Chapter 46

Hello all, as a heads up I didn't get the first chapter of the Remaster finished for a few reasons. One, I wanted to take a break over Christmas and two, it's going to be far longer than I originally thought, the first 6/700 words of the original is already 3500 so the chapter might run to 8000-10,000 words.

But my new Fic is ready to go, the first two chapters of that will be going up at the same time as this.

Oh, and merry Christmas.

Sibling Fallouts

The sun's rays were overwhelming, his eyes were screwed shut but it still penetrated beneath his eyelids to cause him minor discomfort. They'd deliberately changed out the material of the curtains for a thicker fabric specifically to cut this out and it still got through. It was an annoyingly constant occurrence for the beds two occupants because the rooms sole window was at the perfect angle to allow the early to mid-morning sunlight to stream through.

If the male occupant had still been asleep then it wouldn't have been an issue. But it was years ago that he'd reached the point where his Sharingan would activate the moment he woke, it wasn't even a conscious action anymore.

"Ugh, the new curtains don't work very well, it's still too bright," he complained. "You could just turn your Sharingan off as I suggested," a female voice replied in amusement. "Hm," he grunted as the intensity of the light continued to rise. In a last-ditch attempt to stem the blinding tide he hid his head beneath their thin duvet.

"Much better," he quietly said as the light stabbing at his eyes dropped sharply. After a few seconds Itachi was able to open his eyes to take in the very appealing side-effect of being able to see under the duvet. Izumi lay on her side facing him and she was without a shred of clothing.

He went silent as he appreciated her physical beauty, his sudden silence perked the interest of the until now dozing Izumi, her head appearing under the duvet shortly after. "Hey."

"Hey," he distractedly replied, his eyes not leaving her body. She followed his gaze to her breasts and smiled. "See something you like?" she asked as she shuffled closer to him. Her question finally tore his eyes from her chest as he took in her grin. "Yeah, there's one thing in particular," he said looping an arm under her and pulling Izumi to him.

"That was both sweet and corny, Itachi-kun," she giggled. "Perhaps, but you did say you enjoyed me looking at you," he blankly replied. Izumi knew that he was teasing her despite the monotonous tone he'd used, the small grin on his lips proving her point. After all he was effectively paraphrasing a statement she'd made a while back during one of the more 'enthusiastic' nights.

"I did say that, didn't I," she whispered in his ear while taking one of his hands. "Hmm, your hand is too cold," she noted. "We'd best warm it up," as Itachi raised an eyebrow she wrapped his hand in both of hers

"I believe there was a second half to that quote," she added with a hum of enjoyment as she vigorously rubbed her hands against his, the friction quickly warming his skin. "Don't worry I remember," he assured her.

"You up to much important today?"

"There are a few things I need to do this afternoon. I'm going to go see Kaa-chan and I'm hoping to speak to Tri-kun, he's supposed to be back from the capital today according to Naruto-kun. But none of that is going to make me get out of bed anytime soon. How about you?" She shook her head, "No, nothing much for me, I've some paperwork I need to hand in and then I thought I'd do some training. But now I'm curious, is there nothing I can do? Nothing that could tempt you out of bed?" she grinned.

"As she spoke she ceased rubbing his hand, her action having noticeably increased its surface temperature. Bringing it up to her mouth she kissed his palm before placing his hand over one of her breasts, "There, much better," she happily chimed.

"Ok, now you've made me curious too, if anything this is going to only lessen my desire to get out of bed even further," he asked rubbing his thumb gently against her skin. "Well, I was thinking, it's been a good while since we last showered together." His eyes widened a little as he cast his mind back, "Huh," he muttered, it had indeed been a while, five to six weeks by his reckoning. "You know what, that does sound nice."
"Excellent, that means you can carry me," she excitedly said.

Itachi lightly snorted in laughter at her request, she had him carry her around rather often, it was something she enjoyed and he was happy to perform the simple task for her. He threw the duvet back, Izumi's laughter filling the room as he lifted her from their bed.

Snuggling against his shoulder she sighed, she loved the feeling of quasi-weightlessness that being carried by Itachi provided her. "Do you feel like eating out tonight?" he asked her upon reaching the hallway. Her head snapped up, "Absolutely," she cheered, her head eagerly bobbing up and down. "Ok, I believe it's your turn to decide where."
"Yay," she again cheered as they reached their small bathroom. Setting her down on the plush bathmat he reached in to turn the taps on.

