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beta: Icescim
The Philosophy of Self
Chapter Fifteen
"Aomaru-sama," said the cat Denka, slipping into the darkened room and making an elegant leg… as much as a cat can bow. "You have a visitor."
Itachi wished he could access his Sharingan, because the room was too dark for him to see well. He did, however catch the milky green gleam of light reflecting off the retina of cat, somewhere in the darkness. Denka stepped back, and Itachi took the cue.
"Aomaru-sama, may you hunt well and plenty," he said politely. A dry huffing noise was his response. A cat laughing.
A large blue tortoiseshell tomcat paced forward deliberately from the darkness into the light of the hallway, his nose working. His copper eyes were clouded—he was blind. There were scars peppering the tom's age-greyed body. "I have, and I will," he rumbled in a low, gravelly voice.
Itachi knelt down to the cat's level as Aomaru came closer.
"Give me your hand," the tomcat said. He hunkered down into a cat-loaf, paws under him, belly against the ground, haunches up. Itachi put his hand on the ground in front of Aomaru's nose, palm up. The ancient cat slowly and thoroughly scented Itachi's fingers, palm, and the inside of his wrist. Then he licked the fragile skin there twice.
"I recognize your scent," Aomaru said. "You've been here before."
"Yes," Itachi said. "I am Uchiha Itachi. I used to come here on errands."
"Yes. And why have you come back, Uchiha-san?" Aomaru asked.
"I am trying to find Uchiha Madara," Itachi said. The cat hissed.
"That one!" he spat. "What do you want with him?"
"He has become a problem I can no longer ignore," Itachi told him. "I mean to… neutralize the threat."
"You are hunting him," Aomaru said. "Good. When he killed Izuna, I tried to end him."
"He blinded you," Itachi realized. It was the logical thing for Madara to do. Madara held his own eyes to be nearly sacred. They were, after all, his power. To destroy the eyesight of his enemies was the worst thing he could conceive of doing, aside from outright killing them.
"Yes," the tomcat growled. "But not before I got my claws into him."
"I was hoping you could help me find him," Itachi said.
The cat's head canted to the side. "I could scent him, yes. But only a direction, not a location."
"That is enough," Itachi replied. "And it would be welcome."
"Yes. Pick me up, young Uchiha," Aomaru commanded. Neko-baa-sama had taught Itachi long ago how to pick a cat up in a dignified way. Itachi now used the knowledge to scoop the old tomcat up. "Take me outside. It will give me the clearest scent."
Denka walked alongside them, an honor-guard of sorts, Itachi thought. As they approached the door to the outside, Aomaru's nose lifted. By the time they were outside, he was already hard at work, testing the air.
Itachi waited patiently.
Finally, Aomaru let out a long sigh. Itachi felt the cat's sides expand and deflate against his hands. "That way," the tom said, whiskers pricking forward as he pointed his nose with assurance. Itachi made a mental note of the direction.
"Thank you, Aomaru-sama," Itachi said with gratitude.
"May you hunt well and plenty," the tomcat said, relishing the words.
Sakura leapt to her feet when Itachi reentered the room, preceded by the cat Denka.
"Report," Kakashi said.
"Aomaru-sama was able to scent out a direction for us to take," Itachi replied. "But Madara is often on the move. We should hurry."
That said, he turned to Neko-baa and bowed lowly. "Thank you for everything, Neko-baa-sama. We appreciate your help."
The old woman stood and shuffled forward to take Itachi's hands in hers. "I am glad that you came back, Itachi-kun. May you hunt well and plenty."
"Our thanks."
Sakura kicked Naruto so that he scrambled to his feet as Kakashi stepped forward to offer his own thanks to the Cat Sage. Then Sakura bowed, and Naruto followed suite. And then Kakashi nodded to Itachi. "Where now?"
"Follow me," he said. They did.
