A/N This story is a sequel to KRenee's The Arriving. It is a collaboration between her and I, but I've done most of the writing thus far. A link will be posted on my main page. Enjoy! Characters and concepts belong to their respected owners. This plot and OCs belong to KRenee and I.
Itachi experimentally clenched and unclenched his fists. It had been two days since their return from the Afterlife, and it seemed that he was adjusting to his body well. There was still a strange feeling through his limbs, almost like a tingling sensation – it had been slowly fading away, but hadn't quite yet disappeared completely – that mainly affected his arms and legs. Juritsu had looked him over and found nothing out of the ordinary, so he had decided to ignore it until something new came along.
A noise pulled him from his thoughts, and he glanced over at his little brother, who had entered the room.
Sasuke appeared to be searching for something, and Itachi couldn't get the better of his curiosity. "What is it?"
The younger Uchiha glanced over at his older sibling briefly before looking around the room once again. "Where's Juritsu?" he asked, sounding casual.
"She's fishing," Itachi replied in amusement, "You shouldn't be so worried about her. She's a very capable kunoichi."
Sasuke glared murderously as Itachi chuckled, his pink-tinted cheeks making the look less menacing. "I'm not worried," Sasuke half-spluttered, "I was just curious!"
"You aren't going to be able to keep this up forever," Itachi cut him off mid-tirade. Sasuke immediately silenced, his gaze falling to the floor.
"When are you going to be honest with her, and with yourself?" the elder brother continued, "You don't hate Juritsu."
"… You saw what I did to her, didn't you?" Sasuke's voice was quiet, bitter, and angry, as his hands clenched into fists, "Without showing any remorse, I almost killed her. And that is only the beginning… I don't deserve any forgiveness from her."
"So what will you do?"
"I'll continue to nurture her hatred towards me. When all this is over, I'll leave, disappear from her life forever."
"Juritsu is someone who will eventually move on, in time, Sasuke," Itachi replied thoughtfully after a break in the conversation, "She won't hate you forever."
A glint, flicker of emotion crossed Sasuke's expression, before he averted his gaze. Before he could reply, a noise from outside and a familiar chakra signature alerted the brothers to the return of Juritsu. When they went out to see what she caught, they were astounded at the size of the fish, which made Juritsu look like a mere twig in comparison.
She had a satisfied grin on her face as she indicated the fish. "I caught a big one."
The brothers were speechless for a moment before Itachi chuckled slightly to himself, earning a bewildered glance from Sasuke.
"Some things haven't changed," he muttered, mainly to himself in amusement before disappearing back into the house.
...
Itachi's lungs burned from the smoke. The stench of blood filled the air. Everything was up in flames. What was this…? It was all so surreal as he walked down each road, eyes wide in disbelief. Yet he still recognized the buildings and monuments, the streets, the corpses on the ground.
This was Konoha.
He didn't recall hearing about its fall before his ill-fated battle with Sasuke, and there was a blank between then and when he found himself in Fire Country, in the woods after opening his eyes again. No one he had come across seemed to be able to tell him what'd happened. But he saw the devastation when he found Juritsu, asleep next to an unmarked grave. Her eyes had been puffy; it was obviously she had been crying before he found her and took her back to her house. But standing here now, in this inferno, he was able to see what and why.
He watched, with a sinking feeling in his chest, as his younger brother thrust his Chidori through the chest of Konoha's jiinchuriki. Sasuke must've killed them all. There must've been a reason. What'd happened between their fight and his waking back up? The only thing that he could think now was the mission that had been given to him long ago, had failed.
A strange voice, sounding like a man and a woman at the same time, echoed in the air, and he looked around, Sharingan spinning rapidly to try and find the source. "Come out," he growled.
"Silly Guardian…" the voice giggled, the sound too malicious to be innocent, "I don't care if you win. I don't mind if you lose. Just entertain me for a while."
Instinctively, he reached for his kunai pouch. It wasn't there. He continued to search through the destruction for that presence. Had it somehow contributed to the massacre of Konoha? Furthermore, that was the second individual to call him 'Guardian.' What did that mean?
"Who are you?" he asked, voice calm despite his confusion as to the strange voice. The only answer he got was another giggle.
"It'd be best if you didn't sleep too much longer, Guardian. You might die."
What…?
"ITACHI! GET UP!"
The Uchiha's eyes flew open as he was suddenly aware of his shoulder being roughly shaken. His vision focused on his younger brother.
"We're being attacked." Sasuke must've seen the question in his expression before he had a chance to ask. Sure enough, an explosion outside rocked the room, knocking over various items from their perches atop the tables. Itachi hastily sprung to his feet, putting the pieces of the situation together. Juritsu was outside taking on whoever the intruder was; judging from the noises, it was clear that she was facing someone powerful.
