Chapter Seventeen: Cast Away

As the days passed, the Uchiha clan grew restless again. After their initial outrage over the missing children, the clan's respect towards his father was only enough to temporarily tamper down their anger. After the childrens' bodies were uncovered, the clan was so wrapped up in their grief that they momentarily forgot their rage. But now that enough time had passed, their rage began to simmer again. Continued frustration towards the lack of news of the culprit continued to fuel that anger to the point where the lid was about to explode at the last council meeting.

Luckily, his father was once again able to calm down the masses, to buy the Hokage some more time. Yet, Itachi was no fool. Time wasn't going to change anything. Both his father and Itachi knew that the Hokage had long stopped actively searching for any clues about the missing Uchiha children after putting on an initial show to placate the Uchiha clan. As far as the Hokage's council was concerned, searching was a waste of time and shinobi resources. The only one who didn't seem to agree was Minato, but as the youngest member of the council, his words were practically nothing to the elders.

Everyone kept their mouths shut. The Hokage continued to expertly ward off the occasional inquiry about the progress of the case. As far as everyone was concerned, this was the status quo. No more Uchiha children missing, then no more conflict. Both of the full-blooded Uchiha kids that were taken had turned up dead. Any remaining survivors were either orphans or half-blooded Uchiha members.

In other words, not important enough for the clan to care about.

And that rationale was how his father was able to placate the angry masses at the last council meeting. Much to Itachi's disappointment, the majority agreed. The minority who didn't agree remained disappointingly silent.

Despite the fact that there were eight more Uchiha children who were unaccounted for, both the village and the clan were willing to close the case. Willing to sacrifice the children for the sake of maintaining the status quo. Willing to go to sleep with the thought that the children were still out there somewhere, still clinging onto the last dredges of hope that their village was still looking for them, when the cruel reality was that they had given up on them.

That cruel notion made bile rise in his throat. Itachi swallowed it back down, the acidic sting reminding him of his resolve to find the hidden hideout, to find evidence to incriminate Orochimaru and Danzo.

Yet with his slow, almost nonexistent progress, Itachi became increasingly more frustrated by his lack of progress.

So what if they were able to find Orochimaru's motive? Knowing that he was creating the Rinnegan wasn't helping him save the children.

The only other clue Inu left behind led them to one of Orochimaru's long abandoned hideouts, which didn't harbor a single clue of where his new hideout might be. Shisui spent almost all of his downtime snooping around Hinan, hoping to find a trace of where the missing Senju descendants might have been taken to.

He found nothing. Tracing back the steps of his sister, and the other Uchiha orphans also yielded no useful information. Izumi's trace was the one with the highest possibility of leaving behind a useful clue, yet the only DNA left at the scene was Izumi's. Not a single trace of the perpetrator. No DNA. No identifying jutsu marks. Absolutely nothing.

Their only useful lead was Itachi's connection to Danzo, but the old man wasn't a war veteran by being careless. His vigilance made it difficult for Itachi to find anything of substance, so for him, joining the Root Anbu was the equivalent of selling his soul for nothing in exchange.

Itachi was frustrated, but he wasn't a quitter. If Izumi hadn't given up, presumably as her body hadn't turned up yet, then there was no way Itachi was giving up first.

"Are you sure that Inu isn't withholding any information from us?"

Shisui shrugged. "Even if he is, what can we do about it? After I told him that we confirmed that Orochimaru is trying to unlock the Rinnegan, he told us whatever we did, we needed to stop it from happening. At the very least, his goals currently align with ours.

"Besides, think about it. Almost everything we currently know is from Inu. If not for him, the bodies would still probably be rotting in the Forest of Death."

"And that right there is the problem," Itachi said. "We made almost no progress of our own. Every day that passes, the likelihood of finding any survivors becomes lower. Once all of Orochimaru's test subjects are dead, he would surely start searching for his next victim. And if the pattern persists then…"

"Then it's likely that the next victim would be someone from the main family because their bloodline is stronger."

"If that happens…what would become of the Uchiha clan?"

The answer didn't need to be said out loud. In their hearts, both of them knew that for as long as they lived, they wouldn't allow the Uchiha clan to spiral to that state.

No matter what it took.

Eleven Years Ago - Kakashi's Captivity

"We've successfully destroyed the Kannabi Bridge to cut their supply line to their eastern battlefield," Minato reported. "Another team has already been assembled to head out at sunset to attack the mini camps scattered along the northern front upon receiving your approval." As Minato spoke, Shikaku stood at the front of the room, staring intently at the map plastered against a corkboard. From the looks of it, all of the pieces were falling into place. Konoha only needed to take down a few more essential Iwa's basecamps to effectively isolate their forces from each other. And then, all Konoha needed to do was end it.

