Kakashi tapped his foot impatiently as he waited at the memorial stone. He was leaning against a tree nonchalantly spinning a kunai with his finger by the ring on the end of it. A few teams had tried to use the training ground but a sharp glare from Kakashi to their Jonin had sent them away. Kakashi's reputation was well earned and it was an unspoken rule that no one try to use the training field when he was in it. The only one that ever broke the rule was Gai. That was simply because he could handle Kakashi and got his training in either way.
Still Kakashi glanced at the sun and saw it beginning its descent. Maybe he deserved to have to wait for someone to show up after all the times he kept his on ANBU team waiting at the gate for a mission. Still he only did that on simple missions, things that weren't important in the long run and were usually used to test new recruits. Border patrols and the like were beneath someone who was easily top level within the ANBU. This had sounded important though and he had made the effort to come here early.
"Taicho." The ANBU member appeared slightly to the left of the memorial stone in the telltale signs of a Shunshin. "I apologize for keeping you waiting."
"It's fine Itachi-chan. I'll just take it out on you in training tomorrow morning." Kakashi straightened himself out as he took a few steps towards his young subordinate. "Now explain why your crow called me here."
"Yes Kakashi-taicho." Itachi seemed to take a deep breath before continuing. "I need your help. I can't take care of all of this. Danzo is playing his own game. Hokage-sama isn't moving fast enough. Tou-san isn't thinking straight."
Kakashi simply stared as Itachi let it all out. Everything that had he had tried so hard to keep to himself for close to a year now was spilling out. He either couldn't control it or didn't want to. He revealed everything to the silver haired Jonin. Kakashi simply stood in silence as he listened. There were no shocked gasps or requests to repeat something as if saying it again would either confirm or deny whether it was true or not. Never once interrupting or criticizing Itachi. This was something the boy was bearing for more than a year now. He couldn't possibly begin to understand what he had gone through. Itachi's voice was laced with pain and regret in equal helpings as he told it all to Kakashi.
"Then my best friend died. He left me his eyes and that was it. Nothing else." Itachi leaned against the memorial stone as the sheer gravity of everything caught up to him.
"Is there anything else Itachi?" Kakashi asked as he took a few steps towards the obviously suffering Uchiha. "I don't think that's everything."
"Danzo gave me an ultimatum. Either let his agents kill the entire clan or for me to do it with me only being allowed to spare Sasuke." Trembling hands took off his ANBU mask as he simply let it fall to the forest floor before placing his face in his hands. "Shisui told me to protect the clan but all I can do now is all but destroy it."
"Itachi I need you to tell me what you need to. I don't doubt that I can take Danzo but it all depends on what information you can give me." Kakashi laid a comforting hand on the young man's shoulder.
"No taicho. It's too late for that. The ultimatum expires in the morning. No matter what I do it'll end only one way."
"Itachi I can rally some ANBU, stop Danzo's men."
"Kakashi I came here to ask you two favors before I do it."
"What?" Kakashi couldn't deny the boy. What he was about to do was something Kakashi couldn't truly believe had been planned within the village so many of his comrades fought and died for.
"Take in Sasuke. Take him in and protect him. Protect him from Danzo. Protect him from those who wish to use him. Protect him from the rumors that will spread. Just keep him safe." Itachi was practically, no he was, begging Kakashi to take in his brother. "I can't let them take him. This will…this will. What I do tonight will destroy him. He'll never be the same again."
"Itachi I…" Kakashi couldn't take someone in. It would simply end like it always did. With them dead and him alive to suffer knowing he had failed them.
"It has to be you taicho. You are the only one who I can trust to teach Sasuke what he needs once he unlocks his sharingan and the only one I can trust to keep whatever I tell you secret."
"I will tell Hokage-sama if I have to Itachi."
"That is of no concern to me. I just want Sasuke to be safe."
"He'll be exposed to Gai a lot. I'm remaining a bachelor though. Some kid isn't going to tie me down."
Itachi smiled. It didn't reach his eyes but it served to somewhat lighten the mood.
"I wouldn't expect anything less taicho."
"Now what about the second favor, you said there were two right?"
