Disclaimer: I don't own anything.
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Two Heads Are Better Than One (Until You Have None)
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Chapter 3
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(Uchiha Sasuke wakes beneath a thick canopy of trees to the sound of a twig snapping in the distance, sharp enough to imply a relatively large animal and loud enough for it to be too close. The lack of following sounds implies something not wanting to be heard.
It's amazing, Sasuke thinks, how being on the run has sharpened my senses. Slowly reaching for the kunai under his makeshift jacket-pillow, he calls out, "This is a warning."
When nothing responds, he rises with the kunai in hand and not for the first time does he wish for a longer-ranged weapon. Konoha taught him the close hand-to-hand combat of the Leaf. Orochimaru taught him the quick attacks and long range defense that made the Sannin something to be feared. Now he just needed an arsenal that would balance the two. Maybe if I could make my lightning fly…
Sasuke moves cautiously away from his camp and away from the noise. If it's Orochimaru's trackers, then they won't dare engage in the day. Not if they wanted any chance of taking Sasuke and leaving with all fingers and toes accounted for. If it's bandits, then it is irrelevant if they attempt to attack in the day or night, Sasuke will handle it as he has been - efficiently. If it is anything else…then he hopes it is his brother or one of his Akatsuki allies. After all, it is easier when the target comes to you, isn't it?
And it's not like I want to fight him anyway, Sasuke thinks as he gathers the few supplies he has (and he needs to restock soon). No… he has questions. Questions he's buried for far too long.
It is when he is shaking out the jacket he'd used as a pillow that they step out into the clearing. "Hello, Sasuke-kun," they say and Sasuke spins, kunai at the ready.
"Karin." Sasuke slowly lowers his kunai, "What are you doing here?")
...
(There is something wrong, Naruto frowns, with Sasuke.
From his vantage point above the streets of Konoha, Naruto keeps an even pace with the duo down below. Sakura-chan leans in closer still and says something to Sasuke and Naruto can make out a small smile on the otherwise somber boy's face. Naruto fights down that familiar bitter feeling of jealousy and confusion (and he doesn't even know why he's jealous of Sakura-chan, who he's chased after since he saw her sitting alone during recesses, and not Sasuke, his first friend and his first enemy).
It's too easy. Naruto insists as he jumps down and hides behind a chimney. Sasuke and Sakura-chan pause in front of a candy shop. Sakura-chan goes in to buy something and Sasuke waits outside, eyes lazily roaming the streets. For a second, Naruto swears that Sasuke can see him from his hiding space before Sakura-chan returns, pulling Sasuke's gaze away. Sasuke never made anything easy.
Sasuke coming home wasn't supposed to be easy. It wasn't supposed to be him just walking through the streets of Konoha, pleased to come home. Or… at least not in the beginning. Not at first. At first it was supposed to be harsh words and harsher fists, a battle of wills as Naruto and Sasuke finished the fight they'd started in the Valley of the End. It was supposed to be Naruto proving to Sasuke that he had something to come home to beyond his brother, something worth living for beyond the ghosts of his clan. It was supposed to be Sasuke finally, finally explaining why he left in the first place and explaining what Naruto had done wrong to make him leave. It was supposed to end with the two of them bringing justice to the Uchiha clan, justice to Konoha. It was supposed to end with the death of Itachi and a new beginning.
But now it's... not. Now it's Naruto watching from the sky, looking for a reason why everything has become too easy, far too easy. Now it is Sasuke leaning in to Sakura-chan's casual touches, to smiling at Sakura-chan's soft words. And Naruto fights that jealousy down because he will not take what little can make Sasuke smile away from him. Not now. Not ever.
Maybe, Naruto thinks, I am being cruel. Maybe it can be that easy. He watches Sasuke take a bag of salted peanuts from Sakura-chan and they continue their walk through the market. Probably headed to the library where they both tend to spend too long holed away amongst the stacks so that Sasuke leaves just in time to make dinner for Kakashi-sensei when he comes home from whatever it is the man does when he isn't babysitting Team Seven or taking missions.
