He walked slowly through the forest in the rain. He was exhausted, out of chakra, physical, and mental energy, barely managing to stay on his feet. His vision was fading, darkness was creeping in around the edges and a cool relief was spreading throughout his body, numbing the pain.
He had won, but just barely, and now he had nothing; he could only go forward.
He stumbled, vaulting forward, and fell to the ground unable to catch himself. He lay face down in the mud.
Was this what he had been reduced to, lying in the mud? It would just be easier to lay there and let the exhaustion take him. He could let it take him, give in and stop trying. There was no one there to push him on, no one there to lead the way now.
No. There was more than that, he was more than that. He had a mission. He had a job to do. Pulling on what little strength he had left, he fought his way to his feet and used a tree to steady himself. He gasped for breath looking down the dark forest path he was traveling.
A path of darkness. He did not know where it would lead him, what it would have him do, but he knew where it ended, his vengeance. His lifetime goal, all his ambitions, completed. It all lay at the end of this road.
He gasped in pain and slid down the side of the tree trunk clutching onto his shoulder. It burned unlike anything he had ever felt before. He bore it, he had too.
He could see his face, the face of his brother, mocking him with a smirk. "Weak" he mocked, "You are too weak." He scowled slamming his fist into the tree, he was weak, he needed strength. He needed more than the village had to offer him. That was why he was on this dark road.
He pulled himself to his feet once more. With a deep breath and clenched jaw, he started off once more still holding his shoulder. He had a job to do, he had to reach Orochimaru to get stronger. He had to keep going.
Once his vengeance was complete, once Itachi was dead, he would come back to them. Once he was free, he would go home, that was what lay at the end of this dark road; that was what he had to look forward too.
They were waiting for him.