Author's Note: Ugh, this chapter was supposed to be out days ago. I was almost finished writing it when my laptop broke and I had to send it away for repairs. I had to re-type this entire chapter from the beginning on the desktop PC at my house. So I apologize for the lateness, everyone. My beta's computer is having problems as well, so I edited this chapter myself in order to not keep you lovely readers waiting. I guess it's just the week for computer problems, eh?
Oh my gosh, you guys are all such sweethearts. The reviews I've been getting have been absolutely lovely. It always makes my day to hear that people like this fic. :3
DISCLAIMER: Since I am not a Japanese man named Kishimoto Masashi, I do not own the rights to Naruto. This is a work of fanfiction, and I make no money off of writing it.
WARNINGS: Some explicit language here and there, nothing major in this chapter.
You guys have waited long enough, on to the chapter!
For the next few years, Sasuke trained. He spent countless hours in the clearing behind the cottage, diligently practicing as many taijutsu styles and moves as Itachi could teach him. Gone were the days when the older Uchiha had to scold his little brother to work harder or practice for longer. Now, Itachi simply stood at the edge of the clearing and watched, feeling pride radiate through him in waves as he watched Sasuke master every single move he was taught.
As Itachi had hoped, Sasuke had left Konohagakure with a definite purpose in mind. Sasuke no longer wanted to get strong for the sole purpose of pleasing his older brother, but because Sasuke himself wanted strength enough to meet his goal. This newfound purpose molded Sasuke into a more perfect fighter than Itachi ever could have made him. Simply learning a new fighting move was no longer enough for the younger Uchiha. He had to practice it again and again until he'd reached a level of perfection rivaled only by Itachi's own. More than once, Itachi had to coax his younger brother inside to eat and sleep, lest Sasuke collapse from exhaustion in the training field.
Sasuke didn't neglect his mind, either. At least once a week, Itachi would come in from hunting or tending the garden to see his younger brother asleep at the table, his head pillowed on stacks of Itachi's notes. The older Uchiha had written down everything he could remember about the Uchiha Clan from his own training - which was a lot, as Itachi had an excellent memory. Everything from which artery was the best to aim for in order to ensure a silent kill, to how to properly conduct a tea ceremony for visiting dignitaries, was in these notes. The clan's wisdom was in this way preserved, solely for Sasuke's education. Sasuke occasionally scribbled little notes of his own in the margins, drawing out hidden connections between very different and seemingly unrelated topics. It was clear that Sasuke had, to Itachi's immense pride, inherited the famed Uchiha intellect.
As Sasuke grew older, however, his relationship with Itachi grew more strained. The younger Uchiha grew more sullen and easily irritated as he advanced farther into his teenage years. He spent increasingly more time alone than with his older brother. If Itachi tried to help Sasuke with a fighting move, he would be pushed away. "I can do it myself!" Sasuke would yell, looking at Itachi with eyes burning with black fire.
No longer did the two brothers converse about their days over meals and in the quiet hours of the night before one of them drifted off to sleep. Although Sasuke had a healthy appetite, he treated mealtimes as an annoying but necessary interruption to his training. The younger Uchiha would eat quickly, his eyes focused on the bowl in his hands, before getting up to resume his training or studying. At bedtime, Sasuke would only say a terse "good-night" to Itachi before turning so that his back was facing the older Uchiha. Itachi missed the times when Sasuke was a carefree child who would climb into bed with him at night and ask for a story. These days, it seemed that Sasuke would rather eat pond scum than ask Itachi for a story. The older Uchiha had no idea how to raise a child, and no one he could turn to for help or advice. All Itachi could do was give Sasuke his space, and hope that his younger brother's behavior improved when puberty ended.
Sasuke grew more impatient with age as well, sparking fights between Itachi and himself on a weekly basis.
"So are we ever going to actually kill Danzou, or will we just hide out in this cottage like cowards for the rest of our lives?" Sasuke would ask, his brow wrinkled with frustration.
"Be patient," Itachi would reply, struggling to do the very same with his younger brother. Often, it was a losing battle. "We must wait until the time is right, or else it will mean our deaths."
"The time's never right for you!" Sasuke would yell. "Or is it that you still think that I'm too weak to face Danzou?"
"Stop acting like a child, Sasuke!" Itachi would snap back, finally losing his grip on his patience. "If we were to go after Danzou now, you wouldn't last a minute! I don't want to lose the only family I have left!"
