Dark Truths Undiscovered

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of it's characters. Nor do I own the songs used within.

A/N: I'm sorry this is so short, I just wanted to get an update up for you guys soon. I have much more written that I am editing at the moment. Thanks so much for the reviews, they really make my day. Heads up, there are a few plot twists coming up and I'm sure you may grumble over a few of them, stick with me, I promise it will work out in the end :) Again, thanks so much.

~
Sasuke stared at the medical specialist.

“You’re serious” he said.

Kabuto had told him the rumor of the scroll of unsealing shortly after he had mentioned his plans for Sakura.

Sasuke had of course been skeptical, “This scroll can remove the seal?” he asked.

The silver haired shinobi nodded, “Yes. That’s what they say.”

Sasuke had grunted, “And you would want this why? It would put an end to your little dreams of giving Orochimaru my body.”

Kabuto shrugged, “Sasuke-sama, I am loyal to his ideals not to the man himself. You are the carrier of that ideal now. Besides I happen to like your body just as it is.”

Dark eyes narrowed on his face. “Don’t start that with me” he muttered, turning away again. He had known for quite some time that the silver haired medic held an attraction for him, an affection even.

It wasn’t too surprising considering that there were actually relatively few females on Sound, that were attractive enough to bed and soft enough to let you. Besides, Uchihas were nothing if not beautiful.

It didn’t bother him so long as Kabuto refrained from pursuing him too actively. Hell, it was even helpful at times. Like now.

“You haven’t told me everything about the cursed seal have you?” he asked.

The medic looked away across the distance, “No” he admitted softly, “Mainly because there are many facets of it that remain mysteries even to me. The scroll will clear those up, or at least point me in the right direction.”

Sasuke sighed, troublesome. All of it. He didn’t want to venture into the far northern sea to find the scroll, but then he didn’t want to remain as he was. Not really. Of course there was always Sakura to capture. Kabuto assured him that Akatsuki was also seeking the scroll. Being hidden as it was, they would either need the Byakagun or the clever eyes of an Uchiha.

“Go and book passage on a ship to take us there then” he commanded.

~

Sakura sat in the lab, pouring over the blood samples Itachi had acquired. She sat back from the microscope, brows furrowed. With impatient hands she pulled her notebook closer, comparing her detailed notes. She’d also examined samples of Itachi’s, Deidara’s and Sasori’s blood.

She threaded a hand through her hair, “Shit.”

“What is it Sakura hmm?” Deidara asked from the door and she looked up at him, tossing her brush aside. The ink spattered unmarred papers and she slunk low in the seat.

“The cursed seal.” she said after a long silence, “You had better sit down this might take a while.”

Two hours later Deidara was pale, “You mean the seal is a disease? Not just a contaminant?”

She nodded, steepling her fingers before her face, “Exactly, it affects the blood, causes changes, mutations if you will. Mutations that can be controlled to a certain point with chakra flow. However, once they reach this stage here, the odds are not in their favor”. She tapped a long fingernail against the notes, indicating the third phase of transformation.

Deidara’s teal eye narrowed on the documents, “This here” he said pointing himself, “This is not good yeah?”

Sakura’s eyes moved to follow and she sucked in a breath. “Not good at all” she told him, there was no easy way of saying some things, “The seal, the disease, over time wears down the blood of the host. If left unchecked, the person sealed will likely die. That is why there are no older shinobi in Sound who are marked.

This is why Orochimaru experimented on children, they are still growing, developing, if introduced early enough, it might not have such terrible side effects.” She slid her hand over the pages, her eyes darkening, “But Sasuke….. I don’t think he was young enough.”

Deidara shook his head, “But with the scroll you can unseal him yeah?”.

She shrugged, “That’s what you guys tell me, but even if I unseal him, his body has still be damaged by the seal. He would need extensive treatment, even though to the rest of the world he would seem to be the furthest thing from sick. Plus the removal of the cursed seal will be dangerous as well.”

Deidara left her sometime later, she supposed he was reporting her finds to the Akatsuki leader.

