Chapter 11: Ramen Isn't an Apology
Itachi wasn't surprised when she disappeared after the court hearing. Listening in on Sasuke demand the pink haired doctor where Naruto was everyday, he wondered when she'd appear once again. Kakashi's casual 'I told you so' only started another subject for him and his brother to fight about however, nobody wanting to confess what they knew or suspected had happened in Uken, the destruction from the first battle summoning an irate Tsunade. "She needs time off anyways, let her use it to get a break and process this all." Referring more to him than Sasuke, he understood perfectly though Sasuke couldn't.
Inochi's visits, not ordered by anyone but brought on by the man's own curious and cautious nature, were much more helpful than continually battling it out over the littlest things escalating. Being the only one who had mind-walked through their memories and therefore knowing everything about them, Itachi surprised himself by genuinely opening up instead of sitting in silence and letting him take guesses on what the issue of the day was like Sasuke.
Opening up would allow people to heal, to know why you had done such a thing against or for them and letting them process it. It helped, even though they continued destroying their house everyday and he felt as if it had been another year since he saw Naruto. Sasuke's blame of him being the reason she wouldn't come around was accurate yet still hurtful, them not being interested in any of his graduating class visiting.
Even the quiet and shy Hyuuga Heiress had visited, serving tea silently and stuttering herself through an everyday conversation with Kakashi.
They were only interested in checking on his brother because of Naruto's determination in bringing him back, and the suspicious looks they gave him was because they wanted to know what he did to make her disappear.
He missed her, too. Not saying anything when it was hinted at by anyone, he wanted to wrap his arms around her and apologize for everything.
Yamato was kind enough to take Kakashi's order for take out frequently, ramen being rubbed into his and Sasuke's face once more, creating another hole in the kitchen. It tasted just like the kind from Yangshun Prison.
By day 12 of being released, he thought it'd take Naruto a month to come around. It certainly felt like one until her presence became overwhelming as shadow clones filled the compound only to fade just as quickly as it came. The four men group tensed up and he supposed he wasn't too surprised when she aimed to punch him in the face.
Disappointed when Yamato summoned the wooden wall between them, he was incredibly impressed when the clones had formed an unknown jutsu, facing away from him and forming an irregular oval. Thickening quickly, the wind had created a cyclone at the end of their fingertips. The shouts of Kakashi and Yamato were left ignored as he recalled the book he had gifted her.
Creating a threatening yet truly harmless wall that separated the enemies from their leader, Asuma had trapped the man and demanded to change his mind.
'Truly inspired by the book I had gifted her,' he appreciated as the wooden wall began to scatter into wood chips, lethal in reality.
Golden locks in her signature pigtails, they wildly whipped all around her ominously as her blue eyes became full of what he could swear was lightning as she glared hard at him. Slowly rising from the ground, there were smudges of dirt everywhere, the faint smell of her sweat filling his nostrils. Clothes already slightly damaged as they danced with the wind, she wore her usual black shirt with small orange shorts. It was simple, plain even, yet he thought she looked beautiful.
"Do it again. Cast the genjutsu," she ordered, her voice made of steel.
"I can't," he said gently. A small look of understanding passed her eyes, him using the tone he had used as Kagami. It was simple so his voice didn't ring any bells and it only angered her. Running to him and throwing another punch that he easily dodged, she let out a scream of frustration as she almost tripped onto her knees.
"Why the hell not!?"
Warily standing away from her, he shook his head at her slowly. "When I had gifted you Shisui's eye to keep safe, I truly gave you a part of my power, the ability to see through genjutsu from the Sharingan."
"What - how is that possible? Why did you do that!? Tell me!" Springing herself at him again, he easily gripped her wrists. Twisting her body around so she was restrained against his chest as her arms were twisted across her chest, he spoke lowly into her ear.
"You had always been interesting to me, and ramen would have never made up for what I had been doing to you." Feeling her stiffen in his arms, he tightened his hold when she tried to jerk away. "I never meant to hurt you."
