As Kisame and Itachi dashed away from their battle scene, Mitsuki joined back with the duo.
"Oh, kiddo, you're here," Kisame exclaimed with a grin.
"Mmhmm, I was watching you guys just now actually," Mitsuki answered briefly. There's so much question in her head, but she knew that it wasn't the time to ask about them just yet.
"Mitsuki," called Itachi without looking at the girl in question. As he felt that the girl's attention had been directed at him, he continued,
"Can you check if there's any enormous chakra within the village range and where is it headed or positioned?"
"Ah, I've noticed it since our infiltration actually, it was interesting so I checked it from time to time," Mitsuki declared as she understood what Itachi meant. "Last I checked, the soul was heading towards the main gate with another soul of massive chakra, though not comparable to him," Mitsuki continued.
".. How big is it? Can you estimate?" asked Itachi, wondering who the mystery man might be.
"Uh… comparable to Kisame, maybe?" Mitsuki answered, unsure, she had never paid too much attention to the companion of the weirdly massive soul that seemed to be their target.
Hearing Mitsuki's word, Itachi scoured through his memory and knowledge as he tried to figure out who the guy accompanying Naruto is. Coupling it with the fact that such a guy seemed to be moving freely within Konoha and the fact that Kakashi had been informed about Akatsuki, one name came to mind.
"Let's go and give them a chase," said Itachi, as he further instructed subtly "Mitsuki," he said with a commanding voice.
"Got it!" Mitsuki said immediately as she caught the meaning behind her companion's exclamation. Swiftly, Mitsuki movement sped up as she went ahead of the other two, signalling them to follow her.
It was not long while Itachi caught both of their targets on his eyesight. Apparently, the duo hadn't moved far due to the leisurely pace they walked in.
"What do we do, do we interject now?" asked Kisame.
"No. The one accompanying him is none other than Jiraiya, one of Konoha's Legendary Three Ninja (Densetsu no Sannin)," said Itachi calmly, as if unfazed.
Hearing Itachi's word, Kisame was taken aback for a while. Meanwhile, Mitsuki had already been instructed to go ahead and scout the target pair's destination since a while ago, as she had the highest chance of staying undiscovered in the presence of the famous Sannin.
"If it's you, I'm sure you can take him on somehow. Myself? I don't know. He's on another whole level," Kisame said to Itachi in response to the information he had just received from him.
"Yes, if we face each other in a battle, it will either be a deathmatch, or turn into a rather unappealing outcome. Even if I had more backup, the result wouldn't change much," Itachi affirmed as he calmly assessed the situation.
"After all, it's that Legendary Trio. In comparison to him, even both the Uchiha clan and Kirigakure's Seven Swordsman name seemed to pale in comparison," Kisame added, grinning.
"Yes, however.. No matter how strong the opponent is, they must have a weakness," said Itachi as he stood up from where he had rested while observing their movement from afar.
Mitsuki kept her observation as she tailed the pair discreetly. As the blonde hair boy read the signs aloud, Mitsuki activated her remotely controlled power, something that she had secretly been training on.
In the distance, the seed Mitsuki gave Itachi started to writhe as it sprouted. Noticing it, Itachi took out the seed from his pocket.
"O-ta-fu-ku city.." Itachi read as the vine started writing itself in the air, as if controlled directly by Mitsuki.
"Hoo, interesting," Kisame grinned at Mitsuki's attempt of long range communication.
"Let's go," said Itachi as he jumped down, towards the destination that Mitsuki had pointed them towards.
Guided by Mitsuki's information, Itachi and Kisame had arrived earlier at the outpost town and had gone to survey the city as they planned on how they would go about their mission. At least, for Kisame that is.
Itachi had no intention to actually take Naruto away. Him falling to Akatsuki's hand would be the opposite of his actual goal. As so, Itachi wondered about how he should go about it in the most convincing fashion possible. Thankfully, their enemy had quite a strong reputation. Finding excuses to draw back from battle will not be difficult for him.
Not long after, Mitsuki landed herself beside the pair.
"They went to the lodging area already, I've took note of their position, what an interesting bunch," Mitsuki laughed as she reported, the interaction between the old man and young boy had been quite an entertainment for her.
"Then, what do we do? You mentioned he have a weakness?" Kisame asked Itachi.
"Woman," said Itachi, as he jumped down towards a nearby alley as he scoured the area. Hearing Itachi's answer, Kisame grinned, realising what he meant.
