Burdened Slave
Chapter 18
Fugaku quietly observed Itachi as the boy gave an oral account of the disastrous mission. Itachi's last remaining teammate and sensei stood behind him.
Itachi appeared to still be suffering from shock, but kept up a good mask that made him appear lifeless as he spoke. His father saw through it.
Fugaku didn't need to listen to most of the report. Inu had reported two days before his son had returned. The Daimyo's envoy was attacked. A number of nobles were killed along with one of his son's teammates. The Daimyo himself was safe at his mansion within the village, having been escorted to Konoha from the capital by Itachi's team.
He paid attention to one main detail from his son that Inu was unable to report on, and that was a description of the attacker. A man with an orange-coloured mask and one eye-hole. Fugaku was willing to bet the attacker had a Sharingan as well. However, his son did not confirm.
When his son was finished speaking, Fugaku eyed Itachi's remaining teammate.
She'll be quitting. Fugaku saw all the signs and her future decisions were predictable to him.
ًThe Anbu Cleaners posted at the Academy should be able to save whatever potential she has left.
He tapped his paperless desk, he sent a small pulse of chakra into it. He then looked up at his son's sensei. "You and the girl are dismissed. You know what to do from here."
For a moment her sensei's hand quivered, before he nodded. He gently took the girl's shoulder and led her out.
She looked back one last time to catch Itachi's eyes. The door closed.
His eyes settled on his son. "I sense the change in your chakra. You have activated the Sharingan. Show me."
Itachi lowered his head and his hair shadowed his face. When he raised his head, his eyes were red. The first stage of the Sharingan activated.
Fugaku smiled. "You have done well, Itachi. I expect you to only become stronger from here on out."
"Yes, Father," Itachi replied emotionlessly.
Fugaku stood up.
"We will begin your lessons immediately," he said. "Observe closely."
Fugaku raised a single finger and pointed it at Itachi.
Suddenly the surroundings changed into complete darkness. Only the stars above them were visible.
"Genjutsu," Itachi observed.
"Indeed," his father replied. His voice echoed from uncanny directions, although he stood in front of his son. "What else do you notice?"
Itachi looked around. "My Sharingan cannot see through this illusion."
"And?" Fugaku pressed.
Itachi frowned. "I do not understand what you wish me to see."
"Only another Uchiha can cast an illusion so accurate that a less experienced mind is incapable of detecting it. It is also such an inexperienced mind that is incapable of realising it's own contribution to the reality of an illusion. I do not control this reality. I only whisper and your mind does the rest." Fugaku paused. "What did you not see?"
"You did not activate your Sharingan, Father," Itachi replied.
"Correct," Fugaku said, proudly. "To cast an illusion so complete, your target never knew the Sharingan was ever used. I expect of you to reach this level of skill."
Itachi nodded. "Yes, Father."
Out from the darkness around them, their house came into existence from wisps of smoke. Fugaku turned, opened the door, and walked in. Itachi followed.
They reached Sasuke's new room and stopped at the door. Inside, they both could see a copy of Itachi playing with Sasuke. Feelings of warmth and love invaded Itachi's dark feelings.
"What is this?" Itachi asked quietly.
"The Uchiha who has activated his Sharingan is able to retain memory of every moment that they experience in full accuracy. Sight, smell, touch, emotion, and other aspects of experience. What is before you now is one of many moments in my experience. "
Itachi nodded.
"It is the superior Uchiha mind that enables this. The changes in our eyes are only a single expression of the physical and spiritual strength that we have inherited from the Sage of the Six Paths himself. It is the physical manifestation of the maturity of an Uchiha's mind. As the mind matures, so too does the Sharingan.
"It is our ability to retain everything we experience that can make our Genjustu so powerful. But the more self-consciousness our targets are, the easier it will be for them to realise discrepancy.
"For the Uchiha who has activated the Sharingan inside the illusion of another Uchiha, they will sense that their experience inside the illusion is lacking when compared to previously recorded personal experience, thus leading them to be able to see through the illusion.
"For someone without the sharingan, the impossibility of perceiving the world with such accuracy conflicts with the bias their own minds introduces into the illusion causing them confusion. For some, they may have a feeling of being in a dream. For others, they may feel a sense of reality leaning towards the uncanny. Whatever it is, the more experienced the opponent, the more likely they will see through an illusion.
