Opening - D-Tecnolife by Uverworld

I will make this work.

Standing alone at the center of a makeshift training ground in a forest, Sasuke clasped eight small kunai between his fingers loosely, with his eyes closed and his breathing slowed down.

Even without my Sharingan's third tomoe, I will make this work.

He took another slow, deep breath, and shifted his fingers slightly to make the kunai clink together.

I haven't caught up to Itachi yet, but I'm as old as he was, and I will make this work!

Sasuke jumped upward, and opened his glowing crimson eyes. He spun and twisted in midair, letting the kunai fly from his fingers in pairs. He watched them sail through the air in slow motion, with his gaze focused mainly on two particular kunai. He smiled as he saw those blades strike the hilts of another pair of kunai, altering their trajectory. As he landed, he heard the wooden thunking sound of those blades striking a pair of targets hidden from his sight behind a tree.

"Finally." His smirk grew into a proud grin. Itachi... I wonder, were you ever able to do that with just two tomoe, or did you need all three? Have I finally done something you couldn't do? he deactivated his Sharingan and went to retrieve the kunai, still smiling.

It had been eleven days now since their raid on Oto, and each member of the team had spent their time training in the groves surrounding the Toad Sage's house in the middle of nowhere, which was near the Fire-Iron border. Being a sennin, translated as both 'sage' and 'hermit,' Jiraiya shouldn't have owned such a place, but in reality it was more of a fortress disguised as a cottage. The entire property was laced with hidden seals to keep out intruders, especially useful since Jiraiya himself wasn't a frequent visitor, and the home was left unattended much of the time.

"That was impressive." Sasuke glanced over his shoulder at Kimimaro. "Where'd you learn that?"

"That was the first time I ever did it successfully. It was a training exercise I once saw Itachi practicing."

"So, it's meant to help your aim, then?"

"It's more than that," Sasuke replied, pulling one of the kunai free of a target. "It's a shurikenjutsu unique to the Uchiha Clan. Let me show you how it works... Try throwing a shuriken at me."

"With respect, Sasuke-sama, that seems rather dangerous."

Sasuke chuckled. "It's nothing compared to what my brother did while training. Just throw one; shuriken are almost never fatal. You'd have to hit me in the throat for it to even stand a chance of killing me."

"Hm..." Kimimaro hesitated, then drew a shuriken from his pouch. "I suppose you have a point... are you ready?"

Sasuke wordlessly activated his Sharingan. "Hn."

Kimimaro threw the blade, and Sasuke moved with lightning speed to whip out a handful of shuriken from his own pouch. He threw one directly at Kimimaro's blade, but missed. He noted that Kimimaro was already preparing to dodge his shuriken, but the Uchiha remained where he stood and tried again. I won't run from this. If I can't block this shuriken, I'll catch it with my bare hands. If I can't do that, I'll just let it hit me... but I won't run.

He threw a second shuriken, knocking Kimimaro's first out of the air with a satisfying ring from both blades. "I still need practice," Sasuke admitted, "but the idea behind the jutsu is to knock the enemy's shuriken out of the air while also attacking with additional blades of your own."

"Like I said, it's rather dangerous," Kimimaro replied. "Why not just dodge?"

"I never said it was practical, but it makes for effective psychological warfare. Intimidation is something to be wielded, not unlike a ninja tool."

"You certainly have a point there," the bone wielder admitted, then fell silent in his hesitation. "Sasuke-sama... I actually came out here looking for Karin and Jiraiya-sensei. Have you seen either of them?"

"Not at all." Sasuke picked up all three of the fallen shuriken, handing one back to Kimimaro. "Jiraiya claimed he was going to teach her a powerful jutsu... I guess it's also a complex one, since they've been at it all day... Shadow Clone Jutsu." A clone appeared in front of Sasuke, and both Uchihas drew their swords from the sheaths behind their backs, and began practicing their swordplay against each other. "So, why are you so interested? You haven't been learning any new jutsu from Jiraiya, and I've only seen you chatting with Karin, not sparring with her."

