A/N: I tried to put all of this stint with Izuna in one chap, but that would have made it between 50-75 pages long. Facing such a daunting task grew discouraging after awhile. I found myself wanting to rush and skip some parts. The whole purpose of me setting aside the deadline for this fic was to avoid that. So I decided to break it into two parts. Next chap will be part 2 of this and hopefully won't take me as long to submit.

On another note, things are coming along on the facebook page. I have someone offering fanart there, in case anyone wants to check it out. Masaru is up, which is a nice coincidence since he has a part in this chap. I'm happy for those who visit and chat with me there.^^

*I tried to catch all the typos...ignore the ones I missed.


Chapter 54

Run, baby, run

Rasta-Sasuke had been dozing off when the Shinigami settled around him. He roused himself briefly to make sure they weren't doing anything fishy, before rolling to his side and drifting to sleep again. The sounds of the new guy talking, and the others responding from time to time only reached him dimly. He was glad his parents were gone, and Blondie's parents. He figured that now there was no one to force him to do anything. He could get back to waiting for Blondie to be ready to go home. In the meantime, he had catching up on his sleep to do.

The distant sound of someone shouting ready, set, go kicked off a brief little dream in his head: he remembered races run at the academy back before his parents had tried to kill him. The sun was hot on him where he lay in the grass, as it had been hot during those races. He smiled faintly as he burrowed deeper into his dream.

He was dead to the world, that was the truth, or his senses might have picked up on the danger sooner. As it was, the only reason his eyes slid open again was because the Shinigami had each done their little Shunpo number; the faint sounds this made roused him. He was alone under the tree.

Well, good.

No, wait. Why would they be-

The sensation of a massive impending threat descended on him so that he was turning, opening two gates, and getting to his feet all at once. He was suddenly wide awake, registering everything in exquisite detail, down to the veins in the leaves on the trees, and a stick bug near his hand in the grass. And still he hadn't completed his turn, still that threat loomed. His heart had beat only once in all this time, and he could feel it contracting to pump out another beat.

Finally, he was facing Izuna. He was straightening from his crouch, Izuna was running, and his own arm was lifting, slowly, to send a bar of Fucker at this trick's head. Fucker even began zooming out of him, traveling as if through syrup, but Izuna was leaping to evade, still coming toward him, and Rasta-Sasuke realized that he was quite probably screwed.

-oOo-

Blondie ran for the trees at Izuna's command to go. He sensed rather than saw the others speeding off in various directions. At the tree line, he glanced behind himself to see who Izuna was going after first…and saw that he was closing in on Sasuke.

He pivoted, running in Izuna's wake, but even he could see that he wasn't going to make it in time. He ran anyway, pushed himself, called heavily on the Kyuubi's chakra to give him speed, and still he was out of reach when Izuna landed from his jump to evade Fucker. He reached for Sasuke with both hands coated with fire.

-oOo-

Rasta-Sasuke leaned backward, still moving as if in a dream, as those fiery hands reached for him. Izuna's face was pleasant, the eyes wide, gauging his reactions. He could feel the heat of those hands as they inched toward his face. His muscles gathered to leap, but he was too slow. The hands filled his vision-

Someone landed with a crash between him and Izuna.

Rasta-Sasuke was shoved out of the way. He fell, got up, ran, turned and saw that it was Itachi. Itachi deflected Izuna's fiery hands before delivering a powerful kick that Izuna back-flipped away from. A moment later, Blondie slammed into Izuna, and the two rolled, exchanging rapid blows.

Itachi landed next to Rasta-Sasuke and took his arm. "Let's go."

Rasta-Sasuke wrenched his arm away. "Get off me, I don't need your help. And I'm not playing you guys' little game, either. I'll be sure to tell that bitchass once Blondie's done schooling him." He turned to watch the fight.

-oOo-

Blondie was not schooling anyone. He was being served his own ass with a thoroughness he'd never experienced from any opponent in his memory.

Another crushing blow from Izuna that pulverized his shoulder, making that arm useless. Blondie could have withstood these, evaded or blocked them, if he was able to see them coming. As it was, he was fighting while off kilter; Izuna hit him with small doses of Genjutsu, nothing big, just enough to confuse him. He'd think Izuna was coming from the right, when in fact he was behind him. The Genjutsu were subtle enough, delivered and withdrawn so quickly, that Kyuubi couldn't anticipate them or neutralize them. By the time he became aware of them, Izuna himself had lifted them. In the second or two Blondie would be oblivious, Izuna would deliver a wealth of powerful blows that crippled the teen. The Kyuubi chakra worked at healing the damage caused, but more damage was done in the time this took, and Blondie just couldn't get his balance. He'd never gone up against such a fighting style, or against anyone so strong. It was a slaughter.

When Izuna was done, he stood looking down at the unconscious boy, not even winded. He performed several hand seals and placed his hands on Blondie's chest. Blondie's chakra swirled up and into him in billowing clouds. He noted how Blondie's Bijuu did not interfere or revive him the way it would have in Demon. Unlike Demon, Blondie had complete, unwavering control over his Bijuu. From Aimi's thoughts and memories he knew that Demon did not access Kyuubi accidentally anymore, and that he could now access all of its chakra without transforming, but still, he and his demon had a relationship that Blondie did not share with his. Izuna was able to suck out every drop of his chakra without interruption from the Bijuu. He straightened up with Blondie slung over one shoulder.

The Shinigami had crept back to the tree when Rasta-Sasuke had run in one direction, and Izuna was dragged in another by his fight with Blondie. They watched as Izuna dropped Blondie at their feet.

Izuna turned to look at Rasta-Sasuke and Itachi, standing some distance away. He smiled.

-oOo-

Itachi moved to grab Rasta-Sasuke's arm. "Come. Quickly, before he catches us."

Rasta-Sasuke blinked, finally closing his mouth. Blondie had been taken out. He was down. He'd fought hard, and Izuna had handled him as if Blondie wasn't shit. Ignoring the hand on his arm, Rasta-Sasuke accessed Mangekyo, started to open all the gates, then stopped. Lee had drilled into him time and time again, often painfully, that eight gates were not to be used under any circumstances, not unless he was in the thick of the war itself. Rasta-Sasuke had learned that lesson well. He kept it to half that.

With four gates, he was at Izuna's side before the man could blink. He swung his fist at the man's throat, but Izuna dodged.

What-?

He swung, punched, kicked, and Izuna dodged each blow. He can follow this speed, he thought. He can see me. But he could also see Izuna and the speed he used to press his attack now. Rasta-Sasuke ran, trying to evade, but Izuna was on his ass. A punch to his kidneys had him rolling and tumbling through the grass for several hundred yards. He came to a stop right at Itachi's feet. Itachi bent down to give Rasta-Sasuke a hand, but the younger Uchiha slapped it aside weakly. He winced, squeezing his eyes shut as he felt his back. Two ribs broken, he was sure. He snapped his eyes open again and found Izuna walking calmly toward them. This time he held out both hands and sent thick bars of Fucker to his head, pumping as much chakra as he could, which was less than all; the amount of pain he was in had him nearly blacking out.

Izuna was there, then he was gone. Fucker zinged without impediment to the trees on the far side of the field. He reappeared next to Rasta-Sasuke, who looked up at him dumbly. Izuna's hand shot out, going for his face.

Itachi filed away the information that Izuna had the same space/time jutsu Madara used as he lashed out with a kunai. The move was as quick as he could make it. Izuna still saw it coming and skipped aside to avoid it…which allowed Itachi to snatch Rasta-Sasuke by the scruff of his neck and streak out of there.

-oOo-

Izuna let them go. For the moment. He wanted to fight Itachi when he was alone, so the man could go all out. He understood from Aimi's information that the current patriarch of the Uchiha clan was some sort of former prodigy. He would assess the veracity of that for himself. He turned to look at where Blondie still lay unconscious, releasing his own Mangekyo as he did so. He frowned. He'd planned to go after all the weakest ones first, or who he thought of as weak based on Aimi's information, and then set out after the strong ones. He'd classified Blondie as belonging to the latter group. Instead, he was the first to go down and thus miss out on the rest of the training.

Ah, well. Onward.

Izuna turned away from the tree and closed his eyes, tracking his next victim. When he had him, he smiled, teleported, and came out a mile away from his target. He would let the man come to him.


Hiroto crept silently through the forest, scanning carefully before each step he took. His Sharingan was on. He didn't sense anyone yet, but that didn't mean he was alone. The area between his shoulder blades tightened and itched, which meant he was being either stalked or watched. The feeling refused to go away. He finally stopped on a patch of bare earth beneath one of the enormous trees. He tracked his eyes slowly from left to right, staring intently.

Something. A glimmer. Concentrating, He saw the faintest fold of reality and illusion. Recognizing an exceptionally fine-cast Genjutsu, Hiroto held the first two fingers of one hand to his mouth. "Dispel," he muttered. He kept his eyes peeled as the Genjutsu rolled away to reveal an exact replica of the forest trees and undergrowth it had concealed- with the addition of Izuna standing five feet in front of him.

