Chapter Text
Itachi wakes up, randomly and suddenly, in a cold sweat.
There are a couple things wrong with this. The first one is that Itachi is not supposed to wake up ever again, as he is dead.
The second is that it isn’t a cold sweat, it’s rain, and his haggard, reanimated corpse is lying face down in the middle of a forest.
He sits up and takes stock of his surroundings. Wherever he is, he’s completely alone. Even scanning the area with chakra reveals no nearby signatures. He tries the Sharingan; no details bely any hasty exit or well hidden enemies. Only the scroll used for Reanimation Jutsu spread out in front of him and the chalky ashes of whatever corpse he just emerged from.
He mulls this over. Someone, somewhere, has found out a way to remotely detonate Reanimations from at least a mile radius. For a brief moment he considers laying down and allowing the situation to sort itself out, but decides against it. Sleep is impossible for reanimations. The only way to return to death is to find the jutsu caster…somehow.
He stands up quickly and begins walking in a direction vaguely north. Although it’s dark, the sky is faintly graying, and he can recognize a few of the plants as being native to the Land of Fire. That’s good, at least. He has most of the forests bordering Konoha mapped out with his Sharingan. Sooner or later, he’ll encounter somewhere he knows, and from there, he can move forward.
-
Sure enough, a few hours later Itachi finds himself at a tea shop he’s frequented once or twice. He was reanimated in the same red cloak as last time, so he pulls the hood over his head to disguise himself. Not that anyone is likely to recognize him, anymoreso than they did when he was actively wanted in Akatsuki. Now that he’s dead, no one who knows his face will think it’s anything but a coincidence or sudden bout of hallucination.
“Let me guess, three plates of dango?” the owner of the shop says. Itachi blinks. “Never forget a face. Or an order.” the man continues.
“Right…” Itachi says, speaking for the first time since he woke up. His voice is horribly dry and painful to the ears. The shop owner winces and quickly brings some tea out to his table, along with the dango, naturally.
Since the owner still seems to recognize him, it can’t have been that many years since the war. Itachi sighs to himself as he empties his cup. It seems the shinobi world will never last long without conflict or antagonists, no matter what he or anyone does.
Well, maybe it’s unfair to assume the jutsu user has malicious intentions this time around. Realistic, but unfair. For some reason, he doesn’t feel as refreshed and powerful as he did last time he was reanimated. Although his chakra reserves seem to go on forever, it’s slow to respond and all of his movements feel sluggish. It’s probably a different user, or at least an inferior variation of the jutsu.
Right. Itachi sets down one stick of dango, already polished off. His next move has been calculated.
-
Itachi knocks on the door again, louder and more insistent.
“Alright, I’m coming!” the voice gets louder, annoyed. “Is this about the-”
As soon as Kabuto opens the door and sees Itachi, he stops dead in his tracks. He opens and closes his mouth a few times, trying to say something. “You-”
Itachi sighs. “So I’m guessing this wasn’t your doing.”
“No! Of course not!” Kabuto says, aghast. “I’m-I’m a changed man now! Thanks to you-I have nothing but the utmost respect for you, Itachi. I truly owe you my life, I would never disrespect your wish to pass on!”
“Thank you.” Itachi says politely. “May I come in?”
“S-Sure.” Kabuto steps aside, allowing Itachi into his house. It’s on the outskirts of the village, about a half mile from the old barn from Itachi’s memories, which has now been renovated into an orphanage. Luckily, he didn’t have to step foot inside the gates to access it.
“I would like to talk to you.” Itachi says.
“Um, yes, I had assumed as much.” Kabuto extends an arm towards the kitchen. “We can sit down over here.”
They move rooms and Itachi sits down, but Kabuto still hovers, almost nervously.
“Care for some tea?” He occupies himself with the kettle. Itachi shakes his head.
“I suppose that was a stupid question.” Kabuto sighs. “Reanimations don’t exactly need sustenance…”
“Although not required, I find I still enjoy the experience of eating and drinking.” Itachi says. “But I don’t need to impose on you any longer than necessary.”
