/AN: Okay, so I'm pretty sure this is the longest chapter I've ever written! Behold:
Chapter 24: Reinstated.
"Sasuke, it's not what you think! Itachi's innocent!"
"The man that made my life hell is innocent? How so Naruto? Please explain to me this madness!"
/Flashback/
A thirteen year old Itachi sat in the chair in the hokage's office. He was dressed in his uniform Anbu garb, his eyes cold and emotionless. "I accept." In front of him, stood the third hokage, Danzo, and the two other elders, Koharu and Homura.
"Itachi, you do understand what we're asking of you?" The third asked.
"Perfectly." Danzo's face darkened.
"Sarutobi, his eyes. He's planning something. He's too young for a mission such as this. Just get someone else to do it!" Danzo exclaimed.
"I'm not planning a thing. But I do have an exception for the mission." Itachi replied.
"Go on, Itachi."
"My brother, Sasuke."
"What about the boy?" Homura asked.
"I refuse to kill him."
"What are you talking about? Everyone must be disposed of, Uchiha. Lest it defeats the purpose of the mission." Koharu said, enraged.
"Everyone except Sasuke. I refuse. If you don't like it, find someone else to do your mission. They can kill me as well. I'll protect Sasuke with my life." Itachi stood, pulling his mask over his face. It resembled a weasel. Itachi headed for the door.
"Danzo no one else is fit for the job. We send someone else, we fail." Sarutobi said in a panic, watching the young Uchiha leave.
Itachi had his hand on the door knob now. "We accept your condition." Itachi paused.
"Good to know. One other thing, Sarutobi. Koharu. Homura. Danzo," He saved the worst for last, "If you lay one finger on Sasuke's head after I'm gone, I won't hesitate to come back and kill all four of you."
"Is that a threat?" Homura asked, angered.
"No. It's a promise." Itachi said, leaving. Sasuke's fate was now assured. The council members wouldn't dare harm Sasuke in anyway. They were too afraid to and he knew it.
-x-
"Mother. Father." Itachi raised his katana.
"Itachi." Fugaku looked his son in the eyes. He would accept his fate, with dignity, taking his son's secret to the grave.
"I'm proud of you, Itachi. Even if this is how it ends." Mikoto smiled. "I'm happy that you'll be the last thing I see in this world."
"Keep an eye on Sasuke." Fugaku and Mikoto nodded as Itachi gave the final blow.
-x-
Itachi ran. His eyes closed. It was done. He left Sasuke alive. He sighed. The look in his brother's eyes. Shock. Confusion. Hate. Things would never be the same again. He knew that. Itachi decided that every mission Akatsuki gave him, he would go to Konoha and check up on Sasuke and make sure the council members remembered his promise. In the end, when Sasuke finally managed to kill him, he would tell his baby brother the truth and be able to die a happy man. A single tear slid down Itachi's cheek as he finally reached Madara's rendezvous point.
/End Flashback/
"If you'll excuse me, I need to go look for something." Naruto lied, slipping out of the room.
Itachi and Sasuke were silent for a good while.
"Why?" Itachi lifted his eyes to see Sasuke's confused face. He couldn't remember a time when Sasuke hadn't been prepared to attack him. "Why did you do it?"
"Sasuke, I-"
"You had a choice! So why did you choose the one that destroyed us all?"
Itachi hesitated. "If I hadn't done it, and Anbu team would've been sent to do so. I felt it better to do it myself than to have someone else do it." Itachi explained, his voice low.
"Then why didn't you kill me too? Why did you let me suffer?"
"Because I couldn't bring myself to kill my baby brother! I refused. I made sure you were kept alive."
"Do you know what I went through after you did that? Why didn't you just tell me the truth? I would've understood. Why did you feel the need to lie to me?"
"I lied to protect you, Sasuke. Nobody was supposed to know about the mission."
"Then why did you join Akatsuki? Why did this have to happen?" Sasuke collapsed in a chair, his head in his hands.
"Madara promised me a place to go. I couldn't stay in Konoha, because then I wouldn't have been able to keep an eye on you, or make sure the elders kept their promise."
"So you're innocent?"
"Aa."
"Does that mean abandoning Sakura and Naruto was for nothing?"
"Hn."
"How so?"
"You got stronger there didn't you?"
"Aa. So then why did you attack Naruto, when he first went off with Jaraiya?"
