Author's Note: OK, OK, it's been a while (a long while) since last update. Still, here's chapter eight. I hope you enjoy!
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Chapter 8
The chase was on, and Itachi knew it. He could feel that faint-yet-powerful chakra even from miles away. He knew that as long as he was injured, even with the Mangekyo, he was at a disadvantage. He cursed his idiocy at never taking the time to copy a healing technique with his Sharingan.
"Oh well." he muttered. The wound, if possible, was getting worse. The skin around it was turning a pale green, and it rarely stopped bleeding. But his chakra was still at its full, his one-handed swordsmanship as good as ever. He counted himself lucky that the wound was on the left side of his body, because if it had been on the right, he'd have been unable to use his katana.
Itachi's jacket brushed the open, weeping spot. Itachi gave no sign that he was hurting other than to wince- but he only did so in his eyes, which half-shut in pain. Other than that, he gave no outward proof that he had even felt it. He had trained himself like this since he had started at the Ninja Academy, so he'd never have to worry about feeling pain.
Is that why you don't regret your butchery?
"Shut up!" Itachi roared at nothing; several flocks of birds were frightened and took flight to escape the loud voice. "DAMN IT!" he raged, drawing his katana and easily cutting through a tree trunk.
Why was he so confused? What was wrong with him? For eight years, he had nothing to say about the slaughter. And now, that stupid, annoying, nagging voice was here, rattling through his mind whenever he strayed close to Sasuke or any other Uchiha. Never had he ever felt remorse... And yet... He still felt this annoying unhappiness.
"Damn you, brother of mine." Itachi said, sheathing his katana. He began to move again.
"Not so fast, fair Uchiha." a voice from behind him said. Itachi turned to see, standing in the trees, a man wearing a mask with strangle black markings on it. He wore deep blue robes, with lighter, striped pants. On the mask was a leaf, the sign of Konoha.
"A shinobi hunter." Itachi observed, unsurprised. "It's about time Konoha sent someone to deal with me."
"Then I shall make this quick, as you're a busy man." the hunter said, taking from his pocket several senbon, or acupuncture needles. "I hope you don't mind dying at such a young age... Only twenty-one, I hear? Such a waste of talent."
"You've no idea." Itachi said, taking his katana back out. "It was stupid of you to alert me to your presence, though. I can kill you easily now, without even needing to expend chakra."
"Is that so?" a voice from behind him said. Itachi didn't even need to turn around to recognize that he had been fooled by a Shadow Doppelganger, and the real hunter had snuck up behind him. "Please allow me to correct you, but... I believe it is you that will die without my expending any chakra."
"The sad thing is..." Itachi said. "That I did need to use a little chakra to finish this." He too, had used the Shadow Doppelganger technique to sneak up behind the hunter. "Die." He swung his katana, but the hunter used the Art of Substitution to switch with the Doppelganger. "Clever."
The hunter dove into the trees. Itachi wasn't worried; Konoha wasn't particularly renowned for its shinobi hunters, and besides, Itachi always had the Tsukiyomi and the Amaterasu. "Your games are just delaying the inevitable." Itachi said, bored.
Senbon flew from several directions. Shadow Doppelgangers obviously had been used to throw them all. Itachi expertly swung his katana and knocked them all away. "You've got to try better than-" He fell silent in mid-sentence as he was forced to duck a missile formed of senbon that were linked by chakra.
"I have many more tricks up my sleeve, traitor." the hunter spat. Suddenly, senbon poked out of the ground for a large area around Itachi. Without warning, they shot out from the ground and straight into the air.
"Child's play." Itachi said. Moving his hands lightning-fast, he formed the signs for one of the only defense arts in the Fire Style. "Fire Style: Art of the Konoha Meteor!" He was surrounded by a wall of fire that burned all the senbon. "I told you. You can't beat me."
"I will." The hunter was still hiding in the trees, keeping Itachi from using the full effects of his Sharingan. "You are a disgusting traitor, and when you are dead, your brother will be next!"
Itachi blazed at this. "You won't get so far." He used the Shadow Doppelganger technique, producing six clones.
"You think those clones will confuse me?"
"No." Itachi said. "I think they'll kill you." The Doppelgangers launched in all directions, and as Itachi formed more signs, before crying, "Art of the Kamikaze Doppelganger!" The Doppelgangers, spread out in the nearby woods, suddenly expended all their chakra and exploded, destroying most of the foliage around them.
Itachi had again used the Konoha Meteor, to defend himself from the volatile energies that blew apart the woods. When the dust cleared, the hunter was lying, though alive, about twenty feet from Itachi. Itachi walked over to him. "What did I tell you?"
