Last week Sarutobi was found and he and Fugaku made preparations to fight for control of the village. Fugaku also instructed Itachi to collect Sasuke and Hinata so they could watch, but Naruto wanted to come as well.
Thanks for all the reviews and faves, you guys are great!
Disclaimer: Yeah, same as always. Kishimoto owns stuff, I don't.
So… let's see… reviews… Yeah, Fugaku is very messed up. He has no problem at all using people, including his own children. And, do I get writer's block? Yeah… I knew how I wanted the Sarutobi / Fugaku fight to end, but I had the worst problem figuring out the particulars. But… it's weird, I suddenly got an idea anyway. xD
I hope you like this chapter, and please review.
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Chapter 8 – The Darkness In His Soul
Itachi sat quietly, listening carefully. He could have sworn he had just heard his dead cousin's voice. It sounded exactly like Shisui and it had told him not to close his eyes. He rubbed his forehead absentmindedly. It was probably just lack of sleep. Nui had told him it would be several weeks before he recovered. He frowned as he realized the anxiety in his chest was raising and his heart was pounding.
"Oh!" Hinata gasped and Itachi looked over her head. The fight had started. Fugaku and Sarutobi were exchanging fire balls. Even though the small group was three stories above the road they still felt the heat.
Itachi took a deep breath and did some mental exercises to try and calm himself down. For some reason they weren't working and he grew alarmed when he suddenly shuddered. Hinata looked up at him, worried. He tightened his hold around her middle and realized his hands were shaking badly.
'What's wrong with me?' Itachi wondered. He glanced back at Kisame, who returned his gaze with a curious look. He had noticed the teen's condition.
"So… who are we rooting for?" Naruto asked, grinning. His previous anxiety had turned to excitement over the prospect of watching two powerful shinobi fighting, but when Itachi looked at him with his Sharingan he could see that the boy was still trembling and afraid.
"My father, of course." Sasuke replied sarcastically. He was also shaking and had his arms tightly wrapped around his torso.
"Your father?" A familiar voice behind them made Itachi cringe.
"Well… yeah." Sasuke looked up at the newcomer and frowned, then quickly returned his gaze to the fight.
"Your father isn't fighting right now." A high pitched man's voice spoke, amused.
"Is too!" Naruto replied angrily, "Lord Fugaku is his father! And if you give him problems he'll beat you up too!"
The newcomer snorted in amusement. Itachi gulped once and slowly turned his head. He recognized that voice. Perched ten feet away on the very top of the roof was Madara, snickering at his private joke.
"Tobi? What are you doing here? Why aren't you off bugging Zetsu?" Kisame said good-naturedly as he gave the man a wide grin.
"Oh… Zetsu told Tobi to quit annoying him and go play with himself. So Tobi got a deck of cards and tried to play 'Go Fish' but Tobi kept cheating because Tobi knew what cards Tobi had in his hand. So Tobi decided to come visit Itachi and Kisame instead."
Itachi closed his eyes for a second, partially relieved that the man was in his "Tobi" persona and had not introduced himself as "Madara"; especially since Sasuke… and Naruto for that matter… were here. Dressed completely in black Madara wore an orange and black mask that completely covered his face. However, his relief was short lived when "Tobi" walked down the roof and sat next to him.
"What a cute little girl! Sheeta's going to be jealous, Itachi." Tobi laughed, his high pitched voice was child-like, causing Hinata to smile. He lifted the girl away from Itachi and sat her on his own lap. "What's your name?"
"Hinata Hyuuga." She said quietly, still smiling up at him.
"Ah! The new chief of the Hyuuga clan. Well, well, well. Nice to meet you, Lady Hinata." He gave her a quick hug and she giggled once, then remembered where she was and frowned.
"Ah now! No frowns, okay? We get to watch history here. Today, an Uchiha will take his rightful place as Hokage of the village the clan helped found." He stroked her head twice, as if to emphasize his good intentions. She leaned back and relaxed. Itachi suspected he had just used a medical jutsu to calm her.
"Not very good with kids, are you young Itachi?" Tobi teased.
"No he isn't." Sasuke answered seriously, careful not to move his gaze from the fight.
Itachi frowned, 'Yep, this day is definitely getting worse.'
