itachi's pov is fucky and i never know how to write him, but according to narutopedia, he'd be around 19 at this point and imho 19 is a Messy age, mass-murderer or no.
lmk what you thought of this snippet and the hints at what the next arc is gonna be about!
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Itachi sat in the Senju blood room andwondered.
He'd felt like a ghost walking through the Village, eyes trailing over everything that had changed since the last time he'd been able to walk down Konoha's streets freely, confident that he was all but unnoticeable between the cover of the night, the henge he'd donned, and Jiraiya's towering bulk.
Now, sitting in the blood room and watching Jiraiya pace as they waited for his informant, Itachi couldn't help but wonder why the Sannin had felt the need for this level of Jiraiya was very clearly ill-at-ease with being in such close quarters with Itachi, despite the fact that he was one of the few who knew the truth.
Or perhaps because of it.
Itachi closed his eyes and breathed in as deeply as he could without triggering his cough, not letting himself think about the last time he'd been in a similar room and howthathad ended.
After a few minutes, Itachi heard Jiraiya shift, and then the man was rushing up the stairs and pushing aside the stone that hid the entrance to the blood room. Itachi kept his eyes closed, focusing on the murmur he could hear from whoever it was that had arrived, but the voice was too quiet for him to be able to distinguish individual words, and his eyesight without the Sharingan activated was no longer good enough to even bother straining to see in the dark.
All that was left was to wait until the door sealed back up and Jiraiya's informant stepped into the flickering light of the single oil lamp that lit the small room.
And so, Itachi waited.
He cracked his eyes open when Jiraiya came down the stairs, noting the way the man paused at the bottom, his expression unusually conflicted. Then, the Sannin sighed and finally stepped aside, gesturing almost resignedly between Itachi and the girl who'd come in behind him.
"I've been told you've met." He said, the only introduction he was seemingly willing to give, before settling heavily on the stone bench on the opposite side of the room to Itachi.
But Itachi hardly spared the Sannin any thought, his attention on the girl who now stood in the room, her expression as surprised upon spotting Itachi as Itachi himself felt, though his expression remained unchanged.
The girl turned her head towards Jiraiya, but the Sannin had his hand over his eyes, as if covering his sight of the two of them would prevent him from having to deal with the fact that he had locked the Hyuuga heiress in a room with an S-Ranked criminal.
Once the girl realized that Jiraiya would be of no help, she turned back towards Itachi, her expression a mirror of his, and inclined her head.
"Good evening, Uchiha-san." She murmured, her voice quiet and bizarrely polite, though free of the fear Itachi had expected it to carry.
Jiraiya snorted but remained otherwise silent, so Itachi, more out of a deep-rooted memory of his mother standing over his shoulder than anything else, returned the greeting.
"Good evening." He intoned, studying the girl carefully as he tried to place where he had seen her before. "You are Yuhi Kurenai's student."
"I am." The girl confirmed, then winced, a conflicted expression briefly flashing through her eyes. "O-or, I was."
At that, Jiraiya snapped to attention, dropping his hand and pinning the girl with an assessing look.
"Promotion?" he inquired, his voice carefully neutral, but it didn't take a genius to know the man wasn't pleased with the development.
"I was made jounin this afternoon." The Hyuuga confirmed, either unaware of Jiraiya's feelings or uncaring of them, and Itachi blinked.
"And the Clan situation?" Jiraiya inquired, a calculating look in his eyes now, though his lips were curled down at the corners.
"Father stepped down today." The girl revealed, meeting Jiraiya's gaze, her own holding a weight Itachi didn't quite understand, but he understood the words just fine.
"Stepped down?" Jiraiya repeated, then whistled, seemingly impressed despite himself. "Never thought the bastard had it in him."
Then, as if remembering what a Clan Head stepping down would mean for the heiress of said Clan, he offered the girl a wry grin. "Congratulations."
The Hyuuga just nodded, not acknowledging the words verbally, then turned to Itachi, her eyes initially on the space between his eyebrows before she squared her shoulders and made herself meet his gaze, and Itachi felt the realization of preciselywhyhe remembered this particular Hyuuga slam into him.
You believe my will to be lacking?
Yes.
"Jiraiya." The word was out of his mouth before he had quite made the decision to speak, and to his credit, the Sannin understood immediately, straightening at once.
"Itachi." He returned, joking even now, as if unable to help himself, though he sobered quickly. "You wished to meet my informant. This is my informant."
"My brother's peer would have had no way of knowing what you have told me." Itachi said, not bothering to humour the man's antics.
