Part I: Episode 15

It must have been several minutes before anyone moved. Itachi and Shisui were disturbed and mesmerized by Danzo's arm and Danzo knew better than to make the first move when he was in such disadvantageous position. But the man knew that he wouldn't be able to escape from the two boys. Still, he jumped backwards so that he was outside. Itachi and Shisui knew the layout of the house far better than he did, and Danzo knew he had to take every advantage, no matter how small.

Predictably, the boys saw this as the first move and rushed forward. Even with his new Sharingan, Danzo could barely keep up with Shisui's speed. The title "Shunshin no Shisui" was well-deserved. Danzo almost didn't notice the kunai coming towards him, courtesy of Itachi, and barely managed to dodge the combined attacks of the two Uchiha boys.

As soon as Shisui landed, Itachi was rushing forward, katana drawn. While he didn't quite have Shisui's speed, Itachi was quite fast in his own right. Even if he couldn't use the Mangekyou Sharingan at the moment, the downgraded version was still more than enough to keep up with the boy's sword swipes. Katana clanged against kunai again and again as Itachi struggled for control. Danzo noticed that, while Itachi was pressing the attack, his strikes were outrageously brutish. The ANBU taught precision and finesse in their kenjutsu training.

Once again, Danzo realized what was happening and reacted in the nick of time, substituting with a trash can just as Shisui stabbed him with a kunai. The older man appeared next to a house and realized, with a laugh, that it was the same house he had dented earlier. He turned his attention back to the two Uchiha boys. He may have had the experience, but they were fast and there were two of them. And Danzo only had taijutsu at his disposal with maybe a few lower-tier techniques.

Itachi and Shisui lunged forward and Danzo's left arm shot forward, grabbing Itachi by his outstretched wrist and slamming the boy into Shisui, sending both boys to the ground. Danzo pounced, but both rolled separate ways and threw a kunai towards Danzo's position, forcing the man to jump upwards onto the roof of the house. As soon as he landed, Danzo had to move again as a barrage of fireballs were fired at his position. Instead of staying on the defensive, Danzo ran forward once he landed. Whereas the boys were quick and armed, Danzo had the advantage of size and strength and he used it.

Danzo came in like a bear. Itachi attempted to use his sword, but Danzo broke it in two with a fist from his right hand. Before either boy could react, Danzo twisted, sending a knee into Shisui's gut. Itachi tried using the two pieces of katana, but Danzo grabbed him by the wrists and used a kick to send Itachi flying back. Itachi managed to get onto his feet and looked up to see Danzo charging towards him at a speed Itachi would have thought impossible. He barely managed to dodge a few fists and responded with kicks, but Danzo blocked them as if they were nothing.

It was Shisui who saved Itachi from being smashed into the ground. Danzo had raised both fists when Shisui came rushing in, tackling the man to the ground. Without hesitation, Itachi jumped to attack but Danzo tossed Shisui into him like the boy was a sack of flour. Both boys went flying backwards and Danzo quickly strung together a series of handseals.

"Futon: Vacuum Sphere," Danzo blew at least seven blasts of wind. Aided by their Sharingan, Shisui and Itachi managed to avoid most of them, if just barely. But once again, Danzo was upon them. Itachi managed to make three shadows clones and between the clones, the real Itachi, and Shisui, the five boys managed to drive Danzo backwards. Once they had space, Itachi rushed Danzo. The man raised a hand to bat the boy away when the clone suddenly exploded, creating a great pillar of smoke.

Itachi felt a sudden tightness in his chest and cursed. His body was beginning to act up again, and at the worst possible time. Shisui noticed and pulled out a kunai, standing in front of Itachi. Nothing happened for several minutes but when the smoke cleared, Danzo was nowhere to be found. Itachi struggled to breathe, silently willing his body to return to his command. Danzo appeared out of nowhere, smacking Itachi to the side and sending a fist into Shisui that sent the boy flying backwards. He took a breath. Even such a small jutsu had taken quite a bit out of him.

Even though they were separated, Itachi and Shisui didn't even have to look at each other to start performing the same handseals.

"Katon: Great Fireball Jutsu!" Both boys shouted before blowing a massive flame towards Danzo. The man turned to dodge and suddenly felt his lack of chakra. It took all of his willpower to force his body to jump away from the flames and even then, he had to roll to douse the tongues of fire that managed to sneak onto his clothes. Shisui took the pause in the battle to appear beside Itachi, who slowly got up. He was definitely paler than he had been at the start of the fight, but his eyes glared defiantly at Danzo.

