-The Mind's Eye-

-Uchiha Compound-

The Uchiha regarded genjutsu-based illusions as useful for a variety of reasons. When used delicately, they provided a wide breadth of utility in espionage or social manipulation. When used in combat, high-powered genjutsu could render opponents helpless, and, with enough exposure, could keep an opponent dazed and off-balance even after the effect had ended. The problem with other, lesser techniques was that their use usually required dedicated, focused attention, and that the most powerful genjutsu tended to affect a wide area, which could limit their usefulness in the team-battles that ninja so often operated in.

The Uchiha Clan had a response to that. The Sharingan provided a vehicle for delivery of disproportionately powerful, precisely targeted genjutsu that could be used quickly in combat. It was not difficult for a skilled user of the Sharingan to throw opponents into a daze just by meeting their eyes, and it was for this reason that the Uchiha, while not nearly the most prominent genjutsu-wielders around, were certainly well-known for their skill. They had been feared to the point that those wishing to face Konoha in battle would train to avoid eye-contact of any sort.

The Tsukuyomi was something else entirely.

Compressing three days into a single second, it could be used in a myriad of ways. Merely by meeting someone's eye across an open street you could kidnap and interrogate them for ages, their bodyguards helpless to stop you. Used mid-battle and a cruel person could inflict torturous pain on their victim for the entire duration, leaving them crippled from the mental exhaustion after the illusion ended. Used innocently, as Itachi had, and it could even fight time itself. On the surface it was an unbeatable technique.

Sasuke had had Danzou at his mercy for the past five hours, and somehow nothing was going right for him at all.

"This is it?" the man gasped, not even bothering to hide the pain he was feeling, "This is the revenge you were planning?"

"Shut up." growled Sasuke, twisting the sword that was impaling Danzou, chained to a tilted table in a basement room of the old Uchiha compound as he remembered it. He had hoped would give him some of the resolve he needed to face this man. This murderer.

Danzou breathed heavily for a moment, then resumed laughing. "Your brother turned traitor, and I know it was entirely for your sake. He gave you the eye, and now you want to waste it like this? What a joke!"

"Traitor?!" Sasuke grit out, his teeth clenching, "That's rich, coming from you."

"You think I'm the traitor?" asked Danzou.

It didn't make sense. He was being too glib, too talkative, but not showing any signs of breaking.

"What kind of freak do you have to be to think you're working for the good of the village while you're with a monster like Orochimaru?"

"Worthless child. If you want information you actually have to succeed with the interrogation first. Your opinion of me changes nothing. Did your treacherous brother not teach you anything?"

"My brother wasn't a traitor. He didn't owe you or anyone else."

"Oh, you think I mean that he betrayed me? That he betrayed his superiors? No. In the end, he was a piece of trash that betrayed the village itself."

Sasuke shouted and stabbed Danzou once again, piercing his arm. Blood slid down the blade and onto the table. "Betrayed the village?! He saved everyone he could! You don't get to decide who counts as a member of the village, you arrogant prick!"

Danzou winced from the pain, but resumed smiling. "He saved nothing. You can't even see it, either, even though he gave you his eye. Pathetic. His sacrifice as I had planned it was meant to bring unity to the village. Certainly he would have been branded a traitor to the public just as I am now, but everyone in Konoha would have been safer for it. Instead, he is remembered by some as a hero, but the village fractures and grows weaker. You can't see it because you have a child's perspective, but it's no less true for your blindness." He smirked. "It's especially true now."

"What are you talking about? The Hokage's assassination? You know about that?"

"Know about it? Naive. I was the one who brought it about."

Sasuke stared at Danzou as he continued to speak.

"-I laid the agent, I gained Akatsuki's aid, and I convinced them to use this particular distraction over several other possibilities. It keeps Konoha from responding to our actions here, among other considerations. What, did you think that-"

Sasuke exploded with a sudden and unexpected fury. Even though the Third Hokage hadn't ever been particularly important to him like he had been for Naruto, something inside him had just snapped in that moment.

With a scream of rage, Sasuke drew out his sword again and stabbed Danzou through the heart, killing him instantly.

Suddenly exhausted, Sasuke collapsed to the ground, desperately trying to compose himself. No, it didn't make sense. Danzou hadn't let that information slip from the torture. The man was trying to get him too worked up to focus, he had to be. Ten seconds later, Danzou reappeared in perfect health.

