Author's Note: Had trouble last chapter with the separations between Itachi's and Sasuke's POV. Fixed that this time around.
Chapter 2
Itachi's dreams were disturbed that night. They were, as usual, about his parents hunting him down and demanding answers about their deaths, but they turned to something different after a short time. There was a shadow, lurking just outside of his vision, that he could not quite see clearly. When he went to investigate, a hideous creature, covered with curse marks and oozing purple chakra, leapt at him and tore out his throat.
Itachi didn't wake up, or show any signs of even having had a dream. His mind wandered again, back to his old nightmare. This time, though, there was a small figure standing behind his parents as they admonished him. He thought he could recognize it, but just as he was about to figure out who it was, he was shaken awake.
Someone said something to him, but his mind was still fuzzy and he was preoccupied with the dream. Fool. he snapped at himself. It's a dream. They mean nothing. He remembered the cursed creature, giving off all that lamentable purple energy, and shivered.
"Are you all right?" someone said, poking him in the shoulder. Itachi's eyes focused on the figure sitting next to him: Hoshigaki Kisame, a large, shark-like man from the Land of Waves. "You've never acted like this after waking up before."
"I'm fine." Itachi said coldly, seizing his jacket and pulling it on as he sat up. Idiot. Now Hoshigaki thinks you're out of it. This won't be a pleasant day. Itachi pulled on his toeless boots, which were unique to ninja, and then scratched his head sleepily. "It was dark by the time we made camp last night. How far are we from the Land of Sound?"
Kisame shrugged. "Maybe two days' journey. It shouldn't take nearly that, though, if we get going early today and tomorrow. And, of course, Orochimaru and Uchiha are probably going to be out training, so it'll take either less or more time to find them and spy on them."
Itachi rubbed his eyes and looked towards where the fire was. He stood, tied on his headband, walked over to the fire, and took the teakettle out of the steel pot it was sitting in. He poured himself a cup of tea, sipped it, and grimaced. "I must say, the Land of River's tea just isn't the same as we had in Konoha."
Kisame's eyes narrowed as he studied his partner carefully. "Are you sure you're feeling all right? I've never heard you talk about Konohagakure before... even if just talking about something as stupid as tea." Kisame sipped from his own cup, and sighed. "Though you are right, River's tea is horrible."
Itachi stretched and took another sip of tea. "I feel... strange. I haven't felt this way in..." He shook his head vigorously. No. You should never feel this way. You butchered your family, remember? You cannot feel so content, because there is always going to be someone after you, and contentment makes you weak.
Kisame gave a grunting laugh. "You must be sick, Itachi. When we get to Otogakure, we'll have to have one of the medic-nin check you out... before we kill them." He laughed again.
As the day wore on, Itachi felt himself fall back into his usual stoniness. This would probably be a dull mission. Reconnaissance missions were usually long and boring. Itachi's blood churned at the thought of fighting a legendary ninja like Orochimaru, and personally testing how his brother was coming along, but that was out of the question. The leader of Akatsuki had expressly forbidden that.
Night fell again, but this time Itachi did not sleep. As Kisame settled himself down for a good night's rest, Itachi sat against a tree a short distance away. This was standard ninja procedure; as one or more partners slept, one would stay awake and keep watch over his companions. Though he had been at first bothered by this sign of unconditional trust from Kisame (being that Itachi was, after all, a mass murderer), Itachi had gotten used to it after a while.
The night wasn't special in any way. It was cool and clear, and Itachi was comfortable as he dozed slightly. He listened to the animals in the forest go about their nighttime rituals, heard the wind rattle through the trees, and saw the shadows of deer and wild pigs and things of that nature move about just beyond his vision.
His eyes opened wide. "The dream..." Itachi muttered, looking around. He focused some of his chakra into his eyes in an attempt to try and see better, but all it did was awaken his Sharingan. Itachi's Sharingan, unlike Sasuke's, was far more powerful. Technically, it was called the Mangekyo Sharingan (Kaleidoscope Copy-Wheel Eye), and it could see and copy much faster than Sasuke's normal Sharingan.
But if you can't see an enemy, not even a Mangekyo will help. Itachi looked around, expecting to see something, but couldn't locate anything worthy of this intense paranoia. Moron. Of course, of course it's just that stupid dream freaking you out. I don't know what's wrong, but it's wearing on my nerves... He sat back against the tree, berating himself for being so twitchy today.
