"I shall now stop the Edo Tensei jutsu. All the revived shinobi will be gone and Tobi's plans will at last crumble to pieces."
Sasuke watched him approach the incapacitated Kabuto with a lump in his throat. He never thought he'd see Itachi again. Not while he was still alive anyway. What precious little time they had left was already almost spent on fighting Orochimaru's self-aggrandizing assistant.
I can't just let him leave.I need to know… Sasuke's fingers curled into a fist. "If you do that, you'll be gone too."
"That is the idea, yes," Itachi replied, removing Kabuto's glasses. "Much as I would like to remain and witness Tobi's fall personally, destroying him and the real Madara from the shadows is a satisfying enough victory."
There he goes again, talking and acting like some two bit-Madara pretender. He'd been doing that since they ran into each other in the forest. Sasuke only tolerated it and his insistence on hunting down Kabuto for a chance to talk after. Now was the time to do that.
"I know the truth, Itachi, all of it," Sasuke seethed with impatience. "So drop the act already. I know you're really doing this for Konoha's sake!"
The shout echoed through the cave. He didn't want it to be like this, to end in a one-way shouting match with his brother. Sasuke couldn't help it, Itachi's continued insistence on smoke screens even after death bothered him too much. It was time for some damn honesty.
If Itachi was rattled by this, he didn't show it. When he turned to face Sasuke, there was only a look of mild curiosity on his face. "What exactly makes you say that?"
This time, Sasuke didn't feel bad at all about shouting. "I know the elders of Konoha made you kill the Uchiha! I know they blamed them for the Kyuubi's attack all those years ago! They shunned us, locked us away from the village and then killed us when we stuck up for ourselves! They turned you into a murderer and you're still fighting for them!"
Itachi was silent for the span of a few breaths. "Let me guess, Tobi is the one who told you this?" Itachi said casually. "He spun some grand tale of my victim-hood. A young man caught in an impossible situation and becoming a villain to save what little he could of his clan. His dear little brother who he cherished above everything else?"
Slowly, Itachi vanished before his eyes. The smile became a laugh, the laugh a howling cackle. His big brother was gone, the grinning maniac who wanted his Sharingan had returned. Sasuke couldn't do anything else but stare, the lump became a suffocating noose around his neck. He felt more and more sick.
"Oh Sasuke," Itachi chuckled, shaking his head. "You've truly done it. You've attained a level of foolishness I thought unreachable."
His meaning was obvious, Sasuke just couldn't bring himself to admit it. Th-This can't be happening. This has to be a trick, I must be under some genjutsu or-
"I did it to test my limits. I let you live solely to measure yours." His suddenly harsh voice was like a slap to the face. Sasuke felt the air get knocked out of him, his lips quivering. Tears threatened to fall.
"When you stood before me at the Uchiha hideout, I was genuinely impressed with how far you'd come," He spoke with absolutely no care or attention given to Sasuke's mounting despair. "You became a rogue ninja, journeyed to and overcame Orochimaru inside his own viper's nest. You even refused to kill your best friend, choosing other means of power. There was such a strength inside you then. Such a rare assurance in one's own will and capabilities. It was why I didn't mind dying to you in the end: you chose your own path and realized your ambition, damn the consequences."
Then he glared. It wasn't a dispassionate contempt like from that night, the same way one might look at a cockroach. This was a look of anger, disappointment and disgust. Sasuke couldn't stop himself from shaking at the sight.
"Look at you now, pathetic" Itachi spat out like venom. "You're so desperate to find a loving brother you deluded yourself by listening to mine and Tobi's lies. Instead of leaving me behind to rot and moving onto the next step of your journey, you chose to cling to me for comfort like some stuffed animal. Disappointing."
Without another word, Itachi's attention came back to Kabuto. His brother formed the final touches of his genjutsu. Kabuto's hands went through a series of hand signs, the Edo Tensei came undone. Itachi's body cracked and crumbled away in a blinding light. His soul hovered in the air, white and ethereal before it vanished into the sky. Itachi didn't say another word to him through it all. He didn't even turn around to look at his brother one last time.
Sasuke watched it all happen in a stunned silence. For what seemed like forever he stood no less frozen than Orochimaru's former right-hand man. He couldn't say how long he stayed that way. He simply came apart with a single, pained sob. He fell to his knees, his eyes stung from the sudden rush of tears.
