#1250k

Itachi had made his peace with living a hateful and dreaded life and dying in the same way. He had prepared for his cherished little brother to grow up bitter and resentful, to hunt him down as some sort of mythified boogie man guilty of all the wrongs in his life. He had prepared for Sasuke to hate him with such violence that when they finally fought each other he’d see red -pun fully intended- and kill him, finally freeing him from existing merely as the shadow of a the man he could have been had a grudge older than his bones not have been placed on his shoulders.

Itachi, however, had very much not prepared for his brother to love him. After all, although he loved Sasuke very much, with every lasting fiber of his decaying heart, he did not find anything remotely lovely about himself. Thereof, the possibility that his brother saw him not as the nightmare that had stole everything from him but as one of the things that had been stolen never truly crossed his mind. Thankfully to all of us, it not only crossed Sasuke’s but stayed and nested there.

Sasuke assures, to this day, that tracing the leads back to Danzo Shimura had been easy. Now, those who know him know this is merely a brag and for years the last Uchiha wandered the streets of Konoha from library to library looking for something, anything, that meant he got to have his brother back. Most of you know that wishing very very much for something to happen is not a guarantee for results; but I hope you know too that when someone pays too close attention and asks too many questions about a shady government that is somehow hanging on the small thread of people blaming others for their wrongdoings, said shady government is bound to eventually pay attention to you.

Danzo’s mistake was not questioning his extreme good luck. Call it ego, being full of himself, having the absurd idea that anyone actually liked him or being a dumb ass; that artistic decision matters little to our story. It was so perfectly ironic and made so much narrative sense in the fantasy world where he was the hero, that he never questioned Sasuke joining root. He never questioned his hate, of course Sasuke would hate the person that murdered his family; or his motivations, why wouldn’t Sasuke want to kill Itachi who had sent his life spiraling down a void of rage and dread? So he took him in. Not officially, of course. Konoha’s people weren’t stupid enough that Danzo could just recruit a missing nin to his personal army without at least someone wondering what the actual fuck. But he took him in. Nothing better to kill an Uchiha than another Uchiha, after all. And thereof Sasuke kept living with Orochimaru, his student for all intended purposes, and he started spying for Danzo. And unknowingly to him, spying Danzo himself.

While Orochimaru cannot be credited for the love Itachi managed to inspire in his brother’s heart, or for Sasuke choosing to nurture that love instead of turning to the wrath and bitterness his clan was known for; he can very much be credited with staging the whole teatrical uprising that followed. He started small, a few root missions going just slightly awry in slightly public places that got the people talking. Then archives and scrolls started to be accidentally misplaced and unsealed and carelessly dropped in the houses of the most prominent clan heads. Of course, he dropped by Tsunade’s himself to catch her up to speed over tea. After all, when they were done there would be a lot for her to sort out. To top it all off, a series of absurdly stupid mistakes that served no real purpose besides riling Danzo up so he jumped after Sasuke guided by blind anger instead of his carefully constructed plans.

     +.  The end developed swiftly like the conclusion of any well written novel. Cohesive and foreshadowed and nearly set in stone. Itachi waited for his brother’s blade and fire as he waited for death and thereof didn’t escape when he sensed Sasuke close. Sasuke didn’t look back, quite simply because he was not going that way. Danzo, like any self-respecting villain, believed all his minions were clearly idiotic and he had to do everything himself. He didn’t prepare for poison, because the Uchiha don’t usually use it. He didn’t prepare for the Anbu to close his retreat, because he thought Tsunade Senju was but a puppet he could play with. He had prepared for fire, Sasuke’s. Not Itachi’s trying to protect his brother. Certainly not both at once. Sasuke was ready with a chidori in hand when his moment came. Steady, firm as the only thing he had ever been sure of in his life. He never questioned his hate, of course Sasuke would hate the person that murdered his family; or his motivations, why wouldn’t Sasuke want to kill Danzo who had sent his life spiraling down a void of rage and dread? Who arranged the murder of his whole family when they became inconvenient. Who ruined his brother’s life, hopes and reputation. Who left the closest thing Sasuke had to a friend, orphaned, hungry and hated. He striked true. A handful of thunderbolts straight to Danzo’s heart. Not a sharingan grand technique because that piece of shit didn’t deserve one.

So we could say there was some truth in all of those rumors, after all. Sasuke Uchiha did arrive to Konoha shrouded in darkness, as Danzo taught him for their meetings. And he left blade drawn and eyes illuminated by lightning, chased by the few root agents that hadn’t already been killed by either Danzo or Orochimaru or uncovered and incapacitated by Tsunade. Later that night, he came back, flying as if carried by a murder of crows so black they made the night sky around them seem light. On one hand he dragged Danzo’s quickly crumbling corpse. The other he held firmly to his brother’s arm, both holding him steady and making sure he didn’t leave again.