Helping Itachi

Three sleepless days and nights passed, 'My notes for the Hashirama cells I made for Madara helped me a lot.

It took only a few days to make this version.

A better version to save Itachi.'

They quickly finished Ryuu's project after Orochimaru arrived two days ago.

"Orochimaru, you're as sharp as ever, you know."

"I could say the same about you, Ryuu kun…

If you weren't an active shinobi, I'm certain we would discover everything unknown together."

Ryuu nods and agrees.

"True, maybe once my career as a shinobi is finished I'll help you do your research."

"Hmph, you're a shinobi at heart. Your career won't finish until you die, so it's safer to say it simply won't finish."

'Hm? I've never thought of it like that.'

Ryuu shakes his head and changes the subject,

"Speaking of research, Jiraiya-sensei is here in your village."

"Oh? Is that so?" Ryuu nods.

"Well, it doesn't matter, he won't find any trace of me here.

I made sure that no one ever finds me… unless I want them to."

Ryuu and Orochimaru leave the lab and walk towards another room.

"Orochimaru, I need you to look more into Kimimaro's body.

How his kekkei genkai works.

He has a sickness, it's a terminal illness that slowly develops and in years to come, it'll kill him." Orochimaru nodded.

"I'll assign Kabuto to look after him and the others.

He's capable of medical ninjutsu and research for such things."

"Others?"

"Yes, I've collected another child, his clan, Kekkei Genkai, allows him to absorb and use nature's energy.

I'm experimenting on him to see if I could inherit that ability and make a curse mark.

However, with this constant intake of natural energy, they're prone to mental instability, even now, Jugo is suffering from bipolar disorder.

I've kept him inside my northern hideout, where he won't harm anyone."

They reached the next room.

An empty room that only had some torches as a light and a giant statue of a snake staring at the entrance.

Kimimaro was in the middle, demonstrating his moves, or as he called them, his 'dances.' Kabuto watches him as he did those moves.

"Kimimaro!" Ryuu calls him, and he stopped immediately.

"You need me, master?"

"Quit it with the master.

Come here." Kimimaro obediently walks towards Ryuu.

"Show me you Shikotsumyaku.

Make a blade for me."

Ryuu activated his Sharingan and watched as Kimimaro made a long and sharp blade.

Ryuu also does the same and makes a long blade.

Kabuto and Kimimaro were visibly shocked, but it did not faze Orochimaru even the slightest.

"Master, you also have Shikotsumyaku?" Ryuu nods.

"In a sense…

Give me your blade." Kimimaro nodded and detached his blade.

Ryuu takes it and seals it away.

"Thanks." Kimimaro nods.

"Listen, Kimimaro, I'm going to be gone for a while, but you'll be fine, you're with someone I trust.

I'll come back to check up on you once in a while, but while I'm gone, you will obey Orochimaru and do his bidding until I'm back."

"Yes, master."

"What did I-

Sigh…

Nevermind." Ryuu fist-bumps him on his chest and winks with a smile.

"Stay true to yourself, that's the only way you'll get stronger, you know."

Kimimaro nods.

Ryuu teleports back to his house.

No one was home yet and the sudden sunlight blinded him for a short while because he hadn't seen the sun in days.

"Yaawwn…" Ryuu stretched.

'I'm so tired…'

Slap!

Ryuu slaps himself,

"Alright!

I can't sleep yet."

Ryuu walks to his kitchen and makes himself a cup of coffee.

'I have to stay awake for a few more days.

Itachi's future depends on me.'

Ryuu finishes his coffee and leaves his house.

He walks to the Uchiha compounds with his eyes closed and his hands in his pockets, not paying attention to anyone else.

Itachi was at the training grounds, training Shuriken jutsu.

"Hey, you got time?"

Itachi nods.

"Always for you, big brother."

"Come with me." Itachi nodded.

Ryuu walks with Itachi back to his house.

"Itachi, do you know the origin of the Uchiha clan?"

"The origin?" Ryuu nods.

"Where we came from, who started the clan, and how we became so powerful."

"N-no… I don't."

