*Itachi's POV*

He was underneath my body, his warmth scalding my skin as he slept. His mind was so easy to influence and ease to do my bidding. Kabuto's ability to bring me back came with some scary abilities that impress me and continue to shock me. The way he just caved into what I wanted was so enchanting. My voice...able to convince him...will him..

His smell...

His aura...

The blood under his skin...

Temptation almost took me then, as I grazed my teeth across his jugular hungrily, thankful he was knocked out with ease. I wanted so badly to bite into him. If I wasn't full I don't think I would have the strength to stop myself like I'm doing now.

He has grown so much since I last saw him this close. He's the same yet different than before. He's still kind and energetic, but he has more maturity to him, much more than a male his age should have on average. He has definitely experienced much in the short amount of time he's been alive and exposed to the ninja world.

"Naruto Uzumaki has safely returned. However, he brought an unidentified male into his tent." A voice spoke from outside, causing my eyes to look forwards. Able to see the chakra past the tent opening, past the obscuring rain.

Danzo...shit.

I reached and grabbed my mask and put it back on before draping the blanket over us better, coming to wrap around the boy under me and get comfortable. Pretending to sleep despite keeping my eyes open. I was glad I did this, because the flap to the tent was drawn back, the sound of hammering rain only intensifying as it's loud pounding on the tent grew louder after the entrance opened.

I suddenly gasped quietly as a loud crack of thunder winded me yet again by the sheer sound of it, causing my body to flinch violently from the pain. My eye lids squeezed and I gritted my teeth in silent agony as I heard footsteps approach us. I froze like a statue and forced my body to relax and slow down.

"They're asleep." The Anbu commented. "Shall I remove the individual? Or at least identify him?"

"Knowing Naruto's kind nature this is probably some random homeless resident he saved from the storm. Let them rest, for now at least. In the morning Naruto will answer for his disturbing display of disobedience. The boy needs conditioning...im half tempted to do it myself. However, due to recent events I cannot have him just disappear. Have someone follow some of his friends, we need to threaten him again to get it across that he cannot do anything remotely related to Shinobi work." Danzo grumbled out quietly and calm.

The anbu bowed before vanishing, leaving us alone with one another. I could see them at this distance, something that deeply unsettled my stomach. Eyes, tons of eyes staring down at us with observant glares that sent shiveres of sickness and rage down my spine. I knew he couldn't tell if I was asleep, or who I was as I felt different so I shouldn't feel intimidated. However...I couldn't help that small flicker that bubbled up in my stomach. After all, this was the man that ordered me to kill my clan afterall.

"A mask with no eyes. This one is blind, then. He won't be able to tell. No matter, he'll be gone by tomorrow afternoon." Danzo muttered before moving towards the exit.

The loud pounding rain grew lower again before being muffled, still loud as it struck the tent, but muffled. He walked away and the rain obscured my ability to sense him, so my attention moved back to the teen I was snuggly wrapping against me.

This aura around him...it felt sad oddly enough. No wonder, if he is under Danzo's thumb without choice than he has a right to be sad. Danzo taking over is a dangerous thing to do, he sees violence first before peace...

Yes...yes he does.

I should know.

"Shisui..." I whispered to myself, rubbing a hand through the hair of Naruto, gently rubbing it as he slept as I thought quietly to myself. "I'll have your other eye soon, very soon. Danzo has had it for far too long."

"Mnnng." Naruto groaned in retaliation of my talking and curled against me more, trying to sleep more cozily.

I apologetically patted his head before settling back down, staring forwards as the chakra in the air mapped out my surroundings. I scanned across the place one more before trying to focus on rest. It came uneasily to me, but it came none the less and I was asleep and dreaming within a thirty minute time frame.

...

...

I was standing alone in a field of tall grass, that grew out of a swamp of blood. Many eyes on me despite being no one around. Sins of my past actions crawling onto my back and weighing me down. The war I prevented at the cost of my entire clan aside from my brother, someone innocent, someone I could never kill. I wonder where he is now, I wonder if Obito, "Madara", has claim over his path now.

Now that I'm alive I want to make a world safe enough for my brother to live in. I want him to heal, and prosper. I want to save him from further falling into the depths of vengeance and wrong doing.

My allies want something sort of similar but to attain this goal they must first break the world...and rebuild it after they entrap everyone and kill those like Naruto beside me.

