Last week Itachi started the process of trying to come to terms with his failure; Fugaku and a couple members of the Hokage's staff worked out a temporary truce so they could find the Hokage; and Hinata, Hanabi and Konohamaru were placed in the isolation cells with the Uchihas and Naruto.
Thanks for all the reviews and fav's! More are always welcome.
Disclaimer: Jeez… now Kyuubi owns Naruto. Kishimoto is really going to have to work hard to get him back now. (Have you been keeping up with Shippuden – Deidara and Tobi are at the beginning of the latest episode - yay)
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Chapter 5 – Realization
That evening Fugaku was in the hospital with Mikoto reviewing the list of injured. A handful of Uchihas had been killed or injured, but considering how things had backfired it was a very small number. Dr. Yakushi was busy running from one surgery to the next. He even had his son Kabuto in the waiting room dealing with minor injuries.
Fugaku watched the fourteen-year-old with his Sharingan for a few minutes. He seemed very knowledgeable about basic medical jutsus, and the triage crew was sending people with small cuts, abrasions and simple fractures over to him for bandages and pain killers. However, Kabuto seemed to be reigning in his chakra. He would heal a fracture, but only to the point of being slightly below "acceptable". Meaning the bone was only about ninety percent healed.
Earlier suspicions about Kabuto's alliances resurfaced as Fugaku remembered how the teenager had managed to appear at key moments. The biggest tip-off had been years ago when Itachi was six-years-old and had been kidnapped. Kabuto had been the one to find him, even though the entire police force was searching. The clan lord suspected the boy might be one of Madara's spies. However, revealing him would also place suspicion on Itachi since the two had hung out together along with Shisui, and Itachi's teammate Yota. Also, he was Dr. Yakushi's son, and Fugaku felt a lot of gratitude toward the man who tirelessly took care of the medical needs of the clans. He realized he would have to find a way to learn more about what Kabuto was up to and find a way to neutralize him if necessary, without causing a lot of hate and discontent. It would be a delicate matter.
"Fugaku?" Mikoto interrupted Fugaku's thoughts and he turned around to look at her. "Are you done here? We should leave; we're making some people nervous."
"Oh." Fugaku looked around and realized she was right, "Yeah, let's go."
Walking out into the evening they made their way back to their house. The Uchiha district was dark as the village's electricity had been shut off hours earlier. As they walked past the remnants of the temple they stopped to look at the fallen timbers and crumbled plaster. The garden was torn up and the walls had been knocked down to make it easier to excavate the building. Luckily all the people inside had survived the collapse, but most were now in the hospital suffering from exposure. Hypothermia was not an easy thing to recover from if one was frail. In the morning, some of them might not be alive.
The wind blew down the street and Mikoto shivered. "Let's get to the house."
"Yeah." Fugaku frowned and followed his wife to their house. The dark building looked small and humble after a day spent buried in blood and warfare. Mikoto boiled some water over a wood fire to reconstitute some field rations and brew some tea. Fugaku quickly fell asleep after eating and Mikoto sat up to keep watch. Her husband had been awake over twenty-four hours and she was determined that he should get some rest.
Walking into Itachi's bedroom, Mikoto looked around the immaculately organized room. The teenager had always been very exacting and methodical about how he kept his belongings. His books were alphabetized, his clothes hung according to color and shade, his socks perfectly folded, and the contents of his desk in perfect order. She smiled. Sometimes, when she came into this room she would move one item out of place then return a day later to see if it had been put back. It always was. Mikoto chuckled, despite the quiet and somber atmosphere created by the dark. Itachi had never complained. She was sure he knew it was her doing it and wondered what he thought about her when he found a "z" book in the "f" books. Did he think her childish, annoying, or silly?
Sasuke's room was neat, but compared to his brothers it had a "lived in" feel to it. A stump was placed at one end of the room for shuriken practice, but hadn't been used since he started school. Standing six feet from a target was no longer a challenge. Other than that, the toys sat ignored on the shelf. This room had a TV. Itachi had never asked for one, but Sasuke did actually watch some shows. All were ninja related. When Itachi watched TV it was in the living room and it was always movies.
