Not Sick Chapter 9
No More Lies
Sasuke Uchiha did not look like he was sleeping peacefully.
It was nothing obvious. His face was not twisted in pain. His eyelids did not flutter. His whole body was still.
But there were signs.
His lip curled up every once in a while. His breathing was rapid, off-tempo. It alternated beneath deep pulls of air and sudden inhalations. His hands tensed, gripping unseen weapons or straightening into imaginary stabs.
Naruto stood by his bedside, watching with closed fists.
There was nothing he could do.
He hated that.
The last few days had seen nearly everyone released from the hospital. Sakura was up and about, bustling around the village with Ino as if nothing had happened.
The same could be said for Kiba, Shino, and Hinata. Naruto had seen Kiba around: apparently, he had enlisted Kakashi-sensei to help in his training, though the blonde doubted his eternally late teacher would actually show up to any of these sessions.
Shino, he'd found no sign of: as always, the Aburame was elusive. Kiba had claimed he was back with his clan, doing… something. The Inuzuka had been vague.
Naruto was pretty sure that he hadn't really known either.
Hinata… he'd seen a little of. She'd left the hospital mostly healed, but still in need of bed rest. For the moment, she was stuck in the Hyuuga compound, getting exactly that.
Naruto didn't know whether to be glad or disappointed that this made it far more difficult to see her.
He had settled for a mixture of both.
But despite the rest of Naruto's friends leaving in decent health and good spirit, Sasuke remained in the hospital.
He still hadn't woken up.
Naruto did know how he felt about that.
It was just like three years ago. The last time Sasuke had met Itachi. Naruto was willing to bet it was for the same reason too.
He'd seen how strong Sasuke had gotten; and his speed… ridiculous.
So of course Itachi had used genjutsu to reduce him to this coma-like state. It had worked so well last time.
Though, Naruto noted, last time Sasuke hadn't had nightmares.
The silence of the room was cloying. It was cloudy outside, making the room seem dim despite the artificial lighting. Everything was cast in a shade of grey.
Besides the harsh sounds of Sasuke's occasional gasps, there was nothing else in the void that seemed to be formed out the greyness. Even the lighting's muted buzz seemed to appreciate that it was watching over something that demanded silence.
Naruto hated that kind of silence. He'd been subject to something just like it for most of his life.
Whenever he'd been alone.
Even the muttering of the villagers had been preferable to the empty noise.
So, he began to speak.
Sasuke might not be able to hear him, but Sasuke hadn't listened to him for most of the time they were together anyway, so what did that matter?
Not being heard had never stopped Naruto before. Along with many other things, it just made him try harder.
"Hey," he said. Then he winced. That was all he could come up with?
But what was there to say?
Naruto sighed, eerily reminded of a talk he'd had with Hinata a few days ago. The thought made him shiver: he and Sasuke were not like that.
Though technically, neither were he and Hinata…
He pushed the thought from his mind, trying to focus on his friend.
"Heh," he chuckled to himself, scratching the back of his head. "I suck at this, huh Sasuke?"
Then he sighed again.
"Sasuke, I wish… I really wish you'd just wake up, you know? I just want to talk to you." He watched a fist tightened, and amended his statement. "I want to help you. I don't know what went down with you and Itachi, but it can't have been good."
Naruto shifted a foot back. "I don't know what to think of him anymore, honestly. I mean, he helped me and Hinata, and he says that he's after world peace-" another chuckle. "How crazy is that? He kills your whole family, does all this to you, and he's after peace? How can he justify that?"
He sighed once more. It seemed to be becoming a habit of his. "I dunno. I guess… I wish you were awake. I already said that, I know. God, I'm glad you're not awake, actually. You'd have torn me a new one by now. But… it's like…"
Naruto grinned momentarily. "We brought you back. That promise I made Sakura? I actually did it!" He sobered up quickly. "But we didn't bring you back. Right now, you're just… some guy. Some unconscious guy. It doesn't feel like we actually won at all."
The Jinchūriki pondered for a moment, his hand actually coming up to his chin. He nodded. "It feels like Itachi won."
He shook his head. "It's not fair. I mean, all that training you did… all the training I did… and he still gets away with it. I mean, he gave us his eyes… but Sakura says that since he had yours, he's probably going to… you know, use them."
He made a face. "Who does that? I mean, I guess Kakashi-sensei has a Sharingan, but that's different. He was given that. Itachi just taking yours…"
Naruto's own fist tightened, but he laughed. "I don't even know what I'm saying. I came here to talk to you, and all I can talk about is Itachi. I really am bad at this."
He raised his hand up, looking at Sasuke lying prone in bed. Slowly, he extended his fist towards the Uchiha.
"I mean, we always talked better with our fists, right?" He smiled. "That's why you're my friend in the first place, you know? You always got me, even if you didn't want to."
He laughed again, and there was no bitterness in it. "Too bad for you. Now you gotta deal with me, whether you like it or not."
Naruto's face slowly firmed, and he let his hand drop to his side. "I'm not going to just let you slip away again, Sasuke," he said, his eyes hard. "If it comes down to it, I'll help you deal with Itachi. I don't care if he really is after world peace. What he did to you… it's unforgivable."
He shifted slightly. "I'm leaving the village real soon. For some crazy training. It's gonna make me a lot stronger: when I come back, I think we'll be about the same level. Hell, maybe I'll even be stronger than you," he smirked.
"Then, you can deal with Itachi however you want. And I'll just do what I've always done."
"And what is that?"
The voice cut through Naruto's own, and he spun around, hands dropping towards his pouch of kunai by pure instinct. He set himself between Sasuke and the new arrival, his teeth bared and the knife raised.
There was a moment of calm. The light flickered. Naruto's eyes just grew harder.
"Protect my precious people," he snarled.
Itachi Uchiha just cocked his eyeless head.
"A noble goal," he murmured.
"But what if you come to the point where you cannot?"
"Why are you here?" Tsunade slowly stood up, pushing her desk away from herself as she did. It scraped horribly along the wooden floor, but having enough space to avoid any oncoming attacks was more important than preserving the hardwood.
Though the scratches were a terrible shame.
Koharu and Homura slid out of their chairs simultaneously, turning towards Itachi and putting themselves to the side of the desk at the same time. Koharu's wrinkled mouth was tightened in a severe display of disapproval; Homura merely looked irritated.
Danzō took one step back, before turning to face Itachi as well. He bent slowly to retrieve his cane, not taking his eyes off the Uchiha.
"I made a promise to someone," the man said, apparently untroubled by the show of solidarity from the veteran shinobi in the room.
"Sasuke?" Tsunade asked. Itachi didn't seem to care she was fishing for information. Instead, he just shrugged.
"His comrade," he said.
A member of Hebi, then; Karin or Suigetsu, who had yet to be accounted for.
"And what was that 'promise?'"
"That I would ensure Sasuke had my eyes implanted in him."
Tsunade rocked back on her heels. That had been the last thing she would have expected the Uchiha to say. The councilors shared a meaningful glance.
'Wait...' the Hokage slowly realized.
'Danzō was right?'
The man in question rapped his cane against the floor. "Absolutely not," he rasped.
Itachi turned his head to Danzō, sightlessly staring him down. The man didn't give an inch. Tsunade couldn't decide if he was brave, or just being stubborn.
"Sasuke will be given my eyes," Itachi said.
"Why?" Danzō asked, a whiff of condescension in his tone. "Because you demand it?" He shook his head. "How childish, Itachi. I never thought-"
"What you think," Itachi said mildly, "has never mattered less to me. I came here to make sure that Sasuke would receive my eyes. That is the only outcome there will be."
He spoke with absolute confidence. If Itachi had said that the clouds would vanish now, and the sun shine down, Tsunade would have found herself believing him.
How he managed to instill this into his voice as he stood blind and alone against four of Konoha's veterans, she would never know.
"And if I killed you now?" Danzō said. Tsunade took a step forward, opening her mouth. This was going too far. There was too much unexplained.
There was something obvious that she was missing: Danzō and Itachi were hiding something from her. Their talk wasn't the kind of talk a missing-nin and a village elder were supposed to have.
