AN: After some thought, I hopefully have addressed the issue with the Team spar's (chapter 14) once and for all. It is only a small exchange of dialogue at the very end, and more or less is a small NaruSaku moment, so it worked out nicely.
Hopefully new readers will not scrunch up their nose now at a seemingly ordinary Naruto and stop reading at that point. I accepted I would lose readers for giving the impression Jiraiya died, but that chapters trend just has been biting my side for too long.
Cant help it, I'm a perfectionist and possibly a little OCD at the things I do.
MOVING ON!
Chapter 56 Cursed Bloodline
Watching from his position at the edge of the partly destroyed forest, Kakuzu snickered, "Tch, talk about making yourself a fashionable entrance, Itachi." he stated out to nobody in particular, as he looked further up from the tremendous crater to see the Konoha group he spared.
Narrowing his unusual eyes, Kakuzu noticed two additional faces, one instantly catching his interest, 'Well, well, well, the copy ninja, Hatake Kakashi. His head is worth quite a commendable amount...double if his sharingan is intact. The other I am not certain about who he is, however, he appears to be quite a mysterious one from what I can tell from here. So many potential future bounties, such a shame they are not part of my bingo book already...although if Hatake thinks he will interfere, I might just have the opportunity to bring two valuable profits back instead of one.'
Hearing the sound of rustling behind him, Kakuzu didn't even bother to turn to identify who it was, "You really felt it was necessary to jump in when the situation was going out of control? you could have avoided it if you interrupted sooner?"
"It was far too dangerous for us if Naruto-kun was still in that uncontrollable form, however, I had to use Naruto-kun's fight to determine Ronan's new abilities."
Coldly chuckling, Kakuzu turned his head to see Itachi walking with an unconscious Deidara over his shoulder, 'Kage bunshin...since he has Deidara with him, that means it was created before the jinkuriki went out of control. Did he predict all of this would happen?'
"So essentially you are just an opportunist, consider it lucky the boy was able to handle himself quite well...or Pein-san would have been very pissed off."
"Ah."
Was all the Uchiha responded with, as he put down the artist underneath the tree Kakuzu was standing on, and soon joined him to see what was happening. Returning his focus to the battle as well, Kakuzu asked, "Just what the hell did you do to that boy to dispel the Kyuubi?"
Itachi's lack of response and not even acknowledging his presence pressed Kakuzu's patience, but he just harshly shrugged after a minute, "Whatever. Keep you, and your clans secrets to yourself then, however I can understand now why Pein-san chose you to be the one to capture him out of all of us. Just like that, you disabled a monster. We might just bring him back with us once Ronan is defeated, saves us the complication of capturing him when he is stronger. I am sure Pein-san would have means of containing him for when we actually need him."
Itachi once again didn't give him a response, but the Uchiha's head slightly lowered as if in thought at Kakuzu's suggestion. Finding he was this close to snapping at Itachi's antics, Kakuzu just asked another question, "Will you at least enlighten me on Ronan's new abilities?"
"He has obtained the Mangekyou sharingan. However, his is not similar to mine. The Uchiha clan in its recent years never ventured much into unlocking the power of these eyes, since it was made forbidden. From our scrambled history going back to before Konoha's establishment however, it was clear that differences in the bloodlines of our clan also had different potentials given for the sharingan. For example, Uchiha Shisui was the only Uchiha to be able to control people's minds using his unique sharingan ability."
"I understand, even though you were all under the Uchiha name as cousins, people from outside the direct clan married in, which then their children carried a new gene for the sharingan. So you are saying Ronan is a descendant from one of these genes?"
"Precisely."
"I wonder what his abilities classify as then."
Closing his eyes as if doing so made him see the answer, Itachi responded, "While information is scarce, it was noticed that there were given trends to those that had obtained them. Most of the purest of the Uchiha possessed the Tsukuyomi and the Amaterasu, which represents the right and left eye of the god Izanagi. In Ronan's case..."
Kakuzu now turned his head in interest as Itachi continued, "His eyes are a representation of the Ainu, or as they more respectfully wish the be called, the Utari people. His left eye possesses the Kamui, which is also known as the divine being. His right eye contains the opposing contrast to a divine being, which as you should know is a human...Enju."
"Kamui and Enju?"
"The left eye possesses the most powerful ninjutsu, and the right eye contains the strongest genjutsu. Kamui creates a vortex that rips out objects from our dimension into a place no human being can go to. Enju is using that vortex to disrupt the laws of the world with the other dimension's, permitting the user to manipulate time itself."
"These are the great powers of the mangekyou sharingan?"
"Correct, given that Kakashi-san appears to possess Kamui, it would be safe to assume Ronan is from the same bloodline of the Uchiha that gave it to him...Uchiha Obito I believe his name was."
"Hatake Kakashi has the mangekyou?!"
"Ah..." Itachi during the course of time in Naruto's fight, had been cautiously observing the battles happening around, and even though he still was baffled, he recognised what he saw Kakashi do.
'Kakashi-san, how could you have obtained it?' Itachi asked himself, his otherwise neutral eyes holding glimpses of shock and disbelief that Kakuzu could barely just see.
The small emotion disappeared as quick as it came, "Deidara-san should not awaken for a couple of hours, however keep a close eye on him."
When Kakuzu shot a questioning look, he was greeted with smoke. Now alone with the artist, Kakuzu snorted, 'You just had to point out that only the 'purest of the Uchiha' possessed your abilities didn't you? However that information interests me...'
Looking back to Kakashi, Kakuzu formed a smirk under his mask, 'Possession of something so rare and powerful...his bounty would easily now be higher than Mangetsu's, especially to a village interested in learning its secrets. So tempting...'
Before Itachi had appeared...
Maybe she had grown exhausted from her fight, but even when expecting the tremendous shockwave, Sakura still lost her footing and fell off the tree branch to land poorly on the ground.
Ignoring the sting in her back, she forced herself up to continue running through the forest towards the source of the murderous intent, 'Naruto!' Cursing when she almost tripped up, Sakura recovered and continued to go against her bodies aching pleads to stop, dashing as fast as she could go through the blurring trees.
Reaching the edge of the forest earlier than she could recall, she had luckily stopped in time to avoid falling into a very steep and enormous crater that had formed recently. The conclusion of the day was now starting to turn to night, with the reddish hued sky mixing with blue. The coming darkness however did not make her have issue to withhold the ghastly sight before her. Upon glance of the beast in the centre she knew was the cause of the chaos she was witnessing, Sakura's jaw slowly fell open.
At first she prayed it was not who she thought it was, but seeing the face of the beast that struck familiarity made the cold truth sink in, 'It's Naruto. Oh my god...'
The sudden ear piercing and shockwave blasting roar did not even make her budge from her shock, 'T-This is what you tried to explain to me Jiraiya-sama? H-He's not even there...I can feel it, it's so evil, so out of control...there is not even a trace of Naruto within it, just as you said...'
Feeling her eye begin to twitch, she bit harshly on her lip to hold back the tears, 'Naruto needs my help...'
Reaching into her weapon pouch, she pulled out the suppression seal Jiraiya gave her. She looked at it, even though her eye was focussing more so on her trembling and clenching hand that was crunching the paper, 'B-But I...I can't get near him this time. The only reason I survived before was because Naruto came to his senses. I don't need to guess he is even stronger in this form, the chakra literally whiplashing around me is practically cutting into my skin. What can I do?!'
Her thoughts ended when another wall like shockwave slammed against her, causing Sakura to go off her feet and fall several feet away, as another blood thirsty roar flew over the air, muting out her grunt, 'What on e-'
When the roar suddenly morphed from a monster into the sound of a voice she knew so well, she gasped, "Naruto!" She cried out in fear, forcing herself to stand and come back to the edge of the crater to go agape.