Itachi sat down beside him. "Orders. I never actually harmed him, did I?"
"Because I Intervened."
"Details, details."
"I won't ever trust you like I did before." Sasuke said, out of the blue.
"I wouldn't expect you to. I already knew this wouldn't change much." Itachi said.
"So what happens now?" Sasuke asked, looking at Itachi.
"I believe I can answer that!"
"Naruto, that was a private conversation." Sasuke growled.
"Now, considering that Itachi committed many crimes, he also did many good deeds. Let's go over them shall we?"
Itachi and Sasuke nodded.
-x-x-x- Hiro -x-x-x-
Hiro sat by Tachi's bed, holding her pale, lifeless hand to his lips, tears flowing freely down his cheeks. It was all his fault. Everything. Every time he was around her, she got hurt.
Hiro had been first allowed in to see her because Sasuke was talking with Naruto and no one knew where Sakura was. He had been told that Tachi was stable, but due to the gash in her head and all of the blood loss, Tsunade had to bring her into a chemically induced coma.
/Flashback/
Hiro walked into the kitchen. The sand storm had ended and Suna expected rain and a lot of it. Chihiro had apparently been there a while before him. "Alright. Listen up you two. Especially you Hiro. I think this might effect you most of all."
"Okay then. Talk to us. What's up?" Hiro asked.
Gaara paused for a moment. "Two leaf nin recently died a few months ago and they don't have enough nin to replace the two they lost. So Naruto has asked me if you two would want to go to Konoha and be replacements on two of their genin teams."
"So how does this effect me?" Hiro asked.
"If you were to accept you'd be teamed with Uchiha Taro. Chihiro would be on an all female team."
Hiro's eyes widened slightly, his movements becoming awkward. "Um, Tachi… is she…?"
"Yes Hiro. She's a genin but she's on a different team." Gaara replied.
"O-okay then."
Gaara could tell his son was bothered. "Do you accept the mission?"
Chihiro's response was strong and immediate. Hiro's came out as a shaky whisper. With that, the group dispersed and Hiro fled to the safety and comfort of his room. Gaara followed him to make sure his son was okay. The door was opened but he knocked anyway. "Yeah?" came the meek answer.
"You okay?"
"If freaking out is considered 'okay', then yes, I'm just peachy." Hiro was sitting on his bed, running a hand through his flaming hair.
"What are you so worried about Hiro? It's not like she's going to remember you." Gaara replied.
"That's what I'm afraid of." Hiro said, heading for his bathroom. He turned the cold water on and ran his hand under the faucet, splashing water on his face. When that wasn't enough, he stuck his head under the running water.
Gaara raised a brow. "Forgive me if I'm confused." Hiro turned off the faucet, shaking his head like a dog.
"What if she sees me and her memories return? Then what?" Hiro asked letting the extra water drip from the ends of his hair onto his face.
"Then we wing it. Do what we did last time. Even if it kills her." Gaara replied.
"Lovely solution, Dad. 'Oh, hey, it'll kill her but let's wing it!' Perfect. My ex is gonna die just from looking at me."
"First Hiro, I don't think you can actually call her your 'ex' since you never really dated. Second, I'm sure she won't die from looking at you. You're over reacting."
"But you don't know that for sure! Kami, just leave me alone!" Hiro summoned Sand and pushed his father out of he room.
-x-
It had been three weeks since Hiro and Chihiro had moved to Konoha. Luckily, he hadn't seen head nor tail of Tachi. He kicked the post again. "You're going to break your foot like that." Hiro turned around to see Chihiro. "Tou-san wants us in the hokage's office." Hiro nodded, picking up his shirt from the ground, throwing it over his should, following Chihiro out of the training grounds.
-x-
They had been waiting for about ten minutes. Naruto couldn't get over how much Chihiro and hiro had grown in the past two years. And then a black haired girl came into the room, followed by a Naruto mini-me, and a brown haired boy that had his shoulder length hair swept back. The girl stepped forward. "Hokage-sama. Tou-san. Kazekage-sama." she gave them all a respectful bow.
"Old man! Watcha need us for?" The blond stood in front of the girl now. She hit him over the head.
"Baka ne! Show the hokage respect, dobe!"
Hiro watched as the mini-me cowered in fear. "He's my dad! He's used to it, Tachi-sama!" Hiro's heart thumped in his chest. So this was Tachi all grown up.
