Precious Treasure of the Uchiha
Summary: For centuries, a child Madara took in lived with the Uchiha clan and was loved above all treasures. But in this day and time,the clan is wiped out, only one remaining. Read on as Naruto tries to solve the murder of the clan and the disappearance of Itachi all the while protecting the last living Uchiha. How will Sasuke cope in the world of immortals?
Sasuke woke up to complete darkness. Black, black and only black around him with his eyes still hurting like all hell. He hissed and moved his hand to rub at them, only to be stopped by another hand just as his fingers made contact with cloth.
"Don't," the familiar voice of Naruto commanded. "Your eyes are still no doubt far too sensitive to be exposed to even the minimal amounts of light. You need to rest up for a while longer before you can take the bandage off."
"How long was I asleep?" The Uchiha asked with a cracking voice as he relaxed his arm, silently letting Naruto know that he won't further aggravate his eyes. The hand left his and Sasuke instantly missed it. He needed to know he wasn't alone right now, since he couldn't see anything and everything was so silent-
Until Naruto started humming and a glass of cold water was placed at his lips. Sasuke greedily drank everything up, being careful not to choke himself until Naruto drew it back. "About five hours. I recommend another three to four before you even think about opening your eyes. Amaterasu has that nasty side effect after it's used. Even though Sakura-chan did the best she could to ease it up on your eyes, you'll still need a lot of time to recover."
"Amaterasu ... You've said that before, too, right before I fell unconscious." Sasuke stated in a questioning way, clearly indicating that he expected Naruto to explain. The blond sighed and sat beside Sasuke on the bed, probably knowing that the mortal needed some sort of physical contact at the moment. Sasuke wondered if his ancestors had acted this way, too, after this ... Amaterasu thing.
"Amaterasu ... Amaterasu is one of the deadliest and most perfect offensive doujutsu in existence and it can be performed only by a member of the Uchiha Clan." The Jinchuuriki began. ''But for a person to perform it, they have to gain the powers of the Mangekyo Sharingan, something they can gain only if they lose someone precious. How this power has been kept dormant for all these years behind the mask of an undeveloped Sharingan I will never understand.'' The blond mused to himself, confusing Sasuke further.
''What is this ... Mangekyo Sharingan?'' He asked finally and the Immortal paused to correctly word his response.
"Mangekyo Sharingan is the second most perfect form of the Sharingan. It develops when an Uchiha, usually with an already fully developed Sharingan, witnesses their best friend, brother, lover, just someone really, really close and precious die right before their eyes. The emotional turmoil triggers the chakra being directed to the eyes, the chakra that had created it in the first place, and it forces the pupil to develop into a whole new shape, granting the owner of the eye some incredible, never seen before powers, one of such being Amaterasu." The blond explained, pausing to make sure Sasuke was following. It then occurred to ask him a very important question. "Wait, do you even know how the Sharinganis develops?"
Sasuke actually snorted at the question. "I know I seem rather clueless about my clan and all, but I am not that clueless. I know how the eye generates the Sharingan. I do have it."
"So? A few people managed to steal the Sharingan over the years but they never understood it." The blond argued back before shaking his head, not that Sasule could see he was doing it. "But that's besides the point. The point is that I was right and your eyes are far more developed than even Kakashi or Jiraiya know or realize. What I want to know is how this happened."
"What?" The Uchiha asked. "Me getting the Mangekyo? I don't know."
"No, not that. I can guess as to that." The Immortal waved it off and could practically feel the glare behind the bandages Sasuke was still forced to wear as the mortal shinobi frowned in displeasure at his vague response.
"You mind sharing that theory," was his sarcastic comment and Naruto stuck his tongue out at him, just because he could. Hey, he might be 415 years old but he was still a teenager! He could act childishly at times. If no one was around to see just how childish he could be at times.
"Like I said, the Mangekyo is developed under the emotional stress and turmoil of losing someone dear, mostly a best friend, a sibling, a parent, a lover or spouse, right before an Uchiha's eyes. The person they lose must be really important and precious for it to happen." Naruto explained again, leading Sasuke into his reasoning. The Uchiha nodded to show he got it so Naruto continued. "Which means you got your Mangekyo Sharingan when Itachi was presumed dead."
"But I didn't see him die," the raven pointed out, uneasy with the mention of his brother's possible death or missing status. Seriously, these were just two wonderful days, and even better weeks (and please do note the sarcasm. It's so thick Sasuke fears just his thoughts will suffocate him now). Couldn't he just get a break already?
