Reunion
Itachi woke up before the sun had risen and the rest of the occupants were still asleep. Even though he had died, he supposed he was used to the Akatsuki life still which meant very little sleep. He got up cause he knew he wasn't gonna be able to go back to sleep anymore. As he went about a small morning routine of brushing his hair and teeth and washing his face, he decided he would go to one of the training grounds before Naruto arrived. He wanted to test out his skills and see what he would need to work on.
Once he got there, he did some light exercises to warm up and then went through a couple of routines he used to do which tested his speed, reflexes, and aim. He didn't have any weapons so he used some small pebbles he found lying around as fake kunai or shuriken. He continued on in that manner for a couple of hours till he saw the first bit of morning light. He returned to Sakura's house and took a quick shower before going out back and watching the sunrise. He hadn't felt that calm since he was like 6.
Once the sun was up past the horizon, he heard feet join him on the back patio. He looked over to see Sarada. She walked up next to him and sat down. They turned toward the sky again and watched some clouds float leisurely by.
"This is nice." The girl said. Itachi hummed in question to her statement. She looked back at him and smiled.
"I like watching the morning sky sometimes but I've never had someone to watch it with. Mom usually makes breakfast then heads to the hospital and dad's not here. Everyone else I know is loud and can't seem to sit in silence for more than a couple of seconds." She explained.
"I see. I enjoy quiet serene moments like this. I just didn't have the opportunity to really experience them before. At least, not often." Itachi said. The two returned to silence and watched the sky turn to a lighter shade of blue. Eventually, Sakura came to the back door and told them breakfast was ready. She almost didn't say anything because she thought the two painted a very cute picture.
Once inside the three sat down to eat breakfast. They conversed lightly for a little bit then Sarada helped her mom do the dishes. Sakura gave Itachi a key to the house and then left to go to the hospital. Sarada collected all her ninja gear then also left to join up with her team. She had already been told to keep Itachi's presence a secret for the time being.
Itachi was left alone for a little bit. He went back outside and sat down on the back patio again. He was still trying to process everything that happened in a single day. He was alive and perfectly healthy. No disease and his eyesight was perfect again and since he now had the mangekyo, he didn't have to worry about going blind again. He also has a niece and his brother finally returned to the village. The village itself was drastically different and much bigger than it use to be. He had seen so many things that just didn't make sense but he knew he would be taught about what they were starting today. Speaking of his lessons, someone knocked on the front door. He got up and opened it to reveal Naruto.
"Hey! How are you doing today?" Naruto greeted as he stepped inside the house.
"I'm fine. What about you Naruto?" Itachi responded as he went to a mirror to check that his appearance was in order.
"I'm great. Are you ready to go?" The blonde asked. Itachi nodded and the two left the house after he locked the door with the key he received that morning. The two made their way through the village and met Shikamaru outside the Hokage tower. Greetings were exchanged then Shikamaru threatened Naruto into going up to his office and completing some paperwork. When the two ravens were alone they turned down the street and the lesson began.
Shikamaru explained what electricity was and the gist of how it worked. He told Itachi about all the different kinds of appliances that were invented and what lightbulbs were. He would point things out and explain what they were and how they functioned. They stopped for lunch at a small restaurant and Itachi revealed he had a sweet tooth when he ate two orders of Dango by himself as a dessert. The two continued on their walk after that. Shikamaru took Itachi to one of the train stations and explained what it was and how it worked as well. The two got on the train to take it back to the Hokage tower. While on the train, Shikamaru explained what a phone was and what it did. He even called Naruto as a demonstration. When Naruto's voice came through the device, Shikamaru saw wonder fill the Uchiha's eyes.
Shikamaru was honestly surprised. He thought he would need two days at least for Itachi to understand and comprehend everything but that wasn't the case. He forgot that the Uchiha was also a genius. Itachi grasped everything within minutes of being told about it. When they were back at the Hokage's office, he gave Itachi a phone and taught him what everything meant and the Uchiha was operating the phone minutes later as if he had had it for years already.
It was already evening by the time Itachi left the tower. He assured the two that he could find his way now. He was about halfway to Sakura's house when someone landed next to him. He had felt Sarada heading his way so he didn't react to her sudden appearance. The two continued to walk down the street.
"Hi, uncle Itachi. How was your day?" She asked.
"Very informative. What about you?" Itachi returned her question. She beamed at him again.
"It was nice. We trained some with Konohamaru-sensei. Boruto as always was loud and disruptive but overall pretty good." Sarada sighed in exasperation when she mentioned Naruto's son. "So, are we going to train today or do something else?" The girl was obviously excited.
"We could train with what you already know or I could teach you some new things." Itachi suggested. By the way her eyes lit up at the possibility of something new, her answer was obvious.
They detoured off their path to head toward one of the training grounds. Once there, they made sure they were alone. After some questioning, Itachi decided they would work on genjutsu. More specifically, how to realize you're in one and then how to break out of it without causing immense harm to yourself.
Itachi began to explain how their training was going to go. He would put her in a genjutsu at random times until she was able to detect when it happened. She was super excited and asked when they would start. He surprised her by simply saying that she was already in one. They continued doing things this way. Eventually, she was able to tell when she was in one without him telling her though it took her a while to figure it out. After a couple of hours of this, they decided to call it quits for the day and head home for dinner.
Sakura still wasn't home because she always had long days at the hospital. The two took showers and then Sarada started to prepare dinner. Sakura came home just as dinner was finished and the plates were being made. The three sat down at the table and Sarada told her mom all about her day and how Itachi was training her. Sakura looked over at Itachi with grateful eyes and thanked him for spending time with Sarada.
