Chapter 31: A New Turn

The sound of wind could be heard clearly in the area, as two ninja were standing opposite to each other on the rooftop of the small house.

"I'm Captain Itachi Uchiha, 2nd squad, Anbu blackops Divison," said the now identified Anbu calmly

Naruto's eyes widened in shock, as now in front of him stood the Strongest Anbu Captain, one who was considered to be as powerful and ruthless as Naruto himself, the one who wiped out the strongest clan in the world by himself.

"So, the old geezer sent someone as strong as Naruto, both physically and emotionally," thought Kurama cunningly

"Itachi Uchiha..." said Naruto calmly, the surprise on his face disappeared and was replaced by a stoic expression.

Itachi Uchiha, Naruto looked at his new partner cautiously. This was the man who had ruined Sasuke's life, he was the most skilled assassin and spy; as the 2nd squad of Anbu blackops always produced the most dangerous assassins in the world.

"You don't seem surprised," said Itachi suspiciously, every person he had met after he killed his clan looked at him with hatred, but Naruto was having the same look in his eyes as Itachi had.

Itachi was irked a little as Naruto was just looking at him stoically, and was not saying anything? Was he in shock? Itachi couldn't sense any fear coming from Naruto, he was just...standing.

"It is a courtesy to introduce yourself when a Captain stands before you," said Itachi patiently, and he soon leaked his chakra showing his power, he didn't want his new partner to take him lightly; even though he was quite shocked when he discovered Naruto was an Uchiha too.

He had watched the boy during his childhood, but now the person that stood in front of him was something else.

Fortunately Nono had gone into a nearby town with her orphanage's children, to let them have some fun and get the equipment's for Naruto's surgery; so they were all alone in the area.

"Captain Naruto Uchiha, 11th squad, Root Anbu forces," said Naruto seriously, to make his point clear he activated his sharingan.

Itachi's eyes widened a little, when he saw his sharingan. Hiruzen had told him, that Naruto was an Uchiha...and he still couldn't believe the Hokage hid such information for so many years.

But now he was quite surprised when Naruto introduced which squad he was from.

"You are from the 11th squad?" asked Itachi curiously

"Yes, is there a problem?" asked Naruto coldly

"He's from the same squad as Shisui was, he really has changed. What happened to him?" thought Itachi seriously

The 11th squad was the most lethal squad in Anbu blackops, the most skilled infiltrators and fighters came from this squad. The fact that all the Anbu commanders of Konoha were chosen from this squad was a proof of how skilled this squad was, to think he became a Captain at such a young age was astonishing.

Where had the blonde boy he had seen a few years back disappeared too?

"Naruto...why are you just standing there? You wanted to ask him questions a few years back, why are you not even a little angry at him for hurting your Uchiha friend?" asked Kurama curiously

"Because he and I are the same, we are the same devils born due to Konoha's mistakes," said Naruto calmly

A few years back he didn't wanted to ask Itachi questions and hurt him for giving Sasuke so much pain; but now when he had gone through the same thing as Itachi had, he understood what true pain was...and he understood the raven haired Uchiha perfectly.

In a way both of them could understand each other's pain.

"I want to ask you something?" asked Itachi patiently

"What?" asked Naruto seriously

"I do not see any hatred for me in your eyes? Why is that so? You are an Uchiha too, why don't you hate me for slaughtering the clan?" asked Itachi curiously

"There is no reason for me to hate you, the Uchiha were never my family, you killed those whom I didn't know. The fact that you are still on Konoha's side shows there was a conspiracy with the Uchiha incident, wasn't there Itachi?" asked Naruto with a knowing look in his eyes.

Itachi's eyes truly widened in shock as he realized that Naruto knew the truth, did the Hokage tell him?

Naruto saw the tension rising and decided to halt it immediately, it was pointless to argue over something that had already happened, and fighting Itachi in his condition was not an option, nor did he want to fight for people who were already dead.

"I killed Danzo...and got the truth out of him," lied Naruto without even blinking an eye, even though he knew Itachi was a loyal shinobi, he was trained never to trust anyone blindly. He would never reveal the truth that he had killed Koharu and got the info to anyone.

"So that's how it is..." said Itachi calmly, and prepared to fight; he couldn't afford to let this secret out.

However before he could start a fight, Naruto sat down on the roof and calmly looked at the sky.

"There is no reason for us to fight; I have no interest in what you did, we both are murderers and no matter what reasons we had, the fact is both of us are nothing more than sacrificial pawns," said Naruto coldly

Itachi listened to Naruto carefully, and lowered his kunai, what had the boy gone through to make him so much cold hearted? Had he gone through the same hell?

"So you don't judge me for my actions?" asked Itachi flatly

"I have no right to judge you, when I did the same damn thing as you. Anyone who has raised his hand against his own comrades meets a painful end, what are we? Despite being Konoha shinobi, we killed Konoha shinobi with our hands, there is no salvation for worthless soldiers like us," said Naruto stoically

Itachi sat beside his new partner, he had known Naruto's parents; he still remembered Naruto's mother Kushina, she and Mikoto were good friends; and many times he had met her and Minato.

To think, that their son was reduced to this was a really sad thing; but this was the world of ninja; Self Sacrifice was the way of a true ninja.

But still he could not afford to get attached to any person, no matter who he was.

"Please be wary of me..." said Itachi coldly, and activated his Mangekyo Sharingan

Naruto turned around and looked Itachi straight in the eye, and his sharingan changed into Mangekyo Sharingan.

"The same goes for you." said Naruto dangerously

The strongest Tag team had been formed.

(Konoha)

All the people in the room watched in shock, as Sasuke went away; the person who was affected the most were Ino and Sakura, as this was the first time they had seen him cry.

