You know as well as I do that truth is subjective. Whatever your perception of it may be does not make it the reality. Your dismay is understandable, Kakashi of the Sharingan, given that your reputation is so entrenched upon your reliance on my family's dōjutsu. It must feel shameful when you cannot trust your own senses. Your own mind.
（ there are a thousand things he could say, each thing like its own move on a chessboard. he plays them out in tandem, and even with a thousand things there are, at best, a handful of endings.
there is no real reason to entertain his ties to akatsuki here. not truly — if any of the others showed up, he would kill them. their regrets would not bode well for his world. insisting upon this sordid history is at best pride, and at worst —
at worst...
itachi studies his ring for a long, long time. it is odd, to again see things in the clarity of his youth, the perfect strokes of the kanji in black slivers of chakra receivers. he could not have boasted perfect vision since he was about fourteen, the last time he remembers being able to see individual leaves without the sharingan.
what was done to you, blue had told him not too terribly long ago. i hate it, too. yet, when it is all said and done it is still easier to be a villain than a victim.
kakashi is pushing him. goading him. itachi does not doubt that madara told him the truth — the man had no especial allegiance to his wishes, after all, and he hated the uchiha clan. why wouldn't he try to tear down their reputation after itachi died? it would be one final insult, an indignity that he could not refute from beyond the grave.
so — kakashi wishes to hear him say it. the dance is redundant. it serves no other point but cruelty. if kakashi knows the truth, then he is equally aware that this cloak of deceit is the last scrap of dignity he has left. is this meant to be recompense for tsukuyomi? petty, if so. ）
Such logic is only applicable if our interests are aligned.
Is it your conscience or your ego you seek to assuage? By assuming this mask of me.
( itachi may find his actions cruel and perhaps they are, but kakashi is looking at this contention between them behind different lenses — one where humiliation and pettiness play no part. he isn't trying to take away what itachi considers his last shred of dignity because he sees no dignity in stubbornly clinging to a fabricated reality. there is nothing to gain or benefit from clutching so desperately to an identity that no longer holds value. from his perspective, he only sees the young boy who was unjustly ensnared into the politics and selfish desires of adults and, as a result, became so entangled within the complex web of an atrocious lie that he lost his sense of self in the process.
if they want to speak of cruelty, then cruelty is what happened to uchiha itachi.
kakashi isn't unfamiliar to the brutality of the world and the measures required to counteract it. he has experienced its mercilessness firsthand throughout his life. time of war lends neither compassion nor consideration for its young. he was, after all, among them. but what happened to itachi was not necessary.
it should have never happened to begin with and it was the failure of the third hokage that led to the tragedy that transpired thereafter.
a child of 11 had no place in the anbu, even less so to be used as a pawn to resolve political dissonance in the village later. he should have argued further. he should have been more adamant in his opposition to the decisions made. but he himself was a child of war, one who had suffered far too many losses and enclosed his heart in a frigid exterior. he was a soldier then, a loyal tool to be used to strike down enemies, and he welcomed that uncomplicated and single-minded respite.
he could have done more, yet he failed to ask the questions he should have asked and probe deeper into his suspicions. he is just as much to blame.
it would be a simple matter for kakashi to reiterate a version of a tale that they are both familiar with, but then itachi would only be making a choice on whether to accept the narrative given to him. it will offer no release. it wouldn't ascertain what he currently knows as infallible proof either.
maybe he is being cruel in his lack of empathy and insight, but he has never been known for being sensitive. )
i'm not the one to assuage but i would like to avoid the potential for misstep
( he had his suspicions, of course. but that kakashi chooses to be what scans as honest is telling in and of itself. it is not quite the same calibre of thing — but then, it is at least a hand extended.
he had insisted on tsukuyomi to impart this information to shikamaru, because he was wary then of viveca's interference. now — he knows better. what she reads of his conversations does not matter when the whole of his life is laid out beneath her deft touch. it is an odd sensation, to be stripped of all defenses for one who has not turned you away.
