Chapter Thirteen

How did you react when the man you hated for the better part of your life showed up from the grave? How did you process it when the person you loved, who supposedly betrayed you, that slept with the woman you loved, and in turn gave you a nephew, came back to life? He could feel Sakura reacting next to him as she whispered his name and ran. Time seemed to slow as he pulled off the mask and hood. And then, there he was, just a little older looking than before… smiling that smile Sasuke never thought he'd see again.

It felt like someone had taken a grip around his heart and tightened, nearly breaking it; while, at the same time releasing it and pumping adrenaline into his system. Like Sakura had earlier, he felt dizzy—faint. Angry, too. Which emotion should he latch onto first? Did any of it make sense?

He couldn't move just then. Memories flashed before him like a movie on fast forward, pausing and playing now and then to showcase something important. That same sense of confusion he always had in his nightmares when he saw his brother happy and loving one minute, and then next becoming a demon incarnate with the armies of hell behind him was once more upon him.

But, he was real. It was all real. He wasn't a ghost or a figment of his imagination; the Sharingan didn't lie. Chakra didn't lie—and he was paying attention to that now.

"Sasuke…" he heard Itachi say as he watched Sakura pull away from him, wiping her face.

And then, just like that, Sasuke's name on his lips brought him back to reality.

And he couldn't stop the anger, nor could he stop the tears threatening to spill as he stepped forward. Somehow, he managed to keep from hitting him.

"Why?" he asked first, locking red and ebony tomoe on pitch. "No, better yet, where in the hell have you been for the last twelve years while I looked after your son?"

For the first time ever—literally—Sasuke watched as obvious, genuine surprise passed over his brother's features. "…What?"

"Why didn't you tell me?" he kept going. "Why leave me for dead and lead me to believe it was my duty to kill you?"

Itachi's eyes narrowed, but softened as well. "You were a child, brother…"

"So, it was better to leave a child with the burden of becoming a missing nin and killing you? That made more sense?" he snapped.

Itachi's eyes shut briefly and he looked away. "I—."

"There are no right or wrong choices when you are a shinobi, Sasuke. Only choices. Don't blame your brother for making the best he could of a bad situation," Sakura finally cut in. "If there's anything I've learned in the last twelve years of this… search—it's that."

That raging anger turned to her; but she didn't quiver like a little girl anymore when he did that. No, green eyes, aflame and ready to verbally spar were meeting his own.

"Don't do this, Sasuke. Not now," she whispered. "Don't say something you can't take back later."

He stared at her for a moment longer, his jaw flexing and his fists tightening. He shut his eyes, forcing down a curse. Anger had always been his enemy. Unbridled, bitter, unforgiving anger that burned through people like a forest fire. Sakura was right; he just had to keep telling himself that.

Once he was certain he'd calmed down he looked back at Itachi. When he spoke again his voice was still as strong as before, it had just as much emotion, but far less angry and far more kind, "You led me to believe it was your fault, brother. You made me think you ruined my life and killed our family without purpose. And now, twelve years later, I find out that was all a lie? That Konoha falsely ordered you—."

"Falsely?" he suddenly interrupted Sasuke, brow knit. "What are you talking about?"

"You don't know?" Sakura asked. "I assumed since you'd come here…"

Itachi's dark gaze turned to her. "I came here because I asked the boy to bring me to you. I wanted to make sure you were alright, that Sasuke was, once I saw the chaos and did a little digging myself."

"Wow, ok," she breathed. "There's a lot you don't know then. I mean, I knew you didn't know it then, or else I would have known. But, I guess—."

"The order to kill the clan was a fake; the Third didn't authorize it, is what she's trying to say," Sasuke said a little too bitterly.

"That's impossible. He—."

Sakura shook her head. "We're still trying to figure it out. But the point is, we have evidence that proves he was manipulated. More than likely through use of a jutsu. Although, honestly, I have no idea how."

"The point is, we were all manipulated. And people died because of it. Our family did. Your son was robbed of—."

"You know, I'm right here, people." Isao finally spoke up, looking between the three of them as he crossed his arms over his chest and stepped forward. "And as much as I love being talked about as if I'm not here, while I try to process the fact that my whole word has decided to take a 180 degree flip… could we maybe talk about this later and pay attention to the fact that we've got someone following us down here? I give it maybe two minutes before we're ambushed."

"The boy is right," Itachi agreed as he narrowed his eyes and felt for chakra. "Four… no five."