Every second of the conversation was permanently and perfectly burned into his memory. No matter how many times Sasuke examined it in his long wailing fits, the truth never changed.
Itachi was nothing but a mad, Uchiha dog! And you're no better for allying with him. That was what Danzo said on the bridge, just before Sasuke crushed him. He was completely right.
With his brother out of his grasp, Sasuke released the boiling anger onto the ground. Time and again his fists pounded through a large puddle left over from his brother's water style. Sasuke saw his face in the water every time it simmered down, then he punched it even harder.
"Why?!" He snarled at the contemptuous image looking back at him. "Why does this keep happening?!"
Every-time Sasuke thought he knew where things stood, it was completely turned on its head. How many more times would this happen? How many more times would Itachi's mere existence throw his life into chaos? Where would it end? Itachi's fleeting praise for how far he'd gone in trying to make sense of it all only left a bitter taste in his mouth. The fact that loathsome scums eyes were now stuck in his head made him see only red.
By the time it had even occurred to him to go after Tobi and make him pay, Sasuke's strength was spent. He didn't strike at the puddle anymore, didn't rage and shout thunderously for no one else to hear. Even the images of Itachi and Tobi faded from the water. There was only his own tired, beaten reflection left to stare at.
He tried to get angry again, to spur himself back into action. Useless, even fleeting thoughts of making Tobi choke on his lies didn't do anything. Sasuke hadn't felt this utterly spent since the day Itachi's corpse finally hit the ground. The times when he didn't feel wholly miserable felt so far away.
Their team picture, however, was always crystal clear in his mind. For reasons he couldn't grasp at the time, Sasuke had permanently saved it with the Sharingan before he left. He couldn't unsee it no matter how much he tried. He found it all so annoying then and Naruto got angry that he said out loud. Kakashi awkwardly got them together for the photo. Only Sakura was able to genuinely smile for it.
It was stupid, useless memory. That was how he dismissed it these past few years. Now, it was the only one that didn't make him feel miserable. It didn't last. Soon enough, Sasuke considered everything he'd done since Itachi's death. Joining the Akatsuki, kidnapping the Eight Tails, slaughtering the Samurai at the Kage Summit, killing Danzo, sacrificing Karin. The worst of all he struggled to admit for a while.
Why are you doing this? Why are you with the Akatsuki? Sakura asked with tears in her eyes.
Whatever Tobi's told you is a lie. Look inside your heart, Sasuke, you know we're not your enemies! Kakashi pleaded even after he'd narrowly avoided being pierced by a Susanno arrow.
I swore I'd help you, Sasuke! I'm gonna bring you back, even if I gotta knock some sense into your first! Naruto proclaimed just before they went their separate ways once more.
On and on he recounted the events on the bridge. They still wanted him to come back, wanted to be his friends and family and he tried to kill them all. The only people left in the world who genuinely wanted nothing but good things for him.
Itachi was right. I'm nothing but a fool. A disappointing, self-deluding fool…
Just as fresh tears threatened to fall, Sasuke's instincts warned him of danger. A rumbling came from overhead, stones and pebbles fell. A moment after he rolled out of the way, one portion of the ceiling exploded into a ruble. Moonlight breached the otherwise black cavern, a pair of figures leaped through the breach.
Sasuke only tensed for a moment before he recognized them. "You two…?"
"Who else?" Suigetsu flashed a smile, revealing rows of fanged teeth. "Took us forever to find you but- Huh?" He paused and blinked owlishly. "Hey… what's wrong with your face? It's all red and puffy looking?"
There was a flash of anger, an urge to wipe them away and pretend nothing was wrong. It passed as quickly as it came. It was pointless to deny the truth.
"Just the after effects of some jutsu...," Sasuke sighed. He laboriously got back on his feet. Despite spending no great amount of chakra, he felt impossibly heavy.
For reasons he himself couldn't explain, Sasuke sat down and recounted almost everything that happened since they'd gotten separated. Save for what he did to Karin. Suigetsu interjected every now and then, sometimes just to be annoying. Jugo's attention was divided between the story and the birds that periodically flew in and out of the ceiling breach.
"So you and Itachi got Kabuto, eh? Pretty impressive stuff I gotta say." Suigetsu walked over to the incapacitated man and poked about his skin.
