Due to the April Fool's prank, I focused all my attention on this story so you could get a quick update. :)
Warning; the part coming up with Danzo gets a little gruesome. Just warning anyone who might be a sensetive to details.
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Itachi bent over double as a deep, wracking cough tore through his body. His cold had worsened over the past couple hours, clogging his throat and nose and leaving a thick haze in his brain. Itachi berated himself for not preparing for worse weather. By now he was knee deep in snow. The wind howled shrilly around him, biting past the poncho he had folded and wrapped around himself.
Itachi squinted against the swirling flakes of ice and concentrated on puting one foot in front of the other. His legs felt numb to the bone, but he wasn't about to give up. Something kept pressing him onwards, an inborn instinct that told him his brother wasn't too far ahead.
"Well, well, if it isn't Itachi Uchiha."
Itachi halted in midstride. "Danzo."
The shadowy figure emerged from the darkness, his face twisted in hatred. "You ruined everything," he hissed.
Despite the precarious situation, Itachi gave a smug grin. "So, someone finally brought you down."
Danzo glowered down at Itachi, vehemence radiating from every part of his body. "I would have won, Uchiha. It would have all been mine."
Itachi took a casual step backwards. He could sense Danzo's bloodlust, and knew the Hokage would stop at nothing to kill him now. "I told you not to touch Sasuke," Itachi said darkly as he backed up another pace.
Danzo sneered as he followed Itachi step for step. "Is that what you came here for? To redeem your precious little brother? It's far too late for that, now. I believe he was disrupting the Kage Summit when I left."
A chill ran down Itachi's spine at the words. Sasuke, what have you done?
Danzo laughed, his voice cold and ruthless. "You see it now, don't you? Your brother is too far gone to be redeemed, Itachi. And this time, he doesn't have the pity of Konoha to back him. They will not allow him to live." Danzo leered as he saw Itachi's eyes light up with anger. "And don't think you have the chance to convince them otherwise, Itachi." Danzo pulled the bandage from his right eye as he spoke.
"I haven't forgotten the slow death I promised you!"
Itachi leapt backwards, barely avoiding the hand that lashed out towards his throat. Dropping Kiba's poncho to the ground, he rolled to the side and launched himself at Danzo's head. Activating his sharingan, Itachi prepared a gengetsu.
But Danzo's attack caught him first.
Itachi's eyes widened as the blazing red of Danzo's right eye pulled him into its depths. He was running through the streets of the Uchiha village. Something terrible was about to happen. He had to stop it! Suddenly all around him people were falling. Blood sprayed onto his cheeks as people collapsed to the ground. He saw six-year-old Sasuke look up to the shadowy figure that was attacking the village. Terror ran through him and he raced to protect his brother. The sword swung down. Sasuke's scream was cut off abruptly. He shouted in horror and ran forward. Catching his little brother's body just before it could hit the ground, he looked up with hatred at the attacker.
It was then that he realized he was seeing himself. Blood red mangekyo stared coldly at him. Why couldn't he fight back? He looked at his hands. The were tiny. Far too much so for his body. A shudder rippled through him. No. He had failed his brother. He was too small to protect him.
A cold grin spread across the face of his other self. The dripping katana swept down towards him -
"NO!"
Itachi snapped himself from the illusion just in time to duck away from Danzo's sword. The blade sliced through the ends of his hair, strewing the black strands across the pure white of the snow. Raising himself to his feet, Itachi's breath came in harsh bursts of anger.
Shisui's eye. Danzo was using Shisui's sharingan.
Rage swept through Itachi at the thought of the brutal dissection of his cousin's body. There was no honor in Danzo, even for the dead. Realizing he might have only one shot at a successful attack, Itachi leapt into the air and ripped the bandage from his own right eye. All he could see from that direction was a blur, but it was enough.
Danzo's eyes widened as a crackling red shield unfurled around Itachi. Mangekyo blazing, Itachi flung out Susanoo's fist before Danzo could even think to dive out of the way.
Danzo felt a thrill of fear just before the spirit hand connected with his right eye. Blood spurted into the air as Shisui's eye was crushed. Screaming in pain and horror, Danzo clapped a hand over the dripping socket and fell to his knees.
Itachi flipped over Danzo's head and collapsed onto the snow. His Susanoo flickered once then faded away, leaving him drained of most of his chakra.
Danzo stumbled to his feet, curses streaming from his lips as he held his hand over his eye socket. He whirled to face Itachi and picked up his sword from where it had fallen onto the snow.
"DIE, UCHIHA!"
Itachi scrambled backwards, only to fall back onto the snow as his body screamed from the use of the Susanoo. Watching his impending death come closer, he played his final card.
.
Danzo grabbed his sword in both hands and raised it high over his head. Leering at the helpless Uchiha, he took a moment to gloat in his victory. Itachi's head lolled back in defeat, his eyes fixed on Danzo. Let the brat have a moment longer to live. Let him taste the grim approach of death that could not be avoided. Danzo waited a few seconds more, allowing the pleasure of the kill to race through his veins. Itachi's face was calm but rigid in anticipation. With a final cry of rage, Danzo let the sword fall.
Itachi screamed. A long, piercing, held out cry of agony was torn from him as Danzo's sword sunk deep into his stomach. Gritting his teeth against the pain, he spat out blood and looked Danzo straight in the eye. Sharingan faded to black, and Danzo smirked as he saw the boy's eyes begin to cloud over. Itachi struggled for breath, fighting for his life even as it was twisted away from his grasp.
"It's over, Uchiha," Danzo taunted as he jerked his sword out of the young child's body.
