Itachi's sharingan flared to life when he saw him.
Standing before him was a man wearing a black robe and an orange mask, with one hole for the right eye and a black flame pattern on its face. His long spiky hair shot up, left untamed.
Itachi knew underneath his mask was a powerful sharingan. Strapped to his back was a large war fan with a sickle attached by a chain.
"Where are you going Itachi?" the masked man asked, his voice deep and calculating.
Itachi glared in response, reflexively shifting his sharingan to their mangekyo form.
The masked man continued. "Well, aren't you being rude. First you ditch me after we slaughter the clan together, and now you won't even share your travel plans. Very well, how about a different question? Where do you think you can go?"
"There are several Uchiha hideouts throughout this country and several others," Itachi replied passively, "No one would ever be able to locate them all. I just have to cycle through them. When Sasuke's sharingan matures, I'll find him and take them."
The masked man humphed, and Itachi was sure he was smiling underneath the mask. "So that's it, then? Just hide under a bunch of rocks until your brother grows up and hunts you down? What do you plan on doing in the meantime? Twiddle your thumbs?"
The Uchiha wasn't going to dignify that with a response.
"How about instead of sitting on your hands doing nothing, you do something productive with your life?"
Itachi's curiosity peaked, but he'd be damned if he showed it.
"Such as?" he ensured his voice was an even monotone whilst asking.
"There's a small organization that I know of. Very exclusive; only accepts the best of the best, or rather, the worst of the worst. It's made up of S class criminals, much like yourself now. They take the kind of jobs no civilized ninja village would. Not even ANBU get jobs like these: extortion, mass murder, starting wars, genocide; these guys do it all and then some." The masked man paused to gauge Itachi's reaction.
The 13 year-old ANBU captain was as impassive as ever, though his mangekyo reverted back to a normal sharingan.
"The organization is recruiting right now, and I'm sure they'll discover you're a perfect candidate. I'll give you some time to think about it. I'm sure the massacre of your clan must be weighing heavily on your blackened heart."
"Are you done?" Itachi asked, "Because it seems that we have some company."
The masked man glanced around a bit before he caught the signs of pursuers. "I wonder how they caught up with us so quickly?"
"It surely wasn't because you wasted so much time flapping your lips." Itachi replied with a sour expression.
"Oh, so you do have a sense of humor."
"Any sign of him, Hokori?" Ayame asked as she, Hokori, and Arashi sped through the forest.
The three had been pursuing Itachi practically nonstop for about a day.
"I see him," Hokori replied, her Byakugan extending her visual range dramatically. They stopped their pursuit to catch their breath before confronting their quarry. "He's about 50 yards ahead of us. He's not alone."
Arashi blinked in surprise. "Who's with him? Someone from another village?"
Hokori focused for a moment, "Hard to tell; he's wearing a mask. But there's nothing to indicate where he's from."
"Hold on a second," Arashi flashed through the familiar hand seals for his sound amplification jutsu. Placing one hand over his ear, he pointed an open palm in the direction Hokori indicated.
'It's still damn good eavesdropping.' he noted with a smirk.
"…and I'm sure they'll find you a perfect candidate. I'll give you some time to think about it. I'm sure the massacre of your clan must be weighing heavily on your blackened heart."
"Well, that can't be good," Arashi muttered, conveying to his teammates what he'd overheard, "We have to do this carefully. I'll take point and try to keep them busy. Hokori, you sneak around and take out the masked man. Ayame, as soon as the masked guy goes down, use your teleportation jutsu to bring down Itachi."
When his teammates nodded, moving into position, Arashi took a deep breath, moving into view. "Good evening Itachi. Great night for a walk, eh?"
Arashi suppressed a shudder when both males turned to look at him. He used the brief moment of peace to survey their surroundings. They were in a small clearing, a few fallen logs scattered here and there. A little to the east was a small pond. The trees surrounding the clearing were dense with leaves. Hokori and Ayame would have no trouble staying hidden within them.
"Who's your friend, Itachi?" the masked man questioned, his voice making Arashi feel like a child.
"Arashi Uzumaki, the Maelstrom of Konoha," Itachi answered before speaking to Arashi. "Go home. You have no hope of capturing or defeating me."
