Rewritten on 03/04/2011
StarsOfYaoi: I hope you won't mind having chapters a little on the short side for this fic, because that's what I plan on doing from now on with EN. It makes the flow easier, right?
Thank you to every single person who reviewed!
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Rating: M
Summary: (ItaNaru) During a fight, Kyuubi's chakra leaks out and causes a warp. Now, Naruto and Itachi are trapped into the past, and the only way to go back forwards is… to work together.
Warnings: yaoi, angst, dark themes. Flames will be used to roast marshmallows. Assumptions about the Uchiha clan will be present. Does not follow canon storyline.
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. Masashi Kishimoto does.
"Talking"
'Thinking'
–Flashbacks, memories, dreams–
…–…–…–…–…–…–…
Endless Night
Chapter 01: Realising
Silence was all that greeted the older shinobi as he concluded his long speech, eyes carefully close as he waited.
Waited for the outburst that wouldn't happen.
No cries, no anger, not even rage; no loud exclamations of shock or surprise.
Naruto didn't even question his sanity, nor did he ask if he was kidding, or why would Jiraiya tell him that right now.
Why didn't he share this fact with him before.
A pair of eyes simply stared at him in silence, pondering over his words, reflecting the sky above with the same detachment.
Jiraiya felt himself hoping for some kind of sound, because… the silence felt worse than any noise would ever have.
In all his life, the sennin had never felt this bad. And not just bad… useless. Out of place. Did he have any right to be the one to tell Naruto, when no one else had ever planned on doing it? Maybe Kakashi, who had been the teen's first sensei, should have been the one.
But had Kakashi even known?
To Jiraiya, the similarities between his first student and his second one were as clear as a crystal, but not many could say the same, strange as it was.
And yet, the white haired Sannin knew that he was the only one with the rights to tell Naruto about his lineage. About his family.
After everything the teen had gone through, trying to protect the village, trying to show them that he was not a demon, that he was worth the respect they had for other shinobi, fighting against the pain, the loneliness, the hatred…
Jiraiya knew that Naruto deserved a solid ground where to stand on.
Someone had to tell him the truth and be done with it.
The man had really expected the teen to cry. For real. Or at least yell in anger and rage, get angry, furious. Hurt. Maybe yell and hit him, denying his words, saying he was a liar, that it just couldn't be possible.
Anything but that silence.
He wanted Naruto to say that it couldn't happen –that family members couldn't sacrifice each other for the sake of… someone else. It couldn't be, right, because then–
But no. There was only silence.
A soft breeze curled around them, reminding Jiraiya that they were standing in a cold, unknown forest somewhere in the middle of nothing and that the fire had died just then. The situation had been familiar, bringing forth memories the older man had wanted to relish, and by doing it he'd finally given into his instinct, and told Naruto the truth.
Naruto's lips curled into a small, bitter smile, and it shocked Jiraiya to the core; Naruto had been expecting this.
He'd just had his suspicions (fears? Hopes?) confirmed. As if he'd known it all along, all his life, but had needed someone to say that aloud for it to be really true for him.
Was that why he'd never asked about it?
Was that why he had refrained from wondering?
Jiraiya knew that Sandaime hadn't said a word to the teen, deeming him too young to come to terms with such a huge, painful truth.
This was a legacy. Naruto had a family, he finally had one –a real one. The man who had sealed the beast inside him was his father.
It wasn't much. The man had died doing it. It was just words. But just… knowing it… really knowing it…
Naruto was grateful to Jiraiya for finally giving him something he'd always wanted, even if it was just words. It wasn't useless.
That was why Naruto simply smiled and nodded, and allowed the older man to hug him close, offering a comfort the teen always sought but had always been denied before.
Slowly, Naruto hugged him too, and when he finally spoke, his voice was subdued but vibrant with a single powerful emotion –gratitude.
"Arigatou, Jiraiya–sensei…"
…–…–…–…–…–…–…
Naruto blinked.
Then he blinked again, confused.
What was going on? He was sure that Tsunade baa–chan had said that the carpenters had finished her face on the mountain in one of her letters, because she had bitched about how she thought the nose was way too big up there.
She had ranted about that for a page and a half, leaving Naruto in hysterical fits of laughter for the rest of the day.
