Awaken
Naruto wasn't sure what woke him from his nap at first. He opened his eyes and looked around the room. Nothing was different, the jutsus were still in place, no new chakras had appeared. He shrugged his shoulders and prepared to return to his nap. He had just closed his eyes when he heard it. A small groan.
He shot his eyes open again and focused on the only other person in the room. He stared at Itachi for a solid 10 seconds before Itachi moved again. His fingers twitched. Naruto leaned forward in anticipation and whispered Itachi's name. Another groan was his answer. Naruto stood up and moved closer to the bed.
"Hey, can you hear me? Can you open your eyes?" Naruto asked. Itachi turned his head to the side before his onyx eyes fluttered open very slowly. Naruto immediately hit the pager in the room to call Sakura or Tsunade and then turned back to the Uchiha.
"Do you know who you are?" Naruto asked another question. Itachi turned his head toward him and blinked a few times then whispered his name softly. Naruto sighed. At least he didn't have complete memory loss.
"Where am I? Why am I here?" Itachi asked suddenly. Naruto rubbed the back of his head.
"Well it's kind of a long story but the short of it is we tracked down Kabuto and found you in his lab alive so we brought you back here to Konoha. You've been examined already. You're perfectly healthy." Naruto explained. Before Itachi could respond, the door quickly opened and Sakura walked in. She shut the door and immediately walked to the other side of the bed. Itachi followed her every move.
"It's good to see you finally awake. Tell me, how are you currently feeling?" The pinkette questioned.
"I feel fine." That was all Itachi said in response. Sakura nodded before she grabbed the clipboard from the end of the bed with his information on it. She briefed him on all that she found out and what Kabuto had confessed. As she continued to talk, Naruto noticed that Itachi seemed to sink further into his bed in resignation. At the end of her conversation, Naruto went into more detail on how they had come to find him. When both had finally finished, the room sat in silence for a couple of minutes.
"What now?" Itachi asked. The other two looked at each other before Naruto smiled at the other man.
"Well we're working on your citizenship papers and several possible jobs are available for you right now. For the moment though, I just want you to rest here for however long Sakura says, then we're gonna take a tour around the village. So much has changed since you were last here. Then once you're reacquainted with the place, Shikamaru will help teach you about all the technology that's developed in the last 15 years." Naruto explained. Itachi was basically gaping at him like a fish.
"Why?" Itachi was confused. Naruto's smile got smaller but much warmer.
"Everyone knows everything Itachi. I know it's not what you wanted to happen but the truth got out. Your innocence has already been proven. The council back then went behind the third Hokage's back with your orders. Your name has been cleared. Now that you're back and not in threat of dying from disease and you can see again, we just want you to enjoy a second chance at life during a time of peace." Naruto's smile got bigger after he finished talking. Itachi didn't know what to do in the face of his positive attitude so he changed the subject.
"You're Hokage then Naruto?" The raven asked.
"That's right. Have been for a couple of years now." The blonde basically radiated pure sunlight.
"I see. What of Sasuke?" Itachi refused to look directly at Naruto when he asked.
"Well, we've already sent out a message telling him that his presence is needed in the village. I don't want to tell him about you through a letter. It just doesn't seem right. He's doing ok though. He spends a lot of time away from home because there was still lots of traces of the Otsutsuki and only he can find them. He also takes a lot of missions as well. His official title is the Shadow Hokage though that's not publically known. I've been trying in recent years to get him to take fewer missions." Naruto paused in his rambling because he just remembered that he forgot to mention a certain someone. He looked over to Sakura and she seemed to catch on and nodded encouragingly. Itachi looked back and forth between the two in confusion.
"I forgot to mention someone. Her name is Sarada Uchiha. She's Sasuke's and Sakura's daughter." The blonde elaborated. Instead of saying anything, Itachi glanced back at Sakura. The pinkette smiled kindly at him.
"Sasuke and I are no longer together but don't worry. There's no bad blood between us at all. After a couple of years of being married, we realized that we saw each other more as siblings than husband and wife so we divorced. Sarada understands the situation between us and has been a real good sport about it all. If you'd like I could bring her here to meet you. She is your niece after all." Sakura suggested. The two gave Itachi a bit of time to absorb the information and make a decision.
"I think we should wait on any big meetings for right now. As Hokage-sama said, so much has changed in the village and I'd rather get reacquainted with it and all the other changes first. I would love to meet her after that once I have my bearings about me again." The raven answered.
"I understand. This works perfectly then. Konohamaru and his team, which Sarada is a part of, are away on a mission right now so it's the perfect time to tour the village. Since all examinations came back clean and you're the epitome of healthy there's no reason for you to have to stay in the hospital. I have a bag of clothes for you to change into for right now. There's also a room for you at our house so please come stay with us until you figure out what you want to do. Of course, you're welcome to stay there as long as you want and you're more than welcome to move in permanently. I know Sarada and Sasuke would love having you around. Of course, you don't have to, I'm just letting you know that the option is there. Once you're changed, we'll do a final mini exam to make sure all your bodys' motor skills are functioning normally then you'll be free to go." Sakura finished talking and she handed a small bag to Itachi. The two left the room and only re-entered when given the ok. Sakura performed the exam, asking Itachi to move his body in certain ways and whatnot. She eventually gave him the all-clear.
