"You know, Sasuke… You and I…. Our roles could have been reversed."
-Naruto Uzumaki, Naruto Shippuden Episode 215: "Two Fates" and Naruto Vol. 52, Chapter 485, "Near… Far…"
The doors to his home were slightly ajar, but even so, it still left Itachi in a state of wariness that all trained shinobi were accustomed to. The feeling was no different from the missions he accomplished or completed. It shouldn't be after all.
The blade of Itachi was coated in the blood of his kin, Izumi… included, but it was for the greater good. His father would lead a revolt that would destroy Konoha without the assistance of their leaders. Replacing them would lead to the Fourth Shinobi War that would decimate a majority of Konoha if not outright destroy the village.
The eldest son did not want to. He wanted to deny such words, but with how more… aggressive his father was. He was all but in the face of the future.
The future of the Uchiha… Itachi could not help but consider that Shisui, even if the suicide note was obviously staged, had even been considering or even thinking of such. Shisui wrote it so Konoha would not investigate far into his death with an autopsy report, but had Shisui also wrote it, in a pessimistic sense, that he truly no longer had faith in their clan or village?
"Itachi?"
The words made Itachi snap back to attention, his hand gripping the handle of his chokuto tightly, ready to be drawn at a moment's notice. The blood red eyes of his Sharingan flared wildly. His posture smoothly fell into the Taijutsu stance all Uchiha were trained under.
"Itachi, come in." Then, as if Fugaku Uchiha knew what his son was thinking: "Don't worry. The room's not booby trapped. Even if it was, a shinobi of your caliber would easily know how to deal with them."
Itachi took a few steps to the door. He paused, yet he did not know why he did. It was not doubts, certainly.
The door slid open as Itachi pulled the handle aside, revealing both Fugaku and Mikoto sitting on their knees, and casting aside his doubt of… He didn't know.
Itachi watched them, waiting, waiting. Waiting because he did not know what he could say. That the coup failed? No. That was a ridiculous thing to point out. They already knew. There was no point in effectively repeating an information that was already considered from that other person, and Itachi was not the kind to repeat a statement that was already in the depths of one's knowledge. That was for a fool who did not understand the situation in the slightest.
His gaze fell to his father first. Though he was somewhat in a sense, unaware of his father's exploits as a shinobi, he knew that he rivaled the once Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze, commonly known across Nations as the Yellow Flash of Konoha, during the efforts of the Third War. He was fed the same stories regarding his father during his career as any other Uchiha, except he was just only the few of the many, perhaps the only one, who knew his father awakened the advanced stage of the Sharingan, the Mangekyo.
He himself had only awakened the Mangekyo upon Shisui's demise, but to compare them was akin to an individual who had taken up a musical instrument such as the flute to another that had been playing with the instrument for years, gaining insight, knowledge, and experience. His experience with the Mangekyo was just limited to a infant's grasp. Comrades had claimed that he far outstripped his father in his prime years and his age, but his father had one factor that was far more essential than any shinobi art: experience.
Mother was next, and Itachi was also largely unaware of her career, he was somewhat knowledgable about her talent in shurikenjutsu as well as Genjutsu, as well as awakening her Sharingan in a young age as well.
Fugaku spoke up, for their sake. "Itachi…" He glanced back from behind him, shaking his head slightly. "I don't want to be forced into a deathmatch with my own son."
What could he say? What could he say to even remotely salvage or justify what he was doing?
Itachi forced his emotions down once more.
Rule #25. "A shinobi must never show their tears during a mission. Tears are tied to emotions, and emotions are a weakness, a burden for one to complete their mission.
A shinobi must complete their task or mission, no matter what.
"Mother… Father…"
A shinobi must never show their emotions. A shinobi must never show their emotions.
"It's okay. We understand, Itachi."
The words brought comfort, but Itachi could give none in the face of their deaths. Itachi could feel himself drawing his chokuto in his hands, but it felt as if he was possessed to, watching as his body drew the blade from the scabbard on his back.
