Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. It is the intellectual property of Masashi Kishimoto and TV Tokyo, or at least it was the last time I checked.
-The God of Shinobi-
In the land of Iron, there lay a long furrow in the earth, that could never be called a valley even by the most generous observer. In that canyon stood a bridge that had weathered both time and battle. The ancient stone bridge stood over a river, flowing low, deep and pristine on this fine afternoon.
The site lay miles from one of the land of Irons most prominent towers. The tower where, in fact, history was being made earlier that day, as the mighty Mifune sat as an intermediary with the five great shadows of the five great villages.
The history was shattered by violence, and bloodshed.
Much as the tranquility was in that furrow, on that bridge, above the river, on an otherwise beautiful day.
On the bridge stood four ninja's, that is, three shinobi and one kunoichi.
One shinobi sat on a gate above a large kanji, far from the rest, lazily stretched and peering through his orange mask at the rest of the groups cluster on the bridge as he eagerly awaited the fight to come.
Another shinobi clutched his blade, blood red Sharingan eyes staring at the man he knew he was to slay.
The kunoichi cowered behind a pillar to the side of the bridge, hoping to prove her worth this day, but afraid that the worth might be meager.
And finally, there stood the final shinobi, facing the others with eyes closed, bandages covering half of his face and his right arm. And he stood there, waiting.
What he was waiting for confused and angered the red eyed avenger, the young man clutching his sword. But the man continued his waiting, either ignorant of the warriors impatience, or deeming it of no great importance.
After many minutes, the impatience of the warrior finally drove him to speak.
"Danzo," the red eyed man snarled, "Before you die, I have a question to ask you…"
The aged man opposite him inclined his head.
"You will have a great many questions, Sasuke Uchiha, but you will not be able to ask them all, nor I to answer."
Sasuke's eyes narrowed as he thought about those words. 'A trick? He has reinforcements coming, and that is why he delays. He fears to fight a true Uchiha!'
"No one will save you, old man. Not from my vengeance.", came the snarl from the Uchiha.
"We shall see."
Ignoring the old mans response, the avenger asked his question.
"Is it true that Itachi Uchiha eliminated my clan by order of the Elders?"
A small whistling wind crossed the bridge in the silence after the question, the old ninja giving no verbal response.
Forming three hand signs, the Elder dashed forwards, arm drawn back to strike down the young avenger. Closing the distance, the aged man delivered his blow, his knuckles grinding against what felt like solid stone. Opening his uncovered eye, he beheld the sight of Sasuke Uchiha, surrounded by bones wreathed in violet flame.
Then a massive bone and flame hand grabbed the Elder from the bridge holding him helplessly aloft.
Struggling against the bone and fire, the Elder stared down at the avenger, who was holding his hand in a cupping motion.
"I am going to ask you one last time. Is it true that Itachi Uchiha eliminated my clan by order of the Elders?"
Ceasing his struggles, the old man stared down at the Uchiha dispassionately, as one would observe the mess of a pet, or the finger-painting's of a particularly slow and obstinate child. A few seconds passed that strained the Uchiha's already expired patience.
"I'm asking if it's true!" The Uchiha's hand closed, as did the giant hand of bone and flame, squeezing the aged man both metaphorically, and literally. Sasuke kept squeezing until the old man started spitting up blood. Relaxing his grip marginally, he shouted again.
"Answer me!"
"I… I didn't think he was that kind of man.", the Elder said at great length.
"Poor Itachi, he revealed everything to you before he died. It is as I thought, you are truly special."
At that, Sasuke thought back to all the times he had heard himself measured against Itachi, even the admissions from both Itachi and Madara themselves that he had true potential.
"The Uchiha is a proud clan of the Hidden Leaf. He wanted you to keep believing that." spoke the voice of Madara Uchiha, echoing deep from the Uchiha's memories. "He beseeched the Hokage that you never learn the truth. And from the time he left the village, he was resolved to fighting you and dying by your hand. All done so that in you he could instill a new power, his power, and done so that he might finally pay penance for his crimes. He accepted disgrace in the place of honor, and hate in the place of love. And despite that, Itachi died with a smile on his face. He entrusted the Uchiha name to you, his younger brother, deceiving you to the very end."
