Konoha's Weasel Prince
Summary: Itachi never got to use his Susanoo in his fight with Sasuke. As soon as the Kirin hit, he was sent back through time to the founder's era and it was up to him to ensure a safer and surer future for Konoha and the world at large. KisaIta TobiMada HashiMito others mentioned
It was shameful to say that it took Itachi a month of careful observation before he finally realized why Tobirama-san's and Madara-san's behavior towards each other was so familiar to him and why they were actually so close when they should have hated each other. When it finally dawned on him, he felt like bashing his head against his work table but he knew that wouldn't have done anything other than give him a headache. Still, he could not believe that he had not realized immediately what was going on. It was so obvious that it was embarrassing!
After all, it was the same way he and Kisame have acted around each other before they developed a bond, a partnership no one could break apart. He really should have recognized it earlier.
It was all there and he hadn't seen it. All the stages of relationship development between the two stubborn men was there. All the clashes, all the clicks, everything. Every conflict and every agreement. The only thing that was different was that neither Madara nor Tobirama deferred to each other like Kisame did to Itachi, but the dynamics was still there, the computability and Itachi hadn't recognized it.
He felt like a fool. He really did.
Well, he guessed not even he can notice everything right away. He wasn't a god or anything, although he wished it hadn't taken him this long to figure it all out. And he had to give both men some credit; they have hid it well, on both sides. Perhaps a bit too well. After all, they didn't seem all that aware of what was going on, either.
Really, every interaction of their relationship screamed of a classic suiton-katon relationship and Itachi should have noticed it right away, having been (still being?) in one such relationship himself. Everything was there, from the initial hostility of their different natured chakras clashing to the compatibility it also gave them. It was just like the first couple of months of his partnership with Kisame. Their first meeting had been absolutely horrid, death threats (subtle or not) being thrown left and right, tension between them as they traveled, long, awkward silences and threading - very much intentionally - all over each other's land mines and looking for signs of the other exploding.
It was a miracle they haven't killed each other back then. It was a miracle Tobirama and Madara haven't killed each other now. But those two had actually quickly worked past those initial stages and had somehow fallen into the second stage without anyone noticing. It had taken Itachi and Kisame to begrudgingly trust each other an entire year into their partnership and the tension only really vanished half a year after that. Tobirama-san and Madara-san got to those two points within eight and ten months respectively, after they started interacting daily while they all slowly built Konoha. Itachi and Kisame only started relying on each other outside of missions after Kisame didn't rat him out to some passing Konoha ANBU after a bad argument that Itachi had actually yelled in and after Itachi saved Kisame from a team of Hunter Nins from Kiri respectively. Madara-san started relying on Tobirama-san after the younger Senju supported his opinion even after everyone else on the Council - save himself and a Nara and Hatake - was opposed to it while Tobirama-san relied on Madara-san a lot earlier than anyone had noticed, trusting Madara to reign in Hashirama before he made too big a fool of himself.
The third stage, Itachi and Kisame have beat those two to, since they learned to work around each other on the battlefield without thought, hesitation to protect each other or doubt that the other would do the same a lot faster. The way they learned to combine their jutsu and skills was still on a lot higher level than Tobirama and Madara - despite the two being downright legendary with their chakra natures - and a lot more intimate. Madara-san still had the same trust issues that Tobirama-san, did, too, but, interestingly enough, they were helping each other work through it. They still had a lot of work to do in that department, but they were doing great so far. Then again, they had the respect needed not to purposefully push all the wrong buttons in each other. That was maybe more so because the same things would hurt them if they tried to use it against each other and so they wished to spare themselves, as well as the other, that insufferable, unbearable pain. Still, it took a lot of trust to let a person who knew your biggest weakness to stay at your side, where they can so easily take advantage of it, stomp all over all of their scars and hurts.
When Itachi had finally opened up to Kisame, it hadn't exactly been easy. Itachi has been taught his whole life to never show weakness, to never have a weakness. Well, he got one when Sasuke was born. His unconditional love for the 'small, bastard of a jerk' as Kisame called his little brother made no sense to the Kiri nin, but Kisame had respected him enough to not question it when he first learned of it. As time passed and they got closer, started trusting each other more, learned more and more about each other, it became easier to reveal such information and Itachi had been stunned when, one day, Kisame broke into a rage on his behalf because of how he had been treated. It had been even more shocking when, after his attempts to calm the older man failed, Kisame whirled around, took his smaller hands (he had been near sixteen back then and his head barely reached Kisame's diaphragm) into his big, blue ones and vowed that Kisame will always be on Itachi's side, that he will always protect him and never betray him. And maybe stunned really couldn't cover how Itachi had felt then, or in the next moment when he was gathered into an almost bone crushing hug. He really wasn't sure there was a word to describe his level of surprise when he just let it happen and melted into the first protective embrace he had felt since he was five and his beloved godfather died. Minato-sama had been the last person who ever gave him a protective hug, his mother having forgotten that for all of his genius, he was still only a child and his father feeling the need to be the strong and stern Clan Head after the war was over. Even Kushina-hime had forgotten how he needed some TLC, as she grew more and more excited as her pregnancy neared its end and Naruto-kun's birth date neared.
