Chapter Three: Man Named Itachi
Oh, how I knew this was a mistake. The biggest mistake I had possibly made in my life. The sun was gleaming and everything seemed vibrant. The blues seemed bluer, the sky seemed lighter and the chirping of the birds seemed merrier. Or at least, that what it seemed like to me. I was happy and possibly delighted as we entered the main house. There were files stacked in my hand and what a good day it was indeed. Just made ANBU and a good partner for the squad I was assigned to. I could not contain the bright smile that made my whole face radiate with a golden and accomplished glow. Everyone who recognized me seemed to catch this new and contagious joy. Everyone around me seemed merry unlike the norm where everyone went about the daily routine, with nothing out of the ordinary.
As usual, I stepped inside the house only to hear my name being called, two little hands grasping my shirt and a young face pressing into my stomach. "Hey, hey, big brother! Can we play?" Sasuke said chirping just as joyously and carefree as the birds and I like it. I found it to be an absolutely splendid time. I felt no stress, and if only for a moment there was no obligation to anyone. I nodded to my younger brother and watched him jump in excitement and was soon as I stepped into the house I was out with him. My contagious smile turned into a contagious laugh. My happiness was overflowing and radiating out of me. I didn't try to control or make it seem less emanate. My younger brother and I finally made it to the place with both liked. The training grounds we had been using since I had entered the academy. How much has changed since then, but at least this hadn't.
I was trying to keep my mind on this momentary happiness; this illusion. I trained with my younger brother to his content. I did not want to think about what would come a few nights from now, what would await me and I would be the only one to know. What could possibly happen in those few nights? Nothing I assumed. Everything would go exactly according to plan. It always did, like clockwork.
Soon I became a captain in the ANBU or more officially known as Division Chief. "Captain, Uchiha Itachi. First Officer, Sato Kaeda. First Cadet, Watanabe Taiyo. Second Cadet, Ito Youhei. Third Cadet, Matsuo Isako." The announcer shouted to the auditorium as everyone was separated into five groups corresponding with their rank. Once the list was read the captains went off to their designated rooms and the rest of the company went off to read the listed placed in front of the room. One by one all the cadets filled into my room and the minutes ticked by as we waited for the officer. It was me sitting in the room in silence with three other men, all older than me by a few years. I looked around as the cadets made small talk with each other.
Sooner or later the ticking of the clock became annoying to me. I stood and everyone went silent. "Has anyone seem her or know her?" I asked. I only received the image of the three simultaneous shaking their heads. I sighed and stepped out of the room to see if she was lost or something. I wanted to get the meeting and greeting over with and go home. It was silly that they started placing the ANBU into teams. Of course we had no power over it. I stopped a cadet that was passing by. I pulled the list of names out of my pocket. "Have you seen Sato Kaeda anywhere?" I asked.
"Sato Kaeda… I think she's the girl pointing out to the cadets where to go." The person timidly responded.
"Show me." I demanded.
I was led to a very, very busy and crowded intersection. In the center was a girl about my age surrounded by men and women, first year ANBU not sure where to go. "Down that hall and take third hall to your right." More shouting and murmuring. "Down that hall, fifth door to your right, you're very welcome." I pushed my way through the people. The cadets started to back off until I got to her. There was a man there with his room number. "Umm… I think that one is in…"
"Where's room 152?" Her curious brown eyes looked from the man she was helping to me. She gulped down and I quickly realized that she was from my graduating class. She let out a nervous chuckle. Immediately we knew that there would be conflict between us.
Bitter silence filled the area. No one dared to even breath, the tension created unwanted fear in the weak minded. Yet no one there was weak minded. Everyone in the mist of the battle was a strong willed shinobi ready for anything at the drop of the hat. Yet these two rogue shinobi created some problems with that. It was shocking how easily Kisame and Itachi managed to infiltrate the village which only led one to believe their strength was immeasurable. The white haired shinobi, with hair that gave no regards for gravity and normality, spoke the deadliest of the two shinobi. "What business does a Rogue Ninja like you have in this village now?" They believed that he had severed all his ties to the village, or at least it seemed like he had.
