A Perception of Reality

by knightchaser

There is a belief that states for every action taken, the alternative action is played out in another dimension. In one reality Itachi succeeded in killing his clan, in another, he failed. This is the story of what happened when he failed.

56. Chapter 56 Surrender or Capture

Thanks for all the reviews and favs!

So… if Itachi put a jutsu in Sasuke's eyes that causes Amaterasu when he looks at Madara face… and if Madara were to take Sasuke's eyes and implant them in his head… what would happen if Madara looked at his reflection in the mirror? xD Okay, well, probably nothing, but it would make a good comic strip, lol.

Edited to correct spelling. Sorry for all the mistakes lately.

Disclaimer: Naruto is owned by Kishimoto

Chapter 56 – Surrender or Capture?

There was a lot going through Madara's mind as he gazed inattentively through the windows of his office. It had been two days since his discussion with Sora, concerning Pein's betrayal, and he was having a hard time deciding what to do about the matter. Indecisiveness had never been a problem for him before and its sudden onset was very disturbing.

Pein had no doubt thought himself free of Zetsu's prying eyes, but in reality that was not the case. Madara himself had recruited the plant-man for the sole purpose of keeping track of his organization because he knew things about him that no one else did. Like the fact that Zetsu could plant spores everywhere and spy without using chakra. He was undetectable. And everywhere. Pein's stronghold in Rain and the Uchiha compound in Konoha were only two of the many places Zetsu had "bugged" for the true leader of the Akatsuki.

"Ah, Pein. If only you had trusted me for just a little while longer. It was rather easy for me to turn you to my plans, but you are far too easily influenced. I should never have left you alone." Madara sighed loudly. He had found the Rinnegan user as a boy, shortly after Jiraiya had left him on his own with his two friends. Through a series of subtle hints and "brotherly" advice he had moved the trio towards rebellion, only to have it fall apart a few short years later when Yahiko was tricked into killing himself by Danzou.

Things had almost fallen apart at that point. Nagato and Konan had been grief stricken and while they had sworn to avenge their friend's death at his funeral, they had also succumbed to second thoughts a few days later. Even expressing a desire to give up and move somewhere peaceful. Madara had to pull out all stops at that point to get the man to change his mind. But in the end it was Hanzou who dealt the final blow.

The dictator of Rain was a paranoid man who indiscriminately killed anyone he even suspected might have looked at him sideways. His iron fisted policies limited the sales of supplies to the point where even people with money found themselves starving and political executions were a common sight.

Madara remembered sitting in Nagato's hideout- an abandoned building at the edge of Hanzou's capital – trying, once again, to convince the young man to take up arms when screams erupted outside and Konan ran into the room.

"Nagato! We have to do something!"

"What's going on?" Although thin and poorly nourished as a child, Nagato had still managed to grow quite tall and easily dwarfed the much smaller Konan.

She grasped his dark-blue jacket with one hand and tugged as the screams grew louder and the commanding voices of Shinobi carried over them. "Hanzou has ordered all the homeless in this district to be killed! It's a massacre out there! We have to stop them!"

That got both Nagato and Madara moving. They ran out of the building and without a second thought started their own massacre. Konan, meanwhile, was ordering people to hide in the building and using her paper jutsu to get them in safely. Nagato's followers, the remnants of his rebels that had not run off when Yahiko was killed, poured out of the surrounding buildings and took up the fight as well.

The outskirts of the large city had been a haven for the poor and homeless and they filled the abandoned buildings like rats clinging to a sinking ship, praying desperately for dry land. There were thousands of them, as far as anyone could tell. The exact number was unknown, and no one cared enough to find out anyway. Or perhaps, there were people who cared, but for them counting was the vast numbers of Hanzou's displaced citizens was too heartbreaking.

And now the dictator had found a way to drop the numbers down to a more manageable number.

Hanzou's Shinobi were numerous and well armed. However, against a Rinnegan and a Sharingan, they were nothing more than reeds falling over in the wind. It took fifteen minutes to clear the road of the enemy, most were dead but a few ran off.

