Just inside the border of the Land of Rivers, Kakashi's team hurried through the forest. The shinobi leapt from tree branch to tree branch, faces set in grim determination, while Ieyasu kept pace on horseback below. For most of their journey, the group traveled in silence, with only quick bursts of conversation about changing terrain or possible ambush sites. On the second day of travel, after some five hours of this pace, Sakura was the first to speak up about something past that.
"I've been meaning to ask, but what's the story behind your name, Sarutobi-san?" Asked Sakura.
"Because of your old teammate, right?" Sasuke responded, without looking back at Sakura.
"N-no, not in particular! I was just curious…" Blushing, Sakura quickly responded, before letting her reply trail off. "How did you know?"
Sasuke chuckled softly. "More than a few people in Konoha reacted pretty strongly when I introduced myself. After I heard the three of you say the name a few times, I put it together." Looking back over his shoulder, he gave a small smirk to Sakura. "But, if you want to know, there's no problem."
Sakura just nodded her head, and Sasuke settled back into his rhythm as they moved through the trees. "Back where I'm from, on Togakushi Mountain, there used to live a happy little clan of monkeys. Of this clan, there would always be one Sasuke- the strongest, smartest monkey of them all."
Sasuke's voice shifted as he talked, losing the carefree edge that it always carried. "All of the monkeys wanted that name, because it would mean that they were important, that they were on top of the pack. And so, they did what all monkeys do, and fought over it. And when they couldn't fight over it anymore, they made the little monkeys fight over it, even when they didn't understand it."
An oppressive feeling began to fill the forest air, a growing amount of killing intent that set the shinobi's nerves on edge. "Then, one day, something happened. When all of the people around the mountain came to take a look, they found a mountain of monkey corpses. In this mountain, there was one monkey who was unscathed, bowing his blood smeared head. By elimination, what do you suppose that monkey's name would be?"
Silence hung over the group as they continued on, enduring the thickening killing intent. After a minute had passed, the intent vanished without a trace as Sasuke spoke up again. "Or perhaps I was named after my great-grandfather? I always forget which way it actually happened!"
Sasuke broke off with a bright laugh, leaving his traveling companions to give their own uncomfortable chuckles. These quickly came to an end as Kakashi loudly barked an order for the group to come to a stop. Immediately, the shinobi dropped from the tree branches they had been running on, landing at the edge of a wide clearing. Ieyasu quickly arrived next to them, reining in his horse. In the center of the clearing, facing the Konoha team, was a lone man in a black cloak emblazoned with red clouds.
"Running into him already… Itachi Uchiha," Kakashi said in a low voice. The other shinobi tensed at the mention of the infamous Uchiha's name, Sakura softly gasping. Sasuke and Ieyasu looked to their comrades quickly before reading themselves up.
"Long time no see, Kakashi and Naruto." Itachi addressed the pair, ignoring the deepening scowls on their faces.
"I take it that he's someone with a reputation?" Sasuke quipped, his light tone barely covering the serious undertone of the question.
"He's the boy that killed his entire clan in one night," Chiyo answered. "I'm surprised that somebody from Konoha hadn't heard of him!"
"Well, I've always been terrible at keeping up with local news." Sasuke joked before being cut off by Kakashi.
"Everyone, avoid eye contact! It's dangerous!" Kakashi called out, still not letting the rogue Uchiha slip out of his sight.
"Then what are we supposed to do?" Asked Sakura.
"Watch his footwork and predict his movements. He specializes in ocular genjutsu, so as long as you don't meet his eyes, you should be fine." Kakashi replied.
"Well then, should we break through? Our target is waiting for us, after all." Sasuke asked, beginning to slowly move into the clearing, twin shuriken drawn and ready.
"Our time is growing short. So, Naruto, I'll be taking you back now." Itachi spoke, lifting his finger to point at Naruto as he did so. As soon as he finished speaking, Naruto went rigid, pupils shrinking as his body locked up.
