Chapter 3: Destinies
-Two Months following the Goku Explosion Event in Council Chambers-
It was the only time the inner council members were available to meet. And so with tired eyes each of them sat to discuss the matter of Goku. Around the table sat Hiruzen, Inoichi, Ibiki, Shikaku, Koharu, Homura, and Danzo.
"As you're no doubt aware by now, there have been six recent incidents with Goku, and I've seen it fit to remove him from the equation for the foreseeable future."
"Removed him from the equation Hokage-sama?" Shikaku asked cautiously.
"Yes, in the light of all the events, starting with his injuring Sasuke during class training and the explosion near the Uchiha Compound. Coupled with four attempts at his life, one of them coming from spies resident to Iwagakure. The aura of dilemma and trouble that surrounds him is causing unrest inside the village, and the tensions between us and the Uchiha clan have increased to a hazardous degree. We have reason to believe a coup made to take over the village could come into effect in the near future. I've assigned Jiraiya to take him to Kame-sennin's island."
Danzo scoffed, "Not the most responsible person to leave the child with."
Hiruzen ignored the quip, "As I was saying, I've arranged for Son Goku to be in the care of Muten Roshi for five years so that when he came back it would be right before the graduation exam. I've sent Goku away to calm down the village, and you know as well as I do that Muten Roshi is as reliable as they come, he won't let any harm come to the boy. And he can train Goku onto how to use his gifts."
"This is ridiculous," Danzo said, "you sent a powerful, unstable, and unknown entity, one that could very well be an asset to train outside the village with Roshi-sama while things cool down. We could have just put him somewhere secluded and out of the way for a while. Why risk losing a very powerful asset?"
"He might be an asset as you say," Hiruzen replied with a heavy sigh, "but he is also a child. Leaving him with Roshi-sama was a prime opportunity I saw and I took it. He can also provide some insight into Goku's potential and train him up. Locking him away for the time being would provide no such insight."
Danzo grimaced, "Well I know one way we could find out what the kid's made of."
Sarutobi's gaze was cold as he stared Danzo down, an uncomfortable silence brewing until Shikaku spoke up.
"Fugaku isn't pleased to hear about Goku injuring his son during class, and the explosion has drawn more attention to the boy. That's why many attempts on Goku have occurred in the first place. However, I see nothing wrong with leaving him with Roshi-sama. It might be a wise choice to get him away from the village, with what's been going on. Although I'm still unsure what action we should take once he returns. The other clan-heads are likely going to be very uneasy with the arrangement once Fugaku is finished talking with them, and I can assure you it is in his nature to do so."
Hiruzen leaned forward onto the table and sighed, "Yes, I know things will have to change."
"We either need to remove Goku from the public eye, or inform the clan-heads of all the details, probably both. No doubt by now they realize they've been left out of the loop and they won't be happy about it." Inoichi said, adding to the discussion, "normally I'd say leave it be, but Goku has been interacting with their children and we need to learn more about just exactly what he's capable of. We know he can use his type of energy to make orbs, but what else can he do?"
Koharu and Homura both nodded in agreement.
"We have to agree. This boy is causing too much trouble and we must deal with him accordingly. He might be a child, but he's an unknown, and we don't need him making anymore waves," Koharu said.
Sarutobi looked defeated. He knew what he had to do, even though he loathed the thought of it.
"You're right. With everything that's happened it would be foolish to keep playing with fire. When the boy returns to the village he will still attend the academy, but that's all. It's best if most of Konoha forgets that he exists until he's ready to join the world of the Shinobi. On another note, has any progress been made with the technology recovered from the crash-site?"
"Not yet. We've been taking our time to make sure we don't miss anything, but so far no significant advances. The technology itself is hard to comprehend. It is very far out of our league, and we're currently letting the people of Capsule Corporation in Mirai Toshi take a look at it," Inoichi said.
"Well don't give up just yet. With nothing else to discuss pertaining to the boy this meeting is adjourned," Hiruzen said, watching as the shinobi in the room stood to leave.
He walked solemnly back to his office, knowing what he had to do and yet not wanting to do it. He had a responsibility to his people, and he knew that even though Goku was an innocent child, he was still a danger to others. It would have to be done. He just hoped Naruto would learn to still live happily after Goku departs from the village for a long while.
-With The Gallant Jiraiya-
He quickly made his way across the village, shifting to the rooftops once the attention they were receiving from passers-by began to irk the legendary shinobi. Today was not the day to be asking for autographs.
It didn't take long for him to reach the Hokage building and he quickly scaled the side, perching himself in the window to look at the tired Hokage sitting at his desk, a man whose age was showing on his face much more these days.
Hearing the disturbance at his window Hiruzen looked up with a raised eyebrow, surprise showing on his face.
"Normally news of your arrival reaches me before you do," the Hokage said with a small grin.
"Yeah well normally I'm not in a hurry," Jiraiya replied, as he got comfortable in the window, resting his back against the frame.
"And why would that be?" the Hokage asked, his fingers steepled on the desk in front of him.
"Because I had a feeling something was very wrong and I'd heard there had been a rampage on the village some time ago."
"An attack no, but something is very wrong and your timing could not have been more appropriate; you are just the person I need," Hiruzen paused for a moment to raise an eyebrow at his former student. "Although I didn't expect you to be so prompt in your return. How goes the hunt?" he queried.
"As always, the trail is cold. Now get to the point old man. What is it you need me to do?" Jiraiya grumbled; he didn't need the reminder of his failure to bring his old friend turned enemy to justice.
"There's a boy currently practicing his kata's in training ground 21 being monitored. I need you to take him out of the village and escort him to Muten Roshi's island. So that things here die do-"
"I'm not going to be some baby-sitter or escort sensei, I've got my own problems to deal with right now in the name of tracking Orochimaru and the Akatsuki."
Jiraiya paused to think for but a moment, "Anyways, who is the brat and why is he the cause of all your problems?"
"Well, he's the cause of all sorts of trouble. I fear the stability of the village with each passing council meeting and I need him out of harms way and prying eyes for a long while," the terse look on the Hokage's face was enough to convince Jiraiya that he needed to help, but he wasn't doing so without information.
"What's so special about one kid, it's not like we've had another Jinchuuriki just fall into our laps is it? That's just ridiculous," the Sannin chuckled at his own joke before ceasing his laughter at the rather serious look on his sensei's face, "You've got to be kidding right?"
"Oh he's more trouble than a Jinchuuriki but for a bunch of different reasons. Now come in and sit down, I've got a lot to fill you in on, and I don't want you falling out of that window in shock."
