Scavengers
“Let’s start things slowly then,” Tajima suggested, the reasonability in his tone doing little to hide the intensity with which he spoke. “And remember that we are clansmen at our core, even with the years that have up to this point kept us at a distance.”
The man looked entirely too much like Itachi’s own father as he sat, perched behind his desk. His dark eyes focused, perhaps too heavily, on his visitor.
His single visible eye all but soaked in the sight before him, though Itachi was unsure whether he was merely still taking everything in, or if it was a purposeful attempt to intimidate. He leaned towards the latter as the elder shinobi shifted forward, setting his head atop his knuckles. “After all, strange circumstances aside, we both want what is best for our clan. Correct?”
“...Correct.” Itachi bit down the unease that built in his stomach, turning from the other to look over at the crows. Taking the situation in and doing his best to decide if his strategy of playing along was still worth it at this point. “Afterwards, once this is over with – we will be able to return back home?”
His chest somehow managed to tightening further as he saw the dissatisfied look he was met with by either crow, something akin to outrage entering Asu’s voice as he spoke.
“You will not.” Asu shook his head from the side, “You will remain here, by Lord Tajima’s side – As a gift to not only him, but to you and your brethren as well. As a gift from the crows to the clan.”
Something close to pride or arrogance lingered in the bird’s tone the longer Itachi listened, something which brought the boy himself nearer and nearer to the edge of his composure. Itachi’s fingers twitched in their spot on his lap, blank expression strained as he focused on keeping himself grounded. Losing his temper with the bird would do little good, he knew. Even as the admittedly childish urge to pin and force them into cooperating whispered, demanding action, in his ear.
No, he acknowledged as his eyes narrowed at the birds, he needed to keep his frustrations in check. Things were only as calm as they were now because all parties involved in this disaster had at least managed to do that much.
He took a quiet breath, turning his eyes to look away from the birds and down to the desk ahead of him. Keeping his tone far more level than he felt and putting his brief ANBU training to good use. Reminding himself that everything would be alright, that he had it handled no matter the itch below his skin.
“My brother, cousins, and I have no interest in your gift.” he spoke bluntly even as he was careful to keep any unkindness from his voice. “If there is anything I can do to place the clan in a better position than it is now, then I will. However, Shisui, Izumi, and I all have responsibilities to fulfil in our time. Not to mention Sasuke, who still has his entire life ahead of him. A life that resides in our time.”
Itachi shook his head, “I’ll help in whatever way I can, but you can’t leave us here. We need to go home.”
“Agreed.” Tajima nodded from across the desk, Itachi’s eyes snapping up to watch him as he spoke.
The elder man’s own eyes had fallen on the birds as he leaned back in his chair. Twirling a smoking pipe idly in his hand as he took in the annoyed aura radiating off the two birds. He stuck the end of the pipe to his lips even as it sat unlit, mind seeming to be turning just as roughly as Itachi’s. His expression unreadable, not quite kind or cruel as he reprimanded the summons. “I recognize that you are attempting to help me, but this is no way to do it.”
“You two have your own intentions behind bringing him here, you’ve made no secret of that.” he continued, “However, I don’t believe the permanent kidnapping of these children is strictly necessary to whatever this plan of yours is. The best course of action, which should leave everyone pleased, is to let us have our conversation – then send them back to the time they came from. We will have this talk you so badly seem to need to see happen, but there is no use in anything beyond that.”
The pipe nearly snapped between the older man’s fingers as Gara tilted her head, arguing back sweetly, “You miss your children. With your wife gone and your continued failure to accept any of our suggested mates, we believe this is the next most efficient step to finding you some more. None of the current unclaimed children of this time have an acceptable enough survival rate to be worth the risk of taking them on, whereas these four’s collective rate of survival is nearly seventy-five percent in this time!”