"Six, actually," he affirmed, snapping a little. "One of them is trying to use a genjutsu to keep their chakra signature concealed. High-ranking at that. And for the record, I have a name and it's not boy—it's Isao. Haruno Isao."

Itachi said nothing to this, but the barb didn't go without note.

"We need a distraction. I'm not fighting down here," Sakura said, trying to break the tension of the moment. "I won't put valuable documents to our village's history in the line of fire for a pissing contest over the scroll."

"No problem," Itachi replied as he activated his Sharingan. "I've got a plan."

…

.

…

There was talking, arguing, as she rounded the corner slowly. She rippled into sight, as if coming forth from the ether. The five men behind her, masked and geared, stopped as she did so. Reverberations of movement from voices echoed and outlined forms. Chakra was distinguishable in the form of four bodies and she grinned like a feline, though none could see.

"Oh, bickering," she purred out loudly to the group. She chuckled and acted as though she was examining her nails as she stopped and looked at her. She paused—briefly. "Now, if you please, the scroll."

"Like hell," the pink-haired one—Haruno Sakura—bit off as she watched her outline move into a fighting stance.

"I don't have time for this. Get them," she ordered her men. "And retrieve the scroll undamaged. I don't care who you have to kill."

Already, hand signs were being woven. She watched as the Uchiha men and the child activated their sharingans. She sighed with some interest as her men dropped like flies, all victims of the Uchiha eyes. The fifth surrendered to unconsciousness once the Haruno girl touched him.

Really, what good was Root anymore? Didn't they understand the basics?

"Idiots—tools," she spat. "I'll take care of it myself." She shifted, quickly, before anyone could take notice, right towards the boy.

"Isao!" Sakura cried loudly.

But it was too late. Even as someone tried to stop her she had him, blade over his throat and his back pressed to his front. She glared at the one called Itachi, "Go ahead, try to save your precious son with the Sharingan. It won't work; that eye trick is useless on me.

"Feel free to test you Amaterasu though." She grinned under the mask. "I'll just take your boy with me before you can stop it."

"Crazy bitch," Isao muttered, chuckling. "And stupid too." He coughed as she tightened her grip. "Do it!" he cried loudly. "Now!"

Unexpectedly, Sasuke shot forward, sword drawn and cutting forward. Her eyes widened as she realized what he was going to do. "You're more ruthless than I anticipated, Uchiha. Killing your own—." She said this was she moved out of the way quickly, leaving the boy to be gutted. The sound of smoke popping cut her short.

The Sasuke shadow-clone smirked, but they said nothing as the rest puffed out of sight, chakra in their forms spent.

The growl that emanated from her lips became a raging cry of frustration. She turned to stalk out, hitting the communicator on her neck. "I need more men. Now. Tracking them. Over."

"What happened, Red?"

"Don't question me, idiot! Just do it!" She cut off the radio, jaw clenching and nails digging into her palms to the point of drawing blood.

No made a fool of her. No one.

…

.

…

"She knew you were alive," Sakura commented. "She didn't seem surprised at all."

"I often wondered who was after me all these years," Itachi muttered as he stood up, dusted off and the secret underground door closed behind them. "I wouldn't have been able to tell until a few days ago; even then the thought didn't occur to me."

"We can talk while we move," Isao felt the need to offer as he jerked slightly and shook his head. "My clone just died."

"We should head west to one of the training grounds. It far from the fighting and close enough to ready a strategy before she finds us," Sakura offered.

"Agreed," Sasuke and Itachi said in unison. Both men looked at each other.

Sasuke frowned slightly.

"Let's move. Isao, take front."

"Fine by me," he replied as he took off first and Sakura followed second.

For whatever reason, both brothers took to matching their pace behind the pinkette.

"Root has been after you?" Sakura asked.

"Yes," Itachi replied, "But, as I said, I wouldn't have known it was them. In fact, I wouldn't have known you until a few days ago as well.

"I've had a case of amnesia for some time now."

"Twelve years?" Sasuke asked with some suspicion.

"It's possible, Sasuke," Sakura replied. "Extremely are, but possible." She glanced behind her at Itachi. "What caused it?"

"Long-term effects of a treatment to cure my illness," he explained. "But, that's not what you really want to know, is it?"

"What happened?" Sasuke's eyes narrowed.

