Chapter Text
It all happened on a regular day and looking back at it later, Itachi thought that may have been the first warning.
His back was leaning against one of the broader trees outlining the beginning of the forest behind him, rough bark poking his skin in some places and yet his posture was entirely relaxed. During the past nine years Itachi would have never even dreamed of being capable of doing this, of being here.
Here was at one of the training grounds a little further away from his birth village, his home for the first thirteen years of his life. It hadn’t been after that, not really. While his heart had still longed for it, he had known he could never return after what he had done.
And yet here he was.
Itachi sometimes still wondered if all of this was simply a fever dream of his. If his mind was so desperate to return to better times that it had created an ever lasting illusions in which he was now living, while his real body was slowly wasting away.
Truth be told, he wouldn’t mind it all that much.
During the years he had been gone he had done nothing more than waiting for his impending end. Waiting for his little brother to grow stronger, waited for him to let his hatred for him simmer until it bubbled over and he would finally decide to come for him and succeed.
He might have joined the ranks of the Akatsuki but he had never truly been a member. Had never agreed with their methods or beliefs, never made any friends or built up meaningful connections. It was all fake, only one of his masks which had slowly begun to merge with the rest of himself the longer he stayed.
In hindsight he had been more than a little foolish.
Trying to drown his guilt through manipulating his little brother into killing him. It was unacceptable. Had he not sworn to take care of him? Itachi could no longer justify his past actions. He wasn’t even sure he would be able to understand his reasoning anymore.
Traumatizing his own brother, the person he had always loved most in the world, hurt. It wasn’t one of these quick stings which happened all of a sudden and were over just as fast, the ones that were easy to forget. No, this pain was as if a deep wound had been slowly dug into his flesh and was now getting reopened everytime it started to heal.
It had been selfish, so utterly selfish that he felt sick at the thought. He doubted he would ever regret anything more than this and that included listening to the damned order and murdering his entire clan.
And yet he was allowed to watch his brother now, as he and his team were training.
During the few and far in between times Itachi had seen his brother, in the years they had spent apart, Sasuke had rarely looked this happy. Itachi had to hide a smile at the sight.
To most Sasuke would appear uninterested or maybe even cold but Itachi could see his relaxed posture and the pleased glint in his eyes.
Only a mere four months ago the two of them had been between the rubble of one of the old Uchiha hideouts, battling for their lives.
The fight had been a nasty one, his lungs burning as if they were on fire the entire time. True to his name Sasuke had tried his damnedest to kill him, just as Itachi had always wished.
Throughout the fight he had been able to see how much stronger his little brother had become, how much he had grown up and Itachi was oh so proud of him. He might have mourned the missed chance of being able to witness it first hand but ultimately it was his own fault, he was fine with that.
Still, when he woke up after the fight feeling like his entire body was trying to reject him and seemingly blind he had been both surprised and displeased.
The month prior to the battle had been hard on his body. Itachi had slowly felt himself falling apart, breathing becoming harder with every passing day and on the day Sasuke finally came for him, he had been content with dying. He had been ready.
Itachi shook his head, willing these thoughts away. They would do him no good now.
Soon after he had woken up he had been informed that he had merely passed out during the fight due to chakra exhaustion and a limited intake of oxygen, his lung capacity combined with the prolonged fighting had taken quite a toll on his body. In the end the strain had been too much and his poor health had caught up with him.
Apparently, his brother had passed out alongside him shortly after and they had been brought to an underground base, belonging to either the Akatsuki or Orochimaru. Itachi had no recollection of that event and Sasuke had no further elaborated on the subject.
There Tobi or as was later revealed Obito had taken it upon himself to exchange Sasuke’s eyes with Itachi’s before telling him the ugly truth about the massacre. Itachi had later come to the realization that he must have been the same person as the one who was there with him on that night and while further thinking it through, he had also come to the tentative conclusion that the nine-tails attack was also linked to him.
Given the fact that Itachi had in fact not died and “Tobi” had made the mistake of showing Sasuke his wall full of Uchiha eyes -and wasn’t that creepy? - alongside the container of Sasuke’s own eyes Sasuke had then decided to ditch Tobi and had grabbed him before making a run for it. That had probably been the most surprising information of them all.
During the entire thing Itachi had remained unconscious and more on the brink of death with every passing day. Luckily Sasuke had managed to find his old team of strays from his time with Orochimaru - Itachi still wished he could have assisted with his death - and had promptly tasked Karin with not only healing Itachi as best as she could but also transplanting his eyes into Itachi. Upon receiving that piece of information Itachi had felt immense relief. What he first thought was him finally ending up blind turned out to be a piece of cloth to keep his eyes from being damaged throughout the healing process. It also meant that both brothers now possessed the eternal mangekyo, as Sasuke had awakened his at seeing Itachi drop to the ground. Another surprise to the ever growing list Itachi kept in his head.
