Let's start this from the beginning

The Hideout

I

Then, in a puff of white smoke, Kakashi-sensei suddenly appeared next to them.

"Well," he said in a painfully upbeat tone, "that sure could have gone much better. However, it also could have gone much worse! None of you was hurt, right? Some of those attacks came awfully close!"

Judging by the expressions on Team 7's faces, the mood was made even worse by his arrival.

Itachi, having known Kakashi many years now, could see the slight annoyance behind his mask, both the physical and the metaphorical one, and apparently, so could the Genin of Team 7. He was clearly just as unhappy with the few close calls towards the end of the fight as Itachi. However, his brother and his teammates clearly had other priorities at the moment.

Sakura was the first one to find her voice. "Sensei! What are you doing here?"

"Yeah!" Naruto immediately followed up. "Didn't you say you have some 'very important and even more dangerous Jōnin stuff' to do?"

Kakashi scratched the back of his head, his expression the epitome of innocence. "Well, I did, but I fortunately finished that just in time to see the end of your fight."

Much to Itachi's surprise, it was Hinata who spoke up next. "But weren't you watching the entire time from that nearby tree, Kakashi-sensei?"

The simultaneous exclamation of "What?!" from all members of Team 7 would have been rather amusing if it weren't for the fact that its volume hurt his ears. That was only a secondary concern for him right now, though. Much more curious was that Hinata of all people had gone out of her way to cause trouble – and Itachi had no doubt that it hadn't been just an accident that she let that information slip. She was smart enough to realize that Kakashi had wanted to observe his team without them knowing. It was rather out of character for her to intentionally pour oil on the flames like this.

One glance at her face was enough to explain the situation, however. Ah, Itachi thought with a hint of amusement, I see. She's still annoyed with them, isn't she? Those near-misses had been as much his team's fault as Kakashi's, but it was only natural to try and shift the blame to others. Especially for a Genin. There was nothing malicious about it, of course. Only immaturity. In Hinata's case, she was probably more upset about her teammates almost getting hit than about nearly getting hit herself, but the end result was the same.

His amusement over the situation was faint, and he made sure that none of it showed on his face, but while that might have been enough to stop any of the Genin from noticing, Kakashi clearly did.

"Anyway," the other man said, interrupting his students' rant that he had probably not even truly been listening to before turning around, "we haven't even properly greeted our friends here. You should probably thank them for their help, too, don't you think?"

Naruto and Sakura did just that and bowed, although it was very obvious that they were reluctant to do so. While most of their displeasure was still focused on their sensei, they were clearly just as cross with Itachi's team as his team was with them. Sasuke, on the other hand, barely inclined his head, let alone actually bowed. "I don't see why we should thank them," he muttered just loud enough for everyone to hear. "We were doing just fine before they arrived. If anything, we only started to get problems after they showed up."

Kiba scoffed before anyone else had the chance to reply. "Oh yeah? And whose fault is it that you guys got so distracted this easily? Don't blame us for your own incompetence."

"Coming from the person who constantly jumped in front of attacks from his supposed allies, that's hilarious," Sasuke replied. "If you had just stayed back and watched, nothing of that sort would have happened."

"So if you were in our position and saw another team from Konoha fight a group of unknown enemies, you wouldn't help but rather stand back and watch?" Shino spoke up, his voice uncharacteristic cold. "What a fine shinobi you are."

Sakura took a step forward to stand next to Sasuke, arms crossed in front of her. "Jumping into a fight blind is stupid. You should at the very least have verified the situation first."

"Exactly!" Naruto exclaimed as he came to stand next to his two teammates. "If you had done that, you would have seen that we didn't need your help at all!"

Kiba followed their example and went to stand next to Shino, closely followed by Hinata, resulting in both groups standing face to face with each other. "Who says we didn't?" the former said, a challenging tone in his voice. "Maybe we did and simply decided you were about to be killed, eh? Ever thought about that?"

"We-"

Deciding that this had gone on long enough, Itachi loudly cleared his throat just as Kakashi slammed his book shut with an audible thud. Immediately, all six of the Genin fell silent.