Mikoto picked up a stack of VHS tapes. They were the old animes Itachi used to watch as a child. Apparently he had given them to his little brother. She smiled, remembering how addicted the four-year-old Itachi had been to the show. He and Shisui never missed an episode.
Sighing, Mikoto returned to the master bedroom and sat in a chair to watch over Fugaku. She sent her chakra out to sense for enemies, hoping for a quiet night. Around three in the morning Fugaku woke up and told Mikoto to go to bed. She crawled underneath the warm blankets, falling asleep almost immediately. Fugaku took her place in the chair and read through several documents until shortly after six o'clock when Mikoto woke up. They both took soldier pills to make them more alert and returned to the village to see what had transpired during the night. Day two was beginning.
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The morning continued the work of the previous evening. Cleaning up dead bodies, looking for survivors in collapsed buildings and searching for the Hokage. Everyone was kept busy and when the explosion was heard at nine o'clock everyone jumped in alarm.
Echoing throughout the village, it was easily the loudest sound ever heard in Konoha. Looking up to the cliff behind the Hokage tower where the stone visages of the past rulers kept silent watch, everyone saw large quantities of dust and dirt billowing from the area to the left of the faces. An eerie silence settled over the village.
"Get up to the tunnels! Check for survivors!" Fugaku and about a hundred other people yelled as they ran toward the cliff. The area exposed by the explosion was one of four tunnels used to house the civilians. Shoving his way through the crowd Fugaku reached the front and quickly demanded to know what was going on.
A Hyuuga standing a couple feet from the cliff looked up, his Byakugan activated. Several others had their eyes closed, sending chakra through the rock to search for survivors.
"Nothing. The entire ceiling collapsed." A tall, thin man slid out of the stone and materialized next to Fugaku. Referred to as "Uncle" by everyone who knew him, he was, as Fugaku and Itachi had discovered, the leader of a clan that had been almost completely exterminated by the ninja village in Grass country. He had also planned a coup, but when things had gone wrong and his clan's village was attacked, he had run away in a show of cowardice.
He had arrived in Konoha after hearing his niece Yuri (who, it turned out was really his daughter and heir) had somehow managed to make her way to Konoha and been admitted into the academy. He convinced the young girl he was really her uncle and her father was dead. He then proceeded to train her rigorously in their clan's earth Justus. He tried to move the rest of the remaining clan to Konoha, but the elders refused to allow it. The paranoid and secretive man was not liked by very many people, and his ability to use roots to spy on people and move through earth and rock was a little creepy, even by ninja standards.
Fugaku had used Uncle's abilities to his advantage over the years in various police cases and finally in the coup. He had also promised the ex-clan lord that the remnants of his clan could relocate to Konoha.
Yuri, who was now fifteen, stepped out of the rock a few seconds after Uncle. She looked at Fugaku and clenched her teeth in anger. The cave had been entirely filled in with sediment and boulders. She shook her shoulder-length green hair in an attempt to free up some of the tension she was feeling. She had expected to see Itachi around, but as of yet he had remained out of sight. The two had been on the same Genin team, and had joined ROOT at the same time.
Fugaku growled under his breath, "Uncle, any idea what caused the collapse? Explosion? Structural failure?"
Uncle looked up at the sky for a minute to get his bearings. He disliked being in crowds, and the area had at least a hundred people standing around. He returned his gaze to Fugaku. "It was definitely an explosion."
"Danzou." Fugaku growled under his breath. "The question is, did he order it or did one of his henchman do it on his own? He seems to have little control over them if yesterday is any indication." The ANBU had roamed the village the day before killing anyone who got in their way, shinobi and civilian.
Everyone returned to what they had been doing and Fugaku walked back to the Hokage tower, cursing the entire way. He had to admit that he did place his own clan above the lives of anyone else, but what Danzou was doing… it was unimaginable. The civilian population of the village was around twenty-eight thousand, and the number was currently split between four tunnels and few hundred in the hospital. Almost a quarter of that number had just been murdered in a matter of seconds.
That the tunnels were not safe was now a given. Unfortunately, bringing the civilians back into the village was just as dangerous. Within an hour of the explosion the ANBU resumed their attacks in the village and the battle began all over again. However, the Konoha and Uchiha ninja's weren't as "trigger happy" as they had been the previous day and fewer people were killed. The object, this time around, was to capture as many as possible.
