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Description

Sasuke had seen this scene play out a million times. Between Tsukiyomi, his nightmares, and countless fantasies he had played in his head, he had committed every detail of that night to memory, channeling his sorrow to rage, a drive to surpass his brother.

    This time, he saw someone new in the otherwise familiar scene. Not Madara, but Naruto, grown up and matured, blue eyes standing out in the monochromatic scene. He looked on, pity in his eyes as the illusional version of Itachi stared Sasuke down, mouth moving, but words going unheard.

    The Tsukiyomi never came like it did that night, the vision ending at that moment, Itachi walking away and fading into nothingness.

[TSR]

    Returning to the world of the living, Sasuke immediately knew something was wrong.

    Chained to a medical bed, his first thought was that Karin had managed to drug him, but the room didn’t look like any of the facilities that belonged to Orochimaru, or even anything she would chose. Too much natural light for starters. Secondly, the equipment was far more mundane and mild compared to what the Snake typically kept in stock.

    He tugged at the chains, but they refused to budge. His first thought was that they were special cuffs designed to weaken and restrain a powerful shinobi like himself, but there was no fancy script to indicate seals and the design was rather simple, fit for restraining an uppity civilian rather than a shinobi.

            Dread pooled into the pit of Sasuke’s stomach. His vision was restored, even if everything around him had the quality of being flat and empty, devoid of life and color, but his Sharingan wouldn’t work, and he couldn’t so much as make his fingertips spark. Any attempt at manipulating his chakra came to nothing.

            He momentarily wondered if it was a genjutsu, but that didn’t seem right. A proper illusion would be designed to fool the victim, especially for someone as dangerous as him. His eyes were still working, but his senses were blunted; hearing, sight, touch, every last one weakened to what an utterly normal civilian would be capable.

            Just as he was about to panic, he noticed that he wasn’t alone in the room.

    The older Naruto was sitting on a chair, watching him closely, a hint of parental disappointment in his eyes as he watched for any sign of trouble.

            “What are you looking at, Naruto? Why are you here? And why are you old?”

            Naruto snorted. “Just wondering how you were doing. As for the rest of that, suffice to say that it’s rather complicated, and above your clearance. You’re a prisoner, you see.”

            Sasuke sneered, but Naruto didn’t pay it any heed.

    “That was the first time I tried that technique in combat, by the way. I wasn’t sure it wouldn’t kill you or leave you a drooling vegetable.” He paused, letting the words sink in. “I’ll start off by saying I don’t really enjoy this, but here’s what’s been done to you: your chakra network has been sealed. Legally and nearly physically, you are no longer a ninja.”

    The pronouncement hung in the air, and when Sasuke didn’t reply, Naruto continued.

            “Itachi’s dead, Sasuke, as is Danzo. The Sandiame died years ago, and the other elders will be tried soon enough. And now that Not-Madara is down for the count, anyone who had a part to play in the Uchiha Massacre is dead or out of your reach. Congratulations, Sasuke. By all rationality, your quest for vengeance is complete.”

            “Danzo admitted Konoha’s culpability!” Sasuke snapped. “Don’t tell me they didn’t have anything to do with it!”

            “Konoha’s-? Culpability in what?”

    “Profiting off of the Uchiha clan’s deaths.”

    “From what I heard, the Uchiha weren’t blameless. Your family was going to attempt a coup. And it wasn’t anyone outside of Itachi, the Sandiame, and the elders who actually knew anything, and Itachi only volunteered to be the scapegoat after Danzo screwed things up.”

    “It doesn’t matter!” Sasuke snapped. “I will avenge my family!”

            “And you’re going to exact your vengeance on…who exactly? All Konoha shinobi? Every person of the village? Tear up ever last Hidden Village until they cry to the heavens that the Uchiha didn’t deserve their fate?”

            “If I have to.”

            Naruto sighed and leaned back into his chair. “Considering Lee has more chakra capacity than you do, I don’t see that happening, and you’re not helping your case.”

            Sufficiently cowed, Sasuke could only pout as Naruto sighed, long-sufferingly.

            “What do you want, Sasuke? Did you really want to destroy everything, or did you not know what else to do until someone gave you a purpose? At what point will your quest of revenge complete?”

            “Don’t try to be high and mighty with me. You-”

            “Do you want to die?”

