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Chapter Text

The first thing he acknowledged after feeling his eye-lids fluttering open was pain. It was a sharp, hot and head splitting pain which throbbed in his temple. As a result of the blood pounded loudly in his ears, it took him a moment to refocus his senses – the ones that weren’t engulfed in agony.

The second thing he registered was darkness. Black, despite how his eyes were stretched signifying they were wide and theoretically seeing rather than blind.

The thought made him silently panic. He was an Uchiha… the last Uchiha. For him to go blind after just awakening his sharingan, after just having taken a step closer to his goal of his killing Itachi, should be considered impermissible.

A sudden set of footsteps quickly alerted him to his surroundings and after feeling himself blinking several times the boy realised he could make out slight shines of light through what he presumed to be, because of the rough fabric he could tell was on his face, a blindfold.

A small feeling of relief passed over him for a brief moment before it was replaced almost instantly by apprehension. If he was blindfolded it meant he was kidnapped, and by someone who knew about his abilities.

But then again, the Uchiha crest on his back was a major give-away to the fact that his eyes were far from something that was to be taken carelessly.

Unfortunately, Sasuke was given no more time to assess the situation at hand as a rough voice suddenly rang around whatever room he was situated in, causing him to mentally jump.

“Ah, he’s awake.”

The voice was unlike any he had heard before and he frowned at the inability to detect any foreign accents that he might’ve recognised from a neighbouring village. His wording also meant he had been in these people’s custody for a fair amount of time.

“Then hurry,” another person spoke from directly behind him and Sasuke couldn’t help the alarm bells ringing inside of him, shocked at how he hadn’t sensed the man’s presence beforehand especially with how close he now realised they were.

The first one hummed and he heard the same set of footsteps walking closer to him and sudden goosebumps rose on his skin, the cool air of wherever they were not helping at all.

Cold fingers groped at his chin and he felt his face being tilted up. His mind cringed at the way could practically feel the other’s gaze scrutinising him sharply despite how his eyes were covered. The harsh grip didn’t agree with his headache, either, and it throbbed even worse than before. He didn’t seem to be wearing his hitai-ate, either, which could have provided his burning hot head some coolness with its metal where the Konoha symbol was imprinted onto.

“Yeah, he’s definitely part of that clan,” the man said and the hand was removed. The other stood up from his crouching position in front of him and moved behind to talk in low mutters to the one by his back. As he felt their breaths curve their way onto his skin, a feeling of helplessness entered his mind, soon followed by rage.

Sasuke wasn’t arrogant — he couldn’t be after everything that’s happened to him. The injuries he had received from Haku in the Land of Waves less than 2 and a half weeks ago still hadn’t healed properly. He was levels behind his brother and had less than the tiniest possible of chances to kill him with the way he was now and since he had been unable to save his family before and couldn’t single-handedly retrieve the bells from Kakashi meant he was not as strong as the girls from the academy would exaggerate him to be.

So no, Sasuke is not arrogant, but he is self-aware. He knows he’s skillful despite those moments and was above the level genin were expected to be these days–

(But then again, Itachi had become an anbu, a job second to the Hokage and village elders, at the age he was now)

–so it would still presumably take someone close but also vastly lower than Haku and Zabuza to best him enough to the point he was now sitting in an unknown place with a blindfold and one of the worst headaches he had experienced in his decade+ years of life.

A calloused hand suddenly rested on top of his head and he flinched on instinct causing the man who was holding it to chuckle humourlessly as he grabbed his arm to prevent him from jerking again.

“Relax,” He said in a way that made it obvious he was grinning to himself. Sasuke couldn’t help the sneer he had sent in the general direction of him.

“Nasty attitude,” the man who had before been behind him noted. Sasuke caught the way the voice held a certain amount of poshness, or rather self respect, in it. He seemingly kept himself together and had more dignity than the harsh captor who was now pulling up on his hair fiercely and forcing him to his feet.

“Move.”

The genin scowled at that, adamantly standing his ground despite the irritated push the older one was giving him.

“Where are we? Where are you taking me?” He asked, pleased with the way his voice came out demanding rather than shaky and scared. Unfortunately, the person holding him firmly was a tough nut and did not give him an answer he could use.

“Walk and you’ll know, brat. Or perhaps you’d prefer if I dragged you there, say?”

Sasuke actually considered the offer thinking about how his legs might collapse at any second with how mysteriously painful they felt.

He cocked his head to the side. A challenge.

The former’s teeth looked as if they were about to shatter with how set his jaw was as he grinned in an almost insane way, though it was rather obvious it was forced.

Within a second, he had moved. Sasuke hadn’t had the chance to locate where the barely audible footsteps were when he felt a thick arm slither around his waist and hoisted him up on his shoulder as if he was a sack.

Yelping, he tried to elbow the man in the neck and while succeeding he received no response but the grip on his body tightening.

