Sasuke and Itachi finally train together in this chapter, and at the end Sasuke starts to draw some conclusions of his own that may or may not be right. But how right? Thanks for sticking with this so far! :)

So they were hiding something from him, Naruto and Sasuke, that Itachi was sure of.

Itachi managed to sneak back into the Uzumaki house after visiting Sasuke, but a few minutes later found himself being scolded by a heated Hinata who was displeased that her child had left when he should have been resting; Naruto was nowhere to be found.

He lay in his bed and stared up at the ceiling, hour after hour, at the shadows cast on his wall from the street lamp outside. It was impossible to sleep with so much on his mind. What were they trying to hide? Even if they didn't want him involved because he was a kid, that still didn't account for the fact that something serious was going on. Something was after someone. There was a danger, and Itachi felt partially responsible to figure it out.

Sasuke wouldn't readily talk, so he couldn't push his brother. He knew Sasuke probably (re: most definitely) had problems opening up and was prone to shutting down easily; he needed to take this relationship slowly and learn about his brother again. In only a few hours time it would be morning and it'd be time for him to meet with Sasuke to train. Before that though, he needed a plan to get to know him better, to see how he had changed over time. And, overall, to see how he himself had changed too.

When the sun finally began to shine overtop the peak of the stone faces the next morning, Itachi had already changed and written a letter to his mother explaining where he'd be. He stepped out onto the front step of the house and was just about to wonder aloud where he was going when he felt a pull to turn right. He didn't even need to ask where to go to meet Sasuke, or even ask what time they'd meet: a silent voice told him where to go, the same one from the hospital that told him Hinata Uzumaki was his mother. Clearly some of Boruto was sinking into and syncing with his brain now.

His legs led him to the outskirts of town and he felt the sudden pain of nostalgia sting his heart. He recognized his surroundings: this was the Uchiha training grounds, the ones Sasuke used to follow him to as a kid. Now he was following his brother for that guidance.

Itachi quickly looked around and saw no one, so he allowed himself to walk slowly around the posts scattered around the open field and observe the holes that punctuated the targets. Were these his marks? Proof that he had existed in another body at one time? He reached out to rub a finger over them, almost as though he was wishing for a memory to jump out at him, but either one from himself or Boruto he didn't know.

This was depressing and a little surreal. Here was a part of his past life and his new life drawn together, a symbol of now and what might have been. These grounds held so many memories and so many promises of a life unfinished. This is where he perfected his shuriken skills, keeping one eye on the shuriken and another on Sasuke hiding in the shadows. This is where he excitedly shared with Shisui that he was joining the Anbu. This is where…

Over the sound of shivering leaves, he could hear the muffled rushing of water in the distance. Just beyond these trees, protecting this field like a baby bird, was where Shisui killed himself.

Shit. All at once the emotions and memories from this place flooded his head and he felt dizzy. He sat down against a target to catch his receding breath.

"Lazy already?"

Itachi looked up to see Sasuke standing before him, coldly, a hand on his hip. He hadn't even heard him approach.

He scrambled to his feet and heard himself stutter an apology as though he was slightly frightened by Sasuke, like there wasn't another person in the world he wanted to please more. He honestly half expected his brother to be grinning and bounding up to him asking if he can help, but by his looming stance, it appeared as if he was the one who was waiting for Boruto to rush up to him begging for guidance.

"How are you feeling?" Sasuke asked before Itachi had a chance to defend himself.

"Fine…"

"Are you up for training?"

"Of course!" he cried. Though really, what he wanted even more, was a chance to talk.

"So show me this then," Sasuke said, gliding closer. "You bragged the other day about making a rasengan bigger than even your dad's. Let's see it." Itachi noticed a sharp edge to his voice as he barked the direction and he took a step backward in surprise.

For a moment he felt stuck. Rasengan? Like the fourth? Surely he couldn't do that; Itachi never had that ability. He was about to open his mouth to come up with an excuse when his body began moving on its own. His hands reached out instinctively and he could feel his chakra move toward his hands, spinning out tightly. In front of him he watched in awe as a swirling blue ball emerged between them without even having to stop to think about what he was doing. The rasengan! Never in his past life had he tried a jutsu like this, yet from the way his chakra and body moved simultaneously, he could have sworn he had been doing this his whole life. The ball kept growing larger in his palms and he drew his hands outward to accommodate.

He looked up at Sasuke eagerly for approval- Sasuke, do you see this?! I am doing the rasengan!- but Sasuke just stared at it bored like it was only a kid's party trick.

