Disclaimer- I do NOT own either Naruto or RWBY series, NOR their characters.
A/N- Those wondering, I will be skipping Ozmas story with Salem as I am assuming you have all seen it before, prior to reading this. We will be going directly towards Itachi, the reason be it that this chapter will focus mostly on the crew learning about his past. Well, I hope you enjoy!
PS. This chapter is mostly a recap of his life, I skimmed through some and went to detail in some points in his past. It's your choice if you want to read this chapter or not.
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Ch. 27
"You all heard her too, right?! That was so much you didn't tell us! How could you think that was okay?!" Yang questioned Ozpin
"AHHHH!" They swiftly turned watching as Jinn had taken hold of Itachi, her fingers seeming to dig into his head. "GET OUT!" His power flared.
Jinn narrowed her eyes. "This one is quite the interesting one..."
"What are you doing?!" Blake asked her but couldn't move forward as if something was keeping them away from her and Itachi.
"Why are you doing this to him?!" Weiss shouted
"It was asked what he was hiding, and I am about to answer..." Jinns eyes widened. "Oh my, this is quite the story you have, Uchiha Itachi." Itachi's power erupted but Jinn slightly smirked. "Now let us begin."
The crew were once again taken into the emptiness of white as the image around them began to change. They looked around, eyes widening as they saw the dead bodies littering the ground around them, in every direction as far as they could see.
"This is a story of a young boy who sacrificed everything he loved and held dear, and where it all began...The Third Shinobi World War!"
They heard Jinn say before they turned around seeing a young boy with short shoulder length hair running through the field of bodies, looking around.
"Is that..." Ruby looked at the boy who ran past them.
They then moved as the boy looked over a cliff, they walked over as their eyes widened, they gasped, as some looked away. They witnessed the fighting between Shinobi, the way they killed, the techniques they demonstrated, causing death and destruction in their wake.
The scene had changed. There were still bodies, but the fighting was gone. They watched as the young boy ran up to a man, asking for water. They watched as the boy let the man drink some water.
"At the young age of Four, Itachi Uchiha was taken to war, at the young age of Four, Itachi Uchiha had taken the life of another for the first time."
They saw the man swiftly get up about to attack Itachi, but to their surprise Itachi had been quicker and sliced the mans neck, not realizing until a second later.
"Father, why did this shinobi try to kill me?" They heard him ask the man who had appeared behind him. "I didn't do anything..."
"Because this is war. Not a war between people, but a war between nations. That's why strangers kill each other meaninglessly."
"This is what war is?" They could hear the slight tremble in his voice.
"That is what the Shinobi world it." He replied sternly. "Listen, Itachi...Never forget this sight."
"In attempt to harden the boys resolve, to make him stronger, a killer, the father took his child to war, but the father without knowing it, had created something much more..."
The scene changed once more, now they were standing to the side of what seemed to be a memorial service. They watched as the young boy turned to look towards them, but found out that he was looking at a pale man with long hair that stood behind them. They watched as the boy walked up to the pale man, listening to his words.
"Grieving over the dead is meaningless. If there's any meaning in Death, it's to take advantage of it."
"What is the meaning to life?" The young Itachi asked
"There is none. There's meaning in life if it's eternal."
"The young child began repeat the words the man had spoke in his head. To a point that he began to question what his life meant."
They were now at the edge of the cliff, looking over the vast amount of trees over the land.
"No." Qrow said walking towards the boy "He's going to jump."
'There's no meaning...in life?'
They heard as they reached towards him but he moved forward as his body began to fall down the cliff, they felt themselves going with him worried about what would happen to the boy as they heard the caw of a Crow. They watched as he pulled out a kunai from his pouch and stabbed it into the cliff, but it was knocked out. He pulled a second one out in attempt to slow himself down quicker, he kicked off the side evading some sharp rocks as he turned around stabbing both kunai into the mountain, slowly but surely slowing his fall.
He landed safely, kicking off the mountain as he came to a stop, he walked up towards a crow that landed ear the river, before he went down to his knees, as he and the crow watched the other.
"No one wants to die, right?" The crow flew away before returning with a murder of crows as they flew around him. He stood up and looked at them before raising his arm. The crows flew away as one came down and landed on his wrist. 'What is life, anyway?'
"The boy not knowing what to live for, what to fight for had finally gotten his reason."
The scene changed to the young Itachi leaving the hospital, a woman with long dark hair at his side.
"Mother, are you sick?"
His mother stopped and turned to look at him. "It's nothing like that. You see, you're going to have a little brother or sister." She smiled as she moved forward, taking hold of his head and pressing it against her stomach. "Yes, you're going to be a big brother."
"Mom, I want a little brother."
She giggled. "But a sister will be cute too, wouldn't it?"
"I have a feeling it's going to be a little brother."
"She's beautiful..." Weiss said taking a good look at Itachi's mother
The scene changed to a sunny day in a hospital room, the cries of a child was heard.
"It's a boy! He's your little brother."
The young boy walked up towards the bed, gently poking at his baby brothers cheek. 'A life...A new life.' They could hear his thoughts.'
The scene had changed shortly into a memory of the young Itachi, they saw him as a baby being lifted into the air by his father and mother as he smiled and laughed in glee.
"He's so adorable!" The girls said in unison
"I kinda wish I could hold him." Yang said as they surrounded the mother carrying a baby Itachi.
They had returned to the hospital. 'I'm like that too.'
They had moved to a park, watching and listening to his thoughts. 'Birth. Death. Birth. Death.' He stopped as they heard someone get his attention.
They all turned seeing a young girl, with brown hair. "Aren't you Itachi? An Uchiha in my class? Let's play together."
Itachi walked past her and a group of boys, who started calling out to him.
"I have shuriken training right now." He replied
"Wow" The boys said sarcastically "Well then, let's practice shuriken too!"
"No, don't!" The girl shouted as the boys began throwing rocks at Itachi who easily evaded them "Hey, you guys, stop it!"
"Shut up! This is between us guys!" One of the boys said
'Life is born. Life dies. Life is...a battle.' He caught a rock as he turned around, throwing the rock as it hit another in midair, as they bounced off some others before finally hitting the one that a boy was about to throw.
"Then came the night, the beginning, that sealed the fate of the Uchiha Clan."
It had gotten dark our as they were inside their home. They watched Itachi let his little brother take hold og his finger, smiling and laughing.
"Itachi, I'll be going out tonight on clan matters, so go ahead and have dinner."
"Okay."
"Your father is working too, so please watch over Sasuke."
"Uh-huh."
They watched as Itachi sat outside, holding his little brother in his arms, as he watched the moon. "It's a full moon tonight, Sasuke." There was a cold ominous wind blowing as Itachi looked away. "What is this..." Little Sasuke began to cry as Itachi held him closer. "Don't cry, Sasuke. Your big brother will protect you, no matter what happens." Itachi walked back into the house as he whipped his head looking towards the other end of the village as he then felt the ground began to shake and Sasuke began to cry more.
"What's going on?!" Blake questioned
They followed Itachi outside, seeing large rubble soaring through the sky. "Its the Nine Tailed Fox! Run!"
"Itachi!" Itachi turned around seeing his mother run up to them as she took the baby from his hands. "We have to get away from here, it's too dangerous."
They watched as large piece of a rubble came flying towards them as they stood in shock as Itachi leaped into the air, his arm pulled back as he punched the rubble shattering it into small pieces. They followed after Itachi and his mother as the boy stopped, looking at his right into an alleyway as the mom kept running, baby in arms.
"Mom! Dad!" They heard a girl crying
Itachi held his hand out. "Come this way!"
The girl turned around. "Itachi-kun?"
"Hurry!" The girl ran towards him as the building was coming apart he grabbed a hold of her hand and pulled her out of the alley and into his arms around the corner as the debris crushed everything. "Let's go, we have to get to an evacuation zone." They ran together, the girl not letting go of his hand thinking that if she let go of her lifeline, she would die.
"Itachi! Itachi!" His mother called out
"Mother!" His mother held the boy and girl as she took hold of his hand making sure they wouldn't get split up again.
The group looked towards their left, seeing Itachi had his eyes on something as their own widened. Even though the beast was far from them, it still towered over anything they had seen so far. The power from it's roars and how each swish of the tail would cause a large gust and caused more destruction.
"That thing is huge..." Weiss stated
Qrow shook his head. "It's bigger than any grimm I've seen before."
"I know this isn't real..." Blake stepped back, her body slightly trembling. "...it's as if I can feel the power, negativity, hate and much more coming from that thing."
Ruby slowly nodded. "I know what you mean."
They were now outside of a shrine temple, Itachi was leaning against a pillar at the entrance as the male clansmen exited, leaving his father to come out last.
"How do you feel?"
"Let's go and see it, Father." Itachi said as he turned away from his father. "The new training grounds." They had been moved to a lake, seeing the boy running down a small hill towards the edge. "I like it here. Father, teach me a jutsu, a Generational Uchiha Jutsu, taught through the generations."
