Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Naruto of the Mirage ❯ Chapter 29 ( Chapter 29 )

It took two weeks for a team from Kumogakure to come and pick up Yugito. Since Kumo shinobi were still not allowed into Fire Country, Yugito had to be escorted to the border, a task that fell to Team seven, since the majority of the shinobi were still untrusting of the Cloud nation. In the time that the blonde kunoichi had been staying with Tenten, she had formed a bond and was performing the same advisory role for Tenten that Haku was doing for Hinata. Yugito had no real hatred for the Hyuuga heiress, but she saw Tenten as more worthy of Naruto's affection. Since Tenten had lightning natured chakra, the two had trained together, and Yugito had to admit, her protégé had taken to the techniques and teachings she had given like she had been training that way all her life.

 

It had taken Team seven a week to return home and in that time almost the entire ninja population had thrown their support behind their Hokage, while the civilian population was split, not unusual considering their numbers. Despite the schism that was threatening the village, everyone was surprisingly cooperative and some of the council members, who had not expected the shinobi population to back the Hokage as they did, resigned their posts or in one extreme case, took his life in shame of their actions. There were still a large number of trouble making members left, but they had gone from just over half the council to somewhere between a quarter and thirty percent. Things were far from resolved, but things were going smoothly in this interregnum period and if things continued to go this way, the council might find itself obsolete. The one area where things hadn't gone the Hokage's way was the interrogation of Karin. It wasn't a blemish on Ibiki's record, he hadn't even gotten a chance to interrogate her, she was still suffering from the effects of the Irukandji poison, two weeks after the sting. It wasn't unheard of, and even Tsunade's skill wasn't able to remove such a tiny amount of poison from the red heads system. She was under ANBU supervision though it was unnecessary as the unbelievable amount of pain she was experiencing had kept her immobile except for spasms and rolling around on her bed, trying to lessen the pain. According to Iruka, this would be a relative short interrogation, she was not overly loyal to Orochimaru or the Akatsuki, and with her sole reason to live having been removed with Iruka's admission, he felt she would not only break quickly, but might even be convinced to join Konoha's side in this fight. How much she would help was still in question however.

 

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

In the Akatsuki base, Hideaki was plotting. He couldn't feel the connection he had to Zetsu and the connection with Karin was weak and would splinter any day. It didn't matter, they were just pawns. As long as there were three members left than he had enough man power to seal the remaining demons. Speaking of the jinchuriki, he would need to separate them. By now Kumogakure should have removed the Nibi container from Konoha but that did not make her an easy mark to capture. He allowed himself a rare smile. Things had gone exactly how he had anticipated, with Tsunade out of the village for so long, the council would have made their power grab by now and if the Godaime was half the Hokage that she was said to be, than they would've been squashed by now as well. If that break was allowed to widen, than Konoha would find itself immersed in a civil war. That alone would invite other nations to attack, with Otogakure leading the way. Even though Orochimaru was leading their forces he wouldn't have the skill to defeat the entire Fire nation and Konoha would retaliate. Sound would be pushed back, though not before Konoha suffered some losses, but this is where phase two would commence. Hideaki was never given the recognition that his teammate, Namikaze Minato received, but living in the shadow of the Yondaime did have it's advantages and silently Hideaki had grown in power to where he was today and while he might not be able to recreate the Hiraishin, he did have a substitute that would be more than enough to fool Iwagakure. From there it was a small task to frame the Kyuubi jinchuriki; after all, he was the only one who could replicate the technique that brought the once powerful nation to its knees. Once Iwa was out for the boy's head, the council would see it as their chance to usurp power from the Hokage by avoiding war. This would divide the village even more, making abducting the jinchuriki all too easy. Normally this would have taken years to accomplish, but with a number of people inside Konoha in high places, and with Orochimaru back in the organization; things would reach a head in far less time. He stepped into the fresh fall air. It was cool and getting colder. Yes, by the end of the year, the world would be his.

 

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

 

While Konoha was waiting and Hideaki was plotting, Kisame was tracking down Jiraiya's informants with relatively poor results. The first person he had found easily enough and dispatched of with his usual ease and destructive strength. Kisame knew that to convince someone to spy for him, Jiraiya must have offered him some kind of protection. If he could prove, even to just a few people, that Jiraiya couldn't save them than his informant net would crumble or collapse on it's own with no help necessary. Unfortunately, after that initial kill, the snitches had gone underground faster than he had imagined they would and of the many names he still had, he had only found and crossed off another three.

 

The next person on his list was a former kunoichi who was originally from a small village in Iwagakure, but had since relocated to a remote section of the land of Waves. He had tracked the aging hag to her home and had broken through the door expecting to find a shocked washed up ninja. He was justifiably shocked when instead of his mark; he had to block a scatter shot of senbon from Zabuza's former accomplice, now a Konoha ninja.

 

Haku stood in the doorway facing the shark man, she wore what was her usual outfit nowadays, the dark blue pants of a Konoha uniform were rolled up to keep them off the ground and keep her sandals from stepping on the leg. She wore a long-sleeved black turtleneck which bled into face mask, exactly like Kakashi's, except that it could be rolled up or down, depending on the wearer's wants and needs. Her jounin vest covered up a sword sheath sandwiched between the vest and her shirt at an angle. The vest had the usual pockets and spaces to hide/hold scrolls and other weapons.

