1 Sasuke's Revenge?

Kakashi stares at the stranger in front of him. The stranger wearing his student's face.

"Were you really going to kill her?"

Flashback-

The words are an echo. He's said them before, on a hospital rooftop. An angry, hurting boy, glaring up at him through his hair.

("Were you really going to kill him?")

Flashback Ends!

He failed that boy that day. The result now stands before him.

"How far you've fallen, Sasuke."

Sasuke's face is unreadable. His eyes are as cold as his brother's once were, and they carry the same emptiness. They stare straight through him.

"Don't make me kill you," Kakashi says. His voice doesn't waver, but the words break his heart.

The corner of Sasuke's mouth pulls up into a smirk. He looks completely unhinged. There's a wildness to his expression, a madness to his eyes.

Sasuke- "You speak as if you could."

From behind him, Sakura lets out a small sob. The sound pierces Kakashi's heart. How did we get here? he wonders. How did it come to this?

This being two of his students behind him and one of them in front; Kakashi standing between them, forced to act as a shield. This being the kunai that barely missed Sakura's throat, the blood dripping down Sasuke's face like tears.

This being a man in an orange mask, with a Sharingan eye and an unbelievable story. A story about a thirteen-year-old boy who loved his brother so much, he soaked his hands in the blood of his kin to keep him safe. The story of a shinobi so loyal, he protected his village by killing his own heart.

It can't be true. It can't be. Itachi Uchiha was a cold-blooded murderer.

But if it is then…

Sasuke smiles, and the expression isn't right on his face. It's sharp, and wild, and broken.

Sasuke- "Don't act as if you're still my sensei. I'm itching to kill you, Kakashi!"

And it's wrong. All of it is wrong.

"No," Kakashi responds, certain in a way he can't explain. "You're not."

The gleam of madness in his eyes falters for the briefest moment, giving way to a desperation that it steals Kakashi's breath.

Sasuke's hands shake violently at his sides. "What do you know," he snarls, words spilling wildly from his lips. "You damn outsider—you're just as bad as him! How dare you flaunt that eye in front of me!!"

He's at the edges. Fluctuating wildly between a cold calm and a wild rage. Each second that passes only serves to further Kakashi's suspicions.

Kakashi knows what anger looks like on Sasuke Uchiha, and this isn't it. This isn't hatred, it's desperation. He's taking a page out of Itachi's book; he's putting on a face and forcing them to believe it.

"You don't want to kill me." Kakashi repeats, and his surety of his own words is strengthened as he says them. "You didn't even want to kill her!"

Kakashi knows what a mask looks like when he sees one. And Sasuke was never as good as Itachi at hiding behind one.

"You're wrong," Sasuke snarls, but the words are barely a breath. His hands are still shaking. "What do you know about Itachi—you don't know a fucking thing!"

"I know everything," he says, and Sasuke freezes. "I know about the coup. I know about the orders. Your new master in the mask told me all about it."

Sasuke's mouth twists, his jaw clenching. Kakashi watches him struggle, caught between snapping at Kakashi for calling the masked man his master, or addressing the greater issue.

"You didn't want to kill us." Kakashi continues. "And you didn't want to kill Danzo, either. You didn't have to attack the Five Kage Summit. There were easier ways to achieve your goal."

Rage sparks in Sasuke's eyes. Real this time. "Didn't want to kill him?" he repeats, his mouth an angry slash. "Do you know what he did? To Itachi, to my clan—"

"I'm not saying you didn't wish him dead." Kakashi says. And honestly, if what the masked man said is true, then Kakashi can't even blame him. "I'm saying that it wasn't your primary objective. This wasn't a revenge quest for you."

Sasuke's jaw is clenched so hard, it's a wonder he doesn't break his teeth. Kakashi can sense his two other students standing slightly behind him. Naruto is being unusually silent.

And this is where Kakashi's suspicion ends. Because he knows that Sasuke is putting on a show. He knows what he's trying to do. But he still doesn't understand why.

"You wanted to make them fight you. That's why you attacked at the Summit," he says. "Why? You had to have known it was a suicide mission—"

Sasuke goes still. Kakashi's eyes widen as realization strikes him. Coldness spreads through his body.

"That's what this whole thing was, wasn't it?" he demands. "Attacking the Five Kage Summit… you WEREN'T trying to kill them, you were trying to MAKE them kill you!"