"Now then," Kakashi said amiably, "as interesting as that was, this might not really be the best timing for a fight between friends, so if you could refrain from doing so for now, that would be great."

Itachi nodded. "I agree. Instead, we should first look for a place that is less vulnerable than this one."

"Oh, it's 'we' now? Does that mean that you intend to hang around for much longer?"

He raised a quizzical eyebrow at Kakashi's remark. He was reasonably sure the other man wasn't truly against them staying with them, and considering both Konoha's policy for situations like this as well as Kakashi's personal stance on not abandoning his comrades, it wouldn't really make sense if he were. So why would he-

Oh, he thought with sudden realization, he wouldn't still be upset about that, would he?

"Kakashi," he said in a mixture of exasperation and – although he tried his best to hide it – amusement, "please don't tell me this is about what I think this is."

"And what would that be?"

In response to the dry answer, which was Kakashi's attempt to play ignorant, Itachi just gave him an unimpressed look.

Neither said anything for several seconds after that, waiting for the other to break their silence first, but before that could happen, Sasuke suddenly addressed Itachi for the first time since their arrival, his curiosity about what they were talking about apparently winning out over his usual insistence about acting as independent and unruffled as possible around him - at least when others were with them, that is. "What did you do, Itachi?"

'Itachi' instead of 'Nii-san', huh? "Well, I asked another Jōnin a while ago for our two teams to hold a joint training session, you see. You three surely remember, don't you?" The last part was directed at his own students, and he only continued after they nodded their agreement. "The aforementioned Jōnin was Might Guy, and in return for training with us, he asked me for a favour."

"And how does that have anything to do with Kakashi-sensei?"

He didn't bother to suppress his smile while Kakashi let out an audible sigh. "Guy just so happens to be Kakashi's self-proclaimed eternal rival and-"

"Wait a minute!" Sakura interrupted him, her eyes wide and any hostility she might have felt before forgotten. "The Might Guy? The Taijutsu specialist?" At his nod, she whirled around to look at her own sensei. "You're his rival?!"

A metaphorical cloud of despair hung over Kakashi's head as he replied. "Well, as Itachi just said, he's technically my 'self-proclaimed' rival, so-"

"That's so cool! Tsunade-sensei once said he's the only one in the village who's Taijutsu she acknowledges as even better than hers!" For a moment, Itachi was confused as to why she referred to Tsunade as her sensei, but then he remembered that Sasuke had once mentioned that she was one of the students who took part in the training program that the hospital offered for academy students, and his confusion subsided. "Why didn't you say anything about that, Sensei?"

"Wait, what do you mean this guy's – heh, that's a good one – Taijutsu is even better than Tsunade's?" Naruto exclaimed in surprise. "How can that be possible? Ero-sennin told me that she's just as strong as he is!"

Itachi chuckled. "For all that Tsunade-sama is one of the village's strongest fighters, the field she truly excels in is medical Ninjutsu. Might Guy, on the other hand, is a close-combat specialist, so it's not unreasonable for his Taijutsu to be better than hers."

"Anyway," Sasuke spoke up before either of his teammates could say anything else while simultaneously throwing them a dark look to make sure they didn't interrupt him, "you still didn't say what this all has to do with Kakashi-sensei. What kind of favour did this Guy ask of you?"

Somehow, Kakashi's mood fell even further, but Itachi didn't let that deter him. "Guy usually challenges Kakashi to all sorts of fights all the time, but recently, he somehow managed to successfully avoid him, so he asked me to help him find Kakashi in order to issue another challenge."

The disappointment was clear on not only Sasuke's but on everyone else's faces as well, including his own team who had been just as invested in the story as Team 7 even though they had remained silent. Evidently, they had been expecting something more exciting. It was Naruto who voiced what everyone was thinking, however. "Wait, that's it?"

"Guy's challenges are nothing you can just shrug off, Naruto," Kakashi said, his voice a tired drawl. "Once he finds you, he won't let you go until he's completely satisfied, and that can take hours."

"Can't you just lose on purpose or something?"

