Unanticipated Reunions and Alliances

Disembodiedvoiceofthedying: Sasuke just needs to get laid.
DarkAngelJudas: It’s just hard to see anyone being able to order Stick-Up-His-Butt-Sasuke around. Orochimaru couldn’t even get a shred of respect from him, not even feigned. As I said to Disembodiedvoiceofthedying, he just royally needs to get laid. To quote Good Morning Vietnam, Sasuke’s “in more dire need of a blow job than any white man in history.”

This is a short one. (no aforementioned blow job, sorry)

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Sasuke was so glad to be able to see again, though not as happy as Itachi. Sakura forbade them going above ground during the day until their eyes could take the firelight. She did allow them to go up after dark. The whole group came with them. The pair couldn’t resist activating their Sharingans.

“Whoa,” Sasuke said, reaching out a hand to anyone to steady himself, Juugo grabbing it. “Do you feel that too, ‘Tachi?”

“Yeah.”

“What is it?” Neji asked, his own doujutsu activated, fearing something was nearby.

“We can feel each other,” Itachi said. “I can’t see what he’s seeing, but I can feel his chakra, almost see it and not in the same way as any of yours. I’m aware of him.”

“When I came up here yesterday, that was the first time we’ve been apart since Sakura exchanged out eyes. You fell asleep. So we never really felt it before.”

“Yeah.”

“We might be linked through the residual chakra in our eyes.”

“And the Sharingan makes it stronger.”

“What about your vision and powers?” Kakashi asked. “Any different?”

“A little,” Itachi said. “It’s just slightly off. We’ll get used to it. The Sharingan works the same. Our hand-eye coordination will take a little time to come back.”

“We’ll have to train carefully until our sight is honed again.”

Itachi nodded in agreement.

-----

They would have liked to have trained alone, but Sakura wouldn’t allow it. So, Sakura sat near the door while the brothers tested their eyes.

They started with simple target practice with kunai and shuriken. Their aims were off.

“This is going to take time to adjust.”

“I was never this bad,” Sasuke said.

“True. I taught you better than this.”

Sasuke was about to make a snide comment about their father’s ability being about as bad as theirs was now, but it died on his tongue. Those were memories they could both do without.

After finally being able to hit a target, Sasuke set up the same set up he remembered Itachi using to train in the forest. Itachi remembered it and the afternoon Sasuke twisted his ankle in his eagerness to show Itachi what he could do.

Neither of them could do it now. Sasuke growled. He threw a handful of Chidori senbon at the simplest of the targets, none of which hit their mark. In frustration, he sent a bolt of Chidori that destroyed the target and the post it was nailed to.

“Well, you did destroy it,” Itachi commented.

“Sakura, is there anything you can do?”

“Nothing. You’ll get use to it and it’ll be like normal.”

“We don’t have to throw kunai until our aim improves, our vision will readjust on its own,” Itachi said. “Let’s try our doujutsu, probably be less aggravating.”

“On who?”

“I guess you could try it on me,” Sakura offered after a moment’s consideration.

“We won’t hurt you,” Itachi assured her.

“I don’t know,” Sasuke said. “Do you think we still have the same control as before?”

“I think so; it’s more mental than visual. I have the most experience with it and finer control. If I have control, you can try and if anything goes wrong, I can intrude.”

“Are you sure, Sakura?”

“I trust you.”

“Get comfortable. This should only take a few seconds.”

“You’re not going to start with the Mangekyô, are you?”

“No, but I don’t need three hours.” Itachi looked into Sakura’s eyes. “This might be disorienting.” Sakura’s eyes glazed over.

Itachi and Sasuke dissolved into ravens, the repellant texture of the walls smoothed, turned to ice and the air grew cold. One large raven sat on her shoulder, startling her.

“I’m just making sure I have control of all your senses,” the raven said in Itachi’s voice. “What’s your favorite food?”

“Anmitsu.” The dish appeared. It smelled wonderful and when she tasted it, it was excellent.

Everything dissolved back into reality. She felt a little dizzy, but otherwise fine.

“Everything seem correct?”

“You turned the room to ice, it was cold, and the Anmitsu was perfect.”

“Testing all her senses,” Sasuke commented.

“How long did it take,” Sakura asked.

“Ten seconds.”

“It wouldn’t have been one if I’d used the Mangekyô,” Itachi said. “Sasuke.”

Sasuke worked his jaw a moment and then locked eyes with Sakura. The brothers faded to nothing and the walls crumbled to sand revealing a forest beyond. A snake approached with a bowl coiled in its tail.

“Sasuke, I don’t like snakes,” she said.

The snake stopped, “Sorry,” Sasuke’s voice hissed out. The snake turned into another of his summons, a ninja cat with a stick of dangos hanging out of his mouth. Sakura took the dangos and tried one. Not very sweet, but then she remembered Sasuke didn’t like anything sweet. The cat came up and rubbed up against her, purring. She could feel the warm fur and the vibration. She didn’t pet it, hesitant to caress Sasuke’s presence in this illusion.

It all dissolved again. She was not as dizzy this time.

“Except for the snake, that was perfect.”

“A snake, Sasuke?”

“It’s Orochimaru’s fault; many of my techniques use snakes.”

“But the cat was lovely.”

“Which one did you use?” Itachi asked.

“I made Denka more likable.”

“You deserve high marks just for that.”

“They are all a little intolerable.” Seeing Sakura not understanding what they were talking about, Sasuke explained, “Our family’s ninja cats. I’ve only seen Hina and Denka in the last few years.”