Naruto had suddenly changed back to his normal form, however, his skin looked as if it had been badly burnt all over. It frightened her alone that even from this far, she could see tremendous blisters practically all over his skin. Naruto's screeching levelled scream suddenly was silenced when a figure touched his forehead.
When she identified the red cloud patterned black cloak, Sakura didn't even know when she began sliding down the crater to get to Naruto. Seeing the back of Itachi's head made her eyes widen, 'Is he here to save him? is he here to take him? is he here for both?! I have to get him away from Naruto!'
Meanwhile, at the tip of the great crater, 'So he has chosen to reveal himself at long last.' Kakashi narrowed his sharingan on the Uchiha, as Itachi pushed Naruto over with just his two fingers.
"This is bad, we have to rescue Naruto-kun at once!" Lee shouted, as he was about to run, but Shikamaru's hand held him back by the shoulder.
"Easy Lee."
"B-But Shikamaru-kun, that man is an akatsu-"
"He is not here for Naruto." Kakashi interrupted, causing Lee to look up at the jounin.
"If Itachi was here to capture Naruto, he would have disappeared with him the moment the Kyuubi was suppressed. Instead he turned to face Ronan...he is here to kill Ronan, and protect Naruto. If you go down there, he may turn on you just for getting in his way." Kakashi explained, which made Shikamaru focus on the miniature Gai who was tensing at the conclusion.
'Jeez...he is just as angry as I am that in the end, Naruto is being protected by the ones that are hunting him...and not us. What a way to make us all look incredibly useless.'
Wincing, Kakashi cupped over his sharingan eye that was throbbing with pain, 'I can't keep this up any further.' Reaching up, he lowered his forehead protector to cover the stinging eye.
Closing his other on reflex, Kakashi still held his hand over his eye, "Is that Sakura-san?!" His one eye shot open in surprise to confirm he saw said kunoichi running down the crater towards the three others.
'Does she even realise who she is charging towards?! Come to your senses Sakura!'Kakashi inwardly begged, as he was about to begin his own descent to the centre.
"ITACHI!!!" Ronan's voice shouted out in rage as Sakura approached from behind Itachi.
Coming to a halt several meters away, she cautiously looked down at the unconscious Naruto next to Itachi. She felt her eye twitch again to his expression that held so much pain in it, the tenderness practically lashed out at her. Even when he was knocked out, she could tell he still was experiencing every ounce of sizzling pain.
'Naruto...'
Shaking her head rapidly, she tried to calm her nerves and think, 'I have to get him out of here, but how-'
"Kunoichi."
Sakura blinked at the flat word announced from Itachi, cutting through her musing. Itachi still hadn't of even turned to see her, since he was focussing on the glaring Ronan.
Not knowing what to do, she said nothing, which caused the choking atmosphere to thicken, 'I-I did hear that correctly, right?'
Back with Kakashi, seeing that Sakura had stopped several meters away from Itachi, made him hesitantly wait, "Get out of there Sakura..." he muttered aloud to himself, praying she would do so.
Sakura meanwhile was feeling her anxiety turn at the silence, 'H-He was referring to me...'
"Kunoichi."
Itachi repeated again, this time causing Sakura to react with a surprised gasp, "...H-Hai?!"
Still not turning, Itachi continued in his emotionless tone, "Haruno Sakura is it not?"
"...Y-Yes?" She stuttered, trying with all her will to stay strong, despite her legs beginning to feel like jelly.
When Itachi casually turned his head so his cold sharingan met her jade eye, her entire body shot to alarm, as she gripped onto the hilt of the kunai sheathed on her lower back, 'Damn it!'
Lee's eyes widened upon seeing Itachi had casually turned to meet her eye to eye, "He knows she is there, if she even attempts to attack him now, it will be a wasted cause."
'He has seen you, know to pick your fights Sakura. Naruto is not his focus at this time, but that doesn't mean he won't protect himself from us if we get in his way. You are no match for Itachi...get out of there!' Kakashi again mused.
Frozen for a moment under his powerful gaze, Sakura looked back at the knocked out Naruto and began to unsheathe her kunai.
"Please take Naruto-kun as far away from here as possible. He requires your immediate aid."
Her kunai froze halfway out, as her eyes went bulging wide, along with her even wider mouth, "W-Wha-..."
The Uchiha never clarified, he just continued to stare at her frozen form, which made her stomach turn, 'H-He wants me to take Naruto?'
She still was glued on the spot from her shock, but reacted when she felt her throat go dry, and slowly sheathed back her kunai, although she was hesitant to let go of that cold steel hilt that somehow felt so relieving.
Unsure of how to react, she just very slowly nodded her head, "O-Ok." Itachi then turned his attention back to Ronan, as Sakura dragged her turned brick like self by the step towards the pair.
Shikamaru groaned when Sakura went against all their inner pleads, and cautiously was approaching Itachi, "That foolish and troublesome woman! What is she doing?!"
Sakura meanwhile was putting all her efforts to keep her strong facade up. When she felt the empty air as she moved her hand away from her kunai hilt, she instantly reached back for its somehow comforting touch.
Would it even help her if Itachi suddenly attacked her? probably not, but its durable grip was soothing her erupting anxiety. Being now just within Itachi's shadow, she froze again and stared at the patterning's of his cloak, finding her brick like weight just increased astronomically.
Her trembling grip on her kunai hilt tightened to the point where it began to hurt her knuckles. She jolted when Itachi suddenly moved slowly, but noticed he was taking a few steps to the side away from Naruto.
The Uchiha must of noticed her clear fear of being so close, and without word, granted her much appreciated distance. Releasing the breath she held in, she still cautiously stepped forward and knelt down to Naruto. All her concern about Itachi disappeared when both her hands touched the blistered skin of the blonde's hurt filled face.
His skin still was burning hot, which nearly made her shoot her hands away. Used to the sudden change in temperature, she cupped his face, "Naruto..." She whispered, feeling her eyes go glassy yet again, but forced herself to keep the building up liquid from falling.
She was not going to allow herself to cry in front of the enemy for a second time today.
Back with Kakashi and the others, their eyes bulged at what they were seeing, and were in shock that Itachi was allowing her to kneel down in front of Naruto.
Shino adjusted his goggles, "It would appear he does not wish for Naruto to be caught in the crossfire, so he is allowing Sakura to remove him."
Sakura was finding holding those wanting to surface badly tears quite relentless, but she denied them escape, 'Calm down...he is letting me get Naruto out of here.'
"Kunoichi." Itachi repeated, void of emotion again, which caused her to suddenly remember where she was, and shook her head. Grabbing his limp arm, she placed it over her neck, as she heaved him up to his feet.
'Just get him out of here quick, before anything else happe-'
"I won't let you!"
Sakura shot her attention to Ronan, who was furiously slamming his hands together to form seals, "Katon, Goukakyuu no jutsu!"
Ronan then breathed out a great fireball, but soon shot his eyes wide in surprise in realisation it suddenly changed from dusk to the middle of the night. The teens he had aimed for also had suddenly disappeared, along with Itachi. Trying to comprehend where he was, he looked around now in confusion. He was standing in the middle of a forest, with no signs of any life at all around him.
He couldn't even hear a single chirp from a cricket, it was that silent.
Seeing something that caught his sharingan's interest, Ronan looked to a few feet before him to see the silhouettes of hundreds of crows start to gather. The swarm then began to merge into each other, the flock literally diving into one another, forming a larger silhouette.
Ronan could just make out the right half of a man, who suddenly revealed a three tomoe sharingan as if it had just opened, "I said you are not laying any further harm to Naruto-kun, Ronan-oniichan."
