Chapter 1: Uchiha Itachi

When Itachi was six, he was admitted into the Konoha ninja academy. He graduated at age seven. He was poised to be a shining star, the genius of the Uchiha clan who would finally gain them the respect, acceptance, and honor they'd been striving toward for generations.

One month after graduation, during a routine health exam, their doctor noticed that Itachi was having trouble breathing.

By six months, he was bedridden, hardly able to breathe on his own without help. The clan doctor was at a loss, so they had to call in an expert. Enter one Haruno Sakuya, Matriarch of the Haruno Clan. She had started Tsunade's journey on the road to being a medic despite being quickly surpassed and had traveled to all corners of the Shinobi lands, helping people of all walks of life. With Tsunade missing, Lady Haruno was the only person who could help.

Shortly after the Kyuubi attack, she returned to the village. Her remaining family that had been spared by the Third Shinobi war were destroyed by the demon fox. The only family member spared was little Sakura, her granddaughter, safe and sound in the Uchiha compound with her godmother.

Sakuya herself arrived not long after and immediately set to work. She examined the young man and spent hours healing him as best she was able. When she came out of his room, her face was grim. Her faded pink hair was tied into a tight bun at the back of her head and despite her age, her too-green eyes were sharp.

"The kid has a disease in his lungs. He'll only get worse the more he uses his chakra and especially if he keeps using the Sharingan like this." She shook her head. "Any way you look at it, this kid can never be a ninja."

Mikoto gasped and covered her mouth with both hands. Fugaku snarled at her, his dark eyes intense.

"How dare you. Fix him! He is our clan's only hope now! We need him to be strong so he can be the next Hokage!"

Cornelia glared back, unruffled. "You deaf or just stupid? There's no fixing this kind of issue. The kid will have to live with it. I'm sorry, but if you keep pushing him like this, he's going to end up choking on his own blood and dying before he hits 13."

Mikoto bit back a sob. "Will he die?"

"No. Not if he stops now." She said. "I can help him manage the condition but there's no cure. Not ever."

Fugaku looked away. "I have no use for an heir that cannot even rise past the rank of Genin."

Sakuya bit back a snarl. "Then give him to me." she said, her voice deceptively calm. "I'll look after him."

"Sakuya-sama, you still have little Sakura to watch as well, yes? I can't ask you to watch over my son as well as your own granddaughter."

Sakuya shrugged. "I'll figure it out. He's a damn smart kid. Easy enough to raise, I think."

Fugaku's expression remained distant and sullen.

"...I'll take good care of him. I swear. But...He can't be the man you need him to be if he dies as a child."

Itachi's eyes slid open. He stared at the ceiling of the hospital. He then glanced at the woman looking over his charts.

"Did it work...?" His voice croaked and there was a bit of a wheeze, but he was breathing so much better. So much clearer. He gripped the blankets. He hoped, he prayed, for...something. Anything. Some sort of sign.

Sakuya looked up at him and nodded. "Yeah. It did."

He nodded and looked away. "Alright. When do I return to active duty?"

Sakuya hummed and placed the charts back at the foot of his bed. "As your current legal guardian, we don't have to tell your parents. If you don't want to." She said.

His head snapped towards her. "What do you mean?" He asked, his eyes narrowed.

She looked at him, her too-green eyes on him. "You know...you don't have to tell your folks about this unless you want to. As your official legal guardian, you need not tell your birth parents the truth. Not yet. I'm giving you an out, kid."

He watched her, not comprehending her. Free? Free from the life of a Shinobi? Being a Shinobi, one that would loyally serve his village and his clan was an honor he'd been groomed for since he was a boy. He wanted to protest but then he realized, like this...he'd never have to see another bloody battlefield. He'd never have to fight in a war or serve as an assassin. He could choose his own path.

"What...What would I do?" He looked at her. "What purpose would I serve?"

She tsk'd and shook her head. "That's all you Uchiha men can ever think about, isn't it? Being tools for others." She sat by his bedside and gently unwound his hand from the blankets. Her own hands were worn and callused and wrinkled, but strong. Dependable. "You can choose your own path now. You want to help people, yeah?"

She paused, then smiled at nothing. Her eyes went distant. He waited for it to pass before she focused on him again.

"Yes," he said, "I do want to help people. You help people, don't you?"

She nodded. "Alright. Suppose you want me to teach you?" His eyes brightened slightly and he sat up a bit straighter. "Fine. I can teach you some things. What do you know about medical Ninjutsu?"

"Senpai!" Itachi paused and looked up from his charts. Sakura waved over from the training room, a proud grin on her face. Her hands were bloody and he guessed they ached as well from the way they twitched in pain. Still, he smiled and walked over to see a tank full of healthy fish. She pointed at one near the bottom of the tank, just like all the others.

"I fixed him! Look, he's perfectly healed!" She smiled wider. He bent over and adjusted his glasses. "I mean, I'm sure you did better your first time and there's still a scar but he's healthy and he'll live and wow I'm so tired but it was so worth it and do you think Tsunade will-"

He cut off her babbling by gently patting her on the head. She stopped talking and stared up at him. She swallowed hard.