"Itachi, just promise us this. Promise us this, no matter what." Fugaku Uchiha was a man of few words, but even when he was facing death's door, he turned around to look at his eldest son and smiled. A rare smile from a man who was often stoic and could not express himself in a way as he was a man who commandered the Police Force. Mikoto Uchiha smiled as well, her serene face simply collected for what was to come, yet she did not fear it as her husband did. The Uchihas remained proud, even when death reached out for them. Pride was something they refused to let go.
"Just promise us you'll take care of Sasuke."
Itachi could no longer hold himself back for what was to come. He felt something wet running down his face, his vision blurred. It wasn't until he spoke that he realized it was him.
"I-I will!"
He found himself moving his blade up, the executioner preparing to perform the killing blow.
"Thank you. And Itachi?"
Itachi stared at his father through his tears. The father who birthed him and the same man he would slaughter.
"Our philosophies, ideals, and beliefs may differ for how we see things, but no matter what, I am proud of you. I am proud of both you and Sasuke."
The executioner, their flesh and blood, raised his blade up, trembling to deliver the killing stroke.
"Do not fear, my son. Compared to your pain, ours will only last for a moment."
The man's resolve shook as he raised his blade once more on his father.
"Hurry Itachi. Before Sasuke comes back from the Academy."
The man raised his weapon hand once more. The blood red eyes still streamed with the clear pools of his sorrow and grief, yet it was for the greater good. His duty was to the village, not the clan. That was what he and Shisui had established when they formed together to spy on their family.
Itachi hitched, then steadied himself once more.
There would be time to mourn later.
"It's alright, Itachi. It's fine." Mother's voice came through again. "Please. Hurry."
"Look, Itachi! Do you want to try out these tomatoes?"
Itachi dabbled his finger into the squishy wet pit of the sliced vegetable, popping it into his mouth, his eyes widening as soon as the taste hit his tongue. "It's good! Really good!"
"It's alright, Itachi."
"Itachi!"
"Izumi! What are you doing here?"
"Did you forget? Today's our day! Don't tell me you forgot!"
"Today…? Um… We practice our Phoenix Flower Jutsu?"
"Duh! Come on! You should've remembered that! We have been planning that since last Thursday!"
"Ah! Sorry, I guess I was busy with stuff."
"Well, come on then!"
Itachi ruthlessly shoved the memories aside and raised his blade once more.
"Oh, goodness me! Itachi, is that you?"
"Aunt Jura! I am so, so sorry… I didn't watch where I was going…"
"Nonsense dearie! I was setting up the bok choy and onions! I should have watched where I was stepping…"
"Let me help you."
"Oh thank you! Generous and kind as your mother! These hands aren't as strong as they used to be…"
"Is Sasuke in the Academy right now? It's the first day for all students."
"Yes, ma'am. He's going to come home in about an hour."
"Oh, then I'll bet he'll definitely like these tomatoes! I'll set my freshest batch aside for him. Oh! You don't have to pay, Itachi!"
"No, really! It's fine. I can pay."
"Nonsense, dearie. You and your family are the few of the ones who come here daily to buy my produce! It's all I can do for you and Sasuke since its his first day! Let it be a celebration of sorts!"
Itachi shook his head as he attempted to raise his blade once more, his body trembling so much he felt as if he would wither.
But he already was.
What was what used to be Itachi Uchiha was going to die, a part of his soul that did not desire this fate for his parents at all. The walls of his shinobi training used to hold back the waves of his grief was no longer maintained, and Itachi could not do it.
He could not kill the ones he called his parents. He could not. He could not leave his younger brother to the life of that path, one where he would seek revenge and stew the hatred that had taken over their clan and ruled them for so long, and where he would abandon their home for the sake of cutting him down.
Itachi's career as a shinobi, his duty as a ANBU, all of what Itachi swore when he donned the headband of the Leaf, was swept away by his own weaknesses, the universal weakness of all shinobi, taking his own chokuto with it, as he fell to his knees and wept.
Itachi Uchiha had tainted his hands with the blood of his friends, comrades, elderly, children, newborn, old and young. He had done so, without a thought to his actions, without any hesitation, as the mantra for the betterment of the village was repeated in his head in a rhythm, soaking him in the blood of those he slain.
