Present

Chapter Eleven: Domino Effect

Two days after the failed attempt to recapture Hokuto, the eastern outpost had fallen. Temporary reinforcements from Kita had been sent to Azuma after receiving word that they had lost half of their force during the invasion. Those temporary reinforcements were intercepted. By the time anyone knew something was wrong, it had been too late.

Azuma had fallen to the enemy's hands.

The remainder of the forces at Azuma had dispersed. Some sought refuge in another outpost, while others returned to the village. Among those who returned, Itachi noticed that there were two people that were notably missing: Kakashi Hatake and Rin Nohara. Itachi didn't think they had been among the group who retreated to another outpost, so their disappearance had just been as he thought.

Their absences were crucial for the plan to succeed. Everything seemed to fall into place.

Three days after the failed attempt, Itachi pulled Obito and Shisui from Kita, ordering them to return to the village. His order had been met with skepticism from Sora, the commander at Kita, and Itachi had spent the better part of his day exchanging correspondences with the jaded Uchiha war hawk.

Even through the written communication, Itachi could sense Sora's displeasure and contempt rolling off in waves. It seemed like the older man was trying to be as passive aggressive in his messages without actually crossing the border to become aggressive. Sora knew that Itachi wouldn't overlook it.

And Itachi didn't, but he ignored the futile attempts at antagonizing him. Itachi knew it was due to a personal vendetta against him; Sora had always been one of the most vocal in expressing his discontent towards Itachi's leadership. Itachi had a feeling that hatred would increase tenfold when he caught wind of Itachi's next move, but that didn't matter.

Sora was already pissed when he was forced to agree to Itachi's request when he pulled rank on him.

Four days after the failed attempt, a scout returned with the news that the entire Root Foundation had been decimated. The Root Foundation, a highly elite organization composed of the most loyal shinobi to their leader, Danzo, had occupied the Land of the Whirlpool since the last war ended. Itachi's father had always given Danzo free rein, but Itachi kept him at arm's length. There wasn't a single ounce of trust between them, but the logical part of Itachi's mind deduced that his Foundation would be a valuable asset.

Or become the Uchiha's greatest enemy.

Itachi had chosen to decimate that pawn.

With one backstabbing ally taken care of, Itachi was still wary of the other potential traitor: Oto. Numerous pleas and suggestions to allow Oto shinobi's to fight alongside them, Itachi had shut them all down. He knew exactly what kind of man Orochimaru was, the kind that switched loyalties when it benefited him the most.

Itachi was adamant in keeping their alliance strictly economic, much to Orochimaru's annoyance. If his character wasn't enough of a warning sign, then his collaboration with Danzo was more than enough.

After all, Orochimaru was the one who created the artificial arm for Danzo so that he could steal Sharingans from dead Uchihas as a consequence of war.

Itachi fumed inwardly; of course he was utterly sickened on the behalf of his clansmen, but he wasn't the type to needlessly extract revenge immediately. Itachi was a patient man. He could wait months, even years, for his plans to finally take hold.

The day had finally come.

Five days after the failed attempt, the Senjus attacked Kita, but promptly retreated at the first sign of heavy conflict. The rumors had it that the leader of the ambush platoon had been a man wearing a Wolf mask and a white cloak that obscured his body from head to toe. From the correspondence, Wolf didn't attack unless provoked. He simply was the spectator while the rest of the platoon attacked. The only thing he had done was signal for their retreat hardly ten minutes into the ambush.

Their actions left them puzzled until the wounded shinobis began to fall one by one as the poison took hold and began to shut down their vital organs. The medics scrambled to put together an antidote, but with their poison expert missing, they had been far too late.

By the time an antidote had been created, almost ten of their shinobis had died. It could have been a lot worse if the ambush had dragged on longer and more had gotten injured, but Itachi had gotten the message.

It had been a warning.

Six days after the failed attempt, the Uchiha council called for a clan meeting for the following day. Itachi was hardly surprised; he had wanted to do the same albeit for a completely different reason they did.

