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Disclaimer: Unsurprisingly, I own nothing. Naruto and Harry Potter belong to their respective creators.
The room stank. Mostly chemical, but with overtones of decaying matter and drying fluids, a thickness of smoke and a lingering trace of nausea. Few people could stomach it for any length of time, unless some force beyond Hell compelled them. Still, they say a man can adapt to almost anything…
The wizard gently lay his burden on the slab, then looked questioningly at the man in white. He retained enough self-possession not to gag. The man in white looked him over without interest. The wizard felt the bile building in his throat. Finally, the man tossed a mask over to him. The wizard put it on gratefully. "Are you ready?" the man enquired. The wizard raised his wand and cast a charm over a quill. The quill flew up and positioned itself over a notepad. "And you are sure it will only take down my voice?" The wizard smiled. "Quite sure." He flicked his wand. The notebook floated over to the man, who saw with satisfaction that the wizard's words had not reproduced.
The man moved over to the slab. He cast a professional eye over it. Then he began.
"Subject arrived at 23:04. Subject is male, one hundred and seventy six centimeters tall and weighs sixty nine kilos. Subject is approximately forty seven years of age."
Withdrawing a scalpel, he began the real work.
The wizard stared in fascination. He'd never seen the human body in this much detail before. It was very… colorful.
They finished working at 03:22 exactly. The man in white spoke briefly to his master over their radio link. Presently, the master appeared.
The subject was almost unrecognizable. Scars crisscrossed his entire body, appendages that no human had ever needed jutted from him like a primeval monument. Claws, scales, teeth and horns; the stuff of nightmares.
Orochimaru looked on approvingly. "Kabuto-kun, this may well be your finest work to date."
The man in white smiled, and adjusted his glasses. "Shame you can't take him for a test run. Even Sasuke might enjoy a few rounds with this one."
Orochimaru nodded. The… creature was still asleep. "How are his mental functions?"
Kabuto flicked through his notepad, searching for the right section. "Obliterated."
Orochimaru frowned. Kabuto recognized that expression. He hastened to explain. "Think of a tailed beast in it's natural state. Instinctive, aggressive and entirely uncontrolled. That's what he is. There was no way to keep any remnant of personality without keeping his memories, and, as you may remember with the last subject, that is too risky."
Orochimaru grimaced. The last... subject had been very troublesome. The repressed memories had driven him insane. Fourteen Sound Shinobi died before they managed to put him down.
Kabuto continued. "This time, I took a different approach. Wiped the slate clean, and placed a couple of instincts. He has is a terrible fear of the place he was born, but a compulsion to stay near it. Once we release him, there is no chance of him returning. I programmed him to eat human flesh. His accelerated metabolism will ensure that his hunger is perpetual. He needs at least one body per day to survive, and will die after three days of starvation."
Orochimaru nodded. "Ad his physical functions?"
Kabuto flicked through the pad again. "Based on my estimates, his strength, speed and stamina are around twice that of a subject under the second level curse seal. Chakra levels are also significantly larger. He'll be very difficult to handle."
Orochimaru grinned with delight. "Wake him up."
Kabuto obliged. He opened a large window, then moved to the table and unfastened the restraints. Taking a syringe filled with a clear fluid, he injected the creature in the chest. The creature twitched. Then, with an enormous roar, it sprang to its feet. It sniffed the air, then turned towards the window and leapt through.
Orochimaru watched approvingly. He turned to Kabuto. "No one is to leave the limits of the house unless I order them to. We wouldn't want our new pet to get too full."
The briefing had taken most of the night. The sky was slowly reddening when they had finished, the noise of birdsong grew steadily louder. They had relocated further away from the mansion, far from the original campsites. Itachi had placed a genjutsu around them to conceal them from any scouts and patrols.
Kisame had decided to sleep a little. The two sharingan users remained awake, Itachi because he rarely slept and Kakashi because he was uncomfortable with the situation as it stood.
The white-haired jounin stared at his one-time compatriot. There had been a time, long ago, when he thought that himself and Itachi were reasonably friendly. Kakashi had broken the news about Obito to the Uchiha clan in person. Not the best idea I ever had, he reflected. The clan went crazy, proud of the fact that Obito had attained the sharingan but furious that Kakashi now possessed his eye. Quite a number had called for his immediate execution for what they called "theft", Fugaku and Yashiro especially. Shisui had defended him, albeit half-heartedly, mostly out of respect for his dead relative. Minato arrived, and tried to reason with the Uchihas, but there looked to be little chance of things succeeding, until finally the Third had come. Dismissing Kakashi, he and Minato had a private conversation with the Uchihas. Kakashi had waited outside. That was where he had first met Itachi. He was just a kid then, not even in the academy. Quiet and withdrawn, he had toddled over to him and pointed at his eye. "Obito" he had said. Kakashi was shocked. "Yeah, kid. Obito." Itachi said nothing. Kakashi had stared at him for a long time. "Hey, kid." Itachi looked up. "How did you know?" Kakashi had asked. Itachi stayed silent for a long time. Faintly, Kakashi remembered hearing the debate raging within the house. "No one is kind like him." Itachi had said. He had walked away. Kakashi stared after him. Then Minato had called him inside.
