The Dark Side of Akatsuki. Chapter 26

Title: A Heart Unsuited to Hatred

-The Mind's Eye-

-Uchiha Compound-

The Uchiha regarded genjutsu-based illusions as useful for a variety of reasons. When used delicately, they provided a wide breadth of utility in espionage or social manipulation. When used in combat, high-powered genjutsu could render opponents helpless, and, with enough exposure, could keep an opponent dazed and off-balance even after the effect had ended. The problem with other, lesser techniques was that their use usually required dedicated, focused attention, and that the most powerful genjutsu tended to affect a wide area, which could limit their usefulness in the team-battles that ninja so often operated in.

The Uchiha Clan had a response to that. The Sharingan provided a vehicle for delivery of disproportionately powerful, precisely targeted genjutsu that could be used quickly in combat. It was not difficult for a skilled user of the Sharingan to throw opponents into a daze just by meeting their eyes, and it was for this reason that the Uchiha, while not nearly the most prominent genjutsu-wielders around, were certainly well-known for their skill. They had been feared to the point that those wishing to face Konoha in battle would train to avoid eye-contact of any sort.

The Tsukuyomi was something else entirely.

Compressing three days into a single second, it could be used in a myriad of ways. Merely by meeting someone's eye across an open street you could kidnap and interrogate them for ages, their bodyguards helpless to stop you. Used mid-battle and a cruel person could inflict torturous pain on their victim for the entire duration, leaving them crippled from the mental exhaustion after the illusion ended. Used innocently, as Itachi had, and it could even fight time itself. On the surface it was an unbeatable technique.

Sasuke had had Danzou at his mercy for the past five hours, and somehow nothing was going right for him at all.

"This is it?" the man gasped, not even bothering to hide the pain he was feeling, "This is the revenge you were planning?"

"Shut up." growled Sasuke, twisting the sword that was impaling Danzou, chained to a tilted table in a basement room of the old Uchiha compound as he remembered it. He had hoped would give him some of the resolve he needed to face this man. This murderer.

Danzou breathed heavily for a moment, then resumed laughing. "Your brother turned traitor, and I know it was entirely for your sake. He gave you the eye, and now you want to waste it like this? What a joke!"

"Traitor?!" Sasuke grit out, his teeth clenching, "That's rich, coming from you."

"You think I'm the traitor?" asked Danzou.

It didn't make sense. He was being too glib, too talkative, but not showing any signs of breaking.

"What kind of freak do you have to be to think you're working for the good of the village while you're with a monster like Orochimaru?"

"Worthless child. If you want information you actually have to succeed with the interrogation first. Your opinion of me changes nothing. Did your treacherous brother not teach you anything?"

"My brother wasn't a traitor. He didn't owe you or anyone else."

"Oh, you think I mean that he betrayed me? That he betrayed his superiors? No. In the end, he was a piece of trash that betrayed the village itself."

Sasuke shouted and stabbed Danzou once again, piercing his arm. Blood slid down the blade and onto the table. "Betrayed the village?! He saved everyone he could! You don't get to decide who counts as a member of the village, you arrogant prick!"

Danzou winced from the pain, but resumed smiling. "He saved nothing. You can't even see it, either, even though he gave you his eye. Pathetic. His sacrifice as I had planned it was meant to bring unity to the village. Certainly he would have been branded a traitor to the public just as I am now, but everyone in Konoha would have been safer for it. Instead, he is remembered by some as a hero, but the village fractures and grows weaker. You can't see it because you have a child's perspective, but it's no less true for your blindness." He smirked. "It's especially true now."

"What are you talking about? The Hokage's assassination? You know about that?"

"Know about it? Naive. I was the one who brought it about."

Sasuke stared at Danzou as he continued to speak.

"-I laid the agent, I gained Akatsuki's aid, and I convinced them to use this particular distraction over several other possibilities. It keeps Konoha from responding to our actions here, among other considerations. What, did you think that-"

Sasuke exploded with a sudden and unexpected fury. Even though the Third Hokage hadn't ever been particularly important to him like he had been for Naruto, something inside him had just snapped in that moment.

With a scream of rage, Sasuke drew out his sword again and stabbed Danzou through the heart, killing him instantly.

Suddenly exhausted, Sasuke collapsed to the ground, desperately trying to compose himself. No, it didn't make sense. Danzou hadn't let that information slip from the torture. The man was trying to get him too worked up to focus, he had to be. Ten seconds later, Danzou reappeared in perfect health.

"Worthless," was his first word. At this point, Sasuke had nothing to say in response. He just glared silently until Danzou continued.

!!!Suscribe for more chapters in advance¡¡¡

Patreon: patreon.com/Suzy177