39. Itachi's Request

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...

Naruto was reading the documents from Kushina's health analysis. There was nothing particular there; her body was weakened and in a subfebrile state, trying to fight off an illness that didn't seem to exist at first glance. Kushina had been examined by Tsunade and someone from the Hyuga Clan with their Byakugan, but they found nothing. No Chakra Worms or anything strange or abnormal. Every cell in her body had been scanned, and there were no malfunctions.

There was also no apparent cause for her condition. Actually, nothing was known except that her Life Force was diminishing. The only symptom of the disease was the purple spots resembling burns, infections, or an allergy to something.

Naruto truly felt immense headache contemplating this. Had the Heavens truly cursed them...? Maybe something would also happen to Himiko...? Out of paranoia, Naruto thoroughly examined her condition and had Tsunade check her, but fortunately, there was nothing wrong with her.

However, if they didn't discover the cause of Kushina's illness soon, she would eventually slip into a coma, and they would lose contact with her.

Naruto set aside all other plans he had and delved into searching for issues in her body. He couldn't do much more than Tsunade himself, so he tried to help her as much as he could.

Thus, two weeks passed, during which Naruto barely devoted three hours a day to sleep. He couldn't sleep longer due to the pressure weighing on him.

Finally, they managed to confirm something: Kushina's illness had nothing to do with the Nine-Tails. Naruto's speculations were wrong. Tsunade had examined her condition long ago after the extraction of the Nine-Tails from the seal and neutralized any effects that could have occurred, except for the reduced Chakra and Life Force, over which she had no control.

So, if it wasn't because of the extraction of the Nine-Tails from the seal, then what could have caused this illness? After all, nothing just happens; there must be a cause...?

Days flew by for Naruto, too quickly. He felt that time was slipping away from him faster and faster, and he couldn't do anything about it. He felt very lost and annoyed because they hadn't discovered anything concrete that caused this strange illness. Naruto felt that it would even be easier to cure himself than his Ka-chan.

Itachi interrupted his gloomy routine, finally sending him a message through a summoning crow about a meeting. It wasn't a good time, but Naruto couldn't refuse, so he considered this meeting as a temporary break from work, which would do him good.

Somewhere in a popular restaurant with excellent food, Naruto sat down at the table where Itachi was sitting.

"Do you want to eat something?" Itachi asked politely, browsing through the restaurant's menu.

"Sure, why not?" Naruto replied, taking the menu from Itachi's hands, which annoyed him.

"I think I'll have the grilled meat..." Naruto thought aloud, then placed his order. Itachi didn't order anything.

"How's it going? Even though you've been in the village all this time, it seems to me like you've been on a mission far away," Naruto asked in the meantime, waiting for his order.

"A lot has happened, too much, but luckily, I've sorted everything out..." Itachi said, not revealing too much, but Naruto wasn't particularly interested, so it was okay.

"Is that so? Your aura seems gloomy, but at the same time, it blossoms with happiness; it's a strange phenomenon," Naruto noticed this anomaly with his sensory ability.

Itachi slightly widened his lips, then quickly closed them. He was slightly stunned by Naruto's assessment.

"Possible," he shrugged.

The meal Naruto ordered quickly appeared before him, just a minute or two after placing the order.

"Are you sure you don't want anything, sir?" the waitress asked, directing the question to Itachi.

"No, thank you."

Itachi watched in silence as Naruto enjoyed his meal. He had slightly dark circles under his eyes from fatigue, and his skin was pale. He heard about another tragedy in the Namikaze family, and Naruto himself probably couldn't sleep because of the pressure weighing on their entire family. He probably helped Tsunade with examinations and all the work he could do; after all, he was Naruto, who had always pushed himself wherever he could.

Naruto wasn't even eleven yet and was already called a genius in Science and Medicine. It was incredible. Despite his disability, Naruto achieved the impossible for most ordinary people.

"Naruto? Are we friends...?" Itachi threw what seemed like a simple question.

"Hmm? Well, I guess so," Naruto didn't think long before answering. Although they didn't contact regularly, Naruto could probably call Itachi his friend. After all, he had helped him several times, and they had good conversations.

"Oh, I see."

"Do you remember our first meeting? I was quite lost then, and you were powerless," Itachi asked after a short while.

"I don't like those times; I had to be carried on someone's back all the time because I couldn't move on my own," Naruto commented.

"Your hair was gray back then, if I remember correctly...?" Itachi involuntarily grimaced, and Naruto snorted, not responding to that.

"After our last conversation, I understood a few things, you know; I took on your way of thinking in a sense and became more complete," Itachi said, which was a bit strange to Naruto. Was he suggesting something?

"Didn't you eliminate a few too many people, and that's why your Clan had to go into seclusion?" Naruto asked specifically.

"Don't worry, everything's fine," Itachi dismissed it.

Naruto finished eating slowly and asked, "So why did you invite me here? If you just want to chat, I'd prefer somewhere else."

"I realize it's not the right time, but I have a request for you..." Itachi admitted seriously.

"What's it about?"

"Let's go somewhere else; I don't want to talk about it here," Itachi said and immediately got up from the table.

Naruto shrugged, paid for his meal, and followed his friend. Both headed to the outskirts of Konoha, belonging to the Uchiha Clan. The Uchiha Clan had moved here so that no one would bother them during their seclusion. They even closed the Police department created by the Second Hokage's order, completely cutting themselves off from the rest of the village. It was simultaneously a really good move in the eyes of the Village Council and bad in the eyes of civilians and ordinary people.