The Uzumaki chuckled somewhat bitterly. "I somehow doubt that. Tell me, when you have nightmares like the one you had just last night, what do you see?" The silence that resonated around them was more than answer enough and Naruto nodded to himself thoughtfully. "I thought so, too. You may not have seen the actual death of Itachi, true or not, but you've had nightmares about it for years. I guess that could explain how your development stayed secret. It happened on a subconscious level. Or you could have been hiding it subconsciously yourself. Something in your instincts told you to keep it to yourself and you did. And then you reacted on instinct today, at the thought of losing someone dear to you again and it activated. I don't know if we were lucky or unlucky that it was Amaterasu as opposed to some other techniques you could have activated."
"Like what!?" The raven incredulously demanded, wondering just what the hell could be worse off than those black flames that would have burned everything to the ground. "Just what the fuck could be worse than this ... Amaterasu?"
"Well, for starters, Tsukuyomi, your brother's unique doujutsu." That had Sasuke freezing in an instant as Naruto explained. "It's the strongest illusionary technique ever, as it can trap a victim in an illusionary world with the barest eye contact, a mere second of it. Once in that world, Itachi can show them whatever he wants. For however long. He once accidentally trapped Kakashi-sensei in it and he went through 72 hours of torture. In a millisecond." If Sasuke could open his eyes right now, they'd be as wide as saucers. "Tsukuyomi can show you an entire lifetime of 80 years in a nanosecond, Sasuke, but the results would kill you. With a single glance, Itachi could kill a man."
"Wow, that is bad. I could have killed someone!" The Uchiha realized, horrified that some of his new friends could have died in such a way, and by his own hand- er, eye! And then he remembered that only Immortals had been in the fighting area with him and he relaxed slightly. Only to tense up again when he remembered what the Hyuuga elders have said about the Uchiha Clan. "Can Tsukuyomi kill an Immortal?"
"Oh, yeah," there was a strange tone to his companions voice and Sasuke dearly wanted to take off the bandages so he could see Naruto's face. "It sure as hell can. Itachi is a naturally peaceful person, but ..." There was a moment of silence and Sasuke felt Naruto shudder from beside him on the bed where he was sitting. "But even Itachi has his limits."
"What happened?" The said man's younger brother couldn't help but inquire. Naruto sighed and ran a hand over his face.
"Itachi went through the same training as you did to become a shinobi. He was put in what would have been called a genin team with a jonin sensei had this been a ninja village when he was seven. When he turned eight, their team was attacked during a mission by some mysterious man, an Immortal, a shinobi who worked for no one of the Alliance. He killed Itachi's first friend, activating Itachi's Sharingan. Sometime after ... that day, Itachi had a run in with him while on a mission with Yamato. Yamato reported that Itachi wasn't quite so merciful to give him a swift death. The man screamed for a whole minute before dying. When asked later, Itachi reported he gave him three hundred years of torture before letting him die." At the horrified face Sasuke was making even with the bandages, Naruto was quick to add. "Itachi was under stress at that time. He had to keep you and himself out of Orochimaru's and Danzo's and many other bastards' hands, to work to keep the company, the compound, he was still an active shinobi to boost... It was just too much to be reminded of his first loss so shortly after such a big one. Like I said, even Itachi has limits."
"I'm not ... horrified at Nii-san," Sasuke hesitantly admitted. "As far as I'm concerned, Itachi never did something without a damn good reason behind it. That guy was obviously an enemy and a very dangerous one if I understood well." After all, only the strongest and the stupidest of a generation dare leave the safety of a shinobi community. Rouge shinobi were killed like missing nins were, once upon a time. "I'm more horrified as to what power a single glance can hold. Is Amaterasu like that? Are there other such doujutsus?"
Naruto paused as he regarded his charge. He wasn't exactly all that surprised to hear Sasuke didn't think ill of Itachi because of his momentary lapse in control. Everyone has their limit, even someone as seemingly perfect as Itachi. Besides, the bonds of brotherhood in the Uchiha Clan are extremely strong. Especially so for someone like Sasuke and Itachi. They were the two youngest Uchihas of their time. Izumi was a few months older than Itachi and Shisui was a few years older than her. They were the youngest and then the last two Uchihas. Itachi became Sasuke's whole world in a single night. His parent, his brother, his mentor at times, his caretaker and provider, his protector ... Itachi was simply everything. He became the only source of Sasuke's smiles and happiness. And then he died, too. To hear he might still be alive would no doubt reawaken that old admiration and adoration for his older brother in Sasuke and he'd do his best to see everything from every angle if it meant finding that his brother was doing a good and not a bad thing. It was both a good and a bad thing. It was good because Sasuke will look at everything at every angle. It was bad that he will only do so for Itachi. Sure, for Itachi it is the most needed since that guy has reasons behind his reasons when he does something and you need to look underneath the underneath and sometimes even underneath that in order to get anywhere with trying to figure him out. But still, it was a skill that would come in handy with other people, too.