He had so wanted to see Tsunade's face up there. Her letters had helped him feel close to the village while he travelled far from it, with the updates his adopted 'granny' had sent him, filled with details and warmth.
So… why wasn't she on there?
Surely Tsunade wasn't so out of it that just because of a little imperfection in regards to her nose she would smash her head off of the Hokage Mountain, right?
Not to mention that the mountain didn't look like it had been smashed down at all –it looked rather normal to him. No sign someone had worked on there for another face either, though.
"What the hell is going on?" he wondered loudly.
He scanned his surroundings, wondering if anything else was out of the ordinary, but no matter where he'd look at, everything was just the same as he remembered it –same houses, same gardens… maybe a few more trees or the lack of bushes here and there, but nothing felt out of place.
Then what?
Why was he feeling like he should turn around and run away from the village?
Swallowing down his uneasiness he tried to think of a valid reason for this bad feeling; his skin was prickling strangely, and the nausea was back again –something was horribly wrong.
Naruto tiredly lifted one hand to rub at his eyes, sighing when the dizziness retreated slightly as he took a few calming breaths. Something was indeed amiss, and he'd long since decided to trust his sixth sense about that (even Jiraiya had admitted it was reliable, after all).
What to do?
Going to Tsunade would be the best option; she would surely know what to do, or at least he could get her to help with the dizziness and the nausea, if nothing else worked. Besides, he'd missed her a lot and wanted nothing more than to see how she was.
Maybe his bad feeling would disappear, maybe it was just uneasiness at finally being back home, chased by Akatsuki and feeling sick all the while.
Sighing again, Naruto steadied himself and moved towards the tallest building of Konoha. He felt weak again, and once more he blamed Jiraiya for wanting to do stupid shit with his seal –he had been stupid to allow him to, actually.
'Stupid Ero–sennin… shouldn't have messed up with my seal at all… damn him…'
He had known what the man could do on his bad days –especially when drunk. There had been times Naruto had to take him away from pubs by force before he could embarrass himself too much…
Three years spent with that perverted man, and yet, Naruto had learned quite a few things anyway. At first, he'd done all the training on his own, alone, whilst the man worked on his damn book or spied on women at the onsen, but then things had changed.
He'd gained a few helpful tips by the many people he'd met on his journey, and some had helped him train. People like he would have never believed existed when still in Konoha.
Still, at times Naruto wondered if that had been all. Jiraiya had only offered him a few pointers here and there, but nothing much, and although Naruto had been grateful for all the stories about Yondaime he had shared, and the companionship, he still felt like he'd wasted three years of his life.
The Akatsuki had been keeping low, so maybe staying in Konoha would have been better…
Training all day, checking out his surroundings, learning new things while Jiraiya peeped at the local onsen (there was always an onsen nearby) or wrote down 'notes' (his books truly got published, which surprised Naruto a lot), or sometimes, in rare occasions pointing out something to Naruto that would help him understand better.
The training he had received from the prized Sannin was, by all means, minimal, though, and Naruto was severely disappointed in the end.
Yes, he knew how to take care of himself, but he had expected the older man to offer him some serious training, not just some words of encouragement –and yet, at the same time, something inside him told him that he had learned and gained something invaluable at the same time.
Naruto had learned a lot –seeing many things, meeting many people… the world surely was bigger than just the Hi no Kuni. So much bigger. He had enough time to think about his village, about his goals, about himself and his strength… he had enough time to accept that if he wanted to do it all, he would have to get there one step at a time.
Despite Jiraiya's attitude, Naruto still respected the man –there had been acceptance, and Jiraiya unlike many others, had been honest with Naruto, and direct– but it was so easy to forget that when the man dropped him to run to the nearest hot spring to spy on women…
But no, Naruto had to be honest; Jiraiya had taught him things, and he had shared his time and his memories, giving Naruto a family through his words.
A small smile on his lips, Naruto stretched his back, feeling his body respond with only a slight discomfort; first things first, he had to see what was wrong with his chakra.
He continued walking towards the Hokage tower, moving slowly; it would have been faster if he chose to run on top of the houses, but he didn't want to put strain on his body, in case he needed all his strength later on, besides… he wanted to savour having come back.
Walking would do.