In between the sixth and seventh day, Itachi did his best to avoid the angry councilmen. All the problems could be addressed at the council meeting. For now, Itachi had another meeting to organize.

One that would decide their future.

In Minato's opinion, it felt so good to have Kakashi back on their side. His brain was as sharp as ever, proposing strategies that didn't even occur to Minato. Not to mention, his knowledge of the terrain and fortification structure of the Uchiha's Kita post made him the perfect leader for the warning attack.

If Kakashi had never left, this was what Minato imagined it to be. Kakashi would have been his most trusted right hand man. Naruto would have an older brother figure to look up to and perhaps, Minato could rope Kakashi into becoming his sensei one day.

Minato chuckled lightly to himself. Even as the years progressed, it seemed that he had never given up on his dreams, no matter how ridiculous they may seem.

Kakashi entered the tent, lifting the flap over his head as he ducked down and stepped through the threshold. In one movement, his hand brushed back the hood of the cloak, revealing his spiky silver locks. His hand removed the Wolf mask, holding it by the edge of the plastic as he allowed it to dangle at his side.

"Warning effectively delivered," Kakashi announced. "We were able to injure around ten of them."

Minato sighed. "That's good. Hopefully, it'll be enough to convince them to end the war."

Kakashi's eyes narrowed. "The Uchihas are stubborn people. It seems that they would rather die than yield. If it's not enough, then we will continue until it is. Don't tell me you had forgotten about your dream for peace?"

"Of course not," Minato insisted. The conversation he had with Kakashi on his inauguration day flickered through his mind, followed by the conversation at the river, where they reunited after a decade since Kakashi's departure.

Kakashi nodded in acceptance. "Is there anything else that you need me for?"

Minato shook his head. Kakashi mumbled something about getting some rest, dismissing himself out of the tent. Minato watched him go, completely baffled by this sudden change. He had thought Kakashi had gotten better, he'd seen the emotions in his student's eyes as he desperately tried to save Rin from her death. When Kakashi brought her to Hokuto, he'd even reasoned that they should wait until she was conscious to sift through her memories, even though that was hardly necessary with Inoichi present.

The Kakashi he knew long ago would have demanded answers from Kurenai from the moment he recognized her as a spy, but he had shown mercy and allowed her to confess.

The Kakashi that Minato had seen recently would have asked about Rin, yet it had been three days since Inoichi returned to the village, with Kurenai and Rin in tow. Yet Kakashi didn't utter a single word, didn't seem to give a single indication that he cared to know her whereabouts. Where was the Kakashi who was reluctant to kill a harmless girl? Where was the Kakashi who failed his first mission because he couldn't bring himself to kill her?

Minato feared that Kakashi was returning to his old self.

If there was one thing that hadn't changed in all these years, it was how much his student internalized his feelings.

He wished he could get a glimpse of what went through his student's head.

A large ruckus in the middle of the night awoke Minato from his sleep. In an instant, he swung his legs off of the cot and slid them into his shoes while his hands reached for his weapons pouch. Once his feet were secured in his sandals, Minato felt the familiar pull as he activated his jutsu and teleported himself to the marker in the middle of camp.

A shinobi had been in the process of activating the red flare, the signal for an intruder in the camp. Minato latched onto the arm of one shinobi who rushed by, pulling him to a halt.

"What's going on?"

Through jumbled and breathless words, Minato could barely make out his response, but it was enough to piece together his suspicions.

"Where is the intruder now?"

The shinobi shook his head. "Nobody knows. We found two of our guards unconscious."

Minato let the shinobi go, heading straight towards Kakashi's tent. If the intruder was from the Uchiha side, then Minato deduced that there were only three reasons for the infiltration. One, to steal information, but seeing that the intruder didn't approach anywhere near his tent, Minato concluded that wasn't the case. Two, to kill Kurenai to prevent her from leaking any more secrets, but Kurenai wasn't in Hokuto. Or three, their target was Kakashi.