Wondering if it's her time to shine, Mitsuki smiled as he and Kisame followed Itachi down towards the alley. However, it seemed like Itachi already had a target in mind. Subtly, he kicked a pebble towards the road, and grasped the attention of a passing lady. As the lady's gaze met with Itachi's red iris, Itachi immediately caught her in his genjutsu. It was not a strong one, however, for his goal, it will have sufficed.
"Huuh, you guys could have sent me over instead," Mitsuki grumbled, disappointed from missing her chance at her first proper deception mission.
"Ha? What are you talking about, kid? Do you think he will be interested with a kid like you?" Kisame retorted, causing Mitsuki to tilt her head, confused. "Besides are you sure you wanted to seduce a perverted old man like him?" Kisame continued with a grin on his face. Exactly, as Itachi said, Jiraiya's reputation precedes him, both the good and the bad, as well as the fact that he was a writer of a series of erotic novel among them.
"Seduce? Pervert?" Mitsuki frowned as she tried to find a meaning for those words that she was not too familiar with yet.
"See?" Kisame was baffled at Mitsuki's innocence. It was clear she didn't know what the mission would entail.
Grumbling, Mitsuki turned her attention towards Itachi and the lady. Itachi seemed to be conveying some command through his jutsu towards the dazed lady. Observing her, Mitsuki noticed the lady's curvy feature and her elegant, yet revealing, clothing. "Hmm, she's pretty," Mitsuki thought, feeling defeated somehow, as she assessed the lady's mature yet elegant facial feature along with her beautifully shaped brown eye and flowing, long black hair. Mitsuki's right eye twitched as she had to admit defeat, pissed as she was. Aida-chan had told her how appearance often take a lot of importance in attraction and love, and even as Mitsuki was confident about her looks and cuteness, she didn't have that kind of mature aura about her. Not long after, it seemed like Itachi had finished setting up his genjutsu.
"Where are they?" Itachi asked Mitsuki subtly. Extending her perception immediately, Mitsuki gave a description regarding some terrain information surrounding their target. Apparently it was a naturally decorated inn with plenty of water and plants around, Mitsuki thought as she conveyed the information as well as the status of their target and their general direction.
"Let's go," said Itachi, as she commanded the girl to head towards the instructed direction.
As the lady strutted, the three followed in her shadow, albeit using the less frequented and less observable route. Finding her chance, Mitsuki walked closer to Itachi's side and bent her body forward to enter Itachi's field of view.
"Hey, hey, why did you choose that girl just now? Is she your type?" Mitsuki asked teasingly.
Hearing the girl's question and the mischievous look on her face, Itachi decided to keep his silence, as awkward as it was.
"Heeee~" Mitsuki smirked with a judging, mischievous look about her. Somehow Itachi's silence didn't deter her, unexpectedly. Hearing her meaningful response, Itachi tried his best to avoid meeting Mitsuki's gaze. As she giggled, Mitsuki noticed that the group has reached a place where they could observe the inn their target pair stopped at directly.
"Seems like everything is working as intended," Kisame grinned as the hypnotized lady lured Jiraiya away.
"Let's go," said Itachi, "Mitsuki, you keep watch here,"
"Oky~" Mitsuki answered lightly, slightly bored of her passive role.
"Hmmm?" Mitsuki suddenly noticed a familiar presence. Realizing who it is, Mitsuki smiled mischievously as she let her curiosity took the better of her, compelling her decision to see how things would unravel, as she kept track of the frantic movement of the presence.
After making sure their target was inside, Itachi gave the inn door a knock as Kisame watched him in silence, not sure why his partner would go for such display of politeness. Dismissing it as part of Itachi's plan, Kisame shrugged.
"What? Don't tell me you came back since you got dumped already?" said the boy inside the room.
Once again, Itachi knocked the door.
"Alright, alright, I heard you. Let me just unlock it," the boy exclaimed.
As the boy opened the door, he met Itachi's gaze as he approached the door, his sharingan on display. Noticing his sharingan, the boy's expression grew increasingly tense.
"Heh, is hard to believe that such a kid is the Kyuubi," said Kisame, as he moved over towards the door as well.
"Naruto-kun, why don't you come with us," said Itachi calmly. He wondered if Naruto remembered him, albeit not knowing that he was Sasuke's brother at that time during their short talk in the park years ago*.
As his question was greeted with silence, Itachi continued, "How about you come outside?" he asked. Noticing the difference in their power, the blonde haired boy slowly walked out of the room to face the pair as he obeyed. Looking at the boy's frightened look, Kisame couldn't help but teased,
"Hmm, Itachi-san, it would be troublesome if he suddenly run away. Should I chop off one of his legs?"