A soft noise alerted him that someone was approaching; blinking, Naruto layered his chakra down, suppressing it as much as he could out of instinct as two ninja shapes passed above his head, disappearing into the foliage.
Naruto let out a soft sigh, his muscles slowly relaxing; his sixth sense was still nudging at the back of his mind, and he just couldn't feel safe. He'd have to cope with the strange vibes until he spoke with Tsunade, then.
He had learned how to keep his chakra level down thanks to a ronin he had met during his travelling through the rain country; the man had used chakra in ways Naruto had never seen anyone use before, and he had learned how to mask it in order to attack without being seen.
So he suppressed his chakra even more and looked around, trying to see which part of Konoha he was in; this close, it looked like he'd never really been there, because the district was foreign to him.
There weren't many places he hadn't visited when he was younger, so to happen upon one was actually weird…
He'd needed to know every single escape route –being a prankster, he needed to run away quickly if discovered– and he had always liked exploring his village, scouting through the smaller passages… it had been his favourite pastime.
And yet… he couldn't remember those buildings at all. He'd never been there before.
Had Tsunade decided to rebuild some part of the village during the three years he'd been absent? Then she would have written him about it, since she wrote him pages over pages about how her sake stashes had been hidden away by Shizune and she had to order more outside of Konoha, since Shizune had prohibited any sake–ya to sell it to her…
But…
Naruto frowned, looking at the place closely. No, the buildings didn't look that new at all.
If anything, they were overly old fashioned.
This was Konoha, of course. Then…?
There was a couple of old villagers walking towards a small restaurant in the corner of the street, both with darkish hair turning into grey, but he couldn't see their faces as they were walking with their backs to him; four children were playing in a small garden some feet away, looking like they were having fun.
Everything looked… calm. Pacific, almost cosy and yet it felt off in ways Naruto couldn't explain, not even to himself… he also had the feeling he was intruding in some private place, even if it didn't look like it was private.
Just a normal day like many others, was it not?
Biting his lips in hesitation, Naruto nodded to himself and jumped upwards, landing on the nearby tree's branch and hiding behind the thick foliage to keep watching his surroundings; he had felt quite exposed and out of place back down on the ground, and now that he was hidden from sight, he managed to calm down a bit.
A sudden surge of chakra made him jump slightly, and by reaction he suppressed his own even more; he watched in tense silence as a black–clothed shinobi appeared underneath the tree he was on, landing without noise, a sword draped on his back and his face hidden under a painted mask.
Naruto recognized the attire in an instant –it was Konoha's ANBU vest.
He had never really seen an ANBU this close before, except Haku, back in the Nami no Kuni, but that had been another hidden village's outfit, not Konoha's.
The man had a strong, powerful aura, and Naruto felt intimidated and awed as he stared down at him, hiding as best as he could; there was no way the man would not feel his presence, but maybe if he wasn't paying attention, and if he expected chakra signatures to be around, he wouldn't question why there was a ninja above him…
Naruto had always feared and respected ANBU troops; respected, because they were at the Hokage's direct control, and were the strongest shinobi in the village, and fear because one of the troops' specialities was to hunt down missing–nin, kill them and dispose of their corpses.
Naruto had often wondered, with a shiver of fear, what would happen if one of them decided that the Kyuubi's vessel had to die.
The ANBU apparently hadn't noticed his presence (or didn't deem him important, or maybe thought he was a ninja on duty), because after having glanced around, maybe patrolling the street, Naruto wasn't sure, the man disappeared.
Naruto allowed himself to relax even more, relieved.
He didn't know why he was hiding –the ANBU responded directly to Tsunade now, right?– but… but…
'Why do I keep feeling as if something is wrong?' he grunted to himself, annoyed at his own mixed feelings, gripping the tree's bark with his fingers. 'I'm in Konoha and yet I'm hiding as if I had monsters about to get me –I don't understand why this feels so wrong…'
He knew this was ridiculous –and yet he did not move from his hiding spot.
'A place that I don't recognise in Konoha…' Naruto tapped his chin. 'One baa–chan didn't tell me about…?'
In the whole village, he only ever remembered avoiding one place, and surely this couldn't be it.
Then, as if fated to, his eyes fell on the insignia of the dango shop at the other end of the square… and he froze.
