Fire: The fifth chapter! That means I'm almost done. Yay!
Sasuke: How is that a good thing? I'm still not with Naruto yet. Are you just playing with me?
Fire: (innocence) What makes you say that?
Sasuke: Look at the story!
Fire: (looks down) …
Sasuke: No! Look at the other chapters!
Fire: (opens a window and reads the previous chapters) So…? What's your point?
Sasuke: I'm not with Naruto!
Fire: Do you have to whine about that all the time?
Sasuke: Naruto!
Fire: Never mind. Where's Kakashi with the Bag of Reviews?
Kakashi: (dragging in the bag) Yo. (pulls a window from the Bag of Reviews)
Fire:First of all, congratulations to everyone who guessed that it was Itachi. I was wondering if anyone was reading my babbling and other crazy A/N, and it turns out that someone actually does read them. Now you really know how crazy I am.
Kakashi: Translation: You'll find out in this chapter anyway, so I'm not going to ruin the story for you by telling you if you're right or wrong.
Fire: Yeah, what I said.
Sasuke: Now hurry so I can be with Naruto again. Chapter five, go!
Fire: Yose! First, I want to talk about something.
Sasuke: No!
Fire: It's important! Are people reading chapter 3? I uploaded chapter 3 and 4both on the same day, and there are more readers for the 4th chapter. Why is that? If anyone knows the answer to this question, please tell me!
Sasuke: They really are screwing with your head. Now go, chapter five! (pulls up the disclaimer and fifth chapter)
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Disclaimer: The term "no one else's" belongs to Fire. Don't steal it or I'll have to send Orochimaru after you. If you want to use it, send me a notice and I'll lend the phrase to you free of charge.
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Chapter 5: Facets of Confusion
In the intense dark that blinded all of Naruto's senses, he could still distinctly feel the stickiness of blood on his hands. He felt it as surely as he felt Sasuke's arms around his body. It was still there. And he couldn't understand why it was still there.
"Sensei! Sensei! We have an emergency in–"
The sound of footsteps.
Then a gasp. "Chikusho."
Then, the feeling of blood on Naruto's hands was gone.
For a long time afterwards, Naruto's mind wondered at what he had heard. Those voices. The sound of footsteps. He didn't recognize any of them, but he couldn't help but feel as if he was missing something.
But, his mind was reluctant to delve into that in the middle of the night. Instead, it decided that it would be best if it slept for a little while longer before tackling that mystery.
Naruto snuggled up against Sasuke's warm comforting body and drifted back to sleep.
The Kyuubi paced back and forth in its large cage. Slowly, it was becoming more and more irritated. Its eyes narrowed at the snow that drifted closer to his cage with every passing moment, and it didn't like it.
Where is that baka gaki! That was what he said, but that wasn't what he was thinking. He was actually more irritated that the kid couldn't hear him call out to him.
Tsunade shivered as another cold wind blew through the windows into her office. She wished that her office had glass, or something to keep out the cold...but the thick curtains weren't coming for another few hours. They were still in the process of making them.
"Hokage-sama, Kakashi-san is here," Raidou said as he popped his head into the office.
Tsunade stopped shivering long enough to look up at the man and nod mechanically in acknowledgement. "S-send him in."
Raidou popped his head out again before the door to the Hokage office swung open, revealing the grey-haired jounin. Kakashi walked into the office with all the confidence of someone who had walked into it many times before. There was no doubt in his mind of what was going to follow, and there was no reason for doubt to be there–even though he really had no idea what kind of mission Tsunade was going to assign him–since he hadn't done anything wrong.
"Kakashi," Tsunade said with a polite smile. There was all the semblance of peace on the blond woman's face.
"Hokage-sama," Kakashi said with a reverent nod of his head.
The man stood expectantly in front of the blond woman for a short while. He was supposed to be here for a mission, but the Sannin seemed to be putting it off. As soon as they exchanged greetings, she went right back to her paperwork.