"I...I'm sorry, I wasn't able to...Senpai, if I had just..." She looked down.

He sighed and knelt in front of her. He set his charts aside to place both hands on her shoulders. "Sakura."

She looked at him, her eyes wet.

"Sasuke would have found a way to leave, no matter who was in his path. Even if it was me. And you never deserved how you were treated." Though after...That Person had killed the rest of their family, he could see why Sasuke wouldn't want to rely on his female teammate. "You have so much potential to help people, more so now than before. But one of the first things we learn as medics is that not everyone wants to be helped."

Sakura stared. She'd never heard her senpai speak this much, not even when he had visited their small apartment for dinner over the years. Usually she and her grandmother would talk while he listened, content to let the sound wash over him.

"Do not worry so much about Sasuke now. He made his choice. Let the adults in your life handle this. For now, focus on your studies." He smiled. "I'm sure you'll be able to surpass me in a few short years if you keep working this hard."

She gasped but smiled. "Surpass you? No way! You're Itachi-Senpai! Grandmother says that aside from Tsunade, you're the most gifted student she's ever had!"

He smirked a bit. "Then I'll have to keep improving as well so I do not lose so easily."

She chuckled. He reached forward and lightly poked her forehead.

He couldn't lie to himself. He was sick with worry for his little brother. But he trusted this village. He trusted they'd bring Sasuke back to him before he lost the only family he had left to that snake.

War was the hell he always feared it would be. Ninjas from all villages came in on stretchers, their bodies mangled. He and the other medics did as much as they could. Sakyua and Sakura both barked out orders. They worked in perfect sync, healing, repairing, saving. He was with them, healing the most critical injuries and leaving the lesser ones to the other medics.

He was midway through repairing a patient's intestines when he sensed it. His Sharingan blazed to life and he focused on the outside of the tent.

A battalion of White Zetsu approached. Sakura and Sakuya both sensed it as well. Sakuya looked to them.

"Go. Hold them off as long as you can."

The two nodded. Sakura wiped the blood off of her hands to pull on her gloves. Itachi took down the tanto hanging on the wall. He'd never gotten past Genin, no, but that never meant he hadn't worked his way up to Anbu-level training anyway. It had been another secret Sakuya had kept for him.

They stepped outside and ran forward to get some distance from the makeshift hospital before they encountered the enemy. As they ran, he noticed a familiar white shape in the sky and other chakra signatures all around them.

She looked up at the bird with a sense of awe, her eyes wide as it dove closer to land just in front of them. A tall blonde man was standing on it, along with a familiar red-head. He stared at them, then down at Sakura.

"Yo, Saku-chan, yeah! Look who I found!" The blonde grinned and waved a mouthed hand. He gestured to the red-head.

Sakura stared and her body tensed as the other man slipped down off of the bird to calmly walk closer.

"...I'm pretty sure I killed you." She blurted, though she made no move to attack.

"Mostly. I was mostly dead." He looked down at her. Itachi noted an odd fondness in the man's tone. "But I always have a backup plan. It's why I didn't need you to save me like the idiot there."

She narrowed her eyes and they all ignored Deidara's offended gasp.

"So are you here to finish the job?" He tilted his head at her.

"...No. I have no quarrel with you. Actually, I must thank you. Before meeting you, I assumed I had reached the peak of my abilities. My potential. Now I see I still have much to learn." He turned toward the wall of approaching enemy. "If you like, I can show you. Then, after this is over, I would like...the chance to show you something else."

She looked up at him but relaxed her shoulders. "Something else?"

"I want to show you what you asked about at my grave a few years ago. What Chiyo saw."

She stilled and her face heated in a blush. Sasori smiled.

"D-Deal. Thank you."

Two more figures landed behind them. Sakura turned with a gasp, then grinned.

"Haku-kun! Zabuza-san, hello! I am so glad to see you, you have no idea!" She walked over to them. Sasori stared after her, his expression blank. Itachi could have sworn he was pouting.

Sasori then turned to him. "Uchiha Itachi, right? You were her grandmother's student."

Itachi nodded. "Aa."

"Is her grandmother there? I have some things I'd like to ask her. After this is dealt with."

Itachi said nothing.

"Do not worry, I don't intend to harm her."

There was a quiet shriek and they both looked over to see Sakura, held aloft by Deidara away from the two Kiri-nin. Deidara was grumbling something about "This was his Saku-chan, yeah" and the other two were just confused. Sasori and Itachi both let out a small, put upon sigh.

"It's strange. How one or two pink-haired women can worm their way into so many lives."

Itachi nodded, then turned back toward the enemy, not far off now.

He sensed other ninja still approaching. He wondered if they too were there because of Sakura or Sakuya. He mused that perhaps, like him, they granted others freedom. Choices.

Maybe once the war was over, he'd hear those stories too. And maybe tell his own.