Notes:
Obligatory grammar warning.
—oOo—
His new life, first Itachi decides, is peaceful. It is a life where he sees no large-scale deadly conflict approaching on the horizon, where he smells no heavy metallic tang of blood soaking the land, where he hears no cries of the forlorn, and… where he feels no helplessness upon witnessing that subsumed anarchy on the photograph. A photograph-like image that his eyes created and preserve altogether, forever etches on his mind. Like an ugly stain that won't be washed away by any means.
Indeed, his life is peaceful. Though, even in a peaceful world, general and indifferent cruelty keeps engraving itself into humanity. They are akin to vices that no human could be separated from, not when those vices themselves are what makes humans truly humane.
Many people value power more than anything else. It is not a foreign concept for Itachi to be familiar with. His previous family was such a group of people that put power above many things. Whether they would put power above everything else or not… It depends on the individual itself. The collective thought of the community cannot always be used as a parameter on how reality is actually presented itself.
The same thing can be said for his current clan, the whole community thinks that cursed energy and cursed techniques are a pivotal part of an individual, thus creating a casual brand of malice and discrimination against those who are not blessed enough to have it. Such a thing is common that many people won't bat an eye upon seeing an action that is derived from those thoughts.
Itachi never made a habit out of prying and nosing someone else's business, so he always stays far away in indifferent nonchalance regarding those happenings inside his clan. So long as they don't touch him, and never cross the figurative line that he sets upon himself, he's happy to ignore them in return.
Five months after his first attempt to lightly confuse three of his brothers into thinking that he is boring and not worth their time, the effects gradually wear off on its own. The rate is different depending on the person. Those who have a strong personality noticeably shake the suppression quicker than anyone else, and those who have a faint personality would have a hard time attempting to override his will. They are susceptible and vulnerable against his ability.
Perhaps personality is not the right term…
Ego.
Ego is the right word. Those who have a good sense of personal identity will shake his control sooner than those with a weaker ego.
He notices them quite late since they have never appeared in front of him again due to that same compulsion. Unless it is time for their regular training, they never really interact with each other. He realizes it when the sixth and seventh brother start to behave abnormally around him.
When they're under his compulsion, they always ignore him as if he's nothing more than a passing wind. But this day, they try to keep their not-so-subtle glance at him. At this time, he knows that his compulsion has already worn off for who knows how long. There is nothing he could do about this predicament. Every time he looks at them, they would look away as if he would put them under his spell for the second time.
Honestly, Itachi doesn't know whether he would do so or not without making his actions too obvious. An ill first impression aside, his current clan is filled with warriors, well… sorcerers. He knows that they can improve their physical acuity using cursed energy.
There is almost a ninety percent chance that both the sixth and seventh brother would tell their father once eighth brother manages to shake off his control. Itachi thinks it is infinitely better for the clan head to have the information rather than any random clansmen, so he lets them be. His ability would be open for the public to know sooner or later, unless he kills everyone that ever witnesses him using his Sharingan, which is a serious crime in this world.
Second, Itachi feels the presence of beings that the Uchiha regarded as gods in this world. His clan always revered them since the age unknown until the day he massacred every single one of them except his little brother. Since that day, he visited shrines no more, finding himself unable to continue his habit from his life before that red-bathed night. Since that day, he only ever invoked their names during battle. He hardly had a peaceful association with them for almost a decade.
Their presence, he knows it was their presence like he always knows that the sky is blue and that life is transient.
Their presence is encompassing, it is always there and nowhere at the same time. As if… if he is focused enough, he would be able to hear their whispers surrounding him, but he knows that it is impossible.
He is not a devout. He left them during those years, but they had never forsaken him. He called them to face his own brother, and they still reached out their tendril of power for him to wield.
They never left.
Never abandon his wretched self.
And never mind any of his sins.
Perhaps it was simply the inherent aloofness of gods, to never interfere in the matter of mortals and to never judge. But they're a constant presence in the back of his mind. Benevolent Gods indeed.
—oOo—
True to his prediction, his brothers did tell his father after he saw his eighth brother also started to behave abnormally in his presence. Six months… there is a significant one-month difference between their awakening. Itachi wonders if this is a reliable method to judge people's strength of will when he considers his technique's effects on them. This matter is a long time coming and he is not particularly worried. All clan heads have a similar priority, strength, and keeping their clan techniques secret. A propensity for drinking and his overlook of discrimination aside, his father is a normal functioning clan head.
Right now, the man is still drinking from his sake's gourd. The unique and soft smell of fermented rice… it lingers stickily in the air. He looks at the sky outside through the closed glass window. The night is early and there is no sign of snowing.
This late winter, where the spring's about to come.
He waits for his father to finish his drink and asks for servants to prepare their meal. His father called for his presence exactly when he was about to ask for his dinner, so here they are. The man looks a little bit tipsy; it is impressive when he considers the amount of alcohol the man consumes in these last few minutes. Itachi hopes that his father is sober enough to be able to catch the entire conversation.
"So… — " The man starts his sentence after he puts down his gourd, "your brothers came to find me —" He drinks again, "saying that you control them." He doesn't look angry; Itachi already predicted his most likely reaction based on how his father usually approaches problems.
"I didn't." The man raises his eyebrows and continues his drinking. He waves his left hand, indicating Itachi to continue. "I just put an illusion that made them think of me as an almost invisible person." A lie that he knows won't get him punished even if he got caught.