Once Jiraiya was seated the Hokage began to speak in earnest about the arrival of Goku and everything that happened surrounding the Saiyan.
-Three Days Later With Goku and Sasuke after the Academy-
The pint-sized, seven year-old Saiyan was busy enjoying himself in a good spar with Sasuke. His yellow-haired best friend had decided to go eat some ramen, while Sasuke challenged him again. So far, it appeared that the Uchiha trained a little harder since the last spar and it paid off. Currently, the Saiyan evaded another kick and diverted a jab with his left palm. That however left the Saiyan's left side exposed and with speed, the Uchiha landed a roundhouse kick at the side of his rib cage.
"Good one," Goku regarded, wincing a bit and rolling over, "but not enough!"
The Saiyan pushed himself off the ground and crossed his arms, blocking most of Sasuke's punches. The Uchiha then reeled back for a kick that the Saiyan ducked under, and was swept off the ground with a low kick.
Hitting the ground and groaning, he banged his fist against the ground and got up, catching Goku's speedy fist with difficulty. Though he had gotten marginally stronger and faster in 3 months mainly due to getting older, Goku was still a lot more physically adept than he was.
The gap was enormous, actually.
Goku reeled back quickly and brought up his knee, making Sasuke jerk to the right. The seven year-old Goku grinned, seeing an easy opening and not afraid to take it. He lunged himself at Sasuke with an elbow, connecting with his chest. However, the Uchiha took the hard blow like a champ and spun off of it.
Although he was in some pain, the raven-haired human saw Goku go by him and connected with a quick jab to the face. This made the Saiyan go off balance and hit the ground hard, but when Sasuke leaped he thrust his feet out and knocked him back down to the ground. Goku and Sasuke grinned to themselves, enjoying the spar for what it was. However, having went on a good three minutes, Sasuke was spent.
Though Goku knew he could do more, he respected the Uchiha's limits.
"That was some good training Goku, thanks a bunch!" Sasuke exclaimed, pushing himself up to his feet, panting, "But I'll win the next one for sure."
"I dunno about that, but that was fun!" Goku responded, cheerful as usual, "But ya won't get the chance for awhile, sadly."
"What do you mean 'for awhile'?!" The Uchiha asked, alarmed. One of his two best training partners he could find was leaving, for awhile? How was he ever supposed to surpass his brother, he knew he had Naruto but he wasn't a Goku. The Saiyan had been the one to challenge him the most of the two, and now he was leaving?
"Yeah, it sucks but I hafta leave for a long time for a weird thing. Just know I'll get stronger, so be ready for when I come back!" Goku stated, saluting to the Uchiha,
"Sure, it's the least I can do," Sasuke said, smiling, "But you better train hard or else I'll leave you in the dust." With a fist bump, the two comrades left each other to go in opposite directions.
-Later on with Goku-
"Naruto, I'm gonna leave in a few minutes," Goku said, reminding the blonde, whom was solemn.
"I know," Naruto stated, a gloomy gleam in his eye. The blonde's best-friend and surrogate brother will be leaving soon over some stupid reason. He knew that he still had Sasuke, but life still wouldn't be the same without Goku.
"Hey, cheer up will ya!" Goku exclaimed, wanting to break his friend out of his slight depression. "I'm sad too, but orders are orders. I won't really leave you, I'm just going away for a while. You can still have fun! And when I comeback I'll needa strong guy to spar with, so train up."
With that said, Uzumaki Naruto started to cheer up a little, but he still had his doubts.
"But life won't be the same, with you gone and all," he claimed, making the Saiyan sigh in exasperation.
"We all have to do this someday, we won't always be together, but we're still friends right?" The ebony haired boy asked, putting his fist out.
This made Naruto cheer back up completely, and he bumped his fist against Goku's. "You're right, friends forever! I'll still miss ya though."
"Me too Naruto," the Saiyan said as they hugged for three seconds, smiles on their faces. "When I return ya better be ready!"
"Same here," the blonde responded cheerfully, running off as well. "When you return I'm gonna kick your ass!"
Goku ran down the street at a high velocity, passing a startled Hinata with a wave and a "sayonara" which made her blush. Though she was confused about that, she still blushed a little at being acknowledged like that. However, that would then turn into outright puzzlement...
And unknowingly it would turn into frustration.
Reaching the gate in three minutes flat, the boy halted at the sight of Jiraiya, glancing up at the nigh white-haired man.
"Ready to depart?" Jiraiya queried, receiving a nod from the person he's escorting to the island of Hi no Mizu.
"Alright, let's go gaki."
And that would be the last time Goku ever saw Konohagakure for over four straight years.
- Later On -
"What're we doing today Jiraiya-sama?" Goku asked in earnest, "And are we there yet?"
"Yes, we're here ya little gaki, but nothing's here for us yet besides that turtle coming towards us. Anyways, we're gonna be doing something different today, kid. I want you to show me what you've been taught already in straight taijutsu."
He crouched down and patted the boy on the head, "Can you do that for me?"
"You know it!" The boy yelled cheerfully, before bowing toward the Sannin. "I'm ready whenever you are!"
The man grinned. He punched his fist into his open palm, "Really?" He folded his arms over each other and took a step forward. He towered over Goku but the boy didn't falter, and he couldn't help but like that. "You can make the first move-"
The Sannin barely got to finish his sentence, because Goku was more than ready. He quickly tried to kick the man in his knee, but he jumped into the air. Goku rolled across the ground and jumped back up. He got into a proper fighting stance, but instantly leapt off of his right foot and tried to punch the man again.
Instead of dodging, he held his palm out and stopped the boy's attack completely. He closed it into a fist and lifted the boy off of the ground and tried to slam him into the ground. Goku jerked his hand forward and then pulled back hard. He managed to free himself from the man's grab and flipped in the air, so he could land cleanly behind the man. He wasted no time turning to face the boy.
"Even if I am going easy on you, you're better than I thought," Jiraiya admitted, "They've done a good job with you, but you're still not the sharpest kunai of the bunch."
The boy furrowed his brow. "Huh, whaddaya mean, old man!?" He ran forward and jumped off the ground and tried to directly punch him in the chest, but the Sannin swatted him out the air like a fly, and sent him tumbling across the ground.
Goku regained his composure fast, jumping back up. He sprinted forward and acted like he was trying to throw another punch, and smiled once he saw Jiraiya prepare himself. The man was ready to counter, cocking his arm back, but Goku slid right under him and jumped up just to kick him in the back. He only stumbled forward a bit, but it caught him by surprise. The Sannin turned around and caught a flurry of attacks launched by Goku, surprised by the force packed behind those strikes.