Seventy-five percent. The thought left a foul feeling in Itachi’s stomach even as she bragged on about their perfect selection, the bird’s pride only cut down as Itachi spoke sharply, “Seventy-five percent is not acceptable. We - or at the very least they - need to be sent home. Keep me here if you must, but they deserve more than that.”
His tone was firm as he looked back to the desk, trying his best not to look in either of their eyes. Attempting to calm the stiff air that had appeared between the three of them with his words without backing down. Keeping his own heart steady as he offered up the alternative, even as the battlefield from all those years ago rang hollow in the back of his mind...
It being the best and only thing he could think of, an offering of one slice of pie made in hopes they’d be able to keep the rest.
Even if it meant locking himself in the past for the foreseeable future, forced to play clan heir under a different set of hands.
Itachi frowned thinly to himself, feeling the weight of the three’s eyes as he made his counter offer.
If nothing else, perhaps he could turn things in his favor once he had more time to think about it. He could stop the early events that had sabotaged their clan and lead them to ruin further down the line. If he could just figure out how exactly, it was a golden opportunity.
One he should seize while had the chance. One Izumi and Sasuke deserved to not have to worry about. One Shisui would surely scold him for taking on alone, but one he needed to all the same.
Shisui could work from the future, he told himself. While he could work from the past. Between the two of them, surely, they’d be able to find a solution. Especially when they didn’t have Hiruzen, Danzo, Father, or Inabi to worry about.
One old man should be easier to manage than four, if nothing else.
Yes. They could fix it, the two of them. Even if it meant Itachi had to walk on a tightrope for the foreseeable future. Even if it meant never getting to see his friends and dear little brother again. If it meant a life of peace for them all...
“If seventy-five is unsatisfactory, I’m afraid you’ll only find yourself further displeased with the future you wish to return to.” Asu hopped over, his sharp claws digging into Itachi’s shoulders. The pre-teen refused to so much as flinch, even as the bird’s too-sharp beak lingered just too-close to his face to be comfortable.
“Sasuke Uchiha: Sixty percent chance of survival to age twenty.”
“Izumi Uchiha: Thirty percent chance of survival to age twenty.”
“Shisui Uchiha: Twenty percent chance of survival to age twenty.”
“Itachi Uchiha: Ten percent chance of survival to age twenty.”
The words came calmly from the small crow's mouth, mere facts and little more to the animal beside him as it rattled on in an uncannily steady tone, “If we incorporate their chances of survival without you around, however...their chances if you choose to remain here alone...”
“Sasuke Uchiha: Ten percent chance of survival to age twenty.”
“Izumi Uchiha: Thirty percent chance of survival to age twenty.”
“Shisui Uchiha: Sixty-five percent chance of survival to age twenty.”
“Itachi Uchiha: Ninety-one percent chance of survival to age twenty.”
The numbers cut through him with ten-times the sharpness of their tone, his sides twisting inwards as he listened. Taking in the numbers even as he so desperately wanted not to. Listening to the information, no matter how it sliced through his heart to hear a single line of it. No matter the urge to ignore or challenge their words.
“...Surely that seventy-five mentioned before was swayed heavily by Sasuke’s odds. So tell me, what are our individual chances here?” he spoke with narrowed eyes, looking over at the pleased animal on his shoulder. He didn’t imagine a child so young had very high chances, considering the horror stories they’d all heard passed on throughout the years from their elder clansmen – ones that had been passed on to them by those that had actually lived to experience the horrors Konoha kept them safe from. The horrors he had a duty to keep Sasuke safe from.
“Sasuke Uchiha: Seventy percent chance of survival to age twenty.”
“Izumi Uchiha: Seventy percent chance of survival to age twenty.”
“Shisui Uchiha: Eighty percent chance of survival to age twenty.”
“Itachi Uchiha: Eighty percent chance of survival to age twenty.”
The bird looked pleased with itself as it spoke, either not noticing or pretending not to as Itachi grit his teeth together lightly.