"Hm…" The man hums, it is unknown whether he believes his lie or not. But he is still focused on his flask of sake. Suddenly, he slams his hand onto the table, causing his half-filled sake gourd to slosh and slightly wet the tatami mat. The man in front of him frowns and intensely examines his expression. As usual, there is none.
Finding nothing on his face, the man takes back his alcohol and holds the flask in the palm of his hand. "It's not a mere illusion, isn't it? They didn't even mention your name for the past six months. If it was as you said, a mere illusion that you put on yourself, they would at least mention you as long as you're nowhere near their vicinity." Itachi thinks that he still has room for improvement. To be honest, he doesn't really want to control his brothers' life. That's why he only gave them a simple command, and that was his first time using his Sharingan for this purpose in his second life. In his previous life, his Sharingan's mind control was not this strong and only temporarily. The victim would come back to their senses the moment they sever eye contact. This one… This one is different.
He doubts that he would even require eye contact or even Sharingan. This is almost comparable to Kotoamatsukami in the permanence department, though it is obvious that it couldn't be used to permanently rewire someone's brain as in Kotoamatsukami. It doesn't mean that this ability is less useful than the supposedly ultimate Mangekyou Sharingan genjutsu, its frequency alone eclipses Kotoamatsukami by miles.
He decides to just admit some part of the real situation. "They're noisy. I just told them to do something else and regards me as wind." The man barks out a laugh and begins his drinking fest once again. Itachi knows that if he has no unknown ability, his father won't bother to interrogate him. It is understandable for him to do so to find every new information about this ability.
"Did you recast them for it to last for the entire six months?" A reasonable suspicion, except he didn't do that. Itachi looks at the untouched warm dinner in front of him and says, "no, it eventually wears off on its own."
"Six months. It's quite long." The man is pensive. To be fair, he is in an incredibly favorable situation compared to the rest of his brothers. He is relatively confident that its effect won't be as long if he plants them on someone who is older or someone with more strength.
His father's pensiveness doesn't last very long. The man turns his gaze toward the meals in front of them and takes the chopsticks, indicating that the conversation ends, at least for now. Itachi looks at the wet patch on the tatami mat and asks whoever the servant is outside to clean it up, then dismisses them. He waits for his father to take the first bite before he begins to eat.
Thankfully, their dinner doesn't last very long. Before he retreats, he asks, "I want to go to a nearby shrine." His father must have thought that this request came out of nowhere because he doesn't have an immediate response, so he continues with something that would surely grant him permission, "I think… It has something to do with my technique. It compels me to visit a shrine… Amaterasu-Omikami's one."
His father is curious, but he doesn't seem to be too impatient to ask why he feels compelled to visit this specific patron deity. "You're no Gojo Heir, but rumors regarding your eyes already spread outside." He heard rumors regarding this mythical Gojo Heir and his feats even when he's only about half a year older than him. It is possible that his feats are greatly exaggerated, but he also knows that it is possible for a real genuine six years old child to do what those rumors told with enough talent and luck in the genetic lottery.
After thinking for a while, his father agrees. "The day after tomorrow."
—oOo—
He is accompanied by his Third Brother for this particular excursion. Aside from his Third Brother, there is only the driver. He informs them that they would visit the Grand Shrine, notated as Amaterasu-Omikami's most important shrine in this country. The journey takes about two hours by car.
"Third Brother." Itachi finally decides to start a conversation when the older teen seems to be unwilling to utter a single word of greetings. Ever since the last time they spoke to one another, they rarely crossed each other's path. And every time they did meet, they only gave each other a nod of greetings and went their own way.
There is not much difference between him from four months ago and him now. One notable difference is his new scar right on his lips, a tearing scar. He doesn't know what caused it. There was no such mark when they accidentally met each other in the hallway two months ago. A minor scuffle or perhaps a more heavy-handed bullying. Itachi doesn't understand, the older boy is strong, and it should have been no problem for him to avoid or intimidate them altogether. The other one is his eyes; they shine dimmer than four months ago.
Come to think of it, there's no more public disparaging comments regarding his Third Brother for these past two months. Something must have happened when he was occupied with his own training. There is no more sneer, but there is a new brand stamped on him. A particular brand of fear.
Feared but not respected… He must have beaten some of the clansmen in a fight for that to happen. Whether the altercation happened before or after he acquired that scar, Itachi doesn't know.
"Toji." The teen grimaces and tries to correct Itachi's usual form of address. Itachi refuses, he didn't even call any of his half-brothers by names and he won't start now.
"Third Brother, you got into a fight two months ago." Itachi doesn't remember being this talkative when he was in Akatsuki, then again, he wasn't in a particular mood to talk back then. He does remember being much more talkative in front of Sasuke before that particular night.
"Have an opinion?"
"No —" He pauses, then he looks at the outside scenery that quickly passes by the car window. "It's good – … Better even." Itachi absentmindedly says as he watches the sky. Grey, the color—a sign that snow would surely fall on the faithfully waiting ground, painting the multi-colored surface into pure white.
"I hope it won't snow later this day." His muffled words echo inside the enclosed car's space, ending their very brief conversation.
—oOo—
Notes:
'Lightly confuse his brother', understatement of the century.
I don't want to write an excessively cruel depiction of Naobito, because he is rather goofy in the manga. That aside, he is still an asshole.