And the fact that Danzō had somehow known why Itachi had removed his eyes-
Itachi's response cut hers off. "There would be no point."
Danzō stiffened, before focusing on something only he could see. "Ah," he said, sounding disappointed. "Merely a clone."
"Shisui's eye still serves you well then, I take it?" Itachi said in a level tone.
Danzō hmmphed. Tsunade stared at his back. She began to grit her teeth.
The meaning of this conversation was going right over her head, and the fact that her subordinates knew what she didn't was starting to piss her off.
Meanwhile, the bandaged man walked forward, bringing his hand up. "If you cannot come before us in person, Itachi, then there is no point in this. Now-" he raised the cane, ready to bring it down on the shadow clone's head. "Begone."
"I wouldn't do that," Itachi said. Danzō froze. The Uchiha's hand came up and pulled the collar of his cloak down, exposing his collarbone and the space just below it.
Danzō's visible eye widened.
He very carefully took a step back, and Tsunade hissed, seeing what he had.
Itachi's chest was covered in paper tags, familiar emblems emblazoned on all of them.
Explosives.
The Hokage's mind immediately went into overdrive. If she immediately activated her seal, then she would probably survive the blast. But what to do about the counselors? She couldn't save them as well-
Though… if Itachi had wanted them dead, he would have set off the tags by now, instead of revealing them.
Tsunade fractionally relaxed.
"If you disrupt me, then these tags will go off," Itachi said. "So please: let me speak my piece, at least."
Danzō didn't say anything. Tsunade seized the opportunity to take control of the exchange for the moment.
"You want us to implant your eyes in Sasuke?" she confirmed. Itachi just nodded. Tsunade followed it up with the ever-logical question.
"Why?"
"I need Sasuke's help," he said.
Tsunade laughed. "And you blinded him?"
Itachi didn't react. "Yes. It was necessary."
"Necessary?" Tsunade asked, serious again.
"For the development of his Sharingan. Though it's more than that, of course. His shall become mine, and mine his. And we will both be the stronger for it," Itachi said. Tsunade stared at him.
"And why," she said, incredulous, "would I allow you to grow in power? Even if you did us a service by saving Naruto from Pain, you are still a traitor to Konoha."
Itachi shifted dramatically. He didn't look at Danzō; it was nothing so obvious.
Nevertheless, the whole room became colder, and everyone present knew that the ice filling the office was aimed solely at the one-eyed man.
"You haven't told her?" Itachi said quietly.
"Konoha's previous affairs are not her business," the man said stiffly. "If you will recall, she was busy exploring the bars and gambling halls of the Elemental Nations at the time. Hardly-"
"She is the Hokage," Itachi murmured. His voice was filled with true emotion: disappointment. "How is this village to reach peace if people like you," he said, finally deigning to turn towards Danzō, "do not allow its own leaders to learn from the past?"
Tsunade looked between the two of them. "Enough of this dancing," she said flatly. Then, directly addressing the older man, "Danzō. You and Itachi have had prior dealings, haven't you? Don't take me for a fool."
The man looked like he'd just been forced to swallow a lemon. His lips became straight as a razor, and his visible eye shut tightly for a moment.
"Yes," he finally said, the word sharp.
"Regarding what?" Tsunade asked. Itachi remained silent, watching the conversation from the sidelines.
"The extermination of the Uchiha Clan," the bandaged man said.
Homura flinched. Tsunade stared, speechless.
She turned back to Itachi, her hair whipping with the motion. "You did it under orders?"
Itachi nodded. "The clan was planning a coup: they intended to kill Konoha's leadership, and install my father as the Hokage. Negotiations… failed."
Itachi's pause held more in it than Tsunade had ever thought could have emerged from the stoic mass-murderer. "I was assigned to deal with them, in exchange for Sasuke's life."
Danzō remained still throughout Itachi's explanation. When Tsunade turned to him, he placidly did her the same courtesy. His eye remained closed, though it twitched occasionally. It was clear he was thinking furiously.
"Exchange?" she hissed. "Danzō. What did you do? Sarutobi-sensei would never have condoned such-"
"And that is why he is dead. That is why the Leaf is in the position it is in," the man interrupted her. Tsunade stared at him, her brow twitching in fury, but he spoke on nonetheless.
"He was too peace-loving to kill his student when he had the chance, and Orochimaru became one of this village's greatest threats. He did not have the conviction to cripple the Stone in the Second War, and so they remain an ever-present irritant at our borders. He capitulated to Kumogakure with the Hyuuga, and even today the Land of Lightning considers us cowards who back away at the first sign of battle."
Danzō's grip tightened on his cane, but his voice remained unruffled. "How do you think he would have dealt with the Uchiha? Parley: empty words. What they wanted, he could not have given them. And then, when they had burned down his tower and slaughtered our ninja, then he would have dealt with them. The Village would have been drastically weakened, far more than what just the Uchiha's absence has done to it!"
He pounded his cane into the ground, his posture rigid. "Perhaps you have forgotten, Tsunade, but we are shinobi! We do not trade words! We trade blood, and iron. We obey orders. Itachi here," he gestured to the stock-still Uchiha behind him, "is the truest shinobi this village has produced in ages! When the time came, he did not question. He did not allow his heart to endanger the village! He listened, and he acted. The Leaf owes everything it has today to him!"
The office was silent for a moment. Danzō breathed out, steadying himself, and placed his cane back down.
"I did what was necessary. Something that Itachi apparently understands, considering what he has done to the brother he sacrificed everything to save." Danzō turned to the Uchiha in question. "Wouldn't you agree, Itachi?"
The blind man remained silent. Danzō made a dismissive sound. "As I thought," he said. He turned away, back towards Tsunade.
"No."
Danzō froze. His back stayed to Itachi as the Uchiha continued.
"The death of the Uchiha was necessary, Danzō. That is true. Just as what I have done to Sasuke is. But…" Itachi's voice became frigid. Both Tsunade and the councilors took a physical step back. Danzō remained unmoved, even as the cold billowed against his back.
Itachi took a step forward.
"It was you who made it necessary," he said, his voice biting. "It was you who stole the eye of Shisui Uchiha, one of the last loyal Uchiha in the whole of the village, because you believed that its power was better placed in your hands than his. He was the last man who could have aborted the coup without bloodshed, and you murdered him."
Itachi took another step forward. "It was you who went behind the Hokage's back and bartered the life of the clan against my brother's. And that, the murder of my friend, the bargaining of my clan's life… that was not necessary until you made it so."
And another step.
"Do not perpetrate such illusions of nobility. Do not erect such a self-sacrificing facade. It was the Uchiha who were sacrificed, not you. It was Shisui who was sacrificed, not you. You claim that you had to make the difficult decisions, the choices the Sandaime wouldn't, or couldn't, have made. But it was you that caused those decisions to become necessary in the first place."
One last step. Itachi was barely a meter from Danzō's back.
"You have spent so long hidden away, detached from the consequences of your actions. The ends and the means to reach them have become separate to you. You cannot expect to pursue your goals with such-" and then Itachi froze, staring at Danzō with wide sockets.
His words died in his throat, and he lowered his head.
And for a minute, there was silence.
Finally, Danzō spoke. He sounded genuinely regretful.
"You are letting your emotions cloud your judgment," the one-eyed man murmured. "Making excuses, attempting to justify your actions."
He sighed. "What happened to you, Itachi? Has your time away from the village dulled you so?"
"I have never been away from Konoha," Itachi countered, his voice quiet. "The Leaf has been in my heart and mind, always. It is how I survived the last ten years."
He raised his head back up, his sockets staring at the back of Danzō's head. "But I am not thirteen anymore, Danzō. It's no longer so easy for you to impress yourself upon me. What I have seen, and what I have done, has shaped me more than you ever hoped you could."
Danzō sighed again. "That is a shame. If that is true, Itachi, then I really did fail. It would have better to wipe out the Uchiha wholesale, regardless of the danger to the village. Having a broken weapon such as yourself loose outside its walls… just look at what it has done to your brother-"
"Enough of this!" Tsunade snapped. She whirled on Danzō, and while the man didn't shrink back, there was a definite stiffening of his spine. "You stole the eye of one of the Uchiha?" She glared at his bandages. "It's under there."
