Uchiha Brothers
Disclaimer: It's only March, so my letter to Santa hasn't been sent yet, but come December, I will finally own Naruto! Muhahahaha. (At the moment, however, I do not own Naruto.)
Do not read any further if you do not read the manga, because you probably won't understand the references and this story is full of spoilers.
This story is dedicated especially to Selena, who I know is feeling really bad after this last manga chapter, and to anyone else who doesn't want Itachi to die just yet.
Sasuke's eyes widened in sheer terror as Itachi reached his hand forward. Blood flowed freely from the elder Uchiha's mouth as he smirked at his sibling, satisfaction written upon his features. With the small portion of his mind not occupied by his horror at the apparently inevitable loss of his eyes, Sasuke felt a crushing sense of defeat. He had failed. For almost nine years now, he had been the avenger of the Uchiha clan. It had been his sworn duty to kill this man. Instead, Itachi had defeated him, just as he had always done throughout their youth. It seemed that after all, after everything Sasuke had sacrificed, after all his attempts to improve his abilities, his older brother was still better than him. After all these years, nothing had changed. Nothing at all.
Itachi extended his index and middle finger, reaching them towards Sasuke's right eye. His younger brother's onyx orb widened in terror as the bloody fingers extended forwards, closer, ever closer. Veins stood out startlingly red against the milky white of the rest of his eye as an expression of something akin to panic appeared across Sasuke's usually impassive features. Almost as though he were mocking Sasuke's terror, a smile of satisfaction appeared on his elder brother's face. In a matter of moments, this would all be over. By the end of the day, there would only be two remaining wielders of the Sharingan kekkei genkai. (A/N: Kakashi does not possess the kekkei genkai, just the Sharingan. Itachi mentioned this during their fight at the time of his return to Konoha to kidnap Naruto.)
Even as he stood there, mere seconds from achieving his goal of the eternal Mangekyo Sharingan, signs of the toll that their fight had taken upon Itachi began to show. His eyes closed with exhaustion, and his face lost its satisfied expression. With what appeared to be the last of his strength, he extended his fingers the rest of the way forward, until they made contact with Sasuke's brow.
Still smiling, Itachi poked Sasuke in the forehead, just as he had when they were younger. Some of his brother's blood stuck to the younger Uchiha's face, sticky and wet. The Susano'o technique began to dissipate; Itachi had used up the strength required to keep the jutsu active. His eyes still wide with shock, Sasuke watched as his elder brother fell forward onto his knees, his head hitting the wall beside Sasuke. The elder Uchiha slid down the wall, until he lay in a heap at the feet of the younger brother that he had been so close to defeating.
For a second, Sasuke's eyes remained wide with disbelief. That man, the one whom he had sworn to defeat at any cost, lay beside him, utterly defeated. He, Uchiha Sasuke, had won. After all this time, after all this pain, he had finally won. All that remained was the actual murder.
He smirked tiredly as he turned to face Itachi, realizing with considerable amusement that he was now literally looking down upon his brother.
"I told you… Itachi," he panted. "All those years ago, brother, I swore that I would kill you. I meant that." Itachi closed his eyes, bowing his head as a sad smile appeared upon his face.
"Yes," he said a distinct note of sorrow present in his voice. His eyes opened once again and he lifted his head so that he was now staring directly into his younger brother's eyes. Sasuke noticed that, for the first time since the fight began, his elder brother's eyes were pools of obsidian, not a trace of the bloody red of the Sharingan present in their dark depths. This more than anything spoke of how great a toll this fight had taken upon the former heir to the Uchiha clan. "Yes, Sasuke, you swore that you would defeat me. You swore that you would be the one to kill me." He smirked, any trace of defeat gone from him. "You have succeeded. It has been decided, which one of us shall remain in this world. That one is you. You have won the right to your life in trial by combat." Nani?! Sasuke mentally exclaimed. He had always imagined that Itachi would at least show some fear when the time finally came for Sasuke to kill him. Instead, he seemed to almost embrace the idea, showing only calm as death stared him in the face. If it had been another man, Sasuke would have felt admiration for his ability to bow to the inevitable. However, in Itachi, it was only one more item to add to the very long list of things that Sasuke hated about his elder brother. There was no feeling of triumph in killing a man who appeared to wish for death, as Itachi very well knew! Even defeated, that man was trying to rob him of his victory. Damn Uchiha pride.