Ronan prepared himself, as the half formed silhouette tore apart into dozens of crows again, "Then I will just have to kill you first Itachi!"
In the outside world, Sakura once again found herself thrown into shock. Just when Ronan had finished his chain, Itachi had shot to stand right in front of her with a seal formed, and then she saw the great fireball she knew was meant to be aimed at her shot off to the far right. The temperature never even changed around her from the clear miss. Tilting her head so she could see around Itachi, she guessed he was placed into a genjutsu, given his spaced out state.
"Kunoichi."
Itachi's simple one word statement yet again pulled her back into the realisation that she was only a foot away from him, but with Naruto weighing down on her side, she couldn't jump back. Itachi didn't look back at her, despite her gasp, since he was still holding a seal.
Realising she knew what Itachi was instructing, she didn't wait for his prompt once again, "H-Hai." She mumbled, as she scooped up Naruto's legs so she could carry him better.
Deciding to take Naruto back to the town where the others were, she turned and started to walk, "Wait."
Shikamaru's surprised gasp was not the only one when Sakura suddenly froze after taking a few steps towards their direction, "Why is she stopping?"
Cursing that he could only just make out Itachi and Sakura's mouths moving from here, he reluctantly pulled up his forehead protector and opened up his blood shot sharingan eye.
Coming in contact with the sharp as knives air forced him to close it as a shot of pain travelled all the way down his back, 'Curse it. I can't use the sharingan so soon again!'
Returning to Sakura and Itachi, the Uchiha's unyielding and definite instruction had made her stop the moment he spoke.
Still holding his seal, Itachi didn't portray any emotion as he continued, "If you were wise, you would conceal both yourself and Naruto-kun from open sight."
Sakura's eyes were getting used to showing her bafflement, 'Is he telling me to not take Naruto to Kakashi-sensei and the others, but to hide in the forest?'
"Why?"
She may have spoken too quietly, since it seemed Itachi didn't answer. "I-I said why are you telling me that?" She repeated louder.
The Uchiha still didn't respond, making Sakura's brows furrow, as she now found strength to talk back, "I have no reason or motive at all to trust you, give me an explanation why I should even listen to you?"
"...Naruto-kun's current fragile state will be seen as a welcomed chance, and be exploited by opportunists."
Itachi's response almost made Sakura drop Naruto, "W-What?! W-Why are-What?!- I-I-Who's side-..."
So many questions were practically hitting her head it was causing a migraine and her voice to slur with incoherent nonsense. This is the person that is after Naruto's life, and the one who caused Sasuke's world to be turned upside down. Now the same man was not just allowing her to take Naruto to safety, out of his clutches, but just advised her to hide themselves from unknown danger?
She didn't know what to do or say. How did she know Itachi was just trying to trick her so he could take Naruto without the protection of the others afterwards. Who were these other opportunists Itachi was suggesting?
Another member of Ronan's team unaccounted for?
Orochimaru?
...Sasuke?
She literally was thrown off guard to the entire situation. Her ordeal with Claara was enough, she didn't need this ditched into her face as well. Was Itachi the older brother that slaughtered most of his clan in one night, and a criminal that wanted Naruto's life, or was he an ally?
Once again, as if Itachi knew her thoughts, his eye suddenly met her emerald orbs, "Sakura-san." He said firmly, his sharingan eye holding a glimpse of an emotion she somehow recognised as assurance.
Giving in to the Uchiha's recommendation, she nodded, "Alright..." She then turned towards the forest again, but stopped, bewildered by the sensation that she forgot something.
Soon realising what it was she was being told by her mind to say, she questioned herself as to why she was thinking of doing such an action for a person she knew was an enemy to Naruto, to Sasuke.
...and to herself.
It had to be because of her fight for thinking this way, "Itachi...-san...I will never forgive you for what you have done to Sasuke-kun, and will always hate you...but thank you for saving Naruto."
Itachi didn't so much as flicker an emotion in response to her part curse and part appreciation, nor said anything back. Feeling nothing else needed to be spoken, Sakura tightened her grasp on Naruto and ran for it.
Returning his focus on Ronan, Itachi changed his seal to another, as his eye narrowed, 'He has reversed my genjutsu, and seen my second layer...defeating him with genjutsu will soon show to be pointless.'
Back at the tip of the crater, panic was clear across the others faces, W-What is she doing?!" Shikamaru once again asked in hope someone knew.
Shaking his head, Kakashi cursed as he gave up using the sharingan, "Maybe she didn't see us or something, I will go get her."
"Wait!"
Kakashi looked down to see Shikamaru holding his hand up, "Don't leave...or you will bring the other guy out."
"'other guy out'? You mean Itachi's partner Kisame?"
"I don't know who the hell they are, but if Kisame is the 'fish faced freak' Naruto calls him, then no...it is someone else."
Looking down first at Kiba, who was roughly bandaged from head to toe, Kakashi withheld the hiss of hurt he felt for the Inuzuka. Akamaru appeared to have regained consciousness, and was sitting next to his master, with a saddened expression clearly written on the dogs face.
Looking not far from Kiba he saw Hinata, who was bruised all over, and had a sickening large black bruise around her beeping red neck, which he guessed was caused by a merciless strangle.
Exchanging a look between the two other bruised Shinobi who were still conscious, Kakashi stated the obvious, "He is the one that did this to you?"
Like it was a bad omen, both Lee and Shikamaru formed a frown.
"...Yes." Shikamaru struggled to say, as he found the ground interesting.
Lee dug his finger nails into his already marked hands again tightly, "He warned us if we attempted to proceed to help Naruto-kun, he would return, and not so graciously spare us." It took Lee all his strength to keep those words neutral.
Accepting what he was being told, Kakashi backed down, "Can you identify him for me in my bingo book?" He asked, pulling out said book to hand to the Nara.
"Yeah, I won't be forgetting him anytime soon."
Growing irritated that he couldn't look away from Mangetsu, Jiraiya pestered Fukusaku, "Well?"
"She is leaving with yer apprentice now Jiraiya-chan. He doesn't look the best-"
"But is he alive?!"
"It appears that way."
Sighing, Jiraiya grinned in gratefulness, "Good, he is in the best hands to help him then."
"Are you done worrying about the boy now. I am feeling unwelcomed."
Jiraiya snorted at the swordsman, "You were welcomed in the first place?"
'I don't understand it at all, he has wounds all over the place, but the guy just keeps on coming with no signs of freaking stopping.'
"He won't be able t'keep this up for much longer Jiraiya-chan."
"...How is that, I am thinking the opposite?"
"Think more clearly then Kiddo, tha sword is being fed his life force to make senjutsu chakra. Every time he uses jutsu in combination with that sword, he has to give it a bit of his chakra as well as his physical energy."
Shima didn't make any more clearer sense to the sannin, "But physical energy is just stamina?"
"Look at it as if tha sword's an insatiably hungry leech Jiraiya-chan."
"A leech?...I see."
'So as he uses jutsu, he is giving up more of his stamina than a person normally would.'
"That's why he's built his body to be so strong Jiraiya-chan. He has done so, so then he can use his sword's abilities for a longer time in a fight. But even he has a limit, then there is the matter of his shortened life too."
"You make it sound like he is nothing without his sword?"
"Now Now, that is quite a bold statement to make." Mangetsu added himself into the conversation, dashing towards Jiraiya to clash against the unusual sword still being wielded by the sannin.
"We, the seven swordsmen of the Mist wouldn't be so feared if we were just shinobi that used unique and powerful swords. To underestimate us will get you killed before you know it."
