AN: Thank you so much for all of your favorites/follows/reviews so far!

I've gotten a couple reviews saying they don't like the swearing in my story. I personally don't mind swearing, and I don't think I do it that much, so i often don't think of it as something that someone might have a problem with. But if it does bother some people, I don't mind cutting it out in places where it's not needed.

TWENTY-FIVE

The next morning, Danzo Shimura is sitting in the same interrogation room previously occupied by Itachi Uchiha. Across from him, Tsunade sits with her hands folded in front of her.

"I warned you, Tsunade," Danzo says. "You should have killed Itachi as soon as he was in your grasp."

He has cooperated willing, and so he is not bound in chains. His hands are free, settled in a position identical to hers.

Tsunade's jaw tightens at the words. "You know very well why I kept him alive. Just as you know very well that this mess is your doing. Do you take me for a fool?"

Ibiki was not on duty when Danzo snuck into the prison for a chat with their highest-security prisoner. None of the intelligence operatives working at the time had seen him, and the security tape from the room had been mysteriously wiped. But Jiraiya clearly witnessed him entering the building.

"You visited Itachi Uchiha here, in this room, less than an hour before he made his escape," Tsunade says. "Did you truly believe you wouldn't be suspected of aiding him in some way?"

Danzo leans back in his chair, crossing his arms across his chest. "Is paying a visit to a prisoner really enough to cast suspicion upon me? Sasuke Uchiha paid him a visit just before I did. Is he being interrogated as well?"

She blinks in surprise, her anger disappearing for a moment. "Sasuke visited him? How do you know this?"

"I caught him running from the building just as I got there, and I assumed it was his brother he was there for. The poor boy looked quite distraught."

Tsunade processes this information with a frown. Due to the security footage being wiped, she hadn't known of any other visitors to Itachi's cell block that day. That damn brat—she specifically forbade him from going there…

Are you really surprised he disobeyed?

Tsunade sighs. No, she really isn't. She'll need to talk to the boy sometime after this. And to tell Kakashi to keep a better eye on his students. All three of them are sneaking into places they shouldn't be.

"You were the last person to see him before he bolted. Just before he bolted. And you have a motive for setting him free. You were against trying to capture him from the start."

"I was against trying to capture him alive, yes," says Danzo. "It was too much of a risk, as has now been proven. And you were gambling the lives of two of Konoha's most powerful shinobi."

"Many lives have been gambled for less," Tsunade replies. "You've gambled many lives for less. It seems to me that you're trying to hide something."

"What would I have to hide?"

"If I knew that, then we wouldn't be here, would we?"

Danzo doesn't respond to these words. He seems unerringly calm, despite the position he's in. He's always been a man who has acted like the world is his privilege, like everyone else is expected to step out of his way wherever he walks, and Tsunade has always despised him for this was her sensei's teammate and comrade, and she understands his reasons for keeping him around. But most of the time, she wonders if it's worth it.

"I know you and Itachi have history with each other," she says. "You authorized his promotion to ANBU captain at twelve. The document has your signature on it."

"I remember appointing him," Danzo replies easily. "It was a bit of a special case, him being so young. But I promoted many ANBU members while supervising the division with Hiruzen."

"I'm aware of this," she says. "However, your power in ANBU only applied to the operatives working under you. Itachi Uchiha was never a part of your Foundation. He was a member of Team Ro, a squad working directly under the Hokage. The decision to promote Itachi should have been his, not yours."

The man's mouth thins slightly. "It's true that Itachi was never a part of the Foundation. However, his skillset was unique and invaluable. Hiruzen often lent him out to me for certain missions."

"I went through his file. I didn't see any mission assignments that were given by you."

"Some missions are too classified to put down on paper," Danzo tells her, a tone of scorn in his voice. "I know you are only recently Hokage, but surely you are aware of this. Some assignments are known only to the elders and the current Hokage. Once they are done, they no longer exist."

Tsunade knows this to be true. She may not have ever been ANBU herself, but Orochimaru was one - she knows the type of work employed by its operatives. Shinobi who carry out their missions from the shadows, bloody deeds that never see the light of day.

But this isn't what her mind latches onto. Danzo has revealed more than he seems to think with his words.

Missions too classified to put on paper. Could it be…?

Tsunade thinks back to Itachi's words, during her first visit to his interrogation room. It had seemed like a pointless, throwaway remark…

("Konoha doesn't perform executions anymore."

"Not publicly.")

There's a dark suspicion building in her gut, when she considers that the words might have actually held meaning, and she prays, prays that she's wrong. Because if she's anywhere even close to right…

"Now, Tsunade," Danzo says. "Do you have anything to actually charge me with, or am I to sit here and listen to baseless accusations?"

Tsunade locks her jaw, her clasped hands tightening, nails pressing into her skin. She doesn't have anything she can actually hold him for—all the evidence against him is circumstantial. Without something solid, she can't give authorization for Inoichi to get into his head.

