The door clicked shut behind Minato. He slipped his Hokage coat off and stepped further into the house. A pleasant scent filling the room brought a smile to his face.
Smells like Kushina's made something delicious again.
The moment this thought crossed his mind, Kushina made her way down the hall from a back room. She greeted him with a quick hug and kiss, then headed for the kitchen. He wondered what task was so important that it took priority over his arrival. One glance toward the dining table answered Minato's question. A couple of empty spots that still needed plates stood out like a sore thumb. His wife shuffled past and placed the last of the arrangement down, then stood back to check her work. Her foot tapped in an incessant rhythm. Kushina didn't notice her husband's concerned expression until she turned away from the table.
"What?"
"Is something the matter, Kushina?" Minato eyed her distractingly excited foot and caressed her arm. "I can tell when you're nervous, you know."
She didn't shrug him off, but instead gently took his hand in hers. Vibrations caused by Kushina's jittery movements traveled down through her fingertips and into his. Despite this impossible to ignore warning sign, she put on a smile.
"I'll be alright, Minato," she said, giving his fingers a soft squeeze. "Don't worry about me, really!"
He frowned, unconvinced. "At least tell me what's on your mind."
"I will…" Kushina ran a hand through her hair, averting her eyes. "Not yet, but I will."
"Promise?" His bold blue eyes searched hers with earnestness.
She sighed before giving him a nod. "I promise." A loud gulp followed, but Minato didn't push the matter, deciding it was best to let things lie for now. There were other ways to figure out what was troubling his wife if it came to that.
He didn't have a chance to dwell on the issue any longer, because Naruto came around the corner and launched himself at his father for a hug. Sasuke strode into the room behind the high-spirited blond with his hands in his pockets.
"Hey! If it isn't my two A-rank ninja," Minato joked with a laugh. He returned Naruto's hug and pulled Sasuke in for one as well, which the latter turned away from to avoid an overt show of affection. "Glad to finally see you two home in the evenings again for a change."
Kushina giggled as she watched their heartwarming interaction. "That's for sure," she seconded. "It was getting really quiet around the house, ya know!"
Sasuke looked up at Minato as if he was about to say something, but bowed in silent contemplation instead. The boy's suppressed microexpression intrigued his foster father. Whatever was on Sasuke's mind must have been serious; he wasn't one to mince words often.
There was no time to pull Sasuke aside, because dinner was in full swing before Minato had a chance to change out of his uniform. He surrendered himself to the cruel fate of wearing his work clothes to the table instead. Laying his flak jacket across the chair opposite Kushina, he took a seat. Panicked thoughts about spilling sauce on his undershirt again caused him to squirm. He still had nightmares from how long the last stain took him to scrub out. Meanwhile, Naruto was more than happy to take advantage of his father's hesitation. The young Uzumaki snatched a few pieces of sushi from the tray nearest him at lightning speed.
"Leeeeeet's eat!" Naruto announced with gusto. He stopped short at the sight of Sasuke's fearsome stare, deciding against reaching across his brother's plate to get to the rice balls.
"Wait your turn, greedy," the annoyed Uchiha hissed before turning his attention back to the food.
Several mouthfuls in, Minato raised his head to commend Kushina on her magnificent seasoning of the curried noodles. Her gaze was pinned to the table and she had hardly touched her food. Upon noticing him observing her, she swept hair out of her face, cracked a flimsy smile, and went back to her meal. Every bite she took was slow and looked forced.
No one else would have noticed the finer details of the way Kushina carried out even the most mundane tasks. Her husband, however, saw the inconsistencies laid out before him plain as day. The woman he loved didn't poke and prod at her food. She never chewed with care and precision. His Kushina dove headfirst into everything in life: eating was no exception. She demolished meals with swift, plentiful scoops, noisily savoring every bite. Her napkins often sat untouched by the side of her plate. That is, until she was sated and food smeared the corners of her mouth like clumsily applied face paint.
The woman sitting in front of him right now was a poor imitation of the one he fell in love with, and heaven forbid Minato wouldn't call her on it the first chance he got. He swore an oath: he would get the truth out of her after dinner. That settled, he let himself get swept up in a conversation between Naruto, Sasuke, and a very zoned-out Kushina.
Half of the latter's plate was still full when she set her napkin down and excused herself. Naruto and Sasuke carried on a conversation about what sorts of enemies they might face during the Chunin Exam preliminaries. They paused to cast mischievous glances toward Minato, who was too preoccupied to notice.
"Dad?" Naruto called out, waving a hand in front of him. "Dad! Did you hear us?"
The distracted husband jumped in surprise. "Oh! Sorry. What is it?"
Sasuke picked up where his brother left off. "We were asking if you could give us any pointers on what to expect during the exams."
Both boys' eyes sparkled with a glimmer of hope. Minato regretted having to snuff it out.
"Sorry, you two, but I can't be of much help. Not only am I still figuring out how the exams are going to be arranged this time around, but even once I finish all of that, it would be unethical for me to give you advance knowledge. The whole point of the Chunin Exams is to test your abilities and skills as a shinobi by placing you in a simulated real-world scenario. One where you and your comrades won't always know who or what to expect."