"Hmmph, thanks for the warning." Jiraiya retorted, while Shima shot out a wind projectile forcing Mangetsu to dodge, but then came from Jiraiya's side to take a swipe at the toad.
Jiraiya swung his own sword at the incoming blade, smashing against it to flick out wild sparks. Reeling his weapon back from the violent clash, Mangetsu with one hand stylishly flung the blade over his head to catch in his other hand, as he went for a side swipe at now Fukusaku's side. Quickly ducking under the great sword, Jiraiya burst forward to give Mangetsu a bone cracking upper cut to his lower jaw.
Recovering unbelievably fast to such a strike, the swordsman stepped to the side to avoid the kick aimed for his chest, and returned the fist back at the sannin, but he was greeted to sending pieces of crumbled rock flying away.
Standing at the ready, Mangetsu looked all around to see where the sannin could possibly be hiding, although his enhanced senses could feel the uneven chakra hovering in the air, 'Genjutsu...'
Standing afar, Jiraiya groaned, while the two toad sages held seals, "This guy really is getting on my nerves."
"He's figured out we are using a genjutsu to hide. Tricking a senjutsu user is freakin' complicated. "
Grunting at Fukusaku's announcement, Shima quickly countered, "It's a double layered genjutsu, he hasn't figured out that much yet at tha least."
Digging his sword into the ground, Mangetsu ran through several seals, then grabbed the hilt of his sword, "Futton Komu no jutsu." Taking a great big breath, Mangetsu slowly began to exhale, blowing out a large cloud of mist like steam that was spreading all around him.
Coming in contact with the lukewarm steam, Jiraiya looked at it curiously, 'He didn't say suiton or doton...he is now using specific abilities of the sword.'
Shaking his head, Jiraiya went down on all fours, "Senpo Kebari senbon!"
Jiraiya's great long and spiky hair suddenly hardened to that of the appearance of a porcupine, and shot out thousands of needles at the swordsman's general direction. Even if Mangetsu was trained to dodge such attacks, there was no way any mortal person could evade a literal rain fall of so many sharp needles. Through the thick mist, Jiraiya could easily see and hear that the barrage had met a mark. The force of so many needles hitting him at once caused the coughing out blood Mangetsu to be fall forwards. The sages and the sannin went agape though when the body of the swordsman hissed away into the very mist that was all around them.
A dark chuckle coming from an indeterminable location made the three look around desperately to find the amused source, "You know it was such an honour to be tutored the ways of Lava and steam, or as it formally is known as, boil release, from the one who now is the Godaime Mizukage."
'Is this a kind of reversal genjutsu?! No, it can't be that, genjutsu's are near useless against a senjutsu user.'
"It never was easy for her I am sure you realise? Possessing a kekkai genkai in the times of the Yondaime Mizukage in Kirigakure was practically a death sentence. Mei-sama possessing dual kekkai genkai would in Kiri's early eyes be considered a monster. So who did she turn to for help to survive? Why us, the seven swordsman of the mist of course. Ironic and crazy though, since it was our duty to purge wielders of a kekkai genkai."
Seeing a shadow form in the mist, Jiraiya shot a kunai out to hit the figure, but it again hissed away into mist, "She was very smart though, she came to us with leverage. Teaching me how to use the very elements she possessed to use Ryujin's great potent power. Even with Ryujin's power, I never came a mile to matching Mei-sama's abilities, however, it was she that taught me what I know now."
Hearing the sound of something gurgling behind him, Jiraiya span his head around to see solid water forming, "You know that steam is evaporated water I hope."
Mangetsu taunted, as only a hand that he recognised as Mangetsu's formed, along with the sword being held, "KIDDO!"
"Die!" Using his agile amphibian form, Jiraiya shot away from the swing, but turned his head yet again in surprise to see another sword wielding hand forming in the mist lashing out at him again.
Clashing against it with his sword, Jiraiya did not show surprise when the clash ended with the weapon and hand hissing out of existence again, "Senpo Kebari senbon!"
Standing upright this time, Jiraiya's hair grew out further to wrap around his entire body, as he shot out needles in every direction, but heard no sound of hitting a target. His eye then caught an object coming from his side, and gasped to see it was another sword.
"JIRAIYA-CHAN!" Fukusaku cried, as Jiraiya was forced to use both his hand's arm guards to block the hit, which still made the small pieces of steel crack, with his blood trickling through the opening.
Mangetsu's laughter as the sword dispersed did not phase Jiraiya, 'I-It is like he is a part of the mist itself!'
Ronan cried out into the night as more of the crows swooped down at him, their beaks tearing into his skin. Looking at a safe distance away from the encircling swarm, Itachi's figure formed as he watched each and every bird swoop down at Ronan, now flicking out drops of blood that hit the long already dampened grass. Itachi's eyes shot wide for an instance in surprise when upon the next blood splatter, the dark liquid morphed into crows, as the rest of Ronan did so. It was almost as if they smelt something tasty, as the swarm of birds suddenly shot for Itachi.
When the first crow blinded his vision, Itachi closed his eyes, as all he could hear was the sound of angry screeches from the furiously flapping birds. Reopening them, he found the swarm had vanished, and he was now alone in the darkness of the forest his original genjutsu had set. Itachi never reacted when his surroundings suddenly morphed, changing colour tones to that of black, white and red.
Looking down at his black shaded hand, Itachi knew what was happening, 'Sharingan doujutsu.'
He then looked up expectantly to meet another silhouette figure with glaring three tomoe sharingan, "You will pay for what you have done to our clan Itachi!"
"You have not learnt from your overconfidence last time it would seem, Ronan-oniichan. Need I have to repeat myself once again to you? You shouldn't judge others by their appearances and your preconceptions."
Losing sight of Ronan's sharingan for a moment, Itachi soon saw them again, this time in its mangekyou form, "Enough of your lectures Itachi! You aren't the only one with the clan's potent power now, and who was the overconfident one that didn't confirm my death?"
"Hmmph. Power causes you to become isolated and arrogant, Ronan-oniichan. You will defy that, however deep down you know what I say is true. Your comrades are now gone, and without even knowing your capacity and height of power, you so boldly claim you are the victor." Itachi's stale words caused Ronan's figure to violently tremble with rage, but Itachi's eyes grew a fraction wider when Ronan started to snicker, and then turn into full blown laughter.
Ending the hysterical laughter in an instant, Ronan spat out with venom his angered response, "I CAN SAY THE VERY SAME THING RIGHT BACK AT YOU, MURDERER OF OUR FAMILY!"
Not receiving any reaction for Itachi, Ronan still let out his minds anger, "You sought the power of the mangekyou sharingan by murdering your best friend, did you not Itachi?! You casted yourself out of the clan and our family by slaughtering them, you are the one who is also alone and arrogant!"
Itachi didn't say anything, which only infuriated Ronan further, "Our clan was the greatest in Konoha, and was the equal best even before its time with the Senju clan so long ago. Why did you do it Itachi?! Even when I asked you this the first time we fought, you never answered me. I demand to know your reason before I send you to hell!"
Still staring into emotionless eyes made Ronan grow even more outraged, "DO YOU HAVE NOTHING TO SAY TO ME, ITACHI?!"
"The clan is all you have to ask of me? Your fanaticism drenched words alone are enough to refresh my memory as to why I long lost faith in our hopeless clan. You only focus on the clan, you only focus on its superiority and never on its flaws or dark history. You, just like all the others only wash your hands clean of the blood that has stained our hands permanently. The curse of our clan was, and never is set to end until the clan itself is drawn to a conclusion."
"What bullshit are you talking about!? So your grand solution to whatever crap your spouting was mass genocide!? YOU BASTARD!"