Most of the prisoners were taken to the interrogation facilities under ground and introduced to Ibiki Morino, Konoha's premier interrogator. The remainder were handed over to Uchiha clansmen who conducted their own questioning. It was a race to gather information, to find out why the tunnel had been destroyed, where Danzou was hiding, and what had happened to the Hokage.
Sometime in the afternoon Fugaku received two very interesting messages. The first was that reinforcements were five hours away, and the second was that a strange tall, blue, shark-like man was attacking people with a large sword one mile outside of the village. Fugaku could have sworn Madara had said he would contact Kisame and tell him to leave, but perhaps the man had lied. After all, it wasn't like he hadn't done that before. Saying he would take care of it, Fugaku left the village and made his way to where the odd occurrences were taking place.
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Kisame was sitting by the side of the road when a man who looked like a forty-year-old version of Itachi walked up to him, Sharingan blazing. He chuckled, "Itachi, you appear older than I remembered. If this is a new jutsu designed to sneak into brothels it's very good. Although, I must say, I tried the same thing when I was thirteen and they figured it out before I even reached the front desk."
Fugaku shook his head to clear it. This man was obviously insane. He wondered why Itachi had failed to mention that fact. "I am Lord Fugaku Uchiha and I would like to know why you are still here. I was under the understanding that you were ordered to leave."
"Ah! The kid's father. Should have known. He looks a lot like you." Kisame leaned back against a tree. "I did get orders to leave, but then… I thought… why should I? I'll just take off my cloak and ring and let Samehada have something to eat." He pointed his sword toward a pile of corpses.
Fugaku glanced at the bodies and quickly noted that they were all shinobi. "You aren't attacking civilians?"
"No point." Kisame stated plainly, "I only attack people who fight back. Or rather, who put up a good fight."
"You should leave." Fugaku said calmly.
"That's no fun. No one knows I'm Akatsuki here anyway, what does it matter?" Kisame frowned.
"Then attack ANBU only. Ever hear of a man named Danzou?"
Kisame scowled and stood up.
"I take it that's a 'yes'. If you see him, capture him." Fugaku said angrily.
"What if I kill him?" The words were bitter and filled with rage.
"Shit happens." Fugaku shrugged. It was obvious that if the blue man saw Danzou it would not be a pretty sight.
Kisame took a deep breath. "So what happened to the boy? I was supposed to meet him here."
"Should you be talking about Akatsuki to me?" Fugaku asked curiously.
"Itachi returns to this village, I know that already. I meet him here for our missions. He is also not a violent person, unlike the rest of the organization. Put two and two together and you get a boy who is either driven by an ulterior motive of his own creation, or a double-agent. Or perhaps neither. To tell the truth, I don't care." Kisame leaned back against the tree and stuck Samehada in the ground.
"You don't care what his motives are?" Fugaku found that hard to believe.
"Nope. He doesn't get in the way of my business, so I'm not going to get in the way of his. So, where is he?" Kisame demanded.
Fugaku creased his brow. The man seemed genuinely concerned about his young partner. "He's in the village, fighting. I promise I didn't kill your little playmate. Perhaps in a couple days he can come out and play with you."
Kisame gave Fugaku a bizarre expression that was a mixture of confusion, surprise, and consternation. "O…kay." He said slowly.
"There is a group of several thousand shinobi coming this way in a few hours. You probably don't want to be in their way. And don't kill them." Fugaku turned around and started walking away. He could hear the tall man chuckling.
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The three thousand ninjas assembled at the front gate received mixed reactions from the shinobi guarding it. The Uchiha and Hyuugas were glad to see them, but the Konoha ninjas were angry. They had held on to a thread of hope that when the Hokage returned the coup would be overturned and things would return to normal. However, it was obvious that was not going to be the case. Or at least it wouldn't be that easy.
Fugaku quickly assigned them to guard the village, giving the Konoha ninjas time to rest. Uncle's clan arrived as well and were put to work searching for Danzou. Their earth nature abilities made them very good at spying and assassinations.
Around midnight Uncle came before Fugaku with some interesting news. There was an extensive underground tunnel system underneath Konoha.
