Warning: Not Itachi friendly!
"-So Sasuke, can we depend on you to keep our efforts with Neji a secret?"
Sasuke raised his eyebrow at her, a look he had picked up from Haruhi-sensei. He put down his drink on the wooden bench, the ones that sat at the outskirts of Konoha. It was why they had chosen this location, for it's remoteness, and the privacy it would provide them. The only other beings here were the chirping crickets and birds.
"Yes. Obviously. I can also get you some of the reports of missing children over the past few decades. I've already shared it with Tsunade-sama. They could offer more insight into root, and even help remove Sai's seal."
"Oh, thank you Sasuke!" She looked so relieved as she threw her arms around him, and squealed as she picked him up and swung him around. Sasuke patted her back, letting out a quiet laugh as she celebrated. It was true that this world was filled with awful things, but Haruhi-sensei was right when she told him that there were always people who were trying to make it better. Sakura was one of them, and it was one of the big reasons Sasuke considered her to be his friend.
"Suck up all you want, my painting on the hokage mountain was still the best yesterday."
She pouted, and let go of him.
"Sasuke, and here I thought the Uchiha had superior vision. Mine was obviously the best. I mean Hashirama-sama with a flower crown and vines coming out of his nose? Genius."
"The real genius was my idea. Drawing a magnifying glass with a microscopic brain? The talent, the creativity. You wish you were me."
They broke out laughing.
"-You two seem to be very good friends."
Sasuke scooped Sakura up into his arms, and threw the both of them backwards into the trunk of a tree, and turned to face the voice. That voice, the one that haunted him in his dreams, the one that taunted him with cruelty, tortured a little boy with the images of his family's death played on loop for him.
What unnecessary cruelty.
"Itachi." Sasuke snarled, hatred making his head swim. He stood a few yards away, casually in the middle of the deserted path, face blank except for the smug tilt in his eye.
"You've grown, little brother. But not how you need to. Perhaps if I killed your friend it would be motivation enough."
Sakura tensed up behind him, and Sasuke's heart beat wildly.
"No! No you won't! I won't let you hurt anyone else ever again!"
"You won't let me? With what power? Foolish little brother, what Arrogance. I think you are in need of a reminder."
He moved so fast that Sasuke could barely keep up, and Sakura screamed as Itachi caught Sasuke by the throat, eyes spinning into the telltale mangekyo. Sasuke felt his body go limp from lack of oxygen, and the pull on his mind as Itachi's swirling eyes sucked him into a bloody abyss.
"N-no..."
Sasuke struggled, and then felt himself snap. Years of pain, of confusion, of rage rushed through him, and Itachi was blown back as lightning shot from Sasuke and through him. He felt his mangekyo spin to life, and saw it reflected in Itachi's own eyes. The Tsukiyomi was torn to shreds and it felt like his consciousness was coming up for a breath of fresh air.
"I-I SAID NO!"
Itachi's face was no longer blank and above it all.
"You, YOU…"
Sasuke snarled, hands trembling, not with fear, but with rage.
" YOU COWARD!"
Sasuke shot forward, Sakura right behind him, and attacked with the chidori in his hand, the crackling blue light throwing Itachi's shocked face into stark relief.
Itachi barely dodged him, catching his arm and moving to knee Sasuke in the gut, but Sasuke was already backflipping away with the months of intensive training he had, and Sakura punched the ground so hard the stones flew up and cut Itachi's face, mere centimeters away from his eyes.
They were on even ground, with Itachi watching the two of them with his spinning mangekyo, and Sakura clutching his arm, both to reassure herself and hold him back.
"You stupid, traitorous, murderous, FUCK! How dumb do you think I am? Did you really come all the way to Konoha only to try the same exact trick on me? Do you really think I sat on my ass all these years? You're the foolish one here!"
Itachi's face was struggling to compose itself, seemingly hypnotized by Sasuke's mangekyo. His eyes flickered to Sakura as if looking for an explanation, and Sasuke growled, moving to block her from sight.
"Oh! I know, it's not about me, is it? You're here for Naruto's ninetails, like those last guys with the same cloaks, aren't you?"
Itachi jolted, shock obvious.
"How do you-"
"Because you're not nearly as clever as you think you are! I've been doing my homework, big brother, and I've learned the truth. Do you want to hear it?"
Itachi was silent, face grim and dark.
"How did you get those eyes?"
Sasuke paused, tears springing out and trickling down his face, tinted pink with blood as he kept his mangekyo activated.
"Because I learned the truth. I killed no one to gain these eyes, I obtained them without bloodshed, unlike you. You were wrong. You were wrong, wrong, wrong! I know about the coup, and I know you were ordered to carry out the massacre Itachi! I know you are a double agent for the village elders too! You cannot lie to me anymore!"
