DISCLAIMER I do not own Naruto or the story's cover image. I also don't own street fighter.
"Talking"
"Thoughts"
'BLARG' Tailed Beast talking or Inner Sakura
IMPORTANT NEWS: Story has been renamed 'Itachi Uchiha: Reborn' but it can still be referenced as Crow's Rebirth.
Got another chapter for you guys and gals and so far this is the longest (no homo) chapter yet. This chapter different from the others in format but still we have some development. And to clear any confusion Itachi did gain the sharingan and yes Ryu and Ken are from Street Fighter. This chapter took a while and I got sidetracked but I'm back.
Also tell me any predictions you have for the story and the return to Konoha is coming. So in the reviews tell me what did you think of the chapter and etc.
Enjoy!
Chapter 5
The Seven Days of Recovery
~Day 1~
Sadness
It was a sad day in the Land of Ice, after the bandits had attacked many lives were lost that day. Everyone in the village was sad, many villagers were crying. And to top it off it was raining, and thunder roared. Many funerals were being planned as people wept in sadness. But many villagers had one question, why would Ken attack the village. People questioned Ryu and Sasuke about it but they simply said nothing, and either way Sauske had his own problems. The village was in ruins and people needed answers, people were hurt, worried, and scared.
Meanwhile at Sasuke's house, sad aura filled the house, it was dark and quiet. Sasuke was in Itachi's room, Sasuke was worried. He showed the worry a parent has for their children.
"Itachi….I won't….leave…your side" Sasuke whispered sadly stroking his son's hair. It was a truly sad sight, and the weather didn't help the mood at all. Every time Itachi winced as if in a nightmare, Sasuke cringed, as if sharing his pain.
"I-I-I…..failed you…..Itachi"
"You seem to put so much pressure on yourself, Sasuke. Why do you doubt yourself?"
"I failed him…..I wasn't there…to protect him"
"So that's what you believe. But do you believe, that he will still love and trust you"
"I don't know but, whatever…..he decides…..I will always still watch over him…..I'll…never give up on him. I will never leave his side."
"Good"
"Who….are you anyways?"
"Just a memory passing through."
"M-M-memory?"
"You really are foolish"
Sasuke then shook out of the trance he was in "It felt so real, just what happened?"
Sasuke would've continued pondering on the spectacle but he noticed the situation he was in. "Itachi!" he mentally yelled to himself.
No reaction from Itachi but Sasuke wasn't going to leave his side. Sasuke continued to stroke his son's hair as he sat beside his bed. A single tear left the Uchiha's eye as it rolled down his face.
"I'm sorry"
~Day 2~
Revelations
"Ughhh" Itachi groaned twisting and turning in his bedroom. His whole body was aching and he felt so weak and he had a throbbing headache. He could barely open his eyes, because his eyelids were heavy. But then the memories hit him, the bandits, the attack and his friends. Itachi then forced his eyes open with his Sharingan active, he scanned the room.
Hearing the movement in the room Sasuke then woke up and saw his son sharingan active.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, watch it. Deactivate your sharingan, its dangerous to use it now." Sasuke explained
"B-b-but my friends" Itachi exclaimed worried, his voice was hoarse from all his screaming, on that fateful day.
"Don't worry it's over" Sasuke said with a reassuring smile as he hugged Itachi. "Now I know how Sakura felt."
Itachi then closed his eyes and calmed down, he took a deep breath and looked to his father he had some explaining to do. His father had to explain his new power and what happened to the village and his friends. "You know I'm surprised you have enough chakra to activate the sharingan." Sasuke said with a smirk.
Sasuke then passed Itachi a glass of water which Itachi coughed down quickly.
Itachi was planning on saying something but he couldn't think straight, there was so much to ask about. "I know what you're thinking, I have a lot of explaining to do." Sasuke said as Itachi simply nodded in agreement, he took the words outta his mouth.
"So what do you want to know?" Sasuke asked.
"Will you tell the truth, dad?" Itachi asked.
"Yes, I promise Itachi." Sasuke said with a slight smile.
"Are you really?"
"For sure" Sasuke replied.
"Alright, tou-san are you a ninja?"
"Yes, Itachi I am a ninja."
Itachi looked deep in thoguht as he put his hand on his chin. Sasuke surprised on how much he looked like his brother, he had already starting developing his tear-troughs under his eyes.
"Why did you lie, father?" Itachi said looking down as he pouted.
"I lied so I could keep you safe, being a ninja isn't an easy thing you know. And a ninja gains many enemies over the years." Sasuke said.
