Thanks for all the reviews and favs!
It's kind of a funny coincidence that someone asked about Naruto, given what's about to happen. I know Naruto is being made to look weak so far. However, he does still have the ability to summon that giant frog (Gamma I think...) and his determination. But there is going to be more of him in future chapters so keep your eyes open.
I haven't had time to watch the anime for about a month and Pein is attacking Konoha. I hope I can watch it this weekend. The Rinnegan is amazing!
Disclaimer: Naruto is owned by Kishimoto
Chapter 68 The Deception
Twilight slowly gave way to evening as Itachi calmly sat in a large fir tree overlooking several Ki ninja. He hid his chakra with practiced ease and swallowed soldier pills for his dinner. None of the four teams camped below him knew he was there.
He had been listening to them and from what he could gather Konoha was currently under attack and casualties were high on both sides. Itachi wasn't entirely convinced that was actually the case, however, as the information was coming from a group of people stationed two miles outside the gates, well away from the fighting.
An owl flew noiselessly past him, causing a few of the shinobi to glance in his direction. They didn't see him of course, and soon enough their attention drifted back to their comrades. The evening was full of sounds as crickets and frogs cried out into the darkness and bushes rustled as animals made their way through the forest searching for food or mates.
It was this noise that shinobi often mimicked when trampling through a forest or any terrain for that matter. Therefore, when five more teams of ninja suddenly appeared out of nowhere, the twelve Shinobi already present were understandably alarmed.
Itachi smiled as he activated his Sharingan. When he had originally found the group he had heard them mention that five squads were on their way to join them. The teen quickly realized that if he could take out eight teams it would be immensely helpful to Konoha. So he had propped himself up in a tree and waited.
"Cousin, you can't loose. Don't hold back." Shisui's voice echoed in his head and for the first time Itachi realized how young he sounded. To him, his cousin had always been like an older brother. Bigger, wiser, and much more grown up than himself.
But the truth was that Shisui had been a child, only a little older than Sasuke was now when he had died. And he would never age. Now Itachi was the eldest, but he still found himself desiring to follow Shisui's guidance.
The small chakra powered lights that the shinobi below him were using twinkled like small stars dropped down onto the forest floor. It was a cruel fate as they were quickly snuffed out of existence as Itachi dropped to ground.
In less than a second he had gained the upper hand against thirty shinobi as he quickly called forth the eternal form of his Mangekyou Sharingan and summoned Susanoo. The magnificent skeletal form of a monster stood straight and tall, radiating a red glow and holding a long sword in one hand.
The fist thing Itachi felt from the new eye was power. And what a power it was! Chakra flowed through him with such force that he was left with a feeling that bordered on invincibility. He "knew" he would win the fight, he "knew" no one could ever beat him and he "knew" that no one else in the world - no, the whole of creation- could match him.
Smiling malevolently at the cowering shinobi he silently ordered the summoned creature to fell all of the shinobi in front of him. The other-worldly sword was brought down upon the hapless men and women who screeched out horribly as it cut through them. Their souls ripped from their bodies, they continued to scream as the vision of the eternal void they were being drawn into came into sight. They realized, too late, that they would not be going to heaven, or hell for that matter.
As the last of their dying voices finished echoing in the woods, Itachi made one last check for any "strays" then dropped the jutsu. He was pleased to see that he had suffered no ill effects. His vision was unchanged, his chakra was only slightly less than it had been before the jutsu, and his disease didn't seem to be making an appearance.
As his Sharingan faded back into his normal dark colored eye he took in the sight. Thirty men and women lay dead before him. Some were just teenagers. The rest were adults with the oldest appearing to be in his forties. And all had expressions of abject terror permanently carved into their faces.
"What have I done?" Itachi realized the impact of his new-found power and dropped to his knees. The entire battle had taken roughly thirty seconds, and he was feeling no after-effects. Physically, that is.
The mental toll, however, brought tears to his eyes as he remembered the dead in that valley so long ago. Reaching out he touched the face of a boy who had to be nearly his own age and he couldn't help but wonder what that teen had left behind. It had only taken a few seconds to steal everything away from that boy.
"You understand now, it seems."
Itachi looked up into the ringed eyes of a tall red-haired man.
Pein continued to speak, "You know that pain comes not just from those being killed, but from the killers themselves."
