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154Chapter 50

DISCLAIMER: I do NOT own Naruto or any of it's characters. Kishimoto Masashi does. I do not make any type of profit from writing this fanfiction. This is strictly for my and my readers' pleasure. The Japanese language used in this fanfiction is translated by Google.

CLAIMER: I OWN Yami Uchiha. Do NOT steal.

RATED: R and is subject to change.

WARNING: This is an YAOI/MALE+MALE story.

BETA READER: None; so there will be errors that I miss.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: The scenarios involved in this fanfiction are fictional. The main character may also strike readers as a Mary Sue/Gary Stue. If this fact bothers you, turn back now. Construction criticism is welcomed. No flames. I also have this story posted on my Mibba account titled Kumo no Su De.

"Speaking"

'Thinking'

Hand Signing

~oOo~STORY START~oOo~

SLAM! THUD!

"Tsk!"

Tsunade bit her thumb nail between clenched teeth. Her teal eyes glared daggers at the discarded medical journal she was scanning through moments earlier. The door to her recently acquired office cracked opened and Shizune poked her head inside. After the first twenty books being thrown against the opposite walls, Tsunade's ANBU guards stopped reacting.

"I can't find anything about that damn plant," Tsunade cursed, slumping down in the large chair that sat all of the Hokage's before her.

She ran a hand through her blonde hair, before her eyes settled on her apprentice.

"Even without the plant, there is still a chance you could help Itachi-san. You've researched countless remedies and the Nara Clan is famous for their deer antlers. I have faith in you, Tsunade-sama," Shizune comforted honestly.

Tsunade sighed, standing up to gaze out of the window at the village. The sun was lowering over the Hokage Mountain, casting the village in an orange glow.

"Everyone seems to have faith in me these days, Shizune….everyone but myself," Tsunade voiced quietly. "I have no idea what the other ingredients are and there is no room for error. This is a onetime shot and everything is weighing down on my abilities."

POOF!

Tsunade spun around to see a small, bright green toad sitting on top of her desk with a brown pouch slung across its back. It saluted Tsunade before removing a scroll from inside the pouch. Tsunade instantly recognized it as the stasis scroll she had given Jiraiya. Attached to the scroll was a slip of paper with a hastily written note. She snatched both the scroll and note from the toad.

Hime (princess),

Rumored plant inside. Ambushed. Sent scroll ahead…

The note ended there, as if Jiraiya had run out of time and was not able to finish it.

"Frog, where is Jiraiya?" Tsunade demanded, getting up in the frog's face.

The bright green toad leaned back and croaked.

"Jiraiya-sama was in battle with some glasses-wearing kid that had blue glowing hands before I was ordered to appear before you. And I am a toad, not a frog."

The toad poofed away.

"ANBU Tora—"

Tsunade's calling of one of her ANBU guards halted when a form appeared in a shunshin and landed on the carpeted floor of her office with a groan. Long, spiky white hair was coated with dust and blood speckles and the person's red haori and sage-green outfit was torn and bled through in some places.

"Jiraiya!" Tsunade shouted, surprised to see the man so quickly after the dismissal of his toad summon.

Said man rolled over onto his back, letting out a cough. He grinned tiredly up at the blonde.

"Ah, Tsunade-hime…I'm back," Jiraiya greeted, only to receive a swift kick in the side from her.

"YOU IDIOT! YOU HAD ME WORRIED! I WAS ABOUT TO SEND TORA AND HIS TEAM AFTER YOUR SORRY ASS!" Tsunade screamed at the man, grabbing him by the front of his haori and giving him a rough shake.

Swirls danced in Jiraiya's eyes, exhaustion catching up to him.

"Tsu—Tsunade-sama!" Shizune cried out when Jiraiya passed out mid-shake.

Freezing, Tsunade let Jiraiya's limp form slump to the floor. She had the plant. Now it was time to get to work.

"Shizune, make sure this pervert is okay. I'll be at the hospital until further notice."

With that said, Tsunade rushed out of the Hokage tower.

~oOo~

Leaving the Sarutobi compound alone, Yami made sure that Konohamaru kept Hiruzen in his bed as per Tsunade's orders. He let Hiruzen keep the folder holding the secrets behind the Uchiha massacre. Yami did, after all, have Chisana seal away a copy of everything beforehand just in case anything were to happen. Meeting the Hiruzen took longer than Yami realized, glancing up at the position of the sun to see that it was around lunchtime.

'If I hurry, I should be able to catch the others before they leave Tsume's,' Yami thought, deciding to travel the quickest route by rooftop.

He landed on the ground outside of the Inuzuka Clan's compound right when Team Seven, Eight and Ten were exiting for a lunch break. If Yami did not know any better, he would have thought Sasuke and Sakura were already dating, and was Naruto holding Hinata Hyuga's hand? Pushing back his confused surprise, Yami waved at the group of nine.

"Itoko, there you are. Ni—Naruto wants dango," Sasuke corrected himself quickly, sending a look at the other genin to see if anyone caught it.

Of course Sakura and Naruto did. Those two because they knew about Itachi, Sakura was practically latched onto Sasuke's side without actually touching the ravenette, and Naruto wanted ramen but did not mind dango. It was Shikamaru and Shino that had a curious aura surround them. Ino, Choji and Kiba were still going on about what they wanted to eat. The popular choice was bar-b-q. Poor Hinata was doing all she could trying not to faint from the hand to hand contact with her crush so any sort of conversation flew right over the girl's head.

