Uchiha Mana

CHAPTER 7

It has been a long time since Uchiha Itachi stepping foot in Konoha. He always thought that he would someday come back to his home-village, but not in such situation.

“So, this was your home.” Kisame said.

“It was… it’s changed since then…”

He wanted to finish the mission as soon as possible and avoid any interaction with his siblings. Besides, if it were to happen, he wouldn’t be surprised if Sasuke were after his blood. He was the one that gave Sasuke the fire he had now, but he only wished that Mana did not. Though he knew that he left his little sister in a horrific state, he just wished that Sasuke had not passed the fire to Mana.

It is the older brother’s job to carry the burden.

He had carried such burden for years, and lived with it. Now Sasuke must carry this burden of hatred and revenger towards him and save their sister of such fate.

“Let’s go.” Itachi said.

~*~

Mana felt uneasy. Since morning, she felt an uneasy feeling about the day. Maybe it was because of Sasuke’s mood, he was a but “grumpy” as she put it, and she didn’t need to know why. It was one of those days when Sasuke would just relive that night, and push himself to train harder, pushing himself to his limit, which leaves Mana to look after him. But she didn’t have time to look after her brother, with half of the village destroyed with Orochimaru and Sunagakure’s attack, everyone had a role to play in rebuilding it. Including the Academy students, who were helping to rebuild the Academy.

“I brought the paint!” Moegi said as she entered the classroom.

“That’s great, Moegi, just set it there and we’ll start painting the board.” Iruka said.

Mana, who was busy sweeping the debris, turned and found Moegi with Konohamaru and Udon. She slightly smiled at the sight of Konohamaru fine, but she knew that he was just hiding the fact that he was still mourning for his grandfather.

Hours passed since they started with rebuilding the Academy, and it was almost was back to the way it was before.

“I’m done, Iruka-sensei, is there something else to do?” Mana asked.

“Oh, that’s great, Mana.” Iruka said. “Looks like everyone is almost done.”

“I’m hungry, Iruka-sensei!” A student said.

“Me too!”

“I guess it’s already lunch time huh.” Iruka said as he looked up at the wall clock. “Say, why don’t we take a break. We’ve worked hard for today. You guys could come back tomorrow and continue the work.”

“Yeah! Thanks, Iruka-sensei!”

“I can’t wait to get home! I’m starving!”

One by one the Academy students left the classroom, leaving only Mana inside with Iruka, to help with keeping away the paint that were left.

“Thank you, Mana.” Iruka said.

“No problem, Sensei.” Mana said, smiling slightly.

“Iruka-sensei!” Konohamaru and his friends came running back to the classroom. “Let’s go and eat out!”

Smiling at his students’ offer, Iruka turned to Mana and saw her finishing up with the clean-up.

“Thanks, but I still have to finish things here. Why don’t you guys bring Mana with you.” Iruka said.

“Mana?” Udon said.

“Me?” Mana said.

“Yeah, it would be great.” Iruka said. “Here, it’s my treat.”

“But, Sensei…” Mana said, looking at the money he was handing.

"It’s fine, go!” Iruka said, smiling.

“Come on, Mana!” Konohamaru said, slightly blushing. He could still remember when Mana held his hand after his grandfather’s funeral. It was the most awkward moment he had with her.

“Hai.”

~*~

Uchiha Itachi sat quietly as he drank his tea. It was Kisame’s idea to stop at the small restaurant to get something to eat, and he thought that it would be a good time to think about their plan in taking the Nine-Tail Fox’s Jinchuriki.

“I think I’m craving for something sweet!” A boy exclaimed.

“You’re always craving for something sweet, Udon!” The girl with orange hair said.

Itachi did not bother to acknowledge the children that came to the restaurant, but Kisame did.

“Tch, kids.” Kisame muttered.

“Leave them alone… we don’t need to start a scene.” Itachi told his partner.

Still not looking at the group. Itachi simply listened to their conversation.

“Well, I like sweets!” Udon said.

“Well, I like ramen! Besides, Naruto-neesan gave me a free ramen coupon!” Konohamaru exclaimed.

“You know, why don’t we just let Mana decide!” Moegi said. “She’s the only holding the money.”

The name caught Itachi’s attention. He buried his face in his hat and cloack, but kept an eye at the group of children. He didn’t need to see the girl’s face to know that the girl with black hair and wore an Uchiha crest at her dress’ back was his sister.

Mana! She’s grown.

“I’d eat anything.” Mana said. “What do you guys like?”

Mana felt the uneasy feeling in her stomach. For some reason, she felt someone looking at her. She knew that it came from the two men in cloaks, so she didn’t turn to see who it was, afraid that it might urge them to do something.

“Let’s have a vote, who wants ramen?” Moegi said.

Konohamaru raised his hand, so did Moegi and Mana.

“Hey, I thought you’d eat anything, Mana.” Udon said.

We have to leave, I don’t like this feeling…

“I think I’d rather have ramen, gomen.” Mana said, her voice was wavering.

“Fine, let’s go to Ichiraku’s!”

Following after Konohamaru, once out of the restaurant, Mana finally took courage to know who it as looking at her, but all she could see was a man wearing a black cloak with red clouds’ back facing her.

Who is that? Why does it feel so familiar? It’s like –

“Why, hello, Mana.”

“Kakashi-san.” Mana said. She saw that Kakashi was accompanied by two other Jounin. A man who was smoking a cigarette and a woman with beautiful red eyes.

“You here with your friends?” Kakashi asked.

“I am… we’re heading out to eat at Ichikaru Ramen. How about you, Kakashi-san?”