Kakashi chuckled, but there was no joy to be found in it. "If I lose too easily or too often, he will only get even more motivated because he wants to 'rekindle my spirit'. There's just no escape from him."

There was an awkward silence as the six Genin looked at each other, unsure of how to react to that.

Well, at least they have all but forgotten about their fight by now. Itachi was sure that at least part of Kakashi's act was to achieve just that, although he probably really felt depressed about having to deal with Guy's antics all the time. Not that Itachi felt much pity for him, mind you. For all his very vocal complaints, he had never made any serious attempt to stop Guy from bothering him for good to the best of Itachi's knowledge. At the end of the day, he likely valued their friendship – and yes, their rivalry as well – just as much as Guy did, whether he wanted to admit it or not. That much was clear to everyone who had anything to do with either man.

"Anyway, we really should move away from here." Itachi waited a few seconds to see if Kakashi would continue to insist on his little act, and when he didn't, he continued, "This place is far too open to serve as a place to rest and regroup."

"Do you have anything specific in mind?"

He did, actually, although he didn't really like it. There was a place that was perfectly suited to serve their purposes for a while, but he would in all honesty prefer not to go there as it brought up rather uncomfortable memories. However, in their current situation, he couldn't allow his feelings to affect his actions, so he pushed them aside.

"I do," he said, careful not to let any of his thoughts show in his voice. Then he turned to Sasuke, who unconsciously straightened up the second his gaze fell on him. "Let's see if you paid attention during your history lessons, shall we? What place is nearby that might be suitable for our accommodation?"

His brother blinked in surprise, but then his brows furrowed in concentration. It didn't take him long to realize Itachi wasn't talking about his history lessons at the Academy but the ones all children of their clan went through, and even less time to conclude what place he had in mind.

So did Kakashi, for that matter.

"That might be a good idea, actually," the other Jōnin said after Sasuke had shared his idea. "We should be able to make it there before nightfall, too."

Decision made and ignoring the bewildered faces of most of the Genin, they set off their way.

The Uchiha Hideout was as impressive as ever. Built into a terraced mountain with vast forestry growing on each level and two towers, one on each side of it, connecting to the main building with bridges, it was truly awe-inspiring, especially to those who had never seen it before. The faces of the six Genin were certainly sufficiently amazed. Even Kakashi, who must have been here before, actually had his book closed for once in favour of letting his eyes roam around to enjoy the view.

Itachi, on the other hand, felt more sombre and even depressed rather than awed. A bit weirded out, too. That was only understandable, of course. No one would be entirely comfortable visiting the place they had died. Although to be fair, it wasn't as if many people actually had the opportunity to do so in the first place, the Edo Tensei notwithstanding. And as if his own death wasn't already enough baggage, the memories of his fight with Sasuke were only made worse by the presence of his brother's younger counterpart of this timeline.

Speaking of his brother…

"I wasn't aware that any of the clans still had such big outposts outside the village."

Sasuke nodded proudly at Shino's words, eager to use this opportunity to show off his knowledge. "Although it's still called the Uchiha Hideout, it technically isn't our property anymore. Its ownership had been transferred to the village shortly after Konoha was founded to serve as a military outpost. I think the leadership of any group stationed here has traditionally always been given to an Uchiha as a sign of respect, though."

"I didn't even know that Konoha had any big outposts like this," Naruto muttered, probably not even intending for anyone to hear him. Unfortunately, however, everyone did.

"That's because you were always asleep during history class," Sakura said with an unimpressed look on her face before suddenly averting her eyes while her cheeks turned pink. "Although I didn't know about this one either…"

Somewhat to Itachi's surprise, Sasuke didn't get annoyed when he replied, and neither did he sound haughty or try to hold the information over their heads. "They didn't mention it in class. We only talked about specific battles if they had some major impact of some sort, I think, and there hadn't been any of those here, so there really wasn't any reason to talk about the hideout."

"It would have been cool to hear about it anyway," Kiba said absently, letting his gaze wander all over the place as their group finally passed through one of the four main entrances to the fortress. "It's pretty badass. I wish my family had something like this."

