.
.
Sai crouches in the dark, watching. He is a stone, his chakra dampened so much it's almost unreadable.
"He wants your eyes," Madara says. Cold hands ghost across Itachi's skin, fingertips softly tracing the line of his jaw. "Poor, misguided, noble older brother. He's swearing revenge. Against your precious Konoha, no less. He thinks you're dead, you know."
Strung up against the wall of the cave, Itachi's head hangs forward. Time and torture have left his body weak and covered with filth; he tries to speak, but his voice is thin like paper.
"There is no pain," Madara says softly, and holds the knife in his hand. "Only sacrifice."
"Sasuke," Itachi says, and a single teardrop drips onto the floor.
Sai pulls off his pack. Expertly he starts pulling out his tools: a coil of rope; a sword. Two brushes and a scroll of paper.
Madara yanks the chains around Itachi's arms and neck forward. Itachi struggles, the edge of the blade glinting by his eyes. "Hush, my child," Madara says. He palms Itachi's chin, forcing his head upward. "This will not take long."
There is an ANBU technique Danzou developed, one that would help prisoners of war withstand torture. Sai knows as the knife sinks into Itachi's flesh that he's modulating his chakra as best he can to dampen the pain.
Two eyes drop into the jar of water, which sink slowly in a swirl of blood.
Kisame knocks. "Madara-san?"
Sai's eyes narrow as Kisame begins to descend the long staircase to the bottom of the cave. He watches as Madara casts a thin genjutsu over Itachi's body; Kisame doesn't see him. He tilts his head and leers, quietly. "That Sasuke is something else," Kisame says. "Did you hear? He nearly killed that girl of his. Karin, was it?"
"It does not matter," Madara says. He rises, then screws on the lid. "We will transplant these eyes tonight, and reap the fruits of our endeavors."
He holds out the jar; Itachi's eyes bob obscenely in the thin liquid. Kisame pales, visibly. "Oi," Kisame says. "I don't need to see that shit."
"It is only natural," Madara says, and he tucks the jar under his arm. "He was your partner, after all."
Sai can see that imperceptible tightening of Kisame's jaw, but it is for only a moment; Kisame's mouth stretches back into a familiar grin. "They sure keep," Kisame says. "How long has it been now, Madara-san? A few weeks, at least."
"You would be surprised," Madara says, and he follows Kisame up the stairs.
The door closes. Slowly, Sai lowers himself from his perch, coiling the rope in his hands.
Itachi raises his head.
"Who's there?" Itachi says. Torchlight falls on his face and Sai can see the gouged eye sockets, the blood smeared on his cheek. Sai's chakra flares.
"My name is Sai," Sai says. "I have come to rescue you."
Sai glances behind him, moving swiftly in case Madara comes back. He pulls out his brush, and with one slash cuts through the iron chains holding Itachi against the wall. Itachi coughs and pitches forward; Sai catches him, lowering him to the ground.
"We must hurry," Sai says. "This was supposed to be a reconnaissance mission; I did not expect to find you here."
"You have no backup," Itachi says.
"No," Sai says. He hoists Itachi up, pulling his arm around his shoulder.
xXx
.
The sky above them opens, and it begins to rain.
Sai stands, hair slick against his forehead as he moves his paints and his brushes back into his pack. Itachi is hunched beside a tree trunk, the bandages around his eyes seeping blood. His clothes are in tatters and his skin is bruised and cut, and Sai can't help but think of Nagato's gaunt frame.
"I am glad you're blind," Sai says. Itachi tilts his head as Sai squats beside him, moving from the rain. "You cannot see, therefore I don't have to pretend to smile."
Itachi's mouth quirks. He raises his head, facing the storm clouds above them. "You are Root," Itachi says.
"So were you," Sai says. "At least in spirit, anyway." Sai smiles; it is a habit, but it feels right, this time. "You are a hero, Itachi-san," Sai says. "Konoha may not know of your sacrifice, but we in Root know everything. You are our hero," Sai says.
"Tch," Itachi says. Long strands of hair fall, obscuring his face. "A hero would have found another way."
They fall silent, the rain falling softly around them. Sai frowns, pulling his legs to his chin.