Looking around, Madara saw men, women and children lying dead on the ground, blood flowing from their lifeless bodies, staining the gray pavement. Rain began to fall and he looked up to see Nagato standing still, eyes closed in concentration, and hands held firm in front of his face in the sign of the monkey. He was making it rain.

"Nagato… you…" Konan stood near him, her tears mingling with the falling rain, forever joined with the rivulets of water that ran endlessly across the ground, into the sewers, only to become lost in the rivers that flowed into the vast oceans of the ninja world.

"They will be back. These people… Konan, if I back out now… they will all die."

"Yes." Her answer was short as she stepped forward to wrap her arms around his chest and lay her head against his heart.

He lowered his hands and held her close, but his eyes were locked on Madara. Eyes colored lavender and distinguished by several concentric circles that radiated desperation, sorrow, and above all, pain.

The cries of the injured and other survivors filled the air as mothers cradled dead children to their breasts and husbands tended to dead wives. And above all was the knowledge that they were now being hunted and they had no where left to go.

"Hanzou has to die." Nagato stated clearly. "Your plan, Madara. You said you had a way to bring peace to the world. To stop this."

Madara nodded once. The memories of decades of combat ran through his brain, like a movie on fast-forward. From his childhood, to now, the battlefield always looked the same and sounded the same. No matter who lay dead upon it, or who walked away victorious. And there was always someone who asked for peace, who believed it would come if they just tried hard enough to bring it.

But it never came..

Until now.

"I can stop this, Nagato. But I need you to play an important part. I need the power of the Rinnegan."

Nagato didn't even pause to think before he uttered his next phrase, "I will do whatever it takes."

It had been a little over twenty years since then, at least. Perhaps longer. Perhaps shorter. It didn't really matter. Madara groaned as he leaned back in his chair. "That man's eyes… that haunted expression… how could he forget how he had felt back then? How can he give up so simply when we are so close to victory?"

"Are you really that close?" Sora stepped into the room and slid the door shut. "You have been holding off on collecting the demons. I believe that was Pein's concern, was it not?"

"Don't you have clan stuff to do?" Madara grumbled irritably.

"Sometimes. What have you decided?"

"I can go ahead with the Eye of the Moon plan if I use Sasuke in place of Pein, but I will have to wait at least three years before he is ready. In that time we can collect the demons. However, it would involve disbanding the current Akatsuki and rebuilding a new organization. That takes time. Finding the right people is amazingly difficult.

"On the other hand, if I keep Pein alive he will continue his alliance with Fugaku and Konoha, making the Kyuubi all but unattainable. However… Sasuke is Naruto's best friend and that could easily be used to lure him out…"

"You're working your way into a circular argument."

"Sora, there is only one Rinnegan in this world. If I destroy it there will be none. Seriously, has that even remotely occurred to you?"

Sora shook his head and dropped down into one of the wooden chairs. Rubbing his crippled leg he gazed pensively at the floor. The sound of rain slowly filled the room and he glanced up to see garden beyond the porch and the wet drops that fell belligerently upon the ground, quickly filling the puddles and forming dozens of circles on the pond.

"You have a soft spot for the man." Sora finally observed. "Understandable, I guess. You have known him since he was a child."

"It's not that…" Madara sighed and rubbed his forehead, as if attempting to hold back a headache, "There are a lot of problems right now. First of all, we have Pein backing out, next there's Itachi who will never allow Naruto to be captured, or Sasuke to be used. Then there's Sasuke himself, who would follow his big brother into hell, but tell everyone else to jump off a cliff. There is also Naruto. The boy is the son of the Fourth Hokage. Minato Namikaze. A very powerful man and if Naruto had inherited even half of that man's abilities he will prove more and more difficult to catch as he get older and more experienced."

Madara covered his mouth and yawned, "We also have Akatsuki. An organization founded to run high level missions, and collect the bijou. If the organization is truly at an end, I will have to recruit new people to replace the old ones. That means the old ones will have to die."

"No one gets out of Akatsuki alive." Sora repeated the mantra that was the basis of the organization.

"No one." Madara stated clearly. "But I don't know if I can take out Itachi. And reforming Akatsuki while he's still alive will be impossible."

