The Truth
A Naruto Fanfic
By: Aaron Nowack

Disclaimer: Unless I've been transported to an alternate dimension, Naruto belongs to Kishimoto Masashi. This story, however, is mine, to my eternal shame. Any resemblance to canon - past, present, or future - is entirely accidental.

Uchiha Itachi coughed up blood as his younger brother removed his hand from the infamous missing ninja's ribcage. His black, almost blind, eyes closed. "It's finally over," he said, no emotion but tiredness showing in his flat voice.

"No," Sasuke growled, staring at his bloody hand. The dark marking of Orochimaru's Heaven Seal flickered, then retracted. "It doesn't end this way," he stated, his hands glowing green and pressing against the gaping hole his Chidori had made only a moment ago.

Itachi shuddered as the cold burning of healing chakra flooded into him. "Why?" he gasped out weakly. "Why are you saving me?"

"You don't get to die," Sasuke informed his brother. "Not until I know."

"Know what?" Itachi asked.

"Until I know why," Sasuke snarled. "Until I know why you did it. Why you killed them."

Itachi let out a bark of sudden, mad laughter. "You… you don't know?"

Sasuke stopped what he was doing, the green chakra fading from his hands. "Of course not!"

"You…" Itachi's growl was angry, and Sasuke almost jumped back at the unexpected display of emotion. The older Uchiha's eyes opened once more, impossibly forming the crimson Sharingan one last time and catching Sasuke's own eyes. "I'll show you why! Mangekyou Sharingan!"

A much younger Sasuke smiled up at a much younger Itachi, who offered his sibling a hand up with a smile of his own. "Wow, big brother," Sasuke said as he accepted Itachi's help and stood. "You're awesome!"

Itachi shrugged, laughing self-deprecatingly. "I'm just older than you, Sasuke. You haven't even been to the academy yet."

An oddly thoughtful look appeared on Sasuke's face. "Hey, Shisui-kun's a month older than you! Does that mean he's better than you?"

"Hmm… maybe," Itachi said. "We haven't fought since he beat me in the Chuunin Exams, and that was years back."

"I bet you could beat him!" Sasuke said enthusiastically. "You're the best ninja in the world!"

Itachi laughed again. "Not even close," he said. "You saw Orochimaru-sama when that Sand spy tried to assassinate Father."

Sasuke frowned briefly. "All right," he said, "you might not be the best ninja in the world yet, but I still say you could beat Shisui-kun."

"All right," Itachi said, with yet another laugh. "Just for you, I'll train really hard for the next week, and then I'll challenge Shisui to a duel, and we'll see who wins."

"You're the best big brother ever!"

"That, I won't argue with," Itachi said with a wide grin. "Come on, I'll give you a piggyback ride back home."

"Yay!"

"I hope you're happy," Itachi grumbled.

"Of course I am," Sasuke said, giving his big brother a hug. "You beat Shisui-kun!"

"That I did," Itachi said. "Of course, we were both in the hospital for a week, and now Shisui's challenging me to a rematch twice a day…"

"He'll get over it," Sasuke promised.

"Yeah," Itachi agreed after a moment. "It'll take a little while, but we've always been friends." He laughed. "Come on, Sasuke, it's time to go home."

"Piggyback!" Sasuke demanded.

"No, not this time," Itachi said. "I'm still a little sore." At the pout on Sasuke's face, he added, "I'll hold your hand."

Sasuke took his brother's hand. A few moments later, he asked, "Do you think you could beat Dad?"

"No way," Itachi said flatly. "Father is almost as strong as the Hokage."

"Only almost?" Sasuke asked. "But he doesn't have the Sharingan!"

"The Sharingan is powerful," Itachi allowed, "but it doesn't make you a god."

"So, who's the strongest ninja you could beat, then?" Sasuke asked.

"Besides Shisui?"

"You already beat him," Sasuke said dismissively.

"Hmm… probably Uncle Teyaki or Aunt Uruchi. They both used to be really powerful jounin, before they retired, but they're older and out of practice now."

"What about both of them at once?"

Itachi was silent a moment. "Probably not," he said. "They were a team."

"I bet you could if you worked at it!"

Itachi laughed, but then his voice turned serious. "You know, it probably wouldn't be bad training, and they'd be happy to help me. So, sure. I'll train with them until I can beat them both at once."

"You're the best big brother ever!"

"What about Yashiro-san and Tekka-san?"

"Father's teammates in the military police?"

"Yeah, could you beat them?"

"What about Mother?"

"How about Father?"

"Mother and Father?"

"Mother, Father, and your ANBU teammates?"

"Come on, Sasuke," Itachi said flatly. "I'll walk you to school."

Sasuke frowned up at his elder brother. Itachi had been so… depressed since Shisui had gone away to some training ground in the sky or something after their last rematch. It was his duty as a younger brother to cheer him up, and Itachi always laughed when he suggested someone stronger for him to fight! "Say, do you think you could beat all the military police at once?"

Itachi didn't laugh. "Sasuke," he said seriously.

"What is it, big brother?"

"Why do you always want me to fight stronger and stronger people?"

Sasuke did laugh. "Because I'm going to be the best ninja ever!"

"Huh?"

"The best ninja has to be able to beat everyone else," Sasuke explained slowly. "But that takes a long time. So I'll have you beat everyone else, and then I just have to beat you!"

Itachi twitched. "That's why."

"Yep!"

"That's why Shisui -"

"Don't get so upset, big brother!" Sasuke interrupted.

Itachi glanced down at him, and his eyes were crimson. "How about this?" he said dangerously. "I'll just go back and kill all the rest of the clan at once, except for you, to prove I'm the best Uchiha. Then I'll run away and find Orochimaru, and team up with him, learning all his techniques until I'm strong enough to defeat him. Then I'll just wander the world, finding strong ninja and killing them until you're old and strong enough to beat me. Then, everyone will agree that you're the best ninja, and only a few hundred people including our whole family will have to die."

"That'd be awesome!" Sasuke said.

Itachi gave him a stare. "Fine," he said, anger boiling under the tight control that kept his voice flat. "I'll go get started, then. You can walk the rest of the way yourself."

"Sure," Sasuke said, giving Itachi a cheery wave as he walked off. "You're the best big brother ever!"

Author's Random Ramblings

This idea is my sister's fault. Blame her, not me. And I would have forgotten it entirely if she hadn't asked me whether I had written this story yet.