Chapter 9

Ide was already familiar with the name Itachi Uchiha and his actions. Now Ide was presented with a chance to confront the man who'd destroyed his clan and left him an orphan. He could seek vengeance, he had to avenge those he'd lost but at the same time, he was afraid. After learning the name from Lady Tsunade Ide, he extensively researched Itachi and found a monster.

By the time he was Ide's age, Itachi had achieved the rank of captain of the Anbu black ops. He'd pursued, captured, and killed some of the most dangerous criminals of his era not to mention he also managed to kill a clan made up of some of the most powerful ninjas in the hidden leaf. Itachi Uchiha was a genius amongst geniuses and Ide wasn't sure if he had what it took to face him.

"Well…" The ninja with the weapon wrapped in bandages pressed the indecisive Chunin. "Are you coming or not?" Ide remained still and silent for a moment before finally taking a step forward. Despite his fears, he understood he may never have a better chance than now to face Itachi.

"Good choice, you can call me Kisame by the way." The massive ninja said with a smirk as Ide approached him. Now that he could get an up-close look at this he saw that his skin was stark white and he wore the headband of the Hidden Mist Village with a line carved through it horizontally.

Ide didn't need to see the marked headband to assume this man was a criminal, it was easy enough to guess based on the company he kept, but the state of his headband confirmed it. Regardless, Ide follows Kisame further into the forest. The two ninjas moved in silence, dashing branch to branch through the tree until they came across a slow-moving stream that over years had managed to carve a deep river basin through the forest like a scar.

Ide landed on the stone beach while Kisame landed a few paces behind him. Across the stream from them, sitting on a large tree root that'd been left exposed by erosion, was a man dressed in black robes with long dark hair and glowing red eyes.

The two surviving Uchiha locked Sharingan and Ide instinctively reached for his sword while Itachi remained motionless. Before Ide could unsheath his blade Kisame put a hand on his shoulder to stop him. "Not yet." The shark man said with a smirk.

Ide, being at a numbers disadvantage decided to go along with Kisame's request and released his grip on his weapon as Itachi stood up. Slowly the cloaked ninja made his way to Ide, walking across the water as if it were solid.

"Your eyes.." Itachi spoke, his voice was deep and chilling. "You've developed them well." He commented as he walked right up to his fellow clan member, now standing less than a meter away. "Who are you?"

Ide didn't answer. He kept his eyes on Itachi's, trying to keep his emotion below the surface but Ide's eyes told Itachi exactly how he was feeling.

"You're Sasuke's age? Maybe a year older? Where did you come from?" Itachi continued to ask questions that would go unanswered as he studied Ide. While his face never expressed any impatience, it was clear he was after information and wasn't going to let Ide's silence keep him from it. "I understand why you're unwilling to answer me, but I'm afraid I don't need your cooperation to get my answers." As he said this, Itachi's eyes began transforming. His began spinning in his eyes before converging and morphing into a shape like a three-pointed shuriken.

Ide, seeing this transformation of Itachi's sharingan immediately activated his own Mangekyou to protect himself from whatever Itachi's next move would've been but Itachi was taken back by this development. Itachi's eyes widened, and he leaped backward to distance himself from Ide.

Kisame quickly reached for his weapon after Itachi's retreat but he stopped as his partner held up a hand in his direction. "Kisame." Itachi spoke as he and Ide kept their eyes locked on one another. "I need to take care of this myself." Kisame immediately understood and put his hand down before he leaped up to a nearby tree branch and faded away into the leaves.

"So you two have chosen a path of hatred." Itachi acknowledged as his eyes narrowed on Ide. "You destroyed the person you loved most for the sake of power." Itachi who throughout the entire exchange had kept a calm demeanor let just a shred of disappointment enter his words and the audacity of that made Ide shake.

"You dare lecture me on hatred!" Ide roared pulling his sword from his sheathe and pointing his sword across the stream at Itachi. "What I'VE destroyed! You destroyed EVERYTHING!" Ide put two fingers up to his lips and spat a massive fireball at the stream.