"How!?" Itachi lost all composure, face cracking as he realized all his plans were crumbling down around him like a house of cards. "Now that you know the truth, what will you do?"
Sasuke should have kept his mouth shut. He should have run. But he wanted Itachi to know just how much he hated him, Sasuke wanted him to know exactly how much he despised his precious Konoha.
"Oh, what will I do? I'll tell you! In fact, I'll tell everyone! I'm going to expose Konoha's crimes to the whole world! I'm going to tell everyone about the truth and orders behind the massacre, I'm going to tell them about the coup and why the Uchiha planned it, and by the time I'm done, Konoha's reputation will be in ruins, and it will never recover! EVER!"
The silence thunders.
The birds are long gone, and the crickets have since fallen quiet.
Itachi stares. He cannot comprehend what metamorphosis his little brother had gone through, but he knows his loyalty to Konoha is too great to let that happen.
In a swirl of violent wind, Itachi summons his crows,and their wings batter Sasuke and Sakura as they fly past to coalesce around Itachi in a black swirling murder.
"You have indeed grown, and become strong, little brother, but as a loyal shinobi of Konoha, I cannot let this happen."
Sasuke tensed, and flinched when Sakura screamed. Itachi had crossed the clearing in less than a second, and grabbed Sakura's face to position it with his.
Itachi made eye contact with Sakura-
-and she collapsed.
"NO!" He howled, and sloppily moved to attack Itachi, Chidori screaming in his fist, but one of dark ravens swooped in front of him, a mangekyo sharingan spinning in it's socket.
Sasuke recognized that pattern, from years ago training with his brother and cousin.
"Shisui-?"
It captured him in a genjutsu more powerful than anything he had ever known, and the abyss took him.
"It's a shame. You seem like a good girl, and a good kunoichi. Nevertheless, Konoha thanks you for your sacrifice."
"I didn't agree to any sacrifice!"
"You did the moment you accepted the headband." Itachi monotones, walking in a world of blacks, grays, and red. She was tied down to a cross, unable to move as he inched closer. He walked slowly, for all appearances, having all the time in the world.
"Did the rest of the Uchiha agree to be sacrificed by you then, huh? Did the civilians in your clan? Hypocritical fuck-agh!"
Nails dug into her palms and feet, and she cried out.
"Here, I control everything. The background, the land beneath your feet, time. Your pain."
She whimpered.
"I'll get the information I want out of you. And when I'm done doing that, your death will be quick, and inspire Sasuke to chase after me and get justice for the clan."
"...What the hell are you talking about? Sasuke already knows the truth, why would he waste his time on a wild goose chase going after you?"
Itachi said nothing, only approaching at an ambling pace.
"What are you going to do to him? What will you do to his mind?!" A horrible thought came to her, the day she overheard Tsunade and Kurneri talking in the office. The third Hokage's sudden mental decline, and all of Tsunade's research of the effects of genjutsu on the mind.
"Are you going to destroy his mind like the third hokage?"
He stopped.
"What do you mean?" The spikes dug in, and she howled, in pain and in anger. How dare he?!
"The third hokage is suffering from dementia, and part of it is genjutsu induced! Only a sharingan would have been powerful enough to do that for that long! Was it you?"
He didn't answer her, rating a civilian born to be beneath him and someone he didn't have to answer too. Instead, he talked about Sasuke.
"My little brother has grown out of control. He shouldn't be thinking these things. All I will be doing is erasing any treasonous thoughts, purifying his mind, and getting him back on track."
She gagged.
"So what? You're going to erase his memory? Oh my god, you're going to lobotomize him! You sick lunatic!"
He slapped her, palm across her face, and she spit out blood. It was so bright against this world's greys and blacks.
"You don't understand!"
"Then explain it to me! I'm going to die soon, according to you, so why not?"
He paused, then sighed, seeing the merit in her words.
"The Uchiha had to perish. They were a threat to the village."
"You're a Uchiha too."
He snarled at that.
"Don't compare me to the rest of the clan! I am loyal, and did what was necessary, even if it was evil, to ensure Konoha's survival. Would you have preferred anarchy instead?"
She shivered, but refused to be cowed.
"But Konoha wasn't loyal to you! What the hell even is blind loyalty like yours? Are you a dog?! A little bitch who always comes back? Would the coup really have led to anarchy? Or was that just what the village elders were saying? How the hell was killing babies necessary?"
"Because If I didn't kill the babies, they would have grown up looking for revenge."
"Just like Sasuke?"
"..."
"Why. Why are you doing this to Sasuke?"
"...Because he is my little brother and I love him. He was innocent. Naive, so I hurt him, I showed him the deaths of our clan so he would be inspired to take action against me, and rightfully reclaim justice for the Uchiha clan through my death. He then would be welcomed home as a hero."
"That is the stupidest thing I've ever heard. How the hell did you come up with that?"