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A few hours earlier, after exiting the underground, Fugaku and Sarutobi made their way to the Hokage tower. Once in Sarutobi's private apartment the old man took a quick shower and changed his clothes. He was rather glad to finally be out of that room and away from the corpses of his friends and colleagues. Of course, the hardest part was all the time he had to think and reflect on what he could have done differently. That, in and of itself, had been the worst torture.
Stepping into the kitchen he discovered that Fugaku had busied himself by brewing some tea. Since the electricity was out Sarutobi guessed he had probably used a small fireball to heat the kettle.
"You must be thirsty." Fugaku passed a cup to Sarutobi as the old man pulled out a chair and sat down. He then placed a bowl of miso soup and a plate with three rice balls in front of the him. "Toshiro brought some food up while you were showering. Please eat."
They were both silent as Sarutobi ate. The food was very good, no doubt helped along by the fact that he hadn't eaten in several days. He had been given several bottles of water, surprisingly enough, but what was going to happen when they were finally empty was unknown.
Fugaku finally spoke in an emotionless voice, "We don't have to do this. If you just step aside…"
"No." Sarutobi spoke sternly. "This village… I am responsible for it. It is my life and you are all my children." He paused and smiled, "There is nothing I can do to stop you at this point. I know that. However, we will fight. There is something I have suspected for a long time… I wish to see it for myself."
Fugaku gazed intently at the man in front of him. Although his expression revealed nothing, his mind was racing. 'So he knows about the Mangekyou Sharingan. I guess the least I can do is give him a sample.'
"So tell me, Fugaku, what has been going on the last few days?"
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Exhaling in frustration, Sarutobi excused himself and walked into the living room. He stopped in front of a wall that both his late wives had used to mount photos. His first wife started the tradition and after she died, his second wife continued it. He wanted to make a short trip to the past before he stepped out into the future. He saw a picture of himself with the First and Second Hokages, taken the day he was inaugurated as the Third. Both their wives and children stood nearby. The thirteen-year-old Sarutobi was in the middle, smiling up at the camera. Other photos documented his life over the next forty years. Most of the people were dead. All he had now was Asuma and Konohamaru.
He thought back to what Fugaku had just told him. He still couldn't believe half the population was dead. Gone. He kept replaying the events of the night Danzou had captured him. Each time he felt more and more frustrated. It didn't make sense. He should have been more alert; yet he wasn't. It was the night Itachi was supposed to have killed the clan.
'I was on edge. I let down my guard because I was worried about Itachi. Afraid he would disobey my orders to stand-down.' Sarutobi's thoughts practically screamed inside his head. 'Danzou must have known that would distract me. He is a master of psychology.' Of all the nights for the head of ANBU to show up, he had chosen that one. If it had been the next day or the next week things would have been different. However, he had been awake and restless. He had even started to clean; something he usually left up to the housekeeper. Pacing around the apartment, waiting… watching… wondering… worrying. Itachi was special to him. He had wanted him to be the Fifth Hokage.
Orochimaru entered his thoughts as he gazed at the last photo his team had taken. All three of his students were adults. 'I had wanted Orochimaru to be the Fourth. Look what happened with that. But… really it was for the best perhaps. Minato made a much better Hokage. The village probably wouldn't exist right now if he hadn't been there. At the end, Fugaku and Hiashi were right beside him too.'
The other problem was that it was not unusual for Danzou to show up late to play "Go" or "Shogi". It was something they had done for decades; and had become something of a tradition. So when he showed up in the foyer, there was no reason to be on guard. The whole situation had been masterfully executed.
He wondered how Hiashi had been taken down and hoped more than anything that the Hyuuga had been able to put up a better fight than he had. He remembered the two clan leaders as boys. Serious children who had the burdens of leadership dropped on their shoulders at too young of an age. They weren't friends; but they weren't enemies either. And they would spar occasionally. Fugaku would win. Once, he had asked Hiashi why he kept loosing.
"That one is vicious. His attacks are full of power and I can feel a malice coming from his chakra. It would take more than ability to beat someone like that. He's like an intelligent dog that has been chained its whole life next to a chicken coop and is then allowed, one day, to escape and attack. But only for thirty seconds. So he puts as much malice as he can into the battle and in those thirty seconds does a lifetime of damage. If we went all out… if we fought to the death… perhaps I could beat him… but I suspect I would die as well. The Uchiha are like that. The elders of my clan told me so. Warlike and vicious. Second only to the Senju in battle."
