Unseeing Eyes
An agonized, terrified scream tears through the hospital – and even in a place of frequent disturbing noises, even though many of the inhabitants were shinobi – there is something inhumane about this sound.
Morino Ibiki defines it best, as he barely reacts while those around him startle and gain a semblance of fear:
"That sounds like Level Twelve."
Shinobi around him shiver at his words: T&I has twelve levels, and it is rumored that the higher the number, and the deeper underground the level, and the more horrifying the torture. Level Seven makes most of the experienced jonin blanch, and Hokage-sama is said to refuse to go past Level Ten. Level Twelve is for the most heartless of sadists to play, where genjutsu becomes real and one knows not if they dream; Level Twelve is for the worst traitors, that they may face punishment worse than death, and it is this, not Konoha's kindness, that keeps so many of its shinobi in.
(And some say that it was never a surprise that Hokage-sama let Orochimaru slip through Konoha's grasp; how could any jonin-sensei ever bear to condemn their student to such a fate? But they also say that Orochimaru performed Level Ten torture on his experiments, that his test subjects where Konoha children – they say that the Hokage must be cruel, must be just, must stay above emotion, for it only hinders. They whisper, and when it is too dangerous to whisper, they think of Hokage-sama and how he has grown old.)
It is this fate that awaits Uchiha Itachi for the massacre of his clan.
It has been a month since the streets were painted crimson with both old and young, and Konoha has secluded the Uchiha compound. Those who lived near it moved, those who passed by chose a different path, and the terrible emptiness invites the ghosts to a restless half-existence. It is desolate, and the blood has dried and caked: horrific stains on the walls remain, a mark for a murder, for two, for hundreds…
Ah, yes. There is one survivor, but he is as his compound: desolate and secluded.
It is he who screams.
Morino Ibiki almost looks impressed. Itachi had truly outdone himself – he should never have been left to ANBU; no, Uchiha Itachi was a torture specialist… to do that to his own brother…
Uchiha Sasuke no longer knows what is real and what is nightmares; Uchiha Sasuke is trapped in his traumatised mind forever –
Six-year-old Uchiha Sasuke is blind.
Morino Ibiki throws back his head and laughs as the screams grow even more terrified.
*I*I*
The Yamanaka who inspected Uchiha Sasuke after his first week in a coma refused to report – only repeating in a cadence that his clan must stay away from the survivor's blood soaked mind – the Yamanaka had gone mad within the year and disappeared.
He had realized that Uchiha Sasuke had unlocked the Sharingan; and therefore all the horrors that Uchiha Itachi had made him see were burned with a black flame into his mind – and that those were the last images that he would ever see again. It was almost beautiful, the Yamanaka thought, watching the flesh of an Uchiha teen, blister and burn; as the child's mouth opened for a sonified pain, but only a whimper escaped, it was almost beautiful in its simplicity, it's efficiency.
Why torture one if they themselves are willing to do it themselves?
Why waste time on a terrified, insignificant child when their mind will always present its horrors instead?
Why take more than a few seconds to irreparably harm both his brother's sanity and his eyes?
Uchiha Sasuke is six and still believes in monsters when he comes home that day to a far grimmer reality; his brother in front of his parents' dead bodies.
Uchiha Sasuke is six and his monsters run rabid through his mind; the worst terror is the one hardest to spot: sometimes it is a crow, sometimes a shadow, sometimes just a monotone, emotionless whisper, a voice that speaks Truth. Uchiha Sasuke is six and loves his brother, Uchiha Sasuke is six and loathes his brother, Uchiha Sasuke is six and is terrified of his brother; Aniki is kind, Aniki is frustrating, Aniki will not play with me, Aniki is dead, Aniki killed my parents, Aniki killed that little girl and made me watch as she could not even scream – her throat is red, her throat is crimson, her throat is open and the tunnel tries to breathe but only blood bubbles out, thick and sticky, but Aniki can't be that man because I love Aniki. I love Aniki, I love a monster, I love the man who killed my clan and murdered my parents.
Where is Kaa-san? Where is Kaa-san?
To test–
There is a horrifying gap – there is whiteness, but the shadows are simply watching, and he is in a white room, why a white room, because you've been bad, Uchiha Sasuke, you've been bad, that's why auntie and uncle and Kaa-san and Tou-san died. And falling falling falling, there is a scream and
capacity
WheRE iS kAa-sAn? wHEre IS KAa-saN?
