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Chapter 39

I heard voices.

"We have to go."

"That was Danzo," I thought to myself. And then I realized I was in pain. Crazy pain. It felt like my chest was a jigsaw puzzle with half the pieces missing. And my face was felt like someone had taken a searing hot cattle brand to it. I couldn't move. I could barely breathe.

"The patient is in critical condition. If we move him now, he will die."

"Sounds young. Buddy Medic? Is that you, Buddy Medic? You're a good friend, Buddy Medic. Keep up the good work."

I tried to open my eyes but that just made the searing pain flare into unbearable agony. All I could do was try to lie still and evaluate my situation and pray that the pain would stop if I just stayed still enough. It was so hard to focus my thoughts. It was like time was moving in small spurts and it took everything I had to keep up.

"That is irrelevant. If Orochimaru can't help him, he'll die anyways. The ungrateful brat stole my best medic. Even if the boy dies, we can still give Orochimaru the body. I'm willing to bet the child has a fascinating bloodline, even if nothing came of his parents."

"Parents? Orochimaru? Fuck. What is going on?"

"He's awake."

"Buddy Medic, why did you betray me? I thought we were friends. Oh, god, it hurts. Why does it hurt so much? I thought Danzo only kicked me once?"

"I thought you gave him enough sedatives to last until we were out of Konoha."

"Damn. Danzo's angry."

"I did, Danzo-sama."

"Please, more painkillers. God, it hurts." I seriously wondered if Danzo had broken every single one of my ribs. "Wait, no, leaving Konoha is bad. I can't...someone...help..."

"There's no time left. He'll be dangerous if the sedatives wear off completely. We will leave him here. Let's go. If he's lucky, the Konoha nin will find him soon."

"Why leave him alive?"

"He might be of use in the future."

I woke up in a bed. No more shackles. I still couldn't see though. I tried to sit up. "Fuck. Still hurts. Bad idea." At least it wasn't so bad if I didn't try to move.

"Do not try to get up." That particular grizzled voice sounded like the Hokage. "You nearly died, Haru-kun. I would ordinarily let you rest but I have some urgent questions that you may be able to answer."

I let out a pained groan.

"Do you know why Shimura Danzo would abduct you?" Sarutobi asked me.

"Cause...he thought...I knew things...he wanted to know." "Yeah, talking hurts like a motherfucker." I tried to open my eyes but my right eye felt completely swollen shut. And it was too bright for my left eye in the hospital room, so I kept it closed.

I tried to mold chakra. I felt a palpable relief when it didn't immediately disappear. I let it seep away from my body, using it to see how many people were in the room with me. Apparently I had a lot of visitors.

"What kinds of things did he want to know?"

Instead of trying to talk, I just answered with an area of effect genjutsu that should grab everyone in the room. It would be easier than trying to wheeze out words between painful breaths.

Illusionary Haru would appear to sit on the bed as a ghostly figure clad in my favorite black coat. Whoever was nearby would hear me saying, "Danzo never really got around to interrogating me. I kinda made him angry and he stabbed me in the leg and then stormed off for a long time. When he came back eventually, I tried to kill him but I failed and that's probably how I ended up like this." Illusionary Haru shrugged in my place.

I heard a few gasps and a few whispers as the peanut gallery figured out that I was using genjutsu. Through the genjutsu, I asked, "Who is here anyways? It hurts to open my eyes so I can only hear you. I'm only using this illusion to talk to you. It can't hear or see for me."

"Hey, Haru." That was Naruto. It cheered me up to hear his familiar scratchy voice.

"Haru-kun..." Hinata trailed off with worry in her voice.

I heard Hiashi introduce himself too, "This is Hyuga Hiashi."

"Welcome back to the living, Haru-chan," said another adult voice belonging to Inoichi.

"Yamanaka-san? Does that mean Ino is here too?" my genjutsu clone asked.

"Ah, Ino-chan had to watch the store. I promised I would tell her when you woke up, but the Hokage ordered me to stay," Inoichi said wistfully. "You'll fill in Ino later, won't you?"

Sarutobi interrupted the greetings to ask, "Haru-kun, what did you mean when you said you tried to kill him?" He probably had a serious look on his face, not that I could see it.

I updated the genjutsu to speak, "Well, I had a lot of time by myself so I developed a new technique." Ghost Haru raised two fingers in a victory sign. "I'm pretty sure the technique worked, but he used a kinjutsu called Izanagi to negate it and then he kicked me really hard into a wall." Ghost Haru made a downfallen face for me.

"And how was Danzo able to use one of the ultimate techniques of the Uchiha Clan's kekkai genkai?" Sarutobi continued.

"Well, Danzo had at least one stolen Sharingan as his right eye which was why he wore bandages all the time. I don't have any idea where he stole the eye from, however. And I don't know if he had any other Sharingan elsewhere on his body. Izanagi causes the permanent blindness of a Sharingan, so at least he can't use his stolen Sharingan anymore. That's a good thing, right?" It was definitely best to try to talk through a genjutsu. I would have probably died if I tried to say all that aloud.

I heard a fist smash into the wall across the room. "Why did my brother have to die?" an angry voice asked. Then someone was yanking on my clothes, trying to pulling me upright. "Are you saying that Danzo killed my brother just so that he could have another Sharingan?" Sasuke yelled into my face from inches away.

"I don't...what?" I croaked out, trying to ignore the searing pain in my chest. Eventually, the boy let me fall back into my bed.

Sarutobi explained, "We were unable to apprehend Shimura Danzo. Apparently, he had subverted a small portion of Konoha shinobi who covered his escape from Konoha. Before Danzo left, he came across Sasuke and his older brother, Itachi. Using Sasuke as leverage, he killed Itachi and absconded with the body."

"What? Itachi? Danzo killed Itachi?" asked my illusion.

"He forced me to watch as he killed my brother. I remember...my brother telling me...to be strong..." said Sasuke, his voice filled with rage and grief.

Sarutobi continued, "Surviving ANBU reported to me that Danzo was not wearing bandages on his head as he normally does. Nor did he have any sign of being blind in either eye. You, on the other hand..."

I raised my hand to feel my face. My right eye was covered in bandages. Or rather, where my right eye used to be.

"That motherfucker..."