Ronan's eyes suddenly shot wide when he felt a sudden shift, and all of a sudden he had reversed places with Itachi, who now was forming a seal. Ronan looked down in shock when his feet suddenly caught alight to black fire, that began to spread up like a plague slowly.
Despite the inability to feel his legs, he returned his gaze to Itachi, "If that is your true response, then it is clear you are either not aware of our history, or are too proud to acknowledge it."
Now the engulfing flames up to his chest, Ronan still didn't acknowledge the burning sensation, "Why don't you graciously inform me then?!"
Now shooting up to his face, Ronan's vision was blinded by the black flames, "There is no point in saying words that will fall on deaf ears."
Shooting his eyes open again, Ronan found himself back in the real word, facing Itachi who was staring at him a few meters away.
Both were holding seals, which they slowly dropped, "Deaf ears you say? Then explain to them why in all your rambling, you have a major inconsistency to your so called solution. Sasuke is still alive because you spared him, would you like to clarify why our clan's proposed 'conclusion' actually is not being concluded at all? To me, everything you just blurted out is a load of trash!"
"Sasuke is an important asset to help alight my ambition from a dream to a reality. For the Uchiha clan's cursed blood will not be cleansed unless it's source is put to rest."
Blinking several times, Ronan then shook his head frantically, "What in the hell are you talking about!?"
Itachi never answered, instead he shot to running through seals. Ronan's sharingan noted it was the chain for a great fireball, and was about to retaliate, until a sudden locking grip from behind him held him in place.
The corner of his eye could recognise it was another Itachi, 'A BUNSHIN?!'
Looking back to gaze into Itachi's sharingan, Itachi then announced his jutsu, "Katon, Goukakyuu no jutsu!"
There was inconsistency with the announcement of the jutsu however.
The voice held too much anger within it to be Itachi's.
Suddenly blinking in realisation, Itachi discovered he was the one being held by a clone of Ronan, and another Ronan where Itachi believed he was once standing now was the one launching a great ball of fire at him. Seeing Itachi and Ronan's bunshin disappear within the great big red engulfing ball of fire made Ronan pour more chakra into the jutsu, doubling the fireballs size.
'Burn you filth!'
"Bunshin Daibakuha!" Snapping his head around, Ronan saw the one he thought he set alight standing behind him, 'Another bunshi-!'
His thoughts ended with a chaotic explosion as the clone self destructed. Not far from the blast stood the real Itachi, staring with bored filled eyes into the smoke lifted from his jutsu. Ronan soon was seen flying out of the smoke cloud, with his right arm badly grazed, but he recovered in mid flight and came to a halt.
Digging into his weapon pouch, Ronan pulled out a solider pill and bit down on it, 'Hopefully with this replenishing my chakra, I should be able to use my eyes abilities a few more times.'
'He believes that will permit him usage of the mangekyou sharingan...foolish cousin.'
Unaware of Itachi's scold, Ronan dashed straight towards Itachi, with a kunai in one hand, and a handful of shuriken in the other. Throwing the shuriken as he ran, Itachi revealed his own Shuriken from up his sleeve, but instead of throwing them against the incoming projectiles, he gracefully shifted out of each ones due course, and then readied his own.
Ronan's bizarre action of stopping in his dash, and twisting his throwing arm to then pull it back caught Itachi's attention. Looking back at the weapons he dodged, he soon understood, 'Rigged with wire.'
Returning to looking at Ronan, Itachi flung his shuriken at him, before 'poofing' out of existence, allowing the span around weapons to pass through the dispersion cloud. Using his kunai wielding hand, Ronan began deflecting both Itachi's shuriken, and then his own returned handful.
Knowing a counter attack was coming from his blindside, Ronan ducked his other hand into his weapon pouch again, and dropped a smokebomb. A fuuma shuriken suddenly sliced through the thick smoke from behind where Ronan was last seen, however the spinning blade did not have any traces of blood visible to its not too far away throwers eye. Itachi's eyes jolted when the smoke cloud soon was overwhelmed by a roaring flame heading towards him.
Quickly jumping out of its incoming course, Itachi rose his hand that whipped out a kunai from under his sleeve to clash against another kunai, as the two shinobi's sharingan eyes met. The struggle for dominance was indeterminable between the two, and as they locked into a blurring exchange of blows, neither was the speed. Ronan's sharingan eyes went wide when a possible clone of Itachi stepped out from behind the real ones shadow, and lashed out at him. The tip of the clone's kunai was inches away from digging into Ronan's face, but before it could, Itachi saw Ronan's right eye blink to reveal his mangekyou.
Within the next instant, the clone had dispersed, and Itachi fell to his knees as several blood squirting wounds opened up all simultaneously around his chest and abdomen. Itachi coughed out a load of blood, as he never looked up to see the smirking Ronan holding a blood painted kunai, "Where is your 'arrogance' speech now Itachi? Take you, and your stupid ambition to hell for what you have done."
Ronan was taken aback when Itachi suddenly grinned, and slowly lifted his head as he spoke, "You are so keen to see victory that you did not notice, Ronan-oniichan." Ronan gasped when Itachi's right eye contained his shuriken shaped mangekyou sharingan, and suddenly the entire world around him cracked and broke apart like glass.
When his vision cleared, Ronan found himself within a part of a town or district, however he recognised this one instantly, even if the sky was painted a mixture of black and red. The familiar streets, and the littered corpses that were wearing Uchiha branded outfits everywhere were enough for him to not hold doubt, 'The night of the massacre.' Hearing footsteps slowly approaching with deep thuds, Ronan turned to see a young man running away from something.
However the man was closing the distance between them at a pace barely even considered walking, "Your mangekyou ability appears to also affect the speed of casting genjutsu as well." Came the flat statement of Itachi at normal speed from an indeterminable direction.
The man now was only feet away from Ronan, but still was trying to run for his life from something, "That can work to an advantage...or a great disadvantage." Ronan gasped when the man's eyes slowly began to bulge, and a stream of blood flew out of his mouth as the man started to fall.
Landing at his feet, Ronan saw two kunai planted into the man's back, as the small blood drops spattered onto Ronan's wide eyed face, "Instead of being tortured for seventy two hours in this world that only I control, because of your mangekyou sharingan's ability...you will be experiencing the trauma for over two hundred and sixteen hours."
She didn't have a location as to where she was running to, but her aching legs were enough of a sign to assure her that she was far enough from any danger. Gasping for air, she lowered the still unconscious Naruto onto the forest floor. Looking down at him once again, she soon noticed that his eyes were still opened and rolled into the back of his head.
The sight was hurting her too much to leave, and she covered his eyes with her hand, and closed them. It was then that she realised how very much the opposite his skins temperature felt from earlier. Naruto's skin felt icy cold. Touching his face again to confirm made her wince at the pain she knew he was feeling, but she tried to keep strong and formed a seal. After a moment, she lightly touched his body with two fingers, and her shocked eyes showed the daunting results of her analysis jutsu.
'His body is a total mess! His skin has been completely burnt all over, he has lost a very alarming amount of blood, his muscles are torn, and his internal organs have been working in overdrive.'
Lifting up one of his arms to inspect his hand, she could barely see some spots of skin that was unburnt, 'Even when he was in that inhuman state, the Kyuubi was constantly healing him, while the chakra was hurting him at the same time...no wonder his organs are in such a terrible condition, his blood cells were dividing rapidly to replenish the loss of blood and damaged tissue. Regenerating at such a frantic rate for over a period of time would have taken a toll on his life span...Naruto.'
Bringing a hand up to his neck, she tried to find his pulse, which to her fear she had trouble locating. Finally she found it, and for a moment timed its weak and slow paced beats, 'The reason he feels so cold is because of the blood loss...This is horrible...he will die if I don't treat him immediately.'