Kakashi immediately rushed forwards, beginning a series of hand seals. "Chiyo, Sakura, Ieyasu! Stay back and guard Naruto! Sasuke, with me!."
"Already on it!" Kakashi looked to the side to see Sasuke keeping pace.
Leaping up, Kakashi shouted "Suiton: Suidan no Jutsu!" Spitting downwards, a torrent of water spewed out of his mouth down towards Itachi. The Uchiha dodged out of the way, leaping backwards, only to have to dodge one of Sasuke's shuriken as well after it cut through the spray of water. Sasuke followed his weapon through the last drops of Kakashi's jutsu, throwing his second shuriken as he pulled the first back. Itachi wove out of the path of the second as easily as the first as he rushed in towards Sasuke.
Sasuke was within close combat range with Itachi in seconds. He began a swipe towards Itachi's chest with the shuriken that he had pulled back to his hand, only for Itachi to intercept his arm. With one arm pinned, Sasuke pulled back with his other hand, reeling in his other shuriken. Before it could make it back to his hand, Itachi turned sideways, getting leverage to drive a leg straight into Sasuke's stomach. Eyes widening in shock, he reeled, spitting up phlegm. Shifting back on one foot, Sasuke looked up for a moment, only to find himself staring into Itachi's spinning sharingan.
Before he could blink, Sasuke found himself hanging upside down under a pitch black sky. The wrappings around his arms were steel, with hundreds of long spikes piercing into him. His attention was quickly taken by the large pool of bubbling black liquid that he was hanging over- the vapor alone was hot enough to start singeing his face.
From the shore of the pool, Itachi looked Sasuke in the eye. "You're not bad. But, I'll have you go to sleep here…"
Sasuke's bindings shifted suddenly, and he felt himself dropping down towards the pool. Sweat rapidly beading on his brow, blood running down his back, he still shot Itachi a cocky grin before he hit the surface. "This is some illusion… But, don't get so caught up in the mist that you miss the cliff, yeah?"
Itachi's eyes widened almost imperceptibly at that, and even as Sasuke started to touch the boiling pitch he severed the illusion. Snapping back to the real world, he saw the man he had trapped in the genjutsu dissipation in a cloud of black smoke, while two identical copies leapt at him from the treeline on either side of him. Both Sasukes swept their shuriken forwards in wide arcs. One pair spun directly towards Itachi, while the other split so that one shuriken would pass above and below the other clone's attack. Itachi leapt, twisting to fit in the narrow space between two of the shuriken.
As he landed, Itachi was immediately faced by the Sasuke that had been on his right. He leaned back out of the way of a quick kick, following that by pivoting out of the way of one of the shuriken that was reeling back into Sasuke's hand. Sasuke pressed the attack, coming after Itachi with a series of quick slashes aimed at his torso. Itachi slipped away from the first couple, before again catching Sasuke's arm. This time, his rhythm was disrupted as a pure black outline of Sasuke materialized in the air above his arm. This silhouette shot a kick at Itachi's face, forcing him to let go of Sasuke's arm to block the strike, before it vanished back into the ether.
Sasuke again continued the offensive, sweeping his leg out. Itachi leapt over the attack, only for another silhouette to materialize and catch him in the shoulder with what looked like a shadowy kunai. A heartbeat after the attack struck home, a second silhouette appeared on the opposite side and struck Itachi in the collarbone with a powerful kick. Itachi staggered backwards for a moment, sparing a glance over his shoulder at the other Sasuke rapidly approaching behind him. He then moved forwards again, sliding under the horizontal slash that Sasuke sent his way and the silhouette that began to materialize.
Spinning around to face the way he came, Itachi's hands reached down into his shuriken pouch, and he sent a flurry of the projectiles at the Sasuke that had yet to reach him. That copy came to an abrupt halt, quickly moving its shuriken in front of it to block the attack. The Sasuke that Itachi had been directly fighting also sought to gain some room, pivoting around to throw one of its shuriken back down at Itachi even as started to leap back away.