"Okay, that does make sense." Itachi groaned annoyed at the fact his dad don't tell him he was a cool ninja. "I should've known, you look like a ninja." Itachi finished.
"Hn, there were a few times you could've found out but I made sure not to put you in danger. So now that you know I'm a ninja let's move on to the next question." Sasuke said intrigued on how Itachi was taking this.
"I want to know about our clan and its kekkai genkai."
"Figures you would find out about the clan."
"And the fan with red and white is the symbol of our clan right?" Itachi said putting emphasis on the 'our' once again.
"Correct. Our clan was a very prominent clan in Konoha, and we were the leaders of the Konoha Military Police Force."
"Was?" Itachi asked.
"To think that person who did the crime is more or less sitting in front of me.".
"Let's just say a certain event happened to the clan."
"Okay" Itachi said still in deep thought what the event was that caused his clan trouble. "Foolish little brother" Itachi muttered.
"Wait what did you say? Did you say 'foolish little brother'?"
"Oh sorry tou-san my tongue must have slipped."
"No, there is no problem, just reminds me of a certain somebody who called me that."
"You have a brother tou-san?"
"Yeah but I'll tell you about him later. Alright anymore questions?"
"Can I see your sharingan?" Itachi asked pondering about the special eyes.
"Hm okay." Sasuke said as he closed his eyes. Itachi waited patiently, though he was excited to actually see the eyes themselves.
Sasuke opened his eyes to revel an eye with red irises and three black tomoe spun around the eye slowly. "This is how the sharingan looks."
"Whoa!" Itachi was caught off guard at the complete eye change, to see his father's eyes turn from onyx to red in an instance.
"Ah so you now you've seen the sharingan wh—"
"That was awesome." Itachi said in his usual tone, which didn't sound excited but on the inside Itachi was intrigued, to say the least.
"Okay, before you say more there is some things you need to know about the sharingan. First thing is the sharingan does use some of your chakra, so don't rely on it too much."
"Okay" Itachi nodded his head slowly.
"Second the sharingan has different levels." Sasuke explained.
"L-l-levels?!"
"Yes as you see my sharingan has three tomoe."
"Yeah"
"Your sharingan only has one tomoe in each eye."
"What?!"
"Over time you're sharingan gains tomoe and becomes more powerful."
"Great so I'm a weakling." Itachi said depressed, head down, hair covering his face.
"Man, I'm telling you, you're way too hard on yourself. Just wait until I start training you, you won't be weak then!" Sasuke retorted trying to raise his son's spirits.
Itachi's face then lit up with a smile of joy "You're really gonna train me, tou-san?"
"Heck yeah!"
Itachi could only smile gleefully at his father's words, he could become strong and…protect…..those….he cares for. A frown soon stretched its way on Itachi's face.
"What's bugging you Itachi?"
Itachi simply sighed and looked away, Sasuke knowing his son knew he need some time to absorb everything.
"I'll leave you to think about things, do you want anything to eat?"
"No…I'm good….."
"Okay, you should get some rest after using the sharingan, you used up a lot of chakra."
"Okay….." Itachi replied.
Sasuke walked out of the room and closed the door behind him. He heard a sound and turned around to see a person.
"Could at least tell me when you're coming over." Sasuke said dryly.
"Well you could say that my new Justus are too fast."
"Like a flash."
"Hehe you could say that also."
~Day 3~
Itachi POV
"Ugh, I still feel horrible." I groaned. Itachi tried to get outta bed but he could barely move without automatically feeing weak. He looked at his dreaded alarm clock that read 6:00 A.M., stared at him mockingly, it was his mortal enemy in the morning.
"I guess I can use this time to think about everything"
Itachi grabbed the ninja book he was reading earlier from his nightstand and stared at the cover.
"I still can't believe tou-san is a ninja, but why lie. Then again he did say it was to protect me so he does have a point. But I should've noticed he was a ninja." Itachi thought sitting bored.
A frown once again placed itself on Itachi's face, he was unsettled by something.
"My friends…..Ryo….." Itachi trailed tears filling his eyes.
"I wasn't able to help…to protect…." Itachi wept quietly in his room.
"And the village *sniff* I have to see what happened *sniff*."
Itachi shifted out of his blanket and laid on the side of his bed. He tried to sit up but his body wouldn't respond, he was just so tired.
"If I can't even get out of bed, than how am I supposed to be a ninja a-a-and….protect those I care for."
Itachi forced himself up with his will power, he sat at the edge of his bed. He knew he had to do something other than just sit around, he had to see what truly happened. But his only problem was avoiding his father, which to him was impossible. He knew his father cared for him and loved him, but he had to see everything.