Rushing through seals, she bit her thumb and slammed the ground, "Kuchiyose no jutsu!"
Even though the smoke cloud formed, she hit the ground in frustration, 'GOD DAMN IT! I don't have the chakra to summon Katsuya-sama!' she inwardly cried, looking back at the smoke which cleared to reveal a small immature slug.
She scrutinized the small invertebrate, who was looking up at her as if in apology, "You can't help me, can you?"
She stated the obvious, which the slug simply looked at her in a way she understood, "It is fine, you can go back now."
Sighing as the slug 'poofed' out of existence, Sakura hung her head, "Damn it..."
Looking at her trembling wrist as if it was helping her in considering an option, she slowly shook her head to it, 'Even though I am blood type O-, I can't risk performing a transfusion since I may be poisoned, and that is the last thing he needs in his current situation...I will just have to pray he doesn't succumb to the blood loss for the time being.' Unzipping his jacket, she rested her hands on his shirt, but before beginning, Itachi's words caused her to look around and listen. Other than her light gasps for air, she couldn't hear or see anything that was of concern.
When trying to restrain her gasps, she felt a shot of pain hit her heart, forcing her to on reflex place a hand on it. Feeling the still earth quake like vibrations emitting from it, she clenched her sweat covered vest, 'Is this the poison or just my exhaustion catching up to me? She said within an hour's time, but it can't be that long yet.'
Still panting for oxygen, Sakura suddenly felt all the weight in her head vanish for an instant, before returning with a chill running all the way down her back. Closing her eyes, she shook her head to brush off the sensation, but found doing so only made her eyes feel heavy, 'These are a couple of the symptoms she described...but it is too soon.'
Discovering she was wasting precious time, she looked back down fully alert again, and placed both her hands once again on Naruto's chest, and started the long task ahead of her, 'I will worry about myself after I at least know he is safe.'
Shikamaru's mouth had remained open for so long, he choked when he tried to swallow, finding his throat was dry. From the moment Itachi had started fighting Ronan, he along with the others were completely glued to watching the fight that none of them except for Kakashi had seen before. Shikamaru himself was told by his father how unbelievable and unique a battle between two Uchiha were, but even that could not prepare him for what he was witnessing.
He along with Lee were perplexed when during the first exchange, neither opponent had moved for over a minute. Kakashi who understood what was happening, explained to them that both the Uchiha were fighting using genjutsu. Lee found himself in awe at the taijutsu exchange, which neither opponent even was able to land a hit on the other, since the sharingan of both combatants could predict the others movements.
Kakashi himself was thrown into shock though at the familiar looking vortex that had formed around Itachi and Ronan, 'T-That is my sharingan jutsu! No-It is similar, but not the same.'
Unable to see what was happening within, he could just see that both Itachi and Ronan had once again stopped moving, appearing to be in another genjutsu battle. Dragging his gaze elsewhere across the battlefield, he looked over to see a great area covered with sizzling hot oil, and then not far, a dense and large mist cloud covering the ground, 'Jiraiya-sama has his hands full it would seem.' Kakashi would have moved to help the sannin, but remembering Shikamaru's words from before, he did not want to take the risk.
Speaking of that problem, he brought Shikamaru out of his shock, "Have you found the man yet?"
Mentioning the Akatsuki member again spread to both the Nara and Lee, who instantly frowned in memory. Shikamaru passed over the book with his finger in-between two pages, "Yes...this is him."
Lee now was fully at attention as Kakashi took the book, and in an instant looked up at Shikamaru, "Are you certain?"
"Yes..."
Looking back at his book, Kakashi explained his sudden disbelief, "Bingo books are sorted in three ways. Firstly, they are divided into six main sections, the first five representing the major hidden villages, then the sixth one at the back dedicated to the rest. Once there, each of the shinobi are sorted by their potent power with a rank. Finally, they are then placed in order of the date they were added, with the recent being the first."
Shikamaru didn't show any change, while Lee held curiosity, "So what does this mean Kakashi-sensei?"
"This person is in the last section of the bingo book, and is the last one in the S ranked section."
"I still don't understand."
"Lee, there is even a question mark placed on this man's sketch, which alone is daunting, since we use photographs now instead of sketches. This means it is uncertain if the person is even still alive, and then there is the date of submission..."
"It was added to the bingo book over sixty years ago."
Shikamaru added void of emotion, which earned Lee gasping, "W-Wha-How is that possible!? He looked to be in his mid to late thirties!?"
Shino who was silently listening, finally added himself to the discussion, "If that is the case, then the person you just encountered was within his eighties- no- possibly even early nineties in age."
"T-Th-That cannot be!" Lee argued in shock, while Shikamaru stared at his own feet.
"'There is no such thing as an immortal.' Tch, troublesome."
Reading the information about the man known as Kakuzu, Kakashi closed his book, 'Jiraiya-sama said they were all S ranked missing nins, but these guys are turning out to be the elite of the elite...We can confirm Kisame, Itachi, and now Kakuzu are part of their organisation. Jiraiya-sama said there were nine of them.'
"If what I am reading here is correct...you are all incredibly lucky to be alive. His abilities are completely unknown even to his home village, but upon leaving Taki, he murdered the village elders, and was reported to have gone toe to toe with possibly one of the strongest shinobi in history...the Shodai hokage. To even survive an encounter with Shodai-sama alone is a feet unheard of."
"Shodai hokage...."
Lee muttered, while Shikamaru clenched his hand tightly again, which was starting to become a new habit, "Are all the people in Akatsuki as strong as that man?"
"...Sakura asked me the very same question, but in relation to Itachi. I at first assumed so, but now I do not hold doubt anymore. They are all as strong as Itachi, if not some being even greater in strength. For someone to be leading a group of such powerful shinobi...It honestly scares me just thinking about how strong that person would have to be."
Lee didn't know how to react to Kakashi's grave words, and silently looked back at Itachi's battle, 'Naruto-kun...'
Jiraiya looked down at his bleeding hands that while it appeared bad to him, the minor sting contradicted the severity and deepness of the wound. Putting that amazement behind him, Jiraiya snapped his hands together to form a seal, but paused when Mangetsu's laughter was coming from not far in front of him. Focussing through the mist, he could see the black trace out of Mangetsu form, as the mist partly cleared.
The smiling swordsman was presenting his sword from his side, "Notice anything different?"
Looking at the great blade starting from the hilt, Jiraiya saw nothing amiss. Travelling further down towards the tip however, he noticed the petal like patterns were starting to glow a red hue.
It appeared as if it was leading back to the orb, "When all the petals are fully lit, Ryujin will release its true power. Try to stay alive until that happens." It was so creepy how that sounded like a genuine plead, as Mangetsu disappeared into the mist.
"Kiddo. You understand what is happenin', don't ya?"
"No, I assume you do?"
"Originally the sword was doing the combination of elements for him, resultin' in suiton and doton jutsu turning into that of lava and steam. Now it is the reverse, with him now combining the sword's element with his own, hence why he is announin' the jutsu by their true hybrid element names."
"Switching roles...So by doing so, the jutsu are more stronger."
"Exactly Jiraiya-chan. However what you saw glowing in the swords petals was his blood."
Remembering back to the comparison to the leech, Jiraiya nodded, "Stronger jutsu, more of his physical energy needs to be fed. Because the sword is now building up a supply of physical energy, it means he now has even greater amounts senjutsu chakra being converted."
Mangetsu's amused chuckle echoed around him, but Jiraiya didn't sense any incoming attack, "In other words, he is getting stronger with every hybrid jutsu he performs, but at the cost of more of his life force."