"I never imagined he was this close to Naruto..." said Shikamaru in surprise

Hiruzen decided it was enough for now, the genin had known enough; there was no need to give them further information. However when he looked at Kurenai's face his heart broke, the tears in her eyes had not stopped and now it seemed she had began to understand how terrible Naruto's childhood was.

Anko was not convinced, she was not able to believe that the boy she loved as her brother could such a thing; even if Naruto had a reason to betray Konoha, he was still not strong enough to kill 300 Anbu?

Or was he?

There were so many things she did not know, and she wanted to know the answers; even Asuma had the same thoughts.

She had trained Naruto in Taijutsu, but still even if he was a Chunin he could not take on an entire Anbu force, and steal the forbidden Scroll so easily. It just didn't make any sense to her.

"What should we do?" asked Sakura sadly

Her team was shattered, Naruto was gone, Sasuke was gone, Kurenai was broken...the only one left were her and Anko. She looked at the purple haired woman, she didn't know what to do now...

Anko looked at the pink haired genin, she knew it must be a lot for her to bear, not just Sakura but all the Rookies. It was enough for them to hear in one day.

"It will be alright, we will figure something out. Right now, you go home and take some rest. We'll visit Sasuke afterwards," said Anko gently

"Hai, Anko-sensei" said Sakura sadly

"But Naruto-kun-" said Hinata but was cut off when Hiruzen spoke firmly.

"All genins are now dismissed. Go take some rest, you have been told what you need to know," said Hiruzen seriously

"What about Naruto?" asked Chouji worriedly

"That I will decide, now I'm ordering you to leave NOW!" said Hiruzen sternly

All the genins, looked at each other; it seemed that they didn't have any choice, but still Hinata was not accepting that Naruto could do such a thing.

Hiruzen looked at them sternly, and the genin dejectedly bowed before him, and slowly started leaving the room.

Sakura and Hinata's hearts were broken, one had just lost her entire team; while the other had lost the person she loved.

Kiba looked angry, not at Naruto, but at the villagers, and himself...for not being able to understand him. Maybe if he had been there for his friend...Naruto would not have been forced on this path.

Shikamaru still looked unconvinced, there was something fishy about all this; but if the things he had seen about Naruto's childhood were true, then his friend definitely had a clear motive to destroy the village. The question was did he possess the power to do it?

Chouji was trying his best to comfort a crying Ino, both of them felt very sad after finding out Naruto's story; one thing was clear they had lost the respect for the people of Konoha.

Shino's shoulders were slumped, he had failed. Out of all the Konoha 11, he was the one who could relate to Naruto and his pain, even he was antagonized by some people due to the bugs in his body; and yet he had failed to help his first friend. He still remembered Naruto was the first person who became his friend, and brought him in the group. He had failed to save his best friend,

All in all, the Rookies had suffered a major setback as their close friend was a traitor now, Naruto was the center of their group. Even Sasuke and Shino, the two most anti-social person were his friends, and now everything had fallen apart.

Anko watched sadly as the young teens went out of the room, she looked at Kurenai, her friend was broken. Anko had enough, she wanted answers right now.

"This is ridiculous...there is no way the brat can kill so many Anbu, and steal the Forbidden Scroll. Stop lying!" said Anko furiously

"Tou-san, I agree with her...Naruto is strong but not powerful enough to kill Anbu," said Asuma firmly

Kurenai's hands were clenched tightly, her anger was rising. She was pissed, the villagers had done such an atrocity to Naruto, and even if they had done such a thing she could never forgive Naruto for such a genocide.

"Did I mean nothing to him? Did you even think, how I would feel?" thought Kurenai sadly

All the moments she had with Naruto, all their feelings...was his quest for revenge more important than her?

She had been there for him, she had trained him, loved him, gave her body, her soul; she gave him everything and just wanted him to love her in return.

"What was I to you Naruto?" thought Kurenai bitterly

Somewhere deep in her heart, the love which she had for him...was no longer there now. Something in her mind was commanding her to kill Naruto for betraying her; she felt betrayed.

Naruto could have lived with her, she would have done anything for him. Kurenai would have stood by him all his life, she would have filled his life with love...but nothing was left now.

"Kakashi, Anko, Asuma and Kurenai...you don't know what happened that night," said Hiruzen sadly; he knew he had to make these people believe that Naruto was a traitor, it was necessary for the mission.

If Kakashi, Anko and Kurenai accepted Naruto a traitor too, then Hiruzen knew the enemy was sure to make its move.

The Rookies were almost convinced, and the only people left were these four. It wouldn't be too much trouble to convince Asuma, the only obstacle in the way was Kakashi. That man was very sharp, and Hiruzen would have to play his cards right, or Kakashi would easily find out.

But something seemed off, there was something wrong about Kakashi.

He was showing signs of concerns on his face from the start, but Hiruzen knew when a person was faking his emotions.

It was time he had a talk with the masked man.

"Kakashi...I need to have a word with you in private," said Hiruzen sternly

"But-" said Kurenai bitterly

"NOW JOUNIN!" said Hiruzen angrily

Anko grumpily took Kurenai out of the room, followed by Asuma and Inoichi; leaving Kakashi and Hiruzen alone in the room.

Hiruzen made a hand seal and activated the silencing seals in the room quickly; and immediately Kakashi was in front of him; and grabbed his collar.

"Kakashi...what is the meaning of this?" asked Hiruzen sternly

Hiruzen watched in surprise as Kakashi uplifted his head band that covered his sharingan; and instead of a three tomoe sharingan there was a Mangekyo Sharingan in its place.

But more shocking was the words that Kaksahi said.

"I know what you did...Hiruzen Sarutobi!"