Hymn of the Forsaken
Summary: Canon divergence. Set in the Valley of the End. Sasuke realises the final parting gift given by his father before his death. It was a way he could secure his own future on his own terms. It was a way for all the dreams, stories and lessons of the Uchiha clan to continue instead of being lost. This is a look on how history is written by the victors.
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Notes: I always found the idea of curse of hatred vs will of fire a very one sided comparison. I guess it didn't help that the Senju were considered representative of the main character, so any that opposed it would be considered evil. If you've read my earlier work, The Elegy of the Wronged, this is a pseudo continuation of those themes. It's not too similar as the earlier work was more centered on the Sasuke-Itachi dynamic against the backdrop of what it means to really be an Uchiha. In this case, this would center more on the Uchiha-Senju dynamic and what it means to be an Uchiha.
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I. Let Us Speak
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The valley of the end.
Sasuke has finally reached it. The point that marked the border of the Land of Fire. It was a starting point or an ending point, perhaps even both.
He stood atop the statue of his ancestor, Madara, contemplative.
Madara the betrayer, as he was called in Konoha.
Madara the betrayed, the Uchiha Clan would whisper softly at the depths of their guilty hearts.
Sasuke knew that he would be following this man's footsteps once he stepped past the valley. Konoha would begin to openly spit out his name once he pushes thru. They would name him as a treasonous filth. Would whisper that they knew all along that he could not be trusted, that Uchiha Clan was nothing more than untrustworthy vermin. This he was so certain of.
Sasuke activated his Sharingan. He wanted to remember this place at this time all too clearly. He wanted to etch in his mind the day he will no longer call himself of Konoha. He was leaving. He had made his decision. The culmination of all that he had known when Itachi buried him once again in Tsukuyomi and he screamed until he had no voice left. Until there was nothing left for him but death.
He wanted to die. All he knew was the scent of coppery blood. The sea of corpses. The warm pulse of his mother's lifeblood as she grasped him close, trying to protect from the horror. His father, standing still as the blade sliced thru his throat in a spray of crimson.
Sasuke watched it again and again, in the thrall of Itachi's hellish illusion. He willed himself to pass. He so desperately wanted to leave this world. 'Surely,' he thought, 'his attempt to kill his brother was enough to give him the peace he desperately sought?'
"I had always hoped," Sasuke would remember hearing as his mother's ghostly arms transformed into steel bands keeping him teetered to life. "I would not be needed."
He looked up, stunned. He found himself kneeling. In front of him was his father, looking right back at him as the tableau of the massacre played behind.
"Father," Sasuke choked out.
"In a fashion," Fugaku replied in a voice replete of grief. "I am he, yet I am not as well."
Sasuke could only gape in response. A small smile greeted his expression as the not-Fugaku explained, "I am the memories of your father and all the previous clan heads before me. It is the way we do not forget. It is the way we pass down knowledge from one clan head to another."
"I'm not," he stuttered. "I...I...but bro-brother..."
"Are you not?"
Sasuke could only stared stunned as his father's eyes whirled into a strange pinwheel. The Mangekyo Sharingan, the words would float in his mind at that sight. He knew what it was without really knowing how. It was his last vision of his father alive, before Itachi struck the killing blow.
Sasuke could feel his eyes burning. It was more than just his Sharingan activating. He could feel the familiar sensation of the Mangekyo forming. He was Fugaku seeing his friend die, all too late, all too slow. He was Hikaku bowing for forgiveness as his clan head turned his back at them, knowing he had to try this foolish dream. He was Madara seeing all his little brothers' broken bodies. He was always too late. He was Tajima knowing he was dooming them all. He was Indra knowing his father wanted him to die. He could never love me.
He was.
He was.
He was.
He was Sasuke, watching as his whole world collapsed into a sea of lies. Konoha wanted us dead. Brother loved Konoha too much to let us live.
Sasuke opened his eyes. He was back here at the valley of the end. He knew, he had no place in this land.
This was where Naruto found him.
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"Are you going to run away?"
The question echoed in the still air. Sasuke stared curiously at Naruto. He found it strange, the almost incandescent rage that burned in the other boy.
"Why?!" Naruto demanded amidst the silence. "What made you this way?"
"What does this have to do with you?" Sasuke replied back, puzzled. He was too exhausted to parse at the dramatics happening in front of him. The revelations these past few days took out all feeling off him, but he didn't speak those things though. He found no reason to explain himself. It was a choice made long ago. A tangle of choices made long before he ever been born, until it's ballooned to this mess of betrayal, ambition, sacrifice and broken promises.
"We did not want Konoha," Fugaku would say. "I wanted Konoha to accept us."
"I simply wanted my clan to prosper," Madara would bare his teeth. "Not to rule."
"I never wanted to be my father's heir," Indra would sigh. "I only wanted him to accept me."
