Naruto: The Leaves of Konoha
Mar. 28th, 2009 05:46 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
platedlizardTitle: The Leaves of Konoha
Rating: T+
Genre: Gen/Angst
Characters: Itachi, Naruto
Word Count: 770
Warning: Unbetaed like whoa.
Disclaimer: Naruto ain’t mine, and I make no money from this story.
Summery: Just prior to the Uchiha Massacre Itachi comforts Naruto after an assassination attempt.
The rest of the squad arrived within moments. The ANBU glanced once at the shivering boy huddled behind him against the wall of the alley and rolled one of the prisoners over with his boot, he was a distant clansmen who had lost his wife to the fox, so his motive for the attack on the boy appeared to be clear.
But, as Itachi knew, appearances could be deceiving.
He turned back to the boy and knelt down, parting his blood soaked hair. The cut was shallow but long, it would need stitches. The boy whimpered under his touch, the blood and the shade of the alley darkening his normally blond hair. For a moment he resembled Sasuke.
“How’s the boy?” Hound asked behind him.
“Scalp wound. Messy but shallow. I’ll take him to the hospital.”
Hound grunted, and anything else he might have said was cut off as Itachi cradled the whimpering boy and formed the seals for teleportation.
By the time the nurse returned to the exam room with the doctor the boy’s whimpers had turned to full throated screams that owed more to terror then pain. The nurse had placed them in a soundproofed small room at the end of the hall, and silently the ANBU blessed her foresight, the child sounded like he was being skinned alive.
“We might have to sedate him,” the doctor said.
“No.” He could feel an edge to the boy’s chakra that he didn’t like. No telling what might come out if the boy fell asleep right now.
The doctor sighed, but didn’t argue. “Then you’re going to have to restrain him.”
Itachi didn’t answer, simply adjusting his grip on the child, pressing the boy‘s face to his chest. It was difficult to see the boy so close up, so he removed his mask. It didn’t matter if they saw him, after all. Soon it wouldn’t matter who knew he was in ANBU.
All too soon.
Pulling he attention away from his upcoming mission he returned it to the child in his arms. The demon vessel was nearly the same age as his brother and he found himself rubbing the boy’s back and murmuring reassuring nonsense as the screams turned to huge, shuddering sobs. The doctor injected Novocain around the cut and stitched it up. Itachi took a damp wash cloth soaked in some kind of disinfectant from the nurse and gently wiped the blood off the child as the doctor checked him over for any other injuries, remembering as he did so doing something similar for Sasuke just a month before when his brother had hurt himself practicing. A sudden pang made him pause, he wasn’t even gone yet, and already he missed Sasuke.
He wondered who was going to clean the blood off his brother and hold him as he screamed.
“ANBU-san?” the boy asked.
“Yes?”
“Why don’t people like me?” The boy blinked huge blue eyes at him. It was a fair question and for a moment Itachi was tempted to answer it. So very soon now he was going to slaughter everyone he cared for, what did one more broken law matter? He opened his mouth to answer, and then closed it again. He was already going to destroy the life of one child, he did not have the right to destroy the life of another by telling him he was a monster.
“We like you,” he answered, instead. The boy looked at him, confused. “The ANBU.”
“Why?”
The doctor and the nurse had already exited the room, the nurse laden with the used supplies. Hound entered and looked at him, Itachi couldn’t see his face due to the mask, but he could feel the man’s curiosity rolling off of him. He thought carefully about the boy’s question. Why? You’re the Fourth’s Legacy. Our greatest weapon.
A monster, like us.
“You belong to Konoha,” he said, at last.
The boy looked to Hound, who nodded. Through the window in the door Itachi could see two more ANBU standing guard. They looked completely professional, but he knew all three well enough to know they worried. This was the closest any of the assassination attempts had come, and for a member of the police to be involved…
Well, that wouldn’t matter for much longer. Konoha will soon be free of the stain of his family’s betrayal. He was sure this assassination attempt was related, the clan trying to remove a threat before it had a chance to grow.
Idly he reached out and stroked the boy’s blond bangs away from his face.
“We belong to Konoha, heart and soul.”
Rating: T+
Genre: Gen/Angst
Characters: Itachi, Naruto
Word Count: 770
Warning: Unbetaed like whoa.
Disclaimer: Naruto ain’t mine, and I make no money from this story.
Summery: Just prior to the Uchiha Massacre Itachi comforts Naruto after an assassination attempt.