"I understand now why Danzo raised us without emotion," Sai says. "I am sorry, Itachi-san."
That night, Itachi falls into a fitful sleep. Sai sits by the side of the mat, watching him move and twist beneath the sheets. Sai rises then, and turns his face to greet the moon.
.
xXx
.
"It is not too late, you know."
Sasuke shuts his eyes to the sound of Itachi's voice, floating serenely like the still waters of an untroubled pond. But it's no use; Sasuke opens his eyes to his reflection and sees only Itachi's face.
"You will get used to it," Madara says, and a heavy hand falls on Sasuke's shoulder. "The Eternal Mangekyou can play tricks on your mind. Do not let yourself fall victim to it."
"Yeah." Sasuke blinks again. The pinwheels of his eyes spin, and the Mangekyou takes a familiar shape. "Does it have to look like him?"
"They are his eyes," Madara says. "How did you expect them to look?"
Sasuke steps forward, then touches the mirror's surface with the tips of his fingers. The glass is cool and hard and Sasuke's Sharingan spins. He lets the Mangekyou fade, then lets his eyes shift back to black.
xXx
.
There is a yellow field just north of the cave; Sasuke trains there, in the midst of the dried grasses. Moving his head, he feels each thrum of his heartbeat, each thrill of his muscles tensing and twisting, latent energy creeping into his bones. This is the power of the Mankgeyou, the power of Itachi's eyes.
Sasuke explodes. Eyes flash crimson as he spins, kunai thrown. They hit the target, hit again, eyes flash and shuriken burst, he leaps and flips and lands catlike on his feet.
His muscles are tight. He takes a breath and looks forward, as if searching out an eagle gliding on the air.
"You are progressing, young Sasuke," Madara says. He steps forward, letting his hand ghost against Sasuke's shoulder. "I must say, I am pleased."
"Hmph." Sasuke's eyes narrow. "Enough with the sweet talk, old man. Konoha is what I want."
"I see." The words are drawn, and Sasuke can almost see the thin smile behind Madara's mask.
The wind blows. Sasuke narrows his eyes.
xXx
.
Shizune paces. In her office, Sakura sits with her hands clenched in her lap; Kakashi and Yamato wait, silently.
The door opens. Tsunade walks in, pulling off her cloak.
Sakura stands. "Tsunade-sama."
"He'll live." Tsunade's face is pinched. She wipes the back of her hands. "He had been tortured for almost eleven days, and his body was kept in an unnatural state. It seems Madara would not let him die."
"Is he strong enough to fight?" Kakashi says.
"He isn't strong enough to walk," Tsunade says.
"But Tsunade-sama, Sasuke has the eternal Mangekyou, now. If Itachi cannot fight him-"
"Then we will simply have to wait," Tsunade says.
It is a last-ditch effort. With Naruto gone and the rest of Konoha in tatters, Itachi's arrival was like a godsend. She didn't realize this at first, of course.
The doors to her office burst open; Tsunade stood, glaring. "What is the meaning of this?" Tsunade said. "We're in the middle of negotiations! You cannot just-"
Tsunade's eyes widened. Sai came forward, dragging the former ANBU captain behind him.
"He is injured," Sai said. Tsunade's face went pale.
She didn't realize who he was until she saw the ANBU tattoo on his shoulder, and the chipped Akatsuki polish on his nails.
"He is fine," Tsunade says again. She juts out her chin defiantly, an unspoken challenge to the rest of the people in the room. "He has no choice but to be fine. Uchiha Itachi is the only one of us who can help stem the threat. He is his brother, after all."
xXx
.
Sasuke thrashes in his sleep. His nightmares become more vivid. Another after-effect of Itachi's eyes.
There is nothing around him now, just that inky blackness and two brothers in a room. Itachi is smiling; it fucking infuriates him.
"You have my eyes now, Sasuke." Itachi's own eyes flick upward, fish-belly white and unseeing. "Shall I give you more?"
"Itachi-"
Itachi brandishes a knife; Sasuke's eyes widen as Itachi turns the knife toward himself.
"Itachi!" Sasuke says.
