Author's Note: Before I begin this, I would like to say sorry for not updating in years. I had a hard time trying to figure out how to continue this and hadn't kept up with Naruto anymore after my favorite character died. Even then, however, I didn't really care too much for Naruto so I missed a bunch of episodes in between that time I created this story. Now, I just stopped caring about Naruto period so I kind of abandoned the story as a consequence. As I stumbled upon the stories I hadn't updated in a while on my profile, this one was top of the list every time. Since I think it sucks that Itachi Uchiha, my fav character, didn't get much of a happy ending in Naruto, I will go ahead and give him one. I just read on Wikipedia that Sasuke has a daughter with Sakura. Ha! I was just picking and choosing who would get married and who would get busy with who to start havin' dem kids! I didn't even know I could see into the future. Isn't that cool? Anyways, here's a new chapter for you guys who haven't seen this fiction in like five years. I'm sorry it's been so long.


Twelve years seems like a long time when you're in hiding. At least that's what he thought as he traveled through the familiar streets of Konoha. His knees ached as he hunched over to pick up his cane from underneath a wooden bench. The Uchiha Estate was smaller now as he looked at the one large buliding housing a man he once called his mortal enemy twenty-four years ago. He followed Sasuke's young and only daughter, Yuna, ever since she left school this late afternoon. He had been doing this for eight or so years just as he followed Sasuke for double that amount of time.

Once, as frightening as it was for a moment, he and Sasuke locked eyes and stood across the street from each other for what felt like hours just trapped in silence and wondering if one remembered the other just by appearances alone. Not wanting to alert the young man, he disappeared in the crowd but picked up speed when he turned to see Sasuke trying to confront him. Once he managed to disappear into the woods, a single tear escaped the corner of his eye and his wife stood before him to wipe his tear away. Just as she turned to lead him to their home in a distant village, he grabbed her wrist gently and pressed a kiss to her lips. A passionate sigh and a sob of relief escaped his lips when they separated. He remembered his words as though it were yesterday.

He cried, "My little brother! My..."

"Shh..." his wife whispered, kissing his tears away.

"I have to see him again, my love..." he responded, taking her hands in his and rubbing his lips against the soft skin. "I have to see my son... I have to see my little brother..."

"We will," she said, holding his jaw in her palms to look at her. "He's getting married soon. He'll see you then. On his wedding day, just before he leaves that altar, you'll lock eyes just as you did a moment ago. He'll see how proud you are of him, Itachi."

Just as his wife said in the woods that day, he returned to look into the eyes of his younger brother on his wedding day. He was handsome and in love with his woman just as he should be. Itachi, the once fallen traitor of Konoha, was now in hiding with his wife and three children in a village far from his old hometown. He was disguised as an old man and had been watching Sasuke and his family for the passed twelve years ever since his niece, Yuna, was born. Itachi stood in the window of the maternity ward in the hospital after Yuna had been cleaned and dressed in her cute, little pink clothes. Quite a few children were born from Sasuke's generation simultaneously, but he didn't know any of them. As he stood in that maternity ward, Itachi's wife stood beside him and asked about the girl's cuteness. She herself was pregnant with their third child. After he whispered his response, he pressed a kiss to her lips and quickly rushed her away when he heard Sasuke's voice coming down the hall with his friend, Naruto. Sasuke did try to call out to him, but Naruto interrupted him when he asked which baby was his. For a brief instant, Itachi and Sasuke locked eyes once again and Itachi smiled as he held his wife's hand and disappeared again.

More memories came flooding back to him as he looked down at the journal in his lap and saw his handwriting etched along the pages. Twenty-four years was long enough for Itachi. He was ready to tell Sasuke the truth about his presumed death, the truth about his sister-in-law, the truth about his nephews and niece, and the truth about his life in secrecy. He deserved to know that the old man he kept seeing on occasion was really his older brother in disguise. He was ready to no longer be in hiding, and he made sure to tell his wife and children soon so that the families could meet and so that Yuna could know that she wasn't the only Uchiha clan heir. He just needed a plan - a perfect opportunity - to show them that.