But Itachi could not taint his hands with the blood of his parents; the ones who birthed and raised him, the ones who fed, clothed, and told him how proud they were of him.
He could not stare at the corpse of his parents and watch his screaming and crying brother plead, beg, and watch without a care on why he was doing this, why did he slaughter all those within their clan, why he mercilessly drove his blade into his parents, and then turn his own brother against him in a deep rooted desire of vengeance.
In that moment above all others, Itachi could not abandon his emotions as a shinobi was required to, and so for the first time in his life, Itachi gave in to his weaknesses.
But Itachi didn't care. If people were witness to what he was doing right now, they would think of him as a failure, a shinobi who couldn't bury his emotions to complete his duty, a shinobi who was like Sakumo Hatake, who made the decision of selfish interests above the village, a shinobi that all those spoke in hushed whispers and voices, that an aspiring shinobi should never strive to be like him, for he failed his mission and placed his own self interests above the village itself, whose own emotions led to him to fail, but Itachi didn't care. The man could hardly care less of the thoughts of those masses.
All that mattered to him was family, and his duty to the village meant nothing. How could he accomplish his duty if it entailed taking away his family? How could he even fathom the possibility and notion of committing an act and leaving his brother alive to witness and lead him down a path of such?
Itachi cried for the first time since he was born, cried as his actions of what he had done came back at him in a force of bitter resentment, as he realized the full ramifications of what he did to Izumi, Aunt Jura, and many of those within his clan to the village, and what he was about to do to his parents.
"Itachi! You have to do it! Kill us!"
But Itachi could not. He had hidden his emotions as any other shinobi would behind a mask of indifference. He could no longer hide what he felt for all the years since he witnessed the Third Shinobi War as a child, and then his training in the Academy, progressing through the ranks before being recruited into the ANBU.
All the years of burying his emotions of war, missions, death, and the coup broke him, were finally released in the face of his parents.
"I'm sorry! I'm so sorry!" Itachi gasped out. His body shook, unable to control himself any further.
Mikoto. His dear sweet mother, was then right next to him, and she comforted her flesh and blood by the atrocity he was going to commit. "Shhh… It's okay. It's alright, Itachi."
But it was not okay. He was not okay. "I killed everyone! I killed Aunt Jura, I killed Izumi!" Itachi confessed his atrocities to his parents that they already knew, needing comfort from his crimes that he knew would forever scar him as a rogue shinobi until he would be captured by Konoha and stand trial for his actions. Both his parents and brother would be forced to watch his execution.
Yet neither route would make up for what he had done to his family or brother. His death, either by Konoha's hands or his younger brother's, would not fix what he had caused this very night. He would be a dead man walking, but one that would live with the actions of what he had caused for the remainder of his living flesh.
"I-I can't do it! I'm so sorry!"
In one world, Itachi would have set aside his emotions to bring his blade to bisect his parents and live with his actions, where his brother would have solely focused his efforts and his sights to obtain vengeance on him, for the benefit of the village.
In this, Itachi could not. He could not bring himself to perform his duty.
And his father. The strict man who rarely had a smile or humble words, as he was unable to express himself properly in a way that did not strip him of the pride he had as the Head of the Uchiha and Chief of Konoha Police Force, grabbed Itachi in his strong arms and, since the very start of his childhood for the very first time, hugged him.
Itachi Uchiha, firstborn son of the Head's and matriarch's son, was hugged by his parents, comforted over the actions of hours earlier of what he had committed on the very night.
Blood was in the nose of both parents and staining their clothes but they hardly cared. Their son needed the comfort that he would have been denied, and despite all what the Uchiha valued above all else, their pride being one of them; they were still human enough to have emotions. And love was one of the few that the clan valued above all else. Fugaku Uchiha was the manifestation of pride, many would say arrogant, but if there was one thing he would never deny, and it was the love of a father to his son.
Itachi fell into the comfort of his parents' hold as he still slightly trembled at his actions, the tears on his face still only slightly damp on his face. "I can't do it!"
"We understand, Itachi. It's fine."
He was reduced to a child holding his parents' hand again, looking for comfort. And both understood why, Fugaku most of all. He felt partially responsible for his son's actions, for he had made his son into the prized killing tool and sharpened his abilities, but reduced him to an individual who often hid his emotions that it all came crashing down when he was unable to hold it behind a visage of a mask any further.