The explanation by the ten-year-old Hyuuga clan chief was so insightful that it had shaken Sarutobi to the core. He had summed up Fugaku Uchiha perfectly. An intelligent, powerful, calculating man with a viciousness that few could rival. Most ninja who fought that way were rash and easy to overpower, but because Fugaku added intelligence to the equation, all bets were off when you faced him in battle.
Yet… this man had saved the village at great risk to his clan. Ordering them to maintain a Genjutsu for such an extended period of time was utilizing a tremendous amount of chakra. They were very vulnerable right now, yet the Konoha ninjas hadn't attacked them. In fact, some of them who were also powerful Genjutsu users had come forward to help. It didn't surprise him. He knew that, on some level, Fugaku did care for the village. Otherwise he would have taken his clan and left. The fact that he stayed spoke volumes about his resolve. Or, at least Sarutobi hoped it did. The fact that he had so severely underestimated Danzou made him question what he thought he knew about the other people around him.
After the Kyuubi attack the council had restricted the Uchiha clan's movements. Danzou was clearly behind that. Making the Uchiha more and more frustrated, he finally pushed them over the edge. And it had been easy. In retrospect, Sarutobi realized that the nature of the Uchiha had always been war. More so than any other clan in Konoha. He needed a distraction so he could stage his own takeover, and the Uchiha fit the bill perfectly.
Sarutobi finally stood up straight and steeled his resolve, "Okay. Enough of this. Time to fight." After his shower he had dressed in comfortable, form-fitting pants and shirt. His fighting clothes. And perhaps his funeral attire as well. After several days trapped without food and only minimal water he was not in top condition. The collection of soldier pills he usually kept hidden in his clothes had been swiped while he was unconscious.
Stepping out into the foyer he found Fugaku leaning against the wall with his eyes closed. He appeared deep in thought, but he opened them quick enough when he sensed another presence nearby.
"Ready?" Fugaku asked without emotion.
"Yes."
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Fireballs flew through the air as Fugaku and Sarutobi launched the flaming orbs at each other. It was a basic jutsu, but as shinobi of the village hidden in the Leaves in Fire country, it seemed somehow proper to start the fight with flames.
A large crowd was gathering on the surrounding buildings. A fight between Hiruzen Sarutobi, the ninja known as "the Professor" because of his knowledge of thousands of jutsus; and the powerful Uchiha clan lord, who could use his Sharingan eye to copy and memorize any jutsu, was certainly something nobody wanted to miss.
Itachi glanced over at his brother, "Sasuke, activate your Sharingan and watch the fight carefully. Hinata, you should be using your Byakugan as well. Pay attention to the chakra points as they fluctuate with each jutsu, that can be a hint as to what a person's weaknesses are."
"What about me?" Naruto pouted.
"Don't fall off the roof." Sasuke deadpanned.
Kisame and Tobi broke out in fits of laughter and Itachi had to clench his lips together to keep himself from joining in. Hinata covered her mouth shyly and giggled.
Naruto gave everyone a big smile, "Okay! I can do that!"
"Wow! Did you see what dad just did?" Sasuke yelled, exited. Fugaku had just used an Earth based jutsu to rip a twenty foot wide by fifty foot long piece of earth out of the ground to deflect a large mud ball Sarutobi had thrown at him. The wall of earth stayed upright in the air as Fugaku jumped on top of it and formed a series of handsigns. Itachi recognized it as one of the jutsus he had seen the Stone village Kage use a couple years earlier. A mouth formed near the top of the earth wall. As it opened it started spitting rocks out at the Hokage. The projectiles were fast and deadly, but Sarutobi avoided them by using a transportation jutsu to move onto the roof of the building above Fugaku.
Sarutobi's next jutsu pulled the tiles off the building and they quickly formed into a long snake that wrapped itself around Fugaku and started squeezing. However, Fugaku turned to fire and disappeared.
"A fire clone?" Itachi mumbled, surprised. He had never seen such a thing. Nothing he had read had even hinted that it was even possible. Yet his Sharingan had just shown him how it was done.
Tobi moved Hinata from his lap to the roof. "Go over to Sasuke and Naruto, Lady Hinata." He waited until she was a few feet away then spoke quietly to Itachi, "It's a rare ability, but it uses way too much chakra to be practical. I would recommend you use it very infrequently, if at all. He's just showing off, apparently."
