Grief
When Itachi got the news, his eyes bled. His world turned grey. Nothing mattered, and could matter, and ever had mattered.
Sasuke Uchiha is dead.
He could barely read those words from the letter Kisame handed him, his vision so ruined by the years of mangekyo usage, but they were spelt out well. The period stopped the sentence and the world stopped alongside it. No longer was the chirping of birds or the blowing of wind or the energy in the ground there anymore, instead replaced by silence and emptiness. Just like his soul, his realisation that all that inflicted trauma was for nought.
"Disappointed?" Kisame asked, a titanic interruption to the solace the silence of the universe had gifted him, as the planet begun spinning again. Itachi wasn't crying, wasn't screaming. He had lived his life lying so much that it was probably easier to shift into the mask of the egoic mass murderer than the real and very broken 22-year-old wreck he really was. Instead, he was looking into the distance, sat, calm and unresponsive, until he was disturbed of course.
"I expected better of him. Who did it?" It was such a desperate question, but it made sense. Who better to want to fight than the man who killed the person who was meant to kill you?
"Funnily enough our former target! Naruto Uzumaki. Apparently, he managed to kill the Uchiha, stole one of his eyes as well."
Itachi stopped caring about the Uzumaki's wellbeing when he left the Leaf, believing him to be just another disappointing traitor seeking to find his own little piece of power and freedom. Sometimes he doubted that the kid he saw, so clearly caring and loving would decide to attack his teammate like that, but it didn't matter too much. He had killed too many to care if Naruto was really a double agent or a missing nin or both, simply that he didn't want Akatsuki to succeed in their plans and gaining the 9 tails was the biggest step. Now though, he knew he had to kill him, to destroy him so completely he never came back.
"Then we will go after him."
Kisame chuckled. "Really? This kid must be pretty strong if he killed a person you created. Looking at your condition, I doubt you'd be able to fight him without a plan."
That was true, though really Itachi didn't want to live. There was an easy way out, both dying, Naruto from Itachi's bullshit, and Itachi through chakra exhaustion and illness, the strain on his body too much. But a small, angry part of himself, that had been building up ever since he learnt of the coup, of Shisui's death, of Madara's return, of the Akatsuki, told him to live. Told him, the only person that was supposed to kill him was Sasuke Uchiha, and hence, he would refuse death.
But to do that, he would need power, and a lot of it.
"Kisame, what would be the hardest fight one could take part in?"
"I dunno. Killing a God I guess."
"We could do that by the end of the week"
A toothy grin was response enough, but the blue skinned man spoke in return. "Sounds fun. Who are we chasing this time, partner?"
Itachi himself smiled, a mad, grief stricken sadism surfacing. He had wanted this for so long, and it was near.
"The Akatsuki."
…
Tsunade was tired. Too tired, an old woman pretending to look young to make her feel strong. She needed new blood, someone she trusted and someone she knew would sacrifice everything to help those around them.
Kakashi was a candidate before he was ruined by Naruto's departure and then killed by him. Gods, she had seen how many failures the Leaf had experienced, and it was horrific. The 9 tails attack, the hyuuga scandal, the Uchiha massacre, the Konoha crush, Kakashi's death, and of course Naruto's escape. The Leaf was weaker than ever, and it needed someone better than her to help it. The candidate list was short and the valid ones even shorter. The ones she trusted out of them was barely a scrap.
But in the end, after it all, she only had one choice, and her only hope was that she accepted.
A knock came from the door. Tsunade, distracted from her thoughts, called for the person to come in. Pink hair flowed past the door, wind blowing past, her student now standing in front of her.
"You called for me, master?"
If Tsunade had a single ray of hope, Sakura was it. Young, smart, stronger than her. Now, she looked more confident and womanly at 18 than she ever had, her eyes steeled and mature as she walked in front, somehow understanding the seriousness of the situation without a single word.
"I think it is time for me to retire as hokage."
Sakura's eyes opened wide, shock evident.
"Are you sure?"
"I'm tired, Sakura. Tired of ruling, of failure. I need a replacement, one good enough to save us all."
"Where is this going?"
Tsunade Senju, 5th hokage, drunk, gambler, fool, looked her protégé in the face, and smirked, a smile that told of nothing good.
"Sakura Haruno. You will be the 6th hokage."
The pink haired girl didn't respond for a while. Tsunade though she would shriek or run away or smile or anything, but instead she sighed, sitting down on the chain, putting her head in her hands.
"Really?"
"Are you disappointed?"
"Not really. I expected this." She said lifting her head up once again.
Tsunade furrowed her brow. "Since when?"
Sakura sighed again, a little louder than earlier. "Since Naruto attacked me, since you upped my training, since people started looking at me like I was the new hope for the village instead of just another girl."
