Chapter 216: Itachi of the Sharingan
—
Team Seven had managed to get closer to the place where Gaara was abducted, if Pakku's sense of smell were to be believed. However, any doubt of that was cleared with the appearance of an Akatsuki member, specially sent to stop them.
Itachi of the Sharingan, the man who massacred his own clan, which just so happened to be the strongest clan in Konoha back in that time.
"Itachi Uchiha? Haah, the same child who killed his own family?" Lady Chiyo said casually, clearly unbothered by the blatant danger.
"We meet again, Kakashi-san and Naruto-kun." Itachi replied, standing in his spot in cold silence, utterly calm and relaxed while Sakura's team was very much nervous. "We even have the girl crushing over Sasuke, it seems."
Hair stood up in the back of Sakura's head as she felt his gaze land on her.
"Everyone, don't look into his eyes! It's dangerous!" Kakashi warned just as Sakura was about to look into Itachi's eyes. She stopped, and noticed the others did the same. "He is a Genjutsu expert, enough that he can kill you without moving a finger. However, his Genjutsu is purely based on his Sharingan. In other words, it's a Vision-type Genjutsu, so if you avoid his eyes, you'd be fine."
"...Then how do we fight?" Naruto asked, looking at his own feet. "I wanna beat the shit out of that bastard! But it will be hard to judge his movement without looking into his face since he's wearing such a weird outfit."
Sakura agreed. She barely took a peek up at his neck and realised Naruto was right. His outfit, the Akatsuki uniform, was made in a way that didn't let people guess the next movement of the wearer by covering most of his body with loose clothes.
"Naruto… I think you should be fine. Because of your tailed beast. I heard you reached some sort of an agreement with it?"
"Her. Well, not like Tailed Beasts have gender to begin with. But she identifies as a female." Naruto corrected him. "And yes. Kurama allows me to use up to six tails of her power, even though she's kinda really grumpy about it." Naruto said. "But I guess you are right, if she helps me break free from Genjutsu, I think I can fight."
…So the dangerous demon fox who took millions of lives over the centuries was a female? A grumpy one at that? That's new. Regardless, Sakura found it reliving that at least Naruto would be immune to Itachi's Genjutsus.
"That's great." Both Kakashi and Chiyo said at the same time, and Chiyo continued. "I haven't fought an Uchiha in a long time. But if we fight from the rear while backing Naruto up, we can manage somehow."
"Alright, it's decided then." Naruto said, starting to raise his head. "I am looking up-" and he froze.
Naruto, from the looks of it, had fallen under Itachi's Genjutsu.
…Oh God, of course, they shouldn't have trusted the demon fox of all people to watch their back!!
"Pathetic." Itachi Uchiha mumbled. "To be simply relying on the beast inside him."
Sakura suddenly grunted at Itachi, remembering Neji's words. ``A word of advice, you should treat that Naruto boy a bit nicer.`` Fine. She would fight in Naruto's stead.
With her eyes closed, she ran toward Itachi while yelling, "Kakashi-sensei! Back me up!"
"Sakura, no!"
"Haaa!!!" Sakura ran with her eyes closed while doing her best to sense Itachi using her chakra. However, she only heard another yell coming from Chiyo before she felt a karate chop fall on her neck.
Her legs swayed, eyes parted apart slightly to see Itachi looking down at her, before everything went blank.
—★—
"Hey, you idiotic fox!! Why didn't you help me!" Naruto yelled aloud at her. All around him his teammates were knocked out while that Uchiha descendant was standing a few feet in front of him. This was a Genjutsu, one which Naruto had tried breaking out from, but failed. So, he was yelling at her. "You would get me killed like this!"
["Silence!!!"] She yelled majestically from within his head. ["You didn't keep your promise, why would I help you still!?"]
Naruto grumbled, pointing at the air. "What do you mean I didn't keep my promise?? I went to the Onsen just to find this myself a 'mate', that you speak of! Just that, I realised I don't want anyone other than Sakura as my wife! And to win Sakura-chan over, I first need to find Sasuke!"
["Gaaah, you idiot!!"] Kurama facepalmed in sheer frustration. ["If you bring Sasuke back, why would she still choose you?? Ugh, even that Minato wasn't this dense!"]
"Hey, why do you keep bringing up that 4th Hokage every time I do something wrong?"
Just how dumb was this child? Guess this was what being fatherless did to a human child.
["Just connect the dots, dumbass."] Kurama grunted in his head again, before going silent. In the end, she sighed. ["You are helpless. Why don't you just pick a girlfriend then? A girlfriend is different from a wife, but you'd at the same time complete your promise with me. How about that Hinata girl? From what I remember, she's had a crush on you."]