He left out the fact that he was planning to ask for Hiruzen's input. There was no point spreading this information when he hadn't made any final decisions yet.
"That's what an actual Chunin-level mission is like. Then again, you two already got a taste of that, didn't you?" Minato winked.
"I guess we did," Sasuke said. "Still, I can't help but feel like we might be unprepared."
"Oh, don't get me wrong," the Hokage backpedaled. "I'm not saying you shouldn't still get a lot of training under your belts. Any amount you can squeeze in helps in the long run." He eyed the hallway with unease. Naruto was already talking a mile a minute again.
"Oh yeah, Dad! Did Kakashi-sensei tell you about the guy we fought with the weird mask? He was really fast. I mean, not at fast as you, but-"
Minato excused himself. "Tell me later, Naruto. I need to ask your mother something."
He stood up from the table and started for the master bedroom. Sasuke tugged at his sleeve, and he swallowed back exasperation.
"Yes?" Minato asked in as calm a voice as possible.
"Is it about her almost fainting earlier?"
"Wait, she fainted?" He leaned in closer. "When?"
"Almost fainted," Sasuke edited in a matter-of-fact tone. Minato lightly shook Sasuke and pressed him for details. "Alright, alright, sorry! She was catching up with us after our mission, and when she got up to go make soup, she stumbled and started breathing harder."
"Yeah!" Naruto seconded. "She was acting pretty weird, and then she went to her room and took a nap while we ate. Mom says not to worry, but uh…I don't know." The brothers shared a glance.
"I wish you two had said something sooner," Minato muttered. "I've been so caught up in my work that I might have missed the signs that something's wrong."
Naruto cast a worried look up at his father. "Can we help?"
"I don't know. Maybe. I need to go check on her now."
The conflicted Hokage rushed to the bedroom, where he found Kushina on the floor. She was meditating in complete silence. Trails of dried tears on her cheeks made his heart beat a tick faster. He slid across the floor and knelt in front of her, taking her hands in his.
Uncertainty wormed its way into his thoughts, giving him pause. Should he speak, or would breaking her concentration only succeed in upsetting Kushina more? Why was she even doing this in the first place? Whatever the reason was, she hadn't shared it with him. They shared pretty much everything with one another. So, as much as he wanted to give her the benefit of the doubt, fear for her safety won out in the end.
He gave Kushina's hands a gentle rub. "Kushina," he breathed, hoping to rouse her without much fuss. She remained still. His chest tightened, but he tried not to freak out. "Kushina, are you okay? Can you hear me?"
The moment these words left his mouth, he noticed a rise in her chakra output. Undetectable to the naked eye, she was carefully molding chakra deep within herself. He was sitting so close that he could almost feel it brushing against his skin. The familiar, radiant aura of his wife's chakra filled Minato with a sense of calm.
Good. He'd need that for what came next.
Sucking in a breath, he reached into the depths of his memory for the signs needed to access Kushina's seal without disrupting it, just like she'd taught him. They kept this method a secret as a backdoor plan for if anything ever went wrong and he needed to go there for whatever reason. He had his reason now. The moment he released the stored chakra that flowed through his body, it passed from his hand into Kushina's belly. His consciousness poured into her like a spout.
In an instant, Minato found himself standing inside of a shadowy domain so big that it made him feel like an insignificant bug. Although he seldom visited this place, he knew it well enough. Water splashed against him, stopping below his shins.
A dim light drew his attention. He plodded along toward the place where he expected to find his beloved. Every step through the murky mess weighed him down more than expected. If Minato had to put the experience into words, he would liken it to hiking with lead blocks tied to his ankles.
His journey through the unwelcoming inner world of the eight-signed seal came to a pleasant end when he spotted his wife's red hair. He stopped a few paces from Kushina and observed. She stood tall in front of a glowing mass that he couldn't quite make out from afar. Surrounding the unknown substance was a series of torii-style gates engraved with elaborate seals. Even from several feet away, Minato sensed powerful chakra seeping from the engraved symbols. A couple of the gates cracked and buckled. Whatever Kushina was trying to accomplish, it didn't seem to be working out.
Minato suspected his wife was in the middle of a delicate sealing jutsu experiment, so he deemed it wise not to distract her. A golden light shone through the fabric of her top, and several glowing chains erupted from her back. The chains snaked around her and floated toward the cloud of what he now recognized as Nine Tails chakra. However, the chains melted out of existence before making contact. Kushina fell to one knee, clutching her stomach.
Unable to hold himself back any longer, Minato dashed to her side and touched her on the shoulder. "Kushina!"
"M-Minato?" she panted. "Is that you?"
"Yeah. I'm here, Kushina. Are you alright?"
She held up a hand. "I'll be fine in a second." Steadying her breathing, Kushina turned to him with a furrowed brow. "What are you doing here?"
"I, um…you had me worried, to be honest. I could tell something was wrong, so I came to chat and I found you on the floor."
The gates nearby gave way, one after another. The mass of chakra expanded, no longer confined within the small prison she'd built. Wandering particles arced around the central cloud in erratic patterns. Kushina winced when the last gate collapsed. A trickle of blood oozed from her seal.
