#then he joins the Akatsuki and he becomes friends with Itachi and sees up-close his slow deterioration

[ladykissingfish]

*Itachi in Sasori’s lab, getting his weekly blood transfusion and breathing treatment*

Sasori, checking the IV bag: Mm, this is almost empty. Now remember, when you leave here you’re to go straight to bed and rest. No strenuous activity for the next twenty-four hours. Understood?

Itachi, temporarily removing the oxygen mask from over his mouth and nose: I understand. Thank you, Sasori-san.

Sasori: Mm. *sits down across from him* You know, it’s simply fascinating to me how long you’ve managed to keep yourself alive. With your immune system being as weak as it is and you catching every little thing that comes your way. Ah, but, I suppose that’s the trademark characteristic of diseases: unpredictability.

Itachi: *nods*

Sasori: Itachi, have you given any thought at all to my proposition? I really do believe you would benefit greatly from the puppet transformation. Your core self would be there, your thoughts and personality, but your body would be better, stronger, indestructible. No more blood transfusions, no breathing treatments, no having to take dozens of pills each day just to be able to function. No more pain.

Itachi: *sighs before leaning over and switching off the breathing machine, and removing the mask*

Itachi: I appreciate your thoughtfulness in trying to help me, Sasori-san. But no matter the consequences, I’d prefer to stay in my human body. But there is one thing I’d like to ask of you. Of all of you.

Sasori: What is it?

Itachi: When … when my time comes, please, be there for Kisame. I think my death will be hard on him, and I don’t want him rushing after me, you know? He’ll fare better with people around him, so he doesn’t feel quite so alone. 

Sasori: *smiles and gently pats Itachi’s shoulder* Of course; put your mind at ease about that. 

Sasori: *gets up and disconnects the now-empty chair IV bag, removing the needle from Itachi’s arm*

Sasori: Alright, you can go now. Remember what I said about resting.

Itachi: *pauses, hugs Sasori, and then walks out*

*Sasori spends some time cleaning and sterilizing the area, before Deidara walks in*

Deidara: Oi, Danna, you done with Uchiha yet? I thought we could —

Sasori: *turns around, puts both arms around Deidara, and holds him close*

Deidara, startled: D-Danna! What —

Sasori: *puts his head on Deidara’s chest* Let me listen to your heart for a few moments, please. I need to.

Deidara: *gently runs his fingers through Sasori’s hair* Go ahead, Danna.

*the two stand quietly for a few minutes*

Sasori, softly: He’s so young. He’s so very young, Dei.  He’s your age. I can’t imagine, I literally can’t imagine, if you … if you were to …

Deidara: It’s okay, Sasori. I know, it’s sad, hm. But it’s his choice. I don’t like him but I respect his choices. 

Sasori: I know. *lifts his head and puts his hands on Deidara’s face, pulling him into a kiss*  It’s a beautiful night. Let’s go for a walk. We can talk about the future.

Deidara, blushing: The future like, us getting married?

Sasori: *takes Deidara’s hand* Perhaps. OR we can discuss me turning you into a puppet before our next anniversary … it’d be a great gift for both you and me!

Deidara: 

[hellcifrogs]

Can we get some story stuff from your sannin swap au v2? I have literally not found anything with that in Tumblr yet and I doubt I can find anything outside it.

Okay okay, the ideas I had were all mostly separated so let me try and put it all into one plot line lol ->

Sakura is taken by Orochimaru as a child, he notices her skills with chakra control, strategies and her great memory sometime early in the academy, maybe spying around the village. Naruto and Sasuke still get put on team 7 - I could add Sai here just because :) - and the rest of the story goes on basically the same way.

Orochimaru could still try to get Sasuke during the chunin exams, but it wouldn't make any difference really. Once Naruto and Jiraya get Tsunade to be the new hokage she decided to train Naruto herself - being part Uzumaki like his mom and hokage like his dad, and realizing Hiruzen didn't do a good job with Naruto.

Meanwhile Sasuke is still frustrated with Naruto's improvement and his lack of powers, so Kakashi asks Jiraya to take him for a bit too - being his master's master's master lol. So Jiraya takes Sasuke with him to travel, which is also a good excuse to keep him away from Orochimaru and the dangers konoha presents to him as an Uchiha.

Shippuden time ->

Sakura is still training/working with Orochimaru, but she knows her time is close and he'll try to take her body anytime now so she plans to kill him and has been gathering info to get back to her family.

Naruto is already Tsunade's new right hand man, giving Shizune a break - She can go on missions with Sai and Kakashi. And has a growing popularity around the village, some people still don't like or trust him and Danzo is still somewhere around plotting, but Naru and Tsunade are already thinking of ways to get rid of him, though they don't know all of his crimes yet.

Sasuke returns to the village :D the story again goes as before. Naruto, Sasuke and Sai going on missions, briefly meet Sakura in the hideouts. After killing Orochimaru, Sakura joins the Akatsuki with team Taka (I give in, she goes after them :') she doesn't take Zabuza's sword for Suigetsu though, she already knew about Juugo from Kimimaro and meets Karin for the first time, the two had only just heard about each other - Karin is the one who cuts her hair, and they slowly become friends)

[I want to add more here, maybe have Sakura involved in the fight against Jiraya and, because she's trying to find info about Konoha, she saves him/doesn't let him die]

Sasuke finally finds Itachi to kill him, Jiraya had tried to convince him to give up on that, but only got him to slow down on the revenge thing, Naruto and Sai also tried to stop him, but in the end they decide to go with him to make sure he's okay. Sakura is also there looking for information on Tobi/Madara. She sees some of the fight and falls a little for Sasuke, but mostly she's very touched by team 7's friendship.

Sakura takes this chance to finally go back to konoha with them.

She becomes a spy in the Akatsuki and thanks to her Tsunade is ready for Pein's attack. Tsunade and Jiraya agree to teach Naruto the toad sage mode, because Jiraya is still Naruto's godfather and owes him a little more than just the rasengan. 

[A little more I'm not sure about lol]

The war doesn't really happen, since it's basically just the Zetsus, because Sakura also killed Kabuto, not trusting him to be left alone with Orochimaru's labs (wise), and Tobi against all the nations, the incredibly over powered team 7 and no Madara :)

This AU could take a little more time AFTER the war to get Sakura finding her family, team Taka being accepted by konoha 12 friends, Naruto closer and closer to becoming hokage and Sasuke finally rebuilding the clan reputation.

Team 7 becomes the pride of the village. The future Hokage, Sasuke the Uchiha hero and Sai who finally brought down Danzo.

[turtledealer]

~🦇 I've dug two graves for us my dear 🦇~

Itachi x f!reader

~summary~

After killing the entire Uchiha clan, itachi becomes a rogue ninja, joining the Akatsuki. But what about you? His childhood best friend who just so happened to be away on a mission in the cloud. What happens now?

•contents: drug related topics, possible suggestive themes, mentions of sh and/or trauma and all of that fun stuff. Possible OOC.

You look around, heart sinking with every step. "Who...did this.." you whisper quietly, as not to disturb the lovely flower lady you frequented who lays there in eternal slumber. You just hope such a sweet soul such as hers is able to permanently grow her beautiful bouquets in whatever afterlife she's received.

You continue on your way, absolutely sick to your stomach. Being a ninja, blood and guts are no surprise. But this.. is a completely different matter. Your whole clan. No sign that a single person is alive. Children, women, men. They all put up a fight but it wasn't enough.

Tears are streaming down your face at this point. The children who always ran around giggling, bothering you with their stupid little grins after every single mission, asking what it was like to be one the great Uchiha clan ninjas. You'd always roll your eyes and tell them that they'll find out one day and pat their little heads and they'd run off to who knows where.

As you make your way through the clan you've become numb, you go to confirm your suspicions about your parent. You walk into the most familiar building in the entire village and there she is. Your mother, lying there with her eyes open, fear obviously stricken on her face but her eyes are too clouded over to tell if there's actually still tears left in them. At this point it's become too much to handle and your lurch over a little garbage can that was nearby the table. You knew even while dead, your mother would chew you a new one if you dirtied her floor.

You close her eyes gently and whisper quiet prayers, telling her one day you'll see her again but not before vengeance. Anger strikes, so much overwhelming grief is becoming too much to handle. The anger immediately subsides once a thought strikes you. Itachi. Where is he?? You take a final glance at your mother, memories of her singing and making lovely meals for you and itachi linger in the air. "Goodbye mama".

You run so fast your lungs burn and ache, The freezing cold night air is so sharp it's stabbing your lungs every single breath you take. It hurts so much. You make it to Itachi's home and quietly open the door. You already know the case, but you're praying by some miracle Itachi's out on a mission, somewhere safe and even with Sasuke would be ideal. You couldn't handle seeing your first love dead and lifeless. You step silently around his mother and father, giving a moment of a respect for them. They treated you like a daughter for the most part, his father just was a little stubborn since itachi had to live up to his name. "Itachi..?" You whisper, too afraid to wake the dead.

No one else is in this whole house, not Sasuke nor itachi. You can't quite tell yet if that's a good sign. You run out of the house, looking for any sign or body of either of those Uchihas. No sign in the entire village until you hear the quietest breathing, which would've been drowned out by late night laughing and men who just returned from battles who were drinking their stress away, you look around frantically. Your eyes land upon the small frame of Sasuke Uchiha. Immediate glee, you run to the small boy and scoop him up gently. He's so beat up but he's alive. Your next mission was to get him to some medical ninja, but you don't even know who would be up right now.

You decided to run Sasuke to your home, which is in the far side of the leaf seeing as you got your father's home when he passed. Your parents divorce never really bothered you since they still respected each other and you but now's not the time to reminisce. You sprint to your home, no leaf Shinobi seem to be awake, they're all probably on missions or knocked out cold. You arrive at your home and take Sasuke to your spare room and gently tend to his wounds. Nothing seems fatal which is odd since every single person was lying dead, with obvious intent to kill. "Sasuke.. who did this.." you mutter aimlessly, not expecting an answer since you know he's been through enough. Hopefully when he wakes up you'll find your answer. You leave him some water and some painkillers and you smile halfheartedly, he's alive at least and it's your duty to protect him now. You know it is. No one else can right now, especially with no sign of itachi.

After a few hours of torturous thinking you're able to fall asleep, really only because of the mission you had been on the past 2 weeks, otherwise you'd be up right now tormenting yourself with such grotesque thoughts. The last thing on your mind before falling asleep is itachi, did he protect Sasuke or something? Why was Sasuke relatively okay physically? Who did this and why? You already know once you find out, you're getting your vengeance. No doubt about it.

Hi! <3 I hope people actually read this first part seeing as the Naruto fandom has been relatively dead ☠️ if there's an semblance of life left in the fandom leave notes and Reblog! Ty for reading and let me know if you'd like a part 2!

[avenger-hawk]

What do you think is Itachi's biggest fear? And Sasuke's?

Itachi’s biggest fear is that something bad happens to Sasuke, and by something bad I mean death, because for someone like him who saw the battlefield at 4, death is the worst thing. Also, closely related to death, there is Sasuke not being safe. That’s why he accepted Danzo’s conditions, that’s why he slaughtered the whole clan, joined Akatsuki and lied to Sasuke manipulating him. His biggest fear was Sasuke’s death, and Sasuke not being safe by becoming an enemy of Konoha. This made him act in ways that made Sasuke suffer immensely, but in those ways he thought he’d keep his brother alive and safe.

Sasuke is different. His situation is completely different. As a child, and partly later, he might have feared to not be enough, strong enough to be beside his brother and father, but then he lost them, and then he made up for his insecurities by training constantly and focusing on revenge and strength. Despite his terrible situation Itachi had a sort of control over things, he had the knowledge of the whole situation and he could make his own choice (even though he was being threatened by Danzo saying he���d kill Sasuke). Sasuke didn’t have any knowledge of how reality was, he only knew what Itachi had made him believe, so he acted according to that, and later according to the pieces of truth he learned. Besides he lost everything and everyone he loved so he might be afraid of losing his friends like he says in pt.1 once, and he shows the same feeling in pt.2 when Killer B is attacking Team Taka and he activates/learns to control Amaterasu to protect Karin.

But, at the same time, it’s not exactly the same imo, because despite his bonds, Sasuke’s main bond is the love for his family and his even stronger bond with his brother, which is the root of everything he feels, thinks and does, which makes him first sever all other bonds to become stronger and defeat Itachi (to have revenge and justice for his family), then avenge Itachi, then fight to protect the village Itachi had wanted to protect, then try to become what in his mind a Hokage should be=like Itachi.

Since he didn’t have Itachi anymore and he didn’t have his most beloved ones anymore he’s kind of fearless, and you can see it through the series how reckless and uncaring he was when it came to his own safety.

[momowho34]

Time for another naruto au post that so long and complicated it might aswell be a fic in and of itself. Why am I like this :,) Naruto au where Itachi runs away from the village with Sasuke in tow and doesn’t leave him behind. Also Itachi is a little older then a teenager because it makes more sense. Buckle up this is a long one.

Itachi refuses to kill his family and runs to warn them but when he gets there everybody’s dead except for Sasuke, (who witnessed the whole thiNG OOPSY-) so he takes him and runs for their lives.

Itachi joins the akatsuki but uhhhhh now there’s a four year old tagging along and Itachi’s too scary for anybody to mention it.

Imagine the fluff and angst potential with the akatsuki oooooof there’s so much omg

At first they all think it’s super annoying but within like two days they would all gladly die for this kid. Seriously they were pretty sure their hearts were made of stone at this point but apparently not.

Kisame is surprisingly really good with kids, partly because he appears fairly calm on the outside without being too standoffish so Sasuke likes him best. Also Kisame could happily play peek-a-boo for the rest of his life he likes the small things

Kakazu is awful with kids but sasuke likes him anyway and he hates it (not really) Hidan.... really doesn’t know what to do. He’s never cared about another person in his life, okay? He kind of wants to kill the small child but he knows Itachi would steal his fucking knee caps and bury him at the bottom of the ocean so he doesn’t even mention it ever

Sasori is the mom when Itachi isn’t around. They would all feed him candy until he fucking died if Sasori didn’t stop that. Sasori is also the one to go “oh my GOD Deidara you can’t dare him to climb that mountain he could fall and hit his head no I don’t care about that deidaRA HE IS SEVEN YEARS OLD ITACHI IS GOING TO KILL YOU WHEN HE GETS HOME MARK MY WORDS—“

Tobi likes to blame all of his mistakes on Sasuke as a joke. Also they all teach Sasuke bits of their fighting styles so he becomes even more formidable and all of them are kind of freaked out by how quickly he masters their techniques

When he’s too young to tag along on missions he has to stay with Konan and Pain. He really values Konan because she’s really the only one of them who treats him like a person instead of a stupid child that needs protection.

“He costs too much,” Kakazu says. “He shouldn’t be here, what about how much it costs for him to stay with us” all while consistently finding room in the budget to get the kid anything and everything even though he’s fairly low maintenance to take care of

When Itachi arrives, everybody tries to disregard the rumors paired with Sasuke being there. Because of Itachi’s overall demeanor and Sasuke’s refusal to talk about it, they assume that he killed his family but didn’t kill his little brother for some reason

...And then Sasuke starts having nightmares. Like loud, screaming and crying in the middle of the night nightmares. Every time it happens, Itachi wakes up, calm and collected, and holds him until he falls asleep again. They all start having doubts about Itachi really killing his family.

Itachi doesn’t really hold a grudge against Konoha, but he didn’t see the whole family die like Sasuke did. Sasuke wants revenge, and he’s dead set on it.

Okay yeah but what abt the actual plot and stuff??? Don’t worry I’m there.

So a while later after that during Naruto’s three year journey (which he still takes with Jiraiya because he needs training to fight Orochimaru who is still a big threat btw) he meets this weird black haired kid staying at the same hotel he is.

