Disclaimers: Naruto is someone else's, this is purely a fanfic using someone else's characters.
Warnings: This story includes strong language, violence, angst, hopefully some decent jokes, and (of course) beautiful SasuNaru love.
Chapter 16: It's Getting Personal
"I pull myself towards him. And I kiss him. And it feels like, finally."
-Patrick Ness
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Sasuke made it to the base, then paused, trying to focus his mind on what he remembered about it- specifically, where to find the entrance. After a few minutes of pacing and nearly ripping his hair out, he found it. He pushed his way in, and dropped down into a small hallway. He followed it into a large room, with walls carved directly from rock, stone floors, and a cathedral ceiling, shadows chased away by the light streaming in from outside. He ran towards the opening to another hallway across the room, when several Akatsuki members stepped in to block him.
"Get out of my way." Sasuke snarled.
"Heh- like we're going to do that." Tongues flicked out of Deidara's palms as he smirked. "We just got him. And we're not going to give him up so easily."
Sasuke narrowed his eyes. "You are fucking fools. Without me, Naruto will die. If you let that happen, no one will have him. Now, get out of the way!"
The group pulled out various weapons- all of which they aimed at the Uchiha. "I'm in a hurry, and I'm not going to let you assholes slow me down." He leapt at them, and the sound of metal clashing echoed, extending through the halls, reaching the ears of a bound blonde just before he was pulled into an illusion.
Naruto stood in a small room with minimal lighting, wooden floors, and a watchful Uchiha. As Itachi drew near, Naruto tried to take a step back, but he couldn't move. He growled in frustration, eyes glaring daggers at the approaching raven, so similar to Sasuke and yet so remarkably different.
"What do you want?!" Naruto screamed. "Are you going to help me or fucking attack me?"
"Well, I suppose I still haven't made up my mind on that." Itachi grabbed his face and held it steady. "I would like to see more before I do."
Cerulean eyes widened. "What the hell does that mean?"
"It means- you're going to want to do exactly what I tell you to." Itachi released his face, and snapped his fingers. Naruto was suddenly sitting down on a thick wooden chair, wrists bound to the raised wooden slacks that served as the arms to it. He struggled against the bindings, but it was pointless. Chakra rope being off in this world meant absolutely nothing. In reality, they were still on him. Here- here he just saw and felt what Itachi wanted him to.
"I am going to delve into your mind, Naruto." The blonde stared at him, eyes filled with horror. "You will show me your past. A lot of it. Including some of it's worst parts." He stood before Naruto, looking down. His eyes cold. "This won't be pleasant."
"Doesn't seem to bother you" Naruto grated out.
"Oh, I've been a monster for a long time" Itachi admitted. "Far longer than you have.. jinchuriki."
Naruto looked away. "So, what's the good news?" he mumbled.
Itachi studied him for a moment. He bent down and lifted his face. He held one of his eyes open wide, forcing him to gaze deeply into the sharingan. "The good news- you'll get to show me your memories with Sasuke."
Memories with Sasuke? But-
"No, wai- wait!!"
But being pulled into a sharingan, within a sharingan- there was no possible way to fight it. Memories violently slammed into Naruto's mind, one by one- the pain of always being alone, the villagers condemning him for the beast within him, a group of older kids pinning down his arms while they punched him over and over and over- perpetuating the hate their parents had taught them.
"Nnn-stop!" Naruto pulled himself free, just for a moment, before Itachi yanked him back under his control again.
More memories surfaced. Sasuke reaching out to grasp his fingers in his own when they were little kids- that was the first time anyone had ever truly seen Naruto. Sasuke talking down to him, pushing him to the ground, making him feel inferior. Sasuke nearly dying to protect him from Haku's deadly attacks. Sasuke gently tucking a stray blonde hair behind his ear, his fingers hesitating near his jawline..
"I said- STOP!"
Naruto shoved Itachi out of his mind and gasped as he was pulled back into the original illusion, where he was still tied down to the chair. He threw his head back, eyes closed. "Why are you doing this? What do you fucking hope to gain from this??"
"An understanding."
"You want to understand- just fucking ask! I'll tell you!!" he screamed.
Itachi grabbed his face once more, forcing his eyes open again. "I like to learn firsthand."
He penetrated his mind again, forcing more memories out. Fighting Gaara to protect Sasuke. Crying over Gaara's corpse after the Akatsuki had drained him of Shukaku's power. Sasuke nearly killing him when they fought at the Valley of the End.. when he tried to keep him from leaving the Leaf.
The memories kept flashing sporadically, out of order. It was jarring, beyond disorienting, and Naruto gritted his teeth against the onslaught as more flashed forward.
Sasuke pinning him down and kissing him the night of the curse. Losing control of the nine tails and hurting Sakura. Kakashi-sensei ruffling his hair, his one revealed eye smiling down at him. Pervy-Sage buying him another heaping bowl of ramen. Sasuke holding a kunai to his throat..
Naruto cried out, his head aching as all of it leapt forward. He struggled to pull back to the other illusion, where he was strapped to a chair, but he couldn't get back.
More memories- learning multi-shadow clone jutsu. Finally finding Sasuke in one of Orochimaru's hideouts, only to lose him- again. The excruciating pain of the Hourglass Curse slamming into his body, screaming over and over as blood fell from his eyes. Sasuke telling him that his feelings are real, kissing him softly, then hungrily..
"Dammit! That's personal!!" His eyes shot open and he was on the chair again. His hands were shaking, and he clenched them into tight fists to hide it.
"Very- from the looks of it."
Naruto snapped his head towards him. "Is this a fucking joke to you?"
"What is Sasuke to you?"
Naruto was thrown off by the sudden question, but it made sense why he'd ask. Especially after Itachi watched the last memory. "He's.. he's my best friend."
