HIDDEN MAGIC
Chapter Three (7,119 words)
The samurai attempted one final push into the valley.
The army's numbers were close to one-quarter of its original forces. The village had traded the death of fifty villagers for nearly 600 samurai.
It was a devastating blow to a village as small as they were.
In response to the enemy's tactics, all villagers who were not going out to meet the samurai force were ensconced away in a cave. Desperation did terrible things to men – Lord Sarutobi said and Shikaku agreed – and if the response to losing three-quarters of his men was for General Mifune to push forward, then it was most definitely fear that was driving these men towards their deaths.
Lord Sarutobi and Lord Namikaze insisted on joining the villagers. They refused to stay in the village, to "hide away while the villagers took on the risk to their lives". They were as much a part of the village as anybody else, and no more important, they claimed, to not take the same risks.
It was a blood bath for both sides.
The samurai fought with an intensity and anguish the villagers had never experienced before. There was fear and harshness and despair in their opponents' movements and actions.
Itachi had never witnessed Lord Sarutobi use his full abilities. He had an unheard-of gift, one that had never appeared in any before him: Hiruzen Sarutobi could command all five of the elements. He could rain fire, tremble the earth, send floods, call lightening, and assault with windstorms nearly as sheer-bladed as his son.
As Itachi stayed near his lord, combating samurai that came near, he felt awed and honored to be able to fight beside his mentor. Lord Sarutobi fought with surety and confidence; he was a pillar of purpose and nothing could knock him from his path. Itachi felt panicked and flighty in comparison. Every time Itachi's kunai hit flesh, Itachi's stomach roiled and his conscience turned over.
The battlefield was a timeless place. In the still moments of anticipation, in-between combat, time seemed to stand still and drag out. In the thick of things, time moved in a blur. Itachi couldn't keep track of how long he had been in the forest that night.
The spear came out of the darkness, thrown by an opponent invisible in the trees. Lord Sarutobi threw up a slab of rock while simultaneously knocking the spear from its path with a fierce wind. Another spear shot out from near the same location. Itachi turned, narrowing his eyes. The spears were a threat, thrown with great accuracy. Itachi speed-walked up a tree and made his way towards the direction of the shots. He heard Lord Sarutobi block another spear, then another.
The samurai was being careful, quiet. He was using the darkness to his advantage. Itachi took a calming breath and stilled his senses. He focused on his ears and what he could hear, extending the sense to its limit. Itachi could hear pocket skirmishes around him, the meeting of weapons, metal on metal. He heard footsteps.
Itachi tilted his head to the east. There, a presence, trying to be quiet. The sound of something being pulled from the ground, a spear perhaps, and a grunt as the item was thrown. Itachi moved along the tree branches, stalking the sound, trying to stay quiet. He could hear Lord Sarutobi behind him, blocking the spears while fighting another samurai, this one with a blade that clattered when it met rock.
Itachi prepared his kunai. He looked down at the samurai below him. Itachi readied his jump, gauging the accuracy he would need, trying to predict the angle he would need to ready the kunai at. The samurai picked up two spears this time. One was a normal looking spear-tip attached to a long wooden shaft, the other had three prongs.
The man picked up both spears. Itachi jumped. The spears flew from the samurai's hand, first one, then almost immediately after went the other. A slight delay. Itachi's kunai missed the vital spot in the neck. The samurai hoisted up another spear and used it like a staff, fending off Itachi's next attempt towards the samurai's jugular. The samurai jabbed the spear-tip at Itachi and he was forced to dodge, to retreat.
Itachi realized he could no longer hear Lord Sarutobi's rocks deflecting weapons. He narrowly deflected a jab from the spear, then another. Fear coursed through Itachi's veins. Itachi's short-range kunai wasn't enough to fend off the long-range of the spear for much longer.
Desperate, afraid, Itachi ducked the next spear jab. He flipped the kunai around, pointing the tip straight up. Just as the samurai stabbed again, Itachi teleported.
Too close! Itachi battled his desire to retreat. He was too close, he'd teleported to far. The samurai attempted to step back, to try to swing his spear around, but there wasn't enough room to maneuver the weapon. Itachi fumbled his own kunai before regripping it. He stabbed the kunai up and into the samurai's armor, sliding right between the plates. The samurai finally finagled the spear around and pushed Itachi away with its length.
The samurai floundered backwards, bent over, but retained a grip on his spear. Desperate, not sure if the kunai would do its work fast enough, Itachi slammed his hands into the ground. He had gained himself time for this.