"Ahem! Hokage-sama, my mission?"
"I know. I know," the woman said as she pulled out another piece of paper. "It's not easy to work under these freezing conditions, Kakashi." And she held out a small booklet of about three pages. "A standard reconnaissance mission. I'm sure you–with your ninken–can handle it alone. You work alone most of the time anyway on these kinds of missions. Find out who is making it snow so badly and take them out if you can, otherwise just report back immediately upon discovering the culprit. This is not a track and kill, Kakashi, so don't go trying any heroics just because you know over a thousand techniques." The blond woman stared right at the masked man. She knew what was going on in that brain of his. "This is potentially more dangerous than even going up against Orochimaru. These people are most probably after the Kyuubi, and you know that Akatsuki is one of them. They're out there, and the eye of this snowstorm could very well be one of Akatsuki's members."
Kakashi sighed. One deviation from the mission–and he had a good reason for it too since he was only doing it to rescue Obito–and everyone remembers it! Kakashi wished they could remember the hundreds of other missions where he had actually followed orders. He had performed over a thousand missions during his career.
"Yes, Hokage-sama."
"Good." She looked up at him. "And can you get someone to come in here and help finish making these curtains? I need them up so that I can focus on my work."
To say that Sasuke was angry and frustrated would have been the nice way of putting it. Sasuke was far from angry and frustrated. In fact, this was a new emotion far above angry and frustrated. Sasuke was frangry. And since there had never been a frangry person before, Kabuto was at a complete loss over how he should handle it.
"Sa–Sasuke-sama!" Kabuto tried his best to keep up with the stormy Uchiha. But Sasuke wasn't listening to anyone. "Sasuke-sama!"
"What?" The dark-haired boy turned to the grey-haired medic-nin. For a moment, his expression was as dark as his hair, and the spectacled man couldn't find a single word in his throat. And Sasuke turned to the road once more before Kabuto could retrieve his frightened words from his belly.
They were almost "home" anyway.
There were quite a few things in Sasuke's mind as he stormed back toward Orochimaru's hideout. As he flexed, relaxed, then re-clenched his hands, he realized that he felt no weaker than he had felt that morning. That was what was troubling him. That was what was frustrating him. And that was what was making him angry. This was his strength, after all the time...after all the hard work he had put in with Orochimaru.
'I am still too weak.'
And he couldn't figure out why. It wasn't because he wasn't trying. It wasn't that he wasn't trying hard enough either. He had trained long hours everyday continuously for almost three years, strengthening himself for the eventual reunion with his brother. He certainly wasn't on a long vacation away from Konoha.
And Naruto.
'Kuso!'
He was thinking about Naruto again. The dark-haired boy shook his head vigorously in an attempt to knock him out of his mind. But it wasn't working. Naruto was still there.
Naruto. NarutoNarutoNaruto. He couldn't stop thinking about Naruto! Sometimes, his mind screamed at himself for not killing Naruto at Shuumatsu no Tani. That was his chance. He would have received the Mangekyou Sharingan. He would have been strong enough to kill Itachi...or at least match his strength. Then this extra training with Orochimaru would have taken care of the rest.
But at other times, his mind praised him for not killing Naruto. There was no guarantee that he would get the eye, and...he hadn't wanted to do it either.
He had to admit it to himself. It was hard, but he had to admit that he wasn't strong enough to kill his brother. Even Itachi had seen it. There wasn't enough hate.
It wasn't that Sasuke didn't hate Itachi. No. He hated him for everything that he had done. The broken promises of a training session never to come. The dark shadow of neglect that was cast onto him by default just because Itachi was smarter, was firstborn. The mock emotions of love that Itachi had cast onto him, only to tear his heart out with a single gesture of murder. Sasuke had every reason to hate Itachi.
It was just that...all that hate wasn't enough to conquer the feelings he had for Naruto.
'Chikusho, how did I get onto this topic?'