"You do that with all of your friends?" Itachi raised an eyebrow as he studied him, his face cold though his eyes flickered with amusement.
"What do you want me to say?" Naruto whispered, his chest heavy, his eyes sliding away from the Uchiha's careful gaze. ".. I love him."
Itachi nodded. "He seems to feel the same way." Naruto blushed, despite himself. "I trust that my little brother will make it in time."
Naruto looked up to meet blood red eyes again. "And if he doesn't..?"
The illusion slipped away and they were back in the Akatsuki base, Naruto strapped to a cot in a room meant for torture, Itachi hovering over him. Before letting go of his face, he locked deep, now obsidian eyes onto the blonde, and replied- "I've killed people for less."
Itachi stepped away and dropped down on the stool near the cot. He opened his mouth to speak, but Naruto cut him off.
"Why did you want me to lie about Obito?" Naruto whispered. It was Itachi's turn to be surprised. He thought for a moment, pondering his response, before finally deciding to just go with the truth. Knowing how his little brother felt about this one helped.. as did the ticking time bomb of it all.
"Do you recall me asking you if you knew why Sasuke gave up on his revenge towards me? For destroying our clan."
Naruto nodded, but remained silent.
"Have you never wondered how Sasuke gained the powers that he has with his sharingan without killing his best friend or his brother?"
Naruto stared at him, his mind slowly catching up. "I guess.. I never thought about it" he admitted.
"Sasuke's eyes are not his own."
"Obito.." Naruto breathed out.
"Like Kakashi, Sasuke possesses one of Obito's eyes. Unlike Kakashi, he didn't hand it over voluntarily."
"I don't understand.. Sasuke killed him? For his eye..?"
"I wanted Sasuke to have the power of the Mangekyo Sharingan, but Obito had already revealed to him the truth about me. I did not kill our family to grow stronger. I had no choice but to wipe out our clan.. to protect the Hidden Leaf. I chose the village over our people.. and was made a traitor because of it."
Naruto was speechless. All he could do was just stare as Itachi revealed these shocking truths. Truths that explained so much about his person.
"Obito was.. unpredictable. And his eyes were set on Konoha. So, let's just say- two birds, one stone."
Naruto's mouth opened. Then snapped closed. Then opened again. "So you..? And now one of Sasuke's eyes.. is Obito's?"
Itachi nodded.
"But.. but both of his eyes hold the Mangekyo Sharingan."
"Sasuke still wanted vengeance. He was just looking for it in the wrong place. The truth helped.. redirect him."
"So.." Naruto bit his lip as he looked down at his bound wrists. "Who was really responsible for all of this? For the clan, you, his pain..?"
"Danzo."
"The other eye.."
"- Was never Danzo's to begin with." Itachi finished. "In fact, it belonged to someone very important to me.." He clenched his jaw as fury and pain flitted across his features. "It was always meant for a Uchiha to reclaim it."
"I.. I didn't know any of this."
"You should ask Sasuke next time you see him."
Blue eyes widened. "Fuck- what time is it?"
Itachi looked down at his watch, then back up at Naruto. His face looked pained, his eyes regretful. "I'm sorry.."
Naruto shook his head, eyes filling with tears. "No.. no, dammit!" He threw himself against his restraints, desperate to be free of them. "Let me go!! I have to find him!"
Itachi sighed. "I'm sorry, Naruto. It's too late."
Then the hour hand struck twelve, and a horrific scream pierced through the room. It echoed up the corridor, and as Sasuke kicked Deidara out of his way, it reached him.
No.. he looked down at his watch.
12:00.
"Fuck!!" He fought as hard as he could, but they kept their attacks coming. Naruto's screams grew louder, more jagged, like they were tearing his throat apart on their way out. Then, he saw them. Itachi- holding Naruto's convulsing body- as he raced towards them.
He leapt to the middle of the room, where he laid the blonde down on the ground.
"Itachi?" Deidara snapped. "What the fuck are you doing?!"
The raven turned back to face the rest of the Akatsuki. "What is necessary. The curse he is under requires my little brother's.. assistance. We need him if we want the nine tails alive".
Sasuke ran forward and fell to his knees by Naruto's side. His head was thrown back as he shrieked in agony. Blood slipped heavily from Naruto's eyes and slowly slid from his ears, matting his hair. Naruto's shaky hands gripped his hair in tight fists, and when Sasuke glanced at them he saw that his wrists were rubbed raw from struggling to break free of whatever had bound them. Anger and fear rushed through Sasuke as he leaned down. He pushed Naruto's jaw closed, clenching his own as the pained screams grew more frantic first.
"I'm so sorry.."
Then, once more, Sasuke pressed his mouth firmly against Naruto's, and waited for his blonde to come back to him.
Author Note:
So I recently rewatched Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (the 5th one), which is my favorite book in the series, and those of you who are also fans can probably guess where I'm going with this.
The parts where Snape is trying to penetrate Harry's mind to "teach him how to strengthen it", though it kind of just comes off as torturey and amazing- that is what inspired my Itachi scene in here. I don't know why- maybe I'm just fucked up in the head- but I absolutely love that part. Like LOVE that part. Like I'm obsessed with it. And there just wasn't enough of it. Not in the book and definitely not in the movie.
Soooo.. the least I could do was.. umm- let's say borrow it. Mayyyyy have overdone it a tad, I'll admit it, but like I said- it's my favorite part. :)
Oh, and again- I'm sorry if the inaccuracies in this story are frustrating. Just thought I'd get a little creative with the plot. I hope that it at least makes a little sense..? As always, thank you so so so much for reading and I seriously appreciate those of you that take the time to comment. You're the best! Xoxo~