one_long_mission | [open] a way to beat the cold

Needless to say, but that was the last thing Itachi expected! Thanks to Renji's interference, Itachi was able to dodge the kick at the expense of tumbling onto the floor.

"Ma..madara, What... What happened?" Itachi choked as he tried to avoid the strikes that kept coming. "He should have woken up by now... My genjutsu... not designed to do any real damage... I just... showed him... what he wanted to know, that's all!"

"Sure he's awake!" he yelled, completely maddened with rage. "And it's all your fault! I went to check on him and hear my mom screaming. I ran thinking something bad happened to him but--" and then, then, just the memory summoned the most pained expression on his face.

...along with a pattern unlike the usual sharingan.
"He killed her!" it happened such a short time ago too that it summoned fresh tears once more, and the boy tackled Itachi to the ground, wrapping small hands around the other's throat. "It's your fault!"
Thankfully, Renji was nearby and once again great help, tearing the boy off his patient... but then...
"Let go."
What Madara demands, Madara gets even more now, and Renji dropped him finally aware of those new, terrifying eyes.

"Gimee one reason not to kill you!" the boy nearly spat at Itachi.

The mangekyo...

He knew his clan history. Madara Uchiha was the first person to awaken the mangekyo sharingan. But... but how?!

The unspeakable answer came with hands around his throat. Madara was trained to kill. He was bred to fight. Itachi lost what breath he had left as his head slammed against the ground. Had Renji not broken the hold, he would have been unconscious after only a few more seconds. All he could do was cough, gag and gasp as the young boy demanded an excuse for continuing to live.

That, and activate mangekyo of his own.

"He wanted... to know... how I got... my eyes..." he finally forced words beyond a windpipe he was lucky wasn't broken. "I showed him... the pain... I went through... to... to discourage him... from wanting them..."

It was the truth, but it was truly pitiful truth. How badly had he misjudged the head of the Uchiha clan...

"I... never expected... th..that..."

"Pain? You showed him pain!?" Madara cried out in outrage. "I think you forgot we weren't brought up in feathers and cotton here!" pain was like some old friend, really. "Not like it even matters! My mom's dead... and now.. no.." now what?

..he wasn't sure, except for the fact he loathed this whole situation. "...head hurts." he muttered, looking away, eyes still red with the mangekyo.

The anomaly in Itachi's time was the reality of Madara's. He'd made a grave mistake. A very grave mistake indeed.

"I'm... I'm sorry... I'm sorry..." he bowed as he climbed to his feet. His body was still shaking as he backed toward the door, tripping over Renji. "I never... I never thought... something like that would happen... Or... or I would have just... let him kill me..."

"Stop. Renji pleaded, somehow breaking Itachi's fall even if he was pretty sure he he had twisted something himself while doing this.

He carefully lead Itachi to the bed before kneeling and hastily grabbing Madara. The child yelled and lashed out, fingers gouging the other's arms, but eventually after e had exteriorized all the madness, he ended up as a weeping mess. Renji gave a sigh. "Killing others.... isn't the way... particularly not when they are from the same clan. I... am tired... of seeing the lives I try to save all end up snuffed out."

Calming down one enraged, grieving Uchiha was difficult. Things were about to become impossible.

"Madara! Madara!!" Izuna's frantic voice called all over the settlement. When he finally heard the screams, he knew where his brother had gotten to, and crashed through the open door. "Mom! It's... Mom... she's... Father... I... he... he said he was trying to get the eyes and..."

Suddenly, Izuna froze. Both Itachi and Madara had unusual patterns in their sharingan. Unbeknownst to him, he had them too. And they fell right on Itachi's face.

"Senju-loving Traitor!! They sent you here to kill our family, didn't they?! Didn't they?!"

Kunai went flying all through the house before Izuna charged at Itachi with a wakizashi drawn.

Everything in Madara's world crumbled to dust when he heard his little brother's scream and saw him.

