So I finally updated. This is one of the more violent chapters, enjoy at your own discretion.
Disclaimer: This is a work of fan fiction using characters from the Naruto universe, which is trademarked by Kishimoto Masashi.
Absolution
Chapter 4: Misconduct
"A man is not old until regrets take the place of dreams."
-John Barrymore
Itachi's first impression of Naruto was that he was excessively stupid.
Itachi had woken up to the boy screaming in his ear, telling him to wake the fuck up and properly introduce himself. He would have dragged Itachi off the small square of cloth he laid on, if Itachi hadn't instantly placed a strong hand on Naruto's neck. Old habits die hard.
"Shit shit shit! I'm sorry, for God's sake! I'm fucking sorry, put me down—"
Itachi sighed, half out of relief, half out of annoyance. Naruto fell unceremoniously to the ground. The boy had broken out in a cold sweat, a thoroughly terrified expression on his face. Very few had Uchiha Itachi strangle them and lived to tell about it.
"Are you my roommate?" Itachi rubbed the grit out of his eyes. The night's short sleep wasn't enough to take away the soreness in his body. A sharp pain emanated from his brands, and out of a perverse curiosity, Itachi wanted to find a mirror.
"I—I guess you can say that." Naruto was back on his feet. He stared at Itachi. The guy had seemed harmless enough when he was asleep: pale, skinny, a little banged-up, pretty enough to be mistaken for a girl. Oh shit. Where the fuck had his manners gone?
"I'm Uzumaki Naruto, and I'm going to be the next Hokage!" Naruto folded his arms and beamed down on Itachi, his standard pose for when he told other people about his awesome dream. Like all the others, Itachi did not receive him very enthusiastically.
"Then you're from Fire?" Well, that was a better reaction than most. Naruto, now encouraged by Itachi's response, started talking his mouth off.
"You bet it I am! Well, I don't actually remember being there, but the bastard Kabuto told me that I was. And I know that the ruler of Fire is the Hokage, and that only the toughest motherfucker in the land can become the Hokage. I'm tough, and I'm gonna' get out of this shithole someday, and the Hokage won't know what hit him when I beat his ass up and make him beg for mercy. Then I'll come back to Sound and beat the shit out of…"
With half-closed eyes, Itachi examined Naruto. Very stupid. Almost retarded, actually. The boy seemed to be about Sasuke's age, but too little food and too much hard labor had caused Naruto to be shorter, with a smaller frame. He had dirty blonde hair that stuck out in all directions, contrasting sharply with the bright blue eyes set in that thick skull. His skin was tan and rough, and Itachi could see the faded brand partially obscured by Naruto's hair.
"…You're from Fire too, right? I'm wondering if you happen to know any other Uzumaki's. None of the other guys from Fire know, but I bet they're not telling me just to piss me off. I bet the Uzumaki's are the greatest fucking clan out there and—"
"I'm sorry. I don't know anyone else who is called Uzumaki."
The smile on Naruto's face dropped for a little
"Huh. Bummer. Speaking of names, what's yours?"
Itachi hesitated, pretending to take a moment to change into the crumpled work clothes that he found on the floor (he did not want to think why there was dried blood sprinkled on the front). There was no real reason not to tell the brat his real name, but in his gut he had a gnawing feeling that "Uchiha Itachi" would scare the kid badly. Probably Naruto had never heard of Itachi or what he had done, and even if he did, he'd maybe be the first person not to try to kill him or completely avoid him. Yet, Itachi couldn't stand the thought of spending his remaining years being surrounded by whispers of "murderer" and "monster", deprived of even the basest form of camaraderie slavery's misery could provide. His mind flipped through names, names of friends, of family, of people he had killed, of people he had read about.
Ah. There it was. It would do perfectly. Itachi's lips indulged in a smile, not nearly as bright as Naruto's.
"I'm Shisui. I used to be a soldier, and my family was a poor one that didn't have a surname."
If he was the type, Itachi would have laughed, laughed furiously until he cried. This was another part of his purgatory, maybe the worst. He would cringe whenever someone called his name, and Itachi would relish the sting that came with every syllable. Shisui was probably in heaven, folded over in laughter as well, enjoying the results of his final bad, brilliant joke.
"I feel so fucking bad for you. First day as a slave and you get to live with fucking Naruto."
Tayuya slapped Itachi on the shoulder, supposedly to comfort him. She had a strong arm.
"Yeah, I know, right? Stay away from Uzumaki, Shisui, if you know what's good for ya'."
