SASUSAKU UPDATE: Sorry, no more SasuSaku in this chapter, BUT DON'T WORRY! It's coming up in a chapter or two. This chapter is more of a transitional chapter, explaining some backstory and moving the plot along. Anyway, be sure to expect SasuSaku either next chapter or the chapter after that. ;D

ALSO, thanks so much for a thousand reviews! It's one of those unspoken thresholds that I'm pretty sure every author wants to reach, and I am so elated that I have managed to do so. :D

The Gate Amidst the Ivy

Chapter Eighteen

King Itachi sat, strangely stiff, atop the stone-hewn throne of the main castle. The throne room itself was dark, surprisingly medieval in an otherwise opulent castle, resembling more a dungeon than the nucleus of the land of Konoha. On both sides of the throne was a slightly lower seat, reserved for Duke Orochimaru and Prince Sasuke, and Duke Orochimaru sat on the right.

Sasuke could not think of any conceivable reason of why he had fallen out of favor with his elder brother, and there was no way to bring it up without sounding petty, juvenile—or worse, uninformed. So instead, as he entered the room, he stood in front of both Orochimaru and Itachi, privately communicating his refusal to accept his newly lowered position, and knowing this little rebellion would go unnoticed—perfect.

"The Hyuugas have as good as declared war," murmured King Itachi, after a silence of a few minutes. His eyes stared blankly ahead.

Sasuke said nothing. He knew it to be true—first, the Hyuuga heiress had escaped from the dungeons, indicating they had infiltrated the castle; second, they had given the Lady Haruno, a known traitor to the state, asylum.

"We musst retaliate," added Orochimaru. "If we are not decisive, the Hyuugas will continue to amass power."

"But we cannot be overt," Sasuke interrupted. "They are so powerful that to do so would risk civil war, and they have so many foreign allies, we may risk international war as well."

A slow smile spread across Orochimaru's face, an expression that looked curiously inhuman. "You are always so insightful, dear Sasuke, but you must not forget we have had some experience politically as well. We have indeed come up with the perfect retaliation."

Though he remained impassive, Sasuke was, once again, affronted. He was the leader of the army. Any military maneuver should have been planned with his permission and oversight, yet Orochimaru had bypassed him completely. "Perhaps you should be kind enough to inform me of these things," he said mildly instead.

The smile did not leave Orochimaru's face, and Sasuke wondered why Itachi had been silent throughout the entire exchange. "You must forgive my oversight, dear boy. My carelessness is one of my greatest flaws."

Dear boy. Sasuke nearly snorted. For all his obvious skill and experience, Orochimaru could not have chosen a more obvious way to attempt to assert his authority over Sasuke—an authority that Sasuke had recently been chafing under.

Seeing that Sasuke had no intention of responding, Orochimaru continued before the silence became too lengthy. "We know that the Hyuugas will immediately be evacuating their heiress for her safety, while they prepare for our political retaliation. Most likely they will be heading toward the city of Ame, in the Country of Rain east of here, where those traitorous Hyuugas have such allies as King Hanzō, whom you will remember murdered many of our soldiers in the Third Great War." He paused before continuing. "With the mountains bordering our lands, and the winter snows coming, there is only one pass safe enough that they would let their heiress travel on it. If we can somehow intercept the heiress before she escapes to Rain, then we will have a valuable political prisoner that we can use to pacify the Hyuugas."

Sasuke understood immediately. "You wish me to pursue her."

"Indeed," Orochimaru affirmed. "Your sskill with horses and other forms of war is well known, and the group must be small enough that we do not attract the notice that could start a civil war. You may take some of our most trussted soldiers with you, but above all this must remain a ssecret mission."

Sasuke glanced over at his brother, who had final approval on all actions such as this.

"You must not fail this, little brother," Itachi told him.

Then he would not fail. Above all, he was loyal to his brother. "Very well then. I will only need one man with me."

Orochimaru smiled knowingly. "Kakashi, I assume?" At Sasuke's nod, he added, "Kakashi is indeed a loyal partner. His respect for the law has sometimes overawed me, and his skill is nothing to scoff at."

"Yes. With your permission, then, I will leave immediately."

"Do so," ordered King Itachi shortly.