The next time he saw Itachi was at the monument. He'd been there, paying his respects, when Itachi had appeared. He looked at the boy, then turned his focus back to the monument. The two of them had stayed there, like that, until Itachi walked off. He had to get to class, he said.
When Kakashi was assigned his first mission after Obito's death, he had gone to the monument. He'd spent hours explaining it to Obito, worrying that there would be no one to keep him company while he was gone. Then Itachi had appeared again.
"Hey, kid."
Itachi had said nothing.
"I'm gonna be gone for a while. Keep Obito company for me."
Itachi had nodded.
It became an arrangement with them. If Kakashi had to leave, Itachi would visit the grave in his absence. When Kakashi was in the village, they would sometimes meet each other there. They rarely spoke during these times, but occasionally they would let something slip. As time went by and Itachi's star rose, the meetings became less frequent, but still they would bump into each other at the monument. Sometimes they would talk. When Itachi made Chuunin, Kakashi gave him a kunai. When Kakashi was selected for the ANBU, Itachi gave him a small scroll. Then they were both ANBU members. Their meetings became rare. They worked together a few times, and found each other excellent team-mates. The few missions they did together were resounding successes, enhancing the prestige of the village worldwide, as could be imagined from anything where two sharingan geniuses worked together. The last time they met was just after Shisui died. Kakashi had been surprised to see the young Uchiha at the monument. He had heard that he was under suspicion. He didn't ask about it. Just as they left, Itachi had turned to him. "You take care of Obito well, Kakashi-sempai. Far better than any of ours would have done." Kakashi had looked at the boy carefully. Itachi sounded bitter and weary, like a man sick of the burdens placed on him. Itachi had spoken again. "He must have been a great friend to you." Kakashi had nodded. "He was the best friend I ever had, and the best friend I ever will." Itachi walked away. Kakashi heard him speak faintly. "Just like --." He never heard the name, and never got the chance to ask. That night, he left on a mission. By the time he returned, Itachi was gone, the Uchihas were almost entirely wiped out and the village was in turmoil...
Itachi was looking at him. Shaking off his memories, Kakashi turned to face the mass-murderer. He had wondered, a long time ago, if maybe had he spoken more to Itachi, tried to befriend him, things might have gone differently. Obito would have approved of that. If he was really honest, training Sasuke had been partly about making up for that, giving him the family that had been taken from him.
Itachi still said nothing. Kakashi stared at him for a while. Finally, the Uchiha spoke.
"You still don't trust me, do you, Kakashi-sempai."
Kakashi nearly laughed at this. "You're a missing-nin, a member of an organisation who seeks war with the Leaf, the killer of one of our greatest clans and the enemy of my former student. What the hell did you expect?"
Itachi said nothing. He merely looked away, staring at the sleeping form of Kisame. Still looking away, he finally replied. "Things are never as clear-cut as people think, Kakashi-sempai. Everything you have said is true, but none of it is the whole truth."
Kakashi narrowed his eyes. "Then tell me the whole truth."
Itachi shook his head. "There is a time and a place for everything, Kakashi-sempai. If there's one thing I have learned, it is that."
Kakashi grimaced. So much for that, he thought. He waited for Itachi to speak again.
After another long silence, the Uchiha seemed ready to continue. "You told me a long time ago that Obito was the best friend you ever had, and the best you ever will. Is that still true?"
Kakashi looked surprised. "Yes, of course it is."
Itachi looked at him with a frightening intensity. "Are you sure?"
Kakashi nodded. Itachi gave the slightest of smiles. "Then, Kakashi-sempai, let me make a gesture of good faith. Open your left eye."
Kakashi was puzzled, but something in Itachi's voice made him obey. Lifting up his head protector, he opened his left eye. Itachi stared into it. Kakashi saw his sharingan spin, thicken, and then… Oh shit! It was too late. He didn't even hear the faint whisper: "Tsukuyomi…"
He stood facing Itachi on an empty plain. The sky was black, but the world was lit in a strange half-light.
"What the hell are you doing?!"
Itachi stepped closer. "You've been here before, Kakashi-sempai, so I do not need to give you the explanation. Suffice it to say I'm here to give you a gift."
Without warning, Itachi attacked, a kodachi thrusting towards Kakashi's heart. Kakashi dodged instinctively, drawing a kunai and slamming it into the Uchiha's chest. He stared as the dying man shifted, the face changing into one that was appallingly familiar…
Obito.
He had killed Obito.
He saw the light leave his best friend's eyes, he heard the faint curse of his best friend's voice.
The world changed. He faced Obito in a sparring match. They were laughing and cheering, the way friends do when play-fighting. Suddenly Obito slipped, and the kunai slammed into his throat. His breath left him, his body went numb… Kakashi had killed him.
The world changed. Obito flew at him, furious. Instinctively, Kakashi blocked and countered, but too strong! Obito choked, his breath coming ragged then not at all. He collapsed, and gargled wetly.