Behind him, Sakura gasps. Kakashi stares at his student in horrified realization, his blood turning to ice.

"And that's why you tried to kill Sakura. You wanted us to kill you."

You wanted me to kill you.

Kakashi raises his hand. He lowers his headband back over his eye, into its usual slanted position. "No," he says, and his voice is firm. He takes a step back. "I won't do this. I won't help you kill yourself."

Sasuke's teeth snap together angrily. His eyes flash. "What do you know?" he snarls. "You think you know how I feel because you heard some fucking story? They're dead—they're all dead!"

Sasuke runs forward, shuriken appearing from the bands at his wrists. Kakashi draws back in surprise as the projectiles race towards him. His hands flash automatically through signs, pressing his palms to the ground.

"Earth Style: Earth Barrier!"

The shuriken slam into the stone wall that rises from the ground. Kakashi pulls up his headband again, exposing his Sharingan just as Sasuke appears behind him. He hears the familiar chirping of the Chidori, and ducks just as a fist of electricity slams into the wall behind him.

"Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto yells. He makes to move from Sakura's side, but Kakashi stops him with a look.

"Don't! Stay where you are! I'll handle this."

He doesn't want to fight Sasuke. All he can do is stay on the defensive.

"I won't kill you, Sasuke!" he yells. "You can't force me!"

Sasuke's eyes narrow. Then flicker to something behind Kakashi. With a sudden shunshin, his form flickers, disappearing from sight.

Kakashi's eyes widen in realization. He spins around. "Sakura!"

Sasuke appears behind her, a kunai in his hand. Naruto grabs her and throws them both to the ground, the blade slicing through air.

Kakashi's jaw tightens with anger. Calling his chakra to his feet, he reaches them in less than a second, falling into a defensive position.

"Enough," Kakashi says. He sees what Sasuke's doing, and he isn't going to stand for it. "Would you really kill them both just to force my hand? Are you really that far gone?"

"Did you not hear me before?" Sasuke asks. There's a darkness in his eyes that sends a chill down Kakashi's spine. "They're nothing. If I have to kill them to get you to fight me—"

"I already told you I won't." Kakashi takes a careful step forward. He stares into his student's blood-red eyes, and he tries to see something he recognizes. "It's not too late, Sasuke. We can still fix this."

Kakashi tries to see the twelve-year-old boy he once knew, buried beneath all the darkness and pain. He knows that he's still there.

"You can still come home."

Sasuke's mouth twists at the last word. "To Konoha?" he responds, and he says the word like something rotten, something vile. "They built their peace on the Uchiha Clan's blood. The only reason I'd ever return would be to burn it to the ground."

Behind him, Naruto makes a strange noise. Kakashi risks a quick glance; there's a look of horrified realization on his face, his blue eyes wide as he watches the scene.

He steps forward. "Itachi didn't want this," he says. "He wanted you to live. I know he did."

Sasuke's expression twists at his brother's name. The pain on his face steals Kakashi's breath.

"Itachi is dead! Don't you get it? He's dead! He told me to kill him, and I did it! He's dead, and it's my fault, so just fucking kill me!"

Naruto falters back, eyes wide. Kakashi takes another step forward, suddenly filled with understanding.

Kakashi thinks about Obito, buried under a cascade of rock. He thinks of Rin, a hole in her chest and her blood on his fingers. He understands. More than Sasuke will ever know.

"If everything about him is true, then that means he died to save you. Gave up everything," Kakashi tells him. "Now, you want to spit right in the face of his sacrifice by throwing yourself on the sword—"

"Shut up!" Sasuke yells. "It should've been me, not him! He should've just killed me that night just like everyone else! I'm fixing it—"

"By dying? By making me kill you?" Kakashi thinks about Rin jumping in front of his Chidori, of her blood against his skin. It won't wash off, it won't wash off—

"Do you have any idea what that would do to me?" he asks. "Do you even care? You're being completely selfish! Sasuke, you can't do this!!"

"Itachi did!" Sasuke yells, screams, and his eyes are full of anguish. They cut right down to Kakashi's soul. "He wanted to die! He chose to die! Why is he allowed to, but I'm not!?"