"You think giving him a home is-"
"-Sasuke's home is gone! You destroyed it. You left and left devastation behind, exactly what does he have to return to?"
"He has you. I understand he has a team who cares for him."
Her jaws worked hard as she held back tears.
"We...are a poor replacement for an entire culture. What you took for him you can never give back. We do love him, we do! But love by itself isn't enough! Action is needed! And if you love him as you say you do, then you need to leave him alone!"
"You still know nothing."
"Nothing is apparently more than what you know, at least I'm not completely wrong about Sasuke! He's not some mischievous little kid! You were once his beloved brother, and are the last of the Uchiha beside him, even after all this, killing you would have devastated him! How the hell is he supposed to ride home into the sunset with his head held high knowing he's the last of an entire people? Hm?! Can you riddle me fucking that?"
She chokes on tears and her disgust in him.
"My mother is pregnant, you know. She's due soon. I haven't even met my little sibling yet, but I would let the village burn and bite my own tongue off before I even thought about doing to them what you did to Sasuke. What you're going to do to him. You're pathetic. Nothing you have done, and I mean nothing, is worth celebrating. You are a coward who hides behind lies, one who twists the truth, and makes senseless slaughter seem reasonable in his own mind. The Uchiha clan did not deserve to die. You, and the rest of Konoha were wrong. Your deeds are not to be honored, you are loyal to nothing but a shell of a village that has failed to do the one thing it was built to do-protect its citizens."
She spat at his feet.
"You came all this way to mess with Sasuke only to find out that he had become a better person that you'll even be, That he isn't so easy to manipulate anymore, and you're scared of that, aren't you?" She hissed, enjoying the fearful realization crossing his face.
Itachi is breathing heavily, eyes flickering around, before settling on her.
"Enough. Enough talk. I've gotten enough information from you. Goodbye, Sakura Haruno."
His hand burned as it approached her face, and in his palm she saw the jutsu that would shatter her mind and shut down her body.
She screamed.
" Not so fast shannaro!"
Inner Sakura leapt from where she was hiding behind the cross, and landed a kick so devastating to Itachi's face that he flew backwards across the world. Inner quickly ripped the spokes from her hands, and pulled Sakura into a hug.
"Thank you, I thought-he was gonna-I'm sorry I suppressed you, but I thought they would find out about you and do something to the baby!" Sakura wailed.
Inner hugged her tighter.
"I don't care about that, I care about you and the baby. Lets kick Itachi's ass and make him regret ever messing with us!"
"Yeah!"
Itachi sprinted back, only to find the two of them ready and in the combat stance Gai-sensei had taught them. When chains began to slink around Sakura's arms, she was prepared, and used inners strength to rip the illusion away.
"How is this possible?" Itachi grounded out through gritted teeth. Every attempt of his to manipulate the world was met with resistance as the combined might of Sakura and Inner slowly but surely evened the playing field.
Here in the bridge between their minds, the physical world didn't matter. It didn't matter how fast the S-ranked missing nin was in the physical realm, because anything was possible in the mindscape, and Sakura had always been very imaginative. Itachi's self-deluding, weak, fragile mind folded like origami under their power.
"There is something you need to understand Itachi. We aren't helpless prey for you to kill. We aren't civilians in the Uchiha compound, or babies in their cribs. We are the worst possible choice for you in a fight, we trained under a genjutsu master and your weak jutsu won't work on us! You think your tiny mind could contain us? Well, we got news for you buster!-"
"-We aren't trapped in here with you-"
"You're trapped in here with us!"
They pummeled him with ferocious uppercuts learned from Tsunade, projectiles thrown with Tenten's force, and scissor kicks to hs ugly, snobbish face to the point where he was retreating. They remembered Sasuke, the family Itachi would have taken them away from, and roared as both of their fists simultaneously connected to his face.
The genjutsu shattered, and Sakura found herself gasping for air as she clutched the grass, head pounding, but her mind intact.
She staggered upwards, faintly hearing Itachi do the same some paces away. And stopped cold.
Red blood streaked down Sasuke's face as he lay prone on the ground, a crow with a Sharingan standing on his chest and looking Sasuke in the eye. As she looked on, Sasuke's face shuttered, and fell still. Blank as a porcelain doll.
She roared.
"ITACHI!!"
"You are loyal to Konoha and only Konoha."
"I...am loyal to Konoha and only Konoha." He murmured. He meant to say it as a question, but it came out as a statement. He supposed he was.
Something felt wrong. Nothing big, just a little thing, like perhaps not enough sugar in your tea, or maybe your pillow a bit too warm when you were trying to sleep.
He felt sleepy indeed. Very sleepy.
"Why fight this? Why struggle? The truth only brings pain, isn't this much more peaceful?"