"Do you remember, that day?" Itachi asked him. Sasuke's eyes widened with shock that he had dared to mention that day to him now, when he was completely at the mercy of a younger brother who had not displayed any signs that he had the faintest idea what mercy was. He glared at Itachi, smoldering fires of rage in his eyes, though the overall effect was somewhat lost when you noticed that Sasuke barely had the strength to continue leaning upright against the wall, and was in no way fit to back up the threat. Clearly, Itachi knew this as well, for he continued, undeterred by his sibling's obvious unwillingness to hear that day spoken of. "Do you remember what I said to you?"
Flashback
"Please, don't kill me," a much younger Sasuke sobbed. The seven year old boy had just been held captive in Tsukuyomi, a jutsu that had driven far stronger ninja to insanity. In its sinister clutches, he had been forced to watch helplessly as his older brother, his hero, the man he had tried to become his entire life, murdered their clan. That same brother now stared harshly back at him, all traces of kindness gone from him to be replaced with a casual loathing for the brother before him.
"You're not even worth killing," Itachi cruelly informed his terrified sibling, "foolish little brother. If you wish to kill me one day, foster your hatred and despise me, surviving in such an unsightly manner as this. By all means, flee. Cling to your wretched life. And when you have the same eyes as mine, come before me again."
With that last harsh statement, Itachi activated his Mangekyo Sharingan once again. For the second time that night, Sasuke found himself gripped by the power of Itachi's blood red eyes. This time, however, it was not the red-skied nightmare realm of Tsukuyomi that greeted him. Instead, blackness made its way into the edges of his vision, and he fell forward, unconscious before he even hit the ground.
End flashback
"Yeah, I remember," Sasuke replied coldly, trying not to display any of the grief that he felt at the memory of that day, the day on which his parents had been taken from him so long ago. "What of it?"
"I told you… to come before me… after you possessed… the Mangekyo. You didn't listen to that bit. You still do not have the eyes, and yet you came anyway. Why? You have known all along that you stood little chance of defeating me without first gaining possession of these eyes. Why, knowing this, did you not gain the Mangekyo Sharingan? Why is Uzumaki Naruto still alive?!" Sasuke smirked at his sibling's astonishment, some of his own blood dripping from his mouth as he did so.
"Because, Itachi, I knew that that was what you wanted. You wanted me to kill Naruto, to gain the Mangekyo Sharingan, just as you did. I just… didn't want to give you the satisfaction of seeing me gain power the same way that you had. I didn't want to turn into you," he all but spat the last part, putting into it every ounce of the hatred that he felt for the man before him, wishing Itachi to the gates of hell and beyond with his words. The former Uchiha heir only smirked, at his brother's words.
"Don't you see, Sasuke? You have turned into me." N-nani?! "You turned into me the day that you left Konohagakure."
"No," his younger brother informed him quietly, bowing his head so that his expression was hidden to Itachi. "I did not turn into you. I did something that you didn't. I left them alive. Naruto… Sakura… neither one of them was killed. They were safe, because I left the village. Unlike with you, I left to protect the people who are precious to me," he bellowed, unconsciously using the term that Naruto (and Haku) used to refer to those they cared about. "You left because you betrayed the village. I left to save the village. If I hadn't left when I did, Orochimaru would just have invaded again. He would have killed them. Naruto, Sakura, Kakashi, everyone. Everyone that I cared about would die, all over again." Sasuke got a faraway look in his eye as he imagined the destruction that would have been unleashed upon Konohagakure no Sato had he chosen to stay. In his mind's eye, he could clearly see the flames, the bodies, the blood, and he could hear the dying screams of his new family as they were slaughtered before his helpless eyes. He took a deep breath to steady himself before finishing. "I left to save all of them."