"So now he shows respect. No offence Hokage-sama, but your son's an idiot." the brunette said, pinching the bridge of his nose.
Naruto smiled. "No offence taken, Kenji." A crash was heard and Hiro's attention averted to the fight.
"I don't care if he was your great grand father's bunion! You should still show respect to your hokage!"
'Note to self: Never anger Tachi.' Hiro thought. He watched as Tachi threw the screaming kid into Naruto's desk.
"Sometimes I swear she has more of a temper than her mother." Sasuke said out loud.
'Wow. First thing he's said since I entered the room.'
"Gomen Naruto. Just take it out of her check."
Naruto sat in his chair in the same position. "Don't sweat it Sasuke-teme. Just discipline your daughter will yah?"
"Uchiha Tachi!"
Two other people entered the room, one of them being Taro. The other was a girl. "What did Tachi-nii-chan do now?" Taro opened his closed eyes. "Kuso."
"Taro, watch your mouth." Sasuke said, with a glare.
"Sure, Tou-san." Taro surveyed the damage. "Did Tachi do this?" The blonde on the floor nodded painfully. "Impressive."
"Taro, you sister is really strong. It's almost scary." The girl beside him said quietly.
"Aniki, what're you doing here?" Taro asked, abandoning her vengeance on the blonde.
"I could ask you the same thing, Tachi-nii-chan."
"Taro-chibi. Tachi-chan. Focus!" Now that Hiro thought about it, Taro did look like a clone of Sasuke.
Two girls entered next. Another blonde and a brunette.
"Okay, now that we're all here, I'll let Gaara take over." Naruto said.
Gaara nodded. Hiro tuned out his dad and took in everybody in the room. Then, he noticed Tachi staring at him. 'That's good at least she didn't burst into flames.' he thought. Then he noticed Taro glaring at him. Fine. If that's how he wanted to play it… Hiro glared back.
"Okay, training at three people." Naruto said. What? It was over already? The group was already dispersing. Hiro left, careful not to touch anyone.
Hiro felt a hand on his shoulder as he went down the steps of the hokage tower. He looked back to see his father. "See that wasn't so bad." Gaara smirked.
"I think I just wet myself." Hiro replied. Gaara laughed out loud.
/End Flashback/
Even then Hiro thought Tachi was beautiful. Her shoulder length black, silky hair, her dark ever green eyes, her porcelain alabaster skin and her full soft red lips. Kami, she was perfect in every way possible.
Looking at Tachi now, broke Hiro's heart. She looked fragile and broken. She had gauze wrapped around her head to stifle any extra blood leaking from the gash in her head. Her lips were busted and bruised. Her foot was wrapped in a lime green cast. He couldn't see the other wounds on her body because of her clothing. But he knew they were there, none the less.
/Flashback/
A seven year old Hiro stood in the middle of a mirror. He was totally ready for this. Finally he was meeting the girl he was supposed to marry someday. He had been told not to say anything to her. He didn't know why, but he knew it was important. Gaara lifted his son onto his shoulders and walked to their destination: the team seven training grounds. The two reached there in no time, Chihiro following behind them.
Sasuke greeted them as Gaara set Hiro on his feet. "Moment of truth, huh?" Sasuke said to Gaara who nodded.
Sasuke called over Tachi. The six year old Tachi looked a little different than the older one. Her hair was shorter and pinned back with a tiny clip. Her eyes were a little darker and her cheeks a little rosier. To add to it, her hair was a little redder. Hiro stepped toward Tachi. "Hello, I'm Hiro." He said a little timidly, extending a hand.
Tachi took Hiro's hand cheerily. "I'm Tachi! Today's my sixth birthday!" Tachi toyed with her blue dressy shirt.
"Happy birthday then."
"Arigato. So where are you from?" Tachi asked.
"Suna. The desert area." Hiro replied.
"How old are you?"
"Seven."
"Eh. It just depends. Um, you know you're still shaking my hand, right?" Hiro asked, smiling.
Tachi pulled her hand away quickly, tucking it behind her back. "Oops. Sorry. I didn't mean- I mean I didn't-"
"It's cool. Don't worry about it." Hiro said. The two were silent for a while.
"Hey you wanna come meet some of my friends?" Tachi asked, her eyes lighting up.
"Yeah, okay." Tachi took Hiro's hand and led him over to a group of kids around the same age.
