Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any of the characters in it.


VII.

On the next morning, the news spread fast and reached Jakushi early. The Fifth Hokage had gathered her Council last night and it didn't receive the news very well. There had been a division of opinions but before announcing a severe sentence the Council members have decided to hear Itachi's version.

That's why the whole village now talked about the Meeting in the afternoon. The Council planned on gathering once again under the roof of one of the biggest halls in the Academy, this time with the attendance of shinobi and citizens as witnesses to an open interrogation. The purpose was clear - to adjudge rightfully the accused.

Jakushi was already pacing slowly next to Sakura and listened to her words carefully. Sakura was aware of how things were and shared everything she knew.

"The Council is overly prejudiced. Tsunade-sensei told me that they're ready to vote for his... eradication."

"And with a right, if you ask me. It's not the best idea to let him live." Jakushi's eyes followed the lines of the mosaic pavement beneath her feet.

The small and tight streets, flowing into the main road weren't few but she had passed through them so many time that there was no need to look up or ahead.

"I don't know..." Sakura moaned quietly and Jakushi raised her head.

"What is it you don't know? He's a murderer. There's no place for him among the people here."

"I just... I thought-" Sakura sighed.

Jakushi looked at her inquiringly.

"There is a rule. A rule that the Council cannot neglect." Sakura's voice was quieter.

"A rule?" Jakushi narrowed eyes, trying to figure out what her friend was talking about.

"Over their predominance and decisions stands something else. The will of the Uchiha." Sakura glanced at Jakushi.

"There is no such thing as Uchiha anymore."

"But there is."

"You mean..."

"Yes. The word of Sasuke is heavier by right." Sakura murmured. "The last Uchiha."

"I forgot about that. So, if the clan was existent, they were to decide what to do with Itachi?"

"Exactly. But as it is now, Sasuke's the only one left. If I were on Itachi's place, I wouldn't mind the Council deciding my fate instead of Sasuke. Knowing their previous relationship."

Jakushi remained silent, unsure of the brothers' relationship. She was kind of curious to see them meet. What exactly happened between them?

"How was Sasuke yesterday? I assume he didn't take the news lightly."

"Actually... I didn't see him." Sakura was concerned. "I thought he'd stay a bit more but no, he left the city yesterday, very early in the morning."

"So you tell me he has no idea that his brother's alive and in Konoha?" Jakushi was surprised.

"Yeah."

"Well, then. It seems nothing can save the traitor from doom. Perhaps it's best for him that Sasuke's not here."

"And the final word remains for our venerable Hokage," Sakura concluded.


They arrived really soon at the Academy. The place was never as crowded and the way in was mildly said, difficult. When it came to giving justice, the people recalled, without giving a second thought. No matter if it was cold, warm, noisy or annoying.

Sakura pointed to Jakushi something in the distance. Takumi and Kioshi walked a few meters ahead, on their way to the third row. The hall, chosen by the Council was known for the most shinobi, being one of the places where the written exam for graduation was held. This one, in particular, was not so often used due to its big size and the seat positions. It resembled a lecture hall, with the frame of a crescent around a small and empty platform.

The first rows were occupied from the Junin, among which she saw her sensei Akemi and Kakashi. Behind them, most of the famous Rookie 9 sat with lively conversations, or what was left of them anyway. Sakura and Sasuke were missing in the picture too but they looked nice anyway. Jakushi always felt a slight pricking at their sight. They were so magnificent. A true pantheon of heroes.

A strong regard overwhelmed her when she thought how unreachable they were. They were a constant reminder, a banner of strength, a crest of bravery. One felt somehow insignificant near them. At least Sakura let people near and she didn't feel pushed aside. Not that she wanted to be compared. Nothing of the sort. She didn't want the glory. All she wanted was to defend the things she loved. Praise would only be an additional problem.

Nevertheless, they succeeded in getting seats behind the Rookie 9, next to Takumi and Kioshi.

"I feel like I've come to a trade fair. Why are all these people?" Jakushi sighed in exasperation.

"It's not like we're judging the next local thief." Sakura murmured.

"I like him better this way." Takumi glanced to point behind them and pointed the massive attention in the same way so that they can see what he meant.

Shinobi from the Police Forces led Itachi forward to the empty space in the center and he was chained with some special kind of handcuffs. After them entered Tsunade, dressed in the official Hokage uniform and behind her Homura Mitokado and Koharu Utatane who still helped Tsunade with some of the more serious decisions. She still trusted them too.

"Are the handcuffs really needed?" Jakushi whispered, bending right to Takumi.

"They do the same job as Kioshi's technique for the chakra." He shrugged. "Why do you care?"

"It's pointless," Jakushi replied slowly and her eyes rested on the two men that guarded him. She felt strange, realizing how greatly she underestimated Itachi the whole time. Anyway, he still barely walked.

Here it was, she did it again. The medic in her overpowered the warrior always in the most inappropriate times.

"Did I miss something?" Sakura asked from her left and she startled.

"No, nothing." Jakushi tried to brush off that odd impulse again. Something in these handcuffs disturbed her.