The elder man remained silent. Tsunade's amber eyes narrowed, sharpening. "Isn't it?"
Despite her tone, it was not a question.
Danzō opened his mouth, and Tsunade stomped her foot hard enough for the wood under for a meter around to shatter, revealing the concrete bones of the tower. Homura and Koharu both jumped back; Itachi's clone didn't even flinch.
"No lies, Danzō," the Hokage hissed. The man's mouth shut, and pursed intensely. "No obfuscation. The truth, now."
There was silence, quickly broken by the older man's hard voice. "Yes," he admitted. "For the good of the village. The doujutsu of the Uchiha has been mine for some time now."
"And why," Tsunade asked, "didn't you tell me? As Hokage, knowing the strength of my ninja is paramount. What else have you been hiding?"
This time, Danzō remained stubbornly silent. Tsunade snorted, and turned back to Itachi, who had listened to the whole confrontation without making any sort of movement.
"You want us to give Sasuke your eyes?" she asked. The clone respectfully nodded.
"So that he can 'help you'?" she said, making it clear how much she doubted the idea.
"Yes."
Tsunade sighed: it was the same sound she'd made when Naruto had convinced her to come back to the village; the same sigh she'd allowed out when she'd decided that just because he might be able to bring her brother and lover back, didn't mean Orochimaru didn't deserve a spine-shattering punch.
Capitulation.
Her hand came up, pinching the bridge of her nose, and she leaned back against her desk. The counselors, silently bearing witness, fidgeted uncomfortably, while Danzō watched the whole thing like a statue of a one-eyed hawk.
"With what?" the Hokage asked.
Itachi told her.
"You're crazy," Naruto whispered.
Itachi shrugged. He didn't deny it.
"Why do all this?" the Jinchūriki asked. "It doesn't make any sense. If you want this guy dead, why not just come back to the village? Get help here? If you had to kill the Uchiha because they were going after the Old Man, why not tell Sasuke the truth? Why did you do what you did him that night? He didn't deserve that."
Naruto's voice got louder, and the kunai in his hand sliced through the air as he gestured wildly. "No one deserved that! You… what you did, you ruined him! I mean, I'm me, and even I noticed!"
'You're why he left.'
He stopped his wild movements, his lip twisting. "I just… I don't-"
"Naruto," Itachi said calmly, and the blonde went quiet for a moment, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath. The hospital room was silent but for the flickering noise the lighting made.
Naruto's hand tightened around the kunai he held low at his side, but he made no attempt to raise it.
"Please. Let me talk to Sasuke, and then you'll have the answer to all your questions. Better yet, you'll have it from Sasuke himself, should he choose to share them with you," the older Uchiha said.
Naruto raised his head and opened his eyes. "So you're here to tell him now?" he asked.
Itachi wordlessly nodded.
"How?" the blonde asked. "He won't wake up."
"I know," Itachi said. "I ensured that he wouldn't." He stepped forward, and Naruto invisibly tensed.
"I'm not going to hurt him," the Uchiha promised, not slowing down his approach. "I'm never going to hurt him again."
Naruto's eyes widened slightly at the unmistakable promise in Itachi's statement.
He struggled with himself for a moment, looking as though he would raise the knife again, before exhaling roughly and going limp.
Itachi stepped forward, but before he pushed past the blonde, Naruto turned his head and looked directly into where the Uchiha's eyes should have been. The intent stopped Itachi in his tracks.
"If you do…" Naruto whispered. "I don't care if you're a clone, Itachi. I'll find a way to hurt you worse than you can imagine."
"You could do nothing worse to me that I haven't already done to myself," the Uchiha murmured.
Naruto snorted, unimpressed. "Don't count on it." And just like Itachi had held promise in his words, so too did Naruto.
He stepped aside, and Itachi brushed past him, coming to a stop next to Sasuke. Naruto watched him with wary eyes, but he made no move to stop him.
The elder Uchiha looked down on his brother with unseeing sockets, silent and still. Naruto wondered what he was doing.
What he was thinking.
After a second, Itachi sighed and his hand came up, slowly moving towards Sasuke's face. Two of the fingers extended, the middle and index, and as Naruto watched they pressed against the younger brother's forehead.
Itachi closed his eye sockets, and Sasuke's breathing suddenly became regular.
The room was quieter than ever, and Naruto watched.
And waited.
Sasuke stumbled backwards.
This was... different.
This dream was different.
He was in the Uchiha compound. Just inside the main gate. It was a sunny day; the cloudless sky creating a sense of infinity above. The distant sound of birds earned a moment of his attention, but he directed his focus onto the street in front of him.
He'd walked here a thousand times, and he would have a thousand more if Itachi hadn't turned this whole place into a bad memory.
Here was where his aunt had snuck him sugary candies in the evening. There was where he had run along the walls, full of childish confidence that he wouldn't fall.
And that even if he did, his brother would catch him.
But they weren't here, of course. Everyone who should have been here was dead, or worse. But it was far more than that.
There was no Orochimaru here. No Itachi. No Naruto or Sakura or Kakashi or father or mother. Or anyone.
He was alone.
This wasn't a dream.
He'd realized it slowly. As Itachi had taken his eyes for the third time, he'd begun to suspect, through the agony and screaming and unheard pleading, that something was wrong.
The fifth time, he'd been sure. This wasn't real.
The sixth time, he'd thought it genjutsu. But that wasn't right - he would have broken out of it by now.
Both times that the Tsukuyomi had been used on him, Sasuke had had no dreams. His sleep had been an abyss; he hadn't realized for some time how long he'd been in the darkness, when he finally woke up.
He didn't know why this time was different.
So it wasn't real, and it wasn't a genjutsu. Thus, Sasuke had come to realize that it must have been a dream.
This realization (of course) had not granted him any sort of peace. No control.
It was just one more thing he couldn't do anything about, and that realization had sent him even deeper.
But this place… it was different.
This was no dream.
"Sasuke."
That voice. Behind him. Slightly above him.
It was always that voice.
'Why?'
Itachi had won. He'd taken his eyes. There was nothing Sasuke could do now.
The only thing to do was live through these nightmares, and wait to die in his waking hours, whenever they came. What hope did he have in either world? He was powerless in the dreams, and even awake, alive – he was blind now.
Helpless. Like he always was, in the face of his brother's immensity.
He couldn't hope to beat Itachi in either state.
But… this wasn't a dream.
And Itachi hadn't taken his eyes yet.
Sasuke whirled around and brought his fist to his brother's face with every ounce of his strength.
There was a snapping noise, and Itachi stumbled back, his hand coming up to his nose. Sasuke didn't give him a chance to collect himself. He stepped forward, growling, and hammered his fist into his brother's gut: one strike, lightning quick, and then another, twisting his fist.
Itachi's lungs emptied with a loud exhalation, and he doubled over slightly. Sasuke's other hand came up and smashed down on the back of his head, gripping the scalp. Sasuke threw his brother down like a rag doll, slamming Itachi's face into the street.
Sasuke became airborne with the force of the strike, and his legs came up as he ground Itachi's face into the ground. The pavement exploded, and Itachi was left in a small crater, blood pooling around his head.
Sasuke moved into a cartwheel, his hand still pressed down on Itachi's head, and came back to his feet.
As soon as he did, he kicked his brother in the side, flipping him over onto his back. Itachi's ruined face gazed up at him, his features a mess of mangled flesh and blood.
His nose was completely destroyed. Only his eyes were recognizable, flat onyx staring up at him.
Itachi's mouth opened, irrespective of the blood that trickled onto his teeth. "Sasuke," he said again.
Sasuke didn't know (care!) if his brother meant to say more after that, because he raised one of his legs and stomped on Itachi's throat with all his considerable strength, crushing his brother's trachea.
Whatever the elder Uchiha had been about to say died with an empty whine of escaping air, and Sasuke bent over, grinding his heel.
He panted, and looked down at the body. Itachi stared up at him with untroubled eyes. He didn't look like someone who had just had his throat crushed.
Sasuke hated that. Hated those eyes, hated how peaceful they looked.
