A/N: Apologies for the delay. I wanted to reread Itachi's Midnight novel (which is really depressing and took 2 months) and the first 27 manga of Naruto again (which took 2 weeks). It was a chore. Then I needed to decide which cannon events to keep and which to modify. Remember, this is divergent.! Onward!
Also, Happy early Halloween!
Chapter Twenty - Two: A Demonstration
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The ringing in Itachi's ears made it difficult to hear Danzo as he droned on. This bandaged man — his right eye covered — was it Shisui's stolen eye? Or was it someone else's? Was it Kagami Uchiha's eye? Had Danzo murdered him too?
Itachi's hands drew into fists and his fingernails bit into the flesh of his palm, not quite enough to draw blood. He needed to remind himself, Shisui wasn't dead. He'd been saved due to the interference of someone from the future — his little brother's friend from the future.
"So, I can only guarantee Sasuke's life will be spared if you kill the entire clan," Danzo continued.
"I do not understand why children and babies who have nothing to do with the planned coup should die," Itachi dared to interject.
The seasoned shinobi narrowed his visible eye. It was clear he didn't appreciate being interrupted. "You are my tool, Itachi Uchiha. Tools do not ask the hands that wield them why they are to cut down a tree — they just do it."
"You are not the Hokage. Does Lord Third know of this mission of yours?" Itachi asked, further increasing the man's ire.
"He asked that I protect the Leaf. That is what I am doing," Danzo growled. "Do you accept?"
"I will see to it," Itachi vowed.
Satisfied with the answer and assuming it was agreement, because who argued with Danzo? Itachi was dismissed. He headed into the section of Anbu that monitored his clan. He wasn't ready to face his new team, full of members of Danzo's suicidal Root no doubt. Nor was he ready to see his clansmen. He'd sent his crows in search of the man in the orange mask. Thus far, they had not found him. He wasn't too terribly surprised. The man could travel between dimensions and was more powerful than Itachi.
As he passed through the halls, he overheard other Anbu talking about Team Ro's newest member — some blond woman going by the handle of Bunny. Itachi smiled under his mask and resisted the urge to visit the newest incarnation of his old team.
Itachi settled in front of one of the monitors, relieving a weary, red-eyed Anbu. He flipped through the cameras, settled on one that showed his little brother training. A bittersweet feeling came over Itachi. He loved Sasuke, more than anyone or anything. He would do this terrible thing Danzo asked of him if it meant Sasuke could live.
As young Sasuke ducked back out of view, heading back to their home, Itachi changed cameras again. He focused on one outside the Nakano shrine. And that's when he saw the familiar swirling vortex he remembered from the day his old genin teammate died. He sucked in a breath through clenched teeth. No wonder he couldn't find the man in the orange mask with his crows — he was inside the district!
Shortly afterwards, he noticed two of his father's subordinates leaving the shrine. Did that mean the man in the orange mask was the one that antagonized the bitter Uchiha clansmen? What benefit did such a person gain from that kind of interference?
Now that Itachi knew the orange-masked man was within the district, he would need to change his tactics and send a few crow to watch that area as well. There were no more things of note on the monitors, so when another Anbu tapped Itachi on the shoulder, he'd been happy to be relieved.
He blinked blearily up at the blond woman with the bunny mask.
"Hey Crow," Sakura greeted. "Why don't you go home and rest for a bit?"
"It had been a long day," Itachi agreed. She knew exactly why it had been a long, hard day. She knew everything. Could Itachi really change anything? He stood and offered her his vacated chair.
She leaned down close to his ear— only slightly taller than him. "Spend the day with your family. Leave your cares aside for one afternoon, please?"
Itachi said nothing, but he gave her a curt nod. He'd been thinking of doing the same thing himself. He knew she was working to save his clan, but he didn't know how that would work since he was obligated to slay them.
Outside of the Anbu headquarters, Itachi started for home. His mask was attached to his hip and he was barefaced allowing the warm summer breeze to tickle his skin. It wasn't long before he felt the familiar chakra of his old teammate —- the Anbu, or rather Root — Tiger masked Aburame.
"You cannot defy him. I know you are tempted, but there is no point. Lord Danzo is more important to the future of our village than either of us," Tiger greeted him, his voice raspy and inhumane.
Itachi stared at the man. "Sugaru," he greeted.
"I can sense your rebellious spirit," Tiger continued.
"You are the one that poisoned Shisui," Itachi stated. It wasn't a question.
Tiger nodded. "I guess he did reach you in time. It's futile to go against Danzo, he only cares about the protection of the Leaf."
"Do you feel any remorse about attacking Shisui when he was a loyal shinobi? More loyal than any other? The hero and hope of this village?" Itachi asked.