There is a sound, a hand ripping through flesh. Itachi smiles, bloodless and pale, as he steps forward toward Sasuke, his heart beating in his hand.
Sasuke screams. He vaults upright from the bed, pushing the sweat-soaked sheets away, wild-eyed. His Mangekyou activates; even that seems out of his control.
Sasuke breathes hard, his heart hammering in his ears. Slowly he gets a hold of himself; he concentrates on the moon outside, and how the patch of moonlight seems to spill onto the floor.
Sasuke sags, then presses his fists to his eyes.
In the shadows, Madara watches. He says nothing, then moves to close the door.
xXx
.
The first thing Itachi notices, when he finally comes back to consciousness, is the light coming from outside his bandages.
Itachi sits up. His eyes are bandaged, but he can see the reddish hue of sunlight streaming into his room. "What-?"
"You can see," Tsunade says. He feels her hands against his temples; she slowly unwraps his eyes.
His vision is blurred. There is a dull ache deep in the backs of his sockets; colors seep into each other. He tries to open his eyes.
Itachi screams. A rush of vision crashes around him, three hundred sixty degrees of sight. The chair, the table, the window behind him, the couple walking twenty kilometers back. It's black and white and the veins in his temples throb.
"Control it." Tsunade's voice is sharp. "Get control of it. Modulate your chakra. You know how to do this. It's how you turn off the Sharingan."
Tsunade's body is distorted, like looking into a fish-eye lens. Slowly the veins begin to recede, and the images come back into focus.
"Amazing," Shizune says. "Anyone else would have gone blind."
"I don't understand," Itachi says. "What happened to my eyes?"
Tsunade leans forward.
"You possess the Byakugan now," Tsunade says.
xXx
.
"The danger with transplanting eyes is that they remain active; it is the reason Kakashi keeps his Sharingan covered," Tsunade says. "But you are a dojutsu user. You know how to control the flow of chakra to your eyes."
Itachi stares at himself in the mirror, and at the set of pale Hyuuga eyes. There were no Sharingan left. Tsunade tried to transplant the eyes found in Danzou's arm, but they were too far gone to be used. "It was our only alternative," Shizune says. "I'm sorry, Itachi-kun. But you see we had no choice."
Itachi raises a hand and touches his face. He can feel that same ache behind his sockets, as if his Mangekyou had been activated.
"Whose eyes are these?" Itachi asks. His eyes flick upward, dull pale irises the color of dishwater. "Tsunade-sama?"
"A Hyuuga nin's," Tsunade says. "He died in battle. That enough should be obvious."
"I see," Itachi says. Tsunade sits down next to him, the bed sinking slightly under her weight.
"Your brother is quite a threat," Tsunade says. "He's even tried to kill one of his teammates. All he wants is revenge."
"That is my fault," Itachi says. "I tortured him. I wanted him to be strong."
"And he is," Tsunade says. "Much to Konoha's detriment." Itachi closes his eyes.
"You will train with the Hyuuga, Uchiha Itachi," Tsunade says. "As of now, your Byakugan is the greatest chance of withstanding the Mangekyou threat. We both know normal eyes would not hold a candle to Sasuke's power."
"But Tsunade-sama, why him?" Neji is standing in the corner, shaking. "He killed his clan! How can we trust him-"
"You trust him because I am ordering you to," Tsunade says. The other Hyuuga glare.
xXx
.
Sasuke crouches on the ground and wraps a bandage around his fist. The bandage pulls taut around his knuckles, and Sasuke slowly moves his hand, marveling silently at the wrappings like rope. He punches the air experimentally, then spins into a kick. Behind him, Madara stands, watching.
"What will you do, Sasuke?" Madara says. His voice is low, curling up in the air like smoke. "What will you do when you come face to face with your best friend?"
"I have no friends," Sasuke says. "Itachi spent his life alone. I am no different."
"Hmph," Madara says. "Itachi was a fool, but he did not show such impudence. I am asking you, young Sasuke," Madara says. "If you come across your comrades, can you kill them? Cut off your heart as Itachi did, all those years ago?"
Sasuke is silent. He thinks of his brother again, and that same sad smile.