Sasuke bowed slightly and then turned sharply on his heel, leaving the throne room at a brisk pace. The moment he left, Orochimaru gave a sharp nod, and Isabi stepped out of the entrance of the secret room adjoining to the throne room, hidden entirely in shadow. Itachi slumped down in his throne lifelessly as Isabi temporarily relinquished her mental control of him.

"My lord," she greeted.

"Issabi," Orochimaru replied, making no effort to hide his sibilant accent now. His persistent smile widened. "Did you perhapss noticse the little princeling's face when he ssaw me on the right-hand chair?"

"Yes, of course," murmured Isabi, downcast.

"Oh, lovessick girls like you are no fun at all," complained Orochimaru theatrically. "Ssassuke is no great prize now, dear girl, especially conssidering that he is a king-killer."

"M-my lord?"

Orochimaru leaned back lazily. "I believe the time is right for King Itachi to suffer an unfortunate incident involving a knife to the back in his private chambers (1). Everyone knowss how long our princeling has been chafing under our royal control, and who, after all, can be more guilty than a man who has fled with only his clossesst friendss to the Hyuugas, who are our most infamous enemiess? Dear Ssassuke has only made it far too easy for me to sspin him into a murderer, one who has committed the most heinouss of all murders at that." He appeared utterly comfortable with himself and asked conversationally, "Do you think the knife to the back is a bit too much? It just seems sso poetic, really, that I almosst can't help mysself."

Isabi curtsied low, her eyes fixed to the ground. She wanted to do anything but this—she loved Sasuke!—but there was no refusing Orochimaru, ever. "Your will be done," she said formally, repeating an archaic phrase that had been uttered by vassals to their lords for centuries past, knowing it would please him and stroke his enormous ego.

It did indeed; an approving glint entered his eyes as he said, "Ssee to it then, and I will ensure that you are amply rewarded."

"Of course, my lord."

Soon after finishing her talk with Hinata, Sakura was given a room in the same wing as Hinata's chambers, complete with a new wardrobe. It was not as lavish as her quarters in the main castle, but she had not expected it to be, but they were far better than what she had become accustomed to at Castle Konoha. The dresses were simple but serviceable, and after cleaning herself up suitably, she crawled into the futon and was dead to the world for the next eight hours.

When she awoke the next day, her legs were sore from her horseback riding, but overall she felt much better. She had breakfast with Hinata, who she found to her embarrassment had been waiting for Sakura to wake before eating.

The meal was simpler than what Sakura had become used to at the main castle, but it was filling; all in all, the Hyuugas seemed much more practical than the Uchihas. Sakura told Hinata that, and the heiress laughed shyly before becoming somber.

"Th-they will p-probably insist I flee to the Country of Rain," Hinata told Sakura over the thick soup, speaking of the Hyuuga elders.

Sakura nodded approvingly. "Good," she said, "it's for your safety, after all."

"Y-yes, but you wi-will need to come with me."

"No! Then I will look guilty!"

"Y-you already l-look guilty, S-Sakura," murmured Hinata timidly. "W-we can return a-after this all cools down," she appended hopefully.

"Really?" Sakura said cynically. "And when will that be? Five years from now? Twenty? I can't flee like a fugitive."

"Y-you, as well a-as I, have no ch-choice in this. Either we st-stay, where we will only be used as political pawns, or we f-flee, where we will be s-safe." She pushed the soup aside. "I—I am not happy about this either."

Sakura narrowed her eyes keenly. "Why?"

A deep blush suffused Hinata's face. "I—I—at the p-prison, I came a-across a prisoner. He st-stood out to me f-for his spirit, a-and I told my men t-to save him as well."

Leaning closer, Sakura asked teasingly, "Ooh, do you have a crush on him?"

The blush deepened, becoming a deep red. "D-d-don't say s-such scandalous things!" Hinata reprimanded helplessly, looking down and poking her fingers together.

Sakura couldn't help but smile. "So, tell me more about him. What does he look like? What's his name? Where is he?"

Hinata's eyes became almost enchanted. "He—he has the m-most wonderful blond hair. I—I did not know hair that color was possible. A-and blue eyes, Sakura, blue eyes l-like the sky on a b-beautiful sunny day." The enthralled light in her eyes dimmed. "H-he was in awful shape wh-when we took him. He's in a—a healing coma now. I—I don't w-want to leave without at l-least greeting him, b-but the healers say i-it is too dangerous to move him, a-and it is too dangerous for me to stay."