I roamed forwards, wading my way through the swamp of those I've killed, staring forwards at a figure waiting for me, opened arms and a big stupid smile. A smell so intoxicating it was blinding my rational thought. He had no color to his body, just the outline, two glowing red eyes with no definable features and a smiling expression. Teeth sharp and lined with blood.

He greeted me as I reached him, by hugging me, clawed nails digging into my back, ripping out the weights from my back Painfully, blood pouring from his mouth as he did so with a laugh that sounded like a drowning cry for help, betraying his happy smile.

Drowning...so...he had weights of his own.

...

....

...

My consciousness greeted me by feeling someone gently shaking my shoulders. I looked up, seeing the outline of Naruto's figure, white glowing eye sockets peering down at me with a curiosity. He seemed eager to get me up, so I was quick to slide into sitting position to stretch my arms with a yawn.

"Hey Shi, it's time to get up." Naruto spoke, sounding stressed, which made me pause and lower my arms.

"You sound upset." I immediately stated, making his body flinch.

He was frowning too, frowning heavily-

I smell blood...

His blood...

"It's no-" I cut him off before he got the chance to speak by standing and quickly grabbing him by the shoulders, firm but gentle.

"Hey, who hurt you? I smell blood." I spoke seriously, brows furrowed as I began to roam his chest, pressing and feeling for injuries with an urgency, only to push on a rib that grinded upon applying pressure, making him hiss and smack my hand off.

"Ahg! Don't push there!" Naruto grunted out, winded. "I was cleaning debris and fell...it happens."

"No. No accident. You were fine, and you know better than to go into dangerous terrain I'm sure you were taught this by whomever trained you. These are inflicted by a person. I can tell by the shape of the bumps." I spoke as I felt around other bruises, though I did so more gently than before. "Who did this?"

"N-No one did." Naruto swore, shaking a little after I had asked.

"Liar." I huffed. "And you sure as hell can't do this to yourself. Who did this?"

"It's seriously nothing, Shi!" Naruto urged, shaking my arms a little as he stressed my name.

I frowned heavily at his reluctance to tell me who hurt him. I get I'm basically a stranger, however, I won't condone someone else hurting my own prey. I need to keep him close from now on.

"Well, if this is going to be a problem, then I must step in and at least guard you. You saved me from the storm and gave me shelter. It's the least I can do." I hummed and smoothed his shirt out. "Is you face bruised or scruffed?"

"N-No he did-" he quickly interrupted himself by coughing into his fist before taking a step back. "N-No my face is fine."

"He." I raised a brow, tilting my head.

Danzo beat him up? Had someone else do it? He avoided the face so he doesn't appear hurt. Smart of him to do, since Naruto is the hero of the village afterall.

"Please, drop it?" Naruto asked with a pleading tone.

I visibly relaxed and gave a loud sigh, so he knew I was letting it go. I gently patted his shoulder before moving to get my things and get dressed, keeping quiet as he watched me with more curiousness.

"How do you know what's yours and not mine?" Naruto asked.

"Memory." I answered as I clipped my cloak in place.

"Huh." He hummed with what sounded like genuine interest. "Cool. I wish my memory was that good. I'd forget and stumble over everything." Naruto rubbed the back of his neck with a strained breathe.

I turned to face him, reaching into my weapon pouch and feeling around until I felt a bottle. I popped the cap off from inside it and grabbed two pills before holding them out for him to take, already knowing what they were.

"What's this?" Naruto asked.

"I'm a blind man. My eyes were horribly damaged and surgically removed from the attack, that causes lingering pain. I have extra pain killers on my person. Take them, my pain faded already, I don't need them." I urged, holding my hand to him with the pills in my palm.

He hesitated but took them from me, and swallowed them dry, gulping them down before giving a sigh.

"Thank you Shi." He spoke up.

"Sure thing, Uzumaki." I bobbed my head to him. "Anything you need to do today? Or do you just want to walk around perhaps?" I asked him with folded arms.

"Well, I'm not going to be helping out today so I guess I can go see how everyone else is doing. Sakura is probably busy aiding the wounded still. I could stop by Granny's tent to see if she woke up yet, or made any progress." Naruto thought aloud.

