Last week Itachi and Kisame descended down into the Konoha underground to look for Sarutobi.
Thanks for all the review and fav's!
Disclaimer: Kishimoto owns Naruto.
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Chapter 7 – Confrontation
"Ya know…" Kisame said thoughtfully, "Sarutobi's got to be a pretty powerful guy. Which means he has to be held behind a very powerful seal. And seals use a lot of chakra."
Several hours had passed and it was now evening. They had been moving slowly downward into the subterranean world looking for any signs of the Hokage or even other people. The place was completely deserted. At one point they found a small kitchen and grabbed a quick meal before continuing. The food in the refrigerator was still fresh, leading Itachi to believe that Danzou's henchmen had been present mere hours ago. And now, the pair were standing in a white, very sterile looking hallway. It appeared, for all the world, like the only people who had ever been there before were the janitors.
Itachi smirked, "And Samehada senses chakra."
"I'm getting a chakra surge coming from a lower level. It's very small though. The chakra feels different from anything else I've sensed here so far." Kisame said quietly.
"Hmm. So it could be nothing? Well, let's go down another level anyway and see what kind of reading you get. This is the only lead we've gotten so far, might as well follow up on it." Itachi replied thoughtfully. Samehada was perhaps one of the best methods for sensing chakra he had ever encountered. Often picking up chakra so faint that his own Sharingan hadn't even detected it yet.
Itachi led the way to the stairwell. They ended up going down twenty-three more levels, each giving a stronger reading than the previous, when Kisame suddenly grinned widely, revealing his sharp pointy teeth.
"Straight ahead." He pointed Samehada in front of him.
The hallway they stood in was carved directly from a deposit of limestone. The arched ceilings and blue marble tiled floors looked completely different from the rest of the underground. It looked older, as if it had been hiding for a thousand years. Considering the village itself was less than a hundred years old it was an unexpected anomaly; causing Itachi to wonder if the location of the village was selected because a city from one of the ancient empires once stood there. The hallways were almost ten feet wide and while they were swept and washed, still appeared old, cracked and dirty. Their footsteps echoed slightly, despite their stealthy steps.
"Here." Kisame scowled. They stopped in front of a round hole that was twenty-foot wide. It was sealed with a double door that had been painted blood red and appeared to be new. There was none of the decay that other wooden doors on that floor had exhibited. The surface of the door was bare, but that wasn't unusual. Some seals were invisible until activated.
Itachi lifted his hands and formed a series of handsigns. The doors glowed and the outline of a seal displayed in yellow, then faded. The teen clenched his fists and ground his teeth. He could feel chakra coming from the seal, but could detect nothing of what it might be hiding.
"That is one powerful seal." Kisame growled in frustration. "This has to be where the Hokage is, unless Danzou set up a trap."
"It's probably not a trap. He no doubt didn't expect anyone to be able to get this far. Setting traps would be a waste of energy. Danzou fully expected me to be out of the way by now and I was the only person other than him that knew the underground well enough to navigate it." Itachi moved closer to the wall and put his ear against the crack that separated the two doors.
"I can't hear anything." Itachi said after a minute. "I guess I should inform Fugaku of our location. The seal is too advanced for me so we have no way of verifying who is in there." He hesitated, though. As soon as Fugaku released Sarutobi, he would kill him.
"Itachi?" Kisame frowned at the teen's hesitation. "What will Fugaku do when he releases the Hokage?"
Itachi looked up at the tall man before returning his gaze to the doorway. "Kill him."
"What is the alternative?" Kisame prompted.
"Dying of starvation underground in a sealed room." Itachi instantly saw the point Kisame was trying to make and nodded his head. He could not release the seal himself. Otherwise… Itachi closed his eyes. He had knowledge of jutsus that could blow the doors away, but using them on an unknown seal would no doubt prove disastrous. Killing the prisoner during an escape was not an option.
The only alternative was to have Fugaku work on the seal and release him. And Sarutobi would want it that way. He was, first and foremost, a ninja. And as a ninja he would want to die fighting instead of trapped all alone in an empty room.
Kisame snorted as he slid down the side of the wall and sat down. "I can't believe I'm assisting in the jailbreak of the Hokage. How did I get myself into this mess? And there hasn't been hide nor hair of Danzou and I really wanted to wrap my hands around that bastard's throat."