The man turned to face Goku again and actually went on the offensive. He charged forward and got ready to punch Goku, so he could send him flying, but the boy thought he had an advantage with his quickness. The child tried to slide under the Sannin's body again, but the man changed his approach this time, and grabbed him by the arm.
The Sannin wasted no time with slamming the boy against the ground repeatedly. He noticed there was way less resistance this time, and with each slam there was a wince of pain. He then decided to ease up on the boy, fully extending his arm back, and then throwing Goku straight into a wall. The Saiyan flipped over and landed on his feet, bouncing off and charging very quickly, though slow to the Sannin.
Jiraiya threw a fist in which it connected with black hair. Thinking the Saiyan would try the same trick thrice, he shot his leg forward. However, Goku anticipated this and hopped over the foot, roundhouse kicking the Sannin in the face. Jiraiya pretended to be hurt and Goku gained a false sense of victory until the Sannin grabbed Goku's leg and slammed in on the ground repeatedly. He then tossed him up in the air and elbowed him, though the Saiyan managed to block it, sending Goku to the ground.
He laughed like a madman for a moment, "That's for calling me an old man you little brat!"
The Sannin walked up to a surprisingly resilient Goku who was starting to get himself together again. "You're a very strong gaki, I'll give you that, but you still have a lot to learn. I can tell you're going to be one of the greatest taijutsu specialists in the world, but you need to learn how to fully use your energy or you won't be anything credible."
Goku grinned and wiped a small smudge of dirt off of his face. "That's not true, with enough hard-work anyone can be great! And if you're actually right, then teach me something old man!"
"One day kid, one day. Don't worry, you'll receive professional tutelage very soon."
-A Few Minutes Later-
"Howdy there, I'm a lost, wandering sea turtle named… well Turtle. I was picking a patch of mushrooms for my dear old master some time ago and somehow ended up somewhere over here after trying to find my way back home for nearly a year." The turtle conveyed, slowly talking in a clear, sleepy tone. "I could use a bit of help on my venture back to the sea."
"And how would you be able to help us in any way," Jiraiya queried, suspicious. Was this a trap? A genjutsu? A Henge?
"What if I was to say that I could help you with the boy's training young man? My master is world renown, known as one of the strongest martial artists in the entire world." Turtle explained, telling the man what he wanted to hear. He figured that if it was training that the boy with spiky craved for, he could somehow use that passion to his advantage, achieving what he wanted in the process.
"Who's the master?" The Saiyan questioned the reptile as well, "And how can you train me?"
"Well, it is true that Father Time is against me and I am not nearly as powerful as I was in my youth," Turtle started, sighing as nostalgia reminded him of his younger, much better, days. "I do, however weigh much more than your average sea turtle. You could become stronger and faster than you already are if you take the time to carry me all the way to the sea, and I know for a fact that my dear old master would be very pleased to provide you with a reward for your troubles… if you decide to help an old turtle out that is."
The child Saiyan took a moment to soak in the words the talking reptilian had spoken, noting how he could be given a reward just for getting stronger which was one thing that he enjoyed doing day and night. "Sure, just let us pack and we'll help ya," The Saiyan said, intrigued at the idea of both getting in a workout and meeting and possibly challenging a strong master, known as one of the strongest beings on the planet. "Right old man?"
The man growled at that, but responded regardless, "Yeah, I'm intrigued on who this master guy could be."
Once the few amount of minutes that it had taken for Goku and Jiraiya to pack up, the group of two and the overweight, rusty sea turtle were off on their journey towards the sea. Seeing that Goku had decided on carrying the very large turtle on his back as he ran the entire hundred and twenty five or so miles, Jiraiya summoned a decent sized toad and used him to gain a means of transportation.
-Nearly Two Hours Later-
A little bit over an hour and half later, the quest for finding the coastline ended as the three beings walked onto a small beach, finally reaching the coast. Goku slowly bent down, allowing Turtle to fall onto the sandy ground.
"Thank you both very much," Turtle gratefully thanked the two people that had helped him find his way back to the sea. "If the two of you so kindly wait here, I'll be sure to bring my master here and he shall present you with your rewards."
"Finally," Goku replied. "I can't wait!"
With that, Turtle slowly paced into the ravaging sea, beginning to swim away to where he presumably resided along with his owner or master. Goku and Jiraiya were left with nothing much to do but wait for the reptile to return back with his friend.
"You think he'll come back?" Goku asked, worrying about whether or not they had wasted their time assisting the reptilian find his way back to his home.
"It better or I'm going to hunt it to the ends of the world and then we'll be having turtle soup for the next week and a half." Jiraiya laughed, joking around a bit. He did not worry much about the reptile crossing them anyhow.
The Saiyan then sat down in a cross legged position, breathing in and then slowly out. He then began meditating, continuing to bring out his energy just as he had been practicing for awhile a month after the explosion event. Before he could begin to draw upon his energy, the Saiyan was interrupted once again, as the voice of Jiraiya entered his ear.
"What are you doing?" Jiraiya asked, pondering over what the Saiyan was trying to do.
"I'm meditating… so I can focus my energy a lot easier," Goku answered.
"Interesting..." Jiraiya remarked offhandedly, "Resume what you're doing."
The two stayed silent and focused on what they were doing for the next twenty minutes, Goku meditating and Jiraiya writing for his new addition to Icha Icha. Suddenly, a spark of electricity formed in Goku's hands started to multiply more and more while he was meditating, his energy coming on display. The energy continued to grow until it exploded in his face, knocking the boy back some.
"That was some decent control, my boy." An old, wrinkly skinned, elderly man said from the ocean waves, standing on top of Turtle, riding him to the coastline before he stepped off of the brown shelled, gigantic reptile that he had rode from his own island. 'As far as I am aware of, only the two students that I taught along with Master Shen's students know how to bring out their inner ki.' He thought as he approached the two people.
"It was nothing really," Goku responded. "Who are you? Are you that great master sent to teach me?!"
"That would be me. I am Master Roshi, better known as the Turtle Hermit." The old man answered, stating his name to the Saiyan that stood before him. "How'd you learn that trick anyway?"
"I tried chakra and learned this instead," Goku replied, not wanting to reveal too much.
"No kidding child," Roshi slightly laughed. "It took me 30 years just to learn the basics of utilizing ki and another ten before I was able to do anything with it."
"Wait, what the hell is ki? I thought chakra was the only energy inside of us," Jiraiya cut in, curious and intrigued.
