"Frankly, the Sharingan makes the Uchiha unstable, and even if we have success or not in our primary and secondary aims, letting him go to eventually resurrect your clan is a potential danger to the Elemental Nations.
Also, given his Eternal Mangeyko and our future needs, he'd be dead useful, and he'd get to learn very quickly from the best with his fancy eyes, making him stronger and thusly safer, which is the warped logic that brought you to push him as hard as you did..."
...
Itachi couldn't deny the second half of Daiki's statement, even if the weight of 'your clan is a danger' hovered above the two with a surprising heaviness: "How do you plan to recruit him?"
"With the full truth." the laconic answer felt like a stab wound to the gut, but it wasn't the worst of it: "Also, I've worked with Tobirama on a variation of the Caged Bird Seal: I have no intention of letting to anyone the opportunity to steal away yours or Sasuke's Eternal Mangeyko Sharingan."
And just like that, the partial peace that had been found in the deep unconsciousness necessary for the surgery abandoned Itachi Uchiha, only to leave behind a familiar, unwavering determination.
...
In a dimly lit room under Konohagakure no Sato, a man sat at a desk with a heavy frown, pristine white bandages covering half of his face while even the x-shaped scar on his chin trembled at the sanguine quirk of his lips.
"Repeat the report." the order was delivered with the toneless inflection of uncaring steel, and the white-masked shinobi kneeling in front of him fractionally lowered his head even more.
The answer was given in a flat droning voice that carried no worry nor joy about the news it conveyed, only care about the facts that were being stated.
"The Godaime Hokage met the Yondaime Raikage on the field of battle and as a consequence, the Unruly A is left without one functioning leg, while the Legendary Sucker is in a coma that her apprentice swears is a healing trance."
Turning his head towards the other kneeling ninja in the shadow, the apparently one-eyed man spoke once more: "It's confirmed?"
"The missing-nin Daiki and Itachi Uchiha have killed Jiraya and taken the Kyubi Jinchuriki." the news had been sung across the Elemental Nations just before A's decision to rush across Taki towards Hi no Kuni, coupled with a plethora of conflicting details.
That is a deliberate act. Danzo was experienced beyond what any other Kage currently alive could hope to conceive: he understood deeply and saw further.
For decades, he had kept hidden in his role as the Shadow of the God of Sinobi, Sarutobi Hiruzen, and with his mentality, he was perfectly suited to notice what others would have only dismissed as a coincidence.
The Fourth Ninja War had until recently brought a plethora of successes to Konoha, and even the recent assault on Kumo was confirmed as successful despite the still unconfirmed list of fallen leaf-nin.
Kaminari no Kuni was crippled, Iwa too weak under the rule of Onoki's successor to represent a threat -even if their two jinchuriki would need to be acquired sooner rather than later-, while the newly minted Kazekage lacked both the clout and the might to stand up to his title, not to mention the quaking mess that was Kiri, despite the effective leading skills of Mei Terumi.
The Seven Swordsmen of the Mist were being instated once more, even if not all the blades were accounted for, while none of the minor villages had suddenly presented a single character worthy of Danzo's full focus.
Once more, his lone dark eye landed on the many papers neatly organized on his desk, and he took in the less urgent reports about the missing Jinchuriki across the entirety of all the Elemental Nations.
The reports were jarring: Danzo didn't doubt them, after all, he had forged the network of undercover agents spamming across the entirety of the Elemental Nations in the course of decades, and wavering now wouldn't help him save Konoha, still, even while his next moves would simply be the enactment of a plan that had been in the works for decades, he should still cover the apparently meaningless basis.
After all, war was perfect for generating a plethora of potential Root-recruits, and while the numbers of the organizations would undoubtedly take a dive with the orders he was about to deliver, he'd soon recover.
"Send these missives to Koharu and Homura." two sealed scrolls were quickly handled towards the nearest white-masked shinobi, and another order was delivered to the next kunoichi.
Daiki had proved himself to be far too well informed for it to be comfortable, and far too dangerous to be faced openly: but he had also been observed before in the company of an Uzumaki, and he had suspiciously appeared right as his plan to lead that kunoichi into the arms of Jiraya and the Kyubi vessel was about to be completed.
