A/N
Unlike before this story will be not only in present tense but also in first person POV. Part 1 will be in Itachi's POV Then when it's time for Shippuden Arashi will take over for Part 2. I don't know if there will be a Part 3 but if there is it will be in Keseki's POV. For those of you who had not read the old version Arashi and Keseki are two OC's of mine in this story. Okay now that that is explained on with the better version of this story now called The Bitter End!
Part 1 Itachi:
Prologue
I hear them every night.
The screams of pain and horror that those who have died by my hands and abilities utter.
Pleads of those I have assassinated begging for more time.
The cold acceptance in my parents as they told me they understood before I killed them too.
My brothers voice filled with laughter and then pain. Constantly switching, constantly swirling in my head as I try to find some peace and quiet once and a while.
If I hadn't loved my village as much as I do I wouldn't have done anything, just taken Sasuke and run away from Konoha as my clan fought a suicidal battle with all of the village. The coup wouldn't have succeeded. Too many on both sides would have been lost. Completing the mission Danzo had given me would have been difficult on my own. Finding the missing Uchiha who calls himself Madara was both a blessing and a curse.
He killed the elderly, children and babies while I killed the teens, adults and ninja.
It was all so quick.
Their blood barely touched me or my cloths that night. I moved too fast for them to catch me with their Sharingans. The Mangekyo helping me place dozens under genjutsu to silence the screams and keep the rest of the village ignorant of the horror taking place in the Uchiha district.
Then Sasuke came.
It was right after my last kills, our parents, laid upon one another dead on the floor. He fell and screamed demanding to know why.
I had to hurt him.
It was the only way to protect him from Danzo who wanted all of the other Uchiha dead before I went into deep cover in the Akatsuki.
I couldn't take Sasuke with me. Raising a child while pretending to be a vicious rouge ninja is too insane. They could be used against you. They are a weakness, a threat.
And as long as he is safe and away from me he won't be a weakness.
But he must become a threat. He has to become my enemy, has to kill me otherwise the Uchiha's name will always be stained in the blood I spilled.
My clan deserves a clean slate.
Sasuke will give that to the clan.
I will give the village it's safety.
The perfect plan.
But for that to happen he had to suffer. Pain leads those down a path of strength, it makes them determined, focused. It leads to hate which shortens the time by years if done right so I spoke the only words I could.
"Foolish Little Brother…"
"To test my abilities…"
He ran. Through the house until he hit the street. I could see him, his pathetic chakra level a brightness in the sea of dead. Just moments after he left I was about to chase him when something caught my eye.
I turn to see my mother's old necklace shining in the rising moonlight and a tear falls from my eye. I should have left it. I should have stopped Sasuke from leaving the room but I didn't stop him, and I did take the necklace. It was such a small thing and mother hadn't worn it for a while, Sasuke might not even remember what it looked like.
My nightmare speeds up and I'm hearing those accursed words spill from my mouth.
"To test you…"
"To obtain the same eyes as me you must kill your closest friend…"
These words I hear myself speak shred my heart to pieces. I had never intentionally hurt Sasuke before. I didn't expect it to hurt so much to push him, but it did. Again I feel the tears that trailed down my cheeks before I went to confront the Third.
A sound wakes me up from my slumber.
I jerk awake and feel an odd chill trailing down my face. I quickly wipe away my tears and activate my eyes.
Outside in the hall Hidan and Kukazu walks, Hidan as usual cursing up a storm despite the fact it is the middle of the night. But that's normal here. Like on the anbu squad I joined while I was still an official part of Konoha, there are shifts each night to stand guard when there are more than 6 of us in one location.
My shift is already over I had to try and sleep.
But as soon as my eyes closed my sins once again attack me in full force.
A different plea shouts out in my mind, one not from my past demons and memories.
Just one night! I just need one night free of these nightmares, than I can continue with my mission.
Just one night…
It has been a few months since I've joined Akatsuki.
After trying to take my body, Orochimaru; the pathetic snake, left the organization. Left with uneven numbers I'm currently being sent on solo missions.
The fact that my latest mission just happens to be in the Land of Mists during one of the worst hurricanes I have ever witnessed.
On my fourteenth birthday no less.
I silently move throughout the trees, escaping from the scene where the merchant I had been sent to kill hangs in a tree, now a blackened corpse from the neck down to keep his identity known and a blood red cloud carved into his forehead.
I don't know what he had done to have crossed the organization so, but what I learned about him while hunting the merchant had given me a feeling so right to be destroying scum like him.
A man who rapes children then sells them into the sex trade deserves to slowly burn to death while he is trapped in a genjutsu where he is one of the children he raped. He should suffer for what he had done to all those children!
What if that man had snuck into Konoha? What if one of his victims was my brother?
I should have made him suffer longer.
The thought gives me a pause.
Suffer longer? I slow cooked him for nearly twenty four hours, starved him broke his legs and arms all while having his mind seeing a young version of himself being raped repeatedly by multiple adult versions of the children he had attacked in the past.
This job was getting to me far too quickly.
Just focus remember mother, father, Sasuke, Shishui and…Karasu.
They deserve better then what you had done to them. So never forget your mission.
Sasuke has to kill you.
You have to find out more about Akatsuki, to do that you must rank up in the members. Right now they tell you nothing but wait a few years. That's easy, I'm a shinobi. I've been training for this my entire life, deep cover will be simple so long as I keep my mind straight.
Then the lightning struck the tree next to me.
I sprint away. The burning wood was quickly being put out but I have to find some shelter if lightning is being thrown into the mix. It's taking all the chakra in my feet to keep me from flying away like some of the trees branches are.
That's when I see it.
There hidden in a large cave on the mountain side is a small cabin.
I scan the area nearby with my eyes as I swiftly move towards shelter.
Maybe I can finally have a good night's rest.
A/N
Much better right? This flowed so much easier!
Okay so for those of you curious and or didn't see the temporary notice I posted I will say it again.
I'm rewriting this story!
Yup. It was written so horribly that I was frustrated and embarrassed with myself. Because in my mind it went so well but I couldn't type it right. So because of that I'm fixing this story. I changed my writing style, the fact that this is now in present tense is a big difference. The other is this is 1st person POV. Which is easier to write for me than 3rd. This story started out differently too. This is set first set when Itachi is 14 so I know that was a very difficult and influencing time for me so I can only assume how stressful this must be for Itachi which I didn't think of before! Now I did and I must say this came out better then I thought! Sure it's only the Prologue but still once the beginning is good the rest just has to get better. I just have to make sure I don't fail!
As I love reading reviews I am going to be that person and beg for you to review this story!
*blinks huge brown eyes* PLEASE REVIEW!