Turns out they’ve both got caretakers who are absent (Jiraiya’s at a brothel somewhere and Kisame and Itachi are off killing some guy) which sucks so they bond over that and compare abilities and beat the shit out of eachother a little and develop a mini rival complex all of that but then

“Wow you’re so cool! You fight just like a ninja! You should come back with me!” Naruto laughs one day. Sasuke asks “Back to where?” And Naruto’s like “back to the leaf village of course! I’m a leaf village ninja, I’m out here training with my sensei! I forgot that I left my headband in the room, I can show it to you.” But Sasuke just gets really pale and runs off and Naruto doesn’t see him for the rest of the trip.

He thought he’d never see him again but then Sasuke gets separated from the Akatsuki members reeeaaaallly far away from their base and Konoha. As he’s trying to figure out what to do, a certain ninja crew happens to be in town. Naruto is like “omfg I know this kid!!!!!!!! Hey Sasuke!!!!! Hey Sasukeeeee!!!!!”

Sasuke is like o-o but then he starts to consider his options. If anybody figures out about his sharingan, he’s straight up fucked. His eyes are gone, he probably gets murdered. Naruto is like “what r u doing here????” And sasuke spins a fairly convincing story

He’s like “oh yeah and I know my way around this place so I can help you out could I maybe seek asylum in your village maybe??? I could be helpful” just so he can head in the general direction of Konoha and hopefully get closer to his base along the way.

So Kakashi begrudgingly agrees and Sasuke tries not to burn alive because he’s in the general proximity of leaf soldiers that he fucking hates and he will not grow attached to any of them at all no siree, not at all, no way!

Sasuke begins to grow close to them, of course. Sai and Sasuke do goth shenanigans and he fights with Naruto and tries to get Sakura to leave him alone (what is up with her why is she being so weird?)

Oh bonus angst: Tobi used to talk in his sleep sometimes, and at some point Sasuke drops “those who break the rules are scum, but those who leave their friends behind are worse then scum” casually and Kakashi almost has a full blown panic attack.

This is when he first realizes something is seriously up with this kid; and his first name sounds... familiar. His suspicions are just suspicions until they run into Orochimaru. Now Orochimaru could just out Sasuke as akatsuki, instead he plays with his feelings a little bit. He keeps saying things like “how does it feel to fight on the same side as your enemies for once?” And “have you forgotten already?” They defeat him without Sasuke revealing his sharingan but the jig is up in Kakashi’s mind.

Kakashi doesn’t quite connect the dots; but he’s almost there. Whoever this kid is, they’re coming back to the village for sure. It’s the safest thing to do. Meanwhile the Akatsuki are freaking out. Itachi is unhinged and almost grieving, they have no idea where Sasuke could be. The team is out in full force; including Tobi

And you know, Obito doesn’t care. He shouldn’t care, nothing matters in this false reality. It just doesn’t. Tobi might have given a shit about Sasuke, but Tobi isn’t real. He’s just a front, Tobi doesn’t exist. So why is he looking so hard for this stupid kid that he shouldn’t give a shit about? Obito convinces himself it’s just a front, it’s just part of Tobi’s act, but it’s not. What’s happening to him? Why is starting to feel things now, so deep into the plan?

Annnnnndddd that’s as far as I got with it lmao. That’s still pretty fucking far tho

[captnjacksparrow]

I honestly agree with a lot of your opinions, and even when I don't, I think that your arguments are always well structure and respectful to other people.

But I have some questions (and I'm sorry if you have already answer them), (also sorry for some of my English, it's not my first language)

How do you feel about narusaku?

How do you feel about people changing certain aspects about Sakura to try to improve her character?

How would you improve Sakura?

How much do you think Sakura being a good character could affect the story?

What was the moment you really started to ship SNS? And what are you favorite moments?

(Sorry if there's ro many questions)

I honestly agree with a lot of your opinions, and even when I don't, I think that your arguments are always well structure and respectful to other people.

Aww!!!! Thank you, Anon. This made my day. 🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰

I will start from my favourite question (The one in the last)

What was the moment you really started to ship SNS?

I never wore any shipping lens, Anon.

Literally, I started to ship SNS only after Episode 478 or Chapter 698. Before that, I always had these doubts in the back of my mind.

'Something seems to be very weird between these guys',

'Why are they behaving differently compared to other friends?',

'Why Sasuke is behaving totally different towards Naruto?',

'Why Sasuke agreed to honour Naruto's promise under the bridge, despite having no shred of affection towards his other former Team Members?',

'Why Naruto is so obsessed with Sasuke?',

'Why Sasuke felt Naruto's chakra in Konoha and bothered by it?',

'Why Sasuke is protecting Naruto like a precious treasure only to end up wanting to kill him?',

'Why Sasuke has this weird obsession that ONLY I CAN KILL NARUTO but not someone else?',

So, I had all these questions piling up one by one inside my mind as the series progressed and I can't simply jump into a conclusion because I don't know what Sasuke was thinking. I hate one-sided ship and I want reciprocation. So, I usually put all these questions on the back burner and started to focus on the story. Damn!!!, The story was equally captivating and emotionally daunting. When Sasuke finally confessed his feelings towards Naruto in Episode 478, I simply couldn't believe myself but ship them. Because, in no world, Friends would behave this way towards each other.

So, to answer your question, it's after Episode 478, I started to ship them. But if you want me to say when exactly I started to doubt their level of friendship??

It's this moment,

Now you may think, 'Yeah, you saw two boys in a close proximity and decided to ship together. It's nothing strange'.

I have to say, Close proximity was the last thing, I felt from this scene. My reason was those heart breaking scenes that happened before which led to this specific moment.

I will make it as short as possible. I'll start with this

God!! I wanted to punch Sasuke so badly when he said this with a deadpan expression. It looks like he was lying just to get power. I thought, 'Sasuke!!! What a lying piece of crap you are!! If you want to kill Naruto, Just do it. Why doing a fake confession? '.

It doesn't help as the fight progressed because Sasuke was really playing football with Naruto and when this happened,

I was shell-shocked because, the Sasuke we saw so far is no more. It even confirmed my thoughts about the fake confession. Which sane person will ram Chidori through his Close Friend's body?.

After many blows were exchanged, I simply wished for one thing. Naruto should win and Sasuke should be stopped no matter what. When the final Rasengan vs Chidori happened, I couldn't understand what was going on inside that power ball. Naruto and Sasuke look at each other with pained expression and we see the younger version of them smiling at each other.

And then finally we see a knocked out Naruto with Sasuke standing and looking at him without any expression and was about to say, 'Naruto.... I' which was interrupted by rain and when Sasuke felt a stinging pain in his arms and falls down on his knees. He coughs up blood and then this iconic scene happens.

That scene conveyed many things

Sasuke wanted to kill Naruto but couldn't.

Sasuke meant what he said. Naruto is his closest friend, it’s not a lie.

Sasuke couldn't severe his ties completely with Naruto.

Sasuke's pain of saying 'Goodbye' is greater than the stinging pain in his arms.

Sasuke deliberately, I repeat deliberately and not accidentally, came close to look at Naruto's face and experiencing something that, we, audience don't know. 

So, you see, Anon. The emotional train wreck that led to this scene made me really doubt about their depth of feelings they had towards each other for the first time. That's when I thought, 'Something seems to be very weird between these guys, what is it?'

And what are you favorite (SNS) moments?

There are two moments which shows how Sasuke is playing an emotional battle within himself. 

1. Sasuke, Susanoo, Naruto, Minato

This happens right after Sasuke said to Obito, “Not you.... The one who is going to sever the past is....me”.

In this moment, Sasuke can pretty much let Naruto to die, because nobody is trying to kill Naruto. Still, he saved him with a 3 layered protection. The best part is Sasuke acted quicker than Minato, the fastest shinobi, to protect Naruto. Surely Minato wouldn’t want to blow up near his Son, for whom he gave his life once. It’s just that Sasuke is extremely quicker at this moment. 

2. For some reason, My Sharingan deactivated on it’s own

If only, Sasuke maintained his Sharingan, he could’ve traced Naruto’s movements and deflected his upper cut and would’ve successfully landed his Chidori through him. But he just couldn’t. 

Both these scenes happens in a span of a day but Sasuke’s emotions fluctuates a lot when it comes to killing Naruto, protecting Naruto, can’t kill Naruto. 

How much do you think Sakura being a good character could affect the story?

To be Honest Anon, Storywise ABSOLUTELY NOTHING.

Yes, I agree with her amazing performance in Gaara retrieval Arc where she tagged along with Granny Chiyo and almost killed Sasori.

After that ????

She did nothing in the Sasuke Reunion Arc. It was all about Naruto vs Orochimaru, Yamato’s Wood style jutsu, Sai’s betrayal towards Orochimaru. Geez!!! I liked her attitude in this arc but totally spoiled when she was standing simply like a wooden doll when Sasuke was about to stab Naruto. It was Sai who blocked Sasuke.... I was like, ‘Girl!!!! You said you will save Sasuke for Naruto when he went into 4 tails mode. What happened now??? Why are you not stopping him???’

She was just making Food Pills in the Rasen Shuriken Arc.

She was basically climbing from one tree to another in the Sasuke killing Orochimaru to Sasuke joining Akatsuki Arc. Even Naruto’s role was very minimal in that arc except he met Kabuto, Dead soul of Jiraiya, Itachi, a split second meeting with Sasuke where he got Chidori’ed and fought with Tobi. 

She was just a spectator praying for Naruto in the Pain Arc. Yeah, she did healed few people and punched some monsters. But it just doesn’t matter. Even Konohamaru killed a Pain in that arc. 

She turned into an Asshole by making a fake confession towards Naruto and decided to kill Sasuke in the Kage Summit Arc. I think, this is where Kishi decided to shit on her mercilessly by making her into someone who was going to hurt both of her team mates mentally and physically. Basically Kishi transformed a clever medical Ninja who can find an antidote in a matter of hours to an asshole who believed Naruto did everything for her and even more of an idiot by planning to kill Sasuke with just a poisoned Kunai. Isn’t she the one who told Kakashi that Sasuke was given forbidden drugs to improve his strength after their Reunion??? Can’t she put 2+2 together to know Sasuke would be immune to poisons because of his days spent with Orochimaru??? Yeah, she did impacted the story. But it was not for her development. Sakura’s foolishness made Naruto and Sasuke to meet each other again and made a promise. So, you see, she was just a tool that pushes the narrative development of other characters, not her own. Her development took a big blow in this arc.

She was non-existent in the Naruto-Killer Bee Training Arc.

She was just healing people and punched some zetsu during Powerful Edo-Tensei Shinobis vs Allied Shinobi forces Arc. I expected her to have a special fight. But Nope. Even Ino, Shikamaru and Choji fought Asuma, Kakuzu and Kinkaku, Ginkaku brothers. 

She was non-existent in the Uchiha Madara vs 5 Kages mini arc

She was non-existent in Obito vs Naruto, Kakashi, Might Guy and Killer Bee mini arc.

She was non-existent in the Sasuke & Itachi vs Kabuto mini arc.

She was non-existent in the Edo Tensei’ed Hokages and Team Sasuke arc.

She was punching some Juubi Clones in the Official War Arc which will never make a difference to the story. At the same time, her character was transformed from an Asshole who hurted her teammates to an horny biasshhhh who wants only Sasuke’s D. She summoned Katsuyu and was healing soldiers. But there were an army of Medical Ninjas too. So her absence will not affect the story in a big way. She did Lip to Lip CPR for Naruto though. Again, that would never help Naruto in a major way unless he was helped by Obito by placing Bijuu inside him. Again, Kishi didn’t make her the sole saviour here. Instead, she was used as a medium to facilitate Obito’s transformation from a bad guy to good guy. Kishi made Obito as the Saviour here. 

She was useless and was not able to destroy Obito’s rinnegan in the Reincarnation of Indra and Ashura vs Rikkudou Sennin Madara arc.

She was useless in the Kaguya arc. [Sorry, that punch won’t make any difference because Kaguya must be stupid to not use her 360 degree vision to see Sakura from behind. With Naruto and Sasuke has already become a demi god at this point, her clown show is incomparable].

She was useless in the final Naruto vs Sasuke arc.

So, you tell me Anon. Did she make any impact to the story that served as a major twist?? 

The story revolved around Naruto and Sasuke. 

Itachi, Obito, Jiraiya, Madara, Hashirama and other Hokages were the game changers of this story. Meaning, their presence or death will change the story by a huuuuggge margin.

Tsunade, Orochimaru, Team Nagato, Kabuto helped our protagonists in a BIGGGG WAAYYYY.

Akatsuki were just amazing who gave us the sense of thrill as well as fun. 

Even Sakura being good will never impact the story because she had no dedicated arc written for her.

But, if she were written as a good character, my viewing experience would have improved in a relaxing way so much so that I don’t have to press my fast forward button whenever she appears and I wouldn’t be writing this post explaining why I hate her.

How would you improve Sakura?

Simple, By writing her similar to Rin Nohara.

No obsession but a simple love towards Sasuke.

No toxicity but caring friendship towards Naruto. 

That’s all.

How do you feel about people changing certain aspects about Sakura to try to improve her character?

Well, that means they would qualify as a fanfiction writers, aren’t they??.

Also, this inherently proves that she is a piss poor character and people wants to change certain aspects of her which they find annoying. But it will 100% end up being OOC. And I’m not into reading those OOC stuffs, Anon.

I always believe in accepting what the author has given rather than trying to fix their work. Because the author writes a character deliberately to make the readers feel what he intended in the first place. Kishi could write a redemption for even someone like Orochimaru towards the very end. Like, he literally made him to help Sasuke, not as a human predator, but as a former Master and an admirer. He wrote him to help Tsunade and other Kages. So in the end, Orochimaru was not hated like he was hated in part 1. If he can write something for Orochimaru, why not for Sakura??? 

You know how I can redeem Sakura in just 3 or 4 panels?

Let me tell you.

After that fake confession, Sakura could talk to Naruto,

“I am very Sorry, Naruto. I know you will never take things in your heart. But still I shouldn’t have used Love as a tool to make you not to do something. I was an Idiot to not realize how badly you want to save Sasuke. It wasn’t just for me. But it was for Sasuke and also for you, as his friend and also for us as Team 7. So, how about we go to Ichiraku, for a nice lunch??” 

While confessing Sasuke for the second time,

“It seems you still want to go on to that dark path, isn’t it?. I am not the most powerful ninja in this world and I know I can’t trade blows with you. But still.... if you try to hurt my friend, Naruto and my master, Tsunade. I will fight with all my strength to kill you..... Even though I love you”

I am pretty sure, if Sakura confessed something along these lines, everyone would have admired her and it shows her emotional maturity as a Kunoichi who wants to do something to this world as well as a person who is ready to kill someone she loved in order to protect the people she holds dear.

In chapter 699. Before saying Goodbye to Sasuke,

“I am very Sorry, Sasuke. I never really understood what was going on inside your heart. And, I always forced myself on you because of my selfishness. I really feel bad for those things. I never really became your friend in the first place. How about we say farewell as ‘a good friends’, before your redemption journey??” (Shakes hands.... End of Scene)

How is this???

Is it pleasant to read?? Of course, Yes.

I am pretty sure it wouldn’t take more than 4 or 5 panels. Kishi could’ve easily did something like this. Am pretty sure readers would’ve been satisfied. Her fans too. Even I would’ve forgiven her mistakes.

But Kishi didn’t and I am very sure it’s deliberate. Because, this very same Kishimoto could able to write Konan, Tsunade who acts with so much maturity without whining like a little girl.

Which shows Kishi clearly hates this character and never wanted to redeem her. 

So no matter how many people improve this character, it will never be believable.

How do you feel about narusaku?

Naruto always placed Sasuke as his priority, Anon. That’s always the case. So, apart from SNS, if you want me to say whether NaruSaku had any potential?

I would say, yes, NaruSaku had potential. I will not deny it. Naruto had some liking towards Sakura compared to the absolute indifference towards Hinata.

There are some moments Sakura genuinely cried for Naruto without anyone’s influence. I liked it. Say, the scene where she cried on hearing ‘A Jinchuriki without Bijuu will die” and with Yamato she told, “I can only do little things for Naruto”.

These are all coming from her own heart. No one instilled inside her.