"Yeah, well I'd rather go out in a fight than die of old age and boredom in the middle of fucking nowhere!"
The fight would quickly escalate to a point where two brothers would find themselves outside, exchanging kicks and punches, wrestling and sometimes even biting each other. Itachi would always win, keeping Sasuke pinned to the ground until his younger brother ran out of energy to fight. As Sasuke became a better fighter, however, Itachi found himself nursing some nasty bruises of his own when the fighting ended. Afterwards, Itachi and Sasuke would tend to their wounds in silence and go to bed without speaking a word to each other for the rest of the night.
At some point during their fights, Itachi realized that a time would come when Sasuke would actually become stronger than he was. Sasuke had more raw talent for fighting than Itachi had ever had, and was incredibly bright as well. Considering his younger brother's current attitude towards him, however, Itachi didn't know whether to be proud or afraid of the moment when Sasuke surpassed him.
A few weeks after Sasuke's eighteenth birthday, Itachi left on his monthly trip to town, loading himself up beforehand with animal skins and meat to trade with. Sasuke elected to stay behind. For him, the excitement of going into town with Itachi had long since worn off. The women there kept trying to set him up with their marriageable daughters, and he couldn't so much as take a piss during the whole trip without Itachi breathing down his neck.
Sasuke didn't tell his older brother any of that, though. Instead, he told Itachi that he was staying behind in order to dry berries and pickle vegetables for the fast-approaching winter months. Since it was mid-September and the mornings and nights were starting to become chilly, it was an excuse Itachi accepted.
Normally, a trip into town took Itachi, traveling by himself, around two days. Sasuke spent most of this time training in the clearing behind the house, finding it much easier to practice without Itachi nearby. He was in such good spirits by the end of Itachi's first day gone that he even took a quick swim in the nearby lake, since the afternoons wouldn't be warm enough to do so in a few more weeks.
By the end of the third day Itachi had been gone, however, Sasuke was starting to worry. His brother had never been home late from town before. Had Itachi been in some sort of accident? Was he lying somewhere along the road, hurt and in pain? Or even worse - had Danzou finally found out about their existence, tracked them down, and killed Itachi? Would he send someone after Sasuke next?
An hour after Sasuke had given up on trying to sleep and was sitting by the fire, looking out the window for Itachi, the door to the house slammed open. Sasuke's hand was halfway to the wooden kunai at his belt when he realized that Itachi had finally come home. The older Uchiha looked more serious than Sasuke had ever seen him before. There was a certain wildness to his gaze that was completely foreign to Itachi's otherwise calm, quiet nature.
"The hell have you been?" Sasuke demanded, not at all reassured by the way Itachi looked.
The older Uchiha ignored his brother, instead going to one of the wooden chests where they stored things and rummaging around for a few moments, finally pulling out fresh paper, quills, and ink.
"Hey, don't ignore me - !"
"Come to the table, otouto," Itachi interrupted. "It is finally time for us to move against Danzou."
Sasuke immediately shut up and went to his older brother's side at the large wooden table where the two of them ate and, in Sasuke's case, studied. His heart was pounding so hard that it felt as if it was going to come out of his chest. He'd spent his entire life training for this moment...could it finally have come at last?
"I've heard in town from a trader who was recently in Konohagakure that the Demon Prince is to have his mating ceremony next week," Itachi said. "This is an extremely important event, perhaps the most important since Danzou seized the reigns of power. Whoever the Prince may end up mating with, we can use them to our advantage."
Sasuke frowned slightly. He didn't much care about what happened to the Demon Prince - or any demon for that matter - but it was strange for Itachi to suddenly be switching his focus away from Danzou like this. "But if we kill the Prince's mate, won't the Prince die as well? Why are we suddenly out for him now?"
"You misunderstand me, Sasuke," Itachi said, looking intently at his younger brother. "I don't intend for us to kill Uzumaki, far from it. Rather, I believe that we can use the Prince's mate to get close to him."
"So what exactly is it that you want from him? Legal protection after we kill Danzou?"
Itachi hummed lightly. "Something like that."
"The fuck do you mean, 'something like that?' Either tell me what it is you want with the Prince, or - "
"And Sasuke," Itachi interrupted once more, "I want you to infiltrate the mating ceremony and find out who Uzumaki's mate is."
"Wha - really?" Sasuke was dumbstruck. Was Itachi really entrusting him with something of this importance? Was he talking to the same Itachi who had refused to let him out of his sight in Konohagakure five years earlier? "Why me?"