Sasuke steered his mind back to the topic at hand. He couldn't even stand up to that blue-skinned man! And that was more irritating than anything else that might have happened. In fact, it would probably have been better if he had died. At least then, he wouldn't have had this haunting him.
He was still weak. He knew that he had thought over this before, but he couldn't deny that he was weak. He couldn't even defeat someone like that, someone that he knew wasn't nearly as powerful as his brother. How was he supposed to expect to defeat Itachi?
Sasuke cursed under his breath as he looked up at the entranceway that led down to a world of darkness, and a world of never-ending study. He didn't have that much time left now...and he still wasn't strong enough to defeat his brother.
He knew that he wasn't strong enough. He could feel it deep within the very farthest reaches of his body. His mind screamed at him to leave now. There was nothing that Orochimaru could possibly teach him that would help, that could make him stronger. The techniques that the pale man had given to him were nothing compared to the ones he kept to himself. The Sannin would never really teach him anything of use.
But there was still the seal. The cursed seal.
Sasuke reached a subconscious hand up to touch the burning black mark on his shoulder. Behind him, he could feel Kabuto's ever present existence. It was always there. Sasuke had forgotten what it was like to be alone...to be really alone.
'No. I won't leave yet...not until I know what this seal does for me.'
For all he knew, he would have died if he had faced the blue man without the power of the seal. If he couldn't keep this power, he would never become strong enough to kill his brother. He would never be strong enough to do anything of use. No. He definitely needed to know what this seal was.
In the homogenous grey beneath the cold sky, a black silhouette sat on his rock to stare into the backs of his eyelids. It was snowing again, but he didn't feel any of the cold that threatened to pierce through his dark cloak. Frozen bubbles of sweat lay across the man's skin in intense concentration before he flicked them away with a single gesture of his hand. He needed another break.
For a long time after he returned his attention to the genjutsu, Itachi knew that he was losing momentum. He was losing control over himself...and it was killing Naruto.
Itachi almost thought he would have a heart attack–if that was even possible for the elder Uchiha–when he saw the blood on Naruto's hands. It had taken so long just to wipe one of those hands clean that he thought the blood wouldn't come off. It scared him. It really scared him. If he had killed Naruto, they would never get the Kyuubi.
And he would be punished. Severely punished.
Within the illusionary world that he had created, his other self was sleeping, so it was okay to leave for a while. The feeling of warmth against his chest wasn't something he was accustomed to, and it unsettled him. He didn't like it.
Naruto was suspecting that it wasn't Sasuke. Itachi saw it in his eyes when he came to get him on that hill. He was always on that hill, looking out as if searching for another Sasuke that he knew was real. That he knew wasn't Itachi.
He wasn't acting like Sasuke.
But this was how Sasuke was supposed to act. That was how Itachi remembered Sasuke acting. This was what Sasuke was like. But...
...that was seven years ago, when they all still lived under the same roof, and their family was still alive.
That was another lifetime ago.
Itachi dragged himself from his seat before he could freeze onto the rock permanently. He was waiting for Kisame to return, and he has been waiting for almost a week. He suspected that Samehada had probably dragged his partner into a feeding frenzy, but he could at least tell him that he was going to be gone for so long.
'I'm going to beat him into blue chakra for his sword to eat if he doesn't come back soon.' Because he knew that Naruto wasn't going to hold up for much longer.
End Chapter 5
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Itachi's Genjutsu Explained: Supplementary
Fire: This is a supplementary attachment to Itachi's Genjutsu Explained in chapter 3 since the flaw to the advanced genjutsu that I mentioned earlier has come up in the story. I'm sure everyone has noticed it. Typically, missions will have a supplementary attachment which adds more information to the mission report which wasn't previously known.
Sasuke: (sarcastic) Yeah. That helps explain it.
Fire: I'm sure everyone understands. Now, on with the supplementary attachment!
