Chapter 5: Illusions

I led the team through the forest so I could detect enemies with my sensory abilities. At least, that was the idea. Naruto, in his impatience, continually ran ahead of me, ignoring Sakura's numerous objections. For the most part, this did not matter. Then, I suddenly felt someone very familiar up ahead.

"Naruto, stop!" I shouted. "We're going to tun into someone soon."

Naruto glanced back at me. "Huh?"

We convened on the branch of a tree, though Naruto still appeared antsy. "The Akatsuki?" said Kakashi. I nodded. "Do you know who it is?"

"It's Itachi," I said.

Sakura and Naruto gasped, and Chiyo said, "Are you sure?"

"Yes. I could never forget his chakra. Plus, I can feel him through this." I held up my wrist to display my bracelet. From her expression, I knew Chiyo recognized it. "We are bonded, and that bond cannot be broken unless both of us will it."

"What should we do?" said Sakura. "Do we have to fight him?"

"Probably." I turned to Kakashi. "Still, I would like to speak to him first if that's alright. He will treat me like any other opponent if we're fighting, but I can get him to hold off for a bit if we talk first. I might learn something important that way too."

"You realize he could pull you into a genjutsu," said Kakashi. "Even if he does not wish to harm you, there are other ways to incapacitate you."

"Yes, I know. I hope to convince him not to do it. I think he will treat it like a ceasefire and not pull something like that - if he agrees to talk at all. Either way, I think it's worth the risk."

"Very well. We'll give you a few minutes."

"Thank you. I'll go on ahead with Kiku. The rest of you, stay behind me but remain on your guard. Is that alright with you, Naruto?"

"Fine," said Naruto. "Just make it quick. We have to find Gaara!"

"Yes, I know. The sooner we deal with Itachi, the sooner we find Gaara. Come on!" We continued moving through the trees, and my sense of Itachi grew stronger. Then I saw him. He stood on the ground, waiting for us. I landed several feet in front of him. My teammates stopped even further back. "Itachi." I looked right into his Sharingan eyes.

"Katsumi," Itachi said.

My mind grew fuzzy, and when the feeling faded, I could no longer sense my team. "Genjutsu?"

"We may speak privately. We have all the time we need."

I nodded. "Right. Thanks." It still did not enjoy the feeling of him in my mind, but his reasons made sense.

"You need to leave."

I frowned. "I can't leave. I have to rescue Gaara. You're the one who needs to leave."

"I cannot let you pass."

"Yes, I'm aware of that. We're on opposite sides and must fight. Why bother talking to me about it?"

"Go home, Katsumi. You teammates can finish the mission."

I lifted my eyebrows in surprise. "What?" His emotions were carefully concealed, as always, giving me no clue as to his meaning.

"They will understand if you back down, but if you need it, I can give you a reason to not fight without harming you."

I swallowed hard. Now I understood. "No. I-I can't."

"You have nothing to gain by venturing further. He does not want you to see him like this."

"You mean Deidara... He knows?"

"He did not know at the time, but he does now."

I dipped my head. "I see." At least I did not have that conversation with him.

"Leave now, Katsumi. There is no reason to confront him. You know what you will find. Spare yourself the pain. Conserve the good memories you had with him. Focus on those instead of tainting them. Let him go now... for your own good."

I took in a shaky breath. I would be lying if I said I did not feel tempted at all to follow his advice. I knew something terrible waited for me if I continued forward, but that did not mean I should run away. "And what about him, Itachi? If I look after myself, who will look after him? Who will try to save him from this path? Who will show him there is a better way? Who else will be there for him? I cannot do what you ask of me, Itachi. I cannot abandon Deidara."

I finally felt a hint of emotion from Itachi: surprise. "You still care for him even knowing what he has done?"

"Of course I do. It's as I've been trying to tell you all along. Love is stronger than hate. It is stronger than my emotions. I choose love because I believe it is good. I will prove to you that love is superior by saving Deidara."

Itachi's emotions settled down. "You will not be saving anyone. Do you realize the position you will put Deidara in? You will force him into making a hard decision that may risk his life."

"Yes, I know. If he makes the right choice and others try to kill him for it - whether the Akatsuki or the Leaf Village - I will do everything in my power to protect him. If he goes down, I will go down with him, and at least we will be together. And if I cause him turmoil before he gets to that point... good. I don't want it to be easy for him to continue the way he always has. I want him to feel discomfort and pain. I want him to see exactly how much harm he has caused me. People change when they can no longer stand the way things are. I need to push him to that point. I need him to face the truth... and accept it. Only then can he make the right choice. And I will be there to support him."