He huffed in annoyance, partly at how ineffective his attempt was. In fact, it was infuriating how his two captors hadn’t even seen him as a big enough threat to restrain him apart from the blindfold. Oh, wait until he shows them.

Quickly bringing his hands together he formed the hand signs.

Boar, horse, tiger…

A flimsy spark of fire flew out from his mouth and Sasuke realised with horror that his chakra was being disrupted; purposefully weakened. Fortunately, flames did have the intended effect of burning the head of the man holding him but not enough to render him unconscious or anything to buy him time and escape after doing the same to his partner.

It did piss him off, however, and Sasuke was suddenly slammed onto the ground – not helping his headache in the slightest – and had strong arms holding his shoulders. He felt a weight on his lap and assumed the other was trying to sit on him and, taking the opportunity, he rammed his knee up into what he hoped would be his crotch.

From the howling that reached his ears like music, he was safe to say he got his target.

“Son of a—” the man said, using one hand to hold Sasuke’s wrist and the other for his flailing knees. “Why the hell did you not tie him up, Shio?”

“He’s not a threat without enough chakra to do anything harmful,” the other – Shio – replied. The boy was not even ashamed at how he felt offended by that.

“Hmm. You’re not the one who he just kicked where it hurts.”

A short and exasperated sigh came from the other side of the room and the posher one approached.

“Get up then, you brute.”

At that, the said brute left from his sitting position on top of Sasuke who was in turn forced into one of his own, but on the ground.

What felt like thin and bony fingers kept his hands in place behind his back, stretching his shoulders in an uncomfortable way. It was not long before he felt sturdy ropes holding them together and the cold skin left contact with his.

“Thanks,” He muttered sarcastically and again he felt his body, tiny compared to the bulk of what he had been introduced to so far, being held up by the still nameless one who didn’t even try to prevent the snort he had let out.

“Come on, we’re already late.” Shio’s voice held no acknowledgement to what had just been said besides a small hint of impatience. The other man huffed and responded with an ‘I know’ before beginning to walk again.

With his hands now restrained Sasuke’s options were limited. While it had been frustrating how little they had previously thought of him, it was also something which favoured him. As a result, he had to resort to kicking his legs hopelessly which had easily been countered by one arm holding them both down.

The rest of his time spent with the pair passed without words being exchanged between them, that being something the boy took advantage of to clear his head.

So far all he knew was that he’s kidnapped by people who know of his jutsu’s and one of their names was ‘Shio’. Whether alias or not he could not tell.

After a few minutes they came to a halt and Sasuke was plonked unceremoniously onto the ground. The two others paid no attention to the way he staggered on his feet apart from gripping his arms, though that was intended as more of a way to prevent him from trying anything rather than a helpful gesture.

Another set of footsteps were audible and a new person was walking over to them before speaking.

“Boss wants it now.” The male’s voice was raspy and hard like the others. Sasuke didn’t know what ‘it’ was, but he had a guess which was likely to be pretty accurate. He scowled with his mouth, the only visible part of his face, when the still nameless man pushed him forwards.

The newcomer up ahead opened a set of doors and as he was forced through it. The spots in his vision grew brighter and he he was suddenly seeing more light through the fabric covering his eyes.

“You can take that off of him, Kurai.”

Again a new voice reached the boy’s ears, this time bouncing off the walls of wherever they were in an echo. He seemed to be the one in charge, with the way the 3rd person had called him ‘boss’. Sasuke felt irritation spiking up at the bastard.

Kurai, the first man and the one who had carried him here’s hand was now gripping onto the knot at the back of his head and untying it. The blindfold was finally removed from his face and the section in which had been tied onto felt sweaty, despite the cool, almost falsey welcoming, air drifting into the room.

After blinking several times, the figure of a blonde man with an unattractive pointed face sitting on a slightly expensive looking chair was met in front of him. From the corner of his eye, he could see Shio — who like he had guessed did look almost as proper as the said boss — and the vague outline of the man who had opened the doors. Kurai was behind him.

“Uchiha Sasuke,” The leader said pleasantly as if he hadn’t just kidnapped a 12 year old Konoha genin who so happened to be the last remaining member of one of the strongest clans in history.

“I apologise for the situation you are currently in.”

The younger scoffed and from behind him a low and warning growl was uttered into his ear. The blonde narrowed his eyes but did not say anything. The coldness in his pupils however told Sasuke he wasn’t planning on letting the sound slide though and when he stood up Sasuke found himself involuntarily tensing his shoulders.

“You being here is something undesirable to all of us, but it is necessary.” His expression darkened even further. “You’re an Uchiha. Your clan is dangerous and a disgrace to the shinobi world. The fact that they’re dead is a relief, a solution driven by fate. What Konoha’s Hokage was thinking when allowing you to walk as a ninja is something that makes no sense to me. Even using you as a prostitute to rebuild your cursed clan is stupid.”

