Chapter Text
Itachi bit back a swore under his ANBU mask.
It was supposed to be a fairly easy mission. Stealing information from the daimyo of the Land of Tea.
The mission had gone without a hitch at first. Their target had been found and secured and they had been out from the daimyo´s mansion in just half an hour.
However, apparently the intelligence they had was a sought over information as they were soon pursued by not only one, but two ANBU squads from Kumogakure and Iwagakure.
Itachi was separated with his own squad in the resulting skirmish and now, he was stuck in the maze-like grassland all alone. It was a moonless night and while he normally could navigate easily with his sharingan, the fog that had fallen on the area somehow obstructing his vision.
The only saving grace from the situation was that the scroll was safe in his captain´s hand and Itachi had a faith that Hound was more than capable to deliver the scroll to the Hokage and completed the mission.
His foot suddenly caught on an uneven ground and Itachi stumbled. Now that the adrenalin had worn off, he felt every bit of his body aching with injuries and chakra depletion.
The young Uchiha valiantly dragged his battered body in search for a shelter.
His body slowly felt heavier. He was beginning to suspect that there´s poison on one of the weapons that struck him, which was a very bad thing.
Another uneven ground, another stumbled.
However this time, a steady hand caught his arm and righten him.
Itachi´s red eyes widened at the sight of the dog masked ANBU beside him
“Captain? What are you doing here?”
His captain slung his arm over his shoulder “Hmm? I can´t possibly left my team member all alone, can I? What kind of captain I will be if I do that?”
“But, the mission…?”
“Don´t worry about that, Cat had it.”
Itachi exhaled softly, relieved that his captain didn´t just throw away the important mission for him.
“More importantly” Hound´s voice pulled the young Uchiha from his musing “We need to find a shelter. It seems like this fog weakens us”
Itachi furrowed his eyebrow, so it was the fog and not a poison? Nevertheless, he nodded.
Fortunately, they did find a cave not long after. The two ANBU quickly made their way inside with Hound lingering outside to set up some protective measures.
Itachi then used a simple doton jutsu to close the entrance when his captain had returned and both shinobis started to pull off their mask and armors, getting comfortable.
Hound, or rather, Hatake Kakashi, turned to his subordinate “Go sleep, I´ll take the first watch”.
Feeling drained, Itachi obeyed quietly. He all but collapsed on the ground and he only got a second to realize the drowsiness wasn´t normal before he saw Kakashi´s body hit the ground on the other side of the cave.
His sight was getting blurry.
Uchiha Itachi fell into the darkness.
Uchiha Izuna opened his eyes.
Izuna groaned, clutching his head. It felt like it had been pounded with a hammer.
His legs and back throbbed with pain and his muscles screamed as he tried to shift position to ease the pain on his back.
It felt like there´s a large gash on it although he didn´t remember getting slashed.
He did remember being gutted.
A rustle nearby caught his attention and the Uchiha tensed, ready to defend himself even as he drew his chakra, ignoring the pain with practiced ease.
Something stirring in the dark, a messy silver hair popped out followed by a face hidden behind the mask.
MIsmatched eyes almost shone in the dark as it met his own black orbs.
Izuna relaxed, knowing it wasn´t an enemy.
His companion´s hand moved to shape seals and not a second later, a bright lightning orb floating between them, chased away the darkness.
Izuna squinted.
Kakashi was raising himself from where he had fallen. However, his choppy movement looked and felt out of character from what Itachi knew of his Hatake ANBU captain.
“Well, that was fun” Kakashi muttered dryly “Let´s not repeat it again”
Izuna raised an eyebrow as Kakashi patted his body, his hand glowing green.
He was fairly sure Kakashi didn´t know any Iryō-jutsu.
Feeling Izuna´s gaze, Kakashi turned his head with a raised eyebrow of his own.
“What? Do you got injured too?”
“I think my back is” Izuna admitted “It´s just, I don´t know you know Iryō-jutsu, Kakashi senpai”
Kakashi huffed. He inched closer and motioned for the Uchiha to turn around.
