THE FIRST CONTACT
Underlined - English
‘Italicised’ - Thoughts
In Text Bolded - Tailed Beast
OKURIMONO
I wake Itachi first.
He, of course, immediately starts to freak out.
I suppose it’s reasonable, after all I’m not stupid and didn’t exactly let him be free. I cut all his non-vital chakra flow, used seals and jutsu to effectively paralyze him, and have pretty effectively rerouted the chakra system around his eyes to make activating the sharingan impossible for him. Unless he suddenly whips out Tsunade level chakra control and manages to circumvent all of that , he’s not going to be any real threat to me.
(But that doesn’t mean I’m not taking him seriously, far from it. It would suck to die at Itachi’s hand, honestly. Really suck.)
But I also cured his lung problem with some creative transplants from the dead bodies in the hamlet they destroyed, so I’m going to call us even.
“Who are you?” Itachi asks, suspicious and clearly on the edge of flipping the fuck out. Yay, Uchiha anger issues - I wasn’t around all of Sasuke’s pubescent mood swings, but oh boy I heard horror stories .
On the bright side, I’m immediately relieved as well because that he asked at all means that he doesn’t know and doesn’t have a guess. Therefore logic says that my disguise worked well enough to fool an Uchiha (sans Sharingan but whatever). It buys me time.
“Someone who wants answers,” I respond, voice thick with the accent of my words.
He narrowed his eyes at me, cataloging my speech and comparing it, no doubt, to … well, myself. To Noa.
But most people recognize people either immediately or not at all unless someone points it out. Disguise making 101. Assumptions and connections made at a first meeting stay for a very long time. This first impression would be crucial to establish myself as a member of ‘Noa’s Nomad Tribe’ rather than ‘Noa with silver hair.’ That was my best bet.
“About?” He humored me, obviously holding his cards close.
“Let’s start with the question of your loyalty and move on from there, shall we?” I smile at him, all teeth and ice.
“No, I don’t think we will,” He counters easily in his deadened voice. “I will not speak.”
“Well you’ve already failed that, Tachi-chan,” I giggle, flipping my hair over my shoulder. “You’re talking right now.”
“And so are you,” He states. “Do you even realize how much you have given away already?”
“Oh?” I laugh, skillfully hiding my nerves. “Like what?”
“Like that you are of the Tsubasa Nomad Tribe.”
I snort delicately, hiding both my immense relief and my more … brash characteristics. “Nomad? Yes, I am among the last. We number almost as few as the Uchiha these days. Tsubasa? Only one of us has that blood.”
“You speak of Noa of Konoha,” Itachi voices. “Odd of you to speak of her so freely. She believed herself to be the last of your tribe.”
I smile at him demurely, lips turned up. “Oh? And you would know that how?”
“I see I am misinformed,” He acquiesced, ever the gentleman-murderer. “But you are not of Konoha.”
“Of course not,” I ‘assure’ him, flipping my hand dismissively. “No village holds my obedience.”
“Then where does your loyalty lie …?” He trails off, obviously looking both for a name and an answer.
“Call me Okurimono - just Okurimono,” I tell him. “My people have no need for clan names.”
“Okurimono,” He echoes. “That sounds rather Common for your people, does it not?”
“If you want to banty with your words, sure,” I poke at him with faux playfulness. “You’d be unable to pronounce the name my mother gave me.”
Ahh bullshit. My favorite. Now what to say when ...
“Try me?”
Ahh Uchiha arrogance. Let’s see, how can I throw him off further …
“Chrysanthemum,” I tell him on a whim, immensely satisfied when I see his eyes widen - clearly not expecting that.
“Okurimono, then.” He concedes reluctantly; another loss for him. “And you are an ally of Konoha, then? Or perhaps of Kumo?” His eyes flicker to the unconscious Cloud nin before him.
“Good guess, little boy.” I condescend him. “But no. I am an ally of Noa. Konoha only is under my protection circumstantially, and Kumo only gets protection only so far against the enemies of my dear little cousin. Akatsuki aims to kill Noa’s family, therefore Noa’s family will kill Akatsuki.”