A wooden spike shot up out of the ground, impaling the samurai straight through the middle. The spike continued to rise to the sky, expanding and thickening until it was a bare tree, devoid of leaves. The samurai was splayed towards the sky, hanging from the trunk, dead.
Itachi ran back the way he had come, back to where he had left Lord Sarutobi.
Lord Sarutobi was there, on the ground. Surrounding him were the deflected spears, scattered amongst the dead samurai. Lord Sarutobi clawed desperately at the ground, trying to roll over, to stand up. Itachi knelt beside him, horrified. The spear and its three tips were lodged deep in his mentor's chest. Blood ran in rivulets from Lord Sarutobi's mouth, joining the river-like streams coming from the wounds.
"Lord Sarutobi…?" Itachi forced the man to lay back down, pushing with the last of his strength. He didn't know what to do, how he could help, if there was anything that would help. Was it safe to remove the spear? Would Itachi's tiny amount of healing do anything?
Itachi had to do something. He couldn't just stand there and watch his mentor die, not the way Itachi had watched others die during this battle for their home. Itachi gripped the shaft and yanked, wincing at the harsh wet coughing that erupted from Sarutobi's mouth. Itachi pressed his hands to the wound, refreshingly green energy lighting them up faintly. Slowly, the three holes began to close. The blood stopped flowing.
Lord Sarutobi suddenly had a death grip on Itachi's arm. Itachi looked up at the village leader. Lord Sarutobi's lips moved wordlessly, but the only sound was a squishy burbling. More blood came up as Lord Sarutobi coughed again, this time much weaker.
Itachi felt useless, guilty. He didn't know how to use this gift, not in a way to heal what was injured inside of Sarutobi's chest. If Itachi had stayed, instead of chasing after the samurai, Itachi could have helped protect Sarutobi. Instead, he had left, gone to chase the samurai, and left Sarutobi on his own.
Lord Sarutobi's grip hadn't loosened. Through the cloudy film of tears brought on from too many emotions – fear, guilt, anger, despair – Itachi looked into the man's eyes. There was more than the sharp physical pain there; Itachi saw a clouded pain, a carried pain, something old that Lord Sarutobi was carrying with him, age old wounds that would haunt him to the grave. Itachi saw his own emotions reflected back in Sarutobi's eyes.
Itachi didn't take time to consider.
Itachi picked up Lord Sarutobi's hands, clenched them in his, and purposefully initiated the transfer.
He sat by his wife's bed, her soft hands in his, and watched her take her last breath, the sound of it settling on the room and filling his heart with painful joy. Relief that she had gone on to the next world, but loneliness with the intensity of a sinking ship beneath the waves. How could he live life without her?
His three beautiful pupils laughing and playing with each other, teasing each other, smiling in their innocence and naivety. Suddenly seeing them grown up, walking away from each other, walking away from him, rejecting the values he had tried to instill in them.
Villagers shouting, torches held high in their hands, as he stood resolutely, awash in their light and their anger at his back. In the chasm of the gorge sat his pupil, the man who was supposed to one day be his successor, crawling forward and begging his mentor to forgive him, to give him another chance. He would do anything, Orochimaru begged, anything to not be cast out. But he knew, knew, he could never allow Orochimaru back into the village. Guilt gnawed at his heart as he looked at Orochimaru. He had chosen to ignore what his student was doing, had given him the benefit of the doubt against all reason, and in return…
Bodies of children lay scattered across the floor. The catacombs had never been meant for this, never. Wasted life in the pursuit of experimentation, in pursuit of power. Most of the children before him were barely human. Two children were huddled together in the far back, clutching each other with desperation, limbs quivering with the effort. They tucked their faces into each other's shoulders. What horrors had they witnessed at Orochimaru's hands?
Itachi never could have guessed at the number of horrible things Hiruzen Sarutobi had seen in his lifetime. But, for just a moment, with the horror and guilt and depression eased, Lord Sarutobi smiled a contented smile.
It was the only way Itachi could help the man now… Lord Sarutobi departed the world with a weak smile gracing his lips, much of the pain in his eyes dissipated.
Itachi staggered to his feet, clutching his head as he tried to orient himself. The memories were still there behind his closed eyes, weighing him down with emotions and feelings that were conflicting and confusing and…integrating.