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The inherent flaw of the advanced genjutsu comes from the instability created by fusing different aspects of two different genjutsu techniques. Although ultimately there should have been no side effect to the genjutsu by creating a new technique this way, the primary purpose of one of the foundation techniques, Tsukiyomi, was designed to torture and eventually kill the victim. This creates a problem for this genjutsu which was created to contain the victim for capture. The two opposing purposes create an imbalance that throws the technique out of the user's control.
The imbalance comes from the conflicting areas of chakra focus. Different genjutsu will affect different parts of the cerebral nervous system to a greater or lesser extent in order to create the desired effect. In Tsukiyomi, torture requires the victim to feel a great quantity of pain, and chakra is more focused on the sense of touch to stimulate the pain receptors of the body. With Nehan shouja, this system is completely ignored since the genjustu focuses on rendering the victim completely unconscious. With the advanced genjutsu, the area of chakra focus is different once again as the victim is rendered unconscious but all five senses are continuously stimulated in order to created an illusion, and pain is avoided to decrease the chance of the victim discovering the deception. However, chakra will tend to gravitate toward Tsukiyomi as opposed to the advanced genjutsu due to familiarity. Usually, a genjutsu focuses on a single sense—usually sight, sound then touch with taste and smell being the least common—so when using a genjutsu, chakra will gravitate toward one of these senses. Itachi especially has more experience using Tsukiyomi than this new genjutsu. It is much easier to allow his chakra to focus in the pain area and move back into the comfortable realm of Tsukiyomi.
To decrease the chance of this chakra imbalance, Itachi spends a lot of his concentration keeping his chakra level throughout the cerebral nervous system. The user must consciously do this, especially if he is unfamiliar with techniques that fully affect all five senses. Normally, such a complicated technique requires a medium through which the user can focus their concentration, as in Tayuya's Mateki mugen onsa; however, this will not necessarily help. Focusing through an instrument like Tayuya or not, breaking concentration for a short period of time might allow the imbalance to occur. With Itachi, a short break allowed the imbalance to take place, and even after he had corrected it, the aftereffects were still present.
The problems that come from the chakra imbalance affect both the user and the victim. The imbalance can affect either the victim or the illusion. If the illusion is affected, correcting the imbalance will not cause any danger to the victim; however, if the victim is affected, the level of danger will range from low to high depending on the range of the opposing chakras. If left uncorrected, the imbalance can even be fatal. And that would provide a problem for the user if the purpose of the genjutsu isn't to kill the victim.
This hazard comes from the same principles as the advanced genjutsu's defense. Due to the same principle of overflow where the amount of chakra in that area has suddenly increased and now needs somewhere to go, the chakra imbalance will allow chakra to leak into the chakra nervous system from the concentrated area if left unchecked. As such, it will go into an area of lower concentration, the chakra circulatory system.
Cause for danger and fatality is the same as with any attack to the chakra circulatory system. A sudden increase in unknown chakra in the chakra circulatory system can damage internal organs which are all connected to the chakra circulatory system. The organs most at risk are the brain, heart and lungs which are closest to the cerebral nervous system. Think of a sudden increase in unknown chakra in the nervous system as a hand squeezing these organs since a sudden increase in chakra will cause the internal chakra coils to swell and literally squeeze the victim's internal organs during the time before the chakra can escape through the tenketsu. It's like Ura renge for the chakra circulatory system. It creates a great strain on the body and can cause great damage. The example shown was Naruto coughing up blood. That would be a constriction on his lungs and the rupturing of the dense capillaries present in that area.
If the user can avoid a chakra imbalance, either through intense concentration to avoid this problem in the first place or by correcting the problem as it arises, there should be no other sign to the victim that he is in a genjutsu. However, even a moment of illusory breakdown or a moment of abnormality and there is a greater chance of the genjutsu ultimately breaking. This is as opposed to other genjutsu which would have been broken as soon as it was discovered since the reality of the illusion created by the advanced genjutsu causes doubt within the victim that it is an illusion within his mind. This allows the user time to put a backup plan into action.