"It is rather impressive," Shino agreed. "The Aburame Clan lived hidden deeply in the most impenetrable parts of the forests and mostly kept to themselves prior to joining Konoha, so we never built anything like this."

"Hey, what am I supposed to say? The Inuzuka barely even existed before the founding of Konoha!"

Then, both simultaneously turned to look at Hinata as if to ask 'what about you?' Evidentially not expecting that, she briefly tensed in surprise and took a moment to reply. "Ehm, my family actually still has some properties outside the village. No fortresses or anything like this, though. Only some smaller pots of land and some old lodgings."

That was not very surprising in Itachi's opinion. While the Hyuga were feared fighters on the battlefields even during the Warring States Period, they actually didn't participate as actively as most other clans. Instead, they made themselves at home at the courts of powerful nobles and daimyos, even marrying into their families with some regularity. Unless their hosts' interests were truly at high risk, they rarely took to the battlefield.

Out of the corner of his eye, Itachi noticed that Naruto looked somewhat downtrodden, and it didn't take for him to realize that he had probably learned about the fate of the Uzumaki Clan at some point. However, before he could open his mouth to change the topic, Sakura beat him to it.

"But Sasuke, if this is a military outpost, why is nobody here? Shouldn't there be at least some troops stationed here at all times?"

This remark distracted Naruto just as successfully as it caused Sasuke to stumble. "Well, that is because, ehm…"

Taking pity on him, Itachi decided to help him out. "While this is indeed an important outpost, possibly even the most important one in the Land of Fire, it also is an important heritage site for the Uchiha Clan. For this reason, it was decided not to station anyone here unless military or political circumstances make this a necessity. Naturally, since bandits or outlaws cannot be allowed to use this place for their own benefit, troops are stationed in the area to regularly check whether everything is in order."

Itachi was aware that Kakashi had contacted these exact troops a little bit prior while their students had been distracted, by the way. He didn't know for sure what his message had included, of course, but if he had to take a guess, he would assume he wanted them to not intervene in whatever those bandits that attacked them were up to. Probably for the same reason that Itachi had only observed his own students' fights against those missing-nins, too.

"The most important one, Sensei?" Hinata asked from his right, asking the question that was plain to see on the faces of all the Genin.

Itachi nodded but didn't immediately reply. Instead, he first looked at his brother to see if he could and wanted to answer that question only for him to avoid his eyes and flush beet red. Taking that as his cue, he then continued, "It's hard if not outright impossible to say whether this is really the most important outpost or not, of course," he admitted with a wry smile. "After all, there are several fortresses and hideouts all over the country, and it's not easy to rank one above all the others. However, there is no doubt that the Uchiha Hideout is one of the few fortifications that can actually compete for that spot."

"And why is that?"

"Why don't you tell me?" The unimpressed looks on all three of his students were priceless, and amusingly enough, even Sasuke and Naruto, who had had the pleasure of being trained by him in the past, quickly followed suit. "If you look at its position on the map, what do you notice?"

There was a short pause as all Genin thought about it for a few moments. Then, Hinata spoke up. "It's located not too far from the Kabasawa Mines, isn't it? So it can protect Konoha's iron supply?"

Itachi nodded. "That's one reason, yes."

"It also lies directly between our border with the Land of Rivers and the capital where the daimyo lives," Shino added with a thoughtful frown. "Consequently, it can serve as a line of defence against any potential invasion from the west."

"That is correct, too."

Next, as if to not be outdone, Sasuke added, "There's a river close by that surrounds the fortress from three sides. The only side open is the one facing inland. In addition to the already existing fortifications, that makes conquering this hideout all that much harder."

"It can probably also serve as a headquarter during wars, right?" Sakura asked. "I think managing everything from Konoha would be pretty hard. It would be much easier to do so from somewhere closer to the front."

"That are both very good points," Itachi said with a smile. "As all of you already summarized, its location is what gives it its importance. From here, it's not only in a prime position to protect both the nearby mines and the capital but can also serve as a headquarter to manage any potential western front. It's close enough to the border to receive quick updates which allow whoever is in charge to react in a timely manner while still being far enough away to avoid immediately coming under attack itself if the enemy manages to make a push. Furthermore, while the distance is a bit on the longer side, it's still close enough to Konoha to keep up an active communication with the village and the leadership there.