"I feel peaceful." He whispered. He felt himself sink into oblivion, a blanket wrapped around him made of nothing. He felt like he was floating in a calm pool, or drifting along in the wind as a dandelion seed would.
This was nice. Effortless.
He frowned. Something was wrong.
"Nothing is wrong if you make it so. Just close your eyes, let me help…"
He heard it. Shrill and distant, it was screaming something.
His name.
"Sasuke, Sasuke-kun, please! Wake up!"
Sasuke struggled to see, but the darkness felt sticky, and clung to his skin, and invaded his senses. His mind thrashed, trying to remember what he was, why this was happening. He felt himself scream out as what felt like a drill lanced his consciousness, attempting to tear bits out.
There are no words to describe the horror of feeling pieces of your very soul being torn off and discarded.
"That's it Sasuke! You're almost awake!"
His eyes burned as the mangekyo (his Mangekyo! He had that!) struggled to fight off the overpowering genjutsu.
"Forget everything you think you know, and let me do it for you. Why must you fight? Who do you fight for? Leave the hard decisions up to me and everything will be alright!"
No, No! His mind! What was Itachi doing to his very being?
"GET OUT OF ME!"
The genjutsu shattered like glass under the force of Sasuke's mangekyo, and he surged forward, Sakura catching him in her arms, sobbing as her hands glowed green and tried to heal the damage as they cradled the back of his head.
His head swam. He saw Itachi a few paces away, one the ground and panting as blood pooled on his face.
"Sakura-" He gasped, the question evident. How was she still alive?
She giggled wetly, wiping at her face.
"I was a bit too much for him to handle. Don't worry, I'm fine"
Relief crashed over him, before it was replaced with rage. He struggled to sit upward, Itachi's stupid crow cawing in his fist as his fingers tore up it's wing. With a shout of pure disgust, Sasuke threw the crow at Itachi, who was just getting up from the ground.
Itachi moved to charge them, and Sasuke shouted, Channeling electricity through his feet and through the water Sakura had doused Itachi with to keep him away. He thrashed, and fell to the ground. He looked up at Sasuke in shock.
"Itachi, you, you tried to enslave me! Do you have any idea what it felt like to have someone root around in their mind?!" Sasuke roared.
"...Sasuke, you need to see reason-"
"What fucking reason is there here? Torture me and kill my friends, so you can use me as a tool to commit suicide on? Why? Do it yourself!"
"You are young, you don't understand." Itachi mumbled, and even as he said that, it was clear he couldn't comprehend what was going on. He hadn't expected Sasuke to be like this. The fact that he cast two Tsukuyomi's, with Sakura actively resisting one, had put a gigantic hole in his chakra reserves, S-rank missing nin or not. He dabbed at the rivets of blood on his face, and Sasuke was suddenly overwhelmed with how tired he felt.
"No. You don't understand. But I'll make you."
Sasuke breathed deeply, and felt a clarity of mind that was almost divine. It was as if his head suddenly cleared, and he knew exactly what to say. Everything he had been feeling, had been thinking for years, spilled out. He looked at that shell of a man at his feet and spoke his truth.
"Itachi, you seem to have this picture of me in your mind. A little brother who loves cute little cherry tomatoes as red as his cheeks. A young boy who toddles after his big brother with stars in his eyes, who trips over his own feet and gets food all over his face. Chubby hands not big enough to hold a kunai.
You look at me and see someone who is naive. Innocent. Ignorant. Someone who needs the noble, self-sacrificial big brother to come show him the way of the big bad world. Someone who needs protecting. Guidance.
But that someone is not me. They are a picture in your head, that you made up. For what reason, I don't know. Maybe to hold onto one last shred of sanity? I could speculate all day, but what remains to be true, is that I am not that little boy anymore. I never really was.
I grew up knowing something was wrong, and it all came to a head the day of the Uchiha genocide."
Sasuke's voice cracked with a quiet grief at that last word, and Sakura clung onto him tighter. She felt her pulse as she supported him and as he supported her, and it was rapid. Sasuke couldn't be calmer.
"I saw the brutal elimination of my family, a people who only wanted to be treated with respect. I saw their bodies desecrated, legacies spat on, and their deaths brushed under the rug. That changed me. Fundamentally. Did you really think I'd stay the same?
And you have the nerve to be shocked. Do you really think I wouldn't change? Who is the foolish one?
Are you so surprised I already have the mangekyou?
I got these eyes because I loved my family, and I lost them. I thought of my love for them and my new family and they activated. No one died when they activated. Your thinking and knowledge is all wrong. All you know how to do is lie.
You were always lying to me. "Sasuke I'll train with you later." "Not now, Sasuke, but I still want to train with you, but later." "You can't do that sasuke." Or "everythings okay Sasuke" "I killed the clan to test myself sasuke" "Run, and cling to your pathetic little life."
All fucking lies.
If you cannot be honest, to me, or yourself, then I will."
