Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto
Summary: AU: After telling Sasuke the truth about Itachi, Tobi had anticipated that Sasuke would join the Akatsuki and swear vengeance on the Leaf Village. A small part of him feared that Sasuke would follow his brother's footsteps, but he was confident that he knew Sasuke better than that. However he didn't expect the choice that Sasuke would make, changing everything.
Warnings = Erratic Updates, Language, Violence, and possible Lemons. (If so, most likely will appear on another site rather than this one.)
Chapter 1 – Sasuke's Grown up Decision! No Longer Being Manipulated!
Staring up at the full moon, a twinkling stars high in the dark sky, Sasuke finished reflecting on memories of his older brother Itachi… ones that he had long since repressed. Now face with the truth of Itachi, he could no longer keep them repressed.
It was painful hearing the truth about Itachi. Spending years loathing him, it was almost impossible for him to believe it. However looking back, especially at the interactions between Itachi and their father, it made so much sense.
The immediate thought about slaughtering the entire Leaf Village for shunning the Uchiha Clan and hating and using Itachi briefly flashed in his mind, but he quickly dismissed it. He couldn't even see through Itachi's genjutsus and he grew up idolising and resenting his older brother. How could the rest of the villagers see through it if he wasn't able to?
All the clues, the clear signs that something was wrong with the clan, he had access to them all. However, he was too naïve and ignorant to put the pieces together and blindly followed his emotions. No, he couldn't hold the ignorance of the people in the Leaf Village against them.
Sensing that Tobi or Madara, whatever he called himself, was below him, Sasuke glanced down at him from atop the large skeleton that he was sitting on. He had no idea what creature it was from, and frankly, he didn't care.
This man, whoever he really was, was dangerous. That much was certain. Sasuke could immediately tell he was very much like Itachi and Orochimaru when it came to manipulation. The formidable ability to mix lies with truth, which was able ensnare almost anyone. He had been a victim of their manipulations, and he had no such desire to become this guy's puppet as well.
He was done being a child, one that was easily swayed and manipulated by his emotions. Time to grow up.
Kakashi had been right, so long ago.
'Even if you succeed in getting revenge, all you'll be left with his emptiness.'
The feeling of achieving his goal, the moment Itachi collapsed dead, had been indescribable. After severing his friendships, training constantly for three years, had been worth the effort. However, he remembered how he felt when he awoke after the battle. Before Tobi had revealed himself, Sasuke felt empty, just like Kakashi had warned him.
He had achieved his goal, and so now what?
That had been the thought in his head before Tobi showed up and revealed everything. As a child, Sasuke adored Itachi, and failed to even consider that Itachi could have been lying to him that night. Even moments before engaging in battle, hell, even in the middle of battle, Sasuke had never thought for an instant that Itachi may have had different reasons for destroying the Uchiha clan that night. During his fight with Itachi, how could he have not felt his heart and learned the truth there? After all, high level shinobi like the two of them should have been able to communicate that way.
He had no trouble doing it in his battle against Naruto all those years ago. It made no sense to the young Uchiha, but those were troubling thoughts for later. The truth about Itachi had reawakened him. It set him on a new path.
Never again would he be fooled like that.
He would see through all genjutsu from now on. The path that he would walk, would be his own, whatever that may be.
"I thought I was seeing things. I couldn't accept it." Sasuke said softly, turning his attention back to the moon. "Seems like you were telling me the truth."
"What will you do with Itachi's eyes?" The masked man inquired, wrapped in his black cloak with red clouds. "Will you take them as your own?"
"No… not yet, at least." The young Uchiha replied. "I'd rather stick with my own eyes for now. Perhaps if I lose too much of my light, then I'll transfer. Until then, I will walk my own path, seeing it through with my own eyes."
"And what path would that be?" Tobi smoothly asked, raising his arms into the air. "Will you protect the Leaf like your brother wanted?"
"No." Sasuke's reply was immediate and blunt, without a hint of hesitation. His eyes narrowed dangerously, "There's no way I can put on that headband, and work for that village. That time has passed."