He had selfishly enjoyed the moment in which he was held, letting himself for the first time digress in his maturity to act his actual age for once and just let himself be held. Kisame hadn't let go of him for an hour and he had not moved to dislodge himself either, too comfortable. He even dozed away a little and they only separated because Leader-sama had sent Konan-san for them because of a mission.
That had lead to what Itachi called stage four, or the 'best friend and trusted confident' stage. By that time, Itachi had noticed that when he overused his eyes, he could end up being blind for hours with headaches and a tiredness that clung to him for over a day, no matter how much he rested. In those times, before that strange day when Kisame snapped in rage for him, Itachi had relied on Kuro Onyx to be his eyes and had acted as though nothing was wrong. Despite having early on learned each other's tells for when they were injured, Kisame hadn't cared about his partner hurting for the longest time and then he just ... did. He started fussing over Itachi worse than Konan-san used to in the first month since he joined the Akatsuki - he had been thirteen and so much smaller than everyone else that they had still worried about someone trying to kill him, despite his reputation - and the Uchiha just ... let him. And enjoyed it.
He grew used to the change in the dynamics. He still saw Kisame as his Akatsuki partner first (a threat to Konoha, a threat to Sasuke's eventual safety, a risk for Itachi's cover to be blown) but he had accepted the fact that Kisame was also something more. For the first time since Shisui's death, Itachi had a ... friend. For all that Kskashi-san and Tenzou tried to be there for him, his mask of strength - and his actual strength - had still blinded them to his need for more than collages. Yes, he is one of the most emotionally and mentally stable people to have ever entered ANBU, but he was still human and the loss of his best friend - someone so precious that their loss has managed to trigger the activation of his Mangekyo Sharingan - hurt more than anyone could understand. He might follow the Will of Fire as religiously as the Hokage do, but he was still an Uchiha down at his core and his emotions were impossibly strong. Had he not had Sasuke, he would have gone mad. Had he not loved Konoha and his clan as much as he did, he would have let them burn in Amaterasu's black flames that very first night. He had felt alone, for the longest time, even in a crowded room full of people, even with Juzo just a few steps away. Kisame had somehow managed to ... take away some of that loneliness, to fill a fraction - no matter how small - of the emptiness that ensued after the massacre and from the knowledge that only a couple of Uchiha remained in the world. He stuck to Itachi like glue and didn't allow him to ponder sadly (No, it is not sulking or brooding, Kisame. -Whatever you say, Itachi-san.) about the past for very long and usually found random topics to ramble on and on about to distract him, ever since he learned that Itachi always listens.
Itachi didn't know when things got so serious and intimate between them that he actually became one of the rare few people who Samehada allowed to be handled by without draining them of chakra. Kisame even joked that the legendary sword was playing matchmaker and it had flown right over Itachi's head back then, but in hindsight, it was so obvious that Kisame had noticed the final stage of their relationship long before Itachi had and the blue man hadn't said anything out of respect for Itachi, to let him figure it out on his own time and by himself so that he doesn't freak out. It had been embarrassing to come to terms with it and realize that Kisame had known all along even as he blushed in the face of the teasing, toothy smirk sent his way. There might have been some pouting involved.
But, seriously. Stage five was almost impossible to notice when you become so close during stage four. The transgression happens so fluidly that you don't even realize that the intimacy between you and the other person is more suited between lovers rather than just really close friends. And watching Tobirama-san and Madara-san trying to come terms to it, with their own newly developing feelings, watching them live in denial had Itachi both embarrassed -Had he been like that, too? Had Kisame? Were they that obvious to anyone who knew how to look? - and indignant. He had never been in denial about his feelings for Kisame, mostly because denial was a form of illusion one cast on themselves and Itachi had never allowed himself the comforts of an illusion clouding his eyes and judgment. He had hesitated when facing them but as soon as he had realized that not only was he attracted to his partner but that he also cared for him a great deal more than he had ever cared for Shisui and especially in a very different way, he had accepted it as it was and tried to figure out how to proceed with this new development. He was just very glad that Kisame was as patient with him as he had been, seeing as he had no experience whatsoever. The closest to a love life he had ever been to was when he had sat with Izumi and they ate dango together that one time.