"Hey guys! This is Hiro!" Around him, he saw a group of seven kids. "He's from Suna and seven years old!" Tachi said. Many different variations of hello were heard. "Hiro this is Inuzuka Kazu." Hiro looked at a small boy with spiky brown hair and brown eyes. On his cheeks were weird, red, upside down triangles.
"Yo." Kazu said, a slight glare on his face.
"This is Inuzuka Riki, Kazu's twin sister." Hiro glanced over to a brown haired girl with pig tails. Her eyes were brown and she had the same strange triangles on her cheeks.
"This is Hyuuga Kenji." Hiro again averted his gaze to see a boy with longer brown hair and pale violet eyes.
"Hi." came Kenji's simple answer.
"I'm Uzumaki-Hyuuga Renji! Believe it! Nice to meet yah!" A boy with blonde hair and blue eyes stepped forward.
"Hello." Hiro said.
"The quiet on over there is Naara Kana." Renji said.
"I'm not quiet! I'm just a little shy okay?" a girl with long blonde hair pulled up in a pony tail bonked Renji on the head. Hiro noticed her bold blue eyes.
"While they're fighting, I'll go ahead and introduce myself. I'm Hyuuga Hikari, Kenji's sister." Hiro nodded.
"The last one is my brother, Taro." Tachi said.
Taro looked at Hiro, his face bright an happy. The young Uchiha waved.
"Do you have any siblings?" Tachi asked.
"I have a twin sister named Chihiro. But I don't know where she is." Hiro said looking around.
"Hey! Renji wants to know if you want to play freeze tag?" Kazu asked.
"Yeah, sure! Sounds fun." Tachi replied.
"Alright, lets pick teams." Taro said.
"Who's team captain?" Renji asked.
"I nominate Tachi!" Riki said, pointing in Tachi's general direction.
"I second!" Kazu replied. The others agreed.
"Okay so who's the other team captain?" Tachi asked. Nobody said anything.
"I'll be team captain!" Taro said. Everybody agreed, and the team picking commenced. "I'll take Riki." The girl cheered and went over to Taro's side.
"Hiro's on my team!" Tachi said. Hiro smiled but noticed Kazu's glare.
'Why is he glaring at me all the time? What did I ever do to him?' Hiro thought.
"Hey can I play?" Hiro looked to where the voice came from. Chihiro.
"Who are you?" Renji asked.
"She's my sister, Chihiro." Hiro said.
"Okay. Yeah you can play. But we already picked team captains." Hikari said. Chihiro nodded.
"Okay, um… Kenji." Taro said.
"I pick Renji!" Tachi kept the picking going.
"Kazu!"
"Chihiro!"
"So it comes down to the hyperactive athlete and the hyper active ditz. Lessee…" Taro mocked thinking. "Hyperactive athlete! You're up!"
"Aw! Why do I always get picked last?" Kana whined.
"Because you start crying if you break a nail." Hikari said.
"Hey I gotta look good don't I?"
"So how do you play freeze tag?" Hiro asked.
Renji bugged. "Are you kidding me?" Hiro shook his head.
"Okay, it's like tag. You do know how to play tag, right?" Taro asked. Hiro nodded. "Okay, it's like that, but if you get tagged, you have to freeze until someone comes up and tags you again."
"Seems easy enough."
"Good. AWRIGHT! Base is the middle post. My team's it! Go!"
For a split second, nobody moved. And then Kazu pushed Hiro over leaving him frozen on the ground.
'Okay… this kid has serious issues.' Hiro thought.
And then as if getting perfect revenge, Hiro watched Tachi tackle Kazu to the ground. "That wasn't very nice!" She said.
"I thought we were playing freeze tag, not football!" Kana said, a blank look on her face.
Jumping up from a frozen Kazu, Tachi ran over to Hiro and tagged him, instantly unfreezing him. Finally freed, Hiro ran at the first person he saw, which just happened to be Kenji. "Aw, this bites."
Hikari ran for Kenji, unfreezing him. Hiro paused and saw Taro pounce on Tachi. The mini jinchuuriki ran for Tachi, gently tapping her arm.
A blood curdling scream was heard. Everybody stopped. Time seemed to move in slow motion, as Hiro realized his grave mistake. He hadn't felt the demon's chakra gaining power.
"Tachi, are you okay?" Kana asked timidly.
"Dude, what's up with Hiro?" Kazu asked. Everyone looked at Hiro. The circles around his eyes had darkened and spread to form a mask around his eyes, like a raccoon. There was a red, angry, aura emitting from his body, that screamed evil.