[[[ That’s why I will not accept her realization of ‘Annoying, huh? So, this is how Naruto must have felt too. Maybe I should be a little nicer to him next time’ as genuine in Episode 3. Because she realized only after Sasuke roasted her. I want feelings to emerge subconsciously rather than instilled by someone. ]]]

Unlike the asshole Sakura she was in part 1, Sakura started out good in Shippuden. I was surprised with her development in Gaara Retrieval Arc and was not at all annoyed by her presence. (Except when she said she will save Naruto and Sasuke from Itachi.... Grrrrr.... Biashhhhh.... Do you know Itachi’s abilities first of all??? He can crush you like a meatball with his Susanoo)

I started to feel, ‘Wooow!!! She has improved a lot. Great!!!!’.

Even though, she was useless in Rasen Shuriken Arc, She still made an effort to make food pills for Naruto. She even hugged Naruto much to his surprise, before all the villagers and especially before, ahemmm Hinata after defeating Pain.

Despite all of these moments that had happened between them, I could only see them as a pair formed of mutual tragedies rather than mutual attraction, Anon. In their case, Losing Sasuke. I wasn’t 100% sure whether Sakura moved on from Sasuke or not. Because When Sakura was looking for Sasuke with Kakashi’s Tracking dogs, she was still in love with him. So Sakura fluctuates between her obsession with Sasuke and some genuine feelings towards Naruto. 

Kage summit Arc is where everything changed and finalized. Sakura was crying like an annoying shit when she heard that Sasuke joined Akatsuki and was wanted by Raikage. This clearly shows her obsession has flared up again and ‘Poof’ all the development she had with Naruto was thrown into drain. 

On top of it, the fake confession. Grrrrrr.......

Plus, Naruto officially closed the possibilities of this ship by saying, “Sasuke, I know the Truth of Itachi from a guy named Tobi. I don’t know whether it’s true or not. But whatever you’ve been doing so far (hunting Killer Bee, ruckus in Kage summit conference, trying to kill Sakura, Kakashi).... It’s all understandable”.

If Naruto truly, wholeheartedly, deeply loved Sakura, he wouldn’t have said something like, ‘It’s understandable why you tried to kill Sakura”. He should have beaten Sasuke into a pulp. Or atleast shown some intense anger. Instead, Naruto was talking to Sasuke and making promise by saying ‘We will die together’. It’s like Sakura playing cupid for Sasuke and Naruto.

Naruto was okay with someone trying to kill Sakura whereas he was not okay with someone trying to kill Sasuke and even went to the extent of hyperventilating. This is why I feel any other ships are incomparable with SNS. 

After that Sakura started to behave rabidly towards Sasuke in the War arc which I can’t help but feel disgusting. So, anything she did for Naruto in the War Arc was overshadowed by her crazy obsession towards Sasuke. That’s why her CPR doesn’t matter, Sakura healing Naruto doesn’t matter. [Naruto has his own regenerative abilities, so whatever she does will not matter much for him]

So, NaruSaku was closed officially by Naruto and Sakura. It couldn’t sail because of the presence of Sasuke. 

At the end, I felt like Sakura used Naruto for getting her man back ready for romance rather than a killer mode Sasuke. I couldn’t feel the friendship they once had or any familiarity. 

I just hate people who don’t value friendships, anon. Sakura was not even a good friend, first of all. Yeah she had her friendly moments here and there. But, at the end of the series, she was not. A war has just ended, many people lost their lives, her supposed ‘best friend’ Ino lost her father. Why can’t she help her out emotionally? Why can’t she do some fucking good stuffs for this Shinobi world like her other teammates?? Instead, what she did was ‘let’s go and persuade Sasuke-kun to lend me some D by going along with his journey. Because I am so horny’. 

It not how you were in the beginning, It’s how you ended up being. She started this series as a worst friend and she ended up as a worst human being for me. How can I ship such a person with Naruto????

[depressedhatakekakashi]

i keep trying to write this fic but the words will not come for the life of me XD What if Kakashi gets framed or he tries to attack Danzo because he tried to kill his team or Tenzo but nobody knew that and thought he just became crazy and get's chased out, becoming a missing-nin pretty early on- But the thing is the Uchiha Massacre still happens after that and Itachi still becomes a missing-nin too- Kakashi and him run into each other and slowly they figure each other out that both of them are innocent/manipulated into doing it and become sort of friends and rapport to each other XD, both of them need the other to remind them to not go too over board and kill themselves (Kakashi decided to just fuck it and use his outsider reputation to his advantage to sabotage as much of Danzo's plans as possible and gather enough evidence to expose him of his numerous crimes and the truth about Itachi but Itachi doesn't exactly know that last part lol) And Itachi rea;;y pushes himself too much because of the mentality "I'm gonna die soon anyways" so he needs Kakashi and Kisame to remind him to stop (also Kisame is really amused by this fellow konoha rogue-nin that Itachi is fond of and for some reason still calls Senpai, were they close before they went missing-nin or does he respect him as a senior fellow konoha missing-nin? who knows, but Kisame thinks he's fun and they bond over Itachi's terrible self-preservation and other weird dorky stuff lol)

It's supposed to be angst?? but also i just want Itachi and Kakashi not to be alone persay XD Kakashi surprises (spoils) itachi with dango and other desserts he bought, made and was given to as payment for helping out a bunch of civilians and Kakashi is the only one Itachi can really talk about how he feels and how much he loves, misses and feels so much guilt for hat he did to Sasuke T.T XD sometimes Kakashi even invites Itachi for them to go incognito and mess up Danzo's shady businesses, Itachi always chooses to explode them because "It's what Shisui would've wanted" lol

This sounds really fantastic though. I love Kakashi bring blamed for something because he finally lost his temper and went after Danzo, but naturally Danzo has so much back up that Kakashi can’t kill him, so he ends up fleeing.

Itachi deserves to have someone who really understands the manipulation of Danzo specificlly. There’s few manipulation tactics like Danzo, and Kakashi shares an understanding about it that few others do.

And Kakashi would be so supportive of Itachi, and maybe even make friends with Kisame by extention. I don’t see Kakashi joining the Akatsuki unless he truly and completly snaps, but they run into each other once in a while and get along so there are no issues.

It does make me think that Tenzo would die, because Kakashi snapping like that would require someone he cares deeply about dying because of the higher ups screw ups. At that age it would be Tenzo or Gai that would really make him snap.

[itachi-uchiha-deserved-better]

There were seven of them gathered in the tent that was serving as the temporary council chamber while the leaf village was being rebuilt. Kakashi sat at the head of the circular table, looking uncomfortable in the position of authority that had been thrust upon him in Tsunade’s absence. Next to Kakashi on his left was Shikaku Nara, with Shikamaru seated next to his father. On Kakashi’s right side sat Gai, Yamato, Naruto and then finally there was Sakura, sitting opposite Kakashi, wondering when in the hell she had become important enough to warrant an explicit invitation to a council meeting.

The elders, Sakura noted, were not in attendance. Kakashi had placed both of them under guard since Danzo’s treachery at the five Kage summit came to light. It didn’t really come as much of a surprise to Sakura that the Jonin of the village were hesitant to trust them with matters of importance.

Kakashi fiddled with his pen, as he seemed to search for the best way to approach whatever it was that was important enough for him to call a council meeting in the first place. He kept shooting Yamato glances, which Yamato always answered with a quirked eyebrow or a shake of the head, like there was a silent discussion going on between them. Sakura watched the exchange with fascination as she doodled on the note pad in front of her.

“Fine.” Kakashi growled, ending whatever argument he and Yamato were apparently having, “I guess we ought to just get on with it.” He took a breath, put the pen down very carefully, so that it was sitting perfectly straight in front of him. He swept his gaze around the room, locking eyes with each person who sat at the table in turn.

“You know I’m not the type to do things as officially as they should be done. Were it not for the delicate nature of this matter, I’d have left it for Tsunade to deal with when she recovers. Unfortunately, this is a matter that won’t wait until our Hokage is back on her feet.”

The air in the room seemed to grow still and heavy with tension. Everyone seemed to pick up on the carefully chosen words Kakashi used. Our Hokage. Not him. He had no desire to lead them. When Tsunade wakes up. Because none of them wanted to consider the other outcome.

“As you know, Yamato and I were present for the majority of the 5 Kage summit. I believe everyone here has read our reports regarding the proceedings of the summit and Danzo’s attempt at treason. That is not what we are here to discuss. This meeting is in regards to what happened before our arrival at the summit location. About information intentionally withheld from the official reports.”

Sakura observed the room. A large part of her medical training had focused on sharpening her observational skills. Teaching her to pick up on subtle changes around her, so that she can make decisions with the most information possible. So her keen gaze immediately picks up on the way that Shikaku straightened up in his chair as Kakashi admits to withholding information from the official documentation of their mission. She notes how Shikamaru’s gaze snaps to Naruto’s face, then to hers, trying to read the situation the same way that she was. She can almost visualize tangible waves of tension rolling off of Yamato and the worried look that Gai is giving her Sensei. It seemed that he had at least some inkling of what was going on.

“Honestly, I wasn’t sure that this information should be shared with anyone. The source is questionable, but Yamato and I agree that given the potential ramifications for the village if the information we’ve been given is accurate, that at least the people in this room need to be aware of it.”

More glances shot around the table. Naruto at Sakura. Sakura at Yamato. Yamato and Gai at Kakashi. Shikaku and Shikamaru at all of them. The silence in the room swelled until Shikaku quietly prompted Kakashi, “please continue.”

“Itachi Uchiha.”

The name sent a shockwave through the room. White hot anger flared in Sakura. Itachi. Sasuke’s older brother. The shinobi who had murdered his entire clan in cold blood, who had tried to kidnap Naruto, who was directly involved with the organization that had killed Gaara, that had destroyed Konoha and caused so much pain to the person that she loved. Even if he didn’t love her back, Sakura could never forgive Itachi for the pain he inflicted on Sasuke.

Naruto was shrinking in his seat, like the name was a heavy weight descending on his shoulders. Shikaku and Shikamaru were both now sitting straight backed in their seats, giving Kakashi their undivided attention. Only Yamato and Gai remained impassive.

“What about the Uchiha?” Shikaku asked as the impact of the name started to settle.

“It seems that there is much more to Itachi’s actions than the village was initially lead to believe. Our information indicates that Itachi held no grudge against his clan. That his crimes, while heinous, were carried out under direct order from village leaders.”

Shikamaru laughed, the sound breaking through the tension like a paper bomb exploding in Sakura’s ears, “You must be joking. You can’t honestly believe that Lord Third would have allowed-“

Shikaku grabbed Shikamaru’s arm, and shooting him a sharp look to silence him.

Kakashi sighed, “I understand your skepticism. Like I said, Yamato and I don’t trust the source of our information, but given Danzo’s treachery and how long that was allowed to go on unnoticed, I don’t think we can dismiss anything outright. By the same token, none of this is to leave this tent. Until we are able to verify or disprove the claim, I want to keep this thing quiet.”

Shikamaru huffed, but Shikaku nodded thoughtfully, “Kakashi, you were his Anbu captain at one point. You probably know the most about Itachi of anyone present. Do you believe it’s possible that he was manipulated into massacring his clansmen?”

Sakura expected Kakashi to answer immediately. The entire thought of the village ordering a man to kill his entire clan was ludicrous.

Wasn’t it?

But Kakashi didn’t answer. One minute passed in silence and still Kakashi was sitting there, glaring down at his pen, unable to answer Shikaku’s question. It was Yamato who eventually spoke up.

“I served alongside Itachi on team Ro. Speaking frankly, I could never wrap my head around it. The Itachi I knew wasn’t capable of harboring that much hatred. Even with the proof right in front of our eyes, I couldn’t make sense of it.”

Sakura breathed in a sharp breath of surprise. Neither Kakashi or Yamato ever really spoke about their Anbu days, so she had been completely ignorant of the fact that they’d both been on a team with Itachi, much less been friends with him.

Did Sasuke know?

Kakashi nodded his head, “I agree with Yamato, Itachi Uchiha’s actions never made sense to me. I accepted that I must have missed the signs back then and once everything was said and done, I tried my best not to think about it. About him. He was my teammate, and I had failed him. But if this is true, then I failed him even worse than I ever could have believed.” Kakashi hung his head and Sakura could see how much this pained him. She could only imagine what he felt, having this ghost of his past being dragged back up to the surface, especially after so much recent pain and loss.

“Regardless of my and Yamato’s personal feelings about the man, there are other factors which lead us to believe that at least parts of the information we were given are true. Danzo did possess a number of Sharingan, including an eye that we can confirm belonged to Shisui Uchiha, who supposedly committed suicide by the Naka. Itachi was, at the time, suspected of murdering his cousin.”

Another pause, as Kakashi allowed the information to sink in. Shikaku was nodding his head in recognition of the name. Shikamaru was studying his father closely. Sakura could hear Naruto grinding his teeth in frustration.

“Alright,” Shikaku tapped his finger on the table, “Lets have it then. The whole story.”

Kakashi obliged, and slowly the story came out, with Yamato jumping in when it seemed that Kakashi was struggling to find the right words. About the plan for a coup d'etat that had been brewing within the Uchiha clan. The orders to spy on the Uchiha, to monitor them for signs of rebellion. Itachi’s assignment to team Ro, and his early promotion to captain under Danzo. About the death of a man named Shisui, who according to this had thrown himself off a cliff only after Danzo had stolen one of his eyes. The coup coming to a head, and Hiruzen asking Itachi to buy time to find a better solution than annihilation, and Itachi being approached later by Danzo, with a promise- that Itachi could ensure his little brother’s survival if he singlehandedly stopped the coup. The implication that if Itachi refused, Danzo would ensure the clan’s destruction, Sasuke and Itachi included.

The clan’s lives for Sasuke’s life. That was the deal that was put forth. And Itachi had accepted.

But it was the final bit of the story that chilled Sakura to her core.

“Hiruzen was aware of Itachi’s orders. While he may not have issued them himself, if our source is to be believed, he also made no effort to intervene. Its true that the Uchiha massacre solved the problem of the coup d'etat once and for all. But the only way it ended without anyone losing faith in Hiruzen was for Itachi to shoulder the blame. If he’d remained in the leaf village, Hiruzen would have been forced to punish him for the massacre. So instead, Hiruzen let Itachi leave the village, left the barrier jutsu formula intact so that Itachi could come and go as long as he remained hidden, and Itachi decided to join the Akatsuki. Not as a missing-nin, but as Konoha’s spy.”

Shikaku hummed, nodding his head, “I never was able to come up with a good reason why Hiruzen left the barrier jutsu formula alone. I assumed he believed that Itachi must not have any more reason to target the leaf, but even then when word came that Itachi had joined the Akatsuki, he ought to have changed it.”

“Right,” Kakashi was rubbing at his temple, probably fighting off a headache. He’d had a number of those since his brush with death at the hands of Pein.

“There are piece that add up. The barrier formula. The fact that the leaf village always had more intelligence on the Akatsuki and their movements than the other villages did. Danzo’s possession of the Uchiha eyes, Shisui’s eye especially. But there are also pieces I cant explain. Like why that bastard locked me in a seventy two hour genjutsu that almost killed me. And the only person who could confirm any of this, as far as I know, has been dead for three years.”

Gai said something in response to that, but Sakura had stopped listening, their voices fading to the background as something started to click in her head.

Konoha’s spy.

Had to stay hidden.

Could come and go as he pleased.

Her mind was spinning. Recalling strange orders issued by Tsunade. Treating a shinobi outside the hospital. Not allowed to use her healing chakra at all, only basic medical skills. The threat of being stripped of her rank as a shinobi if she disobeyed. A strange Anbu who never spoke. Who suppressed his chakra at all times. Who had eerily familiar eyes that always seemed to be filled with something she could never hope to understand.

“Sakura? Sakura are you alright?” Naruto’s hand was on her shoulder, shaking her gently. Tenzo and Kakashi were both watching her with concern, “You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

The name. Recognition like a bolt of lightning struck her and Sakura stood up so quickly that she sent her chair flying back with a crash.

