Itachi watches his family and tries to discover Orochimaru's plans.

Chapter Text

Itachi couldn't sense anyone but his observer nearby.

It was time to check in on his wife and brother. Sitting here waiting in an enemy base for someone to come

in was getting to him. If nothing else, the brief flare of chakra required might draw someone to get on with things.

He split his consciousness, lending a link with it to Rangou, a crow implanted with one of his father's original

eyes and currently keeping eyes on his brother in case he tried to interfere.

The crow cocked it's head, showing it's master what it was seeing.

Sasuke looked very contrite walking from Naruto's apartment to the compound.

Rangou gave the younger brother a few minutes once entering their home to make it upstairs to his room before landing

near the window.

Sasuke sighed, took something from his drawer near the bottom, and stood.

Sakura's dress, the one she'd been wearing in the room at the club, was in Sasuke's hands.

He walked out of his bedroom with it, turning left toward Itachi's room.

The crow moved to the next door opened and light illuminated the room.

Sasuke walked to his brother's bed, laying the red silk across the comforter.

He stared at the scene for a moment, shook his head, then walked back towards the hall.

The light switched off and the door closed behind him as he left the room, drowning it in darkness again.

On the floor of the dingy operating room, Itachi's heart dared to hope.

Maybe giving his little brother a chance wasn't such a futile idea after all.

Maybe it was just what Sasuke needed.

The crow flew off and headed in the direction Itachi's lover had gone, searching out her chakra.

She was waiting outside the front gates. A figure dropped down from them and approached her.

"Sasuke is home now. I barely missed him and had to get out, but I'd just finished packing for you."

Shisui thrust his hand forward with her pack clutched in it,"Here you go."

Sakura only felt a little relieved. She wasn't ready to face the Uchiha clan head or his wife right now.

What if she mentioned nothing and they found out later she knew where their son had gone?

Seeing Sasuke's face, looking so lost and frightened, had shaken her even more. She never wanted to see that again.

Even yelling at him, insulting him, hadn't wiped it away from his countenance. Luring him into a fight clearly only worked for Naruto.

Shisui knew nothing and she was going to have to tell her husband's best friend . Not here though.

"Thank you needs me to meet him at the cottage you brought my things to. There's

been some trouble and I need to get there right me there." Shisui nodded at her,"Put your pack on then."

She did. He stepped forward and grasped her arm without another word, and just as she was about to jerk it away

from him, she felt a rush of speed. Rangou blinked at the sudden disappearance of the two shinobi he'd been watching,

and then at the link being broken between him and his master.

Itachi let out a slow breath, firmly reminding himself that fleeing to Sakura this moment was utterly foolish.

Seeing her seeking a way to him made him ache. His heart thumped and his body demanded him to leave, to run until she

was folded in his arms. He focused his concentration to keep his body seated until the impulse faded into the background.

Sakura was going to his hideaway. It wasn't the same, but he could try to find a way to send a clone, see her for a moment

more through it before he convinced her to let him finish this. Anbu wouldn't be searching for him for a day or so…

Something about this place threw off his ability to sense his periphery, and it was unlikely it would even work here, but it was

often better to investigate than assume.

Dimly, he realized he was going mad, risking too much for even a stolen moment or a kiss or a touch of her hand.


Watching stealthily,Izuna had noticed Itachi jump in his own skin and open his eyes when the link was broken.

She folded her arms and smirked, eyebrow raised at his flushed face. He certainly seemed like a smitten Uchiha.

How much had Izumi changed to deserve such love and how was he watching her?

The man who had rescued Izuna from her now captive sister breezed past her, close enough to whisper in her

ear,"Be ready for me after dinner.", before moving around the corner and entering the room she was observing.

"How is our new guest doing?", the medic nin down the hall inquired, making his way towards her.

"Very cooperative.", she answered, grateful for the distraction, at least until he spoke again.

"That's good news.", Kabuto replied, motioning her to follow him," I need your help with Izumi."

Swallowing, she nodded and followed after him,"What's wrong?".


Itachi held up his hands in preparation to make a kage bunshin, then put them down at the sound of the door opening.

The Sannin glided into the room, his purple robes swirled around his silent steps, chakra just a wisp.

Itachi wondered why he was hiding his power from him, or if he was simply weakened.