            The Uchiha froze.

            “Survivor’s Guilt. Saw a bit of it after Rōran fell. I’m sure you can bring it up to a shrink to explain it to you. I can’t say to stop feeling that way; that would be unreasonable and probably impossible at this point. I can say you aren’t alone in those thoughts, and they do not make you special by any means. So, while you’re serving your punishment, perhaps you can finally come to terms with your past, and maybe – just maybe – you’ll be able to move on someday.”

            Closing the door behind him, Naruto looked at Kakashi, who had posted himself outside of Sasuke’s room. The jonin was without his book, surprisingly enough, and wordlessly fell in behind Naruto, following him to where Tsunade, Shikaku, Nagato, and Konan were waiting. After a quick exchange of pleasantries, they got straight to business.

            “What became of Tobi?” Tsunade asked. “The other Kage are going to want to know, and I’d like to have that matter wrapped up and neatly packaged.”

    “I decided to let Nagato handle that one, the only stipulation being that we would be able to identify and interrogate him afterwards him after he was finished. Thanks, by the way.”

    Nagato inclined his head.

    “So, in short, he’s still alive, incapacitated. We can figure out how to deal with him later, preferably once we’ve made sure the threat is gone.”

            “Obito,” Kakashi said, drawing all eyes to him.

            Shikaku spoke first. “What?”

            “His name was Obito Uchiha. He was my former teammate.”

    Everyone digested the new information, each reacting differently to this revelation. Tsunade and Shikaku were shocked, piecing together the ramifications. Nagato and Konan were indifferent, but otherwise satisfied with their efforts. Naruto...

    “There was no way you could have known,” Naruto said sadly.

    Kakashi hummed non-committedly, not reacting as one of Naruto’s clones appeared next to him, depositing an item in the King’s hands, and then dissipating as soon as the task was completed.

            “On the brighter side of things, I just received some interesting news,” he continued. “It appears that the last active Akatsuki member ran afoul of some of Rōran’s defenses.”

            He tossed the bauble to Nagato, who inspected it closely. “This is Zetsu’s ring,” the ex-leader of the Akatsuki said. Taking a deep breath, he clenched his hand over it. “How certain are you?”

            “Considering all that was left was some pulped wood, black, misty wisps, and the screams Rika mentioned, he’s either a good actor or he’s gone.”

            “Hm.” Nagato considered something for a moment. “Black Zetsu is dead, but someone may be able to make use of the White Zetsu if someone managed to replicate it.

    Shikaku nodded. “We’ll be keeping an eye out in case someone tries to start somewhere else. If any future talks progress smoothly, we can get the other villages to aid in the search.”

            Naruto inclined his head. “Sounds perfectly reasonable.”

[TSR]

            Naruto and Sāra entered the conference room, where the dignitaries of the Five Great Villages several of the smaller villages were gathered. After the showdown at the Five Kage Summit, things were still a little tense, but with the news of the Akatsuki’s defeat, there were many hopeful expressions scattered around the room. Some of the delegates were amicably chatting with each other, especially since their homes weren’t about to become a battleground for the umpteenth time.

            The Fourth Shinobi War – a name that would soon be changed – had ended with scarcely any violence. The ringleaders were dead, detained, or were sitting in the room to discuss the near-miss they had with war.

            The royal pair made their way to where Nagato and Konan were standing.

            “You’re looking better,” Naruto said.

            “I’ve had some help.”

            “This is my wife, Queen Sāra Uzumaki.”

            Both Nagato and Konan blinked, glancing at each other as Naruto explained. “She decided to make that the official family name.”

            Nagato blinked. “I’m…not sure how to respond to that.”

            “You’ve got time to figure that out. Besides, I’m sure there’ll be an Uzumaki Family Reunion soon enough.”

            The Amegakure leader fondly smirked ever so slightly at the thought, or perhaps a memory. Either way, it was more emotion than Nagato was probably used to expressing, and it stood out on his face.

    “Ready to change the world?” Sāra asked.

            “It won’t be easy,” Konan replied.

            Naruto shrugged. “It never is, but when has that ever stopped me?”

            Mifune cleared his throat, loud enough to catch everyone’s attention. “I now call this meeting to order.”
            Yes, it would be a challenge, but anything meaningful usually was.