 

“I remember you; you're that brat that Zabuza kept around. I'm surprised that you managed to escape my platoon's sweep back during the civil war. I'm afraid you won't be escaping this time, I almost feel bad, you see, the Mizukage paid me pretty handsomely for killing your pathetic clan, and I hate to accept money for an incomplete job!” Kisame attacked with his covered Samehada but only succeeded in destroying a water clone.

 

“Mizubunshin, typical Zabuza, I should've known.” Kisame sneered, he couldn't sense Haku anywhere and began to wonder if Zabuza had taught her his little mist trick when he felt something come flying at him from behind. He blocked with Samehada and was not physically injured at all, but the cloth wrap that was covering his sword fell to pieces, cut by a score of kunai. Without that covering Samehada went into overdrive and began to eat all the chakra it could, eventually causing the `house' to disappear completely, leaving Kisame standing in the middle of a grown over path.

 

“So, this entire thing was a genjutsu from the beginning, not bad brat.” This revelation startled the shark man more than he let on. If the entire house had been an illusion, than there was no telling how long she had him in her clutches. As if to emphasize his worry, the path too began to break down until he found himself standing on the surface of a delta, one he recognized as being right by the ocean around Wave country.

 

Haku stepped before him, her sword, somewhere between the length of a wakizashi and a full length Katana drawn and held parallel to the ground at her waist.

 

“Pretty dumb move kid, it'll take even more chakra to freeze sea water, you'll never last against me and Samehada.” He smirked, his pointy teeth fully bared.

 

“That has nothing to do with why I chose this location. If I die here, I wanted to be by Zabuza-sama's side.” She gestured towards the cliff to her left; a wooden cross was barely visible at the top. “In keeping with the customs of the Seven Swordsman of the Mist, I challenge you for your rank and sword as the apprentice of Momochi Zabuza.”

 

If it was possible, Kisame's grin grew even wider. “I accept; you know that Zabuza never advanced higher than fourth in our group, while I was always the strongest.” He dropped his Akatsuki cloak and charged at Haku, Samehada raised above his head and behind his body with his right hand, while his left was forming a hand seal.

 

“Suiton: Mizuame Nabara." (Syrup Capture field!)

 

Kisame spat a sticky stream of water at Haku's feet, hoping to immobilize her, knowing that taking too much time for pleasure would be frowned upon. The brunette just stood there and allowed the technique to pool around and over her feet. When Kisame came within sword range of her, she seemed to blur away in a burst of speed he didn't think possible in the situation.

 

She was behind him and closing quickly, ready to stab into her opponent, when he spun around in at a speed that didn't suit such a large man and made to parry her thrust, but instead of continuing with her attack, she disappeared again and tried to attack again, but each time Kisame would put himself in good position to deflect any attack she made and she would blur away. The entire thing was very confusing to Kisame and the only positive thing he could tell she was doing was keeping him on the defensive. It was like she didn't have a plan or any sense of tactics whenever she moved towards him.

 

Having had enough of this odd tactic, Kisame momentarily let go of Samehada and flew some hand seals and a whirlpool began to spin, forcing Haku to dodge. Kisame took this advantage and trapped the girl in a Suirou no Jutsu. (Water Prison) Though she seemed to be worried about this turn of events, Kisame frowned and swung Samehada through the prison, destroying a kage bunshin. He felt the attack come from behind him and allowed the momentum of Samehada's swing to continue, which forced Haku to block his sword with hers.

 

Kisame smirked as he turned around and began to overpower the girl. She might have been fast, but she was still weaker than he was, and once they got in this locked position, he could dictate the style of fighting.

 

“Now I got you, right where I…want you?” Kisame's voice broke up as the genjutsu surrounding Haku's blade was eaten away, showing Kubikiri Houcho. He was amazed that a girl that small and lithe could wield such a large blade so effortlessly. His lapse in concentration allowed her to step forward and shift the swords towards the water, twisting them to reveal that a section of the famous blade had been cut out, making the gigantic sword much easier to wield. What she did with that section didn't cross his mind until she took her left hand off Kubikiri houcho and with lightning fast speed, drew the wakizashi that she had concealed with a simple henge, slicing cleanly through Kisame who turned to water before splashing into the sea and when he didn't immediately reappear, Haku tried to bait him out.

 

“I can't believe that you still believe yourself to be stronger than Zabuza-sama. Even if he was only listed as an A-rank missing ninja, he was stronger than you immediately after we left Mist.”

 

“Zabuza? Stronger than me? You must be reliving your hero worshiping days if you think that. Your life must be flashing before your eyes.” Kisame's deep voice seemed to come from everywhere at once. “Besides, he got himself killed by Hatake Kakashi, even with your help.”

 

Haku didn't move except to sheathe her wakizashi, so that the only weapon she had access to was Kubikiri Houcho. She closed her eyes, heightening the abilities of her ears.

