Disclaimer: Alas, Naruto will never be mine
A/N: This is obviously a predestined meeting that Kishmoto-san will assuredly write better than I ever will. Enjoy!
Chapter 26 – Fire
Dawn crept over the horizon of forested hills as Sasuke peered across the next valley from his vantage in the treetops. Itachi's message for Naruto had been brief. It said simply to travel northwest from Konoha towards Grass Country.
"...and on the morning of the second day an invitation will appear," Sasuke repeated, recalling the final words of the scroll. He made a point to avoid contemplating what his brother would consider an 'invitation', yet boding thoughts crept in a steady stream through his mind.
"This will be an end," he vowed. It all made sense; the gnawing doubt that lingered in him, never seeing a body, never believing the reports of his brother's defeat. Later shackled and caged by his own village, he never gave in, never lost focus, never accepted their lies. Training, preparing, hiding his true intent; it had all been for this day.
"Itachi."
As the shadows lengthened over the valley Sasuke caught the faintness of smoke in the wind. Gazing down he spied an inky tendril drifting up from the far horizon. Knowing it for what it was he traveled swiftly yet with care closing ground in little time. As he descended he found himself on a wide path that could at first glance be mistaken for a road. Its foot beaten clay led along the natural contour of stone and tree drawing him forward.
The forest thinned to reveal a gathering of no more than what seemed a dozen small houses. They were clustered tightly into a tiny village. Ancient looking gateposts marked the entrance where a sign hung down. Three blades of grass plaited and squared in green.
The clan symbol brought to his mind the compound of the Uchiha, hidden amongst the homes of Konoha. A village within a village, it too had an appearance much like this place.
The weathered wood of the posts seemed unkempt, marred by dirt and grime, that is until Sasuke came closer. The blackness of the marks along with the incessant buzzing of flies marked it for a more sinister stain.
"Blood," Sasuke said in recognition.
Passing through the gates more signs of violence appeared. Broken windows, shattered doors, laundry lines fallen and scattered to the wind. Old blood pooled and spattered about like spills of black paint. "There are no bodies," he observed silently. "Where did the people who lived here go? Did anyone escape? Or were they captured and taken somewhere?"
It was then the sweet smell of roasting flesh twined with the putrid odor of decay entered his nose. Walking quickly he turned the corner off the main street where he found the source of the smoke he had seen earlier.
Bodies bloated with rot sizzled as they burned in a pyre of wood and oil. Their faces were still decipherable in the macabre; men and women, elderly to infant all frozen in the pain of their last moment.
"An entire clan," he thought. Sasuke grimaced as his stomach lurched in response.
"I was saving this for Naruto-kun," came a familiar voice from behind.
Sasuke whirled around. Itachi was there, cowled and cloaked as always, black with swirling red clouds that matched his eyes.
"I am very disappointed in him for not showing," Itachi continued, his eyes flicking from the burning bodies to Sasuke, "Hopefully, little brother, you've improved enough to make your death memorable."
"Itachi!" Sasuke snarled with rage. "Sharingan!"
He launched himself at his emotionless adversary who retreated backwards into the dim interior of the nearest home. Sasuke's ire seared like acid through his veins as he pursued his foe.
Charging into the house towards the trailing sound of retreating footfalls he crashed through the doors of wood and paper. Raw anger had carried him forward into the main common room, but what he saw there arrested him.
His mother sat in a pool of blood cradling his father's body. She looked up at Sasuke from his father's lifeless face. He could barely recognize her as her kind face from his memory held none of its warmth.
"Sasuke," she croaked as blood ran from the corner of her mouth, Why?" The crimson line traced down to join the flow the other wounds where Itachi's katana had speared her so long ago. Her voice was fury. "Why were you so weak?" she sobbed. "Why! I even told you your father cared for you, when all he did was complain about how pathetic you were." Her cheeks were stained with tears that could no longer be shed.
"Why?" She wailed, "Why did you let this happen to us?"
"You are not her," Sasuke said softly. His hands blurred with motion as he inhaled deeply. His jutsu resonated with power as he released it.
"Katon Goukakyuu no Jutsu!" (Fire Type Great Fireball)
The inferno swept through the room shattering the image of his parents, blasting through the wooden walls to the outside.
His jutsu ended as a final lick of flame flickered in his exhale. Taking a normal breath, he steadied himself as footsteps crunched the fresh cinders outside the hole he had just made.
His heart caught in his throat.
