Chapter 271: A Reason To Live

Disclaimer: Naruto and all of its characters belong to Shueisha and Masashi Kishimoto. I own nothing but the original characters I create.

"Dialogue"

'Thoughts'

-Author notes-

Chapter 271: A Reason To Live

"Lady Tsunade! Something is going on at the Hyuga Clan Complex." Shizune opened the door to the room and rushed inside.

Tsunade was sitting down next to a hospital bed. She turned around to look at her assistant, who continued with her report.

"A tremendous spike of chakra. I think they may be fighting!" Shizune exclaimed.

"Calm down, Shizune. The Clan had just announced their next leader. Hinata already warned me that something like this could happen. Some members must have disagreed with Hinata becoming the next leader, and she is setting them right."

"Hinata is becoming the next clan leader?!" Shizune said with shock.

"Yes...we can talk about this later. Right now I was in the middle of something with a patient of mine." Tsunade pointed at the young man on the bed.

Itachi was sitting upright on the bed, wearing a hospital gown. Bandages could be seen covering his chest and eyes.

"Mister Itachi...I'm so sorry for interrupting. I trust the surgery went well?" Shizune said.

"It's okay. And you don't need to call me Mister." Itachi responded calmly.

"I was just getting to that." Tsunade turned to address Itachi. "As I was saying before, we found the issue with your body. The condition of your heart was too severe to cure..."

"How long do I have left?" Itachi asked, not sounding very concerned, as he was already prepared. He had been prepared for a long time.

Tsunade frowned. "You should have let me finish speaking...you are cured now. We performed a heart transplant. Luckily, we have a surplus of organs available in Konoha...thanks to a certain someone who doesnt know how to take prisoners..."

"That's great!" Shizune exclaimed.

"Cured?...That's not possible." Itachi said. "I was told that I could not be cured...I..."

"Told by who? Some backwater healer in a small village?" Tsunade scoffed. "Who do you think you are talking with? I am Tsunade Senju, and there is nothing I cannot fix."

Shizune had to stifle a chuckle.

"...That's..." Itachi didn't know what to say. He felt conflicted right now. "I'm going to live?"

Tsunade and Shizune understood what he was thinking. Itachi's physical condition may be fixed, but his biggest problem right now were his mental scars. This was a man who had lost everything - his clan, his brother, and his reason to live.

"Your mental trauma is something we can work on." Tsunade glanced at her assistant. "Shizune here has been trained to assist in mental healing. She will be helping you from now on."

"I'm not sure I want that..." Itachi didn't even know what he wanted anymore. Before this, he just wanted to die in battle at least. But Naruto denied him that as well.

"That will take time. However..." Tsunade raised a finger. "I am hoping this will help." She got closer and began to remove the bandages around Itachi's eyes.

"What are you doing?" Itachi asked. "Wh-...!"

His words became stuck in his mouth when he began to perceive light as the layers of bandages began to be pulled away.

"This can't be..." He had assumed that he was blind after pushing his eyes to their limit during his fight with Naruto.

"I should be blind."

"That is correct...you should." Tsunade finished pulling the bandages away.

Itachi looked around in disbelief. He could see perfectly. But then he noticed that something was off. He brought his hands closer to his eyes. "These...these are not mine."

"Correct. We have recently recovered several Sharingans. The two I have implanted in you were the ones in the best condition." Tsunade had initially prepared these for Naruto, since he wanted to have them implanted.

But recently, he seemed to have changed his mind and his interest had switched to something else. So she used them to replace Itachi's original Sharingan, which had been worn out by overusing them.

"I hope you are more careful with those. We don't have many to spare any longer." Tsunade warned him.

"Where did these come from? It was Danzo...right? That bastard stole them from my clan." Itachi's voice became filled with anger. The tomoe in his eyes began to spin around.

"Correct. He had implanted several eyes on his body. We were able to recover just a few that were still usable. But the ones in you...came from someone else. I thought it would be more appropriate for you to have them."

"Why? Who did they belong to?" Itachi asked.

"They are Sasuke's." Tsunade responded.

Despite all the strain from the fight with Naruto, the pair of Sharingan eyes were still in very good condition when Naruto brought the head back to her. They were much better than any of the eyes recovered from Danzo.

"Sasuke...why?" Itachi muttered.

"I thought you would prefer to have them, instead of letting them rot in some container." Tsunade responded.

Itachi remained silent after that.

"Lady Tsunade...I believe Itachi needs some time alone." Shizune suggested.

"That is fine. I have much to do, but before leaving, allow me to say something else." Tsunade stood up. "The charges against you have been dropped and your name has been removed from the bingo book. But your face and name are still those of a known criminal among the population of Konoha, so it would be better if you used some disguise...if you plan to go outside."

"Can I go anywhere I want?" Itachi asked. He had expected to be held prisoner in Konoha.

"I'm sure the old council would have complained. But you will soon find out that Konoha has changed a lot lately. We have a new Council of Elders and a crazy guardian. Even the citizens are changing, but things take time. You are a free man, Itachi. You and your clan have been wronged by this village...it's the least we can do for you. Even if you want to leave the village, we won't stop you. But it would be best if you take some time to recover and think things through properly before making a decision."

Shizune approached him. "I will be staying close by. If you need anything, just ring the bell next to your table." She said with a warm smile.

The two women left the room, leaving the tired ninja to rest.

Itachi had now been given another chance to live. But he needed to think about what he wanted to do with it...a reason to live after having lost everything.

A.N: - Remember to comment, vote, and/or leave a review if you have the time. Those things help me a lot and I would really appreciate it.

You can Support me on P@treon if you like and get 20 advanced chapters.

-.com/Kriogenix

For donations and commissions, go to .com/kriogenix