Obito-Sensei Chapter 65
Tries To Grieve Productively
Being Hokage is a difficult job.
Minato Namikaze has not slept. It is the 14th of April, mid-day. He has been up for thirty hours now, which is not nearly the farthest he's pushed himself, but is not an ideal state to be making decisions that can decide the course of nations in.
Minato knows this. He's not allowing his fatigue to affect his decisions, and besides, he's not a monolith. These aren't the kind of decisions anyone should make alone. Shikaku Nara is here, and so is his student Obito Uchiha. They are discussing mistakes that have been made.
It isn't said aloud, but Minato knows that both Obito and Shikaku are surprised that he recalled Team Seven so quickly. It is out of his character. Even though Obito demanded it, he hadn't really believed Minato would agree with him at the time. He was ready to do it himself; that independence he'd regained when Sakura left, which Minato considers a blessing and a curse depending on the day, shone so brightly within him that it almost blinded the Hokage. But Minato didn't ask Orochimaru to extract the ninja from the burning city because he was worried Obito would disobey him.
Fear had blinded him; fear of losing his son, of going back to a home that Naruto would never return to.
A shinobi is one who sacrifices. Minato quite firmly believes that; being Hokage has taught him that people in pursuit of their dreams often die, or worse, send others to die in their stead. Ninja sacrifice their futures, their families, their lives, and sometimes even more, their memories and legacies, trying to claw forward and claim some measure of peace and certainty. It's certainly part of why he has adopted such a patient approach; Minato is well aware that Konoha and the Land of Fire have stood in a commanding position for a decade now, and a few years of further killing could have permanently cemented them as the lone world hyperpower.
But how much would have been sacrificed to achieve that? Minato didn't think it was worth it, and so he stayed back, relying on time and money and, for fuck's sake, some sense of moral, sane self-interest to blunt countless crimes that the Hidden Villages had committed against one another; waiting until the world was knit together by an economy that relied on more than just murder and the threat of slaughter, waiting until it would be obviously suicidal to turn on each other once again in frenzy of violence.
Now, Minato is wondering if that was just another mistake. He's wondering if he's the odd man out, the person with a divergent mind, for never thinking that one of the other villages would be so opposed to quietly laying down their arms and accepting a new era, a new cold war, that they would rather commit mass murder and turn one-hundred thousand people into corpses and ash just to test a new weapon.
Letting his fear for Naruto influence his decision has not been his only failing. Minato trusted Orochimaru of the Sannin for years: he thought they had reached an understanding. Orochimaru despised him for becoming the Fourth Hokage, for taking a position Orochimaru himself had coveted, and Minato had understood that, but he'd understood it incorrectly. Minato had believed it was the spite of a jealous rival, not the hatred of a madman.
When Sasuke had returned he had insisted on testifying at length as to the conversations he and Team Seven had had with Orochimaru in Amegakure, and to the secrets he hid. He admitted that he'd already had a similar conversation with the Amekage, explaining how Team Seven had been pulled out of Amegakure, revealing to the Amekage the monster they had in their basement. He'd explained, reexplained, had his mind read to ensure accuracy, and then crashed like flaming wreckage in both Ame and Konoha.
Orochimaru is a genius filled with malice who has resurrected one of Konoha's founding legends and no doubt pulled all sorts of secrets, both mundane and genetic, from him. That's problematic. He's also sworn to kill Minato. That's even more problematic.
But Minato is always the kind of person who looks for the silver lining; it's what made him so successful in every aspect of life from love to killing.
The mission was Sakura's, but from what Minato has seen even in a brief time Sasuke Uchiha absolutely flourished in the Land of Rain. He has come back stronger, more confident, a superlative ninja who does not even hesitate to burn Orochimaru in both the Hidden Rain and Leaf. Sasuke has doubtlessly made an enemy of Orochimaru for life, which may mean he has a short one ahead of him.
In the Land of Rain, Sasuke was a jonin who was trusted with command of ninja as powerful and valuable as Haku Yuki, an Akatsuki member. In that regard, Minato is inclined to trust the Amekage's judgment. He is already speaking with Obito about transferring Sasuke's promotion; they'll need more jonin with Sasuke's judgment soon.
Naruto has earned a promotion too, easily proving himself a chunin. His heroics in the Land of Waves, talking Sakura down after they'd retrieved Sasuke, and his undefeatable spirit; Minato has never been prouder of his son. Naruto has grown into a leader, but how much of one remains to be seen.
And Sakura…
They all agree, him and Shikaku and even her sensei. Sakura is in a dangerous place right now, but that was the risk of the mission from the start. A promotion to chunin is in order for her as well, of course; that was the reward for the infiltration from the start. But she is volatile, having completely taken in the Akatsuki's revolutionary doctrine. Naruto and Sasuke and Sakura all lost friends in the attack on Amegakure, but only Sakura seems to take it personally, with such fierce anger on Rain's behalf that Minato is sure she will murder the next Cloud ninja she meets.
Back with her family and friends, she should readjust. Her mother is in the village; her father is on a mission in the Land of Water, but should return soon. Time will make her less sharp to the touch; relying on that and keeping an eye on her is really all any of them can do.
But there are more pressing matters than Orochimaru and Team Seven.
They come in three labors.
The first labor. The Hidden Leaf has already received a letter from the Fire Daimyo, just hours ago in the mid-morning, delivered by one of the Twelve Guardian Ninja with a bitter smile. The language of the letter is intricate and the platitudes creative, but the intent is clear. Konoha is meant to take advantage of Rain's devastation, the news of which is already spreading wide and fast. The Hidden Leaf is to poach missions from within the Land of Rain by offering reduced rates, increase their border patrols to intimidate foreign ninja and secure the Land of Fire's own trade routes, and most brazenly of all, liberate the former Daimyo of Rain and bring him to the Fire Daimyo's court.
The mission is a blatant incitement to war; the Nation of Rain holding the former Daimyo hostage is a pillar of their philosophy and foreign policy, and liberating him could not go unpunished. The Fire Daimyo knows this: that is probably why his court is offering a ridiculous reward of five hundred million Ryo.
"What is he thinking?" Obito asks, and Minato shakes his head.
"This is a kindness," he explains.
Minato and Saitama Sugawara have a good relationship, almost as perfect as one can be between a Kage and his Daimyo. Minato has met his children and grandchildren and been a guest at his court; to the Daimyo, he is the perfect Hokage. The Shodaime and Nidaime died before his time, and the Sandaime often clashed with him establishing Konoha's independence, what the village would and would not do for the Land of Fire, and was at the head of two world wars that left everyone questioning the future.
But Minato is a war hero and a handsome and humble man. He does not have an ancient clan with a heavy history; his parents were fishermen who sent him to Konoha with all the money they had in the world when they realized they could not provide for him. He can no longer remember their faces. The other Daimyo of the world are terrified of him, for he has snuffed out the lives of their ninja countless times with his own hands. To Saitama, he is everything a ninja should be, and that is why Konoha alone has received such a generous offer, a mission that could fund the village for a year by itself.
But even if Saitama considers himself Minato's friend, Minato knows that this offer is temporary. There are cleverer and cheaper ways to secure the Daimyo of Rain. The same mission could be sent to Sunagakure with a reward half as generous and it would be taken in seconds, the whole village celebrating the windfall. And, because of their military alliance, because Minato has not had time to send off the letter demanding Gaara's corpse…
The Hidden Leaf would be dragged into the inevitable war anyway.
The message is clear: the Land of Fire is preparing to overthrow the Akatsuki.
The second labor. Kumogakure's shinobi are mobilizing for war.