"Worthless," was his first word. At this point, Sasuke had nothing to say in response. He just glared silently until Danzou continued.

"Your entire family wasted their potential. Itachi had a heart that could embrace the darkness and thrive, but that he thought you could do the same? Clearly he grew insane in the end." At that, Danzou leaned forward, straining slightly against his bonds. "Do you want to know what it is that you lack?"

Sasuke grit his teeth at the condescending question. With another flash of rage, he drove his sword into the man's side, causing another gasp of pain.

"It's irritating that you think you can buy yourself a reprieve by insulting the Uchiha name," Sasuke said, face contorted in anger, "but by all means feel free to continue to try."

The man pierced Sasuke with his one-eyed gaze. "Oh, but you and your family were doing all too good a job of that yourself. The Uchiha clan stayed steeped in darkness for hundreds of years. You wallowed in it, you see, like a pig in the mud. No other clan managed to pass so much madness down from generation to generation. It kept you dangerous, kept you strong, but it made you unpredictable enough that the village had no choice but to end you all."

"Shut up. Stop smiling, you asshole." Sasuke drove the blade deeper, but this time Danzou didn't even flinch. Now they were close. Eye to eye. Danzou spoke in a low and menacing tone, each word slowly growing in intensity.

"-And then they produced you. You worthless reject. The runt of the litter. Only protected by your big brother, even now. I know your plan. You want to hurt me, break me, here, inside this illusion, so you can kill me for real when it all ends, but I can tell you that you don't have what it takes, you little worm. This nightmare will eventually end, and then I will stand up and kill you. I will take that eye from your skull, and Itachi's gift will finally go to someone who deserves it."

"You…" Danzou pronounced, speaking calmly once more, "Lack hatred."

Sasuke stumbled back, unable to stop his face from betraying his wild emotions. Danzou just sat there, smirking. Then, he began to laugh. It was the cruel laugh of a man who found genuine humor in a joke, knowing that the joke was, in fact, the person standing right in front of him.

Sasuke had failed. Faced with this phantom from his childhood, tears of shame came unbidden to his eyes, something he hadn't felt in many years.

Then, his rage came erupting from him once more. With a roar, Sasuke brought the sword arcing through the air and cut off Danzou's head.

Gulping down air, Sasuke left the room, willing himself instantly to appear back in his old bedroom. Danzou would be returning in a moment, but Sasuke needed time to get his head together. With visible difficulty, he began working through breathing exercises. He had to get back control somehow. It was humiliating, but every time Danzou spoke Sasuke ended up feeling like he'd lost. Maybe he could gag the man?

Then he felt a change. Like something in his mind had just shifted. Had Danzou done something? With a panicked thought, Sasuke willed himself back into the basement room.

Nothing happened.

He moved to the door and found it wouldn't budge. Forcing it accomplished nothing. How could this be happening? The Tsukuyomi was supposed to give him full control of this world inside his own mind! Then he heard the voice. Danzou's voice, coming to him as if from some distance.

"Pathetic," he said, sounding almost bored, "You think you can scare me like that? It doesn't matter what form you wear; it doesn't change the fact that underneath you're still the same worthless child."

What was he talking about? A moment later, another voice responded. It was deep, calm, and very familiar.

"Not worthless. Not at all. I always knew my little brother wasn't cut out for ANBU," Itachi said, his voice bringing a lump to Sasuke's throat. "Unlike me, he has a truly kind heart. But, you see, I'm proud of him for that."

Danzou snorted derisively, but said nothing.

"In truth, I don't want him involved in this twisted world at all any more. A world made by people like you, who want to paint every living soul with darkness. That's not a world for him. And neither is this. Because of you, he was forced to make the world inside our eye into a world of pain." Itachi paused for a moment, before adding, "It's not where he belongs."

"One who can't walk in a world of pain has no place in a village of ninja, you fool," said Danzou.

Itachi sighed, then spoke quietly, as if to himself. "Sometimes I wish that Roger had just opened up our world completely instead of leaving us as we were."

"What are you talking about? You're clearly delusional, boy, if you think I'm going to be intimidated by nonsense words spoken by the image of a dead man."

"Indeed," said Itachi. "They say that one should prove one's self with actions, not words. I don't need to prove myself by speaking with you. We have quite a bit of time together for me to demonstrate my identity through my actions instead. When I am done, I hope that you will learn the wisdom of leaving my brother be."