"Sounds good enough. Lead the way, I'll be right beside you. Got nothing else to do anyways." I shrugged and followed him out of the tent.

"Where are you going, Naruto? Not going to make more trouble again are you?" The anbu guarding his tent spoke as we exited.

"I'm going to check on the Hokage." Naruto huffed. "And find and say hello to my friends."

"Is he going with you?" The man pointed to me.

"Yep. Come on Shi let's go. It's already afternoon, you slept in." Naruto grabbed my wrist and pulled me along, making me grab my straw hat to keep it from falling off my head.

We walked through the now muddy duet roads lined with what felt like hundreds of tents and people. I could sense the majority of civilians on the outskirts and in the forest, but loads of ninja were focused solely in the center. It was weird being able to sense things from so far away. It's almost better then actually seeing with eyes.

"It's really gone." I whispered to myself as reality struck.

"Yeah, I'm still in shock from it too in all honesty." Naruto sighed in a similar tone.

"The Akatsuki, the singular man from that band of rogues...did all of this damage with a single jutsu. It's hard to believe someone could possess such devistation." I gave a heavy sigh, remembering meeting Pein for the first time, him and Konan.

I wonder how she feels about her best friend dying.

I frowned to myself, glad my expression was hidden from the visible world. I didn't want to be seen frowning. I felt sympathy for her...having lost mine. I hope his eye does Sasuke good. I'll have his other, and I'll have Danzo's throat.

If he is targeting Naruto for power...I...

I can't let him have him. Not Danzo, danzo can't have Naruto or his power as a weapon, that's too fucking dangerous. Peace was accomplished through me single handedly, and I paid the price with my life at the hands of Sasuke, I will use my second wind as a chance to weave things in the right direction.

The first order of business is this inevitable war 'Madara' is waging against the world.
If he gets what he wants than nothing matters, death would be preferable compared to the false world he plans on creating.

"Hey Naruto! Who's this?" A voice called somewhere close by, causing my head to tilt in that general direction.

"Hey Shikamaru! Hey guys!" Naruto chimed and waved his hand, pulling me over to meet the group of three.

One was fairly large, and needed to better balance his diet. The other was a thin girl with long hair, and the third individual was a teenage male with a pony tail. By their chakra I'm guessing a Nara, Akamichi, and Yamanaka. They all approached us, standing by with curious stares my way.

"This is Shi, a ninja who lost most of his face during the attack. He's blind." Naruto quickly introduced me, and in response I raised a hand and have a wave before letting my arm fall to my side.

"Oh, cool. So like, what happened to make you blind? Did something crush you?" Ino curiously asked.

"Wow. No hesitation to ask him uncomfortable questions Ino." Shikamaru groaned. "You are such a drag."

"O-Oh! My bad!" Ino covered her mouth and eyed me apologetically.

"Hn, it's quite alright, kid. To answer you, yes, my face was crushed under rubble shortly before I died. I was resurrected by some strange Jutsu and left alone under a rock for a day before I was found and saved by the medical team. I've recovered fully and was scanning across the waste until I ran into this one." I hummed calmly and tilted my head towards Naruto, who watched me with interest in his heavy gaze.

I twitched at the sound of ragged breathing, as his injured rib scraped and ground around with each inhale and exhale. I shifted closer towards him in a protective way as the fat boy made his way over and held out a hand.

"Nice to meet you Shi! I'm Choji." Choji smiled in greeting.

"Hn." I looked to the hand outlined by his own strength, and grabbed his sleeve instead of his hand and shook it, not wanting my ice like temperature to scare him or any of them really.

"How have you been holding up? You were healing for a while and we couldn't see you. Kiba said you looked terrible, I see why. You still have bruises." Shikamaru spoke softly.

"Y-Yeah, it was a fight alright, almost didn't make it out. But it takes more than Akatsuki scum to take me down." Naruto smirked and patted a flexed arm.

"You're very tired." I noted, moving my head to face him despite him being unable to see me. "You're struggling a bit, use my arm to lean on." I pleaded calmly, holding my arm out for him to take.

He took a minute to respond, but wordlessly did as i instructed and grabbed my arms linking our limbs together and leaned the majority of his weight on me to find releif.

"Are you sure you should be out walking?" Ino asked calmly. "I can give some first aid to those and lower the swelling a bit." She held up her hands slowly.