“There’s no imposition involved, really.” Kabuto hurriedly pours out two cups. “Like I said earlier, I am forever in your debt. Anything I can do, at all, to pay back even a fraction of it, I will do unhesitatingly.” His hand tightens around the kettle, accompanied by a degree of increased severity on his face. “The fact that I never was able to thank you, has been one of my biggest regrets. Now that you’re here, I promise I’ll do anything.” He sets the kettle down, moves across the room, and holds a cup out to Itachi. “So please, take the tea.”
“...”
Itachi takes the tea.
Kabuto sits down across from him, the earnestness he may have been trying to convey beaten to death by his strict, intense face. Itachi feels like a spotlight is being beamed onto him. If he could, he would probably start to sweat a little.
He takes the opportunity to glance over Kabuto’s house, and Kabuto himself. Everything is neat and orderly, down to Kabuto’s plain black and white attire. He looks the same as when he first summoned Itachi, before he entered Dragon Sage mode, though his hair has grown longer and is pulled into a low ponytail. His snake eyes, perfectly symmetrical and unblinking, are fixed completely on Itachi.
“It looks like you’ve been accepted into Konoha.” Itachi says, taking a mild sip of the tea. “In no small part due to Naruto, I’d imagine.”
“Yes.” Kabuto says. “Your…brother, too, although begrudgingly, testified for my redemption.” he breaks eye contact, looking down abashedly. “He told me it would have been…your will, to help me change. And that it was the only favor he would ever do for me.”
“Mn.” Itachi sips again. A smile twitches at his lips. “That’s good to hear. How long has it been, then?”
“Just about a year and a half.” Kabuto says. “I spent the first year in solitary confinement, repenting and feeding them information. Then they sent me here, which is only a slight step up.” he smiles humorlessly. “I’m not allowed inside the village unsupervised. But I assist at the orphanage to keep busy.”
“So you’ve left the shinobi world behind.” Itachi says. “I imagine it’s difficult. Sometimes I would imagine it, but the circumstances never quite allowed.”
“It was abrupt, to say the least.” Kabuto says, returning his reflective gaze to Itachi. “At first, I intended to swear off all jutsu immediately. But that wasn’t quite practical.” he holds up a hand, buzzing with green chakra. “I’ve restricted myself to healing jutsu…and any techniques Konoha needs me to perform, in an emergency.”
Itachi nods approvingly. “So you escaped from the Izanagi fairly quickly then?”
Kabuto scoffs. “Hardly. It was at least half a day. The ordeal was very…” he glances back down again, mouth tensed, “...challenging.”
“That was the first time I ever performed it. I’d only ever read about it, in theory.” Itachi says. “The risk is so great…I imagine you’re the first person to break it in decades.”
“Well, I suppose that’s probably true.” Kabuto flushes as much as he can. “I recorded some of my…thoughts and experiences as soon as I could afterwards. Though I believe that document was confiscated.”
“Shame.” Itachi frowns. “I would have loved to read it.”
“It’s probably for the better.” Kabuto says. He turns his teacup back and forth awkwardly. “Some of it is fairly personal. Not exactly scientific, that is.”
“The Izanagi is based off of human emotion and decision making,” Itachi says. “At it’s core, it is a personal jutsu. If one could record it completely clinically, I would doubt it’s efficiency.”
“I of all people know that by now.” Kabuto says. “I just mean…never mind.” He glances over at Itachi’s empty cup. “More tea?”
“No thank you.” Itachi says. “We should probably move on to why I’m here.” he folds his hands on the table. “Obviously I can rule out you as the jutsu caster. Do you know of anyone else who is capable of this?”
Kabuto frowns. “I have absolutely no clue. Well, I suppose Orochimaru is still-”
“Orochimaru?” Itachi says. “I thought he was killed…”
“It’s a much more challenging task than you’d think.” Kabuto says sardonically, tapping his fingers against the rim of his cup, which he has barely touched. “Shortly after the Izanagi, I believe Sasuke and his friends used some of his DNA, from me, to bring him back.”
“Hm.” Itachi says, thoughtfully, then “Sasuke has friends?”
Kabuto blinks, then laughs. It’s brief and clear, compared to his malicious laughter from the war. All of his mannerisms, in fact, indicate a great change of character. Gone is the helplessly lost man burning with lunacy and jealousy Although that underlying severity and craftiness hasn’t vanished completely, it’s clear he’s different. Happier, freer. Itachi smiles.