Sora stood up and made his way across the room and opened the sliding door, stepping cautiously onto the covered porch in order to avoid the small puddles that flowed across it in small rivers. He sighed softly and turned to face his nephew, "I will stand aside in this matter then. Besides, the real reason I came to see you was pretty much what you had just explained. Killing Pein would cause more problems than it would solve. And the only people who could kill him would be Uchiha, and Fugaku and Itachi would know immediately it was us. The situation has gotten very dark, Madara."

Madara nodded in agreement, "Indeed it has."

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The small inn was even more comfortable than Kabuto had first thought and he had found it very easy to relax. The innkeeper's meals were simple, and a feeling of nostalgia washed over him every time he sat down to eat. It reminded him of the meals his father would cook for him, or of the few times he had been invited to lunch at Itachi or Shisui's houses. The other guests were amiable and made no effort to push him into conversation beyond polite greetings or short discussions about the weather.

He sent his chakra through the immediate area, looking for Shinobi. He knew it was only a matter of time before someone came to get him, and he had already decided, or rather, he had resigned himself to joining up with Danzou. There was no one nearby though.

Rising from his bed he looked at the small clock on the nightstand. He had been sitting there, his back against the wall and an unread magazine in his lap for several hours and it was now evening. Too dark to read.

Kabuto turned his head when he heard running in the hall, but the voices that followed it were childish and he smiled, remembering what it was like to be young and full of energy. He shook his head in disbelief. He was eighteen after all. That certainly wasn't old, and yet here he was behaving like an old man.

But that was exactly what he felt like. Twelve years of his life had felt more like fifty or sixty and now he was overloaded and worn out.

Dropping back down on the bed he rubbed his eyes. He had to leave. If Danzou, or anyone else showed up they might start a fight and he didn't want anything to happen to the people here. They hadn't done anything wrong and certainly didn't deserve to go through such an experience.

He knew of several vacant houses in the mountains that would be a good place to wait for "capture", and no one would be injured in the crossfire. And if he left right now, he could make it to the nearest one before midnight.

Standing up, he collected his things, tossing them into a small bag. Raising his hands, he formed the seals for a transportation jutsu and disappeared.

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"That chakra…" Suigetsu stopped walking and looked down the road. His companions had also stopped walking.

"He's nearby… but why isn't he hiding his chakra?" Itachi closed his eyes and concentrated on the nearby area. They were only a couple miles from a village where they were planning on staying for the evening. Night had fallen three or four hours earlier and with it a cold breeze had started up. "There are ninja coming in from the north. They are hiding their chakra, but I can still sense them."

"Why is he doing that?" Suigetsu scowled, glancing back at Kisame, "Why does he want to be found? He could have just stayed behind at Orochimaru's hideout."

"What makes you think he wants to be found?" Haku asked curiously.

"Well, I guess he could be setting a trap, but Kabuto isn't like that." Suigetsu responded thoughtfully, "He always backs down and then attacks later when you're no longer looking for him."

"Suigetsu's right." Itachi glanced up at the sky. There would be no moon that night, meaning the darkness of the forest would be guaranteed. "If he's resorted to this, then he's doing nothing short of surrender. The question is who is he surrendering to?"

"My guess is Danzou." Kisame added, "He probably thinks you want to kill him, at least under orders from Konoha, if not Madara himself. Danzou is his only chance to survive."

Itachi nodded, "That is logical."

"That's stupid, why would he do that?" Suigetsu argued, "Kabuto…"

"Kabuto is a genius at survival. He knows that having both Konoha and Danzou after him is nothing more than a death sentence if he resists. He has no doubt picked the one side he is sure gives him the best chances of survival."

"A true ninja." Zabuza chucked, "You were saying Sasori was his master? That makes sense. He learned well."

"That he did." Kisame looked off in the direction of the chakra, "We need to get moving if we want to get there first. Suigetsu, if you can't keep up, then at least stay out of the way."

The group took off into the woods, a disgruntled Suigetsu following behind, "I'll keep up all right. And just you wait. You'll see how good I am in a fight."