She felt like she was going to explode. Every eye in the tent was on her, waiting for some kind of explanation for her sudden reaction. How on earth could she not have put it together earlier? Then again, she’d never been given any reason to suspect that Ghost, the strange anbu operative in the blank mask was Sasuke’s older brother.

Tsunade. Tsunade must have known. Her orders were to protect Ghost’s identity, because if Sakura had felt his chakra, even for an instant, she would have recognized the similarities to Sasuke’s, and there was only one other Uchiha left in the world. So many thoughts were crashing around inside Sakura’s mind. Anger. Anger at Ghost…Itachi…for lying to her, even if he had no other choice. It wasn’t like she would have ever helped him before if she knew who he was. She’d have been the first person to turn him in, no matter how much kindness he’d shown her. Anger at Tsunade, for allowing the farce to continue, despite knowing that Itachi had made the only choice he could have. Anger that Hiruzen, for failing to intervene and stop all the pain that the massacre caused. For Sasuke, and for Itachi.

Her eyes met Kakashi’s steady gaze. Her sensei, always so adept at reading what troubled her, waited patiently for her mouth to catch up to her mind.

“You knew?”

“No.” Not a lie. She hadn’t known, “But I’m pretty sure this is the truth. I…” gods above how did she even begin to explain it all? To explain about Ghost, his strange behavior, the bizarre connection they shared.

Tenzo was her saving grace. He seemed to have put some of the pieces together himself.

“The Anbu? The one you told me about?”

Sakura nodded and sank back down into her chair, hugging her arms into herself. The eyes of the group moved off of Sakura, looking to Tenzo for more information.

“Earlier this year, Sakura confided in me about a patient of hers. She wanted to know if I was aware of an Anbu agent whose mask was blank, no markings at all. She told me that Tsunade had asked her to treat him and that the arrangement came with some unusual orders which had her uncomfortable.”

Kakashi raised an eyebrow, “Are you referring to-“ Kakashi cut off, but Tenzo nodded, clearly understanding the question. Shikamaru grumbled.

“Care to explain for those of us who can’t read your mind?”

“Ghost,” Tenzo shot back, “It’s a…well for lack of better terms, it’s a ghost story that exists among the Anbu. A few years back a few genin claimed they were saved by an Anbu agent in a blank white mask, who slaughtered the enemy shinobi who were attacking them and then disappeared without a trace. No one believed them, but since then all kinds of stories about the faceless mask have popped up. Most of them are incredibly far fetched, but there are elements that remain consistent throughout. Black hair. Always alone. Never leaves any survivors except for leaf shinobi. Only fights with Kunai and a tanto, never jutsu. At least, none that anyone ever sees. I didn’t think anything of it, but when Sakura mentioned her patient to me, I did some digging. There is a file for an Anbu agent, codename Ghost, but there’s no serial number on the file, and everything in it was encoded.”

Kakashi sighed, “It’s not proof, but that seems pretty damning.” Apparently Kakashi didn’t have any better explanation that Sakura did.

“In that case, there are a few things to address. First and foremost, it is very likely that Sasuke has also been made aware of the fact that his brother acted under orders. I don’t think he knows about Itachi’s identity as an Anbu operative, but we need to be prepared because I’m not sure what kind of effect this information will have on him. The last I knew, Sasuke’s sole focus was on killing his brother for revenge. It’s quite possible that his desire for revenge will shift to target the village, or at least those he feels most responsible for Itachi’s actions.”

Everyone in the tent nodded their agreement.

“The second question is one of what to do about Itachi himself.”

This time no one nodded. It was a momentous question.

“Are you sure we need to do anything at all?” Shikaku asked, trying to be as gentle with the question as possible. Tenzo slammed his hand down on the table and looked like he wanted to throw himself at Shikaku.

“Of course we have to do something! He’s a leaf shinobi! He’s put his life in danger for the past nine years, alone, hated by everyone in order to protect the village. He deserves to know that he isn’t being held responsible for being forced to make an impossible choice when he was thirteen fucking years old!”

“Easy, Tenzo,” Kakashi seemed to be doing his best to keep his tone level, trying not to let his emotions get the better of him while they sorted things out, “You know that I want to see him again as much as you do, as a friend. But we need to consider what’s best for the village. At the least, I don’t think we need to come to a decision right now. Our first priority is to rebuild the village itself. When Tsunade wakes up, I’m sure she’ll have something to say on the matter.”

Sakura clenched her fist and felt her chakra start flowing into them out of instinct. You better believe that she’ll have something to say. I’ll make sure of it.

She pushed herself up from the table. She needed to hit something. Needed to break something. And if she didn’t leave now, she couldn’t be sure what exactly it was she was going to break. Better safe than sorry.

“Sakura? Going somewhere?”

“For a walk,” She hissed, daring anyone to try and stop her as she stormed out of the tent.

[thefairyletters]

Naruto Headcanon (p2)

(Check out part 1 here)

(Warning: Sakura centric. Very slight and neutral NaruHina. They have a good reason though. Sasusaku is just angst. Don't like? Don't read.)

Neji cropped his hair short to forsake his hyuga status. By doing that, he essentially became free.

Sasuke never returned to Konoha and instead continued Orochimaru's legacy. He rebuilt Oto from the shambles it was in and became Otokage. It became a haven for missing nins and people who wanted to start anew.

Kiba joined Anbu and was placed in one of the top tracking teams. Unfortunately for him, Shino was his Anbu captain. Shino used this opportunity to whip Kiba into his place to make up for all the times he was forgotten by his teammate.

(I love the running gag in which Shino is invisible)

Neji and Tenten marriage was unconventional and Gai insisted they switched roles in their marriage. Tenten waited for her husband on the altar while Neji walked down the aisle. It took a lot of convincing on Naruto's and Lee's part to make Neji agree to this. Regardless to say, it was the most memorable marriage.

(Check out the first part of headcanon series to make sense of this arrangement.)

Hinata abolished the Hyuga branch system and took her heiress position with all seriousness to make up for the lost time. Hanabi fell in love with a man outside clan (his name starts with K), leaving Hinata to take up the mantle.

Her heir status and her job as the academy teacher didn't clash at all. She easily made time for all her responsibilities.

She married Kiba who changed his name to Hyuga. They married out of convenience but fell in love soon enough.

(Kiba wasn't heir so he is a free man. He could marry into other clan if he so wished. Besides, his clan is female dominant so he was easily casted out. Also because Tsume adored Hinata.)

Naruto didn't marry Hinata because she wished to guide her clan to a better future and Naruto wanted to rebuild his own clan.

Hinata and Naruto dated for a while but it didn't work. Hinata realised what she felt for Naruto was just admiration of his dominant character and merely desired to always support him. Naruto found her quiet and accepting persona not fit for his challenging personality. They parted on good terms.

Sakura moved on from Sasuke when he joined Akatsuki. She lost all her hopes of ever seeing that Sasuke she saw when she was a child. But she still wanted to help him find peace.

Naruto desperately held onto his hopes because no one else but team 7 believed in Sasuke or Naruto's conviction in Sasuke anymore. Sai didn't believe in Sasuke but he believed in his teammates.

(Sasuke wasn't close to any of the rookies. There's a limit to any obligation that other teams would have felt for Sasuke. They may be (hardly) friends or allies, but no one stands up for you more than family. Team 7 is one big family.)

Sasuke rejected Sakura vocally under the assumption she still loved him when Team 7 reunited. He earned a punch from Sakura that left him passed out for 3 days. He again got punched when he asked for reason why he got punched. This time he was out for a week. He didn't dare talk back to Sakura again.

Karin moved in with Naruto after the war. She wanted to live with her family and Naruto couldn't be happier. They grew close and remained so even after Naruto moved out to live in Hokage household. Suigetsu and Juugo moved in with Karin after that.

It took 9 years after the war for karin to finally accept her feelings for Suigetsu. He jumped her the moment she confessed. They had kids first and married next.

Orochimaru is dead. Period. Tsunade never woke from her coma; 5 years into the coma she died. Sakura was devastated. She left the village on her personal mission. Naruto didn't stop her.

(What mission? See part 1.)

It was spring when finally, at the age of 26, Naruto is given the hat. During the crowning ceremony, Naruto publicly declared his engagement with Sakura. He earned a punch of course, but he wasn't refused. Sakura left for her mission again.

(A Hokage should have more than just talk-no-jutsu and power. Naruto is not a Hokage material (face it!!) but that doesn't mean he couldn't be properly trained to become one.)

(Sakura loved Sasuke despite every his crimes and dismissals, Hinata loved Naruto despite his obliviousness towards her existence, so god how can Naruto who 'never gives up' gave up on his love for Sakura, for merely her rejection? Please keep your 'rivalry to Sasuke bs' to yourself. Manga has more than enough reference of her showing deep concern and care for Naruto. Sp can burn.)

It was in the next spring that Sakura returned from her personal mission to settle back for an indefinite time.

(Guess for what?)

Lee was both Neji and Tenten's first kiss. Lee's was Sakura. Sakura's was Naruto. Naruto's was Sasuke. Sasuke's was Itachi. Legend has it has ghost of Itachi still feels traumatised by that memory.

Sakura and Mei grew close when Sakura helped Kiri grow their medical force. Mei wanted to adopt Sakura at one point and prepared papers without consent, Kakashi, who was the Hokage at that time, personally came to Kiri to drag Sakura back to Konoha.

(I love Kiri!Sakura AU)

[rinneganwritings]

Never Far Away; Chapter One: Sleep Drifter

In the years since the Uchiha massacre and Itachi leaving the village, Tamako finds herself feeling alone and wanting to seek him out. While her sister, who is also her sensei, is desperately trying to keep her little family together with her parents long deceased during the Nine-Tail Fox attack several years ago. Young Tamako must decide if she wants to continue living a lie or pursue the love of her life...

Word count: 3,120

Summary: Tamako awakens from the same dream she's been having for years and realizes she can't live this life anymore.

Warnings: None.

Chapter Two

Tamako awakens with tears in her eyes and sweat dripping from her brow. She frantically searches the bed, calling out for Itachi. Once again, he isn’t there with her. He’ll never be here with her, not in this bed. Throwing the blankets from her body, she gets up on shaky legs. It’s difficult to recover from these dreams, but she knows this is the last time it’s going to happen. She can no longer let this go on anymore. It’s not feasible to live a life plagued by dreams of a lover that is so far away.

She turns on the bedroom light, finding the bag she always uses for missions that require her to be away from home for an extended period of time. She starts to pack articles of clothing inside of it, along with a few valuable pieces of jewelry she’s collected over the years and some sentimental momentos. Without thinking twice, she rolls up her beat up sleeping bag and ties it to the top of her bag.

Tamako strips herself of her pajamas and heads for the bathroom. She knows it’s going to be a very long time before she’ll be able to shower comfortably in peace. She’s leaving home, and she’s known about this for too long. It’s been weighing so heavily on her heart, but she can’t continue to live this lie for much longer. Tonight was the night, and she had finally confirmed it with herself.

For years, she barely could contain herself. Tamako has always tried her best to keep her thoughts and feelings to herself, lest her Static Release becomes a real problem. For years, her heart ached for someone who was never returning. It was always that same dull ache, but it had become a little familiar by this point. He had left when they were both thirteen, and even then, she knew she loved him. It was one of the worst pains she had ever had, outside of losing her parents at age five. This was different; it was raw, visceral, and gut-wrenching. Losing her parents was terrible, and it made her lost in a completely different way.

Her dreams were always plagued with his face. Gentle, sweet Itachi. It hurt her to always see it, night after night. When she woke up, she would always search her bed with tears in her eyes, as if by some miracle he’d be lying there with her. Tamako kept up a strong appearance for most people, but it was starting to wear her down. Bit by bit, she was slowly being chipped away.

She turns off the water, stepping out and toweling herself off. The house is quiet, and she knows it’s going to be like this for Yumiko from now on. As for her older sister, Tamako knows it’s going to really hurt Yumiko when she finds out that Tamako has left. But honestly, Yumiko should have clued in so long ago…

Once Tamako is dressed in her gear and has everything she needs to get going, she takes one final look at her bedroom. Never again will she see this room in the same way as she does now. It will no longer give her comfort like it used to.

The night air is warm, but there is a cool breeze. Tamako makes sure that none of her neighbors are out watching. It’s going to be difficult sneaking out of the village, but she knows it’s something that can be manageable if you are skilled enough. It’s quiet out here as well, except for the occasional cicada or cricket. The stars are shining bright.

Tamako makes the appropriate hand signs, and within a split second, a few copies of her are next to her. She whispers to them quietly, and most of them nod and head off to certain parts of the village. This is her decoy, and she knows exactly how to work every angle.

Her first shadow clone will go to the ramen shop. The old man who owns it knows that Tamako often frequents his business late at night when she isn’t feeling right. This clone will make him think she is here with him.

The second clone will go visit the guards at the front gates. They are used to seeing Tamako walk around the village this late night as well. She often likes to go visit them to make sure they are doing alright...but she’s also been planning this for a long time. She needed to know how good of guards they are before she could execute her plan.

The other two shadow clones are for surveillance. If anything goes outside of the plan, they will alert her and she will rush back home, only for her to try again tomorrow night. She can no longer live in this village. This is the village that has failed so many people over the years. Konoha isn’t what it’s shaped up to be, and the way its citizens have treated her clan, along with so many other clans...it’s no surprise that so many people from Hidden Leaf join up with Akatsuki.

Within a few short minutes, Tamako is leaping up and over rooftops. She can finally see the edge of the gates, and she’s just near freedom when she hears something underneath her. She watches as the two guards are basically sleeping and her shadow clone below gives her a thumbs up. Finally, she’s over the gates and on the ground.

She takes off running, tears brimming her eyes. It’s not easy for her to leave either, but she can’t live a lie anymore. She needs to find Itachi and she needs her freedom. Yumiko is too overbearing and Tamako no longer has a future in the village now that Itachi is gone. He was truly the only person who could understand her.

And yet, she worried about Sasuke. Sasuke had been her best friend for years, and they even continued to bond after Itachi left. It was tough for Sasuke to have to deal with the death of his parents and his clan, but with Tamako, things were a little less hard on the poor boy. He still had her to look up to, but he was tormented with the ideas of vengeance and murdering Itachi.

Tamako knows it’s going to fuel the young boy. It’s going to drive him crazy with vengeance once he realizes why Tamako has left. He thought she was the only person who he could trust, but he’s going to want to go after her as well once he knows why Tamako has left.

With a heavy heart, she decides to keep running and never look back. It hurts too much to even think about what’s going to happen tomorrow when Yumiko returns to the village or when Sasuke comes around to ask her to come train with him. Her heart aches at the thought of his defeated face when he realizes she isn’t home...somehow, as the years had gone by, she had come to see him as less of a little brother and more of a best friend.

The night air is hitting her skin so harshly as she runs from her home village. Tears are spilling from her eyes as she tries her best to steady her breathing. Without warning, she falls from the trees and collapses on the forest floor. Everything is crashing down on her, and she can’t help but feel so sad. Tamako has been planning this escape for years, but here she is, crying her eyes out in the forest. It hurts...everything hurts.

The sun is shining so brightly as Tamako fastens the obi to her kimono. She’s just come out of the shower and she is ready to head out to the part of town where the Uchihas reside.

Yumiko is somewhere in their backyard, no doubt giving Akina some sort of personalized lesson. Tamako tries not to get jealous when her sister gives Akina special training, but she can’t help but feel a little left out. Yumiko has stated before that Tamako is a little more advanced than her teammates, so she needs to spend time with them to help them get in touch with their real potential as a shinobi.

Before Tamako leaves the residence, she peeks outside the backdoor to find Yumiko doing some of her own training. She’s trying to master some shuriken throwing, and it’s going very well. Tamako is a little in awe at her sister’s talent. Of course, Yumiko is quite a bit older than Tamako, so there’s some age gap as well as experience gap.

“Are you headed out again?” Yumiko asks, not turning around to face Tamako.

“Oh,” Tamako says, a little startled. “I’m going to see Sasuke and Itachi…” there’s a dusting of blush on her cheeks as she mentions Itachi.