The Hokage's eyes widened when he saw her stomach. "What's going on?"
"It's alright," she said after wiping away the blood. "I have this under control, y'know." Kushina stood up, moving her hand to reveal the seal was back to normal.
"You're worrying me, Kushina," her husband said. "The boys are concerned, too."
"I didn't mean for you to find out about any of this. I didn't want to involve you or anyone else."
He pulled her to him and laid his forehead against hers. Despite her stiff body language, Kushina accepted the gesture.
"Well, I'm part of it now," Minato said. "Whatever you need to do, let me help. You know you can trust me."
She didn't answer.
He didn't give up. "Is the seal…weakened?"
The redhead let off a rattling sigh. When her eyes met his, Minato's heart broke from the pain he saw there. Still, he knew he couldn't let her dance around the issue. He held Kushina's gaze until she relented.
Her eyes fell to the shallow water at their feet. She kept her voice low. "I went to see Lady Tsunade today."
Minato took time to absorb the words, searching them for anything else he could glean. Kushina's hushed tone, the way her fingers flexed when she spoke, and her eyebrows pinching together as she frowned. He didn't know how to feel about the revelation yet, so he stayed silent and listened.
"I scheduled an appointment with her for today, and I made sure it was later this morning so I could see you off."
Minato read between the lines, the truth hitting him like a gut punch.
"You didn't want me to know."
She bit her lip and didn't answer, but that was confirmation enough. He pressed for more information, mixing in a soft caress to ease her nerves.
"Why?"
His voice was firm — just shy of accusatory. Sure, he and Kushina were allowed to have lives outside of each other. However, this felt different. She seemed to have made a conscious choice to shut him out.
"I didn't know what to think," Kushina said, taking a step back. "I needed time to work this out myself."
"Look, Kushina. Whatever's going on, I just want to support you."
"I know, and I love you for it." Her eyes shimmered with tears that didn't fall. She smiled, although he could tell it took effort. "Just trust me, please. This is something I need to handle alone. When it's done, I'll explain everything."
He stopped short of protesting, deciding that while not ideal, this was at least enough. She was asking for space to deal with a personal issue. That was only fair. Minato recalled the many evenings when he was conflicted over issues at work, but opted not to bring the drama home with him by venting to his wife. This was similar, except now he was on the receiving end.
"I'm trusting you to clue me in when you feel ready," Minato said with finality.
Kushina cracked a genuine smile and gave him a hug. "Thank you. Oh, actually, maybe I could use your help with something, ya know." She turned back to the glowing cloud of chakra. He stood beside her and awaited her request. "Any chance you could go over the foundation of your Flying Thunder God seal with me? I may need a modified version for the project I'm working on."
The Hokage's gaze snapped to his wife in surprise. He could see the gears in her mind turning, piquing his curiosity. "Project?"
Kushina gave him a look that reminded him of their agreement. He let out a weak chuckle.
"Right. No questions. This is your show." He weaved hand signs and summoned a small toad.
A special summoning animal emerged from a cloud of smoke with his arms crossed. The scroll toad named Gerotora had orange skin with dark patterning everywhere except his torso. His accordion-like abdomen was in a contracted position. When he realized where he had been summoned, Gerotora gasped and backed away from the empty space that used to house the Nine Tailed Fox. He recognized the two humans before him and traded his fear for a stern frown.
"What's going on here, Fourth?"
"Hi, Mr. Gerotora," Kushina said with a kind smile. "Sorry about the trouble, but it's nice to see you again!"
Faced with her overwhelming beauty, Gerotora became flustered. Minato chuckled, his nerves eased by the toad's speechlessness.
"Look, Gerotora," he said, getting to the point. "Kushina needs the formula for my Flying Thunder God jutsu, so I'm going to have you stay in here with her for a while." Predicting the follow-up question "How long is 'a while?'" from the toad's facial expression, he replied, "Until she no longer needs to reference it."
"Huh?" Gerotora gawked. "Why do you need to learn that jutsu, Lady Kushina?"
Kushina turned and strode over to the floating mass of dense chakra.
"I don't. I just need a modified version of the base formula so I can deal with this." Kushina eyed the remnants of Nine Tails chakra with a smirk that bordered on devious.
"Ohhhhhh no," Gerotora groaned, sliding a webbed hand down his face. He peeked sideways at Minato. "What fresh hell's she coming up with now?"
"Heh, wish I knew."
He really did wish he knew. Still, this was something Kushina had set her mind to accomplishing alone. Minato wasn't foolish enough to stand in the way of his wife after she decided on a goal. He and Kushina worked quickly, ensuring she had a firm grasp of the dos and don'ts of activating the seal. Confidential project or not, Minato wasn't leaving anything to chance if he didn't have to. That meant running through the basics with her multiple times before she got to work on whatever her magnificent and terrifying mind had cooked up. Digging deep for the willpower to let her plan run its course, Minato exited Kushina's inner realm. He left her in peace with Gerotora, telling himself he'd only check in on her once every thirty minutes. Of course, he knew that wasn't going to happen.