Seventy percent for Sasuke. A ten percent higher chance of survival in their time, and a sixty percent higher chance than if Itachi was to stay here alone...
Seventy percent for Izumi as well, a forty percent increase compared to whether she was back in their time with or without him...
Eighty percent for Shisui, a sixty percent increase compared to them returning together and a fifteen percent increase compared to if he was sent back alone...
Eighty percent for him, a sharp seventy percent increase compared to if he were to return home – yet a good bit lower than if he opted to stay in the past alone.
He discarded the latter half of his thought immediately, uninterested in the prospect of a world which only left his brother with a ten percent chance of survival.
It was clear that this was their best bet in staying alive if what they said was true, and yet...
“How am I to know you aren’t lying?” he suggested, the small frown lacing his lips tightening as he spoke.
Itachi wasn’t sure he distrusted the birds, per se, but he did know better than to put his faith in them after the winding events of the day – or days passed.
After all, despite their long past with the crows, he had never quite been able to fully trust them. Not that first day in the woods, nor any of the times when they appeared thereafter.
Not when it was always just in time to catch them in their lowest moments; to poke their heads in the one place they didn’t belong. Peeking and prying at them just like the scavengers they were.
A sharp contrast to the loyalty and affection their more natural brethren were always eager to show. The affection they seemed intent on conveying even as both Itachi and Tajima tried to explain was unwelcome at best…and hurtful at worse.
Perhaps too arrogant to know better, or merely incapable of ever understanding a mortal’s attachment to the time in which they resided.
It couldn't be an easy feat, to level with beings that existed during one while they had lived and were living every single one simultaneously.
But even so...it hardly excused to position they had been left in.
“You don’t” she tilted her head slightly, “But then, with all there is for you to lose by ignoring us…I don’t imagine it’s a risk you’re prepared to take. Not with the rich reward there is should you accept the situation at hand.”
“Mm, yes.” her partner crow agreed, “We have no plans of returning you home regardless of your thoughts on the matter. This is better. We know it is better, objectively. So it is as it shall be. The sooner you two learn to accept the gift which has been given, the sooner you will find yourselves and your clan flourishing in the rewards.”
Itachi pried his eyes away from the birds as they chattered on and down to his lap below, jaw setting as his fingers pulled into fists atop either of his legs.
There was no return. They truly intended to rip them away from Konoha and abandon them here in the middle of an unfamiliar world to play prophet and son to one of history’s most stubborn roadblocks to peace. It was something he may have been able to accept had it merely been Shisui and him…even Izumi…but to involve Sasuke…
It left a bad taste in his mouth, even with the supposed fact of the matter being that Sasuke was safer by his side. He couldn’t help but feel like he was holding his little brother’s hand, leading him directly into the belly of the beast. Bringing him right into the pit of danger while abandoning their parents and clan in a forest of fire behind.
Even so…it was the way things were, it seemed. Once again, he was left without a single say in the matter.
“There’s no need to look so somber, little bird. Just as this is a joyous moment for the clan’s future and Lord Tajima’s nest, it is a grand day for you and the others as well. You know there was no real future for you all back home.” Asu pressed, beak digging lightly into the side of his bangs, as if preening him was meant to help his racing mind slow any.
“That isn’t true. I could have found a path that kept them from ruin. If I just had a bit more time…we were going to figure something out.” Itachi argued, even as the lack of bite in his own voice made his hand twitch a bit.
“…You always have been quite good at lying, even to yourself.” Gara tsked from the side. “However, we ask that you don’t be so foolish as to do so at a time like this. Not when there’s so much to gain…so much to lose…and so very little being left behind.”
“So little, you say. As if you aren’t sitting there claiming we’ll never see our home again. As if we haven’t just seen our parents for the last time.” Itachi retorted, a deep ache filling his chest at the thought.
Like their teams…their family…their village, was nothing to be missed.
