Disclaimer: Naruto and all of its characters belong to Shueisha and Masashi Kishimoto. I own nothing but the original characters I create.
"Dialogue"
'Thoughts'
-Author notes-
Chapter 264: An Older Brother's Anger
"I would very much like to go meditate now, so if you can make this brief… I would appreciate it," Naruto said.
Right now, he was mostly thinking about absorbing all the energy from the Seven-Tailed Beast he had just sealed inside his body.
Of course, he wasn't going to waste the opportunity when a Bijuu just fell into his lap. So, while everyone was distracted with Hinata's fight, he took the girl and removed the chakra beast from her, just as he had done with Gaara.
She should wake up in a few hours, having no idea what happened. And if the Waterfall Hidden Village complained, they'd just assume it was something Akatsuki had done to her before she was found.
A figure emerged from behind a broken stone wall.
He looked a few years older and more tired than he had three years ago when Naruto had encountered him in that small town outside Konoha.
Itachi was no longer wearing the Akatsuki cloak and had opted for a plain black one instead...a detail Naruto completely glossed over, as he cared little about the fact that Itachi had betrayed the organization and gone rogue.
"Naruto…" Itachi glared at him with a blank expression. "I've been waiting for a chance to speak with you alone." He knew that if he followed those members of Akatsuki, there would be a good chance for Naruto to show up.
At this point, it was no secret that Naruto was after the Bijuu, just like his old organization.
Two powers with the same objective were bound to clash sooner or later.
"You wanted to speak with me?" Naruto asked. "I'm surprised you waited this long to come out. I mean… you let your two friends die. Well, technically, one of them is still alive, bu—"
"I'm not with them anymore," Itachi interrupted him. "And I have no interest in capturing you or any other jinchūriki. I am on my own now."
"Oh… Is this about your brother, then? Because I had nothing to do with that," Naruto told him. Although he didn't believe the two were that close. Sasuke was mostly obsessed with killing Itachi, while Itachi seemed to ignore him.
Itachi's expression changed slightly at the mention of his brother. "Sasuke… my little brother is dead."
'Perhaps he did care a little bit…' Naruto thought after seeing him like that.
Itachi's Sharingan began to change forms. "I know it wasn't you who was responsible for his demise."
"Then why are you looking at me like that?" Naruto raised an eyebrow. It was obvious he was about to be attacked.
"You did not take my brother… but you took my revenge. Orochimaru…" Itachi said.
"I suppose I did kill that one," Naruto admitted.
"Danzo…" Itachi clenched his fists.
"The Elder? I killed that one too. But I can't see what he had to do with Sasuke," Naruto said.
"That man was involved in the downfall of the Uchiha… No matter now. You also killed him." Itachi's Mangekyō Sharingan formed. "You left me with nothing. So, I will kill you instead."
"I don't follow your logic, to be honest. You're welcome to try, though. It won't go the same way as it did three years ago. I can promise you that much." Naruto had sworn to himself on that day that the next time he encountered this man, he would be powerful enough to take him down.
"I have nothing more to tell you," Itachi said, pointing at him. "Now it's your turn to show yourself, Naruto." With a swift motion, Itachi threw a shuriken at him.
While in the air, the single shuriken turned into a hundred, all well-aimed at Naruto's body.
Naruto avoided some of them while blocking the rest with his own kunai.
The deflected shuriken flew all over the place, but instead of falling down, they transformed into black birds… crows.
"Nice trick," Naruto commented as the beasts impacted him, attaching themselves to his clothes and skin, as if they were made of some sort of clay.
A moment later, the summoned birds exploded, destroying a large portion of the terrain in the process.
Itachi turned around, moving his red eyes over the area.
More shuriken were thrown, and just like before, they turned into crows that then dove into different parts of the clearing before exploding.
"I told you to show yourself!" Itachi seemed to be losing his patience.
He then heard a chuckle from above. "So, you were in the sky the whole time…" Itachi glared at him.
The Uchiha had immediately guessed that the Naruto from before was nothing but a clone. He couldn't see as much as Hinata could with her Byakugan, but just enough to notice that the real Naruto had a different aura from the rest of the clones, even though he didn't know why this was.
What he had just destroyed were all the clones Naruto had previously placed down during his brief encounter with Kakuzu, so he couldn't use them against him.
"Since you wanted to fight me so badly, I decided to do this in person. No more clones," Naruto said.
"You're willing to discard your best weapon against my genjutsu? Perhaps I was wrong about you after all. You're still immature… allowing your emotions to rule you, just like my brother did," Itachi huffed with clear annoyance. His solemn mask was beginning to fall, but he didn't care anymore.
The three tomoe in his eyes now looked like the blades of a shuriken, and they were staring directly into Naruto's blue eyes. "You will regret that mistake… Tsukuyomi!"
Naruto could feel his consciousness being dragged away, and everything went dark.
When his vision returned, he found himself in an oddly colored landscape. His body was restrained, tied to some sort of wooden cross.
The figure of Itachi appeared in front of him, wielding a long katana in his right hand.
"Are you going to say something like… 'It's over!' or 'You're dead now!'?" Naruto spoke calmly from his cross.
Itachi shook his head. "It's far from over for you… This is just the beginning."
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