"And there's your answer," Kimimaro replied. "Karin always offers pleasant conversation..." he paused as the Uchiha snorted in disbelief, "...and this place is quiet in her absence. Irritatingly so."

Sasuke fell silent as the latter half of the Kaguya's statement sank in. "...Unbelievable."

Kimimaro blinked. "What's unbelievable?"

"Nothing. Forget I said anything at all."

The bone wielder cast a puzzled look at the one he identified as his master, then shrugged slightly. "Well, if you haven't seen them, I'm sure you would've at least mentioned any odd sounds that might have come from their training, so I guess they're out of your earshot... possibly on the other side of the cottage," he decided. "Thank you for your time, Sasuke-sama." he bowed politely, then turned and vanished with a Pulse Step.

Sasuke waited until several seconds after Kimimaro was gone before he allowed himself to laugh out loud.

X

The rest of the day passed uneventfully. Karin and Jiraiya eventually returned to the cottage shortly after Kimimaro ran out of places to look, by which point Sasuke had already returned from his own training. The sun was nearing the horizon then, but it wasn't quite visible through the rapidly gathering clouds and thick fog that began smothering the landscape then.

Later that evening, the rain began to pour down forcefully, and the winds screeched and surged past the cottage. Sasuke laid comfortably on his bed on the second floor of the cottage, and sighed as he glanced out the window with his Sharingan active. The countless raindrops all fell in slow motion for him, glistening faintly from the lights inside his room. He began to feel tired, and instinctively he deactivated his Sharingan before closing his eyes and yawning.

Then his eyes snapped wide open again with alarm and anger, as he recognized the genjutsu for what it was. As he forcefully but silently dispelled the illusion, his eyes gave off a renewed scarlet glow and he hopped to his feet beside the bed.

Jiraiya never uses genjutsu, and he would have no reason to do so now. That means someone else is here, and they're a threat, he told himself as he retrieved and unsheathed his saber. But who? Akatsuki? Kabuto? Maybe a team of Oto-nin who followed us here...

Silently, he crept down the stairs, dodging the three steps that were specially made to creak and alert Jiraiya to any intruders. It wouldn't do any good to call out to the others; since this genjutsu wouldn't be broken by just shouting at the target. I can feel that much...

"I know that, damn it! But I didn't know where else to go. Madara Uchiha is back from the dead, and he just tried to kill me for my eyes."

Sasuke froze.

That voice...

"Back from the dead?" Jiraiya asked with eminent disbelief. "You said the guy in the mask was Madara!"

"Because that's exactly what I thought! That's what he claimed," he lowered his voice for some reason, "but there's no doubt in my mind that I saw the real Madara Uchiha this morning. That man already had one of Pain's Rinnegan, and he tried to take one of my eyes next! Such power... I'm lucky to be alive, Jiraiya."

Itachi...

"I can't go back to them. I don't know whether they found out about my loyalties or not, but I can't be your mole in Akatsuki any longer. If I go back, I'll die."

What the fuck?

Shaking, the 'Last Uchiha' made his way to the edge of the doorway that led into the dining room, where he could see Itachi's chakra silhouette. His older brother was seated at the table, clutching his face with his left hand. He stifled a gasp as the floor creaked under his foot just once, and his heart rate doubled.

"Did you hear that?" Itachi asked cautiously.

"It's nothing, just the wind pushing on the house," Jiraiya lied smoothly.

Itachi sighed loudly, and his voice trembled slightly. "Jiraiya... if Sasuke ever found out I was here, everything would be ruined."

How? Why?

"About that..." Sasuke watched through the wall as Jiraiya sat down across from Itachi. "Sasuke deserves to know the truth, Itachi."

"I know that," Itachi lowered his head, now clasping it with both hands. "But we can't always have what we deserve. I told him I would always be there for him, even if it's just as an obstacle for him to overcome. He hates me, and that's exactly how it has to be. It's the only way to save him, I've told you this countless times! I don't care what Naruto thinks about it, I'll do what I have to for my brother."