 

“Zabuza was nothing and will never be anything, even in death! All he had was his little mist trick, which never worked on me, nor will it ever work!” Kisame, along with three water clones rose silently from the water. Each Kisame rushed the motionless girl with out a moments hesitation only for her to effortlessly destroy the three clones and focus on the real target, all without opening her eyes, The two great swords locked together again and Kisame tried to use his strength advantage once more, only to be countered by Haku almost effortlessly. Despite this new skill she was showing, it was still a bit sloppy, and a veteran swordsman like Kisame knew to exploit a weakness when presented with one, with Kubikiri Houcho locking up Samehada and with the flat of the metallic blade facing upward, Kisame placed his hand on the flat and used it to lift himself up and land a roundhouse to Haku's temple, throwing the much smaller girl away.

 

“I don't care how much you try and counter me, I know every trick that Zabuza knew, and there is nothing you could have learned from him that will help you.”

 

Haku just stood up, Kubikiri Houcho was still grasped tightly in her right hand. That kick had disoriented her and she felt like she might have a concussion, but she had achieved what she wanted to.

 

“Zabuza-sama taught me the true abilities of Kubikiri Houcho, which is all I need to be able to kill you. You don't even know what this sword is capable of, do you? I wouldn't expect you to, Zabuza-sama kept the secrets of his sword very close to his chest. The name comes from the fact that just like those knives you see on late night television, it will never need to be sharpened, it is kept constantly honed by the wielder's chakra, making it always sharp enough to separate someone's head from their body.”

 

Kisame might not have known that, but Samehada sure did, though they were tiny and hidden in-between its teeth, the sharkskin sword had been cut every time it had come in contact with its opponent.

 

“The true strength of this sword is what made Zabuza-sama so great as an assassin, once it comes in contact with a person's skin; it immediately imprints the electrical pulses that the target's nervous system gives off. In that way, Zabuza and I can find your position, even if you are hidden or blinded by a thick fog of mist. But I've taken this one step farther. I've gotten to a level where I can tell what your actions will be from the where the electrical pulses in your body originate and where they end up.”

 

This had Kisame worried, it was almost like fighting a sharingan if what she said was true…there was the operative word, she could be telling the truth, or, more than likely, she was lying.

 

Deciding to test out the validity of that statement, Kisame decided to use a high level water attack, before he had even started, Haku was moving towards him.

 

“You don't have time for ninjutsu!” She cried as she rushed forward, Kubikiri houcho held behind her, ready to swing in a deadly arc, right at waist level. Kisame made to block his left side with Samehada, but suddenly Haku spun on her heels and began to run backwards, now her sword would swing to his right side, where he had just moved Samehada from. He tried to make a water clone, but Kubikiri Houcho got there first and the only thing he could do was try and move. It wasn't enough, and Haku's blade neatly severed Kisame's right hand. He howled in pain but didn't drop Samehada or his guard. I wouldn't affect his ability to perform nijutsu, he had gotten to the point where he could use all of his techniques one handed, and the large majority of them could be done without hand seals all together, but having to fight someone who knew what he was going to do before his muscles even got the message, without his dominant hand was more than he wanted to deal with. He tried to create a diversion with a water technique, but once more Haku responded before the thought had even left his mind and punched him square in the face with impressive strength for her stature. He was forced backward, though not very far and just stood there, trying to think of a way to counter her.

 

`She reacts to my nerve impulses which means she knows what I'm going to do as I do it, damn! Every time I go to use a jutsu, she attacks my hands and if I use taijutsu, she can read and counter it easily.' That's when a thought struck the older man. `All she's been using is taijutsu and kenjutsu, the most effective way to prevent ninjutsu use is with another ninjutsu, so why isn't she?' His mouth splint into an insane grin and he actually began to laugh.

 

“I've got you figured out now girl, you might be able to tell what part of my body I'm going to use, but you can't tell what I'm going to do with it, so you automatically get closer so that you can stop me from doing anything!”

 

Haku would've frowned, it was true, she could only tell what part of his body he was going to use, arm, hand, knee, leg, but she couldn't tell what action they would be performing. Now the odds were good that if his body went to move his hand, it was ninjutsu, and if he moved his leg it would be taijutsu, but there wasn't any assurance of that. She would have to be careful from here on out, before if she made a mistake he would probably be too surprised to capitalize on it, but now he wouldn't waste an opportunity so it would all depend on her ability to read his movements. She couldn't afford to make a mistake and that meant that she would have to delay her reactions to him.

 

Right off the bat he exploited her cautiousness and leapt backwards to get more space between the two of them, Haku didn't move. Another step backwards and again, the kunoichi didn't move. Kisame was now far enough away to finish the seals for some of the shorter techniques he knew, another step backwards and now he was in intermediate range. On the next step backwards, Haku took a step forward, not allowing him to increase the gap between them. The next move Kisame made was offensive, running forward in an attempt to catch his opponent off guard.

 

He was partially successful, Haku was slow to react out of caution and was caught flat footed, but between her speed and the fact that Kisame was using his left hand, she was able to escape with little more than a scratch. Of course when that scratch comes from a sword like Samehada, it's not exactly something to laugh at. Kubikiri Houcho was a large and heavy blade, despite having grown up around it; Haku had been forced to use some chakra to wield it at her current level. When it rains, it pours and she had the extreme displeasure of having one of the scales from Kisame's sword break off and embed itself just under her skin where it began to eat it's fill of her chakra. Kisame might only have one hand, but he had just gotten the advantage in the fight again.

