The memories passed by him in a blur, some clearer than others, it was obvious which were enhanced by the sharingan even in the speed they passed him. He was glad to not have to navigate through the memories, and he was not entirely sure it was his father's doing that guided him. His parents had mentioned a trigger, as memories continued to pass him by it was clear that his eyes had been it and he knew it was more of a pull in a direction than him navigating through the memories.

While he had no doubt his father's focus kept things at bay, he was not sure it put the memory in reach. He felt a hard push on his side and suddenly the memories that had been passing him by vanished. In their stead was darkness. Itachi was uncertain as to what he was supposed to find, if his eyes were the key, then his father's mind was the room that held a secret door. Yet, something didn't feel right in that analogy.

Sasuke was protecting more than just Sarada, he was protecting the future he knew. His father's mind no matter how protected could be unlocked, jutsus that affect the mind tend to weaken after some time. The darkness he was currently in, was still very strong, and if he had not been pushed into this darkness. It would have registered in his mind as a memory of closed eyes, of trying to sleep, of childhood when darkness always seemed much darker than black. He would have passed it without a second glance.

Second glance, it's like a puzzle.

If Itachi is the key, his father the room with the hidden door, Sarada had been the map. She was the one that sent them to look back, a second glance at the memories. Getting to this darkness had taken more than one member of his family, the only one left to contribute was his mother.

Her eyes were not a trigger for the memory, that was certain, but how did his mother get involved here?

"The message." He said in realization, the message his father sent his mother is her puzzle piece. Part of him wished he could pace just to rid himself of his newly acquired nervous energy. What good is a puzzle piece when you do not know what it looks like? Or in this case the contents. How could Sasuke expect the message to still be around? How could he be so idiotic as to rely on something so insignificant in the grand scheme of things?

As soon as those thoughts entered his mind he realized how wrong he himself is. No, he is a genius. Sasuke had known Sarada well enough to know she would let slip the "purple eye," he had relied on that. He had also counted on his mother hearing about it and recalling the letter. Sasuke had also understood that leaving the key to be his mother's eyes would be too dangerous. Itachi ignored the part of his brained that summoned an image of his innocent little brother knowing the why. So why would the message be important?

It's not the content that's important it is the message itself., It's the keyhole! He felt himself smiling at the realization, which meant it was the memory of his father writing the message that was important. His mother had said that his father did not remember drawing the eye, but that did not mean his memory of the rest of the message was altered and locked away.

This left him with one question, why was he pushed towards this darkness? Was it to be given a moment to stop and think? That seemed unlikely, "when you are in someone's mind with your eyes, you are a spectator," Shisui had explained to him so long ago. "They will know you are there only after and if you let them, unless you actively take part in the mind. Even so," he had added, "it is the subconscious mind that figures it out, the conscious mind can still be fooled."

"What do you mean?" He had asked, these were questions meant for parents, but he tended to prefer Shisui's explanations, his father was too technical, and his mother always said he was too young.

"I mean releasing chakra and letting yourself known to the mind." He had rolled his eyes as if it was the most obvious answer in the world.

"But you are not really in the person's mind, how do you release chakra there?"

Shisui sighed dramatically, "my dear cute little cousin, our eyes are weapon of genjutsu, so you cast a little genjutsu," he finished pointing at his own eyes.

Shisui had been right to seem exasperated by his ignorance, in hindsight it was obvious. Itachi understood what he had to do, he had to cast a genjutsu. The darkness was an added security measure, eyes can be taken, he knew this, as an Uchiha it was ingrained in his mind, but chakra could not be replicated. It could be similar, but never the same.

A small little genjutsu is all he would need to cast and so he did. He watched a leaf fall by his feet. Suddenly web like multicolored lights appeared and spread around him. He noted the color of the lights, blue, red, white, purple and pink all spreading in different directions. Itachi knew he had to follow one of the paths before him, but how to pick?

Purple would be the obvious choice, he noted. He sought the memory of the message with the purple eye after all, yet Sasuke did not seem the type to repeat himself. The purple eye was already a big puzzle piece as it was. Itachi looked around him to examine the paths formed in front of him. If he looked closely enough, he could see that the red and white seemed to always be near each other. Following those seemed obvious for the Uchiha crest, but would it be that obvious? Unlikely, but it could be so obvious for it be overlooked.

He looked to the blue path, and the only link for the color he could find within his family was that with the right lighting Sasuke's hair appeared to have blue in it. Maybe that was the puzzle piece that related to his brother? Itachi could admit it was wildly amusing how he had involved the whole family to protect the memory, and genius. The whole family. Was Sasuke not involved in this "game" already? Blue was not it; he knew then. He may be uncertain of the other paths but he was certain of this.

Next to the blue path the pink one seemed to run parallel of it. Itachi wondered what connection there was to his family for about a second before realizing that the path was not just any shade of pink, but the same as cherry blossoms. Sakura.

That was the path, he knew it, felt it even, just as he was positive the blue path was not it, he knew to follow the cherry blossomed colored path. Itachi began his journey, wondering how much time had passed, he knew that it could have been seconds, out in the real world. In this darkness where the only colors he could see was the pink he followed and the blue that seemed to be parallel, it felt like hours had passed. Eventually the blue path seemed to make a turn, and after some time it vanished completely from his sight.

It was a slow trek after that, to the point that some of his earlier confidence began to fade, he paused for a second and reconsidered where he stood. Had he read the puzzle accurately? Maybe he was giving his brother too much credit, after all his brother had left a time travel scroll at home where Sarada could get it. Still he decided to keep walking, and followed the pink path, when he began to notice that the ground beneath him felt different. Though calling it ground was not right to begin with, walking through his father's mind had felt solid, it had felt no different than walking in his home. Yet now it felt like he was stepping in something not quite solid and not quite liquid.

He paused once more, when he looked down, he noticed a crack appearing beneath his feet. The crack began to spread quickly and as he made to run away the ground beneath his feet vanished and he began to fall. "A very important thing to remember," Shisui's voice rang in his memory, so clear Itachi was almost tempted to look beside him, "when exiting the mind, close your eyes, makes the transition easier."

He closed his eyes expecting that when he opened them he would be standing in his father's study. Instead when he did, he discovered he was no longer falling, but in the village. He looked behind him to find his father writing on a scroll, the memory seemed right, but once he approached to have a closer look, he noticed the absence of the drawing of the eye. The note is the key, he reminded himself as he reached for the letter.

Itachi had expected many things from his contact with the note, but his hand going through it, was not one of them. Still his senses were on high alert, and he noticed how the world around him stood still. He also felt the cold sensation of a genjutsu being removed, he had never felt the cold with such a ferocity and resisted the urge to shiver. The memory was now free, the man in black was proof enough, Sasuke.

A/N: so this is actually going to be combined with chapter 4, i know I suck, but in my defense I am terrible at planning and tend to let the story guide me and this is what that story wanted... anyway I will leave this up like this for about a week then combine the chapter, again I really wanted to start with the past for chapter 5 but poor planning on my part has kicked my glutes. Regardless the actual timeline of the story is done and no other chapter should work out like this.