"The chances are very high after that sword's power is unleashed, he will possibly pass out from exhaustion."
"Hmm...you really enjoy living on the edge don't you?"
"Are you addressing the old folks or me?"
"All of your jutsu are effectively a double edged sword. No wonder only so few wielders have used that sword to its potent. It is basically suicide to do so."
Mangetsu chuckled again, "Indeed. "
"You do not even care that you are slowly killing yourself?!"
"To me it's the thrill of battles like this, fights where even one slip up can result in my death. It is breathtaking, it is divine. I would prefer dying in my prime as part of a grand battle than as some old codger on his death bed!"
"You really underestimate the value of life."
"Don't make me laugh! Life has never been so grand to me. Countries on the verge of war, some over territories, some over politics, some even for minerals and resources. Life has never been so impeccable."
"War is nothing to wish for nor welcome you madman!"
Mangetsu's laughter really grinded the sannin's nerves, "So I take it the information you wish to discuss with your old time comrade has some relevance to this?"
"Eh? What gave you that impression? Jumping to conclusions like that won't do you any good."
Jiraiya dived under a sword swinging from behind him, and then clashed his sword against another hit from his side, "Since you are so eager to know, why don't I spice your interest a little."
Jiraiya sensed a presence next to him, and brought around his sword to be parried by a fully reformed Mangetsu, "The Sandaime has returned."
Jiraiya's eyes shot wide open in shock, 'W-What?! Sandaime?! As in...The old man Sarutobi?!'
"What on earth are you talking about?! The Sandaime's soul was eaten by the shinigami?! What do you mean?!"
Jiraiya was greeted to a piranha teeth wide smile, before Mangetsu 'hissed' away back into the mist, "What is there you did not understand, Jiraiya-'sama'?"
Staring into nothing but mist, Jiraiya was nearing the point of pulling his hair out, 'That doesn't make any sense, the Sandaime is dead! His soul was eaten by the shinigami, not even Orochimaru can bring him back!'
"Now is not tha best of times to worry about his words, Jiraiya-chan. Once yer've defeated him, then we can ask him what does he mean." Calming himself, Jiraiya listened to Fukusaku's instructions, as he formed a seal and slammed the ground.
The result was him boxing himself in with a mud wall, with nothing but darkness around him, "We need a way to beat him, but now with that new information...I want to hear what he has to say."
Jiraiya's announcement was rewarded with Fukusaku's sigh, "Ka-chan..."
"...Yes?" Silence was all Jiraiya was met with after that.
Suddenly Shima gasped, "NO WAY JOSE!"
"STOP THIS NOW ITACHI!" Ronan shouted out, digging his hands into his face to desperately try and shield his eyes from witnessing this horror, but the screams travelling down his ears were still succeeding in hurting him. How long had he witnessed his clan being brutally slaughtered now, several hours?
days?
He lost the will to tell himself it was all an illusion after the third hour.
"Remaining time until you shall be released...two hundred and fifteen hours, fifty nine minutes...and fifty nine seconds."
"YOU ARE LYING!"
'THIS CAN'T BE ONLY JUST ONE SECOND! IMPOSSIBLE!'
Feeling a heavy force weigh down on his arms, his hands were torn off his face, permitting his wide eyes to see Itachi slit the throat of a woman before him, and then ditching the kunai into the forehead of another person. Upon blinking, he found himself in another part of the district, and was forced to witness even more of the terrorising catastrophe.
Losing sense of time itself, Ronan dug his finger nails into his scalp at all the yelling. They would not stop screaming, their suffering practically tearing him apart in the process. Seconds felt like minutes, and minutes felt like hours. His mind couldn't even register when Itachi had told him an hour had passed, when to Ronan it was more like a week.
Ronan cracked after he witnessed Itachi setting alight a house with a powerful fireball, hearing the sound of people screaming for their lives within it, "I SAID ENOUGH OF THIS!"
Dashing forward, Ronan tried to land a fist into the ANBU outfit wearing Itachi, but found his fist phased right through him. Desperate to stop this nightmare, Ronan kept trying to land a blow on the Uchiha, but each and every attack just passed through Itachi without a fuss.
During the time Ronan was trying hopelessly to hit the illusion, Itachi had been bringing up an upper cut slowly to connect with Ronan's jaw. Ronan noticed it too late, and upon contact, Ronan suddenly experienced the full force of the blow travel up his jaw, which despite the slow momentum, sent him off his feet to crash on the ground as if he was hit much more harshly than it appeared.
Looking up at the Itachi illusion, Itachi looked down at him dismissively, "Understand Ronan-oniichan. You have no power in the world of Tsukuyomi, I can control the weight, the time, the location, the past, the present, and the future. The one who controls everything is me."
"CUT THE BULLSHIT!" Ronan demanded, pushing himself to his feet to charge again, this time pulling out a kunai.
Itachi closed his eyes dismissively, and unsheathed the katana on the back of his sword. When Ronan was close enough, Itachi casually swung his sword towards Ronan, who brought up his kunai to block. Ronan's eyes shot wide when as the sword slowly descended towards his shoulder, the fine and blood stained steel phased right through his kunai. Using the slowed time to his advantage, he tried to get out of its way, but gasped in shock when he suddenly found himself bound to a great pole by thick and heavy chains.
Ronan's normal sharingan could only stare in dismay as the blade came closer and closer to his shoulder, until he felt his shirt tear, and then experienced an unimaginably painful sting that shot all the way down his left side. Ronan's grunt soon morphed into a blood gurgling scream as the blade slowly travelled several inches down his shoulder, colouring the dark red sky with blood drops that because of the slowed motion, appeared lighter than air.
Ronan's voice broke after what felt like hours of nonstop screaming from the relentless pain. All of a sudden he felt his bindings gone, and he collapsed, gasping desperately for the dry air in this place.
Touching his left shoulder, he found the injury that tortured him for so long was now gone, "If I wish for you to be cut, you will be cut. If I wish for you to be healed, you will be healed. If I wish for you to be bound, you will be bound. Your mind however can only handle so much until it crashes beyond reparability...do you finally choose to accept it, Ronan-oniichan?" Slowly looking up, Ronan discovered the world around him had changed once again, to another place Ronan recognised well.
"Itachi...you sick bastard."
He could never forget this forest, it still was fresh to him from fifteen years ago. The sounds of peoples jutsu's being screamed out, along with the cries of suffering, the waves of murderous intent, and the disgusting odour of death.
Itachi without rush phased from out of the ground to stand before Ronan, "For the next hour, you will witness the night of the Kyuubi's attack that you believed was a tragic coincidence. When I feel your mind show signs of ease even for an instant, I will return you to the Uchiha district. By the time the Tsukuyomi moon above has reached its conclusion...so will you. "
Ronan could barely even recollect when Itachi had said those words that were spoken such a long time ago. From what he was able to put together, this moon Itachi spoke of must have been that great large object in the sky, although it appeared to have a casted shadow within it that looked like Itachi's mangekyou. The moon he was staring at soon was blocked out by one of the great tails of the Kyuubi, forcing him to look down to see the comrades he fought with getting hopelessly slaughtered once again. How many times had he had to behold it now was beyond his comprehension.
The world suddenly span, as Ronan found himself in an empty field, with nothing but the red stained sky and moon to be seen, "Two hundred and thirteen hours, fifty nine minutes, and fifty nine seconds more you have to endure."
Ronan groaned as suddenly he was pulled back into the streets of Konoha, within the Uchiha district. Ronan's head hung, staring at the pavement that he knew was about to be soaked with blood once again. Standing before him was Itachi, who unlike earlier, was his older self with the Akatsuki cloak. Itachi's face showed nothing but coldness in his emotionless sharingan eyes.