They watched as the father went through some hand signs as he blew fire out of his mouth that turned into a large fireball. "This is the fundamental Uchiha Ninjutsu, Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu. Alright the signs are..."
Itachi had already began going through the signs as he too blew out a stream of fire from his mouth as it turned into a large fireball, like his father had made. "I did it."
His father began to laugh. "What a surprise. That's my boy."
"The boy entered the academy, excelling since day one..."
They watched Itachi entrance ceremony, how the girl from before had become infatuated with him. As well as all the girls in his classroom who watched him.
Yang chuckled, wondering what Weiss and Blake looked like seeing all these fangirls. She turned but didn't see any expression on their faces. Of course they wouldn't. 'This has to do with Itachi, it's only natural that they are focused on this story.'
They watched him making a clone as it had gone to class for him many times, as he would sneak off and train. During one of his explorations they heard his thinking again.
'What is a Shinobi? What is a village?'
"One Day he met someone, that someone would become his bestfriend."
"You're very talented for your age." They looked at a boy who seemed to be older than Itachi come out from behind some trees.
"I'm no match for you, Shisui."
Shisui chuckled. "Come on, with enough training, you may end up stronger than me." Shisui grinned before sighing. "So tell me, what's wrong? Does the academy bore you so much that you're ditching?"
"I'm not ditching." Itachi answered throwing a kunai as it hit dead center.
They went back and forth from Itachi and his clone as they watched the scuffle against the older kinds to the point where his clone had taken a hit, undoing itself.
"Being advanced at such a young age and having excelled in just his first year, he graduated top of his class and school as Valedictorian."
They had seen him read the scroll in front of the sea of graduates. Now they watched him walk through the school yard, sakura blossom petals falling as he spotted three figures that meant the most to him, his father, his mother and his little brother.
"Itaaa!" Sasuke cried in clear voice
They watched as the young child walked towards him, their mother right behind his tottering steps, her arms outstretched in case he fell.
Itachi's smile vanished as his view of his younger brother had disappeared.
"Are you Uchiha Itachi?" The man asked, looking down on him. The right side of his face was covered in bandages. He was wearing black, but his arm from his left shoulder was exposed revealing a white robe he wore underneath. His lone left eye glared at Itachi. "I see." Unflinchingly, Itachi met his gaze. "You are the bearer of bad luck."
Qrows eyes widened before they narrowed. "What?"
"Bad Luck?" The young boy questioned
"They call Chaos, those lines," the man said, pointing at the lines running from Itachi's eyes down his cheeks. "Chaos will follow you throughout your life."
"The stain of a single drop falling on a clear day..."
"I'm getting a bad feeling about this guy." Ruby said
"Who does he think he is calling a bearer of Bad Luck?" Weiss huffed
"I have a question for the most talented genius ever to grace the halls of this academy." Itachi silently waited for the man to continue. "Ten of our brethren have been shipwrecked. One of them has caught a nasty, infectious disease. If he is allowed to live, the other nine will also get sick and die. If you were the captain of that ship, what judgment would you hand down?"
"Why would he ask someone you just met something like this?" Yang questioned
"No matter what happens, the one who is sick is destined to die. If I were the captain, I would think my first priority would be to save the lives of the other nine. I would choose to kill the one and save the nine."
A bold smile crossed the mans face. "A very unambiguous response." He moved towards Itachi, towering over him. "I look forward to the day we meet again." He almost whispered as he passed the boy.
"Itachi..." His mother raced over, Sasuke in her arms.
"What did he say?" his father asked him.
"Nothing important." Itachi replied looking at his father who watched the departing man. "Who is he?"
"Shimura Danzo. He's a close aid to the Third." A dark shadow lurked in his voice as he answered Itachi.
'Chaos will follow you throughout your life.'
"The words Danzo left lingering in the air became sharp thorn and pierced Itachi's heart."
Blakes eyes widened. "No, it can't be..." Blake said her voice shaky. "It's true, it's actually him..."
"Blake...?" Ruby said
"What's going on?" Yang asked
Blake shook her head slowly. "Itachi...he...he's the boy from the book." She fell to her knees
Weiss' eyes widened as she moved toward Blake. "What makes you say that?"
"Shimura Danzo, was...was a man who manipulated and led Itachi down a road of pain and misery."
"You mean there's a book written about his past?" Qrow questioned Blake who nodded slowly.
"If you already know what happens then we can come to a stop, if we keep going it may be too mu-"
"No." Blake answered "I want to see it for myself."
"I agree with her." Weiss looked at Jinn.
"The boy worked with his new team, but one day everything changed."
They watched as the scene changed. They were on a road with 12 other ninja and a dozen or so attendants who guarded a man sitting inside a luxurious palanquin were all standing still as if frozen in place. The air around them had gotten chilly as they watched Itachi's teammate get pierced by a man in a bizzarre mask.
"Those who would rush forward recklessly seeking distinction, die young. That is the reality of the world of ninja." The man looked at the boy, pool of blood forming in the ground. "But it's already too late to teach you that, hm?" The man shook his arm that penetrated Itachi's teammate as the corpse slid off and hit the ground. "Of course you did not fall, hm? And you did not foolishly charge like a child , but attempted instead to coolly assess both your power and mine. Wonderful, Uchiha Itachi..."
"How do you know my name?"
"I know everything about the Uchihas." The man stepped forward towards Itachi. "My objective is that old mans life. If you sit and watch quietly, I will spare yours."
"I'm a ninja of Konoha-" The man kept walking as he stopped right next to him 'I-I can't move...move!' Itachi shouted in his mind which they all heard
"Could you say what you said before one more time?" The masked man cocked his head to one side
"I am a ninja of Konoha." Itachi said, hoarsely.
"Does that indicate that you wish to die? You can become a good ninja, there's no need for you to rush to your death here, Still, if you say you wish to die, then I won't try to stop you."
Itachi managed to move his right arm, a kunai flicking into it as he swiped at the mans mask, but to his surprise his hand moved right through him.
"It seems you've chosen Death." The man said about to kill Itachi before he paused right above his head, he muttered some words only Itachi could hear as he disappeared in a spiral.
The next day they were in his room, they watched as he had not touched his dinner and instead buried himself under his blanket. They could hear his mother and father speaking outside, knowing full well that Itachi could as well. They watched as his body began to shake violently as he threw the blanket off his eyes burning red with three tomoe around the pupil, he glared at the door. "You won't beat me next time." They heard him say as his door opened, his mother and father eyes wide before he closed his eyes and deactivated his Sharingan.
"With his new power having awakened, the boy became stronger, gaining even more eyes looking at him, more attention then ever before, then one day was approached by the same bandaged man from before offering Itachi a spot in the Anbu."
The scene changed again, this time it was longer into the future as Itachi seemed to be around 11 maybe 12 years old. They watched as he had finished putting on a vest and some arm guards and putting his hair that had grown longer into his signature pony-tail. He left the locker room and walked up to a door opening it as more people wearing the same outfit with different mask looked at him.
"I'm Itachi Uchiha. I'll be part of ANBU from today. I'm looking forward to working with you all." His eyes roamed over each and every ANBU member inside 'I'm going to watch over the Hidden Leaf from with the shadows.' They heard him think, placing the mask over his face.
"ANBU?" Ruby questioned looking at Blake
"Ninja who work from the shadows, doing the most dangerous mission the village has to offer..." Blake replied having remembered from the book.
"The uniform is the same as his battle attire from Beacon." Yang pointed out.
Everything changed, they were in a room, Itachi was in his casual clothes and was sitting across from his father.
"That's my boy. You've become a member of the ANBU and I'm very proud. However, keep this close to your heart. Though you're an ANBU you are and foremost Itachi of the Uchiha Clan."
They had witnessed the meetings that Itachi attended, how the Uchiha had had enough and were beginning to plan a Coup d'etat. How nothing was changing for the better, how Itachi's own father had him spy on the village from withing the ANBU, but also how the Third Hokage had Itachi spy on the Uchiha...he was a double agent. Itachi wanted the best for both the village and the clan, but the Uchiha were too hard headed, too prideful. They had seen how he and Izumi had gotten closer, some jealousy could be seen on the faces of Weiss and Blake, but they let it go knowing full well this was the past, but were glad that there was someone who really cared about him. They had watched as Itachi and Shisui had come up with a plan to stop the Coup, and now they waited on the edge of a cliff looking at the waterfall waiting for something to happen.
"Having been working as a double agent, the boy was tired, tired of lying to his family his friends, his lover, and once he had thought to had found a solution it was swiftly taken as on this tragic day the boy lost yet an other friend."
Itachi turned around, wide eyed. "Shisui!" Itachi noticed him clutching his face as he removed his hand. "What happened to your eye?!"
"Danzo, he took it. He doesn't trust me, so he took my eye." Shisui walked passed Itachi and turned to face him. "You're the only one I can count on, my bestfriend." They watched in horror as Shisui removed his remaining eye. "Protect the Village, and the Uchiha name. If I die many things will change. I've left a note."
Shisui handed Itachi his eye. "Shisui!"