Everything was playing out in Konoha's favor, except there was only one caveat.

"Is this information reliable?" Shikaku's question was greeted with silence. Subtle eye contact between the Third Hokage and Danzo didn't go unnoticed. Minato's fingers fiddled with the corner of his sleeve. The two Konoha elders sat utterly still, with their arms folded across their chest. The Hokage's aide sat in the corner, furiously scribbling down the meeting notes to be filed away for later.

It was Hiruzen who finally broke the silence. "Of course it is."

Shikaku raised an eyebrow, expecting an explanation. Shikaku wasn't one to let ego get to his head, but he knew damn well that his strategies were top notch. Although it wouldn't win them all of the battles, his success rate was pretty high.

Yet all of that hinged on reliable intel.

"What I'm about to say should stay in this room," Hiruzen began, the words that Shikaku always dreaded to hear. That never meant anything good. That always meant Shikaku would inevitably become burdened with some top secret village information that he was better off not knowing. It was too late for him to leave the room though.

"Three years ago, we planted a spy in Iwa. He was the one who acquired the intel for us."

"How?" Minato asked, a twinge of awe present in his voice. "We've sent so many men over the years but none of them succeeded."

Hiruzen's lips were pressed in a thin line, like he was deep in thought to craft a response to brush off Minato's inquiry without divulging any important information. Except, Danzo had no qualms about giving him, and the rest of the room a straight answer.

"That's because he's only a boy. A talented orphan boy. Iwa would have been foolish to pass up such talent when they already lack manpower."

"A child?" An incredulous expression was written all over Minato's face. "How could you send a child to go undercover in their territory? Don't you know how risky that is? Not to mention, he's only a child so he wouldn't be as well-equipped to handle any unexpected circumstances–"

Danzo rapped the end of his cane against the floor three times, interrupting Minato's tirade. "That's enough. The child was the one who insisted on going. The Hatake boy, do you remember him? Said he wanted to atone for his father's mistakes. Who were we to stop him?"

Minato shook his head. "What mistake? If I had been in the same position as Sakumo, I would have made the same decision–"

Hiruzen put his hand up. "That's enough Minato." Out of respect towards his leader, Minato reluctantly sat back down in his seat. "What has been done is done. There's no point in arguing about the past. However, I do believe it's time to summon him back from Iwa. His mission is complete."

"I'm afraid that's not possible." Danzo.

"Why not?" Hiruzen.

"The boy has already been captured."

His hands trembled slightly as Kakashi flipped to the final page of the meeting notes. A crackling noise sounded in the process of doing so, but Kakashi wasn't concerned about keeping quiet. No one would find him here. And even if they did, how were they to convict a dead man of any crime?

Shikaku: Captured? Still alive then?

Danzo: As far as I know, yes. At this point, it's likely that Iwa is torturing him for information. He won't talk though. I made sure of it.

Shikaku: What do you mean?

Danzo: That's not important. What's important is that we have to decide what we're going to do about him.

Minato: What do you mean? Of course we're going to go save him.

Silence.

Minato: …Are you suggesting we abandon a comrade?

Danzo: It's easier to kill a man to keep him quiet than to sneak him out of enemy territory. I have another connection there. He could easily get the job done.

Minato: Kill our own comrade? That's ridiculous!

Danzo: Then what do you suggest? Send a squad to rescue him, only for more people to die at the possibility of saving one person? Or continue to leave him alive to suffer at the hands of the enemy? The kindest option would be to end his misery.

Minato: And if the rescue squad is able to get him out without anyone dying?

Danzo: And if the rescue squad dies in the process of saving him? Even if you were the one to lead the mission, you can't guarantee that there won't be any casualties. Even the possibility of one death is enough for this mission to not be worth it.

Minato: But we can't just leave him to die. Without his intel, the war would be far from over. And all we're going to do is reward him with death?

Danzo: Gathering and relaying intel is part of his duty as a shinobi. When he accepted the mission, he was aware of the risks. If he were to get caught, then he should expect to die.

Hiruzen: Danzo is right, Minato. Kakashi knew of the risks before he was sent on that mission. I tried to advise him to not take the mission, but the kid was adamant. There was nothing I could do. And I'm afraid this is out of our hands. I'm sorry, Minato.

A mirthless chuckle escaped from his lips. It was one thing to have the idea of Danzo selling him out planted into his mind while he underwent the darkest days of his life. It was another thing to have Tenzo personally confirm that his former leader did sell him out.

