yourhatred | eighteen crows (朱) voice/action

[This is Itachi we're talking about. The wildlife is safe.]

Likewise, I have never actually met a pirate before now, though I would not be surprised to find that they actually existed in my world aside from stories.

[If anyone knew the answer to that it would be a mist ninja.]

Mm? It's usually pretty obvious when a pirate's around. Most of us aren't known for our abilities at stealth. [Save some of the Strawhat crew and himself, the pirating community is pretty damn loud and obvious.] But, if you have them, I imagine that they'll be different from what I'm used to. Probably taking more than a few cues from shinobi. [As you folk seem to be the dominant military power there.]

No doubt.

If they exist, they haven't caused much trouble among the main nations I'm familiar with. But then if they really wanted to run a smooth operation, then avoiding the main branches of ninja would be wise anyway.

If they wanted to just survive they'd have to. [Unless they were strong enough to take those ninja on, which in that case they wouldn't be stories anymore, would they?] The seas are unforgiving enough.

But it wouldn't be something Fire Country would have to worry much about anyway, given it's nearly landlocked, right? Much less Konoha. I hear it's as inland as it gets.

It would not be, no. The Land of Water would be the most at risk, and attacking the shores without a powerful crew would be highly inadvisable given the reputation of many ninja in that region.

[This is sailing away from where he wanted it to go. Time to correct course.]

And those that are powerful tend to be ninja already. Though I wonder if the notion would cross anyone's mind to begin with.

Perhaps.

[Though the nations had enough problems on their own without having to add outside issues.

He glances toward the pirate somewhat curiously. Certainly this isn't what they'd come out here for.]

[No it isn't. But even he isn't blunt enough to address the massacre out of the blue without some sort of lead in.

Not in these circumstances.]

As I said, we're from two different worlds. So there's major differences in beliefs, in mindsets in some areas. And that makes some things hard to grasp.

[And an exhausted sigh.]

Some actions hard to understand...

[You know where this is going now...]

[Itachi does know. He says nothing, stoic expression remaining as he continues to walk.

This isn't something he wished to discuss with outsiders, even those he's become closer with in this new world.]

[We all have to do what is painful and uncomfortable sometimes.

And it's not only uncomfortable for you.]

I've known for a long time, Itachi. Not only about what happened, but why it did.

[Itachi closes his eyes. The revelation doesn't upset him, really. With this place as it was, it had only been a matter of time before that news got around. Even as much as he didn't want it to.]

I'm not surprised. It's hard to keep a secret here.

[Sighing again.]

That's a small village for you. The mad experimentation doesn't help.

[Fixing his gaze upon the ocean. He's quiet.]

It's not alright, you know? What happened - what your leaders decided. All of it - it is what it is. It's not alright. I don't know what threat your clan's existence posed to motivate such an extreme order, and I don't know the consequences refusal would have brought. There's a lot of things I don't know. And a lot I probably wouldn't understand. ... I am not of your world. Not a shinobi.

Just a pirate.

[There were good reasons for why things had been done that way. If Itachi wanted, he could explain further.

Not yet, though. Not ever, if he could help it, though he knew that might just be wishful thinking at this point.

He shakes his head.]

No. It's not.

[It was never alright regardless.]

I neither expect nor ask forgiveness for it.

[And what is a good enough reason to justify genocide? Don't tell him war. Don't. War's not enough, not civil or inter-village, or international.]

Then explain it to me. Why was this ordered?

[Don't tell him it was blood. Blood is not inherently evil. A people are not inherently evil.

...

...

Help him understand.]

I know you don't, Itachi.

But.

Do you want it?

[It is wishful thinking. The time for secrets is over.]

[Itachi is once again silent for a time, weighing his options.

Then he stops walking, turning his head to the other man.]

You must realize, none of this should be known. I took measures to insure the information remained only with those who'd ordered it. It's very difficult for me to just openly speak of it now.

[The second question is ignored.]

[Ignored, huh? He'll take that as...

yes.]

I realize that. [And he can get why it is so hard to speak of, orders aside. It's not like he's free with his own past.

He stops. Looks at Itachi.]

But secrecy or not, it's out there now, on the journals. [There's no point in keeping it quiet anymore.] It's going to keep coming up.

[Might as well address it now.]

Edited 2011-08-23 04:19 (UTC)

[Another light sigh.

It's frustrating, because if he doesn't say it in his own words someone else is bound to get the message across differently.]

Negotiations had failed. They meant to throw a coup, which could possibly turn into war on a larger scale.

[... that makes sense. A coup. Something internal. Prevent war. He had been wracking his brain over that one these last months and an internal threat had made the most sense. He had not discounted, however, that someone outside was going to manipulate the Uchiha in some way for instance, and the decision made to get a dangerous element simply off the board.

But if there had been negotiations, wouldn't they have suspected that there might be a mole or something in the ranks? Negotiations suggest awareness on both sides about the developing situation, and certainly there would have been those in the Uchiha who could see where their activities might lead and how far people in the village would go to stop them. They were ninja too. Unless it was that unthinkable.

Troubling. Something smells a little wrong.]

In other words, the other ninja villages would smell blood in the water and move to take out Konoha while it was weakened due to internal strife. Which would not only effect the shinobi world but the civilian lands protected by them.

[Disturbed.]

So what were the reasons for the coup?

[Because this is important. There would have to be reasons... good reasons for this. He can't believe an entire clan would roll out of bed one morning and decide to plot a coup - not human nature. Especially not in a village where from nearly everyone Law's met has had such love and loyalty to the place. They had to have known the consequences of their actions... and what a coup would mean for them. Because if the other villages attacked while the Uchiha and Konoha were fighting, the Uchiha would certainly not escape unscathed either. Why be merciful to traitors? They could not be trusted... not if they turned on their own village. They would have known this. Should have anyway.