Their voices would clamour. "Why could you not understand it?"
"You can't go," Naruto snarled as he hauled Sasuke up to face him. "Orochimaru killed the Sandaima."
Sasuke's lips twitched into a rictus of a smile. 'Konoha called for my clan's death,' he thought in reply
"Tried to crush Konoha," Naruto continued.
Sasuke could feel his body ready to burst into hysterical laughter. 'Konoha crushed the Uchiha,' his mind whispered. 'Blaming them for the tragedy they did not do. Herding us in a ghetto even if we were innocent. Isolating us. Forcing us to endure until we could no longer.'
"And you would just go to him!'
A sneer begun to form in Sasuke's face at every accusation. 'Konoha got what they wanted, a reason to wipe us off the map.'
"Give him what he wants!"
"I don't care," Sasuke hissed back. The Uchiha had already bared their necks to the executioner. They had sacrificed so much. Why should he give more when there was nothing more left to give?
Tired of everything, Sasuke struck. He pushed Naruto away from him. Drew that invisible line that separated them. It wasn't enough. That stubborn stupid boy refused to accept anything but his own wishes.
"I won't let you," Naruto cried out as he rushed towards Sasuke. His fists swinging for a strike. "I'll take you back by force."
Naruto's words sent a shudder of disgust throughout his body. His mind recoiled in horror. How many times has he heard those sentiments in all the different lifetimes? And how many times have they herald nothing but ruin?
'Too many to count,' Fugaku would smile.
Sasuke blocked the jab. He ducked and sent his knee and leg out for a vicious kick. He could feel them connect to the fleshy muscle, the resistance before it caved to the force of those two blows. He watched as Naruto careened away, falling to the brilliant blue waters before he turned his back at the sight. He would leave.
"Stop!" The roar echoed through the air. Sasuke looked back. He wasn't sure why he did it. Perhaps it was a faint ephemeral hope that he would be able to leave peacefully. That same foolish hope that drove the clan to their reckless sacrifice.
A panting Naruto greeted his curious gaze. Standing tall on the waters, he swore, "I won't let you go to Orochimaru even if I have to break all the bones of your arms and legs. I'll fight you as a friend."
'What a foolish hope it was?' Sasuke thought upon hearing those words. It seemed to hope is to be disappointed.
'The Senju, Konoha and all their ilk are alike,' Madara would whisper. His thoughts heavy with disillusionment. 'They preach love and acceptance, but step out of the line and they are the quickest to turn to violence. Why endure Hikaku?'
'Because we had a dream,' was the equally soft reply.
"So are you serious?" Sasuke challenged as he slowly began to unravel the wires wrapped on his wrist.
"Yes," Naruto cried out. "Do you think he will give you power?"
'Protection,' Sasuke scoffed silently as he threw the kunais towards Naruto. 'Better the devil you know that is invested in you living, even just for a moment, than those slyly braying for your blood.'
He could still remember awakening in his Tsukiyomi induced coma. The cautious way he was treated. The scads of Anbu stealthily following him. The probing questions of the elders, trying to parse out his loyalty. Trying to see what he knew. His ever so subtly ransacked home. He wasn't a victim, but a potential enemy.
The blades sang through the air, while their target ran, dodging.
"You might not come back. Be killed."
'As opposed to Konoha who must keep this secret at all costs in order to maintain power. Do you think they will allow me to live with what I know?'
The miss didn't matter. He had expected it. They were just thrown to lay a crisscrossing trap of wires.
"Wake up already," Naruto shouted as he tried to rush into him. "I'll break you like a stick and bring you back immobile."
'Perhaps you should wake up,' he thought. Sasuke could feel himself baring his teeth as he ducked the blow and herded his opponent back into the tangle mess of wires. 'Are you so desperate for acceptance that you would be willing to sell yourself for a cup of kindness?"
"I'll beat back your old self!" Was Naruto's cry.
"How can you say you know me?" Sasuke spat out. He was truly becoming angry. How typical of a selfish fool. A dead-last who never understood the way of the world and revelled in his own ignorance. 'You are the same hypocrite, where only your wishes matter.' he condemned.
Sasuke did not care. He sprung the trap. He set flames running through the wires in a deadly web, engulfing Naruto in the conflagration. Water, fire and chakra churned, before exploding into a mess. Steam rushed everywhere.
Just as sudden as the explosion, a heavy miasma coated the air. It was dark, dreary and feral. Sasuke stiffened. The hairs at the back of his neck stood. Cautiously, he activated his Sharingan. Even if it was an unfamiliar sensation, it felt of danger. He could feel the Uchiha Clan heads perking up. They knew what it is, though they were strangely silent. Poised. Waiting.
Pain bloomed. An explosive force hit Sasuke, sending him flying towards the water. For a split second, he saw narrowed feral eyes. Could feel the sneering pity of Madara. The heavy regret of Indra.
