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Itachi had just reached the edge of the village when he felt a presence close by and turned with one hand reaching for the blade strapped to his back. As soon as his eyes had time to trace the familiar shape waiting for him in the shadows he froze. He knew that stance. Even before the man stepped in to the moonlight he could already feel Naruto’s disappointment.
“You’re gonna do it then?” his boyfriend asked.
“Naruto…”
“I thought you were better than believing this was the only way. They’re your own clan!”
Dropping his hand back to his side, Itachi shook his head. “They’re minds are poisoned and they can’t be reasoned with.”
“Have you even tried?” Naruto demanded.
“Shisui–”
“One attempt with one jutsu doesn’t mean they can’t be persuaded. It means that they can’t be forced to change their minds.”
“That’s not how the Kotoamatsukami works.” It was a weak protest but Itachi already had doubts about the path he had chosen to take and having Naruto fight so vehemently to stop this chain of events threatened to make him waver from his decision.
His boyfriend was right about one thing at least. Unlike him the Uchiha clan could not be forced to change the decisions that they had made. Fugaku was on the verge of leading them in a coup against the village that had housed and loved them for generations all because of some perceived stigma that Itachi knew none of them had ever truly attempted to clear.
When Danzo-sama suggested the extermination of his people the Hokage had protested yet he hadn’t gone so far as to expressly forbid it and in their world that was basically tantamount to permission. This was not a task that Itachi wanted nor one that he would enjoy but it was not something he would leave in the hands of another, either. If there was truly no way to save his people then he supposed it might as well be his own hand that held the blade which felled them. Keep the shame within their own blood, so to speak. Taking this pain on to himself would ensure that no one else had to live with it.
“You don’t understand,” he tried to reason with the teen before him. “Having a clan–”
“Oh don’t throw that in my face. Just because I don’t have a clan of my own doesn’t mean I can’t understand what family means. You would do anything for the Uchiha. I get that. So do something for them, dattebayo! Don’t just give up!” Naruto took a step closer and the scent of him seemed to fill the air until Itachi wondered if his knees might begin to quiver.
Feeling rather like he was fighting a battle he wanted to lose, Itachi still made an effort to bull forward. This was for Sasuke. Every decision he didn’t like he followed through on anyway because he believed it was best for his precious little brother. Danzo-sama had promised that he would not be touched.
“If we can’t change their opinion then we can’t stop them. This is the only way to make peace.”
“No!” Naruto shouted, stepping forward again with fists clenched in passion. “If you can’t change their minds it’s because you haven’t tried to make them see things from a new point of view! Talk to them! Show them your heart and show them the pain you feel! How can you expect them to understand if you don’t tell them the future you see for this stupid coup? They’re your family, dattebayo! They should listen to you! And if they don’t then I’ll storm the place and shout until someone listens to me! I’ll change every one of their minds if I have to!”
“You know…I almost believe you could,” Itachi murmured.
When Naruto reached for him he fell in to his boyfriend’s arms as though the weight of the world had just fallen from his shoulders and left him weak with relief. It might not be nearly as easy as the other thought but if Naruto was right about a second thing it was that maybe he hadn’t tried every single option yet. Danzo-sama had sounded so sure of this path and Itachi realized now that he’d allowed that surety to cloud his own.
“Don’t do this,” his partner whispered and Itachi felt his last resolve crumble.
“Take me home please,” he said quietly.
“With pleasure. And you bet your ass I’m gonna make sure you stay there.”
Itachi smiled. That sounded like exactly where he wanted to be. First thing tomorrow he would go to the Hokage and suggest a meeting with key influential members of the Uchiha. And if that failed he would set Naruto loose on his clan. If anyone could change their mind it would be the most stubborn sunshine idiot their beautiful village had to offer. Itachi himself was living proof of that.