"What do you mean by extensive?" Fugaku asked, curious about what Uncle could be referring to. The ANBU and Hokage towers had several sub-levels containing labs, interrogation facilities and other facilities. He had been down there several times himself.
"There is a whole other level to the village that goes beyond the sub-levels we were already familiar with. They are up to a mile underground and encompass many miles of corridors and perhaps thousands of rooms. It's reached through the ANBU building, but I suspect there are multiple entrances throughout the village." Uncle replied quietly. They were in Fugaku's meeting room in his house sipping the tea Mikoto had brought in for them moments earlier.
"Hmm. I never realized something like that existed. I wonder what Danzou was trying to accomplish by excavating the village? Well, anyway, see if you can find some documents or maps on it. There's not much point in sending people down there without them. It would take too long and turn into a maze hunt." Fugaku wondered how much Itachi knew about this underground city.
"Of course." Uncle drained his cup in one gulp and left the house.
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The next morning started out badly. It was the third day of the coup and the village was starting to clean up. Many collapsed buildings had already been torn down and plans were drawn up for temporary housing for those left homeless. However, no maps or documents had been found overnight to navigate the underground and, at nine o'clock there was another explosion. The second emergency evacuation tunnel had collapsed, leaving, once again, no survivors. Almost half the civilian population was now deceased.
It was unacceptable. To say the Konoha nins were angry would be an understatement. They blamed Fugaku for putting them in this situation, completely forgetting the fact that the Hokage had been kidnapped by Danzou hours before the Uchiha coup began. Thirty minutes after the explosion a message was delivered to the Hokage tower via pigeon. It was clear in its demands: For each day the Uchiha failed to surrender a civilian facility would be destroyed. Day 4 – the third tunnel, Day 5 – the fourth tunnel, Day 6 - the civilian prison, Day 7 - the ninja prison, and if it went beyond seven days then facilities in the Fire country capital would be targeted. The message was signed "Sarutobi" but everyone knew it was written by Danzou.
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"You should surrender." Hako stated firmly.
Fugaku snorted, "And Danzou will be a good boy and let the Hokage go and stop blowing up civilians."
The room was silent. The clan lord was seated in a meeting room in the Hokage tower with the two remaining members of Sarutobi's staff, as well as an assortment of Uchihas, Hyuugas and a few Konoha ninjas. Three lanterns were placed in the center of the long table and lit the room with a soft glow.
"He won't." Tsukimi growled, "He is showing his true colors now and backed us into a corner."
"We have to evacuate the tunnels." Fugaku said. "That way we have two days to locate the Hokage while he blows up empty targets."
"How are we going to do that? If Danzou sees us then he will just re-target the new location." Toshiro asked.
Fugaku answered calmly, "High level Genjutsu. Set up a location two miles from the village for about fifteen thousand people. Keep in mind that it is October and the weather is not optimal."
"That will require a lot of resources." Toshiro said dejectedly.
"There doesn't seem to be much choice. Tsukimi is right, he has us backed into a corner. Fortunately, we can gnaw our way through the wall and hide someplace else. This is to be kept with the utmost of secrecy. Those who enter the Genjutsu are not allowed out no matter what. This could be something the Genin and Chuunin could do – setting up tents and transporting supplies. Then they can stay and look after the civilians.
"This needs to be done by this evening. Evacuating that many people is going to be a long process. Some will have trouble walking and there will be young children to consider. Anyone who is ill should be taken to the hospital, even if it is minor. When the evacuation is ready, I'll be available to help with the Genjutsu." Fugaku stood up and Toshiro followed him out of the room. The weather was still stormy, but at least it wasn't getting any colder than forty-five degrees in the evenings.
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Mikoto was walking down the road carrying a sack. She greeted the two men with a faint smile.
"Been out shopping?" Toshiro teased. The stores were all closed, of course.
"It's Naruto's eighth birthday today. He wanted ramen, of all things, so I grabbed some out of our house for him." She opened the bag to show them. It contained several pre-packaged ramen mixes of different flavors.
"Ramen?" Fugaku said distastefully. He was known for his dislike of pre-packaged food, although he did end up eating quite a bit of it anyway.