Bright red tomeo turned to the white haired man with the same eyes. "Kakashi Hatake…" Itachi identified him.
"This is surprising. No wonder you copied my technique…" Kisame said realizing that Kakashi had sharingan as well. "So there really is a fellow besides Itachi who has that eye. Your name is Kakashi the Copy Ninja, wasn't it?"
"I'm the one who was surprised." The clone defending Asuma said. "I saw strange men in the tea house and wondered who they were… There they were Itachi Uchiha and the Mystery Man of Hidden Mist Village, Kisame Hoshigaki."
The sharkman sneered in amusement. "Well, well… You know even my name. It's an honor."
Kakashi glared keep a close eye on that man. "I see. You're one of the "Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist". That huge sword is the "Shark Skin", right?"
Kisame laughed and lifted his sword a bit. "I heard that kid Zabuza had it out with you?"
Kakashi reached back and grabbed a metal item. "Yeah…" He whispered. He had a kunai prepared behind his back.
Kisame pointed the sword at the clone. "You are someone who's well worth lopping off…" The fishman commented as if killing was a sport.
I will have none of that. "Stop it, Kisame." Itachi snapped with a calm, even tone but enough pressure to crack anyone. "If you were to go at it with that man, it won't end without cost. And if you spend too much time, another shinobi would come running."
"But…" the shark man said.
"Don't lose sight of the goal… You didn't come here to get injured!" Itachi replied sharply.
"Let me hear that "goal" then…" Kakashi said before the clone popped only leaving the real man behind Itachi.
There was silence as everyone waited for the response to that question. All the shinobi could have sworn it was the younger brother, he wanted Sasuke or at least to come in and kill him. It was his one flaw during the Uchiha massacre, it could be complete with just getting rid of Sasuke, but that wasn't the case. None of the shinobi were expecting the truth, and it was shocking. "Just came to find something we're looking for." The young man answered vaguely.
"Something you're looking for?" Kakashi questioned. He lifted a kunai. "The thing you're looking for… What is it?"
Itachi was silent for a moment. "I'm different from Kisame, I won't take time." They glared at each other and Itachi moved his hand out of his sleeve revealing 3 shuriken. Kakashi jumped away something else rather than a simply shuriken attack. Kakashi made hand seals and once he placed his feet onto the water a barrier of water shot up and blocked the water strikes at him. Kurenai brought her arm up to shield herself from the water that splashed onto her, Itachi didn't even flinch.
His eye couldn't even follow my movements. That shuriken was a decoy at least he caught on and made it just in time, which means that he is at least aware of his situation. "That's what I expected from you, Kakashi. Your power of analytical eye…" the clone finished and stabbed Kakshi in the back. "…is great. Kurenai had a look of awe on her face as to how he could possibly be so fast.
"A shadow clone?" She questioned. "His jutsu speed is too fast!" She said before the Kakashi clone turned into water. The real Kakashi handed up a kunai and Kurenai took it, "Nice, Kakashi."
Yet as soon as she took it Kakashi jumped out of the water and grabbed her. "Get down, Kurenai!" He shouted before the Itachi clone exploded. Asume shouted their names in worry and jumped into the water that had risen from the explosion to check if they were ok. Once the explosion had run its course the water cascaded down as if it was rain. The three shinobi tried to relax for a moment before the fighting began once more. Kurenai and Asuma had their eyes locked on the enemy but Kakashi had his back facing them. His body cringed and the movement made it noticeable that fighting with sharingan took a toll on the user's body. "Don't lower your guard…" Kakashi said turning back around to face Itachi. "He's the guy who became a division chief of ANBU Black Ops at 13 years old…"
"To think he's this powerful…" Asuma whispered in shock as they got into their positions.