And then he ducked, narrowly avoiding the six or seven kunai that flew through the air and struck the tree behind him.
"Hoshigaki!" he cried, reactivating his Mangekyo. "Ambush!" He drew his katana from its sheath on his back, then performed several extremely complicated signs. "Fire Style: Art of the Everlasting Torch." He pointed his left hand at a tree, and it burst into bright flames that did not spread to other trees. Light suddenly bathed the entire clearing.
Kisame was up, and had his serrated-edge sword, Samehada, drawn. "Where are they, Wheel-eye?"
Itachi shook his head. "I don't know. Even with this light, it's possible that they're hiding in the shadows..." He sighed. "Well, then, this forest will have to be razed. Using the Water Shield now wouldn't be a bad idea."
Kisame nodded, performed a few signs, and said, "Art of the Water Shield." His body was surrounded closely by a watery barrier. "Go ahead."
Itachi had been weaving the signs before Kisame had been done with his shield, and continued on for several seconds. When he was done, a huge amount of chakra was enveloping the thumb, index, and middle fingers of his right hand. Transferring his katana to his left hand, he held his right up to his mouth. "Amaterasu." he murmured, and then blew.
Horrible, jet-black flames shot from the three fingers, incinerating every tree, melting every rock, killing every living thing that got in its path. The fire spread from tree to tree, destroying everything and leaving nothing alive. After a few minutes, Itachi made a grasping motion with his hand, and the fire returned to him and dissipated. There was nothing still standing for several miles, and even the torch-tree had been burned.
Kisame shuddered. "Every time I see that technique, it gives me the chills, and they've got nothing to do with the temperature." He undid his shield and sheathed his sword. "That's absolutely insane... and to think every Uchiha was capable of using that."
Itachi nodded. "Every last one... if they had had the fortitude to kill their own best friends and gain the Mangekyo Sharingan." Itachi sheathed his sword as well. "Let's look for the bodies, just to make sure that they're dead."
Kisame snorted. "Unlikely that they're alive."
Itachi gave him a cold glare. "You are." He walked off. It didn't take long to find the bodies: three charred, unrecognizable corpses lying maybe a dozen yards from the clearing where Itachi and Kisame had been. Next to one was a partially melted piece of steel Itachi recognized as a hitae-ate headband, like the one on his forehead. On it was a musical note. Mark of an otonin... Itachi thought.
Itachi smiled grimly. "So... Orochimaru thinks he can assassinate me that easily, eh? We'll see about that..."
---
That day went badly for Sasuke. Orochimaru, pleased with Sasuke's performance against the three Jounin two days beforehand, had made sure that Sasuke get a lot of training. He had brought in at least two dozen of the most powerful Jounin otonin for Sasuke to fight in a row. The result was that although Sasuke was able to defeat most of them with ease (though one who had the power to solidify sound waves gave him a bit of trouble), his chakra was completely worn out by mid-afternoon, and he was nearly unable to move by dinner.
"It will make you stronger in the long run." Orochimaru kept telling him. "Chakra always comes back after depletion more powerful than it was before. You needn't worry."
But Sasuke did worry, because he was unable to eat even a small amount of rice without throwing up. This reminded him of two different occasions: one, when he was in the Land of Waves, training his chakra control by running up trees (he exhausted so much chakra that he couldn't eat, though he forced himself to); and two, shortly after he left to train with Orochimaru, when one of his former teammates named Uzumaki Naruto (who, incidentally, was the boy the Kyuubi had been sealed into) came to try and bring him home, and they fought. The battle was so fierce that though Sasuke beat him in the end after Naruto became distracted, Sasuke was barely able to move, let alone escape.
This was like those two occasions rolled into one. Sasuke lay by a log around the fire with a bowl of rice on his chest, unable to lift his chopsticks off the ground and into the rice. Orochimaru paid him no notice, but he did call off training until Sasuke could move again. "I... can't... believe this..." Sasuke grunted, finally moving the chopsticks after a long struggle.
"Believe it." Orochimaru said. "Your victories today proved that you are definitely capable of eliminating Konoha's top Jounin, and paving the way for both my invasion and your installment as my right-hand man. This will be very beneficial in the long run."
"Speak... for... yourself..." Sasuke muttered, letting go of the chopsticks and letting his hand fall back to the ground.