Pulling out a piece of paper, Itachi sketched the seal he had just seen on the door in detail. He then unrolled the scroll his father had given him and spilled a single drop of blood from the vial. After forming the hand signs, he slammed his right hand down on top of the blood, "Kuchiyose no Jutsu!" Itachi instantly regretted it when he saw which cat had come out.
"Hello there kitten!" The white cat with large black spots said cheerfully, "What are you doing down here? Taking up a new hobby? Did the torture thing get boring already?" The last time this particular cat had approached Itachi he had been reading a book on "information gathering" methods used by the Uchiha clan so he could interrogate a ninja who had killed his friend Rumiko and her husband.
"Kitten?" Kisame broke out in uncontrollable laughter.
Itachi growled under his breath. That cat had a rather nasty habit of calling him a "kitten" instead of a "kid", despite the number of times he had corrected the small animal. He stood looking at his partner, frowning for a couple minutes.
"I think, before you start calling me 'kitten'," Itachi angrily addressed the still laughing Kisame, "you should look in a mirror again, 'sharky'."
Kisame stopped laughing and smiled. "Can't imagine anyone or anything calling you that and living through it."
"Oh, don't worry. When this is over we're having cat cutlets for a snack." Itachi spoke through clenched teeth. "After all I was told to include more protein in my diet."
"Ah! It sounds like the kitten needs a nap." The cat said cheerfully. "Well, that's okay, you always did get a little snappish when you were sleepy."
"Why are you pushing my buttons, cat?" Itachi sighed.
"Why do you have so many buttons to push?" The cat responded.
Both Itachi and Kisame blinked in surprise. That answer seemed, somehow, profound.
"Point taken." Itachi finally said, sighing again. "I need you to find Fugaku and give him this note. Tell him we think we found Sarutobi. The doors here have a strong chakra source behind them, but the seal is preventing me from telling who it belongs to." He tied the note around the cat's neck. "Bring Fugaku down here."
"I'm on my way!" The cat ran off down the hall.
Itachi growled again and slid down to the floor across from Kisame. The big man started to snicker. "You're not going to let it go, are you?" Itachi frowned.
"Maybe… eventually." Kisame smirked.
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Forty-five minutes later Fugaku and Toshiro appeared, jogging down the hall behind the small cat. They were still wet from the rain and a heavy scent of smoke and charcoal followed them. Itachi and Kisame stood up, warily greeting them.
"Neglected seals in your studies, huh Itachi?" Fugaku asked sternly.
Itachi frowned, giving his father a dirty look.
Fugaku moved to the door and performed a series of hand signs. "I trust that deficiency will be rectified in the near future."
The teenager nodded his head almost imperceptibly. It wasn't like he did it on purpose after all. And he did know some high level seals. It was necessary when steeling scrolls to be able to release any binding seals encasing them. His Genin team had been experts at document retrieval, after all. Even though Itachi could be classified as a genius, there was still a lot he didn't know. Life as a high level shinobi meant continuous study. Some shinobi would limit themselves to training, constantly trying to hone the skills they had learned as Genin. They rarely advanced, though, without the addition of books and hours of study.
Something hard hit his head and Itachi looked up, blinking at his father.
"Earth to Itachi! Pay attention!" Fugaku looked down at his son, a little surprised at the spaced out look the boy had displayed for a couple minutes. He wondered if his son was still sick. Perhaps having him working so soon was a bad idea. Unfortunately, he really didn't have a choice. Itachi was the only one, apparently, who knew the underground as well as Danzou.
Meanwhile Kisame and Toshiro were staring at each other with curiosity. After a couple minutes Kisame broke the silence, "You look remarkably like Shisui. Would you be his father?"
This took Toshiro by surprise, "Yeah… I am."
"Huh. Sorry to hear about his death. He had such potential, a true genius." Kisame said firmly.
This also took Toshiro by surprise. "I… um… thanks. Kisa and I really miss him. But… how do you know him?"
"Worked with him on a mission in Water country a few years back." Kisame replied. Several years earlier Itachi and Shisui's Genin teams had combined forces to protect a village in Water country. It had ended in disaster when Itachi's teammate Yota Hyuuga was killed. Kisame and Zabuza, both of whom were still shinobi working for the village hidden in the Mist were assigned to assist in the mission.