"I think that you are ready for this, otouto." Itachi's lips quirked slightly upwards. "You have grown over the years into a strong and capable fighter, as well as a brilliant analyst. If anyone can successfully infiltrate the royal demon palace, it's you."
Sasuke could only blink at Itachi, completely lost for words. This was the first time in the younger Uchiha's memory that his brother had actually acknowledged his strength. The younger Uchiha felt a surprising surge of goodwill towards his older brother. "Thanks..." he finally murmured quietly, causing Itachi's smile to broaden just a smidgen.
Together, the two brothers bent their heads over the table and immersed themselves in planning the infiltration.
Itachi didn't know much about demons, unfortunately. He had been in training when the Uchiha Clan was massacred, and so had never really gotten the opportunity to interact with demons on any sort of long-term basis. However, the one thing Itachi did know about demons, which he had of course taught to Sasuke, were their mating habits. These were taught early on to members of the Uchiha Clan, since any human who wished to work closely with demons needed to know about their mating habits. Mating was, after all, an important part of demon social life.
Demons didn't find their life partners in the same way that humans did. There was no courtship, no dating, no break-ups, and no weddings. From the time of their birth, demons were fated to belong with only one other demon as their mate. The two would share an extremely close, personal bond with each other for the rest of their lives. Two mates would know each other's physical and emotional states as well as they knew their own. They would share their entire lives together, with no secrets between them. Mated demons were so closely connected to each other, in fact, that if one of them died, the other would follow shortly afterwards.
Finding one's mate was an important part of any demon's life, but it was especially important to royal families. Who one's mate was could make or break political alliances in the demon world, and often affected the sorts of political decisions a family made. It was therefore common practice for royal families to hold elaborate mating ceremonies whenever a family member reached adulthood. These ceremonies were lavish affairs, on which much time and money were spent. During the ceremony, the demon of honor would sit at the head of the room, while all eligible demons of royal blood were brought before them, in the hopes that a bond would be formed and serve to strengthen a family's political position.
As Konoha's Prince, Uzumaki Naruto's mating ceremony had the potential to affect the entire nation. In order to find out who the Demon Prince's mate would be, Sasuke was to infiltrate the palace disguised as a human servant. Every morning, the servants left the palace in order to trade with the humans of Konohagakure for luxury items, such as jewels, perfumes, and silks. A thriving industry had built up around providing these items for the demons, since it was one of the few ways for humans to get enough food for themselves and their families. Itachi would procure a servant's garb for Sasuke - he was awfully vague about how exactly he was going to do that, but Sasuke was unable to get his older brother to elaborate. Then, Sasuke was to go into the demon part of Konohagakure with the rest of the servants.
Once inside the palace, Sasuke would need to find a quiet place from which to watch the ceremony. Afterwards, he would need to find somewhere to hide inside the palace, where particularly nosy guards wouldn't find him and ask questions. In the morning, Sasuke would leave Konohagakure with the servants, slip away from them when the moment was right, and bring what he had learned back to Itachi. It sounded like a simple enough plan in theory, but both brothers knew that there were all sorts of things that could go wrong. Itachi and Sasuke spent many hours formulating numerous back-up plans should Sasuke run into trouble.
During this planning period, Sasuke had no idea how he felt about his older brother. On one hand, he was honored that Itachi had finally acknowledged his strength and entrusted him with such an important and dangerous task. Yet on the other hand, Sasuke was incredible frustrated that Itachi still didn't want to actually kill Danzou. The younger Uchiha hadn't been training for eighteen years simply for a reconnaissance mission. He would be damned if he was going to spend the next eighteen years of his life hiding out in the middle of nowhere while Itachi debated about what to do.
Itachi and Sasuke prepared to leave for Konohagakure a few days before the mating ceremony, allowing for ample traveling time. The morning of their departure, Sasuke was filled with nervous energy. Recon or not, he felt like this was the most important thing he had done with his life to date. It wasimperative that he be successful.
The two brothers dressed in the plain clothing and rice paper hats they always wore upon going to town, and Sasuke waited impatiently by the door while Itachi packed a large cloth bag full of food, water, and a few animal skins they could trade with in an emergency. As they set off, the younger Uchiha couldn't help glancing back every now and again at the tiny cottage he had called home for his entire life. He couldn't shake the nagging feeling that this would be the last time he would ever see it again. Sasuke chalked this up to nerves, however. Come on, Uchiha, he mentally berated himself. Get your head in the game.