Once at Kakashi's tent, Minato didn't bother with alerting his student of his presence. He lifted the flap of the tent, storming inside only to find that the cot was completely empty. The gear that Kakashi wore while masquerading as Wolf was still there, notably the mask that laid atop of his pillow. Yet all of his weapons were gone, along with his backpack containing provisions.

Minato approached the cot, picking up the note that Kakashi left on top of his mask. Unfolding the paper, Minato simply stared at the words written on the note.

Sorry, Sensei. I never intended to come back.

His arm fell to his side, fingers curling around the paper, crumpling it. He should have known from the moment that Kakashi was adverse to showing his face around camp. He should have known when Kakashi reluctantly agreed to lead the invasion on Kita and insisted on remaining anonymous.

Of course. Kakashi was either known as a traitor or as Sakumo's son, neither of which were desirable.

Maybe asking Kakashi to be a spy hadn't been the best of ideas, but he couldn't deny that his information was invaluable to their plans.

Minato wished it didn't have to be like this.

He wished he knew what his student had been thinking.

There was someone following him. Itachi felt that his current predicament was eerily similar to when Shisui had approached him all those years ago. Like Shisui, the man didn't bother to hide his presence. Like Shisui, the man's eyes didn't flicker away when Itachi turned to stare right at him.

Brown hair. Gray eyes. Purple markings. Green shirt with a scarf wrapped around his neck, covering the lower half of his face.

Itachi had never seen this man before, yet his presence felt so familiar at the same time.

Itachi changed paths. Instead of heading to the hideout where he was supposed to meet with the others, he veered deeper into the forest. While Itachi masked his footsteps, the person following him had no qualms about it. He boldly allowed the leaves to crunch loudly under his footsteps.

His actions painted him as a civilian, but Itachi didn't believe it. His chakra network was far too developed. Even so, Itachi decided to test him.

Itachi flash stepped, passing by three trees. Without hesitation, the man mimicked his action, maintaining the same amount of distance between them. In his head, Itachi began to work through all of the possibilities of what the man could possibly want with him.

His eyes narrowed. Was he purposely waiting for Itachi to lead him to an abandoned place to attack? Could he even overtake him?

Itachi was confident in his own abilities, but there was always someone stronger than him.

It was too late to think about these things. Itachi had arrived at his destination, his old training ground for target practice. He stood still until he heard the man's footsteps die down before he slowly turned around to face the man, Sharingan already activated.

Itachi stared at him. "What do you want?"

The man shrugged, taking a couple steps forward, closing the distance between the two of them. Now that they were closer, Itachi could tell that the man wasn't using a henge, yet he seemed so familiar. A face appeared in his mind, but it was too blurry for Itachi to make out who it was.

"I should be the one to ask you that," the man drawled. "After all, you were the one who wanted to use me as bait, weren't you?" In one move, the man pulled the wig off of his hair, revealing the familiar silver. Kakashi plucked out the contacts in his eyes, letting the plastic pieces fall to the ground. The scarf was the next to go, revealing the dark blue mask that hid the lower half of his face. Finally, he peeled off the purple markings, showing the scar above his left eye.

Itachi stifled a laugh. "You got away and still came back."

"Strange, isn't it?" Kakashi commented. "You saw right through me a long time ago. You could have just kept me in the village, would have saved you a lot of trouble, but you didn't. That tells me you probably anticipated that I would escape."

Kakashi chuckled, shaking his head lightly. "Actually, you planned for me to escape, didn't you? I mean, you didn't even give Rin any further instructions on what to do after she knocked me out."

"Even if that was the case, you aren't afraid that you won't make it out alive this time?" Itachi deadpanned.

"If you wanted to kill me, you would have done it a long time ago. So, what's the plan?"

Itachi's eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "What are you talking about?"

"You and I," Kakashi began, his black eyes fixated right on him. "Are the same person. We may work for different sides, but we're working for the same thing."

"Peace…"

"For the sake of the future," Kakashi finished.