Itachi reached to grab him only now noticing his arms were trembling. "Don't stop me, Itachi...If you're truly my friend."
Itachi watched as Shisui fell to his death. "Shisui!" Itachi fell to his knees, hands now where Shisui once stood. Tears falling down before the tears had stopped only to be replaced with blood coming from his eyes. He opened his eyes a pinwheel had replaced the three tomoe. "I promise you, Shisui. I will stop the clan."
"After his best friends Suicide, there was suspicion of him in the eyes of others."
They watched Itachi and Sasuke speak.
"Having power means being isolated, and it leads to arrogance. No matter how high peoples hopes were for you." Itachi said thinking about how the Uchiha wanted to use him, but when he wouldn't comply they had his bestfriend Shisui, spy on him. " Sasuke looked at Itachi with concern. "But...it's just the two of us. I'll always be there, like a wall you need o climb over. Even if it means being hated, that's what big brothers are for."
Sasuke was about to speak but was interrupted as the door was flung open. "Itachi, you there! Come out! We need to talk to you!" Yashiro one of his fathers trusted men shouted.
"It's alright, Sasuke. Stay here." Itachi said as he stood leaving Sasuke and walking towards the front door, Inabi on the left, Yashiro on the right, and Tekka behind them, each one his fathers trusted retainers. "What is it? What brings you all here?"
"It's about Uchiha Shisui. He threw himself into the Nakano River last night, and killed himself." Yashiro informed him.
"You and Shisui were the only ones who didn't come to the meeting last night, we knew you adored him, like he was your own brother."
"I haven't seem him at all lately, with my ANBU missions taking most of my time...but what a terrible tragedy." Their meetings on the cliff were a secret from everyone and he had no intention of telling men as shallow as these.
They glared at him. "Well, the Military Police Force has decided to begin a full Investigation." Inabi informed him.
"This is Shisui's final note." Yashiro pulled out a piece of paper folded in two, and handed it to Itachi. "A handwriting analysis was conducted. There's no doubt Shisui himself wrote it."
"He was one of the most talented of the clan." Yashiro said. "And the best ever at teleportation. He was always first to take on any mission for the sake of the clan."
Unable to sense the turmoil in Itachi, Inabi picked up where Yashiro left off. "It's hard to believe a man like that would leave a note like this, and kill himself."
"You shouldn't judge people by appearances and preconceptions." This was sarcasm, and also referred to himself.
"We'll leave the note with you, for the time being." Inabi continued, as though Itachi hadn't spoken. "Take it back to the ANBU, and request their cooperation in the investigation."
"Understood."
Without looking back, the silent so far Tekka told Itachi. "We have alternate information channels into ANBU. If you destroy the note, we'll know."
"Why don't you just say it?" About to pass the gates, the three men stopped. They turned around, their eyes shining crimson. A desire for murder filled the air between the four ninjas. "You think I did this?" Itachi's own Sharingan activating.
"In fact, we do child." Inabi said through clenched teeth.
"Listen Itachi." He said murderously. "If you did indeed betray the clan, you will pay."
Itachi's body was faster than his voice, faster than his thoughts. He launched a kick at Yashiro's throat, caught Inabi in the face with his arm as he whirled around, and plunged his knee into the pit of Tekka's stomach. As he whirled around to face forward again, the three tumbled clumsily to the ground, and Itachi stood tall in the middle.
"Like I said, don't judge people by appearances or preconceptions." having been hit hard in vital points, the three men remained doubled over, unable to move. "You misjudged me completely if you think I have patience for you. The clan...The clan...You babble on, but you overestimate your abilities. And you have no idea of the depth of mine, which is why you're crawling right now." Inabi looked over his shoulder and spat. "You cling to your organization, to your clan, and to your name...you limit yourself, you arbitrarily decide on your capacity. Disgusting...and then, you fear and despise what you can't yet see...still don't know...Sheer idiocy!"
"Itachi, stop it!" He was about to fly at them once more, when his his fathers fierce voice stopped him. Itachi turned to look at his father, looking at him with a stunned look on his face.
"That's enough. What's wrong with you?" His father walked up to him without looking at the three men on the ground. "Itachi, I'm worried about your behavior as of late."
Itachi didn't meet his fathers crimson eyes. "There's nothing to worry about, Father. I've just been busy with work...that is all."
"Then why didn't you show up last night?"
"...I needed to achieve the next state," Itachi murmured
The group watched the two, first time seeing Itachi like this and not seeming to want to look directly at someone. They watched as he took a Kunai and threw it. Their eyes widened when the kunai flew right next to them, they turned seeing the cold tip plunged into the center of the Uchiha clan crest on the wall.
Itachi lowered his face. "My ability's been repressed by this pathetic clan." Itachi kept his gaze on the ground. 'Had Shisui worked so desperately, and died, to save people like this? Was this clan really worth saving?' They heard him thinking before he spoke once more. "Obsessing over worthless things like the clan, you lose sight of what's really important."
"Peace in the village." Qrow spoke
"Premonition and imagination...you can't achieve real change as long as you're bound by regulations and restrictions."
"What insolence! If you continue to speak this nonsense, you're going to prison!" His father said as he held the crouching Yashiro by the shoulders as he pulled the other two men to their feet.
"Well, what're you going to do?!" Inabi spat "This will not be tolerated. Captain, give the arrest order!"
Itachi could not be captured there. The four ring leaders of the Coup d'etat were assembled before him. Now that he had arrived here at the end of the line, all he could do was stand firm, but it was all shattered when he heard his little brother shouting, nearly shrieking.
"Itachi! Stop it!"
They group watched as Itachi's knees folded, and he crumpled onto the stone paving, placing both his hands on the ground and bowing his head deeply. 'I can't kill someone in front of my brother...' It was his pride as an older brother and the single-minded desire not to hurt his younger brother. "I did not kill Shisui...But I apologize for my inappropriate remarks...I'm very sorry."
"Then came his first confrontation with the men that murdered his bestfriend."
"Your age has legally been altered, raising it by one year. By doing that we have made you into an Anbu Captain, to let you move more freely. I've asked for the members of your team to come from the foundation, and I have obtained Hiruzen's approval." Danzo said a man with a white tiger mask standing behind him to his left.
"For the sake of the Uchiha?"
"Precisely." Danzo stood up and walked around his desk as he came over to Itachi and looked down on him. "Just like Uchiha Shisui worked for Hiruzen, you will work for me from now on."
Danzo uttered the name of his good friend, and in his sooth attitude, Itachi could see the depth of darkness in the man standing before him. These two men had killed Shisui.
"Why did you kill Shisui?" His Sharingan coming to life. "Shisui was trying to stop the clan coup d'etat for the sake of the village. Just as he was about to do that, you interfered and he died."
"Do you really think Shisui's actions could have stopped the coup?" Itachi, at a loss for a reply was ashamed of himself for faltering. "His actions would have gotten in the way of my own plan to prevent the coup, but Shisui of the body flicker...even if I had ordered him not go forward, I doubt he would have been willing to listen, given that I'm not his superior."
"And that's why you killed him?"
"It is."
Blood-lust glittered in Itachi's eyes, in an instant, his right hand was clutching a kunai, and he was thrusting it at Danzo's throat, but the man with the tiger mask got in the way as he pierced his palm. The man made the mistake of looking into Itachi's eyes as he fell to the ground before Itachi kicked him into the wall, Itachi took a step forward, placing the kunai at Danoz's throat.
"You must have already realized. How can we protect the village? And who will do what needs to be done?" Danzo felt the kunai dig into his neck, drawing out a small streak of blood. "If you want to kill me, then go ahead and kill me, but killing me won't stop the clan from exploding. In fact, once I'm gone and no longer in their way, the clan will likely get more and more carried away. And the moment you kill me, a village official, you become a criminal. Even if you were to make it out of this house, you would be pursued until you were dead. You will not be able to help your clan like that. You'll only be able to watch over the terrible spectacle from outside the village. If you wish to choose that foolish path, then go ahead and kill me."
He knew it was all provocation. Danzo had no intention in dying. Even though it was just them in this room, he knew Danzo had his men hidden all around them. 'Even if I do kill Danzo, it would be nearly impossible to take all of Foundation ANBU, and escape from this large mansion.'
"May I take your silence as an answer?" Danzo asked feeling the Kunai move away from his throat. "Now then, Uchiha Itachi. Shall we return to the issue at hand?"
"I'm leaving." Itachi said, turning his back to the man he had nearly killed.
"You can't bear to listen anymore? So it appears you do see it, then?" Itachi started walking toward the door. "If someone from outside the clan did THAT, there would certainly be lingering ill will toward the village. Other clans would fear the Uchiha end, and one would inevitably become the next Uchiha, which is exactly why someone from the clan must do IT. A mentally deranged young person of the clan. If this is what everyone believes, then peace can come to the village." Itachi opened the door with a trembling hand, and glared at Danzo over his shoulder. "YOU are the only one who can fulfill this role."
"What role is he talking about?" Ruby questioned the others.