The familiar feeling of an Iryō-jutsu washed his back not a second later and Izuna let out a content sigh as the ache on his body subsided.
“Look like someone got you good, here. I guess it must be poisoned if you didn´t felt the wound before”
Izuna turned to face the Hatake again, who was studying him with a thoughtful expression.
“You´re right, by the way. Hatake Kakashi can´t do Iryō-jutsu, never had the chakra control necessary to master it despite Rin´s trying to teach him so many times”
The Uchiha´s breath hitched “But Senju Tobirama is famous for his chakra control”
Kakashi, or rather, a reincarnated Senju Tobirama dipped his head “That he is. You, of all people, should know it better than anyone, shouldn´t you, Izuna?”
Izuna snorted and started to laugh, a bit hysterically.
It´s not enough that the universe decided to disturb his eternal rest by chucking him back to the land of living, it had to screw him further by bringing his nemesis and his killer too. When they were trapped together, nonetheless.
Tobirama had retreated back to the far end of the cave, kneeling with his finger on the ground and seemingly ignoring Izuna.
“Are you finish?” he asked when Izuna´s laughter had subsided “I don´t sense any enemy outside but my range in less than a quarter of my usual range, so we need to move fast.”
Izuna took a deep breath and let Itachi took control “How about the fog?”
“Already dissipated. Although we should still be careful. That one was not a normal fog”
“You can say it again” Izuna muttered, picking up Itachi´s -his- mask and followed the silver haired shinobi.
Fortunately, they didn´t encounter any enemy on their way back to Konoha. They ran through the forest that surrounded the village in silence, mindful to keep themselves stay hidden.
Hound went to report to the Hokage even as he motioned the Uchiha to go ahead.
The rest of team Ro was still clustered in the changing room, their chatter fell away as they saw the newcomer.
“Weasel, you are back. Are you alright? What about captain?”
Izuna raised his hand to stop the barrage of question as he took off his mask and ANBU uniform.
“Captain is giving report to the Hokage. We encountered no more enemy, but we had to take a shelter for a little while”
Cat, Tenzō, threw himself on the bench “Thank goodness. I was really nervous when Kakashi senpai suddenly throw me the scroll and disappeared”
The rest of the team snickered at the youngster´s long suffering expression. They all knew how much their captain loved to mess with the young Mokuton user.
Izuna didn´t stay for long. He spent just enough time for some pleasantries before making his way out.
He walked slowly on the Konoha street that both familiar and foreign.
Uchiha Itachi had been born and raised in the village, spending 11 years behind the sturdy wall and wandering along the smooth pavement. He could even distinguish the houses based on their roof alone with how much time he spent travelling through the rooftop.
However, Uchiha Izuna had died before the village was built. His ash had been long cold when the Senju and Uchiha made their peace and the idea of building a village was raised. Uchiha Izuna had neve knew anything beyond his clan compound, consisted only of blood kins, and constantly on edge, under the constant threat from both enemy clans and bloodline thieves. They had to move their compound four times during the two decades Izuna had lived due to enemy invasions, losing many of their kins each time.
War and blood and lost was all Izuna knew. Kill or be killed was all he lived for ever since he had donned the Uchiha armor at the age of six.
Uchiha Itachi was not a stranger to a war too. He could still vividly recall the moment the third shinobi war started when he was four. The calm and tranquility of the village was suddenly shattered, replaced with uneasiness and panic shimmering below the surface as the adults tried to pretend everything´s okay.
More and more shinobis lost their lives and more and more mourning sigils were raised in houses front door.
However, the war didn´t last long. It was soon stopped as the five Kages reached an agreement, no matter how flimsy the agreement was.
It was a stark contrast with the clan wars that Uchiha Izuna knew, that spanned non-stop for generations.
Uchiha Izuna existed to be the blade to obliterate every enemy of the Uchiha clan. Uchiha Itachi had once made a vow to grow stronger to stop the war and restore the peace.
Uchiha Izuna despised the bloodthirsty Senju Tobirama and it was his greatest ambition to kill the white haired Senju. Uchiha Itachi admired the stern, unyielding, and intelligent Niidaime Hokage who had developed most of the village´s systems and was the mastermind behind the running of the village.