"Revenge then?" Tobi grinned behind his mask, hearing the hate in his voice. He just knew that the young Uchiha would follow the avenger's path. "On the village or the elders?"
"The village… no." Sasuke decided, as he remembered the destruction of the Uchiha Clan. He understood, as much as it pained him to admit, why Itachi had to slaughter the Uchiha to stop the inevitable civil war. What he couldn't accept was the killing of all those innocent Uchiha that hadn't been involved in the Coup D'état from the elderly to the children. There was no justifiable reason for that, none at all.
Was it to stop the Uchiha clan from becoming strong enough to rebel ever again? That excuse wouldn't fly with him. Killing innocents, couldn't be forgiven.
He wouldn't be like that. He couldn't be like that. He wasn't going to slaughter innocents in the name of revenge.
Orochimaru was sick and twisted, who experimented on countless beings, even children, some as young as mere infants. He loathed the snake bastard, and was glad to be free from the curse mark.
"The elders ordered the death of my clan… every single person, from infants to the sick and elderly." Sasuke snarled softly, his Sharingan activating, and immediately evolved into the Mangekyō form. "I understand that they needed to do what they did to prevent a civil war but I'm the one that had to suffer from that decision. Itachi, too. In my view, wiping out my entire clan was a senseless slaughter, and worst of all, they needed Itachi to do their dirty work."
Sasuke's fists clenched tightly, enough to draw blood. "Like you said, they made him kill his friends, his teachers, his lover and his family. If they needed to kill the Uchiha to prevent the rebellion, then they should have only killed the ones involved, and used their own shinobi to do it. Itachi could have led the remaining Uchiha, made them shinobi that the Leaf Village would have wanted."
Unclenching his fists, the young Uchiha glanced down at his bloodied hands sadly, "I can't imagine the suffering that Itachi went through. That's why I can't re-join the village. That's why I can't forgive the elders and they will reap the consequences of their decision!"
"Extracting your revenge on the elders won't be easy." Tobi informed him, relishing in his victory. He was looking forward to having Sasuke and Naruto Uzumaki clashing. "The Leaf shinobi will protect them. You won't be able to do it alone. Since you share common goals as the Akatsuki, we should team up. You help us, and share in the Tailed Beast powers that we have collected."
The young Uchiha resisted the urge to snort at the offer. Was this guy forgetting that he already admitted to helping Itachi slaughter his clan? There was no way that he would join him. Itachi had masterfully manipulated him for years, along with Orochimaru, and now he could see the trick to it.
They told an important truth among lies. Once you discover that the truth you needed to verify is correct, you will tend to believe everything else that they told you, not even considering the possibility that they may be lying.
That was why, after going over the battle with Itachi in his head, there was one thing that Itachi had told him that Sasuke was convinced was the truth. The man standing below him organised the Kyūbi attack all those years ago. He had admitted that he held a grudge over the Uchiha Clan, and he was sure that unleashing the Nine Tails would frame the Uchiha.
The only reason why Sasuke hadn't killed him already was because he lacked knowledge on Tobi's powers. He had been able to avoid the Amaterasu and Sasuke didn't know how, plus he had only defeated Itachi because his older brother allowed it. He would need to learn how to wield his Mangekyō Sharingan's powers and to increase his own strength. One other thing was he needed more variety in his jutsus.
Kakashi only wielded one Sharingan eye, and yet he knew over 1,000 jutsus. For a true Uchiha, one that was capable of wielding the true power of the Sharingan, then he should be able to learn more.
He no longer had Orochimaru's power within him or even the curse mark, and combined that with his new Mangekyō Sharingan which he was ignorant on how to use meant that he was weaker than when he fought Deidara and Itachi. It would be unwise to fight this man at his current level.
As for joining the Akatsuki, that would be dangerous. He was aware of their goal in collecting the Tailed Beasts, since that was one of the reasons why Itachi had come to the Leaf Village to take Naruto. Eventually the entire shinobi world will turn its eye towards the Akatsuki, and Sasuke had no desire of becoming part of the focus. Killing the Leaf elders would require stealth, after all.