"Well, remind me to tell you some other time.

It's honestly such a fantastic story, you'll definitely learn something from this." Itachi nods.

They reached Ryuu's house.

Ryuu took Itachi to a secret lab he made below his house.

Once they reached the lab, Ryuu put Itachi on a bed and made him lie straight.

"Heh…" Ryuu chuckled a little while looking at Itachi.

"What?" Itachi asked, wondering what was making Ryuu scoff like that.

"You have this face you make when you want to ask something, but you're too shy to do it.

Tell me… what disturbs your mind this time?"

"Well… I've been wondering… why didn't you give this to Shisui if they're that good?"

"Shisui didn't need these cells as you do. He knew how to use his Mangekyou in key moments plus... I always planned to give him the Eternal Mangekyou Sharingan after Danzo attacked.

Itachi, you don't have good stamina or chakra, your Mangekyou Sharingan can be used without a big cooldown. Plus, these cells might heal your illness.

With these cells, you might just stand a chance against me when we spar.

You have Amaterasu a Flame that spawns wherever you're looking.

I'd have to be focusing when we battle on what you're looking at, however, I can't look at you directly in the eyes because you also have Tsukuyomi.

Genjutsu is so strong even I would struggle a lot to get out of it, it's impossible to leave that genjutsu instantly.

After giving you these cells, you'll be far stronger than your father, and finally, you'll be an equal to Shisui and possibly almost an equal to Obito, making you one of the strongest Uchiha to ever live.

Which gives you one step closer to making your dream a reality."

"I see…"

"But whatever you do, never let your father or any of the other Uchiha know this.

They'll all lose their minds seeing that you rely on the Senju power to fight.

We Uchiha's have always had enormous egos, I'm sure you've noticed."

"Yes, I've also noticed this.

Our ego allows us to overestimate ourselves in times where we don't need such distractions."

Ryuu smirks,

"Hmph, is that what happened with Yashiro and the others?"

Itachi's eyes widened.

"You… know about that?" Itachi asked, slightly ashamed of his outburst the other day.

Ryuu nods with a smile.

"I wish I was there to see it.

I hope it's not a secret that I don't like him.

He's a bastard, a scumbag, too.

He's everything is wrong with the Uchiha nowadays.

Always talking about the clan, the clan this, the clan that, babbling, crying about things, and causing problems.

It's so annoying, you know?"

A small smile appeared on Itachi's face.

'Big brother…

You also see it, don't you?' Itachi ponders.

"Anyway, I don't enjoy talking about the clan when I'm doing other things to distract myself from it, so let's get started."

For the next seven days, Ryuu would inject the Hashirama cells into Itachi, Ryuu feared the illness that killed Itachi originally, so he increased the dose compared to how he gave Kakashi.

'Kakashi was trying to suppress one eye with the Sharingan, Itachi is an Uchiha, these cells are there to suppress the Uchiha so it only made sense to increase them, Madara understood that that's why Obito was so successful.

Seven days later, I told Itachi to meet me at the Uchiha training grounds.'

Itachi arrives and sees Ryuu.

He activates his Mangekyou Sharingan to test it out.

"Use Amaterasu." Itachi nodded.

Itachi infused chakra into his eyes…

"Amaterasu!"

Whoosh!

A giant wall of black flames appeared, burning everything it touched.

"Incredible…" Ryuu watched in awe.

Ryuu makes a hand sign and places his hand on the ground.

"Space vacuum seal!" Sealing marks appeared on the training grounds and one second later, the black flames had vanished without a trace.

"What a success!" Ryuu gave Itachi a fist bump.

"How do you feel?"

"I'm alright, I feel perfectly fine, even better than ever."

"Excellent!"

Following his successful treatment, Ryuu was smiling so hard he couldn't believe it.

"Hey, let's go for some lunch, I'll pay."

"What? There's no need, big brother." Itachi smiles shyly.

"Come on, I'll treat you wherever you want to go, let's go."

"Well, alright." Itachi follows Ryuu.

After buying food for Itachi, Ryuu walked home and went straight to bed.