"It couldn't be..." Qrow whispered looking towards Blake who closed her eyes, fist clenched. "Kid, tell me it aint so..."
Blake looked at them. "It's exactly what you think." She replied.
"What is?" Yang asked brows furrowed. "What do they want Itachi to do?!"
"Blake, what exactly happens?" Weiss asked looking worried. "I haven't finished the book and you only gave me a summary which I've already forgotten..."
"The boy must choose, the village or the clan." Miss Calavera stated looking down. "How awful..."
"Having been given his team, and having that mans words repeating in his head, he made one last attempt to stop his fellow clansmen."
They followed Itachi down some stairs coming to a door they watched as he steeled himself and open the door as all eyes turned to him.
"Why are you here?" Yashiro said with malice in his voice.
"I came to talk."
"What do you have to say at this late date?" Next to Yashiro, Inabi stood up and faced Itachi. "Hm, Itachi?"
The room had fallen silent, looking out into the quiet, he found Izumi. She was staring at him with a look on her face like she was about to start crying.
"Stop this foolishness." He said honestly
Inabi glared at him. "What foolishness is that?"
"The Coup d'etat."
Yashiro then stood and face him. "You don't even come to the meetings. Nothing you say will change anything now."
"The village is not as soft as you think it is."
"We're not kids like you." Yashiro had a vein pop up on his forehead. "We're more than well aware of the fact that the village is not soft. That's why we endured this situation as long as we have."
"If you fight them, you'll lose."
"Quiet!" his father roared, still seated in front of the room. "Anyone who says they will lose without even trying in not qualified to be a ninja. Leave this place." Rejecting his fathers word Itachi stayed. "Out!"
"Do you really think you can win, Father?" Itachi asked calmly.
"You are still young, you do not know the true face of the world. There is reality that cannot be changed, no matter how one might struggle in the face of it. You still do not understand just how empty life is, when you must simply continue to endure something until death."
"If that reality is so empty, then change it."
"That's exactly what we're trying to do!" Yashiro interrupted the two.
"By relying on a foolish plan that doesn't even examine the possibility of failure?"
"How much of a fool must you try to make us be until you're satisfied, Itachi?! You think too much of yourself. Show some respect! However talented you might be, I will not permit any further mockery!"
"Traitor sure talks big." There was a murmur in the crowd
"Get out." An other said.
"Right. Get out!"
The angry voices joined together to form a massively powerful wave. All of it of hatred, focused on Itachi. 'It's come this far, then...'
Itachi slowly turned his back to his father and walked toward the door lifelessly that he himself had left open.
"Wait!" Izumi's voice came at him from behind and although he stopped, he didn't turn around. She ran over to him, standing in front of him and grabbed his shoulders. "It's all right. It'll be all right." she said desperately, her eyes shining red.
"If you don't go back, they'll think you're a traitor too, you know."
"I don't care what anyone thinks." Her voice held a sob and he felt it only too painfully. "Talk to them one more time. If you really talk to them, they'll understand."
"It's no good."
"But it's just, like this..."
Itachi stepped back, peeling her shaking hands off his shoulders, and started walking again without looking at her. "They're already where they are."
"Itachi..."
"They're all so hot headed and thick headed too!" Miss Calavera shouted waving her cane "Can't they see how much suffering they're causing the boy!"
"And the only one to actually try and help him was her." Qrow said as they looked at the girls retreating form as they followed Itachi.
"Having reported to the Hokage and his council, they wanted him to buy them more time, but Danzo had other plans..."
They stood in the courtyard of the Foundations building, two large statues to their sides, there Itachi stood in front of Danzo, listening to what the man had to say.
"Hiruzen might have said all that, but when push come to shove, he'll protect Konoha. He's that kind of man and when push DOES come to shove, he'll have to take firm measures as the Hokage." Danzo continued to speak in a calm matter. "Whether it turns into a war or not, at the moment the coup occurs, the fate of the Uchiha will be annihilation. And once it actually happens, your brother will learn about everything. if he sees his clan obliterated by ninjas of Konoha, he will come to nurture a desire for vengeance on the village, once that happens, there will be nothing left but to have your brother die."
"Is that a threat?"
Itachi was indeed not to be dealt with by ordinary means. "No. I want you to chose. Will you side with the Uchihas, carry out the coup, and be destroyed with your clan? or will you side with us in Konoha, and obliterate the Uchihas before the coup, leaving only your brother alive?"
"And Izumi..."
"No, the only exception is your brother who knows nothing of the Coup, your little girlfriend had already aligned herself with the Uchihas...Whatever we have to do, we must get this situation under control before things descend into chaos, for the sake of the village. This mission can only be given to a double agent fro both Uchiha and Konoha. There is only you, Itachi." Danzo had let Itachi think for a few seconds before he continued. "Itachi, this is likely a painful mission for you. However, in exchange, you will be able to make sure your brother survives." Danzo took a small breath before uttering his final words, "Will you...accept this mission?"
As if no longer able to endure the feelings that threatened to crush him, Itachi closed his eyes and stuck his chin out slightly. He turned his back, and started to walk.
"You have to be kidding me, right?" Yang said shaking her head. "Why would someone ask of this?"
"He has to kill his clan or die with them?" Ruby placed her hands over her heart. "He chose his brother, didn't he?" Ruby looked over at Blake.
She nodded. "I-Itachi, loved his brother and wou- did everything to keep him safe from civil war..."
"That means..." Weiss eyes widened as she felt a tear run down her cheek. "He...he..."
"He massacred his clan...all for the safety of his little brother and the village..." Qrow finished her sentence. "Why the hell would they allow this to happen?"
"Making his decision, the boy met with a man..."
They all stood under a tree, they spotted Itachi above them the branch, evading the cameras from spotting him as they watched a man with white hair walk out of the Nakano shrine, looking around before closing the door behind him and walking away. Itachi hadn't waited for the man to leave completely but as soon as he was a good distance away, Itachi appeared at the shrines door. Itachi walked inside quickly so the cameras wouldn't see him as he lifted the seventh tatami mat to the far right leading to the basement. Once reaching the basement he opened the door spotting a man in the far back next to the Uchiha stone tablet.
"Uchiha Itachi." The man said
"It's been a while."
"That's the guy who killed Itachi's teammate!" Yang said "Why is he here?!"
"Four years since then. You've grown quite a bit." The masked man said spreading his arms.
"Did you instigate them?"
"That's no way to talk to someone. I simply taught them a little thing about the history of their clan."
"What are you up to, Uchiha Madara?"
"Oh, ho!" The masked man put his hand to his chin. "You never know when someone's going to come down here. And the compound is watched by those fellows in the village. How about we go somewhere else and talk a little?" Itachi nodded as the mans body was sucked into the hole in his mask, and reappeared behind Itachi. "Follow me."
Itachi followed the man up the stairs into the main shrine, and went outside. He assumed the man knew exactly where the hidden cameras were as he followed him down a path straight out of the compound as if choosing a path in their blind spots, and then easily slipped past even the eyes watching the village, to step beyond it. Once they had gone a little ways from Konohagakure, the road that led to Sunagakure came into view. There was a small shrine in one corner, and a vast forest spread out as if to guard it. Once he had cloaked himself in these woods, the man stopped running.
"How do you know who I am?" He asked placing his hands on his hips, behind those words were the acknowledgement that he was indeed Madara.
"You made it past the Konoha guard, and were looking at the secret stone of Nakano Shrine. Only the Uchiha know its location." He had first noticed the man's existence when he was on duty monitoring the clan for ANBU. Since then , Itachi had seen that shimmering in space within the compound any number of times. It was of the exact same nature as what he saw when Tenma died. Which is how he knew that the man before him was interfering. "I looked into you... I took the opportunity to investigate what kind of person you were, how you thought."
"Well then, this will go quickly." The masked man started. "So, you know I am a member of the Uchiha clan, and I harbor hatred for both Konoha and Uchiha."
"I have conditions." Itachi cut through Madara's arrogant attitude. "I help you get revenge on the Uchiha. And in exchange, you don't lay a hand on the village . Or Uchiha Sasuke, too."
He laughed silently, unable to hide his surprise at Itachi's forcefulness. "And what if I were to refuse?" He asked, his masked head cocked to one side.
"If you refuse this request, then you and I are enemies."
"Could you kill me?"
"It's not a matter of whether or not I could. I WILL kill you."
They were exchanging dangerous words, but they both acknowledged each other as opponents.
"You seem to have the wrong idea. That brat is not a friend, or anything of the like." He said raising his hand to the heaven 'That brat' was Yashiro. "I tossed several stones, It just happens that one of them landed in a very good place. It wouldn't be a bad thing to change my mind now. Actually..." The small openings of darkness in the mask caught a hold of Itachi, and did not let go. "Choosing you seems more interesting than those small fry in the village." He extended his hand out to Itachi. "I like this tale you tell. I'll come along for this ride."
Itachi shifted his eyes, ignoring the extended hand.
"Then came that dreadful night, the night that would always come to haunt, Uchiha Itachi."