Orochimaru smiled nastily. "Your resistance to my teachings is most amusing. It would help you, of course, if you'd eat." He grinned even more broadly.
"You try... eating... when you... literally... can't lift... a finger..." Sasuke said, again trying to reach his chopsticks with his hand. Finally realizing that this was fruitless, he let the hand fall back down again. He rolled over, spilling his rice everywhere. "I just... want... to sleep..."
"Then sleep. That, too, will do you good." Before Orochimaru had even finished the second sentence, Sasuke gave a loud snore. Orochimaru snorted in disgust. "He could have done with a bath before going to sleep. He smells like a cow pasture."
"Orochimaru-sama!" An otonin came running towards the fire from the entrance of the village. "Orochimaru-sama, we have word of the assassins you sent to kill Uchiha Itachi and Hoshigaki Kisame!"
"And?" Orochimaru said, turning towards the otonin. "What of their mission?"
"They're..." The otonin look horrified. "They're just cinders, sir. Uchiha burned them to crisps with his Amaterasu."
Orochimaru, to the otonin's surprise, merely smiled. "Ah, as I suspected. Of course, if Kisame had been the one awake, they'd have stood a better chance..."
The otonin stared at him. "S-so what do you want me to do...?"
Orochimaru smiled more deeply. "Bring me Yakushi Kabuto. He'll see to it that at least Kisame is taken care of... And, with a little luck, one of his seals may be able to do away with Uchiha, as well." He stalked off with the otonin.
From where he lay on the ground, Sasuke gave a sharp gasp. They're going to interfere with my revenge... he thought, panicked, I've gotta either kill Kabuto, Itachi, or Orochimaru. But how can I... I'm too weak...
You're only too weak because you refuse to push onward, despite your exhausted chakra. a small voice in his head said sharply.
But I can't move. Sasuke thought reasonably. How can I beat even Kabuto if I can't move or use jutsus?
First of all, the voice said, as if speaking to a child having a tantrum, I find it extremely unlikely that even Kabuto can beat Itachi. Sure, he's good, but he doesn't have that Mangekyo Sharingan, or the Amaterasu, or the Tsukiyomi. And secondly, you're only unable to move because you don't think you can move. Naruto was able to move when he didn't have much chakra left. Are you going to let that little dunce outdo you?
Sasuke snorted. The little voice had a point about Kabuto, after all, but he still didn't think he could move. Try it. the little voice urged him. Use every ounce of strength you have left. Give it your all. Sasuke pushed as hard as he could, and found he could get on to his knees. Now, push yourself onto your feet. It only gets easier from there.
And so it did. Sasuke found he was able to walk much more easily than he had been able to eat. He took off, running for the exit of the village. The guards weren't there, oddly, and Sasuke was able to just walk out. He kept going, trudging through the forest, for what seemed like hours, hoping he was walking fast enough to keep Kabuto behind him.
Then, suddenly, the curse mark on his right shoulder gave a throb. Orochimaru had given it to him several years ago, during the second part of the Chunin exams. Since then, it had either been sealed away or under control, and hadn't hurt him in a very long time. Sasuke found it ominous that it should hurt at a time like this; nonetheless, he had to keep going.
After what seemed like forever, Sasuke came to a horrifying sight: the patch of burned-away forest that Itachi had created with the Amaterasu. Sasuke gave a shudder. "No... way." He had known that his brother was powerful, but this ? This was beyond the realm of imagination. He had never seen anything that was anywhere near as powerful as this Ninjutsu, except perhaps Naruto's Double-Handed Rasengan.
Then, Sasuke saw something move in the corner of his eye. He spun around, facing the perimeter of the burned land, but saw nothing. He heard a strange murmuring coming from the trees. Cautiously, Sasuke approached them. Focusing what little chakra he had accumulated since two that afternoon, he activated his Sharingan. He could see nothing, but heard, quite clearly, "Well. I said 'when you have the same eyes as me,' but apparently that means nothing to him. I'll give him another chance, I suppose..."
At that, a phantom leapt from the trees. A long, cape-like jacket sprawled out behind the figure as it fell, with a sword in hand. Sasuke felt a blow to the back of his head, and as everything went blank, he found himself thinking...
That's three times now, Itachi. Why haven't you killed me yet? Why? Is there something about me that you need, or want...? Why haven't you killed me, like everyone else...?