Itachi struggled to get up, and Sasuke kicked his feet from under him. He was nowhere near done.
"You have this picture in you head. This time one of you. You use this picture to hide the truth, because if it was a mirror it'd shatter from the ugly person that is you.
This picture of Itachi is one of a sympathetic, tragic hero. A noble villain. One who is forced to do things he doesn't want to. One who pretends he is powerless so he cannot be held accountable for his actions. This Itachi is selfless and wise, and cannot possibly make any mistakes. At all. Ever.
Because if this Itachi made mistakes, that would mean he would have to admit to being wrong sometimes. It would mean he was wrong about killing his family.
It would mean he wasn't noble-because stabbing your family in the back is so noble.
It would mean this Itachi is not a good person.
So you continue to look at the picture instead of the mirror, and the world is poorer for it."
Itachi chuckled, and Sasuke let him despite the spike of irritation he felt. He was defeated, his plans exposed, his genjutsu, his most powerful techniques, useless against them.
"You have grown strong, little brother." He said, not commenting on anything else Sasuke had just spelled out for him. But if his clenched fists were any indication, he had heard it all the same.
"I am strong. But you know something?
You know how you left me? Weak. You left me weak.You left me a hurt. Broken. Shattered, husk of a child
I was an emotional wreck of trauma, survivors guilt, and ptsd. I was alone in a world where no one loved me, no one cared unless it was about my bloodline. I was alone. I bristled to keep others away because the last time I looked up to someone, they stabbed me in the back. You left me alone, a traumatized seven year old orphan, in a village that hated my guts! In a village that harvested our eyes like grapes! In a village where the hokage who was supposed to be protecting me from Danzo has more holes in his brain than a worm infested apple!"
Realization flashed across Itachi's face as he connected the dots. Hiruzen wouldn't have been able to protect him from Danzo for much longer, and if Tsunade hadn't come when she did, it would have been game over for Sasuke. He opened his mouth to speak.
"Sasuke, I had to. I needed to motivate you to get stronger-"
"You had to?! Did Konoha order you to torture me in genjutsu and watch my family die?!"
"No-
"-Then you tortured me of your own violation!"
"I had to-"
"-You said your piece, it's my turn now!"
He roared. His hands were clenched into fists, and only Sakura was keeping him from lunging at Itachi, but even with his rage, his mind still knew exactly what to say.
"You want to know how I got so strong, you want to know how I achieved this?
Because someone cared about me. Someone made me laugh. Someone, unlike you, admitted they misjudged me, and apologized. They rolled up their sleeves, walked me home, helped me, let me cry on their shoulders, and loved me!
I got better because they helped me. They didn't tear me down like you. My friends and sensei, they-They helped me crack open a window and grow in the sunlight! They taught me! Protected me! Built me up instead! I would never have gotten this strong without their attention, time, and compassion!
If I had done what you told me to, I would have never made it this far! I would be a ghost of what I am now! You know nothing!"
His voice cracked like a whip in the clearing, and Itachi cowered at his feet. Had Sasuke really ever been afraid of this man? Of course he had. Itachi had hurt him worse than anyone else ever had, but never again. Never again.
"..."
"...I am strong. But not because of anything you did."
That last statement has the biggest impact by far as Itachi realized all of his efforts were in vain. Sasuke had made it this far without his "help" and would go farther still.
Sasuke looked at the wreckage of a person in the clearing, and felt his heart twist. Even now, he couldn't help the compassion he felt for Itachi. The remnants of what had once been a family was in front of him.
"In some ways I feel sorry for you, Itachi. You were pressured since birth. Misguided by people you thought you could trust. I get that. You were put between a rock and a hard place when ordered to execute our clan.
Although, I don't feel too bad. You could have defied orders. You could have saved the civilians who couldn't fight. The babies. The children. The elders. The crippled. The pregnant women, but you didn't. You killed them all. You were merciless. You wept crocodile tears and then got to work. If you really loved your family you wouldn't have done that. You could have spared them. Danzo wouldn't be able to touch the rest without looking suspicious and the third would be too guilt ridden to let the genocide be complete. The rest of Konoha would be sympathetic, and the remnants of the Uchiha would have been no threat to your precious village in that condition. And If you kept up the lie, as you always do, they wouldn't know to seek revenge either. You must have known this, or aren't you a genius? The infamous prodigy? But no. You made the conscious decision to kill every single one except me.
Me. Who you then tortured within an inch of his life-and beyond. Did you know my heart stopped multiple times while under the tsukiyomi from the stress? You made me watch the brutal deaths of my family for 72 hours. You drove me to the brink of insanity-and beyond. The Yamanaka had to put my mind back together like a shattered vase, and I run my fingers over the cracks every single day."