"You should let her help." Shikamaru pocketed has hands, lazily leaning on one leg. "Have you talked to Sakura yet?"

"Yeah, she seems to be busy working on the injured so I left her alone." Naruto hummed.

"She is busy." Ino huffed before applying first aid.

There was a tense aura surrounding these three and him. It's only worsened the closer they've got to Naruto beside me, a distrust or maybe an anger. Either way, they didn't have the best feelings towards Naruto currently which confused me by their nice words. I frowned and watched them more closely, my guard going up as she worked on his face, lessening the bruises he bore.

Ah

But of course they did...

My eyebrows furrowed together and my eye lids narrowed in anger as they stood there staring him down sideways as they worked on him and stayed silent in one another's company. I grew tense as a want to rip them apart surfaced, violent urges circling about my head in such a way it made my world around me blur and become nonsense, blinded truly, unable to sense anything other than the four people surrounding me.

The location of all of their chakra points and veins becoming visible to me, the only thing I could see or make any sense of, the only thing I wanted to see.

"There you go." Ino spoke and moved her hands from him, backing off a couple steps.

"Wow! Getting better at that as time goes by. Thank you Ino." Naruto hummed and rubbed his face.

He could feel it too, the general distrust, but also felt my intentions because he subtly shifted between me and the other three, who began to stare me down. I visibly shuddered and gently placed my hands on his shoulders before steering him around them, walking the both of us around them and away. I tilted my head as they made to follow, and paused.

"You three should help with the clean up. Talent is being wasted...besides, none of you want to be here anyways. You only show kind words as formality to hide tour true feelings. You're two faced mind bothers me." I spoke in a calm but slow tone, feeling my stomach spam as fear filled the female, her able to sense my I'll intent towards them. Ah...fear...it smells so good. Fuck, I need to get away from them, right now.

Naruto must have felt my struggle and growing anger because he grabbed my wrist and lead me forwards, dragging me along as he power walked away from the others, weaving through areas and some objects I didn't bother to map out, following him quite blindly.

We walked like this for about five minutes before he paused, sighing heavily to himself before looking up to me. I could see the frown in his face, however I wished for a moment I could actually see the color and details I used to be able to.

"Don't go losing your temper." Naruto sternly spoke. "I thought you were going to attack them."

"I was about to, yes. They were disrespecting your very presence with distrust and skepticism." I hummed lowly, shuddering again. "Hmn...sorry, I'm a bit rattled after the events taking place recently. My brain's in war mode. I can tell when someone's untrustworthy or when they are uncomfortable. I don't need eyes to detect it."

"Jesus." Naruto inhaled sharply and rubbed his face heavily with his hands, stressed out about what could have been.

I watched him try and relax as best he could, his muscles being forced to relax despite the obvious weight they suffered under. I could sense his unease, tension.

"So tense." I mumbled, watching as he turned his head, still in his hands, to let one eye land on me. "I give wicked back messages should you need one."

"I'll pass." Naruto huffed and straightened up.

"Your loss." I gave a weak shrug.

I tensed and whipped my head around to the side, and immediately grabbed Naruto's shoulder and yanked him behind me while also grabbing a kunai from my bag. I raised it as it clashed with another blade, eye lids squeezing closed as I gazed at the anbu in front of me.

"Tsk. Pesky ninja." I smirked under my mask. "You can't stand me hanging around this kid can you?" I sneered as the anbu grumbled I'm irritation.

"Sorry, the straw hat and cloak is off putting. One can only assume..." The female whispered like a snake as she lowered her blade.

I mimicked her actions, however, neither one of us fully put them away. I backed up until my back hit Naruto, who grunted up against a piece of wood. I tilted my head in expectation, humming to myself quietly.

"He needs to come with me." The anbu stated.

"Why?" I quipped.

"He has been summoned by the Hokage." She informed me with sourness.

"Well, Danzo isn't the Hokage now is he. Lady Tsunade is. Not enough time has passed for you lot to be throwing that title around." I let my smile drop, and funny enough she tensed the moment I did despite it being covered by a mask.

"Danzo has filled her place and shall be treated as such!"

"Not if he thinks beating boys is part of the job description." I growled out. "If he goes anywhere I'm going with him. I woke and his ribs were broken."

She growled and raised her blade. "It's a private audience. You can't be present."