S-rank shinobi liked to think they were untouchable if not met by an equal force on the battlefield, and they were all wrong. Instead of the assassination of Konoha's last missing-nin, Danzo would simply need to acquire the opportune leverage: "Capture Uzumaki Karin alive, crippling is allowed."
Without a sound, the Root operative disappeared from the premises.
...
( March 1st, 15 years After the Kyubi Attack )
Sasuke had awoken in an unfamiliar place, within a body that he recognized as his own while he felt it filled of a chakra that couldn't possibly be his: yet it answered with the smooth grace that his own life force had been cultivated to.
Endless exercise had brought its fruits long before the beginning of the last Shinobi War, and the uninterrupted stream of battles had only brought it to a more refined level.
The unfamiliarity of the environment had done nothing to quench his self-hate, the unending pit of guilt that clawed at his heart with a soul-deep hunger.
The Last Uchiha had awoken into a familiar body, with an unfamiliar chakra, in an unknown place, with only one known presence sitting in a relaxed posture in front of him.
Ino is safe and sound with the Konoha forces, you didn't harm an hair on her pretty head.
Those were the first words that had left Daiki's mouth: under the unfamiliar sun that shone unmercifully above them, his blue armor had glinted along with his unblinking eyes, and Sasuke.
While disbelieving, had been forced to reconcile the truth that he recognized falling from the older shinobi's lips with the memories of... of... The wet lurch of bones crumbling within the torn lungs of the victim, the sizzle of boiling blood, the cried out *gasp* that was to be the last sound those lips would ever utter...
"It was necessary for you to truly feel that anguish, that guilt, that hurt." Daiki wasn't apologetic as he spoke, but there was a genuine sorrow on his features, something that the Last Uchiha hadn't needed his Sharingan to verify.
He wanted to doubt it, and the 'why?' had slipped by his lips before he could recall it, and he loathed the answer he received. That he was unwilling to believe.
Yet, Sasuke's chakra had never been so powerful: where he before could command waves of molten fury barely restrained, he now directed an icy river of refined purpose, and he felt as a secondary instinct those 'special skills' that Daiki had mentioned.
Like activating his Sharingan, the further abilities of the Mangeyko were there, asleep, but ready to awaken in a moment of true need.
Then of course, Daiki had to steal the ground from under his feet just as he was coming to terms with the possibility that what he had been told had been the truth: Itachi did what he did to save the entirety of Konoha, to prevent the Fourth Great Ninja War from being sparked by the civil war your father was blindingly aiming for, and to save your life.
Sasuke had almost attacked the S-rank shinobi without thinking.
Then those two had appeared, and they were impossible to be mistaken: after all, he had grown up with their faces watching over every action he could ever think of.
Tobirama and Hashirama Senju were as different in personality and looks as they were identical in their love for Konoha, the first was furious about the implications of what had happened to the Uchiha while the latter was so sorrowful that even the sun felt dimmer, the rustle of the nearby outcropping of trees muted, as if in mourning.
With the first and second Hokage kept under the unmerciful scrutiny of the Sharingan, Daiki had proceeded to spin a tale of betrayal that stemmed many years before either of them was born: and to the newly discovered might of his eyes, the Last Uchiha had known that he was being told the truth.
Itachi killed your clan to prevent a coup.
The truth was as unforgiving as the edge of a blade, and it was cutting up Sasuke from the inside.
The coup would have sparked civil war despite its success or failure.
Sasuke could feel the heaviness of those statements puncture the relief born from believing in Ino's wellbeing.
So soon after the war, Konoha would have been picked apart by the other Great Four.
He could see the chain of events unfold exactly as it was being projected: and it was further availed by the weighty gazes of Tobirama and Hashirama Senju, the latter of whom had bowed deeply, fat tears falling from his war eyes as he independently assumed that the failures of those born after him where his to shoulder because he had been unable to properly transmit the Will of Fire.
And then, it had come the harshest, most terrible truth of them all: Even then, Itachi could not bring himself to kill you, and so he made sure you'd be driven enough to achieve greatness, and he planned since then to die at your hand, so that you could lead a rebirth of the Uchiha, free from the guilts and stains of the past.
Once those truths had been revealed, the two resurrected Hokage had retreated from the premises, leaving Konoha's most recent missing-nin alone with the infamous Last Uchiha.
...
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