"He's a strange kid. He takes after Kushina, his mother. I was talking to him and I got such a sense of déjà vu it was creepy." She paused and got a far-away look on her face. "It's hard to believe… eight years ago today the Kyuubi attacked."
Fugaku frowned as he remembered the events of that day. There was a lot of death and destruction. But the events of the last few days were much worse. However, it wasn't the journey, but the destination that the Uchiha clan was working toward. A Konoha where the Uchiha held their rightful place and equals instead of looked down on with suspicion. Although, he had to admit, their destination had taken a different route. He was now working to rid the village of Danzou. That man had been the true enemy of the Uchiha and Konoha. The village could not prosper if that man remained alive.
"How is Sasuke? Is his injury healing okay?" Fugaku asked.
"Yes. Nui did a good job and it looks like he won't even have a scar. He's also playing with Naruto and Hinata. I've never seen him play with children his own age before. Actually playing games. He seems happy, although he is trying very hard to put on a stoic face." She laughed, "He is so much like you its laughable."
Fugaku smiled and Toshiro chuckled, hitting his friend on the back, "Looks like you got yourself a mini-Fugaku there. I remember you used to do the same thing."
Snorting, Fugaku held back a laugh. Toshiro was now approaching fifty, but many decades earlier he had befriended Fugaku when he was a young boy. Even though there was a big difference in their ages, hide-and-seek and tag were daily events that Fugaku had looked forward to eagerly. Although he would also put on a "stoic face" and pretend he wasn't enjoying himself, they both knew it had been an act. The games ended when Toshiro got old enough to go on missions and Fugaku had to begin training, but their friendship never faded.
Toshiro turned serious. "I'll notify the Konoha nins to evacuate the sick and injured to the hospital. That shouldn't raise any suspicions so we might as well do it now."
"Sounds good." Fugaku acknowledged. When Toshiro had disappeared from view he turned his attention back to Mikoto. "How is Itachi?"
"Pensive. He spends all his time deep in thought or sleeping. He is starting to look a little healthier though. Do you think he'll ever go back to normal?" Mikoto's face turned a little red and she wiped a tear away from her eye. She had become more and more worried over her eldest son as the days passed.
"Normal was never a word to be used when describing Itachi. Psychologically, he was badly manipulated. I don't think that is something one can overcome. The real question we should ask is how badly scarred is he?" Fugaku spoke in a low voice in case anyone was listening in.
"I can't believe he was actually going to kill everyone. I can't believe it. Itachi was always such a logical child." Mikoto sniffed and wiped her eyes again.
"Apparently something happened in Water country. Itachi mentioned it the other day after I imprisoned him. I checked the mission files and he broke down after his team walked into a village that had been massacred. Aki, Shisui's sensei, ended up having to carrying him after Itachi became unresponsive. It was almost twelve hours later before his brain switched back on."
"So he developed an aversion to death?" Mikoto couldn't believe it. After all, shinobi were raised with the knowledge that killing was just another part of the job and were desensitized to the act.
"It sounds like it. I'm not sure why Sarutobi didn't recommend psychological counseling. Perhaps Aki wanted Itachi to remain scarred so Danzou could manipulate his insecurities easier. If so, it worked like a charm." Fugaku snorted in disgust.
Mikoto frowned and looked at the ground. "I hope we find Danzou soon. I really want to see that man suffer." She turned around and walked away, her sorrow replaced by anger.
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Time passed slowly in the isolation cells. The only people they saw from the outside were Mikoto and Kisa, who brought medicine for Itachi, and games and books for the kids. The children seemed to cycle through crying fits (especially Hanabi and Hinata, who missed their mother, and Konohamaru, who missed his grandpa) and happy bursts of activity followed by hyperactivity and loud voices.
Sasuke and Naruto resumed their usual bickering almost twenty-four hours later. At one point it threatened to turn into a fight and Itachi was forced break it up. He threatened them, saying that if they couldn't get along they wouldn't be allowed to play together anymore. For some reason he didn't understand both boys settled down after that. Although he was sure it was only temporary. As soon as they got back out into Konoha hostilities would probably resume.
They also learned that all of the elders survived the attack, although several were suffering from exposure and very ill. The chamber had been cold and wet from the rainstorm and it had taken several hours to dig them out.