"Of course. I remember now." Toshiro gave the man a small smile then turned his attention back to Fugaku, who was working furiously on the seal.
Kisame suddenly turned away from everyone and looked down the hall. He pointed Samehada directly in front of him and scowled. "Someone is down there, moving in our direction."
Itachi moved to stand next to him and stared down the hallway with his Sharingan. Even though lights illuminated the long hall, the stone and dark colored marble created shadows that limited ones field of vision. However, his Sharingan clearly saw two separate chakra systems moving stealthily toward them.
"They don't know we've sensed them." Itachi finally said. "Let's wait and see what they do. We need to stay close by in case they…" The teen suddenly turned around as he reached over his shoulder to draw out his sword. In one fluid stroke he severed the head of a man who was materializing out of the wall. Suddenly the hallway was filled with ninjas.
"Shit!" Fugaku cursed and backed away from the doorway.
"Keep working, we'll take care of this!" Toshiro moved forward to engage one of the ninjas as Fugaku returned to the seal.
Itachi jumped up and kicked at the man in front of him, knocking him into the wall. The ninja quickly recovered and pulled out a kunai. Swinging it around he missed the teen when he leaned back out of reach. Catching the man's eyes Itachi used his Sharingan to force him into a Genjutsu then slit his throat. He quickly engaged the next ninja.
Kisame had run down the hall toward the ninja's at the end of the formation so he could fight with his sword without hitting his companions. The ten foot wide hallway was a little too small for fighting with Samehada; but still, he did manage to take out five with one swing. Three others jumped back, staring at the blue man in front of them and the two Uchihas behind them. They were surrounded. Kisame laughed then lifted his sword a few feet off the ground and rested it against the wall and leaned his body against the other opposite wall, effectively blocking the way.
"Going somewhere?" Kisame chuckled, his pointed teeth clicked menacingly as he glared down at the ninja's with his white, round shark-like eyes.
"Doesn't look like it, does it?" Toshiro gave a short laugh. Itachi smirked and leaned against the wall with his arms folded, his sword hanging loosely from one hand. "Let's see if we can get some information out of them…What the hell?"
All three ninjas suddenly fell to the ground, dead. Their eyes were wide open and blood started to leak from their open mouths.
"Well none of the other ANBU we captured did that." Fugaku remarked, surprised.
Itachi stared at the dead men and ground his teeth. If he had used his Mangekyou Sharingan he could have questioned them without worrying about them committing suicide. Too late now. He looked over at Fugaku to see how he was progressing with the seal and suddenly found himself on the floor looking up at the ceiling.
"Itachi!" Toshiro knelt down next to him, "Did you get injured?"
"What?" Itachi asked quietly.
"You fainted." Kisame said angrily.
"I…" Itachi sat up and scooted against the wall. "I guess I'm still a little out of it then."
Fugaku sighed, "Unfortunately, there was no one else familiar enough with the underground. Next time you decide to stop eating, think ahead first."
Itachi nodded and stuck a soldier pill in his mouth as another wave of fuzziness passed through his brain. It passed a few seconds later and he sighed in relief and wondered how long it would take to regain all his strength. In a way, his father was right. He should have been taking better care of himself instead of moping around and not eating. "Shinobi" wasn't a part time job. Even if he had succeeded in killing the clan, he would have been out fighting soon after that in one capacity or another. He had been very short sighted and was now paying the price.
"Itachi?" Fugaku looked up from a pad of paper he was making a calculation on. "When I finish, go get Sasuke. If Sarutobi and I fight, I want him to watch."
"Huh?" Itachi didn't like the sound of that. Sasuke had been sheltered during his upbringing and had never seen a fight until the one he was in a few days earlier. Seeing two men he respected fight each other might be more than he could handle.
"And Hinata." Toshiro added.
"But I don't think…" Itachi was interrupted.
"We weren't asking your opinion." Fugaku said plainly.
"Yes. I'll bring them." Frowning, Itachi stared at the ground, imagining a very sleepless evening with two upset eight-year-olds.
"Itachi." Fugaku turned his full attention to his son. "I know it's going to be hard on them, and I know they'll probably have nightmares, but they are both going to be in positions of power when they grow up and they need to understand what that means. This is only one of many lessons. Perhaps I coddled Sasuke too much. At the time I thought there was no reason for him to grow up the way you did. He…"
"It's okay, father. I was protecting him too. I refused to train with him so he would be more like the other kids." Itachi gave his father a half-smile, "It may have been wrong. We may never know. And… he doesn't appreciate it. He wanted to be pushed."