Itachi stood quietly, not sure if it was another of Kisame's joke, or if he really meant it this time. Seeing that Itachi didn't express any objection, Kisame walked closer towards the boy as he reached towards Samehada. Suddenly, the seed within Itachi's pocket twitched. As he quickly extended his perception, he realised who the unexpected interruptor was.
"Long time no see, Sasuke," Itachi said calmly.
"Uchiha.. Itachi..," said the boy with Uchiha's crest on his back.
Few minutes ago, Mitsuki had caught unto Sasuke's presence as well as his frantic effort of search. Seeing that, Mitsuki recalled the information she got from the shopkeeper old lady.
"That entire clan was massacred, by none other of their prodigal boy. Only his little brother was left alive," said the Granny.
"Huh?" Mitsuki couldn't believe what she heard. Based on Itachi's status as criminal, it was easy for her to deduce that the older brother in question was Itachi. However, the Itachi that she knew would never do such thing without reason.
".. and here we thought they were such a sweet pair of siblings," the granny added.
"Ho… then what about the little brother?" Mitsuki asked.
"He's still living in his old house in the Uchiha compound, and has grown to be a fine ninja too. Only recently, he participated in the chuunin exam. Too bad though, what happened during the exam."
"Hmmm….." Mitsuki responded briefly, as she tried to speculate in her head about what might have happened.
"If Itachi-kun was really aiming to wipe out the clan, it doesn't make sense for him to leave one person alive. The only possibility is that either he couldn't defeat that person, he couldn't bring himself to kill him, or he had always intended to leave him alive. But knowing Itachi-kun," Mitsuki thought as she recalled her various conversations with the guy she knew, his subtle care and his awkward attempt at distancing himself, as well as his sadness and pity even towards the enemy. "The massacre doesn't make sense," Mitsuki thought to herself, realising there must be more to it than it was let on. Deep inside, she wondered if it was because of Itachi's unsociable front that he ended up being blamed for the whole incident, but then she realised that it wouldn't make sense for him to leave his village and his brother like that if it was just a misunderstanding.
"Another thing to take note of I guess, you really are mysterious, Itachi-kun," Mitsuki grinned, as if finding herself a new, interesting puzzle to solve.
As she thought of the issue further, some additional pieces started to fit into the puzzle. For example, Itachi's hastiness and the crazy pace they travelled the day before. It was only few days ago that he seemed to be bidding his time in Aida's village. At first, she thought it was because of the meeting he and Kisame went to, or her sudden breakdown, but that still doesn't justify their sudden change in travelling pace. Considering the information that Itachi and Kisame had briefly conveyed to her, there seemed to be an incident, an isolated war in Konoha. Initially, Mitsuki thought that maybe Itachi and Kisame would like to take advantage of the weakened state of the village, but..
"It makes more sense if he is making sure that his brother is unharmed, isn't it? That's why, the hurry.." Mitsuki grinned mischievously, as she recalled her conversation with Itachi some times ago.
"Not just romantic love, but even for family and friends, wouldn't you want them to see them happy and safe even at the cost of your own?" That was how Itachi answered Mitsuki's question regarding Aida's sacrifice.
"Sacrifice, huh?" Mitsuki thought to herself.
After that, when she saw the boy with the compound's crest on his back, it was easy for Mitsuki to deduce the identity of the boy, even before she saw the similarity of their features. And now, that boy was looking frantically for something, or someone.
Realising that, Mitsuki decided to not inform Itachi until the last minute. After all, she was curious about the relationship between the two brothers. What would be the base of the anger in the younger brother's soul? What was it that caused the deep sadness in Itachi's soul?
"Hoo? Sharingan? And he looks a lot like you…" Kisame stated towards Itachi, grinning as he saw their new visitor's eye and face, noticeably amused. "Who on earth is he?" Kisame asked as he continued. There still seemed to be a lot of things that Itachi had never told him about.
"My.. little brother," Itachi answered with slight reluctance in his voice. He didn't expect to meet his little brother this soon, and he had been actively trying to avoid him during his time in Konoha as well.
"I heard that the entire Uchiha clan was massacred, though, by you.." Kisame questioned subtly, wondering why were there discrepancies on the information he knew and the fact that stood before him.
"Uchiha Itachi.. I'll kill you!" The boy exclaimed.
"Uwagh… did I decide wrongly?" Mitsuki's face paled slightly as she heard the tone of the conversation between the related parties. During the whole event, she had discreetly moved closer towards their location to listen in to their conversation and have a closer peek.