The Land of Lightning is secretive and the Hidden Cloud even moreso. It is how they produced such a terrifying weapon without any of the villages being any the wiser. But there is only so much you can hide, and thousands of ninja preparing for war is not one of them.
Here's the thing though, the thing that Minato actually cannot believe, despite, no, because of his near unparalleled intellect.
Both military and government sources in Lightning agree that this mobilization is directed not at any of the major villages, but at the Land of Frost. The Lightning Daimyo is already drafting a declaration that the 'minor countries' have proven themselves too easily subverted by the Akatsuki and other criminals, and so Frost's governance is to be taken into the hands of those who truly care for its people and will not accept revolutionaries and anarchists within their borders.
A weapon that can annihilate a city from across the continent, and Lighting is using it as the spark to light a minor land grab? It's perfectly logical; it won't be the first time Lightning has expanded by gobbling up neighboring countries. That's happened three times in the last century, but it seems so ridiculously petty given the scale of their capabilities now.
"It is logical, though," Shikaku says. "With a weapon like their cannon, the Land of Lightning no longer feels the need for a buffer country between themselves, Fire, and Water. They are confident enough in it as a deterrent that they don't believe any wars will be fought in their territory, even if we share a border."
He's right, as usual, which is why he is the Jonin Commander. The cannon will also serve as a deterrent to keep the other nations from meddling in the annexation of the Land of Frost, which has no Hidden Village of its own and so keeps very few professional ninja on retainer… but there is no guarantee that will work, since the Land of Lightning and Kumogakure still have not claimed responsibility for the attack on Amegakure! Perhaps that is because it is still standing; that may be against their expectations.
Things are becoming muddled, crashing into each other: timings are becoming disorganized. Minato can see exactly how all of this was meant to play out, and where human error and bad luck have cracked it and created an even more confusing and dangerous situation. Frost has long been regarded as the first line of defense against Kumogakure by Kirigakure and the Land of Water, but their influence and strength has waned so much in the recent decades it is doubtful that they will be able to effectively assist in its defense.
But still, Lightning is playing with fire. They are likely to be burned.
The third labor. There needs to be some sort of communication with Rain, especially now that Sasuke has told them that Cloud was responsible for the attack and that Orochimaru is working to betray them. Open talk is more important than ever now; the world is on a knife-edge. Minato has no intention of following the Daimyo's predatory requests.
"But others definitely will," Obito says with a grim face. His face is usually grim, Minato thinks. That is part of why the Fire Daimyo is afraid of him; part of why Minato has not been trying to push Obito towards the Hokage's responsibilities until very recently.
Amegakure and Konohagakure have a relationship that none of the other villages share. Both their leaders were trained by Jiraiya the Toad Sage, and both inherited his will and his summoning contract. They have a means of communicating, and a neutral ground to accomplish it at: Mount Myoboku.
Minato will send as many toads as it takes; Yahiko will hear his plea that they meet at Myoboku to talk, to avert war. He does not care that Yahiko is a revolutionary, a dangerous man with a fierce temper. Minato is sure that if he can get in the same room as the Amekage, then cooler heads will prevail.
"I'd like for both you and Jiraiya to be there," he says, and Obito cocks his head. "Everyone with a contract with Myoboku. This shouldn't just be Kage's talking; it concerns the Toads too."
"I appreciate that," Obito says, shocked and sincere. "But my team needs me. If it's going to be soon, I think I should be with them."
For a second, Minato is frustrated. He's making a request, and he still subconsciously expects Obito to leap at his command like a dog. That is the ninja Obito made of himself for more than a decade after Kakashi died beneath implaccable stones.
But this Obito, independent and ambitious and focused on the future, is an improvement in every way, and so Minato's frustration is washed away before it can go farther than his heart. After a day like yesterday, this is the Obito that the village and the world needs, so Minato is glad for it. He won't be around forever; men like Obito will have to replace him one day.
"He's right," Minato says. "Now, let's get started. We've all got a lot to do."
If we're lucky, we won't be at war by the end of the week.
###
None of her clothes fit anymore.
Sakura's parents hadn't touched her room since she'd left. She'd gone home and collapsed after her second debriefing, and everything had been just as she'd left it more than a year ago.
Now, she'd woken up, and late in the day, certainly past noon. She'd stumbled to her closet on autopilot just like she'd done on countless mornings before, and only after she'd opened it had things started making sense again.
None of her clothes fit anymore. She had a closet full of useless clothes meant for a different Sakura Haruno. She was still wearing her Akatsuki uniform, and since her apartment had been disintegrated it was probably the only thing left that fit her.
Sakura stared into her closet for several minutes, paralyzed. Her day was over before it had begun. This was an insurmountable obstacle for her.
"Sakura?" Her mother's voice from downstairs, uncertain. "Are you up?"
It took her too long to respond, and her mother called out again.
"I'm up," she finally muttered, then again, stronger, trying to remember that she was alive. "I'm up!"
She heard her mother come up the stairs, unable to tear herself away from her closet, and Mebuki let herself into Sakura's room.
"Hey." Still so uncertain. Sakura had always remembered her mother as decisive, too bold for her taste. "How are you doing?"
'I should be dead. I'm only alive because of Haku and he's absolutely dead. I should have died instead of him.'
"I'm okay," she said listlestly, and Mebuki smiled. It started fake and became real, and she stepped forward, carefully taking Sakura in a hug.
"We can't believe you're home, honey," she said, and Sakura shrugged. "I'm so sorry your father is on a mission; it would have been better if we were both here. I didn't have time yesterday…" She pulled back with a strangled laugh. "You're so tall! You look great!"
"Thanks." Talking felt like lifting a building. Sakura couldn't handle being here. She wasn't supposed to be here.
"Were you…?" Mebuki hesitated. "Did you have anything else from Rain? I bet you had all sorts of outfits. Is that what you're looking for?"
"This is all I have left," Sakura said, not talking about her uniform but plucking at one of the sleeves nonetheless.
"Oh jeez," Mebuki muttered. "Well, you've got nothing that fits then! That's not gonna work!" She pulled back, looking Sakura over. "Well, we'll have a proper celebration when your dad's back, but we should go shopping in the meantime! You need some new clothes!"
She was wearing the necklace she'd bought with Hidan's bounty money, Sakura noticed, a sapphire stone on a long silver chain. For a moment, Sakura was fixated on it.
A little blood sacrifice; that's what the necklace was. Her family's reward for murdering the right person. She could see Amegakure in the stone, burning and falling to pieces before her eyes.
"Sakura?" Mebuki asked, and she shook her head, the vision vanishing. "Does that sound good?" She smiled uncomfortably. "I mean, you'll probably get some side-eyes if you walk around everywhere wearing the Akatsuki's uniform, right?"
'She thinks they're fools. Traitors. Revolutionaries. If she trusts you, it's despite you wearing their colors.'
Sakura breathed out, closing her eyes and trying not to scream. "Yeah," she grunted. "That's a good idea. I'll get ready to leave, okay?"
"I'll get you some of mine in the meantime!" Mebuki said cheerfully, and Sakura started grinding her teeth. "I have some cute stuff you'll like; just a minute!"
Her mother left and then seemed to be back in an instant before Sakura could hope to catch her breath, foisting a variety of outfits on her. Sakura picked the first thing that her mother seemed to want her to pick, barely paying attention to what was happening, and then again and again, time moved by so quickly she couldn't hope to catch it.
They were walking the streets of Amegakure, no, Konoha, she was back home, people all around them, none noticing her. The Sakura Haruno that had left and the one that had returned had the same hair, the same eyes, but she was taller and more filled out and older in more than just physical ways, and if anyone noticed her return, Sakura didn't notice them.
