:I can't believe it… it was like yesterday when my friend told me about this site… now I'm close to finishing my first fanfic. And a second one's on the way!!
:I know it's not that great, but I'll get better at writing stuff… so, here goes chapter 17…
Chapter 17: The End of the Uchiha
Through the immensely thick forest, he was able to find the place he was looking for. It was behind a huge tree, and had a very discreet entrance. It was a flight of stairs that led underground.
Sasuke entered the Akatsuki's hideout, he was cautious, but he saw no one around. The place was empty, or so it seemed. He continued to pass through a series of tunnels, just like the one he had been in on the previous mission to save Hinata.
He wandered cautiously in the tunnels, looking for any signs of his brother, or any of the other Akatsuki there.
"Little brother… I see you're finally here. Your hatred… I can feel it." He heard his brother's voice say, just as he entered what seemed to be the tunnels center. It was a large, cave-like, and empty. He could hear the haunting drips of water from the cave's ceiling.
"I already know it's not my hatred you want brother. You want my sharingan. Well, you're not getting them, YOU WILL DIE." Sasuke said coldly with determination in his still onyx eyes. This was the moment he lived for.
"Let's just see who dies tonight." Itachi said as he activated his Mangekyo Sharingan. "Tsukuyomi." He muttered. He felt a little weaker after using the Mangekyo again. The side-effects of the Kekkei Genkai taking its toll on him.
Sasuke's vision went dark, the cave dissapeared and he found himself in the same illusion his brother had used on him before. The Uchiha massacre was playing once again in his mind. His mother, and father dying in front of him in the hands of his own brother…
"Wrong illusion, brother." She said with a smirk, that night was no longer his darkest fear, seeing the look of horror in his parents' face, only made him more determined to avenge them.
He activated his Sharingan as well, dispelling the illusion. "Besides, I'm doing this for them." He said as he remembered his few fond memories of his family.
"Tonight, you die." Sasuke said as he took out his chokuto, and you could hear its metallic sound as he drew the sword.
"CHIDORI NAGASHI!" he shouted as the sound of a thousand chirping birds filled the cave and the electric-blue lighting chakra enveloped his body. He charged most of his chakra into his chokuto, and began running towards his brother.
"Too hasty little brother." Itachi said calmly as he avoided each of Sasuke's attacks. He saw the look of hatred in his little brother's eyes. It reminded him of himself actually.
"You're not getting my sharingan that easy." Sasuke said, throwing a number of lightning chakra needles at his brother. Several of them landed a hit. "I see you're going blind." Sasuke said, catching his breath. Looking at the chakra needles that impaled his brother, the thought "The sharingan really does have flaws." Crossed his mind.
He needed amazing speed to pull that one off. He then knew that he needed a better plan to defeat his brother. Fighting like this, it could be anyone's game. "CHIDORI!" he said, and the lightning chakra focused on his had, he went for the cave's ceiling, and it exploded, revealing the dark sky above.
"What was that for brother? You won't be able to see the view anyway." Itachi said, looking at the dark clouds looming above him in the sky.
"It wasn't for the view." Sasuke said, as he once again charged at his brother with his sword, and threw chakra needles alternately.
"I'm getting tired of playing with you Sasuke." Itachi said. "Amaterasu."
A pillar of black flame then immediately appears right below Sasuke, who barely manages to escape by jumping and concentrating his sharingan on the pillar, opening a space-time warp similar to what he has seen Kakashi use, sending the flames to another dimension.
When he sees his brother again, he notices a red liquid flowing from his eyes. His eyes were bleeding.
"You rely too much on the mangekyo, brother." Sasuke said. "It will be your downfall."
"Amaterasu!" Itachi says again, and balls of black flame make their way to Sasuke.
Sasuke screamed of pain as he felt the intense heat from the flames touch his skin.
"Now brother, give me your eyes." Itachi said, his eyes seemed to bleed more profusely than before.
"Never." Sasuke once again throws chakra needles at his brother.
"Have it your way then. Susanoo." Itachi muttered. He fell to the ground on his knees at the sheer amount of chakra and force it takes to perform the technique.
A gigantic ethereal being is summoned, and begins to attack Sasuke.
"Not another one of your illusions." Sasuke said.
"This one isn't an illusion, brother."
Sasuke's eyes grew wide as the being suddenly hit him in the gut. The pain was almost unbearable. He was losing chakra, and was getting tired.
Soon enough, it began to rain. The blood on both their bodies was slowly being washed off.
Sasuke found the strength to talk. "Are the sharingan's flaws unavoidable?"
"Yes. From the moment you acquire them, your eyes begin to fall into darkness. The process hastens with every use." Itachi answered from behind the creature he summoned.
"And, the only cure?" He asked.
"To replace your eye's with that of your siblings."
"You know what's gonna happen, don't you?" Sasuke said with a voice filled with hatred as he was catching his breath.
"Only one of us lives tonight…" Itachi muttered, "…and gets the sharingan."
