AN: I'M ALIIIIIIIIIVE! Okay, so when I updated the first three chapters a few hours ago, I had no idea that I'd speedrun my way through the rest of this chapter in the same night. To my old readers; Hi! Surprise! Welcome back! And to any new readers; you're lucky. I last updated this in 2017. It's a problem, I'm sorry. Anyways, hope you're all doing well during this pandemic, and that any of you in the US are being safe! Hope you enjoy the chapter, and take a few minutes focus on fictional problems rather than irl ones.

Sasuke estimated that it had been a little over a day when the door to his cell opened, and That Man walked in, as casual as you please. Rage rushed through his veins instantly; he damned the restraints keeping him and his chakra locked in place. He had the perfect opportunity to avenge his clan right in front of him, and Sasuke was once again unable to act.

Itachi closed the door behind him, walking to the midway point between it and Sasuke. Dark black eyes stared at him, into him, penetrating the crimson haze that had washed over Sasuke's vision the moment his brother appeared. Sasuke met that steady gaze with his own burning one, praying to a god that he didn't believe in that the day had finally come where looks could kill.

Needless to say, he was disappointed.

"You're looking well, Otōto."

Sasuke snarled.

His brother appeared unimpressed. "Konan says that you have been informed of the conditions for your release."

Oh no. Absolutely fucking not.

Itachi nodded, seeing the realisation dawn on him. "Indeed. I will be the one to explain to you the motivation behind the Akatsuki's recent actions."

This had to be a joke. The universe was pulling yet another cruel prank on him, surely. There was no way in hell that Sasuke was going to listen to a thing that came out of That Man's mouth. He was at the top of the 'Not to be Trusted' list (he was actually at the top of most of Sasuke's internal lists; none of them were very pleasant).

"Otōto, I am aware that you do not trust me, but it would be to your benefit if you listened to what I am about to tell you."

He scoffed in response.

Itachi sighed. "You will not see Naruto-kun until you have heard what you need to hear, Sasuke. Even if it is coming from my mouth, I would have thought that enough for you to at least pretend."

'I don't want to be lectured about friendship by you!' Sasuke very nearly screamed it aloud. How dare he? The utter hypocrisy about set his insides aflame.

Sasuke increased the intensity of his glare, hoping that his traitorous brother would take the hint. He refused to say a word to the man. Why did it have to be him?

"If you're not going to talk to me, Otōto, then I will simply take the opportunity to tell you what you need to know." Itachi's face was as unreadable as ever, and his tone wasn't much better.

Sasuke just continued to glare. Fine. Itachi was obviously going to do whatever the fuck he wanted. It didn't matter. Sasuke wasn't interested in what he had to say. He would just sit here and glare death at the missing-nin, and hope for spontaneous combustion.

His little brother glared so adorably.

Itachi knew he was slightly biased when it came to Sasuke, and that the youngest Uchiha was probably very intimidating in anyone else's eyes, but to him, his baby brother would always be the most precious thing in the universe.

He wished he didn't have to do this.

Sasuke wasn't ever supposed to know the truth behind the massacre. He was supposed to grow strong enough to kill Itachi, and therefore prove that he was capable of protecting himself against Danzō. But now Pein had a plan. And that plan was enough to convince Itachi, for the first time in eight years, to alter his own.

"I lied to you, Otōto."

Itachi figured that he if was going to do this, he may as well start out strong. And it had worked; Sasuke's glare flickered for but a second.

"I'm well aware of that," he spat. "The first eight years of my life were a lie."

The ache in Itachi's soul deepened. His greatest regret was without doubt making his baby brother believe that Itachi didn't love him. As if there were any world where that was at all possible. Sasuke was everything to Itachi, and that wouldn't ever change.

"No, Sasuke. I'm talking about that night. I lied to you about why."

And god but Itachi had underestimated just how much it would hurt. Looking down into Sasuke's chubby face and reading the complete and utter disbelief, the 'Just for that? You killed them all, just for that?'. It was a minor moment of that night, all things considered, but for some reason it haunted Itachi like nothing else.

Sasuke's glare faltered even more. Itachi was willing to bet that it was an involuntary reaction, although one he was hoping for. If he could just make his brother listen, could make him believe the truth that Itachi had worked so hard to bury, then maybe they could fix the broken world they were currently inhabiting.

"I didn't kill them to test myself. I killed them because they were planning to take over the village. I killed them, because in the end, I've always loved you the most, little brother."

Being told that your entire life's purpose, your reason for breathing, was founded entirely upon a lie was-

Well, it was something. Sasuke couldn't say for sure, because he wasn't sure of anything anymore. Once again, Itachi had ripped the rug out from under his feet, robbing Sasuke of any sense of security he may have had. For the entirety of his life, he had been ignorant to the reality of his world.