“So then, Orochimaru would be a strong possibility,” he says.
“He’s under strict surveillance.” Kabuto points out. “But then, he always finds a way to do what he wants. That doesn’t rule out anything.” He taps his chin. “Who was there when you…er, woke up? I imagine they were disguised, but I might recognize-”
“No one was there.” Itachi says. “From my best observations, someone found out a way to ‘remotely detonate’ the Reanimation Jutsu. All that was there was the sacrifice and a scroll.”
Kabuto furrows his brow and leans forward, thinking. “Remotely detonated…” he frowns. “What would the point of that be? If you wanted to hide from the world, you could just control your Reanimations not to offer up any information.”
“Or perhaps he only intends to hide from me.” Itachi says.
“Hmm…” Kabuto reaches out towards Itachi’s hands, folded politely on the tabletop, then pauses. “May I?”
“Of course.”
He presses two fingers to the inside of Itachi’s wrist, nudging his hands apart. He releases his chakra a little bit, probing Itachi’s for any foreign signatures.
“Not exactly healing jutsu.” Itachi says.
“Not exactly a jutsu at all.” Kabuto responds absently. “Just looking…Hm. Nothing.” He stands slightly and puts his hand on the back of Itachi’s head, tilting it down before freezing. “Um, sorry.” he pulls back hastily, skin tinting greyer. “I was just checking to see if there was-”
Itachi’ hand hovers where Kabuto’s had been, just the ghost of a touch. “I see. If there was anything similar to your design, I wouldn’t be able to feel it.” his hand drops. “It was quite an airtight jutsu. I couldn’t even detect it to fight against it. Very insidious.”
Kabuto cringes. “I feel I should apologize for that…”
“What’s done is done,” Itachi says. “I would like you to check for any kunai, tags, and so on, though. Ones that I wouldn’t be able to.”
“R-right.” Kabuto stands up and shuffles around the table, avoiding Itachi’s eyes with a sickly gray face, which is either the blood draining from or rushing to his face. It’s hard to tell with whatever Orochimaru’s DNA has done to his skin.
He stands behind Itachi and parts his hair down the middle at the base of his neck. His chakra searches as well, just brushing the surface to detect anything with a small enough signature to avoid his earlier scan.
In the window across from them, Itachi catches his own reflection, and then Kabuto’s face, deep in concentration.
“Ah, here…” Kabuto says, then frowns. “Hm. So not only is there a tag in your head, there’s also a seal at the base of your neck preventing it from being removed.” he flares his chakra, poking at the seal, and Itachi immediately winces at the shooting pain generated. Like a fire spreading out harshly from the back of his neck.
Kabuto immediately pulls back. “I’m sorry, I just-”
“It’s fine.” Itachi grits his teeth. “Just unexpected.”
“It would seem you are under someone’s control, then.” Kabuto says. “Not to state the obvious. I imagine it’s only a matter of time until they start sending out orders. If they can activate the Reanimation Jutsu remotely, then surely they can send commands in a similar way.” he taps his chin thoughtfully. “It’s very well hidden, too. If I hadn’t noticed the seal, I wouldn’t have been able to find the disruption in your chakra network. And the seal itself…”
He leans back in, squinting at Itachi’s neck. “I’m not exactly an expert, but this part here seems almost like…hm…”
“Is there any way you can break the seal?” Itachi asks. Kabuto shakes his head.
“No, no, not unless-well, I could, I will try, but it would take months and months of studying, and-”
“I understand.” Itachi sighs and stands up. “In that case, I’ll begin my search for the user in earnest before they use me to cause any severe damage.”
He turns to face Kabuto fully, nodding respectfully, and then begins walking towards the door. “I wish you the best. Goodbye.”
“W-wait a second, you’re just going to continue searching by yourself?” Kabuto turns sharply, catching up to the few steps Itachi travels in a blink. “There has to be something else I can do.”
Itachi blinks. “I was under the impression your current alliance with Konoha is fragile. I wouldn’t want to jeopardize it. Who knows how long this could take.”
“You shouldn’t worry about that.” Kabuto waves his hand. “I have…measures in place, for an extended leave of absence. In case of emergency, of course.”
Not so reformed after all , Itachi thinks, with a bit of humor.
“In that case,” Itachi says. “If you would follow me.”