The Side Effect
At first, he suffered from the sudden attack of a severe migraine: it felt as though Orochimaru's fingers crawled up on both sides of his head, attempted at crushing his temples, and then embraced the skull like an iron viper. The only way to soothe its intensity within his lonely desert shelter was putting his aching head under the numbing cold pressure of the local waterfall. Madara's condescending, ever so rational explanations about the annoying side effects of transplantation could not calm his descendant's nerves. During the period of cicatrization Uchiha Sasuke's mood had changed from dreary to permanently morbid. Every reasonable enough creature preferred to stay out of Chidori's reach. Thus, he was surrounded by the indifferent rocks which he could freely kick and curse. With the several layers of bandages tightly covering half of his face he could not really determine the exact time the pain subsided and his agony had taken other forms, more devious ones.
Phosphenes. Those resembled vague silent figures that were appearing at one moment, vanishing at another. Mocking his current lack of sight.
And then these silhouettes obtained voices. At the beginning, Sasuke was sure that one of his so-called accomplices decided to visit him in order to examine the state of the healing process. But soon he understood that the source of the whispers was nestled within his mind. Pseudohallucinations. It seemed that the young man was falling into the pit of madness because no sane person is capable of actually hearing the voices of the dead and absent.
"You're blind".
"Blind".
"Blind".
"You see nothing for you are blind".
"You're blind for you see nothing".
"Blind and easily manipulated".
"What a pitiful view".
He was listening the whole day to those cryptic variations inside his head. They fuelled his throbbing ache. Disappointment was stitched in the flowing words. He remembered from the early childhood that special tone his older brother resorted to when Sasuke nearly drowned in their family lake because he "foolishly tried to learn swimming by himself" or when the boy accidentally burnt his cheeks while mastering a dangerous (for such age) type of fire jutsu. Critical. He sounded always critical. And lenient.
Sasuke hated those memories because of his embarrassing weaknesses, yet loved those rare moments because it was the best method to gain Itachi's undivided attention.
But now he considered reproaches of the brother's phantom plainly annoying and irrelevant. He was desperately trying to subdue the haunting echo but it kept ringing inside his inner world. As if it was the only thing that filled the hollow cavern of his head.
"Stop it".
"Shut up".
"I'm getting stronger".
"I'll be much stronger than you".
"I'm stronger than you".
"Because now your eyes ironically belong to me, Itachi".
"Stop preaching".
"Cease the meaningless charade".
He impatiently waited for the Madara's permission to remove the thick coverings from his face. And when the moment came, he eagerly reopened his eyelids to readjust himself to the painfully vivid (even underneath the disperse moonlight) shapes of the outside world. His sight fully returned and he felt a short relief, soon followed by the reawakening of that voice.
"You're still blind… my silly little brother".
In a rush of anger Sasuke threw the bandages on the ground, trampled them, and activated his Sharingan. Unfortunately for him there was no one around to serve as a satisfying sacrifice for his wrath.
Powerless. He was ready to destroy every single being ten kilometers away from the hideout. But that damned Itachi was adamant about him being the weakling. Sasuke would prove him wrong at last. A cruel laugh escaped his moth. So wrong. And someone chuckled together with him. Another familiar voice said: "You should have listened to me more, dear disciple… but perhaps, I was an ignorant, unfit teacher. A blind one…"
Kakashi. That unbearable man whom he defied. Had he recorded a morality lecture and inserted it secretly into the depths of his memory?
"Do you remember my phrase during our first A-mission. I'll be a bore and repeat it for your sake. The price of overusing Sharingan is too high, the consequence is complete blindness. Darkness, Sasuke".
Uchiha smirked and arrogantly drawled, "Oh, yes. You were an excellent mentor, you spoke the truth. But you have been also narrow-minded, Kakashi-sensei. You will witness that my eyesight is as wonderful as it used to be".
The confident statement was bolstered with a precise blow of his katana. Sasuke plainly showed his old captain that he exceeded all of his petty expectations.
"And here you are clearly going through a rebellious stage. Sasuke, I am sorry. I never thought myself that there was something more horrible than the physical blindness… but now I know… and you should understand it too… the real meaning. Sharingan does not only rob its master of his vision but also blinds one's he… "
"Enough already! I had enough! Disappear at once! The next time we meet in flesh I'll personally cut out your eyes and tongue. After I finish with that big pest, the people of Konoha will see my absolute revenge!"
Somehow the threat worked well and with a single sigh Kakashi's shadow faded. Those voices had tired and infuriated him. But why did he have to mention Naruto! The bastard. The fool. The naive saint. The one he dreamed killing. Sasuke vehemently wanted to spill his former friend's blood, brutally smash his insides, tore away his limbs and stifle that irksome flare in those idealistic cyan orbs. To die by the hands of a traitor would be the perfect fate for such a pathetic martyr. He clenched his fist and looked at the glowing horizon.
The sunrise.
Sasuke detested the sunlight. Its pervasive rays had always reminded him of Uzumaki Naruto. The same persistent shine. It pierced the Night that could not be penetrated by his Sharingan. The man with the blind heart closed his eyes and welcomed the Darkness.
"I don't need to be saved... You should have given up on me long ago, Naruto".