Wordlessly, he nodded to his younger brother, and the two of them hurried outside. They found her furiously clashing with a strange man. Another man and a young woman were standing just beyond the fight, seeming to simply be watching the scene unfurl. Whoever it was that Juritsu was fighting, however, was on par with her… he was powerful, that was for sure.
As they were running across the clearing to them, Itachi spoke up. "Sasuke…"
He didn't need to say anymore; Sasuke was already moving through the hand seals. "I got it. Katon: Goukakyu no Jutsu!"
A huge fireball erupted from his lips as he sent the attack careening towards Juritsu's opponent. The fireball didn't make it to its intended target; one of the alleged spectators flew over the battling duo and deflected Sasuke's Goukakyu, sending it hurtling back towards the Uchiha brothers. They jumped out of the way, landing in similar crouched fighting stances; Itachi holding out a kunai, Sasuke drawing Kusanagi. They quickly found themselves staring at the man who was originally watching the fight from the other side of the clearing.
"Who are you?" Itachi demanded.
The man frowned slightly, "Phobetor," He replied, slowly raising his hands a few inches away from his hips as they began to emit a dark red aura. "The Guardian and the first of the Fated. I'm honored to fight you."
Neither Uchiha let their confusion show through as they simultaneously activated their Sharingan. Slowly and surely, they were accumulating more questions and no answers. What was going on? Why were they being called 'Guardian' and 'Fated'? Who were these people, and why did they seem to target their lives?
If Itachi had blinked, he would've missed it. One instant, they were staring down this 'Phobetor' character, and the next instant, Juritsu was in front of them, roughly grabbing the two of them and sprinting forward, away from the attackers.
"Don't let go," she instructed, and before he could even wonder what'd happened, Konoha was gone. As she released them and stepped back, he found himself in the middle of a forest. If one listened, the sounds of a waterfall weren't too far away.
"What…?" he heard Sasuke utter, completely amazed.
"It's a technique my father taught me a long time ago," her tone was slightly apologetic, "It's… like a teleportation jutsu… I think."
"Who were they?" he asked her, "Do you recognize them?"
She shook her heard. "I sensed their presence and went out to confront them before they could get any close to my home. All I know is, the one who attacked me called himself 'Epiales.' I've never heard of a name like that before."
He nodded. "Did they tell you anything else?"
Juritsu paused to think. "There was one other thing, actually. Right before he attacked me, he'd called me 'the second Fated.' I don't know why."
Again with the strange name. Even stranger was the similarity between Sasuke's nickname and hers. Were they connected somehow? And what about the Guardian? What did that mean?
Before he could say anything else, Sasuke spoke up first. "Juritsu?" The kunoichi in question had an intense look on her face, staring into the trees as if she were searching for something. Suddenly, she ran forward, shoving the two of them aside.
"MOVE!" She threw her arms up, her palms facing forward as a glowing ball of light suddenly tore through the trees, hurdling towards them. The sheer power inside that sphere was such that it generated gusts of wind that nearly knocked over trees. The brothers used their chakra to adhere to the ground, lest they'd be blown away. And Juritsu remained unmoving, unflinching.
"JURITSU!" Sasuke yelled over the noise, but she paid no heed. They watched, stunned as the ball of energy slammed into her hands, the resulting sound akin to thunder. It pushed her along, steadily backwards, and they jumped out of her way as she slid past them, not hesitating to follow after her. They felt her energy, crackling in the air around them, as she redirected the ball and sent it flying into the sky with a long shout. The resulting shockwave of energy blew her backwards, through the thinning trees and onto a large cliff.
They caught up to her quickly, Itachi helping her up. She was panting lightly, sweat covering her blow.
"Are you alright?" he asked her. She was staring past him, in the same direction the ball of energy originated, as she straightened up and crouched into a fighting stance.
"I'm fine," she replied, voice steady if not slightly hardened with anger, "But my condition isn't important right now."
It was seconds after she finished that the trio from earlier emerged from the forest. Itachi and Sasuke immediately assumed a fighting stance as well. Besides Phobetor was the young woman who seemed to have the least interest in the fight, and she looked to be barely awake. He sat her down by a tree, muttering something to her. The words were unrecognizable, like a completely different language. It certainly didn't sound like Japanese.
The one who had been fighting Juritsu, Epiales, strode forward, seemingly prepared to take them all on at once.
"That was a pretty smooth move, honey," he taunted, cackling maliciously, "You got me all aroused and then ditched!"
Juritsu cursed under her breath, clearly angry with the situation. "He's fast," she muttered to the two Uchiha, "I transported us one-hundred miles away, and for him to have tracked us down and caught up in minutes…"
The brothers were astounded. They'd covered that distance in less than a second. Nevertheless, it portrayed how serious their opponents were about finding them. But why?