The girls gulped, as they saw Itachi standing outside the compound, but then the world around them began to change, it was going back and forth from the compound and some place that was dark, with a red sky.
"He's fighting back?" Jinn questioned
"What's going on?" Qrow asked as the group came closer to each other.
The place had changed completely, they were standing above black water, black flames dancing around them as their eyes widened when they saw Jinn had been placed on a cross.
"What's going on here?!" Ruby asked
"I don't know, but this place really gives me the creeps." Yang said keeping Ruby close to her.
"It's him." Jinn said her eyes looking around as they widened. "How are you able to do this?"
They all looked behind them, Itachi had appeared and seemed to be sweating as his breathing had increased its rate. "This is the world of Tsukuyomi, in this world, I control everything, space, time, and mass...I control them all." He walked forward, stopping next to the group looking up at Jinn. "We Uchiha were feared for many reasons, our visual prowess being one, but what most didn't know was that we had the potential, and power to grow and become Gods ourselves."
Jinn laughed. "You think you are a God?" Jinn attempted to break herself free from the shackles. "Why are you doing this?"
Itachi shook his head. "I am no God in the real world, and even though I was given the option, I declined...and as I said I may not be a God out there but here, I am, you will not break free until I allow it." His breathing became more steady as he now stood straight glaring at Jinn. "As to why...you probed into my mind, you've looked where you shouldn't have." He turned to look at the girls who took a step back, his eyes widening before falling to the floor. "I was planning on telling you all, once we made it to Atlas, I wanted to reveal my past my way...I was placing my trust in all of you, yet you do this..." Itachi shook his head and sighed. "My past, my background has always been a subject I tried to keep locked away until it was time...Not like this, the things you've already seen, the things you would've seen had I not stopped Jinn...especially you two" Itachi chuckled softly glancing at Weiss and Blake before he looked up at the red sky filled with black clouds and the red moon. "Honestly, I'm a little angry, hurt, broken...then again, I've always been broken, yet I was scared...I am scared, because the things I've done are not great, quite the opposite, they are horrid."
"What are you afraid of?" Ruby asked moving around Yang, to stand in front of the group.
Itachi turned to face them. "I'm..."
"He's afraid of losing all of you." Jinn said as their eyes widened, Itachi closed his eyes. "He's afraid that you will all fear him if you learned the truth of his past."
"Itachi...I'm sorry, we are sorry, we wanted to wait, but..." Blake said, Itachi opened his eyes as they locked on with hers. "Please, let me see the rest. I want to know you, the past and current you..." Blake shed a few tears. "I promised, remember, no matter what I'm going to see, that I would always stand by your side, so please..." Itachi moved a hand to his face, feeling a lone tear falling down his cheek. He nodded and with a snap of his finger he fell to the ground. "Itachi!" Blake ran towards him, but his body disappeared in a murder of crows before she could reach him as they once more appeared in front of the Uchiha compound.
"Back to where we were."
They moved to outside of a house in the compound, they listened to the bright voices of two women from across the hall. The room illuminated byt the flickering glow was the dining room. He knew one of them very well, the other was her mother. He kicked the garbage can at his feet, and deliberately made some noise.
"What was that?" The voice he knew asked the mother
"I don't know."
"I'll go look, all right?" Tension crept into her voice as she announced this to her mother, and then her aura slowly approached Itachi. So she wouldn't sense him he ran down the hallway into the next room and once he felt her aura had passed by him, he slipped into the dining room, and before the mother had a chance to shout upon noticing him, he knocked her out with the sharingan. Once he had soundlessly put her to sleep, he waited for her aura to return.
"Mom, it was just the garbage-" Having gotten this far Uchiha Izumi stopped herself. "Itachi?" Glancing over at her mother on the floor, Izumi stared dumbfounded, not understanding what was going on. "Wh-why...?"
He couldn't stand to listen to Izumi's voice any further. He concentrated his chakra in his eye as the Mangekyo Sharingan emerged. "Tsukuyomi." Izumi froze in place. Itachi focused his thoughts on his own genjutsu. Tsukuyomi allowed him to completely control time, space, and matter. It was a power he had gained when he activated his Mangekyo Sharingan. The time that passed within this genjutsu was one-hundredth of one one-thousandth of one one- millionth of that of the real world. Itachi had drawn out a clear image, peace in the village of Konoha, the clan tranquil, his own form, freed from all the trouble. And Izumi beside him smiling.
They all watched the world go by in the genjutsu. Izumi becomes a Chunin, as if chasing after him, at that time, Itachi is already Jonin. He hands a pouting Izumi and engagement ring. Izumi retires as a ninja. Marriage. Childbirth. Child-rearing. The children setting out. Izumi growing old together with Itachi. Seventy years since they met. The hair on both their heads is white. Izumi's illness. He takes care of her. Her last years...
The Mangekyo Sharingan consumed an enormous amount of chakra, and so placed an equivalent burden on the user. Shoulders rising, Itachi took a deep breath, as if crawling up from the depths of the ocean. Before him, Izumi's knees gave out under her, and she collapsed, smiling.
Izumi placed a hand on Itachi cheek, slowly pulling her lips towards his as they met. With the soft kiss Izumi smiled. "Thank you."
"Me, too. Thank you." He squeezed her shoulders more tightly and could say nothing more. "Thank you, for loving someone like me..."
With a broad smile on her face, Izumi took her last peaceful breath. The mind and body were indivisible. If the mind decays, the body also falls apart. Izumi died, joyful.
After gently laying the now motionless Izumi down on the floor, Itachi staggered to his feet. The intense expenditure of chakra made his body shake.
'I decided that Izumi would be first...'
"By killing her himself, he wiped away the last of his hesitation- the hesitation borne of unfinished business with the clan, of bonds of emotion."
"Thank you, Izumi." Itachi slowly turned around, there lay her mother, knocked out unconscious by the sharingan as he walked away, the illusion would finish her off and she will die.
When he stepped out of Izumi's house and on to the road the space behind him abruptly shimmered. "So you've begun?" The masked man said evenly.
"I will take care of the women and children as far as possible." Madara's concern annoyed Itachi.
"I'll take the west side of the compound, you're the east. We do this just as we planned from the start."
"Don't push yourself." Madara said
"Shut up."
"You're still young. If you take on too much darkness, it will break you."
'I've already been broken for a long time...' They heard his thought. Itachi took a small breath. 'Close your eyes...' He moved forward in the darkness, seeking a new target.
The scene changed as they appeared in a him where Itachi had just slain Inabi's wife, which caused RWBY to gasp at how effortlessly he killed her. Shaking off the blood that wet the blade of his sword, Itachi turned his eyes to his gasping target, Inabi."
"D-Do you understand what you're doing?" Inabi shot foolishly.
Without replying, Itachi slowly closed the distance between them. With each step he took, Inabi retreated. "How about you prepare yourself?" Itachi suggested gently, and Inabi shook his head. "What are you afraid of? It's only the inevitable coming to you now."
"Tr-Traitor."
"You all always distance yourself from everything like that. And that's why you're about to be killed by me, like this." He kicked powerfully at the floor. The distance between them closed as Inabi tried to weave signs for a Fire Style, but was too late. Before the flames could gush out his lips, Inabi lost his own head.
They watched as he entered every single home, how he slashed down is own brethren. How he brought down anyone who attempted to flee onto the streets. Streets tainted with blood and littered with kunai, his victims not having any moment to scream before they were met with his blade. Then they watched as he entered a home, one of the doors swinging open in the home staring Itachi down.
"Chakra is shaking all over the compound. So you're the culprit, Itachi." Tekka said his Sharingan blazing crimson. "You're here, so why does chakra still shake elsewhere?"
"This isn't the time to be worrying about that." Itachi stated taking a step forward. "Why didn't you move, if you sensed something strange in the village?"
"You got here before I could. That's all." Tekka moved to stand, knife in hand, Itachi stepped closer as the man rose up and caught Itachi in his Sharingan gaze. Without flinching Itachi accepted the surge of chakra emitted by Tekka's eyes. "Wha-" Shock onto Tekka's face. surprised his visual jutsu didn't work and then in the next instant he saw the pattern in Itachi's eyes. "I-Impossible! Mangekyo!"
Tekka's stomach swallowed Itachi's blade. He thrust it in deeply, all the way to the hilt guard. No blood gushed out, not with the sword in place. Their faces were so close, their noses almost touched. "You all have the bad habit of underestimating your opponent's abilities."
"Itachi..." Blood flowed out from Tekka's clenched teeth. Itachi leaped back, yanking his sword free. An ocean of blood wet the tatami mats, he was not caught by even a drop of splash-back. "Th-They won't forgive you, Itachi." Were Tekka's last words.
Itachi turned his back on the body, and sheathed his sword. "I wasn't asking for forgiveness."
Everything continued, they would sometimes have to close their eyes or look away as Itachi slaughtered his own clan and only an hour had passed since Itachi had put Izumi to sleep.
