An Itachi Fanfiction [EDITING]

Assemble! Allied Shinobi Forces!

As soon as we returned to the Hidden Leaf, preparations for the war began in earnest.

The first thing we had to do was secure Naruto.

Nobody liked it.

Least of all me.

Officially, Naruto was being sent on an S-Rank mission.

Unofficially, we were hiding him.

If he discovered the truth, there was no way he'd go willingly. Naruto would rather throw himself into danger than sit safely on the sidelines while everyone else fought.

So we lied.

I hated it.

The morning he left, I walked him to the village gates.

Naruto looked excited.

I felt sick.

"You'll be back before I know it, right?" he asked with a grin.

I forced a smile.

"Something like that."

He laughed.

Then, before he boarded the ship, he pulled me into a hug.

I hugged him back tightly.

Stronger than normal.

Longer than normal.

Without him noticing, I pressed my fingers briefly against his shoulder.

A teleportation formula appeared beneath my hand before vanishing from sight.

At the same time, one of my smallest snakes slipped silently into his pack.

Insurance.

If anything happened to him, I would know.

And I would find him.

No matter what.

"Take care of yourself, idiot," I said.

Naruto grinned.

"You too."

Then he was gone.

And suddenly the war felt much closer.

⸻

The following weeks passed in a blur of paperwork, meetings, strategy sessions, and troop deployments.

Leading the Allied Shinobi Forces was somehow more exhausting than infiltrating the Akatsuki.

At least Akatsuki members only wanted to kill me.

Commanders wanted forms.

Eventually, just as preparations were beginning to settle into a routine, an emergency summit was called in the Hidden Cloud.

The moment I walked into the room, I knew something was wrong.

The atmosphere was tense.

Nobody looked happy.

The Raikage didn't waste any time.

"Kisame infiltrated the island."

My stomach dropped.

"And before he died, he transmitted everything he learned back to the enemy."

Wonderful.

Exactly what we needed.

An intelligence leak.

Right before a war.

The Tsuchikage folded his arms.