"Quiet, please," Tsunade announced loudly, after taking a seat at one of the three honored places, reserved for her and the Council.

The halls immediately silenced, drawing the conversation to a minimum in a split second. Everyone's breath abated in expectancy.

"Itachi Uchiha, I see you still carry the signs of Akatsuki." Her voice became even and emotionless. "Do I have a reason to not consider you still one of them?"

Itachi's gaze passed through the crowded hall and stopped on Tsunade. He pulled out the red ring from his finger with a slight effort and threw it on the ground.

"I'm not with them. Not anymore."

"I've been told you were revived by an unknown figure. Do you have any information about it?"

"None."

A slight noise rose up from the audience.

"You know I can't trust these words just like that. Do you have a suggestion who might want you alive?"

Everyone silenced again. Jakushi felt the specific way of Tsunade's interrogation. Her voice was indifferent and her questions - painful.

"No," Itachi replied, as calmly as before.

"You are a dangerous criminal and I can't let you go without an explanation of all this. The majority wants you to stay in prison for the rest of your life. Some suggest a death penalty. And I must decide." Tsunade made a long pause. "The Council backs up on the death penalty."

"Death penalty it is, then," Itachi said but his last words trailed away when he caught a figure, moving through the crowd.

"Oh God..." Sakura turned to Jakushi with astonishment. "They must've told him."

"Well, well," Takumi whispered. "Family gathering."

"Don't listen to him, Hokage!" Sasuke declared loudly and came out in the center.

Jakushi felt another wave of among the seated shinobi along with the citizens.

"Don't listen to him." His pace slowed down to no movement as he stood in front of his brother, completely still.

Even Tsunade looked tensed, as everyone else, and didn't know what to expect. The history between the two was widely known. In fact, everyone blamed The Massacre for being the main reason for all the problems Sasuke created throughout the war and his behavior as a whole.

Many considered that The Massacre erased Sasuke's whole existence. With no one to belong to, you stand alone and weak and therefore you lose yourself. Sakura did not once share with Jakushi that he could've been different. Very, very different. If his clan was living, if he still had a family.

"Instead his heart turned colder and colder. I needed years to break through." Sakura told her one time at the hospital and gave a quiet chuckle. "He thinks that when he says he doesn't want me around, I'll listen. Like I'll let go of the scarred, dark hollow that he is."

Sure everyone who attended expected Sasuke to be merciless. In one long moment, nobody moved.

"I think it's time for you to know the truth." Sasuke tore his eyes off Itachi and turned to the audience.

"Sasuke... don't." Itachi stepped to him but the men behind pulled him harshly back.

"Sakura?" Jakushi gave her a meaning look, but Sakura was just as surprised.

"I have no idea what he's talking about, don't look at me like that!" She whispered excitedly.

"They must know what you did." Sasuke cast him an angry glance. "Let me tell them."

The disagreement was written quite clearly on Itachi's face but he remained quiet nevertheless, eyes pinned on the ground.

"The truth, Sasuke Uchiha?" Tsunade asked evenly.

"Years before the Fourth Shinobi War, there were times when our clan didn't seem to get along with the rest of Konoha's citizens. It has always been like that and you know it. By the time Itachi Uchiha played the role of a secret agent for the Third Hokage who believed that peace was possible between the clan and the rest of the village and to whom Itachi reported everything. Including the plan for a riot, prepared by Uchiha. At the same time, Itachi's been an agent for Fugaku Uchiha, the leader of the riot and our father."

"I don't see how that is of any help-" Tsunade started but Sasuke raised his hand in a request.

"Please, let me finish."

Tsunade nodded.

"Homura Mitokado and Koharu Utatane, you can confirm my words." Sasuke addressed the members of the Council.

"Itachi Uchiha did spy on his clan's secret plans for us. He gave information to us and to the Third." Homura spoke.

"Danzo Shimura, the third member of your Council saw that there's no hope for peace between Konoha and my clan and offered a deal to Itachi." Sasuke took a breath and looked at his brother for a second.

Itachi raised his head, his mind apparently attacked by unpleasant thoughts or memories for his eyes gave up all of it. There were bitterness and sorrow in there and Sasuke saw it but it didn't make him stop.

"To join his clan in its meaningless riot and to accept that it will be crushed, every single Uchiha dead, with Konoha having every information needed. Or to take the initiative of destroying his clan on his own before the riot starts but with me, remaining alive." Sasuke stopped as if in fear that his voice would falter. "And he had chosen me, as you can all see."

A strong voice of disapproval emerged.

Jakushi and Sakura looked at each other at a loss of words.

"Is that true?" Tsunade asked the two Council members, still skeptically.

"It's true." Koharu looked at her. "Danzo told us about this. We even had an army of shinobi and the Police Force ready to fight in case things didn't go well for us."

"By the same time, Obito Uchiha planned to destroy the village as a revenge. " Sasuke kept on, insistently talking to Tsunade while there was still noise in the hall. "Itachi has met him secretly and asked of him to unleash his anger upon Uchiha... but spare Konoha and its citizens. Everyone remembers what happened that night."

Tsunade was at a loss for words and was not less astonished than the rest of the people.