He saw the punch coming, but let it hit his jaw in order to use Izuna's momentum against him. He took hold of the hand that had hit him and trapped it beneath his own arm. Twisting his body sharply, Hiroto snapped the arm at the elbow, kept twisting and eventually ended up with Izuna in front of him, his arm around the man's throat. He wrenched backward sharply-

-and was holding nothing but empty air. Hiroto dropped his hands slowly, looking around him with all his senses opened wide. He kept his teeth clenched tightly to prevent his dislocated jaw from moving. His head ached from that punch, but he ignored it.

-oOo-

Izuna materialized high up in one of the towering trees, completely healed. He'd had to resort to retreating to avoid having his neck snapped. The time between the punch and when he'd vanished couldn't have been more than a second. Hiroto was lithe despite his size, something that surprised him pleasantly. Seemed he'd be able to use a bit of force. He took a few moments to observe this cousin Aimi seemed to think was weak, but who was far from it.

Hiroto was a thick man. Very solid build, solid fighting style. No frills, no fancy executions. Straight-forward and quite powerful. Rolling his shoulders, Izuna dropped down to land behind Hiroto, who turned and lashed out with a kick before he'd completed the drop, which sent him crashing through a tree.

Good-natured. Teacher. Artistic. Liked to read and enjoyed Ikebana. This was the description he had of Hiroto from Aimi's mind. Izuna tried to reconcile these words with the cool, black-eyed human tank who smashed a hole through the tree he'd crashed through with a chakra enhanced fist. Izuna opted for Taijutsu for the moment, wanting to see what Hiroto was capable of with his strength.

Interesting. The strikes Izuna delivered were simply withstood, or else countered with an equally forceful move. Hiroto had pretty decent speed as well. Nothing to equal Rasta-Sasuke with his gates, but certainly nothing to sneeze at. Hiroto's body was just so hard and dense. He fought while injured as if he felt no pain. This was the mark of any true ninja, but Izuna had purposely slammed his heel against Hiroto's broken jaw, and the guy didn't even go down. He did, however, come after Izuna with both Genjutsu and Ninjutsu. He calmly and effectively channeled pain and anger into his attack. Izuna was impressed.

The Genjutsu were fair, not great. He was able to ignore or neutralize most of them. The fact that Hiroto layered some of them as he cast them was also interesting. Layering was something done by only the most skilled Uchiha in his time. He and Madara were capable of it, but often their Genjutsu were powerful enough without this aid. Hiroto layered easily, as if taught by a master. Scanning the information from Aimi's mind, Izuna realized that Mikoto had taught all of them layering. Well, then.

The Ninjutsu was quite engaging. He was able to learn that Hiroto's chakra types were earth and lightning when Hiroto used Shinra Bansho Doka no Jutsu to make his skin rock-like. Izuna wisely left off the Taijutsu after that. Hiroto used Genjutsu and Sharingan to augment his attacks, fighting with a great deal of heart. Izuna finally stopped toying with him and got a little serious. He landed up in a tree again as he prepared several hand seals.

-oOo-

But Hiroto was also preparing hand seals. It would cost him a great deal of chakra, and was ideally done with another, but he had to risk it; Shouta, a fellow earth chakra type, wasn't here to aid him this time. "Doton: Kaido Shokutsu!"

Some of the techniques Izuna had witnessed from Rasta-Sasuke and now Hiroto were undoubtedly the product of a newer generation, as was the case with whatever Hiroto had just done. He didn't know the technique except to recognize it as an earth jutsu. The ground rumbled beneath his tree, before erupting in a great fountain that shot him, the tree, and all manner of odd, slug-like creatures high into the air. These creatures, obviously underground dwellers, emitted a high-pitched screeching at being brought to daylight. Two landed on him as he tumbled in the air. Besides discovering that they were huge, each the size of his leg, he saw that they had no eyes. Instead, they had a huge gaping maw of needle sharp teeth. They bit juicily into him and immediately began sucking the blood right out of him.

By the time he'd used his space/time jutsu to lose the giant leeches or slugs or whatever they were, and repaired the damage to his body, Hiroto was gone. Taking a moment to sense his location, Izuna found that he was far away and still running. Conceding this round to him, Izuna shook his head with a small smile of pleasure. Seemed he'd officially been beaten this time. Refreshing.

On to the next one. He wondered if this one, also presumed weak by Aimi, would surprise him with strength and skill.


Juro jumped to the lower branches of the tree and surveyed his surroundings. All was in order, he decided. The trap had been hastily set, but he thought it would be effective. As an added precaution he cast a cloaking Genjutsu around himself and the surrounding area. He settled down on his branch to begin the lengthy process of layering it, then inverting it to make the Genjutsu itself undetectable. After, he would also mask his chakra.

He made sure to be extra vigilant. He and Yukio were known as the slackers in the family just because they'd rather build things than fight. That didn't mean they couldn't fight. They were Uchiha, after all. And everyone seemed to regularly forget that their IQs were right up there with Sumiko's. Sure they were generally lazy, tended to goof off, and were a couple of capitalists, but when the chips were down, as they most definitely were now, they could be just as serious as the next Uchiha.

He sensed Izuna. The man appeared from thin air roughly two miles east of where he sat in his tree.

-oOo-

Izuna studied the swamp with interest. He could feel the Genjtusu even if he couldn't see it. More layering. My, my. If the children were this adept, he could only wonder what Itachi must be like. He lifted a hand to dispel the illusion and frowned at just how intricately it was layered.

The swampland was deserted. He walked calmly through bogs, scanning for any additional signs of Genjutsu. He knew Juro had to be in the vicinity, even if he couldn't sense him anymore; fleeing unmasked one's presence. He took his time, clasping his hands behind his back as he walked. Such pleasant weather on this world. Nice and brisk.

Having scouted every inch of the swamp, Izuna stood and surveyed the lone tree in the area. Directing his mind at it, he found that it somehow prevented someone from latching onto it with their senses. He couldn't sense a Genjutsu, either, but concluded that one had to be in place. He felt certain that Juro was in that tree, though the bare, black branches looked to be empty. Testing his theory, He launched a fireball at it. Ninjutsu were capable of passing through Genjutsu, if done correctly.

He didn't even know what hit him. His fireball struck an invisible barrier and both he and it were instantly teleported several hundred feet beneath the surface of a huge lake. The water churned and frothed from the heat of his now-diffused fireball, but when the bubbles cleared, he saw a kunai with kanji written on it tethered to a boulder that sat on the bottom of the lake. He swallowed a bit of water before he managed to teleport himself to dry ground. He stood looking at the lake, trying to analyze the jutsu.

-oOo-

Juro was in the process of running like hell from the swamp. Yukio dropped down beside him and pelted at his side, both grinning hard. "He didn't see the inverted Genjutsu, just like you said," Juro panted.

"Nope, and the Jikuudan Kekkai Minato-sensei taught us worked perfectly." Risking a glance behind himself, Yukio added, "Oof, let's hope he goes after someone else next. He hasn't even gotten serious yet."

That hope was shot to hell when Izuna fell from the sky and landed on Yukio's back. He actually rode the scared youth piggyback for a few seconds before he squeezed with his legs, making Yukio gasp for air, and delivered a chop to his neck that broke his collarbone.

Juro swerved and charged at his brother. Izuna calmly flipped away. He landed lightly and waited to see what Juro would do. Yukio was down, groaning, but conscious.

-oOo-

Uchiha Juro. What Izuna knew of this particular kinsman could fit in a thimble. Architect, talked a lot, that was all he'd gotten from Aimi. Honestly, that child was clueless about her own family. Beyond names and rough ages, Izuna was left with large blanks. At least he now knew the boy to be capable of some stellar Genjutsu casting. By the time he'd realized the Genjutsu around the tree had been inverted (a process he simply must learn) he'd already tracked Juro again and found him with his twin.

For someone supposedly hyper and possessed of a short attention span, Juro displayed remarkable intelligence and foresight in not attacking. He stood in a shallow crouch, keeping his body between Izuna and Yukio. His Sharingan was in place. Izuna felt pride and gave a small encouraging nod.

-oOo-

Juro had been watching the whole time, but even so Izuna seemed to flash, and then he felt that iron-like arm around his throat from behind. He grabbed the arm, and swung his legs up and over, so that he was the one with a choke hold around Izuna's neck. Izuna twisted, and from there the fight was a battle between one extremely skilled man, and one terrified, but intensely strong teen.

Yukio was proud of his twin. Juro gave it his best, blocking, kicking and lashing out whenever he had an opening, while managing to defend his pressure points and vital organs. But he was losing. Summoning his concentration, Yukio blocked the majority of his pain and launched himself at them with a roar.

In the brief nanosecond Izuna was distracted by the roar and Yukio's heavy body colliding with them, Juro grabbed his head and shoved both thumbs deep into his eyes.

