The Newest Member (A Naruto-Akatsuki Fanfic)

Chapter 5: Rehabilitation

"It seems my brother's hatred was passed on to you ... Naruto"

"The only thing your brother gave me ... was despair and sadness ... My hate is my own"

"What will you do with that hate then ?"

"Kill Sasuke and ... Burn the leaf to the ground !" He said, a vicious sneer crossing his lips

"Is that you or the Kyuubi talking ?" Itachi asked, truly curious.

"I don't know anymore ... both I guess"

"Then on behalf of our leader ... Join us ... we saved your life and share the same will of destruction as we do"

"Join the Akatsuki ? ... I don't know ... It's too soon for me to take sides in a world that seems to reject me"

"I disagree, but It's fine ... ill have Kakuzu ..."

"Kakuzu ?" Naruto said, cocking an eyebrow

"The doctor, he stitched you up and most likely ranted about money ... anyway ... He will drop you off outside and your life is up to you ..."

Itachi turned and walked towards the door. Naruto's mind was filled with hatred stained memories of his village. The looks of disgust given to him by his very own villagers. The annoyed and saddened eyes Sakura gave him as she comforted her true love. The humorous filled eyes of Sasuke, who had planned for all this to happen. The hate boiled within him, over flowing and overheating his once peaceful mind. He wanted revenge, he wanted it to all go back to the way it once was, but there was no going back now.

"WAIT ! I WILL JOIN! I WILL JOIN YOU !"

"Glad to hear it, welcome to the Akatsuki ... Naruto"

"What now ?"

"You have healed up fine enough to walk around ... but don't strain yourself or Kakuzu will have to stitch you up again ... and he wont be pleased ... come to think of it ... he never is" Itachi said, a thin smile displayed.

"Where are we going ?"

"To introduce you to our organisation and begin our little tour ... let's go ... You can walk right ?"

Naruto nodded and hopped off his bed, only to collapse to the floor as his feet gave way. "Ahh ... baka baka baka"

"So I take it you do want help ? ... ugh ..here" Itachi lifted Naruto up and positioned his arm around his shoulder, letting Naruto lean on him as they walked down the hallway towards the living quarters of the Akatsuki.

Tsunade sat down and gestured Sakura to do the same, Jiraiya had left to go search the woods for any clues or remains of his student, The group had composed themselves and were planning ahead for the village. Sakura wanted to bring up Sasuke in the conversation, but Tsunade beat her too it

"So ... Is Sasuke here to stay ? Is he going to be cooperative or a problem ... how is he coping ?"

"He is ... as devastated as the rest of us .. he lost a friend believe it or not ... he only kept his act up to keep people away ... He is here to stay, he wants to live the life Naruto wanted for him ..."

"I see ... Sakura ... people have to know, everyone needs to know now. It was not any of our faults ... It was just a big misunderstanding, Jiraiya and others may think it's someone's fault, they may think any one of us are horrible people or could give a damn less about Naruto. But the truth is ... I have taken his death as if it was my own brother ... Naruto meant the world to everyone he knew ... there are few villagers who hated him because he was a Jinchuriki, but it was all unlucky and a huge misunderstanding at the time ... he was angry and we were all in shock from seeing Sasuke ... we said bad things and bad things happened ... we will all regret what we did ... but I'm sure Naruto would not want us to suffer from it ... right ?"