As itachi turned his attention towards his little brother, the younger of the Uchiha sibling continued,
"As you've told me, I've fostered my hatred against you, my grudge, and.."
As chakra gathered on the younger brother's hand, Mitsuki saw his soul flared in anger, hatred, and sadness. It was as if the darkness itself threatening to consume the warmth of his soul that was present during the time Mitsuki saw him in Konoha. Meanwhile, a stir of undescribable feeling filled Itachi's soul. "Sadness, longing, a tiny bit of relieve, and.. pain?" Mitsuki thought to herself as she tried to decode the change in Itachi's emotion.
"I've lived my life with a single purpose, to kill you that is!" said the younger Uchiha, seemingly preparing himself for attack as the chakra in his hand chirped loudly as if a thousand bird.
"Sasuke!" the blonde haired boy shouted, warning him.
"Chidori?" Itachi muttered. It really seemed like Kakashi had been taking care of his brother well.
"DIE!" Sasuke shouted as he dashed with incredible speed towards Itachi.
Effortlessly, Itachi caught Sasuke's hand and redirected his chidori, causing the burst of power to break the inn's layer's of wall, leaving Itachi, Kisame, and Naruto unharmed.
"Uwaaah, merciless as usual," Mitsuki could feel frown forming on her forehead as she smiled bitterly remembering her training sessions. "And it looked like that boy was giving his all, too.. I feel sorry for him now," Mitsuki thought to herself as she smiled with pity towards the younger Uchiha's direction.
The ray of chakra soon dispersed. Seeing it, the blonde haired boy created a seal and released a monstrous amount of chakra, so concentrated it can be seen plainly around him. The sudden display of power quickly pulled Itachi's and Kisame's attention away from Sasuke.
"The air is ripe with chakra.. I see, this is Kyuubi's chakra, huh?" Kisame said, clearly amused at the sheer strength of the blonde's chakra.
"You!" Sasuke said as he tried to free himself and attempted another attack.
"You're in the way," said Itachi coldly, as he tightened his grip on Sasuke's wrist, breaking it.
As Sasuke screamed in agony, Mitsuki covered her mouth. He had never seen Itachi put on such display of violence before. It was as if he was a different person. But, unmistakeably, it was him, and in his soul was.. more sadness, and pain. "It was as if his own action was hurting him," Mitsuki thought to herself, wondering what compelled Itachi to do such thing.
"Sasuke!" seeing the younger Uchiha writhe in pain, the blonde haired boy called out in worry. "Darn it," he muttered as he bit his finger and created a sequence of seals.
"Too slow," Kisame exclaimed as he swung his Samehada towards the surrounding air, seemingly sucking away the chakra that came out of the blonde's body.
"My Samehada can cut and eat chakra, that's why," Kisame stated as he grinned at the blonde boy's frustration upon realising that his chakra had dispersed.
"It looks like it's gonna be troublesome if he attempted another Jutsu," said Kisame.
Suddenly, Mitsuki noticed a known presence closing by quickly.
"Ooops.. I forgot," Panicked, Mitsuki sent another signal through the communication seed, as her face paled for forgetting the true purpose of her lookout amidst the emerging drama.
"Instead of his foot, how about we chop off those hands first?" Kisame stated outwardly, scaring the blonde who now frantically trying to build up his chakra once more.
Itachi stared at Sasuke's pained figure, seemingly distracted. It didn't seem like he noticed Mitsuki's signal. Mitsuki desperately tried to warn Itachi subtly using the movement of the seeds and vines, to no avail.
"Argh, come on. Notice it already!" Mitsuki muttered softly as she kept on her attempt at signalling.
"It's useless!" Kisame said as he swung his Samehada towards the blonde who was still trying his best mustering his chakra. At first, Mitsuki thought it was as if Kisame was telling her that, catching her by surprise.
Suddenly, a loud "poof" resounded, along with a flash of smoke. Only as it happened did Itachi finally pulled himself back to reality and realised the madly dancing seed that was stored within his robe's pocket.
"What?" Kisame exclaimed as his attack was blocked by an armored toad who seemingly appeared out of thin air.
Followed by his surprised exclamation, another loud "poof" resounded as the white haired man appeared behind the blonde boy, with the pretty lady hoistered on his back.
"You don't know much about me, don't you?" said the white haired old man as he revealed himself. "The toad sage Jiraiya will not fall victim to woman's charm. Beauties drop for me like blossoms in a storm!" he continued as if declaring his arrival.