For a brief second, Itachi moved faster, reaching out to grab Sasuke's shoulder even as he leapt over his head. Sasuke's shuriken harmlessly crashed into the ground as the pair twisted in the air, Itachi's free hand beginning to form seals. He came down hard on the other side, twisting to harness Sasuke's own momentum as he sent the man flying back towards the treeline with a throw. Turning his head back towards the other Sasuke, Itachi brought his other hand up to finish the seal sequence that he had begun. Bringing one hand up to his mouth, he called out "Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu!" before spitting a massive ball of fire.
Sasuke leapt over the attack, reaching up at the apex of his jump to grip the talon of a large hawk made of shadow, which materialized even as he was reaching up. Using this, he hung in the air as the fireball passed below him. As soon as the fire passed his legs, Sasuke let go of the shadow bird, letting it dematerialize as well. Before he could fall, he threw one of his shuriken down towards Itachi. Itachi moved to jump away, but before he could move, the ground behind him erupted, Kakashi already grabbing him in a full nelson. Seconds later, the shuriken hit, tearing through Itachi and Kakashi both. Kakashi vanished in a cloud of smoke, while Itachi dropped to his knees. Sasuke landed, quickly dashed forwards and slashed the Uchiha's throat with his other shuriken.
Itachi's body dropped to the ground, and Sasuke stepped back, guard still up. The other Sasuke began to walk over towards him as well, and was quickly joined by the real Kakashi. Sasuke waved at the other shinobi as he approached. "Thanks for the assist there!"
Kakashi just waved it off as he approached. At this point, the rest of the team was beginning to move towards them as well. Naruto reached Sasuke before any of his teammates, jogging out in front. "It's over already?!"
"Well, maybe he just forgot to put up his guard at that last moment?" Sasuke shrugged before leaning down to inspect the corpse in more detail.
"Now, I'm not an expert on this guy-" Sasuke paused, looking up to Kakashi and Chiyo. "But did he always look like this?"
The team looked down at the corpse, the face of which had changed significantly to reveal a man with a sharp goatee and high cheekbones. Chiyo inhaled sharply as she looked down at the body. "...It can't be."
"You know him?" Kakashi asked, looking over at her.
Chiyo nodded. "That's Yura, a jonin from our village."
"So, this was an imposter of some kind then…" Ieyasu added, rubbing his chin in thought.
"No. That last jutsu he used was a signature move of the Uchiha, and I could tell it was legitimate even from where I was." Kakashi shook his head.
"Well… I guess it's a mystery! Maybe we'll find out more once we reach that hideout?" Sasuke leaned back away from Yura's body, stretching his arms.
Kakashi nodded, looking back at the team. "You're right. Let's keep moving. Whatever this was, if they're trying to delay us, we're getting close."
With a sharp nod, the rest of the team leapt back to the trees as they continued onwards, with Ieyasu following along on horseback.
In the desert to the south, the sound of blows rang like thunder cracks through the barren rocks. In the shadow of one cracked plateau, Kisame came flying out of the cleft in the stone, hotly pursued by a glowing red Yukimura. Kisame flipped in the air, sliding across the ground as he drew his sword up just in time to block a spear whipping towards his side. Yukimura stopped for a second as his attack was blocked, twisting his second spear to stab at Kisame's unprotected side. Kisame grinned, twisting slightly away from the attack before grabbing the spear right behind the head with his free hand, which immediately began to smoke from the contact. Kisame stepped forwards, bringing his head down in a crushing headbutt.
Yukimura grit his teeth, sliding back slightly under the force of the blow. Gathering himself, he began to twist, spinning around towards his trapped spear. The rotation was strong enough to pull Kisame off his as he was dragged along by the spear he was holding. Kisame quickly let go, again flying backwards across the desert. Catching himself, he stood back up, forming his hand into a hare sign next to his mouth. "Suiton: Mizurappa!"