Fugaku nodded in understanding and turned his attention back to the seal.
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Thirty minutes after coming down into the underground the seals were finally broken and Fugaku pulled the red double doors open. The room inside was partially lit with one small lamp set on a low table, leaving long shadows in its wake. A man was standing next to it, covering his eyes to protect them from the intense light coming in from the hallway. An overwhelming stench of death and urine wafted from the room, making the four ninja cover their noses.
As the man walked forward the four shinobi could see white hair and a heavily wrinkled face. He reached up to the wall and light flooded the room, revealing eight dead bodies sprawled out on the ground next to a wall. A metal glint hinted at the presence of several knives.
"What… what happened?" Fugaku asked, surprised. He wasn't sure what, exactly he had expected to see when he opened the doors, but this certainly wasn't it.
Sarutobi closed his eyes and folded his arms across his chest. "After putting us in here, Danzou handed out knives and told the elders and council that if they didn't want to be tortured they should kill themselves. The fools fell for it." His voice was stern and unforgiving.
Fugaku frowned and looked over the bodies. Why had they given in so easily? "Were they drugged?" He finally asked.
"Possibly. A depressant would have made them easier to control." Sarutobi looked at the men standing in the hallway. He had expected Fugaku to find him, eventually. As a matter of pride, he knew the clan lord would not place himself in the role of "Hokage" without fighting him first. It was all a matter of waiting. He walked out of the room and Fugaku closed the doors behind him. It trapped the smell and Sarutobi took a deep breath of fresh air for the first time in days.
"That man is truly despicable." Sarutobi said bitterly. "He played both of us against each other."
"Even I missed it." Itachi whispered.
Sarutobi smiled, "I am pleased to see you did not go ahead with his mission, young Itachi."
"I tried. Father… incapacitated me." The teen's voice rose from a whisper to a semi-audible tenor.
"Then, Fugaku, you have my undying gratitude for spotting it. Truly, it would have been disastrous to have lost such a noble clan." Sarutobi's words were glad, but his face was full of sorrow.
"Hn. How did he capture you?" Fugaku asked.
"I trusted him." Sarutobi said simply.
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"Anybody home?" Danzou's voice called out from the foyer.
Sarutobi, who had been picking up his grandson's toy blocks, stood up slowly, "Coming!" He carried the brightly colored cubes into Konohamaru's bedroom and quietly deposited them in an equally brightly colored toybox. He glanced at the sleeping toddler and smiled. The boy always threw a fit about his eight-o-clock bedtime, but never failed to fall fast asleep within a minute of his head hitting the pillow. He would then sleep soundly until morning. So unlike his father and uncle. Those two seemed to have made a point of not sleeping. Perhaps his grandson took after his mother then. Smiling, he left the room, closing the door quietly after him.
Entering the foyer he saw Danzou standing calmly, flanked by three of his Root operatives in full ANBU gear. "What can I do for you, Danzou? You are aware it's nearly one in the morning."
"Hmm. Yes, despite the loss of one of my eyes, I am still able to read a clock." Danzou replied conversationally.
Sarutobi smiled. The man's sarcasm was something he had gotten used to many, many decades ago. "That is good to hear."
Danzou smiled at the little "joke". "I would request that you hand over your village to me, Sarutobi, but I realize that you would be unwilling to do so. Therefore, I am here to take it from you."
"An interesting way to begin a conversation, but I believe it is still in poor taste. Please leave."
"No." He reached out with his can and touched the Hokage's leg. The man fell to the ground and clutched his calf.
"You…" He lifted his hands to form hand signs in order to cast a jutsu, but they dropped to the ground. "What… what is this!"
"I used chakra to paralyze your arms and legs. It will wear off in a day."
Sarutobi scowled. He knew Danzou was capable of using medical jutsus in combat situations. He never should have stood so close to him. But the man had never attacked him before, or even indicated that he wanted to.
"You!" He pointed to the three ANBU, "Rough up the place to make it look like there was a fight. Also, one of you stay here and make sure the brat is not removed from these premises."