When Naruto had learnt that Sasuke had returned to Konoha after a recon mission in Sound, Naruto had been ecstatic. Thrilled in ways he couldn't verbalize even if he'd tried. He'd rushed Ero-sensei and himself home at a pace that would have wounded a ninja with less stamina then one of the Sannin and a jinjuriki. He hadn't wasted time checking in with Baa-chan. Hadn't wasted time setting down his pack or airing out the apartment Konoha had kept waiting for him. He'd run to Sasuke, nearly broken down Kakashi-sensei's door in his need to see that it was true, that Sasuke had come home.
He hadn't expected Sasuke to freeze up and start crying. He hadn't expected Kakashi-sensei to treat the former A-rank Missing-nin so gently. He hadn't expected Sasuke to apologize in the morning. It seems… Naruto hadn't expected a lot of things.
Trauma, they tell him. Causing missing memories and personality changes. 'Everyone reacts to trauma differently,' Kakashi-sensei had said (though how convinced was he really) when Naruto had asked how Sasuke could be so… different. But that isn't right because Naruto knows how Sasuke reacts when the world hands him the short end of the stick. He gets angry. He gets revenge. He makes stupid, impulsive decisions as he tries to get in control of the situation. He doesn't… He doesn't become passive. He doesn't roll over and admit he's wrong. That isn't Sasuke. That isn't the Sasuke Naruto knows.
The boy in front of him is Sasuke, Naruto thinks, but it isn't his Sasuke.
Naruto doesn't know what to do with that thought.)
...
It's a week after Sasuke starts coming to the library with Sakura that Sasuke realizes how wrong he's been. He stands up so fast his chair falls backwards, the crash deafening in the ever-present silence of the Konoha Library. Sakura reacts, pulling out a kunai and spinning a 360. Checking for enemies, Sasuke's mind supplies.
Sasuke wonders, in a daze, how many times she's seen battle to have reflexes that sharp. It had taken Sasuke two months of near constant surprise attacks from Kabuto to develop a "healthy dose" of paranoia. But Sakura must have learnt that lesson much earlier than him if these books spoke the truth. "Sorry," Sasuke says. He feels distant as if he is really miles and miles away instead of here in this beautiful library. "I… er- I just remembered something," he lies.
Sakura tries to catch his eyes, but Sasuke looks away. He grabs the book he was reading and the two he wants to check out. "I think I'm going to head out," he tells Sakura. He takes a moment to right his chair before all but running from the library. He wonders what he must look like to her.
But he doesn't have time to think about it. He needs proof. He needs to know if the book is right.
He is making his way through the streets of Konoha, the map he'd memorized clear in his mind, before he abruptly remembers his ANBU guard. He cannot do what he wants with an audience and so he makes a sharp left attempting to lose his guard. It takes fifteen minutes before he sees the cherry red of his guard's chakra fade into the distant, headed in the opposite direction. He's by the edge of town, near the hot springs. It takes a good twenty to make his way back, keeping an eye out for any ANBU patrols.
He reaches at first for that familiar warmth before he remembers the seals that bind his chakra. So instead he begins the laborious task of making his way up one of the large trees in front of the Academy. He situates himself within a family of thick branches. From his vantage point, he can see the field he'd first assumed was a playground. Now he sees it for what it is: training grounds.
The children are off in pairs. Fighting. A man picks his way through the students—Iruka-sensei, Uchiha's memories supply—correcting stances or forms or punches as necessary.
So, Sasuke thinks, and it is like he is back on that battle field. He feels so strangely calm. It isn't a lie. Child soldiers, he thinks and tries to fight down the nausea. Just like in Sound. Made to fight from age five. Made to die by thirteen. He stifles a laugh and leans back against the cool bark of the oak he hides in. Even here there is no peace. Even here children are born to die.
And he had thought Konoha a heaven. How… how pathetic.
He cannot stay for much longer.
Sasuke feels dazed walking back from the academy. That same strange calm has yet to leave him. The sun is setting. The gold looks tarnished. The red drips like blood. Children pass him on the street as their parents herd them home and he stops to watch them pass. How many of them will live to adulthood? He turns his eyes towards the parents all speaking to each other. How can they stand the guilt?
