The Wind To His Fire

Consequences?

Itachi watched his otouto entering the mission hall looking miserable. It was a common occurrence these days as Sasuke had been given the punishment of completing 20 worst D ranks for a month, for hiding his time traveling form the Hokage. In Itachi's opinion, the punishment could be a lot worse, given than Sasuke had basically committed treason by not even lifting a finger to prevent the Sandaime's death. But apparently Tsunade-sama had a soft spot for her apprentice and Sasuke had got away with a slap on the wrist.

Itachi had also been implicated, of course. But given he only came into this knowledge when he returned to the village and that he had already supplied as much useful information as he could, with breaking his little brother's trust, under the guise of Akatsuki reports, Tsunade-sama didn't give him much grief.

He wasn't upset at Sasuke's admission of his involvement, to the Hokage. He understood his reasons and he knew he had no reason to expect loyalty from Sasuke after what he had done.

Sasuke had apologized for quote, 'throwing him under the carriage', and Itachi had graciously accepted his apology before forgiving him. Even then his brother had been tiptoeing around Itachi for a month.

Therefore, the plan to ambush him in the mission of office, giving him no chance to escape.

"Sasuke." Itachi called out as his brother submitted his mission report.

For a moment, it seemed that Sasuke would rather do another D rank than talk to him, but he thought better of it. "Yes, Itachi?"

"I don't think I have given you any reason to avoid me." Itachi stated.

"You accepted my apology before you knew that I got you a month's placement with those little helions at the academy." His brother deadpanned.

"I accepted your apology expecting an execution. Teaching at the academy is very lenient and something I'm finding enjoyable." Itachi replied.

Sasuke blinked at that, then shrugged. "You've always been a bit weird. What did you wanted to talk about?"

Itachi decided not to be offended about the 'weird' comment. "Do you have any plans for dealing with Pein, Since most of the other Akatsuki have been taken care of?"

"What's wrong with what happened last time?" Sasuke questioned. "Pein would attack Konoha to capture Naruto. Naruto would fight him. I would sacrifice myself to protect Naruto, he would defeat Pein and bring everyone back to life."

"What is wrong with that?" Itachi asked, gobsmacked. "Aside from Konoha being totally destroyed and everyone's life being gambled on chance, you mean? And why would you sacrifice yourself?"

"It worked for Hinata." Sasuke grumbled.

Itachi resisted the urge to sigh. "Sasuke, you do realise you already have a relationship with Naruto, don't you?"

"And how long would that last when he finds out that I've been essentially lying to him all this time? I had wished to tell him the truth when he returned from his training trip but now Tsunade would be the one to tell him, not me."

Ah, so this was the reason for his frustrations the past weeks.

"Have you considered sending him a letter?" Itachi suggested. "You can borrow one of my crows."

His brother sighed. "I guess it's better than nothing."

"Now that's out of the way, I think we need a better plan for Pein. Do you think your Rinnegan would be a match for his?" He asked.

"Considering that I don't have it anymore, I guess the question is rhetorical?" Sasuke raised an eyebrow.

"It won't be rhetorical once you get it again. I've been thinking of asking to get our eyes exchanged. It would upgrade them to Eternal Mangekyou Sharingan, making your chances of acquiring a Rinnegan again, higher. And would definitely help me if I'm able to read again if I'm going to be teaching at the academy full-time, as I've been planning to do."

Sasuke looked dumbfounded. "You wish to teach at the academy full-time? Really? The next thing you'd say will be that you want to go to Tsunade to get our eye surgery."

"Actually, I had was going to say that. Tsunade-sama has experience with Uchiha eye transplants from the Second Shinobi War. And since she's your shishou she would be more amenable to say yes."

For some reason, Sasuke just rolled his eyes. "Say yes as to blind me maybe." He mumbled. "Come on, we're going to Shizune."