Itachi screamed. His head was trying to split down the middle, to tear itself in half from the inside. A guttural howl, the first ever thrown from his lips, echoed around him. He couldn't process, couldn't parse out these emotions. They were overwhelming.
Fire lit up Itachi's fingers, alighted by his harsh breathing. The pain lessened the tiniest of fractions. Three samurai came into the clearing, a mere ten yards away, and started moving towards Itachi. Itachi didn't hesitate. He needed to be brutal, to be swift. Never again rang through Itachi's mind. The fire in his hands streamed towards the samurai, catching them before they could duck or dodge or roll. The samurai melted before him, robbing them of life before screams could even touch their throats.
Itachi couldn't keep track of what he was doing. Emotions were coursing through him, eliciting the elements in a way only once commanded by Lord Sarutobi. Itachi's blood was burning, his nerves alight with lightening. The elements demanded release, tied up with emotions as they were. Itachi didn't have the power to contain them.
Itachi marched forward. With a sharp gesture of his hand, Itachi pushed a charge of lightening, exploding a hole through a samurai just as the man shoved a spear down into somebody's chest. Blood drenched the landscape. Without checking to see if the samurai were dead, Itachi brought both of his hands up and shoved them towards the ground, dragging the samurai beneath the earth. Leaving an enemy unbounded was asking for a repeat of betrayal again. Whipping around, Itachi gathered moisture from the air and shoved it forward, icicles piercing a multitude of holes through the armor of two other samurai as they tried to run away from him.
Samurai after samurai fell to Itachi's rage and misery, his duty and responsibility, his guilt and confusion. Emotion and fire was consuming him. Samurai were sliced, burned, drowned, trampled, and electrocuted. Blood spattered, flesh crumbled, giving way before the pure violence that was Itachi and the catharsis this new power demanded.
When quiet finally reigned, Itachi fell to his knees. Weariness pulled at his limbs, his bones, his mind, his soul, dragging him towards the ground. It took all Itachi had not to plunge forward. "I am a pillar." Itachi said outloud. "My village relies on me… to stand tall…" He had to resist the intense gravity that was pulling at him, to not give in and welcome darkness.
The underground catacombs usually served as winter food storage. They had been dug out generations before and carefully maintained ever since. They were perfectly moisture controlled, ensuring all sorts of supplies could be stored in them for safe keeping. Many of the caverns held items from the most recent harvests.
In worst case scenarios, the catacombs served as a way to protect the village in the worst-case scenario.
Today, the catacombs were filled with all those who were not in the forests. Children sat huddled against a parent, grandparent, mentor, or sibling. Those too injured to carry weapons or to walk were there as well. Kakashi Hatake was there, on what he jokingly called "guard duty", to help protect the villagers from any who might somehow find an entrance into the catacombs.
All of the healers were there as well, checking on their patients frequently and making sure the children and villagers were alright.
Neither of Sakura's parents were down in the catacombs with her. Instead, she trailed after Lady Tsunade or Shizune like a shadow, ensuring not to be so close that she was in the way, but close enough that she could see how they treated patients and villagers. Bedside manner, as Tsunade had once lectured Hana, was as important as patient care and Sakura was determined to be good at it.
Sakura could see the strain of being out of the official hospital on the medically gifted. They had limited supplies slung in canvas totes at their sides. It was impossible to have everything they needed.
As they were passing Kushina Uzumaki, who had Naruto curled up asleep next to her, demonstrating surprising docile-ness for once in his life, she let out a hiss of pain. Sakura looked over to watch the woman, Lord Namikaze's wife, shudder.
"Kushina?" Lady Tsunade kneeled next to the woman. Her hands immediately began to glow green and she held them up to Kushina's swollen belly. "Are you having contractions?"
Kushina let out a laugh with forced relief in it. "It's just the demon fox, Tsunade. It's restless with all the blood above. It worries for Minato, I think."
Tsunade's hands stilled on Kushina's belly. The feintest of frowns crossed Tsunade's features before she schooled them. "I'm surprised you and Minato decided to have another baby." Tsunade said calmly. "The fox demon…"
Kushina chuckled. "I'm stronger than it, Tsunade. I promise. Besides, it's still too early for this baby. We don't need to worry for another two months."
"Still…" Tsunade looked at Sakura. "Sakura, I'm giving you a very important task."
"Yes, my lady! I'm ready!" Sakura puffed up her chest and stood tall, repositioning her own small bag of medical supplies nervously. Tsunade had reluctantly agreed to letting Sakura carry one, but had insisted on approving everything that went into it. That meant it was mostly bandages and a suture kit.