The masked man made an exaggerated yawning motion before speaking again, "Well Itachi, it's getting a little too crowded here for my tastes. I think I'll take my…"
While he spoke, Hokori burst out from the trees. She fell rapidly toward the masked man and struck the center of his back with her open palm. However, instead of the masked man dropping to the floor as expected, she found herself going straight through him.
"…leave," the masked man paused as Hokori seemed to fly out of his chest. He turned to Itachi, "I expect your answer soon."
He started to disappear into a spinning vortex of chakra.
"Have fun," he said in a slightly sing-songy voice before vanishing completely.
Itachi paid the absent, mysterious stranger no mind as he slowly adjusted his stance.
"I won't tell you again, Arashi. Nor either of you, Hokori and Ayame," he started, raising his voice so Ayame could hear from her hiding spot, "You have no chance of defeating me. Go home now."
"You underestimate us, Itachi!" Hokori dashed forward, her Byakugan activating as she launched a flurry of gentle fist attacks.
Arashi moved forward as well, pulling a kunai from his pouch. At the same time, Ayame suddenly appeared above Itachi, her katana directed at him while descending.
The Uchiha remained motionless as his attackers bared down on him. Just before they connected, he struck. In one swift motion, Itachi turned just enough to avoid Ayame's falling blade, and delivered a powerful punch to the kunoichi's jaw. As Ayame was thrown back, he continued his swivel on one foot, lashing the other out to kick both Arashi and Hokori.
Hokori was the first to recover, moving toward Itachi yet again. This time Itachi met her charge and the two began furiously exchanging blows. Hokori couldn't land a hit due to Itachi's Sharingan, which predicted all of her attacks. However, he couldn't deliver a serious blow either on account of Hokori's skill in the Hyuuga Clan's Gentle Fist style.
While the Hyuuga and Uchiha fought, Ayame hurried to Arashi's side as he picked himself off the ground.
"Are you okay?" she asked, noticing blood on the side of Arashi's face.
"I'm fine," he replied, "Go help Hokori. Buy me some time."
Ayame nodded, teleporting into the fray. With his teammates keeping Itachi preoccupied, Arashi leapt to the center of the pond. Using his chakra to stand on the water's surface, he commenced a rapid pace of hand seals.
Meanwhile, Itachi was gaining the upper hand against Hokori. With a quick kick to her knee, he knocked the Hyuuga off-balance before bringing his knee to her nose. Hokori stumbled back as Itachi reared his fist to strike the kunoichi across her face, but he pulled the punch short to avoid being cut by Ayame's sword.
Now faced against two skilled ANBU operatives, combined with the fatigue he was still experiencing from killing his clan, the scales began tipping against his favor. His Sharingan was in overdrive keeping track of both Hokori's ferocious onslaught and the spontaneous attacks of Ayame.
And then just like that, they were both gone.
"Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet Jutsu!" Arashi shouted as serpentine dragons of pure water shot out of the pond, racing towards Itachi. The aquatic dragon opened its jaws and slammed the Uchiha into a tree. When the water subsided, the trio gathered around the body.
"Hokori, check him."
With a nod, the Hyuuga moved toward the body, only for it to disappear in a puff of smoke.
"I warned you all to go home." Itachi said from behind them.
Before the three could turn around, he grabbed a fistful of Hokori's hair, forcefully yanking her head back. Before her teammates could assist her, the Uchiha pulled out a kunai, driving it into Hokori's spine.
Her eyes blew wide in pain, mouth agape in a silent scream.
"Hokori!" Ayame yelled in alarm, swinging her sword at Itachi's neck with Arashi stabbing with his kunai.
Itachi dropped the severely injured Hyuuga to grab both of their wrists before their blades could touch him. Before Arashi could attempt to escape, Itachi's foot caught him under the ribs, launching him into the same tree that Arashi slammed his clone into. At the same time, Ayame escaped the mass murderer by teleporting out of his grasp.
Itachi glanced around for Ayame. "You know Ayame, there's something I've been wanting to tell you..." suddenly, he spun around, catching Ayame by her throat, "...you're predictable."