 

Sensing that the momentum had just swung his way, Kisame pressed his attack with a crushing overhead swing of Samehada which Haku was forced to block, her ability to read his movements momentarily forgotten. The force of Samehada crashing into her own blade actually pushed Haku's feet under the surface of the water, despite her chakra supporting her weight. She felt his legs pulse and correctly identified a kick which she avoided by twisting out of the way, but that left her vulnerable to Kisame's follow up attack, a clothesline with his handless right arm. Thinking quickly, Haku sank beneath the surface of the water to try and buy a little bit of time. She felt the water surrounding her become denser and easily recognized the signs of the Suirou no Jutsu. She was hauled to the surface and brought face to face with Kisame's grinning mouth.

 

“No clones this time.” He smirked and swung his sword. Haku pushed as much chakra as she could out into the water around her, hoping to freeze the water and give her some level of protection, but the salt water took too long to solidify and Samehada was only slowed down a little bit. She felt her arm shatter at the force of the blow and the teeth took a fair bit of skin and muscle with it as it swung away. The only good thing that came from this was that it knocked her free from Kisame's technique where she rolled across the water until she was able to slow her momentum down and rise to a knee some ten feet from Kisame. She formed a single hand seal and seemed to dissolve into the wind.

 

“You don't expect that technique to work on me again, do you?” Kisame asked, recognizing the beginning of the Jubaku Satsu (Tree Binding Death) that Kurenai had used against him when he had been in Konoha last. Not surprisingly there wasn't a reply, but instead of a tree quickly rising from the ground and arresting his movement, it was a creeping sheet of ice. He released a burst of chakra to disrupt the illusion, but it didn't stop the cold from creeping past his waist

 

“Kai! Kai!” He tried frantically to break the illusion but the ice didn't recede, the only change that he could feel, besides loosing all feeling in his lower extremities, was the familiar weight of Samehada disappearing from his hand. At some point, probably recently, that wench had taken his sword. The ice had just immobilized his right arm and was threatening the left one. Within a minute it too was lost to him, he was well and truly defeated.

 

Haku chose that the moment when the ice reached over his mouth to reappear, Kubikiri Houcho strapped to her back once more and Samehada had been just sealed into a carrying scroll. She pulled her wakizashi, made from Kubikiri Houcho and having the same properties and quickly decapitated Kisame's still form before she teleported next to Zabuza's grave to nurse her wounds. She was in worse condition than she had wanted to be when she went into the fight. That scale was still embedded in her mangled and broken arm continued to bleed and burn. She was regretting doing this mission alone now, normally she would have at least a couple chuunin with her, but now her only choice was to make it into the nearest village, which was still ten miles away. And try and get some first aide. She grunted in pain as she removed some bandages from her utility pouch and painfully wrapped her broken arm up and put it in a make shift sling. She was already looking forward to getting back to Konoha so that she could get Shizune or Sakura to heal her arm.

 

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

 

Sasuke had been walking around Konoha, not really doing anything in particular. With Haku out of town and his training was done for the day, he was low on ideas to kill the time. He was meandering on an impromptu tour of the training grounds of Konoha, when he felt it. It was the same feeling of being watched that he had felt the night Itachi had murdered the entire clan. He stopped and looked around and realized that in his wanderings he had gotten close to the Uchiha estates, through no intention of his own. Sasuke walked through the gate he hadn't entered since he had collected his things and moved in with Anko and Naruto. He stopped at the exact spot Itachi had first forced him into the world of Tsukiyomi and without turning around, waited for Itachi to come out of the shadows.

 

“I'm disappointed Sasuke, your hatred is as weak as ever.” The elder of the two brothers materialized from the shadows of the abandoned buildings and despite the fact that it was near noon, very little light seemed to be shining on this land.

 

“And for good reason, hate is a useless and pitiful emotion when compared to love and compassion.” Sasuke turned around, his black eyes meeting the sharingan of his brother's and locking in contention. For the moment not one talked and a cool gust of air swirled around, fluttering Itachi's cloak and Sasuke's loose pants, making the embroidered flames at the bottom flicker, as if they were alive. Instantly, the level of chakra in the air rose as the two brothers raced towards each other.

 

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

 

Naruto had taken his day off to sleep in and was just waking up around this time. He stepped into the shower and began the long and somewhat complicated process known as `waking up' while, across the village, a small foot race was being held.