Orochimaru took a few steps toward Itachi then stopped just before him, shaking his head of glossy black

hair,"Tsk,Tsk, Don't bother with that here. I wouldn't want my less talented guests to get any ideas

and end up harming themselves. Come with me."

Itachi stood, waiting for the sannin to lead the way.


Izumi's mind had been an open book once he returned to Sound. It didn't take Orochimaru long to determine

Itachi had lied and Sasuke had been telling the truth. Still, the trade was a good one. Itachi was predictable where Sasuke was not.

The elder Uchiha brother moved with predatory grace, and though the Sannin was confident in his dominance here, showing

the young man his back was making him a little uneasy. He spoke to foster kinship or get a reaction.

"I didn't want to fight either, Itachi-kun. Though at first I believed you."

Itachi considered it was likely that he wished to avoid fighting inside Konoha also.

"Believed?", Itachi asked, wondering what lie Orochimaru was referring to.

"Your brother and I have something in common.", his captor replied,"Soon we will be fathers."

Itachi kept his face carefully blank, offering nothing as he walked steadily behind. Maybe the Sannin was guessing or maybe he knew.

Itachi guessed why Izumi was taken."Why do you want Izumi? She is already with child."

Orochimaru shot him a smirking glance over his shoulder,"Izumi has the eyes of my child's mother. As you know,

the relationship must be close. Besides, it's best to keep promises to the mother of your child when you can, ne Itachi-kun?"

He paused for a beat then, letting it sink in for his guest. He had not taken Izuna yet, but he would very soon, and she was

as able as he to reproduce. It was only a matter of time.

Itachi's fist clenched,"I wouldn't know."

The Sannin's eyes glittered,"Perhaps you will soon. Your wife is plenty young and healthy."

His comment about Sakura was soundly ignored. He would not draw this man's attention to her in any way

and it irked him that Orochimaru knew of her. It was time to change the subject.

"Izuna is alive?", Itachi asked, coming to the only conclusion available. He had seen the burned bodies himself,

of her and her husband, but they were unrecognizable. It was possible, but who had taken her place?

"Yes, and I promised her an opportunity of revenge.", the Sannin answered.

"What of me then?", Itachi asked, wondering why he was being kept alive. Or maybe he was marching to his death right now.

The man leading him turned to face him, yellow eyes regarding him with mirth that felt very out of place,"It will

be you or the woman staying, unless you want the same deal I gave Izumi and trade your sibling instead."

A wide grin stretched beneath the slitted pupils."Seeing as you took the blame for him, I don't expect that, or

any trouble from you. At least not yet."

"If i stay?", Itachi asked, once again viewing the back of his jailer as he turned and strode down the endless hall before

them,"What will happen to Izumi and the child?"

Orochimaru waved his hand at the question, as if it were only an afterthought.

"Izumi will be disarmed and her and her child can go back to Konoha, if Izuna wishes it."

The Sannin wanted his child to wield the Eternal Mangekyo, to keep Izuna compliant then. Maybe there was more?

"What do you wish?", the Uchiha inquired.

Orochimaru nodded, as if he'd been waiting for this question.

"Even an Uchiha woman without eyes will produce Uchiha offspring. I only require one, but I would be more

than willing to have both. Then you can return with your brother's child."

The Snake Sannin was giving him an option of escaping with the child he came for while leaving two of his clan's

women behind, one forcibly blinded and likely both forced into brood mares. He was practically daring him to fight

or align himself with the enemy. There was no way Itachi could allow it. He wasn't sure about his own strategy here yet,

but Orochimaru's was clear: give him options that were tempting personally but left his clan open to infiltration and attack

through their bloodline.

Something he could blackmail the clan heir with later, perhaps when he needed a favor, if he became desperate enough to acquiesce.

"In the meantime?", Itachi asked, relaxing his jaw so not to speak through gritted teeth.

The Sannin stopped at a large red door, waving a hand to make it open.

"You may rest. There is no chakra web here. I noticed you were trying to make a clone."

Playful disapproval, the kind reserved for a child drawing or saying something he shouldn't, played over his unnaturally pale face.

"Even if you do, anything directly outside of the base will be destroyed on you want to go you may try, but you will go alone

….and likely die anyways."

Itachi nodded. If Orochimaru spoke the truth, it was very fortunate. He would not need to fear sentries with his seal.