Sugaru shrugged. "I am but a tool. Lord Danzo asked, therefore I acted. What is there to feel remorse about when I am doing my part?"
"I see." Itachi could feel the heat behind his Mangekyo Sharingan as he activated his Amaterasu. He focused on the swarm of insects that fed on the Aburame's chakra, a symbiotic relationship between the ninja and his poisonous insects. "Amaterasu," Itachi declared, his voice strong and determined as Shisui's attacker burst into a multitude of black flames — one for each of his insects.
"Impossible," Sugaru cried out in obvious pain.
Itachi watched, his heart ice cold as he incinerated Danzo's tool that had dared attempt to murder the best of them — Shisui Uchiha. He too felt no remorse at the man's destruction, not even when he was nothing more than ash and blood trickled down Itachi's right cheek. The fire consumed itself until there was no ash and nothing to indicate Sugaru or his insects ever existed.
Without an ounce of regret, Itachi continued home.
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Kakashi stood at the observation deck, watching Sakura and Genma spar in hand-to-hand. She was holding her own remarkably well. He would need to ask her who trained her in taijutsu, because it was different than his own technique, yet still vaguely familiar.
It didn't take long before he felt Danzo approach. The Commander of Anbu and founder of Root stood next to Kakashi and watched for a while in silence. "I had heard Lord Third has a special recruit — not originally from Konoha. That Lord Jiraiya had cleared her personally." His dark eye tracked Bunny and Lion's movements. "It's not common for women to be this versed in taijutsu."
"She's been trained privately," Kakashi agreed.
"She's been assigned to your team I assume?" Danzo asked.
"For as long as she's in the village on her exchange program," Kakashi agreed.
"When she's done I want both of you to come with me," Danzo stated. "I believe I have a need for the two of you." A cruel smile twisted the older man's lips. "A kunoichi with Lord Jiraiya's approval must have some useful talents."
"We don't work for you," Kakashi argued. "We have strict orders to act only under Lord Sarutobi's direction."
Danzo scowled. "We are short-staffed. I do not believe my old teammate would deny me such a perfect tool. You are aware of Fox's reassignment?" He gestured towards Bunny and Lion. "A kunoichi is useless without seduction. What need have I for another fighter? The Anbu is full of them."
The sparing match between Lion and Bunny came to an end and they started towards Kakashi and Danzo. The latter stayed planted, his malicious gaze focused on Sakura.
"Excellent sparing," Danzo acknowledged.
Lion and Bunny both dipped their heads at the praise.
"How are you with your other training?" Danzo asked, keeping his eye on Sakura and ignoring Kakashi completely.
It took all of Kakashi's willpower to calm the urge to allow his lightning to surge down his arm and through Danzo's shriveled up black heart.
Sakura removed her mask, the diamond seal on her forehead had been hidden away by a temporary flesh-colored tattoo Sai had applied to her. It allowed him to keep tabs on her location and hid away the unusual feature — the ability for her team to track her was the only reason Kakashi's older self allowed her out of his sight. She stood in front of Kakashi and removed his mask and gripped either side of his face, stood on tip toe and pressed her lips and body flush against him.
Kakashi automatically relaxed against her soft body, his hands found her hair and cradled the back of her head.
Danzo cleared his throat. "Hatake is too easy."
Sakura met Kakashi's gaze and broke up the kiss. She stepped back and turned towards her previous sparring partner. Genma stumbled back in surprise when Sakura removed his mask and did the same move with him.
Kakashi told himself he would not be jealous. He would not be jealous.
"Genma is an even easier target," Danzo protested. "I have someone else in mind."
Sakura then moved towards Danzo himself and while she didn't kiss him, she pressed her face against his cheek and her fingers brushed his ear. "And you, Lord Danzo? Are you an easy target?"
The Commander of Anbu was uncharacteristically quiet and then he started to laugh.
Sakura leaned back and replaced her Bunny mask before sidling up next to Kakashi. "There will be no further demonstrations, Lord Danzo. I was cleared by Lord Jiraiya himself. I should think he is the expert in the field."
"I suppose I must be satisfied then," Danzo answered, his tone dark. "I will speak to Hiruzen. Don't be surprised if you find yourself reassigned, Bunny." He turned on his heel and retreated into the shadows
Kakashi and Genma both replaced their masks simultaneously. They were both staring at Sakura.
"That was ballsy," Genma whispered.
Sakura shrugged, her jade eyes focused on Kakashi. "Better than an observation room full of old men watching me have sex, right, Captain?"
"Right," Kakashi agreed. Though, he wasn't sure if she convinced Danzo to leave her alone or crave her as a subordinate more. "We leave for our mission in the morning. I'll show you the Uchiha observation room in the meantime. Part of Anbu's job is surveillance, not just threats outside of Konoha, but within as well."