Yuna... Sasuke... It is time you know of the other side of your clan... Not the traitors, not the ninjas, but the seishin. Whisperers of the Blade... the House of the Wandering Spirits...

Itachi smirked at the names, the titles, and the memories now flooding his mind as he sat on the bench. Not ready to leave quite yet, he placed his cane under the bench near his feet again and opened his journal to a fresh page. He picked up his fountain pen and began scribbling a new entry on the gold linings of the pages. This is where his story would truly begin. No, this is where the story of the Uchiha clan begins anew. This is where the white within the Uchiha clan symbol would be explained for his children and his brother's daughter.

Our history, little Yuna, is covered in blood. The blood I watched flow between my fingers in horror and remorse as I watched our family fall. Our family and our ancestors planned to ruin our beloved village, but I couldn't allow that to happen and so I took it upon myself to dispose of the traitors. But... I couldn't hurt my little brother who I began to raise as my own son. I didn't want him to suffer the same fate as them. I couldn't let him suffer. He was just a boy. The red within our clan's symbol which once meant power and prestige had turned to death and damnation once my mission had begun. This truth you will soon learn from both I and your father, little Yuna. However, the white of our symbol remains with us now, and it is the most important color of our clan. For all of us, it represents life both in its beginning and its end. We may not be innocent or pure because of our pasts, but we are compassionate and above all else... we are healing. The wounds that scar us, we are now beginning to heal in our own time. The lessons we have learned after being so wounded, we teach to others because we do not wish what happened to us to happen to another. These things I am teaching my own children just as I hope to someday teach you and your father now that the new Uchiha clan begins with us.

This newfound wisdom I possess is not my own, though. It belongs first and foremost to my wife, Aelita Uragirimono. She has taught me many things about life from the inner peace we must find within ourselves to the desire to live to the birth of our children to the future we have yet to see. I could not have found a more perfect life partner on the day I stumbled upon Mokutotochi, the village of the sacred ronin, on that autumn night. While I was with the Akatsuki, our leader, Obito, told each of us to search for recruits for the Akatsuki. They were going to be replacements you might say in case we fall to early in our overall goal, but that's only what I assumed to be the reason. I wasn't entirely sure why he needed more fighters. As we all went our separate ways, I found a village that seemed quite large in luxurious part of the world! There were rice fields that went on for miles, cows as large as two horses, horses stronger and faster than a trained racing horse, crops abundant, and the people were all over! Everyone had something. No man was poor or mistreated. It was an enviable place to live! I had never wished to be with your father so much just to show him that there was peace throughout the land, little Yuna. I even saw two little boys playing in the market near their mother the way we used to.

I was hiding in this large oak tree, watching over the village, and a little girl half your age was running after her friends playing tag of some sort. Somewhat like you and your friends, Taiyou and Chiharu, when you were talking about your school assignment today. Sorry if I sound like a creepy , old man. You will understand why I have not been able to speak to you properly in due time. As I stood in that tree, bewitched by the village I saw before me, that little girl stopped running for a moment and stared at me. It was long enough to alert her friends and question her.

Itachi smiled at the memory and chuckled a bit before a shadow covered his pages as he was writing. He looked up to see Aelita in her own disguise standing before him with a smile on her face. He didn't even realize that night was coming. She turned around to sit next to him and laid her head down onto his shoulder.

She said, "Did you see him today?"

"Yes," Itachi whispered with a husky voice. "Where's my kiss?"

"Wherever your wife is," Aelita answered innocently with a light giggle.

"You tease me, woman," Itachi said, placing a kiss onto her lips.

"What was he doing?" she asked, placing a hand onto his cheek and then onto his shoulder.

"Waiting for Yuna to come home. They embraced each other," Itachi replied. "Once they went inside, I began thinking and then writing."

"You've written nearly 40 journals since I gave you your first one," Aelita said. "Your heart has had much to say."

"If you take off your disguise, you'll see what my eyes have to say..."