And it was a whole other fucking thing to know that he had been abandoned. Not only by his father, but by the same village he risked his life for. While the village was celebrating their newfound peace acquired with the help of his intel, Kakashi was rotting in Iwa's underground cell. Suffering from the agonizing physical pain. Screaming in anguish as he barely held onto the last threads of his sanity.

His father didn't want him.

His village didn't want him either.

Perhaps Kakashi had just been too delusional in thinking that the rest of the village hadn't been aware of his imprisonment. Too delusional in thinking that if Hiruzen had known, there would have been a rescue team.

Too delusional in thinking that he was worth something to the village.

Of course, Kakashi wasn't. If he had been worth anything, then Danzo wouldn't have sold him out to Iwa. If he had been worth anything, then his name would have at least been carved onto the memorial stone.

But he wasn't worth anything. Not even a single mention in Konoha's dozens of volumes on the history of the Third Great Ninja War.

It was like he never even existed in the first place.

And now, Kakashi was coming back with a vengeance. Unintentionally, Kakashi had found himself in Konoha's Bingo Book – twice because they didn't know Sukea and Okami were the same person.

"Who are you?" Cool, calm, authoritative. The voice sounded a bit hoarse, from years of smoking cigars. It had been over eleven years since Kakashi had heard this voice.

Eleven years was a long time to remember a man who had long forgotten about his existence.

Kakashi dropped the meeting notes, letting the paper scatter haphazardly at his feet. Slowly turning around, Kakashi held out his hands to show that he had come in peace. Whether or not it would remain that way was entirely in the Third Hokage's hands.

To his credit, when Kakashi allowed his disguise to fade away, the Third Hokage's expression didn't change.

"Is that you, Kakashi?"

So he did remember him. A half-hearted shrug was his only response.

"If you are alive, then that boy who massacred the entire Iwa platoon…was you?"

Again, another half-hearted shrug. Kakashi could barely muster the energy to respond to Hiruzen's questions. How could he, when all he felt was complete and total apathy when reuniting with his former leader?

"You didn't come back." Not a question. An accusation.

"I thought when you made the decision to abandon me, you didn't want me back."

"The risks were too high, Kakashi."

"Objectively speaking, the risks outweigh the benefits," Kakashi drawled, mimicking the same patronizing tone of voice that Danzo always used. "That's what you really wanted to say, isn't it?"

"Is it wrong?"

"No." Truth. "But a man who spent fifty days in that dank cell and suffered from having his mind twisted in ways that you won't be able to comprehend to protect the secrets of his village while his village made up their minds to abandon him on day one doesn't think rationally anymore.

"What is logic? If logic is what all those corrupted individuals use to justify their disgusting actions, then fuck logic. That's not a good enough reason to convince me to let them live."

Hiruzen didn't miss the underlying meaning in his words. "Are you certain that is what you want to do? It's not too late to turn back now."

Kakashi let out a bark of laughter, harsh and grating even to his own ears. "Not too late? Based on the sole fact that I am Okami, Konoha would never let me see the light of day again. I don't fancy being thrown into another jail cell to rot away."

This time, Hiruzen's eyes widened marginally. "You're Okami."

"I didn't survive only to be complacent."

"Why did you assassinate the Feudal Lord?"

"Why not?" Kakashi countered. "Don't tell me you aren't aware of his shady dealings behind closed doors. Of course, you probably turned a blind eye to it, like you have with everything else, am I right?"

Hiruzen didn't answer.

"Konoha's core is rotten. The Feudal Lord's death was meant to be a warning. Clearly a message that you haven't taken seriously, judging by the way Konoha handled the missing children case. You know who did it, so why haven't you done anything about it?"

Again, silence.

"The incident has pushed the Uchiha clan onto the brink of dissatisfaction. One more wrong move and it's likely that the village will face a civil war. Is that what you want to see? Was that the future that the Second Hokage envisioned when he left the village in your hands?

"You are past your prime age, Hiruzen. If you're not willing to grow a backbone to solve the problems that festered underneath your nose, then let someone else take over. Don't you know how many people you've allowed to die because of your inadequacy?"

"I don't have any evidence."

"Well you're not trying very hard to obtain any."

"You only believe in what you see, but you don't try to understand what goes on behind the scenes. Not everything is as easy as you make it seem, Kakashi."

"You're right, but some things don't need to be understood."

"You're not going to stop."

Kakashi nodded firmly. "Not until I get what I want."

"And what is it that you want?"

His lips curled up into a sinister smile.

"Revenge."

Itachi's fingers brushed against the coarse concrete walls as he slowly meandered down the hallways of the Anbu headquarters. The sound of his soft footsteps ricocheted off of the walls, the noise barely carrying a few meters away from him. When Itachi rounded the corner, he spotted the silhouette of Boar approaching him. Discreetly, Itachi slipped his hands behind his back. Turning to face Boar, Itachi gave him a curt, nonchalant nod as the older man passed.