Itachi didn't deserve to die with peaceful eyes.
"Please-" The voice was behind him again.
Yelling wordlessly, Sasuke jumped into the air and spun towards the voice, catching his brother in the temple with a vicious roundhouse kick. As Itachi stumbled back, Sasuke steadied himself once again and darted forward, his teeth bared.
He buried his fist in Itachi's face.
Again.
And again.
Sasuke drove his brother back, smashing punches against his head and torso. Itachi reeled from the assault, and Sasuke shot forward once more and swept his legs from under him.
But before his brother could hit the ground, Sasuke redirected his foot and punted Itachi in the kidney, sending him tumbling along the street.
The older Uchiha hit the ground and rolled, coming back to his feet. A thin line of blood ran from a cut on his forehead, as well as from his nose, and patchwork bruises marred every inch of his face.
"I understand-"
"NO!" Sasuke yelled, sprinting forward. Lightning sparked into existence at his fingertips, and he ran his hand through Itachi's chest, feeling his brother's ribs and organs boiling away before the electric lance. His hand burst from his sibling's back, and Itachi slumped into him.
Instead of more words, only blood emerged from his mouth, hacking out and spattering onto Sasuke's shoulder. Uncaring, he yanked his fist from his brother's chest, catching a flash of the blood that had replaced the lightning.
"You don't talk," Sasuke snarled. He pushed the limp body forward, and it crashed back onto the street, sprawled as blood ran from the hole in its chest.
"You die."
"If that's really what you want," Itachi said, standing on one of the walls that surrounded the compound, looking down on him. "But I hope you'll forgive me: I need to talk to you anyway."
Sasuke looked up at his brother, his face twisted with hatred. He reached down and grabbed Itachi's mauled body, throwing it at the living form of it perched on the wall. The corpse spun slightly before striking its living counterpart in the chest, and Itachi fell back, out of sight.
Sasuke charged, kicked the wall into stone dust, and found Itachi sitting cross-legged on the other side, now looking up at him.
"I have lied to you many times, you know," he said conversationally.
"I know," Sasuke said as he stalked forward, his voice filled with the kind of hatred that only ten years of devotion to the art could produce. "You lied to all of us! You lied to mother, and father! You lied to Shisui, the ANBU!"
He reached Itachi and kicked him in the face, sending his brother tumbling back with a split lip and bleeding temple. "And you lied to me!" he roared.
Itachi came to a stop, stretched out painfully on the ground. He slowly pulled himself to his feet and Sasuke moved closer. "True," he said, spitting blood. "But there were more."
Sasuke stopped in his tracks for a moment. "More?" he scowled, tone gnarled with contempt.
Itachi nodded. "I lied to you that night as well," he said calmly.
Before he could say anything more, Sasuke rushed him. His hands closed around his brother's throat, and he fell forward, carrying them both down towards the street.
Itachi skidded along the ground for a moment, Sasuke on top of him, before they both ground to a stop. Sasuke's hands were still wrapped around Itachi's throat, steadily but surely applying a crushing pressure.
"More lies?" Sasuke hissed. He shook his brother, Itachi's head cracking against the street. "Why!?"
"To protect you," Itachi whispered, the words struggling to form under the pressure.
Sasuke stopped strangling him.
'What?'
A voice murmured in his ear. It was Itachi's, but it wasn't the one pinned beneath him.
A memory. Fogged by pain and drugs and shock, but a memory all the same.
'I will always love you,' his brother had whispered to him. 'I am so sorry for what I have done.'
Sasuke's hands drew back, and Itachi took a deep breath.
"I did kill our clan, yes. That was not a lie," he wheezed, but his words were all too understandable. Sasuke watched him with morbid fascination.
"But when I told you that night, that I had done it to test my capacity… to see what I was capable of…" Itachi stared into Sasuke's eyes, and the younger brother couldn't help but think that it was the first time in such a long time that he had seen his brother's eyes without the Sharingan activated.
"That was a lie," Itachi said.
Sasuke took a deep, shuddering breath.
"Then why did you?" he asked, struggling to keep himself under control. "If it wasn't to 'test yourself', what possible reason could you have to have done what you did?"
"I did it under orders."
Sasuke froze. His eyes widened, his body unresponsive to his screaming mind, head, everything. He toppled back, off of Itachi, onto the unrelenting concrete. His brother stood up.
Itachi now stood – loomed – over Sasuke, shading him from the sun. Sasuke barely noticed, staring up at the sky without seeing it at all.
It wasn't a real sky, but what did that matter?
'Orders.'
'He did it under orders.'
Sasuke shifted his eyes slightly to the side, looking at Itachi. This time, he did see what he was looking at.
"Who?" he asked, perfectly calm. Itachi looked down at him, expressionless.
"Who?" Itachi echoed his brother's question.
"Who ordered the death of our clan?"
Itachi sighed. "I wish I could lie to you, Sasuke," he said, his face twisting into a distinctly feeling expression. "But that wouldn't accomplish anything."
He remained silent for another moment. Sasuke waited.
"Two men," Itachi finally said.
"Who?"
"One, I already told you about. Madara Uchiha." Itachi pronounced the name as if it were a particularly bitter drink. "The other… well, you don't know him, and hopefully won't for a long time. His name is Danzō Shimura."
Sasuke didn't say anything. He just shifted his eyes away from his brother, staring back up at the sky.
"Sasuke?"
His brother didn't respond.
'Two more to kill,' he was subconsciously deciding.
Then, Itachi said something rather stupid.
"It was the only way to save you."
Sasuke screamed.
Itachi flinched, and his brother kicked his feet from under him, rolling back on top of him.
"SAVE ME?!" Sasuke bellowed, bringing a fist down and smashing Itachi across the face. The elder Uchiha's head snapped to the side, before Sasuke's other fist caught it and rolled it back the other way.
Sasuke didn't stop. Punch after punch, he pummeled his brother into the ground. With every strike, he screamed once more.
"YOU THOUGHT YOU'D SAVED ME?!" It didn't matter that this wasn't real: his Sharingan had activated, spinning so quickly that the tomoe all seemed to form one continuous black circle.
"YOU KILLED THEM ALL! YOU LEFT ME ALONE!" Itachi didn't flinch at the spittle that escaped Sasuke in his rage.
The younger brother paused for a second before striking Itachi in the center of the head, slamming him back into the street with a loud crack.
"Worse than alone!" he continued to yell, but his voice had started to choke. An errant tear escaped one of his eyes, but he didn't try to wipe it away. He was too busy brutalizing his brother, punching out the internalized agony, the uncontrollable fury flooding through him.
"I had nothing! You took all of it!"
He reared back, raising both fists high. "You left me one thing!" He brought his hands down on his brother's face, further flattening it.
"KILLING YOU!"
He kept punching, and with every strike he let another choked sob of a word escape him. Sasuke's knuckles were stinging and broken, caked with blood, some his brother's – most his own.
He didn't care.
"And now-!"
Another hit. Itachi's face was beginning to look like it had gone through a belt-sander.
"I don't even have that!"
Sasuke stopped, raging and crying in the same breath, and let his hands fall to his sides. The knuckles were ruined by his sloppy punches, but whatever they had suffered, Itachi's face had gotten it a hundredfold.
Sasuke stared down at the body under him, and blood dripped steadily from his hands onto the street, joining the coagulating puddle leaking from his brother's cranium.
He stayed like that for an eternal moment, straddling the body of his brother, heaving in pained and unsteady breaths.
A hand on his shoulder pulled him away from the momentary limbo, and back to his feet.
Sasuke turned around and looked Itachi in the eyes again. His arms were too heavy to lift. His feet felt as though they were filled with lead. His heart begged to stop beating.
"I'm sorry," his brother said.
Sasuke gave up.
He slumped forward, his feet surrendering, his whole body going limp. His knees struck the street first, the rest of him falling like a dead weight-
Itachi bent down and caught him, his grip gentle.
'Wrong. Lies.'
"No... no." Sasuke's voice was quiet; it was shaking with every emotion, the air in his lungs shuddering, his entire self on the verge of collapse. "No...!"
"Sasuke..."