"The reason no major battle has ever taken place here has to do with its location as well. If an enemy wants to make any gains beyond this point, they have to take this fortress. Quite a lot of shinobi can be accommodated here, after all, and no commander wants to have such a large number of enemies behind their own lines. However, by the time they have finally advanced so far that they have reached this fortress, the lines would already be quite stretched, making it hard to gather a suitably powerful army to actually attack. After all, it's just as Sasuke said: the nearby rivers make attacking even harder, and the fortifications and elevated position do the rest. Therefore, no enemy army has ever even attempted to attack here, judging that it's just not worth the cost."

Technically, fortresses were not all that effective against shinobi armies. While the number of people who could create attacks powerful enough to destroy them by themselves was small, it wasn't too difficult to have many people work together for a common goal. A dozen or so powerful earth techniques hitting it at the same time would probably be enough to bring the Uchiha Hideout down, for example. However, as Konoha had several clans with enhanced senses like the Hyūga at its deposal, sneaking close enough to actually do so was all but impossible, and the elevated position allowed the defenders to attack enemies long before they could get in range to attack themselves. Add to that the large number of defenders who used could use the environment to their advantage, and one could see why the Uchiha Hideout was the exception to the rule.

It was this powerful defence that was responsible for avoiding defeat against Sunagakure in any of the previous wars. At the very least, they had always been able to force a draw with them, no matter how desperate the situation on the other fronts might be. That was particularly true after the First Shinobi World War, which was also the only time Suna actually managed to force that aforementioned draw.

At the time when the villages were first founded, the world map looked a bit different than it did today. One good example was the Land of Wind. Large parts of what was today the Land of Rivers had initially been part of it, and quite important ones too as it was there that much of the nation's agriculture happened. However, after they became one of the losing parties of the war, it had been decided to give much of their lands to the then still much smaller Land of Rivers to serve as a buffer between the two great nations. That had a lasting impact on both the nation's population and economics.

Such redistributions of land weren't usually done after shinobi wars, especially not with such large areas at once. After all, while it was the shinobi villages that fought each other, the land itself ultimately belonged to the daimyos. There were always consequences for them as well when their hidden villages were the ones who lost, yes, but never to the point where they literally lost their nation's most fertile areas. However, that particular case was one of the very few times where the hidden villages abandoned all subtlety and actually forced a daimyo to accept their demands.

Now that Itachi thought about it, that event might even be the starting point of the tense relationship Suna traditionally had with its daimyo, the royal family never quite forgiving the village for losing their lands due to its supposed incompetence.

"Oh, wow! What is this?"

Part of Itachi had hoped that they would not pass the large meeting hall, or if they did, that none of the children would be curious about it. In hindsight, that had been far too naïve. He could have subtly led the way to avoid this particular corridor, of course, but in the end, he couldn't actually bring himself to do so. Maybe I actually want to revisit this place myself, he thought wryly.

The one that had spoken a few moments earlier was Naruto who had been walking ahead of their group, and his exclamation quickly resulted in the remaining children rushing ahead to see what got him so excited, forgetting all about the two adults at the back.

"They are rather excited, aren't they?"

Itachi nodded in agreement. "They never left the village for any significant amount of time before. It makes sense for them to become so agitated when visiting a place as impressive as this."

"Meh," Kakashi shrugged. "It could do with a thorough cleaning if you ask me."

It was obvious that he was acting obnoxious on purpose, so Itachi didn't bother to reply to that. Besides, he could feel that the other man had something else he wanted to talk about anyway. He was proven right a few seconds later.

"Being a teacher suits you."

"It has been surprisingly rewarding so far." It was hard to believe that he had actually been hesitant about accepting a team at first. While it didn't exactly help him get stronger in the traditional sense, it did help him see things from a different perspective. It seems to be true what they say about going back to the roots being helpful to improve. "Entertaining, too."

