Chapter 20 – The Cursed Seal of Heaven
"Mahjong again?" Shisui asked, making a face at the box in Tsume's arms. "Why is it that every time we gather at my place, we don't play what I like?"
Tenzo was right behind her, carrying a couple of voluminous bags, which Shisui suspected were filled with snacks, judging by the sound they were making. He stepped aside to allow the two of them in, ignoring the tongue Tsume stuck out at him in response. Sometimes even he felt older than her. They then walked into the living room, where Itachi and Akane were already seated at the low coffee table.
"See, I told you he was alive," Tsume said to Tenzo before turning to Itachi with a bright grin on her face. "Captain! Finally! These two have been keeping you all to themselves! How are you feeling?"
Itachi smiled. "Much better, thank you."
Tsume dropped the board game on the table and plopped down to his right, crossing her legs. "That's great to hear. This rowdy bunch is giving me a hard time in training," she said, mock-whispering to him. "So, are you coming back to spare me the headaches anytime soon?"
"Over my dead body," Akane said, from across the table. "It's only been six days."
"You lot made it seem like six years!"
"That's only because the crazy formations you come up with are in no way applicable," Tenzo interjected, sitting down across from Itachi. "No wonder you never win at shogi."
"See?" she asked Itachi. "Mutiny."
"Hai, hai, that's plenty of headache for everyone here," Shisui said, bringing a tray of glasses for the drinks. It appeared Tenzo had done the shopping this time, since there was no alcohol to be found in the bags. "I'm sure Itachi will find all there is to know about our attempts at a 'charred wood-style' jutsu in the daily activity reports. You have been filing those, haven't you, Tsume-san?"
She was quick to change the subject at the sound of that, which was just what he had been aiming for. Tsume was a brilliant tracker and quite good at improvising when caught in a pinch, however, her organizational skills left a lot to be desired. Tenzo would have been his personal choice for second-in-command, but he was not going to question Itachi's decisions. So, he had taken it upon himself to secretly file those papers for Tsume, choosing to blame her negligence on motherly worries. Her son was, after all, participating in the chuunin exam. That did not mean he would spare her from the teasing anytime soon, however.
"Have you heard?" Tsume asked, shuffling the mahjong tiles. "A border patrol went missing a couple of days ago. Not a word, not a trace."
"People don't just vanish into thin air," Tenzo commented. "I'm sure they'll find them soon enough." Alive or dead, he thought, without sharing that particular continuation for fear it would ruin the mood.
"Sitting out again, Shisui-san?" Akane asked, noticing he had taken a seat on the couch instead. "You really hate mahjong, don't you?"
Shisui smirked and shrugged. "I'll just sit here and quietly judge your every move."
Itachi peered at him from the corner of his eyes. He had never learned the fine art of deflecting uncomfortable questions with humor, but Shisui had mastered it. The truth was that his cousin could barely see the symbols painted on the small mahjong pieces anymore. It had taken more goading than he would have liked to admit to get that confession out of him.
"How much longer do you think it will take?" Tsume asked after a while, as they settled into the first game of the night. She sounded uncharacteristically subdued. "It's been a week, now."
"It can't be much longer," Akane said. "It's unusual, but I suppose it was to be expected. I heard too many teams passed, even though Morino-san was the proctor for the first stage."
Shisui laughed. "I wish I could have seen Anko's face when she found out."
Ibiki Morino. That man had a finger in one too many pies for Itachi's liking. And then there was Anko Mitarashi, 'that firecracker of a special jounin', as Shisui usually described his former Academy classmate. The cards had not been dealt in the favor of this year's selection of genin, truly, yet he found himself being more worried about Tsume's son and Akane's cousin than his own little brother. There was no doubt in his mind that Sasuke could survive training ground 44, or as Konoha had so fondly dubbed it, the Forest of Death.
"Does anyone else hear barking?" Tsume said, putting a halt to Itachi's train of thought.
