The truth behind it all(Itachi x Naruto)18+

Chapter 8: A place to call home.

“There are nine tailed beasts called bijuu and for each beast there is a human host, called a Jinchuuriki.” Konan explained. “We want those bijuu and their power.”

“Why? What is so special about these beasts?” Deidara asked while Itachi acted as if none of this interested him.

“Each demon holds a great power and each one is a key to our final plan!” The dark-haired woman told them.

“We have found a way to extract the demon from its host. The rings you were given gives us the extra power to extract and seal it in a special place.” Pein added. “That is another reason why you need to take good care of your rings and don´t lose it.”

“What happens to the host?” Deidara asked.

“You´ll see soon enough!” Orochimaru hissed with an evil grin. He walked over to Itachi and looked intensively at the stoic Uchiha.

“What do you want?” Itachi growled with malice. He didn´t like the way the snake was staring at him… it was as if he was a rare delicacy or something like that.

“You´re an Uchiha aren’t you? And you posses the power of the Sharingan?”

“Hn.”

“Interesting.” Orochimaru smirked to himself and teleported himself out of the cave.

“What a creep.” Kisame whispered to his partner. “I would be careful around that guy if I were you, Itachi-sama.”

“Yes, he really is a slimy snake.” The Uchiha stated. “So what is our next mission?”

“I want you to find out if the Kyuubi can be extracted now or if we have to wait till the Jinchuuriki is older.”

“And if he is too young?” Kisame asked his orange-haired leader.

“Then I want you to track down the Rokubi. Kisame has already caught the Yonbi a month ago, so he can explain you everything if you have any questions, Itachi.” Pein told him.

“Fine, let´s get going then, Kisame!” Itachi turned around and left the cave, his blue-skinned companion right behind him.

“He really is a cold bastard, isn´t he?” Konan asked Pein as Itachi and Kisame were gone.

“Well, he is an Uchiha after all. He knows the kyuubi´s Jinchuuriki and yet he doesn´t seem to give a damn about the boy, which is good. If we couldn´t trust him, he would be useless to us.”

~ # ~

“What does happen to the host when the demon is extracted?” Itachi asked when they were well on their way to the country of fire,

“Well, The bijuu and the Jinchuuriki are bound together as one.” Kisame said. “And because the demon is the stronger one of the two… the Jinchuuriki will lose his or her life in the process… and die.”

“What?!” Itachi stopped in the middle of the street and stared at the blue-skinned man.

“The host dies.”

“…” Itachi turned deadly pale. Naruto would die? ´I can´t let that happen, I have to make sure that the Akatsuki never captures Naruto… I have to protect him and to do that I have to play my cards right!`

“Itachi-sama, are you alright?” Kisame asked with a hint of concern in his voice.

“I´m fine. How many bijuu have you caught?”

“I only captured the Yonbi, who was an old man.” Kisame told him. “It was rather easy.”

“How did you do it?” Itachi asked. He didn´t know anything about Kisame´s powers and he decided that if they had to work together successfully he should better know what he could expect.

“My sword the ´Samehada` can absorb the enemy´s chakra. I come from the hidden city of the Mist so my jutsu´s are mainly Suiton no jutsu (water). I may not be as fast as you, but I´m strong.” Kisame told him with a toothy smile.

“Sounds good. We complement each others powers as I´m a Katon no jutsu user. We have to find some way to train against an enemy to get the ultimate combination of our skills.”

“We could collect some bounties and we could use the fights as training.” Kisame suggested.

“Good idea.” Itachi said. “We can hunt down bounties on our way to Konoha.”

“So, how do we enter Konoha to spy on the Kyuubi container?”

~ # ~

Three months later/ Oct 10th.

Naruto walked down the main street. He had to buy groceries and wasn´t aware of what day it was either did he know that he was a child who had just turned nine today.

Normally he would have been forced to stay indoor by his guardian but since this summer he had been living alone in a small apartment in the poor end of town. Sarutobi-sama had let him live alone since his last guardian had beat him up on a regular basis, while calling him a demon and told him that the world would be better off without the spawns of evil.

Naruto didn´t know that the tenth of October was his birthday or that the Kyuubi had killed so many citizens nine years ago.