(she intimated to him that he and degar have the power to choose. so — even knowing his past, they have allowed him here. perhaps he should take heart in that. that she looked, and saw worth in some small part of him.) )
Then it seems we both hope to be of some use to the Uchiha clan in our time aboard the Ximilia.
Do you understand the geas you are asking me to break?
( of course he does. kakashi is not a fool — but he wants to draw that demarcation line plainly. this information is still classified. it had been essential to earn shikamaru's trust, but he and kakashi could function in a cohort without such a thing. )
（ it does not get easier with the telling. it is worse, perhaps, given that he is now in possession of his father's eyes. ）
As you may recall, the Uchiha were seditious, with aims on a coup d'état to remove Sarutobi Hiruzen from power and instate Uchiha Fugaku as Hokage. Shimura Danzō engineered a situation by which the extermination of the clan was all that could be counted upon to prevent civil war. I accepted that mission and the exile that followed, and joined Akatsuki to monitor their movements as they began their bid for power.
（ bare-bones and completely lacking in emotion it may be, but kakashi will be able to read between the lines. he does not like that it will reframe certain conversations they had in his youth — the discussion that followed shisui's death being but one of them. ）
（ he's fucking tired, kakashi. and there is so precious little point to secrets here. he is dead — if he cannot amend his regret, none of what he says here will ever have mattered at all. if he can, then the same holds true there as well. ）
I will always consider myself loyal to Sarutobi Hiruzen. He was as kindly as he could be, given the circumstances. He kept his word about protecting Sasuke — I believe that is partly why he died fighting Orochimaru.
（ he does believe that the sandaime hokage had wanted to protect his brother to the end. what happened following his death was not his fault — perhaps sasuke always would have left, after itachi drove him to hunger for power. he never should have gone to konoha under the guise of surveying uzumaki naruto — but there had been no other excuse he could think of then to visit danzō and remind him of that terrible deal inked in the blood of his kinsmen. ）
Shimura Danzō, however, was directly responsible for Uchiha Shisui's death, and was the one that forced the issue of the massacre. I could not have killed him then. If the opportunity arises aboard the Ximilia, or through the course of changed history, I intend to ensure he dies by my hand.
（ he is not wholly certain he could kill him now, but he cannot untangle what part of that doubt is fear of someone who has held your life in their hands and broken you badly, and what is legitimate tactical wariness. certainly — he is a more formidable opponent at twenty-one than he would have been at twelve. yet, he has difficulty acknowledging that he may have surpassed shisui's skill and knowledge, that he would pose more of a threat to danzō than his best friend had back then. it is the final acceptance of his death, and he is not prepared for that. perhaps he never will be. ）
( he only needed confirmation that uchiha itachi holds no ill will towards the third. sarutobi hiruzen isn't cleared of blame for the uchiha tragedy, but perhaps selfishly, he wants to believe that the man never intended for the events to play out the way they had.
as itachi said, shimura danzō is the one with the most responsibility for what befell the uchiha clan. with what he has recently learned of him and his play for power in konoha, whatever consequences may come danzō's way is his own to shoulder, especially since he has gone after yet another uchiha now.
he remembers hearing of uchiha shisui's death, but shimura's involvement is news to him. )
Shisui was in possession of an ability that would have altered the fate of the Uchiha. It was capable of changing one's perceptions entirely without detection, and there was no defense against it. Shisui guarded it fiercely, and did not make it widely known — nor would he have ever chosen to use it improperly. His loyalty to Konoha was absolute. Only I, Sarutobi Hiruzen and Danzō were even aware he had the mangekyō.
We had planned to use it on my father. It is my opinion that Danzō had no wish to avert the massacre, and moreover that he feared the existence of Shisui's ability as he could not perceive a situation where it would not be a threat to him.
He ambushed Shisui the night he was set to approach my father, took one of his eyes and poisoned him fatally. Shisui was... not a suspicious man, for a shinobi. I knew he did not like Danzō, but I do not believe he would have anticipated such an attack.
