Chapter Nine
"What does any of this have to do with what's going on?" Kakashi growled, confused. For once his genius seemed to be failing him, for he could not make head or tails of what he was being told, nor could he figure out how it pertained to the changes in his students and their current situation. Nothing they were being told was making sense and yet, he could sense no lies from them.
"Everything." Naruto replied. "It was these events that led to me and Sasuke being here. These are also the events that lead to the Fourth Great War and the end of Konoha."
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"The end…of Konoha?" Sakura's voice was full of shock and incredulities, faltering as she tried to process the words her teammates had spoken. Kakashi was in the same state, his single visible eye wide.
Konoha was such a pivotal part of their life and neither of them could imagine it being gone but the too old, too weary gazes of the two boys across from him told him that it wasn't a lie.
Sasuke took over speaking.
"It begins with your mission to Kanabi bridge, Sensei. Obito was saved shortly after you and your teammate were saved by Yondaime-sama."
Kakashi's blood ran cold and he felt dread building like lead in his gut.
"He was saved by the real Madara Uchiha and merged with a being called a Zetsu to rebuild the parts of his body crushed by the boulders. Madara trained him, hoping he would take over his legacy when he died and he promised to do so, but was secretly planning to return to your team, to Rin. When Madara died, he left the hide-out he'd been in, and began making his way to Konoha…"
"He sensed Rin's chakra spike, having not been too far from Kiri. He arrived the moment your hand went through her chest and it drove him mad. Without the context, he believed you'd betrayed him and it forced his sharingan to become the Mangekyō. When you passed out, he killed the Kiri-nin after you and left vowing revenge on you and Konoha."
He swallowed thickly, his hands trembling even as he fought to still them.
Obito…was alive?
He was the man in the mask?
Naruto closed his eyes. "He watched the village for years, planning and making deals. He infiltrated even the most secret of the village's militia, Danzou's Nē, all the while building an organization called the Akatsuki. He helped Itachi massacre the Uchiha when it came down to it and in return Itachi joined Akatsuki. For a while he just waited, gathering the intel he needed. Meanwhile, during our first Chūnin exam, Orochimaru infiltrated the village and managed to mark Sasuke."
The raven flinched in remembrance, one hand trailing up to the now smooth skin of his neck. Kakashi merely stared, his gaze wide and haunted.
"Mark him with what?" Sakura asked, frowning and Sasuke sighed. "A cursed seal. It fed me his chakra while siphoning off my own making it easier for him to control me. I did…a lot of things I'm not proud of. Some because of the mark and some of my own volition."
Naruto shuddered but smiled. "It's not your fault. You saved me."
Sasuke shook his head. "You wouldn't have needed saving if it weren't for me! I handed you over to him! I-" His voice broke despite his effort to keep it steady. "I knew he was going to hurt you, but I didn't know he would- I didn't know he-"
The blond wrapped his arms around him, knowing the breakdown was a long time coming and forcefully shoving away the memories his mate's words had invoked.
Sasuke's second betrayal was still a tear in their relationship that hadn't fully healed. It had taken him over a year to be able to be close to him again after what Obito had done to him. Longer to forgive him, especially when he had finally fully merged with Kurama.
"Sh, it's okay. I'm okay."
"You aren't."
No, he wasn't. But he'd been pretending since before he could walk, and it was easy to pull on a smile for his mate's sake.
"I'm okay." He repeated, before turning back to Sakura and Kakashi who were watching them with a wary uncertainty. He picked up the story knowing the coming part would be hardest on Sasuke.
"Orochimaru invaded during the final part of the exam and killed sandaime-jiji. Tsunade- baa-sama took the mantle in his place only a month later. Shortly afterwards, Sasuke defected from the village, drawn by Orochimaru's promises of power and the lure of the curse mark. It was only the council's protests that prevented him from being marked as a nuke-nin, especially since five people were injured in his attempted retrieval." He looked away.
"That was the official end of team seven. Sakura felt like I'd failed her and would barely speak to me, so I managed to talk baa-chan into taking her on as an apprentice and I left the village with Ero-sennin."
