Esparia's A/N: After nearly a month with a cold (what kind of mutant monster cold takes a month to get over?) I couldn't even read the screen. Now I'm back to combing though it all, but I kinda lost my motivation, ya know? Also, I have a "writing music" folder for a reason...deviating to listen to other stuff is not a good idea.
Chapter Warnings: Vague politics of Konoha, stressed child soldier, occasional rambling.
Original Ch 10: 02/08/15
Original Ch 11: 02/15/15
Update: 01/10/17
Omake: 01/29/17
…
Chapter Ten
(Decisions and Invitations)
Uchiha Itachi: 12th Year of the 7th Timeline, 27th Day of the 9th Month
Itachi was stressed.
Now, Itachi had been stressed for most his life. His standing within the clan, his standing in the ninja community, and the general stress that accompanies growing up.
However, now, he was even more stressed than usual. He felt worn from all these demands on him. Demands from his clan, wanting him to spy on his village's leader and be a good Uchiha heir. Demands from his village, wanting him to protect the village at all costs and be great at being an ANBU. Demands that he himself have set, he couldn't fail else this precarious balancing act would crumble.
The stress of not being able to please everyone and yet still needing to; it was too much stress.
All that continual stress led to his new problem, anxiety. Lots of anxiety.
Anxiety was one of the last thing a ninja of his station needed. Anxiety caused mistakes. Anxiety caused muddled thinking. Anxiety could get him killed in more ways than one. (If he remembered right, and being an Uchiha, he did, long term anxiety could potentially weaken his heart and/or cause a heart attack.)
Anxiety, unfortunately enough, could lead to paranoia. That would be the worst...he probably already had the beginning stages of it. He could feel his trust, his bond, with the clan diminishing. He felt the need to hide from their eyes, to not become involved with them as much as possible. Which was ridiculous and impossible. He was the in between. He had to be a double spy for his clan and for his hokage.
He did it, willingly, so that there could be peace later.
He did it so that there wouldn't need to be an uprising, a coup.
His clansmen seemed to be blind to what would happen if a coup took place. Did they not understand that it wouldn't be a success even if they did manage to overthrow the hokage?
Some things, Itachi knew, that he couldn't tell them because of the confidentiality of it and because it would only reinforce the idea of a coup.
Itachi had gone over scenario after scenario and none of them seemed to be a good thing.
In essence, if a coup were to happen, a number of people would lose their lives. Depending on each party's strategy and how they planned of actually following though with a coup, the death toll could fluctuate to as many as the entire village to as few as four.
Worst case scenario, the Uchiha and village clash. There are significant losses to each side. Perhaps the entire clan gets wiped out, perhaps the clan succeeds. However, because of the sudden upheaval, outside villages see the opportunity and use it to their advantage. Taking out one of the biggest threats and likely gaining land, the other ninja villages would be willing to ally themselves for a temporary but extremely bloody and short lived war. Konohagakure would be wiped off the map faster than Uzugakure was. It would likely start up another war over who got what portion of Hi no Kuni's land. Their daimyo was heavily reliant on Konoha to protect the land from other ninja villages, without them, he couldn't hold as much land without spreading his samurai out too thin.
Best case scenario, somehow the Uchiha only kill off the sandaime, his two teammates, and Danzo. This would, of course, lead to a political war over who gets power and suspicions would be higher than ever. Discontent and fear would rule the village, in the beginning at the very least, significantly reducing income for the village and dropping them into an age of poverty. Poverty that would likelier than not force the civilian class out of the village. There would be a drop in food goods available and people would start starving.
The likeliest scenario, however, was that the coup would fail in some way. The clan would be unaware of Danzo's part in the covered political power play. Somehow the sandaime would end up dead and Shimura Danzo would end up hokage. Itachi wasn't sure, much, about what Danzo would do. But the man was adamantly against traitors to the village. His clan would perish.
It made sense that he would want to prevent a coup from happening, A coup that never happened could be erased, after all. No one would have to die. So Itachi did everything in his power to prevent it from happening. He tried peace talks. He tried personal talks with his father. He tried putting ideas into his clansmen's head.