"This can't be," he murmured, tightening his grip on the bark. "But that sign…"
A small red and white fan that was far too familiar to him.
The only place he had avoided when little had been the compound belonging to his teammate's family, that had been empty for years after the massacre; the Uchiha district, abandoned by everybody except Sasuke, and then also by the teme when he'd defected for Orochimaru.
Baa–chan surely didn't allow other people to live in there, right? Even if she would have allowed it, the Council surely would have rejected the proposal, since their esteem for the clan exceeded that for the Hokage…
This was a joke. Surely, it was just a joke.
And yet… the Uchiha clan symbol dangled in the breeze, people still walked down the street –everybody had dark hair, Naruto noticed. A coincidence. Surely…
Something was missing. Something was wrong.
The Uchiha had been killed. By Itachi.
Naruto's eyes widened; there it was, the only sane explanation –he was caught in a Genjutsu!
What was the meaning of this? Who would want to use a Genjutsu to make it look like the Uchiha were alive again? Why?
Naruto closed his eyes and concentrated his chakra into his eyes, slowly, trying to ignore the assault of nausea that hit him as soon as he tried to reach his chakra flow, but stopped when three shinobi appeared on the rooftop of a nearby house and started scanning their surroundings.
Naruto froze, realising they were feeling him mould his chakra and were wondering where was it coming from.
What if they were real people? What if they were not part of the Genjutsu? Could Naruto chance it out?
Sighing, he stopped trying to use his chakra and suppressed it again, lowering it and trying to pass it off as some inexpert kid playing around with jutsu; if this was a Genjutsu, there was probably someone who cast it and who was keeping the place under control, and Naruto didn't want to attract attention on himself, at least not until he was somewhere safe and found out what was going on.
The trees, the building, everything looked pretty real, so it was either the Genjutsu was only focused on people, or it was a damn good one.
'Ero–sennin said that if you can't manage to dispel a Genjutsu by a surge of chakra, then you can inflict your body a small amount of pain and disrupt the chakra flow by concentrating on it…' he thought, looking down at his hands. 'If I can't use my chakra, then…'
Picking up one of his kunai from the pouch, Naruto gritted his teeth and slammed it in his arm.
The pain was instant and sharp and blood oozed out from the deep cut, but nothing changed. The shinobi and the villagers were still there, and so were the buildings and the symbol.
"Kuso!" Naruto growled, throwing his kunai away. He watched as it embedded itself on a nearby wall with a soft thud.
The bleeding on his arm slowly stopped, but a quick look made Naruto realise it was not healing.
He didn't like this situation –at all.
"Enough stalling –I need to see the Hokage!" a heavy feeling of dread settling in his stomach, Naruto bit on his lower lip. 'I need to know if this is really a Genjutsu or if there's people living in the district again… and if they are, why are they using the Uchiha symbol?'
Deciding, against best judgement, that he needed to hurry up, Naruto called forth a small amount of his chakra, trying not to touch Kyuubi's, of course, and grimaced when even that made him nauseous.
A second later he was gone in a swirl of leaves.
The three men patrolling the streets froze on the rooftop, turning as one towards the tree, eyes sharp and contemplative; they had felt the familiar chakra surge but none of them could recognise whom it belonged to, and now it looked like whoever it was had disappeared.
"Might have been some shinobi checking the district, or one of your own," the taller of the three stated, eyes darkened. "But we should go back to the main house and report it to our Leader".
The other two nodded in agreement, and deactivating their Doujutsu the trio disappeared in a cloud of smoke.
…–…–…–…
He stared.
Couldn't take away his eyes from the sight he had in front of him.
Couldn't look away.
A family.
They were walking down the street.
The father was first in line, walking impassively, the pace slow and calculated; his posture was straight, black eyes fixed in front of him, filled with pride and seriousness.
The mother was a few steps behind, delicate and beautiful like a blossoming flower, with silky, charcoal hair swinging in the breeze; she was smiling warmly at her husband with dark eyes filled with love and satisfaction, at times looking back to the remaining two figures.
Kids. One was a child, the other barely a teen.
The older of the two was walking as if the world around him didn't exist, as if he did not belong to the scene, to the family. He had deep, empty eyes of the same colour has both of his parents', and on his otherwise emotionless face there was a small smile that could have fooled everybody else.