"Well ki is essentially your life force in a nutshell, also known as latent energy or fighting power. This force is a tangible energy inside every living being, with its major focus being in the center of the body. By drawing it out, an individual is able to manipulate it and use it outside the body. Chakra users can't learn Ki for the simple reason that their core energy is made from the chakra itself, which is used in a network based on Mental and Physical energy as one unit. Ki is different because there are three main components of it, courage, energy and mind. It's made to exceed the human body's natural limits, and ascend the limits of themselves."
"So that's how it's different from chakra I guess, interesting," Jiraiya stated. "Is there a reason why less than 0.000001% of the world have ki even though it dates back to the days of the legends, such as the Sage of Six Paths and Piccolo Daimao?"
"Well as long as I've been alive, which has been a very long time, there were many more ki users in my younger days despite chakra still ruling the world. However, I'm sure you've heard of Piccolo Daimao and his reign so that's where it began. He was so powerful that it took my master and the whole Shinobi world to bring him down. He killed off all of the ki users until me, Shen, and our Master were left. He also wreaked havoc upon the Shinobi world, leveling entire villages in one blast and ruling the world for a while. The world was in great turmoil, until my master teamed up with the direct ancestors of whom you know as Senju Hashirama and Uchiha Madara to defeat him. When Piccolo was finally defeated, my master lost his life in the process due to sealing the demon inside an evil container. The rest is history."
"Well...that must have been quite the endeavor," Jiraiya commented slowly, taking in the information and receiving a nod from the Turtle Hermit. "I'll be heading back now, I'm leaving the gaki named Goku in your super capable hands now. Sayonara."
Goku waved, and Roshi nodded, watching the man depart very quickly.
"Alright, let's have a spar just for my reward then!" Goku suggested, his Saiyan blood begging for a battle against the world's stronger Master Roshi.
"That sounds good to me young man," Roshi agreed. "Now, I'll even hold back a bit on you, just for fun."
"No, don't hold back," Goku growled, wanting a battle where he could go all-out and truly push his limits to the max. "Grandpa Gohan would always hold back on me whenever we used to spar. I actually wanna be pushed to my limits."
"So, you know Gohan?" Roshi questioned his future protege.
"Yeah," Goku answered, "He raised me my whole life."
"I'll take it that you happen to be that child he found many years ago then?" Roshi exclaimed, much to Goku's astonishment.
"How do you know about that?" Goku inquired, getting into his signature fighting stance. No one besides the Hokage and his crew knew about his secrets.
"You even have a stance similar to his." Roshi laughed, glancing at the fighting stance that the palm-haired Saiyan was standing in; seemingly ready to begin the spar he had been promised. "But to answer your question… Gohan told me of course! I happen to be his original master after all. We kept in touch every once in a while."
"You trained my grandpa?!"
"You're correct… but how has he been? The two of us haven't spoken in half a year or so."
"Dead," Goku scowled with an edge of guilt to his voice. "Because of me..."
"I'm sorry about that…I was positive that he could have taken my place as Turtle Hermit had I died before he did," Roshi responded in a saddened tone. Gohan was one of the only two students he had ever taken under his wing throughout his entire life, and he also managed to be the strongest of the two…always the most promising and most dedicated.
"Don't be, I need to grow stronger anyways. So I can prevent things like that," Goku announced, a firm resolve on his chubby face.
"Well, if you have to get stronger, I'm pretty sure that I can help you." Master Roshi suggested, making Goku's blood boil in excitement. "I'll be sure to teach you everything I know for the time you are with me."
"Yes!" Goku responded, extremely excited at the thought of training under an even stronger master than Gohan. "But first, let's fight!"
"Alright," Roshi stated as he positioned himself into his fighting stance. "It has been quite a while."
With the response, Goku suddenly jolted forward, cutting the distance of the soft, warm sandy ground that lied between him and Roshi. Upon reaching striking distance, the Saiyan began delivering both punches and kicks at a great speed, each blow attempting to hit their mark on the elderly martial artist. On the receiving end of his blows, Roshi appeared to be easily dodging or blocking anything and everything that was being thrown at his fragile appearing body.
Roshi then managed to throw his own jab; this one quicker than even the Saiyan could follow, directly at the Saiyan's chin. Roshi's punch was fired at a pace even faster than Goku could dodge. The wrinkled fist of the Turtle Hermit firmly connected with the alien's jawbone, sending the boy tumbling onto the ground. "Had enough already?" Roshi questioned, his black sunglasses glistening magnificently under the blazing Sun.
Goku slowly pushed himself off of the ground, standing back on his own two feet. The gritty area that his body had landed on after Roshi's intense blow happened to have a small puddle of blood soaked into it, streaming down to the alien's chin from the wound that Goku had succumbed from the jab. Although he was getting bested by the Turtle Hermit with very little resistance, the fight made Goku's blood boil in eagerness. Never in his seven years of living on the face of the Earth had Gohan ever struck him with a head-on blow packed with the strength and intensity that Roshi had just shown, always too worried about hurting his Grandson.
Ignoring this, the Saiyan plainly wiped the blood from his mouth with a forearm, turning to face Master Roshi.
"I'm not done yet," Goku grinned as he charged his opponent once again. Instead of landing the mighty boot directly to his foe's chest as he had anticipated, the Saiyan was caught off-guard as he only met another of Roshi's punches, striking the Saiyan directly in the gut. Goku's insides howled in a pain that they had never experienced before as the clenched fist dug into the Saiyan's stomach. Before Goku could even react to the pain that was spreading through his body, the Turtle Hermit had hopped into the air, coming down hard with a double fist haymaker, towering down onto the Saiyan's back. The next thing the Saiyan knew, he was lying on the ground once again, barely conscious from the assault that Master Roshi had just unleashed onto him.
"N-No, I can still... go on," Goku managed to get out through clenched teeth.
The Saiyan closed his eyes and concentrated on his Ki, trying to surprise the Turtle Hermit. He then immediately shot his arm out, letting out a pair of clear, badly charged up ki orbs soaring towards his opponent. The orange-suited martial arts master easily managed to deflect both energy balls with a backhand before he positioned himself into a stiff, intimidating stance with both of his hands cupped to his side.
"This is an attack I would like to pass onto you by the time you're done training under me. Ka… Me… Ha… Me…" Roshi chanted as a small, blue sphere of energy began growing in his cupped palms. Gusts of wind spiraled around the fighter as debris and sand lifted off of the ground, hovering and spinning around the body of the incredibly strong Earthling.
"Whoa, that looks so awesome!" The next second, the Saiyan crossed both of his arms across his body, preparing himself to brace for the oncoming attack.
