Chapter 1: Encyclopedia

Warning: (T) Mild talks of Gore.

Rating: (T) Pre-teens are a hard pass.

Pairings: Itachi/Izumi, though that's it. It'll... make sense, I promise.

A/N: I dunno. Something about Itachi meeting Adult Sasuke really gets me, you know? It's something I always find fascinating in Naruto Fanfics.

It's neat.


[. . .]


"If you want to know who you are, you have to look at your real self and acknowledge what you see." - Itachi Uchiha.


[. . .]


Chapter 1

Encyclopedia


[. . .]


He thought he was losing his mind. It felt like it. It was terrifying and mind-numbing.

He thought he had already experienced this suspending agony.

Perhaps it had to do with the fact that his sight was blurred and all he felt below him was air as if he were floating which made his brain rattle much like an earthquake. But if the tragedy-burdened prodigy would put any fault in his loss of sanity, it was most likely because his own face was staring back at him.

Intently, might he add.

Without a single flaw but the same, stressed lines he had grown accustomed to seeing in the mirror, Itachi scrutinized whoever made an imposter of him extremely for the fewest of seconds, questioning. Millions of questions, both related and unrelated to what he was bearing witness to in front of him raced in his mind.

Where was he?

How was he alive?

Who stood in front of him?

Was this the afterlife? If this was, was this his punishment? Was this what he deserved for staining his hands with the lives of his Clan? The ever-threatening shame of his self-hatred, of his loathing for leading a life such as he did? For hurting his brother? For forcing his brother to feed his own desire of justice?

The overflow of questions made his already pounding head only further delve into an impossible migraine, and for a moment he forced himself to stop and make a proper assessment, wondering and concluding if it was because of his eyes that he felt the way he did.

But he died.

His heart stopped. He remembered. It couldn't possibly be his eyes.

His vision was slowly improving. His eyes didn't sting. They were just dry from overuse, and the pressure in his chest that was part of an illness he knew would kill him now of all years lifted into absolutely nothing.

His lungs felt free.

He could breathe properly for the first time in years, and if not for the incredulous situation at hand, he would have thought the Kami's had finally granted mercy on him by letting him be so lucky as to enter the pearly gates of paradise.

Before, he could barely see in front of him. When he had been fighting Sasuke, he knew he was going to die. He could not see far anymore, could not breathe properly enough, and his body was already melting into death's mold. It was perfect fate, perfect planning.

Now? Now he could see fortuitously without the strain of breaking contact with his double. Enough so that more silhouettes of himself stood behind it and that the space they resided in was blank; there was no ground, no trees, no skies, no nothing.

Just an empty, darkening void. Rather light because its essence of blue somehow calmed him. If he wasn't as bewildered as he lay now, he would lose his mind trying to figure out if he was blind if all he could see was just shadows and his own face. Somehow, it was tranquil either way.

But the calm did nothing. He was confused. Depleted mentally, he was so confused and he wanted answers.

Yet at the same time, he didn't want them. He wanted to sleep, too tired to bother asking.

"It seems he's... had a rough battle," His own voice reached his ears, behind the one who looked at him currently.

The other Itachi turned to look behind him. "That it does," He mumbled, looking back at him with furrowed brows.

This caused him to blink slowly, considering the emotion. Concern etched so brilliantly onto his double and Itachi was flabbergasted. What was this? He was exhausted but no longer in pain, which he would have thought meant that he crossed over to the other side. But what of this? His persona, looking concerned for his well-being—it made no sense.

But he was tired and he didn't want to speak. Didn't want to ask.

He was so, so tired. He needed answers.

But he didn't want them. Not like this.

"He seems fine," His voice started again, this time right next to him on his opposite side instead. "His lungs are burned, but they seem to be making regeneration of sorts. The only thing that seems to be a problem is his... oh. His limbs are repairing by themselves."

Itachi slowly turned his head to look at who was speaking. Another person mimicking his persona crouched beside him with glowing green hands over his chest. He sported a concentrated look on his face, and... glasses? Was that a diamond? For a halting second, he wondered how he was unable to sense him.

"So he's fine?" Himself asked.

A sprout of dizziness engulfed him before disappearing.

The Itachi with glasses looked up briefly to fix his spectacles. "Yes... overall he's completely fine. There's burnt trauma all over his body, but as I said, it's fixing itself. Rather well, actually." He mumbled, unsure.

