Sasuke removed his hand, burning so hard with lightnng that you could see Sasuke’s skin peel off. The chirping grew louder.
Naruto’S mouth dropped open with surprise.
Itachi’s eyes flickered a little with surprise. “Chidori: 100 birds..?”
“GRRRROAR!!!” Sasuke raced towards his brother, the chidori making a hole on the side of the wall. Itachi’s hand darted upwards, Sasuke brought his hand forward for the final blow, and- “CRASH!”
There was a silence. There was a big hole in the wall, and Sasuke’s hand still crackled faintly. Naruto stood frozen in spot, and Itachi and Uchiha glared at each other.
‘Shoot!!’ thought Naruto, making a hand sign in front of him. “UNNNNH!!”
‘Gotta do something..!!’ he thought, focusing on drawing charka out.
Kisame and Itachi turned to Naruto sharply.
‘The air is ripe with charka. There’s no mistake.’ Thought Kisame as he stared at Naruto. ‘..The power of the nine-tail fox.’
Sasuke glared at his brother, who had turned to look at Naruto. His hand had been caught so easily, What was this? “You..!!” he began, when Itachi cut him off by tightening his grip on Sasuke’s hand suddenly. “You’re in the way…”
There was a large “SNAP!” and Sasuke fell to the floor with a scream.
“Sasuke!” yelled Naruto. “Argh!”
He began making signs. ‘Kuchiyosei summoning..’ he thought.
“Too slow!” said Kisame, and with a sharp thrust he cut through the red charka surrounding Naruto.
‘!?’ though Naruto. ‘Huh? I can’t feel…My charka?!’
“Argh! Argh!” said Naruto, trying harder. “What’s going on?!”
Sasuke watched dimly through the pain coming in waves from arm. It was throbbing, with pain unimaginable. ‘Yes Kokoro.’ A rather removed part of him thought dimly as he remembered a question she had asked a long time ago. ‘A broken arm does hurt.’
The fish gill guy spoke to Naruto, flashing his sword which was wiggling and making whispery noises. “My Samehada.. cuts through and devours charka too!!”
Naruto’s eyes widened.
“We don’t need this kid whipping out anymore jutsu.” Began Kisame.
“Forget the legs. Maybe I should start with those arms.”
Sasuke gritted his teeth and closed his eyes, and Naruto pretty much did the same, doing his best to conjure up some charka. “Urrr!”
Itachi watched silently, and the sword wrapped in bandages swung fast-!
There was a sudden POP! And then there was a giant toad wearing arm armor blocking the sword in front of Naruto.
Magic!
No, something far less glamorous. The pervy sage.
“You don’t know me at all. You should have done your homework.” Jiraiya said, standing behind Naruto with a woman slung over his shoulder. “The Toad Sage Jiraiya falls victim to no woman’s charm. Beauties drop for me like blossoms in a storm!”
The pervy sage slid into his famous pose saying, “ A man like me isn’t wired to just follow a woman like a dog! When you get to my level , the woman are the ones who writhe at my charm!”
There was a rather complete silence as everybody stared at the big, white haired man.
Then Naruto exploded. “Yeah right! You’re the one who got excited when a woman winked at you! This is no time to be acting so high and mighty, pervy sage!”
“Argh!” said the pervy sage, blushing. “I really wish you wouldn’t call me that in front of other people!”
“We’ve got worse things to worry about than what people think of you! Get on with it, Pervy Sage!”
Sasuke grit his teeth, but a soft sound of pain and frustration escaped his lips. These two were idiots!
Naruto stopped his tirade, and Itachi watched them quietly. Then Kisame spoke, cackling.
“Aaah, Lord Jiraiya, touted as one of the legendary three great shinobi. No matter how much of an unrivaled woman chaser you are, I didn’t think that our delaying tactic would succeed that easily, but..”
“Ehh,” said Naruto, surprised. “You even know the pervy sages’ true identity!?’
“Err,” Jiraiya said, “That’s not really my true identity…”
Kisame spoke again. “It seems you’ve undone the genjutsu we placed on the woman.”
Jiraiya placed the woman down gently, leaning her against the wall. “Placing a saimingan genjutsu to separate me from Naruto…What kind of coward would do something like that?”
Jiraiya stood back, and Naruto watched on with confusion. ‘Separate us..’ he thought. ‘Why?’
Jiraiya turned to face the other two men and said, “I know he’s the one you’re after.”
Naruto’s eyes widened with the confusion that Sasuke was feeling.
Itachi was silent for a moment, and Sasuke twitched next to him, pain numbing his senses.
“…Now I know how Kakashi knew..” Itachi finally spoke. “I see… So you were his source of information.”
Jiraiya kept silent.
“To ktake Naruto with us.” Itachi said.
There was a silence, and Naruto contemplated this information with a quiet dumbstruckedness. There was a puff! And the frog that was blocking kisame’s sword disappeared.
“Sorry.” Jiraiya narrowed his eyes, but his voice was calm and level. “Can’t give you Naruto.”
“Really.” Said Itachi in a way that suggested that he didn’t believe him.
“Fine, just as well.” Said Jiraiya. “I’ll just take care of the two of you right here!”
