Summary: Becoming blind was Itachi's reward for the terrible things he had done.

World Status: Ninja-verse but obviously AU.

Pairings: ItaNaru

Onus.

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(Burden; Also, Blame; Stigma)

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10/01/10

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"He's a liability."

Itachi's head followed the voice, recognising it anywhere. He was blinfolded and tied to a solitary, metal post in the centre of the room. He knew that much, at least. The Uchiha knew what was coming and he'd been waiting for it since he had seen 'Tobi' sniffing round the Akatsuki.

As his father had said, a spy was only a good enough spy until he was found out. After that it was simply a case of time and how much damage he could cause before it ran out. Madara knew very well who he was, who his alliances really were, so it wasn't really a surprise that Itachi was in this situation now.

He had no idea who his attacker was, but Itachi was certain they weren't from the Akatsuki. Madara wouldn't be so stupid to allow his group free rein on someone such as Itachi. Not only did it suggest that Itachi couldn't be controlled by Madara, but it would give the rest of the group ideas that they certainly didn't need.

Sometimes it scared Itachi how much he was able to think like Madara, before he remembered that he needed to think like him in order to plot against him.

A blow to the back of his head whispered traitor in his ears, and the small speck of light Itachi could see through his blindfold went fuzzy, almost as if the world was turning on its side. It took a moment for the Uchiha to realise that it was him instead. He fell to the ground with a crunch, his nose splintering in pain. Blood trickled into his mouth and he managed to spit it out, breathing out from the side of his lips.

Another kick was delivered to his head, causing the world to explode into a multitude of colours and Itachi was down. Even the Sharingan would be pointless now, thanks to the fact he was losing consciousness. As darkness closed in, Itachi was briefly aware of Madara shouting to his accomplice yet was out before he could determine whether it was a good shout or not.

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Itachi woke in silence, most unexpected for the amount of pain he was in. Fresh bed linen surrounded him and his eyes darted from side to side, realising the darkness must be caused by the blindfold.

"Uchiha-san, please sit still."

The voice was only vaguely familiar, as if he had heard it in a crowd. The medic for the Akatsuki, if you could call him that, was certainly not this person.

"You've caused a lot of fuss around here. Of course you probably have no idea where 'here' is exactly." A hand was at Itachi's wrist, taking a pulse. He wondered when the healer was going to remove the blindfold and let him see the extent of the damage.

"You haven't been here in years." Itachi blinked slowly, recognising blurry outlines of shapes. A person - a woman, the healer - stood next to him. The figure was recognisable from the trademark style in which she wore her hair and the clothing she chose to wear.

"Tsunade-sama," Itachi said slowly. He felt her stiffen slightly before relaxing and he imagined a smile on her face.

"How is your sight?"

Itachi shrugged his shoulders, remembering a little late that it hurt. "They'll be better when you remove the bandage or whatever it is. All I can see are hazy outlines."

Instead of seeing her face pale, Itachi felt it through the tightening of her fingers.

"There are no bandages," she said simply. Itachi frowned at her words and realised that she was correct - there was no fabric constricting his eyelids or anything close to his head.

"I'm blind," he whispered. There was no doubt a nod in reply before a short 'yes' was heard.

"Why am I not rotting away somewhere?"

The question hadn't thought to be answered before now and Itachi felt the Hokage relax, glad to be off the subject of his handicap.

"You weren't the only people who had access to the Uchiha's private Clan rooms. The meetings of your family are all documented there, as well as your own confession. Had Sasuke looked deeply enough then he too would have noticed the hidden book."

"The one that I wrote everything in," Itachi finished, burying his face into his hands.

"It's not so bad. You can train around this if you really wanted to and people will know the truth now. You're innocent Uchiha-san."

Itachi's laugh was bitter and the look on his face chilled Tsunade to the core. Never had she seen somone who loathed themselves more than Itachi did now.

"I'm a murderer. I killed my family. I deserve this," he said, almost to himself. "This is my reward for the manslaughter of my clan. I will accept this as the truth and be the monster I am inside."

Tsunade had to leave before tears spilt. She hadn't cried with a patient for years, aside from Naruto, but there was something so vulnerable and helpless about Itachi that wrenched her heart. He was convinced of his burden, shouldering it alone.

She knew just who would help.

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It was the sixth day that Naruto had come to spend and Itachi wondered how long it would be before he gave up. Naruto had attempted conversation on the first day yet received no reply. Itachi had welcomed the grey fuzziness, not even trying to distinguish between a desk and a human. He didn't care anymore; the blindness was his retribution for all he had done.

"When your nose broke a piece of cartilage snapped upwards instead of on itself. Apparently it pushed into your eyes and caused the blindness. You got here too late for them to do much but keep them in their sockets."

Itachi pretended to ignore him, secretly lapping up every word. In truth, years of solitude in the Akatsuki had taken their toll and Itachi wanted to be human for a few days before returning to the lonely life. When they let him out, there was no doubt in his mind that he would leave Konoha to wander around. Maybe the wolves would have him, he deserved it.

"It was Kakashi-sensei who got you first. When we saw what they had done to you it was disgusting. He was the only one who moved quick enough to stop the pumpkin-face from killing you. Didn't even know it was you before we got here and Baa-chan ordered us out."

Why was Naruto even here? All he had done was torment him and stolen his friend away.

"She told us about why you did it. I think you're a hero."

Itachi's heart leapt to his throat and he looked at Naruto, squinting to distinguish the lighter fuzz that was surely his hair.

"If... if they were alive then they would have killed so many more people. No one else could have done what you did. They would have stopped."

Itachi slid his eyes away, frustrated that he couldn't see the passion in Naruto's eyes. He knew it was there, but that didn't lessen the blow.

"Then they would have done the sane thing. They don't live everyday hating themselves becasue they caused so much pain."

A hand rested on either side of Itachi's face, forcing him to really look ahead. He could make out a nose and a mouth, teeth shining as Naruto's mouth opened. His eyes were the least fuzzy of all and Itachi could feel the surge of the Sharingan attempting to activate. It wouldn't do so ever again, but Itachi wanted to memorise this moment.

"Then they would have caused a bigger burden for the world. You killed those people that night because they would have killed so many more. What matters is you might have saved the kid three doors down. She fell from a tree trying to get her cat down. You might have saved the new teacher at the academy who the kids love playing tricks on." Naruto stopped, resting his head on Itachi's chest.

"What matters, Itachi, is the lives you saved. You can't see anymore because you've saved enough people. Let the others have a go and live for a bit, work your way around this. You could make a debut in a record book as the first blind Shinobi."

Naruto's optimism was enlightening and Itachi felt the urge to smile.

"Why..?"

"Because I thought Sasuke leaving was due to me. I blamed myself before realising that I couldn't do that. His choices don't reflect mine and I've loathed myself too much to continue in that way. We each have our burdens that we'll always carry, but we need to look past them and see the good things."

Itachi understood better than he had before and took Naruto's hand. He ran a hand into blond hair, stroking Naruto's head tenderly.

"I'll be right there with you," Naruto whispered.

Itachi had never believed someone as much as he believed Naruto.

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Notes:

Well this mainly comes from the fact that I'm curious as to why Madara still allowed Itachi to be in the Akatsuki after knowing everything. Itachi had the obvious intentions to muck up their plans for Konoha and yet Madara didn't seem to care. Of course by the time Itachi was in Akatsuki, Madara wasn't there, but in the second half... who knows!

So this was the alternative.

Thank you for all the reviews! I hope you enjoyed it.

This chapter is dedicated to lydia-chan!