Itachi did not know why the others made him watch Asuma get beaten so victoriously. Maybe it was to see if he held any allegiance with Konoha or maybe it was to show what they would do if they thought he was an enemy. He did not know the other man to well yet he did not like such needless violence and felt bad that because of him, someone from the land he loved was paying.
Every inch of him hurt; his bones felt brittle, his legs were numb, and he could feel his right eye swelling shut already. The cloaked men above him, Akatsuki by name, title and ability, were putting him through the mill.
It’s true that he wasn’t weak, Asuma could take care of himself, but this was a situation that put him at the end of his rope. His sense of time was disintegrating as time went on; he had no idea how long this torture went on, but he knew one thing; he would endure it.
For Konoha, he would never give in.
The presence of spinning red eyes a distance away, the only one not participating in the torture was somewhat surprising. Uchiha Itachi; someone from his own village. Someone he had seen running the streets as a boy. A boy in age, but in rank, an Anbu. The prodigy he would never forget.
Now there was a withdrawal over his pale expression as he watched this happening. Asuma hadn’t seen that face for many, many years. Over a decade.
One of them seemed to be asking him a question, but he ignored whatever the actual question was. Instead his answer was, “…Can I—-get a cigarette?” He choked out the words, raspy and punctuated with a cough.
His one good eye shot up to the Uchiha.