Itachi... wants to save me? No, this is insanity! I must still be under some damned genjutsu! He attempted to dispel an illusion again, flaring his chakra with his hands in the Ram seal, but nothing changed. ...What the hell's going on!?

"Maybe that isn't enough," Jiraiya answered slowly, carefully. "I've been thinking... what if you were to leave a letter for Sasuke, to explain everything to him? If he's still trapped under the Curse of Hatred even after he kills you, then knowing the truth might be the only thing that could save him. By that point, you wouldn't ever be able to tell him yourself, though. But if you left him a letter..."

Itachi looked up, and paused thoughtfully. "If... If I wrote such a letter for him, how could I be sure you wouldn't give it to him too early?"

"I'm training Sasuke, and I care about the kid. I would never sabotage his sanity."

"Hn..." Itachi lowered his head again. "I suppose it... could work, then. In fact, I don't want to wait. With these thoughts as fresh as they are, the words are already flowing in my mind... Do you have a scroll, or a notepad I could use?"

Sasuke was able to faintly see Jiraiya nodding, and the older man pulled something out of his pouch before handing it to Itachi. For several minutes after that, there was total silence, and Sasuke could barely breathe for fear of it being heard.

Then, he heard the sound of Itachi rolling up the small scroll. "That's... I think I explained it all well enough," he decided reluctantly, and handed the scroll back to Jiraiya.

"Great." Jiraiya took the scroll and stuffed it into his pouch, then punched Itachi in the face hard enough to knock him out cold with absolutely no warning. Without an active Sharingan, not even the great and terrible Itachi Uchiha could see it coming, much less react in time. "You can come out now, Sasuke. You should read this while I wrap him up with a Kage-level paralysis seal."

Trembling, the younger Uchiha stepped around the corner, still grasping his shashka with a sweating, shaking hand. "Jiraiya... what the hell..."

"The scroll should explain it all," Jiraiya answered shortly, handing it to Sasuke. "Now, I'm sure you're wondering why I'd just hand that to you, after promising to your brother that I wouldn't... long story short, Naruto intended for him to write that scroll for you anyway, but we didn't expect this problem with Madara... at least it didn't disrupt our plan; it only made him come here early. Sasuke, you're ready to know the truth."

X

Itachi woke in the basement of the house, still slumped in the same chair as before. His arms were tied to the legs of the chair, which was a bit redundant considering the numerous paralysis seals over his body. He reviewed the last few moments he remembered with growing alarm, and he looked up with wide eyes.

Sasuke was seated in front of him in another such chair.

"...Sasuke, I..."

"Don't." Sasuke pulled the scroll out of his pocket. "I've tried every method I know to detect genjutsu, and I've found nothing. All the evidence is telling me that this is really happening, which means I only have one question. I need to hear it from you, Itachi. Is it true?"

The elder brother remained silent for several seconds, then looked down again. "Yes. Everything. The coup, Danzou, the Curse of Hatred. Every word in that scroll is the truth, Sasuke."

"Hn..." the younger brother unfurled the scroll. "In that case, it's about time I read it."

"What!?" Itachi's gaze snapped upward. "No, don't! If you haven't read it yet, then there's still hope for you!"

Sasuke punched him, hard. "Shut up. Before I read this scroll, I want you to know that if it wasn't for Naruto, I'd have no interest in why you killed our family. I'd just kill you right now, but that isn't the case. Because of him, I realized that there was so much I didn't know about that night... even without this, I would've defeated you, captured you, and tortured these secrets out of you. The scroll just simplifies things."

"Sasuke, please-"

"You don't have the right to ask me for anything. Not yet, at least." Sasuke turned his attention back to the scroll. "Once I'm finished reading this, I might change my mind."

"Why didn't you read it while I was unconscious?"

Sasuke chuckled darkly, cruelly. "Because I know you don't want me to read it. That's exactly why I'm going to read it while you watch."

