A Warrior's Path

Each of them took one opponent. Sasori fought against Kakashi, Hinata and Sakura. Unlike the anime, they didn"t leave for Sand village and directly left for Akatsuki hideout so Chiyo was not with them.

Naruto went after, Deidara. The man"s Detonation style was th.o.r.n.y but that"s all there is to it. Naruto is already a high Jounin level shin.o.bi. Moreover his Wood style has become purified over the years closing in on Hashirama"s.

Sasori was trying to get Naruto off his tail. He already had the mind to escape seeing Naruto"s strength.

Naruto " Wood style : Wood Golem!!"

A huge golem made of wood emerged from ground. It towered over the highest trees, Deidara was flying using his Clay detonation. But he still couldn"t get away from Naruto"s Golem.

It struck down Deidara like swatting a fly. His clay detonated which added additional injury to him. Naruto produced a lot of clones and attacked him, not giving him any chance to run.

A light blue spinning ball appeared in his hands, thrusting towards Deidara.

" RASENGAN!! "

With Rasengan hitting him from all sides Deidara couldn"t hold on. His defence crumbled,

Boooommm....

Loud explosions took place as Naruto"s attack connected. Deidara could be seen bleeding inside the crater formed from the explosion. His expression was twisted, he couldn"t accept this, his arts were useless in front of this kid. He used that annoying lightning style to make my clay detonations useless.

Deidara barely sat up " Art is explosion!! I will show you true art!! "

He pierced his own heart, but strangely no blood came out instead a familiar sound echoed through the surroundings. Deidara removed his cloak, his body was entirely covered with black veins. They were beating rhythmically to his heart.

Naruto sensed a huge threat from this. He unhesitatingly retreated.

Deidara shouted " Now! Witness art! "

With this he exploded. Everything surrounding them were reduced to dust.

After some time, the smoke cleared. Nothing remained of the immediate surroundings, everything was gone. After some time, a figure slowly emerged from the shadows.

Deidara was drained but he was smiling " How do you like my art now!!?? "

Deidara was arrogant and proud about what he did but a sound suddenly came over

" Not that great. Your attack is barely pa.s.sable."

Deidara robotically turned around, he saw the leaf Jinchuriki safe and sound without any Injuries.

" Bu...but .... how...ho.....

Before he could speak further, Naruto appeared before him, giving a punch to his face. This broke a few of his teeth and some bones, effectively knocking him out.

Kakashi"s team was already done with Sasori. With Kakashi"s Sharingan, Hinata"s Wing Chun and Sakura"s monstrous strength along with Gai"s support this battle was nothing.

Sasori was captured. He wasn"t able to escape as Kakashi already identified how his Jutsu worked.

With the conclusion of these three battles, Leaf ninja successfully rescued Kazekage. Shukaku"s consciousness wasn"t extracted, only his chakra. So Gaara was fine, all he needed was some rest.

Ryu finished what he was doing and rejoined the team. Everyone were tensed seeing Itachi, but Ryu a.s.sured them that he is harmless. He explained what happened all those years ago.

Everyone was overwhelmed, their vision towards Itachi contained sympathy and sadness. They looked back and forth between the two Uchiha brothers, they knew of Sasuke"s thirst for revenge but now he looked lost.

It was at this moment that many ninjas wearing Sand village headband arrived. They quickly went towards their Kazekage.

" Kazekage sama!! Elder Chiyo please!! "

An old woman stepped forward. She looked like she would drop dead any moment, this was one of the oldest elders from the sand village

Chiyo!!

She checked Gaara"s pulse and heaved a sigh of relief. She a.s.sured other Sand shin.o.bi"s

" He is fine, just exhausted."

Her vision trailed towards leaf shin.o.bi, only now did she notice who were among leaf shin.o.bi. Her eyes showed hatred when seeing Kakashi but... that hatred faded away as she looked at Gaara and the now captured Sasori.

Chiyo " Thank you for saving Gaara."

Kakashi replied " It"s our duty, Elder Chiyo."

Sakura joined in " Please be careful when moving him or I suggest you all move after Gaara regains consciousness."

Chiyo was about to refute her when Ryu spoke " She is Tsunade"s student."

With that Chiyo shut up. She wouldn"t dare look down on Tsunade"s medical skills.

After Gaara woke up, he thanked everyone. Naruto beamed as he saw Gaara awake. He spoke nonstop about Shukaku, Gaara wasn"t a talkative person so he just listened.

Everyone from leaf side smiled and shook their heads.

" Naruto will be Naruto."

While all Sand shin.o.bi were shocked seeing their Kazekage like this. Granny Chiyo had a gratified look on her face.

" Finally you have found a true friend... Gaara."

They all returned to the Sand Village. Gaara may not show it on the outside but he was happy to see his village"s care and concern for him.

*********

The next day.....

Kakashi, Ryu, Gai and their team stood outside Sand village. They were heading back since the mission is finished. Gaara personally escorted them outside.

Gaara " Visit often."

Naruto smiled cheekily " Haha, of course. Then see ya. "

On their way back,

Sakura asked " Ryu san, how are you going get the villagers accept Itachi san? After all he was... "

Ryu " Don"t worry. we have already made arrangements."