"I don't feel like being lectured by you of all people." Itachi spoke without thinking, only to find himself a moment later face down in the dirt when Pein punched him.
"And I don't feel like putting up with spoiled little noblemen and their 'poor me' complexes. Itachi, the Rinnegan is the parent of the Sharingan, never forget that. Frankly, I expected better of you."
Itachi slowly sat back up, and was surprised to see that Pein was now sitting on the ground in front of him. The lecture, as short as it was, had definitely hurt worse than the large bruise that was now forming on the side of his face.
However, he certainly didn't consider himself a "spoiled nobleman", even if Pein did.
"Konoha is coming under heavy attack." Pein explained tonelessly. "Fugaku's squad is keeping itself busy looking for Madara's spies and everyone else is trying to force back the invaders. The civilians have taken refuge underground and should be safe."
Itachi nodded, "Then I need to return as soon as possible to help find the spies."
Pein made no motion to move as Itachi rose to his feet, "Fugaku is staying high profile, trying to make it easier for Madara's people to find him, but so far he's seen no indication of them. He now thinks they have another target. I agree. The question is, who?"
"Might be me. I can't think of who else it could be. Madara's not the type to go after random people. It would have to be someone he has a grudge against or someone he could get a benefit from for killing them."
"Yeah. That is like him, definitely." Pein finally stood up, his tall frame towering over Itachi, "Don't be afraid to use your powers, but as you do, keep one thought in mind: Why does Madara hold back, and never use this jutsu?"
Itachi took off running, Pein's last words echoing over and over in his mind. The Rain leader was right; Madara had never shown him his Eternal Mangekyou. It was an all-powerful jutsu, guaranteed to win, but the elder Uchiha wasn't using it. There was still a secret hidden in the depths of the Eternal Mangekyou Sharingan that had yet to show itself, and Itachi wondered, as he raced through the forest toward Konoha, if he had perhaps found the one thing Madara was afraid of.
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Approaching the front gate to the village Itachi was horrified to see that the massive structure had not only been blown off its hinges, but was laying about three hundred feet away in the middle of the road, one panel on top of the other.
Strewn around the area were the corpses of both Ki and Konoha shinobi. And there were a lot of them, at least a hundred.
"Itachi, I'm glad you're back." Kabuto jumped down onto the ground in front of him. The white-haired teen's purple tunic and pants were splattered with blood and one sleeve of his shirt was missing.
"What is going on?" Itachi was shocked at what he was seeing. There were fires everywhere, and more corpses could be seen as he and kabuto passed through the gateless hundred-foot fence.
"About three thousand people showed up. Most aren't Shinobi, but came to fight anyway. Apparently..." Kabuto shook is head and took a deep breath before continuing, "Apparently they are here to fight to the death. When they arrived..." Kabuto paused, unable to go on.
Kakashi, however, walked up behind Itachi and finished Kabuto's sentence, "When they showed up it was with the intention to die, and take out as many of us as they could in the process."
"This... Danzou... would never want this..." Itachi was horrified. And the knowledge that the people he had killed were planning to die anyway made him feel very helpless. Like a wheel in a set of cogs he was doomed to turn at the whim of those who had come in before him.
"He would." Kabuto stated sorrowfully. "It is a ninja's duty to live for the mission and die for the mission. Nothing else exists. Remember?"
"Yes... but... this is a mission? Who is left in Ki?" Itachi spoke hesitantly, afraid of what the answer might be.
"Concentrate on finding those spies, Itachi." Kakashi avoided the question, and a bitterly cold chill ran up his spine, forcing him to shiver.
"Fanaticism at it's finest." Itachi whispered after Kabuto and Kakashi had left. "But I still find it hard to believe that this is how Danzou wanted Ki to disappear. He… couldn't have been that insane."
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Tsunade hovered over the patient in front of her, assessing his wounds. The thin, brown-haired man had been stabbed through the abdomen with a broadsword and was fading fast. She waved a medic over, told him the patients condition before moving to the next one.
She was looking for patients that needed advanced care, the ones the other medics couldn't save.
However, something was eating away at her mind, an omission that seemed unusually blatant.
Shizune noticed the woman's uncertainty and rushed to her side, "Would you like to take a break? Get some water or something?"
Tsunade nodded, "Some water. And... I want to know why there are no Ki wounded showing up in the hospital."