The sound of a thousand birds chirping fills the air. Kakashi's Sharingan barely catches the movement, and there's no time to dodge. Using lightning-fast reflexes, Kakashi's hand shoots out and grabs Sasuke's wrist.

"Itachi was wrong."

Sasuke goes still in surprise. Electricity crackles against Kakashi's hand, burning his skin.

Sasuke stares with wide eyes at his wrist, where Kakashi halted his Chidori, and he looks like he's seeing a ghost. When he raises his gaze to Kakashi's face, his eyes are haunted with memories.

His wrist goes slack in Kakashi's grip. The chirping sound of birds slowly dies away, the electricity fading from his fingers. Kakashi doesn't look away. He keeps his gaze locked with Sasuke's sharingan against his sharingan.

"He shouldn't have done what he did. He shouldn't have put that on you." His hand around Sasuke's wrist loosens. It falls back to his side. "If he wanted to die so badly, he should have done it himself."

Sasuke stares at him with eyes that still bleed red. Emotion swirls inside them. His fractures of emotions are held together by a single weak thread.

Kakashi places his hands on his shoulders. Wills him to understand.

"Sasuke, I'm sorry."

And Sasuke breaks. His knees give out, hitting the ground, and Kakashi goes with him. Sasuke lashes out at him violently, striking at his chest, trying to force a response.

"Fight back!" he snarls. The side of his fist slams into Kakashi's chest again. "Fight back, fight back—"

Kakashi winces from the blows, but holds his ground. "I won't," he says. He grabs Sasuke's arms as they continue to strike him. "I won't, Sasuke stop!"

Sasuke struggles against him. "I killed all those samurai. I nearly killed Karin, I tried to kill Sakura—I killed Itachi! Just kill me! Just fucking kill me!"

Kakashi's eyes burn. Sasuke continues to fight him, struggling to free his arms, but Kakashi refuses to let go. Kakashi pulls his student close. A sob breaks free from Sasuke's lips, a broken sound.

Sasuke's struggling begins to weaken. His entire body shakes. Eventually, he stops fighting. His hands, pushing uselessly at Kakashi's chest, now curl into the fabric of his shirt. Another sob is ripped free, wrenched from somewhere deep inside of him. It's followed by another and another.

The sound is like a knife to Kakashi's heart. After nearly a decade of trauma and grief, Sasuke is finally breaking. It should've happened years ago. It's a miracle it didn't happen sooner.

Kakashi kneels there on the ground, his arm circling around his student's back, awkward and with no idea what he's doing. But he holds the boy close anyway, rubs a hand down his back.

Sasuke's chin digs into his shoulder. He gasps through his tears.

"It's okay," Kakashi says, even though it's anything but. He has no idea how to do this. He's never held anyone like this, doesn't know how to comfort them. "What… what can I do? Anything."

His words sound stupid to his own ears. Stupid and inadequate.

"My brother," Sasuke chokes out. "I want… my brother…"

Kakashi feels his heart break. Sasuke gasps again, his fists tightening in Kakashi's shirt. He presses his face into Kakashi's shoulder.

"I want my brother, I just want my brother, PLEASE..."

From the corner of his eye, Kakashi sees Naruto turn his face away from the heartbreaking scene. Sakura's hand is covering her mouth, and her face is wet with tears.

There's nothing he can do, nothing he can say. Only one person can fix this, and he's no longer here.

Itachi Uchiha is dead. And with him, he took Sasuke's entire world.

"I'm sorry," Kakashi says, heart heavy with sorrow. "I'm sorry."

They stay like that for a long time. Sasuke know what he was doing is selfish. But he is always selfish and he has no shame in admitting it. He had decided already what he want to do and no one was going to change it. If he can't die and be with his brother then he will do something to make sure no one ever becomes like Itachi. With this new resolve he pushed kakashi away and jumped towards Madara and they got away.

"Sasuke!", Kakashi shouted. But he was not there anymore. And Naruto clenches his fist but couldn't do anything.

Somewhere inside Naruto, a crow caws.

In a dark cave Madara and Sasuke were found.

'Transplant me Itachi's eyes!', shouted Sasuke, to which Madara just nodded. Sasuke has already decided. And having Itachi's eyes will give him a felling as Itachi is with him. And that will be his support and will help him in following his dream. And he doesn't need anyone! He is alone! After all Uchihas are always alone.

[Finished! It's one-shot. And hope you enjoy.]