"Blond hair and blue eyes, huh?" Sakura said musingly. "That's a rare combination." She had met only two people with features like those, and her thoughts instantly shied away from both of them. "What's his name?"

The heiress smiled, and immediately her beauty became breathtaking. Sakura thought privately that Hinata should smile much more often. "His name is N-Naruto." The blush, which had began to fade away, returned in full force.

Sakura choked on her soup, and Hinata watched in alarm. "A-are you alright?" she asked frantically.

Sakura nodded as she got her breathing under control before asking furiously, "Do you think this is funny? I don't even know how you know about my—my past, but Naruto is dead."

Hinata stared at Sakura with genuine confusion. "Wh-what do you mean?"

"You know perfectly well what I mean! I—I was a fool, and L-Lord Tomoya—"

(Please, Naruto, trust me, Lord Tomoya will help you—)

"What are you saying, Sakura?" And Sakura could tell from her uncharacteristically sharp voice that Hinata truly did not know what Sakura was saying, and logically she supposed that had to be the case, but a coincidence like that was just so unlikely and impossible and did that mean Naruto truly was alive? And if so, that meant Sakura had to go see him, had to beg forgiveness, but at the same time she was so terrified, so, so terrified, and the worst part was that she knew if Naruto rejected her it would serve her right, wouldn't it, for betraying him like that—

Sakura felt nauseous.

"S-Sakura," Hinata said strictly, "y-you need to tell me what happened."

"I—I—please, you have to promise to forgive me after I tell you this—"

Hinata had never seen Sakura so distraught, even when the royal guard had come to arrest her, even when she had discovered Sakura's secret garden, and was worried. She sought to reassure Sakura. "Of c-course I w-will, Sakura," she said earnestly.

Sakura visibly drew herself together. "You know of the tail of the great Nine-Tailed Demon, correct? A monstrous construct of elemental fire magic, who razed entire countries to the ground, and finally attacked the Country of Fire at the end of the Third Great War?"

"O-of course. We all d-do."

"Then, as you know, the great Madara Uchiha sealed the beast away, in exchange for which he was given the honor of ruling over the vassals of the Country of Fire (2). His greatness is why the Uchiha Dynasty now rules Konoha. But do you know how he sealed the demon away?"

"N-no, though I have often wondered."

"He sealed the best away in a boy, an innocent little boy. If he was so great, why would he do that to a child?" asked Sakura bitterly.

Hinata's eyes widened. "Th-then—th-the child was Naruto?"

"Yes," Sakura confirmed. "The villagers, of course, did not know this; no one was supposed to. But they always sensed something off about him, something strange that made them wary, and they treated him terribly. I—I was his only friend." She clenched her hands, ignoring the long-cold soup.

"There was a—a lord," she continued. "He came to our village when I was twelve. He was charming and spoke well, but I did not realize at the time that he was a petty, poor aristocrat who sought the favor of the royal family so that he might get some monetary reward.

"He stirred up some young men, feeding them lies about me and Naruto, filling them with hatred. One day, they saw me walking home alone from the market and cornered me. They roughed me up a bit, but they were too drunk to do anything more."

Hinata gasped. "That most have been terrible—"

"Please—please don't say anything until you've heard the whole story." Sakura forcibly loosened her hands and looked down at them, ashamed. "You'll see I deserved it.

"Naruto saw me the next morning. For a while, I refused to tell him, but he was always so persistent, so protective, and eventually I broke down and told him. You—you should have seen his eyes. I knew then and there he planned to hurt them for what they did to me, the impulsive idiot, and I begged him not to do anything.

"And then the next day all the men were found mauled to death." Sakura took a shaky breath. "I—I was so terrified. I was only twelve—the villagers were always telling me to stay away from him—and I didn't know what to do. The thought of being friends with a murderer, of holding the hand of someone who could be so brutal—I—I knew he needed help for the beast inside of him. For the first time I started to think that maybe the villagers were right, maybe Naruto was dangerous.