Kakashi chuckled at that. "That, I can agree with. Did Sasuke tell you about my bell test?"

"He did." Even if he ignored the undoubtedly embellished parts of the story, it seems like Team 7 put on a pretty impressive show. Unfortunately, that didn't prevent them from landing in some rather embarrassing situations, and while Sasuke had omitted what had happened to him, Naruto had made sure to tell him every yet so little detail shortly after. "I hear a lot about your training from him. I have to say, I'm impressed that the only thing he has complained to me about so far is your frequent tardiness."

"I would like to think that there is a lot more about my training methods that the three of them are not too happy about."

"Sasuke may be a lot of things, but he's not one to hand out unwarranted praise. If he can't find anything to complain about, it's because there is nothing to find to begin with."

"Then I guess I must be doing at least something right, huh?"

That was actually a very interesting point. It was no secret that Kakashi had failed all his previous Genin, so Itachi seriously wondered what made him truly accept his brother's team. After all, while many weren't aware of it, Jōnin could hand their teams over to someone else if they thought they were unsuitable to teach them. Had any other team before Team 7 passed his test, Itachi wouldn't have been surprised if Kakashi had done just that, too. However, in this timeline and the previous one both, he not only kept them but wholeheartedly accepted them as well.

Itachi had a few suspicions as to why that was, of course, but there was no way to prove any of them without outright asking the man. Maybe one day.

"The same goes to you, by the way," Kakashi continued after a short pause. "The way your brats look at you and the way you handled that conversation earlier… you look like you know what you're doing."

"Enough so for you to let me handle your students too, you mean?"

"Well," Kakashi said with a one-eyed smile, "part of being a teacher means knowing when to do something myself and when to stand back and watch. Besides, you looked like you had fun and I really didn't want to get in the way of that."

Itachi briefly considered replying with a similarly dry reply, but before he had the chance to do so, they reached the entrance to the meeting hall and the moment was over.

The Uchiha crest prominently framed the doorway on both sides. At the front of the hall, elevated above the rest of the room by a platform, sat a throne with the Uchiha crest on either side of it and two tomoe-like shapes below those as well. Directly behind the seat was a poster that showed the symbol for 'fox' surrounded by eight swirls. The design of the throne itself allowed the poster to be clearly visible behind it to anyone who entered the hall.

Overall, it was just as he remembered it before Sasuke's techniques first destroyed much of the room and later the entire building during their fight. Whether that was a good thing was anyone's guess, though.

Anyway, he had other things to worry about at the moment.

"Would you please refrain from doing that, Naruto?"

The boy froze in mid-motion, hand outstretched and with an expression on his face as if he had been caught red-handed with his hand in the cookie jar where he stood just one step away from the throne. That didn't last for long, though.

"Ehh? But why? I wanna see what the view is like from there!"

"It has been traditionally prohibited to sit on the throne for centuries now," he said. "While I cannot stop you from sitting on it when I'm not with you, I would still like to ask you not to do so."

It wasn't as if he had any illusions about whether other people adhered to this taboo. With how many people had been stationed here over the years, it was inevitable that a good number of them had wanted to sit on the throne just as Naruto did right now. The only thing he could say with reasonable certainty was that no Uchiha had ever done so since it became prohibited.

No Uchiha other than him, that is. He had deliberately sat on it during his fight with Sasuke as an additional snub, although he hadn't been completely sure if his brother would even realize that at the time.

"Ehm, Itachi-sensei?" Sakura shyly spoke up. "Why is it forbidden to sit there? I mean, it looks like a throne, but in the end, it's just a seat, right?"

"For the most part, this taboo serves as a reminder never to push too far. To be content with what we have rather than try to elevate our status." Not that the Uchiha Clan ever really stopped reaching for more, mind you, but at least the attempt had been made. "It's from a time when our ancestors were still considered nobility and even royalty."

"What?!"

The reaction of all six of them was as expected as it was entertaining.

"What do you mean, 'royalty'?" Sasuke exclaimed. "Why is this the first time I hear of that?"