❖ ❖ ❖
Minato was out back, staring up at the evening sky. Something about sitting on the steps felt odd without Sasuke or Naruto beside him, so he opted to lean against the wall. Whistling a tune kept him entertained. He wanted to spend time with his boys, but it was probably best not to smother them on their first night back. Besides, they seemed wrapped up in whatever plans they'd been discussing with regard to training.
If they need me, they'll ask for me, he told himself. Still, something about watching them grow out of always requiring his guidance hurt. Minato wanted to always be needed by them, but that wasn't realistic. He knew that. They were full-fledged Genin, for goodness sake!
So why did it still hurt?
He swallowed down a rising lump of pain in his chest at the realization that Kushina didn't need him right now either. There seemed to be a great deal of that going around. Releasing a dragging sigh, he closed his eyes.
The dual benefit of moments like these were that they gave him an excuse to practice Sage Mode. Fighting through his negative emotions, Minato tried to settle his chakra, focusing on letting natural energy in. He needed to calm his heart and mind and become one with nature. There was no room for doubt, sadness, or self-pity. Seconds went by, then minutes. Still, no sage chakra.
What's up with me today?
Kicking a foot against the deck, Minato cursed his inability to concentrate. He had a bad feeling about more than just being all alone. Kushina was working on something potentially dangerous in there. Without him. The desire to protect her burned in him, eclipsing all reason. Against his better judgment, he peeled away from the wall and moved toward the screen door.
He stumbled to a stop when his eyes met Sasuke's. The young Uchiha was staring hard at him, emanating something like hostility.
"Sasuke? Hey. I was lost in my thoughts—didn't hear you. What's up?"
Sasuke continued to glare.
"Did you want something?" his foster father said with an uneasy smile.
"Yeah," Sasuke deadpanned. He shut the screen door, then turned so that they were face to face. "I'm going to ask you something, and I want you to tell me the truth, Minato."
What in the world could this be about? Sasuke was confronting him even though earlier, at dinner, he hadn't seemed upset.
Did something big happen between then and now?
No. There was no way he missed another sign of someone he cared about being in distress, was there?
He gave Sasuke a polite bow. "I promise I will. Is something wrong? What hap-"
"I was 10 years old when I finally remembered. Inoichi took me on one of his memory walks, and I accidentally uncovered something. A memory I repressed for so long, I forgot it was there."
Minato flinched. Sasuke caught the subtle movement even without his Sharingan. The boy dipped his head downward, losing some of the strength in his posture. Whatever he saw in his pseudo-father's reaction had disappointed him.
"I didn't want to be right. I really didn't." Sasuke found the strength to look up again. His face was turning red. Veins on his neck and forehead flared, painting tiny spiderwebs across his skin. Still, he kept his temper in check and his voice low. "I can see it, you know. Everything about you gives it away." Sasuke spat out the words in a harsh, low growl, like a predator warning others to keep their distance. "You know exactly what I'm talking about, don't you?" His voice broke off with an ugly, rattling timbre.
Minato stepped forward and reached out, his heart fracturing at the sight of Sasuke in this much pain. "Sasuke, you don't-"
"Don't say I don't know everything," Sasuke fumed, holding Minato's gaze while still keeping somewhat of a lid on his emotions. "Inoichi was with me when I saw Itachi crying in that memory. It was crazy, it didn't make any sense, but it had to mean something. Then I realized something. The more I thought about it, it just made sense. Even when everyone else said otherwise, you swore to me that Shisui wasn't killed by Itachi, you never badmouthed him, and it felt like you didn't focus as much on sending search parties out for him the way you did with other deserters. All of it was right in front of me and I never saw the signs."
Every word cut into Minato like a knife. He couldn't find the words to respond. So much was hitting him at once.
Sasuke held his head high as he declared, "The most logical explanation is that Itachi wasn't who the village says he was." He asked the question his guardian dreaded. "Did you know anything about this?"
Minato averted his eyes and clenched his fists.
"Did. You. Know?"
"Y-yes," The blond admitted. Then he added, "but there's much more to this!"
"I don't care."
"Sasuke, Itachi told me to watch over you when he left, and he didn't want you to-"
"I don't care!"
"I get that you're angry, but I didn't intend to hurt you. I was honoring Itachi's wishes. Also, it would've been dangerous for you to know everything!"
"Why?"
"That's…not something we should be discussing out in the open like this."
"No. Don't give me that. I lived with you all for five years. Five, Minato. In all of that time, you could've told me something. Anything. Instead, you just let my hatred for Itachi fester. So what, then? Therapy, my adoption…all of this was just to cover up your lies?" Tears were streaming down Sasuke's face by now, his self-control entirely forfeit.
"No, of course not. I wanted to tell you more, but it wasn't my place. He's your brother."
"And you were my father."
Sasuke's eyes flashed a blazing red. He stormed back into the house and headed for his room. Kushina, who was just arriving to see what all of the fuss was about, danced past him and locked eyes with Minato from the other side of the screen door.
"Minato," she said with a discerning expression, "what's he talking about, ya know?"