"Now how am I supposed to sneak by a ninja like my dad, who has a sharingan." Itachi sweat dropped at his thoughts. "I am so screwed."
Itachi slowly but surely managed to walk his door, he creaked it open and scanned the room. The hallway was clear, and overall the house was quiet.
"I really wish I could use the sharingan right now." Itachi whispered to himself as he crept slowly out of his room. He walked past the bathroom, clear, and then hhe walked past Sasuke's room. His father's room was half opened.
Itachi's mind soon shifted from his goal of seeing the village, once he saw his dad's chokuto leaning against a dresser.
"I…I….I just gotta see that sword." Itachi thought as he let his childish attitude take over, after all he was 4 years old.
Itachi crawled past his father's bed, and made it to the blade. He picked it up the heavy blade with two hands amazed at blade.
"What an awesome blade." Itachi whispered.
"Sword of Kusanagi" a voice said.
"T-t-tou-san?" Itachi said slowly tuning his head. "I'm so done."
"Itachi…..what were you doing?"
"N-n-nothing." Itachi replied nervously as tuned around to see his father standing over him.
"Then why are you holding my sword?" Sasuke asked intrigued.
"Uhhhh"
"What am I gonna do with you?" Sasuke sighed as he picked up Itachi and bought him back to his room.
"You do know that my sword is dangerous…right?"
"Yeah."
"So don't play with it. You could've gotten hurt, Itachi."
"Okay."
"You hungry?" Sasuke asked.
"No…" Itachi's stomach growled loudly which caused him to blush slightly.
"I'll take that as a yes?" Sasuke said with a grin walking out of Itachi's room.
"Darn it I was so close."
A few minutes after Sasuke came back with soup, which Itachi swallowed down quickly. The rest of day was quiet and Itachi gave up for the day, he as really tired out.
"I promise I will become stronger."
~Day 4~
Sasuke POV
"Another day of work in the village, it's changed so drastically after the bandits' attack. Ryu still has no idea why Ken would attack, and people won't stop these barrages of questions." Sasuke thought eating a bowl of cereal.
"And with the low amount of ninja in the village we have our work cut out for us. Even with my shadow clones, the village won't be up fast enough. Hopefully the reinforcements from Konoha come quick, anyone could plan an attack." Sasuke thought to himself.
He created a shadow clone to watch over Itachi. Then the raven grabbed his chokuto and walked out of the house. He slowly walked through the village, it was in a wreck. He could see so many burnt buildings and many carpenters at work. He even saw a few of his shadow clones who nodded at him as he passed by. Sasuke even passed by Itachi's school which was still intact.
"H-h-hello S-sasuke-san."
Sasuke turned around to find Azumi, Itachi's sensei who was present during the attack. "She must feel horrible, the bandits killed some of her students and she couldn't do anything."
"Ah good morning Azumi." Sasuke replied.
"S-s-so h-how is Itachi?" Azumi asked nervously.
"Better, after the attack he got sick but he's recovering." The raven replied.
"T-t-that's g-good t-to hear."
"Yeah, but…..he's still hurt mentally, I mean seeing his friends…" Sasuke trailed off.
"Just tell Itachi *sniff* I wasn't able to protect….and that I'm sorry *sniff*"
"Man, I feel bad for her, it's not you could do much against rogue ninja and bandits tying her up. And now she's blaming herself for it."
"Why do you blame yourself?"
"C-cause I c-c-couldn't protect them from those ruthless bandits."
"Well….I don't blame you and I don't your students would want that either. To me as long as you did the most you could, don't blame yourself. But what the bandits did can't be forgiven, but self-pity isn't the answer. At least that's what I think."
Azumi was deep in thought, Sasuke's words had effect on her. She had to sort out her thoughts. After a few seconds Sasuke began walking off.
"Wait!"
"Hn."
"T-t-thank y-you. Also take this." Azumi then passed Sasuke a paper and he nodded in response.
Sasuke simply raised up his hand as he walked away, as if signifying the words "you're welcome". Sasuke then headed in the direction of the Yahirama estates (aka Ryu's house).
(Yahirama Estate)
"Ryu-sama, Sasuke-san is at the gates."
"Bring him in." Ryu asked.
"Yes sir." The assistant replied.
A few moments later Sasuke walked into Ryu's office.
"Busy as ever I see." Sauske said mockingly, anything to lighten up the mood.
"Yep this attack really had a big effect and we still have to watch out for enemy villages." Ryu replied guilt in his voice, he hated seeing the village like this.