"Since you're free to leave now, I'll take you around the village first." Naruto said. Itachi nodded and the two finally left the hospital. There was no uproar or commotion as everyone in the village didn't even glance his way except to greet the Hokage standing next to him. They started at one end of the village and made their way through it slowly stopping for lunch at Ichiraku, at Naruto's insistence. It was Itachi's first meal since he was revived and he quite enjoyed it.
As the afternoon was turning into evening, the pair came upon the final part of the village. The Uchiha compound. Itachi was honestly surprised to see that it was still standing after all these years even if it did look abandoned completely. He figured they would've torn it down years ago.
"No one bothered with this place during the war and as you can probably guess, Sasuke came back after the war was finished so naturally, anything Uchiha related was now his possession, the compound included. He didn't want to just tear it down but he never did quite figure out what he wanted to do with it. Now that he's away all the time, it's unfortunately just sat here with no one to take care of it. I wouldn't be surprised if it isn't structurally sound anymore." Naruto explained. He glanced at Itachi. The raven was just staring at the front gate and rooftops that he could see.
"I'm sure Sasuke won't mind at all so I'm giving you partial ownership to the compound as well. You can do whatever you want with it since I don't think Sasuke ever will. Of course, I don't want you to decide now or anything. I'm just letting you know for future reference." The blonde smiled widely at his companion. Itachi gave a small smile in return and nodded his thanks. The duo left and went to the Hokage tower. When they entered Shikamaru was there looking over some paperwork. He looked up and spotted the pair as they entered.
"Hey," Shikamaru said. "If you're here then everything checked out ok on your end. That's good to know. Not sure if you recognize me but I'm Shikamaru Nara. I'm the Hokage's advisor." He held his hand out and Itachi shook it and nodded.
"Yes, I remember you. In all honesty, it was quite shocking to learn that you and your team took out Hidan of all people." Itachi stated.
"Yeah, I still remember that fight like it was yesterday. Man, it was not easy." Shikamaru sighed and Itachi gave a small smile. "Anyways, welcome back to the living. Your documentation is right here, Naruto you need to sign them." The lazy man handed Naruto the papers who huffed good-naturedly and then quickly scribbled a couple of lines on the paper and handed them back. Shikamaru filed them away.
"So since the day is still not quite over yet, I figured we could get started on a couple of things before tomorrow. Mainly I want to discuss a possible job or career. No decision is to be made yet, we'll mostly just be throwing around ideas and possibilities." The advisor said. The other raven nodded and took a seat on a chair in front of the Hokage's desk. The blonde and his advisor sat down after that.
"So first off is the obvious option, being a shinobi. Naruto and I had discussed this a little bit at the hospital already but we would prefer if you don't go back into ANBU. If that's what you truly want to do we won't stop you though." Shikamaru paused to let the Uchiha respond.
"It's ok. I have no desire to ever be part of ANBU again. It's not like I don't want to protect the Hokage or take on the difficult missions that no one else can. It's just that, when I was in ANBU, I had no time for anything. I never got to really take time to be with Sasuke, Shisui, or my parents. It was a state of constant 'go'. I have no problem keeping up with that kind of lifestyle, but when that's the only kind of life I've ever known, it's hard not to realize just what I've been missing out on this whole time." Itachi's eyes were a bit distant as he explained his reasoning. The other two occupants looked at each other with a bit of sadness before focusing on the raven again.
"I understand. We were talking and we think it would be a great idea if you became a jonin and eventually took on your own genin team." Naruto said. The raven was a bit surprised. He expected the jonin but he wasn't expecting the offer to teach genin.
"Well, that is an option. I also wouldn't be opposed to taking on ANBU ranked missions every once in a while either if you need me to. Of course, if I end up going that route." Itachi said.
"Of course. There are still plenty of other options too outside of being a shinobi. First off there's the police force who have already made it known that Sarada has a spot for her in it if she ever decided to quit the shinobi work or retire. Then there are the common civilian jobs as well ranging from working with food to working in an office, or even in a weapons shop. I already said that I don't want a decision to be made today but we could narrow the list down some tonight." Shikamaru stated. The trio continued to converse pleasantly until the list narrowed down to being a shinobi, the police, or opening his own company to train other shinobi or offer a new space for them to practice.
By the time their conversation came to a close, the sun had started to set. Shikamaru went his separate way while Naruto led Itachi to Sakura's house. Even though they were divorced Sakura and Sasuke still lived together since Sasuke is gone so often it wouldn't really be practical to get his own place only for it to become dirty and unlivable. Sakura answered the door and led them inside.