On the third day Sasuke wandered over to where Itachi was sitting alone near the kitchenette. "Itachi? Can I ask a question?" He asked shyly.
Itachi gave him a small smile and patted the floor next to him. Sasuke sat down and pulled his legs up to his chest. "Do you… ever have nightmares?"
"Yes. Everyone does." Itachi stated simply.
"Me too." Sasuke was silent for a couple minutes. "Do they ever come true?"
Itachi turned his head quickly and looked at his brother. "I… um." He didn't want to lie to him, but he didn't want to scare him either. "Father says that our dreams only come true if we go out of our way to make them happen." Perhaps a half-truth was okay. "What was your dream?"
Sasuke wondered if he wanted to tell. He knew that Itachi had done something, after all this "Danzou", whoever he was, had led him astray somehow. Meaning he had done something bad that their father was punishing him for. Sasuke sighed, "You killed mom and dad but had decided not to kill me because of the Mangekyou Sharingan, but right when you were going to tell me how to get it I woke up screaming. This was the night I stayed in the temple."
Gulping loudly, Itachi couldn't help the shock that appeared on his face. It was his plan… exactly as he was going to execute it. He had planned on leaving Sasuke alive so he could gain the power to kill him. Konoha would then label him a hero for ridding the world of "Itachi the clan killer". But how had the boy been able to dream about it?
On the other hand, Itachi had also experienced similar dreams that had come true. He had dreamed of Shisui the night he killed himself. The teenager had spoken to him… Itachi shook his head to rid himself of the memory… but even after two years, it wouldn't go away.
Itachi walked toward the river in the early morning darkness. The dry path turned wet as he reached a secluded spot. There was a figure sitting on a large boulder next to the path, looking longingly into the water. It turned around and an eyeless face stared at the boy then pointed to the river. Its mouth moved, but no words could be heard.
Looking into the water Itachi could see two red eyes looking back up at him. Turning around he saw that the figure on the rock was now wet. Some of the weeds that grew near the bank were in its hair. It pointed again, this time at a small piece of paper that was sitting on top of a different boulder. A small stone held the paper in place.
As soon as Itachi picked up the stone it turned into an eye and blinked at him. The sharingan gazed up. For some reason Itachi did not understand, he pushed the stone into this right eye. Looking down at the paper again he saw that a second stone had materialized. Picking it up, he pushed it into his left eye.
The figure on the stone suddenly wailed, as if in intense sorrow. Itachi fell to the ground, sobbing uncontrollably. He tried to reach for the figure's leg but his hand passed through it. Looking back into the water he could see, through his tears, a face slowly rising from the watery depths to the surface. It spoke in a very familiar voice.
"I have cursed you, my brother. And in turn you will curse your brother. It never ends. In my present state I can see a thousand different paths for you, and all end in sorrow. But, for some reason, that makes you happy. I am unable to understand your fate or read your heart, but know that with the gift of my eyes I will always walk with you and see your path, until the end, when darkness falls and fate joins us together once again."
"Shisui…"
Itachi sat straight up in his bed and covered his mouth, stifling the scream that threatened to escape. The dream had been so vivid, so real. Swinging his legs over the side of the bed he placed his feet on the floor. One foot, however, slipped slightly on the wood floor. Lifting it up he saw that it was wet. He pulled the blankets back and saw that the spot where his feet had been was muddy.
Itachi quickly stood up and ran to the small mirror attached to the wardrobe. Looking at his face he saw dirt around his eyes. "It was just a dream. I… what happened? Was I sleepwalking?"
"No." A voice spoke quietly, as if from a distance. He looked around but couldn't see anything, then assumed his imagination was playing tricks on him.
"I must have just gotten dirtier than I thought when I was training. The dream is freaking me out." He walked back to his bed and got back in it. He remembered that he had been training by a small pool of water formed by a river bend until a couple hours ago and the area had been very muddy. Closing his eyes he reasoned that he had been so preoccupied he hadn't bothered to wash up as he usually would. But still, he was unable to get back to sleep. Red eyes, a ghostly figure, and wet feet kept him awake for the rest of the night.
"You have them too." Sasuke whispered. "I can tell."