Snapping out of his flashback, Sasuke shook his head, and shouted at the defiance of the aged man above him.
"ANSWER ME!"
"I didn't think Itachi was the type of man to reveal secrets."
The Mangekyo formed again in Sasuke's eye. "D-does that mean it's true?"
The bone and fire of the hand holding the Elder writhed and wriggled as sinew, muscle and flesh built themselves along the arm of Sasuke's technique. A complete human skeleton from the waist roared down at the aged man, tilting its horns so it could stare at him with glowing yellow eyes.
The old man was unfazed, save for the increased pressure on his chest making it hard for him to answer.
"But he didn't, did he?" The old man said once again leaning down to look the Uchiha in the eye. "Itachi wanted to die the villain, the outcast. He was content with it, it was his decision. When he begged me not to end the Uchiha's with him. To spare you, so that you may grow up, and start the Uchiha's anew. Adding to them the honor that they forgot. And when you were old enough, and strong enough, that he die by your hand. Such was his sacrifice, that I granted his request, to my everlasting shame." That earned a scoff from the young Uchiha.
"Does a creature as despicable as you even feel such a thing?"
"Some monsters do. It is how we hold onto the last shreds of our humanity. But such shame stemmed not from the fate of Itachi…" That statement confused the Uchiha, looking up at his foe with a question clear in his Sharingan eyes. "It is the fate of Konoha. I shouldn't have spared you. Itachi would have been broken, but in time he would be able to find comfort in the works he did or in the arms of a lucky woman. And in doing so we would have been spared your stupidity."
The trampled pride of the Uchiha could take no more, as Sasuke crushed the upstart Elder. The remains flew high as a light bloody haze descended upon the Uchiha, wrapping around him like a favorite cloak.
"Of course, Itachi's fate is regrettable," came the aged voice again, this time on the bridge, not fifteen feet from Sasuke. "But that illness was incurable, so I would have only had another few years out of him and the likelihood that he would recover enough psychologically to form a new attachment to a wife in that timeframe is unlikely at best."
"How did you escape my technique?" Sasuke queried, Sharingan spinning as he dropped into a combat stance, hand already back on the Kusanagi.
"That? Kawarimi combined with basic genjutsu. The hardest part was the ventriloquist aspect. But I did that before you ever laid a hand on me."
"Impossible, you can't hide anything before these eyes!"
"So says the child who was shouting at a doll for six minutes." The line was delivered with no smug satisfaction, or gusto. It was a statement. A fact. A teacher lecturing an inattentive student
'This might be tougher than I thought.' Sasuke analyzed as he reached for his chakra. What he didn't expect was for his chakra to be cut off by what felt like a mighty wall.
"What..?"
"Ahh, the second technique, now basic fuuinjutsu. That one seals away your chakra while in a small vicinity, generally 30 feet or so in diameter." Jumping back from the man- no, back from the ninja he was fighting, Sasuke encountered a wall of resistance that threw him to the ground.
"And there is the third technique. This one is actually highly advanced fuuinjutsu, so I'm not surprised you didn't catch it." prattled the old man.
"W-what is it?" ground out the young avenger.
"This is a bubble of localized time distortion. To dumb it down so even someone like you can understand, inside of the sphere, time is moving faster than outside of it. That wall you ran into is the 'ripple' effect that you get. You're lucky you didn't utilize your chakra when you jumped, otherwise you wouldn't have a lot more hurt than your pride." Spoke the old man in a mocking tone. "I thought this would give us time to talk, just one to one, without Madara, or your…lovely assistant getting in the way."
His hand reached for the unstoppable blade again, intent on engaging the nin in melee. He was stopped by a *tutting* sound coming from his right. Jerking his head, he saw the face of the Elder. What surprised him more than the speed or the stealth of the movement, was the hand that lay on the butt of his ninjato.
Jumping away again, Sasuke barely missed being thrown to the ground by the barrier again.
"You shouldn't do that." Came the voice of the Elder again. "You are a fast child, but without the aid of your chakra you can be nowhere as fast, or as strong, as I can be."