Description

Sasuke had seen this scene play out a million times. Between Tsukiyomi, his nightmares, and countless fantasies he had played in his head, he had committed every detail of that night to memory, channeling his sorrow to rage, a drive to surpass his brother.

    This time, he saw someone new in the otherwise familiar scene. Not Madara, but Naruto, grown up and matured, blue eyes standing out in the monochromatic scene. He looked on, pity in his eyes as the illusional version of Itachi stared Sasuke down, mouth moving, but words going unheard.

    The Tsukiyomi never came like it did that night, the vision ending at that moment, Itachi walking away and fading into nothingness.

[TSR]

    Returning to the world of the living, Sasuke immediately knew something was wrong.

    Chained to a medical bed, his first thought was that Karin had managed to drug him, but the room didn’t look like any of the facilities that belonged to Orochimaru, or even anything she would chose. Too much natural light for starters. Secondly, the equipment was far more mundane and mild compared to what the Snake typically kept in stock.

    He tugged at the chains, but they refused to budge. His first thought was that they were special cuffs designed to weaken and restrain a powerful shinobi like himself, but there was no fancy script to indicate seals and the design was rather simple, fit for restraining an uppity civilian rather than a shinobi.

            Dread pooled into the pit of Sasuke’s stomach. His vision was restored, even if everything around him had the quality of being flat and empty, devoid of life and color, but his Sharingan wouldn’t work, and he couldn’t so much as make his fingertips spark. Any attempt at manipulating his chakra came to nothing.

            He momentarily wondered if it was a genjutsu, but that didn’t seem right. A proper illusion would be designed to fool the victim, especially for someone as dangerous as him. His eyes were still working, but his senses were blunted; hearing, sight, touch, every last one weakened to what an utterly normal civilian would be capable.

            Just as he was about to panic, he noticed that he wasn’t alone in the room.

    The older Naruto was sitting on a chair, watching him closely, a hint of parental disappointment in his eyes as he watched for any sign of trouble.

            “What are you looking at, Naruto? Why are you here? And why are you old?”

            Naruto snorted. “Just wondering how you were doing. As for the rest of that, suffice to say that it’s rather complicated, and above your clearance. You’re a prisoner, you see.”

            Sasuke sneered, but Naruto didn’t pay it any heed.

    “That was the first time I tried that technique in combat, by the way. I wasn’t sure it wouldn’t kill you or leave you a drooling vegetable.” He paused, letting the words sink in. “I’ll start off by saying I don’t really enjoy this, but here’s what’s been done to you: your chakra network has been sealed. Legally and nearly physically, you are no longer a ninja.”

    The pronouncement hung in the air, and when Sasuke didn’t reply, Naruto continued.

            “Itachi’s dead, Sasuke, as is Danzo. The Sandiame died years ago, and the other elders will be tried soon enough. And now that Not-Madara is down for the count, anyone who had a part to play in the Uchiha Massacre is dead or out of your reach. Congratulations, Sasuke. By all rationality, your quest for vengeance is complete.”

            “Danzo admitted Konoha’s culpability!” Sasuke snapped. “Don’t tell me they didn’t have anything to do with it!”

            “Konoha’s-? Culpability in what?”

    “Profiting off of the Uchiha clan’s deaths.”

    “From what I heard, the Uchiha weren’t blameless. Your family was going to attempt a coup. And it wasn’t anyone outside of Itachi, the Sandiame, and the elders who actually knew anything, and Itachi only volunteered to be the scapegoat after Danzo screwed things up.”

    “It doesn’t matter!” Sasuke snapped. “I will avenge my family!”

            “And you’re going to exact your vengeance on…who exactly? All Konoha shinobi? Every person of the village? Tear up ever last Hidden Village until they cry to the heavens that the Uchiha didn’t deserve their fate?”

            “If I have to.”

            Naruto sighed and leaned back into his chair. “Considering Lee has more chakra capacity than you do, I don’t see that happening, and you’re not helping your case.”

            Sufficiently cowed, Sasuke could only pout as Naruto sighed, long-sufferingly.

            “What do you want, Sasuke? Did you really want to destroy everything, or did you not know what else to do until someone gave you a purpose? At what point will your quest of revenge complete?”

            “Don’t try to be high and mighty with me. You-”

            “Do you want to die?”