Aelita gasped then said, "Itachi Alabaster Uchiha! You - !"

Itachi raises his eyebrow and interrupts his wife by saying, "I what? Have this uncontrollable desire to touch my wife any chance I can get? Have this attractive, intelligent, and devilishly charming personality befitting a husband?"

"You could at least tell me what you're writing about before buying me dinner like a proper gentleman. I haven't eaten in seven hours!" Aelita remarked. Sitting up to ponder for a moment, she drops her voice a level and adds a seductive tone to it that she knows Itachi loves and says, "But if you're a good boy at the dinner table, I'll give you three chances tonight."

"Yes, ma'am!" Itachi exclaims softly, putting an arm over his wife's shoulders.

Forgive the interruption, little Yuna. Little brother. I will have to write my thoughts at a later time, but I can continue the memory as I read to my wife. You see, that little girl that spotted me in the tree asked me to come down because the tree was sacred to the seishin on the other side of the village. She even knew I was a ninja because of the headband covering my forehead! She directed me to the sacred tree of the ninja a good distance away. Within the center of three large oak trees was a meeting grounds that took the form of a temple. It was beautiful!

"Sorry, mister, but you can't stay up there. You'll get in trouble with the seishin. They don't like people desecrating the sacred tree," the little girl said to me.

I eventually leapt down from my position and questioned her, "What do you mean by the seishin?"

"The seishin are the left hand of the ronin," a boy said to me. "You're dressed like a ninja, so you'd be the right hand of a ronin. Seishin are warriors. They're said to be the spirits released from a samurai's blade when he's in battle. All the older ronin have a seishin and a ninja. They work together to bring peace to the village."

"We can take you to the sacred tree of the ninja if you like, mister," another boy said to me. "That way you'll stay out of trouble. I don't know too much about the ninja, but the ronin and seishin are real tough."

These children - completely unfazed by my appearance - were willing to bring me to their village's sacred tree. I tried asking them to take me to the other side of the village, but they were not allowed to at such young ages. A parent or guardian had to be with them. Instead, they brought me to the village and showed me around. I came across a few other ninja walking about who merely greeted me without a single hint of suspicion and began to wonder. No one was troubled by a stranger's presence? I was hunting for recruits to destroy villages for years to come! No one planned to stop me? I became paranoid as I walked with these children. They were pointing at many things like the market, boutiques, sacred statues, pathways to different parts of the land, and they soon pointed out a few ninjas and said their names. Still, no one found me strange! Once they began introducing me to a few ronin, that's when the suspicion finally rose up. It was about time!

"You there!" a samurai called out. "Who are you?"

"What business is it of yours?" a questioned coldly.

While I was more than thrilled at finally being questioned, I didn't appreciate the tone the man took with me. At his side were two people: a man and a woman. I easily recognized the fellow ninja, but the woman was unrecognizable. She must have been a seishin because she was at the samurai's left just as the ninja was on the right. It was just as the children said. The hands of the ronin!

"This one is from Konoha," the ninja informed. "He came alone. We are asking what your intentions are with us, young man. You do not belong here if you come to our village with malice. If you do not show our lord or our village with the proper respect, we will let Jikan deal with you."

"No! Don't hurt him!" the little girl pleaded with the ninja.

I had no idea why she chose to defend me from this trio, but I believe it had more to do with the seishin coming towards me. Had that little girl not been there, however, I would have surely died. You see, the seishin somehow or another was able to clone herself so rapidly that I didn't even catch it! She was already behind me with a sword pointed at my neck! The seishin that I was looking at was merely a decoy. How the child spotted her before me was the biggest mystery, I think, but there Jikan was ready to kill me within an instant. I had never come across anyone so fast and so silent. All the missions I've had, all the training I knew, all the experience I obtained paled in comparison to this seishin! It was within that moment where I realized that the seishin were possibly the biggest threats in any war. The samurai warriors had wars etched in the tomes of history. The ninja, as secretive as we were, have an equally grueling history with secrets etched in scrolls. The seishin? Up until that day, I never heard of such warriors, never came across their history, never seen one before. Jikan was a true assassin among assassins not from strength but from speed. Either time was her master or she was the master of it.

