The Foolish Itachi

Naruto's mindscape.

"Ah, nice to meet you. I'm Trumpet Nine."

A hazy mass of Chakra floated in midair, greeting the Nine-Tails with a cheerful voice.

"Who the hell are you?!"

The Nine-Tails roared and slammed a paw against the sealing gate.

"How dare you toy with me!"

"Didn't I tell you? My name is Trumpet Nine. Doesn't that name sound familiar?"

Shien said with a grin. When he had grabbed Naruto and tossed him out earlier, he had taken the chance to siphon off a huge wave of Chakra.

Now, he could finally meet Naruto's personal old... oh, old fox. And quite the tsundere old fox, too.

The Nine-Tails could tell the other party was deliberately teasing him, so it simply shut its mouth.

Seeing that the Nine-Tails refused to take the bait, Shien was in no hurry.

They would have plenty of time together in the future. With enough Chakra, he extended his senses outside.

He found Naruto lying on his bed, giggling foolishly.

But Naruto's home was, to put it mildly, a complete mess. Empty instant noodle cups that had not been thrown away were everywhere.

Dirty clothes he had worn but never washed, along with miscellaneous trash, had all been tossed onto the floor.

"What's got you so happy?"

Shien's voice reached Naruto's ears.

Naruto immediately flipped upright, frantically calling out in his mind.

"Trumpet Nine, I've been waiting for you forever!"

"All right, all right. Didn't I wake up?"

"You still haven't told me why you're so happy."

Naruto had completely forgotten what he wanted to ask and quickly said,

"Today, Aunt Mikoto helped put medicine on me and even treated me to dinner."

"She said I could go to her house for meals from now on."

"Aunt Mikoto is just the best!"

Shien laughed to himself. Naruto really was easy to please. A little bit of concern was enough to make him this happy.

"If you leave your home this messy and Mikoto comes up to see it, she won't like you anymore."

"What?!"

Naruto sprang off the bed.

He looked around the room and scratched his head awkwardly.

"I guess... I guess you're right."

Without caring what time it was, Naruto began clumsily cleaning up the mess in his home.

As he cleaned, he seemed to suddenly remember something and froze.

"Ah, Trumpet Nine, you still haven't told me why I'm the Nine-Tails' Jinchuriki!"

Shien was a little speechless. Naruto could really be scatterbrained sometimes. He had completely inherited his mother's personality.

"Do you have kitchen utensils?"

Naruto scratched his head. "Yeah, but what does that have to do with why I'm the Nine-Tails' Jinchuriki?"

"It does. Go get a knife from the kitchen, and you'll understand."

To get to the bottom of it, Naruto quickly ran into the kitchen and took out a kitchen knife.

The knife was still brand-new. After all, he could not cook, so those things were merely decorations.

"Can this knife cut fruit?"

Naruto blanked for a moment, then honestly answered, "Yeah."

"Then if it cuts someone, will they bleed?"

Naruto answered without hesitation, "Of course."

"If a bad person used this knife to kill someone—"

"Should the knife be blamed, or the bad person?"

Naruto naturally replied, "It has nothing to do with the knife. It's all that bad person's fault."

Shien patiently guided him. "So, you can think of the Nine-Tails as a sharp weapon. Whoever made you the Nine-Tails' Jinchuriki originally wanted to protect you."

"It has nothing to do with the suffering you endured."

"Then why does everyone bully me?"

Naruto thought about it for a long time. He no longer dwelled on who had made him the Nine-Tails' Jinchuriki.

He only wanted to know why he was bullied.

"I know the reason, but why should I tell you?"

Naruto was instantly dumbfounded. All these years, he had always been alone. The only person who had interacted with him was the Third Hokage.

He simply did not know how to get along with people.

"Then... Trumpet Nine, what do I have to do for you to tell me?"

"If this place is clean in a week, I'll tell you."

As he spoke, Shien's voice gradually faded away.

"Trumpet Nine? Trumpet Nine?!"

Naruto called out several times, but received no response.

He knew Trumpet Nine had gone back to sleep.

He looked around the entire room. It really did seem rather messy.

Naruto rolled up his sleeves and got to work.

Hearing the clattering upstairs, Sasuke felt annoyed.

His family used to live in a detached house. There had never been such a thing as upstairs, downstairs, or neighbors.

He rushed upstairs and found Naruto carrying a bucket of water as he mopped the floor.

"What are you doing, Naruto?!"

Naruto looked innocent. "Huh? I'm cleaning my room."

Sasuke's anger flared. "Who cleans their room in the middle of the night?"

"You're making too much noise!"

Naruto scratched his head. Only then did he realize Sasuke lived downstairs and would probably be disturbed.

"Sorry. I'll do it tomorrow instead."

Seeing the bruises that had yet to fade from Naruto's face, Sasuke could not bring himself to say anything more.

He turned and went downstairs.

Watching Sasuke's retreating back, Naruto felt a little less alone.

Rain Country.

Amegakure.

The sky was eternally dark and overcast. Rain fell in an endless drizzle, and even indoors, the air remained damp.

Two figures clad in black robes patterned with red clouds walked silently through a narrow passage formed by steel pipes.

They were Fugaku Uchiha and Itachi Uchiha, who had just officially joined the Akatsuki.

"That masked man who called himself 'Madara Uchiha' hasn't shown himself," Itachi said calmly, though a trace of urgency lurked beneath his voice.

"Heh. What Madara Uchiha? You joined the ANBU too early and know too little."

"There are many books in the clan archives recording Madara Uchiha's life, but few people cared to read them."

During their time together, Fugaku and Itachi had both realized they barely knew anything about each other.

They had been father and son for over a decade, yet they were less familiar than strangers.

Although father and son could finally speak properly now, the price they had paid was far too great. Neither felt any joy.

There was only regret. They both regretted everything.

Though Fugaku had put it gently, Itachi still felt like an ignorant fool.

After Shisui, resurrected through Impure World Reincarnation, had shattered his obsessive beliefs, Itachi had gradually begun to examine himself.

It turned out he was just like the other clansmen—fanatical, stubborn, and headstrong.

His so-called "capacity" was little more than a joke.

Itachi said nothing, but Fugaku knew he had taken the words to heart.

Changing the subject, Fugaku comforted Itachi.

"There's no need to rush, Itachi. No matter how deeply a fox hides, as long as it remains in its den, its tail will eventually show."

Itachi's lips moved, but he still asked, "Father, why must we investigate that person?"

Fugaku's gaze swept across the droplets of water clinging to the wall, his tone grim.

"On the night of the Nine-Tails Incident, that mysterious person who controlled the Nine-Tails... I suspect it was him."

"Only someone with space-time ninjutsu like his could freely enter and leave Konoha."

"He let the Uchiha Clan be falsely accused for so many years. How could we possibly let him go?"

Itachi's entire body trembled, disbelief filling his eyes.

At last, he understood why his father had joined the Akatsuki without hesitation after hearing about his conversation with that "Madara."

On one hand, Fugaku had joined the organization to secure room for the surviving clansmen to live.

On the other, he wanted to investigate the mastermind hiding behind the scenes from closer range.

Besides, they truly had nowhere else to go.

Even though both of them possessed astonishing strength, having betrayed both their clan and Konoha, they were like drifting duckweed with no foundation at all.

Fugaku knew the past could no longer be changed. No matter what, he wanted to do more for the clan.

"Tap, tap, tap..."

Along with the footsteps came a cold, clammy presence, like that of a snake, spreading through the passage...