Chapter 27: Project Zero!

"Itachi Uchiha."

I swung around to face the newest voice and found the rest of my team standing a few feet away from me. Everyone seemed to be standing behind Megumi-sensei who was glaring up at the oldest Uchiha.

The sharks had subsided and all eyes were locked between Megumi-sensei and Itachi, the tension beginning to rise. I was still shaking from the vision and realized halfway through my shivers that I had been trapped in some sort of short Genjutsu. I had let my emotions get the better of me and instead of taking a breath and thinking, I had panicked.

"We're here to take you in, Uchiha." Samui called, stepping forward.

"Good luck with that." Karin snickered.

"But we'll take whatever we can get." Hideki followed. "Whether that be one of your teammates or not."

Their commands were met with silence and Itachi stared down at all of them, his eyes unreadable. It struck me how similar he was to Sasuke, not just in the looks but in the overall attitude department as well. Finally, after what felt like an eternity, something within Itachi's cape moved and there was a clicking sound as three buttons on his cape came undone and one of his hands slid out, dangling over the edge.

"Then come and get them." Itachi said, his voice even.

It only took a brief second for his words to sink in and a second more to get someone, namely our sensei's to move toward him. All three of them moved at the exact same time, their expressions hard. Karin moved forward to defend but Itachi shook his head and she stopped. Kisame, on the other hand, hurled his sword toward our sensei's. It went slicing through the air and was going to hit all three of them because they had only one objective in mind, taking down Itachi.

Tenten moved even faster and pulled a scroll out of her weapons pouch, slicing the sticker with her finger and as the scroll opened, she bit her finger before slamming it onto the paper. There was a big cloud of dust that appeared before an iron chain shot out from the cloud, catching Kisame's blade before it could touch our sensei's. Tenten groaned from the strain of it all, the chain tight in her hands.

At the same time, our sensei's reached Itachi and were attacking with Taijutsu, which he dodged expertly. They went on like that for a few minutes until Itachi caught Megumi-sensei's leg before it could strike him, and threw her toward Baki, who caught her, but stumbled back. Guy moved past both of them, leaping into the air.

"Dynamic Entry!" He shouted enthusiastically. Itachi looked up at the attack and as Guy's leg swung down, it seemed to hit Itachi dead-on. Karin barely made it out of the way in time and when she landed a few feet away from the scuffle, I shot toward her, shooting a look at Kankuro who nodded.

Karin turned to meet my gaze, but it was too late. She had been more focused on the now clearing dust from Guy's attack that she didn't see me coming and I managed to hit her right along the jawline. Kankuro pulled out a thick scroll from his pocket and ripped the seal off of it.

A confident smirk found its way onto his lips as he opened the scroll. "I've been waiting to use this one."

The moment the scroll opened completely, Kankuro made quick hand signs and slammed his palm onto the paper, producing smoke right before something big darted out. It shot forward like a speeding bullet and when it appeared fully, my eyes widened. It was similar to the Crow in design, dressed in the same colored rags, except this one looked like a prototype puppet. It had a round belly and it looked like it served one sole purpose, to contain. It positioned itself in front of a still airborne Karin, it's belly flapping open.

"Karin!" Itachi called, his voice firm.

"Stupid girl." Kisame growled.

Itachi threw something attached to a kunai toward the puppet while Kisame shot forward. As he ran, he grabbed the hilt of his sword and pulled. Tenten slid forward and cried out as she struggled to pull the sword free from his grip and as he dragged her along.

"Tenten!" Neji called after her, but it was Omoi who ran after her, bringing down his sword to slice the chains. He caught Tenten as she stumbled back and Kisame swung his sword around and I jumped out of the way before it could catch me.

At the same moment, the sailing kunai landed inside the darkness of Kankuro's puppet and after a second, I realized what was attached to the end of it. A paper bomb and it exploded, ripping Kankuro's puppet to nothing but wooden clumps just as Kisame made it just in time to shield Karin from the blast.

Gaara stepped forward, his eyes dark as he watched Kisame land a few feet away from the blast just as Itachi appeared in a swarm of crows that sent shivers down my spine. But, we weren't done yet. The pile of broken wood dissolved into a smoke cloud and Kisame arched an eyebrow.

"Substitution, ehh?" He chuckled. "Smart."

"Not smart enough." Itachi said, his eyes darting to the side, to the real puppet that was coming toward him.

"Amaterasu!" Something in his eyes changed and suddenly black flames appeared, shooting toward the prototype puppet, entrapping it in flames.

"No!" Kankuro growled.

"So close." Temari said.

Gaara lifted a hand and the ground beneath our feet began to vibrate.

"We need one of them." Samui growled, drawing her tantō.

"Working on it." Megumi-sensei grunted, shooting forward with Baki at her side.

