let me know if you like it.