Itachi and Kisame stood back-to-back, eyes surfing the newly flattened terrain for anyone that managed to slip away. Slowly, Kisame lowered his sword, turning to Itachi.

"I think we got them all," Kisame said. "Just in time too, I think you used your Sharingan too much."

Itachi clicked his tongue, a trail of blood running down his cheek. He shut his eyes briefly, opening them again to reveal his coal eyes.

"I'm fine." Itachi replied.

"Whatever you say," Kisame shrugged with a sigh. "But you better wipe that blood off your face before we see Kana again, you know her."

Itachi nodded, wiping the blood off of his face with his cloak.

"I counted 77!" Zabuza exclaimed triumphantly.

"Ha!" Kisame snorted. "79 in total!"

"You and your stupid competition," Sasori sighed, then chuckling. "But for the record, I had 86."

"I must've gotten 100!" Deidara exclaimed.

"No you didn't," Sasori hissed. "You blew random people up and lost count!"

Deidara huffed, crossing his arms childishly.

"I got 110." Itachi cut in.

Everyone went silent until Zabuza screamed.

"I got the least!?"

"It would seem so," Itachi smirked. "Remember to buy me those kunai later."

"Whatever," Zabuza sighed. "We should probably try to find Pein and Konan, maybe we'll run into Kana as well."

"He's right," Sasori agreed. "Let's get going."

"Right!"

~~~~~

Kana made eye contact with Temari and she flinched, most likely spotting the dried blood on her clothes. Kankuro shivered, averting his eyes as Naruto stared him down angrily. Sasuke narrowed his eyes.

"Give me one reason why we shouldn't just put an end to you two," Kana said. "I will do it."

"We'll go straight home!" Temari exclaimed.

"Right!" Kankuro agreed. "Straight home! No detours!"

"It would save us some trouble if we let them go." Shikamaru shrugged.

"Yeah," Kana sighed. "I was going to let them go anyway."

"Any objections?" Azumi asked.

"Nope."

"No."

"I'm good with it."

Hidan and Kakazu both shrugged, giving Gaara a glance. They knew he had a tailed beast, they saw him fight, Pein knew it too, but he gave them no orders to capture him.

"Go on," Kakazu grumbled. "Before I change my mind."

Temari and Kankuro nodded, picking Gaara up by his arms and sprinting away.

"Let's go." Kakazu huffed.

"Right!"

~~~~~

Hidan and Kakazu lead the genin back into Konoha, keeping their guard up for any enemy shinobi. Kana and Naruto were lookouts on the trip back, and luckily they were not attacked. But as they got closer to the village, Shikamaru pointed out the bodies scattered everywhere, some of which being mutilated or having strange wounds.

"Judging by the injuries, I'd say that all the other Akatsuki members are here," Kakazu said. "Let's hurry and meet up with them."

Kana's eyes sparkled as she clasped her hands together. "Yay! I missed everyone so much!"

"Come on kid, I'll race ya!" Hidan exclaimed. "Go!"

"No fair!" Kana exclaimed, rocketing after him. "Wait up!"

Kana and Hidan vanished, leaving Kakazu to lead the rest of the children.

"I don't like babysitting," He grumbled. "Try to keep up."