Izuna vanished just before his eyes could be put out. Yukio dropped painfully to the sandy ground, holding himself stiffly. Juro stood over him, looked around. "Come on." He lifted his twin to support him with an arm. Casting one last look around, he leapt swiftly away.


Urahara lifted one of Blondie's lids. "Out like a light," he muttered. "Who wants to bet he'll be up and after Izuna the moment he comes to?" He sat and crossed his legs. The weather was too cool to fan himself. In any case, that beloved accessory had been destroyed soon after he'd arrived here.

"He won't remain under this tree as per Izuna's rules," Yoruichi agreed. "He'll be worried about Rasta-Sasuke."

Kenpachi paced, aroused in more ways than one at the beast Izuna had shown himself to be. "Did any of you feel his reiatsu? I have to fight that fuck." He shrugged his shoulders in agitation, panting openly through a toothy snarl of need. All eyes dropped to his rampant erection, clearly visible through his buckskins. "I can still feel him, little spikes erupting in various spots around this world. Some not too far from here…I bet I can find him…"

Byakuya stood resignedly. "Zaraki. I think you and I need to go for a walk."

The others looked curiously back and forth between them. Kenpachi was not known to undertake peaceful pursuits such as 'going for a walk'. They fully expected him to respond with a sneer, but Kenpachi surprised them all by looking hard at Byakuya and nodding. They didn't even walk, but flashed away with Shunpo. And at the end there, Byakuya had seemed a touch…eager. Strange.


Kei hadn't gone far. They'd been in a field when they'd all started out, with that one tree as base. He'd simply run the two or three miles to the edge of the field and now sat huddled miserably in some tall grass. He wasn't a fighter. He'd learned some basic things with his grandpa Fugaku, some summoning, some Taijutsu. He'd just made Genin when they'd hopped to this world, for crying out loud. He had aspirations to be an ambassador, or else one of the strategists who advised the council. He had no intentions of being a battle-oriented ninja…which was a paradox, when you thought about it. A ninja was designed for combat. He would make sure he was competent, or more accurately, his dad would see to it that he didn't shame the family name, but honestly, people expected so much from him just because his IQ was the highest anyone had seen since-

What was that noise?

A snake. Whew. Performing a simple check to make sure it wasn't a person in disguise, he fried it with a bolt of lightning he aimed from the first two fingers of his hand. This left the snake resembling something like a charred stick. Kei picked it up and absently drew in the dirt at his feet. Where was he?

Oh, right. Yes, just because he was smart didn't mean he was a natural born killing machine. Not even Ryota was. Masaru had gotten all the killing intent out of the three of them. And here he was, stuck in some maniacal training method for the next thirty days, waiting to be cut down by some madman from the past who, by the way, happened to be the brother of the very one trying to kill them all for real.

Awful. Just awful.

He'd already calculated his odds for survival. They weren't great. He fully expected to be planted firmly under that tree before nightfall. At least then he would be able to relax, maybe have an interesting conversation or two with Urahara-sensei. Such a mind that guy had. That was the plan, anyway. In the meantime, though, here he sat raising his blood pressure by worrying-which he couldn't help. Cloaking and layering an invisibility jutsu around himself would have to suffice.


Izuna tracked his next victim to some sort of enormous bug's nest. He looked, but did not see any inhabitants currently present. He abruptly sensed Masaru behind him, and turned to behold the preteen riding on top of the biggest beetle he'd ever seen. It was literally taller than Izuna himself was. Masaru had it by the antenna in one hand, while his other hand directed the horde behind him to charge. The beetles trundled toward Izuna at his command, clicking and buzzing with a deafening sound.

In his shock, Izuna counted more than a hundred of the things. Then he was teleporting away before they could overrun him.

But not before Masaru communicated to the beetle he was riding to shoot a jet of venom at Izuna. Some disappeared through that space/time jutsu with him, he was pleased to note. He pat the beetle's carapace with an approving hand. "Good boy," he said shakily. "Good boy." He'd half hoped Izuna would go after all the adults first, but no such luck it seemed.

-oOo-

Izuna howled between his clenched teeth as the venom burned away the skin of his back before he could heal himself. He came out of his dimension with a particular desire to teach Masaru a lesson. Then he would praise the boy for his innovative use of his surroundings.

Unlike Juro and Yukio, Masaru and his two brothers where people he actually knew quite a bit about, probably because Aimi had grown up with the triplets. She did not, however, know what the boys had been up to since being on this world or he might have had a clue about those insects.

No matter. He sensed Masaru still riding not far away.

-oOo-

Masaru yelled as his beetle, a specimen that had been his friend since it and the rest of the herd had hatched three months ago, was vaporized from beneath him with a katon. He rolled, ignoring his tears as he grasped his left wrist with his right hand. Izuna was stalking toward him. He hoped he had enough time…his uncle Sasuke had taught him this move only two weeks ago, saying he was the only one of the triplets finally strong enough to master it.

Izuna recognized Chidori forming from Aimi's information on her father. He stopped stalking to give Masaru a chance. He wanted to see how proficient he was with this interesting technique.

His bugs were hidden, Masaru saw with a flick of his eyes. Good. He'd sent them a message to hide and attack only when he gave the signal. These particular bugs had the neat capability of camouflaging themselves to match their surroundings. If Izuna sensed them he didn't show it. Chidori took shape in his palm. I only got one shot with this. Pumping an extra burst of chakra into it, he gave the signal to his bugs with a wordless, buzzing screech.

Izuna had noticed the bugs. Since he was aware, he felt confident that he had plenty of time to react. He kept his eyes on Masaru's yelling, running form.

He was disappointed. Such an obvious mode of attack. No stealth whatsoever. Sighing, he prepared to-

The ground beneath his feet dropped away to reveal a host of those bugs and the tunnel they'd dug while he'd been watching Masaru. He began to fall, leapt up, and came face to face with dozens more of the things leaping from their hiding places. The moment he'd looked down, they'd attacked. Masaru has complete control of their minds, he realized. He phased out of harm's way, landed behind Masaru, realized it was a clone, and felt Chidori slam through his back, demolishing most of his internal organs.

-oOo-

He stayed in his dimension longer this time. Note to self: the triplets were raised by Sasuke and Demon. It would behoove one to remember that Kage Bunshin no Jutsu could and would be performed by children, especially these.

-oOo-

Masaru shook Izuna's blood from his hand. One of his pets came and nuzzled his back. He turned and rubbed his face on one chitinous leg, leaning on it for support. He felt completely drained, both by the clone and Chidori. His pets, who basically saw him as their mother, clustered around him, making fluting sounds of distress for his weariness. As one, they turned and clicked angrily at the air behind Masaru. He turned around, tensed.

Nothing was visible for a few seconds…then Izuna swirled into existence. They can sense him before he comes. That was all he had time to realize, before Izuna struck him a blow to his face that broke his nose. His pets closed in and Izuna prepared several hand seals. Masaru shrieked at him not to hurt them.

Ryota stumbled out of a small gateway beside Masaru, which had Izuna halting briefly. "Whew! Those locator spells don't get any easier, let me tell you." He looked between Izuna, the bugs, and his brother. Then he grinned. "Looks like I'm just in time."

Izuna lunged, but Ryota took Masaru's limp hand, held up his other, and blasted him miles away with a simple wave of energy.

Ryota put his hand down uncertainly. "Man. Keep forgetting how much of a boost contact with you gives my magic. Shall we?" he asked when he'd turned to his fainting brother. "Kei's probably worried himself sick by now. Over-thinking things, as usual."

Masaru passed out with a groan. Ryota took the time to heal his nose with a simple incantation before he slung him over his shoulders. He staggered under Masaru's hefty weight as he awkwardly opened the pages of his book to the locator spell. For some reason this one spell always gave him so much trouble. Masaru's pets closed around him, touching them both with their large feelers. Ew.


Kei shoved the fingers of one hand into his mouth to stifle his sudden scream, but it was only Ryota and Masaru…though Masaru seemed out of it. He looked at his brother's bloody face and scooted forward on his knees. He wiped the blood away with a tuft of grass he pulled up. "Thank God you're here! Did Izuna get him?"

Ryota put a hand theatrically on his chest. "You actually thought I'd leave you alone? Of course I'm here! And yeah, Izuna's been at him." Ryota flopped backward in the grass. "Isn't it cool how I can enter your Genjutsu without dispelling it? Now me and Masaru are cloaked to be invisible, too. Did you mask your chakra?"

Kei shook his head, going to lay next to his brother. He propped his chin on his hands. "Glad you're here. I feel safest when you're around. Are we sticking together the whole month?"

"Don't see why not." Ryota dug one filthy finger deep in his nose, scratching at an itch.

"Our odds for survival are highest if we're together," Kei said with a wide-eyed nod. "Your magic, my brain, Masaru's strength. Together we're the perfect unit. Do you have a spell that can tell where Izuna is right now?"