"Watch over Kushina. Troubled times can cause all sorts of problems with pregnancies. If something becomes wrong, come find me."
Sakura's face must have showed her disappointment. This very much felt like a task to keep Sakura out of the way.
"Sakura." Tsunade reprimanded. "You might not see it now, but this could be very important. You're the only one I have to spare to this task."
"Truly, Tsunade, this isn't nec—" Kushina cut herself off when the full force of Tsunade's glare hit her.
"Do you understand me, Sakura?" Tsunade asked, turning her attention back to the girl.
"Yes, Lady Tsunade…" Sakura replied meekly, casting her eyes to the floor. She wouldn't disobey her self-chosen mentor, but she didn't have to really like it.
"Good. Do not leave Kushina's side, Sakura. Not until I tell you to."
Sakura nodded and sat down next to Kushina.
"I'll check in on you three later." Tsunade said before walking back to the cavern that held the patients in the worst of conditions.
There would be more patients soon, Sakura knew.
"Would you rather go sit with your family, Sakura?" Kushina asked. "I would understand."
"I'm the only one down here." Sakura admitted. "My mom is a hawk watcher, and my dad a plantweaver. They're above. And Lady Tsunade told me not to leave your side."
"I see. Are you worried about them?"
Sakura shrugged. She knew her mother was more than likely safe, up in the trees or on a watch tower. Her father had a weapon in his hand and was up there in the forest somewhere. She was worried, of course, but… it was their duty to be up there and, as Mebuki would put it, worrying about something you can't control is like punishing yourself for something that isn't your fault. "A little bit." Sakura admitted.
"I've heard you've been doing very well at the hospital." Kushina said after some time of silent. "Lady Tsunade has had only good things to say about you in her reports."
Sakura's eyes brightened. "Really?"
"She says you're a quick learner, that you'll make a great medical student one day. You have a knack for not getting in the way, apparently." Kushina ruffled Sakura's hair, causing the girl to pout at her.
"I promise nothing bad will happen to the baby while I'm here, Lady Uzumaki!" Sakura said, using the honorific that would be Kushina's when Lord Namikaze ascended as leader of the village.
"Good." Kushina replied. "I'm counting on you, Sakura."
They settled into silence. As the hours grew late, Sakura nodded off to sleep, somehow managing to stay upright against the wall.
Sakura woke to the sound of growling.
Kushina was clutching at her stomach, a guttural growl of pain the only sound she made. Kushina was making the snarls and growls of a canine. A menacing orange-red glow was overtaking the woman. Beside her, Naruto was starting to rouse. Sakura touched Kushina's swollen belly and felt the rippling shudder that moved across the abdomen. The smell of blood drew Sakura's attention to the ground.
"I have to go get Lady Tsunade!" Sakura said. "Naruto, stay here!" She commanded the young boy.
Sakura took off, headed straight to the cavern that had been designated as the "triage cavern", knowing she would find Tsunade there. She went as fast as her legs could carry her, pushing herself with fear and panic for Kushina's wellbeing. She ran into the cavern calling Tsunade's name.
Shizune saw her first, a hand buried in a villager's chest. "Sakura, what's wrong?"
"It's Lady Uzumaki!" Sakura shouted. "Something is wrong! The baby! And she's glowing!"
Fear lit Shizune's eyes. "Hana, take over, now!"
Hana raced over from where she was suturing a wound and took over for Shizune, who found a bucket and plunged her hands in to clean them.
Shizune found Tsunade and they both raced back to Kushina, Sakura tailing behind them.
When they got back, the sinister glow had entirely covered Kushina. Red canine ears were sprouting from Kushina's hair, bubbling and blistering, accompanying a tail that was thrashing at the side Sakura had been holding vigil at.
Tsunade and Shizune both immediately knelt to Kushina and began to bark orders to those who were closest. Somebody came to take Naruto and Sakura's hands and dragged them away, but Sakura broke loose. Several others came with blankets and handed them to Shizune, clearly afraid to get too close.
"It's too early!" Kushina snarled. "Too early, too early!" Another tail was growing to join the first.
"The baby is coming." Tsunade announced. "Whether you're ready for it or not. Kushina, look at me."
A howl escaped the woman. Sakura flinched back at how not-human it sounded.
"Kushina!" Tsunade snapped. "Can you control the fox or not?"