Sakura clung to him, and Sasuke clung back. He felt tears and blood continue to trickle down his face, and he didn't even care about the stinging pain from his still activated mangekyo. Let his vision go. There were more important things.
Besides the pain felt almost cathartic, like ripping off a band-aid.
"Why did you spare me? And no bullshit about how I was young and innocent. Basically everyone was, and those who were guilty still didn't deserve to die."
"...Because I love you."
Sasuke laughed. Genuine mirth mixed with horror and pity.
"I do think you care for me in your own twisted way, but what you did to me...That wasn't love, Itachi."
A flood of hot tears rushed down his face, and he buried his nose into Sakura's shoulder.
"I don't think you know what that word means."
Itachi reared back as if slapped, and Sasuke continued.
"There is something wrong with you. They made the perfect tool out of you. Any potential of being a fully realized person was trained out of you at a young age, and now this husk in front of me is all that's left."
He cried as he realized that he would never fully reconnect with Itachi. Now with his clarity of thought, he realized he hadn't just been chasing Itachi for revenge, but for answers, and now that he got them he could say with confidence that he was disappointed. Even if Itachi hadn't committed the ultimate crime, Itachi and him would have never seen eye to eye.
"Sasuke, I had to, I'm a pacifist, but in order to maintain peace-"
"-You are a hypocrite, Itachi. Peace? What kind of peace is built with the bodies of the innocent? A pacifist is someone who used nonviolent means to achieve their goals. You say you are a pacifist, yet every problem you've ever had you used overwhelming violence to solve. You killed the Uchiha. Mentally violated and attempted to murder Sakura, and now attacked me. Again. Are you even capable of a single rational thought?
You say you love me, but do you really? You say you love me-but you just don't care about my overall happiness or self-esteem. You love the idea of me. An innocent, malleable caricature of a little brother you can mould anyway you want. You care nothing for my thoughts, feelings, or ideals, and in fact actively try to stomp them out and suppress my true personality and free will. I'm not a blank canvas, I'm a growing thinking person, and your biggest mistake was assuming otherwise.
You do not love me.
So that leaves the question, why did you spare me? Because it's what you thought a loving older brother should do? And what are you, if not a loving other brother? How could you justify yourself without that? Was it because you were looking at that picture again? Because you knew Konoha could still use the Uchiha bloodline?"
Sasuke chuckled sardonically, then spit in Itachi's face as he attempted to approach Sasuke.
"Sasuke. I did what I had to. The Uchiha were a threat to Konoha. I had to follow the Village elders orders."
He snorted.
"You know what's the funniest thing about all this? Even after I have thoroughly explained to you why you fucked up, and how it didn't not help at all, It's clear from what you just said that none of it has connected.
Konoha wouldn't even exist without the Uchiha clan! We aren't just a founding clan, but the found clan! Most of Konoha is built on Uchiha territory seceded in order to build the village! Saying that the Uchiha are a threat is the height of stupidity!
And you had to follow orders? Do you listen to anything Konoha tells you? Do you have crow feathers in your brain? Konoha could tell you to go eat a shit sandwich and you'd ask what kind of bread to use!"
Sakura warbled out a quiet giggle, and Sasuke smirked and shook his head.
"-You are a coward. A coward of the highest degree. You have always, for as long as I've known you, done what you've been told to. There is not a single hint of originality in your thoughts. The third Hokage called you a leader, but I only see a follower. For a supposed genius, you cannot think for yourself. Your genius is purely performative. You allowed yourself to be pushed and then tried to manipulate me in turn!"
"...I wanted to give you the honor, to bring me to justice. So you could then live the rest of your life as a hero..."
"Do you think I'd feel fucking heroic killing you? Does a man feel elated when putting down a rabid dog? Killing you would only be a sad duty. And I am hesitant to do even that, seeing death is what you want and like hell I'll give you what you want."
"But you need to-"
"-I Don't need to do fucking shit! And what the hell even is honor or justice in this situation! There is no justice for what you've done! None! To what happened here! How the hell could you think that? Then live the rest of my life? In what? Happiness? In Konoha? Did you think killing you would make me happy? I never wanted to kill anyone! Did you even consider what I wanted, or did you only consider your wants? I know why you left me alive now, you wanted to use me as a tool for you to commit suicide with! And then a tool for the village to use! NO! I refuse!"
Itachi collapsed again a few feet away, the electric aftershocks still working on his nervous system. Sasuke exhaled harshly at the pathetic sight, and sharply turned his face away.
"I don't and won't ever forgive you. However I know what happened to you was fucked up. Despite being a genius, that only goes so far. You were tortured, abused, manipulated, traumatized, brainwashed, and cocerced all before and at the age of 13. I understand why you did what you did-even though I vehemently disagree with it. You were put into a precarious position by people you trusted, who you thought cared about you, and then given no help or support. This is not to excuse your past actions, but You were a child. Like me."
