Standard Disclaimers Apply
This was inspired by a fantastic artist called Orin over at DeviantART and thought it was amazing. This popped into my head after seeing it. If you want to see the art hop on over there- orin . deviantart . com / art / Naruto-Open-Your-Eyes-156097153 (take out the spaces)
I wrote it but credit for the idea goes to her.
How long has it been since I'd fallen into this inescapable black pit? How long has it been since I'd thought about anything other than the annihilation of everyone who'd ever tarnished the Uchiha name?
I can no longer recall.
My memories torment me; I can find no solace in the security of my own mind… Only pain and hate. They feed off of each other, it just doesn't stop growing. It's eating away at my mind… my sanity. I can feel it and yet I am powerless to stop it.
Or maybe I simply do not wish to stop it.
I miss them. I miss with a desperation that seizes my lungs and freezes my tattered excuse of a heart. I want my mother to smile at me, I want my father to tell me 'well done' and I want my big brother…
His face flashes through my mind and immediately a pain so great the world goes black envelopes me. My heart constricts in my chest and I can feel the stale tears of sorrow and regret return once again.
I miss him most of all…
I hate him more than any other…
My thoughts and feelings are contradictive and chaotic. Why would he choose them? How could he choose those ungrateful and undeserving people over his own family? His own flesh and blood! Those who loved him and respected him, hailed him as the next great Uchiha. He slaughtered them all for a village which turned their backs on him and exiled him, labeling him a missing Nin and lying to us all.
That night Itachi killed not only his family, but his own heart for they were going to betray Konoha, his precious village.
But he let me live.
Why?
Because my life- my single insignificant life- meant more to him than all of Konoha combined. That I can understand.
I feel the same way.
I will make them pay for what they have done. The ground will become red with their blood and all the world will hear their screams. As my life meant most to Itachi, so too does Itachi's life mean to me.
Konoha betrayed Itachi, so I will destroy Konoha.
Once again my mind is filled with happy times long past, a time when I could smile and laugh. Back when I could care… when I could love. Such happy memories… Now all they offer me is pain.
That never ending source of pain feeds the hatred, much like a wind fuels a fire. My hatred burns like the black fires of Amaterasu, eating everything, completely unstoppable in its hunger for destruction. It never stops burning… even when there is nothing left.
All that I am is rage and hate.
But why? That question plagues my tortured and disparate mind. It echoes through my shriveled black heart.
Why did Itachi choose Konoha? Why did he agree to kill his own family for them? Why… did he willingly die at my hand?
I don't understand. I can never understand.
Naruto preaches and I stand and listen.
His words piss me off. His face pisses me off. Why doesn't he give up? Why does he keep telling me to open my eyes?
My eyes are wide open. I see just fine. All the death and destruction, all the pain. I see my family slaughtered for no good reason. And I see my brother- killed for a false vengeance.
I don't need to open my eyes, they've already been opened. I will kill those who are responsible for this. Even Naruto.
Especially Naruto. I can't stand him. I don't understand him. Just as I cannot understand Itachi.
This makes me hate him even more.
I severed my ties to him long ago, choosing a path of power and vengeance. So why do I stand here and allow him to talk? Why do I allow his words to get under my skin and make me pause? I should ignore him, just kill him and get it over with… but instead he speaks and I listen, reacting to his words for reasons I do not know.
I have killed those close to me, betrayed those who would call themselves 'comrade'. I see Sakura in the distance, trembling with fear. I've tried to kill her too, and I would've succeeded if not for him. All around me lies what is left of that damnable village, its people gathered together behind Sakura watching just as intently. My gaze returns to Naruto and I can see he's still smiling at me.
Goddamn it, why? Have I not proven yet to him that I do not care?
My words reach Naruto and his reaction throws me off.
He just smiles.
Not that huge, idiotic grin that splits his face in two and makes his eyes crinkle.
Not that sad smile that could make my heart break if I gave a shit.
This smile is altogether different. It belongs on the face of another.
Now I'm looking at him, looking at me and I can swear I see Itachi there- reflected in his calm eyes and knowing smile. In my head the two images overlap- Itachi's face and Naruto's… completely different, save for that goddamn smile.