Shizune nodded and ran off as the Hokage made her way to the water cooler at the end of the large triage station that had been set up in the hospital's lobby. As she was downing her third cup of water a green-clad ninja with a bowler hair cut trotted up to her and saluted.
"You wanted to know where the Ki wounded are Lady Hokage?" he continued when she nodded, "They're dead."
The woman choked on her water and growled, "Gai, Who ordered them to be killed?"
"You misunderstand. They are committing suicide as soon as they are hit. A few have even exploded."
"Oh." Tsunade closed her eyes as a feeling of helplessness washed over her. It only lasted a couple seconds. She focused instead on the sounds of the patients around her, moaning and crying and the reassurances of the medics as they attempted to console them. Then, in quick succession, as if practiced, four voices near her uttered the nightmarish phrase that echoed through the dreams of every healer, "there's nothing more we can do, he's gone."
"Gai, tell Shizune I'll be on the roof. It's time for me to do something about this."
"Yes ma'am", Gai ran off to find the raven haired assistant as Tsunade made her way quickly to the stairwell.
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The feelings of helplessness that permeated the underground were rampant. Memories of the collapsed tunnels during the coup only a few short years earlier had never been forgotten and people huddled near the exits, ready to flee at the slightest provocation. Others had forced there way past the guards and were making their way to the very bottom of the underground city, hoping that if the upper layers collapsed, perhaps they would be safe.
Chaos was the only way to describe it as nearly a quarter of those who had been ordered to "hide" were now running around panicking. Mikoto, along with several other women from the Uchiha, Hyuuga and a few other clans had been able to heard their families and several civilians away from the havoc while the Shinobi who had been assigned to guard the underground tried to restore order.
The dead quiet and stale air were rather uncomfortable and Sheeta found it difficult to relax. Lying down on a futon that someone had scrounged up for her she rested her head on a round pillow and closed her eyes. Mikoto was sitting next to her speaking softly to Kisa. Hinata was trying her best to be upbeat as she tried to distract some small children by organizing a game of tag in the middle of the large room. Soon the kids were running around laughing.
"Mother?" Sheeta opened up her eyes and looked at her adoptive mother who had just dropped down onto the floor next to her, looking rather haggard, "What's wrong? I mean… besides just us being here… and all that…"
The woman laughed, "I don't think that question leaves anything for me to choose from."
"Oh." Sheeta smiled back, then winced as a sharp pain hit her abdomen. She point at her stomach and spoke in a stern voice, "You kick me again like that and you're spending the next five years standing in a corner." She looked around as about ten other women began laughing. She quickly replied defensively, "Well, it hurt."
"Sweetie," An elderly woman with the white eyes of the Hyuuga said pleasantly, "wait a couple more months. That's when they really start kicking and moving around. That little kick you just got now will seem like nothing."
Sheeta sighed as she rubbed her swollen abdomen, "It figures."
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After checking in with his squad leader (who also happened to be his father,) Itachi made his way to the rooftops and began to look for anyone that might be a spy. Occasionally taking out an enemy, he left most of the fighting to the regular squads, as per Tsunade's orders. He had yet to see a threat big enough to warrant drawing out his enhanced powers, and for that he was glad. But he knew his good fortune (if that's what it could be called) wouldn't last.
The fighting had already been going on for a few hours when the teen had arrived in the village and was now, for all intents and purposes, winding down. It was obvious Ki had not attacked Konoha with the intent to win, but to do damage. Lots of damage. And they had definitely succeeded.
As Itachi jumped from rooftop to rooftop he found entire neighborhoods were now missing or aflame. Fully a third of the city was decimated. The large amount of damage that had been done in a matter of just a few hours was very difficult for the teen to comprehend. Although he had seen it all before, during the coup, and again in the valley in Water country, he had never been able to wrap his head around the image properly.
Reaching up he patted his sightless left eye. Still covered by a patch he had had a sudden urge to rip it off so he could "see" what was going on better. Perhaps his new eye was deceiving him somehow. But he knew even if he could still see out of that eye, the scene before him would be no different.
Looking towards the Hokage tower he remembered that Naruto would be in the basement guarded by four top Shinobi. He silently hoped the boy wouldn't get too lonely. No doubt he would consider himself imprisoned and misbehave. Itachi found himself considering different ways to make it up to his foster-brother, but the only thing that would probably make him happy again would be ramen.