"A Jinchūriki?" Another whispered, sounding rougher than the others. He walked up behind what Itachi now called his medic version of himself, wielding a katana. His attire consisted of regular ANBU attire, except... It had a short, black cloak and he wore a hood over his head. Still, Itachi could make out a scar on his right eye, missing a Sharingan.

Wait... Did he say Jinchūriki?

"No," Mumbled another. "I came from a battle as well, and my injuries healed. This place... It bears a healing ability." It sounded younger.

"I could've told you all that," Another scoffed. "I thought we already established that this place is boring."

"Sasuke said it was an in-between dimension," Another chastised. It sounded groggy. Exhausted, much like him.

At the mention of his brother's name, Itachi was startled.

"Hn," The one with the scar gruffed, glaring slightly, "So he's not dead in the brain. That's good."

The medic blinked at him. "...You're conscious?"

"I believe I stated that he is," The Itachi on his left said.

"Right," Medic Itachi frowned, "Apologies. Er... Itachi-kun?"

Itachi blinked at him. He stared, probably for a few minutes, and didn't stop staring. He was being spoken to. Courteously, by someone who looked like him but yet was not him. His theory that this place was a mirror in his purgatory to mock his horrible crimes flew out the window and at the same time tripled its belief.

He was going insane. It burned the back of his head.

"Great..." The scarred Itachi sighed, "We've got another broken one."

The Itachi on his left shot a glare at the other. "Don't. We don't know his life, yet. For all we know, he has every reason to be this way."

Medic Itachi sighed. "Please don't fight. He's likely suffering a headache." He ordered politely.

His compassion went on deaf ears.

"I was not assuming," The scarred Itachi snapped. "I was making an observation, an annoying one, mind you. We cannot afford to carry another in the place we are on. If you haven't noticed already, we don't have all the time in the world here."

"Incorrect," A feminine voice rose, and everyone turned to the owner, including himself. A girl, shorter in height and bearing a strong, creep-like resemblance to his mother, stood next to a sitting, parting clone of his. "Sasuke said we are to remain here until he returns. Our time here will be short."

At the mention of Sasuke once more, Itachi rose abruptly with a sore grimace. "Sasuke?" He rasped, blinking confoundedly at the female who stopped to gaze blankly at him. A hand gently tried to help him stay seated upward—the medic.

For some reason, the entire room seemed to soften its hard edge.

"Um, yeah," Another Itachi popped in his vision, which caught him off-guard but not enough to flinch. "Sasuke told us we're here because of some... Weird entity."

Itachi blinked at his rose-bearing double. "Sasuke... was here?" He was confused. This wasn't real. He had just seen Sasuke. His brother... killed him.

The others noticed his daze, with a clouded look over his frighteningly bound orbs. Itachi didn't care. He was aware they were calculating him, some even unconsciously tensing, preparing themselves for a fight. He didn't blame them. Rather, he thought they were fake.

This...

Was.

Not.

Real.

The only reason he had yet to destroy these clones that mocked him was due to him still processing everything. He was already formulating a plan; if these were indeed him, he would need to think thoroughly and avoid... getting killed by his hand.

Briefly, a previous thought that this was a mockery of his wretched mind appeared again. It formed sourly in his soul, and he despised it. If this was what the universe was doing to get back at him, then they would need a much better plan than this. He hoped they would not use Sasuke to torture him here.

Again, though, he could not fault anything. He did what he did for Sasuke and it was finished. His wounds of closure were already gone.

It angered him that they would say his name. He questioned dutifully if it would start like this, and then build up to disparage his brother's life... If it was, he would be conflicted.

He deserved this. For hurting so much.

But all he has ever truly wanted was peace.

A pacifist by nature, but he could not upturn the terrible events of his past. He needed to break for hurting his brother.

Again, he did not want it.

"Before you begin overthinking," The scarred Itachi said rather late, "No, you are not in purgatory. And no, you aren't in a Genjutsu, either. I've tried dispelling, and there was no change. We're in a vortex Dimension. A dangerous, vortex dimension."

Itachi looked over his shoulder to lock eyes on one permanent red Sharingan. He blanked, realizing that his other self was observing it. He was right. This was no Genjutsu. If it was, he would have discovered it by now.

Medic Itachi sighed. "He's not going to believe us. He needs time to process this. There was a decrease in blood flow, so it's likely he is in shock." He mumbled, standing.

The Itachi on his left, wearing a proper yukata and with his hair down stood as well. "Very well. We should leave him be, for now." He stated, face now devoid of emotion.