Suigetsu chewed his rice loudly, pointing his chopsticks at Naruto, who was sitting on a rock far away, concentrating very hard on his empty bowl.
Itachi had not talked very long with Naruto, when the dull ring of a bell had announced the start of the day. Naruto had trudged over to the main entrance of the mines, grabbing a worn pick-axe from a huge pile. A guard had grabbed Itachi and shoved him in the opposite direction, towards another entrance that went deeper under the mountains. He also picked up a pick-axe, and a pair of baskets, and climbed down a ladder into a dark pit. He joined a still incomplete line of crouched men and women that were hurling all of their might into the walls of a tunnel. Right next to him stood Jugo, a mild-mannered boy with a body like a giant. Jugo was kind enough to inform Itachi on what to do. Try to break off as much coal as possible with one hit. After a while gather the coal into the basket. Then when the basket is full, dump it in a cart that would be at the other end of the tunnel.
Itachi had done things much more exerting and difficult than this. He had had trained men spar with him with sharpened knives, he had carried the carcass of a full grown pig up and down a mountain to improve his stamina. But kneeling in a cramped tunnel, using only the force of his arms to scrape off the coal, breathing in the dust that also settled on his face: it was a completely new experience. The clang of metal and rock was deafening, and in the dark he could barely hear an overseer beating another slave with his club, and the slave's pathetic pleads for mercy.
After what seemed like an infinity, the bell rang once more, and everyone emptied out of the tunnels. In the chilled winter sunlight, Itachi could see that each face had been blackened out completely, as if with ink. It was almost comical. Jugo was using his clothes to wipe the dust off his face, and Itachi used tore off the bottom hem of his sleeve (his flimsy kosode wasn't enough to block out the cold anyways) to clean up. A long line was forming in front of a stall, and every person in the queue was holding a bowl.
Jugo had introduced Itachi to his "friends," Suigetsu, Karin, Tayuya, and Kidomaru. They were eating in a circle on a relatively flat part of ground, reminding Itachi of the cliques and clans that formed at schools. It amused him, to think that even slaves had a social structure.
"Why does everyone dislike Uzumaki so much?" Itachi asked. Kidomaru snickered, and Karin nearly snorted. Suigetsu laughed aloud, and Itachi could see every sharp tooth that lined the boy's mouth.
"He's a loser, isn't it obvious? Among all these pieces of shit, he's the smelliest shit of all. Trouble follows him the way iron follows a magnet. The little prick never had two friends to rub together, never will."
Jugo quietly interrupted, "Although, you must admit, that Naruto is pretty strong. Most of the people who come here don't last more than two years. Yet no one in this mine remembers a time without Naruto."
Everyone was temporarily silenced, perhaps reminded of their predicament and their short, worthless lives.
Kidomaru awkwardly broke the lull in conversation. "I heard you were a soldier, Shisui. How the fuck did you end up here? I don't think there's any war going on but it's damn hard to tell when you never leave this place."
Itachi slipped in a little truth. "I was discharged for….misconduct. The punishment was prison or this, and all of the prisons were full."
Karin raised an eyebrow. "That's pretty harsh. You don't sound like some conscript though, maybe an officer."
"Yeah. Does Fire usually do this type of shit to officers?" said Suigetsu.
"I was nothing special, bottom rank. My family was poor and couldn't farm so I joined the army."
Kidomaru grinned lopsidedly. "Story of my fucking life and everyone else's. Orochimaru likes former soldiers as his lapdogs I guess."
"The faggot likes bitches that can fight back in the bed, that's what," said Suigetsu.
Everyone laughed, but they were cut off by the bell. Suigetsu cursed under his breath as all the bowls were returned to the stall. Itachi took the liberty to stretch his back, and then started back towards the entrance. From the corner of his eye, he could see Naruto staring at him, the jealousy synthesized crystal clear in his expression.
Itachi could scream. He decided to allow himself that much. It was better to scream than spill the Hokage's darkest secrets.
He could see the white, splintered bone sticking out of the skin of his leg. Even without the pain, the sight alone was enough to turn his stomach. Ibiki raised a hand and backhanded Itachi, hoping that the sounds clawing out his throat would be stopped by the sudden blow.
"Most people would faint after that. I'm pleasantly surprised, Uchiha."