Kakashi kept a glare in his eyes at the teen. "No, you haven't seen this guy's strength yet."
"I didn't expect that you who are not a member of the Uchiha clan would have mastered the Sharingan to that extent…" Itachi began calmly. Kakashi's abilities to him changed nothing. His skills compared to that of an Uchiha were very minimal. "But your body isn't the Uchiha clan body that goes with the eye."
"That's right." Kakashi admitted, beads of sweat forming in his brow. "As a result, my stamina doesn't last."
Itachi closed his eyes. "There's a reason why the Uchiha Clan was deemed the strongest and feared…" The wind began to blow faster than before and with more force. "I'll demonstrate the true strength of Sharingan, the Kekkei Genkai."
His eye lids slowly began to rise. His eyes seemed more calm and pupils a bit larger than before. Immediately Kakashi noticed and nearly jumped out of his skin in fear. "I-It can't be!" He shouted. "This is bad! Both of you! Don't look at his eyes!" Both Asuma and Kurenai shut their eyes tightly and Kakashi shut his regular eye. "Both of you, absolutely do not open your eyes… It's all over now if your eyes meet." They were fearful, sweat running down the sides of their faces. They knew that the Uchiha had very powerful visual genjutsu. Kurenai gulped hard from the ball of fear that had formed in her throat. "Only people with Sharingan can have a go with that technique."
Itachi softly spoke. "Indeed with Sharingan, you can resist this Mangekyo Sharingan to a certain extent." That phrase was different and new. None of the shinobi before had heard of that before. "However…" At that point, his eyes were completely open. "This special Visual Jutsu of Sharingan, Genjutsu: Tsukuyomi, Nightmare Realm is unbreakable. The only person who can bring me down is someone using the same Kekkei Genkai, a sharingan user…" Kakashi thought of the younger Uchiha brother before Tsukuyomi completely took him over and placed him under the genjutsu. The sky swirled into the sun before the sun turned black, and the sky turned red and the clouds swirled back out and became black as well. He was put into an inverse world. It as a world completely controlled by Itachi and he had no say in it. The clouds started passing them quickly and Kakashi found himself shackled onto perpendicular pieces of wood, unable to move. He looked in front of him and saw Itachi, holding a katana. "I wonder how much you can take without the Kekkei Genkai?"
He let the katana fall in front of him and he stabbed Itachi with it. Kakashi winced in pain. He pulled the katana out and Kakashi let out a snarl of pain. Kakashi closed his sharingan eye and tried to take a deep breath so he could catch his breath and try to elevate the pain. He opened his eyes again and looked down to find that his wound had disappeared. He looked forward and found two Itachis standing before him. "In the world of Tsukuyomi…" One of them stabbed Kakashi with the katana again. "Both space and time…" the second one stabbed him as well. "and mass… I control them all." They kept on stabbing him. "For the next 72 hours I'll stab you continually with swords." This continued for a long long time. "It's best not to be optimistic and think it's an illusion. This pain is not an illusion. This pain is absolutely no different from reality. How long will your spirit sustain?"
Hours seemed to have passed and Kakashi found himself in the middle of the river from before still shakeled down and surrounded by hundreds… maybe even thousands of Itachis all holding a katana of their own ready to stab him. Kakashi was spent, too tired to keep on going, it was too painful and there was not nearly enough time for his body to recover from it. He looked right at Itachi. "There's 71 hours, 59 minutes and 59 seconds left." As all the swords began to pierce Kakashi he was unable to take it anymore and fell out of the genjutsu barely alive. He was panting and still very much in pain. Heavy bags had formed under his eyes and he could barely keep his eyes open.
Kakashi tried hard to keep his eyes on Itachi but his whole body collapsed. "Are you ok Kakashi? Are you saying we should keep our eyes closed still?" Kurenai asked.
"N-Not yet…" Kakashi tired to speak, keeping himself up with his hands and knees.