"I'm not doing another locator spell right now. Anyways, I figure-"

"I hate Izuna." Masaru said as he woke up. He rolled over and lay on his stomach, blinking his eyes to clear them. "He killed Obos."

Kei and Ryota looked at him. Ryota snickered. "Who the hell was Obos?"

"His pet," Kei said with a smack at Ryota's head. "I'm sorry to hear about that. Did you run?"

"Put Chidori through him."

"Wow, really?" the other two exclaimed. Masaru described his brief encounter with Izuna as they listened attentively.

Ryota shook his head in bliss, gazing up at the sky. "I'm telling you, he's ripe for pranking. Soon as I feel like it, we're getting up and going after him."

Kei moaned. "Why? Why can't we just avoid him with magic or defend ourselves if and when he comes after us again? Why in the name of God would you want to actually go after him?"

"It is good strategy to take the fight to the enemy if you have superior weapons like magic. You boys should know that by now."

"But even with magic," Masaru said, "he's too strong. We're kids. What can we hope to do?"

"Oh, now come, that's no way to think. Kids can be excellent fighters, as you've demonstrated to me, Masaru. And Ryota, it is wise to press an advantage if you think you have it."

"Thanks," Ryota said absently. "And look at Dad, Masaru. He was a prodigy when he was a kid. Besides, who said anything about fighting? I said I want to prank Izuna. Doesn't he look like somebody good to prank?"

"He looks scary," Kei snorted.

"He is scary," Masaru confirmed. "Used my best moves against him and it was like nothing."

"Well, they certainly weren't nothing, Masaru. I'm quite proud of you for being so creative and thinking on your feet. The clones were a nice touch, and the way you're able to master the minds of so many insects at once is impressive."

"Actually I just have to master the leader of the pack," Masaru clarified. "They're insects that operate in a hive mentality, so they always attack or retreat as one."

"And can you summon them at will?"

"Well, I keep them close enough so that I can…though now that Ryota brought me so far away, I don't know…"

Kei and Ryota looked at each other. "Uh, Masaru?" Kei asked. "Who are you talking to?"

"You guys, who else?" Masaru looked to his right at Ryota, who looked to his right at Kei, who looked to his right and found Izuna pleasantly looking back.

-oOo-

Kei screamed and leapt backward. Masara was with him, though managing not to scream. Ryota only rolled over and propped his chin on both hands. "How'd you get in without alerting us? We were cloaked."

"You've been visible for quite some time…and the Genjutsu was child's play, forgive me for saying so."

Ryota waved a hand. "Kei's deal, not mine."

Izuna regarded the blue-eyed boy shrewdly. This was supposedly one of the stronger ones of the group. He was a child that loved nothing better than to annoy and aggravate people through his jokes and pranks. Izuna planned to see just what he was capable of when pressed.

To that end, he lashed out with his foot and caught Ryota in the face before he could see the move coming.

Masaru and Kei shrieked.

Blood flew from Ryota's face as he went soaring backward in a graceless sprawl. Izuna stooped and picked up the book that had fallen from the waistband of Ryota's pants. When he straightened, it was to find the triplets arranged on the ground as they had been, with himself stretched out with them.

How was he looking at himself? "What on earth…" he began as events replayed themselves.

They were all on their backs, their heads together like the spokes of a wheel. Masaru looked at Ryota, who looked at Kei, who turned to find Izuna. The same screaming and brief conversation followed. Izuna saw himself kick Ryota, who went flying, and then this second Izuna was standing, staring at a third Izuna as he lay with the triplets, the conversation repeating itself.

Not a Genjutsu, he quickly realized as a fourth Izuna appeared. What then? None of the Izunas saw the each other…was he even the original? He resisted the urge to look behind himself. If he wasn't frowning in fierce concentration, he would have noticed the 'book' in his hand became a rock with a small poof.

-oOo-

Ryota laughed uproariously, slapping his thigh. Kei and Masaru joined in after a minute of staring. The shimmery bubble that encased Izuna, his replicas and the copies of themselves was a large dome that sat in the tall grass some feet away.

"Brilliant!" Kei hiccupped between tears of laughter. "What is that, a temporal loop? How ever did you manage it without it duplicating us as well with each loop?"

"Good old cloning. When he bent for my book, I switched us out. I'm a novice at temporal shifts and the like. In fact I'm pretty sure I screwed that one up, but that's why I took the precaution of encasing it in a bubble of protective magic. Otherwise the loop might've become a rift that spread, which would have ended up swallowing the whole blessed dimension." He turned and began skipping away.

Kei and Masaru stopped laughing to exchange a glance.

"Wait…not this dimension, surely?" Kei yelped. "That was a risk? When are you going to start telling us these things in advance, huh?"

They ran to catch up to Ryota, who was pulling his spell book out.


Raiden watched the sun going down in shock. "Fucking wuss! He's scared to come after us!"

Aimi sat in the grass beneath a tree with enormous, far-reaching branches. "No, he's not. He wants us to get comfortable so that we'll let our guard down. He's going after the weakest first."

Raiden whirled to face her. "How do you know that?"

"Peeked into his mind when he was giving us his speech." She yawned.

"Huh. Well, I'm bored."

"Want to practice?"

"I suppose," he grouched with ill grace. "Was really looking forward to fighting him."

"Just because it's night doesn't mean he still won't." She hesitated, looking up at her brother's annoyed countenance. "He's going to target you when he comes after us, you know that right?"

Raiden glanced down at her, before resuming his stare across the small lake they were camped beside. "Me? Why?"

"Because of the two of us, you're weaker. And the way to get to someone strong is to go after their weakness. You're my weakness, Raiden. And Genjutsu is your weakness. He'll attack you with Genjutsu, and Izanagi or not, I don't know how I'll do against him. He knows of our connection. He might see some weak point in it that we don't know about yet."

This time Raiden sat down in front of her, thoughtfully pulling up a blade of grass. "So…what. You're worried we can't take him?"

"I'm just saying don't be so eager to fight him." Raiden nodded after a moment. She felt a wave of love for him sweep through her and she suddenly threw herself at where he sat, knocking him backward.

"Hey!"

"I worry about you," she said as she pushed her face into his bare chest. She bit him until he slapped at her head in pain. "Sometimes you're so stupid."

"What! You little-"

"Let's practice some more." She sat up, straddling his waist.

Raiden studied the teeth marks on his chest before letting his chakra sweep over the area. "Fine."

But first he decided to get her back. Her shrieking laughter echoed around lake and surrounding mountains.


Seventeen hours, forty minutes and twenty-eight seconds after Izuna had stooped to pick up what he'd thought was a spell book, he staggered out of the odd bubble. He did so with a blast of every chakra type he possessed, Mangekyo Sharingan, and several exploding lightning-based jutsu. He turned swiftly to see if he would witness the same events, but no. Nothing remained except a scorched circle of grass and dirt.

He fell to the ground, clutching the rock, his only proof while he'd been trapped that he was, in fact, the original. None of the others had held a book, though they'd stooped to pick one up. It had taken him ages to realize they didn't pick one up, because one had never been there. It had been a Henge from the first. Which was also why there hadn't been hundreds of triplets as there had been Izunas; techniques weren't duplicated it seemed…they were only replayed, or reflected.

Actually he didn't know. If the jutsu were replayed then the Henge disquising the book should have been replayed, which meant the Izunas should all have been holding a rock. Ryota had likely performed his technique imperfectly.

Still, once he'd realized it was magic at work, and that it was time-based, he'd tried to escape to his dimension. He couldn't. He couldn't do anything but stand and watch, as the others stood and watched. He'd tried for hours upon hours, finally summoning all his strength and breaking free through brute force. He'd discovered a tiny, infinitesimal window between the loops where such a strategy might possibly work. Luckily it had, or he might still be trapped. Trapped until whenever that boy chose to release him.

He turned over with a groan and stared at an earthworm two inches from his face. It was the second day, afternoon. So far his tests were meeting with some truly note-worthy responses. The next time he went after the triplets he would make sure to keep his distance and use long-range attacks. That decided, he picked up the earthworm, slurped it down, and sat up.

Yosh! Brand new day. Next on his list was…


Kit lay beneath the shallow surface of a mud pool, breathing through the reed he had in his mouth.

Izuna had looked carefully, missing him at first because his chakra was so weak. He'd actually almost stumbled over him. He reached down without a word and yanked the reed away, which brought Kit up swinging. Izuna took the blows, waiting to see if Kit would call on the techniques and abilities he'd learned on this world. But it seemed Kit required time to concentrate and do those. Since Izuna was present, Kit opted to go with what he knew. Izuna shrugged mentally and moved to oblige him.

He fought hard, but the moves were common street garbage. Once in awhile he threw a jutsu that seemed to spring out of him by accident. The most that happened was his eyes turned red and a bit of Kyuubi chakra leaked out. Izuna had Kit down and out in under ten minutes.

