"Itachi."

It's a hoarse whisper from the masked stranger, a whisper that's filled with regret and pain and hurt—

But Itachi's hurting too.

Because this stranger stands here, before him, which means Tenzo, and Kakashi, and Shisui are all gone. They're all dead. And maybe that's just what life as an ANBU is, maybe losing comrades is just part of the job. But Itachi's in pain, and he's furious, and the only thing he can think is that he's going to kill this stranger for what he's done.

He's running at the masked man, his eyes swirling into red. All he can hear is the pounding of his heartbeat, all he can feel is the cool hilt of his tanto in his sweaty palm, and all he can taste is the metallic tang of blood as he digs his teeth into his tongue.

"Itachi," the stranger says, a little louder, taking a step back. His voice is still pleading, still desperate. "Itachi, please. Stop."

Some part of him is alarmed that the stranger knows his name. It's the same part of him that urges caution, that screams at him to be careful. But there's fire streaming from Itachi's mouth now, and there's fire burning in his heart too. And as he bears down on the masked man, all he can think about is revenge.

Fire and smoke swirl into Sasuke's palm as he absorbs Itachi's attack, and he catches Itachi's forearm with one hand. Now it's just the two of them, Itachi struggling to push the blade of his tanto through Sasuke's body. He looks through the eye-holes of Itachi's ANBU mask, and all he can see are glowing red irises.

He can't do this.

He can't fight Itachi. He can't raise his hand against his brother. Sasuke swallows past the lump in his throat, his free hand coming to rest on Itachi's shoulder. There was a time when all he wanted was to kill his older brother. But that was before he knew the truth. That was a lifetime ago.

His fingers tighten and tremble, feeling Itachi's solid warmth. Then—

Sasuke lets out a startled gasp as Itachi's body dissolves into a dozen ravens, screwing his eyes shut as he's battered by blunt, feathered wings. The birds scatter, and the only sound he can hear is their cawing, slowly fading away. It's a clone? But—

And then he hurls himself forward, but it's not quite fast enough to avoid the tip of Itachi's blade cutting through his cloak, through his shirt, carving a shallow cut across the muscles of his lower back. Sasuke lets out an involuntary hiss, catching Itachi's next strike on his armguard.

He flexes his other palm, and Itachi goes sprawling, bowled over by an invisible force. Lightning sparks down his other arm, and he discharges it in a surge of blue light meant to daze and stun.

But when the lightning slams into Itachi's prone form, another dozen crows take flight.

Sasuke shakes his head, trying to clear his mind as he looks around. He's off-balance, he's upset, and he's fucking frustrated. Itachi just needs to stop, just for a second, just to hear him out. Sasuke doesn't want-he can't—

He already killed his brother once. He can still see Itachi's corpse, still feel Itachi's finger poking his forehead, still feel his eyes burning as tears trace lines through the dirt on his cheeks.

He never wants to hurt Itachi ever again.

Sasuke's Sharingan picks up a flare of chakra, a hundred feet away. Itachi crouches atop a rocky outcropping, quickly forming hand-signs. Sasuke draws and throws a kunai in one fluid motion—

A massive dragon, made entirely of scorching, white-hot fire, screams through the trees towards him. Sasuke absorbs it, letting the dragon swirl away into nothing.

And then there's a second dragon bearing down on him from the side, heating the air until it's unbearably hot. Sasuke raises a hand.

"Almighty Push."

The fire-dragon and forest surrounding it disappear in a cloud of dust and smoke, splinters of wood raining down all around him. A dull roar fills the air, a thrumming vibration that makes the hair on his arms stand up, and he looks up as three more fire-dragons streak towards him from the sky. They're blinding-bright, and there's sweat beading on Sasuke's brow from the heat, the searing heat—

Then Sasuke exchanges places with the kunai he'd thrown earlier.

There's the familiar pop of displaced air, and he's so close to Itachi that he can hear his brother's gasp of surprise. He grabs Itachi's right arm, forcing the tip of the tanto towards the ground and staring into startled red eyes. Far behind him, there's an ear-splitting boom as Itachi's dragon jutsu explodes, and the ground bucks under their feet.

Under his fingers, he feels Itachi's skin begin to crawl and transform. But Sasuke's not going to fall for the same trick twice. So when the real Itachi tries to run him through, tries to shove his sword through Sasuke's heart, Sasuke swaps places with the clone.

This time, when the blue-white lightning hits Itachi, he lets out a pained cry. Sasuke sees his brother's body go limp, and Itachi begins to fall off the side of the outcropping. Sasuke inhales sharply—

Itachi's finger slides down his face, the smile on his older brother's face going slack as the light leaves his eyes. His body slumps forward, and Sasuke wants to catch him, Sasuke wants to hold onto him and never let him go, but—

But he doesn't.

He lets Itachi fall, closing his eyes as his brother hits the ground with a thud.

Sasuke grabs Itachi by the collar, almost losing his balance. With a shaky breath, he pulls his brother back up, Itachi's weight settling in his arms. And Sasuke—

He lets out a noise that sounds suspiciously like a sob, and he hugs his brother. He hugs Itachi with all the strength in his arms, pressing his face into Itachi's chest, listening to his brother's steady heartbeat.

And Itachi won't remember any of this. Sasuke will wipe his memory of the whole encounter, and he'll never know anything about any of this. But as he jumps down from the outcropping and lays Itachi on his back, gently, he whispers into his brother's ear.

"I'll never let you fall, Itachi."

Danzo watches him, standing in the middle of the clearing as Sasuke stalks towards him. Sasuke can't help but snort with amusement, shaking his head. The man hadn't even tried to run.

"That was impressive," Danzo says, and Sasuke had forgotten how much he loathed that voice. "Incapacitating an entire ANBU team is no mean feat."

Sasuke doesn't bother responding as he comes to a stop, two dozen feet away from the other man. He lets out a deep breath, taking off his mask and clipping it to his belt. Sasuke meets Danzo's gaze with one red eye, and one purple.

"Have you come to kill me?" Danzo asks him, and Sasuke's lips twist into a lopsided smirk.

"Yes."

"I see. I'm afraid you'll be disappointed," Danzo says, fiddling with something under his traveling cloak. There's a thunk of something heavy and metallic hitting the ground, and Danzo lets the cloak fall to the ground. Sasuke looks at the pale flesh of Danzo's implanted arm with a bored expression, noting the implanted Sharingan blinking back at him.

"You've never fought anyone like me," Danzo says.

"I wouldn't say that," Sasuke says. He can't help grinning, letting the Six Paths' chakra rush through him. He doesn't have to hold back now, and it feels good.

"There's no escape from this now," Danzo says softly, taking a step forward.

"None," Sasuke says with a dark laugh.