NARUTO: LIGHTNING AND ROSES CHAPTER 57 (Patreon)

Chapter 57

SASUKE UCHIHA

Sasuke felt his vision get blurry as he watched his parents sitting there once more, ready to accept death. He remembered being haunted by this same vision, yet now he was in tears. His eyes were filled with tears muck like Itachi’s as his brother swung the blade.

Sasuke wanted to stop him. He wanted to scream, yet he knew that it was futile. For this, all was nothing but an illusion. Suddenly he heard footsteps, and his heart began to race as he saw the door to their parent’s room open, revealing the form of an eight-year-old Sasuke.

Sasuke watched the whole sequence play out as it had over a thousand times in his nightmares. But with some key differences, for it was not blood in Itachi’s eyes that night. They were tears. Tears of a son. Tears of a brother. Tears of an Uchiha.

And then, the whole surroundings cracked, and Sasuke found himself back in the cell. He looked straight ahead at Itachi, and perhaps for the first time, he finally saw him. He finally saw him as Itachi Uchiha. Not as a brother, not as an object of hate. But a child, transformed and used by the world around him.

Sasuke did not what to think of all this yet. He raised his hand and felt the wetness on his cheeks and then dried it up with his cuff.

“So now you finally know the truth? Are you satisfied?” Itachi asked him, and Sasuke did not have an answer for this, so he just stayed quiet.

“Who was he? That man wearing the mask?” Sasuke asked his brother. And that man had been a mystery. Itachi’s eyes narrowed slightly at the mention of this man.

“That man claims to be our clan’s most infamous leader. Uchiha Madara,” and Sasuke’s eyes went wide at that.

Uchiha Madara was a figure revered by their clan as a god. Even after his defection and betrayal, the man was said to be the strongest Uchiha in history. A shinobi only equaled by Hashirama Senju, the God of Shinobi. The boogeyman of the shinobi world.

“But how could that be? Uchiha Madara should be more than a hundred years old by now.” Sasuke questioned once more.

“I said that the man claims to be Uchiha Madara, and while I do have some doubts about that. His knowledge and abilities do point towards it as well. He is also the leader of the organization I joined afterward,” and Sasuke finally understood the connection.

“He is the leader of the Akatsuki!” and Itachi just nodded at that.

“Yes, he is amongst the two leaders of the organization. While away from the village, I kept an eye on Akatsuki’s movements and made a periodic report of it to the village through a trusted source.”

This information was complicated for Sasuke. Sasuke was yet to process everything, yet now he learned that even after making his brother go through all this, they weren’t done with him. No, they instead placed him in an extremely dangerous organization.

“Sasuke,” and he was suddenly reeled out of his thoughts as he heard his name being called out. He looked ahead and found Itachi staring at him with a small smile.

“It was alright. I needed to be away from the village,” and Itachi’s voice turned somber at that as he looked down and continued. Sasuke just nodded at that.

This was all a bit too much. Honestly, a part of him still thought that all this was a dream and that he would suddenly wake up from all this. Yet with each passing breath, that delusion dies down.

“So now what? Now that you are back, what is going to happen?” Sasuke asked Itachi. Since he was innocent, he should be let go. Sasuke was not clear in his thoughts, yet he understood that Itachi had done everything at the behest of the village and him. A choice that Sasuke was still processing, yet the blame did not lie on Itachi.

Most of it lay with Danzo and the Third Hokage. Those two were perhaps the biggest criminals aside from the idiotic and prideful elders.

And behind all of them stood the so-called Madara Uchiha. The man who was pulling the strings.

Itachi looked up at him and answered his earlier question.

“Tsunade-sama has made some arrangements. In short, I would be free, given that I hide my identity with a mask and remain out of the public eye.”

Sasuke was somehow relieved at that. He looked at Itachi, who seemed to be hesitating slightly, and Sasuke frowned as he spoke up.

“What is it?” Sasuke asked. Itachi just looked up at him, and after a second or so spoke up.

“I wanted to ask what did you do with the compound?” Sasuke was a bit taken aback by that question. Honestly, he had not thought about it for a very long time.

“The compound was cleared, and then I locked it up. Every year I hand out a mission to do maintenance, but otherwise, it has remains untouched,” after a second or so of thinking, he finally added, “perhaps I should open it up once more. We could use the old house.”

And Itachi just nodded his head at that as he replied.

“Yeah. I would like that,” and Sasuke nodded as he just stood there hesitatingly before. And after much thinking, he finally stepped forward and wrapped his arms around his brother’s form. He could feel Itachi jerk at his sudden gesture before his arms tightened around Sasuke as well.

And when they separated after quite some time. Sasuke and Itachi both had red eyes and wet shoulders.

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SHINSO KEN

Shinso was quite excited as he stood opposite to Tsunade-same. Just last night, he had fought Jiraiya-sama and had not that been an experience.