"Humph." Itachi snorted, annoyed. He hoped Fugaku wasn't playing Sarutobi for a fool. If they were going to fight it should be a serious affair. On the other hand… why would he send Hinata away just to tell him that? Perhaps there was more to that clone technique than Madara was revealing.
There was a loud roar from overhead and everyone, including the two combatants looked up in surprise. Suddenly the building the two men were fighting on was showered by a deluge of water. Kisame stood up and pulled out Samehada, crashing it down onto the roof. Broken tiles bounced up into the air and a "crack" could be heard as the wood they had, until recently, been attached to split. The sneer on his face was matched by the killing intent that radiated from his chakra.
Standing on the roof facing a very drenched Fugaku and Sarutobi was Danzou. He was bandaged, with only one useable arm and eye. He held his cane in front of him like a sword and stared intently at the two men. And his chakra was blasting so much killing intent that there wasn't a single person nearby who didn't feel it.
"I guess they call this killing two birds with one stone." Danzou remarked snidely. His voice carried easily across the street, and everyone heard him.
Itachi and Tobi stood up, ready to take action of necessary. Without looking away from Danzou, Itachi spoke to the children, "You guys get behind me. Do exactly what you are told and don't act on your own."
Sasuke, Naruto and Hinata moved so they were standing about six feet behind Itachi. Kisame then moved to stand behind the children. They were confused, though, and Naruto asked in a shaky voice, "Who's the new guy? Is he bad?"
"That, boy, is the devil himself." Kisame answered, scowling.
"Danzou." Itachi added. "He used politics and psychological manipulation to force father into beginning this coup." He gulped once and said to himself, 'And on his orders I almost killed my family.'
"Why are you here?" Sarutobi's voice rang out across the rooftops.
Danzou smirked, "To finish what I started."
"You think you can take both of us?" Fugaku asked angrily.
"Humph." Danzou gave a short laugh. "There are a lot of people watching this little farce of yours. About three hundred, I guess. I wonder what they would think if they knew the truth."
"How interesting, hearing Danzou utter the word 'truth'. I would bet my life you don't even know what the word means." Fugaku yelled back. He was beginning to get angry.
"Tell me Lord Fugaku, does the Uchiha clan know that Itachi was under orders to exterminate the clan? And that you not only stopped him, but covered it up?" Danzou's measured voice was accusing and mocked the clan lord.
Itachi stepped forward, suddenly intent on attacking the ANBU chief. Madara grabbed his collar and pulled him back. He dropped his "Tobi" persona and spoke in his regular voice. "If you move from here you will answer to me, Itachi. Now stand firm. Your first priority is Naruto. Remember your duty."
Itachi looked up at him angrily, but any retort he was going to make was interrupted by Sasuke, "What does he mean by that big brother? You weren't really going to kill us were you? Like in my dream?"
"What dream?" Madara asked angrily.
Sasuke was a little put out by the man's question and looked up at him fearfully. Madara loosened his hold on Itachi's collar and the teen jerked forward, still intent on jumping to his father's side. The masked man grabbed his arm and spoke menacingly, "When I give you an order I expect it to be obeyed."
"No! I want to rip that bastard's throat out and…" Itachi suddenly found himself lifted up off the ground. Madara had one hand wrapped around the teen's throat and the other firmly attached to the front of his jacket.
Speaking through clenched teeth, Madara brought Itachi's face to within an inch of his own, "When I give you an order, you will obey. Is that in any way unclear?"
Itachi was struggling to breath and black dots were beginning to appear in front of him. Madara released him and watched as the teen struggled to regain his breath.
"Who are you?" Kisame asked, annoyed.
Madara looked back at him and said nothing for a few seconds, "We'll discuss it later. Right now we need to make sure these kids are kept safe."
"Of course." Kisame mumbled. He wasn't planning on interrupting Fugaku and Sarutobi like Itachi, but he was itching to take that devil's head. He silently wondered what was so important about the three kids though. He could understand Itachi wanting to protect his little brother, but the other two were just normal kids. Weren't they? And… what was this about Itachi wanting to kill his family?
Itachi closed his eyes and shook his head to clear it. He noticed that he was no longer shaking and the anxiety that had been rising in his chest was gone. He gazed forward at the man who had engineered the chaos currently gripped Konoha and clenched his fists in rage. A burning, overwhelming anger descended on him, and he felt a desire to kill such as he had never felt before.
