Chapter 10: The Uchiha Gift
Sasuke took two steps towards Isui to see if he would react. The boy was still trying to catch his breath and hardly noticed. The truth was a cruel one. The world began to spin all around then. The mist shot up, down, side to side, in arrows that whizzed by and nearly slashed Sasuke's shoulder. The boy's mind was collapsing in upon itself. Sasuke had never been inside a genjutsu of a person who had shattered his own reality. The ground started rumbling from underneath them and they were in danger of falling into an abyss. Dangerous was a term far too mild for a situation as this.
"Breathe…" Sasuke echoed. "Calm down and just breathe." His words incidentally mirrored Tobi's and Sasuke was immediately transported to the moment he learned about Itachi's truth and the whirlwind of emotions he felt back then.
Isui couldn't. Glass started shattering around them. Sasuke raised his cloak over them and with it, his Su'sanoo's shield rose with it. Isui could see the powerful emanation of chakra for himself. The blue and purple flames danced wildly above and the mighty warrior looked down at the two of them below.
"You are an Uchiha. A part of the noblest and most powerful clans in existence. A clan that held bonds unmatched to their kin and their village. So strong that their eyes unlocked different powers any time that connection was severed as a defense against whatever came at them next."
"You… You nearly killed Naruto," Isui huffed. "You nearly brought on the destruction of the whole Shinobi world."
"I was wrong," Sasuke admitted. "I should have followed my brother's footsteps the moment I learned the truth about him, but I lost my way. I let my anger and the loss I felt get the better of me, and it took Naruto beating the holy hell out of me to finally lead me down the right path."
"But an Uchiha? I… can't be…"
"Power and loyalty runs in your blood as it did mine. As it did Itachi's," Sasuke said. "Very few others would sacrifice themselves to save their village. That's just what you did and that's what your father did as well."
"H-he murdered his entire clan!" Isui shouted.
"Because the Uchiha had been shunned, humiliated, and targeted themselves. Evil breeds evil, and they pushed the clan into believing they no longer needed the village and all the lives within it. Your father made the impossible choice of choosing the lives of millions over the lives of hundreds. He was the hero that the history books will never recognize, even if the Hokage does himself. But your father never lived a life hating those who hated him. He understood the burden that came with ensuring peace and traveled with the label of traitor and murderer so that others could live with a smile on their face."
"The Leaf ordered him to kill his clan? How could they do that?"
"The Leaf prioritized their people and never thought of the Uchiha as their own. It was a part of their past they'd like to wipe clean too."
The ground stopped rumbling for the moment and the glass stopped breaking apart. Only cracks found themselves crawling up the walls.
"Your father was a good person," Sasuke repeated. "I know it may not seem like it after all the horrible things you've probably heard, but everything he did was for the good of Konoha and the Fire Nation. Even if you don't quite understand it now, I want you to know that above everything else."
Sasuke pulled the boy straight into his arms and embraced him like his own son. Isui remained solid, stiff as a board. He didn't know how to accept Sasuke. At least, not yet.
"Many in the Leaf still despise me and the Sixth for reiterating the history of the Uchiha and the Leaf in the Academy textbooks. No one enjoys looking at a stained past or enjoys a jest from a rivaling country for it, but we had agreed that the best way to honor the Uchiha clan and honor the Leaf is to bring it into the light, so such an event would never happen again."
He continued, "Itachi was my older brother. A man who prioritized the safety of millions over his own blood. He was faced with the most difficult tasks not many others could do. He slaughtered the clan to quell a revolt and became a criminal in the eyes of the world to become the target of everyone's hatred. The Leaf discarded one of their best men to ever grace their land so they could pretend the world was a wholesome place when it was really built on the blood of our ancestors."
"Was the Uchiha clan that evil?" Isui asked.
"No," Sasuke said definitively. "Our philosophies differed, and we were strong enough to pose a threat. The Uchiha believed they were fighting for a place in Konoha instead of being pushed out and cast aside. As partial founders of the Leaf, they deserved that much. If I were older at the time, I would have likely followed my father's footsteps than my brother's and died alongside them. Itachi was easily one of the strongest in our clan only at 13 years of age, but still, he believed in peace. I believed in justice."
"Do you want me to believe in justice?"
"I want you to believe in whichever philosophy you want to believe. I won't sway you to one side or the other. I want you to choose for yourself."
Isui fell silent once again. Comprehending such complicated political and familial strife was a lot for a boy of merely ten years old. Sasuke knew every moment had the possibility of being their last if the rogue ninjas had reinforcements, but he couldn't force the boy to process the situation any faster. Sasuke would sit and talk with him for as long as he needed.