So what kind of grievance would inspire this?]

Edited 2011-08-23 22:27 (UTC)

They felt wronged.

[So much to explain, so little desire to do it.]

The Uchiha, as a whole, had been segregated to one part of the village in order to be kept an eye on. You have to realize a little bit about the clan to understand why. It was understandable that they felt the way they did, but the Uchiha are also often born with very powerful eye techniques capable of more than any one pair of eyes should rightfully be capable of.

[The Sharingan spins to life in his eyes.]

Around the time my younger brother was born, one of the tailed beasts of our world came and brought havoc upon our village. It was a repeat of a time in the past when the head of the Uchiha clan had fought the first leader of the village and been run out. Only the Uchiha had been known to be able to control it, and thus they speculated that they, or someone among them, might be responsible.

[Frowning more. Eye techniques... Is that what happened when first we met?

... in any case, the flow of Law's chakra might be... different. Haki. It does that to a guy.]

... I see where there could be problems. [Dry. It didn't just stop at segregation did it?] They were already being treated like traitors before they decided on any real treason.

[...

... what is a tailed beast? Is it like a Sea King?]

Had there been? From the way you say it, it doesn't sound like this attack was a coincidence.

...

[So few good ways to lay this all out.]

Uchiha Madara. He was the original leader of the Uchiha clan. It was he who shook hands with the leader of the Hashirama clan the day the two clans, originally hated rivals, joined up to create the Village Hidden in the Leaves. It was Hashirama and eventually his younger brother who would lead the village as Hokage. Madara had never wanted the union, after all - he'd gained his own brother's eyes in order to gain the most powerful form of the Sharingan for the sake of fighting their rivals, but the rest of the clan wanted an end to the years and years of fighting. He later fought the Hokage, controlling the nine-tailed fox, but was beaten and exiled. To try and mend connections with the Uchiha, the Hokage gave them control of the Konoha Military Police Force.

Unfortunately, this could also be looked upon, and possibly was, a way to keep the Uchiha under close watch and out of the affairs of the village government. After the nine-tails attacked again and they were segregated, the clan took this as a sign that Madara had been right about the way they would be treated all along.

Madara was responsible for the second nine-tails attack, so many decades after the first. It's perhaps his perfected Sharingan that allows him to live so long. He lives still, from what I hear of how he's been manipulating my younger brother.

I was the one who told the elders of the intended coup. When negotiations failed, I found Madara. He agreed not to attack the village in exchange for being allowed to help me destroy his own clan, they who had turned their backs on him.

We spared no one but my brother, and I went into exile while making them promise that Sasuke would never see me as anything more than an enemy. That the Uchiha name could continue to be respected after it's destruction.

That's how it is. And now you know.

...

[He closes his eyes. It's a lot to take in.

-this tailed thing was a fox... kitsune?-

-the eye techniques are from the Sharingan... which is the state your eyes are in right now... and to get stronger you switch them? Are you people going to want to do that here-

-you didn't kill them alone. But... a deal... you had to know that wouldn't be honored... or only honored to the exact letter of the agreement-

-the discrimination is ancient.. the grudges ancient... and that's why they immediately looked at the Uchiha. Aside from their ability to control the fox.-

-this discrimination and these old grudges made it SO easy for Madara to manipulate everyone behind the scenes. All that was needed was a push and everyone would move exactly as he wanted. Even you, Itachi.-

-These deaths, this genocide... it's even worse than simple murder, simple massacre, isn't it...

In following these orders, you gave Madara exactly what he wanted...-

-You truly set up your own demise. Suicide by your brother.-

-You still want this secret, even here. Still want to be hated. You need to be hated for this, don't you, Itachi? It's better than the guilt. Being punished helps relieve that ache.

Tough.

You are his friend. He refuses to hate you. There's already been enough.-

You all were played.]

... so, in the end, it all boils down to revenge. An elaborate, ongoing plot for revenge against anyone who supposedly wronged him and their descendants.

[Magnificent bastard. If ever Trafalgar Law got his hands on Uchiha Madara, if ever time and space and Luceti delivered him to his clutches? He'd kill him slowly. By inches.]

...

Mother Ocean, it's a lot to take in.

Yes. I'm afraid so.

I had thought that once Sasuke had finished me he'd be able to return to Konoha. Restart the Uchiha line if he wished. Live the rest of his life.

But apparently that wasn't the case. Madara got to him first, and now I have to leave my hopes in the hands of another.

Edited 2011-08-29 05:36 (UTC)

[A heavy look. Held long. Experienced.] It's never that simple.

[Would Sasuke have gone back if Madara hadn't interfered? Given what he knows of your brother, and what he knows of people, and what he knows of revenge, and every feeling he himself had experienced...

No. He thinks no.

Sighing:]

And that's there. Here... well, do you still plan on keeping all of this secret for one?

eighteen crows (朱) voice/action

[Action]

[Action]

[Action]

[Action]

[Action]

[Action]

[Action]

[Action]

[Action]

[Action]

[Action]

[Action]

[Action]

[Action]

[Action]

[Action]

[Action]

[Action]

[Action]

[Action]

[Action]

[Action]

[Action]

[Action] 1/2

[Action] Done

[Action]

[Action]

[Action]

[Action]

[Action]

[Action]

[Action]

[Action]

[Action]

[Action]

[Action]

[Action]

[Action]

[Action]