And, he thinks with bitterness, they claim to be better than Sound. At least in Sound they had not hidden their brutality in children's toys. Had not attempted to pretend they were doing anything less than raising children for battle. No. In that way, Sound had been kind.
What else did Konoha hide? And Sasuke's eyes lingered for a moment on the Hokage Mountain; their stern faces a constant on the horizon. He thinks back to what he has read, Never has there been a Uchiha-associated Hokage.
When he returns home, he stands in front of Kakashi-sensei's door for far too long before working up the nerve to enter. He finds Kakashi-sensei writing reports in the living room. He doesn't know what to do. And so he stands there at a cross roads. If he speaks, what will he say? Can he pretend he doesn't know better?
And… will Kakashi-sensei even understand why he is upset. After all, if Sound is the same as Konoha, then is it safe to say the whole world is like this. If Sasuke had no other frame of reference, would he find it wrong?
"What's wrong, Sasuke?" Kakashi-sensei asks, setting his pen down. He looks calm. He looks unconcerned. But Sasuke has lived long enough with the other man to know looks can be deceiving.
Sasuke does not know what to say so he says nothing.
"Sasuke?" Kakashi-sensei repeats, standing and making his way over. Sasuke looks up to meet his eye. Kakashi-sensei is very tall. This is not the first time Sasuke has realized this, but it seems to matter in that moment.
"I…" Sasuke says before closing his mouth, his mind running. In his world, children are children. They do not fight wars. They do not fight, period. They play games of tag and their biggest worries should be grades and friends and childhood love. And… he knows, intellectually, that that is not true for all children. He knows children suffer. He knows some people are not meant to be parents. But… But that is not the norm, right? That doesn't count… right?
"Do you ever think of peace?" Sasuke asks.
Kakashi-sensei stares at him, confused. "We are in peace, Sasuke," he says.
No, Sasuke thinks. Because how can peace allow children to die fighting battles meant for adults? "Real peace," Sasuke insists, "Where children don't have to grow up learning how to fight and… wars happen so—"somewhere else.
It is then that Sasuke realizes he has been disgustingly naïve. Irrationally naïve. He knows there are wars in his world, but they have always been distant. Something to be seen on the TV or read on the social media feeds. Not something his cousins died in. Not something he trained for. Not… not something he'd die in. War… war was something that happened somewhere else to someone else. Is he selfish for wanting that back? Is he wrong to want it for this Sasuke? For Sound and Konoha and its children?
He looks past Kakashi-sensei to the reports left on the coffee table and realizes he doesn't know what Kakashi-sensei does for a living. What does Kakashi-sensei do on those missions? What does it mean to be a ninja of Konoha?
Children in his world suffer. Not every child grows up free of war and battle. Not every child gets to live to adulthood. He thinks about the photos of the aftermath of bombed cities in the Middle East, a place so foreign it could be on another planet. Children in Afghanistan have learnt to fear blue skies because it means drones can fly, Sasuke remembers with sudden, startling clarity. He looks back at Kakashi-sensei and says, "Do you think it's possible to stop war?"
Kakashi-sensei looks taken aback and he reaches out to touch Sasuke before letting his arm fall away. "What are you thinking, Sasuke?" And now he sounds worried. It seems all Sasuke does is worry this man.
Sasuke looks away again. They are standing close and, in a moment of weakness, Sasuke leans forward, allows his head to thump against the other man's chest. Slowly, Kakashi-sensei wraps his arms around him. "I don't think anything makes sense anymore," he says truthfully. He still feels calm. Far too calm. And he wonders what is wrong with him.
Kakashi-sensei doesn't say anything and so they simply stand there. Lost in thought.
...
(The one down side of being the Godiame's student is how often her lessons tend to get interrupted. Sitting quietly in the corner of the hospital room, Sakura stifles a yawn as the elder council and Tsunade-shishou go through the traditional greetings before the council session begins. Sakura doesn't understand why they have to do this now, in the middle of the morgue of the Konoha hospital as Tsunade-shishou was testing her bone repair technique on a now-deceased construction worker. It is amazing, Sakura thinks a bit morbidly, but sitting the morgue can do that to someone, how easy the skull is to shatter. She clenches her fist and not for the first time marvels at the power she feels in her forearms.
