The Return of Itachi
Summary: Exactly as the title says. Someone finds Itachi's remains and start experimenting. It all ends in Itachi coming back to life and he's about to take the shinobi world by the storm. At least Sasuke will be happy, especially when his nii-san starts playing matchmaker.
Itachi had to admit, for whatever bullshit Kabuto had spewed or done before, he had done one good thing now as Itachi hadn't felt this good in years. Ever since he got ill, there was always a dull pain somewhere in his body, unrelenting and merciless, but now there was none as he traveled at top speed towards Konoha.
It felt strange to be alive again when he knew his body had finally succumbed after many years, both to the illness and to the injuries Sasuke had inflicted during their heated fight. He had been so proud of his little brother becoming as strong as he had, even though he disapproved the method. He wouldn't have been happier if Sasuke simply hadn't went to Orochimaru for power, but he guessed that was his fault. He should have found a way to make his brother stronger without giving Sasuke the idea that it was okay to sacrifice his life, health, safety and happiness for the sake of killing him. That had not been his intention at all.
But the Snake Sannin was gone, for now. Itachi wasn't stupid enough to think it was that easy to get rid of Orochimaru. That's right, he thought it was too easy. He had seen how desperate Orochimaru was to find immortality and he doubted that body transfer technique was the only one he had up his sleeve to cheat death. It simply wouldn't be like the Sannin to rely so heavily on one jutsu when he was obsessed with learning all jutsus known to man and the man had even spent years making his own jutsus. Yes, the possibility of Orochimaru still being around was very high.
Itachi knew that, although temporary, this time without Orochimaru must be used wisely. Until that snake came back, he had to deal with Tobi and the plans he had for his precious foolish little brother. The man had gone too far, had crossed that one, final line that Itachi had drawn the day he had joined the Akatsuki: don't mess with Sasuke. That one simple rule had been followed by everyone, probably because he had made it with blood still drenching his ANBU uniform after he killed his entire clan save Sasuke. Although not everyone saw him like that. Deidera and Hidan he helped recruit, so they saw him for the first time as a young teenager in the Akatsuki robes, kicking their asses when they decided they wanted to kill him or simply show him who's better.
No matter when or how the members first saw him, they knew Sasuke was off limits, yet first Orochimaru and now Tobi dared lay their hands on him. Itachi hadn't been able to do anything about this in the past - with Orochimaru, he had been sick and the reason why Sasuke went to the snake and he was dead when Tobi made his move - but he wasn't going to let this continue now. Not by a long shot. It was not often a person got a second chance at life and Itachi didn't plan on wasting it. He was going to make it up to Sasuke no matter what he had to do.
And he will have to start by bringing Sasuke home, to his friends and his village. Together, they could begin rectifying everything they had wronged against Konoha while these new generations tried to make it up to them. It was a time of change, and not just in Konoha. Itachi was planning on taking on the entire shinobi world. There were a lot of changes to be made, starting with the treatment and fighting for Jinchuuriki and Uchiha eyes.
So he had quickly searched through Kabuto's lair after using Amaterasu to burn the gray haired man's essence he had sealed away in a jar, finding a set of clothes suitable enough for travel. He can't wait to get back to Konoha and finally dress in one of his clan's shirts. It had been too long for that. His last shirt he had grown out of by the age of fifteen and he had kept the symbol from the back as a memento but no doubt Deidera had burned it as soon as news of his death reached the group. However, he hadn't immediately left. He had stopped at a mirror and allowed his eyes to bleed into Sharingan red and then into Mangekyo Sharingan. Again, he had been surprised that there was no stinging or any discomfort. He even manifested the Susanoo fully, but nothing. And his eyes hadn't bled when he had used Amaterasu.
Kabuto had found him a set of Uchiha eyes and had transplanted them, giving him the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan. Deciding to search through the man's research before leaving - and getting something to eat; he was famished - Itachi had read over each document he found and it brought him up to speed as well as it informed him of just what lengths Kabuto had went to to get himself the 'perfect body' Orochimaru hadn't managed to obtain. Itachi had been left reeling at the revelation that he had Uchiha Madara's, the Uchiha Madara's eyes. Eyes that had already been blessed/cursed by the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan. Damn, he hadn't been expecting that.
But, still, he got over it, got some food and water before exiting the cave, letting Amaterasu burn everything inside and then having Susanoo destroy the cave itself. The research Kabuto had made in there, to bring someone completely back to life like he had Itachi, was dangerous. Humans were not meant to live more than one life or for an eternity. They were flawed and life only had a meaning if it was lived once and lived right. Itachi would have to do his best not to waste this unique chance and do right by his brother this time around. He was going to be the big brother Sasuke had always needed him to be. It was time he brought down the old Council and it would seem Sasuke had made the first step. It was up to Itachi to make the finishing moves.