"Shut up!" the hunter cried, coughing. Itachi assumed that underneath the now-cracked mask, blood was spattering from the coughs. "More will come..."
"Let them." Itachi said. With a quick flick of his wrist, he disemboweled the hunter. Bending down, he picked up the mask, cracked off the portion with the leaf, and left the hunter for dead.
Itachi walked several miles down the path before he stopped for water in the river. It was cold and refreshing, and it washed the blood from him. His wound wasn't getting any better; in fact, it had gotten at least twice as bad, and had begun to bleed freely during his battle with the hunter.
He hoped he hadn't sent the hunter to the grave thinking he had been wounded.
Itachi soon got fed up and back to where the hunter had died. The corpse was still there. Itachi tore up the hunter's clothes, wrapped the first long strip around his wound, and stored the rest in his pack. The hunter was dead; it wasn't like he'd need any clothes. Grateful for this dying gift, Itachi set off again.
The road was long and hard. Itachi could still feel that faint chakra that was his brother's, and he knew that he was being pursued. So what? he reasoned. He's never been able to beat me before, so what's going to change?
Itachi's biggest fear was that Sasuke had gained the Mangekyo. Sasuke wasn't as fast a learner or as rapid at getting stronger as Itachi was, but Itachi knew very well that Sasuke was still an above-average Uchiha. Though he had reason to believe that it was revenge driving his brother and little more, Itachi knew that Sasuke was capable of using his Sharingan to great effect.
There was one final problem that Itachi had to overcome in order to beat Sasuke. He was still unsure of whether or not the Sharingan could copy the Amaterasu or the Tsukiyomi, and the last thing he wanted to do was give his enemy his best weapon. Though, indeed, no one had lived to see either of those techniques twice (with the exception of Kakashi), and Itachi had been given no reason ro believe that Sasuke would, either.
Still... Itachi, though determined to win, knew that there were two reasons that Sasuke was alive. The first, he had convinced himself, was that he still needed to test his Mangekyo against another's. Since he had killed every other Uchiha, obviously the logical mind would leave Sasuke alive and try to convince him to kill his best friend and gain the Mangekyo. Itachi had no doubt that he would win, but the mirroring effects of the Mangekyo would be most interesting to watch pitted against each other.
The other, though Itachi only grudgingly admitted it, was so someone could bring him to justice.
And he continued to move through the forest, occasionally raging at nothing because he couldn't figure out why he was raging.
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Sasuke, though slightly guilty, felt more angry than anything.
The time for revenge was upon him.
He had his oversized kunai, ready to tear through Itachi's flesh like butter. He had his shuriken, ready to dig into his face and abdomen and do so much damage. He had his Sharingan, the gift of his father's that had never let him down before. And yet, he was missing something...
His friends.
Sasuke didn't know why, but the return trip to Konoha had changed him. Everyone was the same, still willing to try and help him, no matter what. Even Neji, who felt even less emotion than Itachi did, had tried to help him. Kakashi, Sasuke thought, had intentionally allowed himself to be hit with the Chidori, just to prove his point. Ino, Shikamaru, and Lee had tried to stop them from fighting. Naruto had held back, so Sasuke would have a chance.
And Sakura...
No, damn it, no! Sasuke berated himself. He had sworn not to think of her, because for whatever reason, whenever he did, he wanted to turn around and go back. He couldn't give up the chase now, because if he did, he might never be able to bring himself away from Konoha again. He was willing to forsake Sakura, Naruto, Kakashi and everyone else to do this.
Sasuke passed through a small village about a day after he left. It had no ninja in it, so people of all ages showed up at the restaurant he stopped to eat at to goggle at him. He didn't make eye contact with any of them, and he wasn't sure how they knew he was a ninja (with a pang, he remembered his hitae-ate, alone and scared back at Sakura's), but he knew they were starting to annoy him. By the time he finished his meal and paid for it, he was thoroughly fed up.
"Leave me alone." he called back at them as he walked down the main road. They kept following him. He stopped in a small food shop and picked up a few more packages of rice, so he'd have enough to eat for several weeks. They kept following him. He stopped at the blacksmith's to have him sharpen the oversized kunai. They kept following him.
As Sasuke reached the edge of town, he felt an urge to launch a volley of kunai into the crowd. Instead, he turned, formed a few simple signs which came naturally to him, and performed the Great Fireball Technique. "If you keep following me," he warned them, "I will kill all of you. I am too busy to have a bunch of weakling townspeople follow me everywhere. I have things to do and people to kill, and I hope none of you want to be among them."
