An Itachi Fanfiction

Allies of the Leaf

I had transformed into a snake to be able to easily slip into the village. I was slithering around the Hokage's office. "It's just us, you can come out now," she said. Taking that as my cue, I transformed back and came face-to-face with Aunty Tsunade and Shizune, her assistant. "I thought you'd be with Shikamaru and his team by now".

I looked down. "I had to say no". She raised her eyebrows. "I didn't want to risk jeopardizing the mission".

"Then what are we going to do? We can't allow Sasuke to cross the border".

I thought about it for a moment. "I may have an idea. I may not be able to directly help, but someone else can". She stayed quiet, waiting for me to continue. "I happen to know for a fact that the Sand Siblings are in the Land of Fire right now on a mission. What if I could ask them to help instead?"

"What if they get suspicious?"

I shrugged my shoulders. "I'll think of something, like I did with Shikamaru and his team".

After a moment, she approved. I transformed back into a snake then quietly left the village.

It didn't take me long to track them down. I had just gotten close enough to them when Gaara said, "You can come out now".

I jumped down in front of them. "Can't get anything past you, can I?" I said by way of greeting.

They looked me over. "So the rumours are true," Kankurō realised. I just stared blankly at them.

"What do you want?" Gaara asked.

"Sasuke's left the village". Their eyes widened. "As we speak, he's on his way to the Village Hidden in the Sound. The Hidden Leaf has sent a team to apprehend him before he crosses the border, but they're going to die without backup. They don't know this, but they're going up against the Sound Ninja Four, my father's elite. Do you mind taking a little detour on your way back to your village and help them out?"

"Why do you care?" Temari questioned me.

I thought for a moment before coming up with the perfect excuse. "If my father were to get his hands on Sasuke, it would make him infinitely more powerful, and so much harder to kill. I'm just trying to prevent that".

"And the team?" Temari asked with an eyebrow raised.

"Naruto's in that team. The Akatsuki is after him, or the beast within him. it would completely ruin our plans if he were to suddenly die".

"Why should we do anything you say?" Kankurō questioned suspiciously.

That excuse was easy to come up with. "Because Naruto's in that team, I know you feel indebted to him, Gaara. Plus, I'm sure your village feels like it owes the Hidden Leaf, after that stunt my father pulled with the Kazekage". Their faces dropped. Not long after the Chūnin exams, the real Kazekage's body was found. It was revealed that my father had killed him, pretended to be him and led the Hidden Sand to betray the Hidden Leaf. I didn't like using it against them, but I needed to act like I did, so I just smirked.

After a while, they came up with their answer. "Fine".

Before leaving, I mentioned one last thing. "I'd really appreciate it if you told them it was the Hokage that sent you. Who knows what would happen if they found out I was responsible for your coming to their aid?" I turned to walk away, but not before adding the leverage I needed. "Remember Gaara, you owe me too". Then I disappeared. I didn't like using that against him, but I didn't feel like I had any choice.

I quickly caught up to Itachi. It seemed the team had split up. I had arrived just as Chōji was winning. By the time it was over, he was so badly beaten that it seemed that he could die at any given moment. Itachi put up a Barrier Jutsu concealing me from Pain's sight while I knelt down and went to heal him.

"Are you going to completely heal him?" Itachi asked me as he watched me work.

I shook my head. "I can't, not without them realising they had help from the outside, which could raise questions. But I can heal him enough so he'll survive long enough for the medical core to get here". I placed a bag of potato chips in his hand, knowing that the chips could heal him more than my medical ninjutsu.

When I was done, we moved on. We came across Neji, who was just finishing up his fight. After he had passed out, Itachi put up that Jutsu again while I went to heal Neji partially.

After that, we kept moving. The next person we ran into was Shikamaru, who was fighting one of the Sound Ninja Four. Apparently, Temari had already found him. It was just her, which begged the question: where on earth were the other two? It didn't really matter, as long as he got the backup he needed.

I smiled softly. "Let's go, they don't need me, he's going to be just fine". Then we were off again.

We soon caught up to Kiba, Akamaru and Kankurō. It appeared the Sand Siblings had split up. It was a smart move. This time, we watched as Kiba and Kankurō defeated one of the Four. Kiba and Kankurō seemed relatively fine, but Akamaru...

After thinking on it for a while, before Itachi could stop me, I jumped down to them. They quickly turned my way. "What are you doing here?" Kiba asked me.

Without saying a word, I knelt down and started healing Akamaru. Kiba looked like he was going to stop me, but he was stopped by Kankurō. When I was done, I stood up and looked at them, ready to answer any questions they might have, within reason. "Why did you do that?" he asked me.

I shrugged my shoulders. "Maybe I like dogs". I glanced at them and saw they were staring at me with blank faces. I stifled a giggle. When I saw they didn't like my joke, I got serious again. "Maybe I can't just stand by and watch an innocent die after all, especially if that innocent was a former comrade. Who knows? Maybe I'll get over it". Just before I left, I turned back to them. "Not a word of this to anyone, or I will hunt you down!" Then I jumped back into the trees.

When I got back, Itachi was staring at me with a disapproving look. I sighed. "I know, that was a stupid thing to do. But what's the point of having medical ninjutsu if you can't use it to save lives?" Knowing there was no point in arguing over this, we quietly continued moving again.

Eventually, we caught up to Rock Lee and Gaara who was fighting a Sound ninja I'd never heard of. I didn't even know Rock Lee could even leave the village in his condition. Naruto was nowhere to be seen and there was an empty coffin on the ground. 'Sasuke's gone into second state'. I nodded to Itachi and we kept moving.

When we were getting close, I stopped. I turned to Itachi. "I can handle this next part on my own. You go ahead and I'll see you at the meeting".

He looked unsure. "Are you sure?"

I placed my hand on his cheek. "I'm sure. This is probably something I need to do on my own anyways". After some hesitation, he disappeared. I took a deep breath and starting moving towards where my brother was fighting his best friend.