Chapter 22: Sakura’s first meeting with Itachi.
"Long time no see, Kakashi... Naruto..."
The four of us stood in an open field, Naruto, Kakashi-sensei and Lady Chiyo. In front of us stood a man I had never met, though I had heard a lot about him. Naruto once told me he looked like Sasuke, but I couldn't confirm as all of us were avoiding looking at his eyes due to Kakashi-sensei's orders.
"We're taking you down, Itachi! I wasn't enough for you, so you went after Gaara too! Well, we're putting a stop to all your bullshit now and taking him back!"
Naruto started losing his cool, which was very bad.
"Nobody look him in the eye! He uses the Mangekyou Sharingan! The instant you do it, he can put you in a genjutsu that lasts for days to you but only a second in reality. Don't even glance at his eyes. When he used it on me, I was tortured for three days straight and put in a coma for a week when it was over."
"That's troubling. My usual strategy for fighting Uchiha is to use a formation where if you fall under their genjutsu, your comrades can break you out of it. But I guess that won't work on this 'mangekyou' thing."
Lady Chiyo seemed to have fought the Uchiha successfully in past wars, but according to Kakashi-sensei, those tactics won't work on Itachi.
"What do we do then!"
Demanded Naruto.
"Don't panic; from what happened when he used it on me, it takes a lot out of him. I'm guessing a lot of chakra, and it may damage his eyesight."
"You seem to have gained a lot of insight from our brief exchange, Kakashi. But that won't be enough."
Itachi spoke. I was busy looking at his feet, so I couldn't tell what expression he was making.
"That's not all I gained during our last fight!"
"Ah... Is it possible you have first-hand experience now? Is that why you know about the cost of using the mangekyou?"
"Anyway, I dropped my guard the last time. But I learn quickly. I won't be making the same mistakes as before."
I wasn't sure what was going on. But when Itachi said that, Kakashi-sensei uncovered his Sharingan. It seemed like he was looking Itachi in the eye. I just had to trust that he knew what he was doing.
"Naruto! Sakura! Back me up but don't look him in the eye! Use his foot placement to anticipate his moves. I'll call out if I see him going for your blind spots! Lady Chiyo, I'm not sure what you can do, so I leave your tactics up to your discretion!"
Kakashi-sensei then charge at Itachi, aiming to strike him in the head...
"I've had enough. It's about time you come with me, Naruto."
Itachi said that and pointed to Naruto before blocking Kakashi-sensei's punch with the same hand.
The next thing I knew, Naruto was charging at a nearby tree with a Rasengan, destroying it. Then he was throwing kunai in every direction. We knew what this was, so while Kakashi-sensei was fighting with Itachi, Lady Chiyo and I went after Naruto.
Standing on either side of him, we placed our hands on his shoulders and flooded his network with our chakra. We were able to break whatever genjutsu Itachi used on Naruto.
"What happened? Where did his Shadow Clones go?"
"He hasn't used any yet. You were in a genjutsu. You just started fighting the air around you."
"Genjutsu!? All I did was look at his finger when he pointed at me!"
Naruto was panicked and confused.
"Don't look at his hands then, just his feet!"
Commented Lady Chiyo.
Kakashi-sensei jumped back into our formation.
"Naruto! Get your head back in the game!"
I gently placed a hand on his cheek.
"Calm down, Naruto..."
That seemed to work.
"Incoming!"
Kakashi-sensei shouted as Itachi launched his first real attack.
"Fire Style: Fire-Ball Jutsu!"
The place we were standing erupted in fire. Naruto, Lady Chiyo and I managed to jump out of the way. At first, we couldn't see Kakashi-sensei, but we both smiled when we noticed a hole in the scorched ground.
"Kakashi-sensei is amazing!"
"Daddy's gonna fuck you up!"
We both shouted as Kakashi-sensei burst out of the ground at Itachi's feet. My comment earned me a side-eye glance from Lady Chiyo, but Naruto was too focused on the fight to notice.
Sadly, Itachi managed to grab Kakashi-sensei's elbow during his surprise uppercut from the ground, redirecting it and trying to counter with his own cross. Kakashi-sensei slipped it, but Itachi grabbed the back of his head and forced him to stay face-to-face with him.
I was terrified he was caught in that mangekyou jutsu again. I wasn't there the first time it happened, but Kakashi-sensei often talked about it when we were in bed together. He told me it was the third most traumatic experience of his life. The second was his father's suicide, and the first was the death of his first girlfriend. I know it sounds weird to say your girlfriend's death hurt you more than your own father's, but in Kakashi-sensei's defence, she meant a lot to him, and he was forced to kill her himself.
I was so terrified he would have to go through that horrible torture again that I didn't notice it was just a Shadow Clone until after the real Kakashi-sensei came out of the ground and shouted at us.
"My clone will hold him in place! Both of you, take him out!"
That snapped me out of it, and Naruto and I charged at Itachi. While I was worrying about my Sensei, Naruto formed a giant Rasengan with a shadow clone. His eyes became beasts-like, and whiskers formed on his cheeks. I activated the first three gates.
Naruto and his clone slammed their Rasengan into Itachi, creating an explosion that destroyed both Naruto's and Kakashi-sensei's clones. The real Naruto was blown back, and Itachi fell onto his back in a crater.
I jumped up into the air and brought down the strongest axe kick I could muster onto Itachi's sternum, which caused him to cough up a lot of blood. I mounted him, pinning his arms with my knees, and kept my eyes on his mouth so I didn't get caught in his ocular genjutsu.
Then I pounded his face in, punch after punch. I was going to take this opportunity to kill him.
"Time to fucking die, you clan-murdering bastard!"
For some reason, his mouth curled into a smile. I didn't care what the fuck he was thinking and just kept punching him till he was dead...
But Itachi Uchiha didn't die that day.