Despite its small size it featured a shower more than big enough for them both to comfortably fit in. Turning back around Itachi was greeted by a most magnificent sight, Izumi had hopped up onto the sink basin and leaned back against the mirror. Her long, dark hair spread over her front, the black colour contrasting well with her light skin. With a hand on each knee she slowly, agonisingly slowly pushed them apart allowing him to drink in the sight of her entire form.

With just a single finger and a knowing grin she beckoned him to her.

-(*)-

'And breathe,' he told himself. Even after a stress-free morning in the company of Izumi he felt a sense of dread returning, it was time to once again visit his sole remaining parent. He still loved her like every son should love their mother. But when he looked upon her now he wasn't reminded of Uchiha Mikoto, instead he saw the fragmented remains of a once remarkable woman who had been his mother, his Kaa-san.

That feeling of dread tried to well up once more only to again be beaten down a second time. He felt it every time he came here, born from a mixture of hope, hope that she had in some way improved, and a heavy dose of pragmatism. That pragmatism was created by Itachi's years as a Shinobi to always expect the worst, it left him almost devoid of optimism, yet a small bastion held out. Thus the dread would return just as he did on each of his visits.

With a heavy sigh he stepped up to the door and knocked. As an immediate member of the family he could have just simply walked in and none would have batted an eyelid, but not now, not to him. To Itachi, this building was just that, a building, a house he no longer called home, inhabited by a family he barely recognised anymore.

After a short time the door opened, just as always he was greeted by an elderly woman, "Itachi-sama," she greeted him, taking his hands into hers, Itachi respectfully inclining his head to the senior Uchiha. "Hello, Tetsudai-sama," he replied. Both still disliked the 'Sama' honorific but both would only drop it if the other did so first and both were too stubborn to be the first, thus it remained.

She bade him enter, stepping aside so that he might do so, quietly closing the door behind him. First removing his sandals he stepped further into the hall before turning to face her, 'Let's get the inevitable out of the way,' he thought already convinced of the answer he would receive.

"Has there been any change?" he asked her. With a look of compassion on her face she slowly shook her head, with a small sigh he nodded in return. "She's had less paperwork to grind through of late so I have been able to coax her into resting more, I still believe her best chance of healing lies in more rest and less stress," she said hopefully, oh how Itachi wanted to share in her optimism but he couldn't, again he just nodded.

"And what of my younger sibling?" he next asked. The glint of sadness that crossed her eyes wasn't missed by him but both had long since seemed to stop seeing each other as brothers, a great indicator of the growing animosity and resentment. "More and more his anger overwhelms him and I fear he will grow only worse now that he has awoken his Sharingan."

That stopped Itachi in his tracks, "What? When did this happen?" he quickly asked. He knew of Sasuke's recent mission to the Land of Waves but not the specifics and certainly not this important detail. "During his most recent mission in Nami no Kuni, I don't know what happened but when he returned he said he'd awoken them but nothing more. Did you not know of this?" A third time he shook his head. "No, I know about as much of this latest mission as you do."

'This will be something else to ask Tri-kun at some point," he thought to himself.

Tetsudai quickly looked around, making sure it was just the two of them before she spoke, her voice quieter than before. "Since his return I've overheard him muttering to himself about usurping you as clan heir." That made him silently chuckle, 'Still harbour desires to best me, Sasuke-kun?'

"I wouldn't worry too greatly about that, Tetsudai-sama. I've faced far worst and triumphed, it's going to take far more than a petulant teenager with anger issues to usurp me, Sharingan or no." She seemed to visibly wince at his words

"Shall we go see her?" she asked, after taking a moment to recompose himself he agreed. Together they slowly passed through the building, despite her age Tetsudai did a wonderful job of keeping the place looking immaculate. Before long they reached the corridor that held the entrance to the office.

Ever since her breakdown Itachi had not once seen her in any other room, at least not while she was conscious. Just as he'd yet to see her do anything that wasn't in any way clan work related.

Walking into her office, he began the process of what he always did. A kiss on the head was followed by a brief hug before he rounded the desk to sit in the chair before her. After which, he talked, weeks of events were recited in succinct detail to a woman whose facial expressions couldn't have looked any more blank as she continued to churn through paperwork, not slowing in the slightest in the presence of her eldest son.