Once he was out of sight, his hands were back on the wall, searching for anything that could trigger the opening of a secret room. With time ticking, and no better options, the most he could do was snoop aimlessly around the Root headquarters, hoping to find their next clue.

Orochimaru was a cautious man. Danzo was overly paranoid. Between the two of them, there wasn't a single trace of evidence to be found. Orochimaru even had the audacity to appear multiple times in public, like he wasn't afraid of being caught.

He had no reason to. The Hokage long stopped looking for the perpetrator.

Neither of them had a connection with Orochimaru, so their best bet was to find Orochimaru's hideout through Danzo. Yet despite spending over a year as Danzo's subordinate, Itachi had gathered no useful clues. Heck, he didn't even know where Danzo went in his spare time.

Like now.

At least Danzo's temporary absence afforded Itachi some breathing room to conduct his search away from his prying eyes.

Unfortunately, his discretion wasn't enough to escape another set of eyes.

"What are you doing?"

Itachi whirled around, a kunai already drawn in preparation to defend himself. The muscles in his arms only relaxed marginally when Itachi realized it was Yamato. Only marginally because Itachi still wasn't quite sure of what to make of the older boy. There were moments that seemed like Yamato was whole-heartedly loyal to Danzo, yet there were others that made Itachi question that judgment.

"Nothing."

"What are you looking for?"

"Nothing," Itachi repeated, this time in a firm and confident manner. Still Yamato hardly looked convinced, but didn't push the matter any further.

"There may be something in the northern corridor that will interest you." With that as his parting words, Yamato made the move to leave, but Itachi stopped him.

"Wait. What is there?"

"What is it that you are looking for?" Yamato countered. Itachi didn't know if he made the right decision trusting Yamato, but after searching fruitlessly for over a year, Itachi was willing to take his chances for any inkling of information. Shisui would scold him for being reckless. In hindsight, it had been the most reckless decision he made since running after Okami. Most of his moves since then were deliberate and careful, but Itachi couldn't afford to be deliberate and careful anymore if it yielded nothing.

"Orochimaru's hideout."

Complete silence.

And then, Yamato spoke. "I know where it is."

Those five words were enough to spark a tiny bit of hope in Itachi's heart, after being basked in darkness and hopelessness for far too long.

Yamato led Itachi to what seemed like a dead end, a small offshoot tunnel in the northern corridor of the Root headquarters that was easy to miss if one didn't pay attention.

"I once followed him here and saw him tapping his cane against the floor. Once he found the spot, he channeled chakra into the spot and the door opened. I was able to send one of my clones after him, but my clone wasn't able to see much."

"What did you see?"

"Nothing you already don't know. Orochimaru is experimenting on Uchiha children. Danzo is helping him. My clone overhead Orochimaru asking Danzo to take care of the body. In exchange, Orochimaru gave Danzo the eyes of the dead Uchiha."

"You mean Danzo is collecting Sharingans?"

"That's my assumption, but I don't know for sure. My clone wasn't able to stay too long for fear of getting caught." Yamato jerked his chin in the direction of the end of the tunnel. "In fact, I can't guarantee that Orochimaru's hideout is even still there."

"There must be another entrance to his hideout," Itachi hypothesized. "Danzo's alliance with Orochimaru is a secret, even to the Root Anbu. This must be Danzo's personal entrance to get there. There must be another entrance for Orochimaru."

"How can you be so certain this hideout is still active? I haven't seen Danzo come back here in a while."

"If Orochimaru is experimenting on the children, then moving all of the equipment and test subjects is not an easy feat. Not to mention how much scrutiny was being placed on the children's disappearance in the beginning…I don't think he would have changed hideouts unless he was compromised. And if your clone didn't get caught…"

"My clone didn't," Yamato confirmed. "If it did, I wouldn't be here right now."

"Good. Then I just need to find the other entrance…"

"I?" Yamato repeated. "You don't want my help?"

"What's in it for you? You have no reason to interfere with this investigation. How can I be certain that I can trust you?"

"You already trusted me with the details of your mission. And besides, if you really didn't trust me, then you wouldn't bother questioning my motives."

"So what is your motive?"

Yamato half-heartedly shrugged. "Danzo. He sent my best friend to his death. So if exposing Orochimaru's secrets will take down Danzo too, then I'm all for it. Besides, you'll need me. As far as I know, you and your cousin are not trackers.

"Neither are you," Itachi retorted.

Yamato nodded. "Yeah, but I know a person."

"Who?"

A/N: Hi guys!

Thank you for reading. Until next time!

-MM