That kept the townspeople away from him for a good long time.
Days past, and Sasuke kept walking, immersing himself in memories. He could sense a chakra, far on the edge of his senses, that he knew was Itachi. As he walked, he thought of a lot of things, some memories of his parents, some of his friends, and some... of his brother.
"Mommy, why do the stars twinkle?"
Sasuke was lying out on the roof of the Uchiha house with his mother, Mikoto, staring at the sky. He was maybe four, but unlike Itachi, who had by this age mastered the Great Fireball, he showed little promise of being a prodigy. Instead, his parents took the time to raise him like a normal child.
"You know what, Sasuke?" his mother said, smiling, "I don't know."
Sasuke was silent for a moment, considering this. "So you don't know everything?"
Mikoto laughed. "No, Sasuke, of course not. No one does."
Sasuke sat on the ground in a small puddle of blood not long afterward, poking at a decent-sized wound on his arm. The other children from his neighborhood were crying or screaming. Sasuke was completely silent, and wasn't shedding a tear.
A small, blond child with odd, whisker-like marks on his cheeks crouched down by Sasuke. "Doesn't that hurt? Why aren't you crying?"
"Of course it hurts, stupid." Sasuke said, unwittingly starting a tradition that would last eleven years.
"Don't call me stupid." Naruto replied. "You just don't like me because no one else does!"
"No, I don't like you because you're stupid." Sasuke smirked as Naruto flushed red, ready to strike back. At that moment, Sasuke's father, Fugaku, happened by, saw his son bleeding in the street, and rushed him home.
"He's so pretty..."
"I know, and he's so dark and mysterious, too..."
"Isn't he?"
The gaggle of girls shushed each other as Sasuke happened by. He stared at them, confused, as they giggled and waved. He shrugged and took his seat in the classroom. He wasn't in the Academy yet, though he would be soon. Already, the girls were flocking around him, and nothing he would do could stop them. He didn't understand why they liked him; it wasn't like he gave them a reason.
He sighed, took his seat, and opened his math book, as directed by his teacher.
Sasuke sat in the Sandaime Hokage's office, shaking. People were bustling in and out, all of them visibly shaken by the day's events. The Hokage himself, however, sat behind his desk, staring at Sasuke.
"Are you all right, little one?" he asked after some time. And, after a pause, "Why aren't you crying?"
"I..." Sasuke shuddered. He clenched his fists and set his jaw to keep them from trembling. "I'm fine, Hokage-sama. And... I never cry. I just don't."
"No one would blame you for it, Sasuke." Sandaime said kindly. "Adults are not like your schoolmates, we won't-"
"I don't cry." Sasuke repeated fiercely. After a moment, he reconsidered. "Well, I did when... when I saw he..."
"Hokage-sama!" Someone burst into the room, yelling. "We checked Uzumaki, but there's no blood. He couldn't have done it."
"Naruto didn't do it!" Sasuke said, standing up and staring up at the two men. "It was Itachi! He killed my parents! And if anyone kills him before me, I'll kill them!"
Sasuke's fists clenched reflexively as he thought of the aftermath of the slaughter. Sandaime Hokage and his aide had both been surprised by the news that it was not Naruto that had killed the Uchiha clan, and they had roared in outrage when Sasuke alleged that it was his older brother. Seven year olds, however, did not make faceless allegations; it soon became clear that it could have been no one but Itachi.
Sasuke's memories after that point, for the most part, were painful and lonely. He was forced to live in the Uchiha house all alone, and although he was solely focused on revenge, he wanted people to want to like him for more than his good looks. Constantly, the girls followed him everywhere, completely unaware of what had happened, badgering him to come to their houses with them.
He never responded.
After all these years of thinking, Sasuke figured that since his advances as a ninja were so fast, he could have spared time and made friends. None of that mattered, though, because no one but the Rookie Nine, Gai's cell, and Kakashi really cared about him now that he had turned traitor.
Sasuke was shaken from his thoughts by a kunai that blazed by his ear. "Damn it, what now?" he muttered, taking out his oversized kunai and looking for the source of the enemy strike. Another kunai flew, giving away the enemy's position in the trees. Sasuke let loose with a group of shuriken, then leapt back in anticipation of the return strike.
It came from behind him. Sasuke heard it and twisted around in time for a kunai to just graze it side, tearing a bit of his shirt and drawing only a small amount of blood. Sasuke landed, threw more shuriken, and dodged left.