Amegakure had been tall and brightly lit and even though Konohagakure was bigger than the Hidden Rain purely by how much ground it covered it felt so small to Sakura; when she looked up she could see the sky. The people here were mostly the same; she could recognize every religion and every brand on most streets, and she never smelled something she'd never smelled before, never saw a food being eaten that filled her with curiosity. Now that she had seen the world and seen the glittering gutters of Rain, the Hidden Leaf was nothing but quaint.
They bought clothes. Sakura's mother did not stray far from her old style, shirts and jackets that brought out her hair, which Mebuki adored because it was her father's, and Sakura didn't stop her. She got admiring looks from the store staff, which she ignored. She received praise from her mother, which washed off her without leaving an impression. It was like the world was slowly but steadily draining of color and life and leaving her alone, a shadow on a plane of darkness.
'This will be the rest of your life unless you do something.'
"I'm good," she announced about an hour in, and her mother gave her a doubtful look.
"You're good? We've only got four outfits; you won't even be set for the week!" she asked, and Sakura bit her tongue.
"I'm tired," she lied, because she both wanted to lie down and sleep forever and couldn't conceive of that escape. "We can finish this when dad gets back, right?"
"Oh, I guess," Mebuki fretted, and Sakura finally gained some measure of freedom, stumbling out onto the street (though she didn't miss a step) as her mother gathered up everything.
What did she need? How could she escape this feeling? Somehow, she didn't have a clue.
'You can't escape this feeling. This is you, Sakura. You've always stood alone.'
Naruto, she realized after a second. She needed Naruto, as pathetic as that sounded. He'd helped her in Rain when she'd collapsed after the rescue effort. He could do the same here.
"Mom," she said as her mother left the store carrying a comical amount of bags. Her mother had always joked that how much you could carry with a bit of chakra training was the least advertised but most useful part of being a shinobi. "Do you mind if I go off for a bit? Maybe you can keep shopping without me."
Mebuki stopped and stared at her. "You just got back," she said after a moment, and Sakura flinched.
"I know. It's just…" She could feel herself start to panic. "It's not you, I promise. I just… I need some time. And… the only…" She stepped back, like her mother was a threat, and Mebuki blinked. "I don't feel like I know anyone here today. It was just Naruto and Sasuke for so long-"
"Oh!" Mebuki relaxed, the bags dropping. "You want to see your teammates? Sweety, that's totally fine. I get it." She winked, failing completely to hide her hurt but also not trying to convince Sakura otherwise. "You know, this is actually pretty close to the Hokage's house. Maybe you could go see if Naruto's home? Do you…" She finally faltered. "You remember where it is, right?"
"Yeah, I think I do," Sakura said, not sure if she was allowed to leave or not. Her mother tried to smile.
"Well, go on then," she said. "I'll meet you back home, huh? We'll get takeout!"
"Okay," Sakura said, and then she was gone.
She moved through the streets like a ghost, and eventually the markets and restaurants made way to pleasing homes alongside canals and large gardens. Sakura had only been to Naruto's home a couple times, but her feet still carried there without fail, and she found herself before the familiar gate, stuck in place.
'What if he's as scared as you?'
She swallowed her dread and quietly opened the gate, crossing the entryway and knocking on the door. There wasn't an immediate answer.
So she knocked again.
When the door silently opened, it was Naruto's mother on the other side. Sakura stared up at her.
'You might have one of the keys to all this inside you, Kushina Uzumaki.'
"Sakura?" Kushina asked with a pleasant smile. "How're you doing? I heard…" Her smile faded a little. "Well, you know. I'm glad you're back safe."
"Thanks. Is Naruto here?" she asked, and noticed Kushina react to her tone. Rather, the lack of it.
"Obito came by earlier and picked him up," she said, and Sakura grunted. "They were heading for one of the training fields, he said. Thirty-two. He wanted to cheer him up, I guess." She fully opened the door. "Do you want to come in? You can wait until he gets back, if you'd like. I'm just working on some seals, nothing you're not allowed to see."
"No, thank you. I'll go find him." As Sakura started to walk away, Kushina stepped out of the house.
"Sakura," she said, her tone stopping her in her tracks. "I'm not going to ask if you're okay. You don't have to worry about that. If you're hoping Naruto will make you feel better, he probably won't. He was even worse off than you."
Sakura paused, looking over her shoulder. "I…" she said, not sure what she meant to actually say. I hoped that wouldn't be true? I hoped he'd help me? I thought he was stronger than me?
"I'm sure you all saw horrible things," Kushina said, a hint of a sneer creeping across her face. "What Cloud did is… barbaric. But they've always been willing to try anything to get ahead; we should have seen it coming. But Naruto's friend, Kabuto… he died for him. They were both nearly killed by the blast and Kabuto chose to save him instead of himself. Did you know that?"
She hadn't, and her face showed it. Kushina's expression softened. "We talked about it last night. He feels guilty; he doesn't know how to handle it. He couldn't even retrieve Kabuto's body."
"It's the same for me," Sakura said, feeling like she would choke. "I watched Haku get… torn away. He went flying off into the… everything, the air was full of fire, and I couldn't catch him. I missed him." By the end she could barely speak, struggling to get each word out without a sob interrupting it. "I'm sure he's dead. But I searched for hours… I couldn't find him."
Kushina was silent for a moment. "You want a hug?" she asked suddenly, and Sakura was shocked to hear herself laugh. "I'm told I give great hugs."
Her mother had hugged her and that hadn't helped at all, so Sakura was pretty sure someone else's wouldn't make a difference. She shook her head. "I'm sorry," she muttered. "I didn't mean to come here and… and cry. That's not what I want to do. I feel like if I start crying I'm never going to stop."
"It's probably a good idea," Kushiha said. "Sometimes, all you can do is cry. There's no shame in that. It'll help."
"I don't want to," Sakura said, feeling more like a child than ever before. "You said thirty-two?" Kushina nodded. "Maybe sensei is still there too. I'll go see."
"Alright," Kushina said with a frown. "If you're sure. You're always welcome here, Sakura."
Sakura couldn't even thank her. She left, trying not to run, and went to the training field.
Obito wasn't there when she arrived, but Naruto was.
So were Neji Hyuuga, Rock Lee, Might Gai, and Tenten.
"Oh." Sakura slowed down as she jogged onto the field, looking around and taking in the situation. Naruto was scuffed up and serious looking, but Team Gai wasn't surrounding or threatening him; it seemed more likely they'd been sparring. Well, of course they would have been, right? That seemed to be the main way Might Gai communicated with people. "Hey."
"Sakura!" Tenten, taller just like Sakura was, rushed forward and pulled her into a hug. Sakura went limp, not even sure how to respond as the boys stared at them. "I was just thinking about going to see you! How're you doing?"
Sakura pulled back and took in Tenten's smiling face. When this reunion had happened in her head again and again, Tenten had always been angry, or at least bitter. Sometimes they'd fought. But today for the real thing, Tenten didn't have anything on her face but relief and joy.
Ah. She was definitely going to cry. She probably couldn't hold it back anymore. And in front of Naruto and Tenten too! Maybe she should have just stayed home.
Sakura felt her face twist up, and Tenten looked a little worried. "It's okay," she said, stepping back a little but still holding Sakura. "Ino told me what happened. Sakura, you were so nice, being worried about me before you left. You did your best!"
'You know you're my best friend, right?'
"I'm sorry." Sakura started crying, tears streaming down her face as she desperately tried to stay composed enough to speak. "I wanted to tell you… I was scared…"
"It's okay!" Tenten said, and Sakura shook her head. "It is, I promise."