''Yes, Amaterasu is like that. Since it burns everything to the molecular level, it can kill an Immortal. Very painfully, too.''
''Then how can you sit so calmly near me?!'' The terrified Uchiha asked, trying to scoot away. ''I could kill you, accidentally or not!'' He wouldn't risk it to kill Naruto. The blond was more than just his ticket to possibly seeing Itachi again. He had become a friend in a very short amount of time. For how short he knew him, Sasuke could no longer imagine his life without the strange Immortal in his life.
''Would you calm down,'' Naruto scolded, holding Sasuke down when he made to exit the bed. ''I'm fine, I'm safe as long as you don't get emotionally stressed and glare at me or something.''
''I'm pretty much emotionally stressed at this moment,'' the older looking of the teens said and Naruto rolled his eyes.
''Teme, just relax.'' Sasuke scowled at the insult but Naruto ignored him expertly. ''If it will make you feel any better, then I will tell you that you're not the first Uchiha who freaked out about the possibility of killing me.'' Sasuke frowned behind the bandages and resisted the urge to snort. What, another story about his father or brother? ''Madara feared he'd accidentally harm me for years,'' And now the Uchiha's mouth fell agape and Naruto just smirked, knowing the mortal hadn't been expecting that. ''So he and Izuna and a few other Uchiha of their time spent days trying to find some way to make me Amaterasu-resistant. And Kamui-resistant and hundred years later. And a few other specific jutsus that are specific to only one Uchiha. Kind of like Tsukuyomi.''
''Can Tsukuyomi kill you?''
''Itachi kind of never tried so let's leave it at that.'' Sasuke guessed that was fair enough.
''So you're really as close to an invincible immortal as anyone could get?'' Naruto seemed to think it over before shaking his head.
''I'm immune to a few things, but let's face it. Your clan only kept developing, consciously or not, new ways to off the Immortals. They just made sure never to use them on me.''
''So everyone has a special power once they develop the Mangekyo Sharingan?'' Sasuke questioned further, stirring the conversation away from death, Naruto's, Itachi's or otherwise. He would rather not think about that while he had been so close to killing three of his friends, maybe even more had Naruto not jumped in to calm him down. 'He really is a guardian of the Uchiha, if he knows how to stop us from using such a deadly jutsu.'
''No. Only a few people get special doujutsus. Madara, despite being one of the strongest Uchiha so far, had no special jutsus. Itachi did, as did Shisui and Obito.''
''Obito? I think I overheard Kakashi-sensei mentioning him a few times.''
''There's a story there, one I am really not up to sharing at the moment.'' There was pain in Naruto's voice so Sasuke let it go. For now. ''Besides, maybe it's best if Kakashi first tells you his side of the story before I go into the Clan business side of it.''
''I guess,'' the raven conceded with a sigh before something occurred to him and he turned his head in Naruto's direction. ''The others ... Are they okay?''
''Yeah, they're fine. A little shaken up, since it's been no doubt over a century since they'd last time felt threatened by death.'' The Jinchuuriki replied with a sigh of his own. ''Although, they were a bit more worried about you. After all, that was the first time they'd seen the tears of blood that happen when an Uchiha uses his Mangekyo Sharingan.''
Sasuke groaned. ''Sakura's going to be such a worrywart the next few days, isn't she?''
Naruto chuckled under his breath. ''I'd say a few weeks, judging from her glare when I sent them all home, so good luck with that one.''
The Uchiha just groaned again and wondered if his normal life was over. 'Well,' he mused. 'I guess it was over the second I realized that our family had some strange eyes when I was a kid. It was most definitely over on the night of the massacre. Itachi's ... situation only hammered the last nail into that coffin.'
''You should get some more sleep,'' Naruto's voice broke him out of his musings and Sasuke focused back on him. ''You won't be able to use your eyes for a few more hours and when they settle, you'll have one hell of a headache, so you'll need your rest. And after that, we will no doubt have guests worried for you to carter to. And school.''
''I hate my life.''
Naruto's answer to him was a simple snort.