"Yes." Kushina grunted in reply. "Yes. I'm stronger. I'm stronger!"
Sakura watched. There was a great deal of distance between the small crowd and Kushina, Tsunade, and Shizune. Sakura wanted to get closer, but she feared being in the way and she was petrified of the thrashing bubbling tails. This wasn't the effect of a gift. Kushina was an outsider, she didn't have a gift!
Tsunade and Shizune both had their glowing hands pressed to Kushina's stomach. The glow from Shizune's hands kept sputtering out.
Finally, Tsunade was yelling the words "Push, Kushina, push!"
It all seemed to happen so fast. Kushina was bellowing and roaring, defiant words being barked to something Sakura didn't understand. Tsunade had moved down to between Kushina's legs while Shizune struggled to send healing magic into Kushina's abdomen. Eventually, something was wrapped into a towel and Shizune took it away, back towards the triage cavern. There was blood everywhere. Kushina was still roaring with pain and frustration and desperation.
Kushina suddenly slumped backwards. The tails abruptly vanished with the ears, leaving behind a regular normal exhausted Kushina. She was crying weakly.
Sakura ran up next to Kushina and took one of her hands. Nobody tried to pull her away.
"Minato…" Kushina was crying. "Something is wrong with Minato. That fox can feel it. Dammit! Dammit! Everything is wrong!"
Tsunade was checking Kushina's pulse, holding her ear to Kushina's chest. Worry was etched all over her face. Her hands never stopped moving, crossing Kushina's entire torso, pausing at specific spots for long moments before moving on.
"Tsunade…" Kushina murmured. "I need Naruto. I need to…" Kushina took a shuddering breath. "I need to prepare him."
"I'm not giving up on you." Tsunade calmly replied. "I'm not done here."
Sakura sobbed.
Tsunade turned her head towards Kushina. "What do we do about the fox demon? If you die, it escapes."
"Bring Naruto." Kushina susurrated, her voice and will beginning to fade. "Bring Naruto." She weakly repeated. "If it comes to it…" Kushina's harsh panting interrupted her. "Fox…transfer…"
Tsunade barked orders. Sakura started patting Kushina's hand and smoothing the woman's hair. She swallowed her sobs. Taking care of the patient was top priority. She had to be professional. Lady Kushina would be alright. Tsunade was the best healer in the entire village and her hands were still steady and sure. Tsunade would heal Lady Kushina. She had to.
Everybody loved Lady Kushina. Everybody loved Lord Minato. They had to be okay.
Naruto was brought back and he hugged his mother with every ounce of strength he had. Kushina began to whisper to him fiercely, giving him instructions. Sakura tried to make out what they were saying, but the words she was hearing didn't make enough sense for her to understand what was being discussed. She kept hearing "fox" and "control", something about "sealing him away". Kushina kept telling Naruto he "had to be strong, stronger than the fox".
Tsunade reluctantly stood, came over, and led Sakura away. "Go to Shizune, now, Sakura. Go check on the baby."
A part of Sakura wanted to protest. She knew something important was happening here, something she didn't want to miss. But arguing with Lady Tsunade when she had that look on her face was not an option.
Sakura nodded and ran off to find Shizune. When she got there, Shizune was crying into her arms. In front of her, wrapped in the bundle, was a baby who wasn't crying and wasn't breathing.
Itachi didn't know how long he kneeled there. The sun had started to rise, the early light of a brand-new dawn starting to peak into the valley. Itachi still didn't have the strength to stand. He felt weighed down by a helpless depression at his very heart, making his thoughts slow and his will small.
It wasn't until Yamato kneeled before Itachi that his eyes finally came into focus. "Yamato." Itachi breathed, his voice too spent to do more than whisper, his vocal cords unable to produce sound.
"Itachi." Yamato said, placing a hand on Itachi's shoulder. Yamato's frown intensified when Itachi didn't attempt to pull away. "What happened?"
Itachi blinked at his old mentor. He could only look at Yamato. Itachi didn't know how to say that he didn't know what had happened.
"I found Lord Sarutobi…" Yamato said softly. "I followed the destruction here. But, Itachi…" You're not capable of this… were the words Yamato didn't say.
The confusion and sorrow in Yamato's eyes brought guilt to Itachi's heart. It was too late, Itachi realized. The time to tell his mentor the truth about Itachi's gift had long since past. There was no way Itachi could admit to it now, after all the devastation he had wrought, without losing his mentor forever.