Sasuke waited until Itachi looked at him with hope before squashing it.
"Then you go and do all this. Most children would know better, but still, you were a child back then when you did all those fucked up things, but what's your excuse now? You drag me off. Kidnap me. Try to get me to kill my best friend. Try to use me as a tool for you to commit suicide on for your own fucked up sense of absolution-not even bothering to think about how that would affect me. You beat me up, crack my bones, tortured my friends to near insanity! If Sakura wasn't as strong as she is, she would have died! Who ordered you to do this, huh? Nobody!"
"You are an adult now, even by civilian standards! You've had time to grow and change away from Danzo and the rest of konoha's fucked up institution! No one is telling you to do this right now. Have you ever had a thought that was truly your own? You are making the choice to hurt us, to hurt me! And all you have to say for it is some paper thin excuse of making me stronger!?
I can understand what happened years ago, but now!?
And when I reveal all these truths to you, you then try to brainwash me. To take away my free will and personality until I become even more of a mindless sheep than you are to be a slave to Konoha for the rest of my life. You refused to accept what I say even after all the ways you have wronged me and then you hurt even more of my loved ones."
Sasuke slashed his hand out in front of him in a sharp motion, furiously wiping tears away.
"I don't care how noble your intentions were. You hurt me. You are hurting me, and you would hurt me again if it suited you. I have friends and people who love me and you would kill them if you thought so. You think pain makes people stronger, but pain doesn't always make you stronger. Sometimes it just hurts."
Sakura rubbed his back. Sasuke feels her next to him, and thinks of his team, and makes a decision. No more hiding. He needed to take a chance.
"I can't and I won't forgive you for any of this. But Tsunade-sama needs the information you have on the Akatsuki. Soon, sometime this week, you're going to contact Tsunade-sama, and tell her the truth. I'm tired of this dancing around and mistrust. I am done with the lies. You're going to tell her the truth about everything that has happened, including the coup, the massacre, and all of Akatsuki's activities. You will or I will."
Itachi nodded.
"I have some questions of my own. Confirm this for me-is the blindness caused by the Mangekyo permanent?"
Sakura gasped, and Itachi nodded again.
"Is there any way to remedy it?"
"...Yes. Switch it with another pair of mangekyo from someone of close relation."
"I can do it!" Sakura said, the first words she said since Sasuke tore into Itachi.
"Good. Do the surgery now." Sasuke deactivated his eyes and gasped as the world blurred like a watercolor painting. His vision was significantly worse than it was before now. Steps away, Itachi did the same.
"Wait! Kiki is supposed to be away at a meeting now! Her house isn't far from here, if we're quick about it, I can do the surgery there!"
Sakura leads the way for them, and Sasuke trembles as Sakura numbs his face with medical ninjutsu.
"I trust you." He mumbles. Itachi says nothing, only lying still complacently.
She pauses, and hugs him tightly, before snapping on medical gloves. Her heart is fast, but her hands are professionally steady. Sasuke is suddenly calm.
The operation is quicker than he expects. He feels nothing the whole comforts himself with the fact that he was going blind anyway, and that if this surgery was a success, which it would be with Sakra's expertise, then he would become significantly powerful and regain his vision.
They sit in the operation room for hours, with Sakura providing chakra enhancing tea for them pilfered from Kiki's shelves to boost their natural healing cycles. The bandages are tight around his face, but it doesn't stop Sakura's medical ninjutsu from reaching past them to heal his new eyes. She is audibly cracking chakra pills between her teeth so she can continue healing them with medical ninjutsu.
"My partner will be looking for me." Itachi states.
"I'll find him first and lead him here discreetly, then you two need to go and heal up. The optical nerve is in perfect alignment, and has already begun to heal. By tomorrow you'll see again, but don't even think about activating your Sharingan until a week from now. What does your partner look like?"
"Same cloak. Tall. Blue skin and sharp teeth, should be in this area. His name is Kisame"
Sasuke and Itachi sit in a stony silence as they wait for Sakura to retrieve Kisame. Sasuke breaks it.
"You know that one other Uchiha akatsuki member is cousin Obito and not Madara, right?"
The shattering teacup is very telling.
Sakura brings back Kisame, and Sasuke is startled to hear how deep and low his voice is. The man sounds massive. This idea solidifies as he grabs Itachi with one arm and casually talks to him.
"I located Naruto, but he was surrounded by several high ranking jounin all day, including two sannin. No dice. We'll have to wait for him to go on an out of village mission. Oh. Is this your little brother?"
Sasuke sits still as Kisame surveys him.
"Ha, he looks like you, from what I can see. Anyway. By kid."
They leave, and Sakura assures him they have left the village. She heals as much as she can, before sitting back on her haunches.