"Now I must go.", the Sannin announced, smirking in a way that made Itachi cringe," I don't want to keep a pretty lady waiting."

The moment the door shut, Itachi made a clone with his seal, ordering it to shunshin over to his hiding place.

He paced the floor, awaiting it's return.


They'd been arguing for a while now. Sakura looked tired and a little exasperated.

Shisui looked beside himself,"You're not trying to take him back?"

The pinkette sighed and shook her head, "There is no point. What he did wasn't wrong."

"But he'll be declared missing!", he protested,"If he does come back it will be as a missing nin!"

Her green eyes regarded him seriously,"If we can defeat Orochimaru because of his position there, Konoha will forgive him."

This pink haired girl possibly had a point, but that was no small feat.

They'd tried it before and lost so many. It was like they always knew when they were coming.

Shisui rolled his eyes at her then, paced a bit. Did she realize what that might take?

"Why not just tell them the truth? Exonerate him, let Sasuke get punished for his stupidity?!"

He didn't want to be the one to tell her what could happen if Itachi was declared a traitor, especially where it

concerned her , too often he had seen his kin with their pining hearts return from long and seemingly

hopeless missions to find the women they loved outside the clan in the arms of another. Itachi was clearly bonded to

her and the thought of watching his favorite cousin suffer the way Sasuke had, undeserved, was something he wasn't

sure he could bear. Izumi could rot there for all he cared, and he was certain Fugaku and the Hokage felt the same way.

Shisui was confident his cousin could escape if nothing else, even if it took some time to gain the trust needed to do it.

Yet, Itachi had a soft heart, especially for anything concerning Sasuke. There was no way he would leave his niece or nephew there.

"What about you ?", Shisui spat out, eyes narrowed,"My lovesick cousin adores you. Your marriage will be void if anyone believes this."

The clone hiding in the trees frowned at Shisui's confession, but listened even more intently, so as not to miss a breath of her answer.

Sakura shrugged sadly,"It doesn't matter. He'll do what he thinks is right."

Shisui raised a brow in disbelief that she would accept this, regardless of how true it was.

"What if we defeat Orochimaru and Itachi comes back with a wife and child?"

It was possible, she knew it. Not wanting him was something she couldn't fathom now, but she would honor him.

At least... she really hoped she would, or that he wouldn't make her.

She smiled wistfully then,"I trust him and I know how he feels."

Moved by this, the clone dropped out of the tree to the earth to approach her, but never hit the ground.

Alarmed by the unseen presence of another with them, Shisui hit it with a kunai the moment it came into view.

After seeing Itachi's surprised face poof out of existence, he turned to Sakura, cringing.

Oh Shit.

The small pink haired girl looked possessed with rage.

" You idiot!", she wailed. "I had something really important to tell him!"


His clone's memories slammed into him and Itachi's heart sped in his chest.

Knowing that she was on his side even now flooded his entire body with pleasure, striking a well of shocking

depth filled with the need for her presence. Shisui's worries were fairly unfounded. Izumi would never see Konoha again

if he had any say in it. Even if he did come back with Izumi as a wife and Sasuke's child as his own for the clan's

and his brother's sake, he doubted he could keep his hands off of Sakura. He knew he would take her anyway if she let him.

It made forgiving his brother so much easier.

He shook his head, bemused at his lack of shame. When had he turned into this?

Perhaps when he had ravaged her against the door of her office, the forbidden taste of her on his tongue while he

pounded into her, his mind screaming with each thrust: mine, mine, mine .

He let out a small amused chuckle at the look on Shisui's face when he realised he destroyed his clone.

At least they knew he could send one from here. He could not expend himself regularly enough to be two places at

once often, but he was not completely cut off from the family he loved while he protected the new piece of his family here.

He remembered his little brother as a baby, how amazed at life Sasuke's entrance into it had made him, and wondered what

being an uncle would be like.

Maybe it would soothe the ache of never being a father himself, something Sakura was not convinced of.

He preferred not to hope and just accept it, but now that he had claimed the woman he loved, the fear had crept in.

That she would find it was hopeless and change her mind, suffering through it anyway for him.

That she would not be able to forgive him for the remedy he had in mind, because he wouldn't let her do that.

Only time would tell.