Naruto gripped onto my cloak from behind me, his entire body shaking with nervousness and fear. I squared up to her as a response.

"Too bad. I really don't give a shit, i'm coming. Even if it is private, standing outside I can still hear the entire conversation." I purred. "Consider me his body guard against bullshit."

"Don't make me kill you." The woman snarled.

"Likewise."

"Guys! Don't start killing each other!" Naruto gasped weakly and hugged me from behind, keeping me in place pushed against him. "Shi it's fine!"

"No. I don't think it is. You don't feel comfortable around this village's so called elite protectors. I don't feel comfortable discovering wounds inflicted by this place's temporary leader. So until Lady Tsunade wakes up I'm going to stay by his side and protect him from all threats considering you lot have failed him in that regard from birth and continue to do so now. Back. Off." I took a step forward and raised my blade up to my chest area, widening my stance.

"He's trustworthy." Naruto piped up behind me. His shaking haulting in its tracks as a determined aura radiated off of him. "He's okay."

"..." The Anbu grumbled and twirled the kunai she held around as she thought to herself quietly.

I tilted my head to the side as Naruto straightened up a little and let me go. I didn't move and he didn't so much as shift his weight either, preffering to keep a gap between himself and the anbu in front of us.

"Then come, we can discuss your disgusting lack of obedience when we get there. Both of you."

I nudged Naruto and we moved to follow her. I kept my arm draped around his shoulder and held it, not daring to take any chances as we followed behind the woman.

"Thank you..." Naruto whispered to me.

"No need to thank me. Danzo is the last person I'd ever trust to keep things honest and civil. He's never been one to avoid violence." I hissed as I put my blade away.

We walked on for a small length of time before reaching the tent Danzo resided in beside the one Naruto was staying. Already I could detect more people in there, people I didn't recognize as apart of thus village which drew my interests. This seems important if outside ninja have gathered here to meet with the leaf.

We were escorted to the entrance of the tent and ordered to stay outside as the female anbu moved inside. Naruto huffed in mild frustration at my side, however I paid him no mind in favor of listening in.

"Lord Danzo, Uzumaki was brought here as per your orders, however that masked man insisted on staying at his side. He refused to budge even when threatened. I sense a great deal of chakra in him as well."

"Are they outside?" Danzo asked in an unreadable tone.

"Yes, Lord Danzo. Shall I dispose of the mysterious individual?" The woman asked, making my eyes narrow.

"No, do no such thing especially in the view of others. If the boy feels comfortable around that man then so be it. If he had any use its detecting the good lot apart from the bad. I'll have a chat with this man soon enough. Send them in." Danzo grumbled.

I gave a soft sigh and patted Naruto's shoulder before nudging him forwards, watching the two anbu guards step aside, probably overhearing the conversation as well.

We made put way in the tent and Naruto immediately tensed at the presence of the strangers. I watched as he gazed at them all with confusion and interest before looking to Danzo, whose eyes were on me and me alone. Naruto gripped my sleeve tightly before looking back to the strangers.

"You guys are from the Hidden Cloud?" Naruto asked them, intrigued and desperately trying to ignore Danzo's presence.

"Obviously." A woman snarled and folded her arms. "Now that everyone's present apparently, will you accept th-"

"Watch your tone Karui!" The other female hissed quickly, shutting the other up rather fast.

She must be in charge.

"This is restricted information sent directly from the Rikage himself. Is everyone here able to keep to themself?" The woman asked, handing a scroll over to Danzo who still had his gaze fixed on me.

"Yes, everyone present will keep this information to themselves or suffer execution for treason." Danzo hummed before breaking his gaze to undo the sealed parchment.

"Okay, uhm, this seems super confidential, Lord Danzo, and you've prohibited me from any Shinobi business for a while with the Akatsuki at large and what not. So, why am I here, this just seems out of place, you know?"Naruto asked, tensing when Karui glared him down.

"I think the contents of this scroll would benifit you well, child." Danzo smirked as he finished reading the scroll. "The Rikage has informed me of a summit of the Village Leaders to discuss the recent activities of the Akatsuki now that they've directly attacked and killed a Kage, and destroyed a village as well as taken the majority of the Jinchuriki from the surrounding villages." Danzo tilted his head as he set the scroll down.

"That's not all." The male spoke, folding his arms as he sucked on a candy he had in his mouth.

