A cornered Uchiha, not something anyone want to have to deal with in this or any other life and yet Shinn and Kosei were now confronting one not with fear or regret but with confidence. Every since they had performed the jutsu Itachi had experienced something he hadn't for a long time, an udder thrashing. Itachi was indeed a talented and powerful fighter and was not taking any major damage but even with his family's eyes he could not keep up with his opponents.
"How long can you keep this up Itachi?" Kosei questioned as he fluently dodged Itachi's blows "You can't go on forever!"
"Neither can you." Itachi caught one of Kosei's fists and pulled him into one of his master's punches. "Even if I can't destroy you, you can still destroy each other." Kosei dropped to the ground but quickly recovered; wiping blood from his mouth he continued his assault. They continued their battle; practically ripping apart the town around them, until Kosei started feeling quite a bit of strain.
"Darn it," Kosei said as he pulled back from a punch breathing heavily "It is starting to get to me Shinn."
"Just try and hold on Kosei." Shinn said pulling out a Kunai and swinging it at Itachi.
"Getting weak?" Itachi broke to blade and pushed past Shinn towards Kosei "So your not quite as connected as I thought."
"No you don't!" Shinn jumped for Itachi and got him in a headlock "This ends now!" Shinn brought his fist to Itachi's back and sprung out the blade, a spray of blood went forth as the blade went out the other side. Shinn grinned in triumph but looked down at the face of his target, instead of Itachi he held Koseiz; he had pierced the heart of his student. He sprang backwards in fear and tripped falling to meet the lifeless gaze of a female ninja "Anko?" Everywhere he looked there were the people he cared about toppled over, mangled, every wound made by one of his weapons. "My family," the seventh gate… "My friends," insanity… "My people," worse than him "NOOOOOOOOO!"
Kosei had never seen anything like it, Shinn was never scared or hindered by illusions but the moment he met Itachi's eyes he went still. In an instant Itachi had Shinn by the throat and was lifting him up. Kosei dashed forward and tried to kick Itachi, tried to get Shinn out of his gaze but he couldn't. Every time he attempted a strike he was beaten off with Itachi's free hand. "How!" Kosei screamed at himself "How can he block me so easily now?" Kosei made a few more attempts but again was knocked away as if he was nothing. "That is it!" Kosei pulled out as many kunai and shuriken as he could and hurled them at Itachi, then beat them to him. Itachi again blocked all of Kosei's blows but found himself unable to simply block the projectiles. He moved out of the way and his eyes met Kosei's fiery abyss of an optical, Itachi expected him to freeze like his teacher but instead he found himself in another world, one that he knew to well.
"What the…" Shinn was once again fully conscious after being release from Itachi's grip but upon turning around… "Kosei!" he saw his student and Itachi staring at each other. Itachi seemed spaced out but unfazed by the images he was seeing, it was little more than an elaborate distraction to him but Kosei, he was not fairing so well. He was quivering, twitching, drool escaping the corner of his lip and the look in his normal eye was like a deer in headlights. "No! Kosei you can't handle him!" Shinn tried to pry him off but the grip the two had on each other was too great "Fine! Wake up call for the murderer!" Shinn gripped Itachi's forearm with both hands and turned his back towards him, he propped his arm on his shoulder and gave a mighty pull. You could hear the bone snap a mile away; Itachi's forearm was destroyed.
"Shinn!" Kosei screamed as he wrapped his arms around his teacher; Itachi staggered back wincing in pain. "I saw all of these…terrible things and-"
"Kid we don't have time the Jutsu is wavering!" Shinn noticed Kosei go limp "Kosei? Kosei?" No answer, he was already in shock. Shinn didn't even think, he moved away from his student, did a few hand seals, thrust his arm downward while gripping the forearm tightly and started concentrating chakra. Within seconds there was a swirling, glowing ball of energy in Shinn's hand, he wasted no time, he was out for blood.
"That move," Itachi's mind went back to that day with his brother in the apartment building "I can't dodge it this close." The ground was torn to shreds where Shinn dragged his hand and the ball just got bigger and bigger until he pushed forward towards Itachi's heart. Time seemed to slow down for a moment; Shinn could see his hand getting closer to Itachi's chest, closer and closer but never quite getting there.
'Just a little farther and he will be dead' Shinn thought to himself 'Just a little…' closer 'Farther…' closer 'And he will be de-'
The impact was devastating; Shinn felt a serge of unbearable pain channel from the point he was struck. He did not even hit the ground before darkness had enveloped him.
"Pathetic don't you think so Itachi?" Itachi was shocked to see the dark figure before him but quickly realized whom it was that had saved his life. "All that talk and he could not even land the death blow; fool of a Hyuuga." The figure took off his hood and looked Itachi in the eye.
"Shikage."
"So you do remember, that is good."
"What do you want?"
"I was simply in the area when I noticed you were in danger."
"That is a lie."
"There is nothing getting past you is there? Fine I was here about the boy and his dolt."
"Why do you care about them?"
"Because I have encountered them before dear Uchiha and the fact they are still alive after a fight with you just intrigues me."
"They will not be for long." Itachi began moving forward towards his unconscious enemies but was stopped by claw like fingers digging into his damaged arm.
"You will not lay a finger on them do you understand?"
"You are in no place to order me."
"I am in a perfect spot…" Shikage swung Itachi and rammed him into the ground then returned him to a standing position "To tear you apart Itachi which I could do with or without your injuries."
"The boy killed a member that still had some use."
"A boy? Killing an S ranked criminal? Don't make me laugh Itachi; Kisame's death was the fault of mine and mine alone. I hid the boy's actions, I put the orb for the deathblow and I stopped him from dodging; humans are just puppets with blood in their veins after all."
"You killed him? Why" Itachi almost sounded interested over the heavy breathing.
"Because I like the Akatsuki, their cause is not so foreign to me and they deserve stronger members then that dolt you called a warrior."
"He was strong."
"But not strong enough." The Shikage rose up his hand in an exaggerated gesture as he spoke the last words. "I have one that could be of great use to you, and worry not for he has no ties with me."
"Why are we discussing this with our enemies just lying there?" rare is it that emotion enters Itachi's voice but the Shikage could always bring it out in him.
"Because I decided to Itachi! Would you rather talk at the Konoha ramen-shop or perhaps at the corpse ridden plains or maybe a boat in the middle of the wave country would serve your needs!" The Shikage gave Itachi a swift kick in the gut as he finished what he said, "You are going to come with me and meet this nice man Itachi and we are going to leave these poor bastards for dead ok? All right then I'm glad you agree." Shikage gripped Itachi's throat tightly and melted into the shadows leaving Shinn and Kosei to their dreamless slumber.
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"Shinn? Are you alright?" the voice seemed distant.
"Ragdoll?" the words hardly escaped Shinn's lips; his throat and tongue were so dry.
"It's me, don't worry, we are taking you home."