The blond woman looked at her student, nostalgic hue in her eyes. "I hope you win Sakura."
"Against whom?"
"You know who. Your teammate, the person who killed your sensei."
She leaned back, almost laidback. "Have you seen what he's capable off? I can't defeat him."
Tsunade shook her head, ready to try to convince Sakura. "No, you're strong, I kno-"
"I never said I couldn't win against him."
Silence for a time.
"What is it?"
"It'll take time, and Shikamaru, but I have the beginnings of a plan. One that will let us win, no matter the sacrifice."
Tsunade smiled, sad, nostalgic, but real. "That's my girl."
…
Naruto's right eye hurt, burned, the pain from the surgery painful and irritating. It was covered with a bandage wrapped across his face, obscuring the replaced organ.
His choice to take the sharingan was done primarily because he recognized the power. Twice he had fought against copywheel wielders, and their exceptional abilities, and twice he had envied it. Sasuke's eye was easier to fit, matched better, almost perfectly, and the healing factor inherited from the 9 tails made his sloppy (and bloody) technique recover quickly.
Irrespective of the pain, he still sat, lotus, pushing his body and senses into the world around, meditating. Soon, his consciousness entered its under, and he was able to walk, his mind having changed to be as usual scattered with nature, but part ways marred with battlefield damages, scars in the terrain, clear signs of destruction and chaos.
The Uzumaki trekked through close quarters foliage, pushing through plant and leaf, ducking under tree branch and hopping over mud patches. He made his way through more and more, until reaching where the beast was.
The prison bars still stretched high, pushing into the abyss, but the figure behind was small and see through, a bare gust of black smoke.
"Come to gloat?"
Naruto pulled down his bandages, revealing Sasuke's eye, red and spinning, 3 tomoe powerful and dark.
"No, to put you down."
If the 9 tailed beast had ended up being stronger, bigger, more advantaged, he would have shrieked and snarled and roared upon seeing the sharingan, but now all he could do was wait, as the eye pierced his mind, destroying it.
Now, the 9 tails was under his control, all the power his. Naruto went to the seal, to pull it down, but as he did, he felt a presence.
The paper ripped as the ninja turned, though he saw nothing. He turned again and nothing still. One final turn, calmer now, doubting, showed a man, shorter than him, but the same eyes and same hair and same skin.
He wasn't smiling, his blue eyes piercing Naruto's own.
"D-Dad?"
Minato wanted to respond, wanted to say so many things, but he was paralyzed with choice. He was a clone, really, but he didn't know wherever to hug his son or punch him.
"Naruto, I'm sorry."
Instead, he apologised.
"What?"
"I am sorry for making you the jinjuriki, for making you the scapegoat for the village, for leaving you. I-If I had done better, maybe you would have turned out better."
"What? What do you mean better?"
Naruto was offended Minato noted. He made no effort to change that fact.
"You killed Kakashi, son. It was self-defence, but you attacking Sakura wasn't. You betrayed your own because of your own insecurities, and I can't ever forgive that."
As Minato went on Naruto's anger grew and grew. "Forgive me!? You made your son a living weapon, hid his lineage from everyone, and died on me, and I'm the one who has to be forgiven?"
The 4th hokage shook his head. "It isn't like that Naruto, loo-"
"You dare say that to me, to imply it was my fault?"
"It was your fault! Mine and yours, both! I fucked up by abandoning you, and you fucked up by being a traitor."
Naruto walked up to Minato, pushing him with an unbridled fury.
"I was never a traitor. She betrayed me, by taking away my birthright!"
"Being hokage isn't a birthright, it is something that is given to you. You earn it."
"I deserved everything for what I went through!"
Minato stayed silent then.
Naruto's whole mental space stayed silent, as the boy heaved, furious.
"All I ever needed was a family."
"I know, son."
"Why?"
"I'm sorry son. I'm sorry."
Naruto looked up, to his father fading away. Minato smiled, sad and tragic.
"Guess I'm out of time."
The jinjuriki halted for a moment, until he moved again, tackling his father in a hug.
"I-I'm sorry, I should have just talked to you, made things matter-"
"Shhh. It doesn't matter. Even after everything, I still love you."
Eyes brimmed with tears, Naruto separated from his father, as the man faded away, a smile, eyes closed, disappearing until the only thing left, was white void.
Then Naruto awoke.
He was in a hotel room, one he had rented out, a clone watching the door. Naruto knew this was ill advised but he was too excited, even reeling from seeing his father like that, the doubt if it was even real, the question if he wasted it or not. Finally, after years of being terrorised because of it, he had defeated the 9 tails. It was dead, and he had inhabited its power.