But just as Jiraiya opened his mouth to reply, the Hyuuga cut in, her eyes still on Itachi's but her voice far colder as she addressed her words to the Sannin.
"And whathaveyou told him?" she asked, deceptively calm, holding eye-contact with Itachi for a split second longer before she turned her head to where Jiraiya was still sitting, her expression not just schooled now, but completely .
"Jiraiya-sama?"
Jiraiya looked between them for a moment, his eyes wide and disbelieving as his gaze jumped between Itachi and the Hyuuga, though Itachi knew not the reason for his shock.
"I gave him the design of Hatake's Mangekyo." Jiraiya replied, and the Hyuuga relaxed minutely, though Itachi wasn't certain Jiraiya noticed. "Itachi confirmed that the fake-Madara's Mangekyo matched it. He has since left the organisation and, to my understanding, urged Hoshigaki to do the same."
The girl absorbed that for a few seconds, then frowned, pinning the Sannin with a hard look. "And why amIhere?"
At that, Jiraiya sighed, melting against the uncomfortable stone bench once more as he waved vaguely towards Itachi. "Itachi's price for verifying the information was meeting my informant. That's you. Sorry, kid."
The Hyuuga just stared at Jiraiya for a few seconds, blank and unblinking, before she turned to Itachi once more.
"Uchiha-san." She began, her voice even emptier than her eyes. "What would you like to know?"
Privately, Itachi wondered how the girl could be so calm about his presence, but he shelved the thought.
"How did you know about Obito's Mangekyo pattern?" he asked, eyes trained on the girl's face, distantly grateful she remained in the patch of light granted by the oil lamp. "Hatake-senpai doesn't have his yet."
He saw the way the girl's eyebrow twitched at the title, but she didn't otherwise react to his words, merely meeting his question with one of her own:
"What are your intentions now that you know that it is not Uchiha Madara who is running the Akatsuki?"
Itachi blinked, not following the non-sequitur. "Why would my intentions matter?"
"Because the answer to your question is a personal matter that only Jiraiya-sama knows about." The girl replied matter-of-factly, still stubbornly holding eye-contact, though Itachi could see how much she wanted to look away. "I need to know whether I'd be in danger if I were to tell you."
If not for the state of his lungs, Itachi may have laughed at that.
"You are in danger just by being here." He pointed out bluntly, trying to make the girl remember the fact that he was an S-Rank criminal and her odd fearlessness was foolish at best.
But the Hyuuga just tilted her head, and though her next words sounded impertinent, Itachi had the oddest feeling that the question they held was genuine: "Am I?"
Though he'd been silent the last few minutes, Jiraiya made an aborted gesture at that which the girl missed entirely, then managed a strangled, 'Kid-don't-' before he seemed to decide against getting involved in their exchange altogether.
Good.
"How much do you know about the Massacre?" Itachi found himself asking, genuinely curious of the answer.
On one hand, the girl was young enough to have likely been spared the details in the immediate aftermath. On the other hand, she was a Hyuuga, and the Hyuuga heiress at that; Itachi wouldn't have been surprised if her father had told hersomethingdisparaging about their rival Clan.
But the girl surprised him – all she said was: "Enough to know the blame is not solely on your shoulders."
For a moment, Itachi held her gaze, then he closed his eyes and sighed, not for the first time despairing about the state of the Village he had once loved.
"The Sandaime is dead. So is Shimura. Jiraiya is the only one still alive who knows the full story." He murmured, opening his eyes once more and catching the girl's brief surprise at his directness. "I would say our situations are comparable."
The Hyuuga nodded slowly, but it seemed more to buy herself time than because she agreed.
"Perhaps." She allowed, then narrowed her eyes slightly and added, "But you have not answered about your intentions."
This time, Itachi wondered at that fearlessness. The girl didn't seem the arrogant type; if anything, she seemedtired. And while he had met shinobi who had become too tired to care whether they lived or died, Itachi hadn't expected to find one in Sasuke's generation.
"That's because my intentions depend on how you knew what you told Jiraiya." He told her flatly, and saw the exact moment the girl understood what he meant.
"Ah." She breathed, her gaze still on Itachi's, and for a few seconds, she held herself perfectly still. Then- "I knew because I had lived it before."
Itachi kept his expression carefully neutral once the meaning of the girl's words registered. His childish respect for Jiraiya had faded around the same time as his reverence for the Sandaime had; but Jiraiya had met with him when he'd asked, had given Itachi a way out of the Akatsuki, and had ensured Sasuke would be placed with Kakashi. For that alone, Itachi would lend him the benefit of the doubt and listen to the girl, even when every instinct was telling him that he was being lied to.