And Tetsudai did as she always did, lean against the doorframe and watch and listen. Watch as neither Itachi nor Mikoto moved as he spoke, and listened as Itachi's tone of voice never changed regardless of whether he spoke of something happy or sad. The whole experience made Tetsudai feel melancholic but continue to watch she did.

From the sounds of it Itachi was nearing the end when she heard footsteps approaching from down the hall. Turning her head she saw it was Sasuke who'd shown himself. "Sasuke-sama," she politely and respectfully greeted him, he seemed about to respond when he heard Itachi's voice, his attention immediately switching to that.

Looking into the office he watched him speak on what seemed to be mundane things. "What is he doing?" he quietly demanded of the older woman. "Talking," she answered. "Talking?" he repeated in mild confusion, his voice carried a tone that expected her to elaborate. "Yes, just talking. Whenever he visits he just sits in that chair and tells her what he's been up to." For a few moments the constant look of anger and annoyance left Sasuke's face, "Does she ever respond?"

"No," she said with a sigh. That look instantly returned to Sasuke's face and he snorted, "So what's the point," he said darkly before stomping off down the hall. A sad look from Tetsudai followed him, his shoulders slumped, hands buried in his pockets. With another sigh she turned back to the office. Itachi had finished and was in the process of bidding farewell with another hug.

As Itachi moved out into hall Tetsudai placed a hand on his shoulder and squeezed, he gave her a weak smile in return before his features steeled. "Which way did Sasuke-kun go?" he bluntly asked. She pointed him down the hall and Itachi vanished, only to reappear a moment later, his sandals in hand. He'd been so quick her hand hadn't had a chance to feel the effects of gravity, it was still on his shoulder.

Instead of shunshining again he chose to instead walk normally up the hall. He heard Sasuke long before seeing him so he knew he was outside as stepped out of one of the houses two side doors. Slipping on his sandals he silently closed the door behind him. It brought him out to a narrow but long training area. He stood at one end and down the other end were wooden targets used for shuriken training, Sasuke was perhaps a third of the way up with his back to him. Along the right-hand side was the house and on the left was a wooden fence built to stop ricocheting shuriken from flying off and potentially hurting someone.

As if on cue Sasuke threw a shuriken, it struck a previously thrown shuriken instead of the wooden target and recoiled off embedding in the fence, it left Sasuke growling in frustration. "Why won't they fly straight?" he angrily asked himself. "It's because you're tensing your wrist and forearm as you release," Itachi neutrally supplied.

Sasuke spun on the spot, he hadn't heard Itachi's approach, "Seems you need to work on your awareness too, I did nothing to inhibit my presence." Sasuke said nothing, he just watched with suspicion as Itachi walked over to the fence, retrieved the shuriken and walked back.

"That tension means that although you're releasing at the right time you're dragging it slightly off target, like so," he slowly, by his standards, launched the metal implement at the target, one of the four metal prongs buried itself deeply in the wood. Sasuke lowly growled again at how it had flown arrow straight and hit the bullseye.

'I'll show him!' he shouted in his mind as he withdrew another shuriken and let fly, putting all the power he could behind the overarm release, again it lacked accuracy. Itachi shook his head, overarm throws always sacrificed accuracy for power, himself preferring to use the back-hand wrist form, it sacrificed a little power in exchange for greater reliability of accuracy.

"You focus too greatly on power, Sasuke-kun. Focus on accuracy first then you can incorporate power, it's no good if you miss your target entirely."
"Oh what do you care?" Sasuke snapped, withdrawing another shuriken and lobbing it, he almost missed the target entirely. "I would prefer my only sibling get through the Chūnin Exams alive." Sasuke narrowed his eyes, "And how would you know if I'm competing?"

"Truthfully, I don't, I don't think you're near ready. But I do know Kakashi-kun, he is lax in responsibility, lazy and frankly rather ill-suited to be a sensei. I fully expect him to dump the application forms on you about a week or so before the exams begin."

Funnily enough Sasuke agreed with Itachi's assessment of Kakashi but to say he wasn't ready for the Chūnin Exams? He snorted in amusement. "You think it a joke?" he retorted, "These are no Academy tests, people die in these Exams. Do you not remember what happened in Kumogakure, Naruto-kun killed someone for simply insulting Kushina-sama. Then I and Tri-kun put each other in the hospital."

