My Way of the Ninja

Beta'd by: MrsHellman

Disclaimer: All the amount of wishing in the world wouldn't allow me to own Naruto, but I can try!

Chapter 13-Epilogue

Tsunade not only worked on Itachi's eye's all day, but it had taken her far into the night to finish the job. The Uchiha's eyes were as well as she could get them.

"That should do it, Itachi-san," Tsunade told him when she was finished, a sigh escaping her lips due to relief. She was completely exhausted from both lack of sleep and chakra usage. "Let me just check you over and make sure everything is okay." She had him activate his Sharingan and then the Mangekyou before his eyes returned to their normal coal black color, and then stared at the woman in expectation, waiting for her answer.

"Everything looks fine. Just remember what I said about overusing the Mangekyou Sharingan. If you don't have it activated constantly, that will help slow the process," she told him, as he nodded in response. "Okay, I'm just going to run a final scan, here," she continued as she proceeded to run some chakra over his body to see if there was anything that had been affected by the procedure. That's strange, something's not right here. . .she frowned, as she continued her scan, her eyes becoming slimmer for each second passing.

"Is something wrong, Tsunade-sama?" Itachi asked as he noticed the frown on her face. He wasn't scared or anything, but if there was something wrong with his body, he needed to know.

Tsunade met his eyes and her frown was still in place. She had found something. . . and didn't spell good things for the young Uchiha. "I believe so, Itachi-san. I'm going to get Minato and I'll tell you both at the same time," she answered cryptically, as Itachi frowned slightly.

Tsunade left and returned with Minato in a few minutes. "What's going on Tsunade? Is something wrong?" Minato asked with concern as he looked over to the Uchiha that was still lying on the bed.

"I'm afraid there is, Minato. I was checking Itachi-san over as a standard procedure and I found something," she began as both Itachi and Minato looked at her with puzzlement. "Itachi's body is slowly being eaten away by a disease," she stated as she clicked her tongue.

Itachi was silent, while Minato still looked puzzled. "Can't you heal it?"

"No, I'm afraid not. It's fatal. . . and judging by how his body has been affected and the damage the disease has done. . . he'll die in six months," Tsunade informed them as she closed her eyes with an annoyed look on her face this; this wasn't good. What use it is, if you're the best medical ninja, and you can't heal someone? It was so frustrating…it took her back to those times when her brother and lover had…She shook her head. Can't think of that now.

Itachi remained emotionless at the news. "Isn't there anything you can do?" Minato asked imploringly.

Tsunade sighed and bit her lower lip, removing a few hair strands from her face as well. "There is a medicine I can give him that will prolong his life for about three years, if he takes it consistently."

Itachi looked at Tsunade, his face still unreadable. "I'll take it," he finally spoke. "I have to stay alive long enough to train Sasuke and find out what Akatsuki is up to," he told her without any concern for himself, all he had in mind for the moment, was his younger brother.

"Very well. I'll need to go the hospital and get it made for you. I'll make sure you have a good supply," Tsunade told him as he nodded. "I'll give you a few minutes alone," she said, as she left the room with a small click from the door.

Minato looked at Itachi with a frown. "Itachi-kun, I'm sorry—" he began, but the raven waved him off.

"Don't be. It can't be helped. And as long as I can complete my mission, it doesn't matter," he replied, casually, as if being told you have a fatal disease didn't matter to him at all.

The blonde frowned. Why wouldn't the raven care more about his life? "What about Sasuke?" he asked with a worried tone in his voce, and Itachi noticed it as he sat up from the bed, bending his neck in different direction until you could hear it snap. "He'll be devastated."

"I'm not going to tell him for now. He doesn't need to be burdened with it," Itachi told the Yondaime in a flat tone.

"But Itachi-san—"

"It's my decision to make, Hokage-sama," Itachi said firmly, but respectfully.

Minato looked at him for a while, with concern on his face. This wasn't what he'd expected, but it was what he had to accept. "Very well, but I don't agree with you," he finally said.

Itachi nodded as he heard this, he hadn't expected anything else. "Tomorrow morning, Sasuke and I will leave," he told Minato.

"I know," the blonde answered, biting his lip. He knew it had to be done, but he dreaded the actual departure. He knew it would be really hard on Naruto. . .

The next morning came all too soon for everyone, but Itachi it seemed, who was unreadable as ever. Tsunade had been true to her word and gotten Itachi the medicine he needed, giving him the necessary instructions along with it. Minato had talked her into staying a while, hoping to later convince her to stay in the village permanently, as a med-nin.

Jiraiya had left early that morning to do more 'research', but he did get to see Naruto, and was impressed with how well the brat had grown. Since he hasn't seen the lad for a few years it was a shock to see that he looked more like his father than ever before.

They had eaten breakfast together in silence; the last morning they had together, and everyone seemed pretty stoic. The room was filled with tension and dreaded anticipation; it was palpable.

"Thank you for breakfast, Hokage-sama," the older raven told Minato when they finished, as Sasuke voiced the same. Itachi looked over at Sasuke with a small frown, but it was barely visible. "It time to go, Otouto."

"Hai, I know," the younger Uchiha mumbled, looking down, his hair covering his eyes; it was painfully visible that he didn't want to do this. Naruto was looking down as well, and both Minato and Itachi knew the boys wanted to say goodbye to one another.

"Sasuke, I'll give you a few minutes to say goodbye to Naruto-kun. We'll have to leave after that," Itachi told him as he got up from his seat, and put away what he'd used, before walking out of the room.

