"Well..."
Tatsuya's lips curved into a small smile. He lunged forward, rushing towards Itachi with a tanto fully extended. His blade sliced through the air and swiped against his fellow Uchiha.
—Clang!
It was a simple endeavor for Itachi to block his strike.
"You've got a sharp gaze, Tatsuya."
—Thud.
Before Tatsuya could even blink, a palm had slammed into his cheek. His point of view was forced askew and pried away from his foe.
Then, a knee rocketed into his chest, sending him flying into a pitiful arc.
—Ack!
Forced to spit out a mouthful of stomach acid and left gasping for air, Tatsuya slammed onto the ground. His bones shook from the impact, threatening to shatter in a mere moment.
"Haaa,"
Breathing out, Tatsuya's Sharingan shimmered. His chakra boiled, and seals were formed with firm conviction.
His eyes took in the moment.
Dust and grass clung to his clothes.
A crow mask stared him down.
A cocoon of Fuinjutsu seals lingered ominously with Ko standing motionless behind Itachi.
It was a vivid replication of reality. Tatsuya could not identify whether he had fallen into a Genjutsu or if the entire situation was indeed reality.
'Terrifying...'
Cold sweat beaded down Tatsuya's back. The man who massacred the Uchiha was as formidable as the stories made him out to be.
Suddenly.
—Fwhing!
Tatsuya's eyes widened in shock as he felt the coldness in his chest. The force that pushed him back was light, yet the implication it delivered like the angel of death was harrowing.
A kunai to the heart.
"...How?"
Coughing, Tatsuya crumpled back down to the ground. His instincts didn't even have a chance to react. The usual screaming in his mind no longer warned him of danger.
It was baffling.
For a moment, Tatsuya felt as if his senses had all gone dull.
"You're weak," Itachi's voice resounded in his ears while he gasped for breath.
"I know," Tatsuya coughed, feeling his own blood refuse to flow. His body no longer had a functioning heart.
And his vision had begun to blur.
Death had arrived.
—Click.
...Only for this specific Tatsuya.
"Itachi-san..." Tatsuya's voice rang out from nearby, descending from a tree with the grace of a panther.
With the same smirk from earlier, he spoke. "I know quite a bit about what you've done. Rest assured..."
—Swish.
Another Tatsuya had manifested beside Itachi, slicing through the man's neck with one fell swoop.
"I've left your brother in the dark. Although I don't agree with your methods, I doubt I have any right to disobey the patriarch's eldest son."
Suddenly, Itachi's body dissolved into a murder of crows. The scatter of black feathers was a sight that Tatsuya had already expected.
—Fwhip.
A kunai rested on his carotid artery.
An Itachi for each of his own illusions had appeared. Each one held a kunai against Tatsuya's throat. Even those still in 'hiding' were isolated and threatened. The difference in their Genjutsu prowess was clear.
"...I give up,"
Left with no choice, Tatsuya raised the white flag of surrender.
—Crack!
That was when the Genjutsu was finally shattered.
***
Back in reality.
Itachi faced the cocoon which Ko had been watching with tireless focus. The demeanor of the two shinobi told Tatsuya to do the same.
After reading the room, the youngest stood beside his older Uchiha clansman. With his Sharingan activated, Tatsuya instinctively analyzed the seals snaking around the cocoon, like massive boa constrictors.
"Don't," Itachi's voice was gentler now. "It's not something Lord Third designed so simply."
"...Will I face an unexpected backlash?" Tatsuya asked, skeptical of Itachi's words.
His instincts weren't warning him of any danger.
Other than being seals that kept the jinchuriki in deep containment, there weren't any other dangerous indicators.
However, Itachi seemed adamant. "You'll see,"
Deciding to trust the older Uchiha, Tatsuya made no attempt to completely analyze the seals on the cocoon. Unbeknownst to him, these seals were taken from the Negative Chakra Formation which Danzo had used in the depths of Konoha.
Itachi had recognized the seals at a glance.
Gaara was put to sleep. Meanwhile, the Ichibi's chakra, which originally would've powered the Real Mirage Formation of Sunagakure, circled back after being extracted, further reinforcing the seals.
The problem with these seals lay in the fact that they refused any attempts to decode them. Unlike Ko, whose Byakugan simply bypassed the seals to observe what was within, the seals would plunge any curious onlooker into a deep Genjutsu Seal.
Itachi could tell that it was an adaptation of the Self-Cursing Seal... Only that it was somehow transmitted visually.
'...Lord Third has indeed changed,' He thought to himself as he continued to lightly skim the cocoon's seals.
Skirting the boundary between analysis and a mere glance, Itachi was able to bypass a few possible side effects. More of the Fuinjutsu formation became clear to him with every passing breath.
'This is unlike him.'
The process was cruel yet perfectly efficient. No corners were cut in the flow of Bijuu chakra. Unless someone dismantled the entire formation from the outside, there was no brute-force method of escape.
It was an astounding technique, given that it was used on Shukaku in particular — a Tailed Beast who had Fuinjutsu prowess of its own.
—Crack.
As if realizing the gaze of the three shinobi, the cocoon stirred.
A small crack formed along its length.
—Crack.
It grew with frightening pulses of energy. Bleeding out of the cocoon was bloodlust so palpable, that the particles in the air seemed to resonate with its desire to kill.
Dust and dirt grated against the world around the three shinobi. Had they been in the middle of the village, many of Konoha's residents would've been awoken to scratches littering their bodies.
"...Crow,"
Ko leaped back, creating distance between himself and the cocoon. His task — locating the most opportune moment during the unsealing — was simple yet integral.
If he could not discern the minute changes in the flow of chakra, which even the Sharingan would fail to capture...
Then the Ichibi might force itself out of Gaara in the blink of an eye.
Though called upon, Itachi was motionless. The dark typhoons in his eyes swirled slowly, preparing a technique he had been experimenting with.
Tatsuya took a few steps back and recalled the contents of the mission he was given.
'Now isn't the time for me to do anything.'
It was then.
—Craaaack!
The cocoon split open.
However, it was not yet time to act. Ko was still silent.
Itachi did not act.
However, a sandy hand suddenly erupted from within the darkness of the cocoon. It grasped at the sky above it and swept through the space surrounding it in the next moment.
"KUYAAAAAAHA HA HA HAHAHAHAHAHA!"
Crazed laughter like those of a drunkard in the middle of gambling. It was an eruption of delight and destructive desire.
—BOOM!
A spectral skeletal arm parried