The world changed…
Itachi frowned a little. His eye hurt. Rising, he moved to the pack and withdrew some of Jiro's eye drops. Carefully applying them, he felt the pain lift. He stared at the trees. The leaves were more defined. He estimated that he had recovered almost seventy per cent of his eyesight, but he hadn't much of the eye medicine left. If he'd had more, he might have risked an analysis of it, but he couldn't afford to waste any of it any more. It was fortuitous that he had experimented with it. Between this and his potion, he was confident he would be able to reach the end of his scheme.
The thought reminded him. He retrieved the flask from the pack and measured out his dose. Then he drank it down. When it came to slowing the effects of the virus ravaging his system, wizard medicine was far more effective than its shinobi equivalent. Had he time to spare, he might have visited a wizard hospital. He understood that they had a cure there, but it took a long time to administer it. He sighed. Such thoughts were for a different man. He merely had to keep going and preserve as much of his strength as possible for the final encounter…
He stared at Kakashi. The Jounin was trembling. He had given him five different situations. Now he had to switch.
It had been a theory of his that he had longed to apply to Sasuke, but first he had required a test subject. The obvious lack of sharingan users made Kakashi an ideal choice. The difficulty, however, lay in the execution.
The Mangekyo Sharingan could only be obtained by killing your best friend. Itachi knew this. However, the question of whether it was the experience of doing so or the act itself was still unanswered. So Itachi had devised a plan. If, by using the Tsukuyomi, one could create an experience so real it fooled the brain and the eye, would one awaken the Mangekyo Sharingan?
It was an interesting question, and it raised all sorts of points about the nature of reality that, had Itachi the time, he would have liked to have discussed. Sadly, even if he did have the time, there was no one around to discuss it with.
Running the test on Kakashi seemed like a good idea. However, there was a point to consider. Kakashi had Obito's eye. Would the Sharingan respond to Kakashi's brain, or would it respond to Obito's feelings? Which of their deaths was needed to awaken it, Kakashi's or Obito's? Itachi didn't know the answer, so he had decided to use both. Altering the genjutsu, he observed the situation. Now Obito was the one spilling Kakashi's blood. Satisfied, he settled down to wait.
The genjutsu ended, but Itachi left the white-haired jounin asleep. It took a little time for the Mangekyo sharingan to appear after the incident, and there was no sense rushing things.
He looked at leaf-nin. He had always considered him, if not a friend, then certainly someone he respected. When he had been young, Obito had been his favourite relative; the only one not obsessed with status, the only one capable of human kindness. His death had shaken the Uchiha prodigy more than a little. He had been amazed to see Kakashi carrying his uncle's eye, and, with the certainty of a child, had decided that anyone his uncle had liked that much was someone who deserved his respect.
He had enjoyed working with him, on those rare occasions they had done a mission together. They thought the same way, and back then had been of a similar level despite the age difference. He had maintained a slight interest in the white-haired man's career after leaving, noting with pleasure that he was Sasuke's instructor. There was no one else in the village he would have preferred. He smiled slightly. He wondered what Sasuke would think of his teacher and his brother running another mission together. His smile faded as he thought of Sasuke under Orochimaru's power. Things were getting more and more complicated…
Kakashi awoke. He felt less weak than the last time he had taken a Tsukuyomi, but his mind was in turmoil. He saw Itachi sitting opposite. Leaping to his feet, he whipped out a kunai, his hand trembling slightly.
"What the fuck did you do to me?!"
Itachi was impassive. "Can't you feel anything different, Kakashi-sempai?"
Kakashi stared at him, enraged. "What?!"
Itachi looked back, calmly. "Open your sharingan, Kakashi-sempai."
Kakashi opened his left eye. Then he felt it. His eye had… changed. The details were clearer, the movements more broken down, and he could feel something more… something intangible, barely glimpsed. Holding up the kunai, he stared at the relfection of his eye. It looked different. No longer three tomoe, now a stylized disc spinning gently. He dropped the kunai and stared at Itachi.
"How do I… ?"
"Focus on nothingness."
Kakashi obeyed. He emptied his mind, and stayed in a moment of emptiness for a few instants. He opened his eyes again. The world was normal again, or at least, normal for a sharingan.
"And to bring it back?"
"Focus on it being there."
Kakashi focused on the intangible feeling he had had before. Sure enough, the world changed. He released it.
Itachi spoke: "I have given you a gift, Kakashi-sempai. A gesture of my good faith. In time, you will discover techniques of your own with your new eye. But first, I must give you a warning. From this day onwards, your eye will begin a slow descent into darkness. The more you use your new eye, the faster that descent will be. There is only one known way of averting it, and that way is closed to you. But I have confidence that you will find your own way of dealing with it."
Itachi paused. "Oh, and one thing more. Those eyedrops your comrade used. They are very helpful. I suggest you get some from their clan when you return."
Itachi turned away and marched out of the clearing. Kakashi was stunned. The Mangekyo Sharingan?! Why would he give me… He shook his head. He needed to rest. Sleep seemed like a good idea for him.
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Ok, a small change here. But if I hadn't done it, I wouldn't have been able to write the next chapter. Sometimes small details can cause horrendous writers block...