"When you reached my stature, the women are the ones who fell to my awesomeness!" the white haired old-man exclaimed loudly as he attempted a cool pose. However, the ridiculousness of his words only brought silence upon both of his ally and enemy alike, as Mitsuki tried her best not to laugh upon the blatant lie.
The blonde boy couldn't take it anymore and loudly reprimanded the old man.
"You talk big even though YOU were the one who went all mushy and excited for a woman's wink attack! Don't you dare act cool now, Ero-Sennin (Perverted Sage)!"
Mitsuki almost couldn't hold back her laughter anymore as she heard the blonde boy's frustration.
"Er, I told you to stop calling me that in front of others," said the old-man bashfully.
"SHUT UP! As compared to that, those people are not ordinary people, Ero-Sennin. Get on it, Ero-Sennin!" the blonde boy protested.
As Mitsuki tried her best to cover her mouth and clutched her stomach to stop herself from laughing over the shameful display, Itachi maintained his composure as Kisame chuckled audibly.
"Hahaha, you're the famous Jiraiya of the Legendary Three after all. Even though your reputation as a woman lover preceeds you, we didn't think that we would be able to drag your feet that easily," Kisame stated sarcastically.
"EEEEEH? You even know Ero-Sennin's true identity?" the blonde boy exclaimed.
"Er, it's not that it's really my true identity or anything.." the old man stated bashfully.
"It seems like you somehow managed to break the genjutsu we placed on that woman, hmm?" Kisame teased.
Hearing this, the old man tenses up as he stared upon Itachi's sharingan.
"In order to separate me from Naruto, you placed an innocent woman under genjutsu with your eyes. What a lowly method," said Jiraiya as he put the woman on his back down to safety. "So I was right, your aim is indeed Naruto." He stated.
It was as Itachi had expected.
"No wonder Kakashi knew about us. I see, it was you who informed him," Itachi said, feigning ignorance. Among the Konoha shinobi who had massive amount of chakra and a strong information network, only Jiraiya's name stood out.
"To bring Naruto along with us, was a mission bestowed by our organization, Akatsuki's, supreme order," said Itachi.
"Again with the pointless, careless divulge of information. What's wrong with Itachi-kun today?" Mitsuki frowned as Itachi clarified Jiraiya's suspicion plainly.
As the toad disappeared back as smoke into the thin air, the white haired old man stated.
"I won't hand over Naruto to you!"
Hearing his obvious conclusion, Itachi responded, "I wonder.."
"This is perfect timing," said Jiraiya as he stood. "I will deal with you two right here and now!" he declared.
"Stay out of this!" A voice called from the Akatsuki's pair's behind, prompting Jiraiya to stop as he noticed Sasuke's presence.
Sasuke tried his hardest to support his body up before declaring once more.
"The one who will kill him, is me!"
Hearing this, the four of them froze, as if taking Sasuke's word in. After careful consideration, Itachi spoke,
"Right now, I'm not interested in you," he said, coldly.
"Don't mess around with me!" Sasuke declared as he charged towards Itachi once more. However, his attempt of attack was greeted by a clean kick unto his stomach, sending him flying against the wall across the corridor. Seeing his friend seemingly about to lose consciousness, Naruto dashed towards Itachi.
"Naruto! I told you not to get involved!" Sasuke shouted, stopping Naruto on his track.
"I've told you, I lived and survived solely for this day! Just for this day!" Sasuke said with determination as he stood up and charged towards Itachi once more, attacking with his intact hand. However, effortlessly, Itachi blocked his attack and countered him with a knee to his face, once again sending Sasuke flying back against the wall.
"Sasuke.." Naruto muttered sadly.
Itachi's soul flickered with sadness, however, his expression remained undisturbed. Somehow, it was as if Mitsuki could feel the pain in his heart.
"Not.. yet…" said Sasuke, as he tried to force his body to move once more.
"Even though he couldn't muster his strength to form a seal anymore.." Itachi thought sadly, his heart filled with self hatred and sadness over the turn of events and the damage he had to inflict to his beloved brother.
"This fight is mine.." Sasuke declared.
Seeing his brother's plight, Itachi mustered a determination within himself, as he tried to numb the feelings inside him and ignore his own inner scream. "Allright then," He stated coldly with determination.
Seeing his partner's action, Kisame took unto himself to let him go at it undisturbed, and blocked away Jiraiya's and Naruto's path.
"You heard them, right? This is their fight, let them settle it," said Kisame.
Itachi approached Sasuke slowly, as if with reluctance, even if his eye remained cold. Itachi stopped for a while, hesitating, but soon found his determination as the younger Uchiha stood again once more to challenge him.
