CHAPTER TWO

'what is he talking about?!...war between konoha and uchiha...?' sasuke repeated his brother's statement in his head, over and over, until itachi interrupted him.

sasuke get dressed we will discuss the matter of your memory after the meeting with father since your awake he-"

"f-fa-father?" stuttered sasuke, interrupting itachi.

"has your speech been affected as well? that poison was surely constructed well." itachi, again continued to himself.

sasuke breathed in and exhaled slowly to calm himself.

"itachi...what is going on?…what are you talking about?….you killed our father." sasuke didn't understand the purpose of the bullshit he's spitting out.

"sasuke our father is alive, why would you accuse me of such a thing?" now itachi was confused and staring curiously at his injured brother.

there was silence, sasuke began to hear that annoying -tik tok- again. he turned to the clock and smashed it with a closed fist. sasuke's hand felt the slight pain of reality.

"your not dreaming sasuke." itachi muttered quickly, he always knew him best.

sasuke began to think.

'then…. genjutsu!…..kai!"

sasuke tried to dispel the genjutsu but nothing happened. so he repeated himself.

"kai!...kai!...KA-"

"your not under a genjutsu either sasuke. im growing tired, change and ill meet you outside, you don't need any ninja tools." and with that itachi turned and left the room.

sasuke, trying to process everything, just stared at the door. he pinched the top of his nose and raised his face to the ceiling.

'i don't understand any of this, why is itachi alive, why does he claim that father is alive? and this so called war were in….'

sasuke got out of bed, his body ached but it did not matter, he needed answers so he followed after his brother orders. he draped himself with basic black shinobi attire, similar to itachi's only that he wore a V-neck while itachi sported a high collar. walking out the door, sasuke found itachi leaning against the wall to his right. his eyes closed.

"under the circumstances, you will not speak at this meeting sasuke, you will simply listen and nod your head when appropriate. if someone directs a question to you, answer it to the best of your ability but be vague. sasuke i will try to cover for you as much as i can but i cannot protect you if you continue to spit out absurdities."

being freshly scolded, sasuke kept quiet. he did not want to ruin his chance in finding out what the hell is going on. dropping his gaze he simply muttered quietly.

"all right, itachi"

they began to walk and soon left the estate. sasuke turned back a minute after walking and noticed the estate was huge but unmaintained. windows were broken, holes through out the buildings and couple of men, injured men, were sprayed about. he turned to his brother.

"itachi, what is this pla-"

"what happened to 'nii-san' sasuke? did i displease you in any way for you to treat me like a stranger?"

itachi looked back and gave him a cheerful smirk and then focused back to the road in front of him, not expecting a response from his recovering and delusional little brother.

sasuke stared blankly at his brother back.

the itachi that stood before him wasn't the same itachi he knew. something was entirely different but it just sounded so crazy! he couldn't understand why his brother was acting, well, like a brother! sasuke shook his head and gave up trying to figure out itachi's scheme, at this point his curiosity was at an all time high, he wanted to get to the meeting and see who it is this itachi claims to be his father.

they walked another ten minutes and arrived at a small river bank, itachi chose the nearest rock able to sustain him and leaned against it, his right leg bent. sasuke leaned against the same rock, next to him, his arms across his chest. moments later more figures began to appear. some from across the river, other coming from behind. sasuke blared his sharingan and stood up.

"relax sasuke, it is only the elders and other members of the uchiha force." itachi said this with a hint of annoyance in his voice. sasuke turned to looked at itachi, disabled his sharingan wondering which is his father.

the dark figures began to form a circle around them, some stood while others sat on drift wood from the river, to be more precise, the older men sat. a hand grabbed sasuke shoulder firmly. sasuke turned around and his eyes widened.

"f-fa...father?" he managed to stutter.

the tall fugaku uchiha stared at his youngest and then focused on his oldest. itachi just nodded his head reassuring his father that sasuke is all right...'sort of speak' he thought to himself.

"i am glad you have recovered sasuke, it seems that the uchiha blood is strong within you, for most would have fallen victim to the injuries in which you sustained."

fugaku's voice resonated in his ear. sasuke couldn't believe it, his father, his father is in front of him! talking to him, praising him….?

this was too much! he had more questions to ask but soon realized this was not the time, as all eyes were on him, he quickly erased his face of any emotion like a true uchiha and went back to his post with his brother, he did not want to disappoint his father. sasuke smiled to himself at the thought.

fugaku began the meeting.