Both brothers fell silent then, and Itachi was unable to prevent Sasuke from reading the scroll. Instead, he simply watched the younger Uchiha's expression change from time to time, until he looked up almost two minutes later. "I understand everything up until the point where you killed the clan and left me in Konoha. Why not take me with you? Why not train me into a member of Akatsuki?"

"It... It's the Curse of Hatred," Itachi replied halfheartedly. "I had to make you hate me, in order to start the process."

"Hn..." Sasuke went back to reading the scroll. "The Curse of Hatred..." he skipped down through the scroll, resolving to read the above passages after reading aloud, "'The Sharingan grows stronger through psychological trauma, making our bloodline a double-edged sword, but there's more to it. The Curse of Hatred is a term for the path into darkness that every Uchiha has the potential to follow. The only way to save someone from the Curse of Hatred is to have them resolve their conflict with the one who sent them down that path.'" Sasuke looked up. "You. You intentionally triggered my Curse of Hatred, so that one day I could break free of it by killing you... why? Why start the process at all?"

"Because if I didn't, someone else would. If I told you the truth that night, you would've come to hate Konoha, or Danzou Shimura specifically. If that happened, I'd never be able to break you free of the curse, and you'd turn into someone like Madara. All of it is written in there... you know this much, so you're better off knowing the whole story at this point."

"Hn." Sasuke looked down again. "There it is. Everything you just said, almost word for word. And then... 'the final piece of my explanation for that night is as follows: The Curse of Hatred can only be triggered once in each Uchiha's lifetime, meaning that if the victim of the curse breaks free of it, they'll never be subjected to it again...' Interesting."

"Interesting?" Itachi repeated. "How can you be so calm about this?"

"Now isn't the time for me to lose myself in my emotions," he answered after a hesitant pause. "It doesn't feel right for me to just break down crying as I read this. I'm only focused on understanding the truth at this point, and I'll make my decision once I'm done reading."

"Your... decision?"

"Don't talk unless I ask you a question."

Sasuke continued reading the scroll for another minute or so, then rolled it up and stuffed it back in his pocket. "That's it... is there anything else you have to say?"

"Only one thing." Itachi closed his eyes. "Sasuke, if you still have hatred that tells you to strike me down, do it right now. Don't hesitate, just kill me. But if that isn't the case... If your Curse of Hatred is really broken... please help me, little brother."

Sasuke's eyebrows slid up slightly. "Help you?"

"It's Madara Uchiha. Him, and whoever was impersonating him all these years... I know what their plan is, and I intend to do everything in my power to stop them. By myself, I can't do much. My Mangekyou Sharingan is already deteriorating my eyesight horribly. I'm going blind... but if you were to unlock the Mangekyou, we could trade our eyes. Transplant them into each other, and be stronger than ever before. We'd have the same eyes as Madara then, and with two of us against him..."

"I can't unlock the Mangekyou," Sasuke sighed. "Even now, I can feel my hatred fading away, all of it. I want that hatred, Itachi, I want it back, but it's already slipping away, damn it. I couldn't kill my best friend now; there's just no way."

"...What if there was another way?" Itachi asked hopefully. "What if you could awaken the Mangekyou Sharingan without taking a life?"

"Then I'd do it," Sasuke replied immediately. "But last I checked, that's impossible."

"It's not impossible," Itachi shook his head. "Shisui did it."

"Shisui Uchiha?" Sasuke leaned forward slightly. "How?"

"He never told me... he never had a chance to tell me. He said he'd teach me to awaken my own Mangekyou once my Sharingan was 'strong enough,' and he gave me a method to make it so, but before that day could come he died in front of me. Ironically enough, it was his death that actually unlocked my Mangekyou in the normal method."

"Then we're back to square one," Sasuke growled.

"Not... necessarily..." Itachi replied hesitantly. "Shisui figured it out without help, and theoretically you and I could do the same. We could start by strengthening your eyes in the method he described to me..."