The resounding slam of the kids' bedroom door made Minato grimace. He let himself back inside and secured the latch on the door without looking down. Then he turned his weary gaze toward Kushina.
"You're gonna want to sit down for this one."
❖ ❖ ❖
In their bedroom, Kushina scooted back in her favorite chair and took a long sip from a steaming mug of tea. She took her time swallowing. Pursed her lips. Savored the taste. The skin between her eyebrows dimpled. Minato stood across from her, letting her digest the information he just bombarded her with and hoping Sasuke wasn't in the process of burning the whole house down.
"So Itachi's on our side?" She spoke like a child forming the words to a difficult sentence for the first time. "In deep cover?"
"Yeah. Remember that time before the Uchiha Massacre, when I was supposed to meet with him to try and prevent things from escalating?"
Kushina took another sip and nodded, waiting for him to elaborate.
"Well, you already know Danzo scrambled my memories of what happened before the incident. That isn't all. I saw Itachi again on the night of the funeral. He told me more. Intel I'd forgotten, and things I never knew about to begin with—big things."
"How big are we talking?" Kushina threw him an anxious stare.
"Good thing you're already sitting down," he quipped dryly.
Over the next few minutes, Minato gave his wife the full rundown on everything: he went over Shisui's failed master plan to prevent the Uchiha Clan coup, Itachi embedding himself within the Akatsuki, his and Itachi's regular strategy meetings made possible through the Flying Thunder God tag on Itachi's scalp, Orochimaru's attempt to steal Itachi's Sharingan, and more. Minato was out of breath by the time he finished covering the salient points of everything surrounding Itachi's secret double life. Kushina cupped her chin, assessing everything presented to her with an impressive degree of calmness.
"Okay," she said at last. "So, obviously, you need to sit down with Sasuke and talk about this before it gets out of hand. Especially considering the information the First Hokage left behind about the Uchiha Stone Tablet's prophecy, and the notes Lord Second recorded about the Curse of Hatred."
"Yeah, I know." Minato pouted, dropping his shoulders. "But he doesn't want to see me right now. He hates me."
"He doesn't hate you!" Her laugh came easily despite the circumstances. One of Kushina's many talents was making his heart tingle in all the right places, even at the worst of times. "He's just a moody teenage boy holding a grudge against his father—hardly the first or the last to do so. Talk things out with him and he'll come around, Minato."
"I…I guess you're right."
"I usually am, ya know."
He, too, was laughing before he even realized it, rejuvenated by his wife's wit and wisdom. However, a hint of seriousness in her eyes told him something more was on the horizon.
"What is it?" he chanced, not sure he wanted the answer.
She took a moment to find her words. When at last they came, their delivery was brittle. Measured.
"Minato, after the funeral, when I heard noises in the room and came to check-"
"Itachi was here," he confirmed in a small, withdrawn voice.
"So then, you…" Kushina didn't finish, searching his face for the dreaded truth.
"I lied to you."
The words were like razors on his tongue, but he spoke them all the same. An uncomfortable silence filled the space between them, taking root with all the tenacity of weeds sprouting up through cracks in pavement. Neither spouse was willing to be the first to speak, so they retreated into themselves. Every breath brought with it a wave of tension and uncertainty.
Minato cursed his poor judgment from so many years ago. He had always known he would have to face his past mistake sooner or later. What did this moment signify for their marriage? How would Kushina react? A million possibilities raced through his mind, but none came close to what she did next. Placing her mug down on the nearby dresser, Kushina got up and walked over to the window sill. She looked out at the quiet evening streets and said nothing. Minato's legs almost gave out when he realized that she had moved as far away from him as she could without leaving the room.
"I know."
Several seconds went by before the response sank in.
Gasping, he echoed, "Y-you know?"
Kushina huffed. "Of course, Minato. I'm not stupid."
She looked at her husband out of the corner of one eye, refusing him the courtesy of speaking face to face. He had relinquished that right for the time being, and they both knew it.
"Ever since that night," Kushina went on, "that moment never quite sat right with me. I just knew I sensed something, and I didn't have a good feeling about it, either. Nothing bad happened, so I put it out of my mind. Years went by, but…I still thought back on that night. I always told myself maybe one day you'd tell me yourself, so I waited. If it was something serious, I figured you were the kind of man who would come to me with the truth."
An accusatory glint in her eye made him feel small.
"Kushina," he started, his voice faltering, "I-"
In an instant, the Uzumaki was back to business. "How do we deal with Sasuke? If you have time to feel sorry for yourself, you have time to fix the damage that Itachi keeping these secrets has done to him."
Minato knew from her tone that she meant the secrets both he and Itachi kept, but was grateful she spared him at least one dig for the night. There were, without a doubt, plenty more to come.
"I…I'm not sure," he admitted. "I doubt he'll even listen long enough for me to explain everything to him. Not to mention that once I do, he'll probably want to go after The Elders. Kushina, this is top secret intel we're talking about. What happens here could put so many people in danger."
Kushina whirled on him, fire in her eyes. "But he's our son, ya know! Who cares what happens to anyone else if it hurts him?"
He stopped short, taking in her rebuttal. There was no arguing with that logic.