"What?! No way! Stop lying!" the boy seemed to be in utter disbelief. "And even then, I don't see Hinata like that! She doesn't even have any charm!" Naruto complained, utterly serious.
["...You… seriously. Haah."]
"Rather than that, why are you interested in me finding a mate anyway? You are a girl yourself, what pleasure will you get from seeing me 'mate' with another girl? I would understand if you wanted a male 'mate', though obviously in that case we would have never had a deal, to begin with." Naruto asked, collapsing on his back since he had no other choice but to wait.
Kurama obviously didn't want to answer. But after a while, she decided to share her secret, in case it made him accept her offer. Though if he made fun of her, she will never help him again. ["I simply don't find human males attractive. Same went for females, until a few centuries ago. You see, amongst the three Jinjurikis I have been sealed within in my life, the first two were both female. So over time, I started to have an attraction towards the humane female body, though maybe calling it "attraction" might be a bit too sweet of a word. It was mostly just my rage making me want to do all sorts of things to my hosts, such as tying her up, torturing her, and ruining her body while making her call me 'mommy' with a mind-broken expression."]
Naruto had a jaw-dropped expression for a whole two minute before he pointed a finger in the air. "Y-You are sick in the head!!" Naruto said aloud. "You really are a demon fox, aren't you?!"
["You brat! Call me that one more time and see what I do!"]
"Try it, you idiot fox!"
Kurama was about to bite back, however she noticed the presence of Neji Hyuga's team, without the presence of Neji himself, in the real world. After a second she clicked her tongue and decided to break the Genjutsu.
When the Genjutsu world shattered like glass, the idiot blonde yelling her a surprised thank you, Kurama was more busy looking at the Hyuga boy who had appeared on the battlefield. His teammates were helping the injured team Kakashi, while he stood face to face with the Uchiha descendant.
['...So I was right.']
This brat… She couldn't sense his presence at all while inside the Genjutsu, even though his teammates were an easy go. She had noticed it before in the Sand, but didn't think much of it. In fact, even at this very moment, if she tried to sense his presence with Chakra, he came out as "blank". As if he wasn't even real, but a mere hallucination.
However, like she did in the Sand, when she really focused, she could sense him somewhat. But that's only when she kept him in sight. The moment she closed her 'vision' his presence disappeared.
Suddenly, she noticed something weirder.
['…What's with that sudden spike in his Chakra? Compared to a few hours ago, he has around 18% more Chakra. On top of that…'] Kurama's nose twitched. ['What's this scent I am smelling around him? It doesn't seem like that of a human at all… More like he had transformed into a domineering beast.']
She turned to look at the black cat that was healing an injured Kakashi. That cat was special, Kurama realised that when she saw her cast healing jutsus on that kid from the Sand. Those abilities weren't 'racial', unlike what the Hyuga boy liked to say.
Also, both the Hyuga and cat's chakra were weird. The amount wasn't that unusual, but it felt richer, denser. Kurama didn't know how to explain but being a creature made of Chakra she could feel the strange richness coming from both of them.
...Being someone who's lived more than a thousand years, Kurama could smell something interesting in that boy.
Kurama licked her lips as she eyed the Hyuga boy, eager to learn his secrets… and also see the reason behind that attractive alpha scent he was releasing.
She watched the boy step forward, facing the Uchiha descendant. 'Heh, this fight will be interesting.'
—★—
"You hurt Sakura and Kakashi Sensei!!" Naruto was about to run at Itachi once he came out of the Genjutsu. How did he break free? Neji had no idea, but he was being a nuisance at the moment.
"Back off." Neji warned, throwing Naruto a few metres back using his Telekinesis. "I got this."
"But-"
"My Byakugan is immune to his Sharingan."
Naruto blinked. "Oh… Yeah! I didn't know! You get him, Neji!"
Neji sighed. He was at least much better and more likeable than that Izuku brat, even though still an annoying main character.
"What's the point behind lying?" A cold voice pulled all of Neji's attention as he looked ahead, finding Itachi of the Sharingan staring at his blindfold.
[© Itachi Uchiha - Low Tier 9]
Itachi was that strong even without the ability of his Mangekyo in his current 'clone' state. A true monster, really.
Itachi continued. "Hyugas rather have a weakness against the Uchiha clan because even if they don't make eye contact, if a Hyuga even accidentally sees a Sharingan – that is actively trying to put them under a Genjutsu – with their 360° vision, they would be caught in that said illusion in an instant."
Neji shrugged his shoulders. "Why don't you try it on me then?"
Itachi went silent as Neji waited after that, starting right into his glistening red eyes through his blindfold. Just a few seconds later, a message popped up in front of him.
