Crow's feathers - Naruto fanfiction

Chapter 40 Illusion

Madara inwardly smirked as he watched the confusion on Sasuke’s face. He had the boy right where he wanted him. And there was no Itachi to stop him. Even Taryn hadn’t gotten in his way. Things were turning out perfectly. He slowly lowered his mask… And Sasuke’s Sharingan activated on its own. When Madara saw the form it took, he gasped. ‘No way,’ he thought. He ducked right before Amaterasu could hit him. He dropped his mask and retreated in the shadows. The back flames had scraped his right arm and he groaned in pain.
           In the bed, Sasuke grabbed for his eyes. He panted. Slowly his Sharingan retreated until it had turned back to his normal eye. “What… was that?” He glanced at the shadows.      

          “That was Amaterasu, which Itachi seems to have implanted in you,” Madara’s voice returned and he stepped back into view. His mask was back on. “Leave it to Itachi to set a post-mortem trap. I can’t believe how well he plans ahead.”
Sasuke narrowed his eyes in suspicion. “What are you talking about?”
       “In order to kill me,” Madara said, “Itachi planted a jutsu in you… or at least to keep me away from you. He probably set it so that the Amaterasu would automatically activate when you saw my Sharingan.” He paused a moment. It was a good thing that Itachi hadn’t know everything about him or he would have been dead. “So that was Itachi’s last trick huh. Too bad it didn’t work.”
“What are you talking about?” Sasuke asked still confused.
“Itachi must have done something to you before he died… At the very end he transferred his own ocular power to you.”
“What are you saying?” Sasuke asked, “what is your point? Why would Itachi do such a thing?”
 “Don’t you get it?” Madara asked, “it was to protect you.”
         Sasuke could only stare. For a moment he was completely stunned. “Protect? Protect me? Are you kidding?”
“I repeat,” Madara said calmly, “you do not know everything about your brother.”
       “You’re lying,” Sasuke said, “I’ll kill you.”
“You’re not making this easy are you? Understandable. You don’t trust me. You don’t know me. But hat I’m about to tell you is the truth. Itachi did mention it, did he not? He was not alone that night? I am Uchiha Madara.”
      Sasuke’s eyes widened. Madara continued unfazed. “I know everything about Itachi… even Itachi himself did not know I knew so much.”
Sasuke’s hand grabbed the blanket tightly. “Shut up!” he shouted, “none of that matters! Get out of here!”
       “No,” Madara said firmly, “you’re going to listen to me. You must hear me out. It is your obligation! For it is about the life of your brother, Uchiha Itachi… who risked everything for the shinobi world, for Konoha and most of all for you! His little brother!”

***

Taryn stood at her window and stared out over the village. As she had done me so many times before. Her fingers played with the necklace that had belonged to Itachi once and was now tied around her own neck. She wished he was here. She sighed. In the village, everyone treated her like she was something fragile. As if she could break down any minute. The words she had shouted at Kakashi still burned in her mind. At that time she had meant them. Taryn narrowed her eyes. ‘Konoha…’ That village only brought misery. She wished she had never set foot there. No, that was not true. Taryn closed her eyes. She still had trouble accepting the truth. Worst of all was that the Third Hokage had known all about it. She had trusted Sarutobi. She had believed him to be a better man than her father. He had used Itachi. Had he used her too? Of course he had. Had he laughed behind her back when she came back to Konoha? Because of her ignorance? But he had taken care of her too.

“No matter what path you choose.. never forget to protect those that are precious you.”

She had believed he was talking about her at the time, but perhaps he had been talking about Itachi too. He had promised to protect Sasuke after all. ‘Sasuke.’  She wondered what he would make of all of this.

“He must never learn the truth. Promise me Taryn that you’ll never tell him.”