Genma waved them off and ran off towards the weight room. Kakashi and Sakura ambled towards the monitors on the fifth floor where the reception was best.
"I'm going to need to decontaminate," Sakura complained, shifting her mask away from her face slightly.
Once they reached a dark corner in the hallway, Kakashi pulled off Sakura's mask and his own. He leaned his forehead against hers and laid his hand over the cheek that had been pressed against Danzo's face. "There, now you have my cooties instead."
Sakura smiled up at him wanly and then leaned forward to press her lips against his cloth covered ones. "Thank you."
"That was incredibly reckless you know?" Kakashi whispered harshly.
"I know." Sakura reached for his free hand and threaded their fingers together. "He has a Sharingan in his right eye under the bandage and his right arm has countless more Sharingan. But none of them are Shisui's."
Kakashi stared down at her with his double vision — normal eye and Sharingan. "That's why you did it?"
"Know thine enemy," Sakura admitted.
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After three days of Sasuke teleporting back and forth, there are crates and crates of provisions, barrels of fresh water, blankets, bedrolls, medical supplies — everything needed for three dozen people on a two week sojourn. Shisui scanned the land just outside of the caves — everyone was outside, enjoying the good weather, happy to be out of the darkness of the caves that they all slept in. They'd taken over four of the caves less than a dozen people in each.
Where was everyone?
In a clan of a hundred and fifty, less than forty had desired to avoid a fight against the village leadership. Less than forty had listened to reason as the clan's matriarch Mikoto and the Chunin Izumi had approached them with the choice.
"I can see the disappointment," Taki said, laying a strong hand upon Shisui's shoulder. "It is hard to reason with our family when we feel we've been wronged or when we have lost someone dear to us."
Shisui knew that. He knew of the curse of the Uchiha. "And everyone in our clan has felt wronged and has lost someone close by now." He had read through the list of names of those that Sasuke had transported to the safe haven. He glanced towards the high rocky enclave where Sasuke sat currently, swinging one of his legs observing the people he'd brought. From the expression on his face — it wasn't enough either. He raised his hand and covered his father's briefly. He felt blessed to have his father back — whole and sane. "I'm grateful that you're here."
Taki smiled wanly down at his son. "I've been a failure as a father to you for many years now. I vow to you today and henceforth, if you need me I will be there." He followed Shisui's gaze towards Sasuke — the mysterious, powerful cloaked shinobi. "If you want to forcefully stop the coup from those that don't know better — I will gladly stand at your side."
Shisui rubbed his tongue across his teeth. He'd been thinking about that very idea. "Hold that thought, Dad. Let me have a word with my friend." He flash-stepped away from his dad, appearing up the steep rocky terrain to reach Sasuke's side. "Hey, there, buddy."
Sasuke scoffed. "Buddy? What? Are you eight?" He glanced over at Shisui, but there was a faint touch of amusement in the man's normally stoic countenance.
"Eighteen, but close enough, am I right?" Shisui sat next to him, the warmth from the sun-soaked stone seeping in through his pants. "So, I can see you're disappointed in the turn out. To be honest, so am I."
"Hn. It's more than I had the first time." Sasuke watched Izumi where she milled about the clansmen. "So that's Itachi's girlfriend, huh?"
"Eh. Sort of. He's not really into girls if you know what I mean. Pretty mission driven and all. But she has had a huge crush on him for years and they're friends." Shisui shrugged. "Give it about two years and I'm sure he'll notice her. If he's still around."
Sasuke's eyes narrowed as he stared into the crowds. "If he's still around," he echoed. "I don't want him to leave the village as a spy. At least, not for years and years. If he wants to travel, let him wander around with Jiraiya or something."
"The pervert sage? Can you imagine Itachi tolerating that amount of debauched behavior?" Shisui started to laugh at the visual and felt a little twinge in his stomach at Sasuke's answering smirk. "I don't know everything — obviously. But from what I've gathered, Itachi is ordered to do the massacre by the village leaders."
"Wrong." Sasuke turned to face him directly. The dichotomy of his lavender and onyx irises jarred Shisui momentarily. "He's blackmailed by Danzo. Who figures now that you're out of the picture, thirteen year old Itachi will be easy to manipulate — and he is. Father wasn't reasonable, but his complaints are legitimate. He should bring up his concerns formally as clan leader, but he's right in that the council will simply steamroll him — at least in its current makeup. Only Sarutobi feels a little bad about what happens to the Uchiha, but he doesn't lift a finger to help. Minato wouldn't have let things get this bad. But we don't have him." He gestured across the field towards Naruto who was leading the younger members into a series of taijutsu forms. "We do have his son."