[Gamer's Mind has blocked «Genjutsu: Sharingan»]
Neji chuckled. "See?" Itachi didn't answer, but rather than growing anxious, he simply seemed interested in Neji. "For example, a Hyuga can always look down at you from a birdview, you know? From the sky, it's impossible for our eyes to come into contact-"
Itachi immediately looked up. But this time, not even a System Message popped up since Neji wasn't really looking down with a bird's eye view. He was just bluffing.
"Pfft." Naruto chuckled from the back. "You got him good!"
Neji couldn't help but reveal an amused smile too. "So much for the 'Sharingan'. I suppose you did a good job killing your Clan, or I am sure they would have killed themselves once they realised the Hyugas have found a way to block the Sharingan-"
"The Tenseigan." Itachi interrupted, making Neji blink and fall silent. Soon, Neji revealed a grin. "I am aware of that eye, Neji-kun. Only the Hokage, Danzo, and your Clan Head and his daughters know about it, but I just happened to accidentally eavesdrop on a conversation between the 3rd Hokage and Danzo one day." Itachi Uchiha said, his expression as calm as the dead sea. "Be careful of Danzo, Neji-kun."
"Okay, I apologise. It was rude of me to try and talk to you like that." Neji apologised, ignoring Naruto's confused yells. "I suppose you are different from Kisame. But in any case, Itachi, I am going to have to kill this 'clone' of yours, if you don't mind."
Itachi, for the time, showed a hint of a smile. "You can try."
And Neji did.
He swiftly disappeared, immediately reappearing behind Itachi with his lightning-clad palm going for a strike. However, Itachi Uchiha dodged swiftly. He was fast. Neji struck again, and this time he blocked. He, a Genjutsu specialist, blocked a super Taijutsu specialist's full-powered attack.
'So this is a weakened Itachi...' Neji couldn't imagine how strong he would be in person, with the Mangekyo and Susanoo to boot. But even in person, he wasn't even in his Prime because he was dying from an unknown illness. 'Probably Goku's heart virus. But still, holy shit.'
Neji and Itachi continued sparring, and it seemed Itachi was doing some sort of evaluation of his strength since he was at least trying not to 'die' unlike in the canon timeline in this same scenario.
From the outside, this must have looked so confusing. Neji went to strike Itachi's pressure points, and Itachi copied his movements with his Sharingan to counter it. However, Neji then copied Itachi's movements with his Lord's Eye and the match continued. More than annoying, Neji found it kind of refreshing since he could feel Itachi Uchiha wasn't really trying to kill him.
Oh well, but he sure was.
Once Itachi was exhausted, Neji tried to use «Mine» on him. When that failed, meaning he couldn't steal the Sharingan from this clone, Neji decided to finish the battle.
Itachi was always known for his low chakra, and since this clone only had 30% of his chakra, Itachi was exhausted enough to let Neji perform a strong technique.
"Hah!"
Neji used a partial dragon transformation under his clothes, just enough to boost his leg and arm muscles. He activated [Touch of Nirvana] which could inflict not only pleasure, but pain as well, and then performed his [Level 25/25] technique.
‹Eight Trigrams, 128 Palms›
A green taijitu appeared around Neji and Itachi, and before the latter could flee outside, Neji's palms moved like the sound of thunder. Unlike the name suggested, Neji also used fingers, and his fist along with his palms, bringing them out from the other martial arts that he had learned in the MHA world from Shifu. All attacks moved to strike at Itachi's pressure points. Itachi wasn't able to dodge the sudden increase in the speed and vigour of his attack as he was left undefended against the 128 deadly strikes.
At the 128th strike, Itachi's body, blood leaking out from his mouth, nose and ears, casually slumped down to the ground.
"Ah…"
He heard some gasps, with Sakura's one particularly loud, as he heaved out a soft breath.
[Ding! Your Taijutsu, ‹Eight Trigrams, 128 Palms›, has evolved into ‹Eight Trigrams, 256 Palms›!]
[You have defeated "© Itachi Uchiha", a Low Tier 9 foe!]
[You have received 73,000 exp!]
[You have levelled up!]
[You have levelled…!]
[You have…!]
[...]
[You have gained 25 levels!]
[You have reached level 339!]
Everyone stared at Neji, everyone but the people from his team who had already seen something much greater play out a few minutes ago. Kakashi, Sakura, Chiyo, and even Naruto looked shocked at the scene. Especially Naruto. Unlike his previous cheerful self, he suddenly looked self-conscious now.
Sakura, on the other hand, seemed to be blushing softly.
Ah, yes, Neji remembered. That girl was the equivalent of a gold digger for handsome, powerful men who had (somewhat) beef with her.
"Anyway," Neji cleared his throat, pointing at "Itachi's" dead body. "It seems we were tricked."
They were tricked. But Neji? He rather received a treat.
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