Shisui was off the couch and striding towards the front door the next instant, proof that he could hear it, too. Itachi tensed, his mind torn from thoughts of both mahjong game and chuunin exam. He stood up and rushed after Shisui, more certain by the moment that he had recognized not just any barking, but a particular ninken's.
His instinct turned out to have been right when he walked into the hallway and saw the small pug padding inside. "Pakkun," Itachi said, feeling his heart skip a beat. If Kakashi had sent him, something was not right. The name drew the attention of the rest of team Yon, and the small corridor instantly filled with more people than it could comfortably fit.
"Finally! To think I had to resort to barking, of all things," Pakkun said, his gaze darting between all the pairs of eyes fixed on him before settling on Itachi. "Kakashi sent me for you, Itachi. He's at the hospital, waiting for you." No sooner had the ninken finished speaking than Itachi was pulling on his sandals.
"What about my Kiba?" Tsume said, pushing herself forward.
"So many of you here, in one place," Pakkun said, although he did not seem particularly impressed. "Well, I suppose that makes things easier for me." His eyes once more darted from face to face. "Kiba and Shikamaru are both at the hospital, too."
The little ninken was not exactly forthcoming with the details, Shisui noted, but his words stirred quite the commotion nonetheless. One by one, they filed out of the house and into the chill, autumn air. The evening was quite cold. By the time he locked the door behind him, he and Pakkun were the last ones remaining. "Are they alright?" he asked.
"More or less," Pakkun said, unhelpfully.
Itachi was the first to burst through Konoha hospital's front doors, closing the distance between him and Kakashi in no more than a few strides across the bustling lobby. From the corner of his eyes, he noticed Shikamaru sitting on a gurney. He was conscious, appeared moderately unharmed, and in any case, Akane rushed over to him a mere moment later. He turned his full attention to the grey-haired jounin standing before him.
"How's Sasuke?" he asked.
"Easy now," Kakashi said. "I don't think I've ever seen you quite so breathless, Itachi."
"Never mind that." He was not about to acknowledge the constricting sensation in his chest after running over to the hospital all the way from the Uchiha district, when he had been so starved for news on Sasuke. Maybe part of him had worried more than he liked to admit, even to himself.
"Follow me, then," Kakashi said. "This is not the right place for this conversation."
Itachi fought down the sinking feeling in his stomach and did as his former mentor said. His mind shut out Akane's name being called out by the nurses running past them as they walked out of the lobby.
"So?" he asked the moment he deemed themselves out of earshot. The hallway was clear. The only chakra signatures he could sense were at the far end.
Kakashi came to a halt, prompting Itachi to stop, as well. The next words that came out of his mouth sounded like they were coming from a bad dream. "Orochimaru branded Sasuke with the Cursed Seal of Heaven, sometime during the second stage of the exam. He somehow managed to infiltrate, but-"
Itachi's head turned to the right almost as quickly as Kakashi's, their honed instincts picking up on the shift in the air almost as soon as it had occurred. His muscles were quick to respond to the impromptu demand and Itachi sprang along the hallway, honing in on the one familiar chakra signature remaining: Sasuke's. There was no more time for Kakashi to explain things to him. Orochimaru. The image of a pair of snakelike, golden eyes, widening up in wanton hunger at the sight of him came to his mind, and nothing else mattered.
But it was not Orochimaru standing at Sasuke's bedside, surrounded by eight murdered ANBU. Itachi barely registered anything other than the unfamiliar face of the young man standing over his little brother, brandishing a scalpelaimed for his throat. His sharingan had activated without a conscious thought, and his body responded to its input without a moment's delay. He threw a kunai, which hit the edge of the scalpel, knocking it out of the hand that was holding it. The next instant, Itachi flashed between Sasuke and his would-be killer, delivering a swift kick into the latter's stomach.
Kakashi burst in through the door and had to skip over a dead body, just as Sasuke's attacker was getting up from the floor, supporting himself with one hand against the wall he had been sent flying into.
"Very nice, Itachi-san. I suppose it was to be expected of you," the stranger said, readjusting his round glasses with one hand. Although he was averting his eyes from Itachi's sharingan, he was seemingly unfazed by the fact that he was now facing two jounin. He had, after all, just killed eight ANBU.