"Yeah, me too, Naruto," Minato chimed in as he too got up, and left along with Itachi, understanding that the boys would want to be alone right now.

Both teens looked up at each other and slowly stood up, both at the same time.

"Well, I guess this is it," Naruto said, trying to keep his voice calm, but Sasuke noticed that it was trembling, even though it was in the slightest.

"Hn. Don't get all mushy on me, Naruto," the raven teased, trying to lighten the mood, but when it didn't work, Sasuke went on. "Dobe, come on, you're acting as if you'll never see me again," he chided the blonde. The raven was always good at keeping his emotions in check, where as the blonde tended to wear them on his sleeve.

Naruto met Sasuke's gaze and the raven nearly winced as he saw that those cerulean eyes were lustrous. "You're my closest friend, more like a brother than anything else, Sasuke, and you always will be," he told the raven seriously.

"Same here, Naruto," the dark-haired teen answered, and then suddenly remembered something. "Oh, I almost forgot," he went over and starting digging around his pack, with Naruto watching him curiously. He finally found what he was looking for and walked back to the blonde, holding an item in his hand.

"Here, Naruto. I want you to keep this for me," the raven said, holding out the item for Naruto to take.

The blonde looked confused. "But Sasuke, it's your hitai-ate. Why would you give this to me? It's your personal belonging, and you can't just give it away—"

"I can't use it where I'm going, baka," Sasuke interrupted with a scolding tone. "And. . . you'll have something to remember me by. . . to remind you that I'll be coming back," he added quietly, a small smile on his lips.

Naruto felt his eyes burning again. Damn it, not again! "Sasuke," his voice trembled. "I'll take good care of it for you," he promised, clutching the item tightly in his hands, holding on to it like a lifeline.

"I know you will," Sasuke replied solemnly before smiling towards his best friend – and 'brother.' "You'd better train like hell and get stronger, or I promise, I'll kick your ass when I see you next, you usaratonkachi," he teased.

Naruto just nodded, and smiled faintly at the nickname. "I will," he replied, and then he held out two of his fingers to Sasuke. The brunette looked at Naruto's hand; it was the same gesture that the blonde had made to him when they were kids, the day they became best friends.

Sasuke reached out and held Naruto's hand with his two fingers. Memories came flooding back to both of them:

They were outside playing during break at the academy, Naruto walked up to Sasuke.

"Hi. Sasuke, right? Since we're working together I thought I'd introduce myself. I'm—"

"You're the Yondaime's son," Sasuke interrupted with an emotionless face – his brother had taught him not too show too much emotions when meeting a stranger.

"I have a name too, you idiot! It's Namikaze Naruto," Naruto said a bit harshly, but stuck out his hand. Sasuke smirked at the blonde's audacity and slowly too his hand…

Other memories came back as well. . .

One day, they were training together. Naruto looked over at Sasuke with a very serious expression on his face.

"What's wrong, Naruto?" Sasuke asked his friend.

Naruto walked over to Sasuke and held out two fingers, as the raven looked at him in puzzlement. "I've decided that you're my best friend, Sasuke. I want us to as close as brothers. I want us to swear that we'll be friends for life no matter what. Deal?" he asked Sasuke with a foxy grin.

Sasuke looked at Naruto's fingers and then smiling himself, and took Naruto's fingers into his own. He looked at the blonde in the eyes.

"Deal."

The raven-haired teen broke the silence first. "Take care, Naruto," he told him, keeping his voice quiet, but steady, looking at the blonde's blue eyes.

"You too, Sasuke. You can't die on me, remember that," Naruto replied, as their eyes meet, they spoke volumes to each other, without words, that neither one of them could verbalize.

"It's time to go, Otouto," Itachi interrupted with his oh-so-perfect timing, now standing in the doorway, breaking the moment.

"Okay, Aniki," the younger raven replied but he didn't look at his brother. Giving Naruto one last look, he let go of the other teen's fingers and walked towards his brother. "I'm ready now," he told him, as Itachi nodded.

Minato and Naruto followed them to the door to see them off, even though the only thing Naruto wanted to do right now was to scream and beg Sasuke not to leave.

"Thank you again, for everything, Hokage-sama," Itachi told Minato. "I'll be in touch with you as soon as I know something."

Minato nodded with a small smile on his facial features. "You're welcome, and be careful," he added.

Itachi looked down at Naruto, who was watching them intensely. "Thank you for being such a good friend to my brother. You're like. . . family," he finished, as the blonde could only nod in response, fighting back the tears that threatened to overflow.

Then the two Uchiha brothers turned and started walking away. Naruto couldn't help but finally let the tears flow down his face, as he watched his best friend for six years, walk away. He clutched Sasuke's hitai-ate tightly in his hands, and brought it up to his chest. Minato placed his arm around Naruto's shoulders in comfort, as the younger blonde leaned into the touch.

As Sasuke and Itachi were almost out of sight, Sasuke rose up his hand in a final salute to Naruto, and then they were gone.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

END

AN: Okay, don't kill me, people. I know this was short, but it seemed like a good place to stop. Shippuuden isn't over, and I can't begin to write a story for that, until I know how things will end up, with what I want to use, etc. So I may write another sequel at some point. In the meantime, I may come up with something else to write, so look for that sometime later. This is the longest story I've written yet, and I really enjoyed it a lot. It's always sad to see a story end.

I want to thank my wonderful beta, MrsHellman, you rock, hon! And also my husband, Jeremy for helping me write the fighting parts, and for being a wonderful support to me throughout all of this! Thank you my number one fan! You're awesome! Review one last time for me, k? Thank you, everyone!