It seemed quite real, after all… but not to the observer, still hiding on a nearby tree, watching silently. He knew it was fake.
The last one was the younger child, and he was skipping around, every small thing attracting his attention away from his parents, but never too far from his brother; he was happy and cheerful and cute, dark eyes filled with emotions as he stared with obvious love and devotion at his older brother, small glances almost unnoticed by others.
Everything was the way it had been.
Everything was the same.
Perfect. Old. Untouched.
Wrong. So deeply wrong.
No bloody corpses in the middle of the streets
No cries of pain
No despair
No empty houses.
Itachi's crimson eyes faltered and faded into deep black, the only apparent show of surprise as his control on his chakra faltered momentarily, causing the dispelling of his Sharingan.
Emotions he had thought suppressed suddenly resurfaced all of sudden –unwanted.
This was too much. Even for him… this was too much.
To have to watch this –watch people walk and live without knowing what was going to happen, blind and deaf, while he sat there and knew what their future was going to be…
Itachi had been sure he had lost the capability to feel emotions many years before, after the massacre of his family; everything was buried deeply, with ease, no remorse nor guilt, no pain nor sadness, mechanically, because it was the only way.
The best thing to do.
He had thought they would never come back. He had thought he had better control over himself.
And now…
He had been proven wrong, and it hurt.
Hurt more than anything else ever had before.
A part of him was aching for the sight in front of him, something he had denied himself, and that he was still denying himself even now; it didn't matter anymore, and yet, simply because he could see it, it mattered even more.
He didn't want to keep looking at them. Knowing that their happy faces, their carefree attitudes… everything would break soon, by things caused ultimately by him.
It hurt when it wasn't supposed to hurt anymore.
He'd thought he'd be immune to this pain.
And yet he was not.
Dark eyes narrowed, the full weight of the situation settling on his chest, then he sharply looked away as he disappeared, without a sound or a flicker, eyes flashing crimson again.
The family kept walking down the street; the father, the mother and a younger boy chatting happily whilst the older son kept staring at the ground in silence, lips twisted into a smile that was a mirror of something that was long since gone.
…–…–…–…
Relief flooded Naruto's senses the moment he saw the Hokage tower.
In fact, he had never been happier to see it, despite his inner sense screaming inside him, even as he tried to ignore it, pleading him to pay attention –'wrong wrong wrong wrong wrong'. Without stopping.
'Run away'.
He didn't listen to it. He didn't want to.
There could be nothing wrong with wanting to see Tsunade. He needed her.
She would make things make sense again.
He smiled, running up a tree that reached the top of the tower and climbing upwards, determined to get to Tsunade's office by the window because it was more familiar.
Not because he didn't want to attract unwanted attention.
He had missed her, and the need to see her overrode his worries.
'She will help. With Kyuubi, and this rotten feeling I get from his chakra,' he thought, concentrating himself on the relief he should be feeling and not on the panic gripping at his insides. 'And then she will yell at Ero–sennin for having abandoned me out of Konoha… well, when he comes around'.
With a huge (stretching too far, too wide) smile, Naruto pushed himself towards the office's window, picturing in his mind how he would find baa–chan in there –sleeping on her desk with his face hidden amongst piles of paperwork, or maybe drinking sake while ignoring said paperwork…
Naruto boldly peered inside, looking straight at the Hokage's desk…
The room was just the same as it had been when he'd left it, piles of papers stacked everywhere, shelves with books and scrolls in every corner, with a familiar, warm feeling to it.
Naruto's smile turned fonder at the sight, relaxing slightly.
He loved this office and everything it meant. One day he would end in there, and that time it would be on the other side of the desk, as a Hokage himself…
Then his eyes fell on the person sitting at the desk and his heart froze, coming to a sudden, abrupt halt.
He stilled, shocked.
Everything felt numb –his fingers twitched on the branch, his brain trying in vain to process the sight; Naruto gulped down his dry throat, eyes glued on the wrong person sitting at the desk –an old man instead of an old woman, an all too familiar cape on…
No.