 

Today was the day, Tenten had told herself, after a parting pep talk from Yugito and then with Naruto's late arrival the night before, this was the first chance she was going to get to ask him out and she would be damned if she passed it up. She would go over to his house and wait all day and all night if she had to, but today, she would talk to him and get him to see that it was she, not that…stalker of a Hyuuga , that deserved his undivided and unwavering attention. She knew that he preferred kunoichi that cared more about their skills than their appearance, but decided that it wouldn't hurt if she dressed up a little. Of course, as long as it is a woman's prerogative to changer her mind, the word little will always be flexible…

 

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

 

Hinata smiled at how perfect the day was turning out to be. There wasn't a rain cloud in sight, the temperature wasn't too hot or cold and the fall winds that blew through every once in a while didn't hold the bite that they would in just a week or two. The sun was shining brightly, and Naruto-kun would soon be hers. Yup, perfect day indeed! Before Haku had left earlier that week, she had imposed upon Hinata the urgency that she must ask Naruto out before she returned, or Tenten would probably get him, and Hinata would be damned if some…fan girl, would get what was rightfully hers without a fight. She was heading over to his house right now, convinced that there was nothing that could ruin the day.

 

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

 

By whatever force of nature you wish to attribute it to, the two women found themselves at the exact same point on converging trails at exactly the same time. Basically, both Hinata and Tenten walked up to Naruto's front door at the exact same time and promptly began to fight about who got their first, and none too quietly either.

 

“You can not be thinking about asking Naruto-kun out, it's obvious that he'd choose me, we are on the same team after all.” Tenten yelled; the two girls foreheads were pressed against each other and arms were flying around in wild gestures.

 

“You were on his team, w.e.r.e, were! If I remember correctly, Sakura-san is the kunoichi assigned to his team, not you!” Hinata fired back.

 

“Yeah, but he customized my swords for me, he obviously cares more about me than you.” Tenten retaliated.

 

“He only did that because he didn't want you to die in the final round!” Ooh, Hinata was in fine form today.

 

“So what? Even if that's true, it just means that he values my life more than yours!”

 

Sitting on the roof, Anko was trying to hold back her laughter and refrain from sneaking inside and getting some paper to make scorecards.

 

“He cares more for you? I'm sorry, who was the one that he beat and humiliated in the chuunin exams?”

 

“You want to bring up humiliation? You only won your match because Deer-boy ran out of chakra!” That was it, the gloves had come off, you can insult a kunoichi's fashion sense, you can insult their cooking, you can even insult their family, but the two things you didn't insult, their crushes and their fighting abilities. Hinata reeled her head back and delivered a hard head but to Tenten who didn't see the sneak attack coming. The weapon's mistress returned fire by punching the heiress straight in her stomach. It would have been powerful enough to knock the wind from Hinata, but she had been training against jyuken strikes, so it just really hurt, Tenten had used a bit of lightning chakra in her punch. Hinata tried to knee Tenten in the face while she was still low to the ground, but missed. Tenten managed to wrap her arms around Hinata's midsection and tried to bear hug the life out of her rival. It was at this point in the scuffle that Naruto, still partially half asleep walked out of the front door. There was Tenten, in her usual loose clothing, but with a large bruise forming on her forehead, bear hugging Hinata, who was delivering strong blows to the brunette's back, coincidently knocking Tenten's head perilously close to the Heiress' chest. The first thing that crossed Naruto's mind was:

 

`I'm not sure what's going on…but let'm continue!'

 

The second thing, and luckily for him, the thought that actually got spoken was:

 

“Um…what are you doing?”

 

Instantly the two girls turned to their dream boy and realized the position they were in and jumped away from each other.

 

“Naruto-kun, would you like to go out for some ramen?” Both asked simultaneously.

 

“I was just heading over there, but that didn't answer my question. Why are you two fighting? Were you fighting over me?” Despite the fact that Sasuke knew that Hinata like him, and despite the fact that Anko knew Tenten had a crush on him, Naruto was still oblivious.

 

Neither woman answered vocally, but both nodded their heads embarrassed at being found out finally, after years of underground crushing.

 

They were staring at him. They had this look in their eye like they expected him to declare one the victor. Naruto's mind began to race, while it hadn't gotten past the idea of two women loving him, especially these two, he knew that he had to do something and fast…but how to do it without crushing one of them?

 

“Let me guess, you expect me to pick one of you two, right?” Another set of nods. “Okay, here's what I'm going to do. I'll take the two of you out on a date, and at the end, I'll make my decision, okay?”

 

“I get to go first!” The two had tried to stake their claim and were about to get into another round of fighting over who would actually get to go first, when Naruto raised his hand in a pacifying gesture.

 

“I said `a' date, not dates, you'll both go on the same date with me. Saturday night, I'll meet you two outside the Hokage tower since its mid way between all of our houses. He was about to say that they should be ready for anything when he felt it. The unmistakable feel of Kame Kawa's shikai being released and it was coming from the Uchiha clan estates. He broke for it, Anko in tow with two feuding kunoichi bringing up the rear.

 

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

 

While not expecting this to be easy by any means, Sasuke was struck by just how powerful Itachi was. True, he hadn't used any high level techniques, and he hadn't transformed, but despite all of his taijutsu training, he was hard pressed to land any solid blows. Here had been a sweep and a knee to the stomach that had been partially blocked, a couple punches that had landed on Itachi's biceps and were bruising as they fought, but they were few and very far between.