"Leave him be," Sasuke ordered without much bite to his bark. "What are you two even doing here? Why'd you come after me?"
Hozuki's smile didn't help improve his mood. From inside the black cloak, Suigetsu produced a thick black scroll. He tapped it against an open palm and stepped closer.
"This right here, fearless leader, is the ticket to all our hopes and dreams! With the secrets inside this baby, I'll get my swords, you can smash Konoha and Jugo can… talk to birds or something. Taka can take over the whole shinobi world-"
"I'm not interested."
Again, Suigetsu blinked, this time as if Sasuke had grown a second head right in-front of him. "B-But," He sputtered. "What about your-"
"Forget it!" Sasuke snapped, his arm smacked the offered scroll through the air. Suigetsu shrieked, melted slightly and ran after it. He just barely caught it in time before it was drenched inside a large puddle.
"What the hell is your problem!" Suigetsu pointed an accusing finger. "I just told you we can destroy anyone with this!"
"I don't care about destroying anything…" I don't even know what I want.
It was a lie, of course. Sasuke would've liked to get his hands on Tobi or Madara or whoever he was. But even that was too late, Itachi had essentially ended the war already. There was no chance for him to get some satisfaction. To make things even a little right. More birds flew next to Jugo's head. He'd been silently observing the unconscious Anko lying forty feet away from Kabuto. Before Suigetsu could ramble on, he approached the two of them near the pile of rocks they'd made on entry.
"You said you and Itachi made Kabuto break the Edo Tensei, right?" Jugo looked off into the distance. "It didn't work. Madara is still here."
"What?!" Sasuke snapped. He almost demanded to know if it was true. A stupid thing to even consider, Jugo wasn't one for jokes or lies. Not when it was something the inheritor of Kimimaro's will wanted to know.
Falling silent, Sasuke considered the implications of this. We failed, it wasn't stopped. Itachi's great subterfuge of Madara and Tobi hadn't worked in the end. That brought him some small satisfaction. And not simply for the obvious reason of spitting his brother. There was another feeling welling up in his chest. He couldn't quite place what it was.
"Who cares about Itachi or Madara?" Suigetsu waved this news off as if it was nothing. The fact his confidence was still completely unshaken wasn't missed by Sasuke. "I'm telling you, this scroll will let us beat anyone! Maybe if someone wasn't such a brooding ass…"
Sasuke didn't immediately reach for the scroll. Suigetsu's ego put a reasonable and immediate doubt in his mind about its contents. On the other hand, he wouldn't have stolen the thing and brought it from some remote hideout if it wasn't at least somewhat worthwhile. His completely unshaken demeanor to Jugo's revelation gave some more credit to his claims. Without a word, Sasuke snatched the scroll out of his hand. He made it a point not to visibly acknowledge Hozuki's widened grin.
When he opened it and read the first part, Sasuke's interest was immediately piqued by a reference to the Uzumaki clan. Kabuto mentioned there was something special about them. With each passing word, Sasuke realized how right Orochimaru's lieutenant was. The scroll contained secrets from the clan. The intricacies of their sealing techniques, more specifically a highly effective one he'd learned about behind the rogue Sannin's back during their time together.
Now he knew how to undo it, how to release everyone trapped inside the Reaper Death Seal.
The full scope of what could be achieved with this left him stunned, breathless. Sasuke read it again and then once more with his Sharingan active. He needed to be sure he hadn't misinterpreted anything. He couldn't let some hidden clue or trap fool him, he was beyond sick of such things.
This is it… Sasuke's hands shook. This was the real way to stop Tobi and Madara. And now it's mine.
Sasuke took a shaky breath. Could his luck have really changed so quickly? Was this really happening? The feeling in his chest grew. It was comforting and terrifying all at the same time.
There would be a catch, a very dangerous one. He would need Orochimaru back to pull this off but he couldn't be trusted. Sasuke was stronger but the Sannin could very well become invincible if Sasuke resorted to his help. He might very well end up destroying Konoha anyway.
But there was another side too. Somehow, Sasuke let himself consider it. But if this works, I can help them. I can try and make things right… I might be able to get my team back. He hesitated only for a while longer, until the smiling images of Kakashi-sensei, Naruto and Sakura were back in his mind's eye. Once he saw himself among them again as a comrade, his mind was made up.
Sasuke knew what he had to do. This time, it would be entirely on his own terms.