His heart painfully thumped back to life, ramming against his chest and making his blood boil, until it was the only sound he could hear above the overwhelming rush of blood in his ears–
Unable to look away, unable to believe–
The man inside the building slowly stood up, movements of a man who had to cope with the advancing of old age, stretching his back and making his way towards a nearby shelf, his walk a bit curved forwards due to a constant backache, muttering things that Naruto, on the outside, could not hear.
'It can't–'
Wrinkly hands carefully grabbed one scroll and unrolled it, reviewing its contents before returning to his seat.
Grey hair hidden underneath the unfashionable Hokage hat (the one Tsunade refused to wear, not knowing that Naruto had tried it countless times when younger and that considered it just as loved as the person who once wore it)…
'No…'
A small pipe held firmly between his chapped lips, puffs of smoke swirling upwards, curling and sailing and vanishing in the air…
No, it couldn't be. No.
It had to be a Genjutsu. If Naruto had reservations before, now there was no doubt –not with what he was seeing… not with who he was seeing…
"S–Sandaime–jiji…"
Naruto didn't even notice as tears pooled into his eyes, blurring his sight, because the shock of seeing a person he knew to be dead had dulled the world around him.
Of course, of course –it couldn't be. Sandaime was dead. He had died back in the Chuunin exams, by Orochimaru's hands.
Then what… what was happening? Again? A Genjutsu that made it look like the Uchiha… and Sandaime… alive. What purpose? Why such a cruel act?
Naruto felt as though his heart was painfully twisted and wrenched through his chest as he stared without blinking at the figure of the third Hokage in the office, like a starved child would to the window of a bakery store.
For a single moment (it can't be. It can't be, but–) he allowed himself to not think and just watch, burning in his memory a scene that was too familiar and too painful, looking at all the small details he thought he had ignored before but that now he could recognise.
He'd thought he'd never see this man alive ever again.
How the pipe shifted in his mouth from one side to the other,
How his left eyebrow twitched in annoyance every time he finished checking one paper because he realised he had ten more to look at,
How his eyes returned to the photos on the desk, a smile gracing his lips as he allowed their faces to cheer him up…
Unnoticed, tears started rolling down Naruto's cheeks.
He had not been allowed to give the man a proper goodbye, to mourn him as he should have, and this sight was now too much. There hadn't been time to let Sandaime go before.
Oh, he had missed the man the most, no matter how strong he'd wished to be in front of others, the loss of the third Hokage had weighted on his mind every day; Sandaime had been the first person, and for many years the only one, to treat him as a person, and not as a monster.
Before Iruka, before Kakashi, before Jiraiya and Tsunade, there had been only Sandaime.
Sandaime, who had cared for him, teaching him, protecting him and smiling when he was around.
But he was dead.
The lack of respect, this Genjutsu–
Sandaime was dead! He couldn't be moving around in the office, he couldn't be doing paperwork, he couldn't be there at all!
Who would do him such a disrespect as to…
It looked so real. Every little gesture, his expressions. So real…
"No…!"
Naruto didn't even realise he was screaming, loudly at that, far too scared and shocked to think about keeping his voice low. All of this, the Genjutsu, his senses now a loud roar in his ears–
Cruel.
Sandaime…
"No!"
Not true, not true!
The control over his chakra lost, forgetting he was supposed to be hiding, Naruto screamed and his chakra spiked up, mixing the rotten, disgusted feeling with his unsettled emotions gone wild, mashing everything together into a confused, pained mix.
He cried. Hard. His frame shook without control, and he tried fruitlessly to stop his trembling by digging his nails deep into the bark of the tree, eyes clenching close –escaping the sight.
He couldn't look at that, couldn't–
Fake. Fakefalse–not true
Blood rushed, heart ached –and he screamed
"NO!"
Screamed and screamed and–
A shadow flickered at his side, casting a shadow over him; Naruto opened his eyes wide again and looked upwards, sight blurred by tears, but the first thing he noticed was the darkened sky.
It was raining, he could feel the cool drops against the heated skin of his face, and right there, hovering over him, he recognised the figure of Itachi.
A thunder exploded around them, unreal and loud and more rain fell–
A hand covered his mouth all of sudden, stifling his screaming. Naruto tried to wriggle out of the hold, but he wasn't strong enough.
Naruto kept crying, unable to stop, but slowly, so very slowly, he managed to get his trembling under control, his muffled shouts and sobs turned into ragged breaths, eyes locked with those of the imposing shinobi so close to him.