Sasuke struggled to keep himself on top of the water. Naruto rushed to him, raining punishing blows. It robbed him of his breath, and he was sent out unto the hard packed earth.
'The Jinchuriki,' Madara intoned. 'Hashirama's conceit.'
'Kyuubi,' Indra sighed. 'My father's accursed sin.'
Naruto pounced after him. Sasuke watched as the fist flew towards him. A parry by the arm and he followed by a jab from a elbow. A kick and an answered block. On and on they fought with Naruto's swings becoming wilder. His presence was becoming heavier and more feral. His strikes were becoming harder and faster. It was enough for a millisecond of advantage, and Sasuke found himself once again at his opponent's mercy.
He found himself at the ground, half strangled. A hit at the face. Again and again. One, two, three.
"I'll break you back to your old self!"
Each blow rattled Sasuke's skull. He could taste blood. Could feel every pant of his breath. His eyes throbbed. The Mangekyo was itching to be released. Not yet, he cautioned.
"What do you know about me?" Sasuke spat. He met Naruto's nearly crazed eyes. "Someone like you without family or siblings who has nothing in the first place understand me?" Sasuke continued as Naruto's eyes ever so slightly cleared from their haze. "We suffer because of those bonds what do you know what it feels to loose them."
"I don't know," was Naruto's confused reply. The Kyuubi's presence retreated, waiting into the wings to pounce. "Iruka Sensei feels like a father. When I'm with you, it feels like a brother. It's one of the first bonds I have that's why I have to stop you."
Sasuke closed his eyes just as the Mangekyo bloomed. He felt beyond rage. Resigned. Amused. Even perhaps disgusted. Sasuke didn't want to be here any longer. He spread his presence wide, called out to an old friend. I am here, Indra seemed to beckon. He dug deep within him and let go.
'You will have to hold fast,' Fugaku explained. 'Since the transference was too quick and too sudden, and you are too young, it will overwhelm you. You will no longer realise who and what you are. Try to hold on and build yourself up again.'
Sasuke cared no longer. It now mattered not. There was nothing left.
He reached out blindly. Cradled Naruto's face in his hands and ever so softly whispered, "you stupid selfish boy."
He feel the jerk of surprise and the answering bloom of the Kyuubi's chakra. Sasuke smiled a bloody little smile.
He was Fugaku speaking, "You wrap yourself in a sense of righteousness."
Hikaku sighing, "saying it is for the greater good."
Madara mocking, "when it is really just want you want."
Indra mourning, "and damn everyone who does not bow to you will."
Sasuke opened his eyes and the Mangekyo swirled. Against Kyuubi's red hazed stare, it was Indra who smiled.
"Kurama," Indra spoke. "Tell father to go damn himself, " as he sent both Naruto and Kyuubi right into a gengutsu. It was into the dream they so wish. A battle against him that they craved so much. The win and the adulation they so desired.
Naruto slowly started to collapsed against him when Sasuke felt a comforting presence appear behind. His shadow furled out wings. He could feel clawed hands cradling him whilst he slowly set his slumbering burden down.
"Garuda," it was Indra who named the welcomed presence.
"Young master," was the gentle reply. "I had waited so long to hear from you again."
"Forgive me. I had thought it was no longer my right when father banished me."
He got a chiding cluck. "Your father lost the right to me, when he made that decision. Remember, I chose you."
Chastened, he spoke ever so softly. "My name is Sasuke." He wasn't really sure he was Sasuke. His was no one and everyone that had gone before him. But what could he say, this was the closest. It didn't matter anyhow. He was the last. Possibly the only one. No one to care who or what he called himself. "Pleased to meet you Garuda."
"I as well," was the reply as the wings wrapped around him in a comforting hug. "Will you really go to Orochimaru?"
He nodded.
"Is it wise?"
"For now," Sasuke replied. "I just need a place to hide so I can grow and build. Just for a little while."
A sigh. Sasuke closed his eyes. He felt the wind as his cheeks as they flew away. Far away from Naruto's slumbering form and the valley of the end.
'Goodbye Konoha,' Sasuke thought. 'I hope never to see you again.'
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FIN
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Further Notes: This will hopefully be part of series of snapshots, a contemplation of what if Fugaku Uchiha left all the memories, stories and knowledge of the Uchiha clan and what he knew to Sasuke before he was killed. Of course this would also contain the knowledge that they were killed due to orders. I thought it would make a big difference on how Sasuke would react and his reasons. I also wanted to give a voice to the Uchiha clan and look at it to their own lens, their own traditions and reasons.
This i supposed will be the closest to canon. This is actually very close that the conversation between Naruto and Sasuke was lifted directly from the manga. The difference is the end and that the commentary is from Sasuke's point of view. After this, the rest of the snapshots would diverge from canon significantly. Hopefully, I'll get to write more. Reviews and comments are greatly appreciated.