He entered another house, he slay the target's father and mother, and then his wife. When the boy, old enough to have just started at the academy, stopped moving, he heard a shriek behind him. The voice was familiar. The man fled down the hallway, the sound of his feet almost exaggeratedly loud. He jumped down into the entryway, and ripped open the door.
Itachi went after him, he came out onto the road. The man looked awkward in flight, his throat stiff with fear, perhaps, he didn't scream. Although, there was already no one else left in the area, he could cry out all he wanted, but no one would hear him. The man slipped through a stone gate on the edge of the road, beyond it was a park, playground equipment placed on the square site as the man pushed the swings desperately, it was almost pitiable as he made it to the center of the open space when he fell headfirst.
"Give up." Itachi told the man.
"K-Killing me won't solve anything, you know. There's another leader, even Lord Fugaku doesn't know about him. I was being controlled."
"Even now, at this late stage, you're still trying to hide in someone else's shadow?"
"You have to believe me. I ws just trying to do what he wanted. He's the one who-" Yashiro's eyes grew wide and froze on a spot behind Itachi. "Y-You..."
"Been a while, hm? Although I guess I did just see you two days ago." Madara laughed. "Don't call me for this sort of trivial thing, Itachi." Madara looked at the white haired man. "Sorry, but I chose Itachi. That's all...well, it's probably no use, but you should try to resist as best as you can."
"H-Hold on a -"
"I'll leave the rest to you. I'm going to keep working." He said before disappearing in thin air.
"The feeling when something you believed was absolute is made to crumble. Do you understand it a little too, now?" Because of these men, Shisui had despaired for the clan, lost everything, and died. "So, what are you going to do?"
"I-I really do understand how you feel. We'll call off the coup d'etat. S-So please..."
"Begging for your life?"
"Please! Itachi! Uchiha Itachi!" Yashiro begged.
"Stand up." Itachi's voice was emotionless, and Yashiro looked up at him, opening his narrow eyes as wide as possible. "You're a ninja, how about standing up and fighting?" Yashiro said nothing. "Have you forgotten your pride?"
Yashiro yanked himself to his feet, shaking his head. "Don't underestimate me."
"Show, don't tell. How about you just come at me already?" Itachi said flatly as Yashiro's eyes shone red. Not moving to defend himself, Itachi looked straight at the Sharingan.
Yashiro's chakra became a spiders thread called 'Visual Jutsu' and raced into Itachi's body. "Fire Style!" Yashiro shouted, took a very deep breath, and puffed out his cheeks as he panicked when nothing but air came out.
"What happened to the fire?" Itachi watched coolly. "You make my movements dull with the Sharingan, and release a Great Fireball Technique because you probably anticipate that I'll leap out of the way, you bring me down in that defenseless moment with a kunai or something. Once you get the drop on me, now it's time for close combat, so you use your sharingan one more time, and get one step ahead. That's about it, right?" He took a step towards Yashiro, who was rooted the the spot in fear. "Being good at getting along with the world and being good at being a ninja are two totally different things."
"Ah, ah, ah." Yashiro unable to say anything, stood still and waited for the approaching Itachi. "Your brain was so controlled by fear, that you didn't even realize you were caught in my visual jutsu when you fell." Having heard this Yashiro for the first time noticed Itachi's eyes were crimson in color. "I told you to fight so you could truly feel your own powerlessness." Yashiro opened his mouth, only saliva drooling out of it. "You misjudged me to the bone." Itachi's sharingan changed into the Mangekyo. "Tsukuyomi."
Everyone found themselves in the dark world from before, this time Yashiro was crucified on the cross. The water rose up at different points, taking a human form. Infinite Itachis, and in their hands they gripped ninja swords.
"This is the world I control." Itachi murmured, his hand stretching out toward Yashiro, who screamed in pain as the blade was plunged into his stomach. The Itachi who thrust the sword into him disappeared into the dark ocean. "I won't let you die so easily." One blade after the next pierced Yashiro's body, he became a silver hedgehog, he went limp, motionless. As Itachi returned to the ocean, the swords disappeared from Yashiro's body, a look of relief rose up onto his face, until a herd of Itachis once more blanketed his field of view. "The real pain starts now."
It had seemed never ending, the screams of pain, of agony coming from the white haired man.
"To think that could have been me, horrifying..."
It had felt like an eternity watching the man over and over and over again, but then they had returned to playground, watching Itachi and the man standing in front of the other.
"D-Death...D-D-D..." Yashiro trembled and grinned "R-R-Reap...R-R-Reaper..."
Itachi looked down on him, slowly drawing his swords from its sheath. Yashiro was already beyond the capacity to hear his voice and Itachi had nothing to say to him at this stage.
His sword flashed mercilessly, and the pitiful mans head flew up into the moonlit sky before his body fell to the cold ground, his head landing and rolling in front of the group. Wide open eyes, a large grin on the man's face whose life had come to an end.
The area moved, Itachi was squatting on an electrical pole and looked down at the world. He could clearly see the compounds large front gates, behind them, the moon was full, almost frighteningly large. Devoid of any sense of people, the town was wrapped in silence as he could hear a crow cawing off in the distance. he watched as someone slipped through the front gates, a boy carrying a bag on his shoulder, his beloved younger brother.
'I should have talked to him so much more...'
Again they moved, this time inside a home they knew well from seeing his past, it was his home, his family home... they walked down the hallway, Itachi not bothering to remove his shoes as he came to a door, immediately opening it, there they saw the two figures of his parents sitting together. He stood behind them soundlessly.
"I see. So you sided with them," His father said in a calm and controlled voice, without turning around.
"Dad..." He said his head moving slightly looking at his mother figure. "Mom..."
"We understand, Itachi." Her voice was kind, understanding everything, and still trying to envelop him in a hug.
"Itachi," his father said. "Promise me one thing...Take care of Sasuke."
He felt it instinctively, and the feelings he had suppressed since parting with Izumi bubbled back to life. His father and mother understood everything, how much Itachi had suffered and struggled, and also the fact that this had most certainly not been an easy decision. On top of that, they were going to quietly accept the fate that had befallen them.
"I will..." Tears spilled out of his eyes, and wet his cheeks, his hand holding his ninja blade shook.
"Don't be afraid. This is the path you decided on." This was the difficult, painful path he had decided on. "Compared to you, our pain will end in an instant." His father was faced with Death, yet he was thinking about the life his on would lead after this. "Maybe I was too hasty. I should have believed in you more. Perhaps I should have believed in you, got the clan in check, and waited."
"Dad?" His voice was shaking with tears.
"You might have been the first Uchiha Hokage. You could have wiped away even the darkness of the clan, broken through the prejudice of the village, ad forced destiny with your own power-" his father cut himself off. Itachi could tell from hi shaking back that he was trying to get his emotions under control. "I stole your future from you. But it's too late for anything now." His father took a deep breath through his nose. "Even if we think differently, I'm proud of you."
Itachi thrust his sword into his mothers back. A jolt of intense pain raced through Itachis heart. Pulling the sword out, he turned the sword toward his father.
"You're actually such a gentle child."
He lowered his head and leaned into his father, as if to press his face to that broad back. 'If only I had spent more time with him.' Tears spilled endlessly from Itachi's eyes. Without mercy, they continued to wet the hand clutching the sword. The slight vibrations that were coming through the blade stopped completely. Once he felt his fathers life had ended, he slowly pulled out his sword. Itachi's hand wouldn't stop shaking, yet he still managed to place his sword back in its sheath.
One final job was left, Itachi wiped his tears and waited for the moment.
"Kid..." Qrow closed his eyes and looked away
"This was too much for a child his age to handle." Miss Calavera looked down "No one should have let it get to this point."
Blake had tears running down her cheeks, her hand covering her mouth. Ruby cried into her sisters chest as Yang tried to soothe her, the whole time keeping her own eye closed. And Weiss, her eyes had been wide the whole time, tears running down her cheeks, and horror visible in her expression.
"Father! Mother!" They watched as Sasuke had walked in seeing the figures of his parents collapsed on the ground. Itachi showed his brother a face hidden in the moonlight. "Itachi!" Sasuke took a step on trembling legs, and began to speak desperately. "Itachi! Itachi! Father and Mother are-! How?! Why?! Who would do such a-" Itachi flung a kunai into the door behind Sasuke, a narrow cut appeared on the boys shoulder.
"Foolish little brother..." Itachi activated his Mangekyo Sharingan and cast the illusion on his younger brother who screamed in horror, the images appearing in his head, the deeds that Itachi had done.
Sasuke crawled on the ground, almost licking it as he turned just to face Itachi. "Why...did you...?"
"To measure my capacity."
"...Measure your capacity? You...you killed them for that?"
"I had to."
"What's..." Power came to Sasuke's body "What's wrong with you?!" Unable to move properly, having been caught in the illusion, he simply leaned forward attempting to run, and fell over. In an instant Sasuke got up, and flew from the room, running out of the house, and fled onto the street. "It's not true. My brother wouldn't do this, because-"
Itachi appeared in front of his little brother. "Pretending to be the kind of brother you hoped for...was to determine your ability." Live."You will be an opponent to test my abilities. You have that potential in you." Live. "You felt anger and hatreds toward me. You've always hoped to surpass me, so I'll let you live." Live. "...For my sake." Live. "Just like me, you have the power to awaken the Mangekyo Sharingan, but there's a catch...You have to kill your closest friend." Sasuke's eyebrow shot up. "Just as I did."Live.
