Return
"No way. So this is where he went?" Naruto said as he quickly walked into the room after confirming there was nobody else in there. The others quickly followed him to find out what he was talking about and came face to face with Itachi's body. Realization dawned on all their faces.
"This is why no one could find his body. Kabuto had stolen it." Shikamaru said. He turned his attention to the rest of the room and started examining the equipment. While Naruto, Lee, Tenten, Kiba, and Ino followed his example, Neji moved closer to the table. A small movement quickly stopped him in his tracks though. A second later he shot to the side of the table and was staring at the body very closely. His suspicions were confirmed the very next second when the chest of the body rose as it breathed.
"Uh, guys," Neji said in uncertainty. The others turned at such an uncharacteristic tone of voice coming from the Hyuuga. A couple of seconds later, he looked up at them.
"His supposed to be dead body is breathing." He stated. The other's eyes shot down to the Uchiha and were stunned to see that he was in fact very much breathing. It was about a full minute before any of them could move again.
"What the hell?" Kiba asked. Naruto moved over to the other side of the table to watch what could be considered a miracle. A dead man was once again breathing.
"Kabuto has to be the reason behind this but I get the feeling this isn't quite what he was wanting to accomplish." Shikamaru said as he returned to looking over the criminals' notes.
"So what do we do now?" Ino asked. She looked to Naruto who didn't really have an answer for that.
"Well I suppose, for now, we take him back with us. Everyone knows the truth about what happened back then and about his innocence. Not to mention we wouldn't have won the war without his help and we all know that. If anyone deserves a second chance it's him." The blonde concluded. The others nodded. They completely agreed with what he said. A couple of minutes after that Shikamaru came over with a stack of papers in his hands.
"So I think I figured out what happened." Shikamaru started to explain. "His goal was to finish what Orochimaru couldn't and create the 'perfect body. This entire time he spent 'fixing' Itachi's body and researching how to resurrect someone without returning their soul. I won't go into detail because even I can't really understand all the details about this aspect of it but from what I read, he figured it out recently. He must've been performing the jutsu before we came. Also for whatever reason, the jutsu either backfired or he did something wrong seeing as Itachi is very much alive with his soul. Also, I found a syringe with a sedative in it by the table. He must have realized his mistake and taken measures to ensure Itachi would remain unconscious. We had to of arrived right after that."
After Shikamaru stopped talking the others all seemed to take a moment to absorb this information. After all, if Kabuto didn't fail for whatever reason, then he would have Itachi's body and the full range of his strength and ability at his disposal. That is just pure disaster and destruction waiting to happen. It seemed two miracles happened at the same time. Kabuto failed, but at the same time, an innocent man is now given a second chance.
"Ok. Now that we know the gist of what happened, we'll return to Konoha with Itachi and Kabuto. Itachi will immediately be taken to the hospital and I want Sakura to do a full examination to make sure he is alright and to see if any traces of his disease or blindness remain. Meanwhile, I want Kabuto to be directly taken for questioning. I'll send a clone ahead to inform Ibiki. Let's gather what we need like his notes and whatnot then head outside so we can destroy this place. A resurrection jutsu is not something we can let get out into the world. The Edo Tensei is already bad enough." Naruto ordered.
The others nodded and quickly followed their leaders' commands. Upon their arrival outside with Itachi being carefully carried by Naruto, they spotted the Anbu and Kabuto a little ways off from the entrance. As they got a decent distance from the place, Kiba set off the bombs they planted on the way out and the entire hideout exploded and what was left was quickly being consumed by a massive fire.
After watching for a bit to ensure everything was destroyed, Naruto sent off a clone to inform their interrogating specialist Ibiki. The group then quickly made a decent stretcher to carry Itachi. It would be easier for two people to carry him than one and it would also be more comfortable for him too. They set off for the village right after.
Kabuto remained silent since they first entered his hideout. He wasn't dumb. He knew what was going to happen. They were going to interrogate him till he spilled everything from the past 15 years. Because Naruto was Hokage, he probably wouldn't be executed but he would be imprisoned for life at the very least. Before he knew it, they reached the gates to the village.
Once they were inside the gates, the Anbu members whisked the criminal away to be dealt with while the others formed a circle around Itachi to hide him from view. They didn't want a big commotion to happen before the man even woke up or was examined. They rushed to the hospital and were greeted by Sakura who was informed of the situation by Naruto's clone as well. She ushered them inside and led them to a VIP room with tons of privacy and some added jutsus to guarantee that privacy.