Sasuke activated his own scarlet eyes then, and glared at Itachi to apply a simple genjutsu which made his voice sound louder than normal. "We!? How can you expect me to work with you, after all this!?"

"I can't," Itachi answered honestly. "All I can do is ask you for your help, even though I know I don't deserve it."

Sasuke remained silent for a few moments, then deactivated his eyes. "That may be true. You deserve nothing from me. But we can't always have what we deserve."

Itachi looked up again, wide-eyed. "Sasuke... you..."

"When do we start?" Sasuke cut him off. "How long do we have?"

"We... we can start as soon as you're ready, and we have three years to get as strong as possible before Akatsuki makes their move. I have nowhere else to go, and nothing else to do."

"Good." the youngest of the Uchiha stood. "When I was a kid, I was always asking you to train me, but you kept poking me in the forehead and saying..." against his will, Sasuke's voice cracked very noticeably, "'I'm sorry, Sasuke. Maybe next time.'" he turned away and rubbed his eyes. "You... you don't get to say that... ever again," he choked. "I'm going... to bed... and then we can start in the morning."

Avoiding eye contact, Sasuke pulled out a kunai and cut the ropes binding Itachi to the chair before pulling off the sealing tags on the chest and sleeves of his older brother's Akatsuki robe. Itachi stood shakily, watching as Sasuke turned to walk away. "Sasuke..." the younger Uchiha threw his blade into a wall to his right, then strode away faster.

"Sasuke, wait." He stopped walking away, and Itachi went on. "There's one more thing I haven't said yet." the younger Uchiha turned, revealing that his eyes were red, but not from the Sharingan. Itachi beckoned with two fingers of his right hand, and Sasuke stepped forward.

Itachi pressed his fingers lightly into his younger brother's forehead. "I'm sorry. For everything."

Sasuke completely broke down then, letting out a loud, helpless sob as he wrapped his arms around the elder Uchiha.

X

Kimimaro woke the next morning with a gasp, having detected the genjutsu as Sasuke had, despite his failure to actually dispel it. He didn't hesitate to tap into the full power of his Cursed Seal, and he drew a bone sword out of his left shoulder as he made his way to the door of his room. Who cast that genjutsu, and why didn't they kill me? He mused silently, creeping forward throughout the house.

He glanced to his left and tensed his sword arm when he saw a door slowly being pulled inward. His heart rate spiked when he realized it was Karin's room. She pulled the door open far enough to see him, and flinched with a gasp. Once they each realized the other wasn't a threat, they each sighed quietly. "Kimimaro," she whispered, "Do you know what the hell's going on here?"

"Not a clue," he answered quietly, "But I'm going to find out. Since you don't have bone armor or accelerated healing, you should stay behind me and have that new jutsu ready."

"Jutsu... oh, right," an anticipatory smile crept across her face. "I haven't actually used it against anyone but Jiraiya-sensei, but I'm getting the hang of it." she stepped out of the room carefully, and followed Kimimaro as he resumed walking quietly with his sword at the ready. "Kimimaro... whoever it was, they left both of us alive... but what about Sasuke and Jiraiya-sensei?"

"We'll just have to find out," Kimimaro answered softly, then reconsidered this. "Wait... use your Kagura Shingan; you should be able to see the chakra silhouettes of any intruders."

Karin blinked, then nodded. After a few moments, her eyes widened considerably. "I don't see Jiraiya-sensei anywhere, but Sasuke's outside, and he's fighting someone incredibly powerful. He's Kage-level, easily!"

Kimimaro tensed. "What about here in the house? Do you see anyone?" she shook her head. "Then let's pick up the pace. Can you use the Pulse Step?"

"...No," she admitted reluctantly, following him down the stairs at full speed. "Sorry, I don't know any movement jutsu."

"That's fine," the Kaguya answered. "We can either run there, or I could carry you if that's acceptable."

Karin squeaked, and her face grew hot. "C-Carry me?"

"I'll take that as a no, then," he noted.