A sudden blast and a bright flash of light caught Itachi's attention and he quickly turned to face the hospital. On top of the large building was, without a doubt, Tsunade, and she was fighting someone. A sick feeling began to setting in the pit of his stomach as he used a transportation jutsu to get closer to the fighting.
Landing on the top of a light pole near the water tower he watched as four men, all with Sharingan's attacked Tsunade. The woman was pretty beaten up, with both arms broken and her pants ripped up revealing long gashes in her legs.
"She should be able to beat an Uchiha." Jiraiya materialized on the pole next to his and held his hands in front of him, ready to jump in a help. "Except for you, Fugaku and of course Madara, she shouldn't be having this much trouble…" His voice disappeared as his eyes opened wide with shock.
Itachi scowled, "All four of them have the Mangekyou Sharingan, Jiraiya. These are the spies we've been looking for. Tsunade doesn't stand a chance." He jumped down to the rooftop as his own eye formed the Mangekyou Sharingan. The eternal form looked no different from his regular form, and as the powerful chakra flowed once again through his body he felt the same irrepressible magnificence that had overwhelmed him earlier.
"Itachi Uchiha." One of the men grinned widely as he ran a hand through his green dye-streaked pony-tail. "I was hoping I'd get to see you. My name is Kyou."
"Good afternoon Kyou." Itachi replied politely, "I take it your target is Tsunade. Seems rather childish of Madara to target Hashirama's granddaughter."
"True. I can't argue that, but he did want to make a statement and this seemed the best way to get his point across. Personally, I'd rather fight you or Fugaku."
The other three men were forced to halt their attack when Jiraiya jumped down to join his old friend, "Neither of us can go up against multiple Mangekyou Sharingans alone, but maybe if we join forces we can take these guys out."
"And what makes you think I can't handle this?" Even though Tsunade was grinning, there was an evil twinkle in her eyes.
"You're enjoying this, aren't you?" Jiraiya laughed.
"Haven't had a workout like this since you and I fought Orochimaru a few months ago. Besides, these guys were just playing with me. If they wanted me dead, I would have been dead five seconds after they showed up."
"I realize that." Jiraiya remarked. "Even though their orders were to kill you, these guys were just using you draw out the prey they really wanted to hunt."
Jiraiya and Tsunade turned to look at Itachi who was facing off with Kyou. Fugaku, Kakashi and the rest of the squad had shown up and were surrounding the rooftop. The sudden sounds of people below them indicated that the hospital was being quickly evacuated.
"I want to see your ultimate move." Kyou grinned.
"'Ultimate move'? What is this, TV?" Itachi seemed to remember several samurai in the movies his mother and Sheeta would watch making reference to such a thing, but he had never heard anyone use the term in real life. Itachi took the opportunity to look closer at his opponent. He was perhaps only one or two years older than himself, a couple inches taller and had the same folds of skin below his eyes. It was almost like looking at his older brother and a sudden reluctance to fight overcame him.
"Itachi be careful." Shisui's voice warned, "He's your cousin, just as I am, but he is also here to kill you."
"Do we really have to fight?" Itachi asked disheartened.
That threw the man off and he looked at the teen, expecting a trap or other bizarre happening to occur. "Why would you ask that? We come here to kill Tsunade and you just want to let us go?"
"Yes." Itachi said firmly, his resolve kicking in full force, "Return to your clan and tell them you failed and I, Itachi Uchiha, let you return alive and well."
"Do you know who I am?" Kyou asked curiously as his gaze wandered from Itachi to Fugaku.
"You look like me… sort of…" Itachi's voice disappeared and he thought hard for a moment, "Are you related to Sora somehow? His grandson or?"
"Sora is my great-grandfather. Fugaku's father had a half-sister who was born in Mist. She had several children, including my mother. Therefore, you and I are cousins."
"That's complicated." Itachi muttered. He had never enjoyed following family trees the way others in the clan did. He found it easier to just call everyone his cousin and not worry about the details. "Family shouldn't hurt each other."
Kyou crossed him arms across his chest and sighed, "You are exactly the way Sasuke described you." He glanced at his companions who were facing Tsunade and Jiraiya, yet not moving.
"We need to back off everyone, including you, Kyou." A man in his mid-twenties, the group leader by the sounds of it, spoke up, "We have failed. Itachi has gained the Eternal Mangekyou Sharingan and I for one don't want to go up against him."