It all seemed to fail. He couldn't get them to think about peace. He only accomplished making the clan suspicious of him and getting his father to send someone to tail him
Shisui. His closest friend and cousin was spying on him. Told to watch him, to wait for him to slip up and report it to the Uchiha who suspected Itachi to be turning on them. His father didn't trust him as much as he used to. It was understandable and logical that he'd get a close friend to spy on him. He was a loyal ANBU to the Hokage after all.
His clan was waiting for him to slip. They were waiting for him to prove he wasn't one of them anymore. They were waiting for a single mistake, be it imagined or real.
Itachi built a mask. A mask of perfection. A mask of indifference and genius. He had created it years before, however it now played a part of standing against his clan. Of survival. A mask he couldn't take off, even in his own home.
Sometimes he wanted to drop it, to forget the entire thing and just be Itachi. Not Itachi the Prodigy. Not Itachi the Clan Heir. Just...Itachi. Perhaps that's why he had the weasel mask. He was simply Itachi. Though now it was looking like he'd become Itachi the ANBU Captain. Well, at least "Itachi the ANBU Captain" could make faces behind his mask and no one would be the wiser. There was something satisfying about sticking out your tongue and crossing your eyes at some low level scum bucket yet still managing to make them shake in fear.
Maintaining masks could be difficult, though once you got used to wearing one (as all ninja do in some shape or form) it becomes something of a second nature. However, it wore down the soul to wear a mask too long.
He felt tired and trapped; for as much as any ninja tried, feeling nothing was impossible and feeling apathy degraded a person's potential. Working as a shinobi had the job description of not showing emotion and constantly having a variety of masks on. Masks of ferocity. Masks of monsters. Masks of people you can trust. Masks of common folk. Masks of complete apathy and compliance. Masks for the safety of the missions and for the safety of the shinobi wearing them.
Ninja villages had eyes everywhere; in a village of people taught to read the mildest of actions, it was understandable that masks (usually a different set) were worn within a ninja village even if it was your own. One wrong jaw twitch and then every enemy, friend, ally, or acquaintance would know that his unflappable reputation was nothing but a facade. Shinobi were the type of people that once they saw an imperfection, a loose thread, they simply had to dig into it.
With physical masks, like the ANBU masks...or certain Hatake "ninja" masks, others couldn't read those wrong twitches. Though, without that white mask, he could smile at Sasuke. Hesitantly smile with all the protectiveness, love, and contentment felt seeing his brother safe and happy.
Some part of Itachi, the part that was denied influence, wanted to throw away his weapons pouch and burn his gear to ashes. That same part wanted to give up and turn in retirement papers, he didn't want to kill and was tired of hurting others. He thinks that had he been born to a different family, he might have become a iryonin; though, with his aptitude with weapons, he would have ended up in a similar situation. Perhaps, then, had he been born into a civilian village, he would be a regular herbalist or perhaps simply an apprentice of one.
Itachi knew he would have lived a different life had he not been born to a shinobi family in a shinobi village. With his demeanor and a lack of clan pressure, it was likely a different path would have been chosen.
Sometimes he would think about the probabilities of certain lifestyles he could have been born into based on the affairs of the time he was born. Being born to a farming family, with a war demanding more resources and more hands to work the injured ground, he was likeliest to have been born into their families. Interestingly, he was least likely to have been born to a prominent Suna family. Likely, he would have simply been a reliable young man with typical young boy problems. Though, if he had been born a girl to a farming family, his chances of survival through the post-war problems would have decreased. Weird narrations getting weird, moving on.
On another note, the urge to throw immature fits were becoming more frequent. Fantasies of standing before the clan counsels and telling off the elders for being foolish and endangering the clan's wellbeing through their shortsighted ideals. Of course, lashing out was generally a bad idea and would severely discredit his argument that they didn't even want to hear.
Itachi could handle his emotions fairly well, because he was a person who knew his limits. Thus, he knew that with the amount of pent up stress he had, it would only be a matter of time before his iron hold on his emotions broke. He needed to release it somehow, training, missions, and reading only went so far. His home was anything but relaxing. He needed to go somewhere where no one was around to pry. Like that place completely untouched by humans with the exception of himself and the village jinchuriki.