She shook her head. "I-It's not that," she quickly replied as he pulled open the front door and stepped outside, looking around carefully. "Aren't I... I dunno, too heavy for you to just carry around while using Pulse Step?"

"Of course not," he decided immediately. "Even without this Cursed Seal I'm quite strong, and you're rather petite as it is. I could carry you easily."

"I... well..." she paused for a moment, thinking. "...Alright!" Steeling herself, she smacked her right fist into her left palm. "Sasuke's out there fighting a Kage by himself and we can't just leave him there, so let's do it!" she stepped toward him, then hesitated. "Um... how do we do it?"

"Just hold still." He bent down and scooped her into his arms bridal-style. "Now, which way do we go?"

"D-Due north," she answered shortly.

"Got it." The world around them blurred dizzyingly, then stopped after about three seconds. Kimimaro quickly lowered her back onto her feet. She stumbled briefly, then leaned against a nearby tree. "Karin, are you alright?"

"J-Just dizzy as all hell," she replied, then looked up and spotted Sasuke locked in a duel of shurikenjutsu with someone who looked almost exactly like an older copy of him, save for shorter hair and a different outfit which she recognized as an Akatsuki robe. "H-Holy shit that's Itachi Uchiha!"

"I thought so," Kimimaro agreed, and formed a Clematis Flower around his arm. "Get ready."

"Right!" she brought her hands up in a single seal that Kimimaro took a moment to recognize.

That's... the clone seal? But every clone jutsu I've seen involves more seals than that; even the basic genjutsu clone uses-

"Multiple Shadow Clone Jutsu!"

Kimimaro's eyes widened and darted around the forest, taking in the sight of roughly four hundred exact copies of Karin, all of which rushed toward Itachi, except the original who remained leaning dizzily against the tree behind her. "Pretty cool, right?" she asked with a grin. "Apparently I'm from the Uzumaki Clan, and we're all born with shitloads of chakra. Since I've got the chakra control of a sensor-nin too, I can spam the hell out of these things."

Kimimaro watched the army of Karins swarm around Itachi, speechless for a few moments. Despite the fact that Itachi was dispelling the clones by the dozen, Karin was at least keeping him in place. "...That's... incredible," he breathed. "How many of these clones can you make at once?"

"I have no idea," she shrugged, "I haven't been able to exhaust my chakra yet, but yesterday I made way more than this. Too many to count." she glanced over to where the remaining three hundred or so Karins were still swarming Itachi, keeping him from attacking a rather stupefied Sasuke who was watching the scene without making a move. "We should probably just get Sasuke out of here," she noted.

"Right." Kimimaro vanished, reappearing next to Sasuke in the blink of an eye. She watched the two of them talking for a moment, and Kimimaro seemed visibly shocked by whatever Sasuke was saying. He returned to Karin's side, took a deep breath, and hesitantly said, "Karin, please dispel the clones."

"W-What!? Is he crazy!? There's no way he can take on someone like Itachi yet!"

"That's exactly what I said," Kimimaro answered. "He told me that was precisely why they're training out here."

"He... wait, what?"

"Itachi is training Sasuke, not trying to kill him."

Karin remained silent, and covered her face with her hand for a moment. "...This is crazy," she murmured quickly, then sighed and dispelled her shadow clones. Itachi dusted himself off calmly, then appeared in front of both of them.

Karin shrieked, and Kimimaro flinched before attempting to raise his Clematis Flower for an attack. Itachi caught the massive bone weapon, and spoke. "My little brother has been waiting most of his life for a decent training session with me. I'm sure he'd appreciate it if you didn't interrupt us again, but I understand your motives. Rest assured, he won't be harmed."

"Oh yeah?" Karin took a step forward, which by itself was enough to impress Kimimaro. She looked Itachi in the eye, knowing just what his active Sharingan was capable of, and replied, "In that case, I'm sure you won't mind if we stick around."

"Well said, Karin," the Kaguya added, finding his courage renewed by her own defiance. "I couldn't agree more; we're not going to leave you alone with Sasuke."

