This Chapter is where I will be slightly deviating from the original Catalyst. Some of it will still be the same but after this chapter I expect it to be completely different from the original.

Thousand Foot Krunch-

Hate
Is Only what You Say
Not What you Mean
And Pain
Is What's inside of Me

Ed had been tempted to stop and see what was going on but the thought of getting caught kept him from doing so.

Leaving Itachi to deal with Sasuke alone.

Ed could see the forest line in view and knew it would only be a matter of time before he reached it. Then he sensed them. There was someone closing in on him, and they were moving fast. By the time he knew it they were there in front of him. Or at least he thought it was a person. The man was older, with long white hair and like everyone else there he was wearing strange clothing.

"I think they've let you get far enough kid!"

The old man yelled as he stood in the way of Ed's path.

"I don't think so old man."

Ed grumbled as he charged at the man, putting more speed into the motion. He faked to the left and made a quick jump to the right at the last second. What he hadn't been expecting was the older man moving so fast. Ed was grabbed by the back of his already messed up shirt and slammed into the ground. He gasped for a second on impact but regained his bearings before the white haired man could hit him again, and rolled out of reach. Or so he thought.

"That's some skill there kid."

The man commented as he appeared in Ed's path once again. The teen had to catch himself before slamming into him.

"Thanks."

Ed skidded on the ground for a moment before flipping himself over and back to his feet.

"Look I don't know what you people think I did but I sure as hell haven't done anything wrong yet!"

Ed yelled to the man who laughed.

"From what I saw on my way here I'd say you've done quite a bit already."

Thinking back Ed did see what he meant. After blowing up the prison wall he had taken out a few of those masked guys before that Itachi guy caught up with him. That guy was like a magnet to these people chasing them, they all seemed to swarm to him wherever he was. Not like Ed himself was any better at avoiding trouble it seemed.

As Ed dodged blows by the skin of his teeth he got an idea and the slow smirk that over took his features concerned Jiraiya to no end.

"Old man I hate to break it to you but this fight is over."

While landing back onto the ground after jumping to avoid what would have been a nasty blow to the face, Ed slammed his hands into the ground just as Jiraiya landed too. The paved road enclosed its self over the older man's body, without so much as blinking Ed was off. Running faster than he had been before the fight, hoping and praying to any higher power he refused to believe in would hold the white haired man in his trap long enough for him to reach at least the tree line. He could use the elements to his advantage, his height (Which he refused to admit to anyone but himself) would help him hide in smaller places and climb faster than he hoped the older man could.

Judging by the way that white haired man was able to keep up with Ed speed wise and that his punches and hits hurt more than you thought they would, hope was going to become Ed's thing for the moment. There wasn't much more he could do in the situation, seeing as how this guy's looks didn't match his skills.

Ed proved himself right as he nearly reached the fence that separated him from the woods when a presence appeared behind him and he was once again slammed into the hard ground on his back, and smacked the back of his skull with a clap of pain. A white hot light bloomed behind his eye lids and then he was greeted by the thick blackness of unconsciousness.

Itachi stood in front of his younger brother emotionless. Every fiber of his being wanted nothing more than to smack Sasuke on the head, make fun of him a bit, and then they would laugh and Sasuke would tell him about his week. In this mindset Sasuke was also four years younger and so much cuter. Now he just looked royally pissed off and slightly murderous. That thought made Itachi smile slightly, and his younger brother took it as a taunt and attacked without warning.

A lesser ninja would have never even seen the shuriken thrown his way, let alone notice the second one in the shadow of the first and avoid being hit by both. Forcing a small amount of chakra into his feet Itachi jumped to close the distance between his bother and himself to grab the teen by the throat and lift him slightly off the ground so that only the tips of his sandals scrapped the ground. Sasuke had little to no time to react to this as Itachi moved to shove the teen into the closest tree.

"Ah little brother have you learned nothing while I was away?"

Sasuke made a noise that if he had use of his windpipe Itachi guessed it would have been a growl, but came out as a gurgling sound that nearly made the older teen burst out laughing. Instead he forced Sasuke's back harder into the tree making the wood creak under the strain. Sasuke made a wheezing noise as he clawed at Itachi's wrist and arm for relief. Itachi saw it then as Sasuke struggled to get away from him, the truth. In a puff of smoke as his captive lost more and more oxygen his illusion broke and the teen in his grasp wasn't his brother any longer. Itachi chuckled darkly at the teen anyway.

"Naruto."

Itachi dragged the name out as the blonde glared with red tinted eyes at him. His usual blue flickering in and out as his anger and desperation for survival grew. The older teen activated his Sharingan and confronted the demon attempting to take over. Itachi found himself in Naruto's inner mind standing in front of an enormous cage the younger blonde next to him with his hand outreached to the beast held captive in his mind.

"While this would help you defeat me I wouldn't take anything this fox says seriously."

Naruto looked up at Itachi in shock and the older ninja smirked, how he loved scaring the shit out of people. In his messed up life it was one of his small pleasures to bring fear to the hearts and minds of those younger than him. And beating up Kakashi sempai, but that was a thought for a later time.

"Uchiha."

The Kyubi rumbled from his cage, chakra claws reached out to strike him and Itachi calmly stepped out of their reach.