Why?!
Pain floods my mind and body, hate gives my limbs strength. I glare at the one who is so similar to Itachi and yet completely different. I see my brother's reflection in his eyes and I want to snuff it out.
The face Itachi showed before he died, the face Naruto shows me now…
Why? What do they see that I cannot? What do they know that I do not?
I will wipe that god forsaken look off his face.
I stand on the mottled ground, completely devastated by the fight that just took place. There are no trees or grass, only dirt and cracked earth.
One thing I can no longer deny- Naruto is powerful. He has changed much in these past years…
No. He hasn't changed at all. He has always been powerful. I'd seen it there, so long ago in another lifetime. He kept growing, rapidly becoming stronger and stronger, I felt like I was standing still next to him back then.
He was why I left Konoha to begin with. I could never allow an idiot like him to surpass me.
I glance down at my torn and tattered clothing, rivulets of blood poured from the countless wounds on my body and an hysterical and rough chuckle leaves my lips. My eyesight continues to deteriorate, for a moment everything is hazy and undefined- then it all snaps back into focus.
Several meters away, Naruto stands in a state similar to my own. Our charka is drained, our bodies are torn.
Behind him stood the remains of his village and its people, still watching and hoping.
I continue to glare at him, hating the fact that we are equal here. Naruto had been right for once; we are top class Ninja, perhaps beyond even the elite. With every blow we traded a message was passed.
Mine was anger and hatred, pain and loathing. Simple and intense.
His was far more subtle, and far more complicated. With every blow I could hear him trying to convey something important and powerful. Its meaning was lost to me.
Open your eyes
Let the pain go, let the hatred go
Itachi wouldn't want this
He died for you!
Don't you understand?
My hands fly up to cradle my head; I could not understand the chaos there anymore. What was I not seeing? What didn't I understand? This feels so much like another battle, one for false justice.
Itachi died because the village forced him to, they betrayed him. Right?
Rage reinvigorates my exhausted muscles once again and I lunge at Naruto. We do not use any fancy jutsus, and I don't use my Sharingan. Our charka is completely gone, though I can feel the fox's charka beneath the surface. Naruto is holding it forcefully back.
Slowly I can feel him begin to give ground, he did not have the powerful and all consuming emotions I did to keep me going. He was exhausted and fading fast.
Beneath the surface, I could almost feel acceptance. His message was still loud and clear, and Naruto himself was calm and accepting.
He still resembles Itachi in some way. On some level he and Itachi hold the same intent. What is it? What was Itachi's message? I've long since forgotten what it was Itachi wanted to convey.
I guess it doesn't matter; Naruto is trying to convey the same exact thing.
Realization strikes me like a bolt of lightning and Naruto falls to the ground.
Open your eyes…
I look at my bloodstained hands. I can't even see my pale skin beneath the crimson anymore. The deathly cold hand of dread squeezes my heart.
What have I done?
At my feet, blood begins to pool.
I collapse and lean over the prone figure of my one time friend. Blood is streaming from his mouth and a gash on his forehead, it falls from all the gashes over his body… it pours in an unstoppable torrent from the hole through his heart.
My ragged breathing hitches and a small strangled sound escapes my lips.
Tears start to fall from my eyes. Tears pour from the sky as well.
I place my shaking hands on his chest; I can vaguely hear myself whispering his name over and over again like a mantra. Beneath that I could hear what I really meant.
Please don't leave me…
My eyes connect to his and a shock runs through my body.
His eyes are still so calm, they are so accepting.
He's… happy. He doesn't say a word; he wouldn't have to even if he could. He just smiles at me.
I'd finally gotten the message.
The light begins to fade from his deep blue eyes, and they slowly close. His final, straining breath leaves his mottled lungs in a silent sigh.
That smile is still on his face.
I stay in my position for an unfathomable amount of time, my forehead connected to his, sobs wracking my body.
Open your eyes…
Even as my eyes finally open, his are closed to me forever.
END
I am considering making a mirror fic to this. One from Naruto's point of view, with Sasuke's death.