A memory flashed in Itachi's mind. As a child this would have absolutely delighted Sasuke, the color swirling and twirling about. He was obsessed as a toddler with watching people perform the fireball jutsu; he remembered the way his eyes would dance over the flame, his mouth slightly open in awe, as if he couldn't believe that someday he'd be able to do the same thing. Of course he was an adult now, and an accomplished one at that, so he wouldn't be as amused by jutsu he could perform, but Itachi noticed how much his disappointed face resembled Fugaku in that moment and how disappointed Sasuke would have been if Itachi told him that. Sasuke wanted to be like his father, but Itachi was sure Sasuke wouldn't want to be as jaded and strict. Oh no. Not the Sasuke he knew.

"It's definitely large," Sasuke said impassively.

"As...as big as my dad's?" Itachi's mouth blurted eagerly.

"I think I've seen him make bigger." Oh Sasuke, what happened to you?

Even though Itachi had never created a rasengan in his life, and didn't know if Boruto had ever created a bigger one, he felt a personal pull to push himself to his limits until he impressed his brother. The pull was so large and so deep, he knew it was an innate need inside both Boruto's body and Itachi's soul.

"Watch this!" He heard himself cry out, and after maximizing out the size he could, he threw it past Sasuke's head and into the open field. It razored down trees at the far end and continued to cut down everything in its trajectory until they could only see an open path that led as far as they could see.

"That was...impressive," Sasuke settled on. Itachi saw his eyes were widened only by a small amount, but by the way his heart pounded in delight, he knew that this must have been the reaction Boruto trained for. Sasuke, do you ever show that you're proud anymore?

Itachi felt himself grin but instantly saw the world slant as another bout of dizziness overtook him. He faltered slightly and slunk to the ground.

"Maybe you overdid it." He looked up to see the shadow of his brother towering over him, eclipsed from the sun, but an arm swooped down to hand him water. He reached up to take it and that's when he noticed it.

"Your arm!" Itachi cried.

"My arm?"

Itachi clamped his mouth shut, remembering his self-rules about needing to not talk about anything unless someone brought it up first. (But how did he not notice yesterday? Sasuke was missing an arm!)

Sasuke pulled his cape around tighter to his body. "I've never had a left arm," he deadpanned. "It's always been this way."

Liar. Maybe if "always" started after Itachi died.

Sasuke what happened to you? his brain screamed again. But he watched as Sasuke just stared down at him, eyes completely blank. Again, he knew Sasuke would be more closed down, but he just didn't prepare himself for this complete change. Yet of course it would be this way. Didn't he himself, Itachi, warn Naruto all those years ago? He was prepared then. So why did it hurt so much to see his brother this withdrawn now?

Maybe this is what Itachi was supposed to fix: his brother. Their relationship. How could he do that though if Sasuke couldn't know (at least yet) that he was actually Itachi?

"Drink." Sasuke snapped Itachi back to his thoughts. He noticed he was staring at Sasuke, the bottle of water to his lips but not touching. He gulped down the water as Sasuke settled down next to him.

"Maybe you should rest for a while."

Itachi gasped coming up for air after downing the water. "Okay. And in the meantime maybe we could just talk," he said.

"Talk?" Sasuke raised an eyebrow at him. After a second of looking at Itachi, whose face didn't budge, he leaned back against a post and said, "Okay, what would you like to talk about?"

"Well...okay…" Itachi's mind whirled. Just from looking at his brother, his soul begged to know how he strayed so far from the Sasuke he knew. It was his fault, wasn't it- he was the catalyst that launched Sasuke down this path. He thought he returned when he saw him working with Naruto, but of course the pain couldn't completely clear; sometimes there are just some things you can't come back from and you're changed forever. Yet something cleared enough to make him return and become a doting father.

And since he made such a mistake the first time with Sasuke, isn't it his responsibility then to fix it and make sure he didn't damage Sasuke further? What can he learn about healing from Sasuke? "Well. What does it mean to be a shinobi?" he finally settled upon.

"Wow," Sasuke said, "that must have really been a big bump on your head. What makes you ask such a question?"

"I just feel like I've changed a lot the last few days. Life was really put into perspective for me…"

"You're wondering about pain," Sasuke said pointedly as though he completely understood every thought in Itachi's mind. "Why some people die for something, like something so small as retrieving documents for the village, like what happened to you."

Sure. "Well, I mean, I get that it's for our security. I'd do anything for the Leaf…" I'd protect the Leaf all over again, but how can I still save you? he wanted to scream. What can I change? Tell me how to be the right shinobi because I was wrong the first time! "I just don't know what's necessary and what's...not."