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.
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A dark storm was raging in Sasuke’s head. A rage hotter than any katon he could produce thundering in his magically no longer hurting temple. The calm thoughts which were previously focused on analysing the situation were replaced by blunt phrases driven by anger.

How dare they talk about his clan like that? His (late) family.

Sasuke didn’t believe in destiny. It was wild, far-fetched and nothing but a cheap excuse made by the humans of this world which were too narcissistic to admit their mistakes. His parents, his new-born baby cousins and his pregnant aunts were not killed for any stupid fate like the man had said. In reality it was because his brother was a cold-hearted psychopath who decided one night that a cool way to test his power would be by murdering the people who had brought him up and showered him with love and attention. That was what had killed his clan. Not a fucking curse.

“Who the hell do you think you are?” To his surprise his voice was low and cold. In circumstances like this he would expect himself to shout loudly at the person who had the nerve to insult the Uchihas. Kakashi would be proud of him for this, he thought vaguely.

Kurai’s hands held his arms to keep him back from trying anything against their boss, but logically even he knew there was nothing he could. An attempt to punch the man would be futile with his hands being restrained and a kick would be unbalanced along with the fire-ball jutsu which had already proven to not work.

So despite how his irrational side was screaming at him to run up and pummel that man into oblivion, all he did was harshly shrug himself out of the other’s grip with a scowl.

The irritating blonde’s smirk seemed to widen at the question and evidently became more complacent.

“Someone one of your family members deeply aggravated in the past.”

The boy blinked at the statement. ‘Aggravated’? None of the new-born babies or pregnant women of his clan could have done that, nor his mother with the sweet and loving personality she had. His father, though, he didn’t put it past. He had been a strong man and being the clan head meant he had made a lot of enemies for himself. But something deep inside him was saying it wasn’t Fugaku.

“Who—”

“You’re brother.”

Sasuke’s eyes widened as he stared at the ugly face in front of him. His insides were now churning and he felt rage piling up once again.

“What?!”

“You heard me,” the other said, sounding impatient. “You being here is revenge against Uchiha Itachi.”

It was fear, the boy suddenly realised. It wasn’t anger that was eating away at him this time, but instead it was absolute terror.

These people were crazy. Surely they had no idea what the older boy had done? Because if they did, never in their wildest dreams would they have even considered Itachi would get even remotely affected by the fact that his little brother who he had manipulated and orphaned was currently captured by freaks like these.

“No,” he said pointedly, too focused on processing the word’s to register and feel embarrassed about how shaky his voice sounded.

“No?” the leader repeated, one of his eyebrows raised and his mouth set into an amused upwards curve.

“He does not care for me. Whatever you’re going to do won’t work.” His mouth was moving on its own at this point; his subconscious mind taking over the emotional one.

“Mhm,” He replied and the part of Sasuke that was paying attention did not like his tone at all.

“And yet he left you alive.”

“I was hardly worth killing,” He said and the words felt like a slap in the face, one that was strong enough to make you bleed. He couldn’t help clenching his fists, causing a warning poke to his back, likely from Kurai, reminding him of the fact there was nothing he could do to make this man feel pain.

“So you say.”

A small nod was directed to behind him and it seemed his captors didn’t need to be ordered twice.

Kurai dragged him into the middle of the room and the other 2 men closed in around him. He was able to see the one who had so kindly opened the doors for them to enter. His features were androgynous but Sasuke could tell it was a male from his masculine voice and heavy footsteps.

“Reminder that this is nothing personal,” he said as the blonde slowly took his seat back at his chair, watching the scene with sadistic anticipation. “This is just one other thing you can blame that brother of yours on.”

And suddenly a hand was pressed up against his ribcage. Sasuke stuttered out a sharp intake of breath as he realised what was happening. His widened eyes met Kurai’s. They were an achingly familiar shade of blue, and they resembled heavily Na— damn.

The pressure on his chest steadily grew and was quickly becoming painful. The boy couldn’t help hissing as it soon became unbearable and then a sharp crack echoed around the room.

A cry of surprise left Sasuke’s lips and the reality of what had just happened sunk in. A shot of prickling agony sliced into his ribs and it hurt. More than that asshole of a headache he had woken up with. More than the feeling of over 30 needles piercing all over your vitals at the same time.

Kurai stood back up straight and the ugly blonde hummed.

“Good. Haraou, fetch Mei-chan for me, please.”

The androgynous looking male left the room but Sasuke wasn’t paying attention. The next few sentences which were directed at him buzzed through the air but didn’t quite reach his ears, his senses fully and uncomfortably focused on the force of the sting in his Costal arch.

“Apologies but we couldn’t have you struggling against Shio or Kurai, could we?” He had been saying. “You can consider this a taster. Things will get much worse from here onwards.”

Sasuke detested this man.