Sakura appeared worn from battle with a limping step. Her right arm clutched tightly to her midsection as if pressed to an injury. A tiny part of his mind told him he was still in the genjutsu, but his heart clung to her image.
The illusion that couldn't be Sakura, grimaced at him with pain-filled eyes. "Sasuke," she said through forming tears. "Why did you leave me? The village is gone. Naruto, Kakashi, everyone is dead!" Her lips trembled as she paused. "All…all because you left. Why! When I…?" She became too choked up to continue, then with a fearful glance she turned left towards some danger from the outside he couldn't see.
The singing whisper of thrown weapons pulsed in his ears as a shriek tore from her. He was frozen, staring as a kunai pierced her throat. It was followed by many more, each blade slicing and shredding, destroying her. He watched as that which shouldn't be Sakura collapsed and died.
Sasuke turned his head away in horror and where a wall had been he now observed an open room. A mirror of himself at thirteen glared back at him. Arrogant and furious, the boy he was mocked with a familiar smile. The curse seal sprawled over the boy's skin as he held by the throat of a fainted younger Naruto. It was replay of his past. The doppelganger's free hand cracked with chakra and like a living blade he plunged it through his captive's heart, exiting through his back with savage efficiency. The conditions met, the sharingan in the boy's eyes evolved to a serrated, spinning kaleidoscope.
"This is what you should have done" he sneered, "Because you are such a coward, we became too weak. We'll never beat him. Never get our revenge."
"Shut up!" Sasuke yelled. He closed his eyes. "I need to break out of this for good," he thought. Releasing the bonds of his curse seal, he felt it snake out of it's prison over his body like liquid fire. Its power flooded through him overiding the genjutsu's hold on his senses. He reopened his eyes as the scene twisted away back to an empty room with an undamaged floor and walls.
Sasuke was done with his brother's sense of humor as he forced the seal back to dormancy. He looked upwards with his Sharingan and then raising his hand in a seal. A swirl of leaves to teleported him in an instance to the roof above.
Itachi stood there a building away with his unreadable stare. "All you need is your hatred for me, little brother," he said. "Those other people have only gotten in the way."
Sasuke was ready this time. His hands moved like lightning.
"Katon Housenka no Jutsu" (Fire Type Mythical Fire Flower)
Balls of fire scattered from Sasuke as he targeted his brother who dodged sideways. The projectiles overtook him clouding the area around him with thick smoke. As Sasuke ended his barrage Itachi materialized behind him plunging a kunai deep between his ribs. "Humph," Itachi murmured, "very good little brother." The color of Sasuke's body faded to a grayish color and began to deflate.
"Monuke bushin (Snake skin clone)" realized Itachi. The limbs of the sagging clone sudden constricted around him and its hands linked together in a seal. The cadaverous head whipped around with boneless ease to face his surprised opponent.
"Souja Sousai no Jutsu!" (Twin Snake Destroyer)
The clone and Itachi twisted tighter with a nauseating, popping sound. As the skin melted away the body of Itachi dropped to disappear in a puff of nin-smoke.
Sasuke emerged out of the nearby tree he hid himself inside with the cloaking jutsu he had learned from the Orochimaru. "Kage Bushin," he said aloud. His brother materialized on another tree branch a short distance away.
Itachi looked mildly amused. "You fight like Orochimaru." His hands came together. "I am stronger than him. Fight me as an Uchiha... or die." Itachi's seals were blindingly fast follow even with the Sharingan. Sasuke stepped backwards to sink into the tree's trunk again as Itachi's jutsu released.
"Katon Ryuuka no Jutsu!" (Fire Type Dragon Fire)
The stream of flame bore through the massive tree like a white hot needle. Sasuke reappear at the base of the trunk and extended his arm as writhing serpents appeared from his sleeve.
"Senai Jashuu!" (Hidden Snake Hands)
The snakes flew towards Itachi as his jutsu ended wrapping his legs before he could avoid them.
"Got you bastard," Sasuke grinned. He tugged hard for the heads to return. Itachi hurtled towards him when he noticed something that made his grin fade. Sparks began to flicker from his brother's form as it neared.
"An exploding bushin!" Sasuke exhaled in disbelief. The Ryuuka jutsu was a powerful attack and Sasuke was certain his brother's bushin was incapable of sustaining it. Sasuke drew back the snakeheads faster by releasing the deadly clone. He sprang away and covered up as it detonated. The blast threw him backwards into another tree trunk. He slide down it roughly falling to his hands and knees.