He fought back a sob. Itachi was gone, Sasuke was alone in his cell, but he still felt that giving voice to the whirlwind of emotion racketing around in his chest would be an indication of submission – of defeat.

It took longer than Sasuke was comfortable admitting, for him to ride out that whirlwind. He sat there with his eyes closed, taking in one deep breath at a time, trying to physically exhale all of the rage, and betrayal, and confusion (and the grief; oh god, Sasuke hadn't allowed himself to truly feel the grief for his entire clan since that first year after the massacre. Now, he felt almost crippled by the strength of it). When he finally opened his eyes again, he felt…

Drained. Empty. Hollow.

"Why…" He whispered it, almost without conscious thought. "Why did you have to-"

He cut himself off, bodily jerking his head back as if that would halt the flow of words. Sasuke didn't even know who he was talking to: Itachi, who insisted on twisting Sasuke this way and that, turning his world upside down and inside out on his own whim. Or was he talking to his parents, who had been planning a fucking coup?

Sasuke- okay, well, he hadn't ever had the clearest of thinking processes. His desire for vengeance – the desire that Itachi had basically implanted in him – had always been a large part of any decision he ever made, and he'd felt himself becoming colder and darker because of it.

Now, he thought that that tendency may have been inherited.

What had the clan been thinking?

There was no way they could have succeeded; aside from the fact that it was one clan against the rest of the village, what had they been planning to do about Sarutobi? The old man wasn't called the God of Shinobi for nothing. Had- they couldn't have been intending on having Itachi do it, surely?

Then again, Sasuke thought darkly, Itachi hadn't massacred their entire clan alone either, had he?

The revelation that there was somebody so dangerous out there that an entire group of S-Class missing-nin needed the assistance of the five great shinobi villages to get rid of was beyond daunting. It was horrifying (as equally as horrifying as knowing that the leaders of Konoha had decided that massacring an entire clan was acceptable problem solving). Sasuke badly wanted to believe that Itachi was once again lying to him – his older brother was more than accomplished at that, and it wasn't like Sasuke had ever been able to tell.

But deep down in his gut, down in the same place that had always whispered undeniable truths to him, the same place that told him he would never be rid of Naruto or Sakura or Kakashi, that he didn't want to be; Sasuke knew that this time, it was real.

And if he wanted the world to remain intact, he would need to work alongside the one person he hated more than anybody.

The cave system that the Akatsuki had taken over was more extensive than Naruto had first thought; he'd been wandering around for what felt like hours, and he was pretty sure he hadn't even covered half of it. He was just lucky that it was relatively straightforward, otherwise he would have gotten lost immediately.

(He had totally gotten lost immediately. He'd just decided that if he kept walking, he was bound to run into either a person or an exit, whichever came first).

"Could really do with some ramen though…" Naruto mumbled mournfully. He patted his stomach, which had started growling some time ago. "I wonder if they've got any up there."

Naruto tipped his head back, staring at the black rock above him as if he could see all the way to the upper levels where the Akatsuki kept their food storage. It didn't seem like the sort of thing that a group of criminals would keep in their secret base in the middle of the wilderness, but who knew. Ramen was a dietary staple, after all.

It was while he was ruminating on the probability of this that he ran into Uchiha Itachi.

Literally. He'd turned around to see if retracing his steps would do any good, and the guy was right freaking behind him.

"Fucking- what the hell, dude? Why were you standing so close?!"

Naruto clapped a hand over his racing heart, scowling at the missing-nin. Itachi just looked blank, as usual. Somehow, his blank was even more infuriating than Sasuke's blank.

"I came to guide you back to the upper levels."

"That's not an answer!"

Huffing indignantly, Naruto nonetheless followed behind as Itachi turned on his heel. He was really hungry, and arguing with Sasuke's murderous older brother wasn't that high on his priority list.

Still…

"Did you tell him?"

Having already heard the entire tale for himself, Naruto had been waiting on tenterhooks all day for somebody to tell him how it went. As much as he wanted to be there for Sasuke, Konan had threatened to literally bury him in paper until Sasuke was released from his cell if he tried to burst in there while Itachi was speaking with him.

(She'd done it too, just to show him she could. Encased him from head to toe in so much paper that Naruto could feel nothing around him but Konan's chakra signature. As soon as she let him out, he'd asked if she would be one of his sensei).

Itachi didn't even pause. "I did."

"And? How did he take it?"

"Better than expected."

Naruto wanted to shake him. He skittered around in front of the missing-nin, trying to peer into his face and walk backwards at the same time. It didn't help at all; Itachi was about as expressive as a damn wall.

"You're not trying to tell me he took it well, are you? Coz there's no freaking way that's true, dattebayo!"

Itachi shook his head. "Not well. Just not as horribly as I thought he might."

Seriously, it was like pulling teeth from fucking Tora.

