Oh come on its not that bad becoming my wife

Her voice was laced with venom, but she couldn't completely suppress the frantic blush spreading across her face, betraying her true feelings. She pointed the sword at him, her hand trembling, still flustered beyond belief.

Itachi's eyes narrowed slightly, now genuinely perplexed. "I'm not trying to... do anything like that," he said, though his voice carried a trace of annoyance at being misunderstood. "But you're the one who jumped on top of me first."

Naori froze. What did he just say?

"Do you even remember?" Itachi continued, now standing up as well, his expression turning mildly exasperated. "You jumped on top of me and straddled my waist—while wearing this." He motioned to her outfit, the sleeveless blue dress that seemed ill-fitting in the chaos of the room.

Naori's mouth went dry. Her pulse pounded in her ears as the full weight of his words hit her. She had completely ignored how she looked, how exposed she was. Years of solitude and blindness had made her forget the importance of appearances or how others might perceive her. In her desperate fury, she hadn't even considered what it might look like to someone else—especially a young man like Itachi.

Her hands instinctively went to the hem of her dress, and she made an awkward gesture, trying to cover herself, but it only made the situation worse. Her face was burning with embarrassment now, but her mind was still spinning from everything that had just transpired. 

"How could I have... been so reckless?" she muttered under her breath, her voice strained, torn between anger and shame.

For a brief moment, everything fell silent between them. Itachi remained still, his posture relaxed but still wary, waiting for Naori to gather herself. She, in turn, was silently trying to regain some sense of composure, the image of herself straddling him at such a revealing angle flashing painfully in her mind.

Finally, Naori's voice broke the silence, now laced with a mixture of anger, humiliation, and regret. "You have no right to speak to me like that. You don't understand anything about me or my life."

Itachi didn't flinch. Instead, he simply looked at her, his eyes not cold, but distant. He wasn't going to push the matter any further. If Naori needed time to think, to process, then so be it.

"I didn't come here to make things worse," Itachi said softly, his voice barely above a whisper. "I came to speak to you. To offer you a chance to join the clan again, to restore your status." 

Naori's brow furrowed, her anger still simmering, but she couldn't ignore the fact that he had come to her—perhaps not with the right intentions, but nonetheless, there was a hint of sincerity in his words.

"Restore my status?" she scoffed, shaking her head. "What's left to restore? My life's already been ruined by your family."

Itachi remained silent, knowing there was nothing he could say to change her mind in that moment. She had been wronged, he understood that much. The only thing left now was whether or not she could overcome her hatred for the clan and see that not everyone in it was responsible for the way her life had turned out.

"I'm sorry for what's happened to you," Itachi said quietly, his gaze meeting hers with the weight of years of regret that he had no way of explaining. "But your future... it doesn't have to end here."

Naori's expression softened, if only slightly. The words hung in the air between them, an unspoken understanding beginning to form.

Itachi stood there, the weight of the situation pressing on him like a physical force. His mind had been racing for the last few hours, piecing together the fragmented truth of the clan's future, and now, as he stood before the two women, he knew he had to explain it all—whether they wanted to hear it or not. He felt the oppressive silence filling the room, almost suffocating, but he forced himself to speak.

" Naori... there's something you both need to understand about what's happening right now." His voice was steady but heavy with the gravity of the situation. He paused, gathering his thoughts before continuing. "I fought my father for the position of clan head in an Agni Kai, a battle between Uchiha for leadership. During that fight, I had to stop my mother, too. We all battled each other... with the Mangekyō Sharingan. The clan was in turmoil. I had no choice. I had to win."

There was a pause as the weight of his words sank in. Naori, who had been listening quietly until now, narrowed her eyes, sensing that there was more to the story. She folded her arms, waiting for him to continue.

"The reason I fought for the position... is because the clan is on the brink of destruction," Itachi said, his voice dropping into a whisper, as though he could barely bring himself to speak the words. "In the coming weeks, there's a very good chance the Uchiha Clan will be annihilated."

Mikoto's eyes widened, shock written across her face. She hadn't known the full details. She'd been unconscious for much of the battle, too hurt to understand the toll it had taken on their family. Her gaze flickered to Itachi, and her voice trembled. "Itachi... you fought... your own father and me because of this?"

Naori's face softened for just a moment, a flicker of surprise crossing her expression before her walls went back up. Mikoto, however, looked as if she had been struck. Her breath caught in her throat. "What... what are you saying?" she whispered, voice shaking.

