Chapter XXIV - Osore's Surprise Attack

Itachi slowly opened his eyes and winced. Once he saw Ketsueki looking down at him, he quickly bolted upwards, holding a kunai to his neck. No words were exchanged.

Ketsueki stood still before slowly moving his hand to the kunai, where it broke on contact. Itachi lightly gasped and stared at Ketsueki.

"Relax, Itachi Uchiha. I'm an ally. I'm the one who took you out of Zuko Taisega's clutches. This is my thanks?" the red haired shinobi asked with a smile.

Itachi took a step back, looking around. They were in a wooden cabin. Drops of rain dripped from its roof.

"Should I suspect that you're a member of the Osore?" Itachi asked him.

Ketsueki chuckled a little and crossed his arms.

"Use your Sharingan to look at my most recent memories if you don't believe me."

Itachi hesitated before activating his Sharingan, looking into Ketsueki's eyes. After a brief moment, he saw Ketsueki throwing kunai at Zuko.

He wordlessly watched as the battle continued but ended the genjutsu as soon as Ketsueki picked up his unconscious body. He then lightly sighed, looking outside of the window.

"You have my gratitude for rescuing me. I understand who you are now and what you are trying to accomplish," he started.

Itachi turned his head back to Ketsueki.

"But stating that I cannot end Project Eyes of Immortality because I'm doing it by myself is hypocrisy, for you are doing the exact same thing."

Ketsueki raised an eyebrow with disbelief.

"Did you not hear me saying it's truly because you lacked information? Even with your Mangekyou Sharingan, Itachi, running around, attempting to take down elite shinobi with their even more elite superior makes you blind.. especially since we have to deal with two Shaolin wielders," said Ketsueki.

Itachi nodded before gently smiling.

"Ah, only one. Zuko Taisega is unable to do anything due to your poison."

Ketsueki chuckled, reaching into his jacket pocket to take out a strawberry. He bit into it and swallowed.

"I have a proposal for you, Itachi. Seeing you as quite the intelligent man, I'm sure you know what it is."

"Is that so? Well, you're correct. You want the two of us to team up and work together in order to stop this Project Eyes of Immortality," said Itachi. Ketsueki nodded.

"Precisely."

"Listen to me, first, Ketsueki. I've a proposal of my own... if my Mangekyou Sharingan is needed for Gyatsō to advance in his plan, wouldn't destroying my eyes fix this problem? By that, I mean killing me and making sure my eyes are destroyed so they aren't suitable for Gyatsō to use."

Ketsueki sighed and wiped his mouth.

"No. Doing that would simply mean rescuing you was pointless on my part. Besides, we both know that you want to see the Osore and Gyatsō destroyed before your very eyes. I can tell, I'm no fool either. Also... you want to face Gyatso in the flesh to see if that little 0.0025% estimation from Zuko was true. I won't lie to you, I would also like to see for myself if Gyatsō truly is that powerful," Ketsueki replied.

"I barely have to insinuate what I want in order for you to know what I want. You're very analytical," Itachi remarked.

Ketsueki ignored the compliment and slowly extended his hand to Itachi.

"Is it decided then? Shall we work as one entity in order to maintain the peace the world has now? To eliminate every member of the Osore before taking down Gyatsō Mataba?" Ketsueki asked softly.

Itachi grabbed his hand and shook it with a nod.

"This is our mission. We must do all that we can in order to stop Project Eyes of Immortality," Itachi said with a smile.

"The real question is, can you even stop it?" asked Gyatsō's voice that suddenly filled the room.

Itachi and Ketsueki gasped and quickly turned around to see Gyatsō with an enraged facial expression.

Almighty Push!

One moment later, he stood directly in front of them, before a heavy gust of wind blew them back, sending them crashing through the shed's wall. They both landed outside and looked ahead.

One by one, several cloaked shinobi jumped from the shed's roof, looking back at them. They all then lowered their hoods to reveal their faces.

Standing at each other's sides were Osore members Sebbech, Seiko, and Hikari.

A fourth Osore member with spiky, dark blue hair and snake-like eyes and light green, scaled skin stood besides Hikari. A cross, which looked exactly like Zuko's cross on his neck, was on his right cheek. His name was Hide, the "second" Darkus Phantom, and Zuko's other half.

Gyatsō quickly jumped out of the shed and walked towards them.

Sebbech smirked as the wind blew his green hair to the side, but it still covered the left side of his face.

"You two reeeeaaally pissed Lord Gyatsō off!" he said.

Seiko giggled and pointed at Ketsueki.

"Especially you. You have absolutely no idea how fucked you are right now! The sin of angering Lord Gyatsō will be paid for with your very fucking lives!" she giggled out.

Hikari sighed and shook his head while looking at Sebbech and Seiko.