"I think you should go back to sleep demon."

Itachi reached out and pressed the peeling seal back into place and turned to Naruto who stood there still silently shocked. Which was odd seeing as how all his memories of the kid were of nonstop chatter, and the recent updates on intel he got from Kisame seemed that he hadn't changed much personality wise in that last few years.

"And you vessel, we should get back to the real world now."

As soon as the words left his mouth they were back in the Village with Naruto's feet on the ground and the real Sasuke standing behind Itachi with a kunai to his throat. The blade was pressed hard enough against his skin that Itachi could feel a drop of blood roll down his neck.

"So the original appears. I see you had to have your teammate fight your battles for you younger brother."

Itachi kicked his leg, hitting Sasuke in the chest, and shoved Naruto through the tree at the same time. Both had enough sense to guard themselves as best they could and ended up standing a few feet away from Itachi in either direction. Itachi smiled to himself, this was going to be interesting to say the least if they planned to fight him together. Both younger teens panted for breath slightly where they stood as they each emitted a good killing intent. Itachi tilted his head to the side in an instigating motion and then he felt it. The chakra emitting from the ground below his feet, it was a nearly there feeling, but obvious enough that Itachi was still able to detect it.

"You don't really think this would be a fair fight now do you genin?"

He asked them tauntingly with a smirk sliding on to his lips.

The slight smile was returned by the blonde and raven haired genin as a pale hand shot out of the dirt below Itachi and grasped his ankle.

"No, we weren't under any illusions on the fairness of this fight Itachi."

Sasuke spit the words like venom on his tongue. His own Sharingan was already activated as he was only able to barely stop himself from attacking the older teen. It wasn't part of the plan that he jump in and try to fight him alone.

"But if you thought this was a fair fight Itachi you were mistaken."

Sakura pulled Itachi's ankle below the surface of the ground and he lifted his other leg up slamming it down on the ground above the girl. The area around them concaved as the pink haired girl had barely enough time to jump away before the rubble collapsed on her. It pissed Sasuke off that his brother had put his teammate in such danger and he charged the older ninja without thinking. His hands already forming the seals for his chidori, and just as he was about to hit Itachi with the blue lightning in his hand he was deflected. Itachi was impressed, Sasuke had learned such a complex technique but disappointed in his younger brothers lack of control. The smallest of things were able to set him off and in a land where deception was how you survived Sasuke was going to lose at this rate.

"You're too weak little brother."

He intoned in a bored voice, as he flung Sasuke into a tree, making the younger ninja hit his back on the truck of the tree and then the blonde was in front of him. Or rather two of them were, and one was holding something Itachi hoped wasn't the rasengan he felt like it was. From the enormous amount of compacted, swirling chakra in the palm of his hand there was no doubting what it was. With quick thinking his rammed the palm of his own hand into Naruto's chest and sent him in the direction of Sasuke. Itachi hadn't planned on deflecting Naruto in that direction and watched the shock and then fear that crossed the blonde haired ninja's face as he grew closer and closer to his teammate. Sasuke rolled out of the way at the last minute and the tree too the brunt of the attack.

Itachi laughed for effect.

"Perhaps I won't have to fight you at all at this rate."

He goaded when Naruto and Sasuke dragged themselves to their feet, just as Sakura attempted to punch him from behind, just as he was about to move out of the way of her chakra charged fist his body froze. He hadn't noticed it earlier with all the chakra from Naruto's rasengan still in the air but someone else had joined this party and they had succeeded on sneaking up on him. Or below him would be a better term. Looking down he saw the shadows attached to his own and glanced around until he saw Shikaku Nara a few feet away. Without being able to move Itachi was forced to take the full hit of Sakura's punch and couldn't even turn into it to avoid damage due to the jutsu he was trapped in at the moment. Even as his own chakra worked on eating away at the shadows holding him captive. Forcing the sting of the punch out of his mind Itachi kept his face neutral as the pink haired girl ran over to check on her teammates.

"Itachi Uchiha, you didn't think the Village of Konoha would leave a team of genin to battle an S-Class criminal, now did you?"

Itachi smiled at the older man.

"I know exactly what the Village of Konoha would leave to a team of genin, and fighting someone such as myself is the least of it Nara."

Shikaku laughed as he walked closer to the four of them.

"You three head to the Hokage tower, Jiraiya was on his way there with the other escapee."

"Hey old man Nara what makes you think you can take all the credit for stopping Itachi when we were the ones doing all the work."

Naruto yelled at the jounin. Sasuke shoulder bumped him to make him move and Naruto kept a look of displeasure on his face as the trio walked in the direction of the tower. As if he wanted to say more but was keeping his mouth shut because of his team mates.

Itachi turned his attention back to Shikaku.

"Jiraiya caught the other one?"

He asked. Shikaku said nothing and simply glared as he moved forward to force Itachi to do the same. The Uchiha contemplated breaking the Shadow connection jutsu but he had always been too curious for his own good. He had been hoping to confront the metal armed teen with the odd abilities he had seen in passing, once he escaped. But if the other was caught and kept in Konoha the chances of him confronting him anytime soon were slim to none. With a mental shrug Itachi complied with the jutsu's demands.

He could always escape later.