"It's not okay." Sakura couldn't keep it together anymore. "Haku's dead, Kabuto's dead, Suigetsu's dead, the Amekage won't trust us anymore, we almost all died, and now it's been a year and we're back here and I don't know what I'm doing and none of my clothes fit anymore!" She pulled back, laughing and crying in the same breath. "Tenten, it's all messed up. I was gonna fix it; there's so much that can't be fixed and none of it can be replaced."
"Yeah," Tenten said with a sad smile. "But Sakura, you're back home. You're alive, and so are Naruto and Sasuke. You're here. You've gotta focus on that." She kept going before Sakura could speak, before she could tell Tenten that she was ignorant. "I can't imagine what you went through in Amegakure, even before you got blown up. Naruto was telling us about it; it sounds insane. I'm not gonna try to tell you I can understand that, or that I get it, okay? If I do, I want you to slap me. I'm just happy that I have my friend back." She gripped Sakura's bicep, feeling how firm it was. "And you're ripped! You must have been training your ass off over there, huh?!"
Sakura couldn't help but laugh at the compliment. "Well, you're the same!" she said, and Tenten looked relieved. "You almost crushed me!" She had thought that the moment her tears came she'd be trapped in them for the rest of the day, but Tenten's positivity was infectious. She looked over the rest of the team, tears still running down her face but not sobbing. Maybe she'd broken inside, been forced to do too much too fast in the last couple days, but Sakura didn't mind the feeling right now. Tenten was right; even if she'd been forced to leave the Nation of Rain behind, at least she was back home in a familiar place with familiar friends. Couldn't she take some comfort and safety in that?
"Did you get beat up, Naruto?" she asked, and Naruto looked at her like she was crazy. She probably looked like it, still openly weeping but talking like nothing was wrong. Neji and Lee certainly both looked uncomfortable.
"After Obito dropped me off, a little," he said, walking towards her. "You…?"
"Don't worry about it," Sakura said with a shake of her head, wiping away her tears. "Sensei headed out then?"
"He had some business with his clan!" Gai announced, crossing his arms with a grin. "Sakura, we are all excited to see you and your team return! And, more than that, you're strong!" He gestured to Naruto. "You know, Naruto put up a good fight against both Neji and Lee at once! You've grown while abroad!"
Sakura glanced over at Naruto, and he shrugged. She could see anger burning in him; had he challenged them after Obito had dragged him here? That wasn't like him at all. When she looked over Neji and Lee more closely, she could see that Neji had a bloody nose, and Lee was covered in scrapes; maybe the Hyuuga genius had defaulted to his standard challenge to the Hokage's son and gotten a nasty surprise. She'd just missed some excitement by her reckoning.
"So we're sparring then?" she asked, and Gai nodded. "That wasn't really what I had in mind…"
"It helps," Naruto suddenly said, and Sakura gave him a surprised look. "With feeling…" He grasped for the word, hands opening and closing. "Helpless. Maybe it would help you too, Sakura."
'I was hoping you would, Naruto.'
But then, maybe this advice was the help she was looking for. She gave him a smile, and he grinned back.
"Well, who do I fight then?" she asked, looking around, and Tenten immediately stepped forward.
"Oh, I've gotta-" she said, before her sensei raised his hand and she went silent, staring at him with wide eyes.
"If you will accept, Sakura, I will be your opponent," he said, and Sakura stared at him too. Everyone was; no one had expected this. "Obito told me you were accepted into the Akatsuki; is that true?"
"Yes?" Sakura said cautiously. Tenten gave her a curious look, and Sakura wasn't sure what her friend was pondering. "But that was because of my ideals, not my ability."
"An organization like the Akatsuki cannot afford to not consider both!" Gai declared, settling into a loose stance and raising both his hands. Sakura found her foot sliding back on instinct, and she had to admit that Might Gai wasn't wrong. "You do not have a sword! Would you like to borrow one from Tenten?"
"No, I…" Sakura turned to Tenten. "I lost the original in the Land of Waves. Gaara took it. I'm really sorry."
"It was your sword," Tenten said firmly. "Nothing to apologize for there. Do you want another?"
"I…" Sakura hesitated. "No, not for this." She hadn't brought her knife either; she'd gone out into the village too foggy to consider arming herself. Tenten looked doubtful.
"Gai-sensei won't go easy on you," she said, and Sakura laughed.
"I know," she said, turning back with a slight bow. "Whenever you're ready, Master Gai."
Might Gai didn't respond; he just threw himself forward, and Sakura's body responded automatically.
Her sensei's rival threw a high kick at her head, and Sakura ducked it, lunging forward with her arms spread wide to try and knock the larger ninja off his feet. Gai's leg came back down, slamming into her back, and Sakura crashed and rolled forward, slamming both her feet into her opponent's left ankle and sending him slipping backwards, off balance.
"Excellent!" Gai shouted. Sakura could hear more yelling too, his team and Naruto yelling encouragement. She rolled and Gai toppled, driving his fist down towards her as he fell. It slammed into the earth right next to her and was driven nearly a foot into the dirt, and Sakura let out a little shout of shock as she felt the impact ripple through the earth. "Very quick thinking, Sakura!"
He ripped his arm up as Sakura spun to her feet. Gai didn't use ninjutsu in fights, or at least not so far as Sakura had seen, but it certainly felt like an Earth jutsu was being hurled at her as wall of soil, grass and a few deep roots and stones exploded out of the ground around his fist and bombarded her. She was too close to dodge so she fought back, sweeping bits of earth out the air with washes of water from her hands and catching as many pieces of solid debris as she could. As Gai came at her, she hurled the stones and clumps of earth at him, some of which struck and others of which he caught out of the air and threw back.
For an extended second they bombarded each other, trading ammunition and accumulating bruises at an incredible rate, but eventually Gai's rate of fire proved too high and he broke through; a rock bounced off Sakura's temple and she staggered back, and Gai rushed in with a predictable straight-arm blow.
He was going easy on her, Sakura knew, but she was still sure that taking that hit head-on would knock her out. Without time to twist out of the way, her arms came up; she knocked the fist aside, even the barest contact of it brushing her shoulder sending her spinning. Sakura went with the momentum, slamming three rapid kicks into Gai's side, working her way up from his abs to just below his shoulder.
It was like kicking a steel pole; the Jonin didn't move an inch. His smile just grew wider as Sakura continued her spin, latching onto his arm and anchoring herself with chakra.
"Spectacular!" he declared. Sakura couldn't see anything but him; wasn't thinking about anything but him. Naruto was right. This was helping. "But-!"
He slammed his arm down, dragging Sakura along the ground with tremendous force. She stubbornly clung to him, repeatedly landing kicks on his chest and arm, but gradually she was dragged free by his irresistible strength. Sakura was sent tumbling away, covered in scrapes and small cuts, and Gai shook his arm out with a grin.
"You're not fighting as you should, Sakura. You are a nin and kenjutsu specialist, not taijutsu!" he said joyfully. "There's no need to meet me on my chosen battleground! Show me your jutsu!"
There was a lull as Sakura pulled herself up, feeling the intensity of the moment. She caught Tenten in her peripheral vision. Her friend looked starstruck.
"I don't have jutsu that won't kill you, sensei," she said, and Gai laughed.
"Have faith in me! I'm familiar with your Flowing Water Blade!" Gai rolled out his arm, and Sakura could see several nasty bruises and cuts where her blows had had effect. Even if the man was ridiculously strong, fast, and tough, he wasn't invincible. He glanced at Naruto with his indestructible smile. "And we have a medic on hand! Tenten, throw her a knife!"
'A sword…'
"No." Sakura raised up her hand as Tenten reached into her pouch.