How his brother could still love him was beyond Itachi. He was grateful for it nonetheless.
Thankfully as it turned out most of Itachi’s health problems had been due to overuse of his sharingan and his living conditions. After receiving his new eyes and some proper rest and medical care they had all cleared up over time. And so had the broken ribs his little brother had given him during their “talk”. All in all Itachi truly couldn’t find it in himself to complain.
Later on they had even managed to get rid of Danzo. That particular turn of events had been Sasuke’s idea and he had insisted on doing it until Itachi finally relented. Together they had had little trouble in taking care of that specific pile of trash.
Now, up until then Itachi had still somewhat understood how things were happening.
While everything sure had been surprising and he still hadn’t been completely convinced of the fact that Sasuke had forgiven him for all the terrible things he had done to him, they weren’t too unbelievable.
But everything past that to the moment they had been welcomed back into Konoha? In his mind it was all a blur.
He was perfectly able to recall the moment when they had crossed paths with Sasuke’s old team. He also had been fully present for the following conversation, saw the surprised expressions of seeing the two of them together slowly morph in disbelief and horror as Sasuke had told his team of the things he had discovered.
Itachi remembered it all and yet it made no sense.
Kakashi had been livid, Itachi wasn’t sure he had seen his former captain ever make that particular expression before and yet his anger had not been directed towards them. He had been angry on their behalf. Furthermore, so were Naruto and Sakura.
Upon hearing the story in its entirety, Naruto had grabbed Sasuke by the hem of his shirt and Kakashi had marched all of them straight to Tsunade. Itachi had mostly just followed along because he had been worried about Sasuke.
And Tsunade? Tsunade had been angry as well. She had interrogated them first, of course. Asking questions after questions that brought up ugly memories in Itachi’s mind and he answered nonetheless. His own voice no longer getting drowned out by static in his head. But after going through older files and confirming their story she had thrown her desk - yes, the entire thing plus everything that was on top of it - outside the window and then announced them both pardoned.
Since Danzo was already dead she had wasted no time in announcing the news to the villagers and then had them both put back on the active shinobi roster. It all happened so fast but since Itachi had technically been undercover all along and Sasuke had not yet done anything noteworthy of damaging the village aside from deserting there were surprisingly little hurdles along the way.
The only condition for Sasuke had been that he would only be allowed on missions with his old team for the time being and Sasuke had readily agreed. It was a good thing for them both that nothing more severe could be traced back to Sasuke.
Honestly? Itachi was still reeling from everything that had happened in the last few months. Which was perhaps why he had decided to spend his day off watching his brother and the rest of his team train. It made everything appear a little bit more realistic. And anyway, sitting around in an empty apartment all day long would just make him feel restless. He was so used to being outdoors after all the years of traveling that he still slightly struggled with having a permanent home again.
The day had started peacefully, it was a quiet day with the promise of good weather and no rain. Itachi and Sasuke had eaten breakfast together and to their surprise nothing had burned. Not that they were terrible cooks or anything but they still managed to somehow mess things up a little every so often. It was probably because they were still not completely used to living together again.
After they had cleaned up their dishes they had gone to the training ground at which they were now. Sasuke had been a bit surprised at first when Itachi had shared his plan of watching their practice with him but had ultimately been rather pleased about it. In his words “At least this way I can ask you more about some of the techniques I’ve been trying out lately”.
And this was how Itachi ended up sitting underneath the tree at the edge of the forest. Above him he could hear some bird rustling through the leaves of one of the higher branches. It would have been almost peaceful if not for the occasional scream from the chaotic tussle in front of him. And really, the training before him could only be described as such.
Somehow the one on one sparring matches had turned into an all out fight between the four of them. Judging by the state the field was in they would either be required to repair it themselves or pay for all the damage they had caused later. Ninjutsu were thrown left and right, nasty punches left people gasping for air and occasionally one of them would blankly stare into the space in front of them for a few seconds before snapping back out of the genjutsu. All in all it was rather amusing to watch.
Still, Itachi really should have expected something to go wrong.
One moment all four of them were sprinting at each other, each of them firing up some individual ninjutsu and the next the ground shook with the sound of an explosion.
For a second everything Itachi could see was white before he felt a terrible tugging sensation in his stomach and he was pulled forward.
Blinking rapidly Itachi refused the urge of emptying his breakfast onto the grass in front of him, the world slowly coming back into focus. Immediately after, his eyes snapped towards the location where he had last seen Sasuke. Sighing quietly in relief he saw all four of them sitting on the ground looking rather dazed but otherwise unharmed as far as he could see.
Getting up was a little bit more difficult than expected but he made his way over to them regardless, kneeling down beside Sasuke and grabbing his shoulder. “Are you alright?”
Sasuke only nodded silently, slightly leaning back into him. It was then that Itachi took a better look around them and noticed that something was very wrong with this place.
The training ground around them wasn’t damaged at all.