"Council," Tsunade-shishou says, getting straight to the point, "What is the reason for this urgent visit? I believe we are meeting tomorrow, or am I to find out otherwise?"
Lord Homura steps forward as he often does, the clear leader of the two. Not for once, Sakura wonders why Tsunade-shishou has yet to replace the council with her own peers. She does not like Lord Homura. There is just something off about the man for all that he seems so calm and courteous. "The general council is still meeting, but we… wished to speak with you privately."
This is something Sakura has always envied in Tsunade-shishou - her utter lack of patience for things she deems stupid. It is, Sakura is not shy to admit, something she wishes to emulate. There is very little about the woman in front of her that Sakura does not wish to emulate (other than her drinking habit, honestly; sake tastes terrible.) "Is there a particular reason this cannot wait for tomorrow?"
"It has to do with the matter of the village's safety," Lord Homura says, and Tsunade-shishou cuts him off with a rather unlady-like sigh.
"We have discussed the Uchiha situation," Tsunade-shishou says. "I will not bow to this. Until we have proof of any disloyalty to Konoha, Sasuke Uchiha is an innocent." She puffs up her chest and Sakura can feel her power all the way from here. She does not understand how the council is not cowed. "I will not allow Konoha to become a place where we slaughter based on assumption." Tsunade-shishou takes a moment to look both councilors in the eye. "I will not have this discussion again.
Sakura presses her lips together and tries not to react. But her hands are shaking hard enough that she has to press them together to force them still. She looks at each councilor. They are not backing down, but they bow out with as much grace as they had entered. Tsunade-shishou deflates and she turns back to Sakura. Her eyebrows are pinched and she is frowning. Sakura feels that pit of worry only grow in her stomach the longer she looks at her teacher.
There is something going on here, Sakura thinks, something she needs to figure out.
No one gets away with trying to hurt Team Seven.
Not again. Not ever again.)
...
(Sasuke, Karin thinks, has changed. Looking at the long-haired ninja in front of her, she tries not to smile. She'd heard rumors, but it's nothing compared to actually looking at the soon-to-be-man in front of her. It is hard to find the similarities to that quiet, ill-tempered boy who'd limped his way to Orochimaru-sama.
She still remembers. The ragged child drenched in blood, both his own and someone else's (someone who'd felt like forest fires and crushing-power), who'd screamed himself hoarse getting an audience with Orochimaru-sama. She'll never forget the rage on his face when he'd dared to demand better treatment "next time" and more competent allies than the four who'd been sent to get him. (She'd also never forget how instead of beating the boy into silence, Orochimaru-sama had simply said he'd take it into consideration and told the boy to follow.)
The next time she'd seen Sasuke, he was deadly silent. Well trained as Orochimaru-sama's direct disciple armed with a deadly swiftness and effectiveness at downing his opponents (but even then he'd hesitated in delivering a death sentence). But his chakra was just as sweet and warm as the first time she'd met him all those years ago in Konoha's Forest of Death. She'd wanted to get closer to this strange boy who was equal parts cold and warm, whose actions never seemed to match his nature.
And now here she is. Sasuke flags down a waitress and asks for a glass of water with exceptional manners and Karin finally allows herself to smile. He is completely comfortable in his skin from the way he wears his hair (longer than she has ever seen it in the past three years) open and wild to the way he lounges, body unguarded, and almost lazy in the way he sits in the restaurant booth. But he is not a fool. From where she sits, she sees three open exits and she is almost certain Sasuke sees more. She thinks, her smile turning a little lecherous. He will grow to be a very beautiful man.
So far they have yet to touch on why Karin is here or why Sasuke has yet to flee her but they talk. And from that Karin attempts to glean Sasuke's mindset. Information gathering, chakra training, and speed: it is what she is good at, after all. She thinks he is stable. She thinks he has a plan and no direction. She thinks she can make a bargain here. Orochimaru-sama will get what he wants, Karin thinks, if I play my cards right.
So after their lunch, they walk towards the market square where Sasuke haggles the price of vined tomatoes down and packs them in his bag before moving to a convenience store to buy more reasonable non-perishables. Here is where Karin asks, "Do you even know which direction to go?"
