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Itachi’s letter

Sasuke walked through the door to the Uchiha compound after going to the temple that morning to see the hidden secret of the Sharingan that his brother had told him about on the night he killed the clan. He was still confused about what he read on the scroll in the hidden chamber underneath the temple not really understanding the meaning of it. As he walked past the bedroom that once belonged to his older brother his fists immediately clenched at his side in anger. “Why brother,” he thought “Why did you betray the clan and left me all alone?” He closed his eyes tightly and walked a bit faster away from his brother’s room trying to not think about the past memories when he saw Itachi truly smile at him with affection.
When he reached his bedroom, he shut the door tightly behind him and sat down on the edge of his bed. Looking out the window, he realized the sun was fully shining and birds were singing their morning songs. “I wish it was still cloudy outside, it doesn’t deserve to be a nice day,” he thought. He turned his head to look at the nightstand next to his bed. He spotted the family picture that had been taken not too long ago and picked it up from the nightstand and put it in his lap. He noticed that a large crack had split down the middle of the picture. As he looked at the picture behind the cracked glass, a wave of sadness washed over him as looked into the faces of his family. Sasuke was standing in-between his parents, mother to his right with a hand on his shoulder with a sweet smile on her face, father to his left with his arms folded, an unnoticeable smile showing and to his mother’s right was Itachi with both of his arms by his side and showing his usual emotionless stare. At that moment a tear landed on the picture as Sasuke looking into the face of his brother. Before he started to cry again he toke the picture and put it face down on the nightstand.
He looked at the clock next to the facedown picture and realized it was time to get ready to go to the academy. He slowly sat up from his bed and went to the closet for cleaner cloths. As he was beginning to get undressed, he felt something poke him in the hip from his pocket. “I don’t remember putting anything in my pocket yesterday,” he said to himself while reaching into his pocket for the mysterious object. When he pulled his hand out there was a neatly folded piece of paper with a crimson red ribbon tied around the middle to keep it together, in his hand. “What is this doing in my pocket?” He slowly untied the ribbon and set it down on the bed and looked at the folded paper, which he was gently holding in his grasp. He stared at it for a few seconds then just like with the ribbon unfolded the paper slowly. When the paper was folded out in his hands, writing could be seen on the paper in neat handwriting. It was a letter to him. A second later his eyes widen slightly and stared at the letter in absolute shock, “This ….This is brother’s handwriting.” After a few seconds of staring at his brother’s letter he recomposed himself and started to read.

Dear Sasuke,

If you have found this letter then that means you must seen the damage I have left behind after I eliminated the rest of the clan. I did have my reasons for killing them little brother, more than what I might have said to you when you asked the question yourself to me. I doubt you would understand now at your age but once you have become older and have learned to fully despise me, then you might understand when we come face to face in the end. But for now you must walk the path of a true shinobi, let nothing, friendship or other relationships get in the way of your goals to extract revenge on me for what I have done to mother, father and the rest of the clan. It is like I said to you the day that Inabi and the others came to interrogate, I am the barrier you must overcome but that is how we will continue to exist together, after all that is what big brothers are for even if you hate me.
Learn to fully despise me little brother, you must foster your hatred to no limit and survive in an unsightly way. Only then will ever have a chance against me and I assure that when we meet again I will not hold back when we face each other in combat. I also had my reasons for leaving you alive but I highly doubt that you would understand that as well, so I will let you try to figure that out on your own. For now you’re not even worth killing but hopefully when I see you again then you may be worth my time.

Until we meet again little brother,

Itachi

Sasuke simply stared at the letter when he was done reading, speechless. “What are you trying to say brother?” he asked himself, “What is it that you want me to figure out?”

While outside of Konoha, on top of a hill at the foot of a deep forest, Itachi was sitting on top of a large rock glancing over at Konoha in the distance. A slight cool breeze suddenly blew across the hilltop blowing his bangs across his face, but he made no move to push his bangs away. He remained completely unfazed and his eyes continued to stare emotionlessly towards his old home deep in thought. “I wonder if Sasuke found the letter yet?”

Flashback

He watched as his little brother collapsed to the ground fainting after he used the Mangekyou Sharingan on him. For a minute he stared at his helpless brother lying face down on the ground before he started to walk toward him. He stopped next to him and knelt down beside Sasuke. He stared at his brother. Though Itachi’s face looked emotionless on the outside but on the inside he was on the verge of almost crying. Itachi reached his hand out towards Sasuke and cupped his little brother’s cheek in his hand, stroking it softly with his thumb. After a minute or so he toke his hand away and reached into his pocket for something. He pulled his hand out, holding a neatly folded letter tied in a crimson red ribbon that he wrote yesterday. Then he gently slipped the letter into Sasuke’s pocket so it would not accidentally fall out. After making sure it was secure, he pulled his hand out and put the hand to his side. Turning his head again he looked into Sasuke’s face once more, moving his hand to cup his little brother’s cheek again stroking it a bit longer this time. Then he leaned down towards his brother’s ear and whispered softly into it even though he knew he couldn’t hear it anyway, “I’m sorry Sasuke.” He then kissed Sasuke’s cheek softly and stood up looking down at his little brother one last time. He let a small sad smile cross his lips before turning and walking away from his home village.

Coming out of his thoughts, Itachi moved his eyes down to the hand that was in his lap. In his hand he was holding his headband now with a large scratch slashed across the symbol. “There is no turning back now,” he said in his mind, “I hold no more ties to my home village and now I have no one to stand in the way of my desires.” He looked down at it for a while before a slight crunch of a twig was heard behind him. For a while Itachi gave no notice to the person standing a good distance behind him who has been watching him for a while now. Then he finally turned his head a little and looked at this person from the corner of his eye. This man had bright orange spiked hair with piercings on the bridge of his nose and he was wearing a high-collared black cloak with red clouds printed on them. The man didn’t say anything for a bit when Itachi looked back at him. Then he finally spoke to Itachi in a calm but deep voice, “Let’s go.” Itachi did not say anything for a moment but then replied, “Yes,” in an emotionless tone. He slowly got off the rock and turned to the man behind him. The man then turned and started to walk slowly away from Itachi towards the forest. Itachi turned his head around for a second and glanced back at Konoha one last time before walking away following the man in front of him. The man stopped at the edge of forest to wait for Itachi to catch up. When Itachi caught up to him they both walked into the forest together, disappearing into the shadows.