With a destination in mind, he changed his route towards the less used training grounds. He performed a quick shunshin away from the throngs of people, leaving behind a disgruntled stalker nenin (sorta, disgruntlement was an emotion after all).
…
Itachi reappeared at the edges of the smaller training grounds. Head held high, the look of self assuredness, back strait like a good heir, posture confident and uninterested with lowlifes when it was possibly the very opposite, breathing regulated and not a trace of emotion turmoil on features.
With a graceful leap, Itachi traveled through the treetops to that usually overlooked spot.
Untouched, calm, serene, and safe.
He scanned the area for ninja, foreign or otherwise, just to be sure no one else was around.
Itachi inhaled the clean air deeply and exhaled softly. His tense shoulders dropped forward and slumped a bit, making his vertebrate crack. A small amount of satisfaction made its way onto his schooled features.
With a twitch of his lips he flopped backward to the grassy ground with a solid thud. Ouch. Okay, maybe that was poorly thought through.
He imagined his graceless fall resembled a "Fangirl Swoon" (see: fainting) he had more or less been the cause for. It was rather embarrassing, he would assume, for the girl when she woke up. It was also disconcerting for him, to say a polite "hello" and have the other respond by falling backwards like a sack of bricks. There was a very good reason he stopped greeting women older than eight and younger than twenty (when not in the presence of Mikoto).
Itachi rolled his head back and forth on the ground, enjoying the feeling of uncut grass ticking against his ears and neck. Peering up into the canopy, he silently listened to the forest move around him. Eyes falling shut, he could picture himself in this natural setting; of no more significance than the squirrel scolding its neighbor or the hummingbird concentrating on the patch of flowers to his left. All the while alert for intruders. Only an exceptional ninja with other worldly chakra control or a chakra level so low it was closer to that of a dead man would be able to sneak up on him.
Itachi wanted to relax, and for a moment, just imagine what his most probable life could have been like. His minds had plans of its own and worries remained on the forefront of his musings.
What was going to happen if his father decided to go with the plan? Time was running out and the future of the clan wasn't looking good. If things continued down the way it did...
His hand pressed against the twisting in his chest.
Itachi didn't...know what he would do.
…
Uzumaki Naruto: 6th Year of the 7th Timeline, 27th Day of the 9th Month
Naruto had been on a fairly normal stroll down the streets of Konohagakure; the citizens giving him a wide berth, glares, and whispered obscene things about him.
If it had been directed toward anyone else it would have been frowned upon and the person receiving it would feel immensely hurt. However, it was directed at the century old blond seven year old who had seen it all before.
Long story short, Naruto didn't not pay any mind to the scowling citizens he's been trying to save for lifetimes.
It was around that time that he saw, or rather, he noticed a presence shunshin above his head. Shunshin is one of those things that made shinobi hard to track, but being he had undergone long and rigorous training dealing with chakra, he could follow a person's signature even in shunshin. (Learning and relearning how to work with the Kyuubi's chakra and sage mode let him become freakishly tuned in with the stuff)
Usually he wouldn't have done anything, but being that the signature was familiar and was in turmoil, he decided to follow. The ability to read emotions in chakra was something he could always sort of do. Being the jinchuriki of the Kyuubi, obviously, he could feel negative emotions easiest. He assumed that Kurama was actually just amplifying what he could already sense.
His Uzumaki heritage let him semi-understand emotion through chakra. Almost every person could, really, else people wouldn't feel KI. Citizens would be aware of about 1 while shinobi would be aware of about 5, Uzumaki on average were aware of about 9 and their sensors a 10. Kurama let the ability of feeling negative emotions amplify in his jinchuriki about 10; so while Naruto could feel all emotions in chakra at about 9, anger and pain he could sense at a 90. He didn't use this ability very often for obvious reasons, though it did help guide him through conversations and getting him out of being hurt. "Therapy no Jutsu" was invented for a reason, after all.
Which brought Naruto to where he found the chakra signature's stifled presence. Where he found one Uchiha Itachi.