-oOo-

Blondie wasn't under the tree when he showed up to drop Kit off. The Shinigami informed him that Blondie had woken up last night and promptly disappeared. "I see," he said. "Make sure Kit stays here under this tree. Anyone who disobeys will be incapacitated permanently. I will deal with Blondie."

And he did. He located and teleported to him immediately, surprising the running teen with an iron-clad Genjutsu.

But this time Blondie had Kyuubi ready to deflect. Izuna wrested control of the Bijuu from Blondie with extreme difficulty, and even when he'd managed it, Blondie snatched it right back and accessed all the demon's chakra without transforming. Izuna teleported before his head was swiped from his shoulders, reappeared and performed a few rapid hand seals. A sealing Kanji appeared on the palm of his hand. He slammed this on Blondie's back, which disrupted the chakra briefly. Long enough for him to grab the bigger kid by the waist of his buckskins and send him successfully to one of his dimensions.

Izuna leaned his hand on a tree trunk, catching his breath. Then he prepared to locate his next victim.


Yo-chan trotted along, through the underbrush of the forest, muzzle to the dirt. rabbit, bugs, big wild scary thing, deer, deer, deer, rabbit, (?Lee-sensei where are you?), snake. Ooh.

-oOo-

The snake in question slithered down the wide bole of the tree trunk, tasting the strange scent of the small orange pup that had frozen at the sight of it. The pup looked and behaved as other such mammals did, but its scent was of something that the snake should perhaps stay away from. The snake was hungry though, and the pup looked defenseless enough to eat. He drifted closer, tasting, tasting the strange, foreign scent of it. Was it or wasn't it food?

-oOo-

Yo-chan watched the snake slide closer, its tongue flickering madly. He gazed at the beady eye that stared at him in turn. The snake seemed to hesitate, then drifted even closer, rearing up slowly to tower over his head, positioning itself to strike.

He felt something in his chest, something he didn't know or understand. It was swelling, coiling, circling in his small body as he held perfectly still.

-oOo-

The pup's scent changed. The snake could see no fangs or any other telltale sign of impending defense, but it smelled the change just the same. After long moments wherein its hunger swayed it, it decided to retreat and move on.

-oOo-

The large green body of the snake undulated past Yo-chan's face. He stared as it rustled on, then waited a few more seconds until his baser instincts told him it was safe to move. The feeling inside him went away. He chuffed, shook his head, then put his muzzle to the ground again, sniffing in a small circle.

Snake, snake, snake, big cat, snake, big cat peepee,(Lee, Lee-sensei where are you? I'm lost and hungry and scared, scared, scared!).

He'd seen him run into this forest, so why couldn't he find him? He began trotting again, moving side to side as his keen nose sniffed and sniffed.

(Lee! Lee-Sensei, I found you!)

Catching the scent at last, Yo-chan gave a quick yipping bark and ran, his body making ungainly corkscrewing motions as it did so; baby that he was, he was unaccustomed to running, much less on all fours.

The bad man. There. Standing there, looking at him with his Papa-like face. His Mother had said he was the enemy and to run away if he came, but Lee-sensei's scent was right there. The bad man stood right in the path he wanted to take. Yo-chan sat back on his haunches, whimpering.

-oOo-

Izuna was thoughtful. The boy was an animal. A wild animal, and Tailed to boot. Tailed beasts had mystical powers. He couldn't be certain this cub's powers were like Kyuubi's….

It really was a puzzle. Tailed Beasts were chakra essentially. That they were originally one creature, the Juubi, transformed with Izanagi, mattered not. A tailed beast was one thing, a host for a beast something else. If trapped in a host, they were more or less kept out of the world, the world safe from them.

But this beast was host and demon in one body. Able to be human, yet clearly not. Izuna could personally think of nothing more dangerous. This boy, this creature, could grow up and know power such as had never - ever- walked the earth. Worse, it had Uchiha blood and Senju blood, which would see to it that once matured, it would be unstoppable.

It had to die. Its parents would mourn, but it was for the best. Such a concentration of power, such an abomination and corruption of life could not be allowed to grow up.

Izuna carefully raised his hands, Mangekyo in place. He sensed chakra gathering in the creature, and decided to work quickly. He only had to put it in Genjutsu long enough to slay it.

-oOo-

Yo-chan licked his chops nervously, shifting on his haunches. He felt an urge to lay down in submission, but that would get him hurt, he knew. That feeling was back in his chest, coiling and twisting and making his tummy hurt. Then his thoughts went away.

-oOo-

Izuna spent some time working detail into the Genjutsu before he cast it. This was a mistake. He formed a hand seal to cast it finally and the creature fifty feet in front of him opened its mouth behind a small roar.

A black ball of condensed chakra shot out from Yo-chan. Izuna let it phase through him, but then Yo-chan was running.

If you could call it that.

The speed the creature used was just short of teleportation speed. Certainly faster than anything Izuna had seen. He consciously debated going after it.

No. Once he'd neutralized all those that it could go to for help, such as its parents, sisters, or Lee, then he would go after it. He wanted no interference when he did. He'd been observing the creature for the past hour, chakra masked. He'd seen the way it searched for a scent, sniffing along the ground, had seen the snake nearly solve his troubles, and the way the creature seemed to pick up the scent it was looking for. It had begun to run then, but not nearly as fast as he'd just seen. Yo-chan was going somewhere. Izuna would let him go for now.

Looking behind him, Izuna spotted a tree with odd purple fruit. Scanning Aimi's information, he saw that they were edible. He sat and ate a few as he went over who he'd yet to toy with.


Demon hopped along tree tops, Sasuke behind him and doing the same. He knew just about all the Narutos had performed Hiraishin no Jutsu and transported themselves to their Sasukes. He wondered if Fem-Naruto had done it on Yo-chan. He knew the man had learned it successfully from his father.

-Kyuubi?-

-What is it.-

-Mom was your host at one point, right?-

-Don't remind me.-

-Well…how come I came out normal? She told me I didn't develop any of your traits until after I was your host. I always thought…I don't know, that I was born this way. But she really lit into me soon after Aimi brought her, about how careless I'd been to let my kids be 'tainted' as she called it. And then yesterday, seeing Yo-chan like that…-

There was a pause, as if Kyuubi was thinking. –What you ask is ludicrous. I was jailed in her after she was grown. She always had complete control over me. When The Fourth's seed took root and her pup grew within her, she was especially vigilant in seeing that not the smallest shred of my chakra touched it, touched you. You, in contrast, began mounting and siring kits before you had full control of me. Even now, when you mount that Uchiha, your guard slips sometimes. With Kushina it never slipped, ever. One would not have known she housed me, and indeed many didn't. She did not even converse with me as you do. I was nothing more than a tool she used when she needed to, and otherwise kept out of sight, like those blades you use for fighting.-

Demon received an image of a kunai, rusted and dull with disuse. He howled laughter at the bitter resentment and insult he sensed from Kyuubi. "What?" Sasuke asked from behind him.

"Nothing," he answered when he'd swiped an arm across his streaming eyes. He leapt faster through the trees. Sasuke kept pace.


"You have got to be kidding, are you insane?" Psycho-Naruto screamed at the top of his lungs. He angled his head backward, trying to twist out of Pyscho-Sasuke's grasp. "That Izuna guy could show up at any minute and all you want to do is screw? Let go of me!"

Pyscho-Sasuke's hands slipped as Naruto, sweaty, wrenched free at last. That was fine…he didn't mind chasing him. Naruto usually surrendered more dramatically if a chase had preceded their activities. He sauntered toward him, shifting his weight to first one foot then the other as Naruto did the same, backing away. He smiled. "You know you enjoy it. Why fight it?"

Psycho-Naruto had to conclude that Sasuke's smiles were some of the most frightening shit he'd ever seen. No lie. He felt a hard shudder rock him on his heels as he held up his hands and tried to reason with his tormentor. "Okay. Yes. I enjoy it. But why do you always have to be so creepy about it? Stalking me and putting that scary-ass smile on your face? Why can't you just be…normal about it?"

The young Uchiha stopped. "Normal how?"

Seeing that he'd stopped, Naruto stopped too. "Like why do you have to attack me? Why can't you just touch me normally? Why can't you…just…"

"What?"

The blue eyes looked aside. Naruto shuddered a little harder. "Just tell me how you feel. Stop fighting me and just say what you feel. Not…not everything has to be a war between us, Sasuke." His voice was low, nearly whispering the last part.

Sasuke felt gut-punched. But he studied Naruto's profile as he timidly closed the distance between them. How he felt? Naruto had never before been ready to admit to feelings, either on Sasuke's part or his own. He himself had decided never to say it for fear of losing Naruto afterward. But he was tired of fighting Naruto. He stopped and spoke to the bare tanned shoulder in front of him. "What do you want me to say?" he said slowly, carefully. "That I love you? Is that…what you want to hear?"

Naruto turned his head and locked gazes with Sasuke. Their noses were barely three inches apart. "Do you?"