Once dinner was finished, Itachi offered to help with dishes so Sakura could go get washed up and settled for the night. She thanked him profusely and headed to do just that. A little while later all three were soundly asleep in their beds.
The next day, Itachi agreed to continue Sarada's training for a few hours. She continued to improve surprisingly fast. They kept up the training until noon when Naruto came to get him. They were going to have lunch with Naruto's friends to introduce Itachi. They met them on the main road in the center of the village.
"Hey guys! Look who's here." Naruto raised his hand in the air and waved.
"Hey Naruto. Hey Itachi." Shikamaru was the first to respond seeing as all the others were still gaping at the raven. The others managed to gather their jaws off the ground and started a round of introductions. Ino and Sai introduced themselves first, followed by Temari, then Choji, Kiba, Lee, Tenten, and finally Neji.
"It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance. My name is Itachi Uchiha." Itachi lightly bowed to the group.
With introductions out of the way, the group headed to a new restaurant that had just recently opened up. They all chatted lightly for a bit before broaching more serious topics like the war or Itachi's past. They recounted the final battle between Kaguya and Naruto and Sasuke. Then Naruto explained his final battle with Sasuke and how it ended in a draw with them both missing an arm. When their food arrived, the conversation turned light again. They all sat around the table even after they finished just to hang out. It wasn't often they got to hang out with each other. Naruto looked up and saw Tsunade waving him over outside the restaurant.
"Sorry guys, but it looks like work is calling again. See you guys later!" The blonde bid them all goodbye and walked outside.
"Hey what's up?" He asked once he was close enough.
"Sasuke is back. He's about to reach the gates." Tsunade explained.
"Oh. Have you informed Sakura yet?" Naruto glanced back inside the restaurant for a moment.
"No. I'm about to go find her now." The blonde woman said and then walked away to find and inform the pinkette. Naruto sighed and then headed towards the gates to meet his best friend.
When he got there, he could see Sasuke's figure a short distance away. When his friend was close enough, the blonde raised his hand and smiled brightly at him. The raven gave a small smile back.
"Hey Sasuke." Naruto greeted.
"Hey," Sasuke replied. "How come you needed me to rush the end of the mission. The letter didn't say it was an emergency."
"Uhh, about that." Naruto chuckled nervously and rubbed the back of his head which caused Sasuke to raise an eyebrow at him in suspicion.
"There's someone here that you need to see." Naruto tried to be vague. Sasuke was about to ask something, but someone else started talking first.
"Hey Naruto, do you know where Itachi is? He still doesn't have clothes of his own yet so I was gonna see..." Sakura came around the side of the gate and her words cut off when she looked up from some papers to see Sasuke standing there.
Naruto could only turn to Sasuke nervously and Sakura was frozen. She didn't mean to reveal the surprise in such a way. Sasuke could only glance between the two and based on their reactions he knew he didn't mishear her.
"Itachi?" Sasuke whispered in disbelief. That can't be possible, right?
"Sorry. I didn't mean to reveal it." Sakura apologized to Naruto.
"It's ok. It's out now so." Before Naruto could continue talking Sasuke vanished. The two cursed their stupidity and hurried to follow their friend.
Sasuke could feel it. He could feel the familiar chakra presence that belonged to his older brother. He didn't before because he wasn't looking and still believed he was dead. But now, he could feel it and was making his way towards it. He could also feel the familiar chakra of his and Naruto's friends as well as Sarada. They were all walking down the village's main road.
Sarada had seen the group when they were leaving the restaurant and walked over to greet her uncle. With no real destination in mind, they just started to aimlessly walk down the road. Itachi suddenly stopped which caused the others to do so too. They were about to ask him what was wrong when someone suddenly appeared on the road ahead of them.
Everyone was shocked to see Sasuke appear out of nowhere. Not 3 seconds later Naruto and Sakura appeared behind him. No one said anything or moved forward because they all knew what an important moment it was. Even Sarada stayed back to watch. Neither of the brothers seemed to want to make the first move either out of fear or disbelief. Thankfully Itachi knew one of them had to so he took the initiative.
"Sasuke." Itachi only said his name. That one word though seemed to jump-start Sasuke's brain because he released a breath he had been holding.
"Nii-san." Sasuke whispered. Itachi slowly started to walk forward until he was only a couple of feet away. He was surprised to note that Sasuke was now quite a bit taller than him. Pride swelled in his heart when he saw what kind of man his otouto had become. He smiled warmly at Sasuke.
"You're all grown up now Sasuke. I can't exactly call you my 'little' brother now can I?" Itachi teased lightly.
For the first time in many years, Sasuke felt the burn of tears behind his eyes. Normally he would never allow anyone to see such vulnerability from him, but he couldn't bring himself to care at that moment. He quickly closed the short distance between them and wrapped his arm around his brothers' shoulders. Itachi quickly wrapped his own arms around Sasuke in return and neither could stop the flow of tears after that.
Everyone around them sighed in relief and Sarada was staring in shock at her father. She had never seen him act that way. The short times that she did see him, he came off as cold yet caring. He was aloof and allowed very little emotion to show. Now he was crying his eyes out with a big smile on his face and he shared a hug with his brother. The two separated when Naruto approached them.
"There's a lot to explain Sasuke. How about you two come back to my office and we can talk there?" Naruto suggested. The two easily agreed. The group all agreed to meet again the next day or the day after for lunch again and then decided to let the three leave. The two Uchiha brothers promised Sarada that they would return home that night so she agreed to head back with her mom. After that, the three headed to Naruto's office.