Naruto and Itachi passed through the guarded gate, ignored by the two Chunin guards from the Uchiha Clan who bowed deeply in respect upon seeing Itachi approaching.

As they entered deeper into the Uchiha Clan territory, Naruto looked strangely at all the people around.

Everything seemed normal; everyone was smiling and happily conversing with each other. It was too normal and perfect, which from Naruto's experience meant something was wrong. Something didn't fit, but he continued to follow behind Itachi, showing no sign of suspicion or even casting a glance at the Uchiha Clan members.

Observing the people here with his sensory ability, everything seemed fine to Naruto. However, when he looked at the world through echolocation, it was empty everywhere.

There was no one except the two of them. The houses and family members Naruto had seen with his eyes didn't exist; there was only complete emptiness.

As they moved away from the others, Itachi suddenly spoke: "I'm sick... it's just the beginning of the illness, and nothing threatens me at the moment, but I'll live at most until my thirtieth year, if I were to abandon being a Shinobi. If I don't, I may live twenty years, maybe even a little less..."

Naruto momentarily stopped, stunned, but continued to walk silently behind Itachi.

"I can only tell you this much; I'm not a doctor, I just assessed my lifespan based on Life Force... Naruto, you're the only one I can trust..." Itachi said without even looking at Naruto, simply walking towards his house.

Naruto felt that there were immense emotions buzzing within Itachi, but on the outside, he looked the same as always, with an indifferent gaze looking far beyond what ordinary people could see, and a cold mask on his face hiding what he truly felt.

"Do you want me to examine and treat you...?" Naruto asked, bewildered.

Itachi stopped in front of his apartment and looked at Naruto with a pleading look.

"Yes, I can't afford to die...!"

Naruto looked at Itachi for a moment, then sighed heavily.

"First, I'll examine you; let's go inside..." Naruto passed by Itachi and, without a word of permission, entered his apartment.

"Oh...? Naruto-kun? It's nice to see you; did Itachi bring you?" Mikoto, Itachi's and Sasuke's mother, greeted Naruto, slightly surprised.

"Yes, I apologize for the intrusion," Naruto bowed his head slightly, greeting his friend's mother.

Itachi entered a few seconds after Naruto, and after a brief conversation with Mikoto, they both headed to Itachi's room.

"Give me your hand...!" Naruto instructed, and Itachi, without a word of objection, extended his arm in front of him.

Naruto grabbed his wrist and listened to his pulse with his sensory ability. After a few minutes, he opened his thoughtful eyes and ordered:

"Stick out your tongue."

Itachi looked at Naruto strangely but complied with the command since he wasn't a doctor and didn't know what Naruto was doing.

"Okay, I understand..." Naruto replied.

"Already? What did you find out?"

Instead of answering directly, Naruto asked a few questions:

"Do you sometimes have a fever for no apparent reason? Are you feeling weak, with muscle and joint pain? Additionally, have you noticed any weight loss?"

"Well, yes," Itachi confirmed.

"That's the initial phase of microscopic vasculitis; these symptoms will worsen in the future, leading to organ changes. In short, you'll start coughing up blood, coughing, suffocating; you may observe petechiae on your skin, small, purple, brown, sometimes red spots a few millimeters in size."

"Oh..." Itachi involuntarily sighed in amazement.

"Yes, well, there are a few other things, but that's roughly what you'll be able to observe in yourself after a year or two if we don't start treatment," Naruto said seriously. He didn't think Itachi would fall ill with such a rare disease at such a young age. It usually occurs in older people, over fifty years old.

"Is it curable?"

Naruto remained silent, giving Itachi his answer with his eyes; he didn't want to say it out loud.

"It can be treated, and you'll live a few more years, but that's all the current medicine can guarantee you..." Naruto replied sadly.

"...I understand," Itachi replied in the same tone of voice as always, but to Naruto's ears, it sounded hollow.

Naruto placed his hand on his friend's shoulder and stood up, intending to leave.

"I'll prepare a medicine for you; I'll come to you the next morning."

...

Naruto sighed; Itachi's situation was really tough. It was good that he diagnosed his decreased Life Force because they could start treatment at an early stage of the disease. It's incurable, but its growth rate will significantly decrease, allowing Itachi to live a few years longer with fewer effects of the disease.

He walked through the streets of the Uchiha Clan territory and saw a few children and adults waving to him. They were all really happy here, living without worries, isolated from the rest of the village.

Naruto's entire existence told him they were real, but when he used echolocation, sending out a sound and receiving sound waves that bounced off obstacles, creating an image through acoustic echo, he didn't see anyone. It was as if they didn't exist, everyone, even Itachi's mother.

Naruto passed by seven-year-old Sasuke, returning home from the Shinobi Academy. He stopped and looked at him from behind. He was real.

"What's going on here...?" Naruto wondered, stunned.

Echolocation works by sending sounds at a specific frequency and receiving sound waves that bounce off obstacles through acoustic echo. In this way, an image of the entire surroundings is created in the mind. Thanks to this, Naruto sees the world as it truly is.

"Well, I guess it's not my business, but I'm incredibly excited about what's happening here; I'm starting to understand why the Uchiha Clan went into seclusion."

Naruto slowly left the Uchiha Clan territory and returned to Konoha Hospital, continuing his work. He didn't have time to deal with this yet; if he started to figure something out, Itachi or someone else behind this might want to eliminate him. As long as none of them get in his way, none of them will react.