"That was you...you killed Shisui?!"
"And now I have the eyes." Live. "In the main hall of Nakano shrine, under the seventh tatami mat from the far right, there's a secret clan meeting place. There you will find the true secret of why the visual jutsu of the Uchiha clan exists, and for what purpose." Sasuke's face was full of questions. "If you awaken it, then there will be three people who have the Mangekyo Sharingan, including me. If that happens...heh, heh. Then I'll be right in letting you live." Live. "Right now, You are not even worth killing." Live. "Baby brother, you are pathetic." Survive. "If you want to kill me, settle for hating me! Hate me and live like the coward you are! Clinging to life without honor!" Please. "And someday, when you have the same eyes as I, come to me." Live through this reality that I'm leaving you...
"Stop!" Sasuke leaped up after Itachi, crimson eyes having awoken in the younger brother eyes as he threw three kunai.
Itachi managed to dodge two, but couldn't completely get out of the way of the last one. He tilted his head slightly, and took it on his forehead protector, the force of the kunai undoing the knot where it was tied. As his little brother charged at him from behind, breathing hard, shoulder heaving, Itachi slowly picked up his forehead protector. Sasuke already having used up the last of his strength wouldn't be able to move from his spot. Itachi wanted to get away from there as soon a possible, because he was crying.
Itachi's body moved faster than his own thoughts, as he looked back engraving the image of his younger brother into his mind. 'Live, Sasuke. Become the hero that killed his older brother, an evil criminal, and took vengeance for their clan.'
"Those being his final words to his younger brother before fleeing the village, but he still had a few things to take care of."
The Hokage's Anbu along with Danzo's foundation flooded the Uchiha compound, collecting the bodies of the dead Uchiha, and searching for any survivors.
Danzo walked away, a single foundation Anbu appeared next to him. "I witnessed everything." Danzo looked into the holes of the masked Anbu as his eyes widened. "And I will continue to watch. If you as much as touch Sasuke. I will pass on classified Village Intel to every enemy nation." Itachi threatened Danzo before his body dispersed into murder of crows.
Then the area changed, Itachi was kneeling in front of the Third Hokage, Hiruzen.
"First you have my thanks. Civil war has been averted in the Hidden Leaf. We have maintained peace."
"I apologize..."
"I'm the one who must apologize, you will be branded a Rogue Ninja who massacred his entire clan and be listed in the Bingo Book as and S-class criminal, a fugitive, wanted dead or alive."
"I understand." Itachi paused for a few second. "I have a for to ask, about Sas-"
"I will make sure the boy is protected and loved as one of the children of the Hidden Leaf, do not worry, I will make sure Danzo and others do not become a threat to his safety." Hiruzen turned to face Itachi. "I will leave security the same, for when you wish to return and check to see how Sasuke is doing...What will you do now?"
"There's an organization I will be joining, in order to keep an eye on them from the inside, if they become a real threat, I will dispose of them."
"Even after being exiled and branded a criminal, you still think of peace." Hiruzen walked up to the boy "What is the name of this Organization?"
"Akatsuki..."
"Then his life as criminal began."
They watched Itachi form a team with Juzo Biwa, the weapon the man wielded had been an inspiration to which Itachi figured his weapon into. They watched the last mission he had completed with Juzo which ended in his death. Then they watched him, Konan, and Kakuzu recruit a man who was rumored to be immortal, his weapon having been made into Itachi's here in Remnant. The scenes had changed multiple times, showing highlights of his life, one being when Orochimaru attempted to take over his body only to be humiliated by Itachi. They then watched Itachi sit at the end of a pier, looking out into the large lake as a tall man walked up behind Itachi.
"I'll be teaming up with you from now on." Itachi turned his head to looked at the man over his shoulder "I'm Kisame Hoshigaki, formerly of the Hidden Mist, and an ex-member of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen. Please to meet you."
"That looks like..." Ruby tilted her head.
"Isane and Nanami." Weiss blinked
"They did say they had an older brother, but to think this could be him? What was he doing there?" Blake questioned as she looked around 'He's still gone.'
Yang looked up at the man. "He's huge!"
"And you are Itachi Uchiha, formerly of the Hidden Leaf. I understand you very well, that's the reason why I decided to team up with you in Akatsuki." Kisame said
"You talk a lot. You may know a lot about me, but what about yourself?" Itachi said looking down at the lake, sharks swimming around. "You got lost in the mist and ended up here. You're just a thug who couldn't figure out where to go. Is that so?"
Kisame glared at Itachi's back, his large sword was placed on Itachi's shoulder. "From today, you and I belong to Akatsuki. Please be wary...of me."
Itachi activated his Sharingan, his Mangekyo coming to life as the pinwheel span before coming to a stop. "That goes for you too."
Kisame grinned lifting his sword from Itachi's shoulder. "Well, let's be friends and have some fun all right. And hope will not end up as each others final opponents."
"No one who dares to raise their hand against a comrade ever dies a decent death." Itachi stated as he stood from his spot turning to face Kisame. "Remember that."
Kisame chuckled. "Well that means our fates are sealed. Seems you and I are depraved and worthless."
"No...We are both human, not fish. No matter who you are...you don't know what kind of human you are until the very end." Itachi stated as he walked passed Kisame. "One realizes one's true nature at the moment of Death. Don't you think that's what Death is about?"
They watched as everything changed to him finding out that the third Hokage, their visit to the Hidden Leaf as they were ordered to capture the Naruto, their confrontation with Asuma, Kurenai and Kakashi and how Itachi left the man broken and unconscious as they retreated when Might Gai appeared knowing fully well, that others would soon arrive and it could turn out to be a blood bath if they stayed. They watched his reunion with his younger brother, how much the younger boy had grown, but was not strong enough to face Itachi just yet. Itachi had broken the boys wrist, and left him in a comatose state due to the Mangekyo ability, Tsukuyomi. The two retreated once more.
Years had passed, they watched Itachi get sick, his illness becoming more of an issue as he found some medicine made from some herbs that two brothers grew on their farm. How he would help the brother out with protection from enemies attempting to steal their herbs, in payment they would make his medicine, to prolong his life.
Time skipped again. They witnessed his meeting with Naruto, then his final battle with his younger brother Sasuke. They watched how the battle had started as a battle of genjutsu, before they began to use taijutsu and ninjutsu. They watched as the ill and nearly completely blind Itachi slowly walked up to his younger brother who had been cornered into a wall. The last attack had not killed him, and when he was out of Chakra, Orochimaru appeared only to be sealed by Itachi's Totsuka Blade. Itachi slowly walked forward, a hand covering his mouth as he coughed out large amount of blood. Sasuke watched fear in his eyes as Itachi now stood arms length away from him, hand extended out a Itachi smiled, giving Sasuke a light jab on the forehead like he did when they were younger. "I'm sorry, Sasuke...there won't be a next time." Itachi's kept his smile as he fell forward, his forehead hitting the wall behind Sasuke, as he slid down, falling on his back, his body motionless and in that second, Uchiha Itachi, had died.
Blake broke down into tears. She fell to her knees having witnessed Itachi die. Weiss cried as well holding onto Blake knowing that he was alive with them, but seeing his death, still broke their hearts. Yang held Ruby tightly, the younger girl crying into her chest, as she herself sobbed, tears falling on the girls head.
"He may be alive with us now, but seeing someone they care about die...I don't blame them." Qrow said as Miss Calavera nodded in agreement.
"We still have a few things to see."
"What more can there be after his death?" Miss Calavera questioned
The world changed into pitch darkness, there they witnessed Itachi first meet the God of Light who opened a portal, pushing him inside, hearing the words "Live" as their eyes widened, they were back on Remnant, but there they saw Itachi first meeting with Isane. then time skipped to when Itachi created the Reaper and Red Hood persona, how he had watched Ruby fight the Beowulves, meeting Weiss, meeting Blake as he lived with her and meeting Yang. They watched how smiled and how he dropped his walls when he was with them and the others. He looked happy. Then they watched the day Beacon fell...the day he had died, again.
Everything changed again, and they were back in Itachi's old world. How he had been brought back to life as an undead soldier being controlled by someone. They watched how he broke himself and Nagato free before meeting with Naruto and Killer Bee, how they worked together. Itachi separated from the group, making his way to the caster of the Edo-Tensei as he ran into Sasuke, how the two fought together against the man named Kabuto. How they defeated him at the cost of Itachi left eye and released the Edo-Tensei...Itachi's body emitting a bright light.