Al at once Hiro was surrounded by people. Hiro could see a pink haired lady standing over Tachi, who was now on the ground, still screaming. "What's wrong with her, Sakura?" Sasuke asked, beginning to panic.
"I can't tell! Someone get me a cloth or something!" Sakura yelled over her shoulder.
"Will a sock work?" Naruto asked, holding a nasty looking sock in his hand.
"It'll have to. She's seizing."
"Hiro hold still!" Gaara was gripping his son, trying to get him to calm down. Hiro hadn't realized he was screaming Tachi's name.
"Nothing's working! She's going into cardiac arrest!"
"Tsukiyomi…" Sasuke mumbled.
"Sasuke, no!"
"We don't have any other choice Sakura!" Before, Sakura could say anything else, Sasuke, activated the sharingan and all was silent.
/End Flashback/
Hiro blacked out after that. Slowly, he became aware that a nurse was checking on Tachi's vitals. He moved to get out of her way. "Sorry." He mumbled.
"You're fine. You know you've been here almost four hours. Don't you think you should go home and eat something? Maybe wash up, get some rest?" The nurse asked.
"I'm not leaving until she wakes up. Even if it's months from now." Hiro replied.
"That's sweet of you. But you must be hungry. Can I at least get you something to eat?"
Hiro hesitated but his stomach betrayed him with rumbles. The nurse laughed and left to get him some food. She stopped in the doorway and said, "My name's Michiko by the way."
Hiro nodded. "Hiro."
-x-x-x- Hokage Tower -x-x-x-
Naruto looked down at Itachi's file. "Crimes committed: over 100 counts of murder; all Uchiha. Association with s-ranked criminals and a forbidden organization. Attempted kidnap of the nine tailed jinchuuriki… I think I might let that one slide-"
"What?"
"Oh, come on, Sasuke! No one got hurt!"
"Says you."
"That was your fault for barging in like that!" Naruto replied.
"I was trying to save you dumb ass!"
"I was doing perfectly fine on my own!"
"Only because Jaraiya came in."
"Can we please get on with the charges?" Itachi asked, pinching the bridge of his nose in frustration.
"Right. One count of rogue ninja, and another count of missing ninja. And lastly, a charge of the corruption of said little brother's mind: a minor misdemeanor."
"Is that even a crime?"
"It is in my book. On to the good counts! Aiding in the rescue of four minors, Assassination of two s-ranked criminals, and acceptance or charges. The rescue of the minors cancels out the kidnapping charge. Acceptance of charges, the tortured brother charge. The assassinations cancel out twenty five of the murder charges. Which means you're crimes now stand at seventy five murder charges. And since it turns out it was a mission, the only murder charges I'm leaving you with are your parent's murder. So two counts of premeditated murder, the rogue and missing ninja charges and association with s-ranked criminals and forbidden organizations. Your sentence: six months house arrest, eight-thousand-seven-hundred-sixty hours of community service, no missions unless s-ranked, and six years of probation. Break any of these rules, and you will be sentenced to death. Understood?"
"Aa."
"Good. Oh and Sasuke?"
"Yes?"
"You have a new mission. S-ranked."
"What?"
"Keep your brother and his wife at your house until his house arrest is up, would you?"
Sasuke's eyes widened. "Speaking of Nanami, what are her charges?" Nanami had been placed in a holding cell at the Konoha jail since no one knew who she was.
"Same as yours. By the way, with house arrest, I will allow you to roam around Konoha as long as you have someone of Uchiha decent or a ninja level jonin or higher with you. Any questions?"
"No. But I do have one request.' Naruto looked up. "My daughter, Renka will be arriving soon. She's never been to an actual ninja academy, but she's chuunin level. Would she be able to take the chuunin exams as a leaf?"
"Before she does that, she'd have to take the genin test. I wouldn't require her to go through the entire academy. When will she be here?"
"Some time tonight?"
"Alright then. I'll notify Kotetsu and let him know to send her my way." Itachi nodded and turned to leave with Sasuke. "Itachi." said Uchiha turned to look at the hokage. Naruto pulled out something blue and shiny. "You might be needing this." Naruto threw the blue shiny thing at Itachi, who caught it. A Konoha head band.
Itachi looked back to Naruto with grateful eyes.
/AN: Please tell me what you think! Review please!