Over his hundred something years of living, he had seen many strange things that didn't always make sense. Though, a somewhat hysterical child Itachi that looked half delirious from mental and emotional exhaustion was not on the list of "seen it". The once nukenin had always seemed like a generally stable man, emotionally that is. Meaning Itachi never seemed to have doubts or indecision for the things he had done or was going to do.
Seeing a kid version of the dangerous Uchiha break down, by Uchiha standards at least, was enough to send a bit of guilt Naruto's way. Guilt for not trying to stop a horrible massacre that really went beyond what was necessary action called for. Guilt for failing to be of help.
Really the "let's massacre everyone" was a bad idea that didn't really solve any problems. Politically the situation made little to no sense, outside of greed for power or old prejudices the motives for it were weak. Really, the only benefit would not having to deal with the feelings of the clan themselves. Otherwise, it simply weakened the village, destroyed moral, and caused some economic fluctuation what with the Police Force sized hole that needed to be filled by shinobi that could have gone on missions. Not to mention the monstrous sized pile of paperwork detailing funeral and possessions of the dead arrangements, a kid being in charge of a clan's worth of wealth and unsupervised... Needless to say, the massacre was a bad deal.
What it really came down to was inner manipulation on a lot of unstable people's parts. But how could he even intervene and prevent this idiocy? He wasn't exactly politically savvy, nor did he have much say at the given moment. He supposed he could pull title and rank on people to force them to see him, but nobody listens to children, let alone the pariah that most of the village though would snap and kill them all.
Perhaps he could kill the instigators and be done with it, leaving the innocents in peace. Though, then he'd be out of the village and having oinin after his hide wouldn't be the best thing. It wasn't like he hadn't tried to stop before; it just was never very successful. Although now that he was acquainted with Itachi, new doors were open to trying. At the moment he would hopefully give Itachi a little mental support. Iruka helped him and that in itself prevented him from becoming Blond Gaara 2.0; though, it wasn't to say he didn't have some mind issues.
Sadly their weren't many things he could do by himself. If he could get a minion to do his bidding though... that bore some thought, but probably for later.
Stopping the massacre would be helpful in the future, although who knew what Danzo would do. That old war hawk collected eyes like a Trainer collected Pokemon. The geezer even stole one of Shisui's eyes while the man was still alive. Stealing eyes was weird and extremely unhealthy behavior, but strangely not uncommon from what he's seen. Then again, he's seen more strange occurrences then what was considered normal. But stealing an eye from a living man is something even crazy Obito didn't do, and that's saying something. Shisui would be a powerful ally to have, and just a fake death away to boot. Naruto would have to think about that too.
Danzo, on the other hand, was an abusive creep still controlling half of the ANBU and brainwashing children. Perhaps an anonymous recommendation for a psyche evaluation would be a good idea. A Yamanaka mind walk and just a hop, skip, and a jump away from that man's destruction. A Yamanaka loyal to the Hokage of course, can't have Fuu doing the evaluation. That would backfire tremendously. But if Danzo got wind of it, the old geezer would probably kill all his "perfect warriors in training" and stash away his organizations misdeeds.
The turd's power needed to go. The only way to get rid of his power was to get him out of whatever high position he held, but in order to do that Naruto needed to get rid of his army that backed him up. In order to get rid of the army that backed Danzo up, Naruto could either destroy it or Therapy Jutsu the daylights out of them. Naruto of course would try talking before killing, since he always had been that way. Of course, in order to use Therapy Jutsu, Naruto would have to infiltrate the ROOT headquarters and gain the Ne-nin's loyalty and trust. Easier said then done, impossible for anyone else. But Naruto wasn't known as the most unpredictable ninja for nothing.
First things first, though, young Uchiha needing help needed to get help before they go off the deep end.
"You okay, Shinobi-san?" Naruto asked, walking up to the prone form and releasing his chakra suppression.
Itachi stilled at his presence and turned; face schooled to a neutral one, "hello, Naruto-kun."
Naruto recognized that face and wasn't pleased to see it, "Shinobi-san, you're destroying yourself."
"What makes you think that, Naruto-kun?" Itachi asked, sitting a little straiter to watch him.