Yumiko finally faces her younger sister, her hands on her hips. There’s a coy smirk playing on her lips as she understands what’s going on. Tamako has had a crush on Itachi since they were children, and Yumiko is almost 100% certain that Itachi shares those feelings as well. They’re always stuck to each other, even if Itachi has been a little more withdrawn these days.

“Well, please don’t be late. I’m going to be making dinner by six o’clock, so I’d like you home by then.” Yumiko explains, but Tamako is already heading back into the house.

“Byyyyee! See you!” Tamako shouts behind her, giggling to herself.

She can’t wait to see Itachi. Lately, he’s been a little sullen and closed off, but he still will do his best to make time for Tamako. The ANBU has him quite busy, and Tamako knows that Itachi has to deal with all kinds of craziness and difficult missions, but he is still the same Itachi deep down inside. There’s just a little something different about him these days…

It doesn’t take long for her to reach the part of town where Itachi lives. She’s never understood why the Uchihas have to live in this little compound, but she doesn’t care about it. She knows what it’s like to have a town shun her clan...much more than that, she knows what it’s like to have her clan despise her. It’s not a wonderful feeling knowing your relatives don’t want anything to do with you, but it’s something that hardens a person.

Rushing over to Itachi and Sasuke’s house, she tries her best to not just run inside and track mud all over the place. Carefully, she opens the door and calls out to whoever will greet her. It’s usually Mikoto that will greet her with a snack while they both wait for Sasuke and Itachi to return home. Sometimes, it’s Fugaku and that can be a little awkward at times. Fugaku is someone who is stern and very interested in his work and the way his sons succeed in life.

Instead, Tamako is surprised to come face to face with Sasuke and Itachi. They look like they are ready to head out training, but Sasuke looks like he is pouting a little. It’s unmistakable on his face, he always seems like he is puffing out his cheeks when he pouts. It’s honestly adorable.

“Tamako! How are you doing today?” Itachi asks, smiling at her sweetly.

Sasuke stops pouting for a moment, smiling sweetly at Tamako as well. Sasuke and Itachi look so much alike, there’s no way anyone couldn’t tell they are brothers. Tamako giggles softly as she scratches the back of her head nervously.

“I’m good. Are you going to train, Itachi?” Tamako questions, and Itachi nods.

“I am. Would you like to join me?” That’s when Sasuke interjects.

“No fair! You said I couldn’t come, so why is Tamako allowed to go with you?” Sasuke argues, but Itachi only leans forward to tap Sasuke gently on the forehead.

“Next time, little brother. I promise.” With that, Itachi takes Tamako’s hand and he leads her out of the house.

As they walk towards the forest, Tamako starts to feel a little guilty about leaving Sasuke at home, but she does enjoy the thought of spending the afternoon alone with Itachi. It’s been ages since they were able to have some alone time, and Tamako thinks about maybe confessing to Itachi today.

Once they are in the forest, Itachi begins training in silence. He hardly says anything to Tamako for a little bit, before he finally stops his shuriken training and faces her. There’s a worried look painted on his face, and he’s not even sure how he’s going to be able to tell her everything he’s been hiding from her for so long.

“Tamako, you know I’d never hurt you on purpose, right?” Itachi asks. Tamako nods, smiling awkwardly.

“Of course! What is this about?”

Itachi walks over to her, taking her hands into his. His eyes are red, and he’s activated the Sharingan. Something looks a little different about it, but Tamako doesn’t know that much about the Sharingan to really understand. She feels a little intimidated right now, and there’s a few sparks that crackle in the air. Itachi rubs her hands a little to soothe her, and the static in the air starts to dissipate.

“I love you,” Itachi whispers, leaning his forehead on hers. Tamako’s heart begins pounding, unsure if she’s actually heard him correctly.

“Itachi…” she mutters, staring into his eyes. They are back to the regular onyx black, and she finds herself calming down.

“I can’t believe I’ve been hiding stuff from you, but just know that I cannot get you implicated in this matter. There’s some high tension between my clan and Hidden Leaf village, and it’s going to get messy.” Itachi explains as he wraps his arms around Tamako. Instantly, she hugs him and breathes in his scent.

His lips barely brush against hers, and they are holding each other close. Tamako mutters that she loves him too, and then they hear Sasuke’s voice calling out for them. He’s decided to follow them into the forest, and Tamako is cursing the fact that Sasuke can be so stubborn.

“Please, don’t hate me when this is all over…”

When Tamako comes to, she realizes she’s been passed out on the forest floor for a few hours. The sky is still dark and she’s barely left Hidden Leaf. Without thinking another thought, she jumps up onto the tree branches and makes her way further from the village. She needs to find a place to stay for tonight, but she cannot be seen by anyone that knows her.

Once she makes more distance between Konoha and herself, she decides to set up camp. In a small clearing, she builds a small fire and lays down her sleeping bag. It’s not cold, but she wants to warm up a little from the bittersweet memories that keep playing over and over in her head. She hopes that very soon, she’ll find Itachi. She hopes it’ll be a sweet reunion, and not something that wasn’t worth leaving the village for.

The sun begins to rise slowly as Tamako drifts off to sleep. She’s often awoken by the sounds of the forest and her own anxiety. Finally, when it’s mid morning, she packs up her stuff and continues her journey.

Eventually, she finds a small village nearby. There’s something about this place that makes her want to continue on, but she’s not really sure what it is. Tamako starts to think that maybe she shouldn’t have stopped to sleep the second time.

In the village, she barely makes contact with anyone. Most everyone knows that she isn’t from there, so they all stare at her a bit. It makes her a little uncomfortable, but she does her best to shrug it off.

Finally, she reaches a small little cafe. It reminds her of the ones that Itachi used to love going to. Tamako decides to take a break and order some food. She doesn’t have much money, but she knows she needs to eat before leaving once again.

The waitress is sweet and takes her time to make Tamako’s order. Tamako takes out a small notebook, and she begins writing a few notes. This is the notebook that holds mostly everything she knows about the Akatsuki. If she’s not mistaken, they were last seen in one of the fishing villages nearby for a reason or another. Tamako also knows that the Akatsuki generally work in teams of two.

“Here you go, sweetheart.” The waitress says as she places the dish in front of Tamako.

Tamako smiles up at her and the waitress goes to leave, but Tamako figures that the waitress might be a good person to ask about some information right now. She doesn’t really trust herself to ask too many people in this village. They all seem very tight-knit here.

“Miss, have you any information on...the Akatsuki?” Tamako asks, basically whispering the last words.

The waitress nearly drops the menus in her hands. She takes a moment to compose herself before she leans towards Tamako.

“Why do you want to know? Are you a part of their group?”

Tamako shakes her head. She’s concocted the perfect lie for this. She knew it’d be the only way she’d get away with asking about the Akatsuki without rousing too much suspicion.

“No, I’m on my way to hunt them down myself. Any information would help me.”

The waitress barely knows anything, but the little information she did have seems to be helpful. Tamako scribbles it all down in her notebook, and then she dismisses the other young woman. Tamako figures she’s going to be outed as a person of interest now, so she eats quickly before paying her tab and taking off.

People whisper as Tamako leaves the cafe. It feels weird to have all eyes on her, but she can understand how this situation has just gotten weirder. Everyone must think that she’s a spy or even a rogue ninja…

Which, now she most definitely is a rogue ninja. She wonders if anyone has come to check up on her in Konoha. Her heart aches once again when she thinks of Sasuke. She wished she could have left him a note or something, but she didn’t want anyone to follow her. Leaving notes could just make someone find her quicker…

She could just picture Yumiko tracking her down, and then dragging her home. That’s the last thing Tamako wants. She wants to find Itachi and she’ll die trying. Tamako doesn’t care if it’ll cost her her life, it’s worth it.

Itachi is worth it.

[ladykissingfish]

drunk Akatsuki hc? 🥺

Ask and ye shall receive! ((Sorry it took so long to get to/finish this. Also get the nagging feeling I did a post very similar to this before but 🤷🏽‍♀️ piss poor memory so))

Drinking with the Akatsuki

Kakuzu

Takes a lot to get him drunk; his alcohol tolerance is pretty damn high. And when he does reach that point, he becomes … very unlike himself. Friendly, smiling, and extremely loose with his precious money. Kakuzu being drunk is the best time to ask him for an advance on your pay, or a personal loan. Another bonus: drunk Kakuzu is storytime Kakuzu. When he’s sober, the others don’t really like listening to his stories because they’re all boring as hell, and are usually centered around some point that he’s trying to nag everyone on. But drunk Kakuzu, well, he’ll tell you about brawls, dangerous stunts he pulled when he was a kid, sometimes even old lovers. He can keep the rest of the Akatsuki enraptured for hours with his intoxicated tales. The morning after a night of drinking is a different tale, though. He’ll remember loaning money to people and hunt them down to make sure that know they have to pay him back, and he’ll deny like crazy any story tidbits that the others bring up to him. Will also go through several pots of pure black coffee in an effort to de-hangover himself more quickly.

Pein

The Pein bodies don’t drink, but Nagato will, very rarely. Beer is his drink of choice, and he’ll opt for foreign rather than domestic. He’s not really the type to get full-on drunk (no matter what he’s the Leader and he carries himself as such), rather he’ll just get slightly tipsy. If he gets tipsy enough he’ll rant a bit to whoever’s closest about pain, and the unfairness of life, and anything else that would put a downer on happy drinkers’ moods. He always hopes that the alcohol will help him to sleep (he’s a horrible insomniac) but most times it just gives him a slight headache while leaving him wide-wake and dry-mouthed.

Hidan

Nobody wants to be around this guy when he’s had too much to drink, because the normally violent Hidan becomes even more so after hitting the booze. He’ll be willing to take on any and everyone, from teenagers to old men. And being immortal doesn’t help matters any; he could literally get torn limb from limb and his mouth would still be taunting his opponents with “Is that the best ya got, bastard??” Drinking also brings out his creative side when it comes to his human sacrifices and Jashin rituals; he’ll think up new (and horrible) ways to torment and kill his victims. Is the type to finally, FINALLY just completely pass out after reaching his final tolerance point, and the others will (reluctantly) drag him to his room and put him in his bed. Not many are willing to do this, however, as most times before he passes out he’ll have stripped himself completely naked.

Tobi

An emotional drunk. Gets sad and cries over practically anything. And it doesn’t take much to get him tanked, either; his tolerance level is embarrassingly low and he’ll be ready to sob after just a couple of glasses of wine. Tobi tries to avoid drinking when he can because he knows there’s a good chance of him dropping his persona and letting the others see Obito Uchiha. In fact this HAS happened a few times, where he’a taken off his mask and everything; fortunately for him the others were so gone that the next day they either didn’t remember, or believed that had just imagined the whole thing. Likes to soothe himself by slurring sad love songs at the top of lungs, joined most frequently by Deidara and Hidan. Will also drunkenly stuff his face with meats, which is a complete opposite from his sweet-loving sober self. He can throw down a dozen burgers when boozed up, the results of which will likely be in puddles all over the floor the next day. Will go to his bed and turn around in circles a bunch of times, like a dog, before finally going to sleep. “Tobi” will be the quietest he’s ever been the next day, as he fights a massive headachy hangover.

Konan

For being such a thin, delicate girl, Konan can hold her liquor right up there with the likes of Kakuzu and Kisame. One might never even know that she’s drunk to begin with; she walks perfectly straight, doesn’t slur her words, has almost perfect reflexes and normal mannerisms. One thing always gives her away, however; drunk Konan is hungry Konan. Under normal circumstances the little lady sticks to a healthy diet and isn’t one for over-indulging in anything. One shot or beer too many, and suddenly the gloves are off. Konan will make pizza, hotdogs, gigantic sundaes, cakes and pies … and devour almost all of it. She’ll share with the others if asked … but most times she’s eaten so much that there’s not much left to share. When she’s finally had her fill, she’ll go to bed … and wake up feeling sick as a dog the next morning. After the nausea passes, she’ll force herself to go for a long run or walk, no matter how much her head may be aching, in order to work off her excessive calorie intake.

Zetsu

Zetsu doesn’t drink, because alcohol interferes with his plant genetics, acting as literal poison to his system. But he enjoys being around the others when they’re drunk, to see the different types of personalities that emerge. Likes to hang around Hidan in particular, as the man’s sacrifices pick up significantly when he’s drunk, meaning Zetsu has more of a smorgasbord of leftovers to pick from

Sasori

As a puppet, Sasori doesn’t drink. But when he was a human, it was a different story. He turned himself into a non-human at a very young age, much younger, of course, than would have been the legal drinking age. But his grandmother kept a variety of wines in their home, and when she was away, he liked to pour himself a glass. Always only a single glass; he was intelligent enough both to know that his grandmother would notice if any larger of a quantity was missing, and, already dabbling in making poisons at this point, he understood the concept of “tolerance” better than most. But the single glass was enough; it seemed to comfort him during those nights when he was missing his mother and father. The wine also served as a brain-opener for him, of sorts: it was over wine that he first got the idea of turning himself into a puppet.

Deidara

Being young and so slender, and not having much experience with alcohol before joining the Akatsuki, the blonde is a bit of a light-weight when it comes to the hooch. He doesn’t really care for beers or ales (he compares the taste to “cat-piss”) and instead goes for the fruity mixed drinks that don’t SEEM that strong … until you’ve had about three or four, and they put you on your ass. Deidara becomes very lovey-dovey when drunk, and not just in a romantic sense. Alcohol makes everyone in the world his friend, and he’s suddenly interested in what others have to say about life and art. He’s even nice to Itachi, going so far as to hug him and tell him that he smells good, something that he will vehemently deny the next day. He’ll go to Sasori and cling to him and gush about how he appreciates his friendship and his guidance, until Sasori gets tired of him and tells him to go to sleep. Deidara can get to his room on his own, but once the door closes, he’s more likely to pass out on the floor than in his own bed. Also, if he didn’t think to tie up his long hair beforehand, he’ll be in for a nasty, messy surprise when he inevitably wakes up to vomit at some point.

Itachi

Itachi isn’t one to ever let himself lose control of his senses, no matter the situation. Therefore, if he’s drinking with the others, he’ll stick to one or two beers or a single shot before cutting himself off for the evening. He plays much of a “mom” role in the group, making sure the others are okay, lending a shoulder to cry on for the emotional drunks, and, if they’re out somewhere, making sure everyone gets home safe and sound. On the rare, RARE occasions he drinks by himself, and lets go of his hesitation, he’s just as emotional a drinker as Tobi (which is quite possibly an Uchiha trait). He’ll cry into his pillow, he’ll sit and lament over the choices he’s made in life. Sometimes he’ll find and put on the saddest song or movie he can think of, just so he has something to get emotional over. Although this sounds bad, this is actually a helpful bit of therapy for him, as it allows him to release emotions that he normally keeps bottled up. He’ll end a night of solo drinking with a cup of tea, then go quietly to bed, sleeping like a rock until the sun comes up and things go back to normal.

Kisame

Right up there with Kakuzu as being a guy that can hold his liquor like a champ. In fact his ability to do so has won him many drinking challenges at bars, as well as a formidable reputation as “one bad ass son of a bitch”. It also helps him confidence-wise; normally the half-shark is very reserved and keeps to himself, as he feels that his appearance is off-putting and scary to “normal” people. But alcohol loosens him up and gets him talking, and being bold, and many people find this switch in personality to be highly attractive. Ladies especially take notice of his smile, his eyes … and his muscles. He even scores several phone numbers from interested parties … but by the time he’s sober again, he never follows through with calling anyone. Also helps Itachi in that he keeps an eye on the others when they drink, to make sure that they’re safe.

[steeltoss]

Pre Shippuden — Shippuden Era

Ages 16 - 22. This is a continuation of the events in Hokkaido's life.

Age 16

I left off on her six month mission in Konohagakure. Backtracking a few months before she turned sixteen, she worked directly under Tsunade Senju amd had slowly reconnected with her old friends, including Neji Hyūga, Kiba Inuzuka, Ino Yamanaka, Sakura Haruno, Shikamaru Nara, and Choji Akamichi.