"Just perfect!" Sasuke screamed.
"BAM," Itachi landed a knee kick towards Sasuke's ribs, breaking it. Then an elbow to his neck, followed with another kick. It was a cruel, one sided pummeling. As Itachi's fist landed on Sasuke's stomach, pinning him against the wall, Sasuke fell forward in pain as blood spurted out from his mouth.
"No mercy, eh," said Kisame, grinning at his partner's cold heartedness. He had almost forget about this side of his partner that is backed by the rumor of his wrongdoings, considering how the two of them had always tried to evade pointless confrontation so far. Kisame couldn't help but wonder about how Mitsuki would react, seeing him right now.
Mitsuki's heart was drowning in sadness. With every punches and kick he dealt, Itachi's soul was covered in more and more sadness and self hate. Even so, he tried his best to maintain his composure, and the coldness in his eye, trying his best to hide what transpired inside of him.
As Sasuke laid down on the floor, no more resistance left in him, Itachi pulled him Sasuke up by his collar, and grabbed his neck as he slammed his younger brother's body against the wall.
"You're still weak," said Itachi, with unprecendented coldness in his voice.
"Why are you weak, because.. it's still not enough.." he continued, still with an icy cold voice that sends shiver down Mitsuki's spine.
".. your hatred is not enough," said Itachi as he smiled coldly, his emotions unreadable.
Then he gathered power into his eyes once more. Mitsuki can feel her blood froze as she recalled the pattern of power movement. "Could this be?" she thought.
A second after, Sasuke screamed in a mixture of fear and agony, his soul darkened with pain and resentment, fear and anger. Grudge. Likewise, Itachi's soul seemed to be suffering with pain as well. Mitsuki didn't understand what happened, but whatever that was, it couldn't be good for both Itachi and his younger brother.
"Not only that, the mark got a bit darker this time too.. It is indeed the same as before," Mitsuki bit her lips in frustration seeing how she couldn't jump in and interrupt.
"Itachi-san, I don't think you should use that eye this many times in a day..**" said Kisame. Hearing this, Mitsuki decided that she will interrogate Kisame later to find out what he knew about that Jutsu that Itachi had been using recklessly.
"That's enough, you bastard!" The blonde haired boy rushed forward towards Itachi to save his friend. Noticing his movement, Kisame quickly readied his Samehada and chased after Naruto to stop him.
Knowing that it wouldn't turn well, Jiraiya started creating a series of seal, and suddenly, the holes, walls, and windows had been covered with flesh, blocking Mitsuki's view and hearing from what transpired inside.
"Eww, what was that?" Mitsuki thought as she held herself back from yelping. Not sure on what to do, she climbed atop the building's roof as she observed what transpired purely based on her perception.
Within the corridor, The flesh wall had stopped Kisame's movement, and pulled Sasuke away from Itachi and threatened to swallow them as well.
"It's a pity, Itachi, Kisame, you both are now inside the Myoubokuzan's Mountain Toad's belly. You both will be turned into rock toad's food soon." Said Jiraiya confidently.
"W…what's going on?" said Naruto, panicking at the bizzare changes in the corridor.
"Naruto, just stay still! No need to worry, it's my Jutsu," Jiraiya said, calming him down.
"Kisame, come," said Itachi confidently as he glanced towards his partner with a stern look in his eyes.
Hearing Itachi's demand, Kisame quickly freed himself and his sword away from the binding to regroup with Itachi.
"It's useless! Up until now no one had been able to escape from this skill!" said Jiraiya without any doubt in his word.
As Itachi ran through the path he memorized, Itachi and Kisame noticed the wall closing in on them.
"The wall of flesh is closing in on us!," Kisame announced as he glanced back to check on their situation.
"It's fast, at this rate.." he added.
Calmly, Itachi approached one side of the wall in which it hasn't been covered completely by the flesh yet and once again gathered the power unto his other eye.
"Amaterasu!" he muttered in his mind.
Black flames gushed from where his gaze hit and burnt through the wall, allowing both Itachi and Kisame to escape safely.
Seeing both of them escaped safely, Mitsuki stayed a while to maintain surveillance on their enemy's movement and making sure that they didn't give a chase before following the pair through a safe route.
"Why did we have to retreat now, if it's you, you surely can.." Kisame asked as both Itachi and himself traversed through the river to escape the town as fast as they could.
"As Naruto is right now, there's no need to rush," said Itachi, exhausted. "Besides, I must also rest my body somewhere for a while now," said Itachi. Hearing this, Kisame decided to give in.