The flames and cool water colliding generated a huge steam cloud between the two Uchiha. Itachi just stood motionless, staring at the plume of white vapor when suddenly three kunai tore through the fog. Itachi skill fully ducked beneath the flying blades, folding himself backwards like a limbo player as the kunai flew harmlessly passed him.

When the fog cleared Ide had vanished from the other side of the stream. Ide quickly emerged from the ground behind Itachi, pulling himself up halfway out of the dirt before slashing his sword at Itachi's legs.

Itachi easily picked up on this attack and simply leaped up into the air and out of the way of the sweeping blade. Itachi landed on top of the stream, standing still on top of the slow-moving water his Sharingan glowing back at Ide as he pulled the rest of his body out of the ground.

"You should've known that a diversion like that wouldn't work on someone with a Sharingan." Itachi lectured. "Eyes like yours but your skill as a ninja is not quite as developed. I should destroy you before eyes like that fall into the wrong hands." Itachi's right eye opened wider than before. "Amaterasu!"

A plume of black flames erupted out in front of Itachi and began quickly spreading further outwards. Thinking fast Ide performed a series of hand signs before slamming both palms down on the ground. "Earth-Release! Stone Wall!" A wall of rock rose from the ground to shield Ide from the black fire.

This wall would prove to be less than a speed bump for these black flames as the rock crumbled away and was consumed like it was wood. Ide seeing this quickly jumped back away from his failing defense but he was quickly running out of room to retreat as once they'd consumed the stone wall the black flames were now creeping forward faster than Ide could evade.

With very few options left Ide activated his Mangekyou. "Omoikane!" Ide called out as his left eye opened wide, the veins in his eye throbbing as he did. This not only stopped the Flames dead in their tracks but forced them to change direction and they began burning towards Itachi.

'He reflected my Jutsu. So that's the power of his Mangekyou.' Itachi thought as he deactivated the black flames before they could reach him. Itachi looked back at Ide who was paused, panting after the use of his eyes, and he noticed the left Mangekyou had reverted to the standard Sharingan. 'Interesting…'

Having taken a second to recover, Ide was ready to go back on the offensive. He picked up one of the Kunai he'd thrown before as he rushed Itachi. With a Kunai in his right hand and his sword in his left Ide began a flurry of jabs and slices with his two blades but Itachi managed to keep himself one step out of reach of either blade.

While Itachi's evasive skill was impressive, just like in his sparing match with Rock Lee thanks to Ide's Sharingan the gap in the two combatant's movement skills was steadily shrinking. Eventually one of Ide's jabs from his Kunai was able to land, slicing Itachi in the side of his stomach.

Itachi quickly went to grab for his wound to stop the bleeding but this provided an opportunity for Ide to deliver an upward slice with enough force for him to slide a few meters past Itachi as the mass murderer's head rolled off his shoulders.

"Hah! Hah! Hah!" Ide panted intensely, not moving. He'd done it, he'd avenged his clan or so he believed. When he turned around to inspect his work there wasn't a body.

Ide's Sharingan quickly picked up on something as he turned to his left he saw an unscathed Itachi holding two fingers up in front of his lips. "Fireball Jutsu!" Itachi called out as he spat up a boulder-sized orb of red-hot flames.

With the cooldown on his Mangekyou still in effect, Ide had no way to protect himself other than crossing his arms out to protect his face. This was nothing like the flames Ide would generate, burning much hotter and faster, evaporating the stream water on contact and consuming the river bed.

The fireball dug a circular crater in the stream two meters deep and left a burned and bruised Ide at the bottom of this pit. Burns decorated his arms and the parts of his face he hadn't managed to shield, his blue jacket had been rendered tattered and blackened.

Ide lay motionless on the ground for a few seconds, his whole body in agony and he felt defeated mentally. "You put me under a genjutsu?... That shouldn't be possible." Ide muttered in disbelief, still lying at the bottom of the crater. Itachi remained silent as to how he bypassed the Sharingan's resistance to genjutsu but it was yet another illustration of the difference in skill between the two.

Ide eventually managed to rise back to his feet and climb out of the crater. Every instinct he had was telling him to run and hide but he ignored them, partially because he knew he wouldn't be able to outrun Itachi but more so than that Ide was fighting for more than himself. While Ide didn't appreciate his clan's ideation towards power and the endless pursuit of strength he still loved his family and the friends he had in his clan and Itachi destroyed all of them. He had to stand and fight for the sake of all he'd lost.

