Chapter Text
Shisui was dead.
Itachi was alone.
Their plan had failed.
The last of their - no, his, he corrected - time for stalling was slipping away.
The flames of war were rekindling, all the smouldering they'd done soon to be for nothing.
Striking greys and vibrant reds lingered in the back of Itachi's young mind, hands folded behind his back as he paced. His fingers interlocked tightly, fantom smoke filling his lungs as his lips pressed together in thought.
The ashes of their dead would rest heavily on the ground of the people they had once sworn alliance to, their former friends and enemies alike readily bringing a sword to their throat at the call of the leaders. Bodies upon bodies would fill the village's land likewise, blood drawn by the very clan that had protected them from disasters both natural and man-made for so long.
He would awake one day to find both Kakashi and Tenzo on the opposing side - ready to strike him down for their home just as he was ready to strike them down for his. History would repeat itself, the bonds he'd finally managed to form after so much difficulty leading his teammates to a premature death.
If he were to try to avoid this inevitable fate - siding with his fellow villagers and the higher-ups that had both blessed and cursed him a thousand times over throughout the years - he would be forced to come face to face with the ones he was blood-bound to protect.
Would he be able to do it? Could he fathom the thought of running the woman who loved him so very much through with a sword she'd trained him to use, of watching his little brother's eyes fill with cold terror at the sight of his father and brother tearing each other apart over differing views on how to best keep him safe?
Would he one day be able to explain to Sasuke the struggle of a mother wolf either standing to fight among her pack and hoping the frail baby would make it to the end or leading the hunters to their den as proof of her and the cub's domestication? Of having to choose between the immeasurable pain of risking her young's death and the ever-restricting collar the hunters had slipped on her when she was too young to know any better falling onto its throat next?
How would he explain the suffocation and comfort that came forth from being collared for so long? The feeling of relief and bareness that came at the thought of it being removed?
Could he explain to the boy that it was possible to both shrink away from the dangers of the outside and feel the urge to hide from a foul-mooded hunter storming through the safety of the house?
Itachi paused in his pacing, a hand raising the rub his sore eyes. Kakashi had really begun to get to him with his canin analogies, hadn't he?
The world around him refocused as he shook his head, continuing on with his restless pacing.
Regardless of which side he picked, his little brother would soon see war. He would see the horrors Itachi had worked so hard to destroy - to purge from this world for him. Sasuke would see his family covered in blood; of both their own and others. He would lose his home, if not his life.
No.
Itachi couldn't let such a thing happen. He refused to lose his brother. He refused to let the world take him; not now, not so long as Itachi was around to stop it. Sasuke had only recently lost his first tooth. He'd just barely started the academy. He still huffed and sulked, whining at each small upset as though being forced to eat at least half his natto before leaving the table was the greatest grievance he would ever face.
If only that were the case. Itachi would gladly trade away whatever it took to keep Sasuke's childhood innocence intact, protected from the world that seemed ready to shred it at a moment's notice. Unfortunately, he wasn't so sure there was anything left for him to offer up anymore. With each attempt to keep him protected, the world only came down harder in turn; as if making a point to refuse his request.
Itachi wanted to protect his brother. At the very least, he refused to let the boy perish so long as there was breath in his lungs and blood in his heart.
Even if this meant he would have to allow him to feel the pain Itachi had tried so hard to shield him from. It was only a matter of figuring out what would hurt the boy less while simultaneously promising his safety - the village or the clan?
The village or the clan...
Itachi eyes closed, the boy blinking hard before reopening them.
He was getting worked up, which was not something he could allow. He paused again, tilting his head up towards the ceiling as he studied it.
His cousin was dead.
That didn't mean his dear younger brother had to be too.
Despite the burning in his eyes and the hollowed feeling in his chest, he steadied himself, refusing to think too much about whether the pains were physical or manifested by his throbbing heart.
Itachi did not have time to ache.
He was a shinobi, and his allies needed him now. Sasuke, his kinsmen, the village - all of them did. The question of who to side with and how to inflict the least amount of hurt was forced to the back of his mind as he straightened his back, steadying himself.
Shisui was dead. The clan would more likely than not find his body soon. For now, Itachi needed to make sure his involvement in the case was limited as to not draw out any questions of why they were out there in the first place. Once he was past the clan's radar, he could focus on doing damage control with the village. He needed to figure out exactly how strongly both sides would react to a key pawn being lost. Then he could work to figure out how to ease tensions. He was sure he could, even if he had to deal with the three spirits staring him down from across the room no matter how he tried to ignore them.
Their presence did not matter. He could stop this war from starting himself, whether they decided to make that more difficult or not with their refusal to leave and insistence on watching him - as if staring him down would make him break and loop them into the issue at hand. Shisui had trusted that he could do it. He would, and he'd do it without risking Sasuke's life by letting the three most biased shinobi in all of the afterlife know about the oncoming coup.
He had things completely under control. He just needed to work on his alibi and hopefully deter the unwelcomed guests from interfering. Even if it did make the young ravenet's stomach turn to so blatantly disrespect the former leaders and founders of his home, he unfortunately had bigger things to worry about.