Madara smiled behind his mask, his young protégé had finally taken the last step to becoming a warrior. He had a quick reminiscence of his own past, of the first battle he had entered into in anger. There hadn't been enough of the enemy left to bury; he had cut the man who had killed his father into hundreds of pieces. His grandfather had used a fireball to burn the remains, and given him praise that boy rarely heard from the older man. It was a happy memory, the fight had been satisfying.
Placing a hand on Itachi's shoulder he spoke firmly, "You may go now, Itachi."
The teen glanced back at the children, who were now clutching each other and trembling in fear. Wide eyes dripped with tears of frustration as they gazed back at Itachi, the person they had called "big brother" not one hour ago was now an object of terror.
"If anything happens to those three, you two are next." Itachi jumped off the roof before Kisame or Madara could respond. After all, there was no doubt in his mind that he could kill them with little effort if the three kids got so much as a scratch. And while Kisame also believed the same thing, knowing Itachi as he did, Madara just smirked in amusement.
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"Itachi is also dying of an inherited Kekkei Genkai disease. You haven't mentioned that to your clan yet either, have you? He has maybe ten years before he's pushing up daisies." Danzou continued to reveal his "truths" to the assembled combatants and their spectators. "And what about his psychotic tendencies and hospitalizations for mental breakdowns? Forgot to mention it? Keeping it a secret? The boy is unstable, Fugaku, why do you keep such a liability alive? And to think Sarutobi wanted him as the Fifth Hokage. Unforgiveable. What would this village become with such poor guidance?" he paused and looked over the ruins that, in the dead of the moonless night looked more like the fleshless bones of fallen soldiers than burned out buildings.
"You exaggerate, Danzou, to fuel your own ambitions. I am sure everyone can see that very clearly. Truly Itachi does have some problems, but he is not how you make him out to be." Fugaku answered angrily. He did want to keep these things from the clan, from everyone, but not out of a desire to cover them up. Instead, he was hiding his son's weaknesses. In the Uchiha clan, weakness was looked down upon, strength was everything. He clenched his hands into tight fists and hoped to god that Itachi had never mentioned Madara to this man.
Sarutobi spoke up, "A man who would ask a father to abandon his son is truly despicable, Danzou."
"Humph." Danzou gave the two men a brief smile, "Tell me, Fugaku, what exactly did you have to gain by making Itachi kill Shisui? Are you going to tell me now that you didn't want that to happen? You pushed them together, created a conflict, then waited for it to play itself out. There was no suicide. Itachi drowned the other boy that night in the Nakano river. What did he gain that night, Fugaku? A forbidden jutsu, perhaps?"
A surge of chakra appeared behind Fugaku and he gave a short glance over his shoulder. Toshiro had jumped onto the rooftop and strode purposefully up to the three men. "I have complete faith in Lord Fugaku. I know the facts of that night, and my son committed suicide. Lord Itachi is guiltless in this. How dare you imply otherwise?"
"The loyal lackey makes his entrance. Sarutobi, you say it is despicable for a father to abandon his son, yet Lord Toshiro has done just that. He…"
Danzou's tirade was interrupted when Itachi suddenly appeared in front of him. The dark chakra radiating from the thirteen-year-old boy was heaviest any of them had ever felt. Even the sixty-one-year-old Sarutobi had to admit he had never felt anything like it before. It was deadly, oppressive, suffocating. It spoke of dark nights spent looking into the eyeless orbs of skulls, caresses from the fleshless hands of skeletons and eternities spent waiting for a dawn that would never come. It was death itself.
Fugaku, Sarutobi and Toshiro jumped back to give him some extra room. They had a feeling they knew what was coming next and wanted to be well out of the way. However, they also wanted to be close enough to see it. To hear Danzou's last breath rattle from his lungs and feel the last of his chakra as it faded into non-existence.
"You have something to say…" Itachi growled, then yelled into the night, "You say it to me!" He launched himself at the elderly man, pulling the katana that was still strapped to his back from his earlier jaunt into the underground.
Danzou flickered away from the teen and grinned, showing his teeth. His one eye opened wide as he rested his cane against his body and reached up to his head. Unwrapping the bandages he revealed the disfigured remains of his right face and a fully functioning eye. He grasped his cane in his right hand and pushed a small button on the tip. The cane fell away, leaving a very sharp precision katana in the man's hand.
Itachi paused and looked closely at his adversary. There was something wrong, and it showed itself very clearly a moment later. "Byakugan. So that's what you have been hiding. Is that why you killed of the main branch?"
