Chapter Text
Oftentimes, people will speak out against an oppressing force when they feel overconfident in their own power. They do this perhaps to regain control over a situation, or to reassert themselves as the dominant power.
With how arrogant the Heroes were, Kakashi thought at least one of them would have spoken out against him by now.
Instead, Itachi continued uninterrupted.
Could they feel his sheer power? Did they understand that his threats were not spoken lightly?
“I suppose I won’t get out of this without a fight?”
His Sharingan hurt.
It pulsated and felt like it would explode. He funnelled more chakra into it. His head felt light and his heart pumped what felt like a thousand beats.
Kakashi closed his normal eye and stared at him with his Sharingan, he should be able to resist any genjutsu Itachi would try putting him in. The heroes were useless here, and to hope for reinforcements that could even touch Itachi was foolish.
He had to win, for his team.
But could he?
Now was hardly the time for any doubts, but could he really take on the Uchiha?
“If you had been born an Uchiha, perhaps the outcome of this match would be different, but alas, your body doesn’t have the stamina or power to keep up with the real thing”
Kakashi’s fingers twitched, “Enough chat”
He was right.
He jumped forward, his eyes trained on Itachi’s waist and feet. His hand came from his side to his waist, he prepared for a fireball jutsu. But it never came, no signs were even formed. Instead, as he was about to grab Itachi, two fingers found themselves pointed directly in front of his eyes.
Kakashi fell through the Uchiha.
He disappeared in a flurry of crows.
The ground started to change, it grew wet and shiny. It was crimson red and reflected the sky in the same colour. Clouds swam through the sky like smoke. His hands were red, stained by the reflection of this world. He turned around, and came face to face with Itachi again.
This world was empty and barren, the ground and the sky merged into one, he couldn’t tell if he was up or down, or if he was turning left or right. He couldn’t tell if he was looking at this world through his sharingan or through his normal eye, perhaps both? His legs felt heavy yet his body felt as if it could float - fall? - up - down? He felt dizzy, his chakra system was disrupted and his mind was hazy.
In front of his eyes was his former partner, standing tall in that black cloak of the Akatsuki. The red clouds embroidered onto the cloak swam in his vision. He attempted to stand up straight. Instead, he found himself no longer standing at all.
Kakashi placed his arms in front of him to brace for the fall, but he couldn’t. They were suspended by a wooden board. He didn’t fall any further and the sinking feeling in his stomach calmed.
Itachi was by his side now, the cloak covered his mouth and nose, leaving only the spinning tomoe and red irises of his sharingan to look at. They were cold, he couldn’t read anything from them.
“You are caught in my genjutsu”
His mind cleared for a second, and out of habit, he disrupted his chakra to try and break out. He blinked and hoped the world would be back to normal when he reopened his eyes, unfortunately, it was still dyed red.
Itachi looked up at him, as if being able to read his thoughts, “You will spend three days here, whereas only a second will pass by in the real world”
His heart dropped to his stomach. Kakashi was so filled with dread he didn’t know what to do, he started to sweat profusely.
Fuck
They were fucked.
Despair filled his head.
Sure he hadn’t expected to win the fight easily (or even at all), but to get taken out before he even landed a physical blow on the Uchiha was beyond shameful. All this worrying and brainstorming of how to escape alive and he wasn’t even able to stand his ground for 5 seconds.
Itachi held a tanto now.
Kakashi wasn’t an idiot. He could surmise what was going to happen.
There were case studies on Itachi’s Tsukuyomi. Victims of the cruel genjutsu littered the five nations, popping up every so often after a mission was completed. They had never been able to do any in depth research on the nature of his Tsukuyomi, seeing as all the victims were left as shells of their former selves.
Already that wasn’t a good sign for him.
It was stupid for him to think that he would be able to get out of this situation with everything going according to plan. Hell! The likelihood of him even being conscious after the genjutsu was close to nothing.
Shinobi endured.
Itachi spoke but none of the words entered his ears. His focus was purely on the tanto, slowly inching closer and closer to his torso. He steeled his core instinctively, the muscles contracted as if attempting to form a barrier to stop the blade from piercing him.
It didn’t work
-
It wasn’t often that he was put in a situation worthy of panic.
Madara had ordered him to come along. Or rather he had asked to come.
Sasuke had been missing from the village for nearly 2 weeks. Not a single trace of his presence was left.
It scared him.
So when Madara had informed him that he had found where his brother had gone, how could he have rejected the offer to follow?
Only when he arrived in this strange world did his senses finally return to him.
They were fucked.
Originally, it had only been Kisame and himself who was supposed to infiltrate Konoha and retrieve the Nine-tails. With Kisame, his plan had been simple.