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The small house was nothing more than a shell with two rooms. The main room contained a small fire-pit for cooking and heating, and a secondary room that was probably used for storage, since it was too small to be a bedroom – unless you were very short and didn't need to stretch your legs. It made sense, though. Many old-fashioned houses used the main room for sleeping. An outhouse was nearby, about forty feet away and as expected, it was also very small.

Kabuto threw his pack into a corner and dropped down to the floor, using a fire jutsu to light some branches he had picked up nearby. The fire-pit came to life and the white-haired medic leaned forward, drinking in the warmth. While there was no snow on the ground, it was definitely still very cold.

He straightened up a few minutes later when he sensed someone coming near. Or rather, several "someones". Kabuto had dropped his chakra hiding jutsu as soon as he entered the house, knowing that it would make it easier to be found. And while he wanted nothing more than to put off the inevitable for as long as possible, the stress of having to hide and move around constantly was beginning to take its toll. Hopefully, in a couple hours it would be all over. As skilled as he was, he just wasn't cut out to be a missing nin.

"They'll be here in a few minutes." Kabuto whispered. The evening silence closed in on him and he concentrated on the various sounds. The fire was the loudest, snapping and crackling with the wet twigs that were being forced to burn with a jutsu. The forest itself was unnaturally quiet, even for winter. No animals could be heard and he didn't sense any nearby either.

Soon enough the house was surrounded and Kabuto stood up, shouldered his pack, and resigned himself to his fate. However, when he stepped outside he was surprised to see a second group come running out of the forest.

"This is unexpected." A large, dark-skinned man with white hair smirked as he crossed his arms over his chest. "I had a feeling you would be out and about as well, but to get here at the same time is unexpected."

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Itachi looked his childhood friend directly in the eye and noticed that the teen was, for some reason, very shocked. In fact, it was clear that the presence of Cloud, Konoha and Akatsuki were the last people he had expected to see upon exiting the house. The shock, however, was quickly replaced by rage.

Kabuto had made a very bad mistake, one that Itachi would have thought him incapable of making. He had not verified the identities of his enemies before showing himself. It was so unlike him, in fact, that for a couple minutes Itachi even wondered if that was indeed his target. But it was.

"Bee." Itachi stated the name without inflection as he surveyed the area. There were no other chakra sources nearby, so obviously the four Cloud ninja were the ones he had detected. He should have recognized him, but then again, it was possible the man's demon was able to change his chakra somehow.

"You know these people Sensei?" A girl pulled a sword out of a holder on her back and stood ready, waiting for the command to attack Kabuto.

"Yeah." Bee laughed, "That's Itachi Uchiha, Kisame Hoshigaki, Zabuza Momochi, and the other two I don't know."

"I am Haku and this is Suigetsu." Haku bowed politely. He purposely refrained from mentioning their surnames, believing that anonymity was a ninjas best friend.

However, Suigetsu didn't subscribe to this belief, "Suigetsu Hoozuki, the brother of Mangetsu."

Bee laughed, "You're an arrogant one. Well, this is my team, Karui, Omoi, and Samui." Karui and Omoi were both about Itachi's age and had dark skin, but while Omoi had the white hair predominant in most of the Cloud village ninja, Karui's hair was dark. Samui was very pale, almost white, and her pale blond hair was set off in a stylish cut that looked far too trendy for a kunoichi.

"Quit gossiping and get to work." Samui stated plainly. "And I'm not your student, Killer Bee. Nii Yugito is my Sensei and she would be quite upset to hear you say such things."

"Okay, only two of these miscreants are mine. This one is just along for the ride. I certainly don't want Yugito coming after me again." Bee amended, and then laughed at the look of annoyance that crossed the woman's face. It was obvious she was older than the other two, but only by a couple years, at most.

Itachi frowned, disliking the joviality that seemed to be replacing the seriousness of the task at hand. Kabuto wasn't going to sit back patiently and wait for them to finish, and sure enough, the teen raised his hands to form a seal.

In a second, Itachi was next to him, "Going somewhere?"

Kabuto laughed nervously and scratched the back of his head, "Yeah, actually, I was going to get away from you all."

"I don't think so. You're coming back to Konoha."