“..Stay out of this.”
A new voice, forgotten voice intruded on the conversation.
Sasuke stood up straight behind Itachi, his body trembling with effort. “The only who’ll do any eliminating…is me!”
Jiraiya and naruto’s eyes widened with shock. Kisame seemed surprised as well, but there was absolutely no immotion in Itachi’s voice as he spoke to his younger brother. “Go away. I have absolutely no interest in you!”
Sasuke still stood, and with a quick sudden movement, Itachi kicked Sasuke in the stomach, sending him flying.
He thudded into the wall with a large bam and let out a shout. As he slid to the floor, Naruto let out a shout and ran forward. “Sasuke!”
“Naruto!” Sasuke yelled, glaring at Naruto, blood dripping from his mouth. “Don’t butt in! Mind your own business!”
Naruto froze.
Sasuke’s broken arm was quivering, and Itachi thought coolly, ‘At this point, hw should no longer be able to weave signs.’
“This is my fight!” yelled Sasuke.
Itachi’s eyes narrowed, and Jiraiya thought, ‘Revenge, huh.’
The older Uchiha brother began walking towards Sasuke slowly, his footsteps echoing in the corridor.
Sasuke shot upwards, yelling “Good!”
There was a thud as Itachi sank his fist into Sasuke’s stomach. “Ugh!”
‘W-why?’
Itachi rammed his elbow into Sasuke’s head, then kneed him. “Gah!”
Naruto stood watching, his eyes narrowed with rage, gnashing his teeth fretfully. He couldn’t help Sasuke.
Itachi slammed Sasuke against the wall again.
Blood sprayed from his mouth. Droplets of red liquid hung in the air before Sasuke.
‘What is this gap.. That doesn’t seem to have shrunk at since that day?’
Kisame smirked. ‘no mercy, eh?”
Jiraiya was silent.
Sasuke lay on the floor, the blood from his mouth falling to the floor. ‘What have I been doing all this time!?’
Sasuke felt a cold hand grab him by the neck and lift him up to lean him against the wall. ‘What in the world?’
Itachi closed his eyes, then opened them slowly. Sasuke’s eyes widened and he was drawn into the sharingan world.
*You are weak.*
Itachi’s voice echoed all around Sasuke.
Sasuke looked around. Everything was black and red. He could see himself, above and around, and under him. It felt like he was being surrounded and reflected by countless mirrors and countless reflections.
Sasuke spoke, “Why did you kill her?”
“hm?” said Itachi’s voice with mild interest.
“Why did you kill Kokoro!” Sasuke screamed.
***
Sasuke was standing at the edge of the cliff, staring down into the roaring water. There was no way Kokoro could have survived that.
Sasuke glared at it fixatedly his hands clenched so tight his knuckles were white. He was trembling.
Suddenly, he slipped and fell forward. Sasuke quickly grabbed an overhanging root and scrambled to find balance.
Sasuke began to hear voices, coming closer. They were subdued, but Sasuke heard one word and then he was all ears.
“Kokoro Uchiha, huh?”
Sasuke strained to listen.
“Yes.” Said another voice. “ Just 9 years old. As old as my daughter, and she was murdered! It hurts me to think of it.”
Sasuke clutched at his root even tighter.
“The most likely suspect is Itachi Uchiha, the one who killed the rest of the girl’s family.”
“Yes. We’re under strict orders not to speak of it, as it might affect the child’s classmate’s, and of course, the child’s brother.”
They left.
Unknown to Sasuke, they were Orochimaru’s goons.
But what they said was all very true.
The Hokage most certainly knew that Kokoro had been murdered. But who knows if he thought Itachi had done it.
***
There was a silence, and then Itachi said, *For the next 24 hours, relive that day.*
Sasuke’s eyes widened as Itachi appeared out of nowhere, and his parents crouching before him. Itachi swung the sword.
“YAAAAAAAH!!!” Sasuke screamed. Before his eyes it was happening all over again, and again and again.
His parents were standing there, facing Itachi who stood before them. With a quick swing, slice and stab, they lay there on the floor, twisted, lifeless.
Then Kokoro stepped into the room. Itachi bent over and, very slowly, as though he was enjoying this, he twisted a kunai into her stomach.
Sasuke heard the wordless gasp, and he screamed as the whole Uchiha clan fell before him one after the other. And over and over again, Mother, Father, and Kokoro. Kokoro Kokoro, Kokoro.
Finally the nightmare stopped. The red and black was gone, and Sasuke withdrew into his mind, deep, deep, and far away.
But he heard Itachi speak. ‘You are still too weak.’
‘You don’t have enough…hate.’
Sasuke recoiled in his mind, hate fear and anger surging through his body.
Then Itachi said. ‘I never killed our little sister, Sasuke. But, only the weak die.’
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Chapter notes: Hallo! Sorry it's taken me so long to update... I just wasn't feeling like writing for some reason...
Yesterday i sat down and wrote two chapters! I'll put the other one up later (don't have time now)....
Anyways, enjoy!
Please read and review!
Naruto belongs to Masashi kishimoto. I do not claim to own any of his works, just my characters.