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This chapter is for all of you. only 9 more chapters to go!
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For a moment, the rubble of the training grounds were forgotten and Konoha felt like it once did before the attack. Shutting my eyes for an instant I wiped sweat from my forehead. It had been a few hours since I started my most recent meditation session in order to try and open the third gate. Once I was able to open the first the second came naturally since they were located in the brain.
The gate of life was proving to be very difficult but with it came the use of reverse lotus and I wanted to open it as soon as possible. My stomach grumbled and I grabbed my backpack, pulling out two sweet peaches Kakashi had left for me on the counter. They were my favorite kind.
The squeal of a hawk caught my attention and I looked up at the blue sky. My head tilted to the side for a moment. Kakashi-sensei. Grabbing my bag I pulled it over my shoulder before making my way over to the direction the hawk was going. Somewhere in the middle of the village.
It didn't take long to find my sensei leaning against the outside of a café, "You rang?" I asked, flickering beside him. His eyes curved like it always did when he was smiling. "Hello Asuma-sensei, Kurenai-sensei." I gave them a bow of respect.
"What's up?' I glanced over to see Sasuke on the other side of him, I knew he was out and about training today as well and I wondered what my sensei wanted with us.
"How are my wonderful students doing?" My eyes moved back and forth between the Jonin, something unspoken passing between the three of them.
"Training." Sasuke grunted not thrilled to be called over for no reason. "Well I bet you two are hungry then huh?" A chill went up my spine when I glanced behind Kakashi-sensei but there was no one there.
"Maybe we should go somewhere else. I don't have much of a sweet tooth." Sasuke replied looking back behind out sensei as well. I was sure he must have sensed something too.
Asuma and Kurenai were gone and my eyes glanced over in the direction they were headed, "I'm not hungry maybe later." I mumbled glancing down the street beside us. The strange feeling never leaving my body as it settled in the pit of my stomach. It was an unfamiliar chakra, a strong one that made me worry.
Before Kakashi-sensei could say otherwise I booked it in the direction the other two team leaders went. Trying to not raise suspicion and not lose their trail was difficult. A small sigh passed through my lips. I weaved in and out of the crowd in the market area that was even busier with villagers fixing buildings that had been destroyed. Had it been any other moment I would've stopped and helped.
"Hello little bud!" I halted with the appearance for green spandex and orange before me. "Hello Gai-sensei!" I said with as much enthusiasm and I could muster up. "Where are you off to in such a hurry?" He asked with a bright eye smile. They were almost unreachable if I didn't leave now I would lose them.
"Just off to train some more of course. Working on the third gate. I'm very very eager" I added hoping he would get the hint but it seemed to have the opposite effect. My sensei threw his arm over my shoulder and started dragging me off in a different direction.
"Well let me tell you a little about the third gate lotus bud." I held a frustrated groan as Gai-sensei droned on about gates but nothing really helpful. It was just words coming out about how one's body should be prepared mentally and physically. It was all things I already knew, he had already taught me.
Minutes dragged on and I thought I was going to be stuck in this endless loop till a familiar chakra caught my attention. Kakashi-sensei. "I forgot I left the kettle on at home, Kakashi-sensei will kill me if he gets there before me and sees it. Thanks for this talk Gai-sensei, let's do this again really soon." With a small bow I was off before he could rope me back in. It was a talent of his that always ended up in me losing some bet and having to run around the village or do a 100 push ups.
I wasn't worried about raising suspicion anymore. Kakashi was moving fast and it took everything in me to keep up with the little bit of his chakra that trailed behind him. I could still feel way up ahead of me but I wouldn't give up.
The hairs on the back of my next stood up. Kakashi had stopped and I was getting closer to him but I could feel two unfamiliar chakras. One spiking high, I hadn't felt a ninja this strong and unfamiliar since I first felt Orochimaru's chakra and that scared me. I pulled my chakra close to my center as the distance between them got smaller. From behind the bushes I saw the three Senseis battling with two unknown ninja. One with dark hair and one looked like he had shark scales in lieu of skin. I could hear the words coming out of their mouths.
"Don't lower your guard … He's the one who became a division chief of Anbu Black ops at 13 years old. Itachi." My hand covered my mouth as Kakashi spoke. Anbu?
