Chapter 14 Notes

Author’s notes: This chapter brings a lot of things full circle. Katsuro’s origins have been revealed, as well as how he has changed because of Sakura. The person he was in the beginning would never stick up for her the way he does now. So these notes either reflect some aspect of character change or the resolution of earlier statements, intentions, emotions. 

Chapter notes

• Katsuro blew a long, low breath, closed his eyes, and cursed himself again for going so deep in the gentjutsu. — About genjutsu sickness: This idea is based on Kakashi’s recuperation after being caught in Itachi’s genjutsu, and later when he uses the mangekyo sharingan. Both resulted in a several days in bed. The rules would be that this great power has some serious drawbacks, whether you’re the user or the victim. Katsuro (and anyone really) can do thin, quick interrogation ones with little impact to either user or victim, but the longer it drags out the worse it is for both. Itachi is infinitely better, but he doesn’t care about anyone’s well-being, so he’s more likely to kill his victim. 

• Either Katsuro had grossly underestimated his former village or, he thought with a measure of disbelief, his superior had given him faulty information. — Katsuro is beginning to see Itachi in a new light. It’s the first crack in seeing that the way things have been presented may not be true. 

• “It is obvious you have an attachment to her. But attachments will get you killed,” Itachi said, pointing the hilt of the weapon accusingly at him. “Her fate was sealed the moment you picked her.”   — This is the truth of it all, that Katsuro is the one who is responsible for her being in this situation. So, just like Sakura with the kids in the ambush, this reinforces that Katsuro will feel like he is personally responsible for her and the he is the only one who can save her.

• Katsuro’s emotions still rose to the surface in physical nuances. Even in defiance, he was as easy to read as a book. — The techniques Katsuro has used with Sakura, observing for a purpose, he has learned from Itachi, who is infinitely better. This is a little taste of Itachi’s manipulation that has helped shape Katsuro. Even used the same line Katsuro used on Sakura, about being read like a book.

• “If she’d said she wanted to stay with you, I’d have killed her on the spot,” Itachi said coldly. — Katsuro has some idea now that his plan from the day before would have failed horribly. He had wanted her to go along, but showing that kind of weakness in front of Itachi would have been a death sentence. Ultimately both Sakura and Itachi were raised Konoha nin, to never give in. They are just flip sides of the coin. So just as she would never knowingly give information about her village, if she did Itachi would deem her worthless. This is something Katsuro just can’t see yet. He was raised with the hard, unyielding, determined aspect from Itachi, and can’t understand the reason why you protect something. This is the side that Sakura brings. 

• Everything was unraveling, Katsuro thought, and Itachi still wasn’t giving him a straight answer. — Reference to the golden ribbon metaphor from the first chapter and the ambush chapter. Both of those referred to a path, and for the bulk of this chapter there is no clear path for Katsuro.

• He didn’t correct her. That only meant one thing. Tears stung her eyes. She should never have believed in him. — It would be nice to think that Sakura was so head-over-heels for him that she believed without a doubt that he would get her out of this. But it wouldn’t be true. There are some fundamental differences between the two no matter how highly they think of each other: He’s a rogue, she’s a Konoha nin. It’s monumental that they even have the level of trust they do. And if this is the relationship they carve out of a dire situation, then it will be great when all the other illusions and barriers do fall away. But right now, there is still a lot of doubt, of themselves and each other. 

• She had to get out of here. He’d make a way for her to do it. — This scene is the parallel of the ambush scene, and his choices are a direct result of Sakura’s actions. He knows he’s the valuable one there, just as she was the priority before. He’s willing to make a sacrifice for her freedom, just as she was for the family. “He alone could make the difference” is the same clear reasoning she used when saving the kids in the ambush. And ultimately, they both realized that protecting someone else is what makes them stronger.

• Whoever caught her up this time, it couldn’t be good. — Full circle completely. Sakura is caught up again, and this time Katsuro, the one who took her the first time, now feels all the pain and loss of it. 

Spoiler notes:

• At the door the kunoichi was stirring, and when he leaned over her, he found two clear green eyes looking back up at him…. He bit his lip and looked away. — this is the last good look he will get of her for a while. He won’t look at her again, from guilt, fear, shame, etc., and then it’s dark and there is no more opportunity. This little him-not-looking-at-her-then-it’s-too-late thing will be resolved next chapter with the resolution of the little communication, the silent understanding that passes between them. 

• Earlier in the chapter, from Itachi: “If they caught you, this time they wouldn’t just dump you in an orphanage. You would never see the light of day again. You would rot in a cell until they needed the kyuubi. Then they would turn you into the demon…and you would cease to exist,” Itachi said.

Later, from Katsuro: And though he wanted to look at her, check in, make sure she was alright, he dreaded meeting her eyes. He didn’t want her to ask any questions, and he didn’t want to see her look of fear, or of hatred. Itachi was turning him into an entirely different kind of monster.

So, Itachi’s words in the beginning are lies. Speaks to his attitude of “easier to yield to force than force to yield.” If he can make up a horrible lie from the start, which is reinforced by Konoha’s stupid treatment of him, then this will save Itachi from years of convincing, begging or forcing him to stay with their group later on. But Katsuro’s later reflection was that Itachi was turning him into something he didn’t want to be, a different kind of monster. Itachi paints Konoha in a bad light, but he has very specific uses for Katsuro as well and is steadily working toward that goal. For Katsuro, he is starting to see and feel things differently.

• “It is obvious you have an attachment to her. But attachments will get you killed,” Itachi said, pointing the hilt of the weapon accusingly at him. “Her fate was sealed the moment you picked her.”   — Also, Itachi’s line about ‘attachments will get you killed’ will come back to haunt them. It really is not Itachi’s line, rather it is part of the Akatsuki’s mantra. This will come back in the end.

•  Katsuro’s emotions still rose to the surface in physical nuances. Even in defiance, he was as easy to read as a book. — Itachi says this line to Katsuro many times. That he is as easy to read as a book. It will come back around again later on in the story, in a very negative way for an older and much-less-loyal Naruto.

• “What now,” she said, her voice tight, tired. “We go,” he said quietly. — There will be lines that will come back, interactions that will feel so familiar to Sakura later when she is trying to unravel the mystery of Naruto. This will be one of them.

• “Come on, we’ll do this together,” he said. Katsuro threaded his arm back around her waist, turned her toward the river and began walking her down the bank. — This line and similar interaction will be repeated unknowingly by Naruto later on. 

• “Then why— why drag this out?” she sobbed. “Why don’t you just kill me and get it over with?” — Her crying, loudly pleading with him to take her life will play out later on. She isn’t truthful when she says it, just desperate, but her words are overheard and misconstrued. Cruel twist, the loud words which ultimately lead to her being found will be thrown back at her by the one who found her, when she finally returns to the village.