...and those eyes... such terrifying, grief-filled, enraged eyes.
Renji had no time to even scream before he went sliding to the floor, limbs finally freeing Madara, the medic unconscious on the floor.

Izuna's charge was halted, arms wrapping around him, his brother holding him against his body. "...Izuna..." his voice was broken. Uneven. Had Izuna also blamed their father? Who was the real culprit? Why was this nightmare happening? "I'm tired, Izuna." tears still ran from his eyes, most likely spilling onto the smaller boy. "What's a clan... when something like this happens?"

Izuna was struggling. In his grief and anger, he flailed his weapon with reckless abandon, even though there was nothing within striking range except the ground.

"Monster!!" He cried. "You monster! We should have left you at the river for Tobirama! Everything was fine until you showed up!! And then... And then..."

And then the boy broke. The sword fell from his hand and he clutched his older brother's shirt as though his life depended on it.

"We're not supposed to kill EACH OTHER! We're supposed to kill THEM!"

Itachi shuddered at what he'd brought to the past - this curse of hatred that turned husband against wife, brother against brother. Unparalleled power, but at an unspeakable price.

"I'm sorry..."

"Sorry's NOT GOOD ENOUGH!" Izuna screamed, harsher than any sword.

Itachi rose to his feet, putting a hand on Madara's head as he passed. "I know..."

He lifted the flap of the door, and went outside, looking for the man with blood on his hands. Tajima Uchiha... Where are you?

Madara couldn't take it.
He wanted peace... just to watch over his little brother. Now everything was falling apart.

Tajima was at his home, in his office. Ren had tried, meanwhile, to save the woman, but was met with failure. The man had suffered a stab wound and was certain that should his son have had enough chakra to use it, would have killed him with that magekyou. Madara had gone completely mad with grief, and Izuna had been quick to arrive upon the scene as well.
Everything was falling apart for him as well, with his sons in posession of something they were unable to fully use.
"You have tricked me." were the first words he offered to the fool once he set foot into the room, angry sharingan burning into their sockets. Soon, the entire clan would know what a fool their Head had been.

Izuna fell to his knees, crying. He was so distraught, he didn't even notice that he had pierced Renji with one of his kunai. Fortunately, it wasn't a fatal wound, and it paled in comparison with what Madara had accidentally done with his new eyes.

Itachi, meanwhile, was standing face to face with the head of the clan. Even though he ought to choose his words carefully, given that they were probably the last thing he would ever say, he couldn't stop himself. He simply couldn't hold back.

"I didn't trick you... You saw what you... wanted to see. You saw power... I tried to show you the pain... the terrible, terrible cost of that power... The grief, the guilt, the agony... and you... You saw it as a set of instructions!!" He hissed, shaking with rage as much as he was with sickness. "Had I known... had I understood what lengths you'd go to... I... I would have let you kill me... and taken the secrets of these... these eyes to my grave! The... The power your boys gained... was not... worth the cost... of their mother!!"

Renji was still breathing, but for now was unmoving.
Madara could feel his eyes burning with something unknown. He had never felt anything as powerful before and it scared him. "Izuna... you're the only one that ever mattered to me." he held his brother tightly, shaking with sobs himself. They were both probably trying to pick up their mutual pieces in the wake of this unforeseeable tragedy. How much he wished to turn back time...

"Then your instructions were not specific enough and failed to provide me with what I desired." Tajima's eyes narrowed, no regret behind them. "Grief? Guilt? Agony? Laughable. Should it protect my clan, I will gladly take them in exchange for power." but in this case, the exchange went wrong, and both his boys were a broken mess. "They are now in possession of a weapon they cannot use, much like a wooden sword instead of a katana."

"They were... never... instructions at all!" he shouted through a raw throat and painful, labored breaths. "They will never... never be able to unsee what you did... or wash the blood... from their hands... Even... even as their light fades..."

Had Tajima even noticed the unfocused way Itachi's eyes never quite met his, even when the mangekyo were active? He was going blind. That incredible power had already started to cut itself off, and there would come a point where it would cut itself off entirely.

