Disclaimer: I am just a fan. I do not own Naruto.

Chapter 7: To Defeat an Uchiha

Kakashi moved to stop Naruto, but was too late; he had already closed the distance and begun attacking Itachi. Naruto leapt in with a right handed superman punch. Itachi nonchalantly side stepped to the left and twisting his body threw a left hand punch. Naruto took a wide step to the left and spun on the ball of his foot to face Itachi. Throwing out his right hand in a grabbing block, he secured Itachi's left hand and pulled transferring all his weight to his left leg and slid his right leg back up and around in an arcing kick to Itachi's face, but Itachi avoided the kick by springing up into a cartwheel flip as Naruto pulled his arm. At the epicenter of his flip Itachi latched onto Naruto's arm and pulled it behind him; Naruto reversed Itachi's hold by mimicking his cartwheel flip. Itachi anticipating the movement thrust his right leg straight up as Naruto reached the pinnacle of his flip. Naruto countered Itachi by striking the center of his foot with the extended middle knuckle of his index finger. Itachi released his grip on Naruto as he landed. Ignoring the pain in his foot he lashed out with a side kick, but instead of landing on his feet Naruto immediately tucked into a backward role and moved into a series of flips landing him beside Kakashi. Team Kakashi can't help but to admire the fluid exchange and Sakura is awed by Naruto's improved taijutsu skills.

"Nice exchange, but what if it was a trap? You jeopardized not only yourself but your team as well engaging Itachi as you did." Kakashi said coolly.

"Sorry Kakashi – senpai. It won't happen again." Naruto silently chastised himself for losing control.

Itachi in a dazzling display of speed separated Naruto from Kakashi and turned to face him pointing.

"You will be coming with me."

"Where have I heard that before?" Naruto drawled.

What Naruto failed to realize was that between regaining his composure and avoiding Itachi he had been placed under a genjutsu.

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Itachi attacked Naruto with a Kunai. Naruto drawing his own kunai parried the strike and jumped away throwing shuriken as he retreated, one shuriken after another found their target embedding themselves in Itachi's chest and he fell to his knees; as Naruto approached, Itachi transformed into a murder of crows and flew away into the sky before reforming himself. Naruto defeated Itachi once more only to have him disperse into a murder of crows once again; closing his eyes Naruto focused on his breath.

"Something is wrong." Naruto thought as he slowed his breathe even further.

Naruto emptied his mind until all that existed was himself, and that is when he saw it, the foreign chakra which had invaded his mind and bent his will. Commanding him to see what it wanted him to, feel what it wanted him to, Naruto severed the connections to his chakra coils cutting his chakra off completely and waited a few seconds before flooding his chakra coils with an intense explosion of chakra. It would have succeeded if the person he faced was a normal genjutsu user; it would have succeeded had the person he faced been an exceptional genjutsu user as well, but Itachi was much more. He was an extraordinary genjutsu user who's likely only to be seen once in every few generations, and his skills were to be respected and feared.

"You have grown even more in these last six months Naruto, but it is still not good enough." Itachi thought.

Naruto checked to see if he had expelled the foreign chakra, but saw that he was still under the influence of Itachi's genjutsu.

Naruto entered a state of shock when a figure of Sasuke grew from his body and turned to face him.

"You are worthless Naruto. Look at you, all that training and for what? You still can't save anyone. You're weak! I thought you were supposed to rescue me from the clutches of Orichimaru, but what good are you when you can't even save yourself. You are a loser Naruto and you might as well die." Sasuke said in the most malicious yet dulcet voice.

He grabbed Naruto by the throat and began choking him. Naruto gasped Sasuke's name as he struggled to free himself.

XXXXXXXXXX Flashback XXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Master what should I do if I am all alone and I am trapped in a genjutsu that I can't dispel?"

"Say goodbye because the person who placed you in the genjutsu is truly gifted and is going to kill you."

"Is there no way to free yourself from the genjutsu other than dispelling it with your chakra or the help of a team mate? Isn't there a way in which I could use my training in chakra sensitivity to help me out?"

Yoshikawa smiled at his pupil who finally was beginning to use his tactical mind for more than just pranks and figuring out how to get close to someone so he could pummel them to death. In grasping at the obscure through his question he had proven himself ready to learn the true unique nature of his chakra sensitivity training.

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Yoshikawa's house had spent countless generations trying to figure out how to compete with those unique qualities possessed by the few kekegenkai and doujutsu users of the world. They wanted to create an art that would help their clansmen truly level the playing field, but one that could not be copied by those such as the Uchiha clan whose sharingan eye could copy all but a kekegenkai. The skill they developed had only ever been written down once, but because someone attempted to steal it from them the clans Daimyo ordered the scroll burned, but not before preserving the knowledge through a select group of people within the clan. In order to ensure that the secrets of their art could never be stolen again, knowledge of the art was taught from clansmen to clansmen through a rigorous training regime with the true reason for the arduous training known only by the Master. He or she would only be allowed to reveal one facet of the art to their students during training until a Council of Masters was held and the students proved themselves worthy of the knowledge of their clans most closely guarded treasure through a series of test somewhat similar in formatting to the chuunin exams.

The intelligence community of the clan always speculated that those who tried to steal the scroll where from the Uchiha clan, and who could blame them for trying; the art was forged through trial and era after many bloody battles between his clan and theirs, but then again it was the time of the great ninja wars, and like every other clan they fought for power and recognition.

Yoshikawa's family, were among the most gifted in the learning and teaching of the art. For this reason, they were held in the highest regard within their clan. It was still hard for Yoshikawa to believe that he was the last of his clan. Tragedy led him to believe that when he died his unique art, the art of his people would pass with him, but today fate had revealed this boy and though he held no relation to him through blood or clan. Through him their legacy would continue because today Yoshikawa had found him worthy.

"I suppose there might be away if one looked hard enough." Yoshikawa said in a whimsical manner.

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Kakashi's attention never left Itachi as he worked his way to Naruto in order to share with him a plan of attack. Naruto faded into nothing reappearing in the air behind Itachi. Kakashi blinked unable to explain exactly when or how Naruto left his side. What he and the rest of team seven found even more unbelievable was Itachi's lack of reaction. While in the air Naruto formed a larger version of the Rasengan into his right hand. "Odama Rasengen!" Naruto yelled thrusting the powerful jutsu into Itachi. The explosion created made a huge dust cloud and sent debris flying everywhere; when everything settled team Kakashi would not be able to explain why an unknown ninja was found lying inside the crater in Itachi's place.