"For a skilled Uchiha, they would be able to continuously provide distraction for these feelings and ensure that the illusion lasts longer. For a truly talented Uchiha, the very experience of another being is open for their analysis which leads to the ability of completely emulating another being's experience. Thus, for an overwhelming amount of opponents, they will never be able to break the illusion because they never knew it was there."
"I see," Itachi said. "Then, all illusions can be seen through and broken."
"There are illusions to which that rule does not apply. Illusions where reality is whatever the caster imagines it to be. Realities where trickery is unnecessary and where struggle is utterly futile. But that is a lesson for another time.
"This specific illusion is one of the very basic Genjutsu that had been used since ancient times to share experience between members of our clan. When a powerful Uchiha returns from battle, they would use this illusion to add to our clan's vast generational experience that is passed down to every Uchiha clan-head from the elders, never to be forgotten. Eventually, the thoughts, dreams, feelings, and other aspects of individual experience of all Uchiha of every generation were recorded in this fashion and remains with us today. In time, I expect of you to grow capable of inheriting this." Fugaku said, looking down at his son.
"This concludes our lesson. Practice this illusion to perfection. You may utilise a reflective surface to cast this illusion on yourself and then you should cast this up small animals. Then return to show me the events of your mission, from beginning to end."
Itachi nodded, and Fugaku disappeared. Itachi looked one last time into Sasuke's room, the feeling of warmth and love still strong. He eventually disrupted his chakra and broke the illusion he was in.
Fukagu was seated once more, and Itachi began to doubt whether his father had stood up in the first place.
"Dismissed," Fugaku spoke.
Itachi bowed, then turned and walked to the door. Before he exited, his father spoke once again.
"I knew you would be alright, Itachi," Fugaku said, trying to show his confidence in his son's current skills.
Of course, Fugaku didn't mention that he had been remotely tracking his son for the whole mission.
Itachi turned once again and bowed, before exiting.
'How touching,' Orochimaru spoke up.
Fugaku sighed. He was starting to regret some of his decisions.
He once more tapped his desk. His office was sealed from all evesdroppers. He tapped his desk again, and he spoke.
"Senju, do you have a solution yet?"
"Uchiha," Senju Tobirama's voice drawled condescendingly from an unknown output. "The more you bother me, the slower it will take me to complete this."
Suddenly the connection was severed. Fugaku's eyebrows twitched.
Orochimaru chuckled in his mind.
'Fugaku,'
"What is it?" Fugaku asked out loud.
'I've finished going through your memories.'
"Your point is what?"
'Give me five minutes with Hikoboshi'
Fugaku frowned. "Give me one good reason why I shouldn't order my scientists to clone your mind and be done with you."
Laughter rang throughout Fugaku's mind.
'I'm afraid you'd have to let me out of this seal first.'
"Hn."
'It can wait. It was only out of mere curiosity that I asked,' Orochimaru said. 'Now, let's talk about our dear Daimyo. Your initiative is too weak. Sarutobi-sensei has you thinking too narrowly for this kind of endeavour. If this is the limit of your ambition, then much is left to be desired.'
Dan and Haru were painting a fence while Yū had ditched them some time in the beginning. She snickered to herself while she spied on them from up in a tree.
Since her team passed her sensei's test, Inoichi had finally taught her the Mind-Body Switch technique.
Now, she had been planning to take over Haru's body and do some embarrassing things, but Yū changed her mind at the last moment and decided to use Dan.
She snickered at the image of Dan and Haru kissing, and so she made the seal and concentrated. Her consciousness moved towards Dan and took control of him.
Haru, who had been finishing up with the post he was painting, suddenly stilled. He looked towards Dan who had frozen in place. The older boy then stood up and Haru narrowed his eyes. Then in a flash, Haru was at Dan's side. The younger boy reached up and pulled Dan's earlobe, causing the taller boy to bend slightly.
"Begone!" Haru suddenly shouted, and quite loudly.
Dan suddenly jerked and his hand flew to his ear. His masked face turned to look at Haru.
"You have become the victim of possession by an entity," Haru spoke seriously. "I will teach you about the being who originated everything. If you are in constant remembrance of him, there will be protection from entities possessing you and other evils of creation."
Sensing something else, Haru stepped to the side to allow a rock to fly past him.
"Get to work, shithead," an angry Yū said, as she passed by them, stomping towards the fence and picking up a paintbrush.
Haru blinked and tilted his head.
"Well, that's it for today," Aoba said. "Good job on these missions, by the way."
Haru and Dan nodded at the praise, while Yū's mind seemed elsewhere.