"Humph. I have had this for fifty years and practiced dutifully to learn all its secrets. Do you think you, a mere child, can possibly go up against me and survive?" Danzou gave a short laugh.
"Yes, as a matter of fact I do." Itachi launched himself at Danzou, but caught himself in mid-air. Executing a summersault he landed eight feet in front of the old man. Gazing at him with his Sharingan he saw chakra flowing throw the katana.
"I do not need to touch you with my hands to disrupt your chakra. I can shoot my chakra through this blade and accurately disable you. Ha!" Danzou threw his head back and laughed as he shot chakra at Itachi. The teen launched himself up into the air, using the precision vision of his Sharingan to avoid the attack.
"If you aren't afraid of me, then why did you go to such great lengths to try to get rid of me?" Itachi asked as he executed another summersault to avoid the streaks of chakra. Danzou didn't answer, instead he stopped his attack and activated his single Byakugan eye. Chakra flowed through his body and into the sword and instead of a streak of chakra a huge wave was shot from the tip of the sword. Itachi used a transportation jutsu to avoid it and as he re-appeared fifteen feet behind the ANBU chief he watched as the building across the street was hit with the jutsu. The top floor now sported a huge hole. Cracking could be heard as the roof collapsed. Belatedly Itachi remembered that was the roof he had taken the children to watch the fight. He looked carefully, but could see no sign of anyone or even feel their chakra.
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Madara had seen what was going to happen as soon as the chakra burst was released from
Danzou's Katana. Turning around he grabbed Sasuke and noticed that Kisame had also realized what was going on, no doubt helped by the bond he had with his chakra-sensing sword, and grabbed Naruto and Hinata. The two ninjas both hid their chakra and jumped away from the roof.
"Tobi, let's get them back to the police-station so we don't have to babysit." Kisame said as he landed on the street next to Madara.
"No! I want to see my big brother! I want to make sure he's okay!" Sasuke was trying to pull away from Madara, who was holding him tightly against his chest.
Madara held on tighter and spoke quietly so only Sasuke could here, "So do we son, but we can't babysit you and help him at the same time. You understand, don't you?" Sasuke stopped struggling. And looked up at the masked man with a defeated expression on his face. "Good boy."
"You… you promise to bring him back… alive?" Sasuke asked quietly.
"It'll be okay, son." Madara whispered, soothingly. He needed Sasuke to quit yelling so they could move quickly to the station without attracting attention. They boy relaxed and leaned his head on the man's shoulder. Sniffling sounds made Madara direct his gaze to Kisame. Both Naruto and Hinata were crying, but trying very hard to be quiet about it. He had Naruto hanging over his shoulder and Hinata was balanced upright in his other arm.
"This definitely isn't Mist village, is it?" Kisame replied, annoyed. "I'll never understand why they think these crybabies will grow up to be powerful ninja." He paused and looked up, seeing a huge fireball shoot up into the air. "Itachi isn't using any of his advanced jutsus. I know he is unwell, but he should be able to use them nonetheless. If it exhausts him Fugaku and Sarutobi will back him up and take over."
"It appeared he was trying to get some information out of Danzou before killing him." Madara replied.
"Good point. Well, if we run we can drop the kids off in a couple minutes. This way, Tobi."
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Itachi ducked as another, small ball of chakra shot over his head. He noticed out of the corner of his eye that Fugaku, Sarutobi and Toshiro were now on a different rooftop watching the fight with stern expressions on their faces.
"You aren't getting out of this alive, Danzou. If I fail, there are a lot of other people standing by waiting to take my place." Itachi said menacingly.
"Who?" Danzou laughed again. "Fugaku? He is easy to manipulate. Just push some of his buttons and he over-reacts. Saturtobi? Ha! I easily poisoned his tea the night I nabbed him and he was nice and docile when I showed up at his apartment. All I had to do was tap him with my cane and he dropped, completely incapacitated. Too bad the brat didn't drink the tea too. The dosage was more than enough to kill a toddler."
Itachi growled under his breath. The thought of someone hurting Konohamaru was horrific. The cheerful three-year-old was very likeable and he and Hanabi brought a glimmer of hope to the otherwise traumatized children with their innocence and bright smiles. He suddenly realized that his own little brother had been the same way at that age. But now… the events of the last week had taken that from him. In a way, it was murder. Danzou had killed off that part of Sasuke that Itachi held onto, the only light left in his life as he walked forward into the darkness that man had woven around him.