Itachi was brought out of his thoughts when he felt another presence coming his way. He was fairly close to the village at this point and he was actually quite surprised that he hadn't ran in any of the usually patrolling ANBU or jonin. This was the first ninja that he had sensed since he left the cave yesterday afternoon. Then again, a lot of drama was going on, if Kabuto's information was anything to go by. All shinobi must have been disperssed all around the borders or outposts so they could guard their villages and countries. And Kabuto's hideout had been pretty well hidden. This really was the first trained chakra signature that Itachi had felt and he recognized the general pattern pretty well.
'A Hyuuga? Why would a Hyuuga be this far out in the woods?' The elder Uchiha thought, making a shadow clone and hiding himself. He followed the clone and, after another mile, they came upon a Hyuuga alright. Hyuuga Neji, to be more precise, and the younger genius came at Itachi's clone with Byakugan blazing and his Juuken stance, ready to attack the clone. Itachi allowed his clone to activate his Sharingan and he observed the Hyuuga's moves as the teen attacked him. He could sense the boy was angry and eager to spill blood, but he didn't strike Itachi to be in a necessarily killing mood.
But those Juuken moves were deadly and Itachi was still in a famished state, easily tired and still all out unused to being alive again. One would think that it was easy to come back to life. Well, you would be wrong if you thought that. It's like loosing a limb - it hurts and it should be irreversible, even with the strongest healers in the world. It would be a miracle if someone could reattach it and you could move like you did before. In this reasoning, Itachi didn't include most of the Akatsuki members. It was a proven fact everyone in that organization had been a freak of nature, Itachi not excluded. After all, as many of his former colleges often joked or mocked him, how could anyone be as perfect as Itachi?
Deciding enough was enough - as he will need to eat again soon and that included hunting and using up even more energy - Itachi dispelled his clone and watched as Neji whirled around, looking for him. Landing deftly behind him, the Uchiha easily blocked the whirled kick aimed at his head and pushed away the opened palm that headed towards his chest. Byakugan may give Neji a 360° view range in over fifty miles radius, but Itachi was a taijutsu master as much as a master of genjutsu and at this close range, when Itachi had had a jump on him, Neji didn't have the space nor the balance for his fancy kicks and hits. And Itachi's Sharingan was the perfect weapon against Byakugan. While he still couldn't see the exact locations of chakra points like the white eyes could, his clan's doujutsu could catch even the slightest movements. He could predict every move Neji will make seconds before he could make it, because his body gave the teen away.
The two geniuses fought for a few more minutes until Itachi finally got bored and allowed his Sharingan to switch to the Mangekyo Sharingan. While Byakugan couldn't be as easily deceived by genjutsu as the rest of the world's eyes, it was not meant to be paired up against the powerful genjutsu of the Sharingan, especially not against the Mangekyo. And so it ended when Neji looked at Itachi's eyes and was forced into a genjutsu that knocked him out a second later. He fell to the ground with a thud and Itachi relaxed his body, allowing his eyes to judge whether the younger genius was truly knocked out or not.
It had been a grand battle between them, as was befitting the status as the greatest geniuses in their families' ever born. None could match Itachi's visual prowess, talent and general genius in the Uchiha Clan - a clan of geniuses - while Neji had the strongest eyes of the Hyuuga Clan and immense talent for Juuken. Against anyone else, they were unbeatable, but when faced against each other, Itachi's experience and sheer talent and ingenious made the fight unfair towards Neji. Itachi had never been defeated. He could actually count on one hand the amount of times someone had landed a single hit on him. And even half of that was a stray punch delivered to his clones. He wasn't counting his fight against Sasuke in this this, as his fight against Sasuke was his fight against Sasuke. It went into a whole new category that belonged only to it.
The elder Uchiha sighed as he stared at the unconscious man on the ground before him. It was interesting how he always had to look over someone. When he was a kid, it was Sasuke, then when he became an ANBU, that included whole of Konoha, too. Then he had to look after his goofy Akatsuki partner, Kisame, and now he was saddled with watching over the Hyuuga he had fought and knocked out. He must be destined to look after someone.
Itachi snorted. "Great. Now I'm rambling about destiny like the Hyuugas do. Just great." Who would have thought that dying and coming back to life could be this troublesome. Itachi's left eyebrow twitched as he realized what he had just thought. It would seem that it wasn't just his body that needed to get used to living again, but his brain, too.
Deciding he needed food before he made some stupid mistake unbefitting a former ANBU captain, Itachi went out for a quick hunt and brought back two rabbits, figuring it only polite to feed his unsuspected captive, since he had knocked him out in the first place. He spent the minutes needed to roast the rabbits in silence, letting his mind wander.