"it seems that our last battle between konoha was not as successful as we would have wished, we lost many capable shinobi. but they did not die in vain, we acquired most of the secret scrolls of the hyuga and madara will now explain what he has found."

madara stepped forward, wearing his akatsuki cloak and his spiraling orange mask.

'madara? what's he doing here?' sasuke's mind was in scrambles, but his face stoic.

"yes, fugaku is correct. the deaths of our comrades have proven worthy. gentleman before i continue let me begin with a brief history of the hyuga and their precious byakugan. it is rumored that many years ago, the ancient hyuga clan polished their blood line, making sure that the blood did in fact stay pure. if any hyuga members were to show symptoms of an "altered" type of byakugan they were immediately casted away and exiled from the clan and its entirety. many of those deemed unworthy united and began their life together elsewhere. throughout the generations these exiles began to produce a new heir. children with blood red eyes, the sharingan." madara paused for a brief moment letting the old men whisper to themselves before he began again."this of course is said to be a rumor, until now."

gasps were heard all around the group, some began to yell and others to shocked to speak. itachi remained silent and still. sasuke scoffed at the news.

"gentlemen, settle down i did not ask fugaku to arrange this meeting just so you can bicker like old women at the news. there is purpose as to what i say." madara inquired nodding his head to fugaku. "the scrolls revealed another secret about the potential of our eyes. a combination of our eyes. *iunctura."

more whispers rang through the group. "in order for our plan to succeed we must have the rinnegan in our hands, and thanks to konoha and their kyuubi weapon, pain and his eyes were destroyed in the previous battle. but in these scrolls, i have read that if we were to combine both the sharingan and byakugan, it will produce the rinnegan eyes." at this last statement everyones eyes had widened in disbelief.

"how is this possible madara-sama?!" one of the elders blurted out.

"its simple really, within the scrolls are the instructions to construct the seal in which the eyes can be combined. even a child can do it.." if madara's mask was removed, we would find a wide grin plastered on his face.

"if it is so simple why hasn't the hyuga combined them before?" another elder asked.

"it is written that when the new clan was created, some members still wanted to rejoin the hyuga clan and constructed this seal in order to prove to the hyuga that they're eyes were just as worthy, but the hyuga is a stubborn clan, the elders would most likely rather watch their clan suffer and disappear into the history scrolls, than combine that which is 'pure' with tainted eyes. but none the less they murdered those fools and keept the scrolls for proof of their divinity against us if the time arrived. who knew that their pride and ego would lead to their demise as well as all of konoha." the entirety of the group now wore small smirks and voiced out soft chuckles of satisfaction.

"there is a catch though." all the pleased faces disappeared quickly. "both the sharingan eyes and the byakugan eyes must be of equal power. we cannot combine a strong sharingan with a weak byakugan or vise versa and expect complete results. fugaku, i will trust that you will pick the strongest sharingan eyes. i will send out a recon team to find the hyuga that will be worthy of the eyes you pick, i need the rest of the elders support in the form of your strongest men, once we take the hyuga they will surly be sending a team in trying to retrieve it. we will need extra men and women patrolling the borders at all times."

everyone nodded in agreement.

the meeting went on for a bit longer, discussing matters of security, food and new strategies. sasuke paid no attention. his mind was still stuck on what madara had said. if his memory served him correctly, the strongest hyuga is neji. sasuke then looked at his father, he couldn't believe it, his father is standing right there, not summoned by some jutsu….but alive. his eyes widened a bit when his father caught his stares. fugaku threw a smirk to his son but sasuke turned away from his gaze.

'he smirked? he smirked at me?...father just smirked at me.' sasuke smiled, unimaginably happy to think on his right sat itachi his brother, not the bastard who left him to rot alone. and to his left stood his father, still a behemoth of a man, but somehow smirking at his son.

sasuke closed his eyes, 'where ever this is, i can get use to it.'

he smirked and opened his eyes. then it dawned on him.

'mother!'

how can he be so stupid, he has forgotten to even ask. if his father is alive, then his mother is most likely at home. he jumped a bit at the realization, gaining small glances from his brother and father. but sasuke didn't care he smiled to himself at the thought of returning to the estate and finding his mother making breakfast.

impatient and anxious to leave, sasuke pushed himself off the rock eagerly when the meeting finally ended. the three uchiha walking side by side began to head home, the sun rising slowly in front of them.

*iunctura means 'joining' in latin
this is what I'm calling the seal that joins the sharingan and byakugan to create the rinnegan
i pronounce it [ee-unk-too-rah] but you can pronounce it whichever way you like.