"Ha!" Master Roshi finished, thrusting both of his hands forward with a tremendous amount of force. The energy wave, which Goku knew had been hardly packed with the full amount of power that Roshi could muster up, charged towards Goku, who pushed his arms out to attempt to deflect the powerful beam of ki.
As the blue wave of energy met Goku's open palms, the Saiyan could feel his entire body vibrating from the sheer power invested in the Kamehameha Wave. The flaring blast of ki continued smashing into the Saiyan's hands, leaving severe, first degree burns on his palms of his hands. With each passing second, Goku could feel his body being more overpowered by the amount of power flowing through the tremendous display of ki. Another second later, the kids arms gave in, allowing the Turtle Hermit's attack to smash directly into his pint-sized body.
Once the dust cloud died down, Goku revealed himself to the Turtle Hermit, still barely managing to stand up. His legs trembled, wanting to give in at any given second, as his now scorched and torn gi showcased a good amount of bruises and first degree burns littered across the Saiyan's body. Goku stood in one spot, his eyes piercing at Roshi as he continued breathing harder than ever before.
"I-I'm s-still goin-!" Goku let out before he fell to the beach floor, utterly defeated.
"No you are not," Roshi corrected, walking over to the unconscious body of Goku. "You never stood a chance I'm afraid… but I must admit that you do have a lot of potential. And you're very strong for your age and size, lasting that long against me. You have great willpower. Turtle… help me escort this young man to my home. MAGIC CARPET, COME FORTH!"
-Twenty-Four Hours Later-
"Before we train, can I get a bite to eat?!"
"Sure… there should be a few things in the fridge. Help yourself," The Turtle Hermit replied, with Goku charging straight past him into the kitchen. Roshi heard a few loud sounds boom throughout the kitchen, and knowing that the sound did not sound like a good thing, did not even bother to ask the Saiyan what was happening. After a solid minute, Goku suddenly walked out of the kitchen, his stomach satisfied for the moment after eating all of the food that he could find stored in the refrigerator.
"Yumm," The Saiyan managed to say between burps, patting his stomach in satisfaction. "That was great!"
"So, what're we gonna do today Master?" Goku asked, stretching and loosening up. He felt refreshed and a little stronger than he was before, ready for another great day in training. "I can't wait to do it!"
"Well, today we sha-" Roshi was interrupted by sand shooting up.
They were interrupted as a small bald headed boy landed head first in the sand. Apparently, he'd decided to make an entrance by jumping from his boat to the shore. He'd made an entrance alright. Goku tried to suppress a laugh but couldn't quite manage it, breaking down into hysterics at the epic fail.
A minute later the old master and Goku had pulled the boy free of the sand and righted him. "Who are you?" Goku asked in a questioning tone.
"For your information," the boy answered in a harsh tone. "My name is Krillin. I have traveled a great distance from the Orin temple in the Land of Cloud just to train with the great Master Roshi in hopes to learn Martial Arts and how to defend myself in battle."
"But I'm his student already," Goku replied. "Master Roshi already said he was only gonna take one pupil."
"The boy has a point," Roshi confirmed. "I did promise to train him alone. And I don't usually take two students."
"I brought you some reading material," Krillin replied pulling out and handing the old master several dirty magazines and several novels on Icha Icha, including the Island edition. Roshi's eyes went wide at such a beautiful sight, garnering him a nose bleed for ten seconds. He then quickly composed himself, coughing into his hand.
"You'll have to do better then that," he told Krillin. "Your task is to find me a beautiful girl for a date."
"That's not the task of a martial artist," Krillin said, "They learn to fight, not escort."
"Do you want me to train you or not?" Roshi replied. "I could always simply train Goku and him alone."
"Fine," Krillin replied. "But are you going to make him find you one too?"
"No," Roshi said. "I don't think so. I already have an arrangement with him that I intend to follow no matter what."
Krillin turned and un-capsulized his jet copter and ran inside, "Fine, I'll return with one for you in a few."
After Krillin had left, Roshi turned to Goku. "Alright, to warm-up until our new-found friend returns, I want you to do push-ups with Turtle lying on your back for as long as you can until you drop."
"Okay, let's do this," Goku said. The Saiyan dropped to the ground in push-up position and let Turtle be placed on his back via Master Roshi.
-Over One Hour Later-
A little bit over an hour later, Krillin finally reappeared, returning to the elderly Master Roshi's island in his hovercraft. After a few failed attempts at bringing the scrawny mentor the right woman for him, the shaven headed midget had finally brought a match. This woman was a tall, yet skinny woman with her blue-violet colored hair wrapped in a red bow. She wore a pair of short shorts that went up to halfway up her thigh along with a lime green tank top. The old Turtle Hermit let out a slight squeal upon observing the woman, immediately falling over in shock with a severe nose bleed.
"This is Launch," Krillin introduced with a satisfied grin coming to life on her face.
"Very good work my boy," Roshi replied, "You can definitely train with us."
"Yes!" Krillin said excited to be training with the great Master Roshi.
-The Next Day-
The next day, Master Roshi and his students had decided to pack up everything they own, relocating to a much bigger island where the old Turtle Hermit insisted that they would all have much more room to train and spar. Master Roshi now stood outside with his two disciples, Goku and Krillin. Launch had decided that she would not train alongside the trio, instead staying inside of the pink home of Roshi's performing the duties of a housewife, such as cooking meals for the four as well as cleaning whenever she could.
"Now, first things first… Krillin, have you had any type of previous training?" Master Roshi asked the bigger of his two trainees.
"Yes sir, I spent four years training at the Orin Temple." Krillin responded, grinning a bit at his accomplishments.
"Ah… I am pleased by that." Master Roshi stated, turning to Goku. "Goku, I take it that you have been training under Gohan for at least the past four years?"
"Yeah and I learned a little from Konoha too."
"Great," Roshi continued. "First thing that we're going to do is test your speed. How fast you run can will be a great indication of your strength and power. Krillin, I take it that you'd like to be the first to run this 100 meter dash."
"Sure thing master!" Krillin said, a smug look on his face as he pierced over at Goku. He slowly walked over to the starting line while Roshi and Goku awaited him about a good one hundred meters away with a stopwatch in hands, "Prepare to be amazed."
"Go," The old mentor instructed.
Krillin quickly exerted all of his speed, racing towards the tree where his fellow student stood waiting for him. By the time he had reached the end, the short pupil was incredibly winded, panting for any and all of the air that he could muster up.
"10.4 seconds… not too shabby." Roshi said, praising the first of his pupils. "Alright Goku, you're up now."