With those words, he increased the group's pace. The genin thankfully had little trouble keeping up.

~~~~~

Itachi turned around, just in time to catch the girl who flung herself at him.

"Itachi-nii!" She exclaimed, wrapping her arms around his neck. "It feels like it's been forever!"

"Well it has been over a month," Itachi smiled softly. "And things were quite boring without you..."

Kana giggled, releasing Itachi from her grip and nodding to each and everyone Akatsuki member that stood before her. Deidara was standing with his stiff, his eyes glistening with what Kana could only guess were tears.

"What's the matter Deidara?" Kana asked.

"I'm not crying, you're crying!" Deidara exclaimed, his lip quivering.

Kana slowly made her way over, wrapping her arms around his middle and crushing him in a hug. Deidara began to cry, keeping his sniffling to a minimum. Kana could only assume that he was so connected to her because it was him and Sasori that found her all those years ago.

"Hey kiddo!" Kisame exclaimed, prying her away from Deidara.

"Kisame!" She grinned, also giving the shark-man a hug.

Next, she gave Sasori and Zabuza a fist bump because they seemed a little unsure about hugging. Zetsu just stared at her like he usually did, mumbling to himself.

Hidan sighed, rolling his shoulders so that they made an audible crack.

"Where's Kakazu?" Sasori asked, noticing the lack of sarcastic and grumpy comments.

"He's bringing the rest of the kids who were involved with fighting back," Hidan replied. "Should be here any minute now."

As if on cue, the bushes began to rustle, and out stepped Kakazu, along with several young genin. Choji and Shikamaru seemed to be trying to start a conversation with Kakazu, however, the man was pretending to not hear them. Azumi followed behind, lost in thought as Haku, Naruto, and Sasuke all conversed about something she had no interest in. Boy things she assumed.

But the clearing suddenly fell cold and silent, Itachi tensing as his brother began to clench his fist, his arms shaking.

"Itachi." He growled.

Itachi's eyes went cold, making Kana flinch. "Ototo."

Despite being surrounded by Itachi's comrades, Sasuke still lunged for him, making hand signs as quickly as he could. 

"Die!" He cried out.

Kana's eyes flashed, her kagune releasing itself from her back as she jumped between them. She jumped on top of the boy, restraining his limbs with her tentacles.

"Get the fuck off of me bitch!" He exclaimed, thrashing wildly in her grasp.

"You will not touch him!" Kana yelled back.

"He murdered my family!" Sasuke screamed, near tears. "He killed our family!"

Kana flinched, looking at Itachi in clear confusion. Sure, she had heard about what horrible crimes Itachi committed, but she brushed them off. Itachi was so kind to her, that wasn't how a murderer acted, right?

"He... He couldn't have..." Kana said, unsurely. 

"I was there!" Sasuke screamed, still thrashing.

Kana stared into Itachi's eyes, shivering at the newfound emotionlessness in his face.

"It's true," He said. "I killed the Uchiha clan."

"But why?" Kana asked, looking conflicted as she looked between the two brothers.

"Let me kill him dammit!" Sasuke exclaimed, thrashing again underneath her.

"You can't!" Kana cried. "He's my family!"

"No, he's not!" Sasuke yelled, managing to push her off as her concentration faltered.

Kana stumbled as the boy shoved her away, making a run for it, kunai drawn as he charged Itachi.

"Nii-san!" Kana screamed.

Itachi raised his arm to block Sasuke's attack, but before anything else could happen, Sasuke hit the ground. The Third Hokage stood behind him, obviously having just knocked the boy unconscious.

"This is all such a mess..." The old man sighed. "What do I do now?"

Itachi looked at his younger brother sadly, clearly having some kind of internal struggle.

"Even if you told him, do you think he'd just immediately forgive me?" Itachi said. "Besides, in order for Sasuke to grow stronger, he needs a strong goal, if defeating me has to become his goal, so be it."

"Itachi-nii, what's going on?" Kana asked.

"I'll explain later," Itachi said, his gaze drifting away from her and to the ground. "Naruto Uzumaki, are you ready to go?"

"Go?" Shikamaru asked. "Naruto, what is he talking about?"

Naruto sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck. "I have a lot to tell you guys, and not a lot of time to do it in."

"Leader-sama and Konan aren't back yet, so how about you go and round up everyone that you need to talk to," Kisame suggested. "Kana go with them, and make sure you bring Kaneki and Naruto back here afterwards."

"Yeah, thank you." Naruto nodded. "Come on guys, I need to find Kakashi-sensei and everyone else."

Kana shot Itachi an irritated look. "You owe me an explanation."

Itachi nodded, watching as she walked away, following after Naruto. The Hokage easily picked Sasuke up with one hand, sighing heavily.

"I don't know how you do it Itachi," He sighed, turning to leave. "Take care of yourself."

Itachi didn't verbally reply, but he nodded sharply. An arm landed over his shoulders, making him flinch.

"Man Itachi, you're such a secretive guy!" Kisame barked with a laugh, slapping his back. "Now come on, let's go find Leader-sama and Konan."

Itachi followed quietly after Kisame, quietly coughing into his hand. A wad of warm blood sat in his palm and he discretely wiped it on his already bloodied cloak. He hoped nobody noticed.

A/N

I really didn't like this chapter very much, but I have a plan for the rest of this book and for book 2 which I'm in the process of planning. Also, sorry for disappearing for a while, I've been binge-watching My Hero Academia in my spare time instead of writing, and I was having some writer's block for some reason.

But I am super excited about book 2! I have some big plans and the original plot basically doesn't exist anymore, it's almost all brand new. Which means that you have no idea who I'll kill off! Haha! Sorry again for vanishing.