Izuna had live far longer than Itachi, however Itachi´s memory was stronger than Izuna´s. It was so confusing and the Uchiha started to feel his head pounding.
He knew that, logically, he should go back to the Uchiha compound. That his, or rather Itachi´s father would´ve been aware of his return and that he would have expected him soon. That Sasuke would´ve been waiting for him.
But Izuna just couldn´t do it. He couldn´t face those peoples, his new family, when he was still coming into term that he was now living a new life.
Izuna had barely remember his mother. She died when he was four during a childbirth. His father and Senju Butsuma had killed each other when he was fifteen, not that he was much of a father when he was alive.
And his little siblings, his little siblings had all died in the span of ten years between his parent´s death.
Izuna had failed as a big brother, and now the universe gave him another baby brother. A little brother who adored him and who he loved with all his heart.
How can he protect sweet, precious Sasuke when he had failed all his other little siblings?
“Itachi”
The voice broke him out of his musing as he blinked. He didn´t realized he had been arriving in front of the gate of the training ground 44.
He craned his neck. A silver haired masked nin was perched on the tree just beyond the gate.
“Come with me”
Automatically, the Uchiha gathered chakra on his feet to follow the silverette. Arch-nemesis or role model, rival or captain, he was the safest haven in Izuna´s state right now.
Tobirama led them through the deadly forest, skillfully avoiding dangerous plants and animals and went to the area that Itachi had never been before.
The area was so deep inside the forest and the trees around it looked ominous. He could also see several traps that was partly hidden even from his sharingan. But Tobirama´s steps were unwavering and sure.
They arrived on a clearing that looked like a genin´s training ground.
“We made this place shortly after the village was standing to contain a more forceful sparring” he explained as he jumped down.
Izuna only hummed. It made sense since he knew firsthand how big the destruction some of the elite shinobi, namely his brother and Senju Hashirama, could cause.
“Why do you bring me here?” he asked flatly. Was the older nin going to kill him again?
Tobirama leaned on a tree bark, looking relaxed “I just think you might need somewhere to vent. I certainly can do with a spar if you feel you´re up for it”
Izuna snorted “If it´s just a ruse to kill me again, don´t bother”
It was Tobirama´s turn to snort “Why would I want to kill you again? Not only that you´re my comrade now, the village has laws and I will be execute if I go around killing fellow Konoha nin without a reason”
Izuna tilted his head “Comrades? Us?”
“Well, yeah. We´re both loyal Konoha shinobi, aren´t we? Although I would understand if you held a grudge to me”
The Uchiha thought about the midnight meeting in the Naka shrine, about how repulsive Itachi felt when he found out that his clan had considered a coup. About the secret discussion he had with Shisui on how they could prevent the coup.
Izuna sighed. The Senju Tobirama Uchiha Izuna and most of his clan knew was s hard, cynical man who hated the Uchiha and the catalyst of the Uchiha slowly being driven away from the village.
However, the Niidaime Hokage whom Shisui´s grandfather, Uchiha Kagami, wrote about in his journal was a good, kind, and fair sensei, a competent leader, and a protector to every Konoha citizen, the Uchiha included. And didn´t he died, giving his own life to save an Uchiha youth?
Not to mention, Uchiha Itachi would never forget the way Hatake Kakashi spoke about his teammate, an Uchiha who gave him his own eyes as his last gift, and to whom Kakashi had always spoke to every morning.
“Yeah” Izuna answered slowly, a smirk slowly spread on his lips “We´re both loyal Konoha shinobi. And yes for the spar too. I´m still owing you a nice kick on the butt. You won´t get me with that damn cheater of jutsu for the second time”
Tobirama matched the smirk with his own, lifting his hitai-ate to uncover his sharingan as Izuna channeled his chakra to activate his own doujutsu.
Senju Tobirama and Uchiha Izuna had been clashing their blade with the aim to kill for more than a decade. Hatake Kakashi and Uchiha Itachi had had friendly spar countless time.
This would be fun. And a great way to unleash his frustration over the conflicted memory and feeling.