"Aa," Yami nodded and nonchalantly motioned with the wrapped box in his right hand. "I already bought some, so go enjoy lunch. I have something for Team Seven when you get back."

Emeralds, Sapphires, and Obsidian orbs practically sparkled at Yami's words, the three genin slightly freaking out the other six genin with their quick change in demeanor.

"Is it a new jutsu?" The three asked at the same time, making their looks all the creepier.

Yami chuckled and waved his left hand at the trio in a downward motion.

"Down. Stay. Good," Yami spoke teasingly, voice slightly monotone to fight back his laughter when the three listened.

Kiba burst out laughing with Akamaru barking in amusement. Hinata blushed brightly, seeing her blonde crush's happy expression.

"It's not exactly a new jutsu," Yami said and watched the three of them deflate. "But it is important."

The three nodded resolutely and Yami bid the ground of nine farewells while he entered the compound to find Kakashi standing with Kurenai and Asuma.

"Oh, Yami-san, you made it. How are you feeling? Kakashi-san told us you were feeling a little under the weather this morning," Kurenai asked politely, giving the Uchiha a small smile.

Yami's brow rose as his eyes locked onto Kakashi's single charcoal orb.

"Yes, I am feeling much better. Thank you for asking, Kurenai-san," Yami stated over Kakashi's knowing chuckle. "If you'll excuse me for a moment, I bought these for Hana-chan as a 'thank you' for letting us train here today."

Entering the main house through the sliding shoji door, Yami passed the box of sweets to Tsume's daughter while sliding the door shut behind him. Lying down on the other side of the kotatsu with his head propped up on one of the three Haimaru Brothers, Itachi peeked through his lashes at the box of dango Hana was setting out. Yami sat down, tucking his legs underneath him.

"Have you been using your Mangekyo Sharingan?" Yami asked his cousin.

"Hn, no," Itachi answered, wanting to save what little eyesight he had left.

Kōhō's venom had reversed Itachi's illness, but it did nothing to relieve the blindness in the ravenette's eyes caused by overusing his doujutsu. There were only two ways to cure Itachi's blindness and both had to do with eye transplants. He had no intention of going through that pain again anytime soon, even if he was partially blind.

"Sandaime-sama knows," Yami voiced suddenly and the other two tensed.

Wide mocha browns stared at Yami with something akin to fear before that emotion was masked away. Itachi finally sat up, his shoulder brushing Hana's and the three Haimaru Brothers sat at attention.

"What's going to happen now?" Hana whispered, uncertain of what would happen to Itachi.

"It is guaranteed that he and Tsunade will have a Yamanaka verify everything for the sole purpose of proving your innocence. With Sandaime-sama bedridden and Tsunade-san hip-deep in searching for remedies, it looks to be about a few weeks to a month before anything can be done about you coming back home officially," Yami explained to his cousin.

Itachi's fingers tightened in the material of his pants, his lips forming a frown.

"And what of Shimura Danzo?" Itachi questioned, his voice strained with hate.

Yami averted his gaze, seemingly catching sight of something interesting. Pitch black orbs met murky dark pools and at that moment, Itachi knew Yami was planning something.

"Let me worry about him," Yami finally said.

~oOo~

Inside the popular bar-b-q restaurant, Yakiniku, Teams Seven, Eight and Ten were packed into a large booth in the back of the restaurant meant for large parties. Everyone was touching someone, as the circular booth was only so big. The meat sizzled over the open grill while conversation went on. Naruto and Kiba were in a heated discussion about stealth with the occasional input from Shino. Sasuke was exchanging tactic ideas with Shikamaru with Choji giving his suggestion and asking questions. Ino and Sakura were talking about the new clothing shop that recently opened and Hinata would flush while joining everyone's conversation every so often…in between glances at Naruto who was sitting squished up beside her.

All in all, the table was in conversation chaos. It only got louder when the meat was cooked thoroughly and became the object of everyone's battle of chopsticks. Hinata became known as a force to be recon with when it came to food. She outclassed Choji, who was aiming for the last piece of grilled bar-b-q only for the meat to vanish in Hinata's mouth. The Hyuga heiress blinked at the silent table, her lavender eyes glancing nervously around at the others. Flushing a brilliant shade of scarlet, Hinata began to stammer out an apology.

"Hinata-chan, you're amazing! If you love bar-b-q, then you'll definitely love ramen!" Naruto shouted gleefully at the lightheaded girl.

And just like that, the bustling conversations started back up.

"Don't be an idiot, Naruto. Ramen and bar-b-q are completely different foods," Kiba taunted, grinning wolfishly at the blonde.

"Why you…" Naruto growled, but stopped when a tickling sensation danced across his cheek.

Gulping, cerulean orbs shifted in order to see what was on his face. Having a vague idea as Shino was on his other side, Naruto paled and turned to Hinata.

"Hi—Hina—Hinata-chan…"Naruto whined, his bottom lip quivering at the thought of what was crawling on his face.

Biting her lip, Hinata held out a finger to the crawling beetle before holding the insect out for Shino to take back. The entire table erupted into laughter at Naruto's obvious fear of bugs. The blonde shuddered, glaring at his smirking male teammate.

"Alright, Teme, that's it!" Naruto shouted, throwing his chopstick at Sasuke like he would a senbon.

Sasuke snatched the chopstick out of the air and waved it mockingly at Naruto.

"Ooo, food fight!" Kiba shouted.

"Ugh, troublesome idiots," Shikamaru groaned, sliding under the table to avoid being hit by the flying food.

A/N: I am seriously feeling deprived at the moment.

~Reena