He had left a special crow with Naruto-kun, for the possibility of Sasuke trying to fight him with Itachi's eyes. The crow had the left eye of his dearest friend, Uchiha Shisui, that the man himself had given it to him for the benefit of Konoha's protection before omitting suicide. That had been a few months before Itachi had massacred his entire clan. A shiver ran down his spine when he remembered his parents' last words as those heavy tears had rolled down his face. His chichiua had kept the dignity and pride befitting the Uchiha Clan's Head, but that had cost him his head and both of his sons' innocence. Sasuke became an avenger, willing to give up and betray everything just so he could kill Itachi. And Itachi became an S-class criminal. He joined Akatsuki and he observed them for years, making sure that they don't do anything that will overly damage Konoha.
He will need to get that crow with Shisui's eye from Naruto-kun; that's why he was heading back towards his home village. He would have just snuck in and took back the bird while going unnoticed. But he had not expected the Hyuuga to be here. From the looks of his attire, he had been out for training and his eyes must have caught sight of Itachi. Now Itachi had no choice but to drag the teen along until he got back his crow and then he was off to find Sasuke and to give him a piece of his mind. He had reprimanded Sasuke only a couple of times in their lives and if he had to start doing so now, he will drag Sasuke back to Konoha by his ear so he could have a good, long talk with his foolish little brother with a revenge-affinity.
"Urgh," the moan brought his gaze to the slowly waking up Neji and Itachi watched as the Hyuuga blinked groggily at the fire in front of him and the rabbits cooking over it. The smell must have reached his nose because the long haired brunet's stomach growled loudly, demanding the delicious smelling food in front of him. Itachi chuckled and an impressive pink flush dusted Neji's pale cheeks. "What's so funny, bastard?" The genius growled at the raven haired man.
"Relax, I mean you no harm." Itachi said in a placating voice but Neji just snorted.
"Yeah, right. That's why you knocked me out."
"You attacked me." Itachi said with an unimpressed expression on his face.
"Are you surprised, Uchiha? Please." The white eyes rolled and Itachi's brow furrowed. The Hyuuga was acting strange. Not that Itachi personally knew Neji, it just left him feeling as though Neji wasn't quite talking ... well, to him, but rather someone else. "You nearly killed Naruto for the third time and you would have gladly killed Sakura if it hadn't been for Naruto. Then you just ran off with that Madara mad man. You really expect me to be all buddy buddy with you, Sasuke?"
'Ah, this is what felt wrong.' Itachi thought in his mind and sighed. "Neji-kun, what makes you think I am my otouto?"
"Involving the dead? When are you going to stop falling, Sasuke? You've already fallen so low. There's not much lower you can go-"
"Neji-kun-" Itachi tried to interrupt but the usually unsocial teen was on a roll, only making Itachi's usually infinite patience thin more and more. He wasn't the type to blow a gascet but if the white eyed male continued, Itachi just might. And oh joy, he really wasn't shutting up.
"I'm actually starting to wonder if you'll break rock bottom and go right through. I bet you even-"
"That's enough, Hyuuga." Itachi finally snapped, but it wasn't how a normal person would snap. His voice remained the same and the only indication that he was pissed that existed in the outwards world was the red eyes now looking at Neji with a slight glare. But what really made him scary when pissed was the world he created around him and the person who pissed him off; Tsukuyomi was not something anyone would like experiencing. Itachi knew, as all of the Akatsuki members - save Kisame, who knew not to mess with his partner due to having seen what the younger man can do - had experienced it at least once and they treid their best not to experience it again.
As predicted, Neji shut his tarp and stared wide eyes at the man now surrounded with crows, their eyes red and glowing, as if they were ready to swoop in and feed on his remains after Itachi kills him. The thought made the brunet shiver and sealed his lips shut. Nope, he was not going to die like this. At least he now knew this was not Sasuke. Sasuke had a rather explosive temper these days, or so he had heard. This man was far too calm to be Sasuke, yet the resemblance between them could only come from a familial relation. That alone had made him assume this must be Itachi - he had seen his picture only a couple of times - or Sasuke trying to scare people and stir things up by making panic over a "ghost" spread, but now that Neji thought about it, Sasuke wasn't exactly subtle like that. That was probably the only occasion under which Sasuke would completely lose his cool and act without thinking it through.
'So this must be the famed Uchiha Itachi, the Clan Killer.' Neji thought, observing the older male. 'But didn't the reports say that he's dead? How is he back? What is he doing here?'
