The twins were unconscious for three days. Karan was the first one to fully regain consciousness. When she woke up she was startled, she had no idea where she was. She looked around trying to figure out where she was. She saw her brother lying on another bed on the other side of the room. Then the door opened.
"You're awake. Had us concerned for while." She heard someone say and she turned to look at who it was.
"K-Konan-chan." Karan said surprised. Before Itachi had arrived a year ago, Karan and Kaien were watched mostly by Zetsu, but a couple of years before when Madara had started working with the Akatsuki they were introduced to Konan. She would occasionally stop by and help with their training or bring them supplies they needed. She and Karan had bonded instantly. Karan thought of her as an older sister. Konan tried not to make her feelings known but she couldn't help but be reminded of herself and her friends when she saw the twins.
"You've been unconscious for three days. Kaien has been in and out but you haven't moved a muscle since you got here." She said putting down a change of clothes at the foot of the bed.
"Where are we?" Karan asked curiously.
"Amegakure, in a safe house." Konan answered.
"How did we get here?" Karan asked confused since the last thing she remembered was being in the burning forest.
"Madara brought the three of you in a few days ago. What exactly happened?" She asked concerned.
"We were training on the way here. Kaien and I got separated in the forest. There was a group of ninja in there that we fought and then…" Karan wanted to tell Konan about the fight, how everything became clearer after a while and when she saw her brother get hurt but she thought that if Madara found out who knows what might happen.
"Then?" She asked.
"We teamed up and managed to gain the upper hand. After that the forest was on fire and Itachi-sensei found us." Karan said.
"That's all?" Konan said watching the girl carefully.
"Yes." Karan said not breaking eye contact. Konan looked like she wanted to say something but decided against it.
"You must be hungry. Let's get you something to eat." She said leading the girl out of the room. Karan stopped at the door and looked back at her brother. "He'll be fine. He should be up in a little while."
Karan just nodded and followed Konan. They arrived at a small kitchen. Konan made some rice and chicken stir-fry.
"Itadakimasu" Karan said with her hands together before digging in.
"I have to go check up on some things. Don't go outside." Konan said before using her paper jutsu to disappear.
Karan was in the kitchen alone eating her food when Itachi walked in.
"You're awake." He said as he walked to sit at the table.
"Yeah, I woke up a little while ago." She said picking up her tea.
"And your brother?" He asked.
"He's still asleep."
"Karan, we need to talk about what happened in the forest." Itachi said.
"You mean the rogue ninja," Karan said trying to divert the conversation away from what she knew he really wanted to talk about.
"Yes, when you were fighting did anything strange happen?" He asked.
"No, nothing. They were just your ordinary rogue ninja." She said not looking away from her plate of food.
"Are you sure?" Itachi said not taking his eyes off the young girl.
"Yes sensei." Karan said looking right at him and moving a lock of hair behind her ear subtly pulling her earlobe a bit. That's when Itachi realized what she was trying to tell him. Someone might be listening to their conversation.
He closed his eyes and concentrated. When he opened his eyes he activated his Sharingan and cast a genjutsu so he could talk to his student without any one over hearing.
The genjutsu illusion appeared to be the lake close to the house they were previously staying at before leaving to Amegakure.
"Karan, what happened in the forest?" He asked.
"We got split up and we were ambushed. Kaien was captured by two rogue ninja while the third one came after me. We fought and I managed to beat her. I left her tied to a tree and transformed into her to rescue Kai. It was going well until we tried to get away. They found us and we fought. Everything was going good until they managed to get the upper hand. One of them used Senbon on Kaien and he wouldn't move. I thought he was…dead. They were about to attack me but before they could, it was like I could see what they were going to do before they did. I fought back and I took one of them out but the other snuck up behind me. He was going to finish me off but Kai attacked from behind we took him out. He was different, his eyes were red with two tomoe in them and he said mine were the same. What's going on Sensei?" She asked. For the first time since Itachi had met them he saw the girl standing in front of him was scared.