Sasuke's head whipped upwards, his expression contorted with unbridled rage. "Don't tell me you're sorry! I..."
'I don't want you sorry, I want you dead.'
His voice gave out on him, despite his fervent struggles. His fingers clawed at Itachi's flesh, the steadfast grip that held his abdomen to keep him from falling.
'Just let me fall, goddamn it! Let go-'
Sasuke felt his body trembling beneath the weight of something, no- everything, it was most certainly everything-
"I don't want... I don't want to hear it!" Sasuke found his throat constricted, every fiber pulled close, a lump forming, and then he was- "You… can't just…"
He was- "Apologize… I won't hear it!"
He was crying. "Who do you think-!"
The younger boy found his raking grasps on Itachi's arm becoming limp. His whole self was emptying, pouring out. His eyes stung (weakness), but he couldn't bring himself to stop them.
Sasuke couldn't do this. Not like this, and not here.
Not with his brother's sincere apology ringing in his ears.
One day, Sasuke would be mad at (hate) him once more.
Not today.
Sasuke had never cried like this – never emptied himself so, not for so long. At first it was simply the salty trails of tears, and then his throat let a trail of air through – the gasp of air becoming a choked, tearful cry.
And then, so suddenly he didn't even realize that he had started, Sasuke was wailing.
Itachi did little more than clutch his little brother close, but the contact was comforting, and Sasuke cried.
And as he did…
The emptiness within him ebbed, becoming an eternally cold anger.
'He killed them all!'
It drained away, leaving him with nothing but a deep, burning sadness.
'He killed them all.'
The grief crystalized, and he was relieved.
But through it all… he hated.
Sasuke always hated. It lay atop everything else, bobbing with the storm, boiling with the rage, freezing with the anguish.
And yet…
Relief that Itachi, his brother, had finally come back (had never even left in the first place) colored the hate. Dulled it.
Relief that even with his family gone, he wasn't alone any more; even after all the bonds he had severed, all the friendships thrown away, all he had sacrificed, his brother was still there – he'd been there all along… that relief paled the hate, and disarmed it.
But hate survived. Hate lingered.
Hate that his brother hadn't revealed this to him sooner. Hate that he was relieved in the first place, that it affected him: hate that even after all he'd done, he still was the same whimpering child.
But the hate finally drowned in the relief, like a struggling, flailing man finally slipping beneath the waves, and Sasuke gave himself over to it.
The Uchiha brothers stayed as they were for a long time; its passage had little meaning in the genjutsu as it was.
Finally, Sasuke pulled back, and Itachi did as well. He wasn't smiling, but his eyes were warm. He looked like he had back before the clan had died.
Sasuke felt himself suppressing something that could tentatively be labeled a smile at the sight. He didn't want to smile. Itachi didn't deserve a smile.
He deserved to be dead.
But Sasuke couldn't kill him now. Couldn't kill him here… and probably couldn't kill him even if he was standing right in front of him.
How could he kill the brother who loved him? Who hadn't used him?
So instead, Sasuke frowned.
"I still don't understand," he said. "There's still so much… it doesn't make sense."
"What do you want to know?" Itachi asked. "No more lies: I won't lie to you again, Sasuke."
Sasuke sat still for a second, gathering his thoughts. Itachi watched patiently.
The younger Uchiha had dozens of question, but he settled for-
"Three questions," Sasuke said. "For now, at least."
Itachi waited.
"Why was the clan's death ordered?" Sasuke asked, without stuttering.
"Our father had planned a coup," Itachi answered without pause. "The Uchiha would decapitate the leadership of Konoha, and take over ourselves."
"Why?" Sasuke struggled to remain in control; to remain calm. He needed to hear this.
Itachi shifted. "Ever since the Kyuubi's attack, the Uchiha's power had decreased steadily. As the years passed, it bled away: the military police lost authority over ANBU in the village, and fewer and fewer Uchiha were sent away on missions."
He sighed. "The leadership of the village had stopped trusting us." At Sasuke's unspoken question, he continued. "Madara Uchiha had the power to control the Nine-Tails. When it attacked the village, suspicion naturally fell upon the Uchiha, particularly since it had been contained in a Jinchūriki beforehand."
"Really? Who?" Sasuke asked. Itachi shrugged: he didn't know the container's identity.
"At any rate, I was the one who reported the coup forming in the first place. But I never believed that things would have escalated as they did." He looked uncomfortable for a moment, before falling back into his normal stoic expression.
"And how did you taking care of the coup 'save me' in the first place?" Sasuke bit out, trying to remain calm. His fists clenched, but he managed to remain in control.
"Danzō approached me, behind the back of the Sandaime. He told me that I had to make a choice: the village, or my clan." Itachi shook his head, as though the motion itself would dispel old memories.
"If I chose the clan, the Uchiha would die – down to the last man, woman and child, and be remembered as traitors for as long as Konoha stood."
"And if you chose the village, I would be spared," Sasuke murmured, and Itachi nodded.
"Did mother and father know?" Sasuke asked, before wincing at the inanity of the question. Itachi didn't react to the movement.
"They didn't," he answered, before hesitating. "But they did approve."
Sasuke looked down. Once more, relief and hatred fought a brief war within him. This one also narrowly ended in relief's victory.
Narrowly.
"Okay," he said quietly. The brothers remained quiet for a second, before Sasuke spoke up again.
"Second question, then," he said, his face growing grim. "Why the lies?"
Itachi sucked in a breath, staring at his brother. Then, the impossible happened.
He averted his eyes. Sasuke's own widened considerably. He'd never dreamed that Itachi would ever do something like that.
"I was selfish," his older brother whispered.
"Selfish?"
Itachi kept talking, not making eye contact with Sasuke the whole time.
"I didn't want you to grow up hating the village that you would be protecting. That… I like to think that was merely practical. But it was more than that."
'Hating the village that demanded the death of my family.'
"Hatred…" Sasuke quietly said, and Itachi swallowed and nodded.
"It was the only way I could think of keeping the honor of the Uchiha intact," he said, his voice soft. "I had to die, and you had to be the one to do it, Sasuke."
Sasuke took a deep breath but didn't say anything, allowing Itachi to continue.
"I… had to make you hate me. Not Konoha. And… the Tsukuyomi was the best way. The most… efficient."
Sasuke chuckled mirthlessly, and Itachi flinched. "Yeah," he said. "It was certainly… efficient."
'Curse me. Hate me. Run… and live.'
"Even that was another lie," Itachi spat, and now there was unmistakable a note of loathing in his voice. "I took every atrocity of that night, imagined or real, and made it a hundred times worse. I don't… when I look back, that was my first mistake."
"Your first?"
Itachi shook his head. "I've made more mistakes than you can imagine, Sasuke. That was merely the first."
"The second Tsukuyomi," Sasuke muttered. Itachi nodded, his lips pursed.
"I don't understand," Sasuke said, and now the coldness in his voice had intensified. "I was already set on killing you. Why did you show me their deaths again? What could you gain?"
Itachi stayed quiet. Sasuke stared at him, his eyes hard.
"I joined the Akatsuki because in the wake of the massacre, I truly did believe that its leader's aspirations were possible," Itachi said. Sasuke watched him, confused and slightly angered at the change in topic, but he didn't interrupt.
"I was… a different man then," Itachi continued. "Colder. Broken, even, though I hesitate to apply such melodramatic labels to myself.
"The ends began to mean more to me than the methods to achieve them. The death of the Jinchūriki, nine individuals, and whatever thousands of others after them, in exchange for peace? A world where I would not have to create more orphans, for the sake of the many?"
Sasuke's gaze grew somewhat murderous, and Itachi spoke faster. He didn't look worried, but he clearly realised that his chance to speak to his brother on open ground was slipping away.
"It seemed a decent trade to me," he finished.
Itachi shook his head again, while Sasuke watched him with empty eyes.
"At any rate, I was certainly… unstable. And while I was aware of it, I was convinced that it wasn't altering my actions; that I was still in control."
'Unstable?'
"I was wrong."
Itachi's voice, flat and pained, brought Sasuke out of his brief regression. The coldness melted away, replaced by confusion.