（ in a fair encounter, shisui would have won. he's absolutely certain of that. ）
( if itachi stood witness to the murder of uchiha shisui, then the most prevailing explanation for why he hadn't gone to the third would be that he couldn't do it without endangering someone he cared about. it doesn't take a genius to figure out who that someone is.
it might not be the time to give itachi more verbal highlight reels on the going-ons back home. only one of them needs to be fraught about it for now. )
are your plans to save uchiha shisui as well then?
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If I was not clear about that, I apologize for your misunderstanding.
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truths unspoken don't negate their existence
even if you insist on pretending they aren't there
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You know as well as I do that truth is subjective. Whatever your perception of it may be does not make it the reality. Your dismay is understandable, Kakashi of the Sharingan, given that your reputation is so entrenched upon your reliance on my family's dōjutsu. It must feel shameful when you cannot trust your own senses. Your own mind.
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you've already died and now we're here on what should be an impossible journey
is that still not enough for you to shed your mask?
or is it that you've been wearing it for so long that you've forgotten how to remove it?
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but finally: ) that you aren't as untethered to konoha as you like to make yourself out to be
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Regardless, even if your bold, baseless hope had any chance of merit — it is as you said, I am dead. No part of my life remains relevant to you.
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we are here to change the course of history
it's only logical to want to straighten out all the facts beforehand
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there is no real reason to entertain his ties to akatsuki here. not truly — if any of the others showed up, he would kill them. their regrets would not bode well for his world. insisting upon this sordid history is at best pride, and at worst —
at worst...
itachi studies his ring for a long, long time. it is odd, to again see things in the clarity of his youth, the perfect strokes of the kanji in black slivers of chakra receivers. he could not have boasted perfect vision since he was about fourteen, the last time he remembers being able to see individual leaves without the sharingan.
what was done to you, blue had told him not too terribly long ago. i hate it, too. yet, when it is all said and done it is still easier to be a villain than a victim.
kakashi is pushing him. goading him. itachi does not doubt that madara told him the truth — the man had no especial allegiance to his wishes, after all, and he hated the uchiha clan. why wouldn't he try to tear down their reputation after itachi died? it would be one final insult, an indignity that he could not refute from beyond the grave.
so — kakashi wishes to hear him say it. the dance is redundant. it serves no other point but cruelty. if kakashi knows the truth, then he is equally aware that this cloak of deceit is the last scrap of dignity he has left. is this meant to be recompense for tsukuyomi? petty, if so. ）
Such logic is only applicable if our interests are aligned.
Is it your conscience or your ego you seek to assuage? By assuming this mask of me.
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if they want to speak of cruelty, then cruelty is what happened to uchiha itachi.
kakashi isn't unfamiliar to the brutality of the world and the measures required to counteract it. he has experienced its mercilessness firsthand throughout his life. time of war lends neither compassion nor consideration for its young. he was, after all, among them. but what happened to itachi was not necessary.
it should have never happened to begin with and it was the failure of the third hokage that led to the tragedy that transpired thereafter.
a child of 11 had no place in the anbu, even less so to be used as a pawn to resolve political dissonance in the village later. he should have argued further. he should have been more adamant in his opposition to the decisions made. but he himself was a child of war, one who had suffered far too many losses and enclosed his heart in a frigid exterior. he was a soldier then, a loyal tool to be used to strike down enemies, and he welcomed that uncomplicated and single-minded respite.
he could have done more, yet he failed to ask the questions he should have asked and probe deeper into his suspicions. he is just as much to blame.
it would be a simple matter for kakashi to reiterate a version of a tale that they are both familiar with, but then itachi would only be making a choice on whether to accept the narrative given to him. it will offer no release. it wouldn't ascertain what he currently knows as infallible proof either.
maybe he is being cruel in his lack of empathy and insight, but he has never been known for being sensitive. )
i'm not the one to assuage
but i would like to avoid the potential for misstep
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（ the words carry no tone, as is their nature, but he is — resigned. ）
What is your regret, Kakashi-san?