That being said, her sixteenth birthday was spent in the Hidden Leaf. The party was small and planned by Ino, complete with a few cupcakes and dango. This was the first birthday she enjoyed after Emi passed away.

Speaking of Emi, Hokkaido constantly worried over Ichika and often wrote letters to the younger one. After all, next year Ichika would start the Amegakure Academy.

Aside from her mission, nothing too big happened this year. Though she found out Sasuke was missing. He had become a Rogue Ninja. Okay that's pretty big but still.

Age 17

Upon her journey towards Amegakure after the six months had passed, the Kunoichi had taken it into her own hands to search for Sasuke. She strayed off the path she should have been taking to go to the Hidden Rain Village.

From here, she runs into some nasty company.

This was the first time she met Pein and Konan. And they looked like they were ready to end her.

Upon activating her sharingan, interest was sparked in her by Pein. She was spared on one condition. Well a few, but one big one.

She was to join the Akatsuki, accept the Rogue life and abandon her old life. This would mean abandoning the Hidden Rain and Ichika.

But on the other hand, maybe she could find Sasuke. She had no clue just how wrong she was. But she agreed nonetheless.

So she was taken back to the base, fron there, she met the other members.

Okay don't kill me but here's what happens when she first meets the Akatsuki: [her opinion and relationships will change over time]

Pein: Of course when they first met, she was intimidated and activated her sharingan, but being spared and hopefully brought closer to her brother, she would do anything he asked, for now at least.

Konan: Seeing her special skills, Hokkaido was intimidated but wouldn't admit so. She seems to be the only female here.

Deidara: I'm sorry Dei, but my little angel thought you were a very beautiful lady until you spoke the first time. Needless to say, she was rather shocked but admired his hair and explosives anyway.

Kakuzu: one word. Fear. This man is huge and crazy tall, also his personality reminds her of what its like to bite into a crabapple.

Hidan: she admired his dedication, but didn't like how he greeted her with “Fuck, there's another one? At least this one has a decent rack”. She punched him. And threatened his life only to find out he's immortal.

Tobi: well, he's very hyper and welcoming at least, but she wondered why he wore that mask.

Kisame: is he a man? Shark? Man-Shark? Either way, she kept a distance and admired his strength from afar.

Sasori: puppets are completely and utterly horrifying and she wanted nothing to do with this weird puppet man. Until she saw how red his hair was and her cheeks dusted a pale pink. It reminded her of someone she met a few years ago.

Itachi: . . . Her brother. Her brother, who had killed the clan was in the Akatsuki. Upon seeing him, she wondered if it was too late to leave the Akatsuki. She rurned her nose away and sighed.

Zetsu: “are you a. . . Big, adorable plant man?” i think it's safe to say Zetsu stared at her and quite possibly closed his trap around himself to save himself the embarrassment or black Zetsu threatening to eat her.

Back to Age 17

Sasuke wasn't with them, and she felt like shutting down completely. She was now at square one again. She had hoped this was her ticket to helping her brother, but ahe didnt know he didn't want help.

And honestly, you can't help someone who doesn't want any help.

Aside from her mind overworking, she now had to face Itachi as he was staring her down.

“hey, Itachi... ”

From there, the two walked around as he explained what really happened that day. She was torn. The Leaf had ordered this massacre?

Maybe she wasn't ready to go home after all.

Age 18

On her eighteenth birthday, she had spent her very first one with Itachi in nine years, and she oncr again, was crying those sappy happy little tears.

She never really expected a group of terrorists to the villages to get her gifts, yet they had.

Konan had gotten her a pair of fingerless gloves; Hokkaido appreciated the gesture because her hands were usually cold and Konan usually got things she needed or wanted anyway as the two had become closer.

Kisame had given her her very first katana, which, she undeniably adored the gesture; and she was extremely pink cheeked, she wasn't in love with him but she really liked his caring and understanding attitude.

Tobi had gotten her a mask to match his, which she never would wear; instead, she retaliated with offering to share dango with him instead. Which results in him squealing.

Sasori had claimed he didn't give a damn about things she wanted but still placed a small wooden figure of well, GAARA, in front of her; which led to the idea he had read her diary and had fully embarrassed her. But this little figure was different. Gaara was dressed as the Kazekage.

Deidara had picked her up some paint; remembering she hsd spent endless nights she couldn't sleep to paint her ceilinv and walls, and was out of it.

Zetsu uh, well, gave her a few seeds for flowers. It was for a joke since he figured she would never use them, but she held o to them. Just wait. These gifts will be brought up later.

Kakuzu, and i can't stress this enough, didn't do shit.

Hidan, on the other hand, tried offering immortality if she converted to jashinism.

Itachi had saved his for last. He had gotten her a journal and pens, as well as her stuffed panda from Amegakure.

A part of being an official member of the Akatsuki meant missions. And she had completed several, but what made her panic would be the one where the hunt for Jinchuuriki began.

It was a silent battle with herself. She had already dedicated herself to the Akatsuki but she knew two Jinchuuriki. Gaara and Naruto.

The day Gaara's One Tail was extracted, she covered her mouth upon hearing those certain words.

“He's dead”.

As if she had been hoping her life wouldn't get worse, she had already made up her mind. She really, really despised Deidara now. And she knew she would be killed if she straight up abandoned post.

However, on her next solo mission, she managed to leave a scroll for the Hokage and wanted word passed silently between the Five Kage's. She was playing both sides as of now, but desperately wanted out.

Would they believe her?

No. Not yet at least.

Age 19

Silence. She had succumbed herself with silence, almost like a vow she had taken. Deidara, Sasori, they were dead and war was coming.

She promised herself she would hate Deidara for what he did to Gaara, but she couldn't help but feel pity. Deidara was only a teenager when he died. [I think he was nineteen?]

With the Fourth Shinobi War coming, she was scared. Having no idea what to even do, Hokkaido assumed she would die.

Because I'm a lil bitch, I'm making you wait until she turns 20 for more details.

Age 20

The Akatsuki was no more. Almost all had died, and Hokkaido felt a slight empty feeling in her heart as she sat in front of the Five Kage's.

This was judgement. Would she be allowed to repent and become a better person or be banished forever, or die? Her mind was going wild.

Though, she couldn't help the feeling of ease as she saw Gaara, the Kazekage and boy she used to know, standing and perfectly fine.

“During the time of my extraction, I could see she wanted nothing to do with the Akatsuki organization. She looked almost forced to be there”.

The words Gaara spoke made her face turn pink and look away. Why was he trying to help her when she had fallen into the wrong group of people?

As if she hadn't already felt like she had succumbed herself in a repetitive cycle of falling for Gaara each day she thought about it, him helping her only dragged her deeper into the pit.

And Kami, he was so beautiful.

“and I'd like to offer that if you don't trust her, that's fine. She can return to Suna with me and Kankurō. She can build herself from there”.

So she moves to Suna and begins working on herself as a person, much of the things she had thought about was the very questions Gaara had asked along the way.

“why help me?” she had asked, the gaze he gave her was hard but he responded with: “you aren't the only one who was in the wrong. It would be wrong of anyone to not let you change yourself. I was given a chance and was once feared and hated, so can you answer this for me, do you wamt to live? Do you want to start a new beginning? If so, keep walking with us”.

And so she walked.

Age 21

Life in Suna was much different than the Hidden Rain or Leaf. Not many people would contact her or look her way for the first few days. After all she was an outsider and reformed terrorist.

Hokkaido had grown close to Temari once more, as well as Kankurō. These two, when free, helped her with the adjustment.

Hokkaido had left Amegakure behind, the ache in her heart subsiding as she realized Ichika had grown into a decent young child and chose to not become a shinobi, considering shinobi had too many hardships and heartaches to deal with.

As for Gaara, the two often spent time gardening and cultivating cacti.

Something from the past had finally been planted. The flower seeds Zetsu had given her way back on her birthday spent with the Akatsuki.

The katana that Kisame had given her was placed on a display.

Her Traditional Japanese Sword Display

The katana which is the most recognized full sized samurai sword and is often the first piece in any collection. It sits at the bottom and has a beautiful violet ito handle wrap.

The second would be the wakizashi which is a mid-sized sword that resembles the katana and the ito handle wrap was midnight blue.

Then the third which is a tanto. The tanto is the shortest of the swords or in many examples can be as short as today's standard survival styled knife. The ito wrap is black.

This is an example of how the stand is:

Age 21

The mask Tobi had given her had brought up bitter memories and had long sense been tossed into a storage box.

Her fingerless gloves had been destroyed during the war, but since she used them for swordplay, Temari had gotten her a new pair as a gift.

The wooden figure Sasori had given her of Gaara was more or less embarassing since she lived with the sand siblings and had hidden it away in the storage box.

Her panda sat on her bed, displayed and untouched except for during the night.

Age 22

Upon the next year, Hokkaido watched as relationships blossomed between many people, marriages and children coming into the world, she began wondering if she would ever have something like this in her own life. She highly doubted it.

Having been back and forth from Konohagakure, she grew closer to Shikamaru once more from childhood as she often joined the male and Temari on days they'd spend time together.

Other times, Hokkaido would stick to Kankurō and help with making puppets, she rather enjoyed painting them.

And occasionally, when Gaara was free, the two would still garden together and had began talking more, sometimes the two would even go out to the village and walk around together.

Her feelings for Gaara seemed to only hrow stronger as she had grown older, and she imagined herself having a future with him. It always made her heart hammer and her face turn blood red.

This year, she had cut most of her hair off to her shoulders as it had grown too long. She soon admits her feelings to Gaara, unsurprisingly, he was silent.

She most definitely assumed she blew it, but nearly a week later, Gaara had shyly asked if she would allow him to court her.

This was most definitely the beginning of a new and beautiful relationship.

I'll pick up with pre boruto - boruto era soon. Though im not sure if these are even good. @temarihime @thefifthkazekage @how-troublesome @houndninja

[darquedeath4444]

The Pain We Share

Chapter THIRTEEN

Sakura continued to supply small pieces of information Sasori and Deidara would have already been aware of had they properly read through the files, but there was not much else they did not know.

"Should we get the other end of the large hole checked out?" Deidara asked.

Sasori glanced over at Sakura, who once again looked lost in her own world. He sighed. "If we put it down in the report, I'm sure someone will be assigned to check it out."

"True, un."

Sakura was fingering at something on the ground. He watched as she scooped at whatever it was with her hands and watched the specks fall back onto the ground between her fingers.

"Aren't you going to stop her?"

Sasori turned to look at his partner. "What?"

Deidara shrugged, a grin on his face. "She's going to be coming back to your room," he reminded him. "You get all prissy when I trek mud onto your floors."

Sasori realized the blond was talking about the dirt. He looked at Sakura again. "She can wash her hands," he muttered.

Deidara's grin widened, but Sasori pretended not to see it.

They departed from the base later that day and arrived at the headquarters before the sun had fully set. A messenger was waiting for them at the gates, no doubt having been alerted of their return by the pieces of Konan's paper which all members kept on their person.

"Leader requests your presence in his office as soon as possible," they were told.

Sasori thanked the man and dismissed him. The three of them decided to make a quick detour to their rooms to at least change. He moved into the bathroom before doing so because Sakura appeared to have no qualms with stripping out of her own dirty clothes in the middle of the room. He listened for the sound of clothes dropping onto the ground and waited a while longer, just to be safe, before he exited.

Her casual, non-outdoor clothes were more suited to her size, or rather, did not appear to bother her as much. They had been Konan's, after all. She straightened the shirt and ran her hands through her hair before turning back towards him.

Sasori eyed the stack of clothes the girl had grabbed at the hideout, which all appeared to have been specially made for outdoors and missions, and he wondered if she had ever owned a casual piece of clothing before. He informed Sakura on where she could get her clothes cleaned, then suggested she simply leave it with his pile, since he had planned on sending out his own washing after he took a bath later that day anyways.

"Either way you're going to have to sit in those clothes for a while longer."

Sakura shrugged and hugged the clothes she had taken from the hideout closer to herself. "That's okay."

Sasori simply nodded. He held open the door for the girl, and the two of them began making their way back up towards Nagato's office. As they approached, Sasori heard his partner's voice and knew he was already there. He could hear Konan scolding Deidara for tracking dirt into the base and the blond frantically trying to explain that bone shards had rained down on them and that it was probably that. He rolled his eyes and turned towards Sakura, a snarky comment on the tip of his tongue, and blinked when he found her looking right at him, as though she too had turned to gauge his reaction. Sakura was the first to avert her eyes and he felt a sudden surge of satisfaction.

The girl might not know how deep the bond between them ran, but it was reassuring to know that he, too, was able to have some effect on her.

"Let's go?" He asked.

Sakura nodded. "Yes."

Sasori knocked, opened the door, gestured for her to go first, then closed the door behind him.

Not all of the Akatsuki were present in the room, but Nagato, Yahiko and Konan were all there. Deidara dramatically gestured for Sasori and Sakura to enter before allowing the door to close behind himself. Nagato gestured to the empty chairs and Sasori made sure Sakura was seated before he took a seat beside her.

"Welcome back," Yahiko began. "I trust you ran into no problems?"

Sasori shrugged. "We ran into none of Orochimaru's men," he said. "No signs any of them returned to the base either."

Yahiko nodded and shared a glance with Nagato.

Nagato turned to Sakura. "Is there anything you would like to share with us?" He asked gently.

Sakura seemed to contemplate things for a moment before she lowered her head. "I am, was, usually stationed elsewhere. The Northern hideout was ruled, I guess you could say, by someone else. I just happened to be there when you took it down."

Nagato glanced up at Konan. "Could you identify your base for us?"

Konan spread a map out on the table and Sasori recognized all their current intel on Orochimaru's strongholds neatly mapped out. There was a red cross over where the Northern base had been. Sakura leaned forward and her hand hovered over it. "Mine," she said and placed a finger on the paper.

Nagato hummed. "The South is a little down on our list of priorities," he said. "But your knowledge on it would become useful when the time comes."

Sakura nodded. "That makes sense. The North was probably the worst of it. I'll tell you everything I know," she promised.

"Anything else?"

"There were no signs of Orochimaru's men and there were no reports of them from any of the patrols either," Sasori repeated. "The clean up of the base should end within the next four days anyway."

Nagato leaned back, looking pleased. "That'll be all for today," he said.

"We expect the written report s soon as possible," Konan said, and Deidara made a face.

"Of course," Sasori said. "If that's all..." he stood up and Sakura followed without a second thought.

"Oh, Sasori!"

He turned around to face Konan. "Yes?"

"We've put in a few off days for you," she said. "Why don't you show Sakura around the base more properly? I'm afraid we can't allow her outside the base yet." Konan looked apologetic.

Sakura shrugged. "I don't mind." She turned to him and Sasori nodded.

"Sounds good."

Deidarara raised a hand. "How about me, un?"

Konan blinked. "I guess you'll be off by default, your partner being off and all."

"Wow, am I an extra? Thanks, un."

Konan laughed. "Enjoy it while you can."

Deidara waved over his shoulder as Sasori led Sakura out of the office. Once outside, Sasori turned to Sakura. "Dinner first?"

Sakura nodded.

"Where're you eating?" Deidara asked eagerly. "Can I join?"

"No," Sasori said immediately. When Sakura blinked in surprise, he turned to her. "He's annoying," he explained.

Sakura's lips twitched and she ducked her head. Sasori could swear she was laughing.

"Hey!"

Sasori ignored his friend as he led the way towards the dining hall. "Let's grab something to eat, then retreat to my room," he said. "We can have the clothes sent out for cleaning; they'll probably be done by tomorrow night."

Sakura's eyes brightened and she nodded eagerly. "Okay."

"Are you ignoring me, un?"

"I think Itachi stored the leftovers from last night in the fridge; he usually does."

"I don't mind."

"HEY! DON'T. IGNORE. ME. UN!"

Sasori pushed through doing just that and was relatively amused when Sakura seemed willing to go with it. She did look uneasy as he closed the dining-room door behind himself and in Deidara's face, but he knew that his partner was acting up for the sake of acting up and the most retaliation he would get was extra explosives in his bombs the next time they sparred.