"Yes." A grim nod followed as Itachi summoned a crow. "I need you to get my best friend's other eye back from Danzo."
"I always enjoy messing up Danzo's little plans. I take it the crow has his other."
"Yes. I want you to have something to base it on. They will respond to one another." The crow perched itself on Kakashi's shoulder as it turned its head to look at him with its mix matched eyes.
"We could be twins. The only downside is now the scarecrow jokes will pick up."
"I apologize taicho."
"No worries Itachi."
"Thank you taicho."
"Now," He offered a hand to Itachi and pulled him to his feet once he accepted it. "I'll set out to reclaim your friend's eye and meet you back here in an hour at most. That'll give us plenty of time to arrange the last few details."
"I shall await your return here taicho." Itachi bowed.
Kakashi didn't say another word before he left his fellow ANBU alone with the memorial stone.
Kakashi returned less than an hour later with a much bloodier uniform than before as he set the vial down in front of Itachi.
"He was about to get it implanted. I had to stop the surgeon with more force than I thought. Guess I lost control for a second too because the next thing I know I'm tearing through the base on my way out."
"I'm simply glad it is out of his grasps taicho."
"Well I'm going to let Pakkun keep it for now. He's trustworthy. Besides the lot of them will probably be around Sasuke more than me."
"As long as he is safe. The crow will stay with you. I've given him something to stay in this world as long as he needs to. The crows have even agreed to allow you to sign their contract."
"I'll take you up on it."
"Thank you for this Kakashi-taicho." Itachi slowly rose to his feet as the suns light slowly faded.
"Itachi I know you're doing this because you love your brother but know that I will train him to come after you. I will personally come after you. I won't go easy on you because of what you told either. I won't tell a soul without your or Hokage-sama's permission though unless I deem it important enough to do so."
"Hai taicho. I'm sorry it came to this. I'm sorry I have to do this to you."
"No worries I've been through worse in my time." Kakashi didn't even believe his own words.
Kakashi should have been asleep. Tonight should be the same as any other night. He would get a few hours of sleep before his usual dreams woke him up and then he would spend the rest of the night training until he was due to report in. Try as he might though he couldn't. He knew what was going to happen and he wasn't powerless to stop it. He could go and knock Itachi out before he even knew he was there. He could prevent their deaths tonight at Itachi's hands and hand him over to the Hokage or ANBU. He had thought of doing something like it until he had raided Danzo's lab. Until he had seen what the man had planned for the Uchiha. He wasn't going to kill them all. He would keep some to raise an army of Sharingan users loyal only to him. Not the village, Hokage, a clan head, or anyone else. Just him.
Kakashi could save them from death and damn the survivors of Danzo's own massacre to hell. He couldn't do that. He might hate himself some nights for not doing anything to stop Itachi but it was better than what Danzo had planned. Itachi was doing this with a heavy heart to save his little brother. Danzo would've done it to see himself gain another army loyal only to him. He would see to Danzo later. He would give him a warning on what exactly would happen should he try anything similar. He wasn't afraid to kill one of the Hokage's advisors like Itachi was. He had served under Danzo and left in disgust once he saw how corrupted his views had become. During wartime the man's beliefs would be perfect but during peace they would simply lead to genocides.
Still tonight he would be allowing a slaughter to happen. He tried rationalize it by telling himself that it was one slaughter in exchange for what Danzo could do. He wouldn't stop at killing one clan and would simply repeat the process with every clan until he had all the kekkai genkai of Konoha under his control or wiped out entirely if that proved impossible.
Kakashi's thoughts turned to the other people he had let die. His teammates and sensei were probably looking at him in disgust. He was allowing Obito's entire family to die when he could stop it. A small part of his mind tried to remind him how none of the Uchiha had liked Obito in the first place but that part was quickly silenced by the images of children in clothes with the Uchiha symbol on the back. He started thinking about all the people who would be affected by this. The landslide of grief going from one person to another as he was buried under the guilt of it all.
Kakashi put on his mask and waited for the call he knew would be coming tonight. He pushed everything else from his mind. The faces of his teammates and the Uchiha he passed when he was out. He simply focused on his coming mission.