Yamato stood up. For a moment, Itachi thought he would be left there, that Yamato would turn his back on his once student and walk away. Instead, Itachi was hoisted by one arm and over Yamato's shoulder. Supported on the one side, Yamato and Itachi began their slow walk back to the village.
It had never been this hard to move before.
They trudged along at a slow pace, winding their way through the forest. Itachi lost track of time, trying to stay focused on taking one step at a time. He had to force his body to move with each step; each movement of Itachi's body required upmost concentration to just move forward.
Pure coincidence brought them upon another body. Both stopped when they recognized who it was.
Yamato rushed to Lord Namikaze's side, leaving Itachi swaying and stumbling until he found himself at the lord's side as well. "We don't have a village leader anymore…" Yamato said, gripping Minato's hand and allowing the tears to flow. "He didn't even get a chance to… He was going to be great. And Kushina and Naruto…and the baby…"
Itachi picked up the man's other hand. His vision became foggy with tears that wouldn't fall. There was a feint heat difference between Minato's hand and Itachi's chilled fingers.
A sword had stabbed Minato straight through the chest. A dropped kunai lay next to the body. A samurai must have been able to predict Minato's movements, maybe he had learned the pattern. The samurai must have anticipated where Minato was going and had stepped in the path, aiming perfectly and stabbing Minato right through the heart.
His thoughts trying to coalesce together like they were traveling through honey, Itachi dimly wondered what would happen if he tried to initiate a transfer from somebody who was dead. It felt wrong to even think such a thing. Minato was more than his gift. He was admired and respected by all in the village, unanimously supported to be the next village leader upon Sarutobi's retirement. The loss of both Minato and Sarutobi would be a terrible blow, one the village would struggle to overcome and recover from.
But Itachi still felt like he owed it to the universe to at least try. He didn't know if it would work. Was a gift tied to the soul? Was it tied to the body? When did it leave after death? He dug deep within himself, trying to overcome his resistance, and initiated the transfer.
No memories came with it. A sense of weightlessness and disorientation overwhelmed Itachi, almost made him collapse atop of Minato's body. Something itched and seared into Itachi's palm, causing him to drop Minato's hand.
"Itachi, what did you just do?" Yamato demanded, pushing Itachi away from Minato's body.
Sprawled on his back, Itachi lifted his hand and brought it level with his face. There on his palm was the same seal that Itachi knew was on Minato's, the same seal Minato had carved and painted into buildings, had placed onto his specialty kunai, the seal he used to transport long distances.
"What did you do?" Yamato demanded again, the anger in his voice impossible to ignore.
"I didn't think it would work." Itachi wearily replied. He let his head fall back to the earth. "I… it felt important to try."
"You stole the gift from a dead man!"
Itachi closed his eyes for a long moment before blinking them back open. "I know…"
Yamato's anger seemed to drain out of him, to be replaced with despondency. He stood there for several moments, unmoving, while Itachi lay on the ground, too weary and downhearted to even twitch.
Eventually, Yamato helped Itachi back over his shoulder. They walked away from Minato, a tension dimmed only by the gloom following them back.
The funeral pyres burned for days.
Everywhere Itachi's eyes fell, he could see only melancholy and depression. Children burst into tears unexpectedly at every turn, men and women alike went into rages before falling into despondency. Almost everybody had lost somebody during the battles.
An ache took root in Itachi's chest, pinching, pulling, refusing to be dislodged. It pulsed with guilt, causing Itachi to stumble every time it flared. Nothing he did could get it to go away.
During the pyre burning for Lord Sarutobi, Lord Namikaze, and Lady Uzumaki' while standing with his family, Itachi looked across from him to see Sakura, her bright pink hair dull and lifeless that day, lacking its characteristic brightness. Itachi didn't know if he was simply unable to see the brightness of the color, or if it truly had faded in color. Her hands were clutching Naruto Uzumaki's hand tightly as the fire shone in her eyes. Naruto himself was crying beside her, sniffling and sobbing. His teacher, Iruka, clutched his shoulder in support.
The ache in his chest pulsed and Itachi clutched at his shirt, rubbing his fist in circles over the pain. He had failed his village. He hadn't lived up to their ideals of him, wasn't the leader they needed and counted on. He had made too many of the wrong decisions. Itachi shook his head, trying to clear it of those thoughts. Those thoughts were lies. Those thoughts weren't his. Itachi wasn't the village leader; he never had been. Itachi went back to rubbing his chest. The action wouldn't alleviate the discomfort, but Itachi couldn't help the desire to soothe his own pain.