"No, Itachi. I don't think so." Chakra began to emanate from his hand and he turned quickly, only to find that Itachi was no longer there.

"Watch out for his hands, he uses a surgical jutsu to attack with." Haku addressed the Cloud ninjas.

"Hmm. Well, that explains a few things." Bee muttered angrily.

"You're being helpful." Zabuza addressed his friend.

Haku smiled, "Well, they're allies with Konoha, can't have them getting injured. Itachi would just make me heal them afterwards."

Kabuto raised his hands again, but jumped back when an explosion blew up the center of the cleared, taking the small house with it. Flames burst from the wooden structure and a large, six foot deep hole was now permanently etched into the earth.

"Kabuto's coming back to Danzou with us." A woman with a black scarf wrapped tightly around her face stepped out of the forest, a few feet behind the white-haired teen. Her eyes glinted angrily at the scene before her and she raised her hands to perform another jutsu, then dropped them to her side.

Itachi had caught her eye, throwing her instantly into a Genjutsu before addressing his companions, "Look at her forehead protector."

"What symbol is that? I don't recognize it." Kisame squinted in annoyance as gazed through the fire-lit darkness at the odd symbol. A straight horizontal line with a small vertical line split it in half. On either end was a larger half circle with a smaller one set inside.

"Senju. It's their clan symbol. Hashirama Senju founded Konoha and the ninja village system. As a child, Danzou was his student. However, since he isn't part of that clan, I guess he's using it as a way to demark himself from Konoha, while still considering himself part of Konoha."

"Correct." A man with bright red hair and eyes stepped up behind the woman Itachi had case a Genjutsu on earlier and hit her sharply across the shoulders, breaking her out of it. "We are the true Konoha, and we intend on returning the village to its rightful Kage as soon as possible."

Another blast tore the ground open and the Cloud ninjas were forced to retreat. Itachi noticed that the man's strategy involved splitting the two groups up. He smirked, that was about as useful as splitting up two fighting dogs. Neither was going to back down, no matter who the opponent was and your chances of coming out unscathed were exactly the same whether they were together or apart.

"These guys are nothing." Kisame grumbled disconsolately. He had unsheathed Samehada at the first sign of intruders, but now he put it back and retreated to a nearby tree where he dropped to ground with a big sigh, "Suigetsu, this should be a little challenging for you yet, so don't bother fighting."

That angered the boy and he pulled his katana and stepped forward, in the direction of Danzou's Shinobi, "Not likely, fish breath." He looked back at his Sensei, surprised to see him laughing. "You just said that to tease me!"

"And it worked so well, didn't it? This isn't my fight though, so I'm going to sit here and watch.

Itachi, however, wasn't amused. He wanted to get this whole thing over with. Pulling his own sword he used a transportation jutsu to appear next to Kabuto, running the sharp blade through the teen's stomach, then grabbing him and returning to his previous position.

"Why…" Kabuto dropped to the ground, coughing up blood.

"Can't have you escaping with them. This'll slow you down for a few minutes." Sure enough, as soon as Itachi had finished speaking, he noticed that Kabuto had already begun to heal himself.

A wall of water formed in front of Itachi, blocking a third explosion from hitting him. Zabuza had his sword drawn and was standing a few feet away. "Take them all out?"

Itachi smiled, "Well, unless they are willing to back off and let us leave unmolested."

"Not on your life!" The woman had recovered and was obviously very angry at having been caught so easily by Itachi's Genjutsu.

"Good." Zabuza rushed forward, followed quickly by Suigetsu. Everyone else hung back and watched as the total number of Danzou's followers grew from two to ten.

"You're not going to use any of your cool clan jutsus?" Bee had moved closer and was grinning ear to ear at the swordplay.

Itachi smirked, "That would be like using a bear trap to catch a mouse. A very small mouse."

"Good point. Wow! Did you see what that Suigetsu kid just did?" Itachi glanced in the direction Bee was pointing. The white-haired wanna-be swordsman had just expanded his sword arm to about five times its usual size and was striking with such force, that the young Uchiha actually felt sorry for the blade. Sure enough, after killing only four of the Shinobi, the blade shattered.