"What happened?" Asuma questioned. "Just as that guy finished speaking you suddenly fell over!"
Kakashi pushed himself up to knell as he realized the power of the illusion he was just in and how easily Itachi could have taken his life. Kisame appeared next to Itachi. "Whoa… to take that Jutsu without cuasing his spirit to collapse, but Itachi… it's also dangerous for you to overuse those eyes." It was evident that is eyes were twitching in pain a bit and made it evident that he let Kakashi survive so he didn't do damage to himself.
"The thing you are looking for…" Kakashi asked, still weak. "is it Sasuke?"
Itachi's eyes began to relax. "No… the legacy of the Fourth Hokage…" Everyone gasped; it suddenly made their motive more vague than it was before. Itachi pushed his bangs out of his face. So their target was not the brother, Sasuke, but the young blonde, the fox boy, Uzumaku Naruto.
"The Nine-Tailed Fox inside Naruto is your target?" Kakashi asked, trying to confirm that they were after the power of the jinchuuriki. "I know that you two aren't the only ones on the move… The name or your organization is Akatsumi, right?"
This made everyone there jump. Itachi flew into action. "Kisame! We'll take Kakashi, erase the other two." Kisame rushed forward towards the two with their eyes closed, as he was about to slice them in two he was met by the strongest kick in the village. Severe Leaf Hurricanes! The loveable man in the green jumpsuit had made his way into the scene.
Kisame was sent flying back to Itachi's side, drag marks that were made in the water vanished and Kisame whipped his head to look at the man. "Who are you?" he asked.
With a brilliant smirk he answered, "The Leaf's noble, blue fierce animal… Mighty Guy!" He answered he said with his eyes open unlike the rest.
Kisame sneered and stood up straight. "What a sight… shouldn't you be called a strange beast?" He asked.
"Don't underestimate that man…" Itachi quickly snapped. Before a move could be made, Kakashi distracted everyone. He passed out and started sinking into the water below them. Guy bent down and picked him up.
From his knelt position he turned to Itachi and asked, "Did you do this to Kakashi?" He asked.
"Don't look at Itachi's eyes, Guy! You'll be caught up in his jutsu!" Asuma advised.
"I know that already!" Guy snapped back. "In order to fight Kakashi, I devised ways to battle the sharingan. Open your eyes, both of you! When you battle with sharingan, it's not a problem if you don't look at those eyes! You work around it by gaining insight into his movements by looking constantly at his feet."
Kurenai opened her eyes and stared at the feet of the two men. "Now that you mention it you're probably right but…"
"You're the only one who can do that." Asuma finished also opening his eyes.
Guy stood up, Kakashi dangling off of his shoulder. "That's true…" Guy admitted. "There's a knack to reading all of your opponents' movements only by his feet. But I can't teach it to you in this emergency. Just get used it right now!"
"What should we do?" Asuma asked.
"Kurenai, you get Kakashi to the medical team." He handed Kakashi over to Kurenai who had to manage his weight. "Asuma, you are my back-up!" He said. Asuma nodded agreeingly. "And until the reinforcements of the ANBU Black Ops I arrange for arrive, I will hang out with you guys." Guy said, getting into his fighting stance. His enterance smirk was gone and was now replaced with a look of determination and seriousness.
Kisame smirked instead. "Insteresting… that's some nerve…" He said nearly applauding Guy for what he had done. Kisame got ready to fight.
"Kisame… stop." Itachi barked his order. "We didn't come to have a war." He said. "It's too bad, but no more of this nonsense. We're leaving." He said.
There was a moment of silence between them. An awkward moment in which Kisame clearly let off the vibes of how pissed he was at Itachi. Yet he couldn't say anything since Itachi was the leader between the two. Kisame let his sword fall behind him, his hand still gripping the long handle tightly. "Too bad, I was finally feeling motivated. It can't be helped". The two of them quickly disappeared into the air.