Sasuke adds two canned soups to the cart before answering, "I heard a reliable rumor that a large shark man was seen in Water's capital."
"And if I told you they were in Wind?" Karin asks, adding a handful of granola packets to the cart. Sasuke looks down at the addition and then looks at her, raising a single eyebrow. She wills her face to remain neutral.
"I would say you're one of the best trackers in the continent," Sasuke says, voice even. He doesn't take the granola out and heads towards the cash register.
When they exit the store she corrects him, "I am the best tracker in the continent." It is something she is proud of, her way of paying homage to a homeland that no longer exists except in the unedited history books. She never knew the pride of belonging to the Uzumaki outside of her name, but a clan is a clan. Sasuke is the last of the Uchiha. She is certain he understands this pride.
Sasuke hums in agreement and then adds, "I know someone with potential if you ever wish to take on a student."
"Oh?"
Sasuke nods, "Maybe one day you'll meet." He stops by a park bench and sits down. She follows. He begins arranging his supplies in his bag. So far no one in this town has recognized them as Oto-nin. It is quiet here. If she believed in such a thing, she would almost call it peaceful. In front of her, children run in a field as their parents stand a safe distance away. It is a good place to raise a family. "What do you want, Karin?"
"A bargain," she says truthfully, because she respects Sasuke. His chakra is beautiful and he is strong. She has always respected strength above all else. "I will help you find your brother. But first, you will help me catch a prisoner."
"I have left Orochimaru," Sasuke says.
She laughs, "No you haven't."
Sasuke shakes his head and she sees again the Oto symbol stitched along the neck of his jacket, hidden behind his long hair. Maybe it is just coincidence that the black jacket bears the mark, but why doesn't he remove it if he has truly run from Orochimaru-sama? "Tell me… once you complete your quest, do you plan to go back?" She asks.
Sasuke doesn't answer her. But he doesn't deny her and so she will continue. If Sasuke is still loyal then he shall return in his own time. And she will stay as a reminder and complete her retrieval missions. Both for Sasuke and Suigetsu.)
...
(When Naruto opens the door after fifteen minutes of incessant knocking, he is ashamed to admit the last person he expected on the other side of the door is Sakura. Letting her into the apartment, he tries not to feel too self-conscious about the mess.
Cooking isn't his strong suit, but after living on the road for two and a half years, you tend to crave a homemade meal.
"Tea?" Naruto asks, already moving into the kitchen. Let it not be said that Naruto Uzumaki doesn't have some form of manners.
"Thanks," Sakura says and it's so soft that for a moment Naruto wonders if she had said anything to begin with. It's then that he realizes how tired she looks and he feels guilty. He's been so focused on Sasuke he honestly has no idea what's going on in her life outside of her recent lunches and walks.
Taking out two cups—orange and pink with little cats prancing around (it'd been a gift from Iruka-sensei; there is a matching blue one yet to be used)—he pours the hot water from the kettle and adds two tea bags. Passing the cup to Sakura, they take a seat at his kitchen island and he smiles at her, "So why ya here, Sakura-chan?"
Sakura tries smiling back and Naruto lets his smile fade away. "Is it that bad?" he asks somberly.
Sakura shrugs and stares into her mug for a moment. "I don't know how to say this without sounding crazy."
Naruto pulls out his tea bag and squeezes the excess water out. "I promise not to think you're crazy," he jokes. "I'm the last person to go around judging crazy." He has a fox demon trapped in his belly button. He's the last person to turn something down just because it sounds ridiculous.
"You know how I'm the Godaime's student, right?" She starts, "Well… sometimes I get to sit in on council sessions and… I heard something today that got me thinking that… I think the council plans to kill Sasuke. Or… at least they're pushing for it. But I don't know why so…" She's mumbling the last part and Naruto has to strain to hear her.
Naruto sets his cup down and looks her straight in the eye, already thinking of how to contact Kakashi-sensei without letting the ANBU tailing Sasuke suspect anything. "Tell me everything."