"Sakura," her friend insisted. "You'll need a knife if you don't wanna lose completely."
"I need my jutsu if I don't wanna lose completely," Sakura said. She straightened up, breathed out. "I don't need a knife for that."
"Huh?" That was Naruto, standing beside Tenten and looking confused. "Sakura, I thought you still…?"
Sakura focused, forming a Ram seal. Water welled up in her hands, a couple drops initially spilling to the ground before the jutsu came together and her control solidified, along with the water blade. When she broke the seal and drew her hands apart, a glittering blade of hail and water followed them, rotating around both her hands like a silvery drill.
"Oho!" Gai said, practically vibrating with excitement. "And how long have you been able to do that, Sakura?!"
"Just now," she said, and everyone present blinked. Gai reared back, astonishment plain on his face.
"Goodness!" he declared. "That's… unusual!" He pondered the situation for a moment, and then shrugged. "Then you've had a breakthrough in even this small battle, Sakura?"
"Haku and I talked about it," she said, raising up one of the blades and staring at it. "He taught me how to use Wind and Water to put some ice chakra in my Flowing Water Blade to create the Hyouryusuiken. And we talked about how it and the Rasengan were very similar, with the Rasengan being the ultimate shaping manipulation and the Blade being…" She laughed. "Well, not the ultimate, but very advanced nature manipulation. So if I can do the Rasengan with my bare hands, why should I need a sword for my Flowing Hail Blade?"
She flourished her hands, the silvery water filled with razor hail flowing out in intricate patterns that traced through the air. Without her sword to channel her chakra, she only had about five feet of range, but that was still more than most any mundane sword.
"Do you want to test them out, Master Gai?" she asked, and Gai whooped.
"Absolutely!" he declared, and charged forward.
Sakura swung her left hand first, an exploratory strike that whickered out horizontally. Gai slid under it and she, on instinct, straightened two of the fingers on her right hand like knives, imitating the laser-like fire jutsu she'd seen Sasuke do several times. The blade shot out in a straight line like silver lightning, and Gai barely avoided it piercing through his shoulder by slamming his hand straight into the ground like a spade and throwing himself back, out of her range.
"Fast!" he declared, half in surprise and half in joy. "Is it tiring?"
"Not at all," Sakura said, taking a step forward for what felt like the first time in their rather serious spar. "I feel like I could keep these going forever."
"Your chakra control is sublime, as usual," Gai said, removing several kunai from his back pouch. "Is their bite as fierce, I wonder?"
He threw the kunai one after the other and Sakura struck them out of the air effortlessly, feeling like her hands were barely her own. The blades obliterated the tools as they struck them; rather than merely slicing them in half, the ice chakra flowing through the Hail Blades chewed the metal up and reduced it to slivers.
"Splendid," Gai said, and as he did he obviously relaxed, the tension flowing out of his body. "Do you feel better, Sakura? Or would you like to keep going?"
For a moment, Sakura felt like she did, that she wanted to step forward and try her best to cut Tenten's sensei down. But the intrusive thought was insane, and passed quickly. She shook out her hands, and freezing water dripped off of them.
"No," she said. "Thank you, sensei. I think I'm done."
"Glad to hear that," Gai said, so unbelievably friendly for someone who'd scratched her up so badly that Sakura could hardly believe it. She'd forgotten the man's ridiculous attitude, and how it brightened up any situation. Naruto stepped forward, gesturing for Sakura to come to him, and Gai waved them off. "You're welcome to stay, of course, but we are going to continue our own training then. Neji!" he declared, spinning on his student. The Hyuuga gave his sensei a bored look, and Gai chuckled. "Consecutive Kaitens, I believe it was! I'll be trying to break through as usual! Let's get started!"
As Gai and Neji descended into a training routine Sakura could only call insanely dangerous and Lee cheered them on as he began a set of one-handed push ups, Tenten and Naruto came to her side. Naruto started running his healing hands over her without a word, closing her scratches and mending her bruises, while Tenten patted her on the back.
"They'll say hi to you when they're done," she said, and Sakura shrugged. "Everyone is still getting used to you being back, you know."
"It's fine," Sakura said. "I don't mind." She glanced at Naruto. "Are you feeling better?"
Naruto frowned. "I was doing okay, actually. I thought I'd get up and walk around town, say hi to some people, you know, in the morning. But I…" He laughed. "None of my clothes fit anymore, so I just had to wear the same outfit."
"You too?" Sakura asked as he continued, nodding.
"And then when I got going, I thought I'd go get you first, so I was heading towards your house…" he paused, and Sakura's heart sped up. "But I walked past this shop. Ichiraku's. A ramen place. And I just…" He sighed. "I couldn't keep going. I went home, and then Obito came and got me."
"I can't believe you got up early," Sakura admitted. "I was asleep until like, two hours ago."
"Ah, he's always had crazy stamina," Tenten said lightheartedly. "Remember how many shadow clones he made in the Chunin Exam? It's not that surprising."
"Yeah, you're right about that," Sakura said, placing her hand on Naruto's arm. He looked down at it, and then up at her with a faint smile. "Makes him an incredible medic too." She didn't even have any aches left after Naruto had touched her. "Were you gonna keep training, Tenten?"
"Probably," Tenten said, "but if you're going somewhere, we could catch up. Have you had breakfast?"
"No," Sakura admitted. "What about you, Naruto?" He shook his head. "Your dad was too busy to make something, I bet."
"Yeah." Naruto didn't look troubled, exactly, but certainly somewhere between anxious and curious. "I haven't seen him today. I don't think he ever came home. I'm sure he's dealing with all sorts of shit. Mom too."
"Well, we could go get something!" Tenten said. "I've got a lot of questions for the both of you, you know. Does that sound good?"
It felt like an abomination to act like things were normal. It felt like a betrayal of where she'd been and what she'd seen and who had died. But looking into her friend's eyes, Sakura realized that that was what life was. Normality in defiance of destruction defined shinobi, people who lived to destroy, and even after something like what had happened to Amegakure she would only hurt herself more by trying to keep things from going back to normal. No matter what, people lived, ate, laughed, and talked; refusing that would be refusing her humanity.
"Sure," she said, and they started slowly making their way south, towards downtown. "Do you know if there's any pizza around here?"
###
The first time Sasuke took a moment to sit down, clear his head, and speak with his mother after he returned to the Village Hidden in the Leaves, he apologized before saying anything else.
She went still, obviously not totally sure what he was talking about, and then gracefully stepped across the living room and sank down before him on the other side of the low table that he'd been kneeling at. "What do you mean, Sasuke?" she asked.
He didn't look away from her as he spoke. "I was cruel to you before I left," he said, and his mother's normally implaccable face showed just a hint of surprise and sorrow. She wasn't the only person he'd been cruel to, he thought. After this, he needed to make another apology to Hinata. He hadn't spoken to her yet, even though she'd saved him from Itachi. There was more that needed to be unpacked there then he could possibly wrap his head around right now.
"I couldn't understand your reasons and justifications, and I reacted like a child," he continued, not giving away his divergent thoughts. "I'm sorry for shutting you out. I didn't regret going to Rain, but after everything that happened…" He paused, drumming his fingers on the table. "I regretted leaving without offering you any sort of respect. So, even if I still don't think you were right to do what you did, I'm sorry for that."
Mikoto tilted her head, her hair shifting to hide her burns. "You grew more than a year over there," she said, and Sasuke shrugged. "Making Jonin, commanding your own missions… I guess some distance from your family did well by you, Sasuke."
"They were flattering me," Sasuke said, only half-believing it, and his mother crossed her arms with an unimpressed look. "Trying to convince me to stay."