"Thanks, but no thanks." Sasuke answered, shocking the legendary Uchiha. Sasuke lowered his eyes to the Uchiha, his Mangekyō reverting back to its usual pattern. "I appreciate everything that you've done, but I will walk my own path. I'm assuming my team will follow me."
"And what makes you think I'll just let you go." Tobi cautioned him, severely annoyed that Sasuke wasn't following the path that he had anticipated.
"Since you said that I was free to go after I heard the truth about Itachi, and now you're refusing, I can't help but wonder, what else are you lying about?" Sasuke questioned him coldly, bracing himself for an attack.
"Hn." The masked member of the Akatsuki grunted, but otherwise didn't attack. "Very well, the door to join the Akatsuki will always be open should you want to join. I take it you'll be keeping Itachi's eyes with you."
"Yeah." Sasuke fingered the scroll which held Itachi's eyes.
"So long then, Sasuke." Tobi bade farewell as he used Kamui to begin teleporting away, and Sasuke watched with narrow eyes as Tobi was drawn inwards and his form began to distort. "I expect you gone by the time I get back." Were Tobi's final words before he vanished completely.
Sasuke heard the clear threat in his voice. If he wasn't joining the Akatsuki, then he was not considered an ally, but a potential enemy. No matter, the young Uchiha thought, getting to his feet. It was time for him to head out anyway.
It didn't take long for the Uchiha to locate the remaining members of Team Hebi. They were waiting for him in one of the small caves that littered the Akatsuki hideout.
The first member was Suigetsu Hōzuki, a lean-built young man of average height, with straight white hair and pointed teeth — one of which sticks out even when his mouth is closed. He wore a purple, sleeveless shirt with blue pants, sandals and a belt around his waist with water bottles attached to it. Attached to his back was Zabuza's old sword, Kubikiribōchō or also known as the Executioner's Blade.
Suigetsu desired to collect all the blades that the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist wielded, so far he had only acquired the one of them.
The second member to join was Karin… Sasuke had no idea what her surname was. She has crimson eyes, fair skin, and red hair with an unusual hairstyle. Short and spiky on the right side, while longer and straight on the left side. She wore brown narrow glasses, which have a serrated blade hidden in them her outfit consisted of a lavender uniform that exposed her navel, short black shorts, and long black thigh high stockings with black sandals.
Karin had the incredible ability to heal another wounds by simply having them bite into her skin, but unfortunately for Sasuke, she was a lot like in Sakura in many ways, mainly her feelings for him.
Jūgo was the final member to join Team Hebi. He was a tall, muscular young man with long spiky orange hair, red-orange eyes and he wore black pants, a tan shirt which were covered by a light purple curtain and brown sandals. He was a very kind hearted man, who unfortunately was afflicted with the origin of the curse mark that made him lose control turning him into a psychotic monster killing anything in his path. Thanks to his Sharingan, Sasuke was able to calm Jūgo whenever he began to lose control.
Sasuke ignored the fight that Karin and Suigetsu, as Jūgo turned his head towards the Uchiha, and asked, as he calmly leant against the cave wall, "Sasuke, what's our next move?"
"I've heard that they've offered you and us a position among the Akatsuki." Karin informed him, resisting the urge to embrace him. "Are we joining them?"
"I'd love to!" Suigetsu let out a bloodthirsty grin, looking very eager, "That means I'll get the chance to swipe Samehada from Kisame's corpse!"
"He won't be defeated easily, Suigetsu." Jūgo cautioned, remembering the feeling of the Akatsuki member's chakra. He wasn't even a sensor, and he could easily feel the strength of Kisame's chakra.
"Go ahead!" Karin smirked, pushing up her glasses. "He'll kill you, and you'll be out of my hair forever!"
"You..!" Suigetsu growled, wanting to rip the bitch to shreds.
"You have three choices." Sasuke's calm, detached voice quickly snuffed the conversation. Immediately, his three companions looked at him intently.
"I'm leaving." The Uchiha coldly informed them, "Either you can come with me, join the Akatsuki or go off and follow your own path. I recruited the three of you to keep others away from interfering with my battle against Itachi. That purpose is over. You're all free to do what you wish."