For example, it was more than a little difficult to explain why, out of the two people missing from the Uchiha clan meeting, one had taken his final goodbye in the Naka river without warning and the other happened to have returned from his mission early.
He supposed he could claim he was out on his mission at the time of death, though it was a poor excuse if he'd ever heard one. Itachi may not have worked in the police force himself, but he was still surrounded by those who did along with his work in the ANBU. To use his mission as an excuse was borderline cliche at this point, the alibi having been used time and time again by those who were under investigation.
The village's confirmation of an assigned mission meant little if there were no teammates to back up the fact that they had indeed gone at the claimed time rather than earlier or later. Though, Itachi supposed as his hand slid from its spot on the upper half of his face down to his mouth, he supposed he could still make it work if he twisted the events enough.
It should have taken him a good day or two to complete the mission. It would have been impossible for him to have done it earlier as it was only assigned yesterday as an emergency task, and it was even more impossible for it to have been done today with enough time for him to murder his cousin and stage a suicide. Perhaps he could claim he had done it today and only just gotten back home right before the first people to return to the house did - after all, if nothing else, Danzo still needed him.
Itachi may not be in any position to let the hate he felt for the man bubble up past the surface, but neither was Danzo in the position to cast away their final pipeline. Itachi had to cooperate for now, but so did he. Which meant the man would not be reckless enough to let his valuable piece fall under suspicion. If asked, the pre-teen did not doubt Danzo would confirm the completion of the mission out of sheer necessity.
Not to mention the fact there would be warning for both of them if it came to that, investigation-wise. After all, as an ANBU member, the police force would need to jump through a few extra hoops to so much as arrest him. This was something he was more than willing to take advantage of if need be.
"Is this really what you do all day?" Hashirama's voice rang from his spot on the floor, the surprisingly informal spirit lying on his stomach as he continued to watch Itachi carefully. His dark eyes trailed after the boy, brown hair pooling over his broad shoulders.
The young ANBU member didn't bother looking over towards him, his voice low as mused in a strained yet polite tone while allowing his hands to fall back to his sides, "It is. If it bores you, please, feel free to leave me be and return to the purelands. You have my apologies once again for awakening you."
Itachi was more disappointed than he'd like to admit when Hashirama stubbornly shook his head, sitting up a bit to sit crisscrossed on his floor while eyeing the boy. "Mm, no, I'm afraid you and I both know that isn't going to be happening anytime soon." head tilting to the side with a light sigh as Itachi finally looked towards him with nothing more than a flat look. "The world has brought us here for a reason, I believe. Surely fate would not waste its time allowing for something as large as the borders of life and death to cross if it was to simply be ignored."
"Besides. I'd say you have plenty to do besides circling your room for hours on end." the second had apparently decided it was his turn to have a go at it, much to Itachi's dismay. Itachi was enough of a history buff to know that the silver-haired shinobi hardly had a high opinion of their clan. Which was why he wasn't too surprised when the next words filed out of his mouth. "For example, reporting the boy's death to the police. Turn yourself in and save them some work." he all but ordered. Oh, if only it could be that easy.
"Now, now." his godfather seemed to try to deescalate the elder's biting tone, "I'm sure there's an explanation for this." Itachi didn't have to look from his spot beside his desk to know that the blond had turned to him - the young Uchiha's eyes stubbornly inspecting the floor below.
"Itachi, I know you're shaken up right now, but pretending you weren't there will do more harm than good. Was it an accident? Did he fall?"
Itachi, for all his usual poise, was unable to keep the agitation from his voice. "You know just as well as I do that any half-decent shinobi could have caught themselves on that cliff."
He frowned heavily, sighing lightly as he saw the disappointed look on the man's face. Itachi strolled over to his door, peeking out it briefly.
Mother was still out shopping with Sasuke and father was at work. Good.
They were already suspicious that he was hiding something, he didn't need them to think he was crazy too.
Maybe he was crazy. Was Shisui's death the last straw? Was he seeing things now? Had his mind finally slipped away for good?
Fingers gripping the door frame as he stared into the hallway, the young Uchiha internally grimaced. He couldn't afford to question his mental state right now. There was too much to do. He was the clan and village's final hope to escape a civil war.
A trembling cold ran through his spine like electricity, a numbing sensation so strong it almost burned overtaking his back. "Itachi, you're clearly a shinobi. There shouldn't be a reason to hide a kill within Konoha walls unless it was a kill you weren't supposed to make." Hashirama's words were strangely firm and coaxing at the same time, the brunet's spirit having gone behind him at some point.
"It was a suicide." the hollow words left his mouth as he turned to look at him, betraying the drowning feeling in his chest. "I didn't kill him and he didn't fall on accident."
Itachi wasn't sure if the swimming in his head was from the day's events or the hand on his back, which he was sure was intended to be supporting. Tobirama's expression tightened as the man moved to stand across from Itachi, arms crossed. "Then why are you not reporting the body? And why did you take one of his eyes?"
"It's...complicated. He gave me his eye." blinking heavier than he should have as he tried to think straight. There was a pounding behind his eyes. This wasn't right. He needed to stay calm. Even if Danzo...even if Shisui...even if he was the only one...if the sharingan...if he was seeing ghosts or it felt like his body was hot and cold--