"Itachi killed our family," Sasuke says. "Konoha is not my kin."
"And if you were to face your own?" Madara's eyes are dark and probing. "What if Itachi were to come back? Would you face him, too?"
"Itachi is dead," Sasuke says, and he tugs the bandages around his hand.
xXx
.
"Can you kill him?" Tsunade says. ANBU nin flank her sides, and Tsunade leans forward, hands pressed against her desk. "Itachi?"
"Yes," Itachi says, and something inside him twists, because Sasuke is his doing, his foolish little brother, and the pain in his chest feels something like love.
xXx
.
The night thins, and through the window Sasuke can imagine the lights of Konoha illuminating the dark.
It's times like these when Sasuke loses all sense of himself, when he feels that his body is nothing more than a reflection on a pane of glass. "The time grows near," Madara says, and he looks back at Sasuke with a single eye. Outside, a crow flies, and Sasuke can see its feathers floating across the moon.
xXx
.
In the murky hours before daybreak, Sasuke hitches his pack, a solitary figure in the landscape around him. Above him, the walls to Konoha are a washed-out gray, and in the blue half-light Sasuke activates his eyes.
xXx
.
Sai is the one to first see it. "The Uchiha brothers," Sai says, and he pushes through the crowd. "They're fighting! We must hurry!"
"No," Sasuke says. "It can't be..."
Itachi opens his eyes; pale, Hyuuga eyes staring back. "Yes, Sasuke," Itachi says. "I am alive."
Sasuke takes a step back; he grips his sword. "Itachi is dead," Sasuke says. "I killed him."
"I survived," Itachi says. He takes another step forward; Sasuke shrinks back. "Little brother, we can end this. It is not too late-"
"You are not my brother!" Sasuke says. "My brother is inside of me," Sasuke says, and his mouth twists. "Itachi will protect me. He always said he will."
Sai can see it, the slow-blooming horror on Itachi's face. "You've gone mad," Itachi says, and Sasuke starts to laugh, slow and burning and crashing like waves at the back of his throat.
"Mad?" Sasuke says, and his eyes narrow. "Fucking Hyuuga nin," Sasuke says. "They thought they could fool me, but nothing can get past my eyes. Nothing!" Sasuke says, and he explodes. "Chidori!"
Itachi dodges, but just barely, the streak of lightning grazing his cheek. "Amaterasu!"
"Byakugan!" Itachi says, and he dodges the flames.
"Get down!" Sakura says, and she pushes Sai toward the ground. The explosion rocks the terrain and mushrooms around the battle, the dirt and debris falling around them.
"I did this for you!" Sasuke says, and boulders smash around them, his Mangekyou spinning. Itachi breaks through, blue chakra flaring from his hands. "You're not my brother! My brother would understand-"
Itachi's hand slams against Sasuke's temple, blue gentle fist, and Sasuke staggers, blind in one eye. "I am your brother," Itachi says. "And I do understand."
Sasuke stares, blood trickling down the edge of his good eye.
xXx
.
Behind them, the road stretches westward, down the craggy mountain path and into the dust of old trees. Fires rage too numerous to put out, and the slick tar of mud and rain bleeds out into the soil.
"I took your eyes," Sasuke says. Red eyes flick upwards, meeting his. "I didn't know you were alive."
Itachi hesitates. His Byakugan throbs, three-hundred sixty degrees of sight; but all he can see is his brother, broken and just so small.
"I hurt you," Itachi says, and Sasuke's face wrenches. He falls into Itachi's arms.
xXx
.
For the first time in a long time, Sai wakes to see the sun rise. The sky is pale and overcast, and a thin watery light glances off the ruins of the village. Somewhere out there, Madara is still alive, and as such remains a threat to the village. "You know him best," Tsunade said. "I leave it up to you to find him." Now Sai watches as the brothers resolutely leave the walls of the village, taking up the search even as they continue to live as missing nin.
It is threatening to rain. Sai shields his eyes and watches as the brothers hitch up their packs. They move slowly, as if underwater, tramping through the mud. Their figures seem to be swallowed up in the distance, small and dark and fading into the sun.
end.