Itachi's eyes turned down, haunted by the words he had to speak. "The Nine-Tails attack brought shame to the clan. We were suspected of releasing the beast into the village, and as a result, the higher-ups have been plotting our destruction. They've been watching us, preparing to hunt us down, to eliminate the Uchiha... waiting for us to show our outrage, for the moment we planned a coup. We've been segregated to the far corners of the village. The same village that once looked at us as its protectors... now sees us as threats. And soon the full might of the village will attack us."

Mikoto stood frozen, her heart sinking into her stomach as she processed the information. Itachi's words were like a cold wind, slowly numbing her entire being. She had no idea how deep the danger ran. The village... her own people... had turned their backs on the Uchiha.

Naori, however, didn't have the same reaction. Itachi's words, instead of striking her with fear or sorrow, seemed to fuel something much darker within her. She tilted her head, her eyes hardening, and the bitterness returned to her voice.

"Good," she spat, her words sharp like a blade. "Maybe now they'll know what it feels like to be treated as outsiders in their own home. Maybe now they'll understand what it's like to be left alone, to rot in the shadows while everyone else looks the other way."

Itachi's heart clenched in his chest. Her words were spot on. Naori's hatred was a reflection of her own pain. She was right—he had never fully realized it before, but the Uchiha clan has been treating its own members the same way the village treats them. If your powerful your used until you offer nothing else, then thrown away like yesterdays trash. As both the village and clan tries to pump out as many prodigy's and so called geniuses as they can. Let them die on the battlefield then move on. With only a few making it past the age of 20. The ones that can't be used anymore are Ostracized, vilified, feared. They had been cast aside for their power, their potential for destruction. And now, as the village closed in, they were being hunted down like animals. It was the same isolation, the same betrayal.

He swallowed hard, unable to look away from Naori. "I know it's wrong," he said quietly, his voice tinged with regret. "But the clan... it's not just about the bloodline, Naori. We need to survive. We need to unite. I'm doing this because it's the only way we have a chance to keep our legacy alive."

Naori's eyes flickered, her expression unreadable. 

Itachi stood there, silent, as he realized there was nothing he could say to convince her. She had already made up her mind, and her hatred for the clan ran too deep. But he couldn't give up. Not now.

"I know it's hard," he whispered. "But if we don't do this now, we'll be lost. All of us. The entire clan."

The atmosphere in the room felt like it had been frozen in time. Naori, her blind eyes searching the space before her, stood still, her expression hardened with the weight of years of bitterness and resentment. Itachi could see it in her—the deep, unrelenting hatred for the clan that had cast her aside, the sense of abandonment that had been allowed to fester over decades. Despite everything, he knew what he had to do. He couldn't expect her to change overnight, especially not after all she had endured.

Naori crossed her arms tightly, glaring at him. "I'm not interested, Itachi. I don't care about your plans for the clan. I don't care about saving them. I've spent enough time suffering for them."

Itachi met her gaze, unfazed by the venom in her words. "I see that in the eyes of many of the Uchiha," he began, his voice steady, "And it's one of the reasons why we need to change. If we don't adapt, if we don't find a way to survive outside of this broken system... we'll be killed soon after we escape."

She didn't say anything, but her shoulders tensed at the mention of their grim future.

"I didn't come here just to talk about the Uchiha clan's problems," Itachi continued. "I'm here because I need to move the civilian members of the clan out of the village. We can't keep fighting Konoha, Naori. We can't keep fighting a system that is too deeply ingrained with prejudice. We need to create our own country. A place where we can live without fear. The truth is, once prejudices take root in someone, it's almost impossible to remove them. It'll take generations to even make a crack at it."

He saw her stiffen at his words but continued. "I don't want to keep fighting this village, I don't want to keep killing Uchiha after Uchiha to keep the peace. What I want, Naori, is to help the clan. To shift our mindset, to help our people adapt to a future where they can live free of these chains."

Naori scoffed, still unconvinced. "Live free? After everything the clan's done? You want me to believe in that dream?"

"I know it's hard," Itachi said, his voice softer now, filled with something she hadn't heard from him in a long time—sincerity. "But I want to show the Uchiha that we don't have to be warriors. That we can live for something more. For other things. To love whoever we want. To create a life outside of this endless cycle of bloodshed."