The fight stopped again as the two sides stared at each other, waiting for the other to make a move. Shisui glanced at Itachi again, unsure how much longer he would be able to last.

"Stop worrying," Itachi ordered. His eyes softened and shifted towards Shisui, although he stayed facing Danzo. "I'll be fine. We have him on the ropes. I guess his chakra is pretty drained right now. If we keep pressing the attack, we can beat hi-" Itachi was cut off by another volley of wind bullets. Both Uchihas jumped to either side and waited for Danzo to come to the center like he did before. To their surprise, he suddenly appeared behind Itachi. Danzo threw a punch, but Itachi grabbed his arm and returned the blow with a kick.

Danzo stumbled backwards just as Shisui appeared behind him, driving both fists into the man's shoulder, forcing him into the ground. Itachi took a deep breath, preparing a Katon technique when Danzo swept both boys. As they struggled to regain their balance, the ground beneath them began to churn like quicksand. Before the boys could exit the rock whirpool, two pillars of earth shot upwards into each boy's sternum. Danzo didn't hesitate to grab each boy and ram them into each other before tossing each to the ground. He went into another string of handseals and more rock pillars shot up, pummeling the boys as they rolled across the ground. Danzo jumped into the air and tossed two shuriken before performing another technique.

"Raiton: Thunder Chain" a thin string line of lightning connected the two shuriken as they quickly approached the Uchihas. It was hell for Shisui as he jumped up and leaped towards Itachi, grabbing the boy and getting them both out of harm's way before it was too late. Danzo's face was strained as he pushed for another jutsu. Shisui quickly dropped Itachi and began copying the technique. Both Shisui and Danzo blew a massive sphere of wind and when the two techniques clashed, the burst of wind send all three individuals flying backwards.

Danzo struggled to stand up. His chakra was dangerously low, especially after that last barrage of techniques. He commended the boys, Shisui in particular, for being able to live through it, though Danzo knew it was only because the techniques weren't being used at full power. He flexed the fingers on his right hand experimentally. He knew that if he wanted to make it through this battle, he had to finish this fight. He could see that Itachi was beginning to grow weaker and knew that the smaller of the two boys was now the weak link of the duo.

Standing up to his full height, Danzo prepared to finish the battle. He took a deep breath, charging his chakra as much as he could. He had a few full-power techniques left in him before he absolutely had to stop fighting and he knew he had to make them count. Danzo surged forward again.

Shisui cursed as Danzo charged towards them. Being a 14-year-old boy had its drawbacks, such as a general lack of strength and stamina. Especially compared to someone like Danzo. Even with his chakra so low, the man just kept fighting. Shisui couldn't help but be impressed. His attention was pulled to Itachi when the boy forced himself up. He was still beat up from the medical room fight and with the sudden sickness he had contracted lately, his body was getting pushed to its limits. Shisui knew this battle had to end soon, or neither of the boys would make it.

"Katon," Shisui began, taking a deep breath. He launched a fireball, but Danzo easily dodged it. In a flash, he had slammed his fist into Shisui's gut and grabbed Itachi by the hair.

"No!" Shisui shouted as Danzo's Sharingan began to morph into its Mangekyou form. Itachi's eyes went wide and Shisui found his Sharingan morphing into its Mangekyou state.

Itachi thought his brain was going to explode when Shisui cancelled out Danzo's Kotomatsukami with his own. The pain was so immense that Itachi screamed. He didn't even feel the pain in his back when Danzo tossed him into one of the houses nearby. What Itachi thought were tears streaming down his face was blood and he didn't even notice the stuff trickling from his ears.

Guilt crushed Shisui. He hadn't meant to incapacitate Itachi so brutally. It had been instinct to cancel out Danzo's technique and Shisui hadn't even thought about the consequences it would cause Itachi.

"Mokuton!" Danzo shouted.

"What?" Shisui gasped before thick roots wrapped around him. His arms, neck and legs were inside of a tree, leaving only his head and body visible. Danzo walked towards him slowly, the effects of the fight on his face. Sweat poured through every pore on the man's face and he seemed much older than he was. His pale right arm seemed to glow, disturbingly enough, under the moonlight.

Itachi forced himself to move, crawling towards Danzo and Shisui. His father would have been disgusted. 'Uchihas don't crawl', he would have said, but Itachi didn't care. He felt himself being lifted from the ground and before he realized it, he too was almost completely inside a tree. He struggled to lift his head as Danzo stood before Shisui.