The screams began shortly thereafter.

-The Mind's Eye-

-Sasuke's Bedroom-

Sasuke had been inside the world of the Tsukuyomi for just over one full day when he felt it. There was a flickering at the edge of his vision, as if he were seeing more images overlaid upon the first. As the minutes passed, the effect grew more pronounced. The Tsukuyomi was supposed to last for three days, but it seemed as though it was ending early. That was concerning.

Soon, the door to his room opened, and Itachi stepped over the threshold, closing it behind him.

"Apologies for keeping you in here. Honestly, I'd rather you never have to participate in that kind of thing. Unfortunately, I can't appear to help you in this way again."

Sasuke shook his head. "What's going on?"

Itachi paused, his eyes evasive for a moment. "The technique was improperly activated. Time in here runs differently, but it still only alters our perceptions. In the fraction of a second since you forced eye-contact with Danzou, something has started to block your line-of-sight." He paused for a moment, frowning, as if he wanted to say more.

"You mean I screwed up." Sasuke stated, already certain of the answer. "It's going to keep getting worse in here until I lose eye-contact completely."

Itachi nodded. "We have another few minutes at most before it all ends. What's worse is that Danzou knows it, too. I don't think he's been broken enough to give you the advantage you need, so you'll need to run the instant the technique ends."

Sasuke nodded, expectations glum. For a moment, Itachi's face seemed dead, completely emotionless, before returning to normal.

"I have some things I need to tell you. Danzou wasn't as tight-lipped as he could have been, but his body's image of itself was even more revealing than what he said."

"I'm… listening. What was it?" asked Sasuke.

"Even though this is an illusion, the Tsukuyomi takes place as much in the target's mind as it does in yours. He has an image of his self that controls the shape his body takes in here. That's why I looked at his eye. Behind the bandages on his eye was one of ours. A Mangekyou Sharingan."

Sasuke blinked in confusion. "Last time we talked, you said Danzou had taken a special eye from your friend, Shisui. It's that one?"

Itachi shook his head. "Did we? Oh, yes… I have a hard time remembering anything from other instances I may have appeared to you. You refer to the Kotoamatsukami. Still… no, I don't recognize it. I've never seen that pattern before, not even in the books, and I didn't have time to get the secret out of him."

"That's… bad," said Sasuke.

"That's not all. Something very strange was on his shoulder. A face, warped and twisted, as if it were growing underneath his flesh."

"Bleh," Sasuke said, then added, "Nothing in its eyes?"

"I couldn't tell. They were closed, and I couldn't do anything to affect it. It was as if there was one part of his body that remained impervious, even in here. The Kotoamatsukami that he took from Shisui gives him a powerful and undetectable mind-altering genjutsu, and I can't rule out that he's hiding it inside that mask of flesh."

The flickering in his vision was growing quite pronounced now, and Sasuke could clearly make out bits and pieces of the real world starting to intrude. Sasuke took a deep breath, let it out, then nodded reluctant agreement, before Itachi continued.

"When this is over, get out, quickly. I can't say what that unknown Sharingan is capable of, but one thing is for certain." He met Sasuke's gaze. "Danzou is confident. I don't know what he has up his sleeve, but he feels as though he has the entirety of Akatsuki handled. He honestly thinks this will result in a change for the better for Konoha, and I believe he plans to somehow return as Hokage. The only good thing about all of this is that you don't have to be anywhere near him when he does it."

Suddenly, Itachi smiled, his face full of warmth. Sasuke blinked back a moment's confusion.

"Sasuke. I'm jealous, you know. I wanted to go out to sea, but I knew I would never get that chance. I can tell that it's happening now. The world's opening up, just like Roger said it would. You can see it all in my place. I know it." Then, as quickly as before, Itachi's eyes grew serious. "Don't get involved in something that's not your responsibility."

Sasuke swallowed reflexively, then nodded again.

With that, Itachi turned to leave.

"I have one last chance to throw Danzou off-balance before this ends. Goodbye, little brother."

The door closed, and Sasuke stood alone once more.

"Goodbye, big brother."