Kyou scowled, "But…"
"There are lots of other people to fight, Kyou. Now let's get out of here."
The four ninja used transportation jutsus to disappear, leaving the roof of the hospital quiet.
"Gai!" Tsunade yelled, then jumped when the green-clad man appeared two feet away from her. "Cease the evacuation. Tell everyone to get back in the hospital."
"Right away, ma'am!" Gai saluted and disappeared.
Fugaku jumped down to stand next to the two Sannin as Itachi joined them. The rest of the squad dispersed under new orders to assist in the removal of the Ki forces.
"That was too nice, Itachi. I hope we don't regret it." Jiraiya was obviously pissed off, but his grin was full of relief at having to not fight.
"That was… that boy looked a lot like you, Itachi." Fugaku's words were the last thing Itachi expected to hear and he stared at his father in surprise. He had fully expected that he would, at the very least, get yelled at. "The relationship was obvious."
The conversation was interrupted when Gai appeared again, "Lady Tsunade, bad news! I just heard it from one of the shinobi that was guarding Naruto! She's nearly dead!"
"What!" All four shinobi yelled at the same time.
Tsunade pressed on, "What do you mean by 'was guarding'?"
Gai took a step back and began to sweat nervously, "Three men, in black and red cloaks entered the hidden room he was being kept in and kidnapped him. Apparently they were too powerful and the guards weren't able to put up a fight."
"Describe them." Itachi stated firmly. A cold, sick dread was crushing him and he watched helplessly as his father growled menacingly and stalked off, cursing everyone – including himself – for letting this happen.
"Umm… well… she said one was a puppet master, one had ropes woven in and out of his body, and the third one kept talking about sacrifices and Jason or something like that…"
"Jashin." Itachi corrected half-heartedly. "Sasori, Kakuzu, and the new guy Hidan."
"So the hit on Fugaku was a story created so they could kill me, but that was a façade created to draw everyone to the hospital so Akatsuki could sneak in and kidnap my grandson." Tsunade was justifiably angry and she showed it by punching the brick fence that was supposed to keep people from falling off the room. The four-foot high structure collapsed in a pile of rubble, with about three quarters of it falling to the ground several stories below.
"Itachi…" Fugaku finally calmed down enough to address his son, "we have to get Naruto back. There's no time to spare."
"Definitely." Jiraiya continued, "You're the only one who can do it. If you leave now…"
"It will make no difference if I leave now or two months from now." Itachi stated firmly.
"How can you say that?" Tsunade said angrily.
"I say that because it's true. The last demon to be sealed is the nine-tails. Before they can even touch him they have to get the rest of the tailed beasts. Therefore, he must be kept alive and somewhat healthy until that day comes."
Tsunade opened and closed her mouth a couple times before speaking, "So… he's safe… for now."
"Yes. I will go after him, but first I will do some intelligence gathering. The first thing you should do, if I may suggest Lady Tsunade, is to notify the other villages about what has happened here. Your attempted assassination and Naruto's capture."
"Of course." Tsunade agreed. An explosion diverted the group's attention back to the battle below them, "And we still have Ki to deal with here. Fugaku, why don't you go work off some of that frustration."
"Best suggestion I've heard all day." Fugaku replied grumpily and disappeared.
Jiraiya smirked, despite himself, "It should take Fugaku another hour to wipe out the rest of Ki."
Itachi nodded. It was an exaggeration, of course. If Fugaku really did it that way Konoha wouldn't exist afterward. He walked over the edge of the roof and glanced down. "Is that… Konan?"
"Yes." Tsunade sighed, "She was kind enough to stick around and help us. If she's still here, then I guess she must not have had anything to do with Naruto's kidnapping."
"I met Pein in the woods." Itachi added.
"He offered to take down squads outside the village. Something about his techniques being too powerful." Jiraiya watched his old student work her paper jutsu and take down two Ki Shinobi who were targeting the returning medics and patients as they headed back into the building.
"That they are." Itachi whispered. "Once, I saw him destroy an entire village. There was nothing left afterward. Truly, I wonder if anyone on Earth could beat him."
'And I wonder,' Itachi said to himself, 'how many have already tried.'
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Next week, the battle winds down and Naruto finds himself in a lot of trouble.
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