Bee and Itachi turned to look at Kisame who was cursing his new student. He finally grumbled, "That sword was expensive. He needs to learn how to care for his blades. It sensed his feelings and broke just to spite him."

"Do swords really do that?" Bee whispered, disbelieving.

"If you are one of the seven swordsmen they do, apparently." Itachi watched as Suigetsu moved to Tai Jutsu. He wasn't very good at it, but his strong arm made up for it somewhat. He was able to get in a few good swings before being thrown against a tree and knocked out.

Haku quickly moved in front of the boy, pulling his own blade, "I'm not as rash as my companion here, and I'm a much better fighter. Do you still wish to engage me?" His even-tempered voice belied the dark chakra that was radiating from his body.

Kabuto had nearly healed himself, and was looking around for an escape route when Itachi bent over him and pulled his hands away from his body. "That's good enough. Haku can finish it up for you later. For now, I'm binding your chakra."

His arms were pulled around his back and wrapped with a chakra limiting rope that began to quickly drain him. "Seems oddly familiar, doesn't it?" Kabuto smiled, "I seem to remember saving you from these ropes a long time ago."

Itachi paused momentarily, remembering how, as a small child, he had been kidnapped by an insane madman who had wrapped him tightly in chakra limiting ropes. Kabuto had been the one to save him that day, at great risk to his life. He wanted to tell his old friend not to worry, that once they reached Konoha everything would be explained and redemption was within his grasp. However, if Danzou's people suspected, even remotely, that Kabuto was in league with his old village things would fall apart and there would be no turning back. He would have to keep up the ruse.

However, he had to say something, "It does not. This situation is completely different."

"True enough." Kabuto closed his eyes and lowered his head despondently.

"That's all of them." Zabuza grinned as he returned to the group. "That Suigetsu needs to learn some respect for his weapons, though. You got a lot of work with that boy, Kisame."

The big man groaned irritably, "Tell me about it." He turned to his student who was now, with Haku's help, stumbling forward towards his master, "That sword is coming out of your allowance, boy."

"Cool! I get an allowance?" Suigetsu beamed down at the still-seated Kisame, making him laugh.

"No. Earn your own money."

That really amused the boy and he laughed loudly, "That's what I thought."

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The Cloud ninja had gone off shortly after the battle, pleased that Kabuto was now in custody. Of course, Itachi had a little private conversation with Killer Bee about the true intention of the medic-nin's capture so they wouldn't freak out when he escaped again.

Itachi had burned the bodies of Danzou's henchmen and the group had moved a couple miles away, to a different house. This one was in much worse condition than the last and much more remote. However, it would serve its purpose. While travelling with a prisoner, Shinobi were not in the habit of staying at hotels. Civilians often didn't understand the circumstances and it wasn't unheard of for them to call the local police, resulting in a lot of explanations, and sometimes the loss of their prisoners.

"Why am I still alive?" Kabuto asked bitterly after he was pushed down to the floor by Haku, who began to finish up the healing.

"Because Fugaku wants it that way." Itachi said calmly. "You have too much experience as a spy to let you wander around."

"I hate being a spy."

"I bet you hate dying even more." Itachi added, the corner of his mouth lifting up in a half-grin.

"Not necessarily." Kabuto shut up and several minutes later the teen was fast asleep on the hard wooden floor. Haku pulled a travel blanket out of Kabuto's pack and draped it over him. He then turned his attention to Suigetsu.

"You aren't looking very well." The teen smiled warmly at the boy as he moved next to him.

"Just dehydrated. That jutsu takes a lot out of me. I need to practice it more." He was sipping on the fifth refill of his water bottle. The well connected to the house was still functioning and it was clear that it would be dropping an inch or two by the time Suigetsu was finished with it.

Itachi glanced at the window when he heard something brush against it. A tree was too near the house and its branches had started to move in the wind. And small white flakes were drifting down from the sky. He groaned with frustration. It was snowing again.

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Next week, Kabuto begins his new mission, but this time, will he be a willing spy or will Itachi have to use a mind-control jutsu on him?

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Updates on Fridays.