Itachi began making hand signs and the water began to rumble beneath us, matching the rumbling Gaara was causing on the ground. I bit my bottom lip, drawing blood as I forced my Kekkei Genkai to form the Sharingan and I quickly matched Itachi's hand signs.

"Water Style! Water Fang Bullet!" A mass of spiraling, drill-like water rose beside us and they shot toward each other, colliding.

"She has a Sharingan too, Itachi." Kisame said.

"It's a damn joke is what it is." Karin grumbled, pushing away from Itachi. "Just kill the stupid wrench, Itachi."

I began to see his Sharingan shift again and was feeling a little light-headed when Megumi-sensei's voice shot out.

"Don't look into his eyes!" She screamed.

I looked away, feeling a cold sweat shoot across the back of my neck. I was sure that whatever was lying in Itachi's eyes I had barely missed.

"Wh-why not?" Kyoske grumbled.

"It's his Mangekyō Sharingan." Baki explained. "With it he can cast out even stronger Genjutsu, similar to what he tried on Miyuki earlier."

"And you can get caught in it just by looking into his eyes." Megumi added.

"So how are we supposed to fight him now?" Tenten asked.

"The mission still stands." Samui grumbled.

"There's more of us compared to the three of them." Karui growled. "We can win this even if we can't look him in the eyes."

"It's still tricky." Neji said.

"Exactly." Hideki said. "We have a better chance at using long range attacks."

"Those flames aren't going out." Kankuro growled, eyeing his prototype puppet, while the rest of us glanced at it. He was right. The black flames were still going strong, but they didn't spread, they just continued to singe through his puppet.

"Because they're not ordinary flames." Karin snickered. "The Amaterasu's flames are inextinguishable."

"So, basically you're not getting your toy back." Kyoske said to Kankuro who glared at him.

"Shut the hell up." Kankuro snapped.

Kyoske held up his hands. "Don't get pushy with me."

"Shut up." Gaara grumbled, a vein pulsing in his forehead as he lifted his hands. The dark edge in his voice won over and the vibrating beneath our feet stopped as well. I hadn't noticed the cork in his gourd was gone and a hazy, layer of sand floated just at the gourd's mouth and suddenly, a whole bunch flew out and formed a clawed hand that shot toward the Akatsuki members.

Kisame sliced through the hand, dispelling it, but not ending it.

"He's a Jinchūriki." Itachi said.

"The one from the Sand." Karin noted.

"Easy boy…we'll come for you soon enough." Kisame growled.

The sand didn't touch the water's surface but pushed back against Kisame's sword, sending the ninja back a bit.

Itachi sucked in a breath. "Fire Style! Phoenix Flower Jutsu!"

He exhaled several fire balls, all of them ranging in size and sent out in scattered directions. Gaara blocked what he could with his sand, but it wasn't enough to catch all of them. The rest that went past his sand shield, we all managed to dodge but not before a familiar sizzling sound caught my ears and what followed didn't give me time to shout a warning. Explosions rang out from the fireballs and we all scattered like insects, darting into the deep forest, shielding ourselves from the aftermath.

I landed a few yards away from the clearing, building chakra in my feet so that I hung up upside down on a branch. I was still shaking from Itachi's Genjutsu and now there was a distant pain building in my head from my still activated Kekkei Genkai. But I forced myself to work through the pain and told myself that as long as it didn't get worse, I'd be fine. I needed to focus, tune into my surroundings. But it was silent, the forest still, just as still as it had been before Karin and Kisame had appeared.

"Obanji." It was a breathy voice, alluring almost. But, it made me feel unsettled inside. I was about to turn when I caught sight of the black and red cloud covered robe beside me and suddenly the voice clicked.

I stopped myself from meeting his face and he chuckled, one of his hands reaching out to wrap around my neck and give it a squeeze. I swallowed and gasped at the pressure on his fingertips. He was standing right behind me and I could feel his eyes burning holes at the top of my head. I was too scared to move, too scared to think even. I was frozen again, and just like I had been surrounded by the sea of cawing crows, completely at his mercy.

"Now I remember you." Itachi said.

"Itachi!" It was Karin's voice and suddenly there she was, landing a few branches in front of me, her eyes hard.

"You're Orochimaru's pet aren't you?" Itachi continued.

"Not anymore." I growled.

"But you don't deny that you once were." Itachi countered, making me flinch.

"We have to go." Karin called again, sounding wary.

"In a moment." Itachi called out to her. "Obanji…that's your clan isn't it?"

I didn't answer but my silence spoke for itself.

"I remember your clan."

I flinched.

"And I remember you."

