A Chance Encounter

Chapter 7

Itachi noticed his father and 'older' younger brother watching him from the porch. He left Sarada to play in the grass and walked over to them.

"Hello little brother" he teased Sasuke. He couldn't help but smile seeing his brother again. "Itachi."

"Uncle Tachi!" Sarada called out for him. Sasuke smiled at his daughter. He was happy that she finally got to meet her Uncle and not just hear bedtime stories about him.

"We can talk more later Sasuke." And he jogged back over to Sarada and sat on the ground next to her, she wanted to show him a rock she found it turned out.

"Sasuke, tell me about what happened. There's more than you're letting on." Fugaku pulled his attention from his brother and daughter back to their previous conversation.

Sasuke ran a hand through his hair while he was thinking. This was more than he anticipated, how was he supposed to tell his father without saying what Itachi did.

"It's- it's hard to explain."

"Try Sasuke." His father was looking more concerned by the minute which was out of character for him. He was normally so stoic and unfeeling.

"Let's not do this here" and he nodded his head at Itachi and Sarada down in the yard. Itachi was lying on his back while his niece played with his long dark hair.

The men moved further down the porch before Sasuke spoke again. He took a deep breath, "I can't tell you specifics, but Itachi needs separated from him immediately."

This surprised Fugaku, "From Itachi? How does that correlate to your previous encounters?" his father asked.

"I can't tell you, I just can't. But I didn't know until now that he was involved with him, I didn't even know he was from Konoha."

"I can reach out to Danzo and-"

"No!" Sasuke cut him off angrily, "Not Danzo, he can't be trusted either."

Fugaku stayed silent after his son's outburst to give him a moment to calm down. This was a difficult situation and Sasuke was obviously having a hard time processing everything.

Sasuke started pacing back and forth on the back porch. Fugaku stepped inside to talk with Sakura.

"Sakura, please talk with Sasuke. He needs someone he can talk to, he needs you." She immediately got up from her seat and went outside to find her husband. He was still pacing on the porch.

"Sasuke" she called out to him gently. When his dark eyes met her light ones she immediately felt all his emotions, his heart was truly in turmoil. He walked over and wrapped his arms around her waist and buried his face in the crook of her neck.

"I had no idea Sakura" he whispered. She gently rubbed her hands up and down his back to soothe him. "What happened today Sasuke?"

"Hiroto was involved in the Clan's massacre" he whispered again. Her body tensed at his words, she pulled him back to hold his face in her hands, "Are you certain?"

He nodded, not saying a word.

"I had no idea. After all these years I still didn't fully know what happened to my family."

They went and sat on the very end of the porch, out of earshot from his family, and he filled her in on all the details of his encounter with Hiroto at the station.

• • • • •

Although he had requested for both of his sons to be home this afternoon neither had shown up yet. Fugaku did not dwell, he figured they were off training together. This also allowed them to all talk about the current situation without worry of them eavesdropping.

"So Sasuke, what are you thinking?" Mikoto asked her youngest son.

"I'm thinking of all the different ways I can kill him" he muttered under his breath. Sakura elbowed him in the side. He scowled at her but continued, "I don't know how much of an influence he has had on Itachi already but they need to be separated."

"Influenced how?" Mikoto asked.

"Just know it's not in a good way. Itachi is a good person but because of Danzo and Hiroto he does something terrible, for their benefit."

Fugaku's temper began to rise, "Then why don't we just move in on them now? The Uchiha are not ones to cross, we can over take The Foundation easily."

"Fugaku-" Mikoto started to scold her husband but Sasuke cut them both off.

"No! That mindset is what has put them on this path! They despise the Uchiha! That's why-"

Sasuke immediately stopped talking when he realized what he almost revealed in his anger.

Fugaku furrowed his brow, "That's why what, Sasuke?" His patience was running thin, he was tired of the secrecy.

He took a calming breath before continuing, "That's not an option. Just forget about it."

Fugaku decided to press the issue, "You can't hide everything Sasuke. You even told me yourself our own granddaughter has never met us! How do you expect me to sit by and let my son be manipulated?!" He was yelling now, his anger becoming too much to control.

Mikoto gasped and looked to Sasuke, "Is it true?" He could hear the pain in her voice but he couldn't lie to her any longer. Her face dropped when he confirmed that what Fugaku said was true.

"We have to go at this strategically. I was going to wait until we go back to our time to handle this but the situation has changed."

"We have to make the move before they do Sasuke."

"Don't you think I realize that?! You don't know that I've played every single second of what is coming over and over in my head for the last 15 years. You don't know what I have had to suffer through because of this one man!"

Sasuke and Fugaku were now both standing face to face, the tension was thick between them.

Mikoto stood and gently placed her hands on their chests, pushing them a part. "This isn't helping you two."

Sasuke scoffed at his father and walked out the door. He needed space to figure out how he was going to stop Hiroto, his father was obviously not going to listen to him. He would have to do it on his own.