"You should PRAY they don't... ever... use this against the Senju... A petty war... a useless descendent of a feud never should have begun... It isn't worth what it will do to them in return."

Izuna's tear-filled eyes had faded back to sharingan and back again to normal. So brave in battle, and yet, all he could say now was "I want mother back... Bring her back, Maddy... Bring her back..." over and over again.

"You speak in constant riddles, fool!" Tajima scowled. it angered him. This man seemed to know more than he hinted at.
"Why should I pray they not use this against the Senju? They are our most dangerous enemies." the more he listened, the less he liked it.

Madara sniffled, holding onto his brother as if he as his anchor to reality, as if he would slip into an even worse nightmare if he let go. He had not noticed his arm's wound had reopened, and possibly would not care for this tiny prickle of pain compared to his breaking heart.
"I... Izuna... I just..." he could not even admit that it was impossible for him.

Was there a way? Could he... somehow...? He wanted his little brother to stop hurting....

"Do you not even know... the history of our clan? The reason... Uchiha have ocular jutsu? The... the Senju were once... our brothers. We are both... descendants of the Sage of Six Paths... We should align with them, build a... a peaceful village, stop the needless death... before it wipes us out first!"

It seemed counterintuitive. But Itachi was clearly putting everything he had into his assertion. In between words, he was wheezing, gasping for breath. His throat was raw, and he started coughing.

"Look... look at my eyes..." He hissed, and quickly added, "at them, not into them... The greater the... the power... The sooner... it cuts itself off. Ten years... Not even ten years... using these eyes as little as possible... My vision... is almost gone..."

He could only imagine how quickly Madara or Izuna's eyesight would go, if they were encouraged to use these new weapons in battle. It could be over in a year, maybe far less. Itachi, after all, had the benefit of knowing what these Uchiha didn't.

"And the... the truly powerful... techniques... Cause instant blindness..." He continued. "The more powerful Uchiha become... the faster... we destroy ourselves!!"

"I know the history of MY clan. The Senju are not to be allied with, but destroyed. We will stand atop as we were meant to. We are the ones with visual prowess and yet the keep clashing against us." however, despite not having any sharingan, the Senju have also yet to be the first to retreat...

"A weapon with a price attached." now, he was enraged. "My sons are supposed to outlast me!" Things were indeed falling apart for him, and now he had no wife.
He still stubbornly rejected all blame. "You stated earlier that you should have let me kill you. I may go through with it now." what else had he to lose? What else? The damage could not be undone.

"Izuna..." Madara shuddered. He had just thought of something. It was the next best thing... next to that option he thought of. "Mama's gone.. but... maybe... maybe I can do something... and let you se her..."
After all, if the sharingan could make illusions, this more powerful one.. he could use it, and have his brother forever believe their mother was right here. Izuna would never be sad.

Izuna knew there was no such jutsu to revive the dead. (In the future, there would be one, but the young Tobirama had yet to grow up and invent it yet.) But he was desperate, as any child would be.

"I want to see her, Maddy. I want to hear her sing. And feel her hug me..."

He didn't care if it was a genjutsu. He knew it was going to be a genjutsu. He just wanted it so badly...

Itachi scowled. He cringed at what might happen if he told the man the other secret of those eyes - how to make the powers permanent. Would Tajima pit brother against brother? Would he declare one the heir and one the spare? Better to have two blind sons than one dead at the other's hand.

"You have the power... to decide that the life of your sons... is more important than that of your enemies." He boldly shouted, before coughing heavily. "It's up to you... what you do with it!"

He loved his little brother more than anything... more than anyone. Right now, only Izuna's pain mattered. The clan? The wars? No. None of that mattered. He had the power... to dry those tears that streamed down his brother's face, to bring him a smile again.