A hard day's travel saw them across the border into Kusa. Though Team Seven all had at least half their chakra reserves still left, they stopped to camp for the night—Itachi did not have the benefit of being able to draw on his chakra to speed his steps and bolster flagging endurance. He needed rest much sooner than Kakashi, Naruto, and Sakura. Besides, they were heading into enemy territory, toward a very powerful very hostile enemy. They didn't want to arrive there at anything but high capacity, and even though they could have augmented their energy, chakra, and strength with the ANBU Stimpacks they carried, starting a fight already on stimulants was a good recipe for failure.
Itachi and Kakashi picked the spot for the camp, which was ostensibly in the most defensible, hidden location in the immediate area. They also determined a watch rotation for the night; Sakura was pleased when she pulled the earlier shift. It meant she'd get a more-or-less full-night's sleep. She'd stand watch now, when she wasn't terribly tired, and then later she'd be relieved by whoever was next, where-upon she would get to sleep until they had to move out.
They ate some rations, and then Sakura took up her post. Her shift was uneventful. When Kakashi touched her shoulder, ready to take up his watch, she was very much ready for her bedroll. She fell asleep easily.
She woke up easily, too, since she is a ninja and, when on missions, ninja either learn to wake at the slightest disturbance or they die. So when Naruto shouted and something exploded nearby, Sakura was awake, out of her bedroll, and clutching a kunai before her eyes even open all the way.
There were… things… attacking their camp. They gleamed smooth white in the moonlight, misshapen, almost-human forms that were lashing long limbs and throwing Doton jutsu at the dozens of clones that Naruto had created. They looked sort of familiar, but Sakura thought that there were pieces missing this time… pieces like the black right half and the giant flytrap jaws.
"Zetsu!" Itachi hissed, from behind Sakura, then he raised his voice and shouted to the others, "He is weak against Katon and Fuuton!"
As if he had heard Itachi (though more likely, it was merely because he was particularly fond of the jutsu), Naruto hauled back with a fist full of wind and roared: "RASENGAN!"
Naruto punched the jutsu through one of the white creatures—one of the… what had Itachi called them?... Zetsus. The force of the wind-based technique blew its body apart. Pieces of white flesh splattered the ground and trees, and Naruto moved on to the next.
Sakura had the unfortunate situation of only knowing one Katon jutsu—and that a weak, campfire-starter Katon. At best, it would make these Zetsus blink.
However. Sakura had learned Tsunade's brawler-style fighting. She could out-arm-wrestle anyone in Konoha, perhaps excepting her teacher. She was not without recourse.
She cracked her knuckles. Right.
One of the Zetsu creatures took notice of her and whipped out an arm. Spreading chakra through her hand and arm, she caught the appendage. It didn't feel like skin and flesh. It felt inhumanly smooth, like… like sanded wood.
It reacted to her punches in the same way that trees did. Which was to say, it exploded in a shower of slivers.
It was surprising, but thoroughly satisfying. Shifting her grip to the ragged end of Zetsu's used-to-be-an-arm, she used it to throw Zetsu in a tight arc over her head and into the ground. A heavy cloud of dust flew up.
She smirked.
And then five new smooth, white, wood-arms burst from the cloud.
It was aggravating to be in a fight and not be able to fight. Granted, even though Itachi's chakra was sealed he still had his taijutsu and weapons-fighting, so he was far from helpless. But he was an Uchiha, with the clan's characteristic strength in Katon jutsu. He had a whole arsenal of jutsu that, had he been able to use them, would have taken care of White Zetsu's clones as quick as a flash. Instead, he was relegated to snatching up discarded kunai and using that less efficient method to take down the enemy.
Annoying. Still effective, but annoying. As someone who had prided himself on being quick and efficient, having to take the slower and more dangerous route (he was, after all, having to get in close to the clones, thereby putting himself within striking distance) was irksome.
Still, he was holding his own fairly well. He had a few superficial injuries from not being able to dodge fast enough (chakra being necessary for the shunshin no jutsu as well), but he'd taken down two White Zetsu clones, and they had stayed down. If this group of them was all that there was—if the real Zetsu, wherever he was, didn't send in reinforcements—then he just might get through this, chakra or no.