Sasuke dropped into tactical thinking after the latest failure.
'He's right, I can't engage with him without my chakra. I don't feel a drain on my chakra, and with the jutsu he has up he can kill me at any time,' the Uchiha mentally snarled, 'but these techniques have to be draining him. He is a kage, and likely has vast reserves, but even someone of his caliber can't keep this up for long. The best tactic here is to stall.'
"Talk about what?"
"Me, you, Konoha, Itachi, his choices, how you spat on his grave, and anything else relevant."
"I did NOT-"
"Spare me yourself righteous rationalizations, they are irrelevant. You DID spit on Itachi's grave when you not only continued operating as a rogue nin, but also joined the organization that your brother spied on, with intentions to kill the present Hokage and to destroy the village for which he sacrificed nearly everything he knew."
"He did that for me, crone!"
"Ohh, you poor petulant child. He gave up what he knew so that you could live, but he sacrificed his life, and the lives of nearly his entire family so that Konoha might live."
Sasuke shook his head, refusing to believe the lie this wretched man spun. "No! I live to avenge him! With your death, and the Elder's and Konoha's, when all of the backstabbing traitors are dead will he finally rest in peace!"
"Ohh? So you plan to avenge the death of the Uchiha clan, and not Itachi's death then?"
"The causes are one and the same!"
"No, elementary miscalculation. The Uchiha's planned to betray Konoha, so Itachi killed them, and he later died of illness after he chose self-imposed exile, so chosen so that you would live. Now if you plan on exterminating Konoha, the place for which Itachi sacrificed everything, or very nearly, what does that say about how you hold your brother?"
"Konoha betrayed the Uchiha first!" Spat after a minute of terse silence.
An aged eyebrow arched. "How?"
"The Senju were always on top in Konoha, always forcing the Uchiha away, keeping them from the most valuable position of Hokage!" Sasuke's leering grin met the Elder's upraised shaking hand.
"You are giving generals, I am asking for specifics. How did the village betray the Uchiha, in what way?"
"You sent Itachi to kill my clan."
"Doesn't count. In a case where side A is without a doubt going to betray and murder side B, the loyalty is gone, and thus it is no betrayal when side B kills side A. Merely self preservation."
"SELF-PRES-!"
"Yes, next point. How were the Uchiha put down, betrayed?"
"After the Kyuubi attack, the village despised the Uchiha! They all believed that the clan set the beast loose on Konoha!"
"Well," Spoke the old man again, "They did. Or at least the one calling himself Madara did. That one right behind you. The one that you are following for some bizarre reason. He was responsible not only for setting the beast loose, but also for allegedly tying up the Uchiha long enough so that they couldn't respond to the Kyuubi's attack, which is what gave rise to the allegations in the first place."
"They kept us from becoming the Hokage!"
"Please, none of you were kept from becoming Hokage."
"Then why do none of the Uchiha sit under the hat?"
That earned him a look, and a headshake from the old man.
"Fine, let's take this from the top. The first Hokage was Hashirama Senju because the majority of the clans, major and minor, who had gathered to form Konoha believed that out of all of the clan heads, he would govern fairly. The reason Madara was not chosen was because of the worry that he would turn the entire village into his own personal army, rather than ruling for the good of all. Tobirama Senju was chosen because after the apparent twin deaths of Madara and Hashirama, he was the best person to lead, and by far the strongest. Next is the Professor himself," the old man said with a smile. "he was chosen because he was the personal student of both the previous Kage, and because, despite his tender age, he was still the best candidate. The fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze, was chosen because of his young age, his astounding talent, his great charisma, and his fearsome reputation. When your village is facing war with a village who are led by a ninja for whom your battle tactic is running away, you rethink all the peaceful options…twice. After his death, the third took the hat again. That was interpreted as a slight by many, including Orochimaru and the Uchiha. The simple fact of the matter was that the village needed unification in that time, and none of the candidates were up for the job but him."
"Bullshit." The Uchiha ground out.