"Unfortunately, your sexual urges are of no concern to me," she shot back to Epiales, "The only thing I care about is sending you and friends running with your tails between your legs!'
Phobetor walked forward to stand next to his apparent partner in crime, "She wants the Guardian alive," He said, plenty loud for their opponents to hear.
"But he's supposedly the most dangerous." Epiales retorted, looking suddenly annoyed, "She's such a damned brat."
Phobetor cleared his throat loudly, raising his hands again and emitting the same crimson aura from earlier, "Just incapacitate him. The other two can be killed."
"Like I'd let you!" Juritsu leapt into the air, hands moving through seals. "Katon: Goukakyu no Jutsu!" She conjured up a grand fireball, sending it hurdling towards their opponents. As he had with Sasuke's, Phobetor stepped in front of Epiales and swatted Juritsu's fireball back at her. Epiales strutted around his partner and flew through the fireball. He came out the other side, eyes widening slightly when he found that Juritsu wasn't where he had been sensing her. She must've moved at the last second.
He hovered just off the edge of the cliff for a split second before rushing at the trio.
They all brought up their stances. "Get ready," Itachi muttered. The other two nodded. Epiales engaged Juritsu almost instantly; he clearly enjoyed fighting her. Phobetor cut in front of Sasuke before he could assist and fired a blast of heat and foul, black energy at him. Eyes wide, he dove out of the way, letting loose several kunai. The kunai cut through the air, none of them hitting their intended mark as Phobetor easily dodged them. Just as he was getting his bearings back to find and attack Sasuke again, Itachi stepped into his path, Mangekyo Sharingan spinning rapidly.
"Your fight is with me," he stated.
Sasuke smirked as he saw Itachi take over. He'd never admit it aloud, but he knew Itachi would be able to handle Phobetor, for the time being. That would give him a chance to assist Juritsu in overwhelming Epiales.
He had good timing. Just as he was approaching them, Juritsu was springing back away from Epiales. Sasuke quickly pulled out shuriken, making sure the metal wires were attached, before letting them fly, whizzing past Epiales, who stopped to see what Sasuke was up to. With a twitch of his fingers, the metal wires wrapped tightly around the man, and Sasuke didn't hesitate as he went through hand seals.
"Katon: Ryuuka no Jutsu!" the flames shot along the wires, heading toward Epiales at a fast rate.
Epiales cackled maniacally, ignoring the wires as they dug into his flesh when he forced his arms away from his body, effectively snapping the wires before the flames could reach him.
"If a Sharingan user's gonna join this fight..." He laughed again as the world around them began to distort, "Let's see who's the best magician, Uchiha!" He spat the name like it was an insult in itself. A moment after he had spoken, Sasuke found himself on a familiar road, the memories of the massacre still as fresh as ever.
But this wasn't Tsukuyomi, and he could feel that this illusion wasn't as powerful, even if it looked the same, and even if his stomach was clenching just as tightly as Itachi brought his blade down on their parents. And he had a trump card now: Itachi's old eyes and the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan. If there was anyone who was worthy of claiming title of 'best magician,' Sasuke was that person. He smirked, the tomoe in his eyes changing to the pattern of his Mangekyo. The illusion world warped into a new setting. Epiales was now tied up against a wooden post.
Sasuke strolled up to him, Kusanagi drawn. "You should've known better than to challenge an Uchiha at genjutsu."
Epiales shrugged, "It was worth a try, right?" Abruptly, the illusion was dispelled, barely a split second having passed. Epiales was flying towards him, clawed hand raised. Sasuke cursed under his breath, bringing his arms up in a shield. Epiales was moving far too quickly for him to have any time. Suddenly, Juritsu was in front of him, hands holding a small ball of light and thrusting it forward. Unexpectedly, Epiales sliced through the ball. An immense explosion resulted, rocking the land. The younger Uchiha was thrown off his feet. What was that? It didn't feel like chakra, so what was it?
Through the dust, Sasuke's Sharingan could see the chakra form of Juritsu, tumbling away. He realized only an instant later that she was pitching over the cliff. She was about to fall to her death…
His feet moved before he even thought to, springing forward and grasping her wrist tightly. The waterfall roared next to them. His momentum caused him to topple over as well, but he managed to grab hold of the edge. Only a second later though, his grip slipped, and they were falling once again. The rock was wet from the cascading water; there was no way he could've kept hold without using chakra!
He felt the sensation of changing direction, and suddenly Juritsu's arms were wrapped around his waist. The cliff's edge, rather than drifting away from him, was now coming towards him at a rapid pace. They flew past it, hovering over the battlefield. Itachi and Phobetor were still fighting, but that was merely at the back of Sasuke's mind. Instead, he was trying to move past the shock of the realization that Juritsu, indeed, was flying, and seemed to be doing so on her own. Then he was hit with another stark realization; rather than letting him fall to his death, she'd caught him, and carried him back up to safety.