Somewhere in the distance, another thunder echoed deeply, followed by a lightening flashing in the sky.
Slowly, Naruto's eyes focused again as he found himself concentrating on Itachi's face instead than on the figure still into the office.
Itachi had a blank, unreadable expression, but his eyes were of a charcoal black instead of the usual crimson. He was looking down at him without speaking, and strangely, as opposed to everything that was wrong –this Konoha, the Uchiha being alive, Sandaime– the sight of the Akatsuki–clothed Itachi was… familiar.
Almost reassuring in its normality –something he expected to see.
Real.
Oddly, it helped Naruto to calm down, until the rush of blood in his ears disappeared.
Had Itachi cast the Genjutsu? If yes, why was he standing still, a hand on his mouth, controlling him? why would Itachi torture him this way when he could have just grabbed the teen when he'd been unconscious without having to worry about controlling him through illusions?
But despite that, in this fake world where Sarutobi Sandaime Hokage was still alive, the Uchiha walked as if nothing was wrong and there were only four heads on the mountain, the sight of something this familiar, even though he was a foe, was reassuring.
It didn't matter if Itachi was an enemy, or wanted him death –or worse.
"You are attracting unwanted attention, Naruto–kun," Itachi murmured, his voice rolling out quietly even in the storm, against thunders and noise. He removed his hand, shifting away from him. "Control your chakra before someone comes looking for you".
Naruto couldn't prevent it –he started to laugh.
Hard.
Too much –he really couldn't…
"I don't… I don't care… he's alive. A dream. A nightmare. A Genjutsu, or maybe I finally did snap, I don't know…" the words came out clipped, drowned away into a brusque laugh that was cold and uncontrollable, almost bordering into insanity.
If his eyes shifted away from Itachi's face, he could still see Sandaime in the office, even through the blurred window wet with rain.
Still there. Now looking around, as if alerted by Naruto's chakra burst, by its still pulsating source.
Itachi narrowed his eyes as he followed Naruto's vision. The moment he recognised who it was, he also realised it wouldn't take much for the man to understand whom the chakra flare belonged to.
He had to act now, before they were spotted.
Without speaking the taller shinobi leaned down again, pressing one hand on Naruto's shoulder, now shaking because of his laughing, and shifted his free hand into a blur of half hand–seals.
Quickly, instantly, he teleported both of them away in a puff of smoke–
–in that exact moment, Sarutobi–sensei, Sandaime Hokage of Konoha, twisted his head and looked at the tree, eyes sharp and narrowed down.
Only to find… nothing.
Just the rain.
…–…–…–…
Naruto continued to laugh for a long time, unable to keep his trembling nor his laughter down.
His laugh sounded weird, metallic to his ears, but he couldn't stop; no matter how much he tried, even clenching his arms, digging his nails into the skin, drawing blood, gritting his teeth, the muffled, unwanted laugh still continued.
The small pain he inflicted on himself did help, though, as it was different from the pain in his chest and allowed him to slowly focus on his surroundings.
After what felt like hours, the bouts of laugh finally started subsiding, breathless gasps taking place instead.
He could not… how could he accept this?
Someone who was playing with Sandaime's death…
Why?
Who?
Strangely, he didn't think Itachi was responsible of it. Besides, why would he make it so his own family was alive, when he had been the one to kill them all? It made no sense, at least to Naruto.
Even if Itachi was crazy it still wouldn't explain.
In this world where nothing was right, Itachi was the only one who looked the same; he had taken Naruto away before anyone could come to investigate, so it meant Itachi was in the same situation as he was…
How could that be?
Itachi couldn't be caught in a Genjutsu. He had the Sharingan.
Besides, Itachi wouldn't have shared the illusion with Naruto if he was the culprit; he wouldn't want to see the family he had killed. Nor Sandaime. Yet, he'd clearly seen the man inside the office.
As he finally calmed down enough to notice, he found tears still rolling down his cheeks and he hastily wiped them away, straightening up a bit.
He had finally his body under control again, but he remained still for a moment more, breathing deeply and looking around to see where he was.
