Finding Home - Uchiha Sasuke Fanfic

2 - Freedom

Sasuke pov:

My eyes gazed over Konoha as I stood on the balcony of my apartment. It was a normal day for those of the village, a pleasant routine after the war against the Akatsuki that had ended more than a year ago, but was a long-lost, nostalgic feeling for me. It was a feeling I couldn't  describe in words though it was undoubtedly true that I was happy and at peace.

Exactly three months had passed since I had returned to Konoha, after a final fight against Naruto and his rather persuasive words of making me believe in the Ninja Way, and that I still had comrades who cared for me and wanted me to walk beside them. Sure, I had helped fight against Madara and Tobi, but I had still not forgiven Konoha for what they had done to Itachi. I harbored deep resentment for those of the village even though I knew very well that only the village elders, Danzo and the Sandaime were responsible for all that had happened to my clan.

My resolve to destroy Konoha had weakened after I had seen Itachi as an Edo Tensei, when he had shown me the truth behind the Uchiha Clan's downfall. I had remembered all of those I had known in Konoha, all of the shinobi I had fought alongside on many missions, shinobi who had made me stronger, given me a place to belong, defended me...

It had brutally dawned upon me then that none of them were at fault for what happened to Itachi. They knew nothing of the Uchiha Clan, nothing of the coup that the clan was planning that I knew was not right on their part despite the humiliation we had had to suffer at the hands of Danzo. They had been kept in the same darkness I had been kept in by Itachi, and I had hated him as they all did. I had no right whatsoever to blame them for what had happened to us, to me, and wishing to destroy them was wrong.

Besides, I had got my revenge in a way - the village elders and Sandaime were killed and I had done away with Danzo myself during the Summit Meeting before the war. I had no reason left to destroy Konoha. I knew there was no point in revenge if none knew the truth about the clan, and there was nothing that I would get from it either. It was all the more wrong because the village had done nothing but mourn the annihilation of the Uchiha Clan and wish for my return.

I ran a hand through my hair with a sigh leaving my lips. My heart was still not entirely in the decision I had made - to forgive Konoha and return to be a Jounin here. At the same time, I hated myself for harboring such negative thoughts towards people who had been nothing but kind and concerned towards me. I did, however, resent the fact that they had disliked and feared me enough to put me through near-hell after the war had ended.

The interrogation and trial I had to go through after the war was brutal. I was isolated in the Blood Prison - the highest security prison in the Ninja World, where not even the strongest of shinobi could escape from. I was no exception, obviously, for my chakra was sealed off with the Fire Seal that every other prisoner there had, and I could neither summon an ounce of chakra nor sense any. I was then locked away in a dark cell to rot away without anyone actually caring if I was dead or alive. The only thing that did keep me alive was my will to survive despite all odds being against me and the moldy meals that I was served twice a day.

During the short periods the prisoners were allowed to see the outside world, gathered in the central courtyard that had more than three dozen shinobi guarding the perimeter, the other inmates avoided me. They knew of me, obviously, and did not wish to have anything to do with me. I too ignored them, with no interest to talk to weak and selfish criminals...and I thought that way only until I realized that I was no different from them. I had been weak - physically weak in the beginning and mentally weak even until now - and I had been selfish in every possible way.

I had begun to believe that I deserved what I had been sentenced to. I had become a monster and I had deserved to be isolated, to be hated, to rot away until I was dead and forgotten. However, it seemed that not everyone had thought that way, especially the idiot I had always been annoyed with yet truly trusted during my time in Konoha.