Shisui tried to summon the power of Orochimaru's cursed seal, but he had no idea how. He looked at Itachi, barely conscious inside of a tree, blood dripping from just about every possible place in his head. He felt panicked, scared, but not angry. And then Danzo was upon him. The man's expression was dark, but to Shisui's surprise, not angry. He almost seemed as if he didn't want to kill Shisui.

The boy was beginning to get blurry, Danzo noticed. A drawback of the Mangekyou, although Danzo hadn't expected it to happen so quickly. He regretted having it come to this. Shisui and Itachi could have been the leaders of Root, his right and left hands when he took over the village. But Danzo pushed that thought out of his mind. He drew his last kunai.

"No," Itachi said pathetically, although his voice was hoarse. He watched as Danzo took the knife and prepared to finish what he had started. Shisui felt something lurch in his stomach and prayed it was the cursed seal. Then he felt whatever it was struggling to rise from his gut. He tried to hold it in. He wasn't going to die a puking mess. But his stomach won out and Shisui opened his mouth.

Itachi watched dumbfounded as something poured out of Shisui's mouth. It was solid, but it was moving so fast Itachi couldn't quite make out what it was. Danzo dropped the kunai, his hands trembling as whatever it was surged into his mouth and down his throat. All he could make was choking noises. He tried to grab whatever it was and his blood went cold when he touched it. Scales. Danzo's hands began twitching uncontrollably and within seconds his body was turned into a spastic horror show. He was running out of air. And even if he hadn't been, the snake had moved with such forced it penetrated through every organ in Danzo's body like a bullet.

If Shisui's eye had been open any wider, he might have lost it. For a few seconds, Danzo stood there. He coughed blood as he fell to the ground. His expression was burned into Shisui's mind. He was helpless, horrified, enraged, disappointed, despaired, and cold at the same time.

As Danzo fell to the ground, the darkness began to overtake his vision. He was dying. He could see Hiruzen's face before his eyes closed.

Hiruzen, he thought. He felt cold, and all he could see was darkness. I never did become Hokage. In the end, no matter how far I went, I could never catch up to you.

With his death, the trees that surrounded Itachi and Shisui sunk back into the ground. Shisui's heart was pounding and he couldn't move his eyes from Danzo's dead body. Itachi stumbled, nearly on all fours, towards him. The two boys sat in silence, not sure of what to say or do or even what to feel. They had cleared their mission, right? Then why did they feel so cold?

It might have been minutes or hours before Orochimaru and the other members of the Uchiha clan arrived. Regardless, Shisui and Itachi were still sitting on the ground, their eyes fixated on Danzo's corpse. Tsunade gasped when she saw the boys, battered and bruised, completely unmoving. She sprinted towards them. If they noticed her presence, they made no sign of it. Relief rushed through Tsunade when she felt a pulse.

But still, they were so still, she noticed. She looked in their eyes. They were completely broken, mentally. One of the Uchiha woman ran forward and wrapped her arms around the two boys, bringing them close. She was clearly Itachi's mother. With a humorless laugh, Tsunade realized that Itachi was nearly the spitting image of his mom.

For a while, there was only silence. And then, just barely, Tsunade could hear sobs. Another one of the Uchiha's, the man who Itachi had gotten his deep tear troughs from, came forward.

"You two were right," he said bitterly to the boys. "Please, forgive me."

The sun was out when Itachi lurched forward in is bed. The first thing he noticed was that he was in his room. The next thing he noticed was the pain. It was immense and it was everywhere. He looked down and saw bruises all along his torso, big splotchy looking patches of violets and navy blues. He slowly forced himself to stand up. Memories of the fight with Danzo surged toward his the forefront of his mind, numbing the pain. He didn't remember what happened after he fell from Danzo's Mokuton technique. Then he remembered: Sasuke.

With a sense of urgency that trumped everything else, Itachi all but ran towards his little brother's room. He was relieved to see his little brother passed out on the bed, his limbs entangled with those of Naruto who was just as asleep. It didn't surprise Itachi at all. He had grown used to seeing the blond in his brother's bed the same way Kakashi had likely grown used to coming home at night to see Sasuke passed out with Naruto in the latter's bed.

"Itachi, you're up!" Mikoto cried out in surprise. Itachi turned just in time to see his mother wrap her arms around him. Even though he was a head taller, Itachi felt like a little kid again. He winced slightly when Mikoto's hug began to get too tight. She gasped and quickly released him.