"I can't believe this." Jakushi heard Takumi's voice next to her. "I refuse to believe. Lies."

"But why... after all this time..." Sakura narrowed eyes.

"I don't understand why was this kept a secret for so long." Tsunade was generally confused. "We..."

She tried to find words but couldn't.

"Because I was told about this after his death. And I knew that he'd want me to keep it a secret. But the circumstances now forced me to share. Did I clear up exactly who you want to sentence to death, Hokage?"

"I- I assume you know perfectly well that, despite such an incredible deed, he still remains a danger, Sasuke." Tsunade joined her hands and leaned on the plot in front of her.

"You are the Hokage of Konohagakure. I know you trust me because I defended the village not once, the way you know it should be defended. All I ask now is to trust me again." Sasuke pointed at his brother. "This man would never betray you. Neither is he a threat to Konoha."

"Do you have a compromising solution, then? If you, as the last Uchiha, don't consider him guilty, of course. " Tsunade sighed.

"Let him be under my surveillance. I say that as a member of the Uchiha clan, not as his brother. If anything happens, I will be the one to blame."

Tsunade inhaled and exhaled slowly. Her eyes shifted to Koharu and Homura for a moment and they nodded, although not immediately.

"So be it," Tsunade said louder and stood up, followed by the Council.

A lot of the attending were already trying to leave so it became noisier when Sasuke spoke again.

"Can I have one last request, Hokage?"

Tsunade looked at him and waited.

"I don't think he deserves to be chained like that." Sasuke's voice was firm but somehow quieter and her eyes fell on Itachi, still watching his brother in silence.

"Take them off." She ordered and the two shinobi behind Itachi obeyed, taking the handcuffs off his hands.

A second after, Sasuke had already hugged him. Sakura was still unsure with all of the new information but managed to smile and turned to Jakushi, who, to her surprise, was gone. She saw Takumi and Kioshi, making their way out now, apparently quite angry.

Anyway, in the big fuss that was already up again, no one heard the brief exchange of words, perhaps the most important ones said that day.

"Thank you," Sasuke said quietly.

"No... thank you." Itachi replied with a smile.


"The food is still warm, won't you come sit with us?" Her father asked loudly, seeing her pass quietly by the door for the kitchen so that she could reach her room as fast as she could. "Jakushi?"

Why does no one want to hear the truth?

"Saizo, see what's going on." He looked at his son in confusion.

Saizo ran through the door, down the corridor and stopped at the last door on the right.

"Nee-san?" He pasted his ear to the surface but received no answer.

Truth is a wonderful thing, yes.

"Are you alright, nee-san?" Saizo tried again.

"I'm fine." Jakushi murmured.

"Are you crying?" Saizo bend down so that he can see through the keyhole.

"Of course not. Leave me alone. And stop spying through the lock, it's not polite." She reminded angrily.

"Aren't you gonna eat?" Saizo kept asking as if he hadn't heard a thing from the other side.

"I'm not hungry."

"Are you sure?" Saizo was surprised. It was highly unusual for his sister to refuse food.

Jakushi leaned on the door and slid down by it slowly, without replying. She covered her face with hands, not being able to stand herself.

"Alright. I'll leave nothing for you, just so you know." Saizo assured her in an attempt to create a response of some kind, but when his sister gave none, he gave up and returned to the kitchen.

Tears fell from her eyes. Tears she couldn't stop this time. She had no idea that she would come to this. All of the hatred she kept building like a brick after brick in her was unleashed, upon her. The feeling was horrible. As if she sunk deeper and deeper, into a hole that she had dug up herself.

And it hurt with the realization of the fact, becoming clearer with every minute - she has made some really cruel insults and terrible accusations. Her stupidity and detestation carried her so far that she couldn't go back and fix things now. It almost hurt physically.

What did she know about sacrifice?

How insignificant was her love for Konoha, for everything that she valued?

Were heroes the ones whose deeds were widely known to everyone?

Because what did Itachi deserve for a sacrifice of such unreachable level, lost over the years? And wasn't she the one who deserved a death penalty, the one she demanded so convincingly for him?

In vain she wiped her tears because they kept gushing. She wasn't worth a tenth of what she claimed to be a symbol of. She wasn't worthy of being called a shinobi. She betrayed her own ideal and fell so low that she didn't want to think about it.

The good news - her mistake wasn't given to the public she wasn't going to be punished. Bad news - her own conscience was hundreds of times crueler. And she couldn't escape this one. No one could escape their own conscience.

She stood up and crossed the room, taking her clothes off until she was left with the lowest t-shirt. Her bed never seemed as soft as now and the pillow as heavenly. But for the first time they didn't comfort her the way they used to.

Jakushi sighed heavily and looked up to the ceiling.

She lost that one. Some mistakes couldn't be fixed. But she could at least give it a try...


A/N: Thank you very much for reading, once again! Thanks to all my new followers too! Hope you have a great day. ^^

P.S. Hope this chapter didn't upset anyone as much as it upset me. I'm an emotional thing and made myself teary because Sasuke will never get that hug from Itachi.