The Breaking Point (SasukeXOC)

63

After Sakura had screeched at the boys to get out in her usual Sakura fashion she helped me change, all the while muttering something about how inappropriate it was for boys to see a girl changing. The dress I wore was loose enough to fit easily over my bandages so changing didn't take long. In no time at all Sakura was pushing my wheelchair out of the hospital room. She gave Kiba a fierce glare and Sasuke a charming smile as we past, the two following close behind.

The streets of Konoha were silent. Rain gently pattered the ground. The entirety of the village stood at the tombstone.

I had never been to a funeral before this. Everything felt surreal. As if I was watching this scene unfold from a third person perspective. Naruto was conversing with Iruka-sensei about something. I watched the two speak but the words were unintelligible to me. The whole conversation passed through me as if I wasn't even there.

"C'mon, let's go find Kakashi-sensei." Sakura said. Kiba and Akamaru had already broken off from our group to find their own team. Naruto nodded to Sakura with a smile.

"Iruka-sensei, see ya later!" Naruto yelled as we departed.

"Idiot, it's a funeral, don't yell." Sasuke scolded with a scowl.

"I can't believe he's smiling already..." Sakura grouched.

"You know what? I think we should celebrate the special things the Hokage gave us." Naruto told us brightly. I cracked a small smile at the boy.

"I never thought of it that way." Maybe, just maybe, I can think about the special things given to me by a lot of people in my life.

Several days passed since the funeral. Some people still wore black, signifying their mourning, but most of Konoha went back to business. Shop owners returned to their businesses, ninja returned to training, and me? I returned to the hospital.

"Oh my god I'm going to go crazy in here!" I shouted to myself.

My injuries were starting to heal slowly, but surly. Each day Rin would appear to check on my vitals and give me a dose of her ninja healing chakra stuff. Thanks to her ninja healing I was much further along in my recovery process than normal. I could officially walk and change clothes on my own.

I was still covered in bandages and I had to move pretty slowly, not to mention some movements like bending down to pick something off the ground were off limits still, but I could at least use the bathroom alone now. Most people would spend the boring hours of bed rest sleeping the days away. Unfortunately for me, that was impossible.

Rin attempted to get me to sleep, especially at night. She tried ninja healing chakra, she tried herbal remedies, and she even tried drugs. Nothing worked. Not that I wanted anything to work. With sleep came dreams. With dreams came the inevitable lifting of subconscious restrictions.

"Wow, I can hear you all the way down the hall." A man spoke as he entered the room, Kakashi-sensei beside him. I furrowed my brow and pouted at the duo.

"How ya doing, Miyu?" Kakashi-sensei asked casually.

"I'm losing my mind." I answered steadily. Kakashi-sensei chuckled then cleared his throat and gestured to the white-haired man to his side.

"There's someone the Hokage and I wanted you to meet, this is Jiraiya. He knows a thing or two about what you've been doing to help with your vision problems." Kakashi-sensei introduced.

"...Okay." I nodded easily.

"So, Miyu, how about you start off by telling me what's been going on." Jiraiya sat on a chair by my bed and Kakashi-sensei stayed by the wall observing. I glanced at Kakashi-sensei nervously and he nodded at me to continue.

"It's... a pretty long story, I guess. The Hokage told me when I got here not to tell anyone about some of the stuff, but I guess that doesn't matter now since Orochimaru knows about it." Jiraiya narrowed his eyes, his happy-go-lucky grin turning serious at the mention of the man.

"Knows about what?" he demanded.

"Why don't you start from the beginning, Miyu?" Kakashi-sensei prompted. I nodded.

"Ok... well building up from least important to most important, I guess I should start by telling you that I don't sleep." Jiraiya blinked at me, stunned.

"At all?" I shook my head at him. "But, that's impossible. Even hardened insomniacs have to sleep a few hours every once in a while. No human body can withstand going without sleep for too long, you'll collapse from exhaustion."

"I don't. I haven't slept in... oh jeez... how long has it been, Kakashi-sensei?" my sensei shook his head at me.

"I lost track of time. Months. Possibly close to a year by now, I'm not sure." Kakashi-sensei answered glumly.

"How?" Jiraiya demanded.

"I meditate. Well, I thought I was only meditating at first but I found out it was something else just recently. I'm an Uchiha, but I'm not a strong Uchiha. I'm from a branch family so my blood is really diluted. I was never supposed to activate my Sharingan, most branch families can't use the Uchiha bloodline trait at all." I explained.

"Wait, what does this have to do with your meditations?" Jiraiya asked.

"I'm getting there." I paused to close my eyes, when I opened them my Sharingan was active. "You see, somehow, by some miracle I guess, I was able to activate my Sharingan. Then," I watched Jiraiya's reaction as my Sharingan morphed into my Mangekyou Sharingan, "I activated my Mangekyou Sharingan." Jiraiya gaped, jumping back in his chair. His mouth opened and closed a few times in shock as he glanced from my eyes to Kakashi-sensei a few times.

"H-how... but, wait. I still don't get how this has to do with nature chakra." Jiraiya finally protested, his lips setting into a firm line.

"The first time I used my Mangekyou after activating it was during the Chunnin exams. Orochimaru attacked my team." Jiraiya nodded apparently having already been aware of this. "The only thing I could think of to keep us all from not dying was to use my Mangekyou Sharingan even though I had never used it before and both Kakashi-sensei and the Hokage told me to keep it hidden." I frowned, my shame for disobeying a dead man evident.

"It's alright. You were right. Orochimaru probably wouldn't have let you all live." Jiraiya nodded to me, his face grim. I took a deep breath and continued my story.

"So, I used my Mangekyou Sharingan to capture Orochimaru in a genjutsu. As soon as he escaped the genjutsu I lost my vision entirely." Jiraiya nodded.

"Right, I had heard that's a side effect from using the Mangekyou Sharingan. The more you use it the closer you come to total blindness. It makes sense that you, as a weaker branch family member, no offence, lost your vision after a single use of the Mangekyou Sharingan. Even for members of the head household the risk of using the Mangekyou Sharingan is incredibly large and eventual blindness is certain." Jiraiya remarked. I nodded; surprised that he knew so much about my family.

"Right, but I got my vision back. I... figured it out after the exams." I hesitated, knowing I would have to lie about how I came across this knowledge once more. "I meditated the same way that I usually do whenever I'm feeling run down from lack of sleep or from over training. The only difference was that I was more aware of what was happening. I channeled the chakra from the nature around me into myself, more specifically into my eyes. And by the time I was finished I could see again. I can even use my Mangekyou Sharingan freely. I still go blind sometimes, but as long as I have the time to meditate and take chakra from nature I can recover my vision."

"So what do you think, Jiraiya? I told the Third about her lack of sleep months ago and he instantly recommended a consultation with you. Even back then the Third knew she was tapping into nature chakra." Kakashi-sensei revealed. Jiraiya was silent for a few moments.

"Well, there's no doubt about it. She's definitely using nature chakra. But I'm not sure if it's possible for her to tap into Sage Mode seeing as she's not contracted." He said after some time. 

I know, this chapter cuts off at a weird place. Sorry! I wasn't sure how to section this part off. The next chapter will finish up this scene! 

As always, thank you for reading!