"You've seen how my eyes change when I fight." He asked and she nodded.
"It's a Kekkei Genkai dojutsu that belongs to the Uchiha clan. When a member of our clan goes through a traumatic event, a special chakra is released that changes our eyes. That is how the Sharingan is activated. It gives us special abilities, we can read a person's moves so we can act before they have a chance to do anything. With training there are other things we can do like genjutsu but you have to be careful, using the Sharingan without training drains your chakra faster than just using ninjutsu, that's why you and Kaien were unconscious for several days." Itachi explained.
"How do we train?" Karan asked.
"There are a few methods but for know focus on getting better." Itachi said.
"Sensei, don't tell Madara." Karan said Her request surprised him.
"Why don't you want him to know?" Itachi asked. He was not planning on mentioning it to him unless he somehow figured it out himself or he saw the twins use it.
"He's not a good person. The way he looks at us, like we're not people just tools to do whatever he wants isn't right. He'd probably want to use us for his own gain." Karan explained.
'She's so perceptive.' Itachi thought.
"I won't tell him, I promise but you'll have to be careful not to use it around him. You also have to make sure Kaien doesn't tell him. He's bound to suspect something if one of you activates it and not the other." Itachi pointed out.
"This is why he's been training us isn't it?" Karan asked.
Itachi couldn't help but remember the conversation he had had with Madara a year earlier, 'I don't need them specifically, I need their Sharingan' he had said.
"Yes." He answered.
"Why?"
"I don't know." He answered honestly. "But whatever it is, it can't be good. I have to undo the illusion someone's coming."
In a second everything faded away and they were back. They both heard footstep and went back to their meal.
"Karan?" They heard Kaien ask.
She looked up and gave her brother a small smile.
"About time you woke up." She said.
"Look who's talking." He retorted.
"Children, don't fight." Konan said walking in and serving Kaien a bowl of food.
"We're not fighting" They answered at the same time.
"Eat your food we'll talk later." Itachi said getting up and walking out of the kitchen.
A Few Hours Later
The twins were in the lounge room sitting in front of Madara and Itachi. They had just recounted everything that had happened in the forest with a few minor details omitted. Karan and Kaien had talked after lunch and agreed to keep their Sharingan a secret.
"Is that everything." Madara asked gauging their reactions.
"Yes." They said at the same time.
"Very well. Time to discuss the future of your training. Itachi will not be able to continue training you and you aren't going back to the safe house. From now on you will be staying here with Konan and Pein. They will continue your training. Do as you are told." He said before he turned to Itachi.
"We leave tomorrow morning, your partner will be meeting us there." And with that he vanished.
"So this is it" Kaien said.
"Unfortunately for now it is." Itachi said.
"What do we do now?" Karan asked.
"You continue your training. Focus on strengthening you weak points and refining your techniques. Keep those eyes open when you can." He said. Karan and Kaien gave him a nod confirming they understood the double meaning behind his words. "I have something for you two." He reached into his pocket and pulled out two small black fabric bags. He handed them one and they opened them. Inside Kaien's bag was a black wristband with the Uchiha crest on it. Karan's bad had a silver chain necklace with an Uchiha crest pendant.
"You two have improved in leaps and bounds in the past year and I am very proud of how much you've grown. The symbol on your necklace and wristband is of our clan. I thought it was time you both started wearing it." Itachi explained.
Both of the twins got up and bowed. "Arigato Sensei" they said.
Itachi couldn't help but smiled a bit. He could help but be reminded of his brother.
"You two should go to bed. I have a feeling your training is going to start early tomorrow." He told them. The twins looked at each other and nodded before standing up and walking towards Itachi. Before he knew it they had thrown themselves at him and were hugging him. Itachi was startled and tense but managed to relax a bit and hugged them back. They let go and ran off to their room.