"I didn't think someone not of the Uchiha clan would have mastered the Sharingan to that extent. There's a reason why the Uchiha Clan was deemed the strongest and most feared." The ninja, Itachi spoke of my clan and my blood ran cold, my skin hot. I couldn't see his face from the angle I was hiding but I still felt fear course through my veins, meerly his voice putting me on Edge.
"I-It can't be, This is bad! Both of you! Don't look at his eyes. Absolutely do not open your eyes. It is all over now if your eyes meet." Kakashi's voice trembled. I hadn't seen him like this since back during the one on one preliminary when Orochimaru approached us after sealing Sasuke's mark. I had always thought the man was absolutely fearless. Who was this enemy that he had Kakashi down and out?
No one had moved but Kakashi fell forward on his knees and my heart stopped. He looked like he had battled but no one had budged and my mind couldnt wrap around what was happening. I hadn't even registered what that man had said about the Sharingan. "This thing that you've come for, is it Sasuke?" Thump.
My heart banged against my rib cage. "No… the legacy of the fourth Hokage."
"So Naruto is it? The nine tailed fox spirit inside him is what you're after and you're not the only ones are you? There are seven more of you out there searching and hunting. I know all about you. You call yourselves the Akatsuki, right? " Kakashi countered, breathing ragged. My heart felt pinned up against my throat.
Orochimaru was after Sasuke, this maniac was after Naruto and I was hopeless in what my next move was to be. Shutting my eyes I concentrated my chakra inside of me.
"Kisame. We'll take Kakashi with us but we don't need the others. Get rid of them." My eyes sprung open at Itachi's calm but lethal words, the first gate in my brain undid as my hands came together and I flickered my front of my sensei, a spinning kick harder than I could usually muster because of the effects of opening the first gate made the shark like man bounce back to avoid my surprise attack.
"No, no, no." Kakashi-sensei mumbled behind me and I knew that had he been one hundred percent coherent he would've smacked me behind the head for getting involved. He attempted to stumble forward toward me but it was no use. Whatever that ninja had done to him was taking its toll. I didn't think he had much time till he passed out.
"What is this, a little genin come to play? I hope you don't mind getting killed." Kisame came back toward me with his sword out in front of him; my mind was solely on keeping him away from my sensei.
I dodged and flickered jabbing him with a quick closed fist in his side before flickering again between him and his weapon, my hand coming up to strike him in the jaw before I flickered back in front of my sensei. It seemed my attacks were merely irritating for him more than anything else. "You need to run Suiren. Listen to … me." He was fading and the other two Jonin had their eyes closed. "Listen to your sensei. This isn't your fight." Asuma replied, his cigarette twitching in his mouth.
"I'm not going anywhere." I mumbled crouching low.
My eyes were on and I slowed everything down, I let my hands come together, I was ready to roast this guy. Air caught in the very depths of my chest. I blinked and the other ninja, Itachi, they had called him was in front of me, his large hand grabbing both my wrists before I could even make a hand sign. It wasn't his speed that caused me to freeze but his eyes. The only times I had looked into blood red eyes I had always felt comfort but now it was dread.
Pulling my wrist down his other hand grabbing my neck, I hated the way my body trembled. I couldn't hide my anxiety or my fear. Sliding up he cup my chin and pulled my face closer to his as though he was trying to get a better look at me. "What is your name?" His voice was soft but there were death threats laced in his tone. My mouth was screwed shut. Looking at his face, it held familiarity.
"Suiren don't look in his eyes!" Don't look in his eyes, how could I stop from looking in his eyes? All that surrounded me was his eyes. I had to look into them. "Suiren Uchiha." He spoke but he wasn't talking to anyone in particular. It was as though he was tasting my name on his tongue.
"An Uchiha huh? It's been a long time since I've seen you surprised Itachi." A grunt sort of laugh came out of Kisame's mouth. "Exactly how many did you miss?" He questioned but it was more like he was poking fun and poking fun at this man, Itachi Uchiha didn't seem like the right thing to do.
My eyes widened as the shark man's words played over and over in my mind. "How many did you miss…" I mumbled out loud to myself. The spot by my neck became warm. How many did he miss?
