Chapter Four

"No."

Everyone turned to Sasuke who was glaring at them all with wet dark eyes.

"I don't believe you! I- I can't believe you."

The sandaime sighed and handed them the official mission papers.

Sasuke read them shocked as the man continued speaking.

"Once the deed was done, I gave him the mission to go undercover in a criminal organization called the Akatsuki. He asked that I watch over you, and protect you until you became a shinobi and could protect yourself."

A broken sob left the teen who threw the papers down, his entire core rattled. Then, blind to everything but his own grief, he raced from the room, ignoring the cries of everyone behind him.

*/*

Lies.

It was all lies.

Sasuke clutched his head as he sobbed brokenly in front of his parents' graves, the conversation from the Sandaime's office running rampant in his mind.

Itachi couldn't be innocent.

He couldn't be.

He thought back to that night, to Itachi forcing him to watch him slaughter their parents. He could still remember the vivid crimson of his brother's eyes as they glared into his own, the thick scent of copper invading his senses as he chased the murderer through the family compound.

He could remember the last words the man had ever spoken to him, so cold and detached that at the time, his stunned childish brain had frozen.

He remembered-

He froze, eyes widening as a sudden thought occurred to him.

Tears.

He remembered tears.

Itachi had been crying when he turned away and left the village. At the time, the trauma had somehow blocked this small detail from his memory but now, with Shisui's explanation echoing in his mind, and his thoughts free of the Tsukuyomi, it had come back in startling detail.

Itachi was innocent.

Why else would he have cried that night?

Pain lanced through his heart at his aniki's suffering and determination flared in beside the hole left by the loss of his clan. He would continue to get strong. He would bring their clan's killers to justice.

Then, he would bring his big brother home.

The teen nodded resolutely, and he placed a gentle hand on the headstone before him.

"I'll bring him home, Tou-san, Kaa-san. I promise. I'll prove his innocence to the world." He smirked.

"And I'm gonna kick his ass for lying to me."

*/*

Shisui stared at the paper before him, guilt weighing down his heart as he took in the words scrawled across the page.

Itachi had killed their clan.

Those bastards had forced a thirteen-year-old child, a pacifist at that, to slay his family to prevent a civil war.

He'd never hated his village more than he had in that moment.

"Has he told you what his plans for Sasuke were?"

He asked quietly, happy that the Hokage had dismissed everyone else following Sasuke's abrupt departure, while he'd stayed behind to discuss what had been said, his thoughts in turmoil from what he'd heard.

The Hokage sighed at his question, looking older than his seventy-six years.

"He didn't. However, I do know that he plans for Sasuke to kill him. He believes that if he does, the honor of your clan will be restored, the secrets of your clan dying with him. I am hoping that, by telling him the truth, I have derailed this. He deserves more than dying disgraced in the eyes of the one he sacrificed everything for."

"Why would they do this? Why him?" He asked softly and the Sandaime shook his head.

"Barring Kakashi and yourself, Itachi was and always has been our village's most loyal shinobi. However, unlike yourself, Itachi and Kakashi are of the belief that shinobi are mere tools and so they behave as such. If it is for the village, or for Sasuke, he will do whatever is asked of him. I believe the elders were aware of this fact and exploited it." His features hardened.

"With your help, I would like to have them executed for treason after the impending Chūnin Exams."

Shisui's eyes flashed. Unlike Itachi, he felt their clan's Curse of Hatred as strongly as any Uchiha. If it would get his cousin the revenge he deserved he would do it.

"Just tell me what to do."

*/*

Obito didn't know what to think.

His baby brother had been his world, his one light within the walls of their clan and hearing just how his brother had died set all of his protective instincts off.

It only worsened when he learned the fate of his little cousin, the little pacifist that used to listen to him tell stories with wide fascinated eyes and a small smile. He'd been the one to comfort him when he awakened his sharingan and his subsequent first kill only weeks before the incident at Kanabi bridge. He'd helped him keep it from Fugaku-dono, knowing the man would force him into the academy if he knew, there was no way he wouldn't, even knowing his eldest was a pacifist.

"You alright?"

He turned at his team mate's voice, shaking his head honestly.

He didn't know how much had changed with the younger since his death, but something told him this Kakashi was much different from the one he'd died to save.

There was haunted look about him, hidden behind the carefree light in his eyes. Had it been another day, he'd ask about it, but with the information he'd learned at the meeting whirling in his mind he didn't think he could take anymore earth-shattering revelations.

"I'm sorry about Itachi."

He hummed and Kakashi continued. "He was under me in ANBU until he became a taichō. The guys gave him hell, thinking Fugaku bought his way in, then he proved to be one of the most efficient and he gained their respect. His team were perhaps among the few that believe him innocent and they to this day won't hear a word against him. His name is nearly taboo in hq."

"Why are you telling me this?" He whispered, looking up and his teammate sighed.

"Because you needed to hear it."

He stared at the man. "You've changed, Bakakashi. It suits you."

The scarecrow chuckled and turned to leave. "If you say so. Sandaime-sama assigned you to team seven as my assistant. Don't be late."

He watched the man go, then smiled.

Perhaps being in the future wouldn't be all bad.

*/*

Things were changing.

A single narrow eye gazed down at the village below contemplatively, their owner able to feel the winds of change right down to his bones.

Since the reports of Shisui Uchiha and an unknown man entering the village, he'd had his Ne up in arms. So far, he'd yet to hear anything, but he doubted he wouldn't soon. Sarutobi, for all he was a peace-loving fool, was cunning and ruthless when he needed to be. There was little doubt in his mind that Uchiha would share the specifics of their last encounter with Sarutobi but he was prepared.

His gaze found a head of crimson hair walking calmly through the village, followed by two others and he smirked vanishing in a swirl of leaves. He reappeared in an underground infirmary two dark haired people lying on the beds. The first was a woman, her body slender beneath the blue gown she wore. The other was a male, his face twisted into a scowl even in his unconsciousness.

He was very well prepared.

TBC…