The rest of the squad arrived within moments. The ANBU glanced once at the shivering boy huddled behind him against the wall of the alley and rolled one of the prisoners over with his boot, he was a distant clansmen who had lost his wife to the fox, so his motive for the attack on the boy appeared to be clear.
But, as Itachi knew, appearances could be deceiving.
He turned back to the boy and knelt down, parting his blood soaked hair. The cut was shallow but long, it would need stitches. The boy whimpered under his touch, the blood and the shade of the alley darkening his normally blond hair. For a moment he resembled Sasuke.
“How’s the boy?” Hound asked behind him.
“Scalp wound. Messy but shallow. I’ll take him to the hospital.”
Hound grunted, and anything else he might have said was cut off as Itachi cradled the whimpering boy and formed the seals for teleportation.
By the time the nurse returned to the exam room with the doctor the boy’s whimpers had turned to full throated screams that owed more to terror then pain. The nurse had placed them in a soundproofed small room at the end of the hall, and silently the ANBU blessed her foresight, the child sounded like he was being skinned alive.
“We might have to sedate him,” the doctor said.
“No.” He could feel an edge to the boy’s chakra that he didn’t like. No telling what might come out if the boy fell asleep right now.
The doctor sighed, but didn’t argue. “Then you’re going to have to restrain him.”
Itachi didn’t answer, simply adjusting his grip on the child, pressing the boy‘s face to his chest. It was difficult to see the boy so close up, so he removed his mask. It didn’t matter if they saw him, after all. Soon it wouldn’t matter who knew he was in ANBU.
All too soon.
Pulling he attention away from his upcoming mission he returned it to the child in his arms. The demon vessel was nearly the same age as his brother and he found himself rubbing the boy’s back and murmuring reassuring nonsense as the screams turned to huge, shuddering sobs. The doctor injected Novocain around the cut and stitched it up. Itachi took a damp wash cloth soaked in some kind of disinfectant from the nurse and gently wiped the blood off the child as the doctor checked him over for any other injuries, remembering as he did so doing something similar for Sasuke just a month before when his brother had hurt himself practicing. A sudden pang made him pause, he wasn’t even gone yet, and already he missed Sasuke.
He wondered who was going to clean the blood off his brother and hold him as he screamed.
“ANBU-san?” the boy asked.
“Yes?”
“Why don’t people like me?” The boy blinked huge blue eyes at him. It was a fair question and for a moment Itachi was tempted to answer it. So very soon now he was going to slaughter everyone he cared for, what did one more broken law matter? He opened his mouth to answer, and then closed it again. He was already going to destroy the life of one child, he did not have the right to destroy the life of another by telling him he was a monster.
“We like you,” he answered, instead. The boy looked at him, confused. “The ANBU.”
“Why?”
The doctor and the nurse had already exited the room, the nurse laden with the used supplies. Hound entered and looked at him, Itachi couldn’t see his face due to the mask, but he could feel the man’s curiosity rolling off of him. He thought carefully about the boy’s question. Why? You’re the Fourth’s Legacy. Our greatest weapon.
A monster, like us.
“You belong to Konoha,” he said, at last.
The boy looked to Hound, who nodded. Through the window in the door Itachi could see two more ANBU standing guard. They looked completely professional, but he knew all three well enough to know they worried. This was the closest any of the assassination attempts had come, and for a member of the police to be involved…
Well, that wouldn’t matter for much longer. Konoha will soon be free of the stain of his family’s betrayal. He was sure this assassination attempt was related, the clan trying to remove a threat before it had a chance to grow.
Idly he reached out and stroked the boy’s blond bangs away from his face.
“We belong to Konoha, heart and soul.”
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(no subject)
Date: 2009-03-29 03:57 am (UTC)I thought the last line was particlarly effective, as well. In one sense, "we belong to Konoha" is a reassurance. You belong, you have a place, you have people who consider you their own. And in the other, you belong to Konoha because you don't really belong to yourself.
This was lovely. It's always great to see well-written Itachi!fic, particularly in this timeframe. <3
(no subject)
Date: 2009-03-29 04:46 am (UTC)Yes, that's it exactly. There's really only two ways mentalities for a mass killing like the Uchiha massacre, one is blind rage, the other is very cold calculation. In order to do what he sees as for the good of the village he has to detach himself from his bonds with his family... and he can't quite do that with Sasuke.