"It doesn't matter, no one can stand against me," he arrogantly declared. "What? Because you've finally awoken your Sharingan?" Sasuke visibly winced but quickly recovered his bravado, "And how would you know if I have?"
"Because I listen, far more than you ever have, you'd be amazed at what you can learn by simply listening."
"Hmph, irrelevant," he dismissively and stubbornly declared as he went to collect his shuriken. Itachi walked with him, "What? You think your under-developed Sharingan is going to make much of a difference? I had eight years' experience using mine by the time I was your age, whereas you've had little more than eight days."

"Shut up! The Sharingan is unbeatable," Sasuke shouted in frustration. "You'll be competing against Shinobi much older and far more experienced, some will be faster than your new Sharingan can currently compensate for."
"What do you want?" Sasuke asked as they picked up shuriken. "I'm here to tell you to wise up, Sasuke-kun. Drop the arrogance and learn to control your emotions. I know you're smart, definitely smart enough to realise that relying solely on your Sharingan so soon is foolish."
"Hah! As if you've ever fought without using your Sharingan before."
"Well, you're technically right, I've never fought in anger without using them. But I've trained plenty without them against Tri-kun."

"Again you mention the pathetic half-breed, and for what!?" Itachi snorted, "And again you aren't listening. I trained against someone who understands the Sharingan and is fast enough to counter the heightened perception it grants, there is no one better suited to train against than him."

With all the shuriken recovered Itachi looked Sasuke dead in the eyes, he deactivated his Sharingan so black eyes stared into black eyes. "Sasuke-kun, being so reliant on your Sharingan will prove your undoing as it eventually would for me if I hadn't taken steps to decrease my reliance on my eyes. Yes, they are powerful but far from unbeatable."

Itachi knew the dangers of over-reliance on his eyes better than most, his Mangekyō's vision had already begun to worsen despite his limited use of its greatest abilities. But he couldn't tell him of the Mangekyō's existence because he feared Sasuke would stop at nothing to obtain them.

Sasuke took a few moments to consider the feasibility of Itachi's words, the Sharingan beatable? 'No!' a voice screamed in defiance at the back of his mind, the power of the Sharingan was absolute, there was no greater Kekkei-Genkai. The zealousness Sasuke currently experienced utterly blinded him to the fact that Madara's Sharingan had been trumped by Hashirama's Mokuton.

Seeing the defiant look grow on Sasuke's face Itachi realised it wasn't going to work, "You really should take better care of these," he said handing over a few of Sasuke's shuriken as his Sharingan reappeared in his eyes. "Also, in future, keep your comments about how I interact with Kaa-san to yourself," he warned. "Why? It's your fault she's like that."

Itachi had been in the midst of leaving when Sasuke spoke, he stopped and strained his neck to look over his shoulder. The look on his face made Sasuke step back in concern. "If you want to apportion blame then lay it at the feet of our traitor of a father. After all, you don't blame the cure to a poison, you blame the poisoner," then he was gone.

Sasuke was stunned into silence, never before had he heard Itachi speak with such authority behind his words, the raw power strengthening each syllable left him in a state of mild shock. Only after the shock wore off did his anger return but by then Itachi was long gone, not to hear a word of Sasuke's furious ranting.

-(*)-

That final comment had sparked a fuse in Itachi, it was difficult to get under his skin but Sasuke had really struck a nerve. Itachi's renowned calm persona was pushed aside as he took out his frustrations on an unfortunate training ground 71.

He dropped to his knees, the soft earth underfoot breaking his fall, gasping for air through clenched teeth. Tightly grasped in each hand was a now blunt kunai, his knuckles bleached white. Every target within the training grounds boundaries had been cut to ribbons and each now better resembled a pile of oversized matchsticks. Trees were covered in gashes and leaked sap from deep gouges, leaf covered branches cut free littered the ground.

Taking a deep breath he let the kunai slip from his limp fingers, he'd gripped them so hard he'd lost a great deal of feeling in his hands, they landed silently in the grass as his calm began to reassert itself. He looked around at the damage he'd caused, a pang of guilt welled up, the workers whose duty it was to maintain the villages training grounds wouldn't be happy. But even Itachi wasn't immune to occasionally needing to blow off steam through erratic displays of violence.

"Well you've made one hell of a mess here," a familiar voice said in amusement. Itachi lifted his head to face the direction Tri's voice emanated from. "People would expect this from me, not you. Which leaves the question – What happened?"
"I went to see Kaa-san." Tri raised an eyebrow, "And that leaves you angry now?" Itachi levelled a stare at him. "No. I also attempted to educate my foolhardy sibling."
"Ah – that would explain a great deal. I guess it didn't go well."