"Can't you two learn how to not swear so frequently? Have a shred of decency here..."

Seiko stuck her middle finger in Hikari's face and smirked.

"This is what you get for hitting God earlier."

"Sebbech isn't God..."

"Fuck off, Hikari!"

Gyatsō now stood in front of the Osore. They silenced themselves with respect.

His Shaolin radiated with anger as he stared at Itachi and Ketsueki. Itachi slowly stood up, beginning to sweat a bit.

"This is bad. We can't take down all of them at once," he informed Ketsueki.

The red haired shinobi unsheathed the Sword of Sin, not responding.

I know that, damnit. But I refuse to be killed here. If I die here, all of my intel regarding Project Eyes of Immortality dies with me. For the shinobi world, I must live on.

"...I don't know who you are, but you made the worst possible mistake interfering with my plans. Another grave mistake was injuring my protégé, Zuko Taisega. He unfortunately couldn't be here to witness the death of the man who defeated him. Sad, really, but your death is imminent," Gyatsō said through clenched teeth.

He slowly rose a hand, his fist facing Ketsueki and Itachi. He then pointed at them with a single finger. The Osore members rushed forward.

Hikari performed multiple hand seals, already behind Itachi and Ketsueki.

"Supīdo: Geirukatto!" he yelled.

He sliced at the air with his arm, pushing Itachi and Ketsueki forwards with intense speed.

The Kuraiya clan member shot a line of blood onto a tree and swung around to stop, but Hide smashed his knee into his chest to send him crashing onto the ground.

Itachi spun around midair and threw multiple shuriken and kunai at Seiko, but she effortlessly dodged them as she hummed to herself.

Itachi's legs slid on the ground as he performed a few hand seals.

"Fire Style: Dragon Flame Jutsu."

He blew out flames in the form of a fairly large dragon that was quickly approaching Seiko and Sebbech.

Sebbech rushed through the flames, which dispersed as soon as he touched them.

"What?" Itachi gasped.

Sebbech then appeared besides Itachi, placing a hand on his back before disappearing. Seiko shot a torrent of water his way, which spiraled around quickly.

Itachi jumped back far, but lines of chakra dissection blades could be seen slicing throughout his body as he suddenly fell to the ground. Sebbech stood above him, smirking widely.

"You can't handle me, bastard," the green haired shinobi scoffed.

"Itachi!" Ketsueki yelled, looking over at him before looking back at Hide. They were exchanging punches and kicks, but neither of them has landed a hit. He jumped back, gritting his teeth.

Hikari bounded forward, performing a single hand seal.

"Supīdo: Baindo."

Hikari sliced at the air again, a visible wave of yellow air touching Ketsueki.

Ketsueki grunted as he noticed he moved considerably slower. Hide smirked as he began to connect punch after kick onto Ketsueki. A large snake slipped from under his arm and wrapped around him before throwing him hard against a tree.

Ninja Art: Nullification, thought Ketsueki as his speed now returned to normal. He breathed in before running forward. Itachi did the same.

Only fifteen minutes passed. Itachi panted heavily as he sloppily avoided attack combinations sent from Seiko and Sebbech, who didn't show any signs of exhaustion.

Ketsueki crashed onto the ground as Hide and Hikari stood above him. He looked over to Itachi as he smashed a fist into the ground, gritting his teeth.

I'm sorry, Itachi... truly, I am. But I can't die today, I just can't. Forgive me.

The red haired male then looked away before weakly raising a hand, performing a single hand seal. He suddenly disappeared without a trace.

Hide crossed his arms as he looked at Itachi, who was just kicked down to the ground by Sebbech. He didn't even notice Ketsueki had escaped.

Itachi gritted his teeth as he slowly lost consciousness due to his depletion of chakra. Gyatsō scoffed.

"We're done here. Take Itachi back to the hideout. I'm done with foolishness, this fusion occurs tonight. Sebbech, track down that man and kill him," the white haired male ordered.

He then stood atop the tree he was sitting on, looking up to the full moon before poofing away, indicating it was another clone all along.

Hikari picked up Itachi's body and placed clay on the ground, which formed into a bird-like model. He stood on it and closed his eyes as the bird took off. Seiko followed Hide as he walked through the forest.

"Damn that Kuraiya," muttered Sebbech as he looked around. A few moments later, his eyes widened as he noticed a blade was now sticking out of his chest.

He coughed up blood and fell to his knees as he gritted his teeth, staring down at the blade to see Ketsueki's reflection off of it. The poison had already spread to his heart.

"I decided... to first take down... one... of you!" Ketsueki said while panting.

Sebbech opened his mouth before his already dead body hit the ground. Ketsueki stared at the corpse before disappearing from sight once more.