I thought the last line was particlarly effective, as well. In one sense, "we belong to Konoha" is a reassurance. You belong, you have a place, you have people who consider you their own. And in the other, you belong to Konoha because you don't really belong to yourself.
Believe it or not I just tossed that line in there because I didn't know how to end the story! I'm glad it worked. With all my stories I try to summarize in my final lines what the whole story was about, in this one Itachi is trying to put 'village' ahead of 'clan' or 'self'. It's the only thing he really has to hold onto anymore, so that's what he turns to when giving comfort. No matter what happens, Konoha is there, the leaves my fall but the tree lives on.
(at least until Pain nukes it, lol)
This was lovely. It's always great to see well-written Itachi!fic, particularly in this timeframe. <3
Thanks!
(no subject)
Date: 2009-03-29 04:00 am (UTC)but yes, I love Itachi here, you know? thinking about what he is going to do, for Konoha's sake... like the inmininet doom, the upcoming damnation... it's kinda sad actually
I always enjoy Itachi's premassacre fics
<3
(no subject)
Date: 2009-03-29 04:54 am (UTC)I always enjoy Itachi's premassacre fics
Thank you! (don't worry, I don't usually have well thought out responses for other peoples' stories either!) Yeah, I imagine Itachi actually going through a grieving process as he works his way toward the massacre. He knows this is going to end in his death and the death of everyone he cares about except for Sasuke who is going to hate him forever. He's sacrificing everything for Konoha. Only a complete sociopath wouldn't be sad, and I think he cares too much about Sasuke to be considered a sociopath.
(no subject)
Date: 2009-03-30 06:36 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-03-30 09:38 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-04-03 09:41 pm (UTC)Anyway, I've never really read a fic like this before, obviously a lot of the Itachi fics are terribly dated, because they write him as heartless and more than a little insane. This one...wow. It made my heart sad.
I liked reading about Itachi in ANBU, because we know what a...troubling organisation ANBU is, because you have these people trying to be the perfect ninja, emotionless and devoted solely to the mission, but even in the case of Itachi, who is so brilliant, he still has ties to the world, little bits of kindness leak out. The idea that in the days coming up to the massacre, he has to somehow resign himself to it, to come to terms with what he has to do and at the same time give nothing away...Makes your heart go out for him. And loving Sasuke as much as he does, knowing that he's going to pretty much ruin his life.
A sudden pang made him pause, he wasn’t even gone yet, and already he missed Sasuke.
He wondered who was going to clean the blood off his brother and hold him as he screamed.
“ANBU-san?” the boy asked.
“Yes?”
“Why don’t people like me?”
This whole bit made me wibble, from Itachi's relationship to Sasuke then to Naruto calling Itachi "ANBU-san" aww...
Kinda makes you think that they all belong to Konoha, and while they're some comfort in that, it also makes them little more than pawns, being moved about for some 'greater good.' This piece kinda brings out one of the basic Naruto themes of having to choose between right and wrong when they're not so clear.
I think your characterisation of Itachi was impressive... He sees more than most, and his thoughts are sharp, if on the edge of sinister, but at this point he retains his humanity. Booooo. Makes you sad for them all...
Ahem. I'm friending you :)
(no subject)
Date: 2009-04-03 10:15 pm (UTC)This whole bit made me wibble, from Itachi's relationship to Sasuke then to Naruto calling Itachi "ANBU-san" aww...
I got ANBU-san from some other story I read recently, hah. But I can only imagine what's going on in Itachi's mind as he gets ready to essentially mind-rape his beloved little brother so that Sasuke will force himself to get strong and kill him later on... Suicide-by-brother.
Kinda makes you think that they all belong to Konoha, and while they're some comfort in that, it also makes them little more than pawns, being moved about for some 'greater good.' This piece kinda brings out one of the basic Naruto themes of having to choose between right and wrong when they're not so clear.
Yes, that's it exactly. I can't wait for Naruto to find out that the council and The Third were the ones behind that Uchiha massacre... Maybe it was a huge betrayal that the clan was planning, but you can't tell me that every distant cousin or all the little kids that had to have existed beside Sasuke were involved. I have a feeling that he's going to go ballistic on their asses if Sasuke doesn't beat him to it. At the very least Danzo will die for killing the frog (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/KickTheDog). Balancing the 'greater good' against what's good for the individual is a major theme.
Ahem. I'm friending you :)
Ah, thanks! I'll friend you back :)