"I was an idiot," Sakura continued, her voice filled with self-loathing. "Lord Tomoya came to visit me; he was so comforting and kind; he gave my mother some money to get medicine for my father, who was very sick. He told me that whoever had done such a thing must have been mentally ill, but he had the power to give that person good care and rehabilitate him, and so would I please inform him if I knew anything, anything at all about the murders—so I broke down and told him everything. What the men had done, how I tried to hide it, how Naruto reacted, how he promised but broke it.

"And that was all he needed. The next day, Naruto was gone, and all that was left was the gossip of the villagers, saying how he deserved it anyways, the bastard demon," Sakura finished bitterly. She noticed with horror that her eyes were wet and wiped furiously at them.

"Oh, Sakura!" Hinata said compassionately, going around the table to engulf Sakura in a hug before shyly letting go. "I—I don't blame you at all. You were young and scared, S-Sakura, a-and Lord Tomoya took advantage of that. H-he's the one at fault."

"Yes, but I—I should have trusted Naruto. He—he was my closest friend, and look how I repaid him. I—do you suppose I could see him once, then, before we leave for the Country of Rain?"

Hinata nodded. "O-of course, Sakura."

(1) Potential FAQ this chapter: Won't people be able to tell King Itachi was stabbed posthumously? And while we're at it, why aren't Itachi's and Ino's bodies rotted, assuming they're dead now?

WELL. I mean to include an explanation for this previously, but apparently I forgot to do so.

Number one: this is a medieval-era-ish AU story, so you can assume their science (in this case, forensic science) isn't particularly advanced. But that is a flimsy excuse, considering it's not that hard to tell when a corpse is rotting, so here's the second part of the explanation:

Isabi can control the brain of someone as long as they're dead. That means that she's able to control the brain stem, which controls breathing and the heart and other involuntary actions. Which means as long as she's controlling the body, the blood is still circulating and the body is still breathing, meaning oxygen can still get to the rest of the body, meaning that the tissue will not necrotize, meaning the corpse will not decompose, because it's not really dead, you could say. And you can assume she's still making the bodies eat to get nutrition, but I'm just not describing that in the story because it's boring (or maybe I totally didn't think of the scientific inaccuracy until now, and this is my pathetic attempt to explain the fact that Itachi's eyes aren't falling out ;D). So as long as Isabi controls people within a few minutes of their death, before there's any damage to the brain, the body is pretty much "alive," though you could say the "soul" (I don't know what else to call it) is gone.

Thus, if Itachi's blood is still flowing, then if a knife pierces him, he'll bleed. I think. And that's why Ino's body wasn't rotting when Sakura saw it, because Isabi had maintained control of it.

(2) Trololololo~ that's right, I had Madara Uchiha "save" Konoha from the Kyuubi. He didn't really, but in this AU, he pretended to have done so, and that's why the Uchihas are in power today. ;D

Someone asked me if I based Orochimaru on anyone. Uhh... I guess a bit of canon Orochimaru. Interestingly enough, there's also a historical figure quite similar to this story's Orochimaru, named Boris Godunov. He rose through the ranks of the military, becoming a close adviser to the infamous Ivan the Terrible of Russia due to his military and political skill, as well as an advantageous marriage. Ivan the Terrible had two sons: Ivan and Feodor. Ivan was the crown prince, both because he was the eldest and because Feodor was, to put it bluntly, an idiot, probably due to a mental disability.

Well, one day, Ivan the Terrible just happened to accidentally kill his son, Ivan, in a fit of rage (don't you just hate it when that happens?), because Ivan Jr. was an artsy, woe-is-me hipster type of teenager, and Ivan the Terrible was just really annoyed by hipsters and wanted his son to toughen up AND BE A MAN. So anyways, after Ivan Jr.'s death, Feodor the idiot became the heir, and Ivan the Terrible appointed a council, which included Boris Godunov, to assist his stupid son. After Ivan the Terrible died and Feodor became czar of Russia, all of the people who were next-in-line for the throne mysteriously began to die off (though we all know Godunov was responsible ;D). Eventually, Boris Godunov gained complete control, becoming a popular and prosperous ruler, though his attempts at establishing his own dynasty were unsuccessful because, after his death, his son Feodor II was assassinated after an unsuccessful reign of only a few months.