Itachi's lips curled into a smile as his younger brother's face flickered in his mind. "The plan wasn't for you to come back, but since you did…"

Kakashi's presence would make the execution of his plan much easier. All Itachi needed to do was move around some of the pieces on the chessboard. Itachi could make this work. He needed to make this work.

Everyone was already there by the time Itachi arrived with Kakashi in tow. Obito's mouth fell open upon seeing his comrade, gesturing for Kakashi to sit by him. Toshiro politely greeted Kakashi, as well as a few of the others who vaguely recognized him. Only Shisui shot Itachi an odd look, as if to question why Kakashi was here.

The murmuring died down when Itachi stood at the front of the room.

"It's time," he announced. "How are things on your end?"

Hana Inuzuka was the first to speak up. "On behalf of my mother, the clan head, the entire Inuzuka clan will back you up."

Muta Aburame expressed the same sentiments on his clan's behalf. The same couldn't be said for the Hyuga.

Akiara Hyuga stood up. "Most of the branch members are willing, but as you know, if the main family does not agree, they will be able to activate the seal to control us."

"It won't be a problem with the younger generation in the main family," Yui Hyuga added. "However, the older generation, including Hiashi, are more inclined to side with the Uchiha elders."

"So how much support do we have?" Itachi questioned.

Yui and Akiara exchanged glances. Yui shrugged. "About half. More if the main family doesn't activate the branch marking."

Itachi nodded, turning to Toshiro, Shisui, and Obito for their reports. Like the Hyuga family, the Uchihas were split. According to Shisui, most of the Uchihas who didn't have a close connection to the main family were in favor of ending the war. Obito, with his vast connections with the civilians, reported that most wanted to see the end of war. The main family, the ones with the most power, was going to be their fiercest opposition.

"They scoff at the idea of peace," Toshiro was saying. "They still continue to believe in Madara's ideology. The Uchiha council will never agree to this."

"Of course not. If it wasn't for them, this war wouldn't have happened in the first place," Obito interjected. "We'll have to fight."

Itachi motioned for Obito to sit. "Don't be hasty. The final pieces of the plan are coming together. The council has called for a meeting tomorrow. Should the negotiation fail, then are you prepared to turn against our own?"

A coup.

Everyone in the room nodded grimly, including Kakashi who was just starting to get the idea of Itachi's master plan. He had to admit; it was frighteningly good.

"How confident are you?" Shisui asked.

Itachi smiled. "Confident enough. I'm going to dismantle the entire system from inside out, even if it's the last thing that I do. We cannot continue to live in the past. It's time for a change."

Ten minutes before the council meeting was due to start, Itachi was in the holding cells located at the basement level in the same building. His hand was curled around one of the metal bars while his shoulder rested between the gaps of the bar.

"Sorry about this," Itachi said, earning a chuckle from the older man.

"I could be dead. This is nothing," Kakashi responded as he stared at the chakra suppressing chains wrapped around all four of his limbs. The chains rattled.

"When is the meeting happening?"

"In ten minutes."

"How are you feeling?"

To say that Itachi wasn't feeling a bit nervous would be a lie. Even if he was the epitome of calm and collected on the outside, Itachi couldn't help but feel a bit uneasy about the impending confrontation. After all, for all of his rebellious acts against his elders, this was the first time Itachi had done anything on such a large scale. And there was a high possibility that it would fail.

"I just want it to end," Itachi finally confessed. "I'm tired of it all."

Silence stretched out between them before Itachi spoke again. "Where's the girl? Is she safe?"

Kakashi was caught off guard by Itachi's question. "She's with the Senjus."

Itachi nodded and began to offer information without being prompted. "I met her for the first time when I was eight. Daisuke Uchiha was showing me what it meant to not have mercy on my enemies. Even on the brink of death, she never stopped fighting. Even unconscious, her body was healing herself.

"After witnessing her medical talents, the council crafted a plan to get her to become loyal to us. They would set her free, let her develop her talent for a few years, then eventually we would bring her back. After what she has been through, she has every right to hate the Uchihas, yet I felt so powerless when I watched them put her under a genjutsu to remain loyal to the Uchihas."