Letting her twist herself back out, he dodged the kick aimed for his head and back away onto the other side of her cyclone.
"Bullshit, I don't believe you! Why were ya interested in me, huh!? I'm the jinchuuriki! I'm the reason your parents planned the coup d'tact! I'm practically the reason they are dead!" Quickly creating more clones, they began to create one of the signature jutsu of the Fourth Hokage. Tilting his head at her as she barred her teeth at him, he wasn't surprised to see her whisker marks begin to thicken as her eyes bled into a ruby red. Feeding on the anger, the Kyuubi wanted her to hurt him. Waiting for her to lunge at him again, he activated his advanced Sharingan in time.
In a single blink, Itachi had gone from a cyclone in the courtyard of the Uchiha compound to a leaky sewer with a large cage. The large red eyes that glared into him did not inimitable him but instead the hurt and guarded expression of Naruto did with her wrapped in a cocoon of bubbling orange chakra. Approaching her and resting a hand on the bubbling surface, commanding it to quietly and quickly return to its owner, she fell to her knees as the fox released its hold on her.
"This is a power of the Sharingan, to enter ones mindscape and to control biju," he explained. "I had protected you during the battle with Danzo from this."
"Why? So you could control him?" Raising to her feet and shouting in his face, he shook his head.
"No, I don't want anyone to control you." Ignoring the red eyes that glared into him behind the bars, Itachi looked the blonde in her eyes once more and the scenery melted into another space.
On orange soil that held no life for miles and miles around them, the red sky around them was filled with fluttering crows. Their soft caws relayed messages only he could understand as she twirled in circles of confusion. "Where are we!?"
"In a part of my own mindscape," he begun. "I want to prove to you that you were always interesting to me, and why I could not do more before."
Thoughtlessly recalling a random memory, a bench had appeared before the blonde. Sitting on it was his mother, tired with a younger version of himself reading the exact book - the one he would later gift Naruto - silently as she spoke with Kushina Uzumaki. Red hair spurred around her as she rubbed her slightly smaller stomach with one hand, she had untied her usual green apron and couldn't stop yawning. In the other hand, the book Tales of a Gutsy Ninja was pulled open.
"Ya know, even though she's gonna be a girl.. I still like the name Naruto."
"I am sure that as her mother, you will be teaching her to beat up those who choose to make fun of her for being named after a ramen topping."
"Pfft, what're you naming your kiddo again? Sauce?"
"Oh you already know Kushina! Sasuke! It's such a strong name. Named after Hurizen Sarutobi's father," she waved off.
"Yeah, it really isn't too bad when you mention him. Still makes me think of sauce," she trailed off with a smack of her lips at imagining the taste.
Shaking her head, his mother softly smiled and they stared off into the distance, this bench being at a playground and at the time being distracted by a lovely family setting up for a picnic. Unseen as he didn't deem it important for the blonde to see, Mikoto's expression turning into a teasing one as she patted the young Itachi's knee. "Wouldn't it be cute if Naruto and Sasuke fell in love, huh! Wouldn't you mind having a sister through Auntie Kushina?"
Lifting his eyes from the book, his younger self leaned forward on the bench and glanced at Kushina's stomach. "I suppose so."
Fading away until only the redhead remained, frozen on his command, Naruto sank to the ground with horrified eyes. Trembling as she hid her face in her hands, he was uncertain on if he should place a hand on her shoulder. Giving her a few silent minutes before he spoke again, he wanted her to understand. "I knew she was the previous container of the Kyuubi and understood what a noble and strong person one must be to do so, especially after witnessing the attack."
Finally releasing the memory, he summoned the next.
"Itachi! Watch over Sasuke, please.." his mother had shouted, her hands shaking with tears in her eyes as she passed a baby Sasuke into his child versions arms. Sitting on the edge of the porch, he could faintly remember how tightly he held his brother. "Kushina, I'm going to find her!" She said to Fugaku, who was busy ordering many of the Uchiha clan members who knew how to fight to head toward the beast by going around to the back, to try and draw it away from the village. Pausing, he watched his father shake his head at her, telling her it was too late.