That was fine.

She kept her head bent for long hours, working feverishly and then she suddenly stopped. Her green eyes wide as she considered what she had just found.

In Itachi’s blood.

A flood of chakra moved into the room and the lights went out, save the glow of her instruments.

The leader had arrived.

“You know don’t you?” she asked, “About Itachi.”

He was silent, a powerful presence at her back. She turned to face the spiky haired shadow, red eyes gleaming at her. But she didn't fear him. Something about him soothed her.

He moved to sit opposite of her and the light returned. She blinked. Blonde hair, blue eyes that mesmerized you on contact.

“Close your mouth Sakura” he teased gently, “Now that you have seen my secret, I suppose it’s time to tell you his. The reason I requested you be brought here.”

She sat back, silent. Waiting.

“Bloodline limits are strange things” he began, “Unless you have it, study it, record every detail much remains a mystery. The Uchiha are no different. However they have an offshoot of that limit, an increase, a defect really. Rare. Rare and powerful. Only two Uchiha ever born have ever successfully awakened and used it. Madara and Itachi. Sasuke, from what Itachi tells me, also has this ability.

He would know. The trouble with such things is when they are so rare, not much is said about them. Did you know that shortly after he awakened his Mangekyo Sharingan, that Madara Uchiha slew his first wife?”

She shook her head and he nodded, “Not because he wished to, but because the pain of the Mangekyo nearly drove him mad. It is difficult to control, only those with razor wills can do so. Itachi is my finest fighter, my most powerful weapon. However, such a thing has it’s price. The price you see in the blood before you. We began to study it carefully when his vision began to fade.”

Sakura’s gaze flickered between the haunting blue to the small vial on the table.HIs fading vision. The reason he missed the small scale, the thing that Deidara had eluded too. When she lifted her eyes to him, they were moist.

“That can’t be” she whispered, “He’s so strong.”

The head of Akatsuki looked saddened for a moment, “Be that as it may. Uchiha Itachi is dying. His Mangekyo Sharingan is slowly killing him.”

He sat watching the play of emotions over the woman’s face. He knew what she was thinking, she hid nothing from him. She was trying to discern a lie, but there was none.

She was trying to imagine a cure, but there was none. She tried to picture a world without Itachi and found it lacking.

“Is.. Is this why he killed his family?” she asked in a small voice.

The tall man leaned back in his seat, “Wasn’t the work of a mad man” he told her.

She arched a pink brow but he went on, “Not a mad man. An ordered man.”

So began the long hidden tale of the true fall of the Uchiha. A tale of bitterness and jealousy and plots.

“ANBU” he said at last, “They were the ones who were ordered to see to the mission. Uchihas had always been the pride of Konoha, established the police force. They held sway. Itachi loved the Hokage, was more faithful to him than any have ever believed.

Many of the Uchiha’s plotted to take control of Konoha. Itachi discovered this plan and reported it to his ANBU commander. The plot never reached the ears of the hokage, instead, corrupt ANBU decided to eliminate the threat of the Uchiha. They moved into the Uchiha quarter and slaughtered all they found.

Young Sasuke was not to be spared, but Itachi refused to allow him to be slain, he was only a child.

So a deal was struck, Itachi would slay his parents in front of the boy, make his sibling believe that he alone had committed the act and then he would vanish. Sasuke would be left alive and raised in the village and the corrupt commander would retire.

He could not bring his young brother with him, and he could not leave his brother to hate the village.

So he made him believe it. Even after he fought Sasuke at the Inn. He wanted his brother to hate what he had become to see nothing more than a monster and wish to be as different from him as possible.”

Sakura put her hand down, she’d covered her mouth with it.

“But Sasuke didn’t” she whispered.

The leader shrugged, “Seems lust for power runs in that line.” he murmured. He studied her carefully, “Now that you know what will you do?” he asked.

She shrugged, “You want to know if I can save him don’t you?” she asked.

