Itachi walked on in a daze, oblivious to his surroundings unless his senses told him there was another person near. He thought there might be blood on his face, but the warmth could've been just from the tears. Strangely, instead of the slaughter, what his mind replayed over and over instead was the look on Sasuke's face. The shock, horror, and betrayal… what he'd done had broken his brother, there was no denying it. Even if the reasons were right, even if he couldn't bring himself to regret it, he wished that somehow Sasuke could be spared from the pain.
"Why are you crying?" a sudden voice asked out of the darkness. Itachi's Sharingan immediately came back full force, almost straight from nothing to Mangekyou. He turned toward the voice, two shuriken spinning on his fingers before the thought to take them out crossed his mind. He wondered if he should eliminate anyone who saw him crying; if Danzo heard, things could get bad.
"Will you tell anyone?" Itachi asked, because he could make out the figure who had asked. It was the Nine-Tails kid, who didn't seem particularly close to anyone, maybe because everyone who remembered the trauma of the Nine-Tails hated him. All his worries about the dangers of being found out leaked away. No one would listen to the kid the Nine-Tails had been sealed into, Fourth's son or not.
"No. I don't really care," the Nine-Tails kid said, and when the moon came out from behind the clouds Itachi could tell it was true. The kid's eyes were empty, except for a dangerous anger simmering beneath them that sent a shiver through Itachi. Itachi wondered what would happen if the kid had no one to guide him. He could remember the destruction the Nine-Tails had caused, which had even ended with the death of a Hokage. He didn't put away his shuriken; instead he raised them higher and watched the empty-eyed blonde kid through the gaps they made when they spun.
"Are you gunna kill me?" the kid asked, scowling. "Or are you just gunna look at me that way, the way everyone does?"
Itachi stopped the shuriken from spinning and lowered them. The kid couldn't have been older than Sasuke—probably even the same age—and despite the huge differences in how they looked, the kid had the same stubborn set to his jaw Sasuke sometimes got. With his arms crossed over a silly orange nightshirt and his tiny body set in a defensive posture, as if to defend from the look and the shuriken, all of Itachi's desire to harm him drained away. His eyes slowly went back to normal as he put his shuriken away and shook his head.
"I don't want to kill you," Itachi said quietly, then reached out and laid a hand atop the yellow fluff on the kid's head. "I'm sorry they look at you like that."
The kid tensed under Itachi's hand and suddenly looked unsure, his cheeks flushing a bit the way Sasuke's did when he was pleased with Itachi's attention. It was strange to see someone who was supposedly a ball of destruction and hatred look so innocent. It made the ghost of a smile cross Itachi's face, despite the fact that his heart and soul were shattering.
When he dropped his hand and turned to go, he felt a resistance and paused, glancing over his shoulder. The kid was clutching the back of his jacket, small fists knotted in it as the kid looked up at him with an expression he never thought anyone would look at him with; hope.
"Hey… are you leaving?" the kid asked, his voice tinged with anxiety.
"I—" Itachi began, then frowned. Are you leaving? not Where are you going? As if anywhere could be better than here, the village Itachi would lay down his life and soul to protect. He knelt until he was face-to-face with the kid and gave a solemn nod.
"Are you going far?"
Another nod.
"Can I… can I come with you?"
The kid's voice was shy, and Itachi realized he'd been originally mistaken. There was more than just emptiness and rage to his kid; there was a huge hope in his eyes, like he had some sort of dream he was desperate to make come true. Hope, and an even bigger desire. A craving for some form of acknowledgement, no matter where it came from. If someone kind-hearted noticed it, this kid could become a bearer of the village's spirit. But if someone like Danzo saw and decided to use it…
"If you left, you'd have to leave your entire life behind," Itachi said, unsure how he could actually be considering this. It would make things a hundred times harder to bring an untrained kid along, and the new mission the Hokage had given him could be completely ruined. But still, one of the Akatsuki goals was to collect all the Tailed Beasts. And maybe, deep down, Itachi wanted someone, anyone to ease the empty loneliness that threatened to consume him.
"What life?" the kid asked, looking out over dark rooftops with a haunted expression. "I hate this place. Everyone here hates me for no reason, and they always turn their backs on me like I don't even exist. Maybe if I go somewhere else where people don't know who I am, things will be better."
It was true; Itachi had seen the way parents ushered their kids away from the Nine-Tails kid anytime he approached them. He had seen how everyone hated the kid. What life really waited here for a Tailed Beast child beyond suffering and rage?
"Hey… Do people look at me like that because I'm a monster, or am I monster because people look at me like that?" the kid suddenly asked, desperation to hear the answer colouring his voice. That question finally pushed Itachi over the edge.
"Neither. You aren't a monster. You're human, same as the rest of us, and if you want to come with me I won't stop you."
The kid didn't even hesitate, he stuck his hand out stoically and said: "I'm Naruto Uzumaki. Thank you."
Itachi hesitantly reached out with a hand that had just participated in the slaughter of his entire clan and shook Naruto's.
"I'm Itachi Uchiha. I hope I can change your views on Konoha one day."