Mangekyo sharingan stared into foggy, watery black orbs... and Madara felt an unbearable jolt even as he triggered the illusion before slowly sinking onto his brother, eyes fading back into pools of polished onyx as they closed, as if he merely fell asleep, passing out even as he held onto his brother.
And to Izuna, a familiar song.. a familiar voice and sight and touch came as their mother embraced the two of them, singing a lullaby...

Tajima gave a scowl.
There was a valid point.
He had only two sons, and yet enemies were numerous...

"If this is as such..." but no. No. Even if only one survived, what guarantee did he have that all his enemies would be brought down before they also met their end?

"...and so you would suggest peace as an option? The Senju may very well stab our backs the moment they are turned!"

Izuna's body fell slack in Madara's arms, passing out just like Tajima did when Itachi used his genjutsu. But at least he had a smile on his face.

"Someone... has to take the first step..." Itachi insisted. "Your oldest son... Madara... The Senju's oldest boy, Hashirama... They already have. And one day... they'll sign a treaty. They'll make a village. They'll..."

Itachi doubled over, coughing until blood shot through his fingers.

"They'll... ch..change the ninja world..."

At least, he prayed that would still happen. As it was, he may have rewritten history in ways he couldn't possibly imagine.

"And maybe someday... someday... no one will ever... ever... have to kill their brother... again..."

Madara gave a light whimper, the last string of consciousness he held on slipping, able to at least see the smile for a fraction of second even as he felt a thick liquid slide down his cheek from his eye, too thick for tears.

tajima took a step back. Was he hearing all this right? A treaty? Peace? With the Senju? How dare he?
..but a village? Peace? This made no sense. This was impossible, this...

"How do you know the future?" This had to be it, right? The future he spoke of, however, who knew if his actions had not altered it?
This was a dream, right?

It wasn't long before there was a pile of unconscious Uchiha in that hut...

The one thing Itachi hadn't wanted to admit was coming back to haunt him. There was only one thing he could possibly say to Tajima now, and he did it with tremendous hesitation.

"When I came to the settlement... I said I didn't know how to get home..." He sighed, holding onto that desk for support. His voice was soft, growing softer still. "My home... is less of a where... and more of a when..."

"Less of a where... more of a when." the other repeated, red sharingan ever watching. He definitely loved to speak in constant riddles.

"If someone speaks clearly, less time is wasted trying to understand. I was never known for my patience." he hissed. "It would be best if you explained everything clearly."

Itachi's eyes lowered.

"You... your sons... you're my ancestors." he admitted weakly. "I come from a village called Konohagakure, which was started... by your eldest son and the Senju boy, Hashirama. It's the senju boy's granddaughter... now well into her later years, that leads the village in my time."

He left the painful details out, not wanting to mar the image of a peaceful future with distrust, hate and a bloody massacre that left the Uchiha clan with only a couple remaining survivors. It was bad enough that he presented himself so sickly and weak. If that's what peace did to its shinobi, this man would scoff for sure.

"Somehow... And I don't know how... I ended up here... And I fear at this point... I've destroyed whatever future I may one day be allowed to return to."

Itachi, however, was not the one responsible for destroying what future may have been.
The one responsible was currently muttering about the impossibility of this, strings of words too fast to be made out in any way as he went to the wall that was covered with books and scrolls, pulling some out to look at the in all haste.

He was looking for any recorded attempts, but it was to no availé. After all, should events have been changed, nothing would remain of what had been before.
But just how could he turn back time like this? If there was a way... if only there was.
His sons did not deserve what he had inflicted on them.

Recorded attempts at a peaceful village? It had never before been tried.
Recorded attempts at time travel jutsu? Even in the future, no one had any clue how that worked. Which was made Itachi's presence here quite the mystery.

Itachi let out a long sigh, bracketed by heavy coughing.

"In what time I am here... I will try to teach them... what it means to respect the power granted an Uchiha..." The brothers, perhaps, he could trust with knowledge of the eternal mangekyo sharingan, They cared deeply about each other, and he already knew Madara cared deeply about the future. "Put some of their future... back together..."

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