Itachi chuckled a bit. "That's not surprising. Neither the lessons of our clan nor those of the Academy go into much detail about anything prior to the meeting between Madara Uchiha and Hashirama Senju. I suspect the same is true for the Hyūga as well?" He turned towards Hinata when he said that last part, well-aware that hers was the only other clan of their group ancient enough to even entertain the idea of having records that old. Then, once she confirmed his suspicion, he continued, "It's understandable, of course, as there is only so much time that can be spent on something that ultimately has little bearing on us today. It makes more sense to focus on more recent events, or at least on things that continue to affect our lives to this very day."

"But Nii-san," Sasuke said, not even noticing that he had slipped up in how he called him, "then how do you know about all of this?"

"History can be quite interesting," he replied good-naturedly. "Furthermore, we're bound to repeat our mistakes if we forget the past, so it's never wrong to read up on history when you have some free time. There's much we can learn from the tales of our ancestors, you know."

"Can you tell us?"

That question was hardly unexpected. Itachi had known where all this would lead to and had, in fact, played along from the very beginning. Judging from the amusement Kakashi had been radiating for some time now, he too had realized that this would happen. Reflecting on their previous conversation, he probably felt that his earlier words about how being a teacher suited him were being confirmed.

Itachi ignored him, of course.

Barely a minute after he had given his consent, he somehow found himself sitting on the uppermost step that led up to the elevated platform where the throne stood with the six Genin sitting in a semicircle in front of him. Kakashi stood a bit more aside, leaning against the nearby wall. However, while his eyes refocused on the newly opened book in his hand, the fact that he had stayed within earshot and his eyes did not wander from one end of the page to the other showed that he was just as curious about what Itachi had to say as their students.

"Well, for starters, you might not be aware of it, but what we call the Warring States Period refers only to the time of about three centuries before the founding of the hidden villages.

"There is no uniform name for the time before that, and we don't know enough about it or any other, even earlier time periods to even begin to think about naming them, but the time before the Warring States Period was somewhat of a middle ground between it and today's Shinobi Organisational System of the Five Great Nations. Shinobi clans lived in their own small settlements, but instead of confining themselves to their own small pieces of land and offering their services to the highest bidder, many of them actively sought to rule over others themselves. Daimyos and their samurai armies also already existed, but they were far less influential and powerful than they would become during the Warring States Period.

"The map of that time looked nothing like it does today. Some familiar nations like the Land of Fire already existed even back then, of course, but they were much smaller and insignificant, being only one of many small nations that existed at that point. In hindsight, it might have been this very irrelevance that allowed the Land of Fire to survive to this day as other, more powerful nations ignored it in favour of more worthwhile targets.

"It was then that the Uchiha, like many other shinobi clans at the time, conquered territories and called themselves rulers."

"But then why did they stop?" Kiba interrupted him, his face scrunched up in confusion. "I mean, if I called myself king or something, I wouldn't just decide to stop one day, right?"

"Nobody is quite sure what brought that era to a close. Some records indicate that the collapse of several powerful nations within a short span of time led to great unrest, which eventually resulted in the chaos of the Warring States Period. Others mention a roaming horde that travelled all over the continent and destroyed everything in their path as cause for it, and yet again others believe that the various shinobi nations weakened each other to the point where the daimyos with their samurai armies could usurp power away from them. In all likelihood, it's a combination of all three theories and more."

"But that's stupid! How could a bunch of wandering people beat so many shinobi? And samurai are weaker than us, too, aren't they?"

"It's not stupid," Shino replied to Kiba's exclamation. "Why? Because if sufficiently outnumbered, shinobi will lose to samurai regardless of what advantage we might have. Furthermore, those travelling hordes might very well have been shinobi who were driven from their homelands and joined together to survive. If so, they would have been a serious threat to any weakened nation."

"I can't believe our ancestors would have given up just like that, though," Sasuke said musingly. "Even if we lost some battles, the Uchiha don't just give up what we see as ours, so I don't see why we could stop calling ourselves kings and emperors no matter what…"

Naruto snorted. "What, are you disappointed? I can call you 'Your Highness' if you want!"

"That's not what I mean! I'm just saying that it's weird, that's all!"