Naori's expression shifted for a moment, just a flicker of vulnerability. She didn't know how to respond to that. But then she crossed her arms again, a cold sneer curling on her lips. "That's nice and all, but that kind of change... it's not possible. Not for me. I can't fight anymore. I'm blind. What do you want me to do, Itachi? I can barely survive as it is."

Itachi's eyes softened, and for the first time since he'd entered her home, he stepped closer, his voice lowering as he spoke.

"I didn't come here just to talk about the future of the Uchiha, Naori. I came here because... I want to give you your sight back."

Her breath caught in her throat. "What?" she said, her voice suddenly quiet, almost fragile. She couldn't believe what she'd just heard. "You... you want to give me back my sight?"

Itachi nodded, the weight of the moment settling on him. He knew what he was offering her was nothing short of a miracle. But it wasn't just about the physical gift. It was about hope, about giving her a reason to believe in something again.

For a long moment, Naori didn't speak. The world seemed to stop, as if the very air was holding its breath. Itachi couldn't read her expression; the silence felt unbearable. But then, she slowly shook her head, as if trying to process what she'd just heard.

"No... that's not possible. No one can give me back my sight. Not after all this time," she said quietly, almost to herself.

But Itachi stood there, unwavering. "I can. And I want to. Will you take it?"

She stood there for what felt like an eternity, her body still, her face a mask of mixed emotions. The bitterness was still there, deep in her heart, but something else, something softer, had begun to stir. Hope. A distant memory. Could it really be possible? Could she really see again? Could she have a life beyond the darkness?

Finally, she spoke, her voice quieter than before, filled with disbelief and skepticism. "Why? Why would you do this for me? After everything... after everything the clan has done to me?"

Your right to be skeptical of the clan, to be skeptical of me. Nothing in this life is free. Everything calls for equivalent exchange. Its the basic economics of the world. I'm not doing this out of the kindness of my heart, I'm doing it because your powerful. Your in the one percent of strongest Uchiha to ever live. And I want that power.

Naori stiffened from his last sentence. Power. There she heard it. Heard the line of another power hungry Uchiha, this time wanting to use her because of it. She hated this type of rederic, this type of thinking took everything away from her. This is the type of greed to start a war and kill her parents, the type of greed that consumed her teammates. To take Naka from her, the man she's thought of many times over the years.

Currently the clan is shortening on proper manpower, and my father and I will have to stay behind to cover the retreat for the clan, but we need people at the front to lead the clan to their new home. When this part is over, I'll need a partner by my side as their will be enemies after our eyes. Cloud, Iwa, Mist, bounty hunters and missing-nin. I haven't spoken about this last thing to the clan because it would have seem too much and they'd call the task impossible and try fighting the village even if they had no hope of winning.

I want to give these eyes to you as your the best person suited to wield them and take them to heights the original user never got a chance to do.

Itachi's voice was calm, steady. "Because I want to honor my friend, Shisui. Because I want to show the Uchiha that we're not just warriors. And because... maybe, just maybe, you deserve better than what this clan has given you."

Friendship

The words hung in the air, and for a brief moment, it felt like the world itself had paused, holding its breath.

Naori didn't know what to say. She couldn't believe him. Couldn't believe that someone, especially someone from the clan she despised, would offer her something so... human. So kind. For a second, she felt something stir in her chest, something she hadn't felt in years: the possibility of hope. It was fleeting, like a star in the night sky, but it was there.

Then she swallowed hard, trying to push down the emotions that threatened to overwhelm her. "I... I don't know if I can believe you, Itachi. It's been so long..."

He stepped forward, his voice firm yet gentle. "Its scary isn't it? To trust a person with something so important. Your worried that it would lead into failure and you'd be brought back here to reality. To your rock bottom in life. But never again will this happen to you. Even if you can't see anymore I'll make sure your cared for. To make sure you feel loved. Because now I'm here. And I want to help. Will you let me?"

For the first time in a long while, Naori didn't have an immediate response. She stood in silence, the weight of his words pressing down on her. Could she trust him? Could she trust the Uchiha clan again?

After a moment, she slowly nodded, her voice barely above a whisper. "I... I'll think about it. But I won't promise you anything."

Itachi gave a small, almost imperceptible nod. "That's all I can ask for."

And in that moment, despite all the bitterness, the anger, and the years of pain, there was the smallest flicker of possibility in the air between them. The beginning of something new.