A frenzied knock jarred the couple out of their tense discussion. Minato pulled the door open to the sight of Naruto frozen in place, his fist held high. He was mere inches from banging on the door again.
"Dad!" he said the moment their eyes met. "What's going on? Sasuke's been even more broody than usual, believe it. He's packing a bag like he's gonna leave or something, and won't talk to me about it. He's acting like he did back when he first moved in with us. It's scaring me."
His father moved aside and invited him in with a long sigh. "It'll be alright."
The door hadn't clicked shut yet when Naruto launched into another round of word vomit. "I mean, he's not the most social guy, but this is weird even for him. When I tried to force him to tell me what's up, he said to ask you. So I-"
"Naruto," Kushina interjected, reaching out to him. "Come here, sweetheart." He took uncertain steps toward his mother. Something about the vibe in the room seemed to make him even more uncomfortable. He must've known by the look in her eye that he was right to feel worried.
Minato squirmed, watching and waiting as he stood by the door. He wondered what Sasuke could hear from the other room, and how he felt toward his foster family now.
"It'll be alright, ya know," Kushina whispered. "Like Minato said." She stroked Naruto's hair and let him hug her to calm down. The tone of her last few words bordered on aggressive. "He's taking care of it."
Kushina leveled a sharp-eyed stare at the latter. The implied meaning of her statement was clear. He left them in the bedroom to talk and closed the door behind him. In the hallway, Minato swallowed back reluctance before knocking on Sasuke and Naruto's bedroom door.
There was no answer. Not for one second, not two, not five…
Ten seconds later, he decided another knock was reasonable and lifted his arm. Halfway into a knocking motion, he froze when the door creaked open.
A stoic look was on Sasuke's face. The Uchiha stood motionless, raw anger locked away behind shimmering black eyes. Minato marveled at the fact that if you peered into them long enough, you could see it; a small spark that hinted at the smoldering fire underneath Sasuke's zen facade. Knowing he was the reason for that spark tore the ashamed father apart.
"Minato," the boy said without mirth.
"Yeah. Hi." The right words eluded Minato. He scrambled for them nonetheless. "I'm here to, uh, talk about earlier."
Sasuke paused to consider his options before backing up and allowing his father entry. Neither of them spoke for the first few seconds. Minato looked everywhere but at Sasuke. His eyes settled on a backpack next to the bed that was half-filled with clothes.
"You've started packing," he said aloud. Realizing he was speaking more to himself than anyone else, he let the conversation deadpan.
Sasuke stood at the opposite end of the room, not bothering to acknowledge the backpack. "What did you want to say?"
The question lacked any semblance of feigned interest in the answer. Still, Sasuke stayed focused on his visitor. Minato took some comfort in recognizing that not even a situation this messy was stronger than the good manners Inoichi baked into his son. That man was something else.
Cursing his circumstances, The Fourth Hokage prayed for just one more miracle, if there were any to spare.
"This was more complicated than it might seem to you at first," he started, his voice growing steadier the longer he talked. "Sasuke, you don't know everything. If you wanna hate me at the end of this, then fine. Hate me. But at the very least, let me explain everything before you jump to conclusions about me or Itachi." Minato observed Sasuke's face to get a read on how he was doing so far; all he saw was the same blank expression. Per usual, the boy's hands had found their way to his pockets. "Is that fair?"
"Whatever."
Taking the glib 'whatever' as a yes, he cleared his throat. "I can't tell you everything, but I'll make it very clear why not. Hopefully that will be enough for you."
All he received was a limp gesture that barely qualified as a nod.
"First, I have to tell you something that's going to be hard to hear. It's about Fugaku Uchiha."
Sasuke stared hard at Minato, as if trying to make sense of what he just heard.
"Fugaku? What does my father have to do with this?"
Pressing his fingers against his temples, Minato countered, "More than you know." He leaned back against the wall. "Sasuke, before…before that night happened, your father was planning something big. The clan and the village elders were at odds. There had been a rift between them for several years, and it was getting worse. When I was installed as The Fourth Hokage, Fugaku stopped attending council meetings altogether. The Uchiha decided they'd reached a breaking point, your dad included."
Sasuke's eyes flashed with understanding, but he didn't interrupt.
"Fugaku was at the center of a plot to carry out a coup against The Leaf Village. In his and many others' eyes, the Uchiha were treated disproportionately to the level of support they offered The Leaf over the years. It's true that he would have preferred to settle things peacefully, which I know because I spoke to him a few days beforehand. However, in the end, due to pressure from the rest of the clan, he decided to move forward with a revolt."
Sasuke's mouth quivered. He managed to hold back all of the things he must have wanted to say.
"Itachi was working as an Anbu Black Ops agent at the time, and found himself torn between competing loyalties—one to a covert branch of the Anbu called Root, and the other to the Uchiha Clan. One of The Elders on the council, Danzo Shimura, was the leader of Root. All Root agents reported directly to him. So when word of the coup reached us through Itachi, I met with your brother to try and stop things from going too far. Itachi and I both believed there had to be a more peaceful way to settle things than needless violence. Danzo disagreed: he believed the Uchiha were too far gone, and wanted to take swift action against the clan before war broke out."