Goku did as instructed and lined up directly behind the starting line.
"Go!" Roshi shouted once more, signaling Goku to begin. Goku quickly took off, closing the distance between himself and the tree at an outstanding speed.
"Eight seconds," Roshi smiled, shocked by the boy's speed. He honestly knew that the boy had potential, but he was not fully aware of just how much he would possess. "Now, I bet that the two of you want to see how fast your old master can run this."
Roshi quickly performed his 100 meter dash, finishing the race at exactly 5.6 seconds, leaving a stunned expression upon Krillin's face as their master swept past him.
"Wow! You're really fast Master Roshi," Goku commented, astounded by his speed.
"Now, on to the next test," Roshi said, breaking the tension that was beginning to continually build up between Goku and Krillin, the latter jealous of the former. The Earthling bent over to the ground, taking a small stone from a pile of rubble before he decided to write a weird symbol upon the surface of the rock.
"This rock has the Turtle kanji, Kame, on it. Your task is to find the stone." The master instructed, hurling the rock over a nearby cliff and into the tremendous jungle below it. "The one who brings the stone back to me will be served a nice warm dinner while the other will be left without a meal for the night. If neither of you have returned within thirty minutes, the both of you will just have to go without dinner for the rest of the night."
"Now… how will we be able to get down there?" Krillin loudly asked himself.
"We climb down," Goku stated obviously, taking off in a burst. The Saiyan ignored the cocky, yet clueless human and raced over to the cliff, climbing down it with haste. Goku eventually jumped off the ridge of his cliff and softly landed on the ground below, racing into the toppling trees ahead of him. There was no way that he was about to not have dinner tonight!
"Hey, wait up for me Goku!" Krillin suddenly cried out as he began cautiously climbing down the rigid cliff, fully aware of the fact that he was already at a disadvantage.
Several of minutes into the hunt for the stone bearing Roshi's signature kanji, Krillin had no such luck in the area he was searching in. Just as he was about to rush into the tropical jungle that Goku had entered into minutes earlier, the extremely short Earthling glanced into the forest glades to see the last person he had wanted to encounter, Goku. The Saiyan in mind was slowly walking towards his rival, the same cheerful expression that he bared nearly all of the time engraved upon his face as Krillin saw that he was repeatedly tossing some sort of object into the air, catching it before it could hit the ground.
"Given up already?" The boy confidently smirked, his tone becoming somewhat cocky as he stared down his rival.
"Nope, I'm done." Goku shrugged, the same smirk that Krillin had upon his face forming in place of the Saiyan's own mouth. "The stone's right here." The Saiyan finished, showing off the smooth stone on which the Turtle Hermit's Kame kanji had been sketched upon to his training partner.
"That fast?" Krillin gulped in disbelief. "H-How? That's unreal!"
"It was easy," Goku clearly responded. "I just looked at where it went. It also smells like Master Roshi."
"I'm not throwing in the towel that easily!" Krillin let out, wanting to beat the Saiyan once and for all. "How about we have ourselves a little bit of a friendly spar for that stone?" The former monk suggested, getting into a fighting stance that had been taught to him years earlier, by the much stronger, older shaolin monks at the Orin Temple.
"Bring it on!" Goku shouted back with a grin plastered on his face, getting into his traditional stance. "I'll beat you."
"We'll see," Krillin said. "I've trained for four years under the Orin monks. They are great martial artists."
The boy was interrupted as Goku shot forward and landed a punch in the boy's mouth. Krillin staggered back but Goku never let up for a minute, as he came around with a roundhouse kick to Krillin's head sending the bald boy flying into a nearby bush.
Krillin tumbled through the thorny bush then slumped to the ground. But he soon got to his feet. "No fair, I wasn't ready," he said.
"But you started it," Goku said. "You should have been ready."
Krillin shot at Goku trying to catch the boy by surprise by attacking while he was gloating. He sent a foot at the boy's midsection but Goku shot a hand out and blocked the punch with an open palm. Krillin continued his offensive with a punch at the Saiyan's temple but Goku leaned his head to the side and brought his own fist forward toward Krillin's stomach. Krillin brought his knee up and blocked the blow just in time. He was amazed how much the blow had rattled him even though he'd blocked it.
But Krillin wasn't going to let a thing like that stop him from winning the fight and dinner. He shot his head forward surprising Goku with a head butt to the face, bruising the young Saiyan's nose. Taking advantage of his opponents momentary staggering, Krillin brought his knee up into Goku's stomach with as much strength as he could muster doubling the Saiyan over. Finishing the move, Krillin sent a roundhouse kick at the Saiyan sending him flying back.
Goku picked himself up off the ground and wiped some blood off of his face, a smile on his face.
Krillin was a good sparring partner after all.
"You're good," he complimented. "But ya won't win!"
He shot back at Krillin and threw a punch at the monk's face. The monk went to block but realized too late that the blow was just a feint. The alien raised his other palm at point blank range to Krillin's face and connected it with a hook. The bald kid staggered back, trying to evade most of Goku's strikes. Suddenly, an almost transparent orb of Ki shot at him, surprising him and hitting him in the face.
Krillin was caught entirely by surprise by this move. He'd heard rumors of some of the great masters being able to do such things. He'd even heard of Master Roshi's legendary Kamehameha Wave, but to think this boy could manipulate energy was impossible. But he believed it when the sphere hit him in the face, slightly burning and sending him sprawling back.
Goku shot forward. He knew that the ball he'd sent at Krillin wasn't powerful enough to hurt the boy. But hurting him badly was never his objective in the first place. The explosion had been mostly a distraction. Goku shot a knee up into Krillin's stomach doubling the monk over. Then with a swift elbow, Goku knocked Krillin over and onto his side, seeing his panting form.
"Are you okay?" Goku asked, concerned.
"No, help me-" Krillin responded, grinning on the inside. He stuck his hand out and grabbed Goku's hand to get pulled up. Suddenly, the former monk attempted to hit the Saiyan in the face, but with a "sixth" sense he blocked it and pushed him back down.
"That was a dirty trick," Goku said, turning his back on his opponent with a frown on his face. "See ya later I guess."
The Saiyan took off into a sprint back up to his master, eager to get dinner. One thing was for sure: Goku and Krillin became rivals.
-The Next Day-
"Alright Goku and Krillin, today you shall begin your true training for the next few years."
Originally, upon overhearing and finding out that the two martial artists had already partaken in a spar, in which Goku had managed to defeat Krillin, the old master had been slightly disappointed in his students. However, both of the students had admitted that Krillin had been the one to challenge Goku, so it seemed a bit right the Saiyan had taught the former monk a lesson or two. He had also noticed that it seemed like the two trainees were beginning to get along a lot better than the previous two days, evident by the fact that he was not hearing any sort of bickering escaping from the two's mouths throughout the entire morning.