Kakashi raised an eye-brow, familiar with the term. His sensei had used it in describing his own teacher, surely it wasn't-
"Yes, it was Jiraya. He wanted to train me and keep an eye on me because the Akatsuki had started to move. They wanted the tailed beasts, so all of the jinchuriki were in danger. Sensei, you were so riddled with guilt you joined the ANBU again. In the two and a half years I was gone, Kurama and I came to an agreement and we slowly began to merge. By the time I returned to Konoha, I was a hanyou and Kyuubi and I shared an equal amount of power. Jiraya left shortly after my return, and it was the last time I saw him. He went after the Akatsuki, having discovered the identities of its top members were his former students. Meanwhile we were trying to save Jinchuriki from the Akatsuki and bring Sasuke home. They were killing the former off one by one and we couldn't stop it. The only one we managed to save was Gaara, the ichibi." In the end it was only the three of us left."
He took a deep breath. "Sasuke killed Orochimaru in that time, then Itachi only a few months after. It was after Itachi's death that Obito, wearing Madara's name, got a hold of him and told him a slightly twisted version of the truth and because of it Sasuke started to hate Konoha and vowed to get revenge. Obito told him the best way to do that was to go back, and destroy it from the inside starting with it's greatest weapon."
Kakashi's eyes widened. "You."
Naruto nodded, blue eyes distant. "He came back and I was so happy, even though my gut was telling me it was a lie. He apologized and was given a few months' probation. For just a moment, everything was alright. Then Tsunade-baa-chan told me Ero-sennin died and I couldn't…Sasuke found me and comforted me. We started dating a few days later and I thought he was there to stay for good. I continued to merge with Kyuubi, but I didn't tell anyone, no matter how much I want to, all of my instincts told me not to."
He fell silent, glancing down at the raven, who looked away ashamed.
"We dated for three months before I realized that my feelings for Naruto were becoming serious." He said quietly, and Sakura and Kakashi felt as if their hearts would leap into their throats.
"I told myself that if I didn't complete the mission then I wouldn't because Naruto is so fucking easy to fall in love with and love wasn't something I could afford. Obito sent word that he'd caught the hachibi jinchuriki and extracted his beast and that it was time to bring in Naruto. I…I seduced Naruto then when he fell asleep, I dressed us, and I took him to Obito. I thought," He shuddered. "I thought he was going to extract the Kyuubi the kill him and I was so thankful that he would grant my dobe mercy. But…after I delivered Naruto he started sending me on more and more missions. Further from the base. Never less than two days away. It went on for nearly six months and I started to get anxious. War had broken out following my and Naruto's disappearance and I worked behind the scenes to fan the flames higher until the fourth shinobi war was all but officially declared.
One day he sent me on a mission he thought would last three months, I finished it in one and raced back to base, wondering why he was trying to keep me away and I found him, t-torturing Naruto. He was angry. Pissed about the merge, so sure that it had ruined his plans. Told him he was punishing him for impeding the perfect world. I surprised him, managed to free Naruto and escape. By then the nations had started to band together, sure that the Akatsuki was the true enemy and Kabuto, Orochimaru's apprentice was starting to set his own plans in motion. A mass Edo Tensei that brought back the nations' most powerful shinobi, your father and Madara Uchiha amongst them. Itachi stopped it, but it gave Obito the time he needed to complete his plans."
His voice caught in his throat, remembering the love and pride in his brother's eyes as he said goodbye for the final time. Remembering how the older Uchiha had ripped away the veil Obito had shrouded him in and allowed him to see.
Naruto took over for him.
"Obito had been meddling with powers he didn't understand, courtesy of the white Zetsu that Madara used to heal him. Everything he did led up to his final play. He released a goddess. One that had been locked away by the Rikudo Sennin. Kaguya. And in return, she destroyed the world, Konoha included. Sasuke and I, being the descendants of the sage's sons, and their current reincarnations, managed to defeat her. But everything was gone. Shikamaru and I had created a jutsu in our grief, but baa-chan had forbidden us from using it. We used the jutsu and arrived in this time the day of team assignments."
TBC…