Minato paused, as much to take a breath as to ensure Sasuke was still following the lengthy explanation. Calculating black eyes stared back at him.
"So this was what you meant when you said Danzo was responsible for Shisui's death?" Sasuke frowned. "I knew Shisui. He wasn't the kind of person who would've gone along with any of this."
Almost taken aback, Minato felt silly at the realization that of course Sasuke had known his brother's best friend on a very personal level. So it wasn't a huge leap for him to figure this out without being told.
"Yeah," Minato confirmed. "Shisui intended to use his infamous genjutsu, the Kotoamatsukami, to influence the rest of the clan and stop the coup before it happened."
"But?"
"But Danzo stole his right eye. He escaped before his other eye could be taken. One of Danzo's subordinates had poisoned Shisui. Knowing he didn't have much time left, he relayed everything to Itachi. Then he bequeathed his remaining eye to him and entrusted him with the clan's future."
Sasuke's jaw clenched. "Okay. How do you fit into this?"
Minato couldn't bear to look at his adoptive son when he answered. "During the next meeting with The Elders, I officially declared that no one was to proceed with plans to harm the Uchiha. In the background, Itachi and I quietly coordinated a twofold plan to put a stop to Danzo and prevent war from breaking out. Itachi also started bringing me news about The Akatsuki. He'd been investigating the organization for Lord Third prior to our partnership. I thought he and I were making progress in the right direction. Everything appeared to be going well, but on the night of the massacre, that changed."
"Why?"
"Itachi sent me a crow and a coded message. I realized Danzo was still moving forward with his so-called solution against my wishes. I rushed to the Uchiha District as fast as I could, and when I got there…" Holding back a grimace, the blond found his voice again. "When I got there, the Flying Thunder God kunai I'd given Itachi was waiting for me. Danzo ambushed me. We fought, and before I could take him down, he hit me with Shisui's genjutsu. I came to several hours later. Of course, by then it was too late. Everything in between was a blur. Without me there to support him going against Danzo's orders, Itachi was left with very few options. He was forced to…"
Minato knew he didn't need to finish. Sasuke was trembling and said nothing for a long time. Instead, he stood still, seething as he mulled over the dark truths laid out before him.
"Sasuke?" Minato said in a hushed tone. "If this is too much for you, I can-"
"No," the boy rebuffed, making eye contact. "I want to hear everything. What else happened?"
Sasuke deserved however much truth Minato could impart, so he forced the words out. "The next morning, Kushina took me to Inoichi to have my mind inspected. He found out that the reason for my memory loss was tied to Danzo. Inoichi did what he could to repair the damage and stopped the progression of the genjutsu. After that, I held the funeral service you attended. I didn't know it at the time, but Itachi was there."
The first sign of an emotion other than anger or sadness colored Sasuke's expression. He let out an audible gasp. "What? He was?"
"Yeah. He told me himself. He snuck into my room after the service, thanked me for holding it, and told me everything. About that night, about Shisui, and about sparing your life. I'd already sent Anbu to arrest and interrogate Danzo, so none of the news about his misdeeds changed very much. From that day on, Itachi embedded himself within the Akatsuki as a spy. He meets up with me every so often, feeding me information about the organization, sparring on occasion..." Minato made sure there was weight to his words. "Checking on you."
Clutching his head with both hands, Sasuke sat at the edge of the bottom bunk.
"Your head must be swimming with questions," Minato said. When no response came, he continued. "Anyway, the reason I never told you this is because it's what Itachi thought was best."
Anger flashed in Sasuke's eyes. He hopped up from the bed and stalked toward Minato, stopping when they were a breath away from each other. "Why would he want that?"
"He wanted you kept safe. He knew that if you were to find out the truth, there was a good chance you'd become vengeful toward the village — particularly The Elders. That could have only ended one way, Sasuke."
Minato stood his ground, prepared for whatever came his way. Whether Sasuke condemned him, proceeded with his former idea to pack and leave, or physically struck him, the retaliation would be more than justified. A slow trickle of tears from the boy's Sharingan-imbued eyes was so disarming, Minato blinked a few times to make sure he wasn't imagining things.
"So what you're saying is you both agreed to keep me in the dark and treat me like a child?" Sasuke sputtered. The brilliant red of his eyes stared straight into his father's soul.
"Well, to be fair, Sasuke, you were a child."
"Was I?! Is that really what you think, Minato?! I haven't been a child ever since I watched them all die over and over again!" This shut the wounded father figure up, but Sasuke didn't stop there. His pain flowed as freely as the hot tears falling from his cheeks onto Minato's clothes. "I used to see it every night in my head, you know that? Some nights I still do. Mr. Inoichi gave me coping techniques to stave off the episodes, but he says they'll never be totally gone. I thought I lost everything. Itachi, too. Now you're telling me I didn't, but that he chose to keep me in the dark? And you knew, but you let it happen anyway?!"
An ocean of tension flooded the space between them, despite the fact that they were face to face.
"Sasuke, I-" Minato tried to lay a comforting hand on Sasuke's shoulder, but was pushed aside by a wild swing of the enraged teen's arm.