Again, the return attack came from behind him. "Stupid Doppelgangers." Sasuke muttered. This time, he spun around, but immediately turned again, so he was facing the direction of his last counter. Nothing. "What...?" he wondered aloud, before he noticed a kunai flying at him from the right. He ducked it.
"One choice." Sasuke said, then used the Great Fireball on the woods where the last attack came from. The trees lit up instantly, burning almost everything away. And then...
Another attack, this time from the opposite side of the road. Sasuke was intensely confused. After this much time, there would have been such a drain on the attacker's chakra that the Doppelgangers would have disappeared. But there was no other way that the attacker could attack from multiple angles at once.
Sasuke kept being attacked, trying to anticipate where the next strike would come from, but every time, if came from a different area. There was no pattern of attack for whoever this was, and as such, Sasuke couldn't formulate a guess. He swore in rage after three more kunai grazed him, opening shallow cuts in his skin. The attacker was toying with him. That knowledge was too much to bear.
"Show your face!" Sasuke roared, his hands flying through signs as he spoke. "Come out and fight! If you're not going to, I'll just have to bring the fight-" He muttered, "Art of the Solid Sound," before screaming, "TO YOU!"
The shockwave of sound spread in all directions cutting through trees and smashing rocks. There was no way the attacker would be able to avoid it. Among the sound of falling trees, there was a cry of pain. Sasuke stayed where he was, knowing he'd be able to see his assailant over the felled trees.
It was an otonin. He stood there, holding his bleeding left arm and glaring at Sasuke as if he had the plague. "You little brat!" he yelled, gesticulating wildly. "How dare you ignore Orochimaru-sama's orders! You will pay for your treason with your life!"
"Now that I can see you, you don't stand a chance." Sasuke said, activating his Sharingan and picking up his kunai. "How'd you do it? That must have been some Doppelganger to be able to last that long and be able to hold and throw kunai without draining your chakra to the point of collapse."
The otonin gave a sick smile. "It wasn't a Doppelganger. I'll show you..." He disappeared.
"What...?" Sasuke murmured in surprise, only to feel a sharp pain in his left shoulder. He spun around and swung his kunai at the same time, catching the otonin in the stomach. Since it was so large and despite the fact that Sasuke had just had it sharpened, his kunai was only really sharp near the point. The kunai connected and sent the otonin flying towards the tree line, where he landed bodily. "Speed." Sasuke said, as he enemy landed.
"That's right!" the otonin said, giving a bloody cough. He stood up again, and his good hand went back to his wounded arm. "I'm so fast, your Sharingan could hardly pick me up! Now what, coward? You won't be able to hit me until I hit you, and by the time that happens, your throat will be slit!"
"Not quite." Sasuke said, forming signs. "Snake Style: Art of the Viper's Fang." He dropped his kunai and held up his right hand. The first two fingers had become sharpened, and were of a green tint. Sasuke stuck them up as if signifying the number two, but when he arched them, the otonin knew he meant business. "This is one of Orochimaru-sensei's. It's probably one of his best close-combat techniques..." Sasuke charged the otonin.
"Idiot! Baka!" the otonin roared in triumph, seemingly disappearing again. But Sasuke's Sharingan had already done its job- he knew that the otonin would attack from his left side, so as soon as the otonin vanished, he spun 90 degrees and swiped with his two fingers.
They struck the otonin on either side of his good arm's elbow joint, pierced the skin, and injected their payload. The otonin gasped and fell, hitting the ground with a sickening thud and writhing in pain. The wounds turned a deep green, which spread up his arm along the arteries and veins. They reached up to his face, making him look like a mad tattoo artist.
Sasuke gave no impression that he felt anything about having won. He walked over to his kunai and picked it up before turning to the otonin and saying, "Too bad. That's a fatal technique, as soon as it strikes. It pumps a good bit of my chakra into your blood vessels, where it takes hold. Before you know it, I'll be able to implode every blood vessel in your body." He smiled darkly. "It's like having 100,000 strokes at once."
The otonin stared up at him in fear as all of his blood vessels were outlined in green. As soon as the chakra made a complete circuit, Sasuke held out his left hand. "Bye." he said, closing his fist.
The otonin's every orifice suddenly oozed blood: his eyes, his ears, his nose and mouth, from under his fingernails; his scalp seemed to bleed off, as the shallow vessels there opened and the blood found space between the skin cells. His tongue swelled and burst, huge bruises on either side of his neck formed, and without a sound, he died.
Sasuke sighed as he turned and walked away. He had hoped to avoid any killing until he found Itachi, but Orochimaru had given him no choice. "The next time Orochimaru tries to have me killed..." Sasuke said bitterly, "He'd better send someone much more powerful than that."
