Takes place at the beginning of Naruto Shippuden, right after Naruto returns from his training with Jiraiya.
Naruto & Hinata managed to form a close friendship prior to Naruto's absence. Now that he's returned, there is more than one reason to take...
Within the gigantic skeletal remains of an ancient dragon of the mountains of Sangaku no Hakaba....
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With little light to illuminate this meeting of the minds, Sasuke sat at the head of the long bone table surrounded by his team, as well as Madara and Kisame.
Much to Suigetsu's chagrin, Kisame had returned to the Akatsuki despite Itachi's death. Though the shark man was a hardened killer, he had a surprisingly large amount of loyalty. The details were fuzzy, but as a result of his time as one of the seven swordsmen of the mist, his loyalty apparently included Madara.
Earlier that day...
After a couple of days of rest, Sasuke was almost healed. He agreed to travel with Madara to the Mountain's Graveyard to meet his team, though he made it quite clear that he still had little use for the masked man. On the way, he informed his travel companion, "I only believed your story because of one of my own memories. And not because of anything that you said to me."
"Whatever it takes." Madara responded. Then he asked, curiously. "What was the memory?"
"When we parted ways that night in the street, there were tears falling from Itachi's eyes." Sasuke responded quietly. "I thought it was my imagination. Just a trick of the light mixed with the hope that the brother who I thought I knew was actually real... After awhile, I forgot about it. But yesterday, after your story... I remembered. His tears. They were real. It makes sense now."
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"Itachi loved you." Madara looked over his right shoulder at the young ninja. "In order to save the village and to keep peace in this world he was willing to kill his entire clan. His mother, his father, his best friend, and his lover... but he could not bring himself to kill his younger brother."
Back at the Akatsuki hideout...
Sasuke sat up in his chair. He looked over the four members of his team. "We have a new name... and we have a new goal."
"Our name is now Taka. And our goal is now to destroy the Hidden Leaf Village."
"That is a very tall order Sasuke." Madara commented sarcastically. "How exactly do you plan to destroy arguably the strongest shinobi village in the world?"