"So just a heads up, Sarada's mission ended earlier than expected so she's home already. I haven't told her about you yet. I hope this is ok." Sakura looked sheepish.
"Don't worry. I'm fine with this happening now." Itachi said. Sakura sighed in relief and led the two further into her home. They entered an open room. The living room, dining room, and kitchen all lead into each other. Sarada was sitting at the table sharpening her kunai. She looked up and Itachi saw the glasses and immediately sent a subtle look to Sakura who noticed. She quickly sent a reassuring smile and shook her head no to his silent question. He had worried that her eyesight was already deteriorating due to the Sharingan. That would mean she would have to have the mangekyo and that was even more worrisome. He was glad that was not the case.
"Hi, mom. How come Hokage-sama is here and who is the other guy?" She greeted her mom who had walked up to beside her.
"Well, Sarada there are some things we need to tell you about." Sakura said as she sat down next to her daughter and gestured to the two seats across from them for the two guys to sit down at.
"What's going on mom?" Sarada asked once everyone was seated. She kept glancing between them all. The stranger was odd. She had never seen him in the village before and he looked oddly similar to her dad.
"Well Sarada, do you remember that bedtime story your dad would tell you about the village hero?" The pinkette asked. When Sarada nodded she continued.
"Well, that hero was actually someone close to your dad. More specifically that person was his older brother." Sakura said. Sarada's eyes got wide.
"Really? Dad never mentions anything about our family and he's gone so long that I can't ask him." The girl says excitedly. This is the first bit of information she's learned about her own family from her dads' side.
"Yes really." Sakura smiled sweetly at how excited Sarada became over such a small piece of information.
"Why bring this up now?" The girls' smile didn't lessen at all. Sakura put her hand on her daughter's shoulder and looked over toward the raven-haired man and gestured at him with a nod.
Sarada looked over at the man as well. She was confused. What did he have to do with the story? He was a complete stranger, wasn't he? She supposed that he did look similar to her father. As she continued to stare he turned his gaze to look back at her. Neither said anything for a while and then Sarada saw the man's eyes flash red for a solid second before returning to normal. She gasped and looked back at her mom. Sakura nodded to her silent inquiry.
"So you're?" Sarada asked. The man nodded. "But wait. I thought the story said that the hero died."
"He did," Naruto spoke up for the first time. "But due to very special circumstances, he came back to life." Sarada couldn't do anything but continue to shift her gaze from one person to the next. Her eyes only settled on the raven-haired man when he shifted.
"My name is Itachi Uchiha. It is a pleasure to meet you Sarada. I am your father's older brother." Itachi introduced himself and waited to see what she would do next. Sarada was speechless. Her mouth hung open for a while before her mom playfully closed it. The girl blinked and then slowly stood up from her chair and moved around the table to stand next to Itachi. The adults were all watching her in confusion.
"You're my uncle?" She asked softly. Itachi nodded. Sarada surged forward and wrapped her arms around Itachi's middle and squeezed almost desperately. The raven-haired man quickly looked up at the other two in surprise. They just smiled at him so he looked back down to the young girl and wrapped an arm around her back and returned the surprise hug. Eventually, she pulled away and shot the sun at him in the form of a big smile.
"This is so exciting. Dad hasn't been around much my whole life so I haven't had a chance to really learn anything about my heritage before." Sarada gushed, her smile never lessening. Itachi smiled back.
"Well if you'd like, sometime tomorrow if you're free in the evening, I could teach you a few things about your Uchiha blood or even train you a bit." Itachi offered. He didn't think her smile could get any bigger but she proved him wrong when she beamed at him even brighter than before.
"Really? I would love that." Sarada looked on the verge of happy tears and it pulled at the adult's heartstrings. Before any tears could actually fall, Naruto spoke up again.
"Oh yeah, I have something to tell you guys. Sasuke will be returning in 2 or 3 days. He's not going to take any long-term missions for at least a few years. He'll only take a few short missions every once in a while to make some money." The blonde explained. Sarada seemed happy about the news at first but then her smile dropped and she glanced at her uncle for a second.
"Is it because of Uncle's return?" The girl asked. Naruto gave her a warm smile.
"No Sarada. Your dad doesn't know about Itachi yet. This decision was made months ago. It was decided he would take this last mission before returning home for good." Naruto reassured the young Uchiha. Her smile returned in full force which made the adults smile too.
Shortly after that, the four had dinner at Sakura's house and then conversed for a bit before Naruto told Itachi he would return in the morning to bring him to where his technology lessons would be with Shikamaru. He left to return home after that. Sarada went upstairs to get some sleep and Sakura showed Itachi where he would be staying and then brought him some of Sasuke's clothes to wear until he got some of his own. He was glad to see the Uchiha symbol on the back of the shirts. She returned to her room for the night as well so Itachi took a shower then also laid down. Tomorrow was gonna be a busy day.