[Fic] It’s Just That Any One of Us Is Half Without Another One Is You – Chapter Eleven

[branchandroot]

Cross-post from my archive.

Fandom/Arc: Avalanche, Naruto
Characters/Pairings: Deidara, Haruno Sakura, Hatake Kakashi, Hoshigaki Kisame, Hyuuga Neji, Maito Gai, Uchiha Itachi, Uchiha Sasuke, Uzumaki Naruto
Summary: Sasuke faces his brother again. Fortunately, Sakura and Naruto are there for him, and he finds the space in his head to do what he has to do. Involves character death.
Meta: Drama, Action, Angst, I-5
Wordcount: 5888

Sakura gripped his shoulder hard. "Are you all right?" she asked, low. Sasuke took a slow breath and yanked his thoughts back into order. Naruto was going after Gaara's body, and Kakashi would take care of him. The Sand teams probably had Sasori in hand. He was here, with Sakura and Gai's team, and Itachi was in front of them. He had backup, today, to go with opportunity, and his brother was standing in front of him. Now. The time to take Itachi down was now. That was all he needed to think about.

Read: It's Just That Any One of Us Is Half Without Another One Is You - Chapter Eleven

Comments

[annotated_em]

Oh, purr purr purrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

[branchandroot]

*grins* Figured I'd post now you're done.

[annotated_em]

That was probably wise of you, heh.

[edenfalling]

Eeeeeeeeeeeee!!! Oh, Sasuke. "You’re the last Uchiha, I don’t see why you can’t do whatever you please and call that what Uchihas do." Yes. YES. EXACTLY. And he turns away from Mangekyou, just as he did at first in the manga, only here he has the support to make that stick and to find a GOOD alternative instead of, you know, betraying his village and running off to apprentice to a madman.

Before Kishimoto's retcons, I was of the opinion that Itachi made no sense and therefore had to be insane in some way. After them, I am still of the opinion that Itachi is/was insane, if only because killing your family (under orders or not) and being a deep cover spy for nearly a decade would HAVE to do a number on his emotional and mental stability, which might -- might -- explain why he was skewed enough to think torturing Sasuke right before the timeskip made any sense at all, regardless of his need to maintain his cover with Kisame. But yeah, it's much simpler and less brain-twisting to stick with him being a genuine villain. (As for the Tobi thing, I am so with you. That whole mess was just stupid.)

Hmm. Other things, other things... I like that Sasuke notices Gai focusing on Itachi's feet. I like how Neji can fall into a smooth team with Sakura and Sasuke, though it's not quite the same as if they had Naruto there. I wonder what the repercussions of Naruto almost completely losing it will be -- obviously he needs to learn to keep a leash on himself and think, and I bet a lot of people will be chewing him out over this mission. I want to know what happened with Gaara, Deidara, Kakashi, and Naruto. Is Gaara dead or did Chiyo revive him as in canon? I guess that will have to wait for next week, though. *sigh* Also, Gai and Kisame -- what's up with their fight? Is this all over, or is the confrontation ongoing and Team 7 will have to keep fighting while drained physically and emotionally?

*attempts patience* :-)

[branchandroot]

*hearts* Yes, Sasuke's team makes this whole thing work out SO MUCH BETTER. Oh my goodness.

That's about the best explanation I've ever heard for Itachi Tsukiyomi-ing Sasuke. And, as you say, it's still a stretch. Of course, the essential premise, that people we are supposed to think are otherwise honorable and even a little bit wise would EVER IMAGINE assigning Itachi to kill his clan in the name of PEACE is insane in and of itself, so.

*grins* The chase of Deidara went almost exactly as it did in canon. And Gai's fight with Kisame went almost exactly as /their/ second fight in canon, only it was the real Kisame this time so Gai has to kick it up another notch. I'm not really covering those because they /are/ almost exactly as in canon. The aftermath is coming up!

[inoru_no_hoshi]

*pets the pretty, pretty fic* :D

[branchandroot]

*grins* I love getting to the sweet parts, even if they're usually /also/ the hard parts.

[theodosia21]

Yay~ I love this story so much, thanks for posting! ^_^

[branchandroot]

*thumbs up* I really, really liked writing Itachi's death, I have to admit.

[mitsuhachi]

oh shiiiiii-----

I'm really digging, still, how willing Sasuke is to let Sakura move him, that he knows he can trust her that much, that she'll give him his revenge. It's almost submissive, for something so active and violent. Team 7's power dynamics are made of so much shiny.<3

And Jiraya's teaching, knocking sasuke out of his freak-out, man. Jiraya's teaching, and Kakashi's teaching, and Neji's support and Sakura's support and I just. Shonen anime often has those moments where the whole cast works together to make on crowning moment of awesome happen for someone and you just sort of flail and go I LOVE EVERYONE FOREVER YES. That's pretty much how I feel right now.

[branchandroot]

*hearts* I /loved/ this chapter. And, yes! Sasuke really is very willing to be directed by Sakura, and she, um, kind of likes that a lot I do have to say.

There are a few moments like that in this arc, and they make me sparkle every time. It's just so /right/ for how the show started (before Kishimoto fucked up his genre signals).