Uchiha Itachi's life was fairly simple.
He killed his clan, his family to save the village and left his younger brother alive to witness the deed. He then drove said brother to become insane and hellbent on killing him in a horrible attempt at trying to quell his crippling guilt. Now he sits, waiting for his brother and his death with open (not really) arms.
A very simple life indeed.
He's learned not to dwell on the past, if not at all. But when those fleeting memories suddenly present themselves, he is struck with the fated question most are when looking at the past.
What would have happened if I did something differently? Could I have gone about things in a different matter?
And he's met with the same answer that others receive.
Yes, there were many things, many actions he could have taken to prevent the way things have gone.
There was no need to torture his little brother like that, he could have very well told him everything. Confined in the 7-year-old who was always obsessed with him. The little brother who strives for his father's attention and wished to leave Itachi's shadow. Itachi could have told him why he felt there was no choice but to eradicate their clan.
But why burden such a young innocent child with the consequences of adults and their pride?
Itachi wanted to ask his father and the Sandaime that same question along with why they thought it was a great idea to leave the choice of family or village to a 12 going on 13-year-old.
This brings him to the thought that he could have prevented that from happening entirely.
Itachi knew that Danzo mostly manipulated the village into hating the Uchiha, leading to their plans of a coup d'état, which brought Danzo to order Itachi to bring their demise.
(He also practically killed Shisui but we won't think about that right now.)
If he started earlier wholeheartedly trying to quell the situation, maybe a different outcome could have occurred. He might have been able to try and lead others back to respecting the Uchiha. Or he could have really pushed for his father to form alliances with other clans and forget the petty loner attitude most Uchiha are blessed with.
If Itachi truly thinks about how Danzo manipulated the village to dislike the Uchiha, he's reminded about the Kyuubi attack and how most hate came after it.
This then presents the problem of the supposed 'Uchiha Madara' which causes Itachi to clasp a pale hand on his forehead in annoyance.
That truly was another can of worms he hopefully wouldn't have to deal with since his own demise was coming soon.
The thought brought him back to reality, the one that has him sitting in a rather uncomfortable chair and awaiting his death.
When was his brother going to arrive? Itachi wonders. His impatience for seeing Sasuke and the golden gates of heaven (did he really deserve to even see them?) ever-growing.
He activates his Sharingan in order to observe the surroundings and maybe pick up on his little brother's oh so familiar signature.
Due to his horrible deteriorating eyesight, Itachi's eyes burn without even needing to mold into the Mangekyo for them to hurt.
The almost and sadly familiar burning of his eyes morphs into excruciating throbbing which causes Itachi to gasp in surprise. This usually doesn't happen unless he overuses his Mangekyo but even then, not this bad.
He lets out a muffled cry and presses his hand on both eyes, wondering why he was feeling this in the first place. When pries his eyes open the world spins and dark spots paint his vision.
Forgetting for a moment his wish of death, he tries to stabilize himself but his arms give weight and he finds himself falling.
Falling for a longer time than he would expect to be how long it takes for one to fall off a chair, Itachi would have gracefully landed on what he thought the floor to be if not for an ugly cough to misbalance him.
The small thud that you would have heard becomes replaced with hacks of something to be expected from an old smoker, not a 21-year-old.
It faintly reminds him of why he's still alive, why he hadn't kicked the bucket a long time ago. Why he took his medicine for the last time, that morning.
The blood that graces his pale hand is wiped on the black of his cloak and he looks up, trying to assess the situation. He hopes to meet the gaze of grey concrete but instead meets eyes of red.
Three pairs of red eyes bore into his own which startles him.
He could recall the last time he saw more than one pair of Sharingan eyes staring back at him. It was almost a decade ago when he stole the life of the ones he called family.
Uchiha Itachi at that moment wanted to do three things.
Cry,
scream,
or Run.
He knew this wasn't a genjutsu as his Sharingan would have seen past it. He also really would have done not just one but all three of those things if he wasn't a trained shinobi.
He had trained himself for years to hide his feelings. To be an emotionless killing machine. He could deal with past ghosts, he dealt with far worse before right?
That resolve only lasted a few seconds until his damaged eyes truly registered who wielded those red eyes staring into his soul.
Itachi was staring at not just anyone, but he was gazing into the Sharingan eyes of his own father.
His father.
The man whose last words were, "I'm still proud of you."
His eyes were already starting to be graced by a liquid much lighter than blood but what truly broke him was the one word that was uttered by no other than the dead supposed ghost of his father.
"Itachi?"
A sad, quiet cry was the only thing that was heard.
Uchiha Itachi's life was fairly simple.
He had taken the lives of those he held dear to him and left the little brother he loved dearly to witness it alone. He manipulated his brother, his brother he loves so much, to hate him in order to give him a purpose to keep living. He then should have been quietly waiting for that same brother to come and relieve him of his misery, however selfish that was of him.
However, he now stares at people who he had long accepted to be ghosts due to his own faults.
He stares at his family and thinks, maybe his life wasn't so simple after all.