"It's all necessary," Sasuke replied, "to keep your people safe. You make sacrifices to keep those you love alive, and therefore it's all necessary. Pain. Suffering. You can't separate that and peace. With peace follows suffering. You know death sometimes happens. But you know, your father does a pretty good job at making sure people feel the peace without the suffering."

"And so what's your role?" Itachi blurted before he could stop himself.

Sasuke eyed him. "My role? To take on that pain to ensure everyone else can live in peace." He laughed once, a dry bark. "You have had such a good life so far because of all your father has done, honestly- don't tell him I said that though or I'll kill you- it's hard for you to comprehend how much pain there is because you've never seen it. Being a shinobi now may mean something different than it used to because of the peace you've seen, but someday the darkness may return, and I want to prepare you. Sometimes your dad has too rose-colored of glasses on, and though he's a strong shinobi, we need to prepare your generation to take over someday." How did I miss our generation taking over?

"But there has to be a way to make everyone happy. Right? How do you save everyone?"

Sasuke sighed. "Sometimes you can't." You can't truly believe that, Sasuke, can you? Did I help create this view? "And that's just the harsh truth of being a shinobi. One your father doesn't seem to subscribe to, and one you're questioning now. Coming close to death for you has just made you question why this is even worth it, and I'll admit, I once questioned the same thing, but I…" He stopped.

"You what?"

"Nothing," he murmured. Itachi couldn't read his eyes. Sasuke, let me in. Realistically he knew he couldn't expect him to be the same wide-eyed little boy with so much wonder for the world, but he still reeled at no longer being able to read his brother like an open book.

"So we sacrifice ourselves for the ones we love because that's what we're supposed to do," Itachi pressed on, "...and what happens to them? We do it for them, but what happens after?" Can we save them? Tell me how to go back and save you and I'll do it.

Sasuke shrugged. "That's up to them. They choose their own path and how they cope. But I guess our goal is to make sure as many people are as safe and happy as possible so no one has to make the choice about 'after.' There shouldn't be an 'after.'"

"Yet you still don't believe you can save everyone?" Itachi pushed.

"Darkness will always exist, just like I said. Unfortunately there's not always a happy ending, so all we can do is try but be realistic about it." So do you think you could go back to save yourself?

"Are you done philosophizing now?" Sasuke asked.

But before Itachi had a chance to answer, a hawk swooped down from the sky. Sasuke hastily untied a note and read it quickly before jumping to his feet. "Sorry," he said, swiftly walking away now. "I have to go. We'll continue this later." He disappeared without so much as a look back at his brother still sitting on the ground.

He was alone. Well, Itachi, is that what you expected? Obviously Sasuke would have changed, but he didn't realize how much he was wishing deep down it wasn't true. Somehow he thought he would have changed, but that his small, eager little brother would be at his core. If that little Sasuke was still in there, he was iced over and frozen by now. So much had changed.

This was supposed to be a way to get more of an in to learn more about what he and Naruto were hiding from him in regards to the mission that brought him back, but now he felt just as compelled to work out the knots that had developed inside of Sasuke. He not only needed to get to the bottom of the mission that was for sure a reason he came back, he knew he definitely needed to heal his relationship with Sasuke and bring closure to that past.

So if he wanted to find a way to start getting to know his brother again, to learn what had brought Sasuke to this state, and Sasuke wasn't budging much, where should he start? Where should he go that he knows and feels most like himself, when Sasuke was still innocent, when they were just brothers? His eyes settled on the large Uchiha stone across the field that designated this land to his family. That was it. He needed to go back to where it all started and ended. He needed to go home.

Naruto faced the window, hands behind his back, with his back to Sasuke. "Are you sure?" he asked.

"Positive," Sasuke replied firmly.

"We shouldn't jump to any conclusions-" Shikamaru began but Sasuke cut him off.

"I know what I saw. Something happened that night to him. I thought at first someone wiped his mind with a jutsu and that's why he had no memories, but I think someone just locked them down. I think someone used a very powerful jutsu and the enemy took him over." He took a step closer to Naruto.

"I could see it in his eyes, Naruto. It's not Boruto. I think someone else is in his body. I was suspicious last night but today... I think he's trying to gain information to see what we know about what they are doing to report back to his team. I'll keep a watch on him while I try to figure this out more. He's my responsibility," Sasuke growled.

Naruto's eyes focused hard on the village outside. "But he's my child," he argued, turning around to face his friends standing in front of his desk. At first Sasuke thought he was responding to his claim that he was Sasuke's responsibility, but he realized after leaving that Naruto was really saying How could someone take my child?

Next chapter Itachi will be visiting his old home and the whole Uchiha side of town. Sarada is going to start making more of an entrance and large part to the story starting next chapter too.