He didn´t scream as five men grabbed him and dragged him into an alley. He didn´t fight back as they took turns on beating, kicking and mocking him and he didn´t beg for mercy as they drew their daggers and buried the cold steel in his body.

The reason for this was the Kyuubi, who was sealed inside of him. The Kitsune had dragged Naruto´s consciousness into the sealing cage inside of the boys mind and it took the beating for the child; as Kyuubi thought it owed the innocent boy that much.

Naruto lay; wrapped up in the Kyuubi´s fluffy tails, while the fox accepted the beating in his stead.

`Kyuu… why do they hate us so much?` The scared nine-year old asked.

¤They fear you because of me. I´m sorry that you have to live through this, kit… but I will try to protect you, as none of us is really to blame.¤ The orange-red fox whispered.

The pain was not as bad as it had been nine years ago; when that person had capture Kyuubi´s family and forced him to attack Konoha… only to find out that his family had already been killed. All he had left now was this young boy, and Kyuubi decided that he would protect his kit from anyone as long as possible.

¤They fear what they don´t understand… we have to be strong… to grow powerful and then… then we will have our revenge… if we survive this, that is.¤

~ # ~

A man wearing a dark cloak walked into the ally. The cheers and encouraged shouts from other men had lured him here. It sounded as if they were beating something up… probably a small animal like a fox – as they always did on this cursed day.

His anger grew beyond anything he had ever felt before as he watched five grown men beat down on the whimpering bundle on the ground at their feet.

“What are you doing?” He growled. Who would beat up a defenseless animal?

“Stay out of this stranger!” One of the men shouted at him. “This is our way of getting even with the demon.”

“Is killing an animal really a way to get revenge?”

“An animal? No, it´s not simply a fox!” The villager smirked. “We´ve got our hands on the real demon-carrier this time, and he´s not getting away alive!”

“…” The raven-haired man growled in pure hatred as he realized who the men were attacking.

“I will f***ing kill you, all of you!” He growled.

The men stared at the cloaked man in horror.

“… You´re… Uchiha… Itachi?” One man stuttered as he backed away.

“Yes, and now you will pay for touching my angel.” He trapped all five in the Tsukuyomi 月読, and made them feel fifty hours of torture within a single minute in the real world. He stabbed, skinned and gutted them over and over, enjoying their desperate cries of agony.

He overheard their pleas for mercy till the very end and decided that he would grant them the mercy of a somewhat quick death. He sliced his way through them and picked up the trembling blonde in his embrace before the bodies of his tormentors hit the ground.

“Naruto?” He whispered while looking into dull blue eyes.

“Naruto is resting at my cage!” The boy whimpered weakly.

“… You are the Kyuubi?” Itachi asked.

“Yes.”

“What have you done to Naruto?” Itachi asked with concern.

“Your angel is safe. I locked his mind up and took the beating in his stead… as I always do. Why are you here Uchiha, aren´t you a missing-nin?” The fox asked.

“I am here with disturbing news… news that could help to save Naruto´s life.” Itachi told the fox.
“Maybe if we work together, we can keep our precious angel free from harm.”

“I´m all ears!” The fox said.

One hour later a few blocks away:

Iruka and Kakashi picked up the little trembling body up from the ground. The blonde child had been beaten up so badly that he was covered in bruises, cuts and blood all over.

“Oh god, Kakashi. Why do they always treat Naruto-kun so badly. It is his birthday for crying out loud.”

“They blame him for the Kyuubi´s attack nine years ago. They don´t seem to understand that this child has nothing to do with it.”

“I know I used to blame Naruto for what happened back then… but I changed and I care about him. I feel so sorry for him, isn´t there anything we can do?” Iruka carefully hugged the whimpering boy in a caring embrace.

“We could look out for him, protect him… maybe even adopt him.” Kakashi said. ´He said ´we`… my little dolphin likes me!` He cheered inwardly.

“Adopt him? But is that allowed, I mean can an unmarried and single man adopt a child just like that?” Iruka asked as he walked next to Kakashi towards Iruka´s home.

There had been no visible clues of the ones that had kicked and hit the little boy so viciously. Kakashi had ordered his nin-dogs to find clues about the men that had attacked Naruto and let him know as soon as they found anything at all. Kakashi knew that Naruto had been moved from the actual scene of the beating as there was no evidence of the abuse where they found Naruto and Kakashi wondered who would have placed the child on Iruka´s way home from the academy.