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( he sees no reason to conceal his regret from itachi. it should be evident to him. )
the important friend i had
[...]
the one i failed to save
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he had insisted on tsukuyomi to impart this information to shikamaru, because he was wary then of viveca's interference. now — he knows better. what she reads of his conversations does not matter when the whole of his life is laid out beneath her deft touch. it is an odd sensation, to be stripped of all defenses for one who has not turned you away.
(she intimated to him that he and degar have the power to choose. so — even knowing his past, they have allowed him here. perhaps he should take heart in that. that she looked, and saw worth in some small part of him.) )
Then it seems we both hope to be of some use to the Uchiha clan in our time aboard the Ximilia.
Do you understand the geas you are asking me to break?
( of course he does. kakashi is not a fool — but he wants to draw that demarcation line plainly. this information is still classified. it had been essential to earn shikamaru's trust, but he and kakashi could function in a cohort without such a thing. )
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( let him have it, itachi. )
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As you may recall, the Uchiha were seditious, with aims on a coup d'état to remove Sarutobi Hiruzen from power and instate Uchiha Fugaku as Hokage. Shimura Danzō engineered a situation by which the extermination of the clan was all that could be counted upon to prevent civil war. I accepted that mission and the exile that followed, and joined Akatsuki to monitor their movements as they began their bid for power.
（ bare-bones and completely lacking in emotion it may be, but kakashi will be able to read between the lines. he does not like that it will reframe certain conversations they had in his youth — the discussion that followed shisui's death being but one of them. ）
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yes, i recall
do you harbor any resentments?
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I hold no resentment towards Konoha.
（ which is not quite a direct answer. ）
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（ he does believe that the sandaime hokage had wanted to protect his brother to the end. what happened following his death was not his fault — perhaps sasuke always would have left, after itachi drove him to hunger for power. he never should have gone to konoha under the guise of surveying uzumaki naruto — but there had been no other excuse he could think of then to visit danzō and remind him of that terrible deal inked in the blood of his kinsmen. ）
Shimura Danzō, however, was directly responsible for Uchiha Shisui's death, and was the one that forced the issue of the massacre. I could not have killed him then. If the opportunity arises aboard the Ximilia, or through the course of changed history, I intend to ensure he dies by my hand.
（ he is not wholly certain he could kill him now, but he cannot untangle what part of that doubt is fear of someone who has held your life in their hands and broken you badly, and what is legitimate tactical wariness. certainly — he is a more formidable opponent at twenty-one than he would have been at twelve. yet, he has difficulty acknowledging that he may have surpassed shisui's skill and knowledge, that he would pose more of a threat to danzō than his best friend had back then. it is the final acceptance of his death, and he is not prepared for that. perhaps he never will be. ）
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as itachi said, shimura danzō is the one with the most responsibility for what befell the uchiha clan. with what he has recently learned of him and his play for power in konoha, whatever consequences may come danzō's way is his own to shoulder, especially since he has gone after yet another uchiha now.
he remembers hearing of uchiha shisui's death, but shimura's involvement is news to him. )
why did danzō go after uchiha shisui?
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We had planned to use it on my father. It is my opinion that Danzō had no wish to avert the massacre, and moreover that he feared the existence of Shisui's ability as he could not perceive a situation where it would not be a threat to him.
He ambushed Shisui the night he was set to approach my father, took one of his eyes and poisoned him fatally. Shisui was... not a suspicious man, for a shinobi. I knew he did not like Danzō, but I do not believe he would have anticipated such an attack.
（ in a fair encounter, shisui would have won. he's absolutely certain of that. ）
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it might not be the time to give itachi more verbal highlight reels on the going-ons back home. only one of them needs to be fraught about it for now. )
are your plans to save uchiha shisui as well then?
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（ shisui would never forgive him if he asked for his life outright. ）
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