"From now on, you may be forced to walk down a long, dark path that is filled with pain and suffering. I have to apologise. Itsuho, I am sorry; elder brother can't accompany you anymore..."
He caressed her head as he tried to take her despair away.
"And sorry, Itachi, that I can't be with you two through it all. Still, I hope you don't falter from your path and keep moving forward as a leaf ninja. I believe in you two. That is also the reason to ask you two to carry my will and the Mangekyou." He took a deep breath and sighed.
"Big brother, please don't give me that look. Please, I don't wanna go through that torture again...please don't I beg of you...."
Itsuho looked at him with pleading eyes, but he couldn't see his sister, who always had an emotionless look or an empty smile, now looking at him with a different expression that she only showed years before. Even though he couldn't see it, it made his mindset falter, but he held back.
"You will be fine, sister. Aren't you the strongest? I'll always be in there no matter what," he pointed at her heart as her eyes widened and she froze.
*You knew....*
"Thank you...for everything. I guess this is the end of the road for me. But this will pave a new way for you and give you new power. Well, Itsuho, Itachi....now the time has come.....make a new way for yourself with your own hands. You two can do it. I believe in you guys...."
When he said that, Itsuho started to remember the whole time she lived with her twin.
How their parents died at the age of four. How they had to take care of themselves.
When they were kids, how Shisui always protected her from everything.
How they pranked Itachi, how they fought alongside him in the Third Great Ninja War, how they trained together... all started to appear in front of her eyes.
Using that chance, Shisui gave her a push.
"Curse technique, self-curse"
Itsuho's eyes widened as she felt her moves get restricted.
"Shisui no!!!!!"
"This time I won, my little sister. I knew you wouldn't let me go that easily. You shouldn't underestimate me that much, sister. You are always too naive when it comes to us." Shisui gently laughed in satisfaction.
"See you, friend... I'll leave the rest... to both of you. Itachi, don't try to stop me if you are my friend" he pulled himself away from her embrace and started to fall from the cliff as she screamed and trembled with a heart-wrenching cry.
"Shisui!"
It was her twin, her other half; he died in front of her. She felt the whole sky fall as, unconsciously, her Sharingan emerged and started to connect the three tomoe as they started to spin fast.
Soon, a black triangular circle pattern appeared in her red Sharingan while blood started to drip down from both eyes.
"Shisui!..... Why!!..... Why you too!! AHHHH~~~"
Tears also came with blood, but she suppressed the sob as Itachi undid the curse. His Sharingan changed into a new pattern, awakening the Mangekyou Sharingan.
She collapsed on the ground as her eyes searched everywhere below the cliff as she tried to find any trace of her brother, as she felt he was just pranking them for a moment, and she waited for his sound to emerge.
But it was just the sound of the water hitting the cliff bottom...
There is no trace of her dear brother except the darkness that consumed the Naka River below the cliff.
She clenched the soil in her hands as she tried to stop the emotions that were coming to her.
"Sister Itsuho....." Itachi crouched down and looked at her with concern and uneasiness.
She slowly raised her head and looked at his curvy triangle pattern while pulling him into her embrace as she closed her eyes as silence wrapped around them.
"What are you going to do now, Itachi?" She asked after breaking the deadly silence among them as her eyes went dull for a moment.
"I'll carry his will. I'll move forward while believing in the path I choose for myself. I will make sure his will leads the village to a better future. It will save my younger brother and the Uchiha and you. For that...I will walk in darkness with these eyes..." Itachi looked at the Uchiha compound.
"Itachi, I am sorry....." She gently pressed his head to her shoulder.
"For what, sister Itsuho?" He tried to raise his head, but her hand pressed the back of his head.
"Never mind, let's do it your way then, little brother. Since he wants to protect and stop war, let's protect this damn place," she chuckled, but it didn't contain any happiness or any emotions, just... emptiness.
The scenario started to fade as pain started to overwhelm her. She looked around with her mind's eye to sense someone. But there wasn't anyone, as she took a deep breath and closed her eyeless sockets.
'I have seen them again. How are you doing, Itachi?'
Her mind wandered to one of her brothers while continuing to sink in the nutrition solution cylinder that those root researchers put her in.
It's been more than two years since the Uchiha massacre. Itachi was forced to exterminate radicals in his own clan due to Danzo's blackmail.
Taking advantage of that, Danzo and a few other unknown enemies killed the entire clan, leaving his younger brother, Sasuke Uchiha, as the only survivor, while she was tortured in one of the foundation labs in Konoha for more than two years.
The only thing keeping her sanity is the traces of her deceased older brother that are left in her mind: Itachi's sacrifice for the Leaf Village, Sasuke, and her guardians' little child who is the same age as Sasuke.....Naruto.
In these three years, she didn't just lie in here and wait for her own demise. She was tracing the whole underground with her tracking technique she created in these two years for solutions to her blindness, while using the little amount of chakra that she was only able to use since her chakra was restrained by a special type of seal on the nutrition pool.
Today she couldn't find any clue of Danzo as she traced deeper into the underground facility. She found her own eyes in front of the container next to her.
She felt it was Danzo's way to mock her as her lips curved upwards with an unknown emotion. She sensed another group of containers, as she felt many eyes as she gritted her face became more and more indifferent, but the aura around her became more suffocating if there was anyone nearby.
Itsuho tried to go upwards as soon as she took off her ventilator in the glass cylinder that she was placed in.
Pushing the cap off, while taking a huge electrical shock, she managed to come out.
Soon she started to feel a familiar sensation of power as she regained her ability to use her chakra again.
'So actually you want me to die inside it, but you're really underestimating your own lab rat Danzo'
She traced the seal on the cylinder as she felt the soul deattachment seal on it.
'But don't worry, I might be able to repay this very sooner'
Soon, a sinister chuckle escaped from her lips.