I couldn't remember Itachi having a place in my life and even though my memories were scattered and cloudy, I was sure I would remember someone like him. I knew that shortly after he had murdered his clan, Itachi had sought refuge, as most rogue ninja did in my village but his stay had been cut short when Akane caught word of what he had had done a day into his stay. She had banished him from our lands and he had left willingly. But, that had been years ago and I was sure during that time, I had been with Orochimaru.

"If you're going to kill me, just get it over with already." I managed.

"No, I can't kill you." Itachi said, his hand sliding away from my neck, leaving behind a trail of Goosebumps.

I arched an eyebrow as Karin shifted ahead, seeming uneasy. I realized then that I needed to put distance between him and I. I needed the space to think of an even better plan, preferably an escape.

"Wh-why?" I asked.

"Because your Creator made that impossible." Itachi finished.

"Itachi." Karin said, her voice sounding more like a plea now. I glanced her way and registered the worry knitting her brow together, the frantic look in her eye as she looked around.

"Karin—" I moved then, jumping away from Itachi and to the branches across from the two rogue ninja.

Itachi didn't move but Karin reached into her cloak and pulled out a kunai, her eyes hard as they took me in. Any sign of her nervousness faded to the background now as she looked at me.

"What are you talking about?" I breathed.

Itachi turned to me and I almost met his gaze when I remembered what Megumi-sensei had said about them. This made him laugh and his chuckle infuriated me.

"You don't know?"

I almost glared at him.

"No, she doesn't know the half of it." Karin said. "Itachi, let's go."

"Obanji…" Itachi let my surname drift off into the space between us and it felt like it was some sort of acquired taste and not just a name.

"Tell me what you know!" I demanded.

"There's nothing to tell." Karin growled. "If you don't know then that's how it's supposed to be!"

"Karin." Itachi snapped, his voice hard like a knife. Karin flinched at the edge in it and I watched as her shoulders slumped. He turned his head to face me again, but I kept my eyes trained just below his nose.

"You know more than you're letting on." Itachi called out to me.

"Humor me then." I said.

Another chuckle and this time, Itachi shifted slightly.

"Why'd you do it?" I asked, choosing a different route. If he wanted to draw out all that he knew, I'd hit him right where it hurt. I'd ask the difficult questions. My question was met with silence and it took everything in me to try and stop my smirk from spreading across my lips.

"Do what?" He asked.

"Why'd you let him live?" I asked.

Longer silence and Karin stepped forward.

"Little brat…" She hissed under her breath.

I ignored her and instead waited for Itachi to answer just as the distant aches in my eye became even harsher. I groaned, lifting a hand to cover my Sharingan eye.

"He wasn't worth me killing." Itachi said, making my eyes widen. I could imagine a small Sasuke, cowering before his big brother, tears glistening down his face as Itachi told him what he was worth. It broke my heart and I was speechless.

"We need to go." Karin said to Itachi before jumping to his side. "Now."

She stressed the last word, seeming just as urgent as she looked at him, sweat sliding down the side of her face.

"No!" I shouted at them. "Tell me."

"He doesn't have to tell you anything!" Karin snapped as Itachi righted himself on his tree branch.

"I know that you're a product of Project Zero." He said.

I tried to hide my surprise. I remembered Samui saying something about that during our Rain mission. She had mentioned how if I didn't know what it was, there was a reason but now, there was Itachi Uchiha, a rogue shinobi from Konoha, talking about it.

"And I know that you don't know what that is but that it feels like you do, like it's just on the tip of your tongue." Itachi continued.

A shiver shot down my spine as I realized how true he was. My memory was fuzzy but that didn't stop the small pang of familiarity from growing inside of me.

"Until next time, Obanji." Itachi said and when I looked up, breaking Megumi-sensei's command to avoid his eyes, they were both gone just as an explosion sounded from somewhere behind me. The leaves around my head rustled as a powerful blast of wind and heat knocked into me from behind. I groaned, struggling to hold my ground as the powerful winds subsided but not before I caught sight of the shower of black feathers floating down from the sky.

I looked up, following the array of bird feathers as they floated only to see a Crow nestled at the very top of a tall tree. I stared up at it, noting how shiny and long it's feathers were before my eyes landed on its bright red Sharingan eye. My stomach tightened and as I opened my mouth to let out a breath, call out, I wasn't sure what, but the moment my mouth opened, the bird shifted. Suddenly, the treetop was empty.

I sucked in what felt like a hollow and shaky breath, my head reeling as I bent over, my hands on my knees. I felt overwhelmed and tired but more than that I needed answers. It was no longer about Orochimaru and putting the blame on all he had done to me. I had never had the desire to know anything before. I had been more focused on putting it all behind me but now there could be no more running away. Now, I needed to know everything about my past, everything everyone around me seemed to know and I only knew one person who would give me a straight answer.