"Give yourself credit," Mikoto said dismissively. "Humility is admirable, but false modesty does not befit an Uchiha. Especially not one like you."
'Words like that don't become you.'
Sasuke twitched, and his mother noticed. He spoke before she could say anything more. "Itachi said something very similar," he said, and his mother narrowed her eyes. He chuckled darkly. "He said I had greatness within me."
"Because of your Mangekyo?" Mikoto said, and Sasuke blinked.
"How did you know?" he asked, and she scoffed.
"You had blood running from your eye when we arrived."Sasuke was surprised to find he had no memory of that. He hadn't even noticed that in the chaos. "And your chakra has changed. It's sharper now. I imagine Itachi saw it as well, and Obito certainly did. It's no surprise, considering what you went through." She uncrossed her arms. "We'll speak of that in a moment. What else did you talk about?"
"His plans," Sasuke said, his hand wandering up to his left eye. For a moment, it faintly throbbed, a feeling so minor he couldn't tell if it was his imagination or not. "He's planning to gather the Tailed Beasts to hold the world hostage, but he had a bit of a setback. He possessed three before he went to Rain: the Nanabi, Nibi, and Sanbi. But when he kidnapped me, he got into a fight with the Amekage, Nagato. Apparently that was frightening enough that Itachi was forced to unleash all three of the Bijuu on him. From the sound of it, Nagato defeated them. But despite that, he was still determined to save the village, or the world, and he thinks he's the only one who can do it."
Mikoto was at a loss for words, but only momentarily. "He always was ambitious," she muttered. Sasuke frowned. "He may have had an affinity for crows," she said, and they both glanced at the room they had locked the crow Itachi had given Sasuke in, "but he was never like them. Always unwilling or afraid or too proud to ask for help. Always working alone, even in the ANBU." She shifted. "That's why you're going to surpass him, Sasuke," she said with some fervor, and Sasuke gave his mother a doubtful look. "You've always worked well with others, no matter what. Even in Rain, that strength was obvious enough to make you a Jonin. That's one strength Itachi will never have."
"That's not quite the case," Sasuke admitted. "He asked for my help with his plan. Though… he also demanded that I be ready to stop him," he continued, and Mikoto didn't waste time being surprised. She just patiently waited for him to continue, clasping her hands before her. "Mother… Itachi said he couldn't remember the last year. That there were things, thoughts and knowledge, that he wasn't sure was coming from him or someone else. He said 'I pushed back against me.' He sounded deranged. And…" Sasuke sighed. "He said he was completely intent on stopping the coup, but that he had no intention to kill Shisui until it happened. That he felt that he needed to, but didn't know why."
Mikoto pondered that for some time, and Sasuke let himself sink into an uncomfortable silence. "You think he's ill, then," she eventually said, and Sasuke nodded.
"He said there was another him. Someone inside him, stealing his mind. What would that be but illness?" he said, closing his eyes. "He thought it might be a dissociative personality. Looking back, I can't say that sounds impossible."
"Nor I," Mikoto said quietly. "But there's never been anything like that in the clan's history. Uchiha feel and act passionately, but in terms of mental illness or outright insanity like that… it's extremely rare."
Despite it being his first instinct, Sasuke wisely did not say anything about the coup. He just waited for his mother to finish her thought.
"It would break my heart," she eventually said, "for my son to have been driven to such things by something beyond his control. But I suppose there's nothing we can do about that now. You will just have to take your brother's warning to heart. It sounds like he's relying on you in his own way, Sasuke."
"He's a fool then," Sasuke laughed. "I could never stop him. Nothing has changed in that respect."
"Are you sure of that?" Mikoto said, standing up from the table. "Your Mangekyo, Sasuke. Have you used it yet?"
He frowned. "No." A pause. "Frankly, I'm scared to. I…" Sasuke sighed, standing up as well. "I don't want to go blind, mother."
"Let me show you something then, Sasuke," Mikoto said, and to his complete shock her eyes changed.
Her tomoe rapidly rotating, joining together into a single ring that reminded Sasuke of a much more restrained Rinnegan, and three spikes emerged from the points where the tomoe had lay, thin and long enough to reach to the edges of his mother's eye. His mother sighed, her Mangekyo completed, and Sasuke couldn't help but stare.
"You?" he asked, and she nodded. It clicked. "Since that night?"
"It saved my life," his mother said. She raised her hand to her left cheek, her fingers resting just below her eye. "When your father died, I'm sure that's when it happened. And when Itachi lit my face with his Amaterasu, the name came to me, and what it would do. Benzaiten. It cancels out all chakra techniques. Ninjutsu, genjutsu, fuinjutsu, it doesn't matter. If I look at it, Sasuke, it will cease to function." Her lips quirked. "Even the Kamui."
'Even the Kamui' was a sentence that Sasuke couldn't even begin to grapple with, so he asked his first question instead. "The name came to you?" he asked, and his mother nodded.
"Like a dream. It has always been that way, apparently." She shrugged. "Who is to say why? But it was the same for your father, for Obito, for Shisui, and I imagine for your brother as well." Her finger shifted over. "My right eye is almost the same, but far more taxing. Similar to Obito's and Shisui's in that respect, I believe. Obito's Kamui envelopes either his body or a distant target; the Benzaiten is nearly the same to me."
Sasuke blinked. "You… eliminate your own chakra?" he said, his face wrinkling up. Mikoto laughed at the expression. "That seems… well, useless, mother."
"You'd think!" Mikoto said with a laugh. "But when the technique is deactivated, it all rushes back in an instant. Dangerous, of course, but the results can be even more so."
Sasuke didn't quite understand, but he stayed silent as his mother continued. "Regardless, I've had these eyes for nearly a decade now. I rarely use them. I kept them a secret from the clan and the village, because…" She chuckled. "Because I did not want to relight the hopes of anyone who had believed the possibility of the coup had died with your father. I thought we had already lost enough. And because of that frugality, my vision remains unclouded."
She gestured to Sasuke and left the room, and Sasuke followed her out into the street. "Where are we going?" he asked, and Mikoto gestured to the east.
"To Naka Shrine. If we're going to have this talk, there are more things you should see," she said, and as she did Sasuke heard a tear open in reality near them. He glanced back farther down the street to see Obito pop out of a hole in the air.
"Oh!" his sensei said, rushing over. "Well, that's great timing!" He looked Sasuke over with an approving glint in his eye. "You're looking better, Sasuke."
"Thanks," Sasuke said. I'm not, he thought, but thanks. "What brings you here, sensei?"
"I needed to talk with you," Obito said. "And I suppose with your mother too, so it's just as well you're both here."
"Would you like to walk with us, Obito?" Mikoto asked, and Sasuke was amazed at how polite she sounded. A lot could change in a year, but the last interaction he remembered between the two of them was near murderous. "We were heading to Naka Shrine."
Obito laughed. "Great timing indeed," he said. "I was planning to drag you there myself."
"Well, that seems ideal then," Mikoto said, setting off, and Sasuke and Obito followed after her. They gave greetings to clansmen they passed along the way, Sasuke enduring congratulations on his return and admiration of how much taller he'd grown, and spoke of nothing of true substance until they'd passed beyond the compound's walls.
"I was speaking to Sasuke about his Mangekyo," Mikoto eventually said as they descended into the forest footpaths of the Uchiha Clan's property, and Obito nodded with a grim look. "As I was telling him, I've had mine for nearly a decade, but haven't experienced a significant loss in my sight. The legends refer to the Mangekyo as driving Uchiha to inevitable blindness. Maybe that's true after a more significant span of time." She gave Obito a meaningful glance. "But in our experience, if you do not use the Mangekyo, it will not damage your eyes."