Jiraiya-sama was strong and Shinso had expected that. But upon fighting him, Shinso had understood the man’s hidden strength lay in his creativity. Creativity boosted by years of experience made him a menace to face. And while their bout had been a short one, Shinso had leaned a great deal from the man.

“Ok, now I am going to give you the summoning scroll,” and Tsuande-sama took out a scroll from her pocket and opened it. Shinso watched the scroll unfurl with a list of names on it. A list of names ending in Tsunade-Senju though there were a couple of names above that seemed familiar to him. Though, the biggest surprise was the name just a space above Tsuande-sama.

Mito Uzumaki.

Shinso looked up at Tsunade-sama and asked, perplexed.

“Mito-sama was a summoner as well,” and Tsunade smiled as she nodded at that.

“Yes, Grandmother was a summoner, and it was she who passed on this contract to me. She was also the one that petitioned Elder Katsuyu to teach my grandfather Senjutsu,” and there was a bit of revery in her voice. And why wouldn’t there be?

He gulped as his eyes landed on the empty spece below Tsuande-sama’s name.

“Thank you for such trust, Tsunade-sama,” and she just smiled as she ruffled my hair.

“Don’t worry, kid. Just put your name there with your fingerprints alongside and then we can go and meet Katsuyu. She was quite excited to meet a new summoner after all this time,” and he just nodded and began to write down my name.

Shinso Ken

With everything finished up, he handed the scroll back to Tsuande-sama, who made a handseal and the scroll vanished.

POOF.

Tsunade-sama smiled as she congratulated me.

“Congratulations on becoming a slug summoner. Now as I taught you make the handseals and supply the appropriate chakra for the reverse summoning. For two people, it should about two shadow clones’ worth.”

Shinso nodded as he began to make the necessary handseals. He felt his chakra ripple slightly as smeared blood on his hand.

“REVERSE SUMMONING JUTSU!”

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TSUNADE SENJU

Tsunade could only feel pride as she opened her eyes in the Shikkotsu forest second day in a row. Though, this time she was not alone, as she spotted her student appear right beside her. She smiled as she saw his eyes widen and his body relax as he took in a huge gulp of air.

It was somewhat expected that the Shikkotsu forest was not a regular forest. It was the habitat of a sage summon. A place filled with natural energy. Tsunade herself felt her fatigue lessen as she felt the approach of a very familiar creature.

“Tsunade-sama, you are finally here,” came the excited voice of Katsuyu and Tsunade looked ahead as she spotted her summon approach as it appeared through the trees.

The Shikkotsu forest was filled with huge arching trees that were taller than anything normal. There was serenity as the Sun’s rays broke through that cover and shined on the ground in some places.

Tsunade smiled as she greeted the aged being.

“It is good to see you. And I did not come alone. I have finally brought you your new summoner,” and she slapped Shinso on the back to break him out of his stance. The kid finally got back his mind, and he immediately gave a bow to the summon.

“Thank you for accepting me, Katsuyu-sama,” and Katsuyu just giggled at his antics.

“Hihihi, it is fine. You don’t need to be so formal. Just call me Katsuyu,” and the kid shook his head at that.

“How can I….” but Tsunade cut the kid off.

“If she says it’s fine. It’s fine,” and the kid nodded as he straightened up.

Can’t have him upsetting a lady bye referencing her age. For Katsuyu, maybe a summon, no lady like a reference to her age.

“Then you can call me Shinso,” he said as he began to look around.

“What is this place?” he questioned.

“This is the Shikkotsu forest. It’s a place that is among the three places where natural energy is highly concentrated,” Katsuyu informed as she began to circle Shinso. The kid did not move as he Katsuyu got a measure of him.

“The other two being Mount Myoboku and Ryuichi cave, right,” the kid spoke, and Tsunade was surprised that he knew those names.

“You are right, though each place is quite unique. It has been some time since I visited Gamamaru at Mount Myoboku. Would you like to see it, Shinso-Kun?” Katsuyu questioned, and the kid nodded as he replied.

“I would be honored,” Katsuyu just giggled.

“Perhaps, I should give the old Toad a visit. I did hear they also got a new summoner as well. Do you know who they are, Tsunade?” Katsuyu asked her, and Tsunade nodded.

“Yeah, the kid is Jiraiya’s apprentice. His name is Naruto Uzumaki,” and Katsuyu was surprised at that name.

“Uzumaki, huh? It has been quite some time since I heard that name,” and then a green hue began to envelop Shinso as Katsuyu suddenly spoke up again.

“May I ask you something, Shinso-Kun?” and there was a bit of surprise in Katsuyu’s voice. Shinso nodded as he was still covered by the green hue.

“Why do you also smell like an Uzumaki? The smell is faint, but it is surely present,” and if Tsunade had not known Katsuyu for over five decades, she would have missed the slight mirth in her tone.

And rightly so, as Shinso’s face flushed and Tsuande barely held back her laugh. But not for long, and the whole area was soon filled with their giggles.

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