So he kept his expression neutral and voiced the first thought that came to mind that wasn't a vehement denial; "Fuinjutsu?"
"Sharingan, I believe." The Hyuuga corrected, then winced. "Although I was dying, s-so I cannot be sure."
Itachi studied the girl for a few seconds, trying to imagine a Sharingan powerful enough to send someone – if the girl was to be believed – back through time, and coming up short.
Then, he remembered the ghost-memory of the Tsukiyomi he'd trapped her in, remembered the girl alluding to something she'd called the 'Infinite Tsukiyomi' when she'd been breaking his Mangekyo's hold. He'd dismissed it as suicidal babble at the time, but perhaps- perhaps, if there was a technique that could be called theinfiniteTsukiyomi, then there was also a technique potent enough to do what the girl was implying.
"Reincarnated?" he hazarded, and the Hyuuga nodded slowly, her eyes intent on his reaction.
"I was the same person before, yes." She confirmed quietly, and Itachi absently wondered whether she'd been as willing to divulge this information when she'd explained it to Jiraiya.
"How old were you when you died?" he checked instead, wondering how much of the hypothetical future the girl might've seen.
"Twenty-two."
"And when you…returned?"
"Twelve."
Itachi startled, though he hoped it wasn't as obvious as it felt. The girl was Sasuke's peer, Sasuke's age. A Hyuuga, yes, but a child of peace-time, all the same. Jumping from genin to jounin in two years shouldn't have been possible. Unless-
"Did you also make jounin at fourteen before?" he asked, but the girl offered him a ghost of a smile, wry and humourless, and shook her head.
"I didn't make jounin at all."
"And Clan Head?" he pressed, and this time, the denial was even more pronounced, something sad flashing through the girl's eyes as she admitted; "I was disinherited after I graduated."
"Jiraiya is the only one who knew." Itachi repeated, more of the pieces slotting together in his mind. "Which means that you decided against sharing your knowledge of the future with others."
"Yes." The girl confirmed, and the lack of hesitation was…intriguing.
Almost as intriguing as the seal on the girl's forehead, and Itachi was starting to get an inkling of what the girl's motivations for such rapid rank advancement might have been. Or how she could've come to know Jiraiya well enough to blindly trust a summon to the Senju blood room.
"Was it worth it?" he asked instead, and the response was just as immediate.
"Yes."
"And what are your plans now?" Itachi asked, and here, the girl finally paused.
"I…don't know." She admitted slowly, sounding like it was the first time she'd allowed herself to say the words out loud. "I never thought I'd succeed."
She didn't sayor survive,but it was hanging in the air between them, and Itachi found himself grappling with the uncomfortable realisation that he was looking at the product of someone becoming consumed with only one goal.
He was looking at Sasuke's future, if Itachi didn't change tracks.
Regardless of whether she was telling the truth, that realisation, more than anything, led Itachi to the decision that it was high time he stopped keeping everything to himself. There were no gag-orders to stop him anymore, after all, and nobody left in the Village who could punish Sasuke for his indiscretions.
"My Clan had been planning a coup." He admitted quietly, and giving voice to the truth that had started his Clan's downfall felt like pushing a weight off his shoulders, for all that it also felt like he was spitting on their graves.
"They felt they were being sidelined in the Village, kept out of official proceedings, disrespected." He continued, noting that the girl had fallen silent, though her gaze never left his. "My cousin and I reported our worries to the Sandaime. Initially, the plan was to use my cousin's Sharingan on my father and some of the Elders."
Itachi took a breath, feeling the way it rattled wetly in his chest, though he refused to flinch.
"That plan was sabotaged by Shimura. After that, it was made clear to me that if I wanted to save the Village, I had to sacrifice my Clan." He smiled grimly at the girl, then finished with a dull; "The Sandaime didn't protest."
The Hyuuga waited a few seconds, and when she realised that Itachi wasn't going to say any more, she cleared her throat and took a steadying breath.
"I'm- so sorry." She managed, her eyes wider than before, but instead of the pity Itachi expected to see, he found anger. "Uchiha-san- that's horrifying."
Not knowing how to react to the words, Itachi looked away briefly and forged on to the real reason he'd told the girl the truth.
"Sasuke is the only family I have left." He said, meeting her gaze with his own flat one. "Tell me what the future brings for him."
"I cannot." The Hyuuga replied, back to her earlier blankness, though she continued before Itachi could protest. "His path has already diverged from what it was in my first life."