While the chaos started again, Ronan still stared at the floor, however, Itachi's eyes widened a fraction in interest when Ronan started to laugh hysterically, "So this is the power of the Tsukuyomi? I thought Amaterasu was unbelievable, but this I fear even worse than those black flames now. " Itachi continued to stare at the crazed Ronan, who still was cackling in hysterics.
Perhaps his mind was starting to break apart under his genjutsu? "You can manipulate everything I see and experience. This really is a world that you have control in with everything."
Raising his head, Itachi met Ronan's glowing mangekyou sharingan, "But making me experience the slaughter of the clan I once could only imagine, and showing me the night of the Kyuubi's attack that has scarred my conscience as well."
Itachi's eyes now partially widened in realisation, as Ronan continued to maniacally laugh, "You think you have been torturing me?! HAHAHA! YOU HAVE BEEN SHOWING ME MY RESOLVE ITACHI!"
The vortex the pair of Uchiha were standing in all this time faded away, however neither Itachi or Ronan had moved. Shikamaru felt a ball of sweat run down the side of his face in expectation, 'Is it over?!'
Kakashi was also showing his anticipation, 'That jutsu of Itachi's was able to cripple me within a second in the real world. They have been standing there for over a minute now...is this because of Ronan's ability?'
His question was halted when Ronan lifelessly crashed on his knees, and fell face first into the dirt, 'Itachi defeated him? I guess even a real Uchiha couldn't fight back against such a frightening jutsu...not even Ronan.'
Sensing something amiss though, Kakashi narrowed his gaze, 'Wait...'
All three then gasped at what they were seeing that Itachi didn't appear aware of, 'I-Itachi's in a-!'
Back down in the centre of the crater, Itachi's eyes were twitching from the pain he was use to receiving from using the mangekyou sharingan, as he stared down at the lifeless Ronan as if reflecting on something.
Without word, Itachi paced himself as he formed seals, "Katon, Goukak-!"
Itachi was forced to stop when a kunai dug straight into his back, the blade going so deep that all that was visible was its hilt. While Itachi coughed out blood, the owner behind him let out a cold chuckle, even though it's tone was partly ruined by furious gasps for air.
It was Ronan, who had his right eye shut tight as if he was experiencing unbelievable amounts of ache.
Coughing out another mouthful of blood that ran down his lower jaw, Itachi tried to look behind him, "You...were able to break out with the mangekyou sharingan. Once you escaped, you casted a genjutsu the moment Tsukuyomi ended, even after first hand experiencing it's effects..."
"H-He-He...You seem to have long forgotten and underestimated the strength- of your own clan. What did you say to me before... oh yes, you shouldn't judge others by their appearances and your preconceptions." Ronan explained darkly in-between his restrained gasps, finally catching his breath at the end.
Itachi let out a low 'Hmmph' to his words thrown back at him, but his mouth formed a semi straight light one could somehow relate to a grin, "It would appear you still do not understand the true meaning to my words." Ronan, along with the spectating Konoha shinobi all bulged their eyes when 'Itachi' poofed out of existence, leaving Ronan hidden within thick smoke.
'W-When did he use kage bunshin?! we were watching him the entire time?!' Shikamaru mused in disbelief, knowing both the others and Ronan were asking the same question. As the smoke cleared, both Ronan and Itachi could now be seen several feet apart.
Cursing, Ronan tried to open his right eye, partially revealing it the real word. It's usual glowing red from the sharingan had dulled, and he found he couldn't keep it open for long. It also appeared his vision from it had worsened, since Itachi was a blurred image to him.
Itachi focussed on the eye, "You have used the mangekyou sharingan far too recklessly. To be given such a great power cannot come without a cost, Ronan-oniichan."
Gritting his teeth both at Itachi still lecturing him, and the stinging sensation, Ronan growled, "Stop talking to me like you know everything, you bastard!" Forcing his eye open in defiance, Ronan suddenly felt a whiplash hit his turned heavy mind, and he fell on both his knees. Itachi continued to stare, "Even though you countered my Tsukuyomi by calling forth the power of the mangekyou, you did not fully avoid it...your mind still has badly suffered."
"I thought...I told you to stop talking like you know everything!"
Forcing himself to stand shakily, Ronan was able to draw a smirk, "You are trying so hard to hide it, but I can see you have suffered a backlash too from that jutsu. Otherwise you would have attacked me just then." Itachi closing his eyes as if to hide their disclosure brought satisfaction to Ronan, even though the soon reopened under their well trained facade.
Bringing up a kunai, Ronan held his stance, "What did you mean?"
When Itachi didn't show any acknowledgement, Ronan clarified, " 'you will witness the night of the Kyuubi's attack that you believed was a tragic coincidence'...What did you mean by that?"
Itachi never said anything, but Ronan could see in those plain eyes signs of contemplation. With a flicker, Ronan tensed, "Now that I look at it more deeply, you never were in Konoha to see the events that unfolded as a result of the Kyuubi's attack. Nor were you there to experience the tension that grew between the clan and Konoha's elders because of it."
"..."
'Tension? what is he talking about?'
"Your position in ANBU was more than enough to satisfy you with Nindaime's decision to make the Uchiha the police force of Konoha, making you neutral that an Uchiha would never be made leader of the village."
"What?" Ronan muttered yet again. Everything Itachi had told him from the start made little sense to him, in the beginning Ronan was being told one thing, now Itachi was muttering out thoughts that said another thing.
It was as if Itachi didn't know which story to follow, or it had been something Itachi had been lying to himself for so long.
Itachi's sudden question pulled Ronan out of his thoughts, "You mean to say with what you already know Ronan-oniichan, you never considered the possibility of the Kyuubi's attack being more than a coincidence?"
"I don't know what crap you are talking about..."
"What you did to Naruto-kun earlier should be more than enough for you to wonder..."
Ronan's eyes slowly rose, "W-W-What are you saying?!"
Itachi still choosing to remain silent only made Ronan's mind wonder further into confusion, "N-N-You mean to...THAT IS IMPOSSIBLE!"
"How can you be so certain?"
"Y-You have no proof! I refuse to believe it! I refuse to accept it!...ONE OF OUR OWN WOULD NEVER-!"
Ronan stopped when his sharingan sensed a wave of chakra hit him, as Itachi's eyes began to rotate rapidly, "Within this genjutsu, where only your mind can hear my voice, and nobody else, I shall explain to you the truth of the Kyuubi's attack. "
'Depending on your response to this Ronan, I will either choose to terminate you...or spare you.'
AN Manga talk:
Mangetsu ~ I was completely caught off guard that the same week I released the chapter discussing his double kekkai genkai, Kishi released the manga chapter revealing the Mizukage had the same thing (Ignore the whole napalm and sword thing, pretty please :P) . Awesome, gives me a way to fit his character in with a canon link. cheers Kishi. :P
Mangekyou Sharingan ~ There are lots of theories out there I am sure everybody is aware of, but I do truly believe the sharingans power and abilities are tied to the bloodlines within the Uchiha clan. Uchiha Shisui is my evidence to that, even though all we know was his dubbed name and known traits. The question being if Kakashi's mangekyou ability is truly that of Obito's, or to do with himself is a mystery. But I am going with my theory this time. Everything Itachi said about Enju and Kamui by the way is also true Japanese mythology (hopefully not misinterpreted by me...kindly correct me if I was gravely mistaken there). The ability itself is my own idea, but I am very certain that if Obito was still alive, the name of the right eyed jutsu would be called Enju.
As always, feedback much appreciated (and may inspire a quick second chapter release :D).