Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or anything associated with it. All rights to Naruto belong to Masashi Kishimoto and the other proper entities.
Summary: Sakura had been by his side since he lost his family, following him around since they were seven years old, trying to ease his loneliness in whatever way she could. He didn't even know why he allowed it. He just silently allowed her to claim the seat next to him at the beginning of every term.
Rating: M
Genre: Friendship/Romance
Pairings: SasuSaku / eventual light NaruHina
Rays of Spring Sunshine
Chapter Seventeen
The Naka Shrine was deep in the heart of the abandoned Uchiha compound.
Sasuke walked through the long-abandoned streets of his childhood neighbourhood, doing his best not to pay too close attention to the memories of the night of the attack fighting to surface. He'd spent this long mentally blotting out the faces of the dead in his mind. He did it every time he visited the shrine on New Year.
But this visit was different.
He should have come before this, right after getting back from Wave country, but the chūnin exams had taken all of his attention. He hadn't been back since New Year, and hadn't visited the part of the shrine he was going to since he was seven years old.
Itachi had told him of it, the night he murdered the clan.
The place was filled with dust and cobwebs, the old priests and shrine maidens of the Uchiha long buried in the graveyard on the other side of the village. Only shadows and spiders lived there anymore, creeping along mouldering tatami and old, splintered wood.
He slid the seventh tatami on the far right out of place, just enough to open the small staircase that lead to the old Uchiha meeting place. Clutching his oil lamp, he followed it silently into the depths.
He didn't need to be careful not to be seen; he was the only living soul in the village who knew the place existed.
The stone tablet that told the history of the Uchiha was still there, exactly where he'd left it the last time he'd visited. At seven years old, he hadn't known he'd had the sharingan yet. He grit his teeth as he dusted off the old braziers. So much wasted time. He lit them, wary of stray cobwebs; flickering light flooded the room.
He could almost feel the heavy weight of the resentment of his clan in this place; their fury at having their lives cut short. Sasuke shut his eyes for a moment, taking a deep breath of stagnant air.
When he opened them, his irises bled red.
He couldn't decipher the whole tablet—the logical conclusion was that he'd need the mangekyō sharingan to read the rest. That was fine. If nothing else, it confirmed that what Itachi had told him that night was true.
The true power of the Uchiha eye comes when they whom the wielder holds most dear is cast from this world.
Translation: When the sharingan user kills the one they love most.
Sasuke grit his teeth and stubbornly banished the flash of pink from his mind.
Unthinkable.
If that power came at such a cost, then Sasuke would find a way to kill Itachi without it.
Itachi had killed Shisui; Sasuke would not follow in his footsteps.
But even still, he was far below an acceptable level right now. With Kakashi busy with post-invasion missions—rooting out rogue Oto- and Suna-nin in the Hashirama Forest, diplomatic escort missions, and safeguarding the security of the village—the team hadn't had a group training session since before the exams. Two weeks on, and Sasuke had spent all of that time training alone, between pointless missions that equated to little more than errands.
When push came to shove, he'd been unable to make a difference. He hadn't been able to assist Naruto, and he hadn't been able to save Sakura.
He clenched his fists, red eyes boring into the carved stone. He remembered the way Sakura had looked at Naruto when Sasuke had told her that the other boy was the one to save her. It was the way she used to look at him, before they started taking missions; impressed. Admiring, even.
It'd been a long time since Sasuke had felt the burn of jealousy. The last time, he'd been seven, watching his brother and father speak from a distance. Itachi had taken all of Fugaku's attention, and Sasuke had been nothing more than a spare.
It looked like that was starting to happen again. He'd noticed, more and more, that Sakura was paying more attention to Naruto. At first it was fine; it made her more mature and sensitive with her words. It drew he and Naruto together. And now, Naruto was getting stronger; strong enough to make Sakura look at him with awe while Sasuke was standing right beside her, having failed.
He hadn't been able to save Sakura.
He hadn't been able to save his clan.
He hadn't even been able to save himself. He'd had to be saved.
Twice.
Sakura had needed to save him. And then Naruto had needed to save them both.
He'd sworn he'd never need rescuing again.
He extinguished the braziers and spun on his heel, using the sharingan to see in the dark as he stalked back to the shrine. He moved the tatami back to cover the opening, and stepped out into the light of day, red eyes fading into dark gray. A deep breath of the fresh breeze dispelled the last of the musty air from his lungs, and he turned back toward the village.
