Itachi's Storm by Santeira
(Based on Manga 354-355)
Summary: Itachi has helped to call upon this storm all his life… one-shot
Disclaimer:Naruto belongs to Kishimoto Masashi.
Uchiha Itachi had just finished with the four-tail Jinchuuriki.
It was one of those fights, where the prey would contest him with all their might and give Itachi a little bit of challenge and annoyance more than usual--only to fail inevitably.
And costly.
"It is going to rain." A comrade of grey skin commented—he was Kisame of the Mist. The lifeless body of the Jinchuuriki was now dangling like a piece of cloth on the Samehada, Kisame's notorious sword—and the comrade was parading the dead Jinchuuriki like some trophy in the wind.
Itachi instantly looked up at the sky, the tiny beads of water were already pouring in silence. The turbulent dark clouds were thick at the far end of his sight. The distant thunder roared, as though some monster had awoken from its dormancy. Itachi had it predicted, not just then, not just that second.
He had predicted it a long time ago.
------
They were sitting at the edge of the small pier beside the lake. It was the place where he usually practiced the Grand Fireball technique. But that noon, after returning from an Anbu mission, Itachi was just sitting by--looking absently at the rippling lake water--when his mother came and sat beside him.
Itachi was not much of a talker but he tried to be a good son to his mother. It had been months since they have talked to each other. Their conversation ranged from food, the Anbu, to Sasuke.
The conversation died after almost fifteen minutes, as he expected it. There was silence, and the sound of the wind and water.
"Itachi, has anything been bothering you, lately? You seem…different as of late."
"Nothing's changed, mother. I'm still training as usual," Itachi answered, he did not wish to reveal the knowledge of the scriptures to her.
"I see," Mikoto answered softly, "you want to be the strongest Itachi?"
He thought the question; a product of his mother's naivety-- was somewhat close to silly because that seemed to be every ninja's ambition. Itachi smiled faintly, however answering in his usual, lethargic tone.
"Yes, I do, mother,"
Upon hearing his answer, Mikoto smiled exuberantly. Itachi discerned the most how his mother's eyes would narrow as she smiled—they seemed as though they were smiling too.
"Sasuke looks up to you the most. It would be good if one day, the two of you are together to become the strongest shinobis—"
"That is your dream, mother?" Mikoto's words were cut short by his son's. She didn't seem distracted. She was the mother of two future Uchiha leaders and she was happy and she couldn't want more.
"That, yes. It is my dream for my sons to become the strongest ninjas of your time."
Itachi smiled wryly.
"Sasuke, he won't surpass me."
Itachi could almost see Mokoto's eyes widen at the very utterance of his words even though he was staring at the lake water. For a moment, Itachi could sense her surprise at his sharp remark, followed by a slight anger that she immediately suppressed.
Instead, his mother's following words were soft like her fluttering silky black hair.
"That is your role now, isn't it, Itachi? You have to help him become strong, the two of you. You do love your brother, don't you?"
Itachi didn't answer. He got up, and walked away incomprehensibly,
"You will know soon enough," he murmured to the air, leaving Mikoto to wipe the trace of tear on her cheek.
---
The night came where Itachi slaughtered every member of his clan.
He was now standing before his parents with a Katana in his hand. In that instant, his body smelled of rancid blood--the priceless Uchiha blood he had willingly spilled.
Outside, mangled bodies lied on the ground with their eyes open wide, as though they had seen their own souls being ripped into the dark firmament of the blood-stricken-night.
His father was kneeling on the floor in silence and his mother stood before him.
He remembered the conversation he and his mother had at the pier beside the lake a couple of weeks earlier.
"All this…you…you do love your brother…Itachi?" she asked, her voice unsteady and wavering.
"You already know the answer to that question." Itachi advanced on her, closely as he wielded his Katana. "I have to remove him from this setting, the delusion of the Uchiha blood grandeur. He can't surpass me as he is."
At these words, his father started sobbing. His mother was listening, comprehending his words, she seemed.
"I dream to make my brother the strongest, even if I have to die by his hands in the end…"
Tears ran down his mother's cheeks, but she was smiling. It seemed to make sense to her now.
"Forgive me, mother…"
----
"The storm is coming." Itachi said to Kisame.
And he could hardly wait.
End.
Credits to ivybluesummers for the idea and I also borrowed the phrase 'blood-stricken night' from him. Pardon me for grammatical mistakes, this was written in half an hour. I will rectify any mistake later.