He tried to catch his breath as his brother came charging from the side. He swiftly kicked Sasuke in the face. The force of it flipping the younger man in the air. On the return to earth Itachi met his brother in midair to land a punch to his stomach. Sasuke slapped down on the ground without any power to guard his fall.
Itachi looked down at his brother coolly. "This is all that you can do," he asked with disgust, "even now?"
Sasuke swallowed the bloody spit he felt filling his mouth. While mastering the agony of his injuries his thoughts flashed to his mother's true face, his father's rare smile and later memories Naruto's fox-like grin and then finally with perfect clarity the last time he saw Sakura's face. All those smiles haunted him now. "I can't lose here," he thought.
His curse seal opened to its first level from the dashed circle on his shoulder. The hateful sensation of it washed away the trifles of his physical pain. He sprang up and launched himself at Itachi.
The other Uchiha seemed amused at first. Sasuke's first punch he blocked easily to return a blow that now Sasuke sidestepped. Sasuke threw a kick that whistled by Itachi's ear and drove him back to avoid it. The Sharingan users seemed perfectly matched, but slowly Itachi's bemused smile waned as the fight bore on.
Spinning and striking relentlessly Sasuke soon had Itachi on the defensive and they both knew it. "I'm faster than him," Sasuke realized, "and stronger." His brother's taijutsu abilities had seemed godlike to him for so long he almost didn't believe what happening.
Itachi was forced to duck under a punch by Sasuke when the impossible happened. Sasuke's other fist caught Itachi viciously under the chin tossing him across the clearing into a pile.
Sasuke smirked arrogantly with a confidence he had never felt facing his brother before. He ran forward to meet Itachi as he rose. His fist was blocked by Itachi's palm just as he snatched away the punch that was thrown back at him.
The two siblings were locked up, but Sasuke felt no fear. "His weakness is his lack of stamina," he thought, "I'm stronger than him now. I can win." The line of Itachi's mouth flattened with the effort of holding Sasuke back.
"You have gotten better, Sasuke," Itachi commended him, "but can you grow more?" The sharingan in Itachi's eyes adjusted to the mangekyou.
Sasuke fearfully broke eye contact with his opponent and leapt away into the air. He couldn't allow Itachi close enough to use the mangekyou's special techniques or he was done for.
At the height of his jump Sasuke pushed his seal to it's next level. The terrible metamorphosis tore through his clothing as the wings of the demonic form unfurled. Lifting himself higher in the air, his hands flashed through a long series of seals.
"Sansei Udoku!" (Acidic Venom Rain)
A swirling green spray spewed from Sasuke's mouth. The hissing drops flew downward sizzling through everything they touched. Sasuke was sure he Itachi couldn't escape when he saw a light come from below.
"Goukakyuu no Jutsu!"
Itachi had formed his own fireball and Sasuke was amazed at its size and power as it ate away his jutsu.
"It's too powerful," Sasuke thought. He could do nothing except fold his wings protectively as the wash of flame engulfed him.
The Katon technique extinguished and Sasuke fell in a smoky ruin. His level two body melted away from him and he wholly normal as he hit the dirt once again. His body was singed all over while his ankle and wrist felt twisted from the landing.
Sasuke stared at the ground and fought for breath as Itachi walked up to him without hurry.
"It's time to complete your failure, little brother," he said impassively.
Sasuke wiped some blood from his mouth and drug it lightly over the odd symbol that appeared on his forearm less than a day ago. "Don't use it until your need is great," he thought as Naruto's words flashed in through his mind. Itachi kicked Sasuke in the ribs curling him into a ball. The younger nin forced his hands through the four seals necessary as he clutched at his side.
He felt a grip on his collar and knew he was about to be hauled up. He placed his hand down flat willing his last desperate reserve of chakra into the summoning.
"Kuichyose no jutsu!"
A vast cloud of smoke billowed from Sasuke's hand and Itachi released his grip springing away.
Sasuke was past the ability to control his body. He felt elevated then sliding down the side of something that seemed smooth, warm and very much alive. He landed to the ground finally and stared up in awe.
A long sinuous orange-red body was revealed in the thinning mist. Thick black marks like a giant's finger-paint marked its torso, legs and thick bulb-like tail. The beast was easily the size of the toad he had seen Naruto summon… maybe bigger.
"It's a salamander," Sasuke thought.
It's giant head peered down at him with three round eyes. It's middle orb set higher that the other two had no pupil and it was a solid cobalt blue.
The creature's voice was thunderous.
"Who dares to call on the great Sanhekijiyan!"
TO BE CONTINUED