At his wordless question, the girl shook her head sadly. "Before, Sasuke defected not long after the first Chunin Exams to join Orochimaru. He…didn't much care for the Village, only for revenge."
Revenge.
"On me." Itachi finished dully, getting his confirmation when the girl cringed but didn't deny it. "And now?"
"He's still in the Village. I'm not- we're not…close, but he's still with his team, and if I remember correctly, he's doing an apprenticeship at T ." the Hyuuga replied, and Itachi carefully controlled his reaction to the news of his brother working at T , focusing on the more important divergence.
"And Orochimaru?" he pressed, wondering whether he'd been too merciful towards the Sannin when he'd joined the Akatsuki. "I know he led an Invasion on the Village."
The Hyuuga didn't quite shrug, but Itachi had the feeling that if she'd not been a Hyuuga, that would've been her response. "From what I know, he did try to take the Sharingan during their Chunin Exams, but Sasuke-san didn't have it back then."
Itachi turned to Jiraiya, his next words accusative. "You didn't tell me about Orochimaru."
The Sannin raised his hands defensively, but his earlier good humour had vanished. "I wasn't in the Village then!"
"If he tried once, he'll try again." Itachi realised, thinking out loud more than speaking to anyone else. He turned to the Hyuuga with a frown. "How big of a problem did Orochimaru pose in the future?"
For the first time since she stepped into the blood room, the girl winced openly.
"He…developed a technique to bring shinobi back from the dead and control them. His apprentice perfected it." She revealed, and Itachi was briefly taken aback by her candour, before he realised that the girl was probably taking the 'the enemy of my enemy is my friend' strategy. Itachi couldn't fault her for the logic. "It caused us a lot of trouble during the War."
War?Itachi wanted to ask but bit the question back, turning instead to the Sannin.
"Jiraiya." He called, and he didn't know what the man heard in his voice, but Jiraiya straightened, his attention visibly sharpening. "I will be going after your teammate. If you want to try and save him, the time is now."
A kaleidoscope of complicated emotions flashed across the Sannin's face before it settled on resignation, and he nodded to show he understood.
"Uchiha-san." The girl called, and when he turned his attention back to her, he found her already watching him, a matching frown pulling at her brows. When she saw she had his attention, she seemed to mull something over, but eventually, what came out of her mouth was: "You don't have to spend your whole life as a tool for others."
Itachi barely restrained a dismissive scoff, tilting his head instead.
"And what other options do I have?" he asked rhetorically, and when the girl's frown didn't fade, he added, "I am a wanted criminal."
"Did you receive orders?" the Hyuuga asked, and from the corner of his eye, Itachi saw Jiraiya freeze. "For- from the Sandaime? Was it a mission?"
Though she didn't seem to be able to bring herself to say the word 'Massacre', Itachi understood what she was alluding to just fine.
"It was a sanctioned operation." He replied, not sure how else to explain the ROOT agents whose job it had been to make sure Itachi saw everything through.
"Then there are documents, no?" the Hyuuga pressed, and Itachi stilled, narrowing his eyes at the girl.
"What are you implying?" he asked sharply, but the Hyuuga didn't back down.
"The Sandaime is dead. So is Elder Shimura." She said bluntly, either not noticing or ignoring the way Jiraiya flinched. "And Tsunade-sama is a fair kage. If you wanted to return to the Village, you could request a trial."
"A trial." He echoed, his tone flat, but even he could hear the edge of incredulity in the word as he stared at the girl, wondering whether he'd heard her right. "You are assuming your comrades would not try to kill me on sight."
The Hyuuga met his gaze unflinchingly, not backing down. "If Jiraiya-sama explained your situation to the Godaime, they would not be allowed to."
Itachi wondered at the choice to address him instead of Jiraiya, though perhaps the fact that the Sannin had been all-but frozen since the Hyuuga had first asked whether Itachi had received orders had something to do with it.
"I have fought countless Konoha-nin over the last seven years." Itachi pointed out. "None of the Clan Heads would support me."
Yet again, the Hyuuga didn't hesitate.
"I would." She said simply. "And so would the Nara."
Itachi paused at that, finding the surety with which the girl mentioned the Nara Clan curious, though it took a few seconds for the Hyuuga to realise her misstep and flush.
"And the Inuzuka, Aburame, Akimichi, and Yamanaka." She added hastily, and Itachi could see the logic – the inter-Clan alliances between the six Clans she listed weren't exactly secret, though her slip-up about the unusually close relationship between theHyuugaand the Nara was curious. Still-
"You can't promise that."
