- Hokage Monument -
Standing with her Hokage hat shadowing her eyes, Tsunade gazed at Itachi, searching his face for something: hesitation, longing to stay, and she did see those things in his eyes. The week Itachi spent here around Sasuke made him reluctant to leave, but even more determined to see to it that as little danger comes to Sasuke as possible.
"Are you sure about this, Itachi? You don't have to stay in the Akatsuki; your situation is a tricky one, but with time and a plan, I'm sure that I can integrate you back into the village in some capacity; you'd be with your brother."
"I'm sure, Lady Hokage. The village needs that information; it will not only help the village but also my brother."
Itachi replied, eyes resolved, but clearly this wasn't an easy decision for him.
"You're doing this mostly for your brother, correct?"
Tsunade asked rhetorically before nodding at the subtle emotion she could see in his eyes at the mention of Sasuke.
"Good, I'd have personally banned you from the village and thrown you out by your collar if I suspected it was mostly for the village."
Tsunade turned away, looking down at the village below, her words very unlike a Hokage and more in line with the older sibling that Tsunade was; she couldn't blame Itachi for this decision to continue protecting what he cared about, but that didn't mean she liked it; she'd do anything to see, hear, hug her little brother again. The thought of Nawaki still sat heavily within her mind, having drunk till she dropped for three days before Shizune put a stop to her 'ridiculousness' as she so lovingly put it, before becoming her unwanted and stubborn therapist for the four remaining days of the week.
"Have you told him that you're leaving?"
Tsunade looked back over her shoulder at him.
Itachi didn't reply immediately, choosing his words carefully as the Kage in front of him was burning a hole through him with her eyes.
"I left a note," Itachi murmured, his gaze shifting from the Fifth Hokage's unwavering stare to the shadow stretching across the ground. "And while we have spent the last week in each other's company, we… tactfully avoided the topic. It is better this way. There are no words left to justify my choices, and I have no right to ask for his understanding.
"You're very stubborn, choosing to take the hardest path forward, but you know that not everything can be shouldered by you alone, right? If you can be stubborn, then so can he; remember that, Itachi, and don't push him away when he's ready to stand next to you as an equal."
Tsunade advised, sounding like a mix of a Hokage and older sibling who wished she had done better by her younger brother when she had the chance.
"I understand," Itachi said softly, his voice carrying a quiet reverence for the pain behind her words. "Your perspective is a luxury of peace that I hope he will fully enjoy one day. But right now, the world is still too dark for him."
He bowed his head slightly, a gesture of deep respect not just to the Hokage, but to a sister who understood the crushing weight of love. "I will not push him away forever, Lady Hokage. But until he is strong enough to survive the storm, I must be the one to weather it."
Tsunade closed her eyes and let out a sharp, dismissive breath, the heavy tension in her shoulders finally settling into hard resolve.
"Very well," she said, looking back up at him with a gaze that brooked no argument. "Do you have any last requests? That's the least I can do, and don't ask me to protect him; that's the bare minimum, and I'm not Hiruzen."
She spoke the Third Hokage's name with a slight trace of venom, the lingering bitterness of past failures and broken promises sharpening her voice.
Itachi nodded, revealing something that he'd have kept to himself had he not sensed how genuine a person Tsunade was; she wasn't the kind of person who hid behind a smile; she was blunt in her speech, direct in her actions, and unforgivingly herself regardless of what anyone would think about her, all things that humanized her and made her character trustworthy in her eyes.
"The note I left also had the container with my father's eyes in them. The Mangekyō, as you probably know from examining him in the hospital, the abilities of the eyes lead to blindness. To counter this, one must transplant the Mangekyō of another Uchiha with strong blood ties, allowing the user to use their Mangekyō abilities without the deterioration of their eyes; we call this the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan."
"The Eternal Mangekyō..." Tsunade repeated softly, the medical-nin in her immediately analyzing the genetic implications of what he just described. "A biological bypass for genetic deterioration, triggered by a direct bloodline match. It's brilliant... and completely horrific."
She sighed deeply, resting her hand on the stone railing of the monument as she looked down at the bustling streets below. "I suppose I shouldn't be shocked. The shinobi world runs on dark compromises, and the Uchiha have always paid a heavier price than most. If your father truly left those eyes for this purpose, then it's a medical procedure I can perform. If it keeps one of my most promising ninjas from going blind, then I'll gladly do it."
Tsunade replied, playing it off as just helping a 'promising ninja', not wanting to get all sappy like she felt she had been during their discussion.
"Before you go, I wish to give you something."
Tsunade reached into the right pocket of her cloak and tossed a blank pill bottle at Itachi, which he deftly caught and looked back at her for the explanation.
"You were taking medicine for that illness of yours; I examined as much before the illness as well as the medicine flushed out of your system on the hospital floor."
Tsunade teased playfully before continuing seriously.
"In the bottle is nothing but multivitamins developed by me personally; take it and use that as a cover. No one looks deeper when you give them what they already believe to be true. In the eyes of the 'knowing', you're a sick man."
Tsunade advised, suddenly having an amusing thought.
"Kunoichi have their own brand of make-up as well, the kind that doesn't wash off easily or leave a scent. I recommend you use that for your face; you look a bit too healthy for a dying man."
Instead of the reaction she was wanting, Itachi merely nodded, finding the idea to be a solid one, planning on stopping in using a transformation to buy some makeup to conceal his good health, and had Itachi not been practically glowing lately, it likely could've been explained off as Itachi's medicine working better than expected, but no one would see him now and believe him to be healthy, not everyone knew before, most in the Akatsuki was unaware of his health before hand, believing him to be just like any of them.
"That's a good idea; I was wondering what I'd do about that, honestly. I never once thought about make-up as a cover."
Tsunade sighed with a faint hint of amusement at this weird young man, waving her hand in a shooing motion.
"Go on, dismissed; you're no fun."
"Apologies, Lady Hokage."
Itachi apologized genuinely, leaving Tsunade speechless before he vanished in a body flicker, going to buy make-up and then leave the village alongside Kisame, who had been waiting outside the village for a couple of hours now.
- Chapter End -