And he was going to make him pay for it.
"I'm not going to kill you now, Danzou." Itachi's voice had taken a strange, dark tone that no one had ever heard him use before. "I'm going to torture you. Make you scream in pain. You will beg for freedom, but it will never come. You will remember hope, but never again feel its bright light upon your soul. You will feel your flesh being ripped from your bones a hundred times only to see it is still there, ready to be ripped off again. It will never end, Danzou. You will exist forever, in perpetual torture."
The dark evening was so silent as he finished speaking that it seemed as though even the crickets were holding their breath. Every human standing nearby felt the horror of his words and shuddered involuntarily at the torment this boy could inflict on another human being. Some prayed to God that they would be spared; that Itachi would not turn his head and gaze into their eyes. Others held their breath, and felt a little, very little, bit of empathy for the ANBU chief. And Fugaku… he was reminded of Itachi's early childhood when he had wondered if his boy was a psychopath. Occasionally, back then, he had even wondered if he should have killed the child to keep everyone else safely out of his reach. Perhaps… he wasn't that far off in his suspicions after all.
"You can't trap me, Itachi. Byakugan is resistant to Genjutsu. I know you told me it wasn't, but I don't believe you. I have never been caught in one." Danzou spoke arrogantly as he stared straight into Itachi's Sharingan eyes.
Itachi sheathed his sword and his eyes bled into their Mangekyou form. "The first round of torture begins now. After which you will be taken into custody and I will visit you every day of whatever remains of your miserable, pathetic life to inflict more." He paused for a moment, smiled and spoke his next word in a soft, commanding voice, "Tsukuyomi."
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Danzou huffed in annoyance when he heard Itachi utter the name of his jutsu. "Tsukuyomi". That arrogant clan had named it after the God of the Moon. However, a second later he found himself spread-eagle on a cross overlooking a red plain. In fact everything was black and red. He tried to free his hands and legs, only to find them securely bound.
"What is this?" Danzou yelled angrily.
"In Tsukuyomi I control time and space." Itachi pulled his sword and plunged it into Danzou's chest. "Three days here will only be the equivalent of a second in the real world." He extracted the sword and stabbed again. "You will be tortured for those three days, yet never die. It is a Genjutsu to be sure, but your mind sees it as real and will react as if it was real. This will happen every day you continue to live."
After being stabbed a few more times Danzou couldn't hold back any longer and screamed horribly in agony, "How can this be? I am resistant to Genjutsu! Your Mangekyou shouldn't work on me!"
"Your information was wrong." Itachi said evenly.
"My followers are still out there… they will not… back down… just because I am gone." Danzou cried out again.
"No, it wouldn't be much of a challenge if they did." Itachi yawned.
"You can only do this to one person… at a time. How… will you take out… an entire army?"
"You underestimate the Uchiha. Our power is limitless. We are the pinnacle of what it means to be 'Shinobi'. I have many abilities to stop armies, and I can use them without remorse. I no longer fear battle because I finally realized that it is battle that fears me."
"That… makes no sense." Danzou gasped.
"To you… no… it wouldn't make sense." Itachi replied thoughtfully.
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Danzou collapsed to the ground in a heap, panting heavily and still conscious. Itachi stepped forward and grabbed the man's head by the hair. Fugaku, Sarutobi and Toshiro quickly joined him. There was cheering from the assembled spectators as they moved closer to get a better look at the defeated villain.
"Father? Get a medic. Now." Itachi ordered. Fugaku turned to Toshiro and sent him off to fetch one. Nui joined them a couple minutes later.
"Sorry, I left shortly after Itachi did… I couldn't stay behind. What do you need me for?" Nui spoke firmly and looked Fugaku in the eyes. He turned to Itachi.
"Father, hold his head up. I'm going to do some surgery to keep this bastard from killing himself before I finish torturing him." Itachi spoke without emotion, but Fugaku and Sarutobi smiled at the boy's thoroughness. Nui's face went white, shocked at what her young cousin was implying, but she readied her chakra to follow his orders, nonetheless.
As Fugaku got a firm grasp of Danzou's head he could see the look of horror that came over the man's face. It was very satisfying and he smiled, pleased that he was able to be here to see it. The spectators continued to move closer to the small group so they could see what was about to transpire.