In summary, the flaw of the advanced genjutsu comes from opposing areas of chakra concentration created by the inclination to concentrate chakra in one area more than others. This is because genjutsu generally concentrates in one sense usually sight, but mostly because the advanced genjutsu comes from Tsukiyomi which concentrates on pain. What is created is a chakra imbalance where chakra is not evenly distributed throughout the cerebral nervous system and therefore, where all five senses are not evenly stimulated. The result is a distortion in the illusion created, or a direct attack on the victim's chakra circulatory system. If the illusion was affected, correcting the imbalance will restore the genjutsu. If the victim was affected, damage can appear internally, even after the imbalance is corrected. As a result, the victim might suspect that he is in a genjutsu, eventually bringing about the end of the illusion. During this time, it is best that the user not try to restore the genjutsu considering how that would be futile—the victim already knows that he's in a genjutsu—but the user should consider a backup plan.
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Sasuke: O.o
Fire: What?
Sasuke: I didn't understand any of that.
Fire: What!
Sasuke: I understood the summary though.
Fire: So…
Sasuke: So, you're saying that it's Itachi's fault that Naruto coughed up blood?
Fire: Yes.
Sasuke: I'm going to kill him!
Fire: Anything you want me to explain, just send me a review or an email. I'll be happy to explain it.
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Fire's English tidbits for those who care:
More devices because frankly, I've gone through a lot of basic English grammar and I need a change. Today, I'm going to talk about personification. I've spoken about irony, and I'm sure everyone understands how to use that by now, but personification is a little different from irony. Personification is when you give a personal nature or human characteristic to something non-human. It's sort of like what I did to Samehada. To put it simply, you take something inanimate and allow it to act as if it was alive. That might sound a little crazy to you, but it makes describing a scene much easier, and it allows you to impart emotions and moods that you otherwise can't convey. A sky can rain, and it's simple to say that a sky is raining, but happy skies cry joyful tears and sad skies break down in sorrowful remorse. What is the mood you're trying to convey? Personification might make it easier to do it.
Fire's babbling:
Sasuke: So, you're telling me that my brother is me?
Fire: (smiling) Yep!
Kakashi: How screwed up is that!
Fire: (smiling) Yep!
Kakashi: Naruto's in love with Itachi!
Fire: (smiling) Yep!
Naruto: What!
Sasuke: I'm going to kill him!
Fire: (smiling) Yep!
Naruto: I'm not in love with Itachi!
Itachi: …
Kakashi: Um…I don't think that's really Fire.
Fire: (smiling) Yep!
Sasuke: What makes you say that?
Fire: I'm here! I was busy with a few other stories. (switches off the Fire auto-unit) What did I miss?
Kakashi: That makes me say that.
Sasuke: Arrgh! Just read what you missed!
Fire: (reads the missed dialogue) Okay…
Naruto: I'm not going to end up with Itachi, am I? (looks slyly at Itachi) Because that's not going to happen. I'll kill myself first.
Itachi: (tries to hide a burlap sack in his cloak) …
Fire: I'll think about it.
Naruto: What!
Sasuke: Naruto ends up with me. With ME!
Fire: Okay, sheesh! (turns to the audience) Review and tell me if you understood this chapter. Review and tell me even if you didn't understand this chapter. Review for any reason whether you liked it or not. I want to know what you like and what you hate. Tell me if you like the idea of Naruto staying with Itachi or not.
Naruto: No!
Sasuke: Naruto is mine, no one else's!
Fire: I'll consider writing an ItaNaru for you if you like the pairing, because they're definitely not staying together in this story.
Naruto: Yay!
Sasuke: Good.
Fire: If you have anything you want me to add to the English tidbits or just an English question, I'll write the answer or explanation there. See you next chapter, and review! Review!
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