Sasuke had led them both a merry chase through the years, but it was time to grow up. "…Yes."

A breath left Naruto, as if he'd been holding it. He'd won. He'd finally caught him, finally had everything he'd been working towards for the past four years. He had Sasuke. He looked away from him, at the ground in front of his feet, and gave a shaky nod. "Okay."

Sasuke touched the shoulder with a hand. It was warm and smooth. He knew Naruto's skin now. "And…you? Do you…?"

A strained laugh from Naruto. "Since The Valley of the End."

"That long?"

A nod. Then Naruto turned into him and met his eyes with a fierce, resolved look in his own. "I'm going to be a complete bitch right now and ask that you say the words to me. Outright."

Not sure what he was getting at, but happy for the face to face, Sasuke complied. "I love you."

Naruto wavered a moment, smiling and trying not to. Then he attacked Sasuke with his mouth, kissing him hard and grabbing at him.

Sasuke moaned audibly, something he didn't usually do. His hands tangled in the filthy blond hair, holding the head still as he devoured the soft, greedy mouth in turn- until he heard a rustling sound to his right.

-oOo-

Naruto turned to see what Sasuke was looking at and saw those twin girls, Fem-Naruto's kids. They were standing there, looking at them with wide-eyed, silent curiosity. "What-?"

Sasuke shoved Naruto back and launched himself at the girls.

"Sasuke, no!" Naruto yelled…but then he saw Izuna hidden behind them.

The girls blurred in opposite directions as Sasuke sailed over their heads, swinging the sword he'd smoothly drawn from his back. Lighting rippled along its length, to shoot in a crackling bar at where Izuna stood.

Naruto was watching all this, crouched to assist Sasuke if he saw an opening. It felt just like old times, with them fighting a common enemy. He prepared to draw on Kyuubi's chakra if he needed to, but lined up several jutsu to launch before that became necessary. Sasuke was working it, attacking like no tomorrow, and Izuna was evading and dodging, as yet still holding back. Naruto kept his eyes trained on them, slowly forming the Rasengan he'd finally learned to do single-handedly. If he and Sasuke could take this fucker out, they'd have the rest of the month to relax and recuperate. He just needed an opening.

A touch on his back had him jumping out of his skin. He whirled to find the twins there, looking up at him and at the Rasengan he'd nearly finished them with. He started to ask them what they were doing, but a yell from Sasuke had him spinning back around. He infused his Rasengan with more chakra, swelling it to Oodama Rasengan, and charged to his aid.

After a moment of hesitation, Emiko and Etsuko ran to assist.

-oOo-

Izuna didn't want to get serious yet. Not with any of them. He wanted to push them, to put their guard up, and hopefully instill some nice fear in them. Spiced with fear, he could then see how they dealt with this added stress. It looked like he'd have to reconsider that temporarily. Again. Bad enough he'd had to act on desperation with that temporal loop (even now a shiver worked through him at remembering those hours).

He'd followed the girls for several miles, observing their giggling chatter as they held hands and meandered through the countryside. Then they'd caught his scent and flashed away, using speed that almost matched their brother's. This time, he'd decided to give chase. They'd stopped abruptly behind a bush and he'd stopped a few dozen yards behind them, wondering what had halted their flight. He'd barely gotten a glimpse of two people before this young kinsman had come sailing at his head, sword drawn and Sharingan whirling.

This one fought well. Still, he was able to turn his own Chidori against him, having seen the move now from young Masaru. His yell brought the Jinchuuriki he'd evidently been traveling with, who had a jutsu attached to his hand that Izuna recognized from Aimi's information. He bent over backward to dodge, then leapt upward to make sure he wasn't being ambushed. Sure enough, three clones had been closing in on where he'd stood.

A screeching drew his eyes upward even as he was leaping, to find the girls coming at him with claws and fangs outstretched.

"Kuchiose no Jutsu!"

Psycho-Sasuke swooped from the left on a giant hawk, while Naruto and a massive toad lumbered toward him from the right. The toad had two huge swords of its own.

Izuna let the girls slam into him from above, suffering their deep bites and scratches, to vanish with them and throw them in the same dimension with Blondie. He'd already brought and left food for him.


"Shit," Naruto muttered gazing up at where Izuna had vanished. "He took those girls with him."

Sasuke sheathed his sword when a few minutes had gone by. He looked around. "He's not coming back. He's targeting the weak first."

Naruto nodded. "Gives us a chance to keep running. Come on." He started walking east, in the direction they'd been heading in.

Sasuke plopped in front of him. "Actually, I was thinking we could finish what we'd started."

"No."

"He's not coming back anytime soon…"

"I said no. We should move to another location in case he does come back." Naruto side-stepped him. He began walking again, quickly putting distance between them.

Sasuke watched him walking away. "Naruto," he called.

Nothing. Naruto walked a little faster.

"I love you!" he grimaced, sure that he'd been loud enough to be heard miles away. That was the last time he was going to say it, he promised himself.

Naruto stopped, turned, and made it back in two leaps. He looked Sasuke over from the corner of his eyes, head turned aside. "Well. Since you insist. We could leave clones as lookouts, I suppose. I'm topping this time, though."

"No, you're-"

Naruto silenced him with a brutal kiss. I liked it better before I said those words, Sasuke thought aggrievedly.


"Stop, please…can't…run anymore." Rasta-Sasuke weakly brushed Itachi's supporting arm from around his torso as he dropped to his hands and knees. This action sent such a flare of agony through him that he screamed. He tried to hold it in, but blood-flecked spit flew from between his clenched teeth as he voiced his pain.

Itachi knelt next to him. "Let me see."

There was a large, deep purple bruise on one side of Rasta-Sasuke's back. From the way his breathing wheezed in and out of him, and the way he coughed up blood, Itachi guessed that one of his broken ribs was pressing on a lung. Perhaps even puncturing it. He had no idea. He thought maybe if the lung was actually punctured that Rasta-Sasuke would be worse off, but he couldn't be sure.

Rasta-Sasuke was weakening. There could be internal bleeding. As much training as the boy had undergone during the past five months, Itachi still had to remind himself that Rasta-Sasuke was not a trained ninja. He looked at the way the kid bit his lip in pride to stifle his moans and put a hand on his head.

"Get off me." Rasta-Sasuke brushed the hand away, then winced as the motion wrenched his side. "I hate you, just leave me alone."

Itachi removed his hand sadly. "He'll come for you."

"Let him. I can't fight him like this. At least I'll be under the tree with Blondie." He coughed up another wad of bloody mucus and spat it out.

"You would quit and give Izuna reason to say the present generation of Uchiha are weak?"

"I would save my own ass," Rasta-Sasuke mimicked Itachi's proper tone. "I don't give a fuck about the Uchiha or how they're perceived by some dick who should be dead, got it? I care about me. My own rosy red ass, not anyone else unless it's Blondie. Let Izuna show up."

"Well, I do care. And I won't let you quit just because Izuna is stronger. I believe you have it in you to be a good person, Rasta-Sasuke. You're better than this."

Rasta-Sasuke slowly turned his head in shock, looking at Itachi with outraged eyes. "You-" He struggled to sit up, keeping one arm clamped to his side. "Who the fuck do you think you are, huh? Look at you, trying to protect me and reform me with your fucking kindness. Newsflash, you fucking prick, I don't need your help, I don't need reforming, and I don't need you." He made it to his feet, swung away from Itachi's frowning eyes, and nearly walked right in to Izuna.

"Glad to hear that," Izuna said pleasantly. "How's your side?" Instead of waiting for an answer, he slammed his fist in the exact place he'd hit Rasta-Sasuke before. Rasta-Sasuke collapsed in a near faint, his mouth working soundlessly, trying to scream. Izuna bent down and spoke in his ear, while keeping an eye on where Itachi was getting to his feet. "Why don't you try telling me to fuck off now? Hm? What's wrong, can't you breathe?" He lifted his hand to deliver another blow to the damaged ribs.

A jet of black flames Izuna recognized narrowly missed him as he hastily ducked. He looked up to find Itachi walking toward him.

Itachi met Izuna's Sharingan with his Mangekyo in place…and successfully cast Tsukuyomi. He put all his knowledge and skill behind the Genjutsu, using added subtleties he'd learned from his mother to strengthen his hold on Izuna's powerful mind. It was true that Hiroko, or any of his other children who were skilled enough, could break out of this technique, as could anyone who shared his blood…but Izuna wasn't of his blood.

-oOo-

Izuna gazed down at Itachi from where he was tied to the wooden cross. "I know this technique. I assure you, I will outlast your three days of torture."

"Yes, I'm sure you could," Itachi remarked as he drew a sword. In this Genjutsu he was clothed and armed as he would have been if he were back in Konoha. "How do you feel about 100 years of torture?"

Izuna's smile froze. "No one has the skill or chakra to alter time to that degree in this Genjutsu."