Itachi pulled a kunai and Fugaku reached down and forced open Danzou's jaw. Reaching in with the blade the teen expertly severed the man's tongue. As blood spurted out Nui stepped forward and used chakra to stop the hemorrhaging and heal the wound. Itachi then pulled Danzou's remaining arm up and Fugaku grabbed it and held it up in the air. Itachi swapped his kunai for a Katana and swiped it across the old man's wrist. Again, Nui stepped forward and healed the newly created stump.
"Nui, do you know a dental procedure to loosen teeth?" Itachi asked without emotion.
"Y…yes." Nui stuttered. She placed her hands over the man's mouth and pushed more chakra into his jaw. Fugaku held the man's mouth open as Itachi tapped each tooth with his still bloody kunai, knocking them to the back of Danzou's throat.
"Swallow." Itachi commanded. Danzou tried to resist, but Nui tapped him in the neck, forcing him to swallow his own teeth.
Morino Ibiki stepped up and knelt down beside Danzou. "Good work, Itachi. He is completely incapacitated. Completely in our control. Although…" the man winked, "you forgot something."
"Oh!" Itachi took the hint and brought his kunai up one last time to remove the man's stolen Byakugan eye. Nui healed the hole and sighed, relieved that it was over.
Sarutobi also sighed. "Impaled on your own blade, Danzou. I wonder if the First and Second foresaw this when they chose me over you to be the Third. Ibiki, find a nice hidey-hole for him and keep him guarded. Others may try to find him, either to finish what we started here, or to rescue him."
"Unbelievable." Fugaku finally said when Danzou was carried off. "Such arrogance. He truly thought he could fight us both and win."
"His people are still out there. Just because we got Danzou doesn't mean this is over." Itachi reminded everyone. "Lord Sarutobi? Danzou said he poisoned your tea the night you were captured. How is that affecting you now?"
Sarutobi gave the boy a sad smile, "I have no idea, young Itachi. I do not feel the same, but I had been attributing that to my imprisonment. Clearly, that is not the case."
"We'll have Dr. Yakushi look you over then." Fugaku replied. "Tonight's fight is obviously cancelled." He gazed at the Third Hokage, his eyes communicating an unspoken request.
Sighing, Sarutobi closed his eyes. There were perhaps a hundred people nearby and a couple hundred still hanging out in the vicinity. This was probably as good a time to say it as any.
"In light of the circumstances, I will step down and retire as Hokage. I turn that mantle over to Fugaku Uchiha, who will take up the position of Fifth Hokage of the village hidden in the Leaves. Now. Let's rebuild our village and show Danzou that even he can't take away our Spirit of Fire!" Sarutobi gave everyone a bittersweet smile. It wasn't really what he wanted. Fugaku was only one or two steps above Danzou when it came to their ideals, but when choosing between the two the Uchiha won hands down. Danzou's destruction of the emergency tunnels and murder of half the village's population was unforgiveable. Still, he would have felt much better if Itachi was the one taking the position. Unfortunately, the clan lord had given a very good reason for why he didn't want that to happen. Itachi had a man to kill.
Sarutobi realized he was no longer fit for duty. He had thought he felt unwell and had attributed it to lack of food and stress. Now, it was clear he had been poisoned. He could feel his chakra fluctuating and his heart was beating erratically. If he survived, he would likely have a long recuperation. Poisons could be like that. Danzou knew that as well, which was probably why he had given Sarutobi only a few bottles of water. By the time the water ran out, he would already be dead. Fortunately, he was sure he would survive. Dr. Yakushi was very capable when it came to poisons.
On the plus side… Fugaku and Itachi were perfect for dealing with the coming battle. Danzou had attacked in a rather reckless fashion. It was uncharacteristic of him. Why had he done it? Sarutobi had a feeling that something much more sinister was in the works and that only someone skilled in warfare would be able to meet it head on.
Fugaku nodded in acknowledgement, and the look of relief that passed over his face caused Sarutobi to look at him in surprise. The new Hokage spoke quietly, "I didn't want to kill you, Sarutobi. Thank-you."
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Next week Itachi returns to active duty and runs into an old friend while on patrol.
Please review.
Oh... I guess it might be confusing... Grown men will often call young boys "son" in an attempt to be nice or familiar. Now, while Madara was being a jerk and dropping hints to Sasuke that he is his father, Sasuke (and anyone else listening) would just think he was being kind and trying to put him at ease.