To say he was bitter about what had become of his life would have been a gross understatement. Itachi was bitter, the difference was that he accepted it and knew that nothing more could be done about it. He'd made his decision and while it caused him much grief and sorrow he could not regret it since he felt it was the right choice as much as it might have pained him. There was no other option available to him and that was part of the unfairness of life and it would not change for him or for anyone else.
The man he stood beside now knew far too well how unfair life could be having been robbed of so much more than most people could possibly imagine. He could sympathize with him all too well, the difference being that the elder Uchiha had succumb to the darkness and the crushing weight of the world that had fallen upon him. It tried to do the same thing to him too, but the difference was as futile as it might have been Itachi was still fighting. But how much longer could he last?
Feeling the other man's eyes upon him the prodigy turned his head, catching sight of Madara's expressionless features which were obscured by a thick veil of midnight-colored hair. "The cycle is one that adjusts much like the cycle you have created from the hatred of your naive brother."
Do not let him get a rise out of you.
Do not take the bait.
Itachi's features remained a blank, only the barely discernible thinning of his lips hinted at the fact that the man's words had struck a nerve. He knew where to attack him, where his sore spots lay and the other male made an art of exposing and picking at them, constantly seeking to reopen the wounds that he tried so hard to forget. Let him continue to do so, he would not be so easily broken even if Madara had successfully broken him to some extent when he was a child but he was a boy no more. He had grown and he had learned…and learned well.
You must be pleased with yourself seeing what you've done, how you've turned me into a monster something so close to what you've become. You're always watching and quietly gloating to yourself thinking that you've won. I hate to disappoint you but you haven't, not yet. I'm still in this game and I will not let you win so easily.
"Let him hate, it will give him solace when nothing else can." He spoke quietly, not bothering to voice the thoughts that fluttered through his mind.
"What I want, and need are two different things, child. In which you would never understand due to the bloodstained history that clouds it."
Charcoal eyes returned to the setting sun watching as it continued to dip beneath the horizon, its dying light dancing on the surface of the distant sea. "This world is one born in blood and in the end it shall return from whence it came. To say I would not understand due this history is true to a certain extent since I cannot possibly know all the woes that have befallen you, but I think you would be surprised that I understand more than you give me credit for."
"Though, my needs pertain differently from your own. You chose your wretched life, the moment you followed their orders. You brought this wretched cycle upon you, by letting their poisoned and tainted blood touch the things you hold deep to your heart."
So that is how it will be is it?
Very well then.
The prodigy knew that he had chosen his own wretched life but he had only made the best of the few options that he had available to him. What he had to endure was the result of a cycle that Madara himself had set into motion, one that had the Uchiha Clan fall into ruin and utter destruction. So for the man to cast the blame entirely on him was quite unfair, yet he expected no less from a man whose heart had been torn to pieces long ago.
"Yes, I do not deny my own failings and what has set me on this path, but to say it is entirely my own doing is hardly accurate. Rather, my greatest failing is the fact that I was born an Uchiha which is something that unfo