"At least he didn't attack us," The pink-bearing one grunted, shooting a glare at the single-eyed Itachi.

That Itachi scowled but said nothing.

The Medic crossed his arms. "I felt a lot of distress in his brain, do not fault him. He was simply reacting accordingly. He came from a war, it's only expected for him to react the way he did."

"We all have that," The rose-holding Itachi quipped in. Itachi wondered how his voice could go so high, coming from whoever it was that badly imitated him. "Did we attack each other? I don't think so."

"Except for you," The Medic deadpanned.

The same Itachi bristled. "Whatever." He spat.

"Enough," Another came in, and this time, Itachi had to do a double-take. It was... A tiny version of him. A boy. The one he heard before.

He looked the same as when he did when he was thirteen.

"We must explain to him what's going on. It would do no good squabbling around. If he chooses to believe, he may do so, but at the very least we explained the situation," The boy version of him ordered, but he held no scorn in his voice. No, as usual, it was without emotion...

"None of you are listening to me," The Medic Version of him huffed, looking rather tired. "He's in shock. We need to—"

"Excuse my intrusion," The Yukuta and most alike version of him spoke, "Although obvious, he is us. He's an Itachi. Perhaps it may sound wrong of me to say, but if he is us, then that means that he can handle situations well. Something like this is a shock to anyone, but for us, the only way we deducted this was not all false was from an explanation. So far all of us have had some sense of stable mind."

"An explanation Sasuke gave," Medic Itachi spoke softly. "He will not believe us. Not yet. Not until he returns."

"We must still tell him anyway," His younger version said. "Therefore, he'll know and think about it until Sasuke returns and confirms it for him."

Most of the Itachi's quieted down.

The original, dead, Itachi, stared. He stared.

He stared at them, hard.

And they stared back. His rose-holding double shifted awkwardly to the side, and the ones surrounding him slowly backed up, leaving only the medic beside him to aid.

The sitting, despondent Itachi next to the girl version of himself rose his head finally to witness true of whoever it was this Itachi was, which captured his attention.

Itachi felt vacant when he saw that this version of himself had a burned side and a hollow eye unable to close. And... missing fingers.

Good god.

Itachi looked away and suddenly stood. He stumbled but brushed off the strife of dizziness that overcame him, making up his mind. "If this is the universe's attempt to break my mind, they've failed," He snarled, suppressing the bile-tasting excrements rising from his stomach. He hated himself. Why? Why, why, why?

The other Itachi's tensed. The medic stood and stepped back.

He turned to them again, Sharingan awake.

The temperature dropped several degrees.

The scarred, hooded Itachi unsheathed his katana. "Don't," He warned, his own Dōjutsu opened. The girl version of him followed through, as did the rose-holding one. He could see his sitting clone flinch.

Itachi had half a mind to attempt and slaughter them all.

He was aware though, that he could not. Not in this state.

And not when most of them appeared to have almost equal power to his own. The medic, most of all, served as a problem. If it was so that the copy held the diamond of Tsunade's Yin-seal: Release, then he was no contest against them all.

So, he opted to threaten and keep them at bay while also taking a look for himself if what they said earlier was true.

So far, as it looked, they were right.

An icy, exhausted glare centered on the Itachi with the Yukata. "A Vortex Dimension," He began stoically, "Sasuke. What do they both have in relation?"

"We were getting to that," The Rose one grumbled. "But nobody spoke up because they're cowards."

Ignoring the annoyed Itachi, the female version of himself spoke first. "The only thing we know of is Sasuke's ability to jump to and from several dimensions," She explained. "We do not know how we got here or who brought us. And neither does Sasuke."

Itachi blanked. "...My brother has no such ability," He said with confidence. "You lie."

"No," His younger self said. "It's true. We have all witnessed it."

"And I have not," Itachi spoke, calmer now.

The one with the Yukata stepped forward. "We know," He murmured, "And we don't fault your mistrust. But regardless, we need you to cooperate with us. This is indeed real, and we were brought here periodically for a time for reasons unknown. Sasuke had been here to explain to each one of us what little he knew happened, and has told us to wait for his return until he got all the answers he needed." The male paused. "There is an entity, he said. Someone of a clan named Otsutsuki that is the most likely cause of what led to us being here."

"Not confirmed," The female interjected. "But so far, it's looking like a solid fault."

Itachi narrowed his eyes. "Do you truly believe I will fall for a story as ludicrous as that?"