The Uchiha family had come out intact. Itachi still had his mother, his father, his cousin, his brother. Nobody had been lost in his immediate family. But nothing could erase the sting of losing Lord Sarutobi physically or losing Yamato emotionally.
Yamato had refused to look at Itachi once they had made it back to the village together. Itachi had tried to find his once-mentor, to corner him into conversation, to try to offer an explanation for his lies, but Yamato always managed to avoid him. Itachi couldn't bring himself to take desperate measures against Yamato.
Itachi deserved his mentor's hatred. Itachi had lied to him for years. Yamato had watched Itachi desecrate a dead body, taking something that wasn't Itachi's to take.
Weeks passed. Repairs to buildings were made, stock of food stores accounted for, homes shifted, new relationships established. Grief still shook them all, held the villagers in its vices, but smiles started to return. Children began to play games again, melancholy leaving the young ones first. Their games of pretend, their giggling laughter, their jokes that made almost no sense; all of it was infectious. Others started smiling.
The villagers all showed the same level of support for each other as before the arrival of the army. They were all one giant family. School resumed, teachers watching over their pupils happily. Neighbors checked on each other, sometimes combining households to have full houses again. Marriages took place among the youngest old enough to marry, amongst those recently widowed, and even amongst those elderly enough to have been widowed a decade or more ago. Giant group dinners were still normalized, everybody pitching in to cook large plentiful loafs of bread, giant pots of boiling soups, roasting meats, rice porridges, and more. As nights grew colder, large bonfires started being lit at night with dinner. Music started making appearances and dancing soon followed.
The village was recovering. Slowly but surely, it began to resemble the village Itachi had known before.
It was his own place in it that felt different.
Lady Tsunade, against her will, was announced the next leader of the village. As the once-pupil of Lord Sarutobi and the granddaughter of Hashirama Senju, the elders in the village felt it right and proper, the title of leader being passed down from mentor to pupil, from grandfather to granddaughter, like an inheritance. She rejected the position five times, nearly destroying the hospital in tantrum the last time the elders approached her, before finally accepting the position.
Some worried about the elders' firm decision. Others were happy to have a leader again. While the village probably could have run just fine without a leader, there was a great relief to have somebody available who had final say on decisions. The village leader helped guide the village, helped make the big decisions, and helped resolve disputes. The village leader also held the sacred flame and led the gifting ceremony each year (which was approaching faster than seemed possible), a position nobody else was willing to take.
Itachi started taking to avoiding Tsunade.
Fugaku specially arranged with Lady Tsunade for Itachi to resume his previous apprenticeship under Tsunade, to be her assistant in the day-to-day tasks of running a village. Tsunade had readily acquiesced.
It was Itachi who didn't feel right about it.
If the previous months had taught him anything, it was that leadership came with a heavy burden. A burden Itachi couldn't handle.
Death swam in his vision every time Itachi closed his eyes. Nightmares awoke him every night. The exhaustion lines in his face became entrenched as he drowned in memories he couldn't process. Itachi felt lost and confused at his place in this village. He had taken Lord Sarutobi's memories and learned of atrocities very few others knew of; atrocities Itachi could talk to nobody about without admitting to how his gift really worked; atrocities that plagued him anytime Itachi called water, earth, wind, or lightening to him.
Anytime Itachi thought of trying to teleport, even just the tiny jumps he had been using to augment his speed, horror heaved up the contents of his stomach.
Instead, Itachi hid anywhere he could to avoid Lady Tsunade and his father. He took to wondering the catacombs or getting lost in the forest. But try as he might, Itachi couldn't avoid his responsibilities forever and, too often for his own liking, found himself back at Lady Tsunade's side, writing down requests, keeping track of information, performing paperwork or ledger work.
One day, while attending a walking meeting between Lady Tsunade and Shikaku over a discussion of which buildings needed to be repurposed and what defenses the future village might need, Mebuki Haruno came running up to them. Itachi felt fear needle at his spine.
"My lady!" Mebuki called. "There is a man at the village gate. He calls out for help."
The man and the two adolescents alongside him were quickly escorted into the village. The three were wearing tattered rags covered in the dirt of travel. They had holes in their shoes. They were clearly exhausted and reaching the limits of their ability to walk or move. It must have been weeks since they had had a decent meal.
