Thank you to my anonymous reviewer last chapter, I'm glad someone agrees! Some may dislike this chapter but I don't care. XP
Too late I realized I still had Sasori's heart on me. But I had managed to aim Amaterasu perfectly. I just had to focus on Orochimaru. The black flames ate away at his face. He reeled backwards, screaming bloody murder.
I forced myself to get back to my feet and run for it. Briefly, I glanced over my shoulder to see Orochimaru had ripped his own face off. There was someone else's underneath. Undoubtedly it was his latest victim.
He pulled out a scroll to seal Amaterasu in. To gain some more time I created a simple genjutsu, it was all I could manage right at that moment.
A wave of blood enveloped my chin as I forced myself to jump the fence of the onsen area. The exertion was putting too much strain on my body.
I stumbled on the landing and barged into Kisame. He had already defeated the snake, which was just as well because I would've just jumped into more trouble otherwise.
Tobi was standing on Kisame's other side. I bent over to breathe, leaning heavily on Kisame. I felt Sasuke's small hand on my head. "O-Orochimaru is coming back this way." I gasped out, my body still getting over being winded.
"Tobi will deal with this Itachi san." He said in a more serious manner. As he turned to leave I saw his eye swirl to red behind his mask. Madara? Who was he hiding from? It wasn't me otherwise he wouldn't have shown me his sharingan.
This was a very odd occasion. All three of the remaining Uchihas were in one place. Kisame didn't realise the rarity of this moment.
Still, I didn't have time to question Madara right now, I needed to see a medic nin.
"Take this then." I said, tossing the phial that Zetsu had given me to him.
But he fumbled with it rather comically until he dropped it and it smashed on the rock beneath us.
Kisame gave him a filthy look before dragging me inside and slamming what was left of the door behind us.
He turned left and helped/dragged me up the stairway.
When we entered Kakuzu's workshop he seemed to be mixing various substances together.
"Don't bother with an antidote to the snake venom, take a squiz at Itachi san." He demanded, pushing me forwards.
At the sight of the vast amount of blood Kakuzu jumped to his feet. "How did this happen? What did he do?" he demanded, the Akatsuki coat hiding the place where I was wounded.
"I was careless. I underestimated his strength." I replied, feeling stupid and ashamed. I would ensure that it never happened again.
"Uncover your back, I need to determine exactly what these wounds are." He replied, approaching me. I could see that he was refraining from berating me.
I turned around and removed my coat, then my two shirts. He pressed his hands against my lower ribs, using chakra to efficiently search for damage. I shuddered involuntarily, thinking of my recent encounter with Orochimaru.
Oblivious, Kakuzu continued up my back until he reached a point where I gasped in pain and flinched away instinctively.
This pain was soon relieved by Kakuzu's chakra. "It appears that these two ribs have cracked, perhaps a third one there. You're lucky that there's no spinal damage. I can fix them but I have to conserve my chakra in case something else happens, so your bruising will have to heal normally for now. I suggest you sleep on your stomach."
That was the most I'd ever heard Kakuzu say in one go. I nodded and closed my eyes. They weren't feeling too good either after using Amaterasu.
I heard the soft pad of small feet before feeling Sasuke hug me. He pressed his face into my bare stomach. I felt hot tears from Sasuke and looked down. "Why are you crying Sasu chan?"
"Look at how hurt you are! I was so worried! What am I supposed to do if you die now?" he demanded, furiously wiping away his tears.
I placed a hand on his head pensively, "It won't happen again." I assured.
After the silence dragged on for a little too long, Kisame cut in, "C'mon Sasuke chan, it's been an eventful night. You had better get some rest now.
Reluctantly, Sasuke pulled away and exited with Kisame.
Once they'd left, Kakuzu span me around to face him. I automatically put my guard up, but he was quick to assure me that he only wanted to talk.
"Itachi san, it appears you have a disease, it's difficult to specify to those with no medicinal training but-" he began.
"No, I don't care what it is. What can I do about it?" I asked.
Seeming to understand, he continued, "I would estimate that you only have ten years left, at the very most." He replied, looking for a reaction.
I averted my gaze. "I'll probably be blind and useless by then anyway." This news didn't shock me much. The disease, sure. I'd had no idea about it, but my life span was the same no matter what. I would not live whilst I was useless. As soon as I went blind I would rather commit suicide. But I had already decided to try and conserve my eyes for my brother.
Kakuzu nodded, thankfully not questioning me. "I thought you should know, then you can plan the rest of your life. There is medication I can supply you with, but it will only end up giving you approximately an extra year of life."
"Thank you, I'll accept any life you can give me." I replied.
Suddenly a year felt like a very short time indeed.
See, there's not much information about his disease, so I avoided putting any in. I get the feeling we'll hear about it later in the manga.