Itachi sighed as they leapt into the trees and continued on. "After our fight Kisame retrieved me, as per Akatsuki's true leader's instructions. I was taken to a base nearby and left to later have my eyes removed. But, when Kisame set me down he realized I wasn't dead. I wasn't conscious, but I wasn't dead. He assisted—somehow—in giving me enough chakra to wake up and explained to me what happened. I was content to die, but he wouldn't hear of it. He owed me a life-debt he never paid and I never asked him to. And despite my insistence otherwise, took me to a medic he'd been trying to get me to go to for years that he knew could cure my illness. She was somewhere in Mist.

"He told me he'd cover up the disappearance of my body somehow and left me there under her care." He paused as they changed direction slightly. "She didn't know who I was; the woman was a hermit and kept to herself. I still have no idea how Kisame knew of her. But, when he left me neither of us told her who I was. And when he left I knew he wasn't coming back.

"When I came to after the treatment I had no recollection of who I was or where I was. I knew basics about shinobi and the nations. I knew I was a shinobi. But, from where I came from, my name, any of it… I knew nothing.

"I wandered for a long time. And oddly enough, not very close to Fire Country or Konoha. I didn't encounter shinobi often, and when I did none recognized me. Everytime Root came after me they never spoke or explained anything." He shrugged. "So, I just took care of it and moved on with my life, not knowing who they were because they were never dressed as aligned shinobi—always rogues."

"And what brought about the memory return?" Sakura asked.

"I'm not entirely sure, honestly," he said as they landed in the training area. "I just woke up a few days ago and it all came back. And then I realized I needed to come back—quickly. I took a Root agent hostage when I got here and interrogated him to find out what was going on. When I found out about the double dealing between Denzou and the Akatsuki I sent an anonymous message to Tsunade and went looking for you and Sasuke. That's when I encountered the b—Isao."

He scanned the area, eyes narrowing. "We're alright for now… but, she'll be tracking us shortly, I'm certain." He turned to Sasuke. "What's this about the order being false?"

Sasuke opened his mouth to reply, but a sudden and abrupt thud of feet had everyone turning and reaching for weapons and reading hand signs.

"Denzou manipulated The Third, Itachi. And in the process made himself responsible for the death of not only your cousin, but my sister."

"You're—." Sakura started as her eyes widened a little on her informant. Her voice was no longer indistinguishable and entirely recognizable.

She reached up and pulled off her mask. "I'm sorry, Sakura. But I couldn't risk you knowing and all of this going wrong. Not until you had the scroll."

"Rukia…"

"No," Itachi whispered. "Sasami."

"What?" Sakura couldn't help but exclaim. "But... she died in the massacre! They found her body!"

Sasami closed her eyes and shook her head. "That was my sister… Rukia." She sighed. "It's a long story," she said to her, meeting her eyes softly. "And there's much you need to know. I just pray we have time before Denzou's lap dogs get here."

"Then start talking now," Sasuke practically ordered.

"When Itachi got the order Shisui was there, but he wasn't in the room to overhear anything. You know that much. You also know the scroll was bound for the furnace, never to found."

"I didn't," Itachi bit off.

"No, of course you didn't," she replied. "At the time, neither of us knew what was going on, but Shisui brought me the scroll to decode and planned a meeting with you, Itachi," she explained, dark green eyes meeting his. "I got enough of it sorted through to ascertain it was a fake document, meant never to be found. You see, we later discovered that Denzou didn't have the Hokage's full support, but he did have the council's.

"Was the Hokage present during your briefing?"

"…No."

Sasami shook her head. "I thought so."

"But, I spoke with him after the massacre about my arrangements for Sasuke…" His eyes narrowed.

"That's because Denzou used Shisui's eye to manipulate the Hokage into thinking he agreed to it later. No one questioned the missing scroll because it was reportedly sealed. And the only people who have access to those archives are—."

"The Hokage who sealed the file or the council members present at the time of the order," he finished. "Not even Tsunade would have been able to gain access to it."

"Exactly," Sasami agreed with a nod. "So no one would have been the wiser—ever.

"At any rate… Shisui never got meet with you. He was dead when you arrived, wasn't he?"

"I didn't know what to make of it," he agreed. "But, I didn't have time to sort it out either. I'm sorry for that."

"It's alright," she whispered. "It's not like I was around to apologize to at that time."

"You hid," Sakura stepped in and said. "In Rukia's house so you could finish decoding the scroll."