Naruto hummed in thought, trying to figure out the best way to talk to the boy. He decided to be blunt, he couldn't let Itachi weasel out of this, "you have the face of a ninja about to be sent out on a suicide mission. And is close to accepting his fate."
Itachi stiffened both from the observation and wondering how a young kid knew what that looks was.
Naruto knew that it was close to what happened before. In the end of it, if Itachi had his way, he'd end up dead along with his clan and leave Sasuke even more hurt. Suicide, be it assisted or other wise broke the family's heart. Even just a loved one considering suicide was hard enough on a family, and Itachi had shown some serious signs of suicidal thoughts if not depression.
That was the strange thing about depression, it started so unassumingly with barely a hint of what would come. Dampening emotions when it become to much to bare, a thought here, apathy there, and the downward spiral sucked the person in down faster than the land of whirlpools would a ship. It was horrible to witness and it was hard to get out of. If possible, it was best to curb it before lasting damage could take place...before it was too late.
Naruto was hardly an acquaintance of the boy and couldn't support him the way he needed. He was a boy. Twelve, almost thirteen years old and in a position that he wouldn't wish on anybody much less a pacifistic child. The massacre must have ruined Itachi, and Naruto didn't know if it wouldn't ruin him again.
"Itachi-san, things are going to get complicated for you if they haven't already," Naruto paused, gathering his thoughts. "You understand and feel a stronger sense of justice than an average shinobi and are wise beyond your years, it's one of the things that has made you so successful in this field. But, you are still young and don't know everything."
Itachi twitched, seeming to try to figure out how to respond to him.
"You seem to have given up your sense of individual worth and with it you've harmed your reasoning." Naruto wondered how much Itachi had thought about this already, he might never know, but he hoped he could prevent a seed from planting or stop such a horrible idea from growing. "If you hurt yourself, it will bring the largest amount of pain on Sasuke, perhaps not right away. He would be hurt beyond what you've set out to do to yourself. It will eat him apart for years and never leave his conscience."
Itachi felt unexplainably threatened by Naruto's words, calling back the memories of half formed ideas. It was like Naruto thought he knew what Itachi would plan to do. It would be impossible for the child to know what he thought about, surely. "What makes you think he would-"
"He will." Naruto smiled wryly. "I don't believe in fate, but it's inevitable that he'll find out."
"I'll take my secretes to my grave," Itachi stated, dark eyes staring into Naruto.
"Uh... Yeah, sure." Naruto grimaced and looked away, thinking about when Itachi got Edo Tensei summoned back into existence. The problem with 'taking things to their grave' mindset so common in the time period he was in, was that it became moot when their bodies got resurrected and memories pilfered. As Ino once told him, "Minds are just banks of memories."
"Naruto-kun. If you know something that the shinobi forces are unaware of, you can go to Hokage-sama if you are uncomfortable with telling me," Itachi said, watching quietly beside him.
Naruto smiled sheepishly and scratched the back of his head, trying to think of something to derail the thoughts of a genius Uchiha. "Eh-heh, yeah? Uh, well, anyway, I was wondering if you'd like to join this club I'm starting up."
It was a very obvious topic change, but something Naruto had been thinking about. If he could, in essence, create a squad of ninja to make contacts and gather intell; he would be one step closer to tracking certain world destroyers. He was most worried about Zetsu, and that half cannibalistic chlorophyllous man-thing was the hardest person to track.
"Club?" Itachi asked.
"A super exclusive club that has to be top secret," Naruto said seriously. It wasn't a lie, Naruto couldn't lie to save his life, but he could take a different look on things.
"Oh?" Itachi wondered. His pensive look would have been unnoticed if Naruto weren't so used to reading Sasuke. "What do we do in this club?"
"We'll be the black ops of the black ops. Who's life long goal is to save the world from chaotic destruction and prevent humanity's enslavement from crazy super villains and their delusional sidekicks. A senile old woman and her plant son, an old guy that should be dead and his sidekick that only acts like an evil two year old on caffeine because he's brainwashed and can't handle grief," Naruto said strait faced. "Of course there are a few other projects that need to be done, like a the prevention of the Drama Queen's army of ninja zombies coming to life, but that wouldn't concern your division."