She can't keep him here for too long without proper evidence of something. Which means she needs to find something, fast, before the wily old fox slips through her fingers again.

She stands from her chair. "Get comfortable," she tells him, ignoring his question. "Because I'm not letting you get out of this one."

She walks from the room, letting the door shut with a heavy thud behind her. She walks down the halls, turning a corner into the room where Ibiki is sitting, attempting to recover the missing security 's sitting in front of the screen, watching live-footage of Danzo in the room she just left. Tsunade stares down at his image, her lip curling.

"You saw all of that?"

"I did," Ibiki says. "I was able to read his lips well enough. A whole lot of nothing, huh?"

"Actually, he gave me more than he meant to," Tsunade says. Ibiki raises an eyebrow, but before he can ask, she cuts him off. "Why the hell didn't you tell me Sasuke Uchiha visited Itachi? Were you off duty then too?"

Ibiki winces. "No. I was there when he came by. I allowed him into the room. I thought he might be able to get Itachi to let something slip. And he did. I was on my way to tell you when the escape happened."

The scarred man makes an irritated face, his lips twisting. He's already harshly punished the subordinates who were working in his place at the time.

"He did?" Tsunade says in surprise. "Itachi revealed something?"

"Nothing about the Akatsuki. But the kid figured out that someone else helped Itachi massacre his clan—another Uchiha. Itachi confirmed it."

"Another Uchiha? Did he say who it was?"

"No." Ibiki hesitates for a moment, a troubled expression coming over his face. "But—when Inoichi was attempting to get into his mind… Itachi locked him out almost completely, but he did let a single name slip."

"A name?" Tsunade repeats. The look on Ibiki's face causes dread to curl up her spine. "What name?"

"…Madara."

"Are you sure about this?" Kakashi asks.

Sasuke scowls from the hospital bed. His right hand is gripping a pen awkwardly, his left useless against the mattress. The release papers are settled on his lap, as he ignores his sensei's disapproval.

"I can't stand this place," he says. "The smell of it makes me sick. I just want to go home."

He struggles to hold the pen correctly in his nondominant hand, experiencing a surge of helpless frustration. He signs his name messily on the page, and his signature is barely legible. His scowl deepens.

Stupid injured hand.

Sasuke's left hand is wrapped in bandages. In punching the hospital wall yesterday, he managed to shatter three of his knuckles and break two of his fingers. This has caused him endless frustration, due to the fact that he's left-handed, and Tsunade has refused to heal the injury.

It can heal the normal way, she told him. Consider it payment for punching a hole through the hospital wall.

How about you heal me, and I'll consider it payment for letting Itachi escape, he snapped back at her.

She didn't appreciate that comment. Sasuke didn't really care.

"Sasuke," Kakashi says, his visible eye curved down. "I can't approve of you signing yourself out so soon. I certainly can't approve of you going back to that house. Not after what you've just been through."

"That's why I'm signing myself out," he says. "It's not your decision, and I don't need your permission."

Kakashi sighs in displeasure. He sits down on the edge of the bed, causing Sasuke to frown.

"Fine. I understand wanting to get out of here. The hospital definitely isn't my favorite place, either. But going back to the Uchiha District? That's a bad idea, and you know it."

Sasuke's hand shakes slightly around his pen, as he sees the image of it in his mind. The compound's streets, littered in bodies. Slipping in blood—you're not even worth killing—

He takes a shaky breath and grips the pen tightly. "I'll be fine. It's my home."

"Yes," the jounin says. "It is. It's also the place where your family was killed, which you spent thirteen days reliving. Going back there isn't going to help you recover—"

"I don't need to recover!" Sasuke snaps, his eyes snapping up. "It's over! I'm fine!"

Red eyes, spinning, spinning spinning. His mother's fingers reaching toward him—a hand around his throat—

("You're nothing to me.")

Sasuke stands abruptly. The expression on Kakashi's face looks overwhelmingly like pity, and it makes him want to hit something. It makes him want to punch another wall.

"I'll be fine," he repeats, in a calmer voice. "Home is better. It's this place that's killing me."

He grips the release form in his hand to take down to the front desk. Kakashi seems to accept that he isn't going to be able to stop him, not without using force, because his shoulders drop in resignation.

"Fine," he says, standing from the bed. "If that's really what you want. But you know where I live. If it's too much—if you need somewhere else to stay—"

"I won't."

"If you do."

Sasuke hesitates, glancing up at his sensei. "…If I do."

Kakashi's face relaxes slightly. He passes Sasuke, opening the door and holding it open for him. "By the way, I'm resuming training with Naruto and Sakura tomorrow. The usual place. You don't have to come, but if you want to—"

"I'll be there," Sasuke says.

Kakashi's eye curves up in a smile. "Good. They've missed you, you know."

Sasuke doesn't respond. But in the silence of his mind, he admits he misses them too.