~ # ~

Kakashi locked the door behind them as they entered the brunette’s cozy little house. He made sure that everything was as it should be and told Iruka not to open for anyone while he would go to the Hokage to make a report.

Iruka was important to the copy-nin and he wanted the brunette to be safe and happy. He also knew that Naruto was important to Iruka and Kakashi really liked the Uzumaki heir too and not only because of his father.

“I´ll be right back with something sweet for the birthday boy as I think we should try to cheer him up and make him feel that someone cares about him.” Kakashi told Iruka, who nodded towards him with a sad smile.

“Would you mind doing me a favor, Kakashi?”

“What ever you need, dolphin.” Kakashi asked.

´Dolphin? Why is he calling me that? Does he know that I have a crush on him?` Iruka thought.

“Would you mind asking the Hokage if I could adopt Naruto-kun?”

“No problem, I´ll ask. And I´ll ask if we both can adopt him, that way he has two parents.”

“Thank you, Kakashi. I think Naruto will be happier with two caring parents than one.” They smiled caringly at each other before Kakashi formed the transporting seals and disappeared.

“I guess I better clean you up a bit.” Iruka carried the boy into the bathroom and undressed him down to his boxers. He cleaned the frail child gently with a washcloth and marveled as he noticed that the wounds were already healing.

“Please… don´t… hurt me.” Naruto whimpered as he opened his beautiful blue eyes and stared at Iruka in fear.

“I would never hurt you, Naruto-kun. You are safe now. Kakashi and I will protect you from now on.”

“…Really?” The boy began to sob and tears stained his cheeks. “I´m sorry…”

“For what, Naruto-kun? There is no reason for you to be sorry… you didn´t do anything wrong.”

“I shouldn´t cry… it´s a sign of weakness…”

“There is nothing wrong with crying from time to time. You´re only nine years old… it´s alright. I am here for you.” Iruka, too, felt like crying. Naruto didn´t deserve this, he was such a sweet child. He wished with every fiber of his being that he and Kakashi would be allowed to adopt this boy.

~ # ~

Kakashi approached the office of the third Hokage to bring forth his request and tell the old man what had happened to Naruto. He stopped and listened with an ear against the door as he heard voices from the office.

“I see… This really is disturbing news you bring. What did you do to the men who hurt Naruto-kun?” Sarutobi said with a sad sigh.

“I took care of them, my lord.” A familiar voice said.

´Who is this? I know his voice from somewhere.` Kakashi thought as he continued to spy on the conversation between the Hokage and his guest.

“Alright.” The Hokage said. “I want you to stay undercover and gather more information on the Akatsuki… they are a growing threat but we need more background information before we can do anything about them. Where is Naruto-kun now?”

“He is safe, Hokage-sama. I made sure that Iruka-sensei would be the one who would find him. I need to go now as my partner is expecting me back… He will be in good hands with both of them. They have a crush on each other anyway.”

“I know. I will grant your request and let the boy stay with them. He will indeed be saver that way. Just one last thing.” Sarutobi said. “I have arranged for Jiraiya to be your new contact. It is way too risky for you to enter Konoha like things are now. He is currently traveling around somewhere at the Wave, but he will be back in the fire country in three months. I want you to give your report to him from now on.”

“As you wish, Sarutobi-sama. Tell Kakashi-sensei I said hallo and keep an eye on my otouto for me.”

“I will, be careful.”

“I will report to Jiraiya-sama as soon as I get any new information, Hokage-sama.”

“Kakashi, you can come in now!” The Hokage called from the other side of the thick wooden door.
The copy-nin grinned beneath his mask as he entered the office.

“Hokage-sama.” He greeted.

“It is not polite to spy on private conversations.” The old man told him.

“I know that. Who was here? A spy?” Kakashi asked, though he knew that he probably wouldn´t get an answer.

“It is classified. Why are you here?” He asked the silver-haired man. “If it is about Naruto-kun, I already know. I take it that you and Iruka keep him somewhere safe for the rest of the day.”

“Yes, we found him an hour ago… he is with Iruka. Hokage-sama, I have a request.”

“What kind of request?” The Kage asked.

“Iruka and I would like to adopt Uzumaki Naruto and become his legal guardians from this day forth.”

TBC