Itachi thoughtfully looked down at his sword. "It's a pity you never met Uchiha Mikoto properly. She was an exceptional kunoichi of great, great skill. The complexities she was capable of with Genjutsu were nothing short of terrifying. Even so, my daughter Hiroko, whom you've also never met more's the pity, can alter time within her own modified version of Tsukuyomi. She can make five seconds seem like a thousand years. It's not even true Tsukuyomi, since she doesn't possess Mangekyo. Imagine what she could do if she did. Makes you grateful it's only me you're up against, I daresay. Much has changed since your days, Izuna. Allow me to demonstrate."

Izuna did sweat freely then as Itachi came toward him with that sword.

-oOo-

Rasta-Sasuke saw Izuna freeze where he stood. Itachi also stood without moving. He considered making a break for it, but he honestly could not move. He idly wondered if he was dying as his vision dimmed.

Apparently not. He came to his senses again to find himself being carried on Itachi's back. The way Itachi leapt at top speed through the trees had his side shrieking in protest, and him choking back blood that kept coming from his mouth. Then he just seemed to go numb.

From his upside-down position he saw that the sun was going down. The orange-ish rays made the trees they were traveling through glow weirdly. He felt like he was floating, and yet he could feel the strain in Itachi's body as he labored to travel as swiftly as he possibly could. Where was he going?

Oh hell, he was passing out again…


Izuna lay in the dirt where he'd fallen, unmoving. The sun set, and still he did not move.


Itachi stopped after full dark, sure now that Izuna had not somehow survived Tsukuyomi with his faculties intact. His left eye was noticeably weaker now, but he could still see from it. He set Rasta-Sasuke down as gently as he could near a stream and trickled a handful of water onto his face. Rasta-Sasuke came around with a mumbled curse. Itachi fed him water from his cupped hand, supporting his head. The boy passed right back out again.

Standing, Itachi did a quick mental check of himself. His chakra was depleted from the Genjutsu and from projecting 100 years instead of just three days, but he thought he had enough left. Of all the Uchiha, he'd been the only one skilled enough to copy Hiraishin no Jutsu. The Narutos had all had no trouble, but the Uchiha…well, no matter. He performed it now and took himself, and Rasta-Sasuke, to the very weakest of his children.


Kei nearly died at seeing his father appear beside him, carrying Rasta-Sasuke. It was the third time in the space of twenty-four hours that he'd had the living daylights scared out of him in this manner.

Ryota had a protective shield up around himself and his brothers instantly, but dropped it at seeing it was his dad. "Sweet!" he whistled. "What brings you here, Dad?"

"We're saved," Kei moaned fervently.

Ryota rounded on him. "I thought we were doing all right," he said, his feelings hurt. "I kept Izuna off our backs, didn't I?"

"I placed the formula for Hiraishin no Jutsu on Kei, in case you three ever needed me. I know you are always together, and correctly assumed you would find your brothers first, Ryota."

"Oh," Kei and Ryota chorused.

Masaru helped his father lay Rasta-Sasuke out in their little camp. "What happened?"

"Izuna. He needs healing." Itachi watched as Ryota came forward and closed his eyes in concentration.

"Man, he's really messed up inside," Ryota commented after a moment. "Gonna need some help with this." He held his hand out to Masaru, and placed his other hand on Rasta-Sasuke. Masaru gasped as energy was sucked from him, but it was quick. Ryota had Rasta-Sasuke right as rain in no time.

-oOo-

Rasta-Sasuke opened his eyes and blinked around at them. He sat up and put a hand to his side in bewilderment. "What'd you do to me?" he asked Itachi.

"My son healed you with magic. Come, we're leaving."

"I'm not going with you anywhere," Rasta-Sasuke said as he stood up. "We can just go our separate ways."

"Izuna will come after you again. You're no match for him. We should stick together."

"I don't care if he beats me. Least I'll be with Blondie and out of this stupid training." Rasta-Sasuke twisted his torso from side to side, testing his new pain-free status.

"Yeah, Blondie was caught, but he's not under the tree," Ryota piped up. "We went by there to tease whoever's been caught. All we found was Kit."

Rasta-Sasuke paused mid-twist. "He's probably off looking for me."

"Nope." Ryota seemed diabolically happy to be giving this news. "We asked Kit what happened to Blondie since the Shinigami told us he'd been captured too, and he said that Izuna said that he'd had to put Blondie in one of his dimensions for insubordination. Said anyone who couldn't stay under the tree with the Shinigami would be treated similarly."

In the silence following this statement, Kei pulled on his father's hand. "Can we come with you, Dad?"

Itachi nodded. "I believe Izuna means for us to find and help each other. Come along, then."

Masaru and Kei immediately moved to follow their father. Ryota didn't. "I want to have fun bugging Izuna. I don't want to be all protected and stuff."

Itachi had to smile. "Your love for mischief could almost be mistaken for bravery."

Kei frowned. "Ryota, come on, don't be stupid. Stay with us."

"Nah, you go on ahead," he said. He went to sit by their small camp fire and opened his spell book. "I'll be fine."

-oOo-

Kei and Masaru left sadly with their Father. Rasta-Sasuke, after a moment of staring at Itachi's back (and considering the fact that Blondie would not be around to find and help him if he ran into Izuna alone) trudged reluctantly behind them.

Masaru glanced over his shoulder. Ryota was huddled over his book, reading by firelight. He looked so small and alone.

Itachi kept walking, but he was aware of both Kei and Masaru looking back at their brother often. Finally Masaru stopped, then Kei. He hid his smile of amusement when he turned to ask them what was wrong.

"I'm staying with Ryota," Masaru said awkwardly. "I can't just leave my brother like that."

"Me too, I'm staying." Kei looked both resigned to the loss of his father's comforting presence and relieved to be joining his brother again.

Itachi studied his two sons. "A wise decision. Be careful, all of you."

Kei ran and hugged Itachi around his middle. Masaru looked aside, in case a similar gesture would be expected of him. Rasta-Sasuke mimed gagging.


Izuna had only the barest shred of his mind left to him. This tiny seed was what fed him the will to survive. Much of his mind was scrambled still. Sanity and full awareness were a long way off.

As yet he was unable to move or function, but he finally blinked, seeing his bug's eye view of the dirt he was sprawled face down in.

-oOo-

He slept, woke, and pissed where he lay. Maybe it was the second day, maybe the third, but a grasshopper landed in front of his face and he used was little strength he had to drop his hand heavily onto it. He could feel its startled struggling beneath his palm, but he couldn't do anything beyond breathe painfully at the exertion of trapping it. A long time later, hours in fact, he found it in him to arduously drag his hand towards his face, still clutching the grasshopper, which had stopped moving some time ago.

Near his mouth, he opened his hand a bit and the grasshopper proved to be alive. Its shiny green eyes looked at him, and it's feelers brushed busily at his lips. Izuna bit the head off with a crunch, ignored the bitter ooze of its insides on his tongue, and managed to chew the rest of the grasshopper up and swallow with difficulty.

This paltry nourishment gave him the strength to call up his chakra. He sent a concentrated burst of it into the ground, which cracked beneath his head. Long minutes later, he first heard, then felt cold water swelling to the surface from beneath the ground. He weakly turned his head into it and drank in large, greedy gulps.

He slept, completely spent of energy.


Raiden tossed and turned in his sleep. His hormones, the urges he kept under strict control when he was awake, were under no such hindrance when he was asleep. His body twisted in frustration, hot and aching and in need of relief.

His arm brushed something soft. His nose caught the scent of a female. Instantly, it seemed, he'd pounced, still half asleep and horny as hell. He buried his face in the soft female, sniffing deeply. His mouth watered and he opened his jaws to bite. A low growl rumbled in his throat.

The female turned, murmuring in slumber. He knew this female, he realized. She was strong yet submissive. He leaned over her face and sniffed at her mouth.

-oOo-

Aimi woke to find that she was being kissed thoroughly, hungrily and with someone's tongue. She shrieked, turning her head away, but she was held still with claws that dug into the meaty part of her arm. Then she opened her eyes and saw that it was her own brother.

There was a quick surge of pleasure in her that he loved her this much, a feeling that made her allow the kiss for a second. But then the fact that it was her brother, that it was Raiden, brought her fully and completely awake and she pushed him hard.

He bit her. He sank his teeth into her neck and she could feel his chakra pump strongly through her, sweeping through her body to demand submission of her. Frightened badly, she took this opportunity to connect with him quickly and snap his senses awake.

-oOo-

Raiden blinked, not sure what he was seeing. He realized he had something in his mouth, realized it was meat, then flesh, then that he was biting someone. He pulled back with a gasp and saw his sister's wide eyes looking back at him. Then his eyes tracked to where he had his claws digging into her arm, drawing blood. Lastly, he registered the painful erection between his legs, and how even now the taste of his sister's blood in his mouth caused it to throb in longing.

He stared at the moonlit surface of their lake, momentarily too stunned to move. He heard his parent's voices drift from the archives of his childhood memories.