"And?" Kakashi prompted after a few seconds of silence.

"Before, I wanted to become the leader to achieve peace. But after that, I decided that I was going to destroy the hierarchy when I became leader. It disgusted me to see that we were manipulating her for the majority of her life."

"You'll be able to do it."

"When this is all over, promise me one thing. Convince the Senjus to let her go. The least that I can do is give back her freedom after having taken over a decade away from her."

Kakashi nodded.

Itachi left the holding cells, feeling much better once the burden had been lifted off his shoulder. On his way to the meeting room, he spotted various familiar faces. Hana gave him an encouraging nod as he passed. Muta patted him lightly on the shoulder. Akiara and Yui both gave him thumbs up, mouthing a word of encouragement. Toshiro fell into step besides him, accompanying him until they reached the front of the meeting room.

Obito and Shisui were there, waiting for him.

"Go knock some sense into those old geezers," Obito proclaimed, slapping him on the back. "Don't worry. We'll be out here the entire time." Toshiro nodded in agreement.

Itachi nodded in gratitude before he exchanged a glance with Shisui.

This was it. The goal that they had formed when they were children depended on the next hour. Itachi thought back to the abandoned training ground, back to the place where it all started. Back to when he was eight years old when he first made the resolve that achieving peace would be the first thing that he would accomplish when he became the leader.

The time has come.

Itachi and Shisui entered the room, taking their seats at the head of the table. Itachi made eye contact with his father, but unlike last time, his gaze didn't waver. Disappointment flashed in his father's eyes, but Itachi was beyond caring.

Natsuo was the first to speak. "We are losing the war. How did we go from winning to losing when leadership passed onto you, Itachi? The council demands an explanation."

Itachi held Natsuo's gaze as he spoke. "There is no winning in war. Only losers. How can you call it winning when so many lives are lost for something so pointless?"

A few people flinched with Daisuke slammed his fist down onto the table, but Itachi remained calm. "People are dying because of your poor leadership. Their deaths are on your conscience. It was already bad enough that we lost Hokuto, but you had to go and allow them to capture Azuma. At this rate, Kita won't last long either. What are you going to do to fix this?"

"Sign a peace treaty," Itachi proposed without hesitation, much to the shock of the council members. "At the rate we're going, we're only going to lose."

"And that's why I told you that we needed to form an alliance with Oto. They have shinobis that will be able to fight with us," Natsuo huffed. "But you wouldn't listen."

Itachi nodded at Shisui, who tossed a pile of papers to the middle of the table. "Collaborate with Oto? Look how well collaborating with Danzo ended for us. Danzo stole Sharingans from dead Uchihas and embedded them into his artificial arm. There's evidence that Orochimaru was working with him."

The council members grabbed at the stack of papers, eyes roving over the pictures of Danzo's arm, along with all of the information that Itachi had gathered on the Root Foundation and Oto. Only Fugaku remained completely apathetic, leaning back against his chair like all of this wasn't new information to him.

Of course it wasn't. Itachi had a hunch that his father had known all along and simply turned a blind eye to it for the sake of keeping their good relations.

The general sentiment was the same, a mixture of disgust and betrayal.

"This is unacceptable." Daisuke was the one who finally spoke up. "That doesn't change the fact that we are losing the war."

"The Root Foundation has been completely destroyed by the Senjus," Itachi stated. "I set them up. Let me put it this way, if we don't end the war now, we will continue to be at a further disadvantage in the future."

"The Senjus have successfully reclaimed the Land of the Whirlpool, which cuts off our access to their weaker outposts. Our only option is to attack Hoshi, but that outpost is heavily guarded. Not to mention, we will need to reclaim Hokuto and Azuma first," Itachi continued. "We lost our best medic. Our medics are unable to find an antidote before a massive number of casualties occur; the attack at Kita a few days ago proved that. The next time that the Senjus attack, we will most certainly lose Kita."