"I'm so sorry, it's just...I'm so glad you're okay, Itachi-kun." Itachi wondered how long he had been out. His mother looked so much different, as if years of stress and worry had completely vanished from her face.

"Where's Shisui?" Itachi asked. As if on cue, the curly-haired Uchiha walked into the hallway. Mikoto turned and jumped when she saw him and then laughed sheepishly.

"Why am I not surprised that you two woke up at the same time?" She asked with a laugh. Shisui and Itachi looked at each other and their faces broke into grins. It was odd, in a way, smiling. It wasn't a fake smile that served only to mask the pain. It was a true, genuine smile - the kind that told each boy that no matter what, the other would always be there. Mikoto practically pushed the boys out the door.

"You've been sleeping like rocks for two days straight now. Uchiha men need to be in the sun or they'll end up looking more like paper than people!" She had said with a laugh. The good mood didn't last long. Itachi and Shisui had been outside for a grand total of two minutes before two ANBU appeared before them with news of the Hokage's summon.

Shizune glanced between the two Uchiha boys awkwardly. She had been ordered to give them a quick check-up upon their arrival and had expected the Council meeting to be over by the time she was done. Unfortunately, it was not, and Tsunade had "strongly implied" Shizune should stay with the boys until the meeting had adjourned.

Finally, mercifully, the doors opened, breaking the uncomfortable silence. Itachi started when he saw his father walk out of the council room, but the man held out his hand. His eyes said 'later' and Itachi silently obeyed. Along with Fugaku, other individuals came out. Itachi recognized one man as the head of the Hyuga clan and also recognized the Akimichi and Aburame clan leaders as well. After them, the two eldest members of the council, Koharu and Homura, exited the room. The two gave Itachi and Shisui's suspicious looks, but said nothing.

Shizune stood up to take her leave as well, leaving Itachi and Shisui glancing at each other before the Council room doors, unsure of what to do.

"What're you brats waiting for?" Jiraiya shouted, the smile present in his voice. "Get in here!"

"What...happened to him?" Fugaku asked, regarding Danzo's corpse. He had since rejoined his clan while Tsunade and Mikoto carried Itachi and Shisui to Mikoto's house. Not even Tsunade, with all her medical training, was quite sure if they were fully conscious or not. They offered no resistance, though, when they were lifted up and carried away. Orochimaru didn't bat an eye when he began explaining.

"It's the Ouroboros, a serpent so powerful that it was cursed to never be able to exist in one place simultaneously." He explained. "One with the summoning contract for snakes can summon parts of the Ouroboros and hide them inside various places. When the head senses a piece of its body, it will surge forward without regard to any obstacle in its way. Wood, stone, and even steel offer no resistance." Fugaku warily looked at Orochimaru, although the Hokage seemed to be ignoring him. Once Tsunade and Mikoto had returned, he looked towards Jiraiya who nodded and stepped forward.

"Doton: Swamp of the Underworld," Jiraiya chanted softly. For a while nothing happened. And then Danzo's body slowly began sinking into the ground. Within seconds, the man's corpse was swallowed up by the unearthly mud. The ground then solidified again and Danzo's body was gone. A cold wind blew through the Uchiha compound. Orochimaru turned and began walking off.

"H-Hokage-sama, wh-"

"I will see you in tomorrow morning's Council meeting Uchiha Fugaku-san. Danzo's attempt to use Kotomatsukami in order to influence the Uchiha clan to rebellion will be discussed then and there. Good night," Orochimaru's voice was cold and final as he walked off into the night with Jiraiya and Tsunade behind him. Fugaku and the rest of the Uchiha watched, in awe, of the three Sannin, until they disappeared.

Author's Corner

You guys cannot comprehend how hard it was to resist the urge to "Danzo came in like a wrecking ball". There were just so many opportunities and just ugh. But anyway, this chapter is officially the end of part 1. I've been writing part 2 and since Orochimaru appears to be a favorite, I'll try to incorporate him more but part 2 will be mostly focused on the kids.

This was a pretty fun chapter to right, even though it did get a bit repetitive at times. But yes, Orochimaru did kill Danzo and as of me writing this, Danzo isn't coming back. But hey, never say never, since I haven't quite worked out what'll happen in part 3. I'm going to try and do a part 1.5 sort of deal and hopefully that will be out today or tomorrow, so that should serve as a nice bridge.

But yeah, I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter and as always leave some feedback and I'd love to hear what you have to say. You guys are the ones I write for so stay awesome.