The trip to town was spent in silence, Sasuke thinking over every single aspect of his mission, as well as the numerous back-up plans he and Itachi had created, as the two brothers leapt swiftly over the treetops. Just as they arrived at the edge of town, Itachi landed on the bough next to Sasuke and took hold of his younger brother's shoulder to stop him from continuing forward. "Wait, otouto," he said. "I have something that I want to give to you."
Itachi pressed something cool and metallic that he had taken from his waist pouch into Sasuke's hand. Looking at it, the younger Uchiha's eyes widened in shocked disbelief. He could hardly believe his eyes. Was Itachi really entrusting him with an item of such importance?
Itachi had given Sasuke one of the three precious kunai knives he had been able to salvage from the ruins of the Uchiha Clan home - the last of the clan's weapons. As a child, Sasuke had often looked inside the chest containing these three kunai, dreaming of the day when he would use them in a real fight. Itachi had forbidden him from touching them, let alone training with them, for his entire life. Until now.
The metal was blackened in a few places from exposure to the flames that had engulfed their home and kinsmen, but it still shone like a precious treasure in the light of the morning sun. The kunai's edges were perfectly sharp, and the Uchiha fan was emblazoned clearly on the flat of the blade. "Are...are you really...?" Sasuke trailed off, at a loss for words.
"Yes. Use it only if you absolutely must, Sasuke, and if that moment comes, use it wisely." With that, Itachi leapt gracefully from the tree and headed into town. Sasuke reverently tucked the kunai into his own waist pouch before following his brother.
Itachi and Sasuke were able to hitch a ride with an old man who was transporting a wagonload of wood and stone building materials to Konohagakure. Unlike the ornery old woman from five years ago, this man was more than happy for the extra security the two Uchiha brothers would provide. The only other person the man had with him was his grandson, who couldn't be more than ten years old. The man introduced himself as Tazuna, and his grandson as Inari.
The trip proved to be an irritating one for Sasuke. Inari bombarded him and Itachi with questions from his seat at the front of the wagon. "Why are you guys going to Konohagakure? Where do you live? Are you traders too?" Itachi told the boy the usual story, that he and Sasuke were hunters visiting relatives in the capital. Sasuke had to admit that his older brother did a fine job of answering Inari's questions, while at the same time not divulging any important information. Eventually, the boy fell asleep, and Sasuke had a few brief moments of glorious quiet before Tazuna started talking. The old man switched between complaining about the state of the roads, which he'd apparently worked on before Danzou had taken control, and telling stories about his daughter and Inari. Sasuke wondered briefly if this was what hell was like - sitting in the back of a wagon traveling over cracked and broken roads, while strangers you didn't particularly care for yammered on endlessly.
By the time they finally arrived at Konohagakure, night had fallen, and Sasuke was only too happy to bid Tazuna and Inari good-bye. He could feel the beginnings of a headache coming on after all that chatter.
The night was cold and clear, a full moon shining down and bathing the crumbling buildings and streets around Itachi and Sasuke in a silvery light. It served to make their surroundings look even more washed-out than they actually were. Sasuke followed his older brother through the city, the two brothers cutting across alleyways and back streets in order to avoid any drunken, possibly violent people who might be wandering around at this late hour. The human part of Konohagakure was definitely not a place to be wandering around in after dark.
Eventually, Itachi found a building at the edge of town that still had most of its walls, and the two brothers bedded down for the night, wrapping themselves in animal skins in order to ward off the cold. Between his own nerves and the cracked, broken stone floor beneath him, Sasuke was certain that he wouldn't sleep at all that night. But he must have been more tired than he realized from traveling, because after only a few minutes of looking at the stars twinkling up in the night sky through the rather sizeable holes in the ceiling, Sasuke's eyes closed and he felt himself drifting off into unconsciousness.
The next morning dawned cold and clear, the sun shining brightly in a pale blue sky. Sasuke was rudely awakened by Itachi roughly shaking him. He sat up, irritably shoving his older brother's arm away. "I'm up already," he grumbled, yawning and rubbing the sleep from his eyes.
After a short, rather unpleasant breakfast of cold pickled vegetables, Itachi and Sasuke made their way out of the old building and towards the high walls encompassing the demon part of Konohagakure. They moved swiftly and quietly through alleyways and across back streets, keeping their heads down so as to keep people from seeing their faces. They made their way to a cramped little space between two buildings right in front of the huge metal gates, where they crouched in the shadows and waited.
