Chapter 7
Chapter 7: Root
Itachi had expected time travel to bring small, almost imperceptible changes. After all, the world he had returned to was mostly the same, right? It was only when he began investigating the hidden forces in the village that he realized just how wrong he was. The ripple effect of his actions had done more than just change the course of his own life—it had altered the entire balance of Konoha’s power structures.
His first mission back in the shadows had been simple: eliminate Danzo. He knew the man was a threat, someone who would do anything to control the village from behind the scenes, even at the cost of innocent lives. Itachi had no illusions about how dangerous Danzo was. But this time, it wasn’t enough. Killing Danzo didn’t sever the root of the problem—no, it was worse than that.
It was the Root.
The secretive division of ANBU that Danzo had created, a network of loyal agents brainwashed into obeying his every command. Even after Danzo's death, these agents continued to follow his orders, clinging to the ideology he had drilled into them. Itachi had underestimated how deeply Danzo’s influence ran, how many had been manipulated into continuing his cruel legacy.
He had been naïve.
The weight of his own failure hung heavy around his neck. Assassinating Danzo should have solved everything, but it hadn’t. The Root agents were still active, working in the shadows to undermine everything Konoha stood for. They were like ghosts, a secret army carrying out their old leader’s will, and Itachi had no idea how to stop them. The more he tried, the deeper the darkness grew, until it seemed as though the entire village was poisoned by Danzo’s influence.
Itachi tried to carry the burden alone, as he always did. He didn’t want to involve anyone else, didn’t want to burden his loved ones or his teammates with the nightmare that was the Root. He had already seen the tragedy of Shisui’s death once before, and he couldn’t bear to repeat that again. His pride, his stubbornness, his desire to protect Konoha alone—all of it weighed him down. The pressure to be the savior, to fix everything by himself, was suffocating.
The missions had gotten harder. The attacks from the Root grew more aggressive, and Itachi’s body began to break under the strain. He had pushed himself too far. There was blood—his own—staining his clothes, his hands trembling as his vision blurred. His breath was ragged, his strength waning. He had failed to end the cycle of violence, and now he was paying for it.
As the darkness closed in, a sudden flash of light caught his eye. A tri-pronged kunai, spinning through the air like a comet, embedded itself in the ground near him. Itachi’s heart skipped a beat.
"Impossible," he thought. But before he could process the thought, the kunai was followed by a blur of movement, and then—an explosion of power.
It was Minato.
The Fourth Hokage.
Minato, always so composed, had arrived in the nick of time. The leader of the village, the one who should’ve been focused on the peace treaty and the future, had come to save him. Itachi couldn’t believe it, even as Minato’s hands pulled him from the clutches of death.
The Hokage’s voice was sharp, commanding, yet filled with an emotion Itachi hadn’t heard before. "Itachi, you’re not alone in this. Don’t carry it all by yourself."
But it was too late for that. Itachi had already lost too much of himself, his body and soul nearly worn to the bone. His world spun, and everything faded to black.
When Itachi woke up, he was in the hospital.
The sterile smell of the room hit him first. The beep of machines monitoring his vitals filled the silence. His body ached, but that was nothing compared to the emotional toll. He was alive, yes, but at what cost?
Rin was there, standing beside his bed with her arms crossed, her face a mix of concern and frustration. Kakashi and Obito flanked her, looking equally exasperated. And there, sitting at the end of the bed, was Minato, who wore an expression of quiet relief.
Rin, always the caring one, immediately leaned over him. "Idiot," she muttered, but the anger in her voice was tempered by the relief that he was awake. "You should’ve asked for help. You’re not alone in this, Itachi. We’re all here."
"Itachi," Kakashi said, his voice unusually soft, "you don’t have to carry everything on your own. We’re a team. We fight together."
Obito’s loud voice broke through next. "You always act like you’re some kind of hero, but even heroes need help, you know?"
Minato, who had been silently observing the scene, finally spoke. "Itachi, you’ve done a lot for this village already. But you don’t need to take everything on your shoulders. There are other ways to protect Konoha. You don’t have to walk this path alone."
Itachi looked at them all, his heart heavy with the weight of his failure, but at the same time, something inside him softened. They were right. He had always believed that carrying the burden alone was the only way to protect the people he loved. But the truth was—he couldn’t protect them if he was broken.
"Thank you," Itachi whispered, his voice barely above a breath.
They didn’t need him to say more. The unspoken bond of their team was enough.
Itachi knew that the threat of the Root had not disappeared entirely. But for now, the weight on his shoulders felt a little lighter. Minato had handed the responsibility of dealing with the remaining Root agents to the Special Forces, a group specially trained to handle such covert threats. Itachi had been removed from the mission for now, though he knew it wasn’t over. But for the first time in a long time, he allowed himself to rest, knowing that there were others who cared, who would fight alongside him.
As he drifted back to sleep, his thoughts turned to the future. The war had ended, the village had survived, and his clan was safe. But the world was always shifting, always changing. The path ahead was uncertain, but for the first time, Itachi wasn’t afraid of it.
He wasn’t alone.