"You're not just a regular genin, are you?" Kakashi asked. "Kabuto Yakushi, was it? Raised by Konoha's medical squad leader. Are you connected with Orochimaru?"
Itachi watched the two, trying to wrap his head around what was going on. He had too little information to piece together at the moment, but all that mattered was that he had stopped the attempt on Sasuke's life. This Kabuto person, whoever he was, would not get a second chance. Kakashi could fill him in on the rest later, after they apprehended him. Connected to Orochimaru or not, he had made an attempt on the life of a fellow Konoha shinobi. Ibiki would make quick work of him.
Kabuto, however, was smirking rather boldly at Kakashi's question. How much confidence did he have in his abilities? Whatever the answer to that was, Itachi was not about to take his chances with an unknown factor. His hand reached into weapon pouch strapped to his leg and pulled out another kunai.
"If you take me in, you'll never be able to prove anything," Kabuto said. "But let me go now, and you might get an answer to your question… eventually."
"Do you take me for a fool?" Kakashi said, shifting his stance as he brandished a weapon of his own.
Itachi picked up the sound of rapid footsteps coming down the corridor. A moment later, Shisui burst in, sharingan blazing and kunai drawn, setting himself beside Itachi; another wall raised between Sasuke and his attacker.
Kabuto's smirk turned into a scowl. "Go after one Uchiha, and they all come out like cockroaches," he commented. He had meant to finish his business here before word got out that Sasuke had been brought back, but his odds of success were dwindling more rapidly than he had anticipated. Well, then…
His curved kunai hit the floor with a loud clang, and Kabuto raised his hands. Kakashi made a move to grab him, his whole body still tense and ready to counter any sort of foul play. Itachi's eyes narrowed, catching something unusual at the edge of his field of vision. Shisui was faster to react, however, moving to block the exit as the ANBU corpse closest to the door stood up and made a run for it.
Itachi planted his feet firmly into the floor, his eyes wary of the remaining corpses. He would not leave Sasuke's side.
Kabuto, however, appeared to have abandoned the idea of harming anyone at the moment. Another corpse stood up, breaking the window with kunai before jumping through it to vanish into the night. Shisui pushed aside the fake Kabuto, dashed across the room and jumped onto the window sill, ready to engage in his pursuit when Kakashi's voice stopped him.
"Wait, Shisui," he said. "You're ill-equipped to deal with this right now."
Shisui threw a look over his shoulder at the older jounin, who was laying down the fake Kabuto he had apprehended. True enough, he had nothing but the handful of weapons in his pouch, not even his tanto, and he knew next to nothing about the enemy, not to mention he would be heading out alone. He hesitated, then allowed his sharingan to fade and the world became a blur once more. "You sure know how to burst someone's bubble, Kakashi-san," he said, hopping down from the sill. He looked at the bodies strewn across the floor. "Maa, look at this mess. How unfortunate for Taro-san's squad."
Kakashi sighed. "I didn't think for a moment anyone would be capable of taking down eight seasoned ANBU. Least of all this guy."
Itachi looked down at Sasuke. He was unconscious, and connected to a breathing machine, as well as a great number of tubes and wires, but the beeping from the monitor sounded steady enough to him. Whatever feelings stirred within him at the sight, he had more pressing matters to deal with than his emotions. He turned his attention to Kakashi. "What happened?" he demanded. "Start from the beginning."
Kakashi obliged. "Somehow, Orochimaru managed to infiltrate the chuunin exams, supposedly posing as a Kusagakure genin. Anko is still investigating that. They found the bodies shortly after the second stage began."
He went on talking for minutes on end, retelling the events as best he could, though he himself did not know all the details. Itachi and Shisui listened without interrupting. Orochimaru branding Sasuke with the Cursed Seal of Heaven, sometime during the second stage. The preliminary exams. Sasuke's match against Yoroi, and his successful control of the seal's flare up.