"When we met in that town, I was… happy. Happy to see you," Itachi said with a twitch of his lips. "But then, when you tried to kill me with that chidori…"
Sasuke winced at the memory, while Itachi just looked at something that wasn't there.
"I was so angry," Itachi said, as if coming to a decision.
"That I'd tried to kill you?" Sasuke asked, alarmed. He couldn't picture Itachi angry. His brother had always been cold, even when he'd been warm.
"No," Itachi shook his head again. "Angry that after planting hate in you, something I was sure would motivate you, angry that after seven years to train to kill me… you would attempt something so pathetic."
Sasuke bristled, but he still didn't attack his brother. He still wanted to hear what he was going to say.
Itachi sighed. "I have always known that your talents are greater than mine, Sasuke." At Sasuke's look of disbelief, he continued. "Mother and father never noticed, because I did my best to hide it from them. I did not want you to lose your innocence at such a young age like I had, so I protected you. But even so, during those few instances when I helped you train, I was astounded at your progress, time and time again. What took me weeks, you would learn in days, with minimal help, and your eyes..."
He sighed again. "The power of the Uchiha has always stemmed from the strength of our emotions. Love, hate, anger, happiness... you felt these things more acutely than any other member of our clan. The day of the massacre, when you unlocked your sharingan at age seven, when even I had only been eight when I had done so… it was simply a vindication at the end of a long line of observations."
"I... on the day of the massacre?"
Itachi tilted his head slightly in confusion before a flash of understanding, then shame flew across his eyes. "You do not remember," he whispered. Sasuke rocked back. His brother sounded horrified.
Itachi looked down. "Another error. You most probably suppressed the memory." He shook his head, the ghost of a chuckle escaping him. "I spent all those years…"
Itachi realized that Sasuke was staring at him, his eyes wide, and he immediately regained his composure.
"It doesn't matter. Either way, I know now that both Tsukuyomi's were a mistake. The first one… well, there is no point in wondering at what the past could have been. But I don't believe that using it on you did any good, Sasuke."
Itachi closed his eyes. "I'd foolishly hoped, even in the wake of our parents death, that you wouldn't grow up too quickly, that you could still have a childhood… and I smashed any chance of that, afraid that you wouldn't redeem our clan through my death."
He opened his eyes. "That day; you announced your presence, you charged at me. With a famed assassination jutsu, yes, but right at that moment I knew I'd failed in a way more fundamental than I could understand. That everything had gone wrong. You weren't strong, and I didn't understand why."
Itachi stood up, and actually began pacing. Sasuke watched him, astonished. His brother was showing more emotion than he'd ever hinted at before.
"I thought maybe the first lesson hadn't taken. That-"
'You don't have enough hate.'
Sasuke remembered the voice, the murderer's breath, and his mouth parted in shock.
"You thought that if you reminded me-"
"That you would devote yourself to my death," Itachi confirmed.
The brothers remained quiet for a moment.
"You were right," Sasuke said.
Itachi whirled on him, his gaze sharp and cold. "I was wrong," he barked. "You left Konoha, left your comrades, and sought out Orochimaru. You partook of poisoned power, instead of developing your own. Everything went wrong after that day."
He quieted down, hanging his head. "And once more, it was all my fault."
Sasuke didn't contradict him.
Itachi eventually spoke, his voice more level. "That day changed me," he admitted. "I decided that if I had been wrong about myself, and you, what else had I been mistaken about?"
He shook his head. "All of my plans needed to be reconsidered. The Akatsuki needed to be reconsidered. My partner needed to be reconsidered. Madara needed to be reconsidered."
Itachi blinked, deliberately and slowly. "I came to the conclusion that I'd been wrong about more things than I'd been right. It was sobering… and necessary. I don't want to think about what would have happened if I hadn't been given a reason to reconsider."
Sasuke remained silent. "It was all a mistake?" he finally muttered.
Itachi gave him a sour smile. "Didn't I tell you, once upon a time, Sasuke, that being a genius was a great burden? My accomplishments may be spectacular… but so are my failures."
He closed his eyes. "And the last ten years have been nothing but a string of them."
"Then… if that day changed you so much…" Sasuke faltered, and morbidly chuckled. "We've reached the third question."
He straightened up. "Itachi, why did you take my eyes?" he asked, tone blunt. Itachi's answer would decide whether their next meeting would be a repeat of their last one.
His brother took a deep breath.
"I had hoped not to...but was the only way to ensure Konoha's survival," Itachi said.
Sasuke's Sharingan spun into existence, and Itachi closed his eyes. The younger brother stood up, stock-still
"Again?" he murmured venomously.
Itachi nodded, not showing any hint of what his brother's reaction had done to him. The Sharingan narrowed..
"Why must the Uchiha make all the sacrifices for that village?" Sasuke demanded. "What has-"
"The Uchiha have made such sacrifices," Itachi interrupted, "because it is we who have put the village in the position of needing sacrifices in the first place."
He had stopped pacing, and now he turned to face Sasuke head on. "It was Madara who unleashed the Nine-Tails on Konoha that day, nearly seventeen years ago. He survived the wrath of Hashirama, and even today, he haunts the village, the unpleasant ghost of an unwelcome past."
Itachi stared at Sasuke, and the younger brother's hateful indignation only grew at the look in his older brother's eyes. Itachi believed he was right, with all he could give.
"My goals haven't changed, Sasuke. I will still protect Konoha to my last breath, and I will redeem the Uchiha. And to do that, Madara must die."
"You think you can just blame Madara for our clan's death?" Sasuke hissed, stepping forward, his hands clenching. "After what you did to our parents? Our family?"
"It was his fault that the Uchiha took the path they did," Itachi calmly stated. Sasuke ground his teeth.
"And it was you who ensured that that path ended in their deaths!" he shouted, and Itachi flinched.
"I had no choice." Itachi voice was quiet. He refused to make eye contact.
Sasuke stepped forward, and seized Itachi by his cloak, dragging him closer. The older Uchiha didn't resist.
"No choice?" Sasuke growled. "No choice? You could have stood by your family! By our father! If the Uchiha really were planning a coup, planning to fight the village for disrespecting them... they might have been right to! And the Leaf killed them for it!"
He shook his brother, but Itachi didn't respond, merely watching him with narrow eyes; Sasuke went on.
"If that's the truth… why should you have any loyalty to that rotten village, huh?! It forced you to kill our parents, not Madara!" Sasuke's eyes went wide, and his lip curled up into a twisted snarl. "Konoha killed my clan. Not you. It was-"
"No," Itachi said, and Sasuke snapped back to his brother, glaring at him, the Sharingan wide and whirling. Itachi spoke, his voice hard. He stared his brother in the eye the entire time.
"Konoha did not kill the Uchiha. Madara set them on the stand. And I was their executioner. You cannot blame the village."
"Why not?!" Sasuke yelled in his brother's face. "If I can't kill you-" Itachi's eyes went wide at that statement, "Who is there to blame?! Who do I-?!"
"No one!" Itachi shouted in his brother's face, and Sasuke fell back, astonished. He'd never heard Itachi so loud.
He hit the ground and scooted back slightly. Itachi loomed over him; he looked almost crazed.
"You cannot blame Konoha! You must not blame the village! Whatever its faults, the Hidden Leaf is this cruel world's best chance at peace!" Itachi yelled, advancing on his brother. Sasuke scrambled backwards.
"Like your friend," Itachi spat. "Naruto Uzumaki! For someone with such powerful eyes, Sasuke, you don't see anything! He is going to change everything. A person like him only comes along once in millennia! And you would throw that all away, just for revenge?!" he spat.
Sasuke shook his head: he'd only heard his brother spit his words like he was one day, long ago, when the clan had confronted him about Shisui's suicide ('Murder', a voice reminded him).
"The idiot?" he spat back. "The dead last? What can a person like him-"
Itachi cut him off with a sweep of his hand. "A boy who has known the worst loneliness someone can suffer and came out the other side smiling? A man who gathers powerful allies around him without even trying? A Jinchūriki who is not a tool, but a person?"
He clenched his fist. "You don't see how momentous he is? I had nearly lost faith in the Leaf before I met him!"