"Your father is Uchiha Itachi of the Hidden Leaf Villlage," Sasuke said. "And you were likely named after his closest friend, Uchiha Shisui, a man equalling Itachi in ideals and values. He possessed one of the most powerful eyes for genjutsu in the history of the clan, and both he and your father shouldered the burden of the Uchiha and the Leaf alone. I don't think Itachi ever forgot the life and sacrifice of Uchiha Shisui."
Still silence. Isui's knees began to weaken.
"Your father is Uchiha Itachi of the Hidden Leaf Village," Sasuke repeated. "He lived as such and died as such. Not a criminal, not evil personified, not anything but Uchiha Itachi of the Hidden Leaf. He was a man who cast aside his own dreams and ambitions for the sake of the Leaf because he loved the people and the country more than anything else. The life and safety of the village became his dream. Only second to being an older brother to me. Something I still struggle with losing to this day."
"But how could you think that?" Isui said. "If he killed his clan and lived as a criminal, he wouldn't have been able to be a brother to you at all."
"He looked after me from the shadows," Sasuke said. "It was the most he could do while balancing his love for the Leaf. No, he wasn't able to be with me, and as much as I try to quell my anger, it always bubbles up now and again when I think of the ignorant people that don't appreciate the peaceful lives they live in Konoha. But as long as I know there's a Hokage at the forefront who understands this, that's the most I can ask for."
"If I had a little brother, I wouldn't want him to go through that," Isui said bitterly. "I would want to be there for him."
Isui's chin was down. His eyes darkened. Sasuke saw so much of his brother in the boy, he was wondering if he had been caught in a genjutsu since he first wandered by their remote village. But he knew this was real. Sasuke's eyes were far too sharp for simple illusions, and the tricks would've worn off with his stamina eventually.
Sasuke raised two fingers and tapped the boy's forehead, prompting him to look up with surprise.
"Forgive me, Isui. I should have found you sooner. I'll do better next time, okay?"
Isui's eyes lingered on Sasuke's as the tap on his forehead radiated a sense of warmth he had never felt before. The boy rubbed his temple and sniffled. As if he had finally accepted the truth for what it was, he nodded and wiped a slight tear from his eye.
"Okay…" Isui said. "Let's get out of here."
Sasuke smiled, and raised his hand to release the seal. With a sudden burst of chakra, the feathers that had been fluttering down around them, dispelled. The pieces of Isui's mind reorganized and snapped back into place. A swirling sensation overtook them, and their bodies lifted away from the glass and cloud prison, returning them to the cave in the Konoha forest.
Light returned to Isui's eyes, and he stared at Sasuke for the longest time as the elder Uchiha began to cut away the ropes binding him. As feeling returned to his wrists and ankles, his hands lay limply on the cave floor just as Sasuke's did when he learned about Itachi's truth from Tobi.
"Isui… I-"
With a sudden burst forward, Isui threw his arms around Sasuke and squeezed him tight. He began to cry though he tried holding it back as best he could. Sasuke patted the boy's back and encouraged him to sob until his heart's content. Maybe Isui believed it wasn't befitting for an Uchiha to be blubbering as he did, but Sasuke didn't care for it. The boy had been wandering around aimlessly for ten years, and now, he had finally found his home.
Sasuke wondered if this was what it felt like when Itachi held him for the first time in the hospital. To know you have a younger brother who needs you more than anything else was a feeling unknown to his heart. Anything Sasuke thought was important, suddenly washed aside. He had always put himself and his goals first, but now they were second. He was supposed to visit the Hidden Sand, but did he really need to anymore? Did he need to fix the problems of strangers before his own? Questions like that circled his head alongside new questions like 'should I bring Isui to Konoha?', 'should his identity be protected?', 'will Naruto help me protect him?' In a snap, Sasuke found his whole world centered around the boy, but he held no enmity for being thrown off the beaten path. He felt nothing but warmth - a glow in his heart - and he refused to let it go.
Isui dug his face into Sasuke's shoulder and Sasuke's eyes softened as they never had before. Itachi had come back to him. Not in the way he remembered, but a piece of him returned. A gift for the next generation to carry on his will of fire. And for that, Sasuke was eternally grateful.
A/N: Okay,I didn't realize it until later that the Uchiha clan massacre is f-ing CLASSIFIED in Boruto. First of all, WTF! If Sasuke was going to accomplish anything in the Naruto series after Itachi's death, it should have been his new mission to bring to light the Leaf's bloodstained past, so they would never allow it to be repeated in the future. UGH, another reason the next generation series is insufferable. #sorrynotsorry
Oh well, in my reality, Sasuke and Naruto worked hard to make this a known part of the Leaf's history so they change the shinobi world for the better, not just leave it as it was.
Bleh. Guess that's why at least I have fanfiction to write that reality.
All right guys, this is the end! (maybe an epilogue, I'm still debating). Until next time! Love the reviews, so keep 'em coming!