"It's true, Sasuke," Obito continued on Mikoto's behalf. "And more than that, certain techniques can be far more damaging than others. My close-range Kamui damaged my eyes so gradually that I used it for years without things getting too bad, but the long-range one…" He laughed, wincing. "Well, things get more blurry every time. After Waterfall, it's been particularly bad."
"Itachi said that after the year he couldn't remember, his sight was clear again," Sasuke said quietly, and Obito gave him an alarmed look. He and his mother both waved Obito off with a tired motion. "I'll tell you more about that later, sensei. The Hokage already knows. Do you think his eyes improved from a lack of use?"
"That hasn't been my experience," Obito said, and Mikoto shook her head as well. "If that's the case… Itachi must have something different about him."
"Hmm."
"The point is, using your Mangekyo will damage your eyes' chakra network, Sasuke. That is what causes your vision to fail. If you never use them, your vision will never degrade. But…" Mikoto trailed off. "The Mangekyo is a powerful tool. Even if you intend on living a long life like Obito here, it would be to your benefit to know what you're capable of."
It was strange, Sasuke thought, almost like old times, to be walking through the woods and speaking to his family about clan lore. It made him nostalgic, and that made his tongue loose.
"It's like being a shinobi," he said, and both his family members glanced at him. "A shinobi is one who sacrifices, right? That's what the Hokage always says. The Mangekyo is that in a nutshell. You can sacrifice your vision, your future, for power." He remembered the feeling of his arm being limp and useless, burned beyond repair by the Lightning Rasengan. "You burn your future for the sake of the present."
Neither Obito or Mikoto had an immediate response to that, and so they walked in silence for several minutes.
"I would prefer to be like you, Obito," Sasuke said quietly. "I don't want to go blind. I would rather sacrifice other things."
"There is a way," Mikoto said, just as quietly. "You know that, right Sasuke?"
The notion seemed so impossible that for a second Sasuke truly didn't understand what his mother was referencing. When he did, it struck him like a branch to the face.
He had a brother. Itachi had a Mangekyo Sharingan of his own. The Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan was not a distant fantasy for someone like him. If he had the strength, he could steal Itachi's eyes for his own, the same way he'd always been told Itachi would do to him.
Sasuke shivered. "I know," he said. He'd never do it, he thought, not unless Itachi died by other means. After the trust his insane brother had placed in him, it felt too foul to even consider.
Mikoto was silent, and then stopped. "It's a mature outlook," she said. They were close to Naka Shrine now, but she gave no sign of moving on, and so Sasuke and Obito stopped as well. "I hope it isn't challenged. Before we enter, do you want to test your Sharingan?"
Sasuke stared at his mother, and then at his sensei, and then back at his mother. He sighed. "You both have more experience than me," he asked. "Do you think it's that important?"
Mikoto nodded; Obito pursed his lips. "It could save your life," he said frankly. "With how things are right now, Sasuke… it would be best for you, I think. Let's be careful about it though," he finished with a little laugh. "It could be messy if you have something like the Amaterasu."
"Alright." Sasuke accepted his uncertain future and took a deep breath, centering himself and feeling the boiling power in his eyes. "How do I do it?"
"It's similar to activating your Sharingan," Mikoto said, and both her and Obito's Mangekyo spun out, presenting Sasuke with three sets of unique eyes. "You just push a bit farther, for lack of a better word. Try it. You'll understand." She smiled warmly. "It's instinct."
Sasuke activated his Sharingan and then searched for the feeling his mother was describing. It was there, he realized, like a pool of ice cold water lying in his brain. He reached out, seizing it with his chakra, and the world grew brighter and sharper than ever before. He could feel the change, holding onto it and memorizing the feeling of a new muscle flexing as burning cold chakra flooded his brain. His Mangekyo was out. His mother and Obito both leaned in with interested looks.
"It's a nice pattern," Mikoto muttered. "Straight-edged. That's a good omen, Sasuke."
"Does that make a difference?" Sasuke asked, and Obito nodded.
"It can. Different Mangekyo patterns can determine how your chakra flows," he said. He indicated his own Eternal Mangekyo. "You can see that Shisui's was straight-edged as well; it indicated a gentle but indomitable strength." He laughed. "Or maybe it's just clan superstition. Most of that kind of stuff was mapped out centuries ago; they didn't exactly have the best tools for analyzing chakra back then."
"What does it look like?" Sasuke asked. His mother smiled.
"Two six-pointed stars, one within the other," she said, and Sasuke mulled it over. "More complicated than my own, obviously. Maybe that means the same for your technique?"
"Sure," Sasuke said doubtfully. "Then, to activate it…?"
"That chakra you're feeling, you force it into your eye. It's a little like…" Obito scratched the back of his head, looking embarrassed. "Mikoto, tell me I'm not crazy. It's like needing to pee really badly, right?"
To Sasuke's horror, his mother nodded emphatically. "Or something similar," she said with a faint grin. "There's a sense of pressure, and then release. It can't be mistaken."
"Gross," Sasuke muttered. "Which one should I try first then?" The clarity and detail of the leaves around him was becoming a little overwhelming.
"Your left eye," Mikoto said, and Obito nodded in agreement. "That was the one that was bleeding when we arrived. It's possible you had already used it without realizing it. It may be a subtle technique."
"Alright then." Sasuke focused, clenching his fists as he channeled chakra to his left eye. It was like they had said, a sense of building pressure that lasted only a heartbeat and then a sudden release as the chakra was consumed by his eye. To his relief, the world did not grow blurry; in fact, so far as Sasuke could tell, nothing had happened at all.
"Nothing's happening," he said curiously, turning towards his sensei. Obito shrugged.
"Maybe it's a genjutsu?" he said, glancing at Mikoto. "Not as strong as the Tsukuyomi, but something like the Kotoamatsuki? With our Mangekyo, it wouldn't be affecting us, though I can't see anything. What about you, Mikoto?"
"I can see-" Sasuke's mother started to say, and then the world snapped back.
"Maybe it's a genjutsu?" Obito said, glancing at Mikoto. Sasuke blinked, staring at them. "Not as strong as the Tsukuyomi, but something like the Kotoamatsuki? With our Mangekyo, it wouldn't be affecting us, though I can't see anything. What about you, Mikoto?"
"I can see a strong chakra active in his brain," Sasuke's mother said, and Sasuke blinked again, shaking his head. "Sasuke, what's wrong? Does it hurt?"
"No, not…" Sasuke didn't even know what to say. The situation was too surreal. "I think… that's insane, though."
"What?" Obito said, sounding perplexed. "Did you see something?"
"Listen, uh…" Sasuke laughed. "Obito, say something, anything that comes to mind. Something random that I couldn't guess, okay?"
He channeled chakra to his eye once more as Obito started speaking. This time, Sasuke noticed the snap, the cold feeling that enveloped his brain.
"Uh, okay, uh, you know when I was in the Land of Waves I saw Tsunade of the Sannin, she actually looked pretty good considering everything, she slammed someone down on a table and healed his arm in seconds, the cleanest bit of medical work I've seen in my life to be honest-"
Ten seconds. Then, the snap back. Sasuke started speaking, cutting Obito off.
"You saw Tsunade of the Sannin in the Land of Waves. She looked pretty good considering everything; she slammed someone down on a table and healed his arm in seconds. It was the cleanest bit of medical work you've seen in your life." As Obito gaped, Sasuke scratched his cheek and found a bit of blood, wiping it away. "Maybe you shouldn't tell Rin that. Would she be offended?"
"What the fuck?" Obito asked, quite articulately. Mikoto looked just as shocked.
"Sasuke…" she said, alarm plain in her tone. "Did you read his mind?"