"Yes, I was dead. Kabuto did something I will not discuss with anyone beyond saying it healed my body and returned my soul into it. And I'm here to see Naruto-kun. I left something important with him." He ignored the now gaping jonin as the S-class criminal casually turned the rabbits. "Medium rare or well done?"
"Medium?" It was supposed to be an answer but Neji was atill creaped out that Itachi had known his questions without him even voicing them. Was he some sort of mind reader?
"I'm not. A mind reader, that is." Itachi answered as he handed Neji the rabbit. "And no, it's not poisoned. If I wanted you dead, I could have killed you while you were out of it."
"Right," Neji awkwardly accepted the meat and watched as Itachi formed the seals for a fire jutsu and blew a small, weak fire ball at his meat, accelerating its cooking quite a bit. 'Such chakra control,' he thought before shaking his head. "Then, if not, why did you know what I was going to say?" He held still as Itachi reached for his own food. Neji was surprised he hadn't been tied up but with how easily the other could overpower him, Neji guessed it wasn't necessary. Damn it. Even when he reached the top of the ladders, an Uchiha was already standing there, taunting him. At least this particular Uchiha wasn't rubbing it in his nose like his snotty little brother would.
"My little brother is foolish, not snotty and I know because you keep thinking. As soon as humans learn how to talk, their mouths are making almost invisible motions of speech even when they are only thinking the words." Itachi replied calmly as he blew on his food before taking a small bite. "The Sharingan can catch these slight movements and read them. My Sharingan just so happens to be sharper than most people expect it to be."
"I see." Neji decided he will have to teach himself to read those same motions with his Byakugan. It'd probably be harder, as his eyes didn't automatically translate everything like the Sharingan did so effortlessly. "But why do you want to go after Naruto now? You have a second chance at life and you're going to waste it by going after the Kyuubi again?"
Itachi smiled a small, slightly sad smile. "No, I don't want to hurt Naruto-kun. I never did, or else he'd probably be dead by now." Neji narrowed his eyes suspiciously at the raven haired man before taking a bite out of his meal and then going back to business.
"Then why didn't you ever do it?"
"Because Naruto-kun is Sasuke's first, one and only real friend." The smile on Itachi's face was almost cheerful now. "For six years, they have shared a special bond. And I'm counting on Naruto-kun and that bond to rehabilitate Sasuke after I bring him back home."
"Wait, what?" The Hyuuga was confused. Itachi guessed he would be, too, had he been in his situation. After all, he had hunted Naruto more than once and yet here he was no, saying he won't hurt Naruto and that he'll bring Sasuke home. The blind was either going to be excited or angry. You never could tell with Naruto. "You're bringing Sasuke back?"
"Yeah, I think it's time we have a little chat," Itachi said, slowing down in his eating now that the original hunger had substated. He hoped this ended by the end of the week. He usually wasn't one for big meals to begin with, but his body demanded the substance it had lacked in death.
"Sasuke already knows the truth, or so Naruto tells me."
Itachi let out a startled laugh at that. Neji looked at him as though he were crazy. Then again, he had killed his entire clan in one night. It was bound to have messed him up, even if only for a little bit. "Oh, no, no. I mean, yes, we'll have to talk about that but I really wanted t talk to him about Naruto's obvious little crush on him that he's been avoiding to admit exists."
"Naruto doesn't have a crush on Sasuke," the Hyuuga protested, hoping for Hinata-sama's sake that it was true. The poor girl had loved Naruto for years. It would devastate her, no doubt. "They're just friends."
Itachi, for the first time that he can remember, rolled his eyes. "Right, and Tobi really is Uchiha Madara." The sarcasm was rolling off his tongue so thickly Neji wondered if the Uchiha considered him stupid. Then it registered what the other said and he gaped. Itachi saw his look and scoffed. Really, was he really the only logically thinking one in the whole of Konoha? It was as if half of their smarts left with him or something. "And Naruto needn't worry. Sasuke's had a crush on him since they were genin."
"Then why did he try to kill him?" Neji nearly yelled the question and Itachi sighed in a defeated manner.
"I don't honestly know but maybe that's my fault, too." Neji stared at him for a moment when the other didn't elaborate before shaking his head.
"So now what?"
"Now, I go back to Konoha and get what I need."
"They're not going to let you through the gates." The younger pointed out and Itachi resisted another eye roll.
"I don't need the gates to get in."
A moment of silence passed between them before Neji spoke up once more. "You do realize that Naruto's somehow going to find out you're there and then make you take him with you on your Sasuke-hunt, right?"
Itachi just smirked in a way that made him look even more handsome.
"I know. I'm counting on it."
Neji sighed and massaged the bridge of his nose. This was going to be one hell of a long day and he got up, early, too. Damn.
