Chapter Text
"Never thought I'd see your pastel mug again, Haruno." said Ibiki as he led her inside an interrogation room. "You gonna make this easy on me or will I have to break out my good knife and start chopping fingers?"
"And here I thought you missed me, Ibiki-san..." said Sakura.
Ibiki paused as he pulled out a thick file. "I did." Sakura's eyes widened, but Ibiki continued on before she could say anything. "From the things we gathered from the ROOT hideout, the elders had to have been aware of what Shimura was doing. Do you have any new intel to offer?"
"Well, they definitely knew that the ROOT existed and what Danzo was doing, including all the illegal missions he was sending his agents on. Mitokado Homura and Utatane Koharu also supplied him occasionally with orphans for his cause, but I doubt they knew anything about his arm or Shisui Uchiha's eye."
"Can you elaborate on the orphan part?" said Ibiki as he opened a journal and started writing down.
"Did you know elder Homura is behind over 70% of the human trafficking cases in Konoha?" Ibiki's face remained impassive but his chakra spiked slightly. It was a lesser known fact that Ibiki and his little brother had been rescued from a trafficking ring by Konoha as a child. It was why he joined the academy and became a ninja. "Yeah, I know Tsunade-shishō and Inuzuka Tsume had been cracking down on the cases since she became Hokage, but Homura is a slippery bastard who has done this for years. Not to mention, Danzo would aid him from time to time in exchange for candidates to add to his collection. I um...I was one of the people helping smuggle them in." said Sakura, ashamed.
"Do you know the identity of these people?"
"No. I can tell you their ROOT codenames however." Ibiki nodded and Sakura gave him over 12 codenames.
"How did Mitokado sneak them in?"
"Danzo cleared out the escape tunnel from the west side that had collapsed during the Kyūbi attack. He offered it to elder Homura as a way for him to continue his business. As I said, in exchange he asked for a few kids once in a while."
"Do you know what happened to these people?"
"I believe they might have been sold on the black market but I have no proof of that. All I know is what happened to the ROOT cadets."
"Alright, what about Utatane?"
"Well, as the person in charge of the Konoha orphanage, elder Koharu was able to ignore or dismiss any missing person reports. Any orphan Danzo desired, Koharu would hand to him."
"Do you know if Shimura was behind the poor funding of the orphanages?"
"No, I don't."
"Do you know if Utatane knew anything about what Mitokado and Shimura were doing?"
"No, I don't."
The interrogation continued for 2 more hours and Sakura spilled the beans on anything she knew about Konoha's dear elders. After it was done, Kakashi came to pick her up. He offered her his elbow and she wrapped both hands around it. Since Danzo's death Sakura was put on house arrest until Tsunade could finish the trial against Homura and Koharu, and Itachi returned to the village. She was not allowed to interact with anyone aside from Tsunade, Shizune and Kakashi who was acting as her guard. A side effect of this was that the three of them bore the brunt of her affection, since Sakura spent her entire time plastered to their side like a leech. Not that any of them seemed to mind, in fact Tsunade and Kakashi actively encouraged it. Tsunade because she knew it would be good for her mental health and Kakashi because he just missed her. Look, she hasn't experienced any type of affection for 3 whole years, so she was a bit clingy, sue her.
They entered the Senju compound under henge and Kakashi led her to the main house. Guy, bless his soul, had met with her sensei while she was in interrogation and gave him a homemade casserole. They ate in peaceful silence, Sakura holding Kakashi's hand the whole time.
...
Tsunade was sitting in her office, waiting for the ANBU to return from arresting the elders. The two bags of bones were far less dangerous than their dear friend, so Tsunade was confident on sending just two smaller teams of 4. While all of this was happening, Sasuke, Naruto, Yamato and a recently returned to the village Karin(since Sai was still stuck in T&I) went out of the village to meet up with Itachi at Rabbit's Path. It was time for the missing Uchiha to return to the village. A small portion of Lady Katsuyu was hidden on Yamato. Once they encounter Itachi she will report back to Tsunade and she will make a public statement where she will expose everything Danzo had done, including the truth about the massacre.
Once Itachi was back in the village, there will be a trial against the elders and as the only surviving Uchiha that could remember the mistreatment of his clan, Itachi will be a witness. So will Sakura and a few other ROOT members that had agreed to speak. Based on the evidence they had so far, the elders will probably be executed and Tsunade honestly could not wait to be rid of them. She hated those bastards so much.
...