"In all your time as an avenger, my foolish little brother, did it never cross your mind to try to determine why I killed the clan, why I chose to leave behind a village that practically worshipped me? Did it never cross your mind that the easiest way to defeat your opponent is to understand the way in which his mind works, thereby allowing you to anticipate his every move? Surely deciding my motivation for this, my greatest act, would have given you the clearest insight into the workings of my mind."
"I already know why you killed them. You told me yourself, on that day. You were 'testing the limits of your capacity.'" Itachi smirked.
"And you believed that? Honestly, Sasuke, I expected better from the genius of the Uchiha clan. I did not kill them to 'test the limits of my capacity,' as I had told you. They were corrupt; I had told you that on the day when I threw the knife into the family crest."
Flashback
Three members of the Konoha Military Police Force lay in the road, defeated moments ago by Itachi. The young Uchiha heir stood in their midst, not even panting, though his opponents had been far more experienced than he.
"Like I said, don't judge people by appearances or preconceptions," he informed them harshly. "You misjudge me completely if you think I have the patience for you. The clan… the clan… You babble on, but you overestimate you abilities, and you have no idea of the depth of mine, which is why you're crawling right now."
…I've never seen him like this… his terrified younger brother thought from his hiding place in the doorway. He had always thought of his elder brother as kind. He could be cold at times, but he was a shinobi, and an Uchiha, it was only to be expected. He had still always been Sasuke's loving older brother, someone who would never senselessly hurt another. There was no trace of that brother here now. For the first time in his memory, Sasuke truly feared Itachi.
"… Shisui had been watching you recently…" one of the men gasped at Itachi. "It's been six months since you entered ANBU… What you've said and done since then is too strange to overlook. What on earth are you thinking…?"
"You cling to your organization, and your clan, and your name, but you are narcissistic and arrogant, and you fear what you don't understand. Pure idiocy!" Itachi spat at them. His expression was livid with fury at the folly of his fellow members of the Uchiha clan. It was as he said this that his father chose to arrive, bringing with him an air of stern authority.
"ITACHI, STOP IT!" he shouted at his eldest (and formerly favorite) son. The heir to the Uchiha clan turned to face its current leader, no trace of his usual respect in his eyes. "That's enough," his father continued. "What's wrong with you? Itachi, I'm worried about your behavior of late."
"Why…?" his son asked. "I'm busy with work… that's all."
"Then why didn't you show up last night?" inquired the captain of the Konohagakure Military Police Force.
"…I needed to achieve the next state…" Itachi replied, a sinister chill in his voice.
"What are you talking about?"
Itachi chose not to reply. Instead, he drew a kunai knife. Displaying no outward sign of emotion, he threw the knife into the Uchiha clan crest adorning the wall. Everyone stared at him in shock, especially his younger brother. He had never seen Itachi act like this. What had happened to the kind older brother who had carried him home after he had hurt his ankle training? And… who was it who had replaced him?
End flashback
"You never seemed to realize it, though," Itachi continued. "That was my reason. The Uchiha clan that we grew up in was corrupt, and needed to be eliminated, so that the two of us could grow without their foolishness hindering us."
"You say the two of us…" his brother began, "and yet all that has befallen me as a result of that has been pain. I would almost have preferred it if you had killed me then. Then I would not have had to live as I have. I have grown stronger because of it, far stronger than I ever could have become had I stayed in the village, as a member of the Uchiha clan, but at what price? The cost of my soul. You must have known what you condemned me to when you left me alive. Why, then, did you not kill me?" Itachi turned to face him, a sorrowful smile on his face.
"Do you really mean that, Sasuke? Do you really wish that I had killed you? I can oblige you now, if you desire it." His younger brother snarled at the threat.