"I hear you and hopefully can get some backup." Sasuke replied
"Speaking of backup have you heard any news about the backup from Konoha?"
"Ah yes, the hokage has already sent some ninja and carpenters to help out."
"That's great to hear, but I'll get into the main reason I called you hear." Ryu said.
"Alright so what's going on?"
"At one of Ryu's secret bases nearby the village, we found his journal." Ryu said as he pulled the book out of his desk.
"What exactly did you find out in the journal?" Sasuke inquired.
"Well I'll let you read for yourself." Ryu said as he passed the book to the raven.
(Ken's Journal)
Day ?
Ryu and I saved this village in the Land of Ice from rogue ninjas. It was an easy battle but Ryu was always showing me up. Apparently during raid their village elder had been killed, and they plan on picking either me or Ryu for a new leader.
Day ?
I plan to leave the village now, I have no interest in staying in a disrespectful village. They all praise Ryu, but don't even remember me for helping the village. I've had enough of this wretched village, and I will get my revenge.
(LINE BREAK)
"So he wanted revenge because he was jealous of you?"
"Yep, that's all we found in his secret base." Ryu replied.
"So are you going to tell the village?" Sasuke asked.
"I think I'm going to tell…."
"It would be better for the village to know the truth."
"Yeah it would be, but I have to go."
"Thanks."
(Later)
Sasuke dispersed his shadow clone and received its memories.
"When the heck did Itachi start calling me "tou-san" anyways. Makes me think back to a year ago."
(Flashback 1 years ago)
"Papa?"
"Yeah, Itachi?" Sasuke said taking a bite out of a tomato.
"Are we there yet?"
"No"
A few minutes later.
"Papa?"
"Yeah?"
"Why do you like tomatoes so much?"
"They are delicious. Why do you ask?"
"Well you do have a whole bag full of them."
"You know a lot of people ask me that."
"Did ojisan ask you that a lot?"
"Yeah that do-, yes he did."
"Man and to think that was when Itachi was three."
~Day 5~
Relief
It was the middle of the night, a peaceful, calming night with a full moon in the Land of the Ice. It was a good night to do anything despite the state of the village. Meanwhile Sasuke was reading book, it was these nights that Sasuke could relax. After all he was working 24/7 on helping the village with shadow clones.
The peaceful, quiet night was then disrupted by screaming.
"Itachi!"
Sasuke immediately ran into Itachi's room where he found him crying and screaming wildly. Sasuke then hugged Itachi and tried to calm him down.
Itachi POV (Nightmare)
All Itachi saw was his classroom filled with his friends it was a regular day. Soon the room and the world itself turned black and white. Itachi started hyperventilating.
"What is this?" Itachi gasped.
He then saw Ryo getting hid by the neck by a cloaked figure.
"Ryo…no….no…..not…..again….."
Ryo then fell out of the man's choke hold and his body fell to the ground. Ryo's whit and lifeless eyes stared straight into Itachi's soul.
"No…"
Itachi turned around and saw another cloaked figure with a katana slashing through his classmates.
"Everybody….no…..why…stop it….."
The events kept on replaying and Itachi could do nothing to stop the bandits.
"Stop it!"
"Stop it!"
"Itachi it's gonna be okay." Sasuke said still hugging Itachi and patting his back.
"P-p-papa?"
"Yeah it's me Itachi, calm down it's gonna be okay."
"B-b-but my f-friends"
"It's okay Itachi it was just a nightmare."
"N-nightmare?"
"It's okay Itachi. I know you have a lot of pain, but don't try to always bottle up your emotions."
Itachi then hugged his father back and cried into his shirt.
"Why….why did this have to happen….papa…?"
"I don't truly understand either." Sasuke whispered thinking back to the massacre. "Things happen and we don't truly understand why others would do it but, we still have to move along. We have to carry on with this pain. Also do you think your classmates would want you to be saddened forever? No I think they would want their friends to be happy."
The rest of the night went by with Itachi wanting to sleep with Sasuke. He was afraid and sad, Sasuke understood this. Itachi slept next to his father hugging him, it comforted him.
~Day 6~
Recovery
Itachi shifted in his sleep until a ray of sunlight finally woke him up. "Where am I?" Itachi groaned.
He then looked to his surroundings "I'm in tou-san's room."
"Finally awake eh?" Sasuke said.
"Good morning tou-san." Itachi replied.
"Morning, head downstairs I got breakfast ready."
"Okay but ho—"
Just then Sasuke disappeared in a cloud of smoke, and once the smoke dispersed he was nowhere to be seen. Itachi blinked, completely confused but he ran to the kitchen to find his father.