"Sasuke, I don't really want to talk about it." Itachi finally told the truth. "The things I see… are terrifying. I used to take medications when I was younger so I could sleep."
"That's why you're always tired." Sasuke spoke as if realizing a great truth.
"Hn." Itachi didn't want to talk about it anymore. It was disturbing. Could it be that the Sharingan could see into other realities? Other dimensions? In that other dimension… did he succeed in killing the clan? It seemed like he had these dreams the most when he was under duress. At those times, was it possible that he was creating a psychic link with his other "self"? It seemed unbelievable, something from one of the sci-fi movies Sheeta would make him watch.
Sasuke could feel that Itachi's mood had turned dark and stood up, joining the other children who were playing a card game. However, Sheeta used it as an opportunity to take Sasuke's place next to him.
"Is this Danzou person really going to come after you?" Sheeta asked in a worried voice.
Itachi contemplated her question for a couple minutes. "I doubt it. I really don't know why he would. On the other hand, there seems to be something Fugaku isn't telling us. 'Danzou's treachery goes deeper than anyone ever suspected' is what I was told. We haven't heard about whether Fugaku fought with Sarutobi yet and Konohamaru still thinks he's alive. I wonder if Danzou did something to the Hokage? Maybe he killed him?"
"There were also all those people the Konoha ninjas killed. Could that have been Danzou's people? They wanted to kill Naruto for some reason and they called him a fox. Do you think they wanted to kill Konohamaru too?"
"Interesting. It might mean then that they left Konohamaru behind for someone else to kill later. You know, if Danzou staged his own coup at the same moment Fugaku started his, then this could get really messy. But, on the other hand…" Itachi remembered that the ROOT commander had wanted him to kill his clan. If he had succeeded in doing that, then would Danzou have launched a coup after Itachi left the village? Was the murder of the clan a way to remove a hurdle and make his own coup go smoother? Were all the restrictions the council placed on the clan part of an intricate plan to drive them to extreme measures?
"Dammit!" Itachi cursed loudly and banged his hand on the floor. Everyone stopped what they were doing to look at the normally quite teenager. He pulled his legs up to his chest and dropped his forehead down to his knees. "I'm such a god-damned idiot! I fell for it hook-line-and-sinker. He was probably laughing his head off every time he talked to me." He suddenly felt tears building up in his eyes and squeezed them tightly to prevent them from falling.
Sheeta looked at him, not understanding what he was talking about. She heard something and looked up. Nui was standing six feet away, frowning. She moved closer and knelt down in front of him. "Itachi, I want you take this tranquilizer. Mikoto gave them to me. I don't want you falling apart in front of the kids. They're already freaking out enough as it is."
"I'm tired of people drugging me everytime I…" Itachi started speaking but was interrupted by Nui.
"I realize that… I really do. But right now…" Nui sighed and dropped her hands down into her lap.
Itachi looked up after a minute and noticed that Sasuke was watching him with his Sharingan activated. He suspected the boy wasn't aware he had turned it on. Naruto and Hinata were wide-eyed and had worried looks on their faces. Hanabi and Konohamaru were ignoring everyone and coloring quietly next to each other in a corner. Five children who couldn't defend themselves against advanced ROOT assassins. And Danzou knew how to get in without detection. He had done it once before, many years ago.
"Dammit!" Itachi cursed again. "Nui, call Mikoto. Tell her I need to speak with someone. Now." His voice took a deadly edge and Nui stood up and ran to her cell to collect the transmitter.
Nui returned five minutes later, "Someone is coming but it won't be until later."
Itachi nodded in acknowledgement. After all, his father had probably already figured out what was going on. There wasn't much of reason to be in a hurry after all.
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
And that is my own little theory about why Danzou manipulated Itachi into killing his clan. To make his own coup go easier. I also don't think Itachi found out about it until much later (if ever). When he left Sasuke alive and then threatened to tell all of Konoha's secrets to all the other countries if Sasuke was harmed it put a stop to Danzou's evil plan. Later, when Danzou assigned Sai to kill Sasuke he probably figured Itachi would assume Orochimaru was to blame for it and he would be free to act.
Next week, Itachi has a talk with Fugaku about his suspicions and the search for the Hokage finally begins.
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