Now, he wanted to make amends for what he had done. "I don't know what to do now." Itachi whispered, his tone sullen.
Itachi could not do his duty, they were alive. And Sasuke would be due to arrive any time soon.
Both Fugaku and Mikoto looked at each other, their expressions changing into a strategic expression, one they donned during the Third Shinobi War and in their careers as Jonin for Konoha. Mikoto's expression twisted into one of grief at the determined yet sad gaze of her husband, the patriarch of their clan, and both nodded in acceptance. "You will have to leave, Itachi. Quickly."
Itachi gazed up. No longer he was the shinobi trained to kill. He felt more like a child, hopelessly lost with no guidance. It made Fugaku feel far more guilt when he had forgotten that the shinobi he boasted of his clan's pride was still just a young man who pushed others away as he did in his youths.
Itachi never had a normal childhood, and he knew it had been his fault. He had turned Itachi into a mirror of himself who could not express himself properly.
"Hurry Itachi. Leave."
His son would be branded a rogue ninja of the highest class and rank, and Fugaku was unsure if he should even feel pride at that; he could blame it on the village, but he knew that he was largely responsible as well for taking away his son's emotions and what made him human and putting a large amount of pressure on him when he never wanted this at all, and the coup. Fugaku didn't even know if he wanted the title of Hokage or even rule the village anymore, now that his son was on the floor weeping.
But if there was one thing Fugaku was sure of, he knew that his son would ultimately, in one form or another, survive. He would spend his life on the run, he regretted but it was far too late, he trained his son to handle any threat to him.
But he and Mikoto would still be alive to raise their secondborn son, and watch him grow.
And as a chance to redeem himself for how terribly he failed Itachi, he would not raise Sasuke in a harsh and strict environment that demanded rapid growth.
No.
He would be raised properly and learn how to play and work with others, and would grow in his own merits and not one of a standard he demanded out of them. He would not fail Sasuke as he did with Itachi.
Itachi nodded, his blood red eyes fading back into the midnight gaze. "Goodbye, mother. Goodbye, father. I love you."
It was goodbye. Goodbye until they perhaps would meet on the field of battle again or otherwise.
Mikoto Uchiha hugged her son once more. "Goodbye, Itachi. Stay safe." Tears sprung from the corner of her eyes at what her son would become, but she knew it would happen regardless of the paths he had taken.
Fugaku hugged his son as well. "Goodbye, my son. You have never failed me at all. You made me proud to be your father."
Itachi melted into the hold of his parents, before he stood up, taking his chokuto. He turned around once more, before he would be out of Konoha's walls. "Tell Sasuke I love him."
That would be the last time Fugaku and Mikoto Uchiha would ever see Itachi Uchiha for numerous periods of time.
The next events that happened became a blur. Sasuke arrived home, confused, upset, but also relieved as he buried himself into his parents' arms and cried, crying for Itachi that they could not give an answer to, but they knew he would soon understand otherwise. Hiruzen Sarutobi and the ANBU then arrived, as Fugaku and Mikoto Uchiha strode through the bloody streets as the latter told her secondborn son to close his eyes and not look at the carnage that was on their firstborn son's hands. Yet he had already seen it, and now their secondborn was scarred with the knowledge of death.
Fugaku did not like Hiruzen, as the Third Hokage himself had agreed to his clan being sent to a remote site, and was the reason for why he attempted the coup; but he wasn't prideful enough to not accept assistance. The three Uchiha headed to Konoha's Hospital to check for any wounds, flanked by ANBU.
The following day, Itachi Uchiha was branded a rogue ninja. His name and image were marked on the latest Bingo Book the days after.
So yeah, another Naruto x Arknights story.
This story is also in no way shape or form affiliated with my Penguin's NEST and is a separate story of its own.
I was honestly unsure of whether to mark this as a standard Naruto story without a crossover and do the Arknights AU where *insert title*, but I took some time to think about it and decided it would be far much easier to simply mark it as a crossover story that it would eventually become, so… *shrugs*