"Don't worry," he said. "He isn't really angry."

Sakura turned away from the door to look at him, and she nodded after a while. "Oh."

He raided the fridge, pleased to see that someone had, indeed, left last night's leftovers. He grabbed the containers and heated them up while he grabbed two sets of bowls, utensils, and water. Sakura took them from him when he held them up and he ran chakra to his hands to pick up the now hot boxes of food. He flicked a finger to send out chakra strings, opening the door again, and they made their way back to his room in comfortable silence.

"You heard Konan," he said after a while. "I have no missions for the next few days. I know you left the base just earlier, but being stuck inside in general is probably rather boring. There is an open area where we train and while I am unable to undo your chakra restraints, it still is somewhere you can stretch your legs. Perhaps find someone to spar with, even."

Sakura looked rather interested and Sasori felt himself smirking. "I will take you after we eat."

The pinkette nodded eagerly.

When Sasori and Sakura arrive at the training clearing Hidan and Kakuzu are already there, beating the crap out of each other. Sakura paused to stare in what he suspected to be morbid fascination as the two men ignored what clearly appeared to be fatal injuries as they dance around each other.

Finally, after a while, they broke apart, glaring and panting. Hidan was letting out a string of curses and Kakuzu looked less than impressed, eyes narrowed and fingers clenching.

"They're always like that," Sasori said. "At each other's throats."

Sakura tore her gaze away from them. "Are they truly immortal?"

Sasori couldn't quite remember if he had been the one to tell her that. Perhaps she had known from one of the files Orochimaru surely kept on them. "They're zombies," he told her. "Or cockroaches. You don't really know if they're killable, and just when you think they're dead they come crawling back."

"I can hear you bastard!"

"I find the thought of being on the same level as this idiot honestly offending, Sasori, and I request you take back your statement."

Sasori rolled his eyes in the direction of the zombie duo. Sakura looked thoughtful, and she turned back to him. "The strings you made earlier," she said. "How did you do that?"

Sasori blinked. He thought back to how he had used chakra strings to open the door. "This?" He held up a finger and created a chakra string. It shot out, wrapped around a small rock a little away, and brought it back to him.

Sakura nodded. "I assume your chakra works outwards," she said. "My chakra mostly works inside of me." She paused, hand instinctively going up to her collar, and Sasori tried to look anywhere but at it. Fortunately, Sakura seemed to shrug it off. "And I was curious."

"It feels like an extension of my limbs," he explained. "When you say your chakra works inside of you...?"

"My healing and enhanced strength come from me channeling my chakra to places around my body," Sakura replied. "When I punch things, that chakra is transferred as force into the object I hit. Still, it's not exactly the same as being able to command chakra into a visible, almost physical form.

Sasori leaned in, interested. Like Sakura was getting at, Sasori's chakra acted as an extension of himself, but he could not mould it with equal precision within himself. He could do it if he tried, but the speed in which he could do so was definitely too slow for him to consider it an option when in battle. The decision to punch someone could come in a split second when in combat, and the fact that Sakura could channel chakra into her limb in the following second it might take to get into a stance was fascinating.

The doors to the training grounds opened and Deidara let his entrance be known with a loud greeting. Sasori ignored the blond, who made a beeline towards Hidan to apparently pick up on a fight from earlier, which had been momentarily broken up by Konan. Sasori mentally patted himself on the back for retreating to his room for lunch and in turn avoiding the mess altogether.

Now that he thought about it, however, perhaps it was different for everyone? His affinity towards manipulating chakra outside made it difficult for him to do the same within his body. "I have difficulties moulding chakra within my body," he admitted. "Perhaps it's simply a matter of affinity."

Sakura thought this through. "Makes sense," she agreed.

An explosion cut through their conversation and Sasori glanced over his shoulder. Hidan and Deidara were now engaged in what he supposed was a spar, but really looked like the two were just trying to kill each other.

"How about your healing?" He asked curiously. Sakura's openness in talking about her abilities was a little surprising, but he was more than willing to go with it. "All your injuries were gone even though you were unconscious."

"I can't explain it well, mainly because I'm usually unconscious when it happens," Sakura said, smiling softly. "But when I'm awake, I channel my chakra to wherever I'm hurt, just like if I were trying to hit something. Orochimaru-sama once told me my chakra speeds up the natural healing of my body."

Sasori made a face at the pinkette's respectful title for Orochimaru. "I-"

There was another explosion, this one much louder than before. The ground seemed to shake and small pieces of debris showered down onto them. Sakura had jumped to her feet the moment the loud sound had gone off and she looked around, eyes wide.

"DANNA!" Deidara shouted from across the room. "LOOK OUT!"

Sasori's head snapped up, eyeing the ceiling. The room was reinforced to be able to withstand chakra based attacks, and he wondered why his blond friend was throwing around bombs that created cracks on such reinforced material. There was another cracking sound and Sasori tried to remember what was located on the floor above them because he was sure the ceiling was going to cave and he was also sure Nagato was not going to be pleased. He raised his hands, fingers spread and chakra flaring, ready to make sure none of the debris crushed any of them so that the two idiots could live to feel his wrath, when Sakura stepped up beside him.

Sasori blinked, caught off guard, as the ceiling came crashing down seconds later. The pinkette clenched her fist, pulled it back, and proceeded to shatter the biggest body of debris that came at them.

Silence followed. Sasori eyed the chakra suppressing collar, the supposed to chakra suppressing collar, then turned to stare at Sakura, who stared back at him as though she hadn't just used chakra, which she shouldn't be able to use, to shatter a reinforced slab of rock, which should be incredibly resistant to chakra based force, into a bajillion tiny pieces.

Sakura blinked before she looked at her hands, then touched her collar. "Oh," she breathed. "Oops."

Chapter FOURTEEN>

<Chapter TWELVE

Chapter List

[dalekofchaos]

If Orochimaru took Sasuke’s body

Orochimaru was built up as the big bad of the series. He betrayed his village and friends for knowledge of all jutsu and immortality. He killed Sarutobi and Gaara’s father and finally he had Sasuke. And Shippuden retconned him into a punching bag for Sasuke. He never reached to his potential or never able to show how much he developed in terms of jutsus and power after killing Sarutobi, I honestly would’ve preferred if Orochimaru was successful in taking Sasuke’s body. It could worked and would’ve boosted Orochimaru right back up the top of the foodchain as the big bad of the series.

if Sasuke was not strong enough to over power the ritual. what would have happened is Orochimaru would’ve granted Sasuke his one wish to kill Itachi and Sasuke’s strong intentions and desires would have remained as part of Orochimaru’s subconscious while he was in control of his body. Plus Sasuke was willing to do this if he was able to see Itachi die.

After successfully taking Sasuke’s body, I can see Orochimaru’s next objective to be taking the Shinigami mask to free his arms and jutsu.

With Sasuke’s body and Sharingan this is what would happen

He can read from the Uchiha tablet

Sasuke's body can actually handle senjutsu, so Orochimaru would finally be able to use it himself.

He would have the Sharingan giving him a great advantage against any and all opponents.

Using Sharingan Orochimaru would be able to master greater Taijutsu than he currently uses.

He would become almost completely immune to genjutsu - one of his only weaknesses.

Orochimaru would have mastered Sage mode in a body that can handle it. Orochimaru’s Sage Mode would be powerful and unstoppable

Most importantly. Orochimaru would unlock the Rinnegan.

Orochimaru researched wood release and wished to possess the body of an Uchiha, not just the Sharingan. He spent some time figuring out how to get the body to accept Hashi cells without rejecting it killing 59 children in the process. He wanted immortality and researched a way to take someone's own body as his own vessel. He had knowledge of implementing senjutsu and used Jugo as a way to figure out how to endlessly draw in natural energy. He was the one who deduced that the sharingan evolves into the rinnegan by guessing the contents of the Uchiha stone tablet according to Kabuto. If Orochimaru were successful and obtained Sasuke's body and chakra, along with his dojutsu and implemented Hashi dna which is Asura chakra. He would have gained the rinnegan. Not only would he have the rinnegan, but he'd have the means to endlessly absorb senjutsu through Jugo's clan's sage transformation.

The news has spread that Orochimaru was successful in taking Uchiha Sasuke’s Sharingan. The Akatsuki view this news very problematic. Orochimaru was already a problem but with confirmation that he succeeded makes him as much as priority as capturing the tailed beasts. Naruto would have asked Tsunade to order a team to hunt Orochimaru down for him to pay for pretty much killing Sasuke and knowing Jiraiya wanting to keep a close eye on Orochimaru and wanting to stop him, he would put investigating Pain on hold and join Naruto. 

To keep the info of Pain in the story, I would have Iruka be sent in place of Jiraiya. This will keep learning about the Six Paths Of Pain and the emotional death of a mentor figure to Naruto and make things personal between Naruto and Nagato. Plus it will truly give us the opportunity to see how powerful Iruka could be.

During Naruto and Jiraiya’s hunt for Orochimaru, Jiraiya must make the hard decision. Knock out his student and face his old friend alone. Jiraiya must correct the mistake Sarutobi and himself made by not stopping Orochimaru when they had the chance or die trying. Before the fight we get emotional flashbacks to their friendship and how everything went crashing down. Finally, we get Orochimaru and Jiraiya’s fight. Old friends and enemies. Both of these legendary ninjas enter Sage mode. An absolute war between Toads and Snakes. Unfortunately, Jiraiya loses and Orochimaru kills his old friend and awakens the Mangekyo Sharingan. 

Naruto is awakened by his friends and they find Jiraiya too late. Naruto is left to grieve the loss of Jiraiya and later Iruka. 

While on the hunt for Itachi to fulfill Sasuke’s wish, Orochimaru would face Deidara. It would be an interesting fight, but Orochimaru would win.

Naruto would encounter Itachi. Naruto would be absolutely pissed at Itachi. Blaming Itachi for everything. “IF IT WEREN’T FOR YOU, SASUKE WOULD STILL BE ALIVE IN THE VILLAGE.” Itachi does not even try to defend himself, deep down he knows it’s true. Itachi does leave Naruto with Shisui’s eye and simply tells Naruto. “If I fail, you are my brother’s only hope.” this one sentence fills Naruto with hope that Sasuke can be saved.

Orochimaru goes to face Itachi with the intention of fulfilling Sasuke’s wish to see Itachi dead, to avenge his past defeat and to awaken EMS. Itachi just wants to free his brother from Orochimaru’s grasp and kill the snake once and for all. We get a badass and emotional fight between Orochimaru and Itachi it all looks like it’s waving in Itachi’s favor, his illness starts to kick in and the Rinnegan begins to overpower Itachi. As soon as Orochimaru sees an opening, he takes it and kills Itachi. With Itachi’s final moment alive, he simply pokes his head. “Sorry Sasuke, this is the final time.” For some reason unknown to Orochimaru, a single tear leaves his eye. Kabuto takes Orochimaru and Itachi’s bodies to prepare the eye transfer. Orochimaru would have the EMS, Senjutsu and the Rinnegan. He would be unstoppable. 

Orochimaru would find Obito. preparing to make the deal that gives Obito his army to fight the 4th Ninja war, Obito has no choice but to make this uneasy alliance. Orochimaru sacrifices Kabuto in order to bring back Madara to force Obito into this alliance. Obito would tell Orochimaru the story of Itachi. Orochimaru would laugh after hearing the story. “Hear that Sasuke-Kun? We have more people to seek revenge on.”

To truly give a dramatic spark that starts the war, Orochimaru kills Danzo during the Five Kage summit. Easily faces off the other Four Kage and leaves them to Obito as Orochimaru prepares to crush Konoha for the final time. 

While leaving to fight the war, Naruto runs into Itachi’s reanimated body, together they form an alliance and Itachi tells him  his side of things and tells Naruto that Sasuke can still be saved, but they can only do it together. First, they must go to the source of the cursed mark. Jugo. In order to get Jugo to cooperate, they need Kimmimaro. Naruto talk no jutsus both Kimmimaro and Juugo into helping, basically Itachi figured out no matter what you do to him, Orochimaru can come back via the cursed mark. So Kimmimaro is able to convince him to end it, that nothing they did for Orochimaru ever brought either of them any sense of joy or anything. So together Kimmimaro and Juugo goes out together, ending the cursed mark.

Now Naruto and Itachi can face Orochimaru. The battle is awesome and emotional. It is a fight to save Sasuke and end Orochimaru once and for all. I believe Itachi knows that if he could get Orochimaru’s chakara low enough, he could force his brother out. Itachi would use Izanami to put a stop to Orochimaru, but finally this would be what forces Sasuke out. Orochimaru would free himself from the Izanmi, but as he does Itachi uses Susano’s Sword of Totsuka to finally seal Orochimaru away. Sasuke is saved and Jiraiya is avenged. Sasuke felt everything that Orochimaru did and heard everything while in control of his body, so he needs to hear it from Itachi. Itachi and Sasuke would still have their final moment together and this would be the moment where Sasuke fights by Naruto's side.  

[avenger-hawk]

What if Itachi had taken Sasuke and fled away with far away from the clan and the village, how do you think Sasuke would turn out to be?

From an external, narrative based perspective this can’t happen because without Sasuke in the village, then leaving it thus causing a reaction in N*ruto and so on and on, there would be no story to tell (or rather there would be the most boring story to tell) cause Sasuke and his narrative path are the best part of the story. 

From a strictly in-universe perspective, this couldn’t have happened either because Itachi would have never wanted Sasuke to leave the village, he wanted Sasuke to have the safety and stability that Konoha, could offer him, as well as the ignorance of the truth, so that he’d only hate him and not the village. Besides it’s not like him to avoid problems, in fact he tried doing everything alone to fix them in the way he deemed best. 

Anyway, assuming that, for example, the only way to keep Sasuke safe was to flee with him, that maybe even his family ordered him to do it and leave them all to their destiny, I can see it happening. 

Sasuke admires and loves his brother more than anyone else, he would he extremely loyal to him and he would never doubt his words. He would also extremely attached to him, in this scenario he would depend on him. I think that if they lived in the village in a non massacre scenario Sasuke would have been extremely attached to Itachi and he would have been mostly in his own head much like he was as a kid, before the massacre, but he would have also developed relationships with a few close teammates/sensei. On the contrary the less troubled the setting the closer the 2 brothers would have become, and the more obsessive and the stronger they would cling to each other. Itachi would be extremely protective of Sasuke, not in a coddling way because they’re rogues living in constant danger, but in a threatening way, whether Sasuke notices or not. Like, he would be wary of everyone getting too close to his brother, he’d perceive most of them as dangerous. And Sasuke would believe and obey to everything Itachi tells him. Because canon Sasuke formed his own team and became their leader, while this Sasuke would instead follow Itachi’s lead.

If Sasuke got to know the truth about Danzo and the massacre, he would never turn against Itachi, instead he would want revenge against the village. Maybe he would get MS knowing the truth behind their parents’ deaths; in this case for Itachi it would be hard to deal with him, he would have to convince him that the 2 of them could not win against a whole village, Sasuke would not care and he would overuse his MS, he could risk blindness. Itachi’s health would be better instead imo, because even using his MS when fighting opponents, a rogue life where they’re not in Akatsuki and they mostly take random jobs like bodyguards or smth, would not be hard for him. 

If Itachi had health problems instead I can imagine Sasuke seeking a solution, even ending in Orochimaru’s hands somehow, because he’d promise him a cure for Itachi and Sasuke would give anything for it. 

Also, there’s the Obito/Akatsuki variable: they might at some point join Akatsuki because they’d provide a sort of safety for Sasuke, Itachi might think. And Obito might tell Sasuke the truth, thus manipulating him into getting revenge against Konoha despite Itachi not wanting this. So there might be an Itachi vs Obito rivalry, sort of, and silent war to ‘control’ Sasuke, who’s pure and easily influenced, not in general but by those who know what triggers him.