"By all means; you're welcome to stay," Itachi replied smoothly, then returned to where he'd been standing before with a Body Flicker. He resumed throwing shuriken at his little brother, who countered with blades of his own. His accuracy was very slowly increasing, and he found himself dodging missed blades less frequently. Meanwhile, the shuriken Sasuke threw and missed with were fluidly snatched from the air by Itachi and thrown back.

This went on for several minutes, and after a while Karin admitted, "You know, I'm actually starting to believe him now. They're really training, not fighting."

Kimimaro nodded. "Sasuke-sama is already much better at this than he was yesterday."

"How do you know that?' she asked curiously.

"I ran into him while looking for you and Jiraiya."

"And just why were you looking for us?" she went on with a hint of a giggle in her voice. "We weren't even gone one whole day. Are you saying you started missing me that quickly?"

"...I was concerned that something might've happened to you both while you were training. For instance, we still can't be sure whether Oto scouts followed us here, and if they did, they would certainly come back with a team of more powerful fighters," Kimimaro answered carefully, then added, "but yes, I did miss you. I said as much to Sasuke-sama."

Karin blinked. "Oto-nin... you really think they might've followed us?"

"I'm prepared for the worst. As far as they know, we still have all that remains of Orochimaru-sama's library, and naturally they would want to retrieve it. That's not even taking into account their desire for revenge. We burned down their village and left them homeless, after all. Lastly, Konoha has officially declared war on Oto, and as powerful as we are, the four of us have no access to reinforcements. The enemy would want to eliminate us now if possible, before we can grow stronger."

"Damn." she remained quiet for a few moments, then smacked Kimimaro's arm angrily with the back of her hand, surprising him. "That's just great," she groaned, "now I'm paranoid thanks to you! Freaking Oto-nin could show up at any second to drag me back to that damn hole in the ground! Or worse, they'd probably just kill me." She crossed her arms, leaning backward against the same tree as Kimimaro.

"I'm not sure if this'll help, but you should know that they won't succeed." she blinked. "You can instantly provide yourself with an army of shadow clones now, and aside from that, you're not the only one here to fight them. They won't lay a finger on you..." Kimimaro glanced back to the Uchiha brothers. "Not to mention, we seem to have Itachi Uchiha on our side now as well. You're safe, Karin."

After considering this for a few moments, she sighed. "How can a guy with chakra like lava be so damn calm? You should be boiling hot and angry with that chakra, but you're just... warm."

"I... don't understand."

She tapped the temple of her glasses. "My Kagura Shingan can see your chakra, and everyone's chakra is different. Yours is red and orange, really bright, and hot. When I look at someone's chakra, describing it just comes naturally to me, and yours is like lava. I haven't seen many people with chakra like that, but all of them were hot-blooded, aggressive people, until now. You're different; you don't feel dangerous at all. Your chakra makes me feel like I'm just warming my hands over a fire. You feel... cozy. Yeah, that's the word I'm looking for."

"Hm..." Kimimaro nodded. "So you're saying I'm hot, but in a good way?"

She smacked him again, blushing faintly. "Don't make it sound like I'm flirting with you or anything."

X

By sunset, Sasuke was almost completely exhausted, but in each of his shining crimson eyes were a full set of three black tomoe. Itachi had helped him unlock it at last, succeeding where even the Copy Ninja had failed. Panting, Sasuke sheathed his sword behind his back and cast one more lingering look around the clearing before turning off his completed Sharingan. In spite of the last night's events, he was smiling proudly.

Itachi had long since taken off and folded his Akatsuki robe, which was nicked by various blades and scorched by the Fire Release as well. "Sasuke, there's something else I haven't told you yet." the younger Uchiha's gaze snapped toward him, and he looked less than pleased. "The truth is, Jiraiya was never meant to be the one to train you out here. At the time, I thought it was madness, but Naruto intended for me to train you in all the Uchiha Clan's jutsu. Jiraiya was only his second choice as your sensei. I told him it was impossible; I told him I wasn't willing to risk your sanity any further, but... here we are."