His partner trusted his judgement enough such that he would agree to retreat if their opponents were ‘too strong’. The original plan would have just been to infiltrate Konoha, make a ruckus and leave when they would be undoubtedly confronted by several Jonin.
Their mission would end with the failure to capture the Nine-tails but that wasn’t his real mission. The only mission that mattered was protecting Konoha and playing the double agent.
But now? His partner wasn’t as trusting as Kisame, nor was he as ‘weak’. If he didn’t complete the mission, Madara would.
He was put in a position where the loss of Konoha’s jinchuriki was inevitable.
Failure on both ends would only lead to a worse outcome, where Madara would completely decimate Team 7.
On the way to their destination, Itachi pondered over his choices.
There really weren’t many.
1, he could ‘lose’ to Team 7, but that would simply end in Madara finishing the job himself.
2, he could take out Kakashi, and sacrifice the Jinchuriki for the uncertain safety of the village and the absolute safety of Sasuke. But this would put him in a conflict with Konoha for failing to keep their Jinchuriki safe.
3, he could betray Madara. This was not a good option. It had the best results in the case of success. But he would be an idiot if he thought he could betray Madara in such a fashion. Worst case scenario, it would get him killed, put Sasuke in a dangerous position and decimate team 7. This solution also wasn’t viable if they ever wanted to be able to go home. Madara was the only reason they were even to get here in the first place.
In summary, he could either lose the trust of Konoha or he could risk Sasuke’s life.
It was a rather easy choice if he put it that way, but the possibility of the 3rd plan succeeding clouded his mind. He was never one for making compromises that resulted in him losing something without anything to gain in return. But he was also never one for gambling. Especially with his brother’s life.
“Once the Jinchuriki is captured, return Sasuke and his team back to Konoha”
They stopped, right before exiting the forest.
Madara’s sharingan spun as if trying to see through him.
“Very well, incapacitate them first”
The two of them shared a glance before leaping back into the thick, dark forest. He could feel the presence of another sharingan searching for them. Sasuke. They masked their chakra and waited patiently for his brother’s chakra to dim.
“Itachi, the nine-tails will be difficult to handle, I trust you will be able to immobilise him quickly, before any tails start to manifest”
Itachi didn’t answer him. The statement hung in the air. If the tails did manifest, would he be able to handle it? Gauging by the strength of the other jinchuriki he had fought, he should be able to handle up to three tails before the risk of death exploded exponentially.
He wouldn’t die, nor would he get defeated. He had been ‘allies’ with Madara ever since that night, but he knew Madara wouldn’t hesitate to get rid of him should the circumstances be right. Itachi had made certain over the years that a circumstance like that had never occurred.
They waited, unblinking, for the perfect time to ambush Kakashi and his team.
It finally came when they were escorted, by residents of this world, out of the main building and into an open field.
They had factored in the chances of a fight with the locals of this world. It was pretty much an unknown factor in their ambush, which generally wasn’t a good thing.
While they were biding their time, Madara did some reconnaissance.
They were at an academy of sorts, where students trained. It was like the academy in Konoha, but more ‘specialised’? The students here were much older than typical academy students, and they also seemed to each have their own bloodline specialties. Which led to the conclusion that this was likely a prestigious school for high ranking noble families.
This normally would have meant bad news, for those originating from clans would usually have a much higher mastery of their bloodline limits than those coming from normal families. However, it seemed that those in this world barely held a candle to the chunin of their world.
Madara had told him, “The danger in fighting them lies with the uncertainty of what their bloodline limit is, not with their skill or power”
Essentially, they were weak.
If he were being honest, it disappointed him. He had held out a small flame of hope that the locals here would be able to overpower, if not, at least keep up with Madara and him.
Anger slowly built under his skin. If the people here had just been strong enough, his mission to protect Konoha and thus Naruto Uzumaki, would be able to proceed without worry. Instead, he would have to ‘betray’ the leaf, by practically handing over the nine-tails, and killing arguably one of the most powerful jonin in Konoha as well as a genin with excellent potential.
Itachi steeled himself.
Not only to fight and kill his former commander and friend, but also to massacre his team.
-
Kakashi was down, more easily than he would’ve liked. Perhaps he shouldn’t have used Tsukuyomi. But Madara wanted this done quickly and efficiently, he couldn’t let himself be exposed.
Kakashi collapsed at his spot, he kneeled on the ground unmoving.
Itachi suppressed the urge to vomit and clutch his head in pain. His chakra was cut nearly in half from that genjutsu.