(I developed an Akatsuki Uchiha Brothers AU, made of edits, that follows this idea)

(here I have to stop and remind you guys that if there’s some purity police reading this: it’s fiction and I couldn’t give a damn about your opinion. these people should be mass blocked, isolated by everyone who’s not brainless)

Speaking of this, I once came up with an AU that I only developed through edits and that is partly inspired by @eeliiii‘s Rogue Uchiha Brothers AU. (AU list here. mobile users, open links on a web browser)

In my Rogue Uchiha Brothers AU Itachi escaped with Sasuke right before the massacre took place, raising him by himself, teaching him everything he knows. The two brothers do all sorts of jobs for whomever requires them, never settling in a place for too long. They’re rogues, there’s an order to kill them on sight, they’re in every bingo book. And it does happen, that they’re chased after. 

Sasuke adjusts well to their life, as years pass it’s almost the only life he knows.  He’s a wanderer even in canon, after all. He’s strong, he acts kinda arrogant when fighting enemies. He has his big brother with him and being regularly chased or wounded is normal for him. He has no friends, sometimes if they stay somewhere a little more and someone tries to befriend him he accepts to talk to them or smth, but if Itachi tells him that they have to leave, he does without a single thought. 

Itachi too had a ‘nomadic’ lifestyle in canon, but less than Sasuke, since Akatsuki had hideouts and stuff. He has more problems with their life, because he remembers the past better, because he did believe in the village as the best place to live, mostly because he feels guilty for Sasuke, like every time he patches him up and he dismisses it like it’s nothing he regrets having taken him away from the village where he’d have been safe if he had done what Danzo wanted from him. Besides he didn’t tell Sasuke the whole truth, because it’s in his personality to keep his brother safe by not telling him everything, so Sasuke knows that their clan and family have been all killed in Konoha, and he knows that in Konoha there are enemies who want them dead, but he doesn’t know all the story. Itachi didn’t want him to grow bitter, seeking a revenge that would have put him in great danger.

And if by chance they got into Konoha and got captured, there would be nothing between N*ruto and the others, and Sasuke. Although I can imagine N*ruto getting interested in the prisoner and Sasuke being snarky and defiant, not caring about getting hurt or tortured, disrespecting everyone and finally being saved by his brother.

[realitachifacts]

🍫 - a box of chocolates

i’m not sure if i did this right or not but i had an idea so Here We Go. thanks for sending an ask!!! i might’ve messed up the timeline but it’s whatever. also omfg it’s so long for a drabble whoops.

-…-

He doesn’t remember the day when he was a year old.

He doesn’t remember the day when he was two years old.

He doesn’t remember the day when he was three years old, or maybe he does, but there’s this sort of unconsciousness memory repression he has, regarding events involving the majority of his family members.

He remembers one thing from the day when he was four years old. His mother walks over, she sits down next to him on wooden steps outside the house and she meets his eyes and there’s this summer bright smile all over her face and she asks Itachi how he’d feel about having a younger sibling. He returns that smile, teeth white like the unblemished moon and says that would make him very happy. His mother hands him a small box of chocolates, the outside pink as soft flower down and there’s a cartoon animal, looks almost like a ferret, on the side. He’s replayed the memory a few times in his head, and he can never remember the time of day, the weather. It’s different each time, midday, hot breath of breeze and flinching young leaves, midnight, an ink sky with stars indented in it as if it’s been fashioned with millions of tiny diamonds.

When he’s five, the day is far more memorable. Itachi is going to be joining the academy soon, there’s pulsing in his heart over that, excitement, he’s been working on the fireball jutsu and shurikenjutsu outside of class, has mastered the former even to the point of his father’s satisfaction. His body was glowing warmer and brighter than those licks of red and orange and red and yellow and red tongues of flame hot inches above the lake’s surface. Anyways, he sits outside, Sasuke there in his arms, and their mother’s gotten Itachi a box of chocolates, same as last time, namesake cartoon of an animal right there, curled up into the pink of the box. He’s been told Sasuke isn’t allowed to have any of the chocolates yet, and Itachi, he can’t wait until he’s old enough to share. Itachi loves sweets, the way they melt so soft against his tongue. He wonders if Sasuke will feel the same. There’s a half moon like a sideways smile thousands and thousands of miles up in the air.

When he’s six, just months from seven, things again are crystal bright in his mind. A few weeks left before Academy finals, which Itachi has no worry over, none at all, and he’s sitting outside on the porch again, Sasuke there too, few months from two, sitting in his older brother’s lap. Itachi is eating chocolates, same brand as before, same gift from his mother, and Sasuke reaches for one. “Oh? You want one of these?” Itachi says, small grin, closed lips on his face, sweet expression, and Sasuke nods, reaches out further. Itachi gives him one, and Sasuke chews it for just a bit, before spitting it out, all disgusted, lip curled high at the edge, and Itachi sighs.

“Ew.” Sasuke whines, and Itachi lets out a light breath of amusement.

“Sorry about that, Sasuke.”

When he’s seven, it’s another memorable day. He’s nearly mastered the sharingan, the third black comma mark edging the iris is finally there, and something Itachi realizes that he likes is genjutsu, mind manipulation and alteration and shifting of reality. He’s getting better and better at it. Sasuke sits to the left of him, again on those wooden steps, damp and rotting inside from the recent rainfalls. And it’s even become a joking tradition to give Itachi the chocolates, brand name a play on his own, word for weasel. Sasuke watches him eat in silence, seems to have learned his lesson from last time, swings his legs back in forth in loose scissor motions. Itachi looks over at him.

“Hm?”

Sasuke’s head whips up and he looks at Itachi like he always does, like his older brother has given him the world. “How do I make my eyes red?”

Sasuke’s seen him training, probably, Itachi thinks. “It’s called the sharingan. You’ll probably be able to do it when you’re older.” Tries to keep it simplistic, terms for a two and a half year old.

“Sha…rin…gan.” Sasuke seems to feel out the word on his tongue. It’s quiet again for a few moments and crickets sing in the dusky light, brightness dying down as the sun edges into sleep. Sasuke points to Itachi’s chocolate box. “Can I have one?”

Itachi smiles softly and hands one over to Sasuke, who chews it, looks all disgusted, but at least has the decency not to spit it out this time. He swallows with a grimace. “Ew.”

Itachi smiles almost guiltily. “Sorry about that, Sasuke. Try not to eat any more in the future.”

Sasuke just pouts at that.

Year eight is uneventful, year nine even more so.

When he’s ten, Itachi is in the middle of the Chunin exams, and deep down in his heart he nearly pleads for Sasuke to be the focus of their parents’ love and adoration, to have a day of his own. He’s a few hours into the Forest of Death, trees stretch long necks of trunks up to reach for the heavens, knotted branches grasp into thin air. Drops of light bleed down between the few areas where the sun can slip through wood and leaves. Itachi reaches into his small pack of tools for a kunai knife, there’s a fish in his other hand, ready to be gutted, and Itachi feels an. Object. Of some sort, in the ninja pouch. He pulls it out.

Pink box of chocolates, “Good Luck!” sprawled across the top in Sasuke’s rough and messy handwriting. Itachi smiles. He’ll pass the exam. He won’t let Sasuke down ever.

He’s a Chunin at eleven, in ANBU at twelve, or maybe earlier than that, these are all all memories he wants nothing more than ever to forget.

When he’s thirteen, it’s the worst. He stands in the Hokage’s office because he is supposed to be on a mission right now, the sky is milky pale with dawn and caterpillar bloated white clouds, and Itachi is talking to the Hokage, oh so very annoyed and scared and anxious, a barely teenager just restraining shaking at the edges of his skin.

“My clan won’t relent. The likelihood is that we’ll have to continue with our last resort plan soon.” Itachi keeps his voice placating. “Lord Hokage. Don’t send me on the mission. I would like just one last holiday with my parents… One last holiday with my brother.” Sasuke, pure and clean of all this black sin and corruption, one last holiday for Itachi’s favorite person in the whole wide world. And the third Hokage looks Itachi Uchiha up and down with those wise old owl eyes, assessing everything about him, every one of Itachi’s movements, fidgets gnarled and wrinkled fingers down the neck of his pipe. Makes a ‘hmmm’ sound. 

“Very well.”

His voice is so, so raspy, Itachi thinks.

That night, Itachi sits with his brother on the porch, and Sasuke goes on to talk about his day at school and all of the kids in his class and this one boy who particularly annoys him, and Itachi drowns himself in every word because his aching heart knows that he may never hear them, Sasuke sounding excited, happy to see him. Eventually, their mother tells them to go inside, and Itachi walks up to his room, and there’s this pink box of chocolates with a cartoon ferret on the side nestled there in his sheets, and Sasuke’s handwriting is across the top, quickly scrawled note of “I love you forever, Itachi!”.

Life is cruel, Itachi thinks.

He eats one of the chocolates, unable to stomach the rest.

When he’s fourteen, he spends his first Valentine’s day in the Akatsuki. They don’t celebrate Valentine’s day, not really, and he’s recently been assigned a new partner, ocean mist blue-gray skin and shark gills, tall man named Kisame, who Itachi respects, he’s a strong fighter at the very least. The two have a sort of mutual understanding, they leave each other alone, communicate only when necessary, not because they don’t like each other, just because Itachi truly just wants to be isolated from most everyone. He’s reclusive. They both know this. And that’s why Itachi is surprised when Kisame sits next to him, out in the rain speckled grass outside the inn, looking up at the white spider eyes of stars in the darkness and forcing his face, his body into not displaying emotions. 

“Eh? Somethin’ on your mind?” Kisame asks, and Itachi is silent. Doesn’t even look over.

Neither of them speak for a long, long time.

Kisame gets up. “Look, I’m not one for drinking myself, but you’re down right now, so c’mon, I’ll pay.”

Itachi keeps his eyes on the stars. “I wouldn’t be able to, even if I desired it. I’m fourteen.”

“Yer HOW OLD now?!” Kisame gapes. “Heheh, fourteen? Damn, I thought you were twenty or somethin’. You sure look it, and ya act that way. I guess the world is full of surprises, huh?” He waves his hand as he walks back to the inn. “G’night.”

“Kisame.” Itachi turns, oh so slightly, looks straight at Kisame.

“Hm?” Kisame turns to meet his gaze with his shark eyes, black and pale.

“Thank you.”

That night, Itachi looks deep, deep into his tools pack. He finds a small pink box, writing on the top, at the bottom. He eats a single chocolate from it, and none of them have gone stale, even a little bit.

He reads the writing at the top again and again and again before he goes to sleep that night. 

It’s starting to get harder to. 

The words are a bit blurry.

When he’s fifteen, nothing all that important happens. He and Kisame are in some small village in the Land of Fire, their organization’s numbers are growing, and Itachi is glad, at least, he has a partner he can tolerate, one he’s even grown to consider a close friend.

His only friend.

Really, it’s… not as if there’s a large pool to choose from. But Itachi isn’t very social, as it is, isn’t fond of making or maintaining friends in the dangerous world he lives in now, wearing a black cloak with red clouds. There’s no important mission that day and so Kisame takes Itachi to a small tea shop, one of his favorite things, there’s mainly silence, Kisame shares a few words to a nearly empty room, Itachi nods at a few of them, responds to even fewer. It doesn’t bother his partner, though. They’ve come to accept this as their friendship.

They camp under a full moon that night and Itachi eats another chocolate, again miraculously not stale. He reads the words on the box until his head hurts.

His heart hurts, too.

He knows Sasuke doesn’t mean them anymore.

But that’s for the better.

Years sixteen and seventeen are uneventful. Itachi eats a chocolate each time.

When he’s eighteen, things begin to get worse. He’d seen his brother again, for the first time in years, and he looks colder, Itachi thinks, he looks broken, and he charged at Itachi with lightning in his hand and fire in his eyes and sharingan irises the color of the petals of lover’s roses and Itachi grabbed his arm, and forced Sasuke to relive his pain again and again and again and he told him how he lacked hate, a motivator, if anything, and he wants his brother to get stronger, but he’s beginning to wonder, really, if he’s doing this the right way, because Sasuke has become someone made of cracking glass.

“He looks like you, ya know.” Kisame said, at the time, and Itachi agrees, silently. They’re brothers, after all. But Kisame says little about it after that. As far as he knows, as far as everyone knows, Itachi could care less about Sasuke, if he lives or dies. It’s not an appropriate topic to broach, even with his best friend.

The day itself is boring. 

He spends most of it on the road, walking under trees alive with birds.

Itachi eats another chocolate that night.

It takes significantly more effort than he’s used to to make out each word written on the pink box, with the ferret on it.

When he’s nineteen, things are the worst they’ve been in a long time.

Itachi is at the side of the road, his whole body is aching and rush after rush of hot blood leaves his mouth with each cough, his whole body shivers, wracked with trembling and spasms. Eventually, he leans back against a tree, breathing heavy, and Kisame sits next to him, watching oh so very carefully.

“It’s gettin’ worse.” There’s concern, actually, in his voice.

“I’m aware.” It’s not dismissive, it’s sad, lonely, like a lost ghost. It’s hard to come to terms with these things, after all. “I’ve been taking medications and trying to care for my body otherwise, but there’s little more I can do than that.”

They try to start down the trail again but it’s clear that it really isn’t a good day for Itachi, not at all, so they camp in the woods that night, and Kisame catches some fish for them, and Itachi starts a fire with a Fire Style jutsu, and Itachi doesn’t want it but he takes it anyways, thanks Kisame for the effort he’s put in. 

Itachi keeps track of the days. He eats another chocolate.

He can only read two of the five words his brother has written, now. But maybe if Sasuke’s handwriting was better at the time, that would be different.

When he’s twenty, he eats the last chocolate in the box. Only one of the words Sasuke wrote is distinguishable to fading, dying eyes.

Now he’s twenty one, and he’s grocery shopping, of all things, with Kisame, they’re walking down the aisles and Itachi cannot believe even a little bit that nobody has approached them yet, that there haven’t been any strange looks. Still. They reach what is probably the candy aisle, Itachi thinks, and his eyes drift down it all bored before they stop on something.

Familiar, almost.

It’s pink, and there’s a shape on the side, white and brown, amorphous, indistinguishable. He tries to read the brand name, the lettering, any of the words.

He can’t.

They’re all faded blurs in his eyes.

Itachi picks up the box, motions to Kisame, who walks over. “What is the brand name?”

Kisame tells him. It’s… exactly what Itachi expected.

“You like sweet stuff. We should get it for you, it’s even got a ferret on the box. A weasel, just for you, heheh.”

Itachi thinks. He’s silent for a while.

He puts the box back on the shelf.

“I’ll be alright.”

That night, Itachi is back at the inn, and the moon in the sky is full and bloodied red, crimson dripping over it like a fresh severed corpse, like a heart pumping fast from love. He pulls the box, empty, from the bottom of his bag. It smells like chocolate, faintly. Itachi walks outside, walks for a long, long time before he’s nowhere, at least to him. He sits on the ground, under a pine tree that’s likely older than the oldest building in the whole entire land. Itachi’s chest jolts in pain and then he’s coughing out warm blood, digging his fingers into fabric, clenching to alleviate the suffering somehow, he has one hand over his mouth but even then drops slip between fingers and when he pulls it back his hand is stained liquid garnet. Itachi cleans his hands and mouth with some water from a small canteen. He’s started carrying one for this purpose.

Itachi uses his ninja tools to carve a small fire pit into the dusty soil. 

He looks at the area on the box where black meets pink, and he can’t even read a single letter anymore, but he knows what all of them say, he’s read Sasuke’s note over and over and over again, he knows the words by heart. Itachi places the box in the pit, nestled into loose earth. He is dying, and he knows he is dying, and he wants to and will soon be dead, and he knows how he wants it to happen. The Sasuke who gave him chocolates is not the one he will meet in a few weeks, or at most, few months. It’s best to cleanse these memories from his mind. Give them the funerals they deserve. 

He uses fireball jutsu to set the box aflame, it’s careful and controlled, and within minutes there’s nothing left but puffs of silky gray ash and charcoal.

Itachi looks up at the sky.

The reflection of a blood moon dances across the crow talon darkness of his irises, sharingan dormant.

I love you forever, Itachi!

“I love you forever too, Sasuke.” Itachi whispers, and there’s nobody to hear him except the night sky and the moon and the trees and the millions and millions of stars all around them.