"Wh…" he tried to voice his astonishment, but his words died on the tip of his tongue.
It wasn't a big deal, anyway. She didn't seem to be paying attention to him. Her murderous glare was focused on Epiales, and Epiales alone.
"Juritsu!" Simultaneously, Juritsu's and Sasuke's head whipped in the direction of Itachi's voice. Phobetor was firing another black ball of energy towards them. Sasuke heard Juritsu scoff in his ear, and he felt her dart to the side.
"You're looking the wrong way!" They turned in time to see a huge ball of energy feet away from hitting them.
"Damn!" Sasuke felt her whirl around, arms tightening around his waist. What was she…?
The noise was deafening. The sensations weren't what he was expecting, however. There was a burst of heat on his back, and he felt Juritsu jerk forward, her grip around him loosening. Then, they were falling again.
"Juritsu?" He maneuvered himself around to get a look at her face. She was unconscious, and it didn't look like she was going to wake up anytime soon. Sasuke cursed profusely, wrapping his arms around her tightly, and bracing for impact. Idly, he wondered if either of them would survive the fall, and he wondered if he would even be awake to find out.
Then, he thought nothing at all.
...
It was like an alarm going off in his head –DANGER! DANGER! DANGER! His feet were moving before his mind was registering that he couldn't see Sasuke and Juritsu anymore. He pivoted around Phobetor's outstretched shadows, dodging hands that tried to reach him. His ears were ringing with that siren – DANGER! DANGER! – And he almost didn't see Epiales rushing towards him because his eyes were locked onto the edge of the cliff; his current goal.
Phobetor joined his partner in an instant, the duo standing in his way. The shouting was increasing in volume as he felt Juritsu and Sasuke's chakras flicker for just the briefest of seconds, and his vision was suddenly swimming in red blood.
"GET OUT OF MY WAY!" He roared, Amaterasu!
The black flames erupted on Phobetor's shoulder, and they spread faster than Itachi remembered them being able to. Epiales was distracted for only a moment, and Itachi took that brief opportunity to dart forward. He flew past them, moving faster than he was used to.
Please be alive please be alive please be alive please be alive please be alive …
He was about to jump when something caught him around the waist and threw him back across the clearing. Phobetor was back in the game again, the burns on his body clearly showing that the Amaterasu he had summoned hadn't been a hallucination. But, of course, Itachi hadn't expected them to be able to douse his black flames.
And now he was back to the starting point.
"Katon!" he moved through the hand seals easily, "Goukakyu no Jutsu!" The fireball was bigger than he had intended, but it didn't feel like any more than the usual amount of chakra was drained. It launched at the two men standing in his way, and he followed it, running just behind it and hoping that it would be enough so they would have to dodge far enough out of the way so there'd be an opening for him to get through.
Phobetor caught it, the ball shrinking down to the size of his fist in an instant. He was trying to crush it, perhaps diffuse the jutsu altogether. Itachi cursed as he paused in his steps, ignoring the waves of pain that exploded behind his eyes and activating Amaterasu again. Just as Phobetor's hands erupted into fire yet again, just as the ball of pure energy suddenly exploded and set waves of heat and raw power across the cliff's edge, and just as Itachi thought for sure that at least one of them would be down for the count, he felt something tearing through his back, ripping apart everything it came in contact with.
Then he noticed that Epiales was no longer standing beside Phobetor. How could he have been so careless?
Epiales pulled his hand back, pulling back through Itachi's torso, "Sorry, Phantasos," He chuckle, "I seem to-…"
But he trailed off into silence.
Itachi's right leg came forward before he fell to the ground, catching him. A bluish-white aura created a haze around his person, growing until it was coming off him like a thick, billowing smoke.
The Uchiha turned faster than Epiales could've dreamed. He moved just as fast, if not faster, than Juritsu had. Phobetor was running towards them, barely able to stand with the countless burns and fresh injuries from that explosion. They hadn't expected a simple Goukakyu to even be capable of holding that much power.
"EPIALES!" His distraction cost him. He pulled back, but Itachi's fingers wrapped around his throat, and squeezed.
The air was quiet, despite Phobetor's yells, despite the feeling of blood and flesh squelching beneath his fingers as Itachi constricted the airways of Epiales' throat. He continued to tighten his grip until the flesh holding his enemy's head to his body split away from itself. Blood splattered everywhere, drenching Itachi's front in red as the head hit the ground and the body collapsed into a heap.
The ringing in his ears wouldn't stop, and the darkness became absolute. He could only distantly hear the shouting in his head at that point – DANGER! DANGER! DANGER!
When he opened his eyes, Phobetor and that sleepy young woman were gone. He was standing at the edge of the cliff, the spring of a jump aching in his legs. And when he stepped back and turned around, all he could see across the ground of their battlefield was blood.