"Leave Konohamaru out of this!" Sarutobi yelled.
"Request denied." Danzou turned around. "I have to kill him, to make sure he doesn't grow up and cause me problems. Asuma is also on my list." He referred to Sarutobi's surviving son, who was currently living in the Fire country capital.
The last thing Sarutobi saw before he woke up in the sealed room was two ANBU wrapping him in a large canvas tarp, and Danzou's face, turned up into a sneer.
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"It's embarrassing, certainly. I let myself get caught by him because I believed that, despite all his criticism and ill-will he would never harm me." Sarutobi said bitterly. "The exact goddamned situation I was in with Orochimaru. Unforgiveable. When Minato died I should have selected a replacement instead of coming out of retirement. I imagine the death toll is very high by now. Both from this week and the past with Orochimaru." He sighed, "Tell me, my grandson…"
"Is safe. He has been staying with Sasuke and Itachi." Fugaku said, then, as an afterthought, "Naruto is also with them. I hold no ill-will toward Asuma, unless he challenges me."
"Ah. Then everything is taken care of." He looked over at Itachi, but spoke to Fugaku, "Do we have any options left?"
"No." Fugaku said firmly. "I will carry this through to the end, for my clan. However, I do not wish to abandon the village. I will also look after them as well."
"Itachi could…" Sarutobi was interrupted.
"I can't." Itachi said quietly. "I have another purpose… a man I still have to kill. All my efforts will go into that battle. Also…" He looked at his father, wondering if he was saying too much.
Fugaku closed his eyes and sighed. There was no point keeping it a secret. "Itachi has inherited a Kekkei Genkai related disease. He has a few years before it shows itself, and if they can't cure it or put it in remission it will kill him before he is twenty-five."
Both Sarutobi and Kisame gasped at the news and stared wide-eyed at the teen who was staring at the ground and blushing. He didn't like being the focus of attention, especially if that attention consisted of pity.
"This man…" Sarutobi started to speak but was interrupted again.
"Shall go unnamed." Itachi answered firmly. "But know that he is a threat that we cannot ignore."
"Hmm." The Hokage looked intently at Itachi, then Fugaku. He had a sneaky suspicion he knew who that man was. And if he was right… then yes, Itachi did have a very important job to perform. 'So the clan is finally going to take Madara seriously. As much as I hate to admit it, I have underestimated you, Fugaku.' His thoughts were practically written on his face, and the clan Lord nodded his head once as if acknowledging his unspoken suspicions.
Sarutobi smiled, "Then let's go above ground and get this over. I have a village to take back."
"Would you like to rest first?" Fugaku asked politely.
"I have done nothing but rest for the last few days. Let's go." He started to walk down the corridor to the stairwell.
Itachi followed behind the others with Kisame trailing behind him. He wondered how he would feel if his father died in the fight. Guiltily, he admitted that he would be relieved. The village would be safer with Sarutobi back in command. He already had alliances in place and the villagers trusted him. Fugaku would be starting everything over from scratch. On the other hand… if war was coming then perhaps a man skilled in warfare as opposed to peace would make a better leader. Shaking his head Itachi attempted to clear his mind. The whole situation was confusing.
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"Sasuke? Hinata?" Itachi walked into the isolation cells and called out to the two children. "Get your coats and come with me."
Mikoto stood up and grabbed her jacket as well. "I'm coming too."
"Are you sure?" Itachi looked up at his mother.
She returned his gaze resolutely, "Yes. He is my husband and I will stand by him, Itachi. Even if…"
"Okay." Itachi cut her off. He didn't want to hear the rest because he knew he didn't feel the same way.
"So where's the girlfriend?" Kisame pushed open the door and stared in at the people inside, who were, in turn, staring up in shock at the six and a half foot blue man with gills on his cheeks and a large sword hanging off his back.
"Kisame! I asked you to wait upstairs." Itachi said, annoyed.
"Yeah. But I got bored."
"It's only been three minutes."
"Short attention span." Kisame grinned, showing his pointed teeth. He pointed at Sheeta. "This her?"
Sheeta nodded, completely dumbfounded.
"Cute! You lucked out, kid. Don't forget to invite me to the wedding." He laughed when the girl opened her mouth to speak then shut it again and blushed. It was a rare sight to see Sheeta rendered completely speechless and the others looked at her in surprise.