Itachi looked like the Mizukage waltzed into the clearing and bashed a frozen squid over his head. Basically like he couldn't tell if what he heard was actually said or some strange prank he didn't understand. 'Sasuke got that face at times. Wonder if it's genetic,' Naruto thought with some mild curiosity.
"You can think about it," Naruto said and got up from the ground, he patted the clinging grass off his rump and began walking away, "a position will always be open to you. So don't be afraid to pop out of the wood works in five or six years to say 'Hey Naruto, I'd love to join your awesome gang of awesome world saving powerhouses; you were so right about that crazy super villain Drama Queen and his insane sidekick Lollipop Face. Sorry for doubting your sanity back there!' or something like that. Of course I'll need to start getting the rest of us together before we become a full tilt secret organization of epic fighting evil beings."
Naruto turned to look at Itachi's perplexed face, he grinned and said, "I'll take care of your brother while you're gone. Until next time, Itachi-san."
With that the short blonde disappeared from sight as he traveled into the woods, his chakra signature vanishing just as quickly.
Itachi stared on in shock. Past reasons for coming to the little clearing vanished like smoke from his mind.
The boy couldn't have known what he was implying, surely, but with the skill to make a battalion's worth of jounin level chakra disappear without a trace was not something to laugh at. The kid had more beneath the surface than Konoha's reputation did and Itachi would take his rambling into consideration. Something else was going on, and he was sure to not be caught unaware.
…
Omake
(Rub Some Bacon On It)
Uchiha Itachi: 12th Year of the 7th Timeline, 27th Day of the 9th Month
Itachi could feel his resolve breaking. How was he going to do it? Was it even possible? He was only one shinobi, and they were...an entire clan full of suspicious paranoid family members.
Naruto walked up to the little Uchiha and sat beside him, "clan about to be annihilated because of sheer pig-headedness?"
Itachi's head snapped up. "How did you know?"
"I know a lot of things," Naruto said sagely, nodding his head.
"I'm supposed to kill them all."
"Do have some bacon?"
"Bacon?"
"Bacon, that's right," Naruto confirmed.
"I think I can get some from Shisui..."
"Rub some bacon on it."
"What?"
"On your conspiring family, rub some bacon on it."
Itachi leaned back, "...what on earth are you talking about?"
Naruto shrugged. "Lightening your worry. Forcibly changing what you're thinking about. Did it work?"
"...hn," Itachi hummed, deep in thought.
(A While Later)
Fugaku stiffened, ready to let his son's blade slide though his chest...
"Itachi, what are you doing?" Mikoto asked.
Fugaku turned around to see what was sliding down his back, and was horrified to see a fatty fried piece of meat in his son's hand and an unbecoming grease stain down his shirt.
"...showing the clan what could have happened if this had been a knife. Letting them reflect on the possible demise of our clan could have faced over something ultimately trivial in comparison to our family's lives. If they wanted to risk the lives of our clansmen over something so insignificant and think foolishly, than I shall return their foolish thoughts with a seeming foolish action. Forcibly changing perspectives, when done harmlessly, is beneficial."
"Done by...by rubbing bacon over us?"
"Did it work?" Itachi asked.
"...hn," both parents hummed in thought.
(A Few Years Later)
Madara looked down at his current incarnation, flummoxed. "What are you doing?"
Sasuke looked at his great something ancestor. "Rubbing bacon over you."
"...why?" Madara asked.
"My brother saved the clan and Obito like this, it can save you too," Sasuke explained.
"I do not...understand," Madara muttered as the bacon strips glided over his face.
Sasuke shrugged a shoulder. "He said it was something like, 'foolish actions should be brought into perspective so that it can be corrected' or something like that."
Madara glanced over the fatty piece of meat in thought, trying to identify the metaphor. "You think placing a genjutsu of perfection over the world is foolish and wish for me to understand how such an action would be against the nature of what genjutsu was meant for by demonstrating it though an equally as unorthodox action."
"Did it work?" Sasuke asked.
"...hn," Madara hummed in wonder. If only they had bacon when the clans still fought.