'Boy, if you ever touch your sister like that…'

'If you ever think about touching your sister like that I'll hurt you, Raiden.'

He suddenly sprang away from Aimi, stumbling backward as his dick wilted in fright. "Oh-" his fangs made speaking uncomfortable. He took a moment to revert to normal. "Oh god. I- Aimi…"

Aimi sat up, feeling her neck. She made her chakra heal the punctures and her arm, before she got up and slowly walked away. The night swallowed her up shortly afterward.

Raiden was left staring down at where she'd sat. He dropped to his knees, his mind still struggling with his shock. Then shame and fear had him covering his face with both hands. What's wrong with me? Oh, god…

He reached his mind out to the Kyuubi in his father. -Kyuubi?-

-Yes, Kitling.-

-Something…something's wrong with me.-

-Are you ill?-

-No, but…but this stuff…the stuff I got from you. I can't control it. It's making me do things, like with Hisa…I touched Aimi.-

-I do not see the problem. You need to mate. You will continue to feel the need until the tides of your rut recede, which will likely take several months. Your den mate would be ideal; she is strong enough and immune to your bite. The pups you breed with her…-

Raiden hastily disconnected his mind from Kyuubi's, actually vomiting into the palm of his hand at the images the demon had called up. He breathed heavily, sweating and miserable with terror and his lingering arousal. "I need help."


Kiba jerked awake at the rapid pounding on his door. Sai stirred beside him in bed, and Akamaru could be heard woofing out in the living room. He crawled out of his warm bed with a hiss at his chilly room and went to see who it was.

The smell identified him long before Kiba reached the door, but he was still surprised to see Naruto's kid on his doorstep. "What."

Raiden bowed quickly. "I'm sorry to bother you. I kind of need your advice."

Kiba stepped aside.

-oOo-

Raiden allowed Akamaru to sniff at his crotch with interest only because he didn't want to do anything to piss Hisa's dad off. He had an idea that though he'd been forgiven for biting her, he wasn't generally well-liked by any of the Inuzuka.

Rubbing sleep from his eyes and giving a jaw-creaking yawn, Kiba gestured to the couch. Raiden sat, and he took the armchair opposite him. "Advice on what?"

Raiden didn't know where to begin. He was loathe to bring up Hisa, but couldn't see a way not to. "About the biting thing. I can't control it and it's really scaring me."

Kiba was more awake now. "Explain. In detail."

"Okay. Well, I usually feel like…feel excited and shit during the day but I can sort of ignore it by talking to someone or by training hard. It doesn't go away, but I deal. At night, though, I get these weird dreams about f-..about…stuff. Sometimes I wake up and I'm biting my own arm. This time I woke up and I was…I was biting my sister. And I…I wanted to…" But he couldn't say the rest, too ashamed of himself to continue. He looked at the floor, his face hot with embarrassment. "I don't know if I can be around her anymore."

Kiba studied the kid. He was sure Naruto had probably gone through something similar at some point. "Why aren't you asking your dad for help? He probably understands what you're going through."

Raiden went white. "He'd kill me. And Pop would kill what was left of me."

"They'd understand what you did was an accident."

"No. And anyway I already tried asking Kyuubi. He told me to…ugh, he told me to mate with my s-"

Kiba watched the way the kid gagged and choked where he sat. "Well, I don't know what to tell you. It's not something you control. It comes and goes. You fuck –excuse me, have sex- when you need to, or else isolate yourself. Once it's happened a few times, it'll get easier for you to function while the rut is on you. Is this your first time?"

"I guess. Yeah."

Kiba shook his head. "Well, you're in for a rough time, then. First rut's always the hardest. The need to screw just about supersedes everything else. The unmarried men in my clan have to be confined or else they're allowed to be with select females among us. My mom set me loose on those females when I was around your age, bout the time my own rut first hit."

"But what am I supposed to do? There's nobody like that where I am and its getting worse."

"Just keep doing what you're doing. And sleep alone. Nothing else to be done, I'm afraid, though you will need to fuck someone at some point. You got a girlfriend?"

Raiden was distracted from thoughts of finding a cave to sleep in. "Uh…well, there's someone…but they're mad at me."

Kiba yawned again, standing up to signal that he was done talking. "Give them flowers. I know chics like that. Hinata certainly did."

Raiden thought of Wyatt and suddenly wanted to cry. He missed him. Thanking Kiba for his time, Raiden folded himself outside the village, then Boomed back to the training world.


Wyatt felt him. He always felt him, but this time he was close. He turned to look behind himself, staring into the night. Raiden was approaching, but slowly, as if unsure of himself.

When he finally came into view, Wyatt had to stop himself from going to him. He missed him so much…just the sight of Raiden was enough to make him want to throw his anger aside and run to him. He wanted to feel Raiden's crushing hugs, and his devouring kisses, and hear his wicked giggle whenever they kissed. He could remember the feel and smell of his spiky hair, and how smooth his face was. It was a physical ache.

But so was the memory of him finding some girl attractive enough to forget him. "What do you want?" he asked when Raiden stopped in front of him.

-oOo-

Raiden nervously twisted the flower he'd brought in his hands. It was a huge exotic thing, purple, red and turquoise. The petals on it curved outward so that minus the stem, the whole flower was bigger than his head. He'd plucked it from a field of similar flowers with an idea that maybe it was pretty. He thrust it out at Wyatt now. "Here. For you."

Wyatt took it and examined it. He looked up at Raiden. "What am I supposed to do with this?"

"I don't know," Raiden shrugged. "I thought you might like it."

There was a painful silence, as Raiden stared at Wyatt, and Wyatt stared at the flower. Raiden noticed that Wyatt had chosen a mountainous terrain as his place to await Izuna, if he was indeed waiting. There was a large house made of seamlessly put together stones complete with light and the smell of food behind him. Sometimes Raiden envied his friend's use of magic.

"Wyatt, I'm sorry I hurt you."

Wyatt looked up at the quiet words. "I know. But it doesn't change how I feel."

Raiden hung his head sadly. "So you'll never forgive me?"

"I don't know."

"Do you want me to take you home?" His muscles clenched in defense at the possible answer.

"…No."

"No?"

"No."

"Oh. How come?"

"Because I made a promise to you. And just because I'm mad at you and you hurt my feelings doesn't mean I'll let you fight Izanami and whatever she's bringing alone."

Raiden stepped as close to Wyatt as the other boy would allow, positively drowning in the need to touch him. "Wyatt, please. I need you."

"I need you too. But I can't stop thinking about what happened." He stepped away from Raiden's reaching hands.

Raiden dropped his hands. He didn't know what else to say. He supposed he should be grateful that Wyatt didn't want to leave. That Wyatt had said he needed him too. Hugging these meager comforts close to his heart, he turned and folded away.

-oOo-

Wyatt let out a breath. If Raiden had remained much longer, he would have thrown himself at him. He looked at the flower again and this time he smiled. Stupid Raiden, giving a boy a flower. But he whispered a spell that effectively suffused the plant with invincibility. He drew his sword and tested the spell by whacking at the flower's broad petals. Excalibur made a loud clanging sound, but the flower remained unharmed. Good. He planned to keep it. He slid the long stem, which was as thick as his forearm, down the sheathe that held his sword so that now the sword and the flower both were visible over one shoulder.


It was another day before Izuna found the strength to actually turn on his back. This allowed him to shoot a passing bird of some kind out of the sky with a weak bolt of lightning. It took him another two days to crawl to where it fell. He stopped and rested often, sometimes sleeping for long hours. The knowledge that his name was Uchiha Izuna came and went, but for the most part he was devoid of thought, operating on the instinct to survive. By the time he reached the bird, it was covered in ants. He put a hand on the thing and called up a feeble flame that singed the ants and feathers both.

The meat was half raw, but he took a bite anyway, chewing painstakingly. He left nothing, chewing the putrid intestines along with the bloody innards. He sucked the bones clean. Consumption of the bird took him the better part of yet another day, but once done it left him with enough energy to sit up.

He crawled back to the shallow pool of water he'd created, now muddy, and drank. As he wiped the back of one shaking hand slowly across his mouth, he recalled Itachi and Tsukuyomi. From there, the rest of his memories and his sense of self returned in fits and bursts. By nightfall he knew exactly who he was, where he was, and why he was here. Spent again, he slept.

-oOo-

It took him ten days to recover fully, the last three of which he'd spent eating heavily and meditating. He ate and drank, stocking up on energy. He estimated that nearly half the thirty days were up. On the morning of the tenth day he opened his eyes and viewed the rising sun. He breathed deeply, appreciative of his return to sanity and health. Then he went over his plan to work his way up to the strongest by dealing with the weakest first.

He'd intended to toy with them and increase the level of his attacks over time. So far that plan had gotten him beaten by even the youngest Uchiha among them. He had no hard feelings. They were family, after all. He could feel nothing but pride in their strength. But time was wasting, and he had lessons to teach.

Izuna stood and activated his Sharingan. Play time was over.