Their compound being at the edge of the village gave them a close view of the towering Kyuubi, its eyes full of hatred as it swung its tails down to create an earthquake.
"Is that what it was like?" Eyes forward at the memory, he was thrown off guard at her quiet voice. "When the Kyuubi attacked, was it like that?"
Silently wondering what was on her mind as he clearly wasn't anymore, he changed the memory before responding. "Yes. I had overheard Kushina and my mother discussing the precautions that would be taken for your birth, how the seal would weaken with childbirth."
It was after the first day of school for Sasuke, his chatter of the events filling the room as the family of four happily finished dinner.
"- and there was this kid, she's so annoying! Pranking and being loud! I hate Naruto!"
Watching his younger self turn his head in time to catch Fugaku and Mikoto share a wary and guarded expression, his mother gave a large and false smile to Sasuke and dismissed him. Protesting for a moment for his younger self to follow, Fugaku spoke and the youngest Uchiha ran off with a pout.
"I cannot believe Hokage-sama! Does he not see the disdain we already receive for that damned Kyuubi attack!?" His father practically growled, years of frustration building up being released in his voice and on the grip of his cup.
"Perhaps he believes the two would," sighing and shaking her head as his mother didn't believer her own words, she trailed off. "Mend the villages and clan's difference..?"
Listening to Fugaku scoff at the suggestion, knowing that it was unfortunately true, he turned to his younger self who had lowered his eyes and began staring holes into his empty bowl.
"Itachi, I want you to assist your mother in spreading the news. Ensure that the clan knows to absolutely avoid her, especially now. We do not need anymore rumors, and I shall inform the ANBU that the Police Force will not be involved in cases involving her either." Respectively nodding before he began cleaning his spot at the table, Naruto had readjusted herself and stood back up once more. Keeping her back turned to him, her hands found her eyes before she faced him.
"I never knew," she started. "People said that they lost friends and family, called me names because of that night. I never knew just how.. scary it could have been. When I fought with Gaara during the Chunin Exams, he was no where near as terrifying as that. But, I never knew my mother either, only that she must've died in the attack." Carefully watching her as she took another step toward him, he expected her to try and punch him. "You knew all along, who she was. You knew what she was, what I was, and that made me interesting to you?"
"A bowl of ramen would have never made it up to you," he repeated. "Not how you were treated and not what I was doing to you as an Akatsuki member. I couldn't have acknowledged you any other way in the moment, either. You only happen to be the most unpredictable kunoichi, following a stranger to thank him for buying you ramen."
Releasing the hold he had with the Sharingan, in a blink he was back in the cyclone with her running at him. Kyuubi features melting away in a heartbeat as she stumbled in surprise, Itachi caught her in his arms. Wishing the moment could last forever with her back in his arms and not trying to escape, he had to fight the urge to kiss the top of her golden hair.
Regaining her balance and slowly stepping away, she avoided looking him in the eyes as she clenched her fists. "You still lied to me, ya know. Made me fall in love with someone who isn't real."
"I only avoided the details that would identify me. I never meant to hurt you," he said softly as her clones popped out of existence. Watching the cyclone disappear to reveal Kakashi watching with his arms crossed, Yamato's expression expertly blank while Sasuke, grown and scarred from the baby he had held in his memory stared with horror and confusion. Their voices thrown around by her jutsu, he had heard Naruto's words.
"What?" Too speechless to say much else, his brother's eyes went back and forth between him and the Uzumaki. Drawing her attention, the group was surprised she didn't instantly begin explaining to justify it.
Instead she sighed heavily, running her hands through her pigtails as she began walking away.
Feet dragging, aimlessly walking to and then out the gate, his brother's own expression of loss once more quickly set on anger and Kakashi stopped Yamato from interfering, following them around the compound as they began to destroy more buildings than their own. The crowd that gathered, Itachi would learn, is why he didn't see Naruto for another month.
Posted: 7/30/2019