It was a small room, though he didn't know where exactly, but big enough for the both of them to relax; it was bare –there was a twin–sized futon rolled up in a corner, next to a closed armoire, and a desk with a chair.
As the pain at seeing Sandaime finally retreated, rage quickly took its place.
Lifting his gaze up, Naruto finally noticed Itachi at the window of the room, looking outside with… something akin to forlorn in his eyes; how the taller shinobi could express any emotion was out of Naruto's understanding, but the sight made him feel even more upset.
Trying not to focus on that, the teen looked back down to his lap, tired and so very confused.
Was Itachi… was Itachi showing emotion? It was rather unprecedented.
It looked like regret.
Then–
"This is no Genjutsu".
Looking up sharply again, Naruto found himself at loss; the dark haired Akatsuki nin sounded sure of himself, as if he knew exactly what was going on, even though Naruto still doubted it.
If this wasn't a Genjutsu, then…?
"W–what…?" Naruto croaked, his throat raw and dry.
Itachi's appearance wasn't as imposing as it had been three years before. Nor was it evil, or scary. He was still looking the same, but that aura of invulnerability felt somewhat subdued. Just like Naruto had broken down at what he'd seen, so it seemed like… Itachi looked rather down.
It was almost… unreal, again. It didn't matter if Itachi was a missing–nin, or an Akatsuki member… this situation had been a first for him, too; biting his lip, Naruto realised for the first time since he'd met the older shinobi that Itachi was, above all, human.
Even though he didn't look like he was one most of the time.
"This is no Genjutsu," the taller shinobi repeated, his words lingering in the air. "This is… the past".
Oh yeah. Itachi wasn't evil. Nor scary. He was simply plainly insane. Maybe there was something in the Uchiha genes…
"The… past," he repeated, his tone laced with sarcasm.
Oh, absolutely wonderful. Stuck in this Genjutsu (or nightmare, whichever was worse) with a crazy killer as his only companion?
Absolutely fantastic. 'Great, just… great'.
"I am still unsure whether it is the primal cause, but I think this has something to do with your unstable chakra," Itachi continued quietly. He still wasn't looking at him, eyes fixed on something outside of the window.
Naruto shakily stood up. He had nothing to lose, really; after all, if Itachi had wanted to take him to Akatsuki, he would have done that already –he was that kind of person.
He stepped towards the window, ignoring the pangs of pain in his chest due to his uncontrolled chakra burst, and when he reached Itachi's side, he hesitantly peeked out.
There was a huge garden with grass and even though it was still raining hard, there was someone out there –a few children, some playing under a shelter, splashing each other and jumping in the puddles along the way, laughing and cheering.
There wasn't anything that could have attracted Itachi's attention, Naruto thought looking around… and then his eyes turned blank.
There was another child, right below their window, uncaring for the rain and the other children, and he was training, carefully aiming his kunai at a human–shaped puppet tied to a pole some feet away. The child looked like he had missed most of his hits, because of all the scattered weapons everywhere around the target, but one or two kunai were embedded into the puppet, signal he had managed a few hits, after all.
"Oh. Oh. This is… absolutely not…possible," the teen murmured, pushing himself away from the window. His hands were trembling again. "Well, it seems it's not just you –my sanity is gone, too".
Because with what he was seeing, he actually thought Itachi might have been right.
The kid underneath the window, practicing, was after all a much younger version –much younger– of Sasuke.
'Oh, shit'.
…–…–…–…–…–…–…
StarsOfYaoi: so, this is the end of the first chapter. Please drop me a review?
Glossary of unfamiliar Japanese words:
Hi no Kuni – Country of fire.
Nami no Kuni – Wave country.
Ero–sennin – Perverted Hermit.
Onsen – hot springs, basically, either natural or artificial.
Kuso – it's the Japanese version of the exclamation 'shit!' or 'damn!'.
Genjutsu – illusionary technique that attacks the chakra coils around the eyes of a person, creating hallucinations that can be controlled by the caster.
Doujutsu – Special techniques of the illusion or hypnotic type, using eyes. They are a branch of Genjutsu, and can include any type of techniques that are meant to cause sleep, disorientation, dizziness, pain or confusion.
Jiji – contraction used to say 'grandpa' in a sort of familiar way, a bit on the mocking side but it's not as an insult. Not as formal as it should be.