Tears

Elsewhere in the forest.

Two figures raced through the dense woods beneath the stars, one pursuing the other. Bathed in cold moonlight, they bounded between the trees at a speed even an ordinary jonin would struggle to match.

Eventually, the one in front stopped.

He stood on a thick branch, breathing a little heavily, holding a restless child of five or six. His gaze remained on the prey who had followed him all this way.

It was Orochimaru, carrying the Sasuke Uchiha he had abducted from the clan compound.

A few breaths later, his pursuer landed in the crown of another tree and looked down at him and his hostage.

Itachi Uchiha had caught up.

His perch was much higher than Orochimaru's branch, and the bright full moon shone behind him. From where Orochimaru stood, Itachi seemed to stand within the moon itself, distant and untouchable.

Orochimaru frowned instinctively.

He disliked that impression intensely. But he still held the advantage. The nearly perfect body before him would soon belong to him. Suppressing his irritation, he smiled. "I'll give you this: you have nerve. Following me alone... Do you really think you can win?"

Itachi drew a kunai and held it across his body. "I'll find out."

Orochimaru gripped Sasuke's neck, his long nails digging into the flesh. Then he licked his lips and gave Itachi a sly smile. "My terms are simple. Hand over Homura Uchiha, and I might even let both of you go."

'You just want Senior Homura's Mangekyo Sharingan.'

Itachi silently scoffed.

He possessed the same arrogance as other Uchiha; he simply concealed it more deeply. In the original course of events, his decision to help the village wipe out his rebellious clan had been born of desperation. Yet he had also placed himself in the role of judge, using his own values to pass sentence on those who disagreed with him. That, too, was arrogance, though of a different kind.

Orochimaru's slit pupils abruptly contracted.

Itachi's brief lapse in composure had revealed something important: he did know Homura Uchiha. Or, at the very least, a gifted young Uchiha woman by that name really existed.

Orochimaru's tone hardened. "Bring me Homura Uchiha. Otherwise, your precious little brother will be rotting meat in a snake's belly!"

His hand slowly tightened around Sasuke's throat.

"Urgh..."

Unable to breathe, Sasuke began struggling in pain. He beat desperately at the hand around his neck, but accomplished nothing.

His face reddened. His feet kicked wildly, growing weaker.

Watching him, Itachi felt as though his own throat were being crushed. His heart pounded, and a sensation he could not describe consumed him.

For Itachi, his family and friends were the one boundary no one could cross.

And Sasuke was the most vulnerable part of him, protected even within that boundary. Not merely untouchable, but something he could not bear to leave exposed to anyone at all.

Had Naoki been there, he would certainly have remarked that Orochimaru was asking to get himself killed.

Orochimaru sensed that something had changed. Before he could react, however, Itachi flickered directly in front of him.

He tensed and began to retreat.

He had already tested Itachi's maximum speed during their earlier fight. The boy could not move this fast. That left only one explanation: genjutsu was distorting his senses.

Whoosh!

Orochimaru was still one of the Sannin. Despite the momentary interference, he reacted in time and used the Body Flicker Technique to retreat to another tree.

"Your ocular power is this strong?"

His earlier ease was gone. Now he looked serious.

Hiruko's genjutsu had subdued him not long ago. He knew that with enough ocular power behind it, even a three-tomoe Sharingan could cast illusions he would struggle to resist.

He was no fool. By now, he had realized that Living Corpse Reincarnation left his soul increasingly muddled, weakening his resistance to genjutsu. That was precisely why he was so determined to acquire an Uchiha body. With a Sharingan of his own, his resistance would improve considerably.

Then this weakness would scarcely matter.

But Itachi was no longer looking at him. Instead, he called toward a tree behind him. "Sasuke, run! I'll hold him off!"

"Okay..."

A small child's voice came from behind the distant tree.

Orochimaru frowned and looked at the Sasuke in his grasp.

Caw! Caw! Caw!

The moment he looked down, the boy burst into countless crows that scattered into the air.

"A Substitution Technique?!" Orochimaru stared, then scowled. "You managed that right under my nose. Itachi, you've made me even more interested in you!"

...

Sasuke ran as hard as he could.

His fear and panic while in Orochimaru's grasp had left him completely disoriented. He had no idea which way led to the village. All he could do was grit his teeth and put as much distance as possible between himself and Orochimaru.

Thump!

He collided with something and landed on his backside.

"Huh? It's you, the stuck-up one!"

Sasuke rubbed his forehead. Before he could see what he had hit, he heard the familiar voice. "You? What are you doing here?"

He had run into Naruto, who had only just been rescued by Shisui. With his hands clasped behind his head, Naruto replied casually, "I don't know. Someone just brought me out here. Hey, why are you crying? Did someone pick on you?"

Sasuke jolted and turned away, wiping his tear-streaked face. "N-no! I wasn't crying! It's too dark. You couldn't see properly!"

Naruto circled around him, crouched, and peered closely at his face. "You were too crying!"

Sasuke flushed. "D-don't tell anyone..."