Itachi was jumping through the trees of Hi no Kuni forest, making his way towards Konoha. After Sasuke gave him ten heart attacks with his letter about Danzo, Itachi did his best to calm down and plan his return to Konoha. After Sasori and Deidara died in the Land of Wind, and Kakuzu and Hidan's demise a while later, the Akatsuki dynamics changed. For one, Mei Terumi, the Godaime Mizukage sent a team consisting of Zabuza Momochi, his apprentice Haku and the barely saved from death by Tsunade, Mangetsu Hōzuki to collect and recruit Kisame. The Mizukage understood why Kisame had left and offered him an official pardon to return to her village. With a little nudge from Itachi and him now having to spy on the Akatsuki for two villages at Kisame's request, Kisame returned to Kiri making Itachi's next actions much easier.
After Kisame left, Pain had found a unique defector from Kumo that not only had knowledge on how to defeat the Jinchūriki of the Hachibi but also how to find him. His name was Musai Tominaga and he had been Killer B's student in kenjutsu. The man had a unique ability that allowed him to suction other people's chakra to increase his strength. He tried doing this to Killer B and had run away when the village tried to arrest him. Musai was paired up with Itachi and since unlike with Kisame, Itachi had no attachments to the man, he was able to kill him quickly once they entered the Land of Fire. He left behind his ring and his cloak for Pain to find later.
Now for the first time since the massacre, Itachi was walking free, he was walking home, he was walking towards hope and towards the future.
...
Sasuke was running after Benzaiten at full speed, the crow had come to meet up with them 15 minutes ago and lead them to Itachi's exact location. Naruto, Karin and Yamato were just behind him, neither having the heart to tell him to slow down. They had set out at dawn this morning, trying to make it as quick as possible. Sasuke had been buzzing with excitement, almost forgetting to sign off when they had to leave. Not that anyone could blame him, Naruto knew exactly how much his friend had been missing his brother. Sure Itachi sometimes sent a clone to Konoha to meet up and train with Sasuke, but this was the first time the two of them will meet face to face since the Naka shrine. They continued on, running through the forest until a figure jumped in front of them.
"Aniki!" exclaimed Sasuke.
"Otouto..."
"You're here..."
"I'm here."
Sasuke launched himself from tree branch he was sitting on tackled his brother in a hug. Had Itachi not added extra chakra to his feet, they would have fallen off the tree. Itachi wrapped his arms around Sasuke and hugged him close.
"Welcome back, Itachi."
The older Uchiha smiled. "It's good to see you too, Sasuke."
Their reunion was broken up by Naruto. "Heya, Itachi-san. I'm Naruto, Sasuke's best friend, no matter what he tells you."
Sasuke rolled his eyes as he let go of his brother. Itachi smiled. "It's nice to properly meet you, Naruto. Sasuke told me a lot about you. Sorry about the-"
Naruto waved him off. "Nah, don't worry about it, I know it was all an act, water under the bridge, really."
"It's nice to meet you as well, Itachi-san. I'm Karin and this is captain Yamato."
"Ah, we actually already met." said Yamato. "We were teammates in the ANBU."
"It's good to see you too, Tenzō. Or, Yamato, now, I suppose."
"Whichever is fine, though I have grown fond of Yamato."
"Wait, your real name isn't Yamato?" asked Sasuke.
"I don't actually really have a name. I was in the ROOT for most of my childhood and you know how they are about names-"
"I knew I should have punched Danzo harder." muttered Naruto.
"-I was given a name when I left the ROOT to put on official documents, but I might change it to Yamato officially, since I prefer it. After all, it's the name you kids know me by."
"Aw, we love you too, captain."
"Well, now that that's out of the way, we should get moving. We're three hours away from Konoha and I want to make it back by lunch." said Karin. They all nodded and began the trek back.
...
They arrived at the gates a little after 12, and judging by the unsurprised looks of Izumo and Kotetsu, Tsunade had already informed the village of Itachi, his situation and what Danzo had done. Itachi slowed down as they neared the gate, looking at it with an unreadable expression. He never though he would be able to return. Sasuke put an arm around his shoulders, prompting him to look at his younger brother.
"Let's get you home."
They stepped together through the gate and into the village proper.
"Well I'll be damned, never thought I'd see the day, Itachi Uchiha returns to the village." said Kotetsu.
Sasuke sent them a warning look but Itachi just smiled as he picked up a pen and signed his name as a person entering the village for the first time in 8 years. "I'm happy to be here."