"Get out," he whispered, turning away.
"It's not-"
"GET OUT!"
The pair of Sharingan that flared in Minato's direction one last time morphed right before his eyes; a second tomoe appeared around the pupil of both Sharingan. This was the evolved state of the base Sharingan, typically unlocked through stress or high-pressure situations on the battlefield. Knowing there was that much turmoil at play inside of the person he loved like a son crushed Minato in ways he never thought possible. Even so, it was evident that there was no undoing this mess, so he saw himself out.
It's not like I don't deserve this.
Minato debated whether to go sit in the living room pretending nothing was wrong, or to deal with the fallout of talking to his furious wife and out-of-the-loop son. Either choice seemed impossible now. He settled for slumping to the floor in the hallway and laid his head against the wall. This day had gone from bad to worse.
❖ ❖ ❖
Deep within a cavernous space, silhouetted figures in identical dark cloaks congregated atop the fingers of a larger-than-life statue. Red clouds on their uniforms were the sole splashes of color amidst the drab hideout. Most of their bodies flickered like apparitions. Two of the corporeal attendees shared a look before one of them spoke.
"A genjutsu perimeter?" Kisame parroted, his soulless eyes somehow showing a modicum of confusion.
"Yes, that's right," said another Akatsuki member. This one's face was nothing more than a projection. He stared back at Kisame with purple eyes marked by concentric rings around the pupils. "We need to further fortify ourselves against intrusion. I've decided that this is what we will do to ensure the Akatsuki can continue to operate as planned. Understood?"
"Seems a bit troublesome if you ask me, hmm!" said a projection with a long blond ponytail. "Why should we be afraid of some old bag of bones sage, anyway? He's no match for all of us, if it comes to that."
"But nobody did ask you, Deidara," a new voice cut in. This one was rougher and more hostile, belonging to the faded image of a man with long, ropy rows of hair standing on end and a mask that hid his mouth.
"Sasori, my man," Deidara said in a lighthearted voice, "you can't honestly be on board with this?"
"I never expected you'd be stupid enough to question our leader," another spectral figure chimed in. His eyes were a deep shade of plum. "Hey Leader, want me to sacrifice him to Lord Jashin for ya?"
"I wonder how much money I could collect for the body," another masked individual with red sclera pondered aloud, rubbing his chin.
"Would you guys knock it off?!" Deidara snapped. "Stop talking about me like I'm not here. I'm not going to be sacrificed or delivered to some seedy collection office, hmm. My death will be an artistic spectacle for the ages! Art is an-"
"Enough!" Sasori growled. "You all know how much I hate waiting. Your bickering is dragging this meeting out."
The man with ring-patterned eyeballs spoke again, the echo of his voice bouncing against the walls. "Sasori is right. We all have our parts to play, and that's why I gathered you here with such urgency. Does everyone understand their roles?"
"Yes, sir," said the majority of the Akatsuki members. All except one.
"Yeah, I guess. Hmm."
The leader's eyes bore down on Deidara with chilling ferocity. Deidara blurted out, "I mean yes! Yes, sir. Geez."
Itachi watched their leader, known as Pain, and the sole female Akatsuki member, Konan, demonstrate the proper signs for the genjutsu. They walked everyone through how to cast it and designate how far the affected zone would reach. He paid close attention, making sure to take mental notes for his next conversation with Minato. If he didn't warn The Leaf, Jiraiya might suffer fatal injury.
"Does everyone have the signs memorized?" Pain said when he and Konan finished their fifth repetition.
"More or less," Hidan, the plum-eyed man, groaned. "I'm not good with this kind of stuff, you know. Did you catch it all, Kakuzu?"
"We'll get it done," the man with red sclera replied. "Once we deal with the intruder, I'll collect the body. I bet even without his heart, a member of The Legendary Sannin would fetch a hefty sum."
"Nothing further?" Pain checked in, surveying the group. No one spoke up. "Good. Complete this process at each of our locations. Konan and I will take care of Headquarters ourselves. Dismissed."
All of the intangible projections fizzled out, leaving the few members who showed up in person standing alone in a large cavern. The eerie, many-eyed stone statue's head loomed above them like an omen of death. Itachi and Kisame formed hand signs and Body Flickered onto the cave floor. Hundreds of sheets of paper floated down from the statue and assembled into the shape of a woman with a flower in her hair. Konan looked to Kisame and Itachi.
"We'll take the East hideout," Itachi declared.
She nodded. "Understood."
The rogue Uchiha headed for the cave exit. "Come on, Kisame."
Throwing Konan a devilish sharp-toothed grin, Kisame chuckled. "Well, looks like we're off."
Saying this meeting had raised several alarms in Itachi's head would be a grave understatement. A thousand worries competed for dominance, but he schooled his expression. He needed to put together a believable alibi that would get him away from Kisame long enough to contact The Yellow Flash. His sharklike partner was by no means naive, so it would prove difficult for Itachi to justify going solo for an extended period so soon after his last excursion. He sighed with relief, reflecting on the one good thing to come out of this whole mess.
At least you're alright, Sasuke.