"That's not what I mean, as you damn well know, you bastard! Do you think that I can just lie down and let you cut my throat, after all that you have done to me?! Do you think that I would be able to grant you that satisfaction, of knowing that you singlehandedly wiped out the entire clan of the Uchiha?! I know that you plan to eliminate Madara after we end this. Do you think that I would allow you to be the last member of the Uchiha clan? Allow you, who have only harmed the clan, to become our final hope for the future?!" He concluded his tirade as the man lying before him began to chuckle. "What's so funny?"
"Have you listened to nothing I have said, Sasuke? Do you really think that I ever wanted to kill you? If I had truly desired your death, you would not have lived past that day. After you had been knocked out, it would have been child's play for me to remove your eyes, without ever having to suffer the blindness that would one day come from using the Mangekyo. Why do you think that, if I truly desired to take your eyes from you, I did not do it then?" Sasuke opened his mouth to reply (most likely swear), but he was cut off by Itachi continuing. "It is because I never truly wanted to take your gift from you. I would do it, if I must, but only as a last resort, if it became the only chance I stood of defeating Madara. If I were given the choice, you would never have been harmed. If Orochimaru had not come along and messed up everything, you would have lived safely in Konohagakure, growing into a strong ninja."
"We both know that that would never have happened! I never have been able to remain happy in that village, knowing that you still lived. Someday, no matter what, I would have had to leave, to hunt you down and kill you. You made me what I am, Itachi. And what I am is an avenger."
"Indeed. I made you an avenger. I am sorry for the pain that that path has caused you. But it had to be done."
"Nani?!"
"It was essential, if you were to survive. Sasuke, answer me this: if you had not desired so strongly to kill me, would you have bothered to live past the moment of your awakening in the hospital? Would you have willingly continued your existence, knowing of the pain and loneliness that awaited you?" Sasuke opened his mouth to reply, an angry retort already forming on his lips… then shut it, knowing in his heart what the true answer was. Itachi seemed to know as well, for he smirked with satisfaction. "No, Sasuke, you wouldn't have. You would have had no reason to live, if all that awaited you was pain. You would have killed yourself." Sasuke bowed his head, his raven locks falling across his face as he did so, shielding his expression from view.
"You ask me why I made you what you are; the answer is very simple. Becoming an avenger is the only thing that would have saved you. It was the only thing that gave you a reason to live, until something else came along."
"Something… else?" Sasuke asked, uncertain. Itachi smirked.
"Your teammates. Sasuke, you cannot deny that they meant something to you. You risked your life countless times to keep them safe, and they did the same for you. Even now, more than three years after you left the village, they still pursue you, hoping to save you from the darkness. Only those who truly love each other would be willing to go so far for another. You informed me yourself earlier that you had left the village solely for the purpose of keeping them safe. Sasuke, if that does not show that you care for them, nothing does." His younger brother turned away, a faraway look in his eyes as a tender smile appeared upon his features.
"They were… my family." It was all that he could say, and all that needed to be said. With that simple sentence, he had told Itachi more than he could with all the other words that he would ever say. To him, Team Seven, and the bonds that the four of them had shared, had been a reason for him to live again. They meant the world to him.
"Exactly. Sasuke, I did not let you live to condemn you to the half life of an avenger. I spared you in the hope that you would someday find a family that loved you and acknowledged your existence as something more than as the younger brother of their greatest hope. It was not my desire that the massacre of our clan be the end of your life. It was to be the beginning of your new one. My hope was that someday, you would have been able to forget about being an avenger, and finally find happiness. I see now where I went wrong."
"What do you mean nii-san?" Sasuke asked, unconsciously referring to Itachi using the title of older brother, instead of his usual that man, or bastard, or the guy that I live to kill. A ghost of a smile surfaced on Itachi's face as he replied.