"Yeah, Tsunade just told the whole village about Danzo and the massacre." said Izumo. "Sorry about that, by the way." Itachi nodded in response.
"We should really get going." said Karin. "Tsunade-sama doesn't like waiting."
They took the rooftops all the way to the Hokage Tower. The entire time, Itachi spent it looking around at the village, at people, cataloguing how it had changed in the years he was gone. His favourite dango stall seems to have been closed, there was a new Yakitori one in it's place. His favourite tea house was still there though and when he commented on it, Sasuke chuckled and promised him they will get some tea there soon. Soon, they reached the tower and for once, entered through the door like normal people.
"I see you made it back safely." said Tsunade. "I'm glad. Should I worry about any Akatsuki members showing up for revenge?"
"For me, no, they might come after Naruto however."
"Did you hear anything?"
"Not about Naruto, for now they are focusing on locating Killer B, the Hachibi."
"I see."
"What? We should warn him!" said Naruto.
"I'll send a letter to Kumo later, brat. For now I have bigger fish to fry. I would also like to officially welcome Itachi back to Konoha and tell you that you are officially pardoned. You are now free to do whatever you wish inside the village, be it returning to active duty or retire entirely."
"Thank you, Hokage-sama."
"Also," Tsunade continued. "for your work as a spy in the Akatsuki, you will be handed monetary compensation. Once the paperwork goes through and your bank account is unfrozen, you will receive the payment and have access to your clan's funds as the only adult of your clan. This also means that Sasuke, you have lost access to that fund and will have to ask your brother for money outside of what you receive from missions."
"I can live with that." said Sasuke.
"I thought as much. Furthermore, until the trial takes place, 3 days from now, Itachi, as a witness you will be guarded by two ANBU that I have carefully picked myself. As you can guess, you will be staying with Sasuke from now on in his apartment."
"Understood."
"Good. And finally," The Godaime rose from her seat and bowed. "As Hokage I would like to apologize for all that you have been forced to endure. Hiruzen-sensei should have never let Danzo and his teammates treat your clan that way, nor should he have allowed Danzo to live after what he had done. You and your clan deserved better and you have my deepest apologies regarding what happened. I promise you as Hokage to never let something like this happen again."
Itachi's eyes widened at Tsunade's actions, he barely knew what to say. He was already lucky enough to be allowed back into the village, this...this was way more than he was expecting. "Thank you, Hokage-sama. For everything."
Tsunade rose. "Alright then, I won't keep you any longer, I imagine Sasuke would like to bring you home. You can return once the trials are over to discuss what you would like to do next."
"Understood."
...
Naruto had ended up dragging them to Ichiraku, insisting Itachi has what is, in his opinion, the best food as his first meal back in the village. Teuchi and Ayame had greeted the older Uchiha like he was any other customer and the older cook even promised him a 20% discount for the first month on any meal he purchased there. After that, the cousins and Yamato left as Sasuke and Itachi returned to his apartment. After entering, Sasuke gave his brother a small tour before leaving to make some tea. All alone in the living room, Itachi looked at what few photos and knickknacks Sasuke had.
The living room had been converted in a half office, having both a black couch and an office table with what he recognized to be his father's velvet red chair. There were two pictures on it, one with Team 7 from their genin days, judging from the outfits it must have been taken during the Konoha Ranks Convocation, and one of him, Ibiki and Anko, the kunoichi had him in a headlock while Sasuke scowled at her, Ibiki was behind them, looking as impassive as ever. There were a few figurines scattered amongst the papers and as Itachi neared to read them he saw that they were reports on the creation of a new jutsu, Kirin.
Curiosity getting the better of him, Itachi returned to Sasuke's bedroom to observe it as well. On Sasuke's nightstand was a plush pillow and a bowl filled with fruits and nuts, Benzaiten was smugly sitting on the pillow, eating. Sasuke spoiled the crow rotten in the years she stayed with him. Next to his bed his chokutō and the Raijin no Ken were framed on the wall. Above his bed there was a shelf with an aloe vera plant and two pictures. His first picture with his team and one of their family, that had Itachi's face taped back. Itachi picked it up to take look at it, his eyes pricking with tears. God did he miss his parents, and he had no one to blame but himself for their demise. He wishes they could see the amazing person Sasuke had become, they would have been so proud.
An arm wrapped around his shoulders and he turned his head to see Sasuke also gazing at the picture.
”Welcome home, aniki.”