"He seems very inspirational," Shisui conceded. In a sea of dark-haired people, that golden blond mane stood out like the sun. "I feel Sakura is like that too."
Sasuke nodded. "Can you imagine someone like me stuck on a team with both of them?"
"It must have been torture." Shisui grinned at the image of the stoic man around those two loud-mouths.
"Well, it was worse. At the time, Sakura was obsessed with me — my biggest fangirl and had no skills, just sharp deductive reasoning and analytics. And Naruto, at first, he had so much chakra he couldn't even do simple ninjutsu until he learned control — which no one bothered to teach to the jinchuriki. I wonder about the ineptitude of this time's leadership." He wrapped his arm around his leg and leaned forward. "But after we actually became friends, it was really hard to leave them behind. I wanted to stay with them and feel cared about, but I needed to avenge my clan."
"So, where is young you?" Shisui asked. "I'd think we'd want to protect the future savior of the Uchiha."
Sasuke scoffed. "Savior? Please. I've been more of an avenger until now. Young me is going to the Academy oblivious to what's happening. I'll transport Mother home before Father's shift is over so that my younger self if none-the-wiser. I think I need to see the carnage to awaken my abilities."
"How do you feel about you and me showing up — the night Itachi is supposed to do this mission and stopping him or helping him — depending on the resistance of our opponents? Do you know how many clansmen have the Mangekyo Sharingan? You, me, Itachi, Fugaku, and my dad. Everyone else just has the Sharingan at best." He waved his hand across to indicate those gathered below them. "Your mother and Izumi had the Sharingan, but most of those clans people haven't even activated the Sharingan."
"Is Danzo's right am bandaged?" Sasuke asked, turning to face Shisui directly.
"Yeah, why?" Shisui asked.
Sasuke's eyes narrowed. "I see. So he has already collected Sharingan eyes. Probably from Uchiha that have died during battles." He blew out an angry huff of air. "That despicable vulture. I killed him twenty-four times. He kept using Izanagi to rewrite the battle. And he was temporarily made sixth hokage by using Kotoamatsukami to gain support — before I killed him ."
Shisui growled and subconsciously touched his fingertips under his missing right eye. "That's from the eye he stole from me."
"We will get it back," Sasuke promised. "Sai is creating a detailed map of the Root base. Sakura can easily autotransplant it back to you."
The sound of a throat cleaning behind them made both young men turn around. Taki stood a few feet away, having flash-stepped himself into position. "If Danzo is the one that tried to kill you, stole your eye, and is behind all this — I would enjoy killing him myself. He murdered my father and tried to murder my son." He smiled faintly down at Sasuke. "He hasn't wronged you yet in this time, but he's wronged me greatly."
"Dad?" Shisui asked, his father didn't know what was going on. He wasn't privy to the truth behind everyone from Sakura and Sasuke's time.
"You might not realize this, Shisui, because I spent so much time living out of the sake bottle for too long. However, I was the top intelligence gathering member of the Leaf for several years," Taki explained. He settled next to Shisui on the stony surface. "In the meantime, we wait." He leaned past Shisui and stared at Sasuke. "And you, Sasuke Uchiha from the future, tell me everything you know about Danzo."
Sasuke's mouth opened and shut. "I never said my name."
"You didn't have to. You look exactly like your uncle, Homare." Taki smiled faintly, his eyes lost in a memory. "I wouldn't forget my favorite brother-in-law after all."
"How did Homare pass?" Sasuke asked. "Mikoto mentioned him when we spoke before."
Taki's gaze settled upon Mikoto. "Only Fugaku really knows. He was on the same mission with Homare back during the war. And when Fugaku returned — Homare was dead, Fugaku had the Mangekyo Sharingan, and your Miokto was betrothed to him."
"I see. And how did you awaken your Mangekyo?" Sasuke asked, his tone showing his irritation at the insinuation of his father.
"You only have to feel guilt, like the death of your dear friend is your fault," Shisui interrupted. "I didn't kill my teammate, but I felt if I had extended my hand or stayed behind, he wouldn't have died. He wouldn't have had to actually physically kill Homare, but just felt responsible." He turned towards his father. "And how about you, Dad? How was yours awakened?"
Taki sighed, his shoulders slumped in defeat. "When your mother died because I insisted on having more children."
"Oh." Shisui hadn't expected that answer. "It sounds like we won't be waiting around here much longer then. I'm going to go train — if either of you would like to join me? If we're going to go into an epic battle with minimal collateral damage and minimal casualties— it might be good to learn to move together."
A faint smile crossed Sasuke's lips. Taki nodded his head and his eyes were dark with determination.
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