Itachi stared at me long and hard, his emotions undetectable. "He will resist. He does not understand unconditional love. He will think you hate him and act accordingly. But you know how he really feels."

I swallowed hard. "Right. So, you'll let me go?"

"I will leave you to the fate you choose. From now on, we are enemies." My mind swirled again, and I realized the genjutsu had been broken.

"Okay, we're good," I said to my teammates.

"Didn't you want to talk to him?" said Sakura.

"I already did."

"How is that possible?" said Chiyo.

"Itachi uses Mangekyo Sharingan, which is a much stronger visual jutsu than an ordinary Sharingan," said Kakashi. "If you receive his visual jutsu, then you will experience his genjutsu in a second. In other words, even though it may seem like a second to others, the person who receives the jutsu may feel it for hours or days. In my case, I roamed around in his jutsu for three days and lost consciousness for more than a week."

"But for me, it was only a matter of minutes," I said. "Clearly, he can control it. Or there are different variations of the jutsu."

"Impressive, Kakashi," said Itachi. "It seems you didn't suffer my Tsukiyomi, Nightmare Realm, in vain."

"That is not all that I know," said Kakashi. "After you used the visual jutsu, you were quite exhausted and you ended the battle immediately and tried to leave. In addition to using up quite a lot of chakra, it seems it comes with some risk to your 'eye' as well, Itachi."

"From just one match, you have analyzed it quite well."

"Hey, Itachi. Your eyesight... How much has it weakened?" Kakashi raised his forehead protector to reveal his own Sharingan. Itachi did not respond, but I felt his surprise. "Everyone, do not look directly into his eyes. We must anticipate his moves by looking at his body instead."

We quickly realized Naruto was caught in a genjutsu when he ran off and shot his Rasengan at nothing. Thankfully, Sakura and Chiyo were able to quickly get him out of it by pouring chakra into him (though it probably felt much longer to Naruto). Kakashi told us to stay alert and rushed towards Itachi.

Itachi used a fire technique towards Kakashi, which he avoided. Then he tried it on the rest of us. We were all able to narrowly dodge the attack. Kakashi attempted to hit Itachi with his Lightning Cutter, but Itachi avoided it by jumping into the air. Naruto knocked Itachi down with his Rasengan, but it turned out to be a shadow clone. Then Kakashi created a thick mist that filled the area.

"A Hidden Mist jutsu?" said Chiyo.

"Don't worry!" said Sakura. "It's one of Kakashi's jutsu."

"Then more importantly, the mist is getting thicker!" said Naruto.

"Don't avert your attention away from his presence!"

"R-Right!"

"The Hidden Mist jutsu It's indeed an effective jutsu for making it difficult to cast a genjutsu," said Itachi, "but it's meaningless against me, who possesses the Sharingan. Could we please stop this childish game of hide and seek, Kakashi?"

"I suppose we could," said Kakashi.

"Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!"

I moved back to avoid the blast. It was really hard to see in this mist, but at least I had my senses to guide me. As I reached out to inspect my surroundings, I felt the chakra of a newcomer. Obito. I froze. What was he doing here? Tobi was not an official part of the Akatsuki, as far as I knew, and he had no reason to aid Itachi. So, he must have been there for me. I hesitated for a moment before following the sense of his chakra like a scent trail.

"Hey, where are you going?" said Kiku, scrambling after me.

"There's someone here," I said. I found Obito casually leaning against a tree, though I hand to stand close to him to see him. "Tobi," I said, "what are you doing here?"

Obito did not answer. Instead, I saw a flash of red from the eye hole in his mask. Then I felt the familiar fuzzy feeling. Whoops. I had forgotten to be wary of his Sharingan. I found myself in an unfamiliar place. Trees surrounded me, and I could not see anyone.

"Katsumi!"

I jumped back at the excited voice in front of me. "Deidara?"

He grinned at me. "Of course! Who else would it be? Everyone else is waiting, come on!"

"Huh? Who's waiting?"

Deidara grabbed my hand and pulled me along to a clearing. I spotted a large pond, and next to the pond were all my friends, both from the Leaf Village and the Akatsuki. They in normal attire, laughing and playing together.

"See?" said Deidara. "Everyone is getting along, just like you wanted."

I did feel an internal pull to the scene, but I quickly brushed it off. "It's not real. You're not real."

"Who says I'm not real?" Deidara suddenly pushed me up against a tree and brought his face close to mine. "What do you feel?"

My heart sped up at his closeness. This certainly looked like Deidara and smelled like him. If I let myself get lost in the moment, I could even feel many of the same emotions that I felt when I was with him. Yet, if I stayed here too long, the truth would become apparent. "You feel like a dream. A very realistic dream, but a dream nonetheless. And no matter how real it seems, a dream will always make me want more."

