CHAPTER XI

Takuma

Wake up, son of Sasuke.

Your time of rest is over.

Wake up, son of Sasuke.

It is time for your restoration.

Takuma Uchiha opened his eyes to a dark room, the sound of water dripping from the ceiling to the floor echoing throughout. He felt simultaneously stiff and numb. When he tried to breathe, there was nothing but dust to take in.

He heard a voice humming and heels clicking as they approached him. A hand touched his face and lifted his head gently, almost lovingly. The same voice cooed into his face.

"Quite miraculous," it said. The familiarity of the voice made Takuma want to pull back, but he was frozen in place. The grip on his face remained soft and though Takuma couldn't see, he knew who was in front of him.

"Yashagoro." His voice was a straining wheeze of a breath and his throat felt drier than summertime grass.

"You remember," Yashagoro said. "I'm impressed." Takuma tried to shake his head. Why would he forget the man that had triggered his blindness? The one that had done this to him. "Do you also remember your last moment, young Uchiha?"

Takuma pondered that for a moment. He remembered it being cold and the sterilized smell of the room he was in transitioning to the pure, cool smell of the outer air. He remembered feeling a warmth in his chest as well, like love butterflies wrapped in an inferno flying around his heart. Then he remembered throwing himself from his hospital window.

"Dying," Takuma whispered.

"Indeed, you did." Yashagoro went silent again and Takuma heard him begin to walk around him. "And why did you die?"

It seemed a dumb question. Takuma knew it had been from the cracking of his skull on the pavement and his neck breaking when he fell. He had aimed to fall headfirst and while blind, he still had a sense of direction. However, the question had a deeper meaning as well.

"I...wanted to," Takuma said, gulping. "I wanted to kill myself. I failed my father, lost my birthright andāŽ¼"

"No one came to help you. No one except for me. I know what it feels to grow up alone and hated in this world. The Yuki clan was slaughtered out of fear for those with Kekkai Genkai and even you, Takuma, are feared because of your Uchiha blood. The potential of the Sharingan."

Takuma frowned. Was this a joke? "I don't even have eyes," he said.

"But I can give them to you," Yashagoro replied. "I believe your entire life you wanted to awaken your Sharingan and be just like your father. When he realized you couldn't, he rejected you and left you to die but I offer you a gift that your father could never provide. And all I ask is that you help me achieve my goal."

The resurrected Takuma took in a needless breath as he stood beneath the stump of the God Tree, still on guard. He hadn't been counting how long time had passed since the battle against the Konoha Shinobi. Time didn't seem to have as much significance, not until Yashagoro's plan took place.

All there was to wait for now was his father...