"There's still time...I need to tell you everything before we part." Itachi said, walking toward Sasuke, his hand stretched out. "There's no need to lie anymore. The night I left you, I did do everything Danzo and Tobi told you, I'll show you the whole truth." Itachi showed Sasuke everything they had already seen as they watched Itachi move forward slowly. "There's nothing more to say. I have told you the whole truth, I won't have to ever again...I always lied to you and asked you to forgive me. Deliberately keeping you at a distance by my own hand. All because I didn't want you to get caught up in any of this. But now, I believe...that perhaps you could have changed Father, Mother, and the rest of the Uchiha." Itachi now stood an arms length away, his fingers coming up towards Sasuke's forehead. "If I had been open with you from the start...and looked you straight in the eyes and told you the truth, then I wouldn't have had to stand before you, from above, as a failure, telling you all of this. So this time, I want to impart this truth with you..." Itachi's hand passed Sasuke's head as he took hold of the back of his head and pulled him forward, pressing their foreheads together. "You don't ever have to forgive me. And no matter what you do from here on out, know this... I will Love you always." With those parting words, Itachi's soul left the body that had been its host under the Edo-Tensei, the whole time Itachi smiled lovingly at his younger brother.
"And that is how the Story of Uchiha Itachi of the Hidden Leaf, came to an end..."
The girls looked down, then everything turned pitch black, darkness all around them.
"What's going on?" Qrow asked
"This is..."
They saw Itachi sitting speaking with...Izumi. They ran up to Itachi but they couldn't grab him or even communicate with him. They listened, and watched how she stayed close with him then they witnessed the clan appear, their small reunion which was interrupted by a woman claiming to be death, then the God of Darkness himself. How he was given three options and how he chose to return to Remnant, to his new family. They watched the farewells, first his bestfriend who he thought of as a brother then Izumi who stole one last kiss from Itachi before she seemed to look over in their direction, specifically at Weiss and Blake as she smiled at he said his farewell to his parents, Obito who gave Itachi his own eyes to stop him from going blind and Madara.
"How about we make a deal?" The God of Darkness told Itachi who rose a brow. "I can give you a way to defeat Salem for good, but there is a cost."
"Which is?"
The God of Darkness smirked. "You will have to become a God, or you will forfeit your humanity and leave those humans you love so much." Itachi glared at the dark dragon. "It's a good deal, you deal with the evil trying to destroy the people you care and love, and the world becomes safe and peaceful, a world where you can plant your seeds of the next generation..." The God of Darkness watched Itachi in thought as he brought his head down and around Itachi's shoulder. "So what do you say? Will you take on this last mission, for peace, for the safety of those you love? Or will you deny me, and bring Chaos to those around you? Just as you did in your previous life..."
The next instant everything around them shattered. They had returned to reality, Jinn had returned into the lamp, and they turned to face Itachi. Itachi had sat down, his back leaning on a tree, his breathing was abnormal, he was sweating heavily, his eyes looked had returned to normal, but seemed hazy as his head fell limp.
"Itachi!" Blake ran up to him as she kneeled down in front of him, placing her hand on his forehead. "You're burning up."
"I'm simply...exhausted." Itachi said attempting to control his breathing. "She is a being...created by the God...of Light. To think...it would drain...me, this much." Itachi managed to look up at Blake.
Blake grabbed his arm, throwing it over her shoulder as she tried to pull him up to his feet. "Weiss, help me!" Blake shouted to her teammate who seemed hesitant. "Weiss!"
Weiss gulped, grabbing hold of her own arm. "I..."
Itachi slowly glanced at Weiss, the expression she had made him look back down. "I see..." Itachi moved his head, looking at Oscar, who was on his knees. "Ozpin...your plan for...Salem. What is it?"
They looked at the boy. "I...don't have one." Ozpin looked up seeing Qrow reeling his arm back as he was about to punch him, but to everyone's surprise Itachi appeared in front of the boy, taking the brunt of the punch sending, both him and Ozpin flying toward a tree, as Itachi grabbed hold of Oscar, turning them around as he hit the tree, cushioning the boys impact. "Why?" Ozpin asked.
"It may be you speaking...but it's Oscars...body...he would feel...the pain..." Itachi had slowly gone through a few hand signs as he spoke and with those final words, Itachi's body went limp, his head leaning over the boys shoulder.
"Itachi!" Ruby shouted as she was about to run towards him, but Yang grabbed hold of her arm. "Yang, let go!"
Yang slightly trembled. "You saw what he did, Ruby...he's d-"
Ruby slapped her sisters hand off her arm, causing the older sister to widen her eyes in shock. "It's true, he's done bad things, hurt and kill people, but you saw what he had to go through, the type of life he lived." She then looked over at Weiss. "I'm quite disappointed in you, Weiss..." Weiss gripped her arm tighter. "I want you two to think about something, when has Itachi ever attempted to hurt us? When has he ever shown any evil intentions?" She glared at the two girls. "He's been nothing but kind to all of us. He's helped us plenty of times, he's cooked us meals, he's helped us with our studies, he's even trained most of us, he's treated us like family! Isane and Nanami knew the truth about him, yet they didn't react this way, they thought of him as a younger and older brother!" Ruby shook her head, gripping her hair at the same time. "And yet, I asked that stupid question...I broke what trust and faith he had in us! All because we couldn't wait and be patient with him!" Ruby began to tear up, a small streak running down her cheek. "And now that I think of it, imagine the pain he went through just now, having to relive all of that..." Ruby turned away from them but before she began to walk she looked over her shoulder. "Would you two have been able to sacrifice everything? Would you have done the same for me, Yang? Because I know I would do whatever I could to make sure you were safe." Her eyes glanced at Weiss. "And I'm sure Winter would do anything for your safety as well." Ruby ended their conversation walking up to Itachi and Blake who had ran up to his side again.
"Thank you, Ruby." Blake said as Ruby smiled at her. "He may not have heard everything you said just now, but I know he would be glad to know that you don't fear him, and that you've accepted his past."
Ozpin had moved to the side, letting the girls take hold of Itachi as he looked up, Qrow standing in front of him. "No one wanted me. I was cursed...I gave my life to you because you gave me a place in this world. I thought I was finally doing some good..."
"But you are!" Ozpin told the man.
"Meeting you is the worst luck of my life."
"Maybe you're right." His eyes glowed as Oscar had returned.
"What happened?" Ruby asked the boy.
"He's...gone." Oscar replied.
"What?" Yang asked walking up to him. "Tell him we aren't done yet!"
"No, this is different! He's gone." Oscar placed his hands on his head. "It-It's like he's locked himself inside my head. Our head?" Oscar grunted as he hit his head on the tree. "I hate this! I want it to stop!"
"He just left? What are we going to do now?" Blake questioned as Yang growled.
"Enough!" Miss Calavera shouted as she walked up to the group. "We need to get a move on. It'll be dark before we know it and every one of you is spewing negativity." She used her cane to help Oscar onto his feet. "There's a trail over there. Trails usually lead somewhere."
"Lady, I don't know who you think you are, but-" Yang started.
"-No buts!" Miss Calavera cut her off. "I understand that you're upset. Honestly, I'm still coming to terms with the fact this is humanity's second time around and that this boy is from a different world, but if we don't move we die." She looked at Itachi. "He'll die if we don't get him somewhere with cover and warmth, and I'll be damned if I've lived this long just to die out here in the cold!"
"Gather your belongings, any necessities." Qrow told them as he looked over at his youngest niece and her teammate. "Hand him over, I'll carry him." They nodded as Qrow carried him on his back and sighed. "You picked some time to fall unconscious kid." Qrow furrowed his brows slightly. "Is it me or is he lighter than he should be?"
"Now that I think of it..." Blake nodded slowly. "He felt heavier the first time I helped him up." Blake placed a hand on his cheek. "We have to get him out of the cold before it gets worse."
And that's another one down! Damn, we are closing in to the current point of the actual show. Those wondering there will be a hiatus on this story when we catch up to the end of where the show left off. Well, hope yall enjoyed this one! See ya next time! Buh-Bye! :D
Question!- Should Itachi have his Rinnegan activated permanently or allow him to deactivate it? Also, if Itachi was a Faunus, what type of Faunus do you believe he would be?
Cyan-Snake- Plot purposes, and they are figuring out ways to not look him straight in the eyes. As for behind Jaune, yeah, that was my bad, it was suppose to be ahead of Jaune, not behind lol.
keybladelight- I am putting it up to a vote whether his Rinnegan will be permanent or if he would be able to deactivate it at will. And I hope you liked his final words to Sasuke! He will meet with Robyn as well as Weiss' parents.
RadBman21- And here it is!
TM11- He is angry, and disappointed. And I already have planned how they'll deal with end of Vol. 6.
Rio Skyron- Don't worry man, this is reality. Now, if my name was Shadow Madara Uchiha...then be very worried lol
Kage-kitsune9001- Yes, he does! All of his flames while using his semblance will be black. And sadly, I skipped Ozma's and went straight into Itachi's.
andresskorskiruiz- Thank you!
VocaloidBrony- *Laughs* You expected Shadow Itachi, but it was I, Dio!
razmire- well...
Guest- Thank you!
Wolf1741- Here it is!