"I'll stay with you, Sasuke." Jūgo answered immediately. "You are Kimimaro's will and I will continue to be your shield."
"I'm with you as well." Karin answered with a large blush, but she quickly tried to cover her real reason why an indifferent act. "A-After all, it's not like I have anything better to do."
"What about you, Suigetsu?" Jūgo inquired curiously.
Suigetsu hesitated for a moment, and Sasuke took the chance to informed him, "Go ahead and fight Kisame now if you want, but at your current level, you'll die."
"Tch!" Suigetsu scoffed, "Whatever Sasuke. You'll apologise when I'm treating you to shark fin soup."
"Does that mean you're staying with the Akatsuki?" Karin asked hopefully. If he stayed that meant that she would only have to figure out a way to get rid of Jūgo and then she would be alone with Sasuke! She resisted the urge to squeal at the thought.
"Nah." Suigetsu grinned lazily, enjoying the angry and aggravated look on Karin's face. "I'll stick with Sasuke for a little longer."
"Good." Sasuke walked past them, uncaring at the annoyed look on Karin's face. "Then let's go." Jūgo immediately began to follow, and Suigetsu quickly checked his water bottles, and seeing that they were full, he immediately followed.
"W-wait!" Karin yelled, "You never said where we're going!"
"We're going to pillage Orochimaru's bases in search of all of his jutsus." Sasuke answered bluntly.
There was no doubt that Orochimaru kept many of the scrolls containing jutsu that he had learned over the years. From standard elemental jutsus to forbidden jutsus and Sasuke intended to unlock them all. Over the last three years, he had taken many different substances to increase his strength and speed faster than natural, and he chose to master his Sharingan and take Kakashi's Chidori and develop it into several of his own jutsus.
He elected mastery over a limited amount of jutsus in order to combat Itachi, and now he had to broaden his horizon and learn some earth, water, and some wind style jutsus. Once he learned some of those, and mastered his Mangekyō, then he'll begin plans for eliminating Danzō and the other two Leaf Village elders.
It took him eight years to achieve his vengeance against Itachi, which had been wrong, so he could wait a little longer.
'Just wait, big brother.' Sasuke promised silently, 'I'll make those elders pay for what they did to you, mother, father and the rest of the Uchiha Clan.'
In the second tallest tower in Amegakure, three figures were making plans for the next move in the Akatsuki's plans to bring peace to the shinobi world.
Sitting in single red cushioned chairs around a round table, two of Tobi's underlings desired to know if Sasuke Uchiha was to join the Akatsuki.
"So… did everything go as planned?" Pain, the official leader of the Akatsuki, unaware of how many strings Tobi is pulling behind the scenes, asked the masked man sitting opposite of him. Sitting to his left was his oldest, and last remaining friend, Konan.
"No, it seems that I underestimated Sasuke." Tobi answered, slightly aggravated for the unexpected change in his plans. "The boy is more level headed than I thought. I mistakenly believed that he would walk the path of a true avenger."
"Should he be destroyed, then?" Konan inquired, raising an eyebrow curiously.
Tobi shook his head, "No, that's unnecessary at the moment. He still seeks vengeance against the elders, and we can use that to our advantage."
"Then we'll send Kisame after the Eight-Tails." Pain intoned, "While I head to the Leaf Village to claim the Nine-Tails."
Tobi didn't say anything for a moment, mulling over everything that happened in the past 24 hours. When he didn't respond, Pain stood up, and took his silence for him to proceed.
"Wait." Pain froze, glancing back at the masked Uchiha. "Forget the Nine-Tails… for now." Tobi smiled behind his mask. "You seem anxious to retrieve the Nine-Tails, Pain…" Tobi mused intriguingly.
Konan glanced over at Pain, a hint of concern in her eyes.
Tobi's Sharingan eye shone brightly behind his mask, "Are you that eager to challenge Naruto Uzumaki, a fellow pupil of Jiraiya?"
Pain didn't respond.