A stream of water shot back towards Yukimura, who braced himself. Rapidly spinning one of his spears in his hand, he held the spinning weapon forwards like a shield. The water crashed against it, spraying outwards in every direction as it was deflected by the maneuver. There was a deafening hiss as a large amount of the water evaporated into a cloud of steam as it made contact with Yukimura's aura. As the pressure dropped, Yukimura stopped spinning his spear, looking around the cloud of steam that formed. He took a step forward, ready to rush out, when a figure materialized out of the steam next to him.
Kisame slammed Samehada up into Yukimura's side. He was carried along with the sword as Kisame brought it over his head before slamming him down into the ground on the other side. Wincing, Yukimura swung a spear around to catch Kisame in the leg. Feeling his femur almost snap under the impact, Kisame leapt back before he could take a second blow. As he landed, he immediately had to duck to the side to avoid a spear hurtling at his chest.
Following the spear that he had just thrown, Yukimura dashed in to bury a crippling uppercut in Kisame's gut. Gritting his teeth to keep a spurt of of blood from leaving his mouth, Kisame grasped Samehada with both hands, bringing the hilt of his sword straight down into Yukimura's back. Ignoring the soft crack that followed the blow, Yukimura backed up a step, planting his spear into the ground. Using the spear as support, he threw his body up into a full dropkick.
Kisame spun Samehada around to block the brunt of the blow, but the force still staggered him. Reeling back, his guard dropped just enough for Yukimura's flaming fist to crash into his face. Yukimura's follow up punch was enough to blow Kisame off of his feet again, sending him flying backwards. Dashing forwards, collecting both of spears as he passed them, Yukimura pursued KIsame.
Kisame again stabilized himself, landing on his feet. His face immediately twisted into a snarl as he dropped to one knee, the microfractures in his leg growing into a full break from the force of the landing. Yukimura bore down on him a second later, blazing spears drawn back. Kisame tried to block the incoming attack, but one of Yukimura's spears swept over his his guard, throwing him up into the air.
Yukimura leapt after Kisame, streaking upwards in a crimson blaze. "Rekka!" Kisame brought Samehada up as a shield once more as Yukimura began to send a barrage of fierce blows upwards. Kisame's grip began to falter under the storm of spear thrusts, finally giving out and deflecting to the side. In the split second that Kisame's guard opened, Yukimura paused his attack, aura flaring to new heights. "Dairekka!" Yukimura's barrage began anew, the tips of his spears glowing white hot from the speed and force of the blows. Kisame was battered by repeated strikes, coughing blood as his body gave out.
After a half a minute of continuous attacks, Yukimura drew both of his spears back together and brought them down on Kisame's back. The pair fell like a meteor, Yukimura's aura casting harsh shadows on the surrounding desert. A plume of dust and rock shot up from the point of the their impact, spraying debris into the sky. When the dust cleared slightly, Yukimura leapt back from the center of the small crater. Looking back down at the crater, he saw a broken body laying half buried in the rocks. He stared at the corpse for several seconds, watching to see if would move again.
"...Did he always look like that?" Yukimura's brows creased in thought for a second, before his eyes suddenly widened. "The horses!" Without further contemplation, he was off to recollect the horses. Ten minutes later, the southern team was on the move once again, heading towards the Akatsuki hideout.
Far away, in some remote location, Kisame opened his eyes with a grimace. "You've finished as well?" He heard Itachi ask from behind him.
"Yeah. I suppose that's all that the substitute could handle." Kisame responded.
"It was still enough to delay them." Itachi answered, voice flat as always.
"Yeah, yeah. Still, I would have liked to play with them a bit longer…" Kisame trailed off, a grin spreading across his face. "Sanada Yukimura. Now that's a name that's worth remembering.
Suiton: Suidan no Jutsu- Water Release: Water Bullet Technique
Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu- Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique
Suiton: Mizurappa- Water Release: Raging Waves
Rekka- Raging Flame
Dairekka- Great Raging Flame
Well, it's been a bit longer than usual! I still haven't abandoned this- just been dealing with computer problems (and a bit of writers block). But, we're back on track now! As usual, I hope you enjoy the chapter!