Kakashi had blown him off that morning, even though he was the one who had sent the summons. "Something came up. Sorry." Had been all Sasuke had gotten, before his teacher had flickered away. But it had been several hours; perhaps whatever it was was over now.
He set his feet on the path to Kakashi's place. He would see if he was free to train.
Sasuke heard muffled voices coming from Kakashi's bedroom when he let himself into the unlocked apartment. They cut off abruptly when he drew near, well before he could make out any words.
Figuring that the cessation of talk meant that the occupants of the room meant that they knew that he was there, he opened the door. "Kakashi?"
The first thing his eyes zeroed in one was Kakashi, in bed—he looked like he was unwell, or in pain. A far cry from the way he looked that morning.
The second thing he noticed was his teacher's company. Gai, Kurenai, and Asuma were all crammed into the tiny room. Why would they be there if Kakashi was asleep?
"Why is Kakashi sleeping?" He demanded, dread beginning to writhe in his stomach. Not again. Not another comrade's injury he was able to prevent. He stepped into the room, eyes on his sensei. "Why are there a bunch of jōnin gathered? What are you all doing here?" He turned to Gai, who was the one that, as far as Sasuke knew, knew Kakashi best. "What happened?" He demanded.
Gai refused to meet his eye, making the hackles on the back of Sasuke's neck rise. "Nothing… in particular…"
That was a fucking lie. Sasuke knew that even before he heard the stranger burst into the room behind him with the words "Is it true that Uchiha Itachi has returned?! And that he's after Naruto?!"
Sasuke's world came to a screaming halt.
He raced across the village, mind moving just as fast.
Why the fuck was Itachi after Naruto? What did he want? Why was he back?!
Naruto's apartment building was easy to scale. He remembered his door from his visit with Mebuki; he grabbed the knob, fully intending to break it down if it was locked.
It wasn't though, and Sakura nearly fell into him when he ripped it open. "Sasuke-kun?"
"Where's Naruto?" He demanded without preamble.
"I don't know." She stared at him with wide eyes. He barely took her in. "I only just got here, but he's not home—"
Sasuke didn't even wait for her to finish speaking. He was gone again in an instant, ignoring her calling out for him. He had to find Naruto. Had to.
Ichiraku was his next stop, but Teuchi didn't know where he was either. "He was here earlier though. He and Jiraya-sama had some ramen together and said they were going on a trip."
Sasuke's impatience made him snap. "Where?"
Teuchi frowned a little. "A post town, I think? A little ways from the village. Naruto left with Jiraya-sama."
The name rang a bell. "Jiraya?"
"One of the three legendary sannin!" Teuchi held up three fingers. "If you're looking for him, he's an old man with big, white hair."
"Big, white hair—got it!" And Sasuke was sprinting down the street again.
There was only one post down within a reasonable distance of the village—Sasuke was technically supposed to get permission to leave the bounds of Konoha, but he ignored protocol and sped toward the village gates. If Itachi got to Naruto, he was dead.
The plan had, initially, been to find Naruto and warn him. Sasuke dashed from door to door, searching for his friend and his travelling companion. After a false lead, Sasuke finally found Naruto.
He was too late.
Itachi knew he was there before he even opened his mouth—because of course he did. The man was elite at thirteen. Five years away had not dulled his blade.
"Long time, no see… Sasuke."
His world bled as red as his eyes, fury making Sasuke's lip curl as his brother's name slipped from his lips in a low growl. "Uchiha… Itachi."
Not 'Nii-san'. Never again.
The whole run over, Sasuke had been unable to stop the images of the lifeless bodies of his mother and father, his aunts and uncles and cousins from flashing through his mind. That was the kind of trail that Itachi left. If Sasuke didn't find him first, Naruto would be added to the pile of bodies.
But Naruto was alive, for now. Sasuke was too overcome by black fury to even be relieved.
Itachi's companion turned to look at him. Sasuke's eyes never moved from his target. "The sharingan, huh? He looks quite a lot like you, Itachi. Who is he?"
Itachi's voice held no emotion. "My younger brother."
"But I heard," the stranger's voice sounded almost gleeful, "that the entire Uchiha clan had been killed… by you."
The plan had been to find Naruto and warn him before Itachi even arrived. To make sure he never left the sannin's side, and take him back to Konoha where there were hundreds of other shinobi around to deter Itachi from acting in broad daylight.
Now that his brother was in front of him, all reason disappeared.