 

Likewise, Itachi was pleased with how strong Sasuke had gotten, even if he had forgone the hatred that he truly needed to defeat him, as long as Sasuke didn't hate and draw on that hatred, Itachi would always have the upper hand. But despite that, the taijutsu style that Sasuke was using was very impressive. While not being as heave and powerful as Maito Gai's style, it was faster and the combo's could be chained together at lightning fast speeds. He had to stop his musing and drop to evade a high spinning kick, only for Sasuke to bleed his momentum and spin into a sweeping kick that knocked Itachi's feet out from under him. In that moment that he was airborne, Sasuke's right elbow slammed into Itachi's sternum, knocking the elder brother into the side of the nearest building, only to turn into a section of log. Itachi responded by trying to pull Sasuke underground, but upon emerging from the ground, had to evade a Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu (Grand Fireball). It had been such a long time since he had so much fun in a fight, that a smile actually graced Itachi's lips. Stepping up his attack, he made a sword of fire, just from elemental manipulation. He was prepared when Sasuke drew Kame Kawa and released its initial form. Bankai would be coming, but it would have to wait until the right moment. He could feel Naruto and Anko heading for them, as well as two others trailing behind, that if he was correct, was Tenten and Hinata. They would be here soon enough, but he couldn't afford to think about them right now, Itachi's flaming blade had come too close and too powerful for comfort, and all of his concentration would need to be used to make sure he didn't get barbequed.

 

He blocked and deflected strike after strike, steam rising off every encounter the two blades made, but the extra reach advantage prevented Sasuke from using taijutsu, his great advantage over his brother.

 

“Sasuke!” Naruto's voice reached the fighting and Sasuke knew it was time.

 

“Protéjalos Kame Kawa!” (Protect them from my fury)

 

The second silver rune glowed and then bled into nothingness. Itachi wasn't sure what was happening, but things quickly became clear. Sasuke tossed his sword into the air, flipping it end over end, and as it spun, the black metal of the blade created a black circle in the air, just over the brother's heads. It suddenly expanded and upon contact with the brothers, sucked them into the hole.

 

“Damn it!” Naruto cussed, he knew that Sasuke would use his bankai; he had told them that he would only use it on Itachi, but he had wanted to help out his brother.

 

“What happened? Where is Sasuke?” Tenten and Hinata had shown up after the Uchiha brothers had disappeared.

 

“Sasuke used his bankai; he's out of our reach.” Anko had dropped any masks she had; the only emotion on her face was the worry that any mother had for her son.

 

“What does it do? Why isn't he here?” Hinata was keeping her eyes on Naruto, trying to gauge his reaction.

 

“It cuts a pocket in space and will hold any two people or two things there indefinitely unless he wills them released. There is no way to get in or out, hence the name Kame Kawa. It is his ultimate defense, even if he can't kill Itachi; there is no chance that he can get out.”

 

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

 

At first, Itachi was confused at where he was. It was just…black. Not like it is at night, but there were no buildings no people, he couldn't even tell if there was a floor or a sky, if he was motionless or falling. Sasuke was standing before him, or at least an outline of him, his little brother's sharingan seemed to be in greater detail.

 

“Every since you murdered them, something about you has seemed off to me. You're explanation that day…tell me why you really killed them.”

 

The fiery sword he had formed disappeared as Itachi eyed his brother some more.

 

“When I achieved the mangekyou sharingan I became a demon, I murdered those weak relations of ours simply to test my strength.” As if to emphasize his point he shifted to his own demonically influenced form. His skin turned a paler than he was and the same black lines appeared as with Sasuke. A pair of horns grew from his forehead, though one was much shorter than the other and twisted, as if it had been ripped off. Sasuke quickly transformed as well, the only differences between the two were size it seemed. Sasuke spread his wings in an intimidation move and grinned manically.

 

“You're lying. You haven't lost a bit of your humanity.” Sasuke was challenging his brother.

 

“What do you mean? Of course I've forsaken that weak part of me, and you have too, how else could we have achieved this transformation?”

 

“This form, this accursed form does not make us demons! You justified your actions on that night, and you justified them today, a true demon needs no reason to kill, no matter how much you might want to forget your humanity, it is still a part of you and you can no easier separate yourself from it, than you can break from this dimension.”

 

Itachi's face showed anger for the first time in many years, it was impossible for Sasuke to be correct, he had shed his frailty…he had transcended all that an Uchiha could be, all that a human could be.

“Enough, this is an admirable sacrifice you have made, thinking you can trap me here to save your 'brother', but once I've killed you, than I will break free and fulfill my objective.”

 

The two fallen angels clashed in a powerful flurry of punches and kicks but neither landing a hit, as each arm and leg that was thrust forward was blocked or dodged. All form of weapons had been forgotten, the damage they could cause could was forsaken, in favor of the satisfaction that landing a solid strike with ones own hands would bring.

 

Inside this realm, the two brothers fought, neither with a distinct advantage, Itachi, who had more experience in this form was counteracting the prowess his little brother had in taijutsu with sheer strength and tactics. Sasuke wouldn't use anything other than his own strength until Itachi used his mangekyou sharingan. The whole point of separating them from the real world was so that the stronger of the two brothers, champions of two separate ideals, would be free to fight using whatever tactics and knowledge they had without interference.

