The most painful days and sorrowful nights

10. To the rescue

Sasuke traveled through the forest. On his way to see Saizo,and Maybe -just Maybe - talk to Uzume. Hoping that he could get more than just a glare from her. He remembered the stick house he and the little Uchiha made when he first came here.  He held a reassuring smirk on his face.
Hopefully, they're alright. He thought. Crossing over the forest,but when he looked up. He saw a flash of red hoping  towards him. He wasn't worried, but as the object got closer, Sasuke held the face of shock. He was supposed to be dead? Why is he not dead?  Taking no chances, Sasuke followed after him -hoping that it wasn't his brother. 

"Wait!" He called out. But the man did not look. He kept moving. Now that he thought about it,Itachi was moving from where Uzume lived. What was he doing there? Is she alright? Is Saizo alright? Without much thought, Sasuke chased after Itachi. Hoping to get some sort of word out of him. Flash backs pop into his mind about all those times ITachi would poke his head and run off.
Forgive me,Sasuke.

Sorry Sasuke...but this is it..

Those were the last words Itachi spoke before he had died. Sasuke could not forget that smile on his brother's face when he died by his hands.
Now he couldn't believe it. He thought that this wasn't real. That this was just an imagination - a genjutsu. There was only one way to find out.

"Is that you,Itachi?" he called out ,trailing behind his older brother. His anger rising with confusion as he kept following him. "I said ..wait!" 
Using a quick surge of chakra , he activated Susano'o in order to catch him - but it didn't work. Itachi used his own Susano'o to push the purple hand away from him. Moving faster than before.
Susano'o... His eyes widen at the sight of it. 
"This Susano'o...so you really are Itachi."
"I'm surprised you actually managed to master it too.." Itachi replied. Finally looking over his shoulder at Sasuke.
"What are you doing here?!" He asked.  His mangekyo Sharingan matching his older brother's. "You're supposed to be dead." 
"I am dead...This is Kabuto's Jutsu. I can't stop now. I have something to do." 
"I don't care. You're here now and I have so many questions to ask you!" He said,picking up the pace.
"Ask me later..But I guess that's not going to happen."
Sasuke was enraged now. "You said  to come find you when I have the same eyes as you! So why are you running?" He snapped out loud.  "To avoid admitting that you lied to me?! Or don't you have the courage to tell me the truth?!.. I already know everything about you! That's why I've decided to destroy Konohakagure!"
"I told you when we fought that people live under false assumptions I asked if you could think about it that way; and how one's reality might be an illusion." He sighed to himself and went on. " Is my truth really-
"I no longer live inside an illusion!" Sasuke interrupted. " And I can see through your genjutsu..These are your eyes!" 
Itachi looked over his shoulder and took a good long look into his brother's eyes. Then turned away back to the task at hand. He remembered the words Sasuke's friend and teammate Naruto Uzumaki had told him when he last saw him.
Sasuke understands your suffering and your resolves! Uzume has stayed strong for as long as she can. She has too,now that she has a kid now. But instead of carrying your will,Instead, Sasuke wants to destroy the Leaf. That's his way of getting back at the village,for causing his older brother so much suffering.

"You're as confident as ever,but I have heard about you from others.That you've changed alot." He says while moving farther deep on into the forest.
"No!" Sasuke was getting louder now. "You've changed everything about me! I can't even look at.."
But Itachi knew what he was going to say. He knew what she meant to him; her laughs, her smiles,her curiousity. He loved her more than Itachi ever could,and it was like a smack in the face seeing that the little boy was in fact his nephew. 
"I was supposed to die!" He said. gritting his teeth in frustration. "You were supposed to kill me and her along with our parents. " The flash back came back again. 
The blood.. 
The darkness..
 Their parents dead on the floor.. 
His innocent crying as he called out to his brother. Hoping that he was alright, but little did he know that he was staring their killer in the face.
"But.." His mind when back on the days after his death when he listened to Itachi's truth from the mouth of Tobi.Remembering what he said about Itachi's choices and how no one knew more about his plans than itachi himself. No one knew his motives but him. No one ever questioned him, or the cause of his sacrifices. 
"Why?!" He yelled out at him. "Why did you spare me?! Why did you take Uzume away?!" He kept unleashing questions. holding back the tears of anger and confusion. " How am I different from Mother and Father?! How is Uzume different from Omi-chan and Kygo-san?! Why us?!"
"Because neither of you knew anything. You had no part in the Uchiha's folly. You and Uzume were just children." He answered. Not looking back at Sasuke. " Also, do you think I did it just for you? I wanted to be judged and dealt with by another Uchiha. So I took advantage of the hatred inside of you both; knowing the Uzume would be there to help you. She really does love you. She loved us both. That's why I failed." He said while leaping faster into the forest. Making his way to the target waiting for him : Kabuto. He knew Sasuke would still be ton him,following him still. " Ultimately, I filled you with enough hatred and made you go rogue. I made Uzume taste the hatred of our clan, but luckily it asn't enough to drunken her. Now she has my son,and you turned into a criminal."
The memories of the three them walking home. To the day Uzume first hid behind Itachi. To the day Sasuke met Itachi on the rooftop, and Uzume was gone. Missing-nin. No one really bothered to search for her, and had they found her - Sasuke wouldn't be alone anymore. He would've still had her and Shiro. Sasuke's mind went to recall the time he fought the Raikage and Mizukage. He even fought Gaara again- having brung the entire area down. 
This was what made him a criminal.
"My goal was for both of you to walk down the right path. For her, to hide from Tobi. For you, to stay within the Leaf" He jumped to a higher branch and ket going."  Before I died, I tried to lead you down a path without forks or turns. I changed  signposts, on that path with lies and my visual prowess."
"We were supposed to walk happily that one path,ignorant of everything?!" He asked, looking for some sort of answer from him. But all he recieved was silence. So he shook his head. "Uzume wouldn't go down that path without questions...We ...we don't care for such a path!"
Another step in silence as Itachi took off into the air. Sasuke on his heels. 
"Yeah, you're absolutely right." He said, " You must decide your own journey."
"No matter how much you try to rewrite the signposts,my eyes can strip the top layer."
Itachi was smirking now. 
"What's so funny?!" Sasuke glared
The older Uchiha shook his head and looked back at his younger sibling.
"I'm just realizing that the signposts and Uzume were not your only guide." He said,  certain jinchuriki in his mnd.
"I'm a dead man." He said,casting one last look at Sasuke. " There's no point in talking any farther." 
He says leaping off ,Sasuke didn't bother to stop the conversation there. 
"When you were alive you never paid any attention to me, you always flicking my forehead and saying 'forgive me' ,and running off. You even made Uzume blush when you looked at her, telling her that 'little girls can't do everything' and making her do something crazy,and runnin off.. Now that you're dead you still run away from us!" 
"I'm not running away." Itachi snapped, " As I told you before, I have something to take care of."