Sasuke surged to his feet and threw a punch at Itachi's face. The older brother caught it, and Sasuke bent in close, trying to push his sibling's defenses out of the way.
"You think Naruto has known loneliness?!" he yelled in Itachi's face. "You, who took my family from me at the whims of men who should be dead?! You don't know what loneliness-"
"Has Uzumaki allowed his loneliness to break him?" Itachi asked. "To sever his ties from his home, his friends?" He shook his head. "No."
"You don't know what you're talking about!" Sasuke screamed. "As soon as I get out of here, he'll be the first to die! He means nothing to-!"
"Fool," the man who had killed the Uchiha down to the last man, woman, and child hissed.
Now, it was Itachi whose voice was poison.
Sasuke froze, suddenly aware of how dangerous his brother was.
"Enough of your self-pity, Sasuke," Itachi said, his voice as hard as granite. "We do not have time for it."
He continued, his voice quiet and deadly. "I realize you feel things more strongly than I. That is the curse of your eyes. But-"
Itachi's own Sharingan finally appeared, and the brother's Uchiha stared at each other with spiraling red eyes.
"You must not let your emotions rule you," he said, taking a deep breath and releasing Sasuke's hand.
The younger Uchiha immediately punched his brother in the face.
Itachi skidded back… but he didn't flinch at the blow. He just stared at his brother with pitiless eyes.
Sasuke snarled, and took a step forward. Itachi didn't budge. He just watched him.
Sasuke stared back, twitching.
"Stop it," he said.
Itachi didn't.
"Stop it!" Sasuke yelled. "Don't just…" He bared his teeth. "Fight me, dammit! Stop just…"
"You have to learn control," Itachi said. He stepped forward, into Sasuke's reach, but his brother didn't strike out.
"Our clan could have chosen a different path. It's true. Madara's influence could have been burned away." Itachi's nostrils flared. "But all the Uchiha have ever done is react. There was no growth, no development! There was no moving past old grudges: they only built new ones! And eventually, they collapsed under the weight of all that pettiness!"
"How can you talk like that?!" Sasuke roared.
"Because it is the truth," Itachi said.
"Bullshit!"
"No!" Itachi yelled. "Do you think I would have killed our family if it had been any other way, Sasuke?! It came down to them: the old, the bitter, and the blind... and you. You, who had the potential to become the greatest of the Uchiha! Who hadn't been poisoned by their stubbornness!"
Sasuke backed away, gaping, and Itachi stepped forward, animated. "It was the only choice!" he yelled. "You have to see. I need you to see!"
"Why?!" Sasuke yelled back. "So I can just be another tool?! So you can kill Madara?!"
"No." Itachi's hand clapped down on Sasuke's shoulder, and he stiffened. He hadn't seen his brother move. "Not as a tool."
The Sharingan flashed. "As my brother. As the only one who can help me right the wrongs that man has done his own clan!"
"Then why take my eyes?!" Sasuke yelled, knocking Itachi's hand away. His hands, ruined as they were, still managed to curve into fists.
"It was the only way!" Itachi said again. "Everything I've done has led to this point, Sasuke! I'm sorry for that, but it was the only way! When you came into the compound that day, I hoped that I'd be able to make you understand! But the hatred I selfishly placed in you... it made that impossible! And so, it became clear: either you would kill me and take my eyes, or I would spare you again and take yours!"
"So what?" Sasuke snarled.
Itachi paused. "Do you remember what I told you about the Eternal Mangekyō?"
'When his sight was taken from him, he desperately sought the light, and in his madness, stole his younger brother's eyes.'
Sasuke's face said everything that Itachi needed to know.
"Madara stole his brother's eyes," his older brother reflected. "The Mangekyō… I believe it is a poison. It grants power, true… but that power is corrupt. Ever since I acquired it, my own mind has been suspect. What I did to you only served as more proof to me."
Sasuke glared, but didn't interrupt as Itachi continued.
"I have been planning this since we last met, Sasuke. My last betrayal of you. But it was the best way."
"What you do mean?" Sasuke hands began to unclench.
"After I took your eyes… I took my own as well."
Sasuke blinked, his rage melting away. His mouth opened, but nothing came out.
After a moment, he managed a quiet "What?"
"The Uchiha have maintained a legacy of hate and sacrifice since time immemorial. That has always been our way." Itachi sighed, his shoulders losing the rigidity that had always been there. "And I am tired of it."
"Itachi… I don't…" Sasuke said, staring at his brother.
"I removed my own eyes, and gave them to the retrieval team from Konoha: to your old teammate, Sakura."
Itachi's eyes were hard, but his voice wasn't. "Even now, I am… negotiating… with the village leaders. My eyes shall become yours. Your eyes shall become mine. The Eternal Mangekyō, shared, not stolen."
Itachi smiled. "And together, we will kill Madara, and ensure the Uchiha name does not expire in infamy."
Sasuke stared at his brother, his mind awhirl and his mouth slightly open. Itachi looked up at the not-sky.
"My time's almost up," he remarked. "The clone has run out of chakra. I won't be able to keep this genjutsu going much longer."
He looked back down at his brother. "Sasuke," he said. "Please… it doesn't matter if you forgive me or not. But don't let your pain, the hatred I caused to grow in you, to blind you from what must be done. Madara has to die if the world is to have a chance at peace."
Sasuke closed his mouth. His eyes narrowed. "I don't forgive you, Itachi," he said. "There must have been another way. Just because-"
Sasuke's voice died as Itachi stepped forward and grabbed the back of his head, pulling him close. Their foreheads bumped into each other, but neither brother seemed to notice.
"Sasuke."
Warmth.
"That doesn't matter."
Family.
"Forgiveness is beyond me. If you must have your revenge… have it on me, its architect. Don't misplace your hate."
Itachi closed his eyes.
A pause.
He shook his head
"Please. Make the right decision," he asked.
"I leave it to you. Just know: no matter what you do…"
Acceptance.
"I will always love you."
Itachi vanished.
The street vanished.
The sky vanished.
The light vanished.
And once more, the dark surrounded Sasuke.
The dark that robbed him of his senses. That penetrated him, bound him to it, and whispered to him of death and hatred and futile revenge. The darkness that followed him for the last ten years, lurking around the corners, beneath his feet, in the steel of his shuriken and kunai and in the shadow cast by his fire and lightning.
But this time, he wasn't alone.
'I will always love you.'
This time, even if he was a hypocritical bastard, his brother was at his side.
Sasuke closed his eyes.
"You can't believe that will work," Tsunade muttered.
Itachi shrugged. "It must," he said. "Madara is the Uchiha's problem. For the crimes he has perpetrated against the village, even more so. "
He stared at the Hokage, his expression unusually solemn, even for Itachi Uchiha. "Forgive the presumption, Hokage-sama, but I am a killer. I have always been a killer, and I will always be a killer. And unfortunately, I believe I have made my brother one as well."
He smiled. "It is the least we can do, then, to kill the right people."
Danzō cut in. He had remained quiet throughout Itachi's explanation, but he could no longer contain himself.
"Tsunade," he bit out. "I strongly recommend against this. Increasing the power of that boy will not end well for the village. Even if Itachi believes he can set him against the Akatsuki-"
"It is not a matter of 'belief'," Itachi interrupted; Danzō glared. "Sasuke will make the right decision: I trust him."
"He will make the right decision because the man who slaughtered his family 'trusts him'?" Danzō shot back, his tone dry enough to evaporate a small lake. "You truly have fallen, Itachi, if you maintain such fantasies."
The Uchiha did not counter Danzō's attack, merely sightlessly watching the Hokage. Even without eyes, the microscopic fluctuations of his jaw told Tsunade all she needed to know.
It was up to her. She never thought she'd see the day where someone like Itachi Uchiha would turn to her for a verdict.
The Hokage sighed. She hadn't agreed to the position under the delusion that she wouldn't have to make controversial decisions…
But this one could very well determine the future course of the Village Hidden in the Leaves.
If Itachi was telling the truth (and Tsunade, however incredulous she wanted to be, believed that he was), then Konoha would gain two powerful allies, even if only one of them could operate openly as a shinobi of the village. The Mangekyō Sharingan was powerful, plain and simple, and having two sets of them would be an undeniable boon to the village.
