To be fair, Sasuke had asked about poisons. It was an interesting topic, and one which didn't seem too difficult to pursue in addition to other ends.
His face pinched as he rinsed out the mouthful of poisoned tea with a cup of salty water.
It didn't taste very nice though.
Every 7th day was a day of rest. Even with medical jutsu the body wore down slightly, and it became harder and harder to focus on training when the days started to blur together. However, there was no such things as actual 'rest' with Hiroki-sensei, so the days off from physical conditioning were spent on other things. Sakura had gotten a huge stack of books to read. Naruto was doing something private with Sensei. He had gotten several poisons to taste.
He pulled out the next packet of white powder (and weren't they all simply variations on white powder?) and mixed it into a new cup of green tea. Calling it poison tasting was something of a misnomer, as most of the poisons only had a very slight bitter or sweet taste. It was more about noticing the smell, and the feel of it on the lips and tongue. Did it prickle like cold and mint? Did it make his mouth feel warmer? Did it give the tea an odd odor or color or viscosity? All necessary background if he wanted to use such compounds in battle. At least as far as Sensei was concerned.
This one was a little bit peppery, a sort of spiciness that made his nose itch faintly. It wasn't actually terribly unpleasant; if it had been a different sort of tea he might not have noticed, or thought it a boon, an interesting quirk to a private blend perhaps.
He spat it out and rinsed his mouth once more, taking a small sip of the carefully labeled unadulterated tea sitting on the opposite side of the table, grimacing slightly at the tepid liquid.
Well, just one last poison to sample. His eyes scanned over the instructions and his forehead crinkled slightly.
Lysergic acid diethylamide - 100 µg: place paper on tongue and allow to dissolve 60s.
Well, it made sense that the final sample would actually be used for resistance training. Hopefully it wouldn't give him sweats like the last one had; that had been unpleasantly sticky.
He had given it half an hour but there didn't appear to be any major effects of whatever the poison had been. Maybe it was just slower to kick in, some compounds were like that. He glanced at the window, noting the angle of the light, and decided it was probably about time for dinner.
"Sasuke? Are you home?"
His mood soured slightly at his Sensei's voice, but he simply heaved a sigh rather than voice a protest at the intrusion.
The older ninja slid open the door quietly and glanced down at the small pile of empty packets set to one side of the table.
"Oh good. You're done. I brought some dinner."
A bag was dangled demonstratively, bulging with what looked like takeout containers. Sasuke merely grunted. It would be better than whatever he would have prepared himself, of that he could be sure.
It wasn't until they had been eating for about twenty minutes that Sasuke started to suspect something odd was going on. His first tip had been when he bit his chopsticks and felt a sympathetic pain in his fingers, but now he was quite sure because he could feel his hands on the table through the table.
"What did you do to me?"
Hiroki blinked up at him, expression pleasantly open.
"It's one of my own compounds, derived from the ergot fungus which grows on wheat. Much more potent though. I thought it might help you relax."
Hands were on his shoulders and they were moving to the living room; it seemed like the hallway was infinitely long and they weren't moving at all, but then they were there.
"You see Sasuke, I've thought about it a little and I think I should share some things with you. Things about the Uchiha, and about that night."
His head was dissolving into a puddle in Sensei's lap while his fingers grew into the tatami mats underneath them like reeds. The air was fuzzy on his skin and he could taste blue, thoughts flicking to Naruto as a strange tingle built in his stomach.
"Just focus on my voice, Sasuke, and remember that everything will be okay. I will never hurt you. Remember that, if all else fades. Everything will be okay."
It didn't really seem that way right now, really, but though the tickling sensations coming to him from the line of ants crawling across the window were distinctly odd it wasn't precisely unpleasant, and there was a very soothing warmth coming to him through the hands gently tangling in his hair.
"The Uchiha were a very proud clan. This is not to say that they were wrong to be, but it is a factor which should be remembered."
Of course they were proud, the Uchiha were the strongest clan in Konoha, why wouldn't they be proud? They could trace their lineage back to the dawn of time, their nobility was intrinsic and undeniable, a force of nature like the flames their jutsu produced.
"However, pride often makes one… confident. Certain that you know what to do, and that what you are doing is the best thing to be doing. The Uchiha didn't get along very well with the other clans in the village."
The compound was an island amid a sea of leaves, filled with little flames that twitched and danced in the wind. But... no, it was full of little fans, little uchiwas, blowing the fires hotter with every flap of their tongues.
"Mistakes were made. Some of them might have been made regardless, but some were certainly nudged along. When the Kyuubi attacked 13 years ago, some suspicion fell on the Uchiha, due to… our Founder."
That made some sense. Madara could control the Kyuubi, the sharingan boring into the eye and swirling like a whirlpool to drown a world. So much red, like crimson rain drip-drip-dripping from the heavens, each drop landing in his eyes to tint them towards his birthright.
His breathing started to accelerate, heartbeat quickening as he began to drown, before soothing peppermint tingles radiated down his scalp from Hiroki's gently massaging fingers.
"Breathe, Sasuke. I am here. You are not alone."
It took a moment, but he calmed eventually under the calming feeling of oneness.
"The Clan made further poor decisions. Interaction between the Uchiha and the rest of the village became strained."
The hands in his hair were fusing with his skull, there was no distinction between Uchiha, they were all one, even the ghosts in the walls. So very many ghosts, and it was his responsibility to avenge them all; couldn't anyone else hear them whispering to him, begging him for justice? The ghost faded, one by one, replaced by his mother, smiling ever so softly at him.