Sasuke's rage darkened his tone. "Uchiha Itachi… I will kill you!"
Except he couldn't.
He was still too weak.
It was early evening when Sakura got a phone call from her mother at work, telling her that Sasuke was just brought in to the hospital.
She'd hurried in, demanding to know his bed number from the nurse in the shinobi trauma ward. She'd had a bad feeling ever since she'd run into him at Naruto's apartment that afternoon; he'd been wide-eyed and frantic in a way she hadn't seen since their run-in with Orochimaru in the chūnin exams.
She sped down the hallway and threw open the door to the room Sasuke was in. Gai, the medic, and the ANBU in the room all turned to look at her. The ANBU shinobi already had a kunai in hand.
Gai grabbed his wrist before he could launch it at her. Sakura flinched back. "There's no need, my good man. She's his teammate."
"Sorry." The man in the mask shoved the kunai back into his weapons pouch. "Can't be too careful, with Uchiha Itachi prowling about. The boy's lucky Jiraya-sama and Gai-san chased him off before he could do any more damage."
"Uchiha… Itachi?" Sakura uttered the foreign name with dread coiling in her gut. "Who's that?" The ANBU and Gai looked at each other—Sakura couldn't see the masked man's expression, but Gai's was grim.
"That will be all for now, Gai-san." The ANBU bowed formally. "Please submit your report to Hokage Tower by the end of the night."
"Of course." Gai bowed in response. "You'll have it by midnight."
Sakura chewed on her lip, standing aside as the ANBU operative left the room. She stared up at Gai, who was looking at Sasuke with uncharacteristic solemnity. A trickle of fear slid down her spine. "Gai-sensei? Who is Uchiha Itachi?"
"Uchiha Itachi," Gai said very slowly, "is his elder brother."
Sakura groped blindly for the visitors' chair before sinking into it. She felt faint. "I… never knew he had a brother." She whispered. The way she'd heard it, his entire family was dead. All this time, Sasuke had had family out there, somewhere? Given the way he reacted when the subject of his family had come up in the past, there were some very dark ideas beginning to form in Sakura's mind.
Sasuke was referred to as the only survivor of the Uchiha. And yet…
I'm going to hunt down the man who killed my clan. I will kill him and avenge them. His words from before the preliminary matches echoed in her mind. Her heart shrank.
"I'm not surprised." Gai pursed his lips. "He's a wanted man. I should not tell you anything more than that."
"What happened to him?" She reached over and took his hand. His skin was warm under her fingers, but he remained stubbornly unconscious. His fingers didn't so much as twitch. "What did he do to him?"
"He has several broken ribs." The medic-nin spoke up, scribbling something on a clipboard. "And a broken wrist. There were some internal injuries, but we've managed to fix those up with concentrated healing. We'll treat the rest over several sessions, so we don't overwhelm his system. Physically, he'll make a full recovery."
Physically. Sakura was smart enough to hear the unspoken. "And mentally?"
This time, Gai and the medic looked at each other. The medic sighed. "He was subjected to a very powerful genjutsu. I'm afraid the only way we'll know his mental state is to wait for him to wake from his coma."
Sakura clutched Sasuke's hand like a lifeline. "And when will that be?"
"We don't know."
Sakura swallowed the lump forming in her throat. She wanted to cry. "He was looking for Naruto in a hurry, earlier." She said to Gai, eyes trained on Sasuke's face. "Is Naruto okay?"
Gai nodded with a grin. "Naruto is well. He and Jiraya-sama are searching for the legendary Tsunade-sama as we speak! She will be able to do more." He announced with some gusto, closer to his usual self. Sakura nodded. After the Forest of Death, she'd done some research into Orochimaru—Tsunade was the third of the sannin, Orochimaru and Jiraya's old teammate. She was reputedly the best medic in shinobi history.
The medic excused himself and left.
Gai's grin faded. "There is something else you must know." Sakura looked back up at him, tearing her gaze away from her friend. "Kakashi has also been assaulted by the same individual." Sakura's mouth opened to speak. "Physically, he is fine; he suffered no injuries. But he was also subjected this genjutsu. He has been relocated to this hospital as well."
"…by the same person?" Sakura's voice was low. If this Uchiha Itachi was able to take out Kakashi…
Gai nodded.
Sakura gulped, and tightened her grip on Sasuke's hand.
I am on a roll!
We're getting very close to the true divergent point; Chapter 20 will be where the plot veers away from canon almost entirely.