"Well, your clan still exists and doesn't call themselves that anymore, meaning they obviously did give up, so I don't see why you're so bothered about it."

"I-"

Itachi cleared his throat, making them both immediately shut up and look at him.

His voice was mild when he continued. "Sasuke isn't wrong. It is uncharacteristic for our clan to give up. Usually, our family has the tendency to insist on something even if doing so is ultimately harmful to us." Sasuke opened his mouth and turned back to Naruto, a smug smirk on his lips, but Itachi continued before he had the chance to open his mouth and start another fight. "However, Naruto has a point as well. Regardless of what our feelings on that matter might be, it is an undeniable fact that we did, in fact, give up on our titles and much of our lands."

"Ehm, Itachi-sensei?" Sakura asked, shyly raising her hand. "We learned at the Academy that the Uchiha and Senju clans were the most powerful clans during the Warring States Period and that a client would usually contract one of them if his adversary had contracted the other. Were the two rivals even then?"

"It's impossible to say for sure, but while it's possible that they did occasionally clash with each other, their respective territories were too far apart for there to realistically be many active conflicts between them. After all, you have to remember that conflicts at that time were mostly for geographic gain, so nations that didn't share a border with one another usually didn't have any reason to be antagonistic towards one another."

Next, it was Hinata who spoke up. "This fortress was built during that period then, wasn't it, Sensei? So this was initially the territory of the Uchiha Clan?"

"That is correct," he confirmed with a nod. "This fortress lies in the heart of what was once the Uchiha Clan's ancestral homeland, and it was likely built as a symbol of power to intimidate our neighbours. Although you will find many ruins and remains of powerful cathedrals and strongholds even more impressive than this one at many places all over the continent, particularly in the Lands of Earth and Lightning, the Land of Fire has a distinct lack of great structures like this one." His lips briefly tucked upwards. "Ironically, however, the construction had been finished less than a decade before chaos broke out and the Warring States Period began, so rather than a show of force, one could instead consider it one last hurrah of a doomed nation."

It was a rather interesting thought experiment to consider what would have happened if they had finished construction much earlier. After all, while large shinobi armies wouldn't have much trouble razing the fortress to the ground unless its defenders stopped them in time, armies during that long passed age were much smaller. As long as the Uchiha left a sufficiently large garrison behind, they would never have had to fear having their homes destroyed and could instead attack their neighbours without restraint. The intimidating building would probably have an effect on every observer, too, discouraging possible attackers.

Itachi didn't think it would have prevented the nation's ultimate downfall, and it would obviously not have been enough for them to conquer the continent, but it was an interesting thing to think about nonetheless.

"So I suppose the reason nobody can sit on that throne is that only these past rulers were allowed to?" Sakura asked.

"Exactly," he said. "Only those who rule absolute over both the Uchiha and their ancestral lands are allowed to do so. Sitting on it would be the same as announcing that one had the intention of doing just that, and I don't think I have to explain why that would be problematic."

As far as he knew, not even Madara had ever sat on that throne. At least not when he had still been officially part of their clan or the village. Whether that was because he truly respected that taboo or just didn't want to cause unnecessary strive was anyone's guess, but the result was ultimately the same.

Similarly, he wasn't quite sure what that said about himself considering he had sat on it, even if only to deceive his brother.

Not that it really mattered. In that other timeline, the throne along with the entire fortress had been destroyed, and in this timeline, that event had never happened. Even if it did, the worst that would have happened was that he would be reprimanded by his parents – he was no missing-nin but a respected member of society, after all. No one would seriously think he had any malicious intentions.

Still, even with all that in mind, Itachi couldn't help but think that he should never sit on the throne again, not even in jest. In fact, he felt as if sitting on any throne, real or metaphorical, would only end in tragedy. It was nothing more than a gut feeling, but he had long since learned to trust his instincts.

In the end, there was simply no good reason for tempting fate.

You might think all these history lessons in this chapter are nice to know but ultimately useless, so I'd like to point out that there's actually a reason for all this info-dumping. While it won't become relevant in this arc, it will eventually play an important role in the story.