"Not only Tsukuyomi, I was also forced to use Amaterasu," Itachi thought.
As he recalled the previous event, a sharp pain hit his chest over what he had done towards his little brother.
"Your hatred is not enough," said Itachi to Sasuke.
"For the next 24 hour, you will relieve that day.." said Itachi in Tsukuyomi as he painted the cruel image of Uchiha clan's massacre into his brother's mind.
Filled with self hatred, Itachi immersed himself in the pain he felt behind his eyes as the Tsukuyomi and Amaterasu took their price.
"I deserve this pain.. And more.. Forgive me, Sasuke.." Itachi thought in his mind, as he tried his best to stop his own pain from revealing itself on his face.
Not long after, a vine sprouted from within Itachi's pocket and pointed towards a direction. As Itachi turned his gaze towards the direction the vine was pointing, he saw Mitsuki running parallel to them on the river banks, frantically signalling them to change their direction towards her.
Sun has started to set. Right on time, the trio managed to find a resting place several distance away from the Otafuku city in another small city far on the outskirt of the Land of Fire.
"I hope they wouldn't chase us here," said Kisame as he looked towards the window, then to his obviously spent partner.
It was the first time for Mitsuki as well to see Itachi in such a state. Mitsuki saw the jutsu that Itachi used to break free from the wall of flesh. It was the black fire, the same one that he attempted to use on their first meeting as well, and like the other jutsu that Itachi previously used on the white haired guy in the village, as well as his brother, this jutsu of his seemed to affect the black mark on his soul as well. That's why, at first, Mitsuki thought that the black mark was related to Itachi's special ability, as she saw it flicker when he used it on her the last time as well.
Mitsuki sighed as she kneeled in front of Itachi, gazing directly into his eyes. Slowly, Mitsuki brought her fingers forward and touched Itachi's stomach, startling him.
"Don't move, I'll try something," said Mitsuki calmly. Confused, Itachi decided to let her give whatever she was planning a try, as he no longer have any energy to spare for a proper discussion beforehand.
There were a few things Mitsuki would like to try. Firstly was if she could somehow restore Itachi and Kisame's energy in the same way that she restored hers. Secondly, was that if she could affect the mark on Itachi's soul in it's current state, considering how it hadn't fully "matured" yet. And thirdly,
"If anything felt wrong, let me know," Mitsuki asked with intense look in her eyes. Hearing this, Kisame felt worry.
"Oi, don't experiment on him, he's already unwell," Kisame said.
"I'm not sure if this will help, but if it does…" Mitsuki said as she directed the nature energy towards Itachi's body. At first, Itachi felt nothing, then after, he felt a weird, unknown surge of energy passing inside his chakra's pathway, however..
Mitsuki and Itachi sensed something is amiss as the tip off Itachi's finger started turning into stone. Quickly, Mitsuki dispersed the energy back out, reversing the change on him.
"What the hell was that?" said Mitsuki, as surprised as Itachi were. However, it brought an intriguing insight within Itachi's mind.
"It is indeed the same energy as senjutsu that I've read about.." Itachi thought.
"Oi kiddo, what happened?" Kisame asked in worry.
"Erm, let me try another thing," Mitsuki continued, this time with slight worry in her eyes, giving both Kisame and Itachi a sense of nervousness.
Mitsuki tried to touch Itachi's soul and powered his soul like she did towards Shin-Jii. As she did, the black mark flickered away for a while, yet it returned to it's previous form afterwards.
"Not this too, huh?" Mitsuki sighed with a clear disappointment in her face.
"?" both Itachi and Kisame glanced at each other with confused look on their eyes, this time both of them not sure what went wrong, and Itachi felt nothing of whatever Mitsuki was trying to do to him.
"One more!" said Mitsuki with determination as she grasped Itachi's palm.
"Oi, that's enough of it, Kiddo!" said Kisame, as he tried to pull the kid away from his partner.
"W…waittt!" Mitsuki resisted as Kisame tried to grab her away.
"Hmm?" said Itachi, this time noticing a change on his body. As he heard his partner's reaction as well as the sense of ease Kisame saw from him, Kisame stopped his attempt on pulling the girl away.
"How is it?" Mitsuki asked excitedly as Itachi's breathing calmed by a bit.
"What did you do?" Itachi asked.
"I.. inside your body, your energy was in a mess and you're burning up, so..." Mitsuki was not sure how to explain her train of thought.
