Sasuke's body lay still on the bed as the synthetic voice echoed in his mind.
[Adaptation complete. Chakra energy and its 361 channels have been successfully analyzed. The host's body has been modified to its optimal state. Releasing anesthesia.]
Seconds later, he jolted upright.
He gasped for breath, sitting up abruptly. His breath came in sharp, rapid bursts. The dizziness hit instantly, and he turned to the side of the bed, vomiting. His body trembled, and black sticky sweat clung to his skin.
He groaned and tried to stand. His legs wobbled like they didn't belong to him. He staggered, barely catching himself against the wall.
The synthetic voice returned, but his mind was too clouded to register it.
[Readjusting recoil reactions.]
Suddenly, the nausea vanished.
Sasuke blinked. The floor felt… different. Was it farther away? He swayed slightly, his movements clumsy, as if he were learning to walk for the first time. Yet he continued, eyes scanning the room through a haze.
Then, as he passed a mirror, he stopped.
He turned slowly, staring straight at his reflection.
'W-what?'
For a second, he didn't recognize the person he was seeing in the mirror, and it took a few seconds to realize it was him. His eyes widened. He was taller than he remembered, and that wasn't what startled him. His clothes had grown too small, his sleeves had become too tight, and his shirt rose over a set of lean, sculpted abs.
His body looked completely different! He examined the symmetry of his muscles. Every part, arms, legs, chest, everything was perfectly balanced.
His entire frame had become defined, and not bulky, but honed, like a body forged by years of taijutsu training.
'What is going on?!' he thought, stunned.
[Answering host's question. Your body has been modified to the most optimal stage for growth and development.]
The instant the voice registered in his mind, Sasuke instantly adapted into a fighting stance. Even with the lingering disorientation, his instinct took over as his limbs moved in the familiar Uchiha style, although it was slightly sluggish compared to before.
"Show yourself!" he said.
[Please remain calm, host.]
Sasuke's sharp eyes scanned the room, searching for the source. But he couldn't see anyone.
"Who is it?! Show yourself!"
[I am the 15th generation Nano Machine, here to serve you, host.]
'What?!'
His senses were on high alert already, but something was off. He hadn't heard a voice just now. It hadn't traveled through sound and entered his ears. It was as if the voice was in his head.
[Correct. I am communicating by sending signals directly into your brain.]
His heart pounded. 'Wait... did it just read my thoughts?'
[Affirmative.]
Sasuke's jaw tightened. No jutsu he knew could do something like this. The closest thing was the Yamanaka clan's mind techniques, but this was far beyond anything he knew they could do.
He narrowed his eyes.
'What do you want... Nano Machine?'
[Answering host's question. I was created solely to serve and assist you.]
'What?'
[Repeating. I was created solely to serve and assist you.]
His confusion deepened. He could not understand what it wanted from him; was this some kind of trap or a sick joke?
He circulated his chakra a bit to try and see if he was under a genjutsu, but nothing happened.
[Host, I mean you no harm. To clarify everything, would you like me to transmit a basic manual and information directly into your mind?]
Sasuke hesitated. The academy never trained him for anything like this. Still, if the Nano Machine had meant to kill him, it would've done so by now, and the fact that he was still alive meant that it wanted something from him; given that he didn't have any information, he could only comply.
Slowly, he nodded.
[Inserting information.]
Suddenly, a wave of images and data crashed into his mind. His eyes shook rapidly as he looked through multiple video images, and soon he felt dizzy.
Then something unexpected happened.
[Warning. Unexpected anomaly detected. Initiating containment.]
Sasuke's breath hitched.
He suddenly wasn't just seeing data and information anymore. He was seeing... an animation of hand-drawn sequences. It was similar to the shows the civilians' children would watch. It was truly bizarre.
"W-what...?"
The animated scenes played like a film of a yellow-haired boy in the Hidden Leaf Village. The images of the story continued to unfold rapidly. It didn't take him long to notice that they were depicting real-life people and events.
And then he saw... himself.
A character designed exactly like him, down to the last detail. His clothes, his face, the way he spoke and acted, and even the Uchiha crest, everything was similar.
'How... is it possible...'
He watched silently as Naruto and Sakura were chosen to be his teammates... the Wave mission... Kakashi sensei and his Sharingan... the Chunin Exams... the Konoha invasion... the death of the Third Hokage... Orochimaru...
Then his blood ran cold. He watched a man wearing long black robes with a red cloud pattern walk into the village. Despite the person being hand-drawn, he would recognize the man anywhere... it was Itachi Uchiha.
His eyes were filled with hatred as he watched the animated version of himself confront Itachi... and lose.
He gritted his teeth in anger. 'I thought... I thought I had closed the gap somewhat... but I only amounted to that much?'
He didn't know when, but he had started viewing himself as his animated version.
He kept watching as the memories flooded in... his eventual decision to leave the Hidden Leaf. Orochimaru and his training. The power he had obtained, and finally, it happened.
He saw an older version of himself fighting and finally defeating Itachi.
'YES! He did it! He was about to kill him!' He was ecstatic. He had finally avenged his clan.
Suddenly, the image showed Itachi's final moments. As he walked towards him, emitting a red aura to poke his forehead.
Sasuke stopped breathing for a moment, and his eyes, similar to his animated version, opened wide. That gesture... his brother always did it when he made a promise, or when he was in trouble. It was his way of showing affection.
"Sorry, Sasuke... this is it."
He watched Itachi die. Saw himself cradling his brother's lifeless body.
'No... NO! YOU DON'T GET TO DO THAT!'
He mentally screamed, rage and confusion tearing through him.
More memories continued to flood in, but his mind was still distracted from the previous scene before to truly focus on it... Pain and the Tailed Beasts...
"You think you know everything about your brother, Sasuke?"
Suddenly, his attention went back to the memories as he looked at a man with a swirling orange mask, the man who claimed he was Madara Uchiha, as well as Itachi's accomplice.
"You will know the truth about your brother... how he risked everything for the village and you."
'What's this guy saying... what truth?'
"...About how your brother was ordered by the Leaf to annihilate the Uchiha clan."
'What...?'
Madara then explained everything. How Itachi was a spy, working for Danzo. The Elders. The Uchiha and their plan for a coup. The more he listened, the more he could feel his reality break down.
He shook his head violently. "No. You're lying. This is a lie!"
But it made too much sense.
'The Hidden Leaf... they let his brother suffer... They ordered the hit?'
Suddenly, his eyes burned with hatred. "Danzo! It's all your fault! You took everything from me!"
He watched as his older self went on a rampage. He watched as Madara Uchiha started the Fourth Great Ninja War, and when he killed the man who had started it.
He continued to watch everything with blank, emotionless eyes when suddenly Itachi reappeared again.
"No matter what you do from here on out... I will love you. Always."
Then a robotic voice broke through.
[Anomaly has been resolved. Returning to normal functions.]
The memories stopped.
Sasuke collapsed to his knees.
He screamed.
Tears streamed down his face. His eyes, once black, turned red. A single tomoe formed, and a few seconds later, a second formed as well.
He kept screaming until his voice vanished into silence. His skull throbbed with emptiness. Although his vision was sharper than before, his eyes were blank and dead-like...
[Heart rate elevated. The host is recommended to calm down.]
His expression twisted.
"Shut up."
[Initiating muting protocol.]
Sasuke said nothing more. He let the memories of what he had just seen, as well as the functions of the Nano Machine, sink in.