“And what do you plan to do with us?” He asks, eyes flickering to assess me and my proximity to Kisame. “You could’ve killed us. Why did you not?”
“Because I do not kill those who I can use, it’s a waste of chakra.”
“You think you can use Kisame? Use me?” He sounds almost-offended. In a rather Vulcan way. “I am the target of revenge for your cousins teammate - would it not be a … conflict of interest?”
“Conflict of interest?” I laugh, allowing the sound only to escape as trill of a bell. “Oh, poor Uchiha. To be so tied by words. What you mean to say is: ‘Would it not be best to hitch me up by the Akatsuki’s god-awful robes and let my little brother use me as a punching bag?’” - he flinches - “Oh no. See, when my sweet little cousin was first getting to know me there were quite a few secrets she stumbled across that she couldn’t tell anyone else, lest a certain Warhawk target them -” Itachi’s eyes (less intimidating sans-Sharingan) narrow at my allusion “- so I became someone the little one confided in. So I know .”
His breath would catch at my tone if he were any less prestigious of a shinobi.
“I know that you killed your clan for Konoha, and I know that you did it under orders .” I hiss out lowly, leaning in to catch his gaze unforgivingly. “And I know that you tried - idiotically - to use your little brother as a tool for your own suicide. To make him ‘stronger’ by destroying him .”
“You don’t understand.”
I sit back, pulling away from the pathetically damaged man in front of me. “Oh?” I ask, barely able from launching into yet another round of tearing into him. Habit of mine, but you know how it is: old dog, new tricks. At this point I was 36 in term of years experienced. Positively ancient.
“You don’t understand ,” He repeats, voice growing a little desperate. “I had to. It was the Clan or the Village. The civil war a coup would have sparked would have killed hundreds. The village would be weakened and targeted by the other nations. Konoha would’ve been destroyed within years. I had no choice .”
“ I think the ninja doth protest too much , ” I paraphrase Shakespeare at him snarkily. “I don’t believe a word you’re saying, and neither do you.”
“ I had no choice ,” He insists again, stubborn in his damaged ways. “It was the village or it was my clan. I had no -”
“Oh don’t give me that,” I cut him off, sick of hearing the disgusting filth he was spewing. “You’re on a loop: ‘I had no choice’ , over and over . There’s always another way. There are never two paths - never only two choices. You could’ve said no. You could’ve talked to the Hokage directly to confirm orders you doubted. You could’ve killed Danzo, taken on ROOT or turned to your ANBU team for help. There are protocols for internal corruption and dubious orders that date back far before the massacre - I know , my little cousin told me - and you used none of them.”
I crouch back down in front of him, a kunai in hand and hold the point beneath his chin, forcing the Slayer of the Uchiha to look me in the eye. A move once fatally dangerous now rendered into a mocking show of his weakness. “You tried to force your little brother to kill you since you couldn’t do it yourself. And you did so by nearly driving him mad and quite effectively scarring him beyond repair. What do you think the truth behind your actions would’ve done to him after he put his fist through your heart ?”
I can see the cracks I’m forming. Can see where the true, broken Itachi is bleeding through the facade of the Slayer of the Uchiha.
“Kill me, then.”
NARA SHIKAMARU
“Kakashi takes lead on this,” Tsunade orders, turning away from where Jiraiya and Naruto are brainstorming a faster and less damaging removal of Danzo’s fucking tongue seal. “According to Sai, you have twenty four hours before his disappearance will come under the greatest degree of suspicion. Don’t use all of them.”
“Hai, Hokage-sama,” The room echoes, watching as she exits.
The dog summoner is grim: “Let’s do this.”
Rapidly a plan forms. A team. Hatake Kakashi leads with Shikamaru himself as his second. Uchiha Sasuke, Uzumaki Naruto, Yamanaka Ino, Mitarashi Anko, Shiranui Genma, and Inuzuka Kiba and Akamaru. Small team against an army, but all skilled and trustworthy - and all read in. They all scatter, putting affairs in order and gathering supplies enough for war, from armor to poisons to soldier pills.