"We aren't finished," The rose Itachi snapped. He turned to the female Itachi, "Explain the rest to him."

The woman did as he asked. "We are from different worlds," She began, "We come from separate dimensions, and all of us are the same person, except not entirely attitude or experience-wise. We are not Shadow clones nor copies of you. We are real people. We are you, and yet we are not."

Itachi stared as she continued. "Sasuke is also from another world. Whoever or however he is in your world, he isn't your Sasuke as far as we know." She seemed upset about that fact. Although her face remained impassive, to Itachi's trained eye, he saw the least bit of wistfulness plastered on her features. It hauntingly reminded him so much of his mother. "Whatever happened to you... It is not this place. They are not us."

Itachi turned off the red, but the look on his face did not soften.

"Exactly," The sassy one grumbled. "I know it sucks, but we're real and we're stuck here. So bear with it. Hell, you can even sit and ignore us all you want. But do not start something you could jeopardize," He threatened lowly as he crossed his arms and harrumphed away like a spoiled child.

Itachi immediately shot a deadly gaze in his direction. "Jeopardize?"

"Yes," His Yukata-bearing double said. "We were told not to harm one another. It could... disrupt certain motions keeping wherever this is stable."

Itachi connected the false representational figments of his imagination as an easily breakable bubble in his mind. It harmed him to admit that the concept of speaking to himself has always haunted him.

If that was so...

Well. It could be a test from the afterlife. A trial, of sorts.

He wouldn't fail.

Unsurprising, the others witnessed Itachi relenting.

The tension in the room did not change, though, and it was that same tension that kept everyone still on guard. Just because his versions of him were kind didn't mean the others were.

He wouldn't allow himself to get manipulated.

Itachi blinked, unused to the painless feeling in his eyes. The crust of blood did bother him, but that was all that the irritation would bring. The energy that it took from him was still exhausting, nevertheless. He didn't attempt to wipe the after-effects of his previous fight in front of them. He was still convinced he was dead.

But perhaps... This was a place in his mind keeping him in limbo.

At this point, his sanity demanded it to be as such.

This is unbelievable. This wasn't real.

But he could pretend it was. For a few moments, if it prevented his mind from going into a further frenzy.

From what he could see and be allowed to see, most of his other selves felt the same. They hid it well, but Itachi could feel their disbelief, too. That this place was a figment of their imagination.

And yet... their disbelief made it appallingly more real.

It was terrifying.

Under a cool facade, Itachi shifted to let some of the weight of his once and only good leg balance out the other healed one. "This is impossible," He murmured.

The scarred Itachi gave a single nod of agreement. "And yet we are here, anyway." He responded.

Itachi allowed a grim line of distaste appear on his lips. "There is no jutsu I know of that is capable of doing this."

"The same here," His Younger version said. "None of us know. So far in our lot," He mumbled the last part.

"We'll have to wait for more," The Yukata-wearing one said.

"It'll be a mess," The rose one grimaced.

"Every hour another version of us arrives," The medic spoke up.

Everyone turned to him.

Appearing unfazed, the spectacle-bearing Uchiha continued. "I've counted. Even if this place has no concept of time, I've made a headcount since the third to arrive materialized out of nowhere," His stoic eyes landed on the burned version, "Fifty-eight Minutes and thirty seconds."

"The clock rewinds itself again," The scarred one murmured to himself.

"Yes," The medic whispered. "It does."

The female Itachi stepped closer with a strange hopeful, yet guilty, sparkle. "So that means..."

There was a diminutive transition that dizzied the group.

"Sasuke's here," The quiet, dry-like noise of the sitting Itachi talked for the first time.

Itachi felt his stomach clench.

There was a swirl, suddenly, dark and purple, appearing not that far from their group. A couple of feet, actually.

Everyone was silent. Itachi had even swerved to look at them, assessing if this was normal or not.

It was, and everyone awaited with needy suspense.

As if they all...

Care, for a brother.

Itachi swallowed blood.

Itachi clenched his fist.

Itachi held his breath.

A tall, cloaked figure stepped out of the portal.

Nobody moved.

Nobody breathed.

And Itachi stared, breaking in himself that this was not real. That this place was not real. That these clones of him were not real.

That the man—who stared harshly at him with something broken inside—with a face resembling so much of Sasuke, was not his brother.

That he...

"There is another."

Was Sasuke.


[. . .]


A/N: Heh. Woah.

Toodles~

Ana.