"Enough!" the samurai called, stopping Jikan from plunging her blade into my neck. "We will shed no blood before the eyes of children, but we will keep a close eye on this one."

"What is your name, shinobi?" Jikan questioned, not lowering the level of her sword.

"Itachi Uchiha," I replied.

"Uchiha?" the ninja questioned. "He is of a noble bloodline then."

Jikan lowered her sword at this new hint of information. I don't know why I decided to tell these people my name. I should have known the ninja would recognize my surname since he knew where I was from. The ronin furrowed his eyebrows at the new information. He didn't seem troubled by it but looked more curious. He folded his arms across his chest with some thought before the seishin behind me decided to speak as she sheathed her sword. Her decoy disappeared within that moment.

"My lord?" Jikan called, earning the ronin's attention. "Permission to summon Uragirimono-san to take my place."

The ronin smirked, mustache lifting up with the curvature in his lips, and said, "Granted."

Who was Uragirimono? That was my first thought Why did they need a different seishin to escort me? Was Jikan not capable of killing me on her own? The ronin kept his smirk plastered on his face as we waited for this other seishin to appear. It gave me less than a minute to take in his appearance. He was dressed in a simple hakama pants and shirt ensemble. His hair was a nice dark brown, and his eyes a very vibrant green. I then turned my attention to the kids protecting me. The children all cowered once that name rose from Jikan's lips. I heard them whimpering as they shook their heads violently to try to convince the other adults to let me go or for me to run away. I do not cower from any opponent. When their pleas went unheard, I smelled smoke come from behind me and a voice ring through my ears like a distant dream.

"You called for me, Guramu-sama."

In that instant, I turned to see the most beautiful creature standing before me. This seishin couldn't have been a real person. Not with that perfect skin, especially not with those lips. If I talk about her body, hhhmmmmmm... Another time perhaps. When you're older, little Yuna, you will know then. My little brother is old enough and will know of the story someday, but another time perhaps is best for both of you. The woman that suddenly took my breath away was wearing an almost too-revealing dress for my imagination. The V-neck was cut low enough for me to see her breasts, but I will give her some credit for wearing a sheer dress underneath what seemed to be a kimono to me. Her legs could easily be seen from the holes in the left leg and the large slit in the other. I guess the dress was meant for flexibility or something. Looks like it just piques the ronin and ninja's interests, though. I couldn't see much of her face since it was covered by a wide hat. Her sword wasn't out of its sheath, but her hand was on it and ready to cut me into pieces. I accept this new challenge.

"Jikan-san did. This man here is a bloodline ninja. We need you to watch him," the ninja told her. "Show him the way out and kill him if doesn't comply with leaving."

"Well, I think it's time we leave, honey," Aelita says, interrupting Itachi's thoughts. "I'm hungry."

Itachi looks up at Aelita and smiles softly as she rises to stand. Hard to believe, the woman meant to kill him is the one who protects and guides him. Perhaps after dinner, he would tell her about his decision to finally talk to Sasuke face to face. When dinner was over and perhaps after those three chances with his wife, he would continue scribbling in his journal. After all, Aelita was the white representing the Uchiha clan symbol. Her story was just as important as his to the new Uchiha clan, the new generation of a once noble bloodline.


Author's Note: I hope this was okay. Let me know what you guys think via review or message. I thought a village of outcasts was an interesting idea for Itachi to meet his wife. I don't really know how in-depth I'll let Itachi's journal entries be or whether I actually will let Itachi make a comeback. I know his kids are supposed to meet Yuna and that's how Sasuke learns that the Uchiha clan doesn't completely rest with him, but I never planned for Itachi to be alive with his wife since even at the time of writing this Itachi was supposed to die. Next chapter, Itachi's thoughts will be a proper memory without interruption so you'll see some timeline indication somewhere.