Shikamaru hoped he wasn’t the only one who made sure it was easy to find his will. He also hoped he was overthinking things.
Danzo was located easily. It was illogical to have a completely sporadic schedule when you have a secret army at your beck and call, so instead he had a rotation so complex and convoluted you had to be a member of ROOT to interpret and apply the system.
Luckily they had Sai, and even with his chakra burned tongue he still managed to describe the route.
It was what Noa had once called witching hour when they struck, the time when the air is still and the night is at the peak of darkness.
Danzo was on a seldom treaded path when they attacked.
Genma lead with a barrage of senbon laced with his most potent stuff, not only hitting Danzo square in his chest and throat but also nailing his two guards. The guards drop dead immediately - Danzo does not. That set off all kinds of alarms in the squad’s heads.
But they don’t let it stop them. Kiba immediately - even before the senbon land - is going in for a devastating Fang over Fang with Akamaru as Anko sends in her snakes as support, the attack drilling through the air and driving Danzo into her summons’ waiting jaws.
The venom affects him, then suddenly doesn’t. Sign number two.
Danzo sets off a complicated chakra pattern between beats before they can stop him, and suddenly the clearing is flooded as ROOT agents fall in from the woodwork and shadows. Kiba and Naruto peel off to deal with the horde, tearing down the veritable army with attack after attack and clone after clone.
But they just keep coming. I see my chance through the underbrush, however, and extend my shadow to lock Danzo in place just as Sasuke and Kakashi prime a palm of lightning each to shove into the corrupt elder’s chest.
They both land. Danzo is still standing .
I’m about to shout - to say that something is wrong when -
Someone is in my HEAD!
OKURIMONO
It’s my turn to be shocked.
“No.”
“ Kill me ,” He practically begs, eyes shining with grief. “I have committed more crimes than can ever be forgiven. I’ve killed more than can ever be repaid. Kill me .”
Shit, I had pushed him too far.
“I don’t have the right to decide that,” I hissed, bringing back my hand and pocket my kunai. “And if I kill you, you will become useless to me. There will be no benefit to your death - no repentance.”
“Then take my eyes.”
“ What ?”
I can’t believe what I’m hearing. An Uchiha guards his eyes to the death and beyond -
“Yes we do,” He confirms, and I realize I’ve spoken aloud in my shock. “But I am doing far more damage than good - you’re right, and I’ve known that for years. But please my … me being here this long has to mean something .”
“You don’t know me,” I breathe out, disbelieving. “You don’t even know me .”
“But you have proven that you would be far more responsible than I could ever be. Have ever been.”
“I -”
“Please-!”
I don’t know what about that one word finally convinces me. I honestly couldn’t tell you. But I reach for him, a single hand (one that would’ve been trembling had I any less control of my body) and I …
The power of the Sharingan comes from the optic nerve evolved in every Uchiha, the retina adapted to process the increase of information with greater detail, and the iris pigmentation and pupil configuration that serves no greater purpose (other then look intimidating as all hell) than to increase pupil ‘surface area’ - it’s exposure to visual input. How big the hole receiving data is, really. The coloring and shape is a genetic quirk, and is no more effective or expensive than a simple pupil’s contracting and expanding habits. Just … more Uchiha.
I remove his eye. Seperate the retina and optic nerve, and with a deft exchange I’ve my eye out too, pain dulled by chakra and lid closed to protect my gaping socket. I do the transplant on autopilot; first effectively switching the backs of each eye and then placing my synthetically familiar-yet-foreign blood red eye back into my socket.
It takes less than a minute.
I blink. Channel chakra to my eye and suddenly I can see -
And I see Itachi run a pilfered kunair through is empty socket, immediately destroying brain function far beyond what I have the chakra to repair.
I swallow as he collapses back; mourning in a detached, abstract way. I incline my head. I had no love for Itachi but only because of the choices he made. The circumstances that shaped him were … unfair. To call a decapitation a paper cut.
I’m reaching for his second eye when Kisame wakes up.