"I managed to suppress it using the Evil Sealing Method, but whether it activates or not from now on depends on Sasuke alone. That's when Orochimaru showed up. Itachi, I'm sure you understand what he's after," Kakashi finished.
He noticed a brief look pass between the two Uchihas before Itachi replied. "Yes. I do."
Itachi's eyes came to rest on Sasuke's face once more. Orochimaru had taken his chances with him and Shisui, not so long ago, only to realize he had bitten more than he could chew. He had set his sights on easier prey, instead. Shisui's words in the aftermath of their confrontation with the Sannin came to mind. They will always hunt our kind. Sasuke was young, a blank canvas, easy to dye into any color. He was not ready to deal with this.
"I have to report this to Hokage-sama," Kakashi said. "I'll get someone to deal with the bodies and move Sasuke someplace more secure."
"I'm staying with him," Itachi said, turning away.
Shisui nodded at Kakashi in acknowledgement, before the older jounin took his leave. He would stay, as well. The night promised to be a long one, and it had barely even begun. "Back to blaming yourself, Itachi?" he asked, crossing his arms and leaning against the wall. Itachi did not reply. "You couldn't have known," Shisui insisted. "And even if you had, there was nothing you could have done."
"I would have done anything," Itachi argued softly. "Anything within my power."
"Anko has the same seal. She is able to control it, has been doing so for years. Maybe I can convince her to teach Sasuke a thing or two about not tapping into its power."
I'll make you see me.
Power. It was what Orochimaru promised Sasuke. What he had offered him through that cursed seal was just enough to whet his appetite. His little brother would not find it easy to resist its temptation. The seal would corrode his already troubled mind like poison, more and more each time he gave in. Itachi could not allow that to happen. I have to fix this. No matter what, I have to fix it.
"I figured you'd be here all night."
Itachi stirred at the sound of Akane's voice. His body was mostly numb after spending so many hours sitting in a chair by Sasuke's bed. Shisui was dozing off in the more comfortable one, by the window. He looked up at her, registering the smell of coffee just as she was holding out a cup to him.
"Thanks," he said. It occurred to him that she looked as tired as him, and was wearing a white coat over her civilian clothes. "You stayed?"
She placed a second cup of coffee on the window sill. "I had to. The hospital is understaffed, and it becomes painfully obvious whenever something of this magnitude occurs. So, here I am, doing morning rounds," she said, picking up Sasuke's file.
"I knew there were few of you in the field, but at the hospital, too?" he asked.
"The Council claims Konoha doesn't have enough money to fund an official medical training program, although rumor has it an insane amount of funds are going into Danzo-sama's Root training subdivision."
Danzo had once tried to recruit Itachi into the Foundation, shortly before he had been promoted to captain. He remembered the man as not one who particularly inspired trust, which was part of the reason he had steered clear of his Root ANBU branch and any further dealings with him. Given that Danzo was on the Council, it was not entirely farfetched to suppose at least some of those funds were being redirected to his project. External affairs were a costly thing for hidden villages, and a network of spies was of topmost importance, that much he agreed with, but to cut from other important domains to sustain it was just not right.
"Sasuke-kun's vitals look good."
Itachi looked at his little brother. His breathing had been erratic and labored throughout the night, but towards the morning it had quieted down. Right now, he looked as if he were peacefully sleeping.
"He should be waking up soon," Akane said, putting down Sasuke's chart.
She directed healing chakra into her hands and placed them on his chest for a few moments, before taking off the oxygen mask from Sasuke's face and stopping the monitoring equipment. With its beeping gone, the room became almost too quiet.
"The hospital announced the families this morning," she added, tactfully letting him know he should expect his parents to show up within the hour. This time, he did not doubt Fugaku would come see Sasuke. Not even he could be so callous.
"How are Shikamaru and Kiba?" he asked, sipping from his coffee.
"My cousin got off easily, just scrapes and bruises for the most part. Some lingering dizziness and a headache from being on the receiving end of a sound jutsu, but he walked out of the hospital on his own two feet this morning. As for Kiba-kun, he got a bit roughed up, so they'll be holding him for a few days. Hana is looking after his pup."