            The Uchiha froze.

            “Survivor’s Guilt. Saw a bit of it after Rōran fell. I’m sure you can bring it up to a shrink to explain it to you. I can’t say to stop feeling that way; that would be unreasonable and probably impossible at this point. I can say you aren’t alone in those thoughts, and they do not make you special by any means. So, while you’re serving your punishment, perhaps you can finally come to terms with your past, and maybe – just maybe – you’ll be able to move on someday.”

            Closing the door behind him, Naruto looked at Kakashi, who had posted himself outside of Sasuke’s room. The jonin was without his book, surprisingly enough, and wordlessly fell in behind Naruto, following him to where Tsunade, Shikaku, Nagato, and Konan were waiting. After a quick exchange of pleasantries, they got straight to business.

            “What became of Tobi?” Tsunade asked. “The other Kage are going to want to know, and I’d like to have that matter wrapped up and neatly packaged.”

    “I decided to let Nagato handle that one, the only stipulation being that we would be able to identify and interrogate him afterwards him after he was finished. Thanks, by the way.”

    Nagato inclined his head.

    “So, in short, he’s still alive, incapacitated. We can figure out how to deal with him later, preferably once we’ve made sure the threat is gone.”

            “Obito,” Kakashi said, drawing all eyes to him.

            Shikaku spoke first. “What?”

            “His name was Obito Uchiha. He was my former teammate.”

    Everyone digested the new information, each reacting differently to this revelation. Tsunade and Shikaku were shocked, piecing together the ramifications. Nagato and Konan were indifferent, but otherwise satisfied with their efforts. Naruto...

    “There was no way you could have known,” Naruto said sadly.

    Kakashi hummed non-committedly, not reacting as one of Naruto’s clones appeared next to him, depositing an item in the King’s hands, and then dissipating as soon as the task was completed.

            “On the brighter side of things, I just received some interesting news,” he continued. “It appears that the last active Akatsuki member ran afoul of some of Rōran’s defenses.”

            He tossed the bauble to Nagato, who inspected it closely. “This is Zetsu’s ring,” the ex-leader of the Akatsuki said. Taking a deep breath, he clenched his hand over it. “How certain are you?”

            “Considering all that was left was some pulped wood, black, misty wisps, and the screams Rika mentioned, he’s either a good actor or he’s gone.”

            “Hm.” Nagato considered something for a moment. “Black Zetsu is dead, but someone may be able to make use of the White Zetsu if someone managed to replicate it.

    Shikaku nodded. “We’ll be keeping an eye out in case someone tries to start somewhere else. If any future talks progress smoothly, we can get the other villages to aid in the search.”

            Naruto inclined his head. “Sounds perfectly reasonable.”

[TSR]

            Naruto and Sāra entered the conference room, where the dignitaries of the Five Great Villages several of the smaller villages were gathered. After the showdown at the Five Kage Summit, things were still a little tense, but with the news of the Akatsuki’s defeat, there were many hopeful expressions scattered around the room. Some of the delegates were amicably chatting with each other, especially since their homes weren’t about to become a battleground for the umpteenth time.

            The Fourth Shinobi War – a name that would soon be changed – had ended with scarcely any violence. The ringleaders were dead, detained, or were sitting in the room to discuss the near-miss they had with war.

            The royal pair made their way to where Nagato and Konan were standing.

            “You’re looking better,” Naruto said.

            “I’ve had some help.”

            “This is my wife, Queen Sāra Uzumaki.”

            Both Nagato and Konan blinked, glancing at each other as Naruto explained. “She decided to make that the official family name.”

            Nagato blinked. “I’m…not sure how to respond to that.”

            “You’ve got time to figure that out. Besides, I’m sure there’ll be an Uzumaki Family Reunion soon enough.”

            The Amegakure leader fondly smirked ever so slightly at the thought, or perhaps a memory. Either way, it was more emotion than Nagato was probably used to expressing, and it stood out on his face.

    “Ready to change the world?” Sāra asked.

            “It won’t be easy,” Konan replied.

            Naruto shrugged. “It never is, but when has that ever stopped me?”

            Mifune cleared his throat, loud enough to catch everyone’s attention. “I now call this meeting to order.”
            Yes, it would be a challenge, but anything meaningful usually was.