"HAAAAAAHH!" Ide ran forward, both hands on his sword. He swung left and then right at Itachi who avoided both strikes. Ide being injured and desperate sloppy sword play at least at first, suddenly and with a flourish Ide's blade was over Itachi's head and was coming down fast.

Itachi, rather than trying to dodge this strike, pulled Kunai both hands out from under his robe and caught the sword between both knives. This brought them two a stalemate as Ide was putting all his muscle strength into his swing and Itachi had to keep his current stance to keep the attack at bay. Any shift in weight or change in footing with let Ide break through Itachi's defense.

Itachi looked back at Ide to find a weakness that he could exploit to break this stalemate but this was the opening Ide was waiting for. Ide and Itachi quickly made eye contact with Ide flashing his mangekyou. "Omononushi!" Ide called out and his right eye widened and strained.

Ide leapt into the air losing the leverage in his slash and this gave Itachi the force advantage so that he could throw Ide off and launch him backwards. Ide midair sheathed his blade and once again brought his fingers up to his lips. "Fireball Jutsu!"

He launched his fireball at Itachi who responded with a quick flash of hand signs. "Water-Release! Water Dragon Bullet!" He announced before spitting a dragon made of water out of his mouth.

The two Jutsu collided and once again steam filled the river basin as Kisame watched with a grin from his perch. "Always get to have all the fun don't you, Itachi."

The steam cloud quickly dissipated but something was wrong. That Jutsu had taken more of a toll on Itachi than it should've. 'The mangekyou ability he used.' Itachi quickly deduced. 'It must drain my Chakra.' Having picked up on this ability Itachi equipped a hand full of Kunai. 'I'll end this now.' Itachi let fly half a dozen Kunai.

Ide quickly created another stone wall to protect himself from the flying knives and despite the stone successfully being able to block the Kunai Itachi had planned for this as he'd attached an explosive tag to each blade and detonated them all at once. BOOM! The explosion rang out throughout the forest and annilated Ide's wall but after the attack, Itachi felt himself drained of even more Chakra even though he'd used only ninja tools.

Ide who'd been sent flying nearly ten meters by the blast managed to pick himself up after the explosion, his stone wall having provided enough protection to avoid serious injury. He performed a quick set of hand signs before once again shooting a fireball at the stream water and generating another cloud of steam.

This made Itachi show visible irritation as he was easily able to see Ide's chakra through the fog. "Fool." He muttered before launching a Kunai through the fog at the injured Ide.

DING! Ide managed to deflect the Kunai with his sword as the fog dissipated Itachi looked on to see the injured and burned Ide smiling. "It's over for you." He declared as he pointed to his right eye. "Omononushi is the name of this eye's ability. You might have caught on that it's been sapping you of your chakra but the way it works is a little more complicated. Ever since you made eye contact with my Mangekyou Shranigan we've been connected in a way that allows me to use your chakra to perform Jutsu instead of my own. You're a stronger ninja than I am I'll admit it but now all that power is mine." Ide smirked expecting a shocked or defeated reaction from Itachi but he received neither.

The truth of Ide's ability wasn't at all concerning to Itachi, despite his chakra being depleted faster Itachi was still in much better fighting shape than Ide. All this new information did was make it clear he couldn't drag out this altercation any further. Understanding that conserving his chakra made little difference at this point he performed a series of hand signs as he took in a deep breath. "Fire-Release! Phoenix Flower Jutsu!"

Itachi spat out dozens of orange fireballs at Ide. The attack was moving too fast and too spread out and Ide was too injured to dodge all the fireballs so to protect himself Ide activated his Mangekyou. "Omoikane!"

Ide deflected the fireballs back at Itachi but before they hit him, four water tentacles erupted from the stream beneath and formed a shield in front of him that absorbed the attack. Ide's left eye reverted to a base Sharingan and this was exactly what Itachi was waiting for so he rushed Ide.