“I’m just waiting for Sasuke.”

“Onii-san?”

“Yeah, I kinda asked him to meet me here.”

“So, this is Sasuke’s younger sister.” The smoking man said.

“She’s so young.” The woman said.

“Yes, this is Mana. Mana, these are colleagues of mine, Asuma and Kurenai.”

“It’s nice to meet you, Asuma-san, Kurenai-san.” Mana said, bowing slightly.

“It’s nice to meet you too, Mana.” Kurenai smiled at the girl’s respectful gesture.

“Kakashi-sensei, Mana, what are you doing here?” Sasuke asked as he came.

“Oh, I just wanted to talk.” Kakashi said.

“Can we do it somewhere else? I’m not much of a sweet-tooth.” Sasuke said. “What about you, Mana?”

Mana shook her head. “I should get going, Konohamaru and the others are waiting for me at Ichiraku Ramen.”

“Konohamaru?” Sasuke said.

“Hai!” Mana tugged on Sasuke’s shirt, asking him to kneel down. Complying to his sister, Sasuke knelt down in confusion, and Mana placed a quick peck on his cheek. She knew that Sasuke was having a bad day for some reason, and she just wanted to lighten him up, and that was the only thing she thought at the moment. “I’ll see you at home, Onii-san.”

“Sure.” Sasuke smiled and affectionately placed his hand on her head.

“Bye, Onii-san! Bye, Kakashi-san, Asuma-san, Kurenai-san!”

~*~

Sasuke ran through the streets of the small town. When he came to see Kakashi in his sensei’s home, he saw the man lying asleep in bed while the other Jounins gathered and were talking about something. When he asked them what was going on, they only answered that it was nothing, that was until a ninja came and said that he saw Itachi in Konoha.

The mention of Itachi’s name had clicked a switch in Sasuke, and when he heard that his brother was after Naruto, he bolted to find the blonde. He wasted no time in asking everyone in Konoha, and when heard that Naruto left with a man with white hair to go to a town not far from the village, he bolted.

He asked each inn if they saw a blonde about his age and a man with white hair, and almost every inn had not seen the two. That was until he came to the last one.

He never thought he’d see the day when he would come face to face with his brother. The man he hated. The man he had trained hard to kill.

“It’s been a while, Sasuke.”

“Uchiha Itachi!” Sasuke growled.

“Well, the Sharingan.” Kisame said. “He looks a lot like you. Itachi, who is this kid?”

“He’s my younger brother.” Itachi said.

He’s the man Sasuke wanted to kill! Naruto thought.

“It’s just as you said, Onii-san. I’ve fostered my hatred for you all this time! I’ve lived my life for one single purpose! To see you die!” Chidori was formed in Sasuke’s hand. “It’s ends here!”

Chidori…

“You’re dead!” Sasuke cried.

But just as Sasuke’s Chidori were to touch Itachi, he was stopped when the older Uchiha took his hand and deflected the attack, and broke his hand, and left him to crumble down on the ground.

Just before Kisame’s sword could touch Naruto, a huge toad blocked the attack and the old man with white hair came. But, before the man could do anything, Sasuke stopped him and claimed that it was his fight.

“The only one who’s going to kill him… is me!” Sasuke said as he got up.

When Sasuke tried to attack Itachi again, he was kicked back and was sent to the wall.

“That’s it!” Naruto said.

“No, Naruto! Don’t butt it! This is my fight!” Sasuke said and went to attack once more. But itachi sent him back to the wall with a kick at the stomach.

“You can’t even manage to make the hand sign.” Itachi said.

“This fight is mine…”

“So be it.” Itachi said.

Itachi continuously to beat up Sasuke. Punching him and kneeing him repeatedly until his brother was unable to move on the ground. He picked Sasuke up by his shirt and held him by the neck on the wall.

“You’re still too weak… you don’t have enough hate…” Itachi said.

And when Itachi opened his eyes, he have placed Sasuke in Tsukuyomi.

Where am I? Sasuke thought. What is this place?

He was continuously falling, until he found himself in a familiar place.

“Yes, this was our childhood home.”

Before Sasuke’s eyes, he saw his parents kneeling, and Itachi standing behind them with his katana.

“You’re weak, Sasuke, and twenty-four hours from now…”

“Stop it!” Sasuke cried.

“You’ll be weaker still…”

It was happening again. The m******e, their parents lying on the ground. The Uchihas falling one by one by the hands of Itachi. It was all happening over and over. That was until Sasuke found himself in a different place. It wasn’t in the Uchiha compound, and he wasn’t in his child-self. Instead, he stood in his current home in his present body.

What’s going on? He thought.

“This is…” He began.

“Onii-san…”

No.

Sasuke felt his heart drop when he saw Mana kneeling on the floor, with her hands placed on her lap and tears endlessly falling.

“ Earlier, I went to see our dear little sister…” Itachi said, as he emerged behind Mana. “She’s grown…”

“No! Stop! Leave her alone!” Sasuke begged.

“Onii-san, help me!” Mana cried.

“Mana!”

“It seems, our Imouto has been slowing you down.” Itachi said as he got out his katana and pointed it a Mana.

“NO! STOP!”

“Let me help you with that, little brother…”

“MANA!”

Itachi swung his katana. And Mana fell. Her blood spilled over the floor.

Outside of Tsukuyomi, Sasuke let out a painful scream – a horrific scream as he continuously watched their young sister be killed right before his eyes. Not able to stand such nightmare, Sasuke fainted in Itachi’s hands.