Tsunade met them in her ceremonial robes, only recently finished with delicate but stunning embroidery detailing her personal legacy and that of her ancestors. The women of the village had taken great pride and joy in getting to design and embroider the robes and had taken to the project with great zeal and enthusiasm. Tsunade cut an imposing figure before the three refugees.
For that's what they were: refugees.
"They simply swarmed and killed us all. We weren't expecting it." The man said. "They had passed us by so peacefully the first time, purchased some supplies from us. How could we know they would raze our fields and homes on the way back? It was only their injured that came back to us, but still…my entire village is up in smoke.
"Shin and Sai were the only ones I could save…"
The two boys stood on either side of the man. One was young, near Sasuke's age, maybe a year older, with jet black hair and skin that seemed unnaturally pale. The other was older, perhaps Itachi's own age, potentially a year or two younger, with purple hair so faded it was almost grey.
They came from a town one-hundred miles away, the nearest bit of civilization to the village, in fact. The man, who said his name was Danzo, had been a general craftsman in his town with junior craftsmen serving him. He had arranged for imports and exports out of his town, small things, for they were only about twice as big as the village hidden in the leaves, but big enough to make a little money, to live comfortably.
When the army had come through the first time, they had purchased any excess supplies the townsmen had to offer. It was no surprise that the army would be welcomed back.
But what was left of the army was a mere fraction of its original force. Upon seeing the town, they had set themselves upon it and razed it to the ground.
"It's taken us weeks to walk here." Danzo said. "The samurai had said they were looking for your village on their way through originally. We had of course heard the rumors, the stories, the legends! Fools, they were, to face the haunted forests and the prospect of magic." Danzo spat the last word, though Itachi couldn't tell if it was in fear or in insult. "My town has always respected yours, of course, greeted your travelers and wanderers with respect and well-wishes. We couldn't go to the next village. The samurai were heading there next on their desperate march home. I thought… I hoped…" The man trailed off and cast his eyes to the ground.
Danzo himself was covered in bandages, his limbs, chest, and neck wrapped. His limbs shook just with the effort of standing before Tsunade.
"You had hoped we would take you in." Tsunade finished for him. She was leaning forward at her desk, fingers steepled before her, as she cautiously watched the man before her. Itachi was, of course, at her side and exactly three steps behind her. Shikaku stood on her other side, her constant advisor these days.
Tsunade sighed wearily. "I don't want to turn you away. It's clear you three have been through much. Please understand that my village has been through a great deal recently at the hands of outsiders. I think it will be difficult for us to accept you into our folds very readily. We can feed you, nurse you back to health, but then I advise you to let us send you off with supplies."
"Please, my lady." Danzo stiffly bowed. "We have nowhere to go…"
Tsunade's eyes softened at his plea. She sighed in a resigned sort of way. "Usually we only bring in outsiders through marriage, you understand. Refugees, however…" Tsunade looked over at Shikaku, who said nothing and signaled nothing, and then looked at Itachi. "What do you think?"
Itachi wasn't sure why she was asking him. What did he know of what was best for his village regarding the acceptance of outsiders? He thought over it for a moment, though. These were people that needed help, people they could help. Their food stores and resources could support three more bodies. These refugees presented to burden in that regard. But Tsunade was right, the villagers would be suspicious. The village had only grown more tightly knit, leaning on each other for support. Outsiders represented a true dangerous threat to the village, a fact that had been seared into everybody's mind far too viscerally far too recently. "Perhaps accepting refugees will further aid our village in catharsis." Itachi said. "Our people are benevolent, unselfish. This might help us remember that we are still those things even in the face of tragedy. That we have nothing to fear from outsiders, and, in fact, could welcome them into our homes with kindness and compassion." Itachi looked down at the ground. It was wishful thinking. "I think it will be hard, and not easy. Danzo, Shin, and Sai will have to earn the trust of our village when its faith in the world outside the valley has been shattered."
Tsunade nodded at Itachi's words. She turned to the man and the two boys. "Well?" She asked of them.
"We are more than willing to try." Danzo replied stiffly. The two boys nodded their agreement.
"Very well." Tsunade acquiesced. "Welcome to our village. Danzo. Shin. Sai. Welcome."
A/N: In the next chapter, we finally get to see Sakura receive her gift! It's a chapter that I'm really excited to write. Whereas this chapter was very Itachi-centric, the next chapter will be very Sakura-centric.