"Exactly, and I promise you. It won't be me who dies." Sasuke muttered as he tried to stand up, he desperately needed chakra, and the only choice he had left was the cursed seal Orochimaru had put on him.
Seeing that this was his last chance at ever killing his brother, he decided to use the seal, even if using it again might lead to his own death, because of the sheer exhaustion he already felt.
The creature Itachi summoned began attacking Sasuke again. He came to the conclusion that he could never be able to kill the creature, but could get rid of it once he killed his brother.
Seeing the thunder and lightning at the sky above them, with his last hopes, and his last resort, he activated the cursed seal, and he felt as if his own soul was being burned, but he needed to do this, it was the only way. Sasuke muttered "Kirin". A bolt of lightning then surged down from the heavens, and made contact with his already weakened brother. The ethereal creature that was summoned then disappeared.
Sasuke nearly collapsed as he forced the cursed seal to subside. He could no longer stand, so he resorted to crawling on the now wet cave floor, towards his brother who was motionlessly lying on the ground.
"Why did you… why did you kill everyone?" Sasuke muttered, short of breath. He already heard the explanation before, but a small part of him believed there was something more, he wanted to believe that his brother had a better purpose for killing the clan, that it just hadn't been for the Mangekyo, not just to test his power.
"I already told you." Itachi replied emotionlessly.
"Who is Madara Uchiha?" Sasuke demanded, angered at the fact that his brother was still cold and calm.
"He was my teacher, and he and I were the cause of the Uchiha massacre. He told me to leave you alive, so that one day I may take your eyes for my own, since it was the only way I could retain my eyesight
and still use the Mangekyo." Itachi answered, he coughed out blood, and his eyes were as red as the blood that flowed from them.
"I see." Sasuke said. So there was another person in this plan. Whether he would decide on killing this person as well, he didn't think about at the moment.
"I thought you would torture me and kill me slowly and painfully…" Itachi said.
"I will never be like you brother… I don't want to be." Sasuke retorted. "Besides, this makes sure you die anyway."
"That is true." He said, and then began a technique that transferred his Mangekyo into Sasuke, who then receives the eyes, and all of Itachi's abilities with it.
Sasuke felt an unbearable pain in his eyes and began to cover them immediately. "What are you trying to do?!" Sasuke demanded, the pain was excruciating.
"Use the Mangekyo well, little brother." Itachi had just surrendered his eyes, and his abilities to Sasuke. He didn't know why he did exactly, maybe he did still feel like a brother to him, or maybe he had given his brother those abilities in hopes that he would continue to avenge the clan, and kill Madara. Just as well, these were the last words of his life.
"Goodbye brother." Sasuke said, looking at his brother's now dead body. There was a strange feeling that he felt as he saw the expression on his brother's face. He was smiling. Sure, you could hardly see it, but it wasn't a menacing evil smile, but a real one.
"I did it father. I hope you're finally proud." He thought, his life as an avenger was finally over. But his own life might just be. With so little energy left, the cursed seal provided his much needed chakra to perform his final technique, but it also left him extremely weakened in the process.
Sasuke thought that he would be happier seeing his brother dead. But why doesn't he feel anything like it? Killing his brother, the supposed reason why Sasuke was ever alive, felt like the biggest regret he had ever felt in his life.
He just succeeded in killing what was left of his entire clan, himself included. He would be the last Uchiha. He didn't think he still had the strength to carry on… he was too exhausted.
"I thought killing you would finally make me happy…" he thought.
The few things he felt the slightest feeling of gladness was the fact that there would no longer be any killings for the clan's sharingan eyes. No more death, no more siblings that killed each other, no more bloodshed. Second, he could no longer take the lives of the people close to him, well, what's left of them anyway.
Tears started to flow from his eyes, but you couldn't distinguish them from the drops of rain that fell from the sky. He just gazed at his brother's now lifeless body, and thought of how much he longed to
see his mother and father again, even if it was only in the afterlife. He could maybe feel once again what having a family was like. Maybe, he would also feel love from them, maybe, even from his brother.
He regretted living such an empty life… full of anger… of hatred… of nothing but revenge. Fears that he had just realized suddenly came up… he would die… right after killing his own brother… he would be remembered as the man who ended the Uchiha bloodline… the man that kept the clan's secrets from the world. He dreaded the fact that no one might even be at his funeral… he would be buried a traitor… no one would visit his grave… he would die a hated man…
He collapsed in the wet dirt, and closed his eyes, waiting for the darkness to consume him… longing to see his family again…
:This was actually my favorite chapter to write… even if I suck at fight scenes.
:When I first thought out this fanfic, I was gonna kill of Sakura, and Sasuke was to die after he killed Itachi... but I think this one suits the story's title more... Fear... and... Regret... I got the name from My Chemical Romance, they were the names of the two people next to 'mother war' in the Welcome to the Black Parade video... hehe... just thought to let you guys know.
:Thanks for reading! Please Review!