Daisuke scoffed. "And even if we yield now, the terms will be at our disadvantage."

Itachi shook his head. "I found the rat in our ranks. Kakashi Hatake, the fourth leader's student. He's very important to the Senjus so they will negotiate to get him back."

Itachi scanned the crowd. He could see that Hiashi was on the verge of being convinced, along with two other Uchiha representatives. Fugaku remained apathetic, yet Itachi could tell that his father was thoroughly disappointed in him although he knew that his father wouldn't fight against him.

Daisuke and Natsuo would be the hardest ones to convince. Itachi was only grateful that Sora was at the outposts instead; otherwise, he would fight fiercely against his decision.

"I've spoken to Minato. He is willing to call off the war if we are."

"But Madara…"

"Madara is dead," Itachi interjected. "Are we going to continue to live by the ideology of a dead man? Besides, most of the Senju army isn't of Senju blood anymore. Most of them no longer harbor a hatred towards the Uchihas; we are simply fighting for no reason."

"There is a reason-"

Itachi cut Daisuke off again. "Madara is dead," Itachi emphasized. "For every single generation, we've been at war. What good is there when only one kid out of five makes it to adulthood? What good is there being constantly sent out to the battlefield, in those treacherous conditions? What good is there to live for the sake of fighting against someone that we harbor no hatred for? Why can't we be at peace? Let our ancestor's misgivings lie in the past."

"We-"

"As their descendants, we shouldn't have the responsibility of shouldering their hatred."

"How can you easily dismiss the ideology that our ancestors left us? How-"

"With time, there comes change, for better or worse. You'll either stand with me or you'll become my enemy."

For the first time, Fugaku spoke. "What are you implying?"

"A coup. In our alliance, more than two thirds are against the war. Even if you don't side with us, we will fight for the peace that we deserve. Which will you choose?"

Itachi stared down every person on the council. The head of the Inuzuka and Aburame clans were the first to voice their wish for peace. Two Uchihas exchanged a quick glance before they nodded. Hiashi leaned back against his chair, crossing his arms across his chest as he eyed the others.

Finally, Hiashi voiced his approval.

"There will be people who won't be happy about this," Natsuo warned.

Itachi cocked his head to the side. "Does it look like I care? I'm looking out for the future of the clan." Natsuo conceded.

"I hope you know what you're doing," Fugaku simply stated before he gave his approval.

Itachi turned to Daisuke. Though he was only one person, he was still a crucial figure. As the Feudal Lord, he had a lot of power due to the amount of respect that he commanded from the majority of the clan.

"You're threatening us."

"I am."

"You got a lot of guts, kid."

"Sometimes you have to fight to get what you want."

It felt like an eternity as the two of them stared at each other, neither one backing down. And what felt like ages later, Daisuke finally broke his gaze away from Itachi.

And finally, Daisuke nodded.

Itachi smiled.

A/N: Hi again!

Some news for you: there's still 3 chapters left in the story, but this is the end of the Uchihas' side of the story. I felt that it was left really open ended, so my own curiosity led me to start writing a sequel. The sequel features all of the characters that appear in this chapter (namely the group that Itachi was working with) and a bit of Kakashi and Rin, but they won't be the focus since they already got their story. Given the hate towards the Uchihas haha, I want to know how many people would still read it. The timeframe will be set a few months after the war. The entire concept of the story spawns from Itachi's last line before the meeting "I'm going to dismantle the system inside and out..."

Would you be interested in reading it? Let me know because I won't waste my time to post if no one wants to read it lol.

Next chapter will be the final "past" chapter where you find out the exact moment that Kakashi became a spy for the Senjus. :)

Guest: Thanks for the feedback! I can definitely see why you hate Obito now, but what is done is done, I suppose.

Guest: I'm glad you enjoyed the mini friendship scene. As for what happens to Rin now that she's with the Senjus, it'll be addressed soon. :)

Thanks for reading! Until next time!

-MM