"I just tried to balance things around a bit as well as cooling the temperature of your blood down a little. It might not help the actual cause, but as of pain…"
"Pain?" Kisame thought to himself. He knew his partner had always been exhausted after overusing Mangekyou, even to the extent of showing physical symptoms too sometimes, but he had never told him about the details before.
"Sorry, this is all I can do for now," said Mitsuki apologetically as she smiled wrily.
"No, It's plenty.." said Itachi as he felt his pain eased, silently thinking that it was probably time for him to drink his medicine that he recently restocked as soon as he got the chance.
Seeing that Itachi seemingly wanted to be left alone for a while, Mitsuki turned towards Kisame and pushed him out along with her.
"Let's go and bring back some food, Kisame!" said Mitsuki.
"Why don't you go alone?" Kisame protested.
"Are you going to let a cute girl explore an unknown town alone?" Mitsuki teased.
"? Seriously what's wrong with you today, kid?" Kisame scowled as he heard Mitsuki's ridiculous statement.
"Shut up and follow me," Mitsuki said fiercely in demanding tone with piercing look in her eyes as she gave up on her innocent act.
"?" Giving up, Kisame decided to follow the girl's scheme.
Author's note:
While I'm working on this, I keep going back and forth between various manga translations and the anime as a material. Sometimes it's funny about how translations on one can be way off compared to the others. I usually prefer to listen to the Japanese dialogue myself then translating it while maintaining as much as I could from the context, but there are times where I go "? What did he say again?" Then I had to refer to various manga translation and compare it with the Anime dialogue! (I don't read raw cos my Kanji skill sucks *cri*)
Also funny thing is with how some things can change in between the manga and the anime. Looking at those materials together closely made me realize this! Not just the change of timing like in the previous chapter's case, but also some context sometimes. For Netflix translation, I get that they have to localize in order to make things not offensive to general public's culture (like how they toned down Jiraiya visiting red-light district establishment as treating a girl to dinner and the service stamp become very weird in that context), but sometimes I think they might lean towards stronger characterization also when translating. For example during one part of Tsunade's arc, there's a part where the translation made it seem a lot more like joking as if he's not taking it seriously (I forgot when, maybe I'll refer to it again soon, but it was in the castle town?), meanwhile in the Japanese dialogue, he obviously had turned to his serious mode. I get wanting to maintain the character's humorous, but characters can have different facets too right? Gosh I'm rambling.
Also if you guys disregard Kisame's scary look, he actually joked, like, a lot.. hahaha.. he's really the chillest guy of Akatsuki (since tobi is fake personality). Definitely a precious boi!
Oh one more. In manga version, when using Tsukuyomi against Sasuke, he remained expressionless. However in the anime, they showed his lips curling into a smile without showing his eyes. After thinking about it, I decided to go with the anime version as part of Itachi's deceit as well as his desperate attempt to hide his own pain.
Reference:
Manga chapter 144 (vol.16++), Naruto season 4 episode 3 (eps 83)++
Extra Notes:
(*) sourced from Itachi's shinden light novel, where he actually talked to Naruto for a little while and finding out his dream as Hokage as well as his resilient mentality. It was so cute, how Itachi realized that Naruto is the biggest victim of Kyuubi incident and how he was treated unfairly. On various part of the book as well, Itachi had encouraged Sasuke to accept Naruto's friendship and commended Naruto's attempt to get close to Sasuke.
(**)By the way the part that is related to this chapter is when Itachi used Tsukuyomi on Sasuke. On the manga, among all the translation I found, the context was Kisame worrying about Itachi's condition (which he had shown throughout the manga countless time as well, I think he might actually have an inkling about his illness despite Itachi's attempt on hiding it), but the Anime Kisame pointed how cold and heartless Itachi was instead by using the Tsukuyomi on Sasuke. For this, I chose to follow the manga version since I think it fits the dynamic between Itachi and Kisame in the long run better, as well as the true personality that Itachi (and Kisame) was hiding.
Additional Note:
Ugh, I just finished boothing at local anime convention and I'm so tired. Originally I planned to put 4 illustration in this chapter but.. I just.. can't take it.. AAAAAAA
I decided to abandon the 4th idea to draw which is Kisame dragging Mitsuki away from Itachi hahahah.. sorry that even tho this one is slow update but i didn't manage to dish out more illustration as compensation. I have written a few chapter ahead but, I think i'll try to keep the illustration light for a while as I have to prepare for September convention too. Hope you guys don't mind! And if it will make you guys feel better, I'm planning to create a few Itachi fanmerch hehehe, I'll share the result later!