Itachi looked into her eyes with his Sharingan, preventing her from teleporting out of his grasp. Ayame's eyes glazed over as his genjutsu took effect. She crumpled to the ground just as Arashi pulled himself to his feet. With a disinterested glance, Itachi faced the remaining ANBU, weaving his hands through an unfamiliar set of hand seals.
Arashi scowled, watching Itachi copy his hand seals perfectly. The sequence wasn't long, since it only had five hand seals. They finished weaving the seals at the same time.
"Wind Release: Wind Claws." Arashi said, mostly for Itachi, as the fingertips of their right hands started emitting chakra. The chakra streaked down each finger, extending out an inch before sharpening to a razor's edge with wind chakra.
Itachi smirked at the name while Arashi rushed toward him, jabbing his clawed hand at his heart. The Uchiha spun around, scratching down the side of Arashi's face. A puff of smoke revealed a small log with five deep gouges in the bark.
Itachi turned as the ANBU slashed at his stomach, backing up enough to where Arashi's claws only maimed his grey flak jacket. Arashi followed up by striking at his face. Itachi's left hand shot up to knock away his clawed hand by the wrist, aiming a jab at his throat. Arashi in turn batted away his hand, countering with a right hook. As the two countered each other, Itachi started to notice his chakra was running low.
'He wanted me to copy this jutsu,' Itachi realized, backing away, 'This jutsu puts a constant strain on the user's chakra supply. The only reason he's able to use it effectively is because his chakra supply is substantially larger than normal.'
Scowling, he released the jutsu.
"Figured it out, huh?" Arashi remarked, standing straight, "Pity, I was hoping you'd run dry before it sank in."
Itachi said nothing as the Uzumaki rushed forward, dragging his claws across the ground. "I'm gonna make you pay for what did!"
"For what?" he replied, casually stepping back to avoid his charge.
"Slaughtering my clan?" Arashi slashed at Itachi's neck.
"Torturing my foolish little brother by making him watch again and again?" Itachi ducked under the attack, striking Arashi in the stomach.
"For what I did to Hokori?"
Arashi stumbled back, quickly recovering to lunge forward. Itachi's hand snapped out to tightly grasp his wrist.
"Or for what I'm about to do to you?"
As he spoke, Arashi watched Itachi's sharingan rotate until it shifted into a three pronged shuriken.
Arashi clawed viciously at the water's surface. It was right there, just beyond the reach of his fingertips. But no matter how hard he swam, or how desperately he reached, he never came any closer to breaking the water. His lungs felt like they were on fire as the minute amount of oxygen inside them dwindled.
Above him, standing on the water's surface, was the man responsible for his current predicament. His friend and fellow ANBU operative, Itachi Uchiha, watched with practiced disinterest. Anger swelled within Arashi as he shouted at the traitor.
A big mistake.
Arashi foolishly used up the last bit of air in his lungs while simultaneously flooding them with water.
'This is it,' he thought as his eyelids grew heavy, 'I'm going to die here.'
The revelation had a surprisingly calming effect on Arashi. He voiced his only regret to whatever god was watching. 'I'm sorry Naruto; I guess I won't be around to see you become Hokage.'
With that final thought, he closed his eyes, resigning himself to oblivion.
When Arashi's eyes snapped open, he was surprised to find he was staring at a drowned version of himself. Looking up at the still uninterested Itachi, understanding dawned on him. The Uchiha must've caught him in a genjutsu with his Sharingan.
"Welcome to the Tsukuyomi world, where I control space and time," Itachi spoke from his spot on the water's surface, "For 24 hours you will know the helplessness and pain of drowning."
Determined to break the genjutsu, Arashi drew a kunai knife from its sheath to drive it into his leg. As causing pain to oneself was the easiest way to break a genjutsu, Arashi was more than a little surprised, not to mention annoyed, that the genjutsu persisted.
"It's useless," Itachi admonished, "Only someone with eyes like mine can hope to break the Tsukuyomi. Someone of your inferior bloodline has no chance."
Arashi blacked out once more.
He lost track of time shortly before he lost track of how many times he drowned. Scores of corpses floated around him, each bearing his face. Above him loomed Itachi, emotionless as ever.
"23 hours, 59 minutes, and 59 seconds remain."
Itachi Uchiha has escaped. Sasuke is now an orphan and Naruto finds he might be losing his brother as well. Next time Loss