"Hn..." Sasuke digested this new information carefully. "You're telling me he planned all of this?"

"Not quite; not all of it. I only came here because Madara tried to rip my eyes out. I fled the Akatsuki, and came here to inform Jiraiya of his return, and that the man in the mask was never the real Madara. Now I have no idea who 'Tobi' is, but I can tell that he's an Uchiha and a serious threat. But I digress... according to Jiraiya, he intended to have me write that scroll when I next saw him, and the situation would proceed from there as it has now, but neither he nor Naruto hadn't planned for it to happen this quickly. I wasn't scheduled to report to Jiraiya again until four months from now."

"How did Naruto know about what happened during the Massacre?"

"He deduced that I was lying about what happened that night, and confronted me about it. Seeing him as a powerful potential ally, I took the risk of telling him the truth. It seems that decision was the right one." Itachi fell silent for a moment, gazing up at the sunset which was red tonight. "I was dying, you know. I thought my disease was completely incurable, so I focused my plans on getting you ready to kill me before the disease could. I had less than four years, I know that much."

"So... that was why you tried to use Tsukuyomi on me again, in Tanzaku? You wanted me to hate you even more?"

"That's right... Sasuke, how much do you know about the Mangekyou Sharingan's power?"

"I know about the Tsukuyomi, and I know that its power weakens your sight over time. I know that if I unlock the Mangekyou and swap eyes with you, we'll both become stronger, and we'll be able to see more keenly than ever."

"All correct, but there's more. Alongside the Tsukuyomi, my eyes have another power, the Amaterasu. With it, whatever I look at is consumed in black flames that can never be quenched unless I will it. It's the light to Tsukuyomi's darkness, the Yang to its Yin, and the two of them together unlock an even greater power. Susanoo."

"What does it do?"

"In its initial stage, Susanoo manifests as a skeletal ribcage of transparent chakra around the user, and then its full skeleton can develop. Once that is done, it can grow a layer of muscle and armor, all made of the same chakra. It's an ultimate defense, with which I can also attack."

"Impressive. What else can the Mangekyou be used for?"

"The Mangekyou Sharingan also allows one to use Izanagi and Izanami. I hope you never need to use either, since both require the permanent sacrifice of one of your eyes." Sasuke winced. "I'll tell you about those later... for now, let me explain what I know about Shisui's Mangekyou."

"Go on."

Itachi subtly took a deep breath. "He never explained to me how he discovered this, but he described the first step as being very simple. In theory, all you have to do is keep your Sharingan active for a sufficiently extended period of time. He claimed that the chakra consumption rate of the Sharingan would steadily decline as one continued to keep it active, and he also stated that I would know immediately when I had finished that step of the process. I never got that far before he died, and my Mangekyou was awakened early."

"...Shisui managed to figure this out by himself, so I'll do the same," Sasuke answered.

Itachi nodded in approval, then glanced at Sasuke's shoulder with his Sharingan active. "That Cursed Seal... has anyone told you what it can do? How it corrupts your mind?"

"Naruto told me about the problem, and I dealt with it," Sasuke answered smoothly. "I went into my mindscape and killed the piece of Orochimaru's soul hidden within the seal. Its power is actually mine now."

"...I won't lie to you this time, Sasuke: I have my doubts. Scheming is in Orochimaru's nature, and he layers his plans atop one another like a Nara. Still, at the very least I trust your judgment on this. If anything should go wrong with that seal, I'm sure you can overcome it."

"What makes you say that?"

Itachi chuckled. "Foolish little brother... I've spent the last six years expecting you to surpass me and kill me. I know you have that potential... you're strong, Sasuke."

X

Next time on Sasuke Gaiden...

"A woman? Or a man? Definitely a woman... no, a man. If the next person who opens that door is a man, I'll kill him."

Juugo's Blood Trail - May 25, 2014

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