"Was he upset?" Naruto pressed, finally coming to a halt and forcing Itachi to as well. He stared intently up into the elder Uchiha's eyes. "Or was he angry? Sasuke doesn't know how to process multiple emotions, you know, so I gotta know which one came out on top!"

It took a few moments, during which Naruto just about exploded with impatience, but Itachi finally answered, blinking like he was surprised.

"Upset." He said. "Sasuke was upset. He didn't want to believe me."

Naruto could only imagine.

He groaned, scrubbing his hands over his face. "Teme's upset and he's all alone with his thoughts. Are you sure I can't see him yet?"

"You will have to ask Leader about that," Itachi said, once again starting to move. "I did manage to get through everything in that one sitting, so maybe he will allow it."

Oohhhhh man.

Having the truth about his family dumped on him while simultaneously being told that his biggest enemy needed his help would have rocked Sasuke like nothing else. Seriously, what were these people trying to do to the guy?

By the time the two of them finally returned to the main cave, Naruto was just about dancing out his pants with impatience.

"Pein!" He called out as soon as he set eyes on that bright orange hair. "Can I go see Sasuke now?"

Before Pein could answer, an embarrassingly loud growl echoed through the chamber. Naruto clamped his hands over his stomach, grinning sheepishly.

"And do you guys keep any ramen in this place?"

When the door to his cell opened once again, almost twelve hours after Itachi'd left, Sasuke didn't even raise his head. With the restraints still on, he couldn't even feel the chakra of the people coming and going; he just assumed it was Konan again, here to feed him his rations bars and water.

It was humiliating, but she was at least practical about it, and never said a word beyond greetings and farewells. At least they were feeding him.

"Um, teme?"

Sasuke's head snapped up.

"Naruto?"

He hated the blatant relief in his voice, but god. Seeing those bright blue eyes, that stupid whiskered face-

Something that'd been clenched tight in Sasuke's gut finally loosened. After all the turmoil and uncertainty that Itachi had subjected him to, having the immovable rock that was Uzumaki Naruto standing in front of him was nothing short of a miracle.

Not that Sasuke was ever going to tell the dobe that.

He might've been able to tell though, because as he came closer, Sasuke could see a disgusting sort of gentleness in his eyes. He jerked his eyes away, clenching his fists. Weak. After all this time, he was still so weak that the simple presence of his best friend almost immediately made him feel better.

Getting down on his knees and crossing his arms over Sasuke's lap, Naruto grinned up at him. "Shit's getting crazy, huh, teme?"

Ha.

Sasuke barked out a laugh. "Understatement of the century, dobe."

There was silence for a few moments. It was obvious to Sasuke that Naruto was working up to asking him about his feelings; the fact that he was probably going to answer made him want to punch himself in the face. Really, what the fuck had this guy done to him?

"Ne, Sasuke." When he eventually spoke, Naruto's voice was quiet. "Pein- that's the leader of the Akatsuki – told me the truth about the massacre. And your crazy ancestor."

"Hn."

"It's- I'm really sorry. About your family, and that Itachi was the one who told you."

"Hn."

"You gonna be okay?"

Despite himself, Sasuke snorted. "I'll be okay, dobe. I got over it once, I can get over it again."

"What?" Naruto pinched his thigh, frowning. "Sasuke, you liar. You've never gotten over anything ever in your entire life."

Unfortunately, that was true. But lying and repressing every inch of the confusion and agony that was currently wracking his scarred heart was far preferable to actually dealing with it. Sasuke had barely able to acknowledge the fact that Naruto was his friend, all those years ago at the Valley of the End; the memory of leaning in so close that he could see every individual eyelash and saying 'I'll come back. When I've learned everything I can, when I'm strong – I'll come back' had haunted him for months.

Acknowledging something as enormous as the eruption-waiting-to-happen in his chest…

Even with how far he'd come, Sasuke wasn't certain he could do it.

Luckily, Naruto knew him far better than he should probably be comfortable with.

"It's okay, teme, you don't have to sort it out right now. I guess I just wanted to make sure you weren't gonna go crazy or anything."

As enticing as the idea of chopping off the heads of those three old bats back in Konoha was, Sasuke did, regrettably, have his priorities straight.

"I'm not ruling it out," he said, tipping his head back and staring blankly at the ceiling. "But for now… I think we've got a bigger problem to deal with."

"…yeah." Naruto's voice was suspiciously thick, with what sounded suspiciously like pride. He shifted on the ground, wrapping his arms around Sasuke's calves and squeezing. "Nobody ever told me I'd have to figure out how to kill a dead man. Gods, Sasuke, your family is fucked up."

Sasuke snorted again. Wasn't that the truth.

AN: Once again, I am so sorry about the delay. If you've got thoughts n ish, drop 'em in a comment! Thank you for reading, and take care of yourselves!

- Kelly