"Really? Is it? The 'heirs apparent' were the Sannin, Jiraiya, Tsunade, and Orochimaru, the Clan Leaders, Fugaku Uchiha, Kiba Inuzuka, and Hiashi Hyuuga, and the Elders, Sarutobi, Homura, Koharu, and I. Orochimaru didn't possess the right temperament, leaning more towards gaining personal power than maintaining his village with the morals it needs. Fugaku was too aggressive and proud a leader as was the patriarch of the Inuzuka clan, and after the Kyuubi attack, we needed someone with a level head who wouldn't botch negotiations when we were at partial strength because of an unheard insult. Tsunade was already part way down her down ward spiral, and Jiraiya flat out refused. Hiashi was too steeped in tradition and wouldn't adapt to a fluid scenario. The only people left to choose from where the Elders, and of the Elders, only one of us could get the village together and prepared for the years ahead. And that was Sarutobi."
Looking into Sasuke's eyes, the old man finished.
"Is it bullshit, little Uchiha, or did you have some evidence about your father's character that no one knew?"
"He had the strength to lead-"
"Not the point that we found in dispute. All of the men and women considered had the strength to lead, but we had to find one that could also debate, plan elaborately, fight tooth and nail for everything they could get for Konoha, find the charisma to inspire the masses and to strike fear into the hearts of the enemies of the village. Your father was strong. He was even a leader. But Hokage material he was not."
The pause between them was only broken by Sasuke's ragged, rage filled pants.
"By the time the fifth and myself came along, there were no Uchiha left to contest against, so they hardly matter in this debate. But onto your next point. How did Konoha betray the Uchiha's?"
"Itachi…"
"…. Well go on, what about him?"
"He followed you with all the loyalty a man can have. He followed you and kept all of your teachings close to his heart. He sacrificed everything, all for you! His death, his blood, is on your hands!"
A sigh rasped from the old man. "No, again you accuse without thought. Itachi's death was caused by the Uchiha's pending betrayal, which was in turn caused by perceived slights from the village, which was caused by the entire clan being held inside their compound during the night of the Kyuubi attack by the same man who unleashed the Kyuubi, who had only done that because he thought the Uchiha's choosing to stay in Konoha under a Senju's leadership was betrayal, and that was because he was fighting a clan he couldn't win against during the clan wars before the formation of the villages! The Uchiha's blood, Itachi's blood rests on the hands of one man, and one man alone. Madara Uchiha."
Sasuke grinned at that. "A cretin like you would accuse him of this."
"I accuse nothing, it is logic and math that dictates where a domino falls. All the suffering you have had to endure in your life, the loneliness, and rage and regret, all of it stems back to the pride of one man!"
Sasuke's fists began to clench.
"NO reason has yet been given that you would march against Konoha! The Uchiha got all that they deserved, Itachi was a hero and you are a misguided child drawn in by an old man's delusions and madness!"
"NOOOO!" Sasuke screamed, lashing out at the old man with a kunai hidden in his sleeve. The Elder rolled away from the jab, and delivered one of his own to the ribs below the armpit of his opponent. Thrown to the ground under the force of the blow, Sasuke rolled away, attempting to rise and draw his sword when a foot pinned his arm to his chest.
Looking up, Sasuke saw the cut his kunai had dealt through the bandages on Danzo's face. As he looked, though, the face became fuzzy, blurred, more so than could be chalked up to his continuingly dwindling vision. The face became even more blurred before it cleared.
The man standing over him had a new face. Gone was the cleft chin and short brown hair, in it's stead stood shocks of balding white spikes and a short chin beard also ending in a spike. Aged brown eyes on a deeply grooved face stared down at him, with all the power and majesty a god can look at a dog.
Above him stood Hiruzen Sarutobi, God of Shinobi.
AN
This is part one of a two parter. If you like it, let me know, if you don't, oh well, it's two chapters.
This was done as a combination of ideas, two being mine, and one being my big brothers. My little bro also throws me stuff, but that is generally for the background of my other fics. Like he designed virtually the entire background for Breaking the Rules. GD do I have an awesome fam'!
Anyway, if any of you out there take this two part-er as a challenge, PM me the details and a rough outline.
That's it, but as always, don't forget to read and review!