"How did Tsume take it?"
"Well, her son lost to Naruto Uzumaki, of all. As soon as he recovers, I think Kiba-kun is in for quite the training regimen. Tsume-san would never admit her disappointment, but she does tend to be very competitive. She'll motivate him."
Naruto Uzumaki. What had his brother described him as, once? The class idiot, number one when it came to surprising people. The corner of his lips curled into a smirk at the thought. Good at surprising people, indeed, and he was most definitely far from finished doing that. He seemed to be growing out of Sasuke's first choice of endearment, however. Would his little brother be surprised to find out when he woke up? He wondered.
"Any idea how long they're going to keep you here for?" Itachi asked Akane.
Her thoughts dwelled on the boy with the crushed leg and arm, and on little Hinata Hyuuga, who, in a cruel twist of fate, had sustained heavy internal damage from her cousin's Gentle Fist. The two of them were by far the worst of the lot, and it would take many more healing sessions for them to recover. She was uncertain the boy would make a full recovery, even so. Not for the first time in the past few hours, she thought about her former mentor. If only Tsunade were here. "I can only say there's no way I'm going to make it for our scheduled training today," she said, eventually.
Itachi caught the fleeting shadow on her face, but said nothing of it. He merely acknowledged her words with a nod of his head.
"Oh, I almost forgot," she said, pulling something out of the pocket of her white coat. "I had access to the lab, so I made you a fresh round of medicine, in pill form. Take one every twelve hours."
Pills would be a definite improvement over the horrible substance he had been forcing himself to swallow over the past days. He took the small pouch and was about to say something, when Shisui stirred.
"Aren't you two very chatty this morning?" he said groggily. "Is that coffee I smell?"
"I put yours on the window sill, Shisui-san," Akane said, before turning to Itachi. "I have to go. I'll see you around." She then spun on her heels and walked out of the room before he had a chance to thank her.
But Shisui was not the only one who had just woken up. When Itachi turned to look at Sasuke, his dark eyes were latched onto him, watching him tiredly. How long had he been awake for? He shoved the pouch of pills into a pocket and leaned over to him.
"Hey, Sasuke," he said, swallowing the knot which had formed in his throat. "How are you feeling?"
Sasuke's gaze lingered on him for a few more moments. His lips, however, remained sealed as he turned his head to look away from his older brother. In that moment, Itachi's pain was almost tangible. Shisui watched it unfurl across his features, like a ripple in the pond. He would pull back now. Pull into himself, into his shell, within the safety of his walls. He had seen him do it one too many times, it was like a second nature to him, attained throughout the years. He would slip back into his shinobi skin and endure.
Except this time, he did not.
"Talk to me, Sasuke. Please."
"I have nothing to say to you," Sasuke replied, his voice raspy, but firm.
Shisui felt his own heart cringe at the exchange. He was an only child, and perhaps his relationship with Itachi was the closest thing he would have to compare. Even so, to imagine Itachi talking to him like that struck a chord. He would not want to be in his place at the moment. "Maa, Sasuke-kun, Itachi's only trying to-"
"Stay out of this, Shisui, it doesn't concern you," Sasuke snapped, glaring at him.
Shisui did not have time to register his surprise at his cousin's attitude before the door opened. Fugaku and Mikoto walked in, followed by a nurse. The woman eyed the two of them and made an apologetic face. "I'm sorry, only two visitors are allowed in at a time," she said. "Sasuke-kun needs his rest."
Itachi stood up, murmuring a greeting to his parents under his breath as he walked past them. If anything, he seemed eager to leave the room now, and Shisui could not blame him. He grabbed his coffee and followed him out the door, along the seemingly never-ending corridor and out the hospital's front doors, where Itachi finally stopped. Their breaths misted in the cold air. Snowflakes were dancing lazily towards the ground, joining together to form a thin blanket over the patches of withered grass. Although it was already late in the morning, Konoha was quiet.