LEGACY

Tiga puluh satu

Chapter 31

A/N: So... I kinda hurry things up (you can notice it through this chapter on how messily I wrote this chapter) since working life's taking too much of my time. Guess adulthood is not what I expected it to be, especially when you reach your mid-20s lol. This story will reach its end in a few more chaps so I hope you enjoy it. And don't forget to vote on this story if you like it. It means a lot to me. Thanks and enjoy!

Warning: Cringe on Sasuke's part (oops, sorry not sorry).

~

By the time they reached home, Neji was already standing in front of the door. He bowed slightly and opened the door for his guests.

"Okaerinasai."

"Tadaima." A soft smile grazed Fumiko's face which immediately returned by Neji. As if having the same thinking, they held hand immediately. Neji then looked at Itachi and bowed deeply.

"Itachi-san," Itachi nodded as the both males went inside the house while engaging in conversation. A weird view, in Fumiko's opinion. She was not sure whether she would get used to the situation or not.

Fumiko then looked at Tenzo and raised her eyebrow. "Want to come and eat with us?"

"Nah, maybe next time." He yawned and stretched. "I need a long hot bath. Today's been tiring."

"If you say so." She nodded and went inside.

The twins were there, situated on their mini futon in the family room. Both of them were engaging in raspberry competition when they noticed their mother figure. Hiroto was the first to cry his lungs out and followed by his brother, making the female sighed.

"They miss you, you know." Itachi's voice came from behind her.

Fumiko did not answer her brother, but she scooped young Hiroto in her embrace. "Mind helping me with Haruma?"

"En." Itachi picked Haruma and put him on Fumiko's other hand. The babies stopped their cries immediately and started to cooed on the female Uchiha.

"You do know that from now on, you have to take care of the kids, right?" Fumiko raised her eyebrow.

Itachi sighed. "Hokage-sama asked me to come join the ANBU again. Or restart the Konoha police."

Fumiko went silence with her eyebrow furrowed. "Well," she said carefully, "it's up to you, actually. Though I think it's best if you're within the Hokage's circle. As one of her advisors, maybe. Or try to be her right hand."

"You want me to gain the Hokage's trust." Itachi frowned. "Why?"

"The villagers still don't trust you. Besides, you're ill and I believe the Akatsuki is going to targeting you for your betrayal." Fumiko shrugged. "The only safe point is by standing beside the Hokage."

They went silent for a while. "Is that the clan leader saying or my sister saying?"

"Clan leader, obviously." She snorted. "If it's up to me as your sister, you'd be the clan leader and not me."

"You're better in this than me." Itachi said. "We need a leader who'd choose over Konoha in a beat of their heart."

"And you're not?"

Itachi pressed his lips together before answering. "I'd choose you and Sasuke over the village. That's why the clan leaders want you to be the head clan. Because they know you won't even batter your eyes to choose Konoha over everything else."

"Is that... a bad thing?"

"No," Itachi shook his head. "you're Shisui's legacy. You know your priority. And for that, I'm proud of you."

"Nii-san..."

Before any of the siblings could say anything, Neji popped his head out and told them that the food is ready. Itachi took Hiroto from Fumiko and put him back down with a pacifier attached on his lips. Fumiko did the same to Haruma. They went to eat and enganged in a normal conversation.

Meanwhile, Sasuke was in Orochimaru's hideout. He shakily walked out of the room after successfully killing Orochimaru. Hurried footsteps were heard and soon, Kabuto stood in front of Sasuke.

"Oh! Uh, you're... Orochimaru-sama, right? The ritual went well?" The Uchiha boy did not answer him, making the light-colored haired man continued, taking Sasuke's silence as a yes. "As you thought, Orochimaru-sama, Uchiha Fumiko finally did it."

"Uchiha," Sasuke's eyes went sharp. "Fumiko?"

"Yes. She proved Itachi's innocence in the massacre." Kabuto nodded. "They tested a new technique in gathering information from the source and since Fumiko-san is already dying, it just fastened the process."

Kabuto handed Sasuke a bundle of papers. "She already lost her eyesight. Now, we only have to wait for a bit longer for her to die, just as you wanted, Orochimaru-sama."

Sasuke opened the bundle and started reading. The whole process of how Fumiko was being interrogated until Itachi's interrogation were there. The poor boy widened his eyes.

If Fumiko knew about all of these, Sasuke thought gravely, why didn't she tell me?

He gasped when he suddenly remembered his conversation with his sister.

"Your sharingan, it's Mangekyo, isn't it?" Young Sasuke asked.

Fumiko stopped in her track and raised her eyebrow. "Why?"

"That man," Sasuke spatted, "he told me in order to defeat him, I need to possess Mangekyo sharingan. He... he said that if only I possess Mangekyo, I would be able to stand on his level. I desperately want to—"

"Sasuke," Fumiko called his name coldly. "what if I told you that Itachi was not the real culprit?"

"W-what are you talking about, nee-san?!" Sasuke reached for her and with his trembling hand, he gripped her shoulder. "You weren't there. He's the one who killed kaa-san and tou-san. I saw it! He's guilty!"

Fumiko stared at her brother rather emotionlessly, though the boy could see sadness in her eyes. "Like I said, what if he was not the real culprit?"

"That damned bitch." Sasuke cursed. His grip on the paper tightened just as much as his heart hurting. "Why she didn't tell me?! Why are they hiding all of these from me?! What do they take me as? A joke?! Why—Arghhhh, my eyes!"

Sasuke suddenly let go of the papers, making them fell down on the floor while he held on his eyes. It felt like an elephant ran over him with thousand of kunais attached to its body. Blood was seeping out the socket of his beads.

"O-Orochimaru-sama?"

There was a pregnant silence. The Uchiha boy finally looked up, however, flashing his newly Mangekyo sharingan. "This is all Konoha's fault. I'd be damned if I don't avenge the death of my family."