Ide seeing the blitz coming preemptively thrusted his sword out in front of himself to skewer Itachi who evaded this attack, dipping out of the way and grabbing Ide's wrist with his left hand and disarmaning him. With his right hand, Itachi grabbed Ide by the throat and forced his head up so their eyes met once more, and with his eye of reflection in cool down nothing was stopping what came next.

"Tsukuyomi!" Itachi announced in a chilling voice and Ide's world went dark.

(Flashback)

'Where am I?' Ide thought as he sat on a bench under a leafless tree, it was winter 18 years ago. Ide was dressed in all black from head to toe without his headband, his head hanging in a depressive state. 'What's going on? Why can I see myself? Why can't I move?'

Suddenly behind the bench where the younger Ide sat slumped over, Itachi appeared from nothing. "This is the power of my Mangekyou," Itachi explained. "A genjutsu realm where I control time and space. I'm using it to look through your memories, I want to know where those eyes came from and how you survived the massacre. We'll remain here until I get my answers."

Understanding that what he was seeing was his memory to recognize his surroundings. 'Oh, I get it now.' Ide thought, his inner voice turning somber.

"As I said, we'll stay in this world I've created, reliving the most traumatic experiences of your life over and over, until I get my answers." Itachi reiterated before offering Ide a way out. "It'll be sooner if you explained where we were."

Ide didn't answer for a moment but that's when he saw her. His old teammate Ayana marching up the hill, she opened her mouth to say something but after a second thought, she decided to remain silent and simply take the seat next to him on the bench and decided to relive these memories any more than he had to wasn't torture he'd be able to do.

'This was the day we buried Maede, my cousin.' Ide's disembodied voice explained as the third member of their team Hase Nara walked up next to the bench and gave Ide a friendly pat on the back before leaning himself up against the bare tree.

"Maede Uchiha?..." Itachi recognized the name. "My father told me about him. He died during the third great war."

'His parents died when he was young, he lived with me and my folks when I was growing up.' Ide continued. 'He was almost like a brother to me, I idolized him and it was the happiest day of my life being assigned to his team out of the academy but during the war, he'd often be sent on missions that genin and chunin weren't qualified for. I used to complain to Ayana about how this war was affecting our training like a spoiled child but it didn't take us long to grow up.'

The third Hokage Hiruzen Saratobi, a man who passed his prime even 18 years ago was present for Maede's funeral. After the ceremony, he came to find Ide and he died an honorable death."

'They found his body dead in the mud, his eyes ripped from their sockets.' Ide argued with his memory. 'The Anbu never found the thief so they assume he too died later in the fighting.'

"I don't like the idea of discussing this sort of thing during a funeral but I'm afraid courtesy must take a backseat in wartime." Hiruzen said heavy-heartedly. "Our forces are spread too thin, we won't be able to assign another Jonin to your team as you are both Chunin. Team Maede will have to remain as constructed, I'm so sorry." The three young ninjas exchanged worried looks with one another before Hiruzen put a gentle hand on Ide's shoulder. "It's a lot of responsibility, especially for one so young but I know Maede would've wanted you to lead this team so I'm putting my faith in you. Keep yourself and your team alive."

The Ide of the past nodded back at the Hokage accepting that responsibility but the voice of Ide from the present provided a new perspective. 'I wasn't ready.'

Suddenly the world around Itach dissolved into blackness and reformed into a different memory.

Itachi now found himself floating amongst tree branches in a forest as the setting sun shot beams of red and yellow light through the leaves. Looking around Itachi could tell by the foliage it was now late summer indicating they'd traveled a few months into the future of that last memory.

"Where are we?" Itachi asked for context but even Ide was having trouble placing them in his memories.

'I'm not sure…' Ide thought out loud, there was nothing particularly mind jogging about this forest at least not until he and Itachi watched his younger self blast through the forest at an incredible speed a vicious glare in his eyes. 'Now I remember…'

Following not particularly closely behind Ide were the other two members of his team, struggling to keep up with their leader. "So what are we seeing." Itachi asked again but Ide was hesitant to respond.

'...Looks like you're about to get some answers, this is the night I unlocked the Mangekyou Sharingan.' Ide answered getting Itachi to narrow his eyes.

"Ide! The sun is setting let's set up camp!" Ayana called out gently to their leader but her words didn't slow him down much.