"Tou-san?"
"Yeah?" Sasuke replied.
"How did you….uh...erm..disappear?"
"Oh that was just a shadow clone."
"A s-shadow c-c-clone?!"
"I'll show you later, now eat up." Sasuke said.
"Okay." Itachi said eating his breakfast.
"Itachi, I met up with your sensei the other day."
"Really? What did she say?"
"She said she's sorry and see also gave me this paper." Sasuke said passing the piece of paper to his son.
Itachi scanned the paper and he felt sad on the inside, but he had to be brave.
"So do you want to go?" Sasuke asked.
"Yeah I want to go, I-I need to go." Itachi replied.
"Aright so get ready to head out."
Itachi then ran upstairs and went to his room. "Also wear all black." Sasuke yelled.
"I don't have any clean shirts." Itach replied.
"Alright I have a shirt." Sasuke said running into his room. He grabbed a black shirt and walked to Itachi's room.
"Woah cool!" Itachi said awestruck.
"What's so cool?" Sasuke asked.
"It has the clan symbol on it!" Itachi exclaimed.
"Why are you so hyper about wearing the clan symbol?"
"It's just so cool to know I'm from a clan, which has a kekkai genkai."
"Yeah I guess so."
(1 hour later)
Both Sasuke and Itachi attended the funeral service for the student lost in the bandits attack. All of his classmates and Satoru all attended as well. Itachi wept silently sitting next to his father. It was a sad day for the students.
And before the funeral was over Itachi uttered only a few words "I promise I will become stronger."
~Day 7~
Revival
Itachi woke up feeling better than he did this whole week. The town wasn't raining and the sun was shining brightly. Also the village was in better shape, the reinforcements finally arrived. Yamato being one of them, they managed to rebuild many buildings. Though the effects of the bandits still lingered, things were looking up.
Itachi jumped out of bed and ran downstairs into the living room. He grabbed a stack of ninja books, he had to learn the basics of being a ninja.
(Meanwhile)
"Yamato-san." Sasuke said.
"Sasuke-san." Yamato replied.
To say that Sasuke and Yamato were 'friends' would be an overstatement. They were acquaintances at the most, and Sasuke only knew very little about him. All the raven knew that he and some weird ANBU guy filled in his spot on Team 7 during his journey. He also knew that Yamato was a user of the wood style, which the first Hokage used.
"How has things in the Hidden Leaf been?" Sasuke asked intrigued.
"Pretty good."
"What about Team 7?"
"Ah Naruto has been off in Suna studying under the Kazekage, Gaara."
"Interesting to think that he's actually studying and learning."
"I wouldn't get put too much hope into that. Gaara says that he barely even pays attention."
"Heh once an idiot always an idiot."
"Sakura has also been working a lot in the hospital, she's almost as good as Tsunade."
"Really? That's good to hear." Sasuke smirked.
"But she really misses you."
"I'll be back in the village soon enough."
"Speaking of that when do you plan on heading back to the village?" Yamato inquired.
"Not sure but soon enough, the trip from here to the Leaf is far though. By the way how did you get here so fast?"
"Ah thanks to Naruto's students we made it here as fast as we did." Yamato explained.
"Students?" Sasuke asked thinking of the idea of Naruto teaching was crazy to him. To think that dobe would actually teach, even though he never paid attention in the academy.
"Yes he taught a few jonin the Flying Thunder God technique." Yamato explaine.
"The same jutsu the fourth used, figures he would learn it." Sasuke said.
"Yep. Also before I forget Kakashi wanted me to give you this." Yamato said passing a book to Sasuke. It was an Icha Icha book, once reading the cover Sasuke sighed.
"Sensei really needs to stop sending me these books."
"Also I don't know why but Naruto said to give these to you." Yamato said passing the raven a wooden box. The box contained an assortment of wooden and metal ninja tools.
"Ah thank you Yamato-san, let's just say the weapons are for an important person." Sasuke said.
"Hm, alright then I have work to do, Sasuke-san."
"Ah good seeing you Yamato-san."
And with that the two ninja parted ways.
Also I decided to have Itachi call Sasuke 'Tou-san' because of the new revelation and turn of events. He know trusts and believes in him more than before now that he knows the truth.
Also can you guys leave me a review of what you think so far? Also tel me who you guys think this mysterious voice/memory that Sasuke and Itachi talk to. Don't forget to also tell me if you have any question on the story. And tell me if the characters seem to OOC (Out Of Character for those who don't know) thanks.
Peace Out
-Ninja