Because, yes, something feels wrong when it comes to Sasuke. And yes, he doesn't know what to do with the other boy. But no one tries to hurt Sasuke and gets away with it. Not on Naruto's watch. And-he sees the same fire in Sakura's eyes-not on Sakura's.
No one is ever going to hurt Team Seven.
Not again. Not ever again.)
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(Itachi wishes the officers a quiet "good night" and silently closes the door. "How's Mother doing?" Itachi asks turning to his father as the older man makes his way down the staircase.
Dad shakes his head, walks to the kitchen, and starts cleaning up the leftovers from dinner. There are dark circles under his eyes and his hair is a mess from running his fingers through it so often. Itachi tries to help him, but his hands are shaking so hard the plates are rattling and his father takes them without a word. "How are you, Itachi?" his dad asks.
The air feels heavy and Itachi tries to take a deep breath. He doesn't know what to say. He shrugs.
When his parents had called him a week ago asking if he knew where Sasuke was, Itachi had never imagined they'd be here. Sasuke was supposed to have gone to Benjamin's. They'd had a movie date planned while his parents had gone out for a date of their own and Itachi spent the night in the library studying for O-Chem. Sasuke was going to call them when he got there because he knew how his family worried. When he hadn't, Itachi had thought he'd forgotten. When he'd called Benjamin and found the young teen in tears, Itachi had thought there was a mistake. There must be a mistake. Maybe the train had been delayed or Sasuke had decided to go home instead. He'd been so tired lately, working so hard and trying to do too much (like always) that he deserved a rest day.
But then the days kept passing.
Itachi feels his knees go weak. "I failed him," he whispers, staring down at his hands. His shoulders are shaking, he realizes. And - he touches his cheek - his face is wet. But he isn't making a sound despite the scream that is clawing its way up his throat and there is a strange ringing in his ears. "I failed him."
His father makes a distressed noise and brings him to the living room to sit down. "Shhh," Dad says, pulling Itachi in for a hug. Itachi lets him, buries his face in his dad's chest and breathes, "We'll find him. It's going to be okay."
The tears are coming faster, but when Itachi speaks his voice is as steady as ever. "I'm sorry, Daddy," he whispers, "I was supposed to protect him." I was supposed to be better this time. I wasn't going to let him get hurt. I wasn't going to let anything happen to him. He was going to grow up happy and naïve and untouched by all the terrible things in the world. And now he's gone! As if in an after thought, he adds, "It should have been me."
"Oh no," Dad whispers petting Itachi's hair. He's breathing hard and Itachi hears his father's heart flutter. "Oh no, no, no. This is not your fault, Itachi. This is the fault of whoever took him." His father pulls him up and looks him in the eye. They shine with unshed tears and Itachi is, not for the first time, so very grateful for this world that has allowed his father to become this man. Because there is fire in his father's eyes but there is also kindness, warmth, love. "Promise me," Dad orders, "Promise me you will not blame yourself. I will not lose two sons to this, am I clear?"
Itachi takes a deep, chest-rattling breath—the air is still so impossibly heavy—and nods, "Yes." Because he has not forgotten how to take orders even after all these cycles.
"I love you, Itachi," his father says, pulling him close for another hug. "It's going to be okay. Sasuke will come home. We just have to give it time."
Itachi just breathes and tries to believe.)
A/N: Once again thank you so much for all the feedback! Seriously, it fuels me. I love knowing what people think of my work so thank you!
Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. Added a few more POVs (Karin! WOO! Team Hebi is coming back!) and got us some Uchiha progress. Sakura is also becoming one of my favs to write.
I also wanted to point out that Sasuke hasn't really fooled them into thinking he's Uchiha. Both Kakashi, Sakura, and now Naruto have expressed their confusion over Sasuke's personality change (its there in their POVs in the last chapter and this chapter). They just assumed he is because he is identical to Uchiha and his memory loss and personality changes-to an extant-can be explained away by trauma. They don't know that Uchiha and Sasuke's time in Sound wasn't full of torture and abuse. Plus who would think there were two Sasuke's running around?
I'm going away for the weekend, but we'll see when I can get the next chapter up. So far updating has been working out which makes me really happy!
Shout out to my beta: TheMaelStromWrites