"Well, you can take the rest of the day off," Aoba said. "Over the next week we won't be taking any new missions. Instead, we'll be training and going over the protocols for when foreign delegations of shinobi visit this village."
"Is this about the Kumo guys coming soon?" Yū asked, suddenly taking focus.
"Yes," Aoba replied, nodding. "Hopefully there will be peace between our villages."
All three of his students nodded.
"Well, I have some things I need to do," Aoba said, and disappeared in the wind.
"My uncle's wife wanted me to invite you to our house to meet you," Haru spoke up.
"No thanks. I'm going home," Yū said, and walked off, giving a small wave.
Haru looked towards Dan, who's mask suddenly shifted to cover the lower half of his face to reveal once his eyes.
Quickly writing on his scroll, it spoke for Dan. "I've got nothing important to do. Lead the way."
Haru nodded and started walking.
"Can you talk about that being you said originated everything?" Dan's scroll asked.
Haru gave a small smile and proceeded to speak. It couldn't have been more than twenty five steps before Haru finished his concise and straightforward description. But there was no awkward silence, only more questions from Dan. And so the path towards the Uchiha compound was filled with conversation.
Mikoto and Hana were in a room playing Go, when Mikoto suddenly paused and looked blankly in one direction.
"Is Sasuke awake?" Hanna asked.
Mikoto smiled and shook her head. "No. It seems Haru-chan brought one of his teammates. I think maybe Rin-sama's child."
A wave of sadness suddenly swept over both women, before Hana stood and smiled. "I'll go get them settled, then."
Hana swept out of the room and towards the front door. Before she made her presence known, she heard a voice that was soft and airy that could have belonged to a boy or a girl.
"So, just to see if I got this right. The evils of creation are only there for the good that comes out of them. And, the good may become immediately apparent, or may become known to us in time, or we may never know the reason for those evils in our lifetime. Right?"
"Yes," Haru's voice said.
Hana looked around the corner and made her presence known. She saw a boy with a white mask in the style of Hatake's kid. She recognised those eyes. The boy was seemingly writing notes with diligence. Her nephew, Haru, stood with a clam smile on his phase and his eyes sparkling with joy.
Both children caught sight of Hana.
"I have returned, Mother," Haru said. "This my teammate. Maboroshi Dan."
Dan quickly rolled up his scrolls. And tucked one scroll next to a second scroll under his arm. He then bowed and another scroll fell out of his small vest's pocket.
Hana covered her mouth as she chuckled. "I see you are the scholar type. I never thought I'd see the type outside of the Nara. Welcome, Dan-chan."
Hana led her nephew and his teammate to a comfortable room. She set out some drinks and some sweats for them. Then let them be after telling them when dinner was.
She quickly checked on Sasuke, who was still asleep, then she returned to where Mikoto was and sat in front of the game.
"He looks just like his mother," Hana stated, referring to Dan.
Mikoto smiled. "I can't wait to meet him. It's a pleasant surprise. I'm going to have to change what I'm cooking tonight."
She reached out and placed a stone on the board.
The fire Daimyo was seated on a very comfortable couch as he fanned himself. The man, who had small, circular, eyes and who wore his headpiece turned as the fifth Hokage entered and took a seat in front of him. The Daimyo had a sneaking feeling he experienced this moment before.
"I have been debriefed about the events of your journey. My condolences to the families of those who died," Fugaku said.
"It was horrible," the Daimyo said, shaking his head.
"Indeed," Fugaku said. "I have proposal,"
"Let's hear it," the Daimyo replied.
"We have a new program at our Academy that has promising results. I propose you send your children, and have your court and nobles of the Capital send their children to us. We will put them through our program, and they will graduate stronger than you could possibly imagine."
"Make our children shinobi?" the Daimyo spluttered. "That is outrageous!"
"They will graduate as the leaders of tomorrow," Fugaku pushed. "They will be the enlightened ones, leading our world into an era of peace. I believe you know what is best."
"How do you expect my court to accept this?" the Daimyo asked.
Fugaku smiled. "All those who dissent will come to see the light."
In the Daimyo's mansion late at night, there was no light. The Daimyo was seated motionless on his bed. His overweight wife snoring next to him. His blankets covering his legs. His pajamas had a striped design and were very expensive. He sat frozen as he stared blankly at his windowsill.
On it stood a small crow. It's eyes glowing red. Three dots followed by three curves spiralling counter-clockwise around the pupil.
A conversation repeated again and again, with hidden whispers and suggestions, until the Daimyo saw the light.