"I underestimated you. I didn't think that you were prepared to go that far for your vengeance. I thought that you would have given up after I defeated you in that hotel more than three years ago, and remained in Konoha. I apologize for that. It has cost you dearly." Sasuke sighed, somehow expressing the nine years of emotional agony that he had been forced to go through with that simple noise.
"Thanks… Itachi," he told his brother. "Thank you for… clearing that up," he elaborated, stepping away from the wall, only to crumple to the ground as his legs failed to support him. Damn it, he thought. I'm still tired from the fight and just standing there letting all my muscles go stiff didn't help. Itachi smiled indulgently at his younger brother.
"Are you alright, Otouto?" he asked in genuine concern, adapting the term for little brother that he had not been able to use for Sasuke in eight and a half years. (A/N: Sasuke said "I'm the same age as my brother was when he graduated," on the day of the massacre, so he was seven. He's now sixteen, because he was thirteen when he left and it's been three years since then. Taking that into account, it would have been nine years since the Uchiha clan massacre, except that Itachi was thirteen at the time of the massacre, because that's the age at which he was made an ANBU captain, and that's not a title granted to criminals. Because of that, the massacre happened between June 9th, which is Itachi's birthday, and July 23rd, which is Sasuke's birthday. Sasuke was almost eight at the time of the massacre, so it hasn't been a full nine years yet, and since it's winter now, it's been about six months since the time of the massacre. That's how it is eight and a half years. I had to say that, because I have seen all these random times popping up for when the massacre took place, so I decided to clarify it. Sorry if that bored anyone.) Sasuke turned to face his brother, a genuine smile on his face.
"Yeah, I'm fine, just a little tired. It'll pass." He smirked, and Itachi returned the facial gesture. Too weary to do anything else, Sasuke collapsed beside Itachi, a smile on his face.
"Good night… nii-san," he said sleepily, his eyes already closing. Itachi gazed fondly at his brother for a moment, noting the rhythmic rise and fall of his chest that indicated that Sasuke was already asleep. His dark bangs had fallen across his face, and they fluttered slightly whenever he exhaled. In a display of tender affection, he brushed them back, tucking them behind Sasuke's ear. Then he too gave in to his exhaustion and closed his eyes, drifting off to sleep beside Sasuke, confident for the first time in eight and a half years that the youngest Uchiha would not try to kill him in his sleep. A smile adorned both their faces as they enjoyed the pleasure of each other's company. For the first time in far too long, the brothers were getting along as brothers.
-Owari-
A/N: This was based off Selena and my old theory, before Itachi revealed all that stuff about the eternal Mangekyo Sharingan. We really did believe that Itachi was good (and Selena still does; I want more information before I commit myself to a new theory). There were a couple other things we noticed, but they didn't fit in very well with the story, and I can see how they work for Sasuke being left alive so Itachi could take his eyes. For example, when Diedara was about to fight Sasuke, he said "I'll have to apologize to Itachi-san for this." That means that Itachi had told the Akatsuki not to kill Sasuke, which makes sense if he needs his brother's eyes. However, our logic was that the only excuse they would have accepted was that he wanted to kill Sasuke himself, which we know he doesn't because he was totally uninterested in their fight at the hotel in part 1. Do you see how the theory came about? Anyway, I just wanted to point that out. I hope you enjoyed the story, please review!
Edit 4/13: According to chapter 397 of the Naruto manga, the theory mentioned above may actually have been correct. At the end of the chapter, Madara comments refers to Itachi as "this man who risked everything to protect the shinobi world... the Leaf Village... and most of all, his little brother." Also, this new information confirms that Itachi was not evil!!
Edit 5/18: This theory was actually completely accurate according to chapter 400 of the manga. Itachi had been planning since the massacre to let Sasuke kill him. He was actually ordered to kill Sasuke as well as the rest of the clan, but he refused to do it. In the words of Uchiha Madara, "He was worried about you more than himself or anything else." OH YEAH!! (I'm still going crazy from watching that. It was absolutely amazing.)