-
As he faced the scared, angry and determined faces of the genin and the locals, he started to feel regretful. In the limited time he had spent here, this world seemed far more peaceful and advanced than Konoha. Perhaps he should’ve just left them alone.
If he had never helped Madara in locating their chakras, they would’ve never been found. Sure, duty to the village may have kept them searching for a way home for years, perhaps even decades, but eventually they would have adapted to life here. They would be living in a world where war likely didn’t exist and where they could have an actual chance at living a ‘normal life’, with little to no fear of getting killed everyday.
His brother would be able to heal and he wouldn’t be bound by the duty of revenge for the clan. Maybe Itachi would have even started to slowly fade from his mind.
They would have been able to start families without fear of their children dying. Oh their children. Itachi could have a little niece or nephew, one who wouldn’t be forced into the gruesome life of killing and death at such a young age.
Of course, he knew that if it were up to them, they would rather die than never see Konoha again.
All shinobi would.
A shinobi’s village was their home, it was their purpose and it was their life. To never be able to return home, or fulfil any more duties was equivalent to stripping a bird of its wings. He knew they wouldn’t be able to survive with the knowledge of knowing they would never be able to return home, even if they did, they would never be able to settle down knowing Konoha was still out there, awaiting their return.
He just couldn’t help but wish for a better life for Sasuke.
Itachi wanted his brother to have a family, to live happily and without fear. In Konoha, to be able to do those three things was nearly impossible.
So instead of condemning his brother to a life with no duty or honour, where he would never be able to avenge their clan, Itachi steeled himself and committed more acts of torment to add to his ledger of sins.
He watched, sadness in his heart, as all the people opposite him looked at him with gazes filled with anger, sadness and fear. It had been quite some time since anyone had ever looked at him with anything other than those emotions in their eyes.
Itachi walked slowly towards them.
That huge mammoth of a man stood between him and the jinchuriki.
Behind the man he could see, Naruto was fuming, so was Sasuke, but not for the same reasons. At this point, the only thing that seemed to be holding them back from leaping towards their deaths was the pink haired girl holding onto both of their arms as well as the man blocking their path.
Behind team 7 was another posse of locals.
He stopped, maybe about 5 metres away from the huge man.
All he wanted to do right now was to turn around and use all the remaining chakra in him to put Madara into a genjutsu, or maybe to somehow summon shisui’s crow to put him in Kotoamatsukami.
What stopped him was the eye behind him.
It loomed over him, heavy with anticipation and withering chakra. He could feel it.
Itachi was an S-rank missing nin, it was the highest classification. Sure he had met many like him, some who even gave him a good fight.
But he knew he was nothing compared to Madara. If they fought outright, Madara would beat him 10 times out of 10.
He was a beast, and an anomaly.
There should be no prospect of any shinobi even getting anywhere near as powerful as he was.
Yet, he existed.
The eye watching him now, was his eye. Madara Uchiha’s eye. It was unblinking and harsh. If he wanted to, there was no distance in the five nations that his gaze couldn’t span. It wasn’t often that Itachi was intimidated. And it was only twice that he was intimidated by another’s visual prowess. The first was Pain and his almighty rinnegan. The second was Madara, with a single sharingan, more powerful than his own.
His gazed burned a hole through his back and through any thoughts he had of betrayal.
The eye surrounded him, as if watching his every move; his chest rising and falling, his eyes flickering from Sasuke to Naruto to the girl to the man, the little tremble in his finger for what he was about to do. It felt as if nothing would escape his gaze. As if Madara could read his every move.
This feeling didn’t happen very often, a rarity in the years he had spent around Madara. And one only reserved for him.
This happened when Madara saw an opportunity to get rid of him.
The eye wasn’t on his ‘enemies’ but rather on him, on Itachi. It was watching his every move, trying to find a little mistake, something that would unravel all the careful planning he had done to ensure his survival in time for Sasuke to avenge the clan.
It was watching him .
No one else.
It was taunting him.
Try it. Try to fail, try being careless, try making mistakes.
Try saving them.
.
.
.
You can’t.
Itachi’s heart burned at this. His mind raced to find an answer. How could he save all of them?
The weight of his gaze multiplied and Itachi had to lock his knees to prevent himself from buckling.
He.
Couldn’t do it.
It was either Sasuke or the village.
Again.
He managed to make his own path the last time he had saved both Sasuke and the village. But that was against Danzo.
But when faced with such overwhelming odds and power, was there really anything he could do?
He wouldn’t choose the village over Sasuke.
He wouldn’t.
His gaze met the man’s.
He pooled the chakra in his eye and weaved it into the man’s system.
He dropped to the ground suddenly and easily.
Now he faced them.
And all he needed to do was capture them.