 

Just like in the world of Tsukiyomi, time moved at whatever pace Sasuke wished, they had been fighting for what seemed liked over an hour, yet Naruto and Anko had only just finished explaining the purpose of Sasuke's bankai. Another flurry of activity as Itachi and Sasuke clashed again before separating to size up the other.

 

“I'm afraid that I don't have the time to waste on our little reunion, so pardon me for killing you so quickly. I think you'll find that the mangekyou sharingan has quite an interesting effect in this form.” Itachi rasped out in his demonically deepened voice before the three tomoe in his eyes bled into the triple windmill pattern of the accursed mangekyou sharingan. That was far from the only change though. The black lines on his skin widened and bled together before turning a dark purple color and covering every inch of his skin. His muscle mass seemed to diminish, though Sasuke seriously doubted that his strength had gone down at all, and a surge of chakra, so strong that it shredded his cloak, rushed from his body.

“Hideaki-sama tells me that in this form, I am the faster than the Yondaime when he wasn't using the Hiraishin.” True to his word Itachi disappeared in such a burst of speed that he actually overshot Sasuke and missed with his attack. The youngest Uchiha was in awe of the speed he had been shown. For his brother to move that fast was almost impossible, he was faster than the sharingan could predict and faster than the nervous system could react. If he hadn't been practicing against Naruto and Anko, he might really be screwed, but having arguably the two fastest people in the world as sparing partners means you pick up a few things.

 

“Doton: Yomi Numa.” He used the technique in an attempt to slow down his brother, but Sasuke doubted if it would have any real effect. Despite the change of terrain, Itachi was not slowed down and Sasuke had to dive to his side to avoid the counter attack Itachi made.

 

`Time for plan B.' He grumbled to himself as he ran through the hand seals for the syrup capture field, which Itachi merely floated to the top of, despite having his feet covered in the sticky liquid initially. Undaunted, Sasuke began a new technique and Itachi had had enough. He charged forward at his insane speed and had Sasuke set up perfectly for the initial stages of the Omote Renge (Front Lotus), when he suddenly lost control as the once sticky liquid he had been running on turned into a super slick surface of ice. He fell flat on his face and slid past Sasuke, but before the youngest Uchiha had a chance to capitalize on the comedic opportunity, Itachi used shunshin to right himself but didn't counter attack, noting the makibishi that Sasuke had littered the area with. He decided to try and wash the spikes away with a suiton technique, but the impediments stood firm. Having no other choice, Itachi spread his now purplish wings and took flight. Sasuke grinned, he had successfully negated the speed advantage that Itachi had and now the fight was on even ground…or air again. With one powerful sweep of his black feathered wings, Sasuke took flight and leveled off with his opponent and once again the fight picked up.

 

For the next twenty minutes, at least to the combatants, fireballs flew from one area of the sky towards the other, ranging in size from pumpkin sized, to larger than some middle class summons. The conflagrations never hit their mark, or if they did, the target turned out to be a clone of some sort and the fight would continue. The longer this went on, the more Itachi started to become irate and the more he was tempted to use Tsukiyomi, despite the threat to his eyesight. Suddenly Sasuke's attacks increased in ferocity. He threw a long chain of straight punches at Itachi's face, which the older brother blocked easily enough, but when he tried to force some distance with a kick, Sasuke quickly tried to connect with a knee or change up his punches and try something that was more looping. In one swift moment, Sasuke succeeded in breaking Itachi's defense and landed a looping right hook to his brother's temple which opened up a whole series of targets for the younger brother. In short succession Itachi's body was riddled with a hard left hook, a right and left jab and then a rising knee to the chin.

 

As Itachi flew backwards, he locked eyes with Sasuke and drew him into the feared genjutsu of the mangekyou sharingan.

 

“For the next seventy-two hours you will be shown what will happen to your `family' once Hideaki-sama gets through with them.” He meant for Sasuke to see Naruto's lifeless body once the Kyuubi had been extracted, Anko's headless corpse and Haku, beaten, raped and finally decapitated, yet Sasuke seemed unfazed.

 

“Did you really think that I wouldn't come up with a counter for this eventually?” He posed before gathering his chakra for a Katon: Rasengan and charging forward, hoping to make Itachi either shop a trump card. He got his wish, as Itachi recognized the potential in his little brother's attack and couldn't dodge in mid air. The black fires of the Amaterasu burned towards Sasuke's charging form, forcing him to try and block with his miniature sun. The two attacks ground against each other for a moment, but in the end Sasuke was forced to leap away, his chakra wasted against the black flames. Instead of dissipating or burning out, the black fire actually pulled back to Itachi, completely under his control.

 

“I can use the flames of the Amaterasu as both an offensive weapon and an impenetrable defense. You have no way to penetrate it, it is simply a matter of time before it catches you and I am the last of the Uchiha clan.” Itachi boasted before lashing out with his dark weapon. Sasuke dodged the strike, but in cooroberation with Itachi's words, the flames pursued him relentlessly and soon he found himself missing them by less and less. Sasuke was forced to try and get Itachi in-between himself and the black flames that threatened his life. By gaining altitude and then going into a ninety degree dive and playing a little game of chicken with his older brother, Sasuke was successful, though it didn't have the destructive side effect he was hoping for. The flames just danced around his body, not doing any damage or burning their summoner in any way.