"Okay, I cut your healing time down, so you'll be able to take the bandages off by tomorrow, and activate your Sharingan the next day. Eat plenty, drink the tea I gave you. Cast a henge so it looks like you don't have bandages on. I'll tell the others you will be busy the next few days so you can adjust."
Sasuke thanks her, and they carefully leave Kiki's house before she comes back. She helps him home. When she begins to set up a sleeping place for herself on the couch, he tilts his head.
"I don't want to leave you alone right now." Sakura says.
Sasuke smiles. Then falls into contemplation. His plans have changed. Can he leave the village, leave them behind now?
If it means making Konoha safer, then yes he can.
He will inform Tsunade of some of the ongoings in the village. He will tell her what Itachi will not, or does not know, because Sasuke knows the elders will be keeping this information from her. And with the third hokage on Death's door from dementia, he won't be able to tell her. After he proves his loyalty with that, he will offer to be a double agent for the village, and work to give it the reforms it desperately needs.
If Tsunade proves to be just, then Sasuke will work with her to reform the village and expose the crimes. If not, Sasuke will stick to his original plan.
Either way, he will have his cake and eat it too.
Tsunade breathes heavily. With every syllable from Itachi's mouth, her teeth grit harder and she was reminded of why she hadn't wanted to come back here. She learned much from him. The coup plans, the orders for the massacre, Akatsuki, and Root. It explained the kidnapping attempts on Naruto and Moegi, and the reports of missing children.
She had let them speak with her, dismissing her ANBU guards. Tsunade's medical abilities rendered Itachi's genjutsu null, and her overwhelming chakra control and strength could have taken care of Kisame, and they all knew it. So she let them speak, while clarifying the insanity she heard.
She wasn't stupid. She knew just from hearing Itachi speak that the gullible fool was clueless, and had no idea about some of the other criminal activities she was catching wind of. She would need to confer with Sasuke.
"Is Sasuke okay? I'm letting you know right now I'll crack every single bone in your body if he isn't alright. " She warned, eyeing the bandages on his face.
"Yes. He is."
Very curt. Too curt. She would need to check up with him tomorrow.
"And let me get this straight. You've known from Shisui that Danzo had stolen Sharingan in the past, you suspect that he used an extremely powerful variant on The Third Hokage, and you are only now telling me?"
"I only recently learned about the Third's mental decline."
"I'm talking about the bloodline theft." She would need to corner Danzo and get evidence for all his other crimes first, because if they arrested him and he got away, he would hide his wrongdoings.
Kisami Hoshigaki was watching the two of them hash it out, clearly entertained. The giant man never left Itachi's side, which probably explained why he was cooperating now. Tsunade admired his ability to roll with the punches, but she was honestly too infuriated to fully appreciate it.
"And not only did you have assistance wiping out the Uchiha clan from another Uchiha, but he is also an akatsuki member, the one who attacked us on the way back to Konoha, and released the ninetails 13 years ago?"
"Yes."
"And did you know this Uchiha-"
"-Obito." He interrupted. The glare she shot was so poisonous he paled.
"...And did you know this Uchiha released the nine tails before the Uchiha massacre?"
"Yes. Although I thought him to be Madara at the time."
"You were also aware that your clan was upset with their treatment after the ninetails attack, and were being unfairly blamed for the attack. If you knew "Madara" or rather, Obito carried it out, why did you not simply inform your clan elders and the village elders, which would have then cleared your clans' name, and would have significantly lowered Tensions?"
"..."
Kisame chuckled.
"She has you there Itachi."
Tsunade rubbed her face in her hands. How had this kid made it this far? The urge to run away and crawl into a bottle was almost overpowering, but her spite and hatred for the Village elders stopped her. She could use Itachi's testimony to lock them away for good. She couldn't squander this opportunity.
"Leave the village. I need to gather evidence. Stay with the Akatsuki for now, and gather intel on Obito. Can you trust Kisame?"
"This is the most fun I've had in awhile. And I love the idea of taking down liars such as the village elders. Sure." Kisame said.
"Good. Go."
The next second they were gone, and Tsunade threw open her desk drawer, cracked open the Sake bottle, and chugged.
A knock at her office door had her choking on it.
"What now?!"
She threw open the door only to be met with a sniveling chunin. He visibly gathered himself, face twisted with tears and grief. Her ANBU guards were right behind him, and Tsunade was surprised to see grief emanating from the otherwise emotionless agents.
"Tsunade-Sama, it is with great regret that I inform you, that half an hour ago, The Third Hokage passed away in his sleep in the Sarutobi clan compound, from natural causes."
She dropped her sake.
It finally happened. Itachi got what was coming to him, Sasuke wasn't going to play his games anymore.
Question of the chapter: What did you think of Sasuke's talk down?
Anyway. Justice for George Floyd. End racism in our institutions, hold those who are corrupt accountable, and know your rights.
Stay safe y'all.