"Okay… before we begin our training, we have to start off with a brief run to warm up our muscles." The Turtle Hermit instructed as he began lightly jogging, with Goku and Krillin following directly behind him.
After a few minutes filled with light jogging along a grassy trail, the old master and his two students finally arrived at a small white cabin where a milkman was carefully stacking blue crates filled with milk bottles. "You must be the same person I spoke to earlier." Master Roshi said to the farmer, greeting the milkman with a courteous bow. "Don't worry, my students and I will make sure that we have all of this milk delivered before the time of breakfast."
"Pardon me Master Roshi," Krillin abruptly interjected, interrupting the conversation between the old master and the grateful milkman. "If you don't mind me asking… what exactly does delivering milk have to do with our martial arts skills getting better?"
"Oh… I don't know," Master Roshi calmly responded before his tone became more of a harsh and severe one. "I somewhat recall that this maybe has something to do with HAVING THE DISCIPLINE TO DO WHATEVER IT IS THAT YOU ARE INSTRUCTED TO DO BY YOUR TEACHER!" The Turtle Hermit let out, harshly criticizing the former Orin Temple trainee.
"Yes sir," Krillin gulped, his face dropping in fear as he staggered back from the screaming hermit. " I apologize… Master Roshi."
Goku looked curious as well. Just as Krillin, he had absolutely no idea how delivering milk connected to martial arts, but he still had to keep that to himself… at least for the time being until he actually had a chance to realize what the training truly was made of. Who knew… Roshi was probably going to have them gain his ability to use a Kamehameha Wave by having them unleash the ki attack onto the bottles for target practice. Roshi did happen to be one of the strongest man on the face of the Earth, so that surely had to mean that this strange method of training that the Turtle Hermit made up had to be somewhat efficient in some way.
"How about we start off easy, just for today?" Roshi stated, turning to his students as he handed the two of them their own crate of milk. "We'll skip the first seven miles and just continue on."
Krillin's face immediately paled, dropping in disbelief. 'Did he just say the FIRST seven miles?' The Earthling warrior questioned himself, insisting on not letting another word escape his mouth after Roshi's sudden outburst just moments earlier.
A little bit over twenty minutes later the three martial artists came to a halt, stopping in front of another small cottage where a bottle of milk was placed on the porch. "Very good to the both of you," Roshi stated, turning to face a winded Krillin and a rather-tired Goku, who was still able to stand without putting his hands on his knees. "Now for the next five miles, we are going to zigzag left and right through these trees lined up down this path."
Goku smiled a little tiredly; if it meant getting stronger then the seven year old would do it. As the three had been pacing down the trail, Goku had finally learned what the point of the exercise was. It would help both him and Krillin last longer in battle, which they all knew was necessary in a fight… especially one that would drag on.
A little bit over an hour later, the group finally arrived at the tenth house, delivering the milk bottle to the porch of the home. Immediately, Krillin slowly walked over to the closest wall of the home, leaning back upon the shack as he continued to heavily pant from the overwhelming workout.
"F-Finally… w-we're done," The monk managed to let out between gasps for air.
"Not exactly," Roshi corrected his exhausted student. "But we will take a five minute break before we continue our delivery route up a few stairs."
"That sounds good to me," Krillin quietly mumbled, using his forearm to wipe a stream of sweat forming upon his shaven forehead. Not even a second later, the Human's eyes widened, his face paling as he glanced up, realizing that by a few stairs, Roshi actually meant an incredibly high trail of stairs spiraling across and all the way up to the peak of an extremely tall mountain. Goku's eyes widened as well, actually starting to feel the effects of exhaustion hitting him strongly at this point.
"Okay, let's get started," Master Roshi exclaimed after approximately five minutes of resting time, beginning their ascent up the numerous flights of stairs.
A few hours later, Goku lied in the cool shade of a tree, the blades of grass snuggling his body as he relaxed in the shadow, resting his body. Once he and Krillin had delivered the final bottle of milk, Master Roshi had assigned the two trainees to perform their mid-morning training, which consisted of agriculture, instructing them to plow an entire field using only their bare hands. Along with that, they had been tasked with completing a bit of construction work, some studying to strengthen their mind, practice their strength by pushing large boulders which neither were able to do, dodging bee stings, and finish off the training by swimming laps in a nearby river… while being chased down by a vicious great white shark.
While the training seemed incredibly weird, Goku had to admit that he felt completely and utterly exhausted by the end, along with Krillin. The elderly Turtle Hermit had instructed the boys to rest for the remainder of the day and that they would continue their training tomorrow, albeit the exact same ritual though without the old man's guidance. The young Saiyan now rested, too exhausted to do much of anything else.
And this would be the regimen for the next three years, which would prove extremely productive...
-Sometime The Next Week-
It was a cold September night. The wind was strong enough to make leaves dance in it. The moon was bright and full, with a faint tone of red. Uchiha Itachi stood above a streetlight, watching over the aftermath of his work. Blood painted the walls of the Uchiha compound. And from a distance, Itachi could see his otouto, making his way towards the district. The older Uchiha took a deep breath. There were two targets left to clear the mission. He quickly vanished using once again the Shunshin no Jutsu.
Sasuke was running at a fast pace. Even after training all morning and afternoon long, he still had energy left to run and make his way towards his house. He was late for dinner, and he wanted to tell his parents about his day. But as he was approaching the Uchiha compound, he felt there was something wrong. It was too dark and gloomy. His pace slowed down.
The second he entered the main gate, he could smell the blood sprayed over the walls. He ran to the source of the smell and saw 4 dead bodies, all belonging to members of the Uchiha clan. Sasuke put a hand over his mouth to avoid throwing up. It didn't work too well. He ended up puking the bento his mother made for him in the morning. Thankfully he got used to the awful sight, for it repeated over and over again as he walked through the compound, and the pile of bodies would just increase.
"What happened here...?" he thought, with tears running across his face. "Who could be able do this to the entire clan...? It's not possible!" His thoughts were becoming more desperate and his tears would not stop flowing. Every person was either someone he personally knew or he met more than once. As second son of the clan head, he knew just about everyone in the clan, and every person he saw lying dead on the ground would increase his desperation and sadness.
It was in this moment that Sasuke remembered that he was still a few blocks away from his house, and ran as fast as his legs would carry him. 'Kaa-san... Tou-san... Please be alive! PLEASE!'