 

“Foolish little brother, these fires are loyal completely to me, they will not hurt me, no matter what you do.” Sasuke wasn't upset, Itachi noticed, instead he was smirking.

 

“Is that so? Because I happen to know for a fact that if two flames of the sun god are summoned and neither is stronger than the other, than they will turn on their summoners and destroy them for being so weak.” As he spoke, Sasuke cut his hand on his razor sharp horns and flew through the short series of hand seals for a summoning.

 

“Kuchioyse: Amaterasu.” As blood dripped from his wound, it became consumed by identical black flames and spread. Itachi cursed himself for his oversight, Sasuke had proven to be full of surprises, so of course he would have some how found a way to counter every advantage that the Mangekyou sharingan gave him, including replicating the Amaterasu. Finding it prudent to strike while Sasuke's attack was weakest, Itachi's flames flew forward, trying to overpower his brother's. It was too late, and Sasuke's Amaterasu was on even par with Itachi's. For the next five minutes the two pushed against each other, neither gaining any ground nor giving any up, it was a dead heat.

 

That's when it happened, there was an ominous change to the atmosphere and suddenly the two fires twisted upwards and spun together before breaking apart and heading back to their summoner. Itachi noted with a sense of glee that Sasuke's face showed a great deal of fear, he had been gambling on that technique, and now it would kill him. Itachi was in no danger, as he dismissed his own conflagration with a simple wave of his hand, and had enough time to watch Sasuke struck down by the black flames. But instead of the screaming and pain that should have been coming from Sasuke, there was no noise or complaining, in fact the fire seemed to be disappearing into his body. As the volume of flames diminished, so did Sasuke's demonic features. His body shrunk back to its normal proportions and his horns shrunk back into his head. The only change from Sasuke before he activated his devil mode and now, was that his skin was darker now, like he had instantly gotten a deep, deep tan and his eyes were completely black, no sharingan was present.

 

“I have taken this technique farther than you or anyone in the history of our world ever has, and in doing so have forced myself past the level of even our greatest ancestor. The combination of the holy flames of the sun god and my demonic body has produced the closest thing to a god that can be found on this earth.”

 

The war between their otherworldly flames had melted all the ice on the ground and both fighters had landed. Knowing that he had the advantage in speed, no matter what Sasuke said, Itachi pushed his attack, speeding to his brother, who didn't seem to be interested or even acknowledge that he was being attacked. Itachi formed his fiery sword and was thrusting it at Sasuke's eyeball while his prey was still staring at his previous location. But as the blade came in contact with Sasuke, it began to dissipate and dissolve until all that was left was the `handle' in Itachi's hand. The older brother made to back away but Sasuke grabbed his outstretched arm with never before seen speed and strength, squeezing on Itachi's wrist until it snapped. He let go and Itachi leapt backwards, holding his right arm gingerly. Before he could speak or counter attack, Sasuke blurred from view and appeared behind his brother before landing a devastating snap kick to the back of Itachi's skull, staggering the older brother forward. Again, Sasuke appeared before his brother and began to clinically land punches to his brother. Everywhere he touched; black flame would erupt and slowly begin to spread, licking away at clothing and skin with no discrimination. The pain of a broken wrist and a fire hotter than the sun eating away at his flesh made Itachi cry out in pain. With one final strike Sasuke stopped fighting and stopped the spread of his fire momentarily.

 

“For what you have done, not just to me and the clan, but for what you have done to my true brother, I can never forgive you, but you won't die. I will keep you imprisoned here in this desolate wasteland of a dimension, surrounded by my flames until the day I die. From now on, your life, however worthless it may be, is linked to mine.” He yawned as if he hadn't slept in days. Taking one last look at his trapped brother, Sasuke stepped backwards and did a single hand sign, before a small hole opened up, showing the path back to reality. Itachi tried to do anything, but any movement resulted in his body coming in contact with the intense fire that formed his prison. He watched as Sasuke walked through the portal and closed up the only window back to reality without looking back.

 

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

The first thing that everyone present noticed when Sasuke emerged from the dimensional pocket he had created, was that he appeared completely unharmed. That notion was thrown out the window when he basically collapsed on top of Naruto, throwing both boys to the ground. With a little help, they got him to the hospital where Tsunade was waiting to check him over. Absorbing the Amaterasu had been a desperation move; he hadn't perfected the technique and actually suffered some pretty serious burns internally and externally. He was out of chakra and just over all fatigued. Tsunade didn't expect him to even wake up for over a week, considering what he went through in a short amount of time. At the end of the day Anko and Naruto went home with the knowledge that Sasuke should make a full recovery, though Tsunade wasn't sure what kind of side effects would come from swallowing such a dangerous technique. Only time would tell.

 

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

 

(A/N: Wow, that blew up on me! It turned out about twice as long as I had intended, but I really like the fights and how I wrote them, so I hope every one enjoys them. I finally threw some Tenten and Hinata stuff in there, I've think I've been saying I'd do that for like the past five chapters or something.

 

Anyway, thanks to all who reviewed the last couple chapters, please let me know what you think about this one, it's pretty huge I know, but I like it that way.)