Again, that same half-irreverent, half-genuine tone: "And if I could?"
And Itachi found himself frowning, more out of genuine confusion than suspicion this time. "I would ask why."
At that, the girl's shoulders loosened slightly, and it was only then that Itachi realised how tense she'd grown over the last few minutes.
"I know someone who was convinced that his only purpose in life was to be a tool. I don't wish that on others." She explained simply, a curl of fondness in her voice. "But, beyond that? Because you do not deserve to die a villain when all you have done is serve your Village."
There was no denying the way Jiraiya twitched at the girl's words, though Itachi found it curious that the man allowed for them to be voiced.
"They are beautiful words, and I thank you for them." Itachi murmured, wondering whether once upon a time he would've been able to offer the Hyuuga a smile. "But I am dying anyway. And fast."
The girl blinked, the stubborn shift to her brows shifting to one of confusion, and Itachi found himself answering the wordless question before he could second-guess himself.
"I have degenerative lung disease. I have maybe two, three years left."
At that, Jiraiya finally unfroze, turning his head towards Itachi almost mechanically, his voice distant and the words quiet when he muttered; "You didn't tell me that."
Not quite knowing what to say, Itachi merely inclined his head and focused back on the Hyuuga, curious what the girl would have to say.
"Tsunade-sama is the best medic in the Elemental Nations." She pointed out, and Itachi didn't bother biting back the sigh that escaped him at the girl's stubbornness.
"Hyuuga-san." He breathed, realising that the girl wasn't about to state her reasoning outright unless he pressed. "What do youwant?"
Because there was no reason for her to even contemplate Itachi getting a trial unless she wanted something from him, and Itachi was more than ready to find out what that was.
The Hyuuga studied him for a beat, her expression blank once more, and her voice, when she spoke, was quiet but sure, each word carefully measured.
"I want you as an ally." The girl announced, an unexpected intensity in her eyes. "At the b-beginning, I didn't allow myself to think about the War, or the Akatsuki, or Madara. My priorities were altogether smaller, focused on the things I could actually change, on people who deserved better."
"Penance." Itachi mused, noting the odd weight behind the girl's words, and though the Hyuuga didn't confirm his summary, she also didn't deny it. "And now that you achieved those goals?"
"It- I was made jounintwelve hours ago. I haven't had the time to think about that yet." The girl sighed, sounding exhausted in a way Itachi was intimately familiar with. "But I know that- forgive my bluntness, but the best way to fight a Sharingan is with another Sharingan."
Itachi felt the ghost of a smile pull at his lips at the ruthless practicality, but he found that he couldn't disagree.
"My current mission is to kill Orochimaru." He revealed, having set his sights on a target that was both achievable and useful not long after the Hyuuga had revealed Orochimaru wasstillafter the Sharingan.
Still, the girl had given him something to think about, had offered an avenue Itachi hadn't even dared to consider, much less entertain, so-
"I will have my crows find you a month from today. If you can find documents that would clear my name, I will be in your debt." He added quietly, offering the Hyuuga a measured look. "And if not, then I will die soon regardless."
After a beat of silence passed between them, he tilted his head. "Do we have an accord?"
"Uchiha-san-" the Hyuuga began, watching him intently, and Itachi had the oddest impression that she'd started speaking before she'd quite made her mind up, "Orochimaru's apprentice is called Kabuto. If you manage to eliminate him as well, then there will be no debt between us."
Itachi felt his lip twitch, but all he did was nod sharply. "Understood."
"I am starting to see why Tsunade wanted you as far away from politics as possible." Jiraiya finally muttered, and there was something in his voice that made Itachi eye him contemplatively.
Could striking deals with criminals be considered 'politics'? Luckily, Jiraiya spoke up again, drawing Itachi's attention away from the odd jab.
"For Orochimaru-" the Sannin began, smiling crookedly, though Itachi could see little humour in the expression, "even I can acknowledge that it's too late to save him. But will you let me warn him?"
Itachi fought the reflex to scoff at the useless sentiment.
"It will not change the result." He warned flatly, simply because he did not see the point in giving the man false hope, but Jiraiya flinched.
"Kami." The Sannin sighed, glancing between Itachi and the Hyuuga who had nodded at his warning, his expression bordering on horrified. "I shouldnothave introduced you two."
Outwardly, Itachi only blinked, saying nothing.
Inwardly, however, he agreed, even if not for the reasons the Sannin had likely intended.
It was never a good idea to give the doomed hope.