Half an hour after the shocking revelation of the name Madara Uchiha—Impossible, Tsunade's brain tells her, he must have heard wrong—she stands in front of Konoha's two elders, staring them down fiercely.

"You heard me," Tsunade repeats, after they've expressed their shock at her demand. "Itachi. The Uchiha Massacre. I want you to tell me about it. The parts that didn't get put in the file."

Koharu and Homura share a look. The emotion in their eyes is impossible to characterize as anything other than fear.

Danzo said that some missions are too dangerous to write down. He also claimed that these missions are known to only the current Hokage and the elders. Sarutobi may be dead, and Danzo may have stitched his lips, but there's still one more source she can exploit.

And judging by the expressions on their faces, she's finally hit gold.

Homura shakes his head. "Tsunade-hime, I'm afraid we don't know what you're speaking of—"

"Do not bullshit me!" she snaps. Her fist hits the table in front of her, causing a crack to go through the wood. "I have had it up to here with bullshit answers, what I'm looking for is the truth!"

Both of them flinch beneath the focus of her dangerous temper. Her head is still ringing with the unbelievable name Madara, and her tolerance for duplicity has gone out the window. She is one lie away from grabbing them and shaking the answers from them.

She wonders if that might give them a heart attack. They're certainly old enough for it to be a concern.

"I have Danzo locked up in an interrogation room right now," she says, and relishes in the twin looks of horror that pass over their faces. "Inoichi is going to dig into his mind and rip out every single dirty secret, so if you wish for a chance to explain yourselves before then, I suggest you start talking."

She can see the war going on in their eyes. What to choose? Keep their silence, and allow themselves to be implicated in whatever crimes Danzo's mind reveals? Or spill the truth now, and spin it in a way that looks better for themselves?

For a long moment, they look at each other. Slowly, Koharu nods. Homura lets out a resigned sigh, his eyes closing.

"It's a long explanation," he says. "But there's one thing, above all else, that you have to understand."

Tsunade gazes at the two of them coldly. "And what's that?"

"The Uchiha Clan had to die. And Itachi Uchiha had to be the one to do it…"

Eventually, Sasuke makes his way to the Uchiha District, located at the edge of the village. The sun is blotted out by heavy clouds, looming with the threat of rain. He stops at the gates of the compound, as an icy feeling washes over him. He doesn't move

The last time I entered this place...

Bodies in the streets. The ground smeared with blood. Weapons littered everywhere. Death—the sight of it, the smell of it, the taste of it—

That wasn't the last time I was here. That was five years ago.

It used to feel like five years ago. Time had begun to blur the memories. But Itachi's Tsukuyomi brought it all back, and now it feels like yesterday—

Sasuke steadies his shaking hands. He forces his feeling of fear down. The irrational belief that Itachi is still inside—still waiting, still ready to finish off the job, still ready to look down at him and call him—

("Foolish little brother.")

Sasuke shoves the gates open and steps inside.

His vision flickers. Empty streets and houses are bathed in a red hue. There are bodies on the ground, their expressions twisted, frozen, mangled—

The thick scent of blood invades his nose. The clouds in the sky darken the bright afternoon, creating the illusion of evening. The windows of the houses are shattered, doors hanging off their hinges. And above him, there's a familiar silhouette sitting atop the tallest building—

He gags on the metallic taste in the back of his throat, wires of steel constricting his heart. Familiar faces run past him, screaming, screaming, screaming, and Itachi's eyes are bleeding the same color as the moon, and his mother is reaching out with two fingers—

The pattern in Itachi's eyes is twisting—

("Foolish little brother.")

Sasuke falls to his knees.

The impact travels through him, and he's kneeling in blood. His hands are covered in it, and he bows his head to the ground, trying to breathe, how does he breathe? His chest cracks right down the middle, and he lets out a whimper, an awful, choked sound of anguish.

His mother's fingers are reaching, blood gushing from her gaping throat. "Sasuke-kun…"

He squeezes his eyes closed. There's nothing left inside of him, just this terrible pain, and everything in him is screaming desperately—

("Foolish little brother.")

A raindrop hits his forehead, followed by another. They slip down his face, to his lips. The water tastes like blood. Itachi's fingers are pressing bruises against his throat.

("You're not even worth killing.")

The sky opens up and pours down on him.

A few hours after leaving the hospital, there's a knock on Kakashi's apartment door.

Kakashi opens it. Sasuke is standing in the hall outside his door, soaking wet from the rain pouring down outside. Water drips from him, creating a puddle on the floor.

"Sasuke?"

Sasuke's hair hangs limply in his face, his gaze locked on his feet. His arms are wrapped around himself, and he's shaking like a leaf. At the sound of his name, he raises his head. There are ghosts in his eyes.

"You were right," Sasuke whispers. "I couldn't… I couldn't…"

Kakashi looks at him in quiet understanding. He doesn't ask for an explanation—he doesn't need one. Everything he needs to know is written clearly across the trembling boy's face.

He opens the door wider and lets his student step inside out of the rain.