“I’ve avoided them too. I’m sure they’re not too happy with me.”

“I just didn’t want Orochimaru to get his hands on them.”

“Anyway, that took twenty seconds. Is that normal for you?”

“Truthfully, I don’t use genjutsu much. But I was being extra careful.”

“That time with Naruto seemed very brief.”

“He told you what happened?”

“No, but the way you looked at each other, we figured it was genjutsu.”

“Not an illusion. I entered his mind. That happened only as fast as Naruto’s thoughts.”

“You saw him?” Itachi asked.

“Sort of. I saw his shape made of . . . bubbles. I didn’t actually see him, but I spoke to him and saw his cage.”

“You mean the Kyuubi?” Sakura asked.

Sasuke nodded.

“What is he like?”

“Hard to describe. He tries to manipulate Naruto into letting him out. He’s defiantly evil.” But Sasuke remembered Kyuubi describing Sasuke’s chakra as sinister as his. And Madara’s. A chill ran down his spine. “I was able to suppress his chakra so that Naruto couldn’t use him to attack me.”

Itachi chuckled. “Ahh, I see. That’s why you were put on the same team. They were hoping you could learn to control Kyuubi within Naruto.”

This hadn’t occurred to Sasuke. “So that I could be his leash. Or his cage like I am with Juugo.”

“Brilliant. So they must have still believed it was father who summoned the Kyuubi.” Itachi’s expression grew meditative. Neither of the others spoke, not wanting to intrude on his thoughts. Itachi shot a quick glance at Sakura. He couldn’t say this in front of her.

“I can teach you to manipulate time better. Did Kakashi ever tell you about my Mangekyô?”

“Tsukuyomi? Seventy-two hours of whatever hell you wanted to give them.”

“You can even stretch every one of those seconds into minutes.”

“I can’t do that, though I’ve never used the Mangekyô.”

“Let me use the Sharingan to show you how to use Tsukuyomi; it’s faster than explaining it.”

“Alright.”

It was fast, as if nothing was done.

“Try it now, on me,” Itachi said. “If anything goes wrong, Sakura can channel her chakra into us.”

Sakura nodded.

“What should I project?”

“How about we see how much of your life since I left you can compress? I’d like to know.”

Sasuke gave him a wry smile. “Alright.”

“This may take several minutes,” Itachi told Sakura.

They sat across from each other, locked eyes, and froze, their breaths almost completely stilled. They sat like that for half an hour. Sakura wondered how long before she should stop it; Sasuke was projecting several years of information after all. As she debated this, both brothers gasped.

“If Orochimaru wasn’t dead, I’d gut him,” Itachi sneered once he got his breath.

“I never let him lay a finger on me though.”

“Still.” Itachi stretched his back. “That didn’t take too long considering how long the illusion was.”

“I suppose you could do better?”

“Probably, but not by much. For your first Tsukuyomi, that was excellent.”

“I’m a fast learner.”

“Let me show you how to manipulate time better.”

Sasuke was quiet for a few seconds. “Show me that night.”

“No.”

Sasuke just glared at him.

“This is supposed to be training.”

“I can learn during it. And I want to know. I showed you all that.”

Itachi glanced at Sakura and didn’t speak for some time. “I won’t just show you that night; I’ll show you everything.”

They locked eyes and immediately Sasuke tore his eyes away and covered his eyes. Sakura went to him, but Itachi caught her.

“Sakura,” Sasuke said with a cracked voice, “leave us.”

Sakura hesitated, but obeyed.

“I’ll kill them all,” Sasuke growled. “How dare they do that to you? Speak to you like that?”

“Danzo is evil, heartless, old bastard. The other two are far too . . . practical. The Third tried.”

“How can you be so calm about it? How can you not be filled with rage?”

“I didn’t show you all those years leading up to it and since, just the most direct things. It doesn’t bother me.”

“You always were the stoic one,” Sasuke laughed.

Itachi knelt next to him and pulled him into his arms. “Don’t obsess over it. We’ll kill Madara and Danzo. Leave those other two; they’re not worth the trouble to kill them.”

Sasuke wasn’t laughing anymore. He buried his face deeper in Itachi’s chest.

After a minute, Sasuke said, “It would make me feel better if you were angry.”

“I’m only angry that they didn’t take better care of you.”

Sasuke reluctantly pulled back. “What was it you couldn’t say in front of Sakura?”

“I remembered the night Kyuubi attacked the village. I was taking care of you because our parents were gone. I don’t remember why I was taking care of you alone. Madara sent the Kyuubi, but he wouldn’t warn our clan; he wanted us all dead. I don’t understand it. Unless they just knew, felt the Kyuubi’s chakra. But then why leave the two of us alone?”

Sasuke lay back. “I don’t know. I don’t want to think about it anymore.”

“I agree.”

“Itachi . . .” Sasuke started hesitantly.

“Yeah?”

Sasuke opened his mouth to speak but nothing came out. How could he tell Itachi what the Kyuubi had said about him? ‘Eyes with such power and chakra even more sinister than my own . . . Not at all unlike what I once saw in a certain Uchiha Madara.’ What would Itachi think of him?

“Nothing.”

Itachi wasn’t remotely convinced, but wouldn’t pry; he really didn’t how his brother would react to his prying. “Well, our eyes will adjust by just using them normally. We’ll continue to train our other skills, but nothing involving our aim. Our genjutsu seems to work fine. Let’s get out of here.”