As he arrived in the main house, Sasuke saw that all the lights were out. "Tou-san...? Kaa-san...?" he shouted.
For some reason, he knew that it was not the best course of action to take, but his mind was not thinking straight, due to the situation he was into. He slowly entered and made his way through the dark corridors. Something inside him told him to search his parents at Fugaku's office. That's when Sasuke heard a loud noise coming from it.
*THUD*
Sasuke froze in fear at this very instant. It was the noise of something... or someone... falling over the floor. Then, it happened again.
*THUD*
He gulped. There was definitely people inside the room. His breathing was faster and more agitated. The rate of his heartbeat was as fast as a humming bird. Sasuke gathered his final ounces of strength to raise his hand and open the door. He had a gut feeling of anxiety, nervousness, paranoia, and fear all at the same time. And it was frightening. The room was pitch black, except for a faint moon ray that was shining on the center of it. The sight in front of Sasuke's eyes was one that would burn in his mind forever.
His parents, Fugaku and Mikoto, lying dead on the floor, with a large pool of blood below them. His aniki, Itachi, standing still in front of them, with a katana in his left hand, blood dripping from the tip. His face was that of a true shinobi. Emotionless, cold, distant... His blood-red Sharingan eyes were flaring through the blue moonlight. The older Uchiha took notice of his otouto's presence.
"...Nii-san...?" said Sasuke, not wanting to believe the sight his onyx black eyes were seeing. "What... what happened...? Kaa-san and Tou-san... dead... Who...?"
Before Sasuke could make up any more words, Itachi threw a kunai at his general direction. The kunai ripped a piece of his cloth, and cut through his left shoulder. Sasuke winced in pain, and as he tried to make sense in everything that was going on, Itachi looked at him, unleashing killing intent. "Foolish otouto..." he said. In a span of seconds, Itachi's eyes started to spin and the tomoes started to take another shape. It resembled a three pointed Shuriken in a way.
"Mangekyou Sharingan!"
In a blink of an eye, the flow of time seemed to revert, and the colors of the world were put on negative state. When Sasuke came to his senses, he was once again at the main street of the district. All the dead clansmen were back on their feet, but an air of uncertainty and fear were spread all over it. Suddenly, Itachi's voice was heard, roaring as a thunder.
"Welcome to the world of Tsukuyomi, otouto..." he said. "In here, I control time and space themselves. In here, I am the supreme master of reality. And for you, my little brother, I have a special treat... For the next 72 hours, you will see how I managed to kill our clansmen... All of them, including Tou-san and Kaa-san. Have fun..."
As the scenes of kunai and shuriken flying and brutally impaling many Uchihas flew through Sasuke's mind, he could only pale in horror. But when the image of Itachi slashing their parents brutally and effortlessly, he snapped.
"No... No... NOOOOOOOOOOOO! WHY ARE YOU SHOWING ME THIS, NII-SAN! PLEASE! MAKE IT STOP! STOOOOOOOOOOOOOP!" In the illusion, Sasuke picked up a kunai and slashed it through Itachi's head, only for the image to be replaced with his Baa-chan, falling to the ground.
"No! BAA-CHAN!" The young Uchiha kept trying to kill his aniki to make it stop, but each time, a clan member would take his place, falling to the ground dead.
Itachi merely chuckled. "It will stop, little brother... in 71 hours, 59 minutes and 59 seconds..." he said, as the Tsukuyomi repeated the whole process again. And again. And again. Until the colors and the flow of time went back to normal, as reality came back to both brothers.
In a span of what seemed like 3 seconds in normal time and an eternity to the seven-year old, Sasuke fell on the floor, with his mouth drooling, and his onyx eyes shaking from both the terror and the exhaustion of going through such a powerful genjutsu. Sasuke knew it was just an illusion. But at the same time, it felt so real, so vivid... as if Itachi really did kill every single Uchiha save for him. It also felt like he murdered his clan as well from the genjutsu. He didn't know why, but his eyes burned. They were on fire. But he ignored the thought and one question flew through his mind more than anything. It was the question he gathered strength and caught up his breath to ask Itachi.
"Why...?"
"Why did you do this... if it was really you... then what was the reason...? And why did you have to kill everyone, including Tou-san and Kaa-san?"
Itachi could just say the truth. That it was because they were planning to revolt and that it was for the greater good of Konohagakure. But that wouldn't suffice. For Itachi's plan to work, he needed to lie. And lie is what he did.
"To measure my strength... and surpass my limits..." he answered. Sasuke flinched at hearing his brother's shallow and cold answer. Could someone really kill his whole family just for the heck of proving himself to be powerful?
Sasuke questioned him again. "That's it...? You killed Tou-san, Kaa-san and everyone else... so you could test your limits...?"
Itachi closed his eyes, and took a deep breath. "It was necessary, Sasuke. You wouldn't understand..." he said, as if it was the simplest thing in the universe. Sasuke would be dumbfounded, if it wasn't for Itachi's cruel and cold statement. He was feeling anger, but most of all... betrayal. Such an atrocity... for power? After all of those words about not falling into shadows and trying to follow the path of justice and righteousness?
That's when Sasuke's eyes were boiling with something else. Something he never felt so much before in his life. He wasn't sure of what was that, but he knew that he wanted to kill Itachi. 'Hurt him...' he thought. 'He deserves it... hurt him... give him pain... give him hell... hate him... kill him... hate him... kill him...make him pay...'
"Is... this... it...?" said Sasuke. He lift himself up with the last ounces of strength and looked at Itachi in the eye as he kept talking. "My kind and caring aniki... became a psycho... and a murderer... all for the sake of power...? Who are you, Itachi... what have you become... Nii-san?"
"You still don't get it, do you, Sasuke..." said Itachi. "I merely acted like the brother you always wished for so I could measure your true strength."
"You will become someone worthy of rivaling my own powers, such is your potential. As much as you don't want to admit, you're envious of me. You've always been, and you dream of surpassing me... And that is why I'm letting you live, you see? It's for my own well-being, otouto, that I'm letting you become more powerful. So I can test myself further. But right now, you're so weak that there is no point in killing you..."
Sasuke's tears continued to fall, his well being having been psychologically scarred for life.
"My foolish otouto... If you really want to kill me, you must curse me... hate me... and barely survive within the darkness. Run away, and keep running... and hold on to your dear life... And then one day... you may show your face to me... once you own the same eyes I do."
And with that, Itachi opened his eyes, Mangekyou ablaze, casting one last glare filled with killing intent, which made Sasuke pale in terror once again, and slowly make his way to unconsciousness.