He had asked cautiously, Itachi wasn't the most receptive when discussing personal matters, even less so on those rare occasions of emotional outburst. Itachi made eye contact with his heterochromatic friend, Tri held his gaze. "I tried to break through that veil of arrogant stupidity he's erected around himself," he lowly said.

"The influence of my fool of a father runs deep in him, he is absolutely convinced in the total superiority of the Sharingan. And now that he's awoken his he is utterly convinced it'll be the key to success in the Chūnin exams. I don't know what you think about Rezano-san's chances but Sasuke-kun isn't close to ready to compete in them."
"Ability-wise I think Rezano-kun is able to compete at a competitive level, he has more than enough talent, I just don't think he's mentally mature enough for the pressures it entails."
"They do participate in teams of three for a reason," Itachi countered despite agreeing with him. "Irrelevant, Meshikamaru-san can't carry the both of them," Tri replied. "Agreed."

"Why do you raise the Chūnin exams? Are they taking part all off a sudden?"
"No idea," Itachi answered shrugging his shoulders, "But… Remember who their Jōnin Sensei is." Tri lifted a finger and looked ready to counter but stopped himself, "…Good point…" he conceded, after all this was Kakashi they were talking about.

"Anyway, this isn't what I'm here to talk to you about. And if possible we should keep this brief."
"Why brief?"
"Because I promised Minusha-chan I'd spend the afternoon with her but so far I've spent all of it looking for you." Itachi couldn't help the small smile that escaped, "I do apologise for inconveniencing you so."

"What do you already know?" Itachi followed up, a serious look on his face. "The Hokage was brief and very vague but whatever you found didn't sound promising, whatever it was."
"Orochimaru." That one word was all that was needed to totally grasp Tri's fullest attention. "You saw him?"
"Not, not in person but from everything I've read about him it's got his fingerprints all over it. An intelligence report from Jiraiya-sama traced him to Ta no Kuni so we followed.

"He's been a busy serpent," Itachi added referencing the missing-nin's fondness for the legless reptiles. "He's built or is in the midst of building a hidden village of his own." Tri laughed, "Still hasn't gotten over with being passed over for Tou-san when choosing the Yondaime. "How much did you find out?"
"Not much unfortunately. Are you going to be around for the exams?"

"Yes, I've been made proctor for the third exam. Why? You believe the two related somehow?" A quick look of surprise passed over his face. "Congratulations and yes, yes I do believe they're linked because of this." He pulled out a folded piece of parchment, sketched onto it was a musical note.

"A musical note?"
"Yes, look out for this on Hitai-ate over the next few weeks."
"You think he'll infiltrate the exams?"
"I do. He's made it pretty clear in the past he wants to reduce Konoha to a smouldering ruin."

"Sure but how? Let's presume this is all so he can launch a surprise attack, how does he win? He's still going to be overwhelmingly outnumbered and the advantage he gains by the surprise will fade, only Kumo has more registered Shinobi than we do.

Itachi frowned, Tri was right, it raised questions of his own. "And say he does attack during the exams, he risks endangering the lives of Genin from multiple other villages, two of which are Iwa and Suna. They'd all be baying for blood if any of their Genin were killed, he'd be crushed under sheer weight of arms."
"Perhaps he's settled for just killing Hiruzen-sama, Hokage-sama perhaps?" Tri provided.

"Maybe… But again how does he get out alive. Say he goes after Hiruzen-sama, he then has to contend with three more S-Rank Shinobi in Hokage-sama, Kushina-sama and Tsunade-sama and that's assuming Jiraiya-sama isn't in the village."

Both shook their heads, with the information they currently had it didn't make sense, "Perhaps it would be better to wait for more info, we've already passed into the realms of pure speculation," Itachi muttered. "I guess you're right. Hopefully we'll know more before too long, Muninn and Huginn are both on it already, as deeply unhappy as they were to have their task changed again. This does at least answer one question for me.

"It explains why Hokage-sama's changed tact, he wants to make a display of power throughout the Chūnin Exams. And if Orochimaru does intend to get his fangs into these exams then Hokage-sama wants to make him think twice about it."

Tri sighed, "This isn't even what I wanted to talk to you about initially either but this takes precedent despite my frustrations on the matter."
"Danzō?" Itachi guessed. "Yeah, I got chewed out big time by Hokage-sama the other day for bringing it up. But he can wait – for now."

End Chapter