- Urasoe no machi -

- Port -

-At That Exact Second-

Luffy flew through the night, fueled by rage. He'd had a worried moment when the man on the ship had tried to cut his hand off, but he'd been saved by Robin. Now, Luffy drew nearer and nearer, and his target had been ready to attack once more. Then, at the last second, the man seemed to freeze in place, eyes locked with the black-haired boy below him. Oh well, not his problem.

[GOMU-GOMU ROCKET]

Luffy shot toward the man like a cannonball with a bone to pick. An instant before impact the man seemed to snap out of whatever daze he'd been in and start moving. But it was too late. For Sasuke, the illusion ended the moment Luffy's body broke his line of sight, time slowly resuming its march up to its rightful speed. Danzou did not collapse to his knees. He was far too busy for that.

Sasuke got to watch the whole thing in slow-motion.

As Danzou desperately pulled himself back over the railing of the ship, the pirate-captain's head impacted him square in the chest. For one glorious moment, Sasuke watched Danzou's face distort in pain and shock as all the air left his lungs, and then he was lifted off his feet. Time suddenly snapped back into place, and like one steel ball transferring all of its momentum to another, Luffy came to a dead stop on the ship as Danzou went spinning off into the sea.

Sasuke hung there, stunned with disbelief. From his perch on the side of the ship, he climbed quickly to the deck. Then, with a glance around the ship, Luffy turned to the rest of the crew.

"Hey! You guys alright?" he said.

"Yeap," responded a long-nosed man, sounding weak and shaky, "Peachy keen and ready to go, yep. Don't mind the blood."

"Good!"

With that, Luffy turned to the coils of the iridescent serpent wrapped around the Merry. He wound up a fist and gave their abductor a wicked stretched-out punch that seemed to rock the ship itself. A moment later, the sea serpent's head lifted from the waves to see what the source of her distress was, which was when Luffy leapt into the air and brought his heel down on her snout in a monstrous axe-kick. The serpent went crashing down into the water, but rose back up, wobbling somewhat from the impact. As it turned its gaze back to Luffy, he shouted in its face before jabbing it once more in the snout, sending it reeling.

The serpent's tongue flickered out once, twice, and then it loosened its coils, slinking off into the night waters.

Sasuke wasn't entirely certain what he should be doing about all this. Eventually, he settled on addressing the crew, "Hey! That man from earlier will be back soon. He won't have been finished off by that attack, so we need to get out of here, fast!"

"Wait, which man from earlier?" asked a friendly-sounding, but unfamiliar voice from inside the cabin of the ship. Sasuke was confused. There were more people on-board? He looked around on deck. There was the long-nosed guy, the perceptive woman from before, the captain, a red-headed woman, and a strange little animal. Apparently someone else was still below deck.

"The one who just got blasted off the ship? You know?" Sasuke craned his head to see inside the cabin. Everyone else looked, too, and they seemed just as uncertain as he did.

Then, he saw him. A man in Akatsuki robes strolled out of the cabin wearing a warped and bleached driftwood mask, his only visible features being his hands and his short, black hair. Everyone besides the new arrival returned to combat readiness. Somewhere, someone, or a couple someones, screamed.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" said the new man, raising both hands, "Easy! Just looking for someone! You guys didn't happen to see my friend here, did you? Old guy? About my size? Looked like he wanted to just punch everything in the world?"

"Heh, he's not here anymore," Sasuke said, summoning up his reserves of energy, "He and the captain here had a disagreement."

"Oh! That's too bad!" offered the masked man, who put one hand up to his head in an awkward sort of gesture. "Look, if you see him, could you let him know we don't need this ship any more? We found a much bigger one that was trying to get away from the island, and it looks great! It's got everything we needed, plus a crew! Well, it had a crew, anyway. Well, I mean, I guess it still kinda does, but… well, it's complicated!" he finished his statement with cheerful exuberance. "Oh! I almost forgot. Before I leave, I had a quick question for you."

There was a stressed sort of silence.

"Okay, okay, here goes. Do any of you know anything about the 'Celestial Dragons?'"

Behind him, Robin tensed up. No one spoke.

"No? No one? Oh well. Anyway, it was nice meeting you!" he shouted. Then, he leapt to the edge of the ship and hopped down to the water below, hitting the surface of the waves. The ship rocked violently as the dark depths of the water underneath his feet disgorged a massive shark covered with strange piercings. With a mighty sound, it swam away. Its roar was almost too low to be heard, and instead resonated through everyone's bodies, shaking their bones.

A short time later, he was gone.