Once Itachi was transferred to the hospital bed, everyone was pushed out of the room by the pinkette and the door was slammed. Not 10 minutes later, Tsunade came striding down the hall and entered the room without even glancing at any of them. They guessed Sakura informed her of what was going on while they were still traveling back. An hour passed before the door opened again and they were all allowed back inside. When the door closed for the third time, Sakura began explaining her findings.
"So we did a full examination. His eyesight is perfect. We know his eyes now are not his original eyes seeing as Sasuke possesses those but we don't know who his current eyes belonged to before." Sakura turned the first page over as she continued her explanation. "Aside from that his disease is indeed completely gone. Only time will tell if it'll return so I'd like to do a blood test once every two months for at least a couple of years. Basically, he's extremely healthy. There is something that's odd though." Sakura paused, unsure of how to explain the next portion.
"What is it Sakura?" Naruto gently urged. When she still looked uncertain, Tsunade picked up the explanation.
"He's still 21. Before you start bombarding us with questions let me explain." The blonde woman held up her hand to stop the others from speaking. "We're not sure how Kabuto managed to do it, but however he preserved Itachi's body didn't just prevent it from decaying. He basically stopped time for it. Because of this, he's still 21 even though his body has technically been around for 15 years after that." She finished explaining. No one knew what to think of this revelation so they stood around in silence for a while alternating between looking at the floor, each other, and the unconscious man lying on the bed.
"Well. I had my clone inform Ibiki that his presence is needed once he finishes his interrogation." Naruto said. The others nodded and they remained in the company of silence until a soft knock sounded on the door 20 minutes later. Ibiki entered and started to report what he found out from kabuto.
Everything they already guessed was confirmed. He also found out that the eyes he gave Itachi were none other than Madara's eyes. That left everyone speechless for a solid 5 minutes. Ibiki continued to explain his findings and told them that Kabuto had used a time-related jutsu to preserve the body. The jutsu could stop time for an object preventing it from aging or decaying. This explained how Itachi's body was still 21. Once his report was over Ibiki informed the Hokage that he had Kabuto transferred to max security prison then left once he was dismissed.
"Ok, so we need to destroy the papers we brought with us. They contain information on the resurrection jutsu. Sakura do you need these papers for anything?" Naruto asked his friend. When she said that no she didn't need them, Naruto had Shikamaru take the papers outside and burn them until only ash remained. He returned 10 minutes later and a new discussion started.
"So for right now, no one is to say anything about this at all. I want to give Itachi a chance to wake up first. Besides that, we need to figure out what to do next." Naruto stated.
"Well first, we'll need to set up citizenship papers for him and have a job lined up as well for once he's back on his feet. I doubt he would want to sit around and do nothing. He'll also need to be taken around the village because a lot has changed and he'll need to be given some lessons on all the new technology like trains and phones and whatnot. Not to mention that Sasuke still needs to be informed about all of this." Shikamaru said. He was always a strategist and a quick thinker. It was exactly why he was Naruto's advisor.
"That's right," Sakura said. "Sasuke is away on a mission again. Another thing is the Uchiha compound. Sasuke didn't want to do anything with it so it's been left to fall into a state of disrepair. Maybe Itachi will want to do something with it. Also, the issue of clan head will rise now that Itachi is back as well." After Sakura finished Tsunade decided to speak up.
"I get the feeling that clan head won't be an issue. From what I know about him, he won't really want such a position. On another note, we should slow down on all the plans. Let's get the citizenship papers going and multiple jobs available. Let's let him wake up and come to terms with what's happened. Then we can ask him what he wants to do before making any set-in-stone plans. Also, let's wait on informing Sasuke until he wakes up. That meeting might be a little too stressful for him at first." She stated.
"Sounds good. I'll head back to the office and get started on that as well as send a message to Sasuke telling him to return in a couple of days. That should be plenty of time for Itachi to get his bearings. Naruto, everything will eventually need your approval but for now, you're not needed. What are you planning to do?" Shikamaru asked the blonde.
"I want to stay here and wait. A friendly face might make the situation less stressful for him. Then as granny Tsunade said, I want to know what he wants to do." Naruto smiled at his friends and then grimaced in pain after Tsunade whacked him upside the head.
Once all the plans were decided the others left and either returned to the office to work or returned home for the time being. Naruto was brought a comfortable chair to wait in. A couple of hours passed before anything changed.