"Naruto will never follow your ideology. He doesn't know or understand the true horror of war. Patience, you will have the chance to confront the boy, but not yet. Go retrieve the Eight-Tails." Tobi instructed, a new plan forming in his head.
"Why the Eight-Tails instead of the Nine?" Konan inquired, looking at the masked Uchiha coldly.
"The one containing the Eight-Tails is the younger brother of the Raikage, and capturing him will send the Raikage into a rage." Tobi explained, menacingly. "That will leave the Leaf the only village to hold a Biju, which will send the whole balance of power out of whack."
"Kidnapping the Raikage's younger brother, wouldn't that simply focus his and Cloud's wrath onto the Akatsuki?" Konan retorted.
Tobi nodded, "Initially, yes. However, once we've extracted the Eight-Tails, the Akatsuki will go underground. Slowly we will rebuild our members, before going after the Nine-Tails within Naruto Uzumaki."
"The Nine-Tails powers could increase greatly in that time, and while no problem for a God like me, it could prove troublesome as a whole." Pain pointed out, "Not to mention, the shinobi surrounding him will also increase in power, giving him better protection. Whereas now we can strike, hard and fast."
"Plus it will be tough to hide when the entire Cloud Village is searching for the Akatsuki." Konan added, "They might be willing to enlist the aid of clans, and other villagers throughout the nations to offer help searching by offering rewards."
"Reasonable points, and that's why we make sure to keep the Cloud busy enough to the point that they can't divert any attention searching for us." Tobi answered swiftly.
"How do we do that?" Konan asked skeptically.
"Simple, by instigating a war between all Five Great Nations." Tobi said, "The Fourth Great Ninja War."
"A War?" Pain whispered, looking out the window to see his village, the usual rain pelting down.
"Only Jiraiya knew that Hanzō was no longer in charge, let the rest of the world be in ignorance." Tobi chuckled. "The Hidden Rain Village will declare neutrality in the war. Let them all fight it out. Let this generation experience the horror of war. They will probably beg for the Akatsuki to step in to bring true peace to the shinobi world."
Looking at his two subordinates, Tobi cackled, "You said the shinobi would protect Naruto… I wonder if they will continue that mission after seeing their comrades suffer and die during war, and that peace could be restored if they hand Naruto over. In despair, even shinobi can succumb to desperate and horrible decisions."
Pain and Konan glanced at each other. Both weren't happy at the thought of the war, but Tobi did bring a persuasive argument. With the Leaf village focused on them, along with the Sand, they had already lost several members. Should the entire shinobi world turn their sights on them, not even they would be able to withstand it.
Better to weaken and scatter their enemies.
Walking out to the balcony, gazing out to the village, Tobi declared, "I am Madara Uchiha! And I will bring true peace to this accursed world!"
End of Chapter
If you like it, then please leave a review. If you don't like it, then don't read it.
I haven't proofread this yet, so apologies for my errors.
I didn't like the way Sasuke changed after hearing the truth about Itachi. While I can't deny that killing the elders is the obvious path for Sasuke to take, I hated how he just became a complete psychopath who just wanted to kill everyone in the Leaf. For an avenger, Sasuke not really killing anyone except for those he set out to get revenge on was something that I liked about him.
So in this story, Sasuke has chosen revenge, naturally, but he's going about it in a different way, and this changes Tobi's plans. Also Sasuke's choice will not only have an impact on the Leaf Village and his former comrades, it's actually had an impact on Tobi, which I will delve into later. Also there are elements in the Naruto Manga that I won't be using. I'll delve more into that at a later date.
Now a warning for this story is that updates will be totally random. I'm horrible at keeping update deadlines, and no matter how resolved I make myself, I can never keep it up. So updates could appear swiftly, or slowly, depending on time and motivation I have. Plus I have a Pokémon story and a Dragon Ball Z story I'm writing.
Sasuke is the main character in this, but I will share the love with others, mainly Naruto, Sakura, Kakashi etc.
Also I've got a poll on my profile on the girls that you'd like to see Sasuke have a possible fling with. Sasuke won't fall head over heels for anyone in this story, it's not really I see him doing until he gets his issues sorted out. You can make three choices.