"I did. I didn't know who to trust anymore accept my sister. My husband, the only man to know I, my sister, and my nephews were an Uchiha. Itachi was under suspicion for killing him. I didn't know what else to do." She looked back at Itachi. "I know I should have trusted you with the truth, but I just… I'm sorry. I couldn't risk my nephews and my sister. Not then."

"It's alright, we can talk about that later. Finish the story, Sasami," his voice was soft, kind.

The tone of kindness… it was something that surprised Sakura. But, she didn't dwell on it just then.

"The night of the massacre… I didn't know it was that night. I needed a few supplies from my house. I send Rukia out to get them for me, not thinking anything of it. She had some shinobi skills from what I'd taught her to get in and out without anyone knowing she'd been there on my behalf. So, she took some of my clothes and… when she didn't come back… people came knocking on the door." She took in a deep breath and Sakura could tell she was holding back tears.

"I pretended to be her and asked what was going on… only to be informed by a few Jounin that she was dead. I was told I needed to come identify the body of Uchiha Sasami." She shook her head, brown bangs half slapping against her temples before she wiped the cornered of her eyes roughly. "I was terrified. I didn't know what to do, especially when they said you did it. I knew what had happened, the truth, but I also knew if Shisui had died because of the truth I couldn't risk being found out for what I really was.

"I coded the journal as well as I could manage and called on Orion to keep the secondary journal safe with a temporary summoning contract."

"What I don't understand, Sasami…" Sakura began. "If you were still alive this whole time… why not just tell me where the scroll was as the informant? Or go get it yourself and give it to me so not to pose any risk to your nephews?"

Sasami laughed brokenly, bitterly. "I would have! But I couldn't because I used my own Mangekyo on myself. Each one possesses a different ability. Shisui's was controlling someone, or mind manipulation; Kakashi-san's is a vortex to another plane of existence; mine has the ability to erase memories and manipulate the mind to see things it can't.

"When I was terrified out of my mind I used it on myself in a mirror."

"Then why didn't you just crack the code you had in the journal?"

"I couldn't… because I made it so everytime I looked at those words organized that way I wouldn't understand them. They would be gibberish. Even if someone copied them down for me on another piece of paper? I still wouldn't have been able to read them.

"I full proofed it out of fear." She shook her head. "And as the years went on… I wanted to fix it. I wanted to stop Denzou and avenge my husband's name… my best friend's," she whispered, glancing at Itachi. "My only option was to infiltrate Root. And then you came along, Sakura," she whispered next, looking at her like a beacon of hope. "I said to myself, here's the Hokage's Godaime's apprentice. If anyone can crack it… she can. I knew you had a stake in it, even if I didn't quite understand the details. I knew it had more to do Itachi than about fixing the Sharingan." She glanced over at Isao. "I knew about your son… the spitting image of my best friend, my teammate.

"And I'm glad I was right."

"I just wish you'd told me the truth," Sakura said. "It would have been easier."

Sasami smiled sadly. "Put yourself in my position, Sakura. Imagine all you have left to love are two little boys… your husband has been taken from you because of trying to do the right thing, your sister because she was a bystander, and your best friend because he was determined to be martyr.

"You tell me if you would have risked someone knowing too much and it leading back to you?

"Would you do that to your boy, if he was all you had left of your family?"

Sakura held her gaze for a while, thinking it over before finally sighing. "No… I don't think I would have."

Sasami nodded.

"I think I'm beginning to understand what it feels like to have one's world take a 180 degree flip," Itachi said uncharacteristically.

"Well, at least you're not entirely incapable of sarcasm, old man," Isao said, smirking.

"Well, isn't this nice," a voice said as the woman from be slunk from the shadows of the trees and dropped the ground. Five more root members followed behind her. "A family reunion." She glanced over at Sasami and chuckled. "Well, if it isn't Shisui's little bitch. Don't think I wasn't smart enough to figure you out, girl. Though… you were good enough to fool me until today."

Sasami's eyes narrowed as she tensed slightly, ready to move.

"Shall I tell you a story?"

"Of?" the brunette bit off.

"Oh… you know… of how your husband sounded when he died… screaming at my hand."

"I really don't like her," Isao said, arms crossed over his chest. "So, mom, can we skip the preemptive battle chatter and just get right down to it?"

Sakura started to say something, but was interrupted by Itachi. "Is he always like this?"

She laughed despite the situation. "Always. But, he does have a point. I'm done with the puns." And with that, the pinkette slammed her fist into the ground.

"Go, Sasuke!"

And it began.

AN :: Hopefully, glaring errors aside, you liked it. ^^