This was it.

Itachi's death approached. And yet he hardly moved a muscle to prevent it. He was waiting for this moment for a long time. He only hoped that his mother and father were kind in the afterlife, and didn't begrudge what he was forced to do. Oh, who was he kidding. There wasn't going to be a reserved place for him in heaven. Especially with all the blood on his hands. He was destined for hell.

His sharp hearing tuned from a young age caught the impatient pitter patter of his brother's sandals hitting the ground. Sasuke was eager.

It took everything in his power not to rise from the throne in which he sat, as he glanced at his brother for the first time in three years. His Sharingan made sure to burn the image into his head forever.

He had grown! If he was anything like he remembered, then out there in the Elemental Nations must have been a horde of fangirls lusting after him. He smirked lost in times long past.

Sasuke caught the smirk and rage bloomed across his face in an instant. His eyes reflected his anger, three tomoe similar to Itachi's began to rotate.

"I've done everything you said that night Itachi!"

His name being spat out like it was venom caused Itachi to flinch unnoticeably. Sasuke had been a shy, reserved boy. And not a day went by when he didn't curse Danzo's name.

"I've trained, and hated you! I will avenge the Uchiha name, and you will die here!"

Itachi refrained from pleading with his brother to see reason and seek Konoha again. Sasuke was now beyond reason, this was evident from the maniacal gleam in his eyes. No... He wouldn't push Sasuke this way to go back to Konoha otherwise Danzo might prey on him.

He schooled his feelings back to aloofness. "I will die here, will I? Well then… go on, make it happen."

And the battle began in earnest.

Itachi watched with pride as lightning danced across Sasuke's palm.

Kakashi had taught his brother well, but what he could see from Sasuke's stance was he had another teacher. Orochimaru… That snake. He desired an Uchiha body, and because he was too weak to take his, he desired his brother's.

That would not happen on his watch. Even when battling Sasuke, he was looking after his best interests. Orochimaru would be sealed in the sword of totsuka and his disgusting curse mark would be removed from Sasuke's flesh.

The current of lightning missed him completely, Itachi knew it was a ruse, but he let Sasuke have a small victory. He deserved the phantom pain of Sasuke's chokuto piercing his skin.

"You have… gotten strong…" And he meant it. Sasuke was practically oozing chakra by the droves. His form was crisp, his swordsmanship was fantastic, and his Sharingan was potent. It nearly brought tears to his eyes, yet he refused for them to fall. It should have been their father teaching him, nurturing Sasuke and watching him grow, yet because of him and his actions, he had allowed a sannin hellbent on stealing his body to nearly succeed in doing so.

Sasuke's blade twisted in his stomach, he intended to draw out Itachi's suffering, unbeknownst to Sasuke, Itachi was suffering. And had been for a long time. The mediocre pain he felt from the blade wouldn't be able to dull the lifetime of pain he felt when his kunai had led to the termination of their prestigious clan.

"No, no, no! You can't die yet! I want you to confess! Tell me WHY DID YOU DO IT!" Sasuke's spittle flew straight and true, peppering Itachi with his saliva as the chokuto twisted with deliberate malice.

Itachi reached with two fingers, index and middle joined together as he flicked Sasuke in reminiscence of how he used to.

Crows gathered around Itachi's prone body, before ejecting into murders of them.

"The exact same words as before and crows as well. Starting with your favourite Genjutsu farce, huh?"

"If you think this has a happy ending Sasuke, you haven't been paying attention." Itachi sat unruffled and aloof as always, his voice lacking both emotion and inflection.

"Let me try this again…" With a flicker of movement Sasuke was behind his throne like chair, and the serrated edges of the chokuto once more finding purchase in his chest.

"Genjutsu…" Itachi watched as white snakes grew out of the body in front of him, further highlighting the fact that Sasuke had assimilated the very fabric of Orochimaru's being into his chakra network.

No that would not do at all.

***Break***

It had boiled down to this.

Itachi could feel the pain mounting from his eyes. The strain from overusing the Mangekyō was going to lead to his death.

The fiery light of Susanoo surrounded him, embracing him in a way reminiscent to the way Mikoto used to hold him.

The legendary sword of Totsuka had done what he had deemed it to do. Sasuke was free from Orochimaru's corruptible taint. His Sharingan analysis showed Sasuke's chakra network was free flowing instead of restricted like before.

Taking small, decisive steps closer to his brother, he had one last gift to give Sasuke. His greatest ninjutsu. That fake Madara had been a thorn in his side for some time. He knew he would have contact with Sasuke after he'd perished. Well, he was one step ahead.

Susano flickered before erupting into red motes, fading into the air.

And at last he reached Sasuke. This time, he let the tears fall. His young brother was on the cusp of manhood, all sharp edges and shattered resolve.

His index finger and middle joined together for the last time, and he flicked him gently.

"There won't be a next time…"

And darkness took him, as he slumped and fell. Itachi Uchiha closing his eyes at last.

***Break***

White light.

Blurry shapes.

Foreign names.

Smell of sterilisation, and the beeps of machines. So, hospital? No… Sasuke wouldn't send him to a hospital, he was sure that he had died.

The door opened, and entered a man with raven black hair, untidy beyond relief and wiry glasses situated on his nose. Behind him were the sounds of exuberant shouting as three men followed after the first.

Itachi was picked up with strong but gentle hands and positioned in between the four men. Eight set of eyes peering down at him.

"Gentlemen, I give you the next generation of marauders. Meet Harry James Potter!"

.

.

.

Hunger panged and his stomach rumbled, looking back at this moment, Itachi would have been mortified, yet unable to contain himself, he cried and cried, anything to abate his hunger.

"Well James, at least he has your lungs." Said the man with curly black hair, elbowing the man known as James.

Laughter echoed throughout the room as the men shook and cooed at him.

One thing was for certain, this didn't look like heaven nor hell.

AN:

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Chapter is short due to it being a prologue. It'll get longer.

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