He saw Sakura take off a clone's head out of the corner of his eye. She followed it up with two devastating punches to the remaining body, causing it to shatter into a thousand pieces.
Naruto was perfectly fine, having the support of his own cadre of clones. His Rasengan worked well against the White Zetsus. The progress of his fight could be tracked by his raised voice.
He couldn't check on Kakashi, as a Doton from a Zetsu clone swept toward him. Itachi escaped the jutsu by retreating into the tree canopy. It wasn't the best of moves, considering Zetsu's affinity with plants, but it at least got him out of the way of the tsunami of earth and rock bearing down on him. Taking up one of his pilfered kunai, Itachi flipped to the ground and ran at his opponent. He didn't have the chakra-based speed that the others were using, but he was fast in his own right.
It was about then that he heard Sakura gasp. There was something about the sound, something about the tone of her sharp inhalation, that demanded his attention. He broke off his attack and, turning on the ball of one foot, he arrowed toward her.
She was stumbling back from the tall, malevolent figure of Uchiha Madara, her eyes wide with shock.
For Itachi, the next few moments seemed to move at half speed. His feet pounded the earth as he sprinted with every last bit of speed he possessed toward the two. Sakura's arms rose into a defensive position, a brace of senbon held between the fingers of one hand. From Itachi's left, Kakashi had noticed his student's predicament and was making his own dash to her side. He would get there before Itachi, having the advantage of his chakra.
A Raikiri was beginning to bloom to life within one of Kakashi's palms, bright crackling tendrils of lightning unfolding against the Copy Nin's fingers.
As soon as Kakashi reached Madara, time seemed to resume normal pace. The Raikiri punched through Madara's chest, blasting half of his abdomen away. The pieces rained down in charred, white chunks…
Itachi was at Sakura's side, clutching his kunai so tightly his knuckles ached, before it registered that the body that had just a moment ago appeared to be Uchiha Madara was now like any other dead Zetsu clone on the battlefield.
Breathing heavily with adrenalin and anger, Itachi looked at Kakashi sharply.
"You are going to take this chakra seal off of me immediately," he told the other shinobi in a hard, brittle tone.
'Who knows what might have happened if that had really been Madara?' went unspoken. Kakashi stared back at Itachi, as Sakura blinked at the two of them. Then:
"What the hell?" she demanded.
"Zetsu has the unique ability to simulate another person's chakra signature as well as their appearance," Itachi said, still holding Kakashi's gaze with his own. "The clones are weak, but have every appearance of being the original.
"There are still White Zetsu clones out there," Itachi added, pointedly. "You might hurry and release the seal."
"Alright," Kakashi said.
Sakura was thankful that Itachi had come running along with Kakashi when they thought she was facing down Madara. It spoke well of him that he was willing to risk his life by dashing into what would have been an extremely dangerous, definitely lethal encounter while still sealed from using his chakra. It probably would have been tantamount to suicide, and he had done it to protect her. She realized that, and she was thankful.
This didn't mean she didn't nearly choke on her own spit when Kakashi agreed to unseal Itachi.
She wasn't sure if she was ready to be in the company of an Uchiha Itachi who had been returned to his full lethality. She would admit that she was beginning to trust him, but it was still an intimidating thought.
Still, she didn't voice any protest when Itachi pulled back his sleeves to reveal the twin Fuuinjutsu arrays inked onto his inner wrists, nor when Kakashi brought his hands together into a handseal. What she did do was keep back the two Zetsu clones that came upon them as they stood immobile.
Just as she eliminated the last, Kakashi finished the unsealing. She turned as a tide of chakra rose up behind her, as if it were stretching. The close-eyed, relaxed expression on Itachi's face suggested that he was, indeed, stretching his chakra like a muscle.
"Ah," he said, in the merest of exhalations. The pressure of his chakra receded. His eyes opened, and Sakura froze as the near-black irises slowly bled to the crimson of the Sharingan.