"Why? You'd probably show up anyway." Itachi muttered. "Okay, lets go…" he lifted his hand and counted. "Why are there three kids here instead of two?"
Naruto smiled, "I want to go to!"
"I haven't even told you guys where we're going yet."
"I don't care." Naruto displayed a big grin and looked up expectantly at the teen.
Itachi shook his head. He considered arguing with him or even knocking him unconscious. But… "Fine. Just… don't be a nuisance. All of you." He didn't want any of them to see the impending fight. At least Konohamaru wasn't asking to come. He seemed to have bonded somewhat with Hanabi and the two three-year-olds were stacking blocks and having some non-sensical discussion about horses. They were so intent on their playing that they hadn't looked up yet.
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As soon as they reached the street Mikoto left to go speak with Fugaku, leaving the kids with Itachi. Kisame was still trailing behind and when they found a rooftop to sit on he laid down and stuck his arms behind his neck. The kids seemed wary of him and stuck close to Itachi. Hinata shyly climbed into Itachi's lap and he wrapped his arms around her, wondering why she would do such a thing. He realized a second later that she was trembling.
"Lord Fugaku is going to fight the Lord Hokage for control of the village." Itachi started speaking. He wanted the children to understand the context of what they were about to watch. "One of them will die."
"Die!" Sasuke, Naruto and Hinata said at the same time.
"But father! Why would he do that? I don't want him to die, big brother!" Sasuke was starting to get upset.
Out of the corner of his eye he saw Kisame smirking at him. He wondered if the big man had come to watch the fight or to watch him handle three crying eight-year-olds.
"That's what being a ninja is all about, Sasuke. Battle and dying." Itachi replied calmly.
"Big brother?" Hinata spoke quietly, "Do I have to watch? I already saw… a fight… mother and father…" Her voice disappeared and she wiped her eyes with back of her arm.
Itachi looked at her, shocked at how she had just addressed him, but before he could answer Naruto spoke us as well.
"But… why would your dad want to kill the Hokage, big brother? They've both been nice to us so they must be good people. Everyone else was mean to me, but Lord Fugaku let me stay with you guys and you were all nice to me."
"What's with this 'big brother' stuff all of a sudden?" Itachi changed the subject. He didn't know how to answer Naruto's question, or if the children would even understand him if he did.
Naruto smiled, "Hinata and me said that if we had a big brother we'd want him to be just like you!"
Hinata nodded her head and looked up at Itachi with a worried face. Itachi gazed over to Sasuke who was smirking for some reason.
"I said they could have you if they wanted." Sasuke said plainly.
"I hope you charged them for it." Itachi muttered under his breath.
"Anyway, you didn't answer my question, big brother!" Naruto complained.
Itachi sighed, "I didn't. Naruto, the answer is complicated and… I don't think…"
"I know your clan did a coop." Naruto said.
"That's a coup, idiot." Sasuke volunteered.
"Coup, coop, what's the difference? Anyway… your clan wants to take over the village so…" Naruto screwed up his face, deep in thought.
Hinata replied in a soft voice, "He has to kill the Hokage to do it, right big brother?"
"Yeah." Itachi sighed.
"But I don't want them to die." Hinata added.
Itachi looked over at his younger brother and noticed that the boy had tensed up and was staring at the ground with his hands curled into tight fists. Naruto was standing a few inches from him, in exactly the same pose. It was interesting how alike the two boys were sometimes. He glanced down at the road and watched as Fugaku and Sarutobi stepped out of the Hokage tower. Sarutobi was talking and Fugaku was listening intently, nodding his head occasionally.
'Finally.' Itachi thought to himself. 'Just… hurry up so we can put this evening in the past.' He suddenly felt like he had spent his entire life waiting for this fight. A heavy weight descended on him and he heard something deep in his consciousness that shocked him to the core.
'Cousin… don't close your eyes.'
"Shisui." Itachi whispered.
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Next week – Fugaku and Sarutobi fight, and Itachi gets some surprising news from his father.
Well, I hope you don't think the way Sarutobi was overpowered by Danzou was too lame. I figured that if he couldn't bring himself to kill Orochimaru, then "trust" might be a good way to manipulate him. And that cane of Danzou's is a deadly weapon, apparently (if you're a frog anyway).
Please review!
Updates are always on Fridays.