"That rogue ninja of yours, Sasuke Uchiha, defeated our sensei who happened to be the village Jinchuriki and the Rikage's brother, wearing an Akatsuki garb. We request your blessing to give kill on sight orders, seeing as how your attempts to arrest and question this individual has failed and led to this tragedy." The leading woman huffed in sourness.

My eyebrows shot upwards and I straightened up immediately in shock, however, before I got the chance to break character and shout for mercy for my brother's sake, Naruto beat me too it.

"WHAT!? YOU CAN'T! HE'S MY FRIEND!" Naruto cried loudly, taking a step forwards in anger, growling. "SURELY YOU'RE LYING!"

"WHY WOULD WE EVER LIE ABOUT SOMETHING LIKE THAT!? HOW DARE YOU!"  Karui snarled and yanked her sword out, making me and the anbu immediately draw our weapons.

"KARUI!" The male hissed.

"SHUT it Omoi!" Karui seethed. "I'm going to teach this idiot a fucking lesson about who he calls friends!"

"Enough." Danzo spoke calmly, however having enough authority in his tone to render the room completely silent.

Naruto whipped to face him, panting and visibly distressed. I whipped my head in his direction as well, teeth grinding together as I wanted nothing more than to kill him right then and there.

"You were summoned to hear this exact thing, boy. You are to stand down and forget this stupid childish obsession with Sasuke Uchiha. He is a dangerous man who chose his path years ago. It's time you stop chasing this fantasy and grow up. Unlike Tsunade, that hopeless case, I won't allow for this horrendously insulting display of loyalty to a rogue ninja continue. I want you to forget about that man. I want you to acknowledge that the moment we see him he's as good as dead, and I want you to understand he did this to himself. Your failures cannot ever be undone. Do I make myself clear?" Danzo tilted his head.

I shuddered and turned to Naruto, who was staring at Danzo with a look of horror. He stumbled backwards until he ran right into me, staring at him still, trembling against my body as I set a hand on his shoulder.

"Easy." I spoke gently, making sure not to spoke him, leaching my anger for now.

"Do. You. Understand." Danzo spoke. "Do not make me ask again."

"Y-Yes...Lord..." Naruto spoke barely above a whisper, wide eyes traveling to the floor as his tense muscles seemed to bunch tighter. "D-....danzo."

Danzo nodded. "You and your body guard are dismissed. You both may exit." Danzo waved his hand in dismissal.

I immediately inclined my head, shaking with anger. "As you wish. Thank you for having me, it was an honor to be graced with your presence." I ground out as I backed up and out of the tent, guiding Naruto backwards with me.

We moved until the neighboring tent was within grabbing distance. I led Naruto inside, and shut the flap down behind me. The moment it was shut, Naruto collapsed to his knees and grabbed his hair, shaking angrily. I slowly sank to my knees as well and began to rub his back, humming weakly as heard him sniffle and cough out a strangled breathe.

"This isn't fair." Naruto whimpered in a watery tone.

"No....no it isnt..."I agreed, nodding my head slowly. "Naruto, do you remember falling asleep last night? The conversation we had?"

"C-Conversation?" He tilted his head in confusion, before his entire body tensed. "I...you...you told me you hated Danzo. He killed someone important to you..."

"Do you hate him too?" I asked, feeling that weird rush pulse through my lips and tongue again, teeth aching beneath my lips.

"Of course I do!" Naruto whispered out angrily.

"Do you want to kill him?" I asked, gently rubbing his chin with my thumb.

"He...he needs to go." Naruto whispered, body growing more and more limp.

"Then away he goes. I'll need your help, I cannot kill him alone. I want his eyes...so I can see."

"I'll give you those eyes." Naruto whispered weakly, slumping against me.

"Yes...you will."I nodded as he passed out in my arms yet again.

I hugged him close, rubbing his chest gently as he began to softly snore. I ran my hand across his chest, then up to his face to feel the softness, then to the smooth fluffy hair, running my fingers across his scalp gently to soothe him further.

How I longed to see this face...this boy...this wonderful creature I longed for so unnaturally.

"My new purpose...my new craving." I whispered, removing my mask to kiss his head, shivering as the stirrings of hunger began. "My new obsession. I cannot wait to see the beautiful blue in those eyes again."