"Hey, jerk!" Hase roared. "It's getting dark and you're the only one with special eyes! If there is an enemy in these woods we've been running all day and wasting energy! We're at risk of an ambush!"

Hase's concerns were valid so Ide stopped running and let his team catch up to him. "Fine, let's find a place to camp for the night." Ide agreed dismissively.

'It was a simple reconnaissance mission.' Ide continued providing context but his voice was much more grim in its delivery. 'This late in the war the Hidden Stone had all but retreaded back completely but there were reports of one of their agents still operating near the border of the land of fire and our orders were to observe and report back on the validity of these reports and we were not to engage by any means necessary but after Maede's death I never took mission where I wasn't looking for a fight and that recklessness would cost me.'

The three chunin had found a small clearing that would function well as a campsite, while Hase and Ayana had been working hard getting things set up for the night Ide was staring out into the forest. Noticing this Ayana put down a stack of firewood and went over to check on her friend.

"Hey Ide are you alright?" She put a hand on Ide's shoulder which made the boy jump slightly and this caught Ayana off guard as well and her face quickly turned red. "Uh… Sorry, I guess that was a little forward! Hehe…." She tried faking her laugh but Ide just stared blankly at her.

"I'm fine." He answered before turning away from her and back towards the mystery of the forest.

Ayana knew that the conversation couldn't end there so she gathered up the remaining courage to approach Ide once again. "Ide!" She called out with a little more strength this time and that got Ide to turn to acknowledge her. "It's just I've known you for a long time now! Not just as a part of team Maede but I've been back in the academy, I've been watching you for a long time and I know you're not alright!" Admitting this made the girl's face go red though Ide hadn't picked up on it but Ayana's meeker attitude and voice returned to her. "It's just… if you need to talk about it. We're your friends you know?"

Ide looked back at Ayana for a moment, her speech having done to soften his expression. "Look, I'm fine alright. I think I'm gonna double back a few kilometers to make sure we weren't being followed. I'll be back before sundown." Ide disappeared back into the forest leaving Ayana behind. The younger lowered her head in defeat as her words had failed to reach her friend.

'This was the last conversation I'd have with my best friend.' Ide admitted remorsefully as the clearing and campsite faded away to blackness as the memory changed once again. When the next memory started Itachi was transported to a different part of the same forest a few hours later as the sun had fully set.

Itachi looked to see Ide caked with mud bent over a statue of Ayana and Itachi was no longer curious as to how Ide unlocked his Mangekyou which was convenient cause Ide no longer had the strength to comment over his memories.

"Well, that's just two bad!" A massive hand-shaped mud construct erupted from the darkness of the forest and enveloped Ide's body binding him as the agent from the stone village marched into view.

A second mud hand formed out of the ground and lifted Ayana's statue into the air next to the Stone Ninja. "What a shame, such a pretty statue ruined. Oh, well. No use crying over spilled milk."

As Ayana's statue was destroyed beyond repair Itachi watched Ide's eyes transform into his Mangekyou Sharingan and that's when something odd began to happen, cracks of white light began to form around Ide that shocked Itachi.

(Outside the genjutsu)

Even though less than a fraction of a second had passed in real time Ide had activated his Omoikane, to outside observe it would've appeared as though Itachi and Ide's Mangekyou activated simultaneously. And quickly the two broke their gaze with one another.

"You…. You redirected the Tsukuyomi…" Itachi said between pants as he stumbled backward away from Ide, the experience taking its toll on both of them though Ide got the worse end of the stick as he fell to his knees, his expression blank as he struggled to keep himself from going comatose, his left eye bleed due to the bypassing of the cooldown on his Sharingan. 'Thankfully I managed to end the genjutsu while I still had some control, any longer in there and I'd have fallen under its effect.'

Itachi slowly crept forward, keeping his feet below him proving to be a challenge but eventually, he reached Ide's discarded sword. "I understand your hate now, it's similar to my own." Itachi declared as he lifted the weapon from the ground. "One thing that hasn't changed, you're too dangerous to be left alive."