“It is unfortunate, but yes. That is precisely what we are saying.” Gara mused from beside him, unwavering even as the pre-teen sent her a sharp glare out of the corner of his eye. “Shisui’s father is long gone - at least in all the ways that matter. The man hardly knows his own name, let alone his son’s. Izumi’s mother is growing frailer by the day, her lost mate leading her closer and closer to deaths door. Only unable to enter due to the daughter she is too guilt-ridden to leave behind. As for you and your brother…”
“Your father is the kind of man who brings his children to the battlefield by choice - while your mother is the sort of woman that allows it. You know it’s only a matter of time before the same fate befalls your brother. Before he, too, is caught in the noose. Dragged along like a prized steed by both your parents and the higher-ups of your time. Used as little more than the weapons you were both bred to be.”
She spoke confidently and softly, her tone contrasting sharply with the blunt and harsh words she spoke. Her words never ending no matter how Itachi willed for them to, his gut turning at being torn apart from the inside out.
All his silent and unacknowledged fears torn away and held up for the world to see.
Or rather, for the stranger across for him to.
“They’re only- father was only trying to-” the pressure in his head built, the younger Uchiha reaching up to hold his hand to his temple. Stomping down the urge to defend his parents and Hokage as their names were slandered before someone who didn’t understand the half of it.
He needed to not think about things so emotionally, he silently scolded himself.
He needed to be rational, no matter how much it felt like the walls were closing in around him. No matter how he felt like a dog that had been chased back into a corner.
By continuing to argue with the summons, who didn’t seem at all phased by anything he said let alone willing to change their minds, he was only causing more damage. Giving them more opportunities to out his thoughts and feelings to the elder man. Handing Tajima the tools he needed to use against them if need be.
The disinterested way the clan head toyed with the empty smoking pipe before him did little to dissuade the prospect, the man’s intentional ignoring of their family’s dirty laundry doing little to help the fact that it lay before them, piled at his feet.
He himself had the man’s supposed refusal to remarry tucked away for now, right alongside his clear mourning for his lost children. Vulnerabilities Itachi would rather politely ignore, but was more than willing to use if the situation was to shift out of his favor.
After all, Tajima had thus far shown nothing but earnest attempts to return them home despite having so much to gain from their knowledge and additional man power. Yet. He wasn’t foolish enough to think the elder was a helpless fool with a bleeding heart as the crows seemed to. This was a former clan head. One that had made it to his twilight years in a time as cut-throat as this. That didn’t happen by following an exclusively kind path.
Itachi let out a low breath.
They weren’t enemies, per se, but much like the crows…Itachi wasn’t about to call him an ally either.
“…I will not sit here and argue with you about it, considering your clear lack of understanding for the concept of context.” he shut her down. If she wasn’t even able to understand why they made for poor replacements in Tajima’s case, there was no hope for her in understanding the workings of his father’s mind. Not when Itachi himself, admittedly, struggled to put it into words.
He shook his head lightly, shooing the bird from his shoulder and watching as it fluttered around. Shoving down the lump in his throat as he spoke. “If there is truly no way to change your mind, I suppose we have no choice but to accept it. However. I will not sit here and be played like a puppet if that is the case.”
He had no intentions of putting himself in that position yet again.
“Lord Tajima, I will give you the information you need - the information I believe will benefit our clan for generations to come. Though, I have three requests first and foremost, if it is agreeable to you?”
Requests Itachi hoped he would be willing to indulge in.
Otherwise, they’d have no choice but to flee here and now…ruining their chance to help their clan and leaving them lost with truly nowhere to go.
Itachi watched the man carefully, the two matching firm gazes.
Tajima’s tipped his head a bit, leaning further back in his chair as he agreed after a brief moment of consideration. He waved his hand loosely, his relaxed posture doing little to put out the intensity hiding behind his eyes. “I will at the very least hear you out. After all. It only seems fair, given the circumstances, yes?”