Itachi managed to muffle his screaming, biting down hard on his lip. It no longer worked to meditate and "lose himself." The pain and the blood and the cold air touching his open flesh was simply becoming too much. As he lay on the wooden table, bound by steel and leg bashed in with a mallet, Itachi realized that he wanted to die. To die and die and die until there was no more muscle or bone to fall apart and no eyes to see red cloaking over his vision and no Ibiki standing over him with his million and one questions—
Ibiki smiled grimly as he picked up a handful of small bamboo wedges "Asking is useless with you. I'll just have to go straight to the breaking point."
With precision born from practice, the man drove the wedges underneath Itachi's fingernails, tapping them in with the butt of his knife. Itachi closed his eyes, his teeth puncturing his lip and drawing blood. He could stand this, because this would pass. The iron that burned and hissed on his cheek had passed, as did the time some ANBU trainees used him as a sandbag. He could get through this, even if it was going so very, very slowly. He had lost too much blood, and a strong headache swirled in his skull. He opened his eyes only to see the dark cell fading into a pale yellow, and his ears rang with a distant buzz. He was going to pass out, finally—
His entire world burst into a hot, florescent white. Ibiki held a pair of pliers, its ends squeezing a thumbnail.
"Four more to go."
Itachi stared at the katana in his hands. His gloves were damp from all of the red moonlight flowing down the blade, and Itachi felt nothing, other than the fact that of the 195 targets, he had eliminated 191. The 192th was charging towards him with a mighty battle cry, and Itachi beheaded him with a single smooth movement. He wondered what all that training and sweat was for, when killing a man was so easy. You only needed to sever the jugular, or put a piece of metal through the chest, or even just hit someone hard enough in the right places, and everything would be over. He could end years of hard work and love and hate and embarrassment and joy with a single smooth movement.
193. He saw a baby that a woman, a distant aunt of Itachi's, had been carrying. It wailed at an ear-shattering pitch, trying to earn comfort from its mother's cold body. Itachi couldn't bring himself to cut apart the little child, and instead smothered it with his palm. It struggled for a moment, but soon it stilled, and Itachi could stand up once more. He walked towards his own home, where 194 and 195 were waiting. He opened the door, and went straight to the main parlor, where both targets were waiting patiently.
"So it comes to this."
Fugaku did not turn around, but Itachi could hear the disappointment in his voice. So ironic, for it was the first time Fugaku was ever disappointed in his beloved son, when Itachi was going to complete the greatest accomplishment in the history of the Uchiha clan. Itachi walked in front of the couple, his eyes respectfully turned down and his voice calm and flat.
"I ask for your forgiveness."
Mikoto looked up at her little baby boy. "I know you will take good care of Sasuke."
"I will."
Itachi was quick, two successive strikes aimed directly at the heart. It was probably painless. He didn't know what it felt like to die.
Sasuke was staring at Itachi from the stairs, his eyes like large, black ponds. The boy had rested one hand on a railing, and the other shook wildly. Itachi had expected this much. He raised his katana, its blade parallel with the slope of Sasuke's forehead.
"Come and get me."
The mallet fell once again. Itachi could scream. He decided to allow himself that much.
"Shisui! Shisui!"
Itachi opened his eyes. He could feel beads of sweat rolling down his clammy face. Naruto was desperately shaking his torso, with a worried, frantic expression that Itachi recognized. A long time ago, on nights when Itachi came back from some especially gory battle, Sasuke would run to his brother's room and shake him awake. Itachi would then hold Sasuke in his arms as the little body heaved with great big sobs, because if there was something that could make his big brother wail and toss in his sleep, it had to be really, really scary.
Naruto didn't say anything as he handed the man his own canteen, which miraculously had water left over from the day. Itachi did not refuse it.
"…Nightmare, huh?" Naruto awkwardly sat next to him, because tact was something he rarely practiced, along with a quiet voice.
"Yes."
"You…you wanna' talk about it?"
Itachi let out a soft, short laugh, almost like a bark.
"No. Not tonight."
Naruto mustered the courage to pat Itachi on the back, once.
"Well…y'know…if you ever wanna'…"
The boy lay down on his side of the hut, facing away from Itachi.
Itachi closed his eyes once more. Before he fell asleep and returned to his dark cell in Kohona, he wondered what Sasuke was dreaming tonight, if they were the dreams that Itachi had not meant to give him.
I wrote this chapter two times. The first time I was sorta wandering around and stuff, not really sure what to do. I erased, and spent some time on planning out the entire story, down to the fine details. And voila! the monstrosity you see now was written within a few hours.
Reviews are as always very, very welcome. Nothing makes a writer happier than his/her readers' opinion. :D