The kind of relationship he developed with Kisame was unique in some ways but general in others. And not just among shinobi. Civilians might not know how to use chakra or have no developed chakra coils, but that didn't mean that they don't have chakra. They do and a shinobi can sense it. Even among civilians, the relation between fire and water was clear. As each other's opposites, they balanced each other out and Itachi had been surprised when he realized just how common it was, katon and suiton gravitating towards each other. Of course, not everyone went through all five stages of that particular relationship scale, but fire and water were definitely drawn to each other. And only a rare few were even aware of the change in their relationship or what had even drawn them to each other in the first place. Itachi and Kisame had been no exception, although they were a somewhat special case. Their dynamic was all four later stages rolled up into one, although they have somewhat slipped into the first stage in their last interaction. It was because Kisame didn't want Itachi to go and let Sasuke kill him and Itachi had been indignant that Kisame would break his promise to let him go. He might not have his partner's chakra reserves, but his chakra control had allowed Itachi to match the Kiri nin enough to actually trick Kisame into an illusion and end the fight in his favor. Kisame had deferred to him one last time and now they might never see each other again. Itachi had been trying not to think about the possibility that he will never again be held in those strong blue arms ever again, that he would never be treasured and protected like Kisame made him feel as it hurt. He really didn't want that disaster of a fight to be the last meeting he ever had with his partner but he had resigned himself to a death without peace the night of the massacre.
Now, he wasn't even sure if he was actually dead or not. He had been yanked out of his time, out of the Shinigami's enclosing embrace and had been thrown one hundred years or so into the past, only to be mocked and tormented with watching two different people go through the same relationship development he had gone through with Kisame himself. Wasn't it ironic, though? Powerful suiton users seemed to be awfully attracted to Uchiha geniuses. Yes, Itachi had figured out that on some instinctual level, suiton users sought out katon users for their much warmer chakra to balance out the natural cool of their own by heating it up and vice versa, katon users wishing for the coolness of water to lower their temperatures. But it was ridiculous. Senju Tobirama was the most legendary suiton user in history and he seemed attracted to Uchiha Madara, the greatest katon user in history and then Hoshigaki Kisame, who almost rivaled him in his talent for water, fell for him, Uchiha Itachi, whom his clan had dubbed as the second coming of Madara for his talent. Like Kisame and Itachi balanced each other out, Tobirama and Madara needed to do the same. They needed each other on a level they could not yet perceive and Itachi wasn't going to let them stay oblivious to it.
'Question is,' he thought even as he told the others what the Hyuuga had been blabbering about, observing the way those two kept glancing at each other so subtly that not even he would have noticed had he not been looking for it and he still needed the help of the Sharingan in Kuro Onyx's eye socket to really be sure it was happening. He was just really glad that he was as good at multitasking as he had said he was. 'How do I get them to realize it without either of them freaking out and deciding to avoid the other?' A really highly likely thing to happen with Tobirama-san's and especially Madara-san's personalities. The Senju would do it out of over-thinking what such a match might lead to if they were ever to get into a truly bad argument that they could not get over, what the end of their relationship might result in. His ancestor, though, would definitely freak out, possibly for the same reasons. When an Uchiha loves, they love stronger than any force in the world and it might overwhelm Madara to suddenly come face to face with it without it being on 'his terms' so to say. He might withdraw from Tobirama completely or, worse yet for their fledgling village, he might take out his frustrations on the white haired man. It is something Itachi knew he had to avoid especially. They do not need rumors that Konoha's political infrastructure was weak to draw all those who would gladly take them down.
But those two cannot be left as they are, either. They were both realizing they might like each other more than they are ready to deal with at the moment and unresolved tension will start developing between them much faster than anyone can deal with. It could all end in disaster if it is not contained and Itachi had been sent here to make sure Konoha has a brighter future. He was pretty sure that included at the very least putting off Madara's departure from the village only to return with the desire to destroy it years later. Itachi will have to interfere.
'Hopefully,' the weasel thought dryly as he finished the recount of the meeting. 'I will not have to resort to Konan's method when she forced Hidan and Kakuzu to resolve their unresolved sexual tension.' There had been a lot of property damage, cursing, blood, limbs and trauma (Poor Deidara, it hadn't even been his fault that he went to inspect the thumping noises) by the time it ended. Leader-sama had ran out of Advil and the other five headache pills he usually had stored for dealing with the Akatsuki's shenanigans and Kisame and Sasori had all but dragged out their younger partners from the hideout and hadn't allowed them to return for the next six months. And yes, that was the reason why Akatsuki members met up so rarely. Konan was too much of a yaoi fangirl for the sake of anyone's sanity. Even Zetsu avoided her when she set her mind on something regarding the three pairings within their organization. Nagato-kun, that cowardly traitor, allowed her to do as she pleases.
'I really, really hope,' thought Itachi as he saw Tobirama's red and Madara's black eyes meet for a second accidentally, a strange flush - barely visible despite their pale skin - coming to their cheeks before they both looked away. 'That it will not come to that.'
A futile hope, since he already knew it would be necessary.
'Konoha's insanity is just starting, isn't it?'
Oh boy.