"No," Sasuke said simply. "I saw the future. About ten seconds out. It played out in front of me, from my perspective, and then everything reset."
They both stared at him, and then Obito crouched down, placing one hand over his face. "Ohhhhh man," he grunted. "This raises so many uncomfortable questions." He looked up at Mikoto and Sasuke's confused expressions and laughed. "About like, how the fuck that works. Free will! Sasuke!" He jumped back to his feet with a thumbs up that looked more at home on Might Gai. "You solved determinism! Good job!"
"I don't think that's it," Sasuke said, knowing just enough to know that Obito's joke wasn't very funny. "I think… it feels like the same principle as the predictive sight from the third tomoe," he continued, resisting the urge to tap his head like a malfunctioning machine. "Maybe there is mind-reading, to a degree, though I have no clue how that would work." He looked around, taking in the clearing in full. "You were the only thing that I could predict, Obito. Those falling leaves–" He gestured to a series of loose leaves drifting down. "–I couldn't see them, just you. Everything else was static. It was very strange."
"That's…" Mikoto looked like she was going to cry from joy. "Sasuke, that's a stupendous technique." She seemed like she was retraining herself from pulling him into a hug. "Just… unbelievable. And you're barely bleeding! It's like the Kamui; a minor strain!"
"Yeah," Sasuke said, barely feeling the burn in his eyes. Curiosity was driving him forward now. "And the other-?"
"Oh, maybe you should wait, Sasuke-?" his mother started to say. Sasuke didn't wait.
He unleashed his right eye, but this time, it truly was the case that nothing happened. He instantly understood why.
"No chakra," Sasuke muttered. "It's a chakra manipulation technique. I guess that might be like yours, mom, but it would only work on my own, to guide it." He pondered his eyes and his future and the primal names that were drifting across his mind, as if of their own accord. The sensation was both thrilling and frightening.
"Kagatsuchi," he said, Obito and Mikoto both watching him intently. "That's the right eye. A chakra control technique, but only for my own. And the left eye, a ten second prediction, but only of someone I focus on. And it's…"
The name came slower, despite the jutsu having been cast three times now, but it settled in Sasuke's mind like a stone at the bottom of a pond.
"Nakisawame," he said.
"Long," Obito noted. "Both of them. You're like my brother."
"And his," Mikoto said quietly. "Do you want to test them more, Sasuke?"
"No." He let the Mangekyo fade away, and the world returned to its ordinary clarity. He breathed out, feeling simultaneously drained and invigorated, like someone after heavy but energizing exercise. "I'm content for now. Let's go. We're close to the shrine, right?"
"It's just a little farther," Mikoto confirmed. "Obito, you said you were wanting to go there in the first place." A pause. "Were you considering my words?"
"Yes," Obito said bluntly. "You put a lot of weight on that rock in the basement. What did you say? 'If you turn away from that, you don't belong in this clan?'"
"Something like that," Mikoto said shamelessly. "I was perhaps a little dramatic, but the stone is important. It's a history of our clan, and an education to the Sharingan's power. And…" Another pause. "More of it is revealed when your eyes develop. You were never shown it, Obito, but you are the first Uchiha with an Eternal eye since Madara. Perhaps there will be more secrets on it that only you can know."
"Interesting," Obito said as the shrine came into view. Sasuke stayed quiet, mulling over what exactly was on the stone. Where had it come from? Had some ancestor carved and encoded it countless years ago, and had the clan just dragged it around over the centuries? That certainly sounded like something his family would do; stubbornness was both a virtue and a sin for the Uchiha.
They entered the shrine, and Mikoto respectfully removed the seventh tatami mat which was covered in a thick covering in dust. No one had been here in ages, Sasuke thought, maybe not since the three of them had come here after the mission to Waterfall. His mother ran through the hand signs for the unsealing jutsu, and this time Sasuke made sure to memorize them. The stone slab rose, revealing the staircase down, and Sasuke felt a chill as he remembered the argument, his blood running hot and filled with fury. He looked back at his mother, and she smiled.
"Let's head down," she said. "I think our conversation will be more productive this time."
Obito snorted and took the lead, descending the stairs with Mikoto behind him and Sasuke at the back. "So it's clan history?" he asked as they went, and Mikoto shook her head as the passage grew pitch black.
"World history, to be truthful," she said, and Obito grunted. "The Uchiha have existed for millenia, and their history is carved on that monument. "It contains records, or perhaps speculation, as to the origin of chakra itself. The work of the Sage of Six Paths, the development of ninjutsu, all sorts of things." She chuckled. "Like the creation of the moon."
"Pardon?" Obito asked politely.
"What?" Sasuke followed him up, slightly more abruptly. His mother only laughed.
"If I just tell you, you'll think I'm as mad as last time," she chuckled, the bottom of the stairs coming up. "Why not just read it for yourself? You're both capable of that now."
They reached the bottom of the long staircase and just like last time, Mikoto snapped her fingers, the room lighting up from end to end with chakra-fueled flames. Everything was as Sasuke remembered it, a long room covered in dusty mats and chairs with the tall black stone monument at the end of it mounted in the center of a dais. He stared at the mat he'd been sitting on when he'd started screaming at his mother.
Above them, the stone slab closed back up with a dull thump, and Mikoto sighed and started striding forward, taking the lead. "It's read from left to right instead of right to left," she said as she went, "though it's still top to bottom. I guess the writing style was different back then. The language is archaic, but you're both smart, so you'll probably understand it quickly enough. Then, we can discuss in more detail. Does that sound agreeable?"
"Good enough," Obito said with a shrug.
"Fine by me," Sasuke agreed.
"Three of you?" a voice croaked out and echoed through the room, and Mikoto, Obito, and Sasuke all came to an immediate stop. Sasuke could feel his bones creak as the room flooded with chakra, his mother and Obito's pushing down on him. And his own as well, he realized. His energy had a bite that it hadn't possessed before. "How absurd."
The voice was weak and old, coming from the far end of the room from behind the monument, and Sasuke narrowed his eyes. It wasn't entirely unfamiliar, but he couldn't place it. Obito called out, his hand wandering to the White Fang's blade.
"Come on out," he said, drawing his short sword with a flourish of pearlescent chakra. "I don't know how you got down here, but this is a private place."
How had they gotten down here, Sasuke wondered? The mats had all been undisturbed. It would have been a sizable effort to re-cover them with dust, though certainly not impossible.
"Oh please," the unseen person said in an obviously mocking tone. Sasuke heard a shift and a thump. "That won't be necessary. I'm quite helpless."
There was more shifting from behind the tablet, cloth dragging across the floor, and Mikoto drew her sword as well, blue flames crackling on its edge. "Show yourself!" she demanded, and Sasuke stepped to her side, filling his hands with flaming chakra.
"I'm coming," the intruder croaked. "Have some patience, would you?" He was crawling, Sasuke realized as he listened to the sound of something being dragged along the ground. Whoever was behind the stone was crawling out.
They all held their breath as a figure emerged from behind the stone monument, thrown in stark light by the flames. It was a man, crumpled and ancient and frail beyond belief. He wore a weathered black cloak and his pale body was covered in cracks and fissures, long white hair dragging behind him as he pulled himself along the ground inch by painful inch. As he looked up at them Sasuke could see that his eye sockets were empty, two holes gaping out at the world.
Sasuke sucked in a breath, breaking the spell, and when he spoke his voice echoed throughout the chamber.
"Madara Uchiha," he said, and as Obito and Mikoto glanced back at him in shock the ancient zombie let out a choking laugh.
"So good to be recognized," Madara wheezed. "Get me a chair. We have some things to discuss."