"You killed my family." There was no anger in the words. They were empty, a realization, that this was the man who took everything from me. Sasuke's brother. "My mother, my father. My little sister. My little brother. They were children! You took e-everything from me…" I couldn't help my voice getting choppier. The pain in my chest was my heart breaking all over again the longer I looked at his emotionless face. Not even a flicker in his eyes of anything.
The next breath that came out of my mouth was ragged, uneven and honestly I wasn't sure how I was holding it together. My fingers twitched and I realized my hands were still together.
I flickered some distance away, my hands coming together, the bits of purple chakra meant nothing as my hands quickly formed signs. Ram- Horse- Snake- Dragon-Rat- Ox- Tiger. "Fire Style: Dragon flame bomb!" The dragon like flame tumbles forward producing steam were they met the water below me.
Jerking when I felt his presence behind me and so I flickered once, twice, three times, leaving water clones in my wake. They attacked him head on as I was quick with a few more hand signs to hide in the water. My clones were destroyed in an instant. Come out of the water I threw a bunch kunai at him in an attempt to execute the Sharingan triple windmill attack. His back toward me but when I pulled the wires in an attempt to incase him it turned out to only be a clone.
His hand grabbed my neck from behind pulling me till my back hit his chest, my hands came together and I flickered out of his grasp but the moment I was free he was behind my again, grabbing me to him. "I'm done playing this little game with you." I threw my elbow back but he latched onto my arm right above the joint. Fingers digging into my skin keeping one arm in place. I could do nothing but claw at his hand around my neck when he gave it a squeeze, some feeble attempt to free myself.
"Kisame, kill those two, we take Kakashi and the girl."
Kisame didn't have to be told twice as he went straight for the two squad leaders. "Severe Leaf hurricane!" In flash a green he was there. "Who are you? Kisame asked, getting even more irritated that he was interrupted a second time.
"Might Gai! The green beast of Konoha!" He flashed his charming signature smile.
"What a sight … shouldn't you be called a strange beast?" Kisame snorted under his breath. It would be his mistake to take my sensei lightly.
"Don't underestimate him." Itachi said. Gai grabbed his comrade. I was glad to see Kakashi sensei out of harm's way. "You did this to Kakashi?" He asked looking over at duo before his eyes locked on me.
"Close your eyes, don't look at him or you'll be caught up in his Jutsu." Asuma-sensei looked helpless without the use of his eyes.
"Relax, I know what im doing. After spending all this time training to fight Kakashi I know all about the Sharingan. Open your eyes both of you." Gai said, "When you battle with the Sharingan it's not a problem if you don't look into those eyes. That's the key to fighting them. If you focus on his feet you can read what he is going to do." He added on having plenty of experience against the Sharingan.
"Alright but that trick seems a lot easier said than done." Kurenai-sensei said before her eyes opened up again. Gai handed Kakashi to Kurenai, "Take Kakashi to the medic, Asuma you will be my backup. I sent word for the Anbu Black ops but until they get here, we hold them off." It was quit for a moment and I didn't even know I was holding my breath.
"I'll be taking her back with me." Gai said rolling his shoulders, ready for a real fight. "Hang tight little bud." He said trying to reassure me even though I was in the hands of a murder. A murder that was stronger than I could've have imagined.
"Interesting … I'll give you credit for having guts. Too bad I'll have to rip them out" Kisame was ready to fight to the death on this river it seemed.
"Kisame .. pull the plug. We're not here to fight a full scale battle. Tempting as it may be it's not the way to do this. Let's go." Itachi was irritated but he didn't seem nervous with Gai-sensei's arrival and that said a lot about the man. How I thought I was anything but merely a distraction till Gai-sensei came I'll never know. This was the man that annihilated my whole family. He had probably mastered those eyes younger then I even knew I had mine. I didn't stand a chance.
"That's' too bad. It was just getting fun. They don't know how lucky they are."
Itachi's grip tightened slightly, his other hand grabbing my braid pulling my head back with a rough tug. I knew he was taunting Gai-sensei. Trying to get some type of helpless sound from me but I bit down on my lip to keep myself from yelping at the pain.
With the taste of iron in my mouth I made the mistake of looking into Itachi 's deep red eyes and everything went black.
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto
With the end so near I will be going back to the beginning and editing past chapters. Mostly grammar and wording.
I started this story so long ago that as a writer, older chapters are really irking me. Super cringe worthy. No real change in plot.
Feel free to go back if you'd like!