But if he was lying, or manipulating the situation towards his own ends (something that Danzō, of all people, had convinced her was unlikely), then there would be three mad Uchiha running around the Elemental Nations, all with the Mangekyō's considerable power, and it would be directly her fault.
And yet, it somehow all came back to someone that wasn't even here, hadn't even been discussed.
Naruto.
Tsunade knew, in her gut, that he would be the one to determine if this turned into a fiasco or not.
Naruto was Sasuke's friend, even if the Uchiha had tried to kill him last time they'd met. And Naruto would do anything for his friends.
Not to mention, the blonde was annoyingly persuasive. She could probably sort everything out by just shoving the two of them in a room together for a couple days. By the time Sasuke came out, he'd probably be hugging everything in sight and declaring that he would be the next Hokage.
Or it would be a bloodbath the likes of which Konoha had never seen.
Tsunade stifled a chuckle, and Homura cocked an eyebrow at her. She coughed and settled in a thinking pose, her hands clasped in front of her.
Naruto was leaving, though, and soon. Jiraiya had told her that he was ready for Sage training, and she was inclined to agree (though she found the idea of a Jinchūriki Sage to be frankly terrifying).
She had no idea how long it would take, and delaying his departure would be unthinkable. He needed to be ready as soon as possible, in the case the Akatsuki made another attempt on him.
She pinched her nose, and made her decision.
Even if Itachi's plan didn't work, or was crazy, or went wrong in a thousand horrifying ways… she trusted Naruto. And if anyone could make sure Sasuke stayed in Konoha, it was him.
She would just have to make sure the Uchiha didn't do anything stupid before Naruto got back.
"I'll do the procedure myself," she decided.
"Tsunade…" Koharu muttered, but she didn't say anything more.
Itachi nodded his head respectfully. "Thank you, Hokage-sama. I promise, you will not regret this decision."
"I sincerely hope not," Tsunade said. She clenched one fist. "Itachi. I've placed a lot of trust in you. More trust than you probably deserve."
She pursed her lips. "When will you be ready to take orders?"
The Uchiha stiffened. His spine, if it were possible, became even straighter. "At anytime, Hokage-sama."
"Good," Tsunade nodded. "I assume you're keeping an eye on Sasuke?"
Itachi nodded. Tsunade idly wondered how long it would take her to figure out how Itachi would be keeping an eye on his brother.
"In that case, lay low. If the surgery is successful, and Sasuke regains his sight -you said about two weeks?- then return here. We'll develop a plan to hunt down Madara then."
"He may take action during that time," Itachi warned.
"And could you do anything about it?" Tsunade shot back. "No. You said that Pain would probably take some time to replace his losses. And Jiraiya assures us that he managed to destroy, or at least render ineffective, one of Madara's eyes."
Itachi's eyebrows shot up. He hadn't known that. But the small tic was the only sign of his surprise.
She sat back, one hand coming up. "We have a period of grace. Use it: when you come back into service, however covert it will be, I want you at full strength."
Itachi was still for a second. Finally, he closed his sockets and inclined his head.
And then he vanished, not even a puff of smoke indicating his disappearance. The explosive tags that had been affixed to his chest fluttered to the floor, inert.
"This is a dangerous road you've set us on, Tsunade," Homura muttered.
Tsunade turned to him in mild surprise: he was usually the more reserved member of the council. "This could go wrong for the village in too many ways to count. It would be safer just to neutralize them both right now," he continued, his brow furrowed.
"Maybe," Tsunade said. "But I'm curious."
"Curious?" Danzō shifted slightly, readjusting his cane. His hand was still in an iron grip on it.
"Oh come on," Tsunade smiled. "Don't you want to see how this turns out? It's not every day something so… dramatic happens. This could shift the entire power-balance of the hidden villages. And behead the Akatsuki."
Koharu frowned. "You of all people shouldn't be gambling on such an optimistic outcome. These are the Uchiha. They are dangerous."
Tsunade shrugged. "Maybe."
"You didn't tell him about Jiraiya's suspicion, though," Homura noted.
Tsunade smiled. "There was no need. Whether this man actually is Madara Uchiha or not won't matter to Itachi, or to Sasuke. He has still done exactly what they believe he has done, regardless of his identity."
She stood up, and the councilors did as well.
"Now," she said, "I'm going to go visit my new patient: check his condition. I doubt that we were the only ones Itachi visited. And-"
She turned slightly, and her countenance shifted to something just shy of fearsome. Her brow crumpled, and her nose flared slightly.
"Danzō. We'll be having a talk."
The bandaged man gave nothing away, merely slowly closed his one visible eye.
"Very well."
"Well, this is… disappointing."
Kabuto lowered his head slightly, but didn't bother to do much more. His master knew him well enough to recognize the thin line between disobedience and dangerous casualness that the bespectacled man constantly tread, and right now he was on the correct side of that divider.
"My apologies, Orochimaru-sama. I was… unprepared. Your gifts are still influencing me unduly."
There was a rasping chuckle. "That does not surprise me. In fact, I must commend you, Kabuto. You have handled yourself well, considering what a drastic change you have undergone."
Orochimaru sat back in his bed, holding his chin thoughtfully. "Unfortunately, that doesn't change anything. Both of the Uchiha are out of reach now: and this homunculus will only last so long."
Kabuto shifted slightly. Orochimaru's head snapped towards him, like a striking snake. "Yes?"
"They may be out of reach for now, yes…" the former spy said.
"You have a suggestion?" Orochimaru hissed, amused. He had always enjoyed these verbal games with Kabuto.
"Well, I have made… improvements… to that jutsu while you were away, Orochimaru-sama" Kabuto said. "I had intended to use it as a bargaining chip with the Akatsuki. But I believe it would be better served to deploy it now."
Orochimaru leaned forward. "Yes…" he whispered. The Sannin smiled, and the temperature of the room dropped by several degrees. "You never disappoint, Kabuto. Begin making the necessary preparations."
He leaned back again, his smile only growing wider. "I leave what you collect to your discretion. But please," his tongue lashed out momentarily, "pay some mind to our targets, yes? I wouldn't want Sasuke to be… disappointed."
Kabuto turned, and the overhead lighting glinted off his glasses, hiding his reptilian eyes. His lips drew back, revealing what could only be called fangs.
"Don't worry, master," he said, striding away from Orochimaru's bed.
"I have been giving this quite a lot of thought. Trust me…"
He turned back, allowing Orochimaru to catch a glimpse of his rather manic grin.
"No one will be disappointed."
AN: Well.
That was fun.
I fully expect this chapter to be kinda controversial. Controversy is really the only thing that could result from trying to handle Itachi and Sasuke's relationship (when they're both alive, at least).
But that's good. Controversy is good. So is feedback, for that matter: after all, the Brothers Uchiha, and their interactions, are rather important to the story.
(so, you know... that would be appreciated)
The conversation between the brothers was written with the incredible help of AlmostElectric (and my unsurpassed beta Ekusukallybaa, but he kinda helps me with everything, so...). Without her, it wouldn't be half as coherent as it is.
With this chapter, the "Consequences" arc (as I've begun to refer to it in my head) is coming to an end. Next chapter will be covering a two week timeskip (why it's two weeks, I'm sure you can figure out). After that...
Things are going to pick up a little. It's going to be fun.
Lots of fun.
Fun Fact: Yes, I have now pulled the "villains vaguely foreshadow future dastardly deeds at the end of the chapter" twice. Hopefully, you didn't notice till I pointed it out to you.
Story rec for today: The Spring of the Plague, by Zenthisoror. Seriously. Just... read it. I'd place it with the top 20 fics on this site.
Ever. That's how good it is.
Fair warning, though. It can be fairly depressing at points. But the ending more than makes up for any angst you may experience while reading it.
So... DO IT.
Okay. I think that's everything. Remember: follow if you liked it, favorite if you want others to like it, and leave a review if you are enraged with me, infatuated with me, or experiencing any other outpouring of emotions. I'll be sure to tell you how goddamn shiny you are if you do.
Serendipity, out.