"The situation might have been salvaged. Shisui had a powerful technique; it could have calmed things down. There was interference."
Itachi, his mind whispered, and the whorls and knots of the wood became eyes to look at him. How could you Itachi, my world, my brother, you left me behind.
"It was not Itachi-okamisama's fault."
His brain ground to a halt, the spinning of the earth flinging him through the ceiling. Those words could not be accurate, the world could not have such an order in it; it would be anarchy, 2+2=5 and then everything that can be counted crumbles about your ears like a house of flash cards with multiplication tables written on them.
"He wished for peace. But there was no more hope for that. The Clan was actively plotting Treason; betrayal can never be forgiven. Shisui was murdered by an outside party, and Itachi-okamisama was persuaded that… no other option existed."
He burned with it, a deep swelling sensation that brushed up against the paper-thin shell of his skin like hungry fingers. How could they? How dare they? They took everything, he would end them, he had too, it was his function.
"I have not been idle. The one who ruined things, who pushed, has been dealt with. Honor has been satisfied on that account. The last, the one who persuaded Itachi-okamisama, who helped with the… He remains."
There was a pressure in his soul like nothing he had ever felt before, and he could taste the rage in the air like sweet fire and bitter pain. The arms around his neck held him tight while his face grew hot and wet and his chest heaved with the fury. Once more, the worry and rage were smoothed away, his anxious grasping at phantoms calmed by the sweet green waves emanating from his teacher's fingers.
"He is strong, Sasuke; stronger than any who now live, the man in the orange swirled mask. But he is not invulnerable. He is not unbeatable. And we will make him pay for what he stole from us. For your brother. For my mother. He will pay."
The walls dripped with the distilled essence of the purpose in Hiroki's voice, filling the room so they floated in diamond clear water that rippled in time with his breath. It was a cold so cold it burned, and he could feel the tears on his cheeks chip away in the infinite arctic wind under the onslaught.
"Itachi loved you, above all things, above all others. He did it for you, Sasuke, and now he is eaten up inside, waiting for you to release him from his duty. He is dying. But we can save him. We can make things right again. It is easy to hate. It is much harder to love. But love burns so much hotter, and it will leave you clean, where hatred leaves you empty."
He couldn't breathe through the weight of it all, the crushing gravity of the blood sliding up the walls like vines, sprouting thorns like knives which cut the skin of the room, drawing lines of white hot agony on his flesh, that forced him to gasp out the question.
"Why? Why me? Why this?"
Hiroki's head lowered to whisper in his ear voice soft and gentle as his exhaustion mounted, eyelids growing heavier and heavier as the mad world slipped away.
"For love, Sasuke. His love, and mine."
. . .
When Sasuke woke the next morning the other Uchiha was gone. There was a warm lump near his feet, and when he sat up his eyes met those of Fovea, his cousin's nin-cat. He scratched the large feline gently, his mind surprisingly clear.
His cousin. He hadn't wanted to think of Hiroki that way, for the hurt of knowing there was another Uchiha and he hadn't been told. But not for naught.
He remembered him, the short ANBU who told him to be flexible. How long had the other Uchiha watched him, before saying anything? Did it matter?
His fingers stroked through the silken fur of the cat for a moment as he simply considered the problem.
No. No it didn't. Not really. It hurt, and it probably always would, at least a little, but… Would he have done better in a similar position? It was easy to imagine how easy it would be to say something, anything, but reality was seldom so simple. And it was in the past now. Thinking about it wouldn't help.
Sasuke slid out of the covers and stretched luxuriously in the predawn glow through his window.
It was in the past, and holding on to it wouldn't help. He had to think about the future. Itachi was… He flinched slightly and began to throw on some clothes.
He could think about that later. That pain was still too sharp for the moment, but it was rather like having had a knife in his side all these years finally removed. It hurt, and it bled, but now it could finally heal, in time.
He paused for a second as he slid open the door of his bedroom.
What was he going to do now? He had only ever really had two goals, and if he was really honest with himself, really only one. Rebuilding the Clan was… Think of something else. It was a moot point anyway, with Hiroki around.
He had needed to kill Itachi, but Itachi was not to blame. The one who had contributed most was dead, and if he had anything like an accurate understanding of his Sensei, it was very likely everyone else involved as well. There was just one more. The man in the mask.
Strong, Sensei said. Stronger than any who now live. But not unkillable.
He poked the feeling in his chest as he thought about it, trying to muster up any lingering embers of hate, but he didn't feel anything. Love will leave you clean, while hate will leave you empty.
He nodded slowly as he entered the training ground where his team was gathering in the early morning chill.
Yes, he could work with that. He loved Itachi, and he'd kill the masked man for him. Not for hate. For love.
. . .
A/N: For those not hip to psychopharmacology, LSD is like, liquid catharsis if the trip is properly managed, a service a ninja talented with both illusions and medical techniques can provide.
The history of the compound as a drug is so incredibly fucked; the only reason it is illegal is because the CIA tried to use it as a mind control drug (it failed, I'm not kidding, check out Project MKUltra). It isn't addictive, the only fatality (singular) ever attributed to it was someone dosed without consent or knowledge who tripped off a balcony (compare to alcohol which kills literally thousands of people every year) and the side effects are incredibly mild (though due to it's classification as a schedule 1 substance in the US actual studies using it are sadly thin on the ground).
The primary effect is a dissolution of the ego, the sense of self, which is why people often report feeling as if the environment is part of their body.
Don't do drugs kids; they might be incredibly awesome, and have little or no risk of serious adverse health effects, but because they're illegal you'll be forced to buy them from shady people!