Frowning, Deidara moved even closer. "This can be enough."

"No, it's not real." I pushed Deidara away forcefully before looking up at the sky. "Obito! I know you can hear me! Stop this now!"

"Why should I?" said a deep voice behind me. "I thought this was what you wanted. It could be like this every day. This is the only way you can be with Deidara."

I thought about my dreams of Deidara where I did not want to wake up. In those moments, I wanted to choose the illusion over reality. But that was no way to live. I turned around and smiled at Obito. "Thank you for reminding me of the truth. No matter how nice an illusion feels, it is still an illusion. I would rather choose the real world full of pain than illusionary happiness. I can't really be with Deidara here, just my image of him. I love him for who he is, not who I picture him to be. I can't save him if I live my life in a dream. So, please, release me so I can go to him."

"You want to return... and fight Itachi?"

"Yes."

"You will eventually have to fight Deidara as well."

"I know."

"Why would you choose that if you can be happy here?"

"I will not live a lie. Besides, it is through struggle and conflict that find meaning and form deep bonds. Please, let me go back."

Obito stared at me long and hard. "Fine, but you will regret it." Then the world around me dissolved.

I found myself back in the forest with the mist. I took a minute to orient myself and figure out what was going on. My teammates were still battling Itachi. I ran to the scene, thinking of ways I could help. Suddenly, I felt a huge swell of chakra that felt like it belonged to Naruto. Fortunately, it was not the Nine Tails' chakra.

Naruto formed a giant ball that looked like Rasengan. Then he hurled it right at Itachi. I prepared for impact, but I felt nothing. What? Itachi did not dodge the attack. It was a direct hit. So... why did I not feel his pain? In fact, I could no longer feel him or his chakra at all.

"Wh-What's this?" said Naruto. We all gathered around the body... which was decidedly not Itachi.

"While we were fighting, I felt like something wasn't right," said Kakashi.

"What do you mean?" said Sakura.

"It's one of their jutsu or something." Chiyo moved closer to the man and bent down, frowning. "Do you know him?"

"Yes," said Chiyo. "It's Yura. He's a Jonin from our village."

"A Sand ninja," said Sakura. "What does this mean?"

"I don't know either, but he went missing right around the time Gaara was taken."

"Could it be that he was a spy for the Akatsuki?" said Kakashi.

"I don't believe it. He served on the council for four years."

"Was he disguised with the Transformation Jutsu?" suggested Sakura.

"No," said Kakashi. "This is a jutsu of a much greater level. The fireball jutsu was created by the Uchiha Clan. and they use it a lot by preference. And that jutsu was the real thing."

"Plus, his chakra felt like Itachi," I said. "That is some incredible jutsu." Looking at the dead man and knowing Itachi had used him like that made me uneasy. I also hated the thought that it would only get harder from here. But I remembered what I told Obito. I had to face reality, no matter how difficult. That was the only way I would win in the end.

Deidara

Deidara tried his best to ignore his anxiety and focus on the jutsu. Eventually, the holograms of Itachi and Kisame reappeared. "The jutsu wore off, huh?" said Pain.

"However, we were able to buy quite a bit of time," said Itachi.

"This should be enough. Well done, Itachi, Kisame."

"That's easy to say," said Sasori. "The two who became sacrifices and gave up their bodies for your jutsu were both my subordinates. You should be the one thanking me. With my Impersonation Jutsu, they were both able to become members of the Akatsuki, although only for a short time."

"Did they leave?" Deidara asked.

"No," said Itachi. "They are still coming, but it is enough."

Deidara clenched his teeth in frustration. "Even Katsumi? You were supposed to get her to back off!"

"She is intent on finding you. She is not going to let this go easily."

Hidan snickered. "Ha ha! She's going to make you pay!"

Deidara hoped this was not the case, but he did not blame her if she wanted revenge. "Couldn't you knock her out or something?!"

"I did what I had to do," said Itachi. "I am not responsible for taking care of your emotions. I warned you about what would happen, and you acted against my advice. Do not blame me for your mistakes."

"Enough of this," said Pain. "Deidara, remember where your loyalties lie."

"Yeah, I know," Deidara muttered. He knew exactly what was most important to him. The trouble was what he was going to do about it.

"If you cannot take care of Katsumi when she arrives, I will gladly do so," said Sasori.

The very idea horrified Deidara. "No need. She is my problem to deal with." At least it would take Katsumi a couple more days to reach him. That gave him enough time to devise a brilliant plan to get out of this tricky situation.