Sasuke's limbs were beginning to ache from staying still for so long in such small quarters, when finally the guards standing on their platforms above the gate made a signal and the gates opened with a loud, groaning creak. A group of twenty or so servants filed out. They each wore simple, hooded white robes, tabi socks, and geta. All of them kept their hoods up and their heads down, walking along with quick, mincing steps. They reminded Sasuke of a herd of timid sheep.
If the servants were sheep, then the three demon guards accompanying them were large, dangerous, and heavily-armed sheepdogs. Each of them wore a cold, stony expression that would have made any statue proud. The guards were all outfitted in heavy leather armor with long, deadly-looking swords strapped to their backs. They all held large guns as well. Looking at them, it was small wonder that there weren't any humans in the street as the servants walked by.
"I'm going to get a servant's robe for you now," Itachi whispered. "Don't move from this spot until I return, all right?" With that, the older Uchiha slipped quietly out of their hiding place and around the corner of a building, disappearing from sight before Sasuke could even open his mouth.
Sighing, the younger Uchiha shifted around to try and get more comfortable while he waited for Itachi. Sasuke could only hope that his older brother would be back before his legs went completely numb.
Itachi moved like a shadow among the spaces between and behind buildings, becoming virtually invisible as he followed the servants and their guards. The older Uchiha needed to wait for exactly the right moment to strike, lest he be shot down where he stood by the guards. He noticed that one of the servants, who looked to be around Sasuke's age, was walking slightly behind the group. The boy was dragging his feet slightly, and Itachi thought he even saw him put his hand up to stifle a yawn once or twice. Itachi smirked slightly. Perfect. If he's tired, it will make it even easier for me to get his robe.
The group was nearing the trading post by the western end of the wall, and Itachi knew that he had to move quickly. His opportunity came when the group passed by the dilapidated wall of a building the older Uchiha was currently crouched behind. Itachi waited patiently, listening to the tramp of boots and the soft click-clacking of geta against the street, until he finally saw the straggling boy pass by. He darted out from his hiding place, lightning-quick, and grabbed the boy about the waist, quickly yanking him back into Itachi's hiding place.
The servant tried to cry out, but was prevented from doing so by Itachi's hand pressed tightly over his mouth. The older Uchiha's other arm pressed the boy firmly against his body to prevent him from escaping. It helped greatly that the servant was slight and lacking the intense martial arts training Itachi had gone through.
The boy was pale and trembling with fear as his eyes unwittingly met his captor's gaze. The second he did, however, the servant desperately wished he hadn't. Itachi's eyes were a hellish shade of red, three black tomoes swirling almost lazily about his pupils, merging together as they spun. The boy's eyes went wide with terror, and he resumed his struggles anew.
"Mangekyou Sharingan," Itachi whispered, and the servant boy knew no more.
Sasuke couldn't help breathing a sigh of relief when Itachi returned with a bundle of white cloth in his arms, since it meant that he could finally stand up again. The two brothers hurried behind a nearby building, where Itachi hurriedly thrust the disguise into Sasuke's arms. "Hurry up and put this on," the older Uchiha whispered, before turning around in order to watch for anyone coming down the street.
Sasuke hurriedly removed his own clothing and slipped into the robe, tabi, and geta. "OK, I'm done," he whispered. Itachi turned back around and cast a critical eye over him, briefly straightening the hem of the robe and pulling the hood up over Sasuke's head, before nodding approvingly.
"You'll do," he muttered. "Now hurry, the rest of them are probably at the trading post already. I'll see you tomorrow." With that, Itachi shoved Sasuke out from behind the building and into the street.
Taking a deep breath in order to steady his nerves, Sasuke began making his way towards the western end of the demons' wall.
Author's Note: I promise that Naruto will be in the next chapter! He'll show up at the very beginning of the next chapter, in fact. This part's already around ten pages in Microsoft Word, and I didn't want to make it even longer.
REVIEW CORNER Thanks for Reviewing: Lady Spain, bridmatt, gota gelada, foxykasumi, borninthedarkness, BadButt94, uchiha hinata21, JuliaUchiwa, inouekurosaki26, darkpetalz, Rosebunse
A huge thank you goes out to BadButt94, who has graciously agreed to beta this fic for me once her computer is repaired.
Keep those wonderful reviews coming, everyone! :D