Now he looked deep into his body, the core of chakra within blending closer and closer to his seal, until the two combined into one. It didn't hurt, didn't feel of anything really, but Naruto could feel the power brimming at his finger tips, the simultaneous swirl of man and demon turned into one being.
Like glass shattered, a flush of sound came with a burst of power, as Naruto's body flushed with golden red flames, the chakra coating his body, coming out as commanded, and staying with him, obedient. He took it off his skin, the golden power floating around like a wraith, before Naruto chose to let it flow into his scarf instead, the apparel flashing with gold, before dissipating back into his core.
No more was he a jinjuriki. No, not even a tailed beast. He had become a god, and smiling with elongated fangs, Naruto realised he liked it.
…
"Itachi?"
"Yes, Kisame?"
"Did you love your brother?"
"…"
"You're grieving, you know? I can smell it as much as I can see it. You're sad."
"Disappointed."
"Because he died?"
"In myself."
Silence. The rain pouring right on the outskirts of its namesake country was the only background to the tense nothing coming from each man's mouth.
Itachi stayed, eyes closed, almost too calm for what he was going to do.
"If you wish to ask me something, do it Kisame."
"I trust you, Itachi. Gods know I fucking shouldn't but I do. I'll deal with whatever shit in whatever storm you want us to walk through, but tell me why at the very least. Tell me what Sasuke meant to you."
Itachi inhaled. Small, measured, deep.
"He was my brother. Ever since he was a child he wanted to be like me, and when the Leaf made me betray everyone I ever loved, I remembered my young scarred self, 5 years old, and always too young to see a pile of dead, slaughtered children, at my father's hand. I thought of what that made me, how it made me, a legend of sorts, prodigy yes, but driven, and imagined that if I made Sasuke the one that lived, he could have had an even better drive, one that went beyond reason.
I will not lie to you Kisame. I always wanted to do and be good, and part of why I killed the clan, scarred Sasuke like my father scarred me, is because I wanted to fulfil my fantasy of being different, of being good. In the end though, I am just like how my father was. All I wanted was a copy of myself but stronger, and Sasuke became someone else whilst I was not looking, saw someone who I did not care about, and died fighting him.
I'd like to say I loved him, and this grief in my heart is the greatest evidence to that idea, but in reality, I loved my memory of him. I imagined a nicer, more innocent Sasuke, and chose to believe the lie that I was letting him live, just like how I believed the lie that I was making him stronger. All I left was a boy, broken and alone. Ironically, just like me."
Kisame looked at Itachi, who's eyes were despondant. He smiled, all teeth. "Finally, some truth out of your mouth."
"Is that enough?"
"Aye."
"Good. Now let me sleep. Next morning, we kill Pain."
…
A/N: I'm back again.
Intermission chapter. Initially this contained the Itachi vs Akatsuki fight but it was too short considering what I wanted to do with it, and it felt rushed. Hence, I took a day to rework this, which is good.
Itachi is grieving, of course. He wants to kill Pain, partially to tie up loose ends because Sasuke can't do it for him, and he doesn't think he can kill Naruto. Considering Naruto just got a huge power up he probably couldn't, considering he has terminal illness (being itachi) and even if he is effectively invincible whilst his Susanoo is active, if Naruto can just dodge because he is faster he can outlast Itachi and he will eventually die from chakra exhaustion. Effectively Itachi needs to get the rinnegan for the power, and he needs to kill Pain anyway.
Sakura is becoming hokage. You could see that from a mile away. However, I have some pretty fun ideas with Sakura in the future. In case anyone complains, yes, I know Naruto beats Sakura, Sakura knows Naruto beats Sakura. I didn't make her hokage because she could beat Naruto in a fight, I did it for an entirely different reason. For those who dislike Sakura as a character, in this story she is different in part because of her experience being attacked by Naruto, and eventual disillusionment with her younger years because of the embarrassment and emotional trauma that came as a result of her teammates. As a young woman, she has become driven and serious in a similar way that Naruto did, whilst being more measured and considerate than he. This doesn't mean she is better than him, just more rational, if you will.
Also, Naruto got a power up. And kills Kurama. I have always thought that Naruto's conflict with Kurama changing so drastically in story and fanfiction, from one of hate to one of love friendship forever 100! Being weird and confusing considering how much of an asshole Kurama is. Naruto, the one who doesn't even like his teammates, is of course going to hate the big asshole fox in his stomach which is the reason his parents are dead, and everyone hates him. So he reduces his power, then gets the sharingan and destroys the weakened mind. There will be repercussions because of this in the future.
Anyway, there are a few things to guess here: Does Itachi win?
Does Sakura do a good job as hokage, and what is her plan?
Will Naruto eventually get fucked up?
Ill tell you next week one of these I think.
Anyway, remember to review and thanks for reading. Cya