He shook his head, “I know that you can’t. I doubt that even Tsunade could do such a thing. He has known for a long time now Sakura. He has accepted it and I think that it’s one of the reasons he drives Sasuke so hard. He would rather die fighting than weak and cold in a bed. Sightless. Useless.”

She blinked rapidly to dispel her tears, “All this time” she whispered, “They have thought that Itachi was cold and ruthless”.

The leader grunted, “Oh he is Sakura”. His blue eyes lit with a nearly searing fire.

She waved her hand, “No! They call him the killer of Konoha. They whisper about him like he is some monster, and he isn’t!”

The leader rose from his seat, “Now that you have the information Sakura” he asked again, “What will you do? Will you return to the village and tell them? Will that do any good?”

She shook her head, “No, it won’t. Not now, but the guilty have to be punished.”

The leader smiled cryptically, “There were only seven and believe me, they have been.”

She chewed her lip, “And Sasuke doesn’t know! I have to tell him somehow!”

Again the leader spoke up, “He’s been living this long for revenge. What will happen if you take that away?”

Sakura was heartless, “I don’t give a damn. He can find some other reason to go on. Like the rest of us.”

He smiled and then threw back his head and laughed, rising, leaving her alone.

Deidara came to her a few minutes later, “You should rest” he told her, “It’s only been five days since I had to treat you yeah.”


She spun to face him. “We have to go” she told him. “We have to go now.”

He blinked as she rushed past him to her room. He watched as she frantically tucked weapons into place, and pulled on the long robe. “Can you keep that bird up for any length of time?” she asked.

The blonde genius blinked again, “What the hell are you talking about hmm?”.

She grabbed his ear as she marched past him into the hall and out the door.

“We are going to find Itachi.”

The blonde genius hurrying after sputtering a hundred reasons why she mustn’t follow. Several members poking their heads into the hall to follow the progress of the argument.

“You’ve been sick, hmm.”
“I’m better.”
“You need time to heal.”
“Already have.”
“This is a very bad idea hmm.”
“The best kind.”
“He said you have to wait here.”
“Not my boss.”
“He’s gonna be pissed, yeah!”
“Probably.”
“He’s gonna kill you yeah!”
“Doubtful.”
“He gonna kill me hmmm!”
“Sucks to be you.”

~
Itachi hated ships, though they were a much needed evil when one lived on an island. They were so confining. They would, with all luck be reaching the main sea port in the north by morning. It seemed ages ago that he had left the hideout.

Sakura would be up by now, probably demanding that Deidara train with her, or going over the samples from Sound. She had enough to keep her busy he supposed.

It was his own lack of activity that weighed on him. With nothing more to do that stare at the endless dark gray seas, and the passing caps of white, his thoughts returned to her over and over again.

And to Sasuke, who was currently sailing these very waters bound for the same destination.

Would this be the final battlefield? The unforgiving north?

It was fitting in a way, for they were both as cold as the snows around them. So cut off and out of touch from others that they could hardly stand human warmth anymore. At least he hadn’t thought so.

He’d also felt the signature of the Kyuubi closing in as he had boarded the ship. The future Hokage was a clever man and obviously quick on his feet. Itachi supposed it would irritate him greatly to come all this way and discover that Sakura was nowhere nearby. No matter.

~

Deidara cursed the woman sitting behind him loudly for the hundredth time in a week. They had, of course, been too late to catch the ship Itachi had sailed on. They had flown to the port town in time to hear the gossip of the handsome men who had recently passed through.

Two matching the descriptions of the Uchiha siblings and the others matching her comrades from Konoha.

“Now we go back yeah?” Deidara had demanded.

Sakura fixed him with a sharp green glare, “Too weak to fly again?”

The blonde eyed her critically, "You want to play cat and mouse over the sea now hmm?" he asked, stepping closer to her in hopes of intimidating her.

He should have known better, she didn't fear the Uchiha... she sure as hell wouldn't fear him.

She stepped forward too, leaning up to kiss his cheek and tweak his nose. His eyes snapped wide,

"Christ Sakura!" he cried out with a blush and rubbed his nose, "You are so weird yeah. Fine, fine, lets go."