The first thing he notices is the blood, it is seeping out to the street, but it isn't really blood, it must be red paint, the Uchiwa is all red, where did the white go? The red is not blood, the crimson cannot be from a wound,
I killed them all.
It wAS eAsY.
There are monsters in his head, the ones he knows are dreams, spindly arms and demon's eyes and a chakra that burns and burns and his skin is eaten away and he is in pain and they never have a face, but now the biggest monster there does – but that isn't a mONsteR, that's AnIKi – can you train me? Not today, it's always not today but Aniki loves me and he says so and Aniki killed my parents and Aniki killed that little girl who tried to scream but isn't it funny – only red comes out and I love Aniki and Aniki is a monster, but Aniki told me that monsters aren't real that I don't need to be afraid when I dream, just be brave, but Aniki, I've tried being brave and they only eat me, the monsters aren't going away and when will I WAKE UP AND I'M SCARED ANIKI—
Aniki is a murderer aniki is a murderer aniki killed my Tou-san and my Kaa-san and aniki is a murderer kinslayer and the seventh tatami mat only has more monsters and aniki why is your voice like that and aniki is a murderer—
HATE ME!
IdoidoidoidoidoIDO I HATE YOU!
But i love aniki
He KILLED THEM ALL WHY? WHY?WHYWHYWHY
Uchiha Sasuke wakes up.
He is lying down and there is a clean sheet over him and he opens his eyes–
And he is still trapped.
*I*I*
The Council squabble like the petty idiots they are. They are asking after Uchiha Sasuke, who woke that morning with a scream and a deteriorating mind.
The Council wants to parade him, the Council wants to enroll him in the Academy, the Council is impatient, and fearful, and have already forgotten Uchiha Itachi – he hadn't touched them after all.
The words tumble over themselves and the voices steadily grow and the chaos of the Council chambers are horrific to behold.
"SHUT UP!"
The Hokage stands, Killing Intent permeating the room, thick and heavy and there is no breath and theycan'tbreathohgodtheywilldieinthatroom.
"Uchiha Sasuke is blind – he will not be going to the Academy, he will never pick up a kunai again, and his eyes are irreparably ruined."
The scent of urine fills the air and the Council is frozen in their seats; heartbeats pound too fast, too fast and suddenly trips, and there isn't enough air and they will die in that room.
"The Uchiha Clan is dead. It will not been revived, it will not continue, its seat is erased, and its people do not exist. Their legacy is a memory, a genjutsu – do not mistake illusions for reality."
The first Councilman, a heavy-set civilian drops to the floor convulsing, and still the malicious aura strengthens.
"If I heard anyone mention that name again within these four walls they will be executed."
*I*I*
Uchiha Itachi goes mad.
There is a trail of destruction throughout the Land of Fire, and Orochimaru's severed head, contorted in the most exquisite pain is delivered by crow to the Hokage's desk in front of eight jonin, eleven chuunin, and thirteen genin. The expression of horrified shock on the Third's face is not missed and rumors begin anew.
The next month it is one of the Councilmen – and for eight months after that.
Then it is Danzo, his arm and concealed Sharingan on full display, hung in the public market for all to see.
The Sandaime steps down and Konoha grows darker.
*I*I*
Uchiha Sasuke is kept within the T&I. His screams and delusional ramblings prove too much for his various caretakers, and so Morino Ibiki is given the eight-year-old child.
Most assume that the Uchiha will be dead in a year, and it is true that no one outside of T&I ever saw the boy again. Uchiha Sasuke now existed in Levels Seven through Twelve – his chakra was out of control and would lash out at anyone nearby inflicting a kind of immersive, devastating genjutsu, which would often leave the victims insane.
And Konoha gains another horror story – they tell of the Uchiha brothers who went mad – one who haunts the T&I as a ghost, inflicting the same pain that he received and the other who is in the deepest despair and insanity – who single handedly killed the Sannin Orochimaru and forced the Hokage to step down after picking off the Council – who gleefully dropped Shimura Danzo, in ribbons, in the marketplace – the implanted Sharingan eyes still spinning, spinning.
Konoha tells tales of the demon eyes – the milky-white unseeing and the one that weeps red tears – and shivers.