Kakashi was the first to arrive on the scene. The carnage around him brought what he knew to be true to the front of his mind. He had just let his fellow shinobi and citizens of Konoha be killed by one of their own. No matter how many times he told himself that this was the right thing to do he still had trouble swallowing it. The sheer idea was still repulsive to him but it was better than the alternative. With this outcome at least an Uchiha survived in the village. He saw Itachi give one last look at his brother even as the bodies littered the streets and chose that moment to appear at Sasuke's side. He gave the now missing-nin Uchiha a slight nod as he checked Sasuke's pulse.
Itachi didn't respond with anything but instead took off. Already heading towards the wall to escape the village after what he had done. Kakashi made several shadow clones as he had one go to ANBU headquarters and Hokage to report this while the others began to gather the bodies of the fallen Uchiha. Itachi had been quick and efficient. He hadn't killed anyone brutally and instead killed them as quickly as he could. With quick and precise movements. It even looked like he used fast acting poison to give a quick and painless death to many. He must have slipped it into their food. Kakashi debated on what exactly to do with the bodies even as ANBU began appearing in the district along with Jonin.
He looked around at their varied reactions to the slaughter. The most hardened ANBU showed nothing but he knew they would seek some sort of comfort after tonight. Either from someone else or from drinking until they passed out. Jonin looked around with varying levels of disgust and Kakashi could see some of them lead away the more curious of Chunin as they lost their stomachs at the sight of the slaughter. His eyes found the green fashion monstrosity that was Gai as he seemed to take it all better than others. He didn't have his usual enthusiasm but he managed to command enough people to follow him on a search party for Itachi.
Some of his comrades found him kneeling next to Sasuke and instantly they began asking questions.
"Taicho what happened here?" Yamato asked the question on everyone's mind.
"The entire Uchiha clan was killed except for two. This one here and the perpetrator himself."
'And I knew about the whole thing and didn't do a damn thing to stop it.' Kakashi kept his thoughts to himself as it would simply end with his own arrest and execution as a collaborator leaving Sasuke alone and at the mercies of Danzo.
"Who could've taken out the entire clan like this? In a single night at that."
"Uchiha Itachi. I only arrived on the scene quick enough to see him leave. I prioritized finding survivors over going after him. This was the only one I found."
"What are we going to do with him taicho?" Yamato asked him as he stared at the child on the ground.
"I'll look after him. Maybe try to find out what he knows about what set his brother off."
"Brother? You mean his brother did all of this?" a shocked and repulsed Yamato questioned.
"Yeah. You don't remember Itachi talking about Sasuke. The kid practically worshiped the ground his older brother walked on. He might not have any physical wounds but he damn sure has some mental ones." An ANBU who had been on a number of missions with Itachi answered him.
'Ones I can relate to.' Kakashi left that part unsaid as well as he didn't need a pity party.
Hiruzen chose that moment to arrive, having been transported by the Hokage Guard Platoon. Hiruzen had barely surveyed the carnage around him before he collapsed to his knees in front of the ANBU. Several younger ones would have moved towards him but stopped when hands of the seniors gripped them. They simply shook their heads as the Hokage Guard Platoon quickly stepped away from him to allow him some measure of privacy on the ANBU crowded street.
Sarutobi Hiruzen, the Sandaime Hokage and the man who had seen and led the village through the Shinobi World Wars, wept for the tragedy Kakashi could have stopped.
Kakashi couldn't stand himself in that moment and used a Shunshin to take the boy away from the carnage and to the hospital. He got him checked in and returned home as fast as he could. He ripped off his mask and flung it on the floor. He blindly made his way to his bathroom before he lost his stomach and spent the next several minutes puking. He caught his reflection in the mirror and almost threw up again. He fists hit the mirror and he didn't care when it came away bloody. His single reflection became hundreds as he attacked the mirror again and again. Leaving bloody marks on the wall was the last thing on his mind.
He shattered every mirror in his home before he crumpled to the floor. Too numb to do anything else but stare at the picture on his nightstand.
AN : Well I admit the beginning seems a little rough to me, but other than that this is something that won't leave me alone so here it is. Hope you enjoyed it and any feedback is welcomed.