*********

The same day after Ryu and the rest left for their mission...

Sarutobi used his personal Anbu to spread a rumour. This rumour quickly caught every villagers attention.

" Did you hear? It seems the Uchiha ma.s.sacre had some conspiracies."

" Yeah, from what I heard, Uchiha clan seemed to be controlled by someone and that"s why they had to be killed. *SIGH* Such a pity."

" Your info is outdated, not everyone was controlled. Their leader, Fugaku Uchiha knew of this. He couldn"t change anything, so he entrusted his own son to end their clan before they did something terrible."

" No way. Then wouldn"t that mean... Itachi was...."

" Yeah, all these years he was burdened with the sin of killing his own clan. Truly a pitiful child "

" From what I heard, it seems Hokage sama is gonna make an announcement regarding this."

" Yeah..... I hope it"s positive."

Rumour spread like wildfire. Sometimes words can be more powerful than weapons.

Sarutobi"s Anbu also partic.i.p.ated in these small discussions, fanning the flames.

A day before Ryu and teams return, Tsunade made an announcement.

" All of you should have heard about what happened to the Uchiha"s. Unfortunately it"s true.

Their clans was controlled by the same person who used the nine Tails to attack our village. By the time Fugaku learned of this it was too late. The only option before him was

Ma.s.sACRE!!!

He tasked his own son to do it, he was the only one Fugaku trusted. Itachi is a true Leaf Shin.o.bi,

He understood what would happen if this continued. Eventhough it tormented him, he still did what his father asked. He didn"t try to justify himself, he shouldered this burden alone.

Now as I have learned of this, as the HOKAGE, I ANNOUNCE THIS,

ITACHI UCHIHA WILL BE PARDONED FOR WHAT HE DID. HIS ACTIONS HAVE SAVED THIS VILLAGE FROM A CRISIS THAT FAR SURPa.s.sES ANYTHING THIS VILLAGE HAVE EXPERIENCED BEFORE.

HE! IS! A! LEAF! SHIn.o.bI!! "

A Loud applauses rang throughout the surroundings.

An old person yelled " Yes Hokage sama, it"s time for that child to return!! "

Another one " He was always kind, I knew he would have never done so without reason!! "

A large group of young ladies cried " Itachi sama, we will never hate you!!!! "

Minato and Sarutobi were gratified.

Sarutobi " Itachi... i can never atone for my weakness but this is all I can do."

Tsunade returned to office, she slumped on her chair " Haaaaah, if I knew being Hokage was this stressful, I wouldn"t have taken it."

Minato chuckled " Haha, part of the job. Anyway with this Itachi will have a place to return."

Sarutobi was down when he heard Minato. Tsunade glared at him and spoke " Sensei..... it"s not your fault. No one could save them."

Sarutobi " Maybe..."

Tsunade changed the topic " So when are they returning? "

Sarutobi knew what she was doing " We have received confirmation that Kazekage has been saved. With their stay at sand village... I guess they will return tomorrow."

Tsunade nodded.

*********

Back to Ryu and team.

They all travelled at their own pace, taking this time to relax. Naruto and the rest talked to Sasuke over the days and kept him company. His att.i.tude towards Itachi slowly changed, Naruto was a big factor. Sasuke saw Naruto as a brother and seeing Naruto talk to Itachi like he is his sibling kind of irritated him. They quickly got into a stare off between them like usual. Itachi calmed them down.

As couple of days past, Sasuke warmed upto Itachi like before. But he couldn"t help but be embarra.s.sed when Izumi stuck to Itachi like glue. He looked at her defeated when Izumi stated.

" Itachi is mine!! "

Even the ever calm Itachi"s face turned a bit red.

Hinata and Sakura blushed, their respect for Izumi turned up a notch for completely different reasons.

Ryu, Kakashi and Gai ignored their antiques.

They were nearing Konoha gates but what they saw stunned them. The entire s.p.a.ce around the village gates were filled with crowds of people, with tons of young ladies at the front. Suddenly one of those crazy young girls yelled

" Look!! Itachi sama is coming. Kyaaah he is so handsome."

" Itachi sama, don"t worry I will always love you! "

" Hey!!!.... who the heck is that girl near Itachi sama?? Get away from him, you vixen!!! "

" Yeah, yeah. Get away from Itachi sama!!! "

All those people behind this group sweated.

" Scary! "

The team also saw this. All of them looked at Ryu, who raised his hand to show a victory sign.

Sasuke didn"t show it outside but he was relieved.

Naruto teased him " Are ya happy now? "

Sasuke dodged his question and snorted. Sakura and the others looked happy. If anyone among them was angry, it was Izumi.

" I have to protect Itachi!! "

Her eyes gleamed with sharpness as she looked at those crowd of ladies. All males took a step back witnessing this silent battle.

Tsunade, Sarutobi, Minato and Kushina stood before the gate.

All Kages along with the entire village went silent, then spoke with one voice.

" Welcome back Home!! Itachi san/sama!!! "