Itachi groaned and curled into himself, his blood flowing from the wound to stain the crystal snow. Gasping for air that would not come, he raised his head in one last gesture of defiance. Blood dripped down his chin and a deep, raspy cough shook his tiny frame.
Cackling in triumph, Danzo raised his foot and kicked Itachi back into the snow. The Uchiha was wheezing now, scarcely able to draw breath into his collapsing lungs. Lifting Itachi's head by his bangs, Danzo spat in his face.
"You should never have done that," Danzo hissed as the agony seared through his blinded socket. He smiled. "Unfortunately I have no further use for you. Your eyes are far to small to replace what you took from me." He sneered, allowing the words to sink in a moment. "Perhaps your brother would be willing to pay for his nissan's mistake."
Itachi's eyes widened in horror, and Danzo chuckled. "I'll tell him who is to blame for his torment," he taunted. "And be sure, he will be the one to pay for what you have done."
Itachi's body contorted in Danzo's grasp as he struggled for one last breath. Danzo made sure to stay in the line of the boy's fading vision. The last thing Itachi would see would be the face of his killer.
Letting out a final scream of hatred, Itachi twisted his head in an attempt to escape the hand that held him in place. A final shudder ran through him as his eyes glazed over. His body fell limp, and Danzo let the boy's head fall back to the ground.
Itachi Uchiha was dead.
Wrapping a bandage around his ruined eye, Danzo hissed in fury and vowed to avenge his disgrace on Itachi's brother.
He would make Sasuke pay for his brother's actions.
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Itachi panted shallowly, scarcely daring to breath. For ten minutes he had held up the gengetsu. Ten minutes of fear as Danzo taunted him, attacked him, threatened the one thing most precious to him.
Now he was gone.
Itachi let out a shuddering breath and rolled to his side. The snow was crystaline and pure around him, splattered only in a few places with Danzo's blood. A deep gouge marked the earth in the place where Danzo's sword had pierced the ground next to Itachi.
The gengetsu Itachi had used to stage his death had completely drained his chakra. Danzo had no weak mind, and it had taken all of Itachi's strength to convince the Hokage that he had finally killed the parasite that had plagued him for eight years.
Itachi closed his eyes and swallowed hard, feeling physically and mentally exhausted. Danzo's gengetsu had not been without pain, and Itachi shuddered at the memory of holding his brother's six-year-old body. He couldn't let Danzo kill Sasuke.
Watching for any sign of Danzo's return, Itachi cautiously rose to his feet. He only managed a single step before his body betrayed him and pitched him back into the snow. The Susanoo and gengetsu had emptied his chakra reserves, leaving him unable to fight against the physical weakness of the cold that plagued him. Finally Itachi stopped trying to get up and simply lay back in the comforting blanket of white.
He was still lying there when Kakashi found him minutes later.
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"You shouldn't have done it!" Sakura lectured as she finished stirring the herbal remedy for Itachi's cold. "Danzo could have killed you!"
"Do you think I - " here Itachi was interrupted by another sneeze, " - Wanted to fight him? He was trying to murder me!"
"I mean that you should have stayed home!" Sakura shot back as she plonked a glass on the table. Only an hour had passed since Kakashi had found Itachi collapsed on the snow, and the initial shock of finding the Uchiha nearly frozen to death hadn't worn off yet.
"I'm not going back until I've talked to Sasuke!"
Sakura heaved a sigh of frustration. "I know," she said quietly. Of course Itachi wouldn't return without his brother. Was that not the object of her own determination?
"Here, drink all of this," she ordered as she handed Itachi the glass of thick purple liquid.
Itachi grimaced at the bitter taste of the concoction but gulped it down without a word. "What's that supposed to do?" he asked when he was finished.
"Soothe your throat, fight the antibodies in your system, and hopefully clear up that nasty cough of yours," Sakura replied as she put everything away.
"How's the patient?" Kakashi asked as he peeked around the doorway.
"He'll be fine," Sakura informed. "His chakra levels are low and that cold is pretty terrible, but he should recover fully."
Kakashi nodded. "Good, because I - "
"Kakashi, what happened to Danzo?" Itachi broke in.
Kakashi leaned against the doorway, taking his time in answering. "He's been kicked out of his position as Hokage. Or at least he will be once they find him. Inoichi told them about the Uchiha massacre. Everyone's pretty angry about it."
"You have to find Danzo now," Itachi said thickly. He blinked, wondering why he was having a hard time formulating the words. With an effort he managed to force out, "He's going to kill Sasuke."
Kakashi started and Sakura gasped. "When did you hear this? When he attacked you?"
Itachi tried to speak but couldn't seeme to find the energy for it.
"It's all right," he heard Sakura say to Kakashi. "I put something in there to put him to sleep. He needed the rest."
Itachi tried to jump to his feet, but in his drugged state he hit the table and fell to the floor. "S-sasuke, I hafta - "
"We'll take care of Sasuke," Kakashi reassured as he picked Itachi up and carried him over to a futon that Sakura rolled out.
Itachi tried to fight the wave of dizziness that threatened to overwhelm him. Black spots swam across his vision before his eyes closed against his will. He was asleep the moment his head hit the pillow.
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Part 1 of "How to Satisfy the Readers' Thirst for Revenge against Danzo." Part umpteeth of "How to Make the Readers Angrier at the Current Hokage." Don't worry, this isn't over yet. ;) Part 2 is the fight between Sasuke and Danzo, but I'm only going to be writing a small part of that into this story.
To clear up any possible confusion, Itachi's gengetsu started the minute his "death scene" took place. (Note the random period mark.)