As Itachi got a feel for the blade Ide managed to look up to meet his end face to face, both his eyes were black and bleeding. Itachi let his sword hang down by his side before he rushed Ide, the blade flashing white in the moonlight as it grew closer. Itachi pulled the blade back and swung it forward but before it could strike true it was blocked and instantly shattered against light grey flames.

Itachi stepped back and saw Ide standing in the center of a light grey rib cage that was surrounded by an aura of flames the same color. He couldn't speak, or move all Ide could do was pant and try to catch his breath as Itachi looked on at his flames.

"The Susanoo is still so bright." Itachi muttered before he discarded the hilt of his shattered weapon and let his eyes rest, turning them black as well. "Kisame! We're leaving." He called out as his partner leaped down from his perch.

"It's unlike you to have a change of heart like that Itachi." Kisame pointed out with his sharp-toothed grin.

"I've used both Amaterasu and Tsukuyomi today so continuing the fight any longer wouldn't be ideal. Besides, don't you hear that?" Itachi said looking back into the forest.

"Yeah if we stick around too long we'll have company to deal with." Kisame acknowledged. "Alright let's go." With that, the two cloaked ninjas leaped away into the trees.

"Wai-" Ide tried to call out to stop them from fleeing but after the slightest movement the flaming rib cage faded from around him and Ide's eyesight began to blur as the forest and the stream transformed into fuzzy shapes of different colors.

Ide dropped back to his knees as a green blur with a black smudge on top rushed up to catch him. The strange blob muttered something but Ide could not make out exactly what as his consciousness faded into darkness.

(Later)

"Wait!" Ide called out as he sat up in the leaf village hospital. His body was covered head to toe in bandages, with a medical eyepatch taped over his left eye. Ide's vision was still fuzzy after waking up but with a few blinks of his right eye his sight returned to him and now that he could see again he noticed a familiar figure standing in his hospital room looking out the window at the leaf village.

"Oh, it's you." Ide said in an indifferent tone as Danzo turned around to face him. "What are you doing here?" Danzo didn't speak he tossed the young man a bottle of black pills, each around half the size of a pea, and the see-through glass bottle appeared to carry around four or five dozen. "What are-"

"Before fleeing the hidden leaf, the Sanin Orochimaru was doing extensive research on all things related to the Sharingan." Danzo interrupted before Ide finished. "We recovered this medicine from his lab it should minimize the damage done by the use of the Mangekyou Sharingan's abilities. This is the only batch in existence."

"So you came here to drop off some medicine." Ide asked jokingly as he carefully examined the bottle of medicine of dubious origins.

"I came because I heard of your encounter with Itachi." Danzo answered seriously, not having much of an appetite for jokes. "I suppose you must be curious as to my interest in you well, to tell the truth, it all stems back to my history with Itachi." This managed to grab hold of Ide's attention as he sat back in his bed ready to listen.

"During Itachi's time in the Anbu, I became enamored with the young man's genius." Danzo continued. "I brought him into my own elite Anbu unit and became somewhat of a mentor to him, helping him to cultivate his innate talents but I'm afraid it was my involvement that led him down his dark path. Life in my unit was not fit for one so young and I'm afraid the violence of that life twisted his young mind and molded him into a monster, never before have I seen such hatred in someone so young. I can't help but feel responsible for what happened to the Uchiha clan." Danzo hung his head shamefully but the gesture did little to sway Ide.

"So are you hear asking for forgiveness?" Ide asked in an annoyed voice.

"No, I'm here to help facilitate your revenge." Danzo declared as he lifted his head. "I propose that until the rest of your Team 7 return from their training, you pause your ninja duties and devote yourself full time to training with me so that the next time you come face to face with Itachi you can deliver both of our revenge."

"What are the chances I ever see Itachi again?" Ide countered.

"I'm almost sure of it." Danzo remained sturdy as Ide looked down at the medicine bottle in his hand.

He twisted the lid off the bottle as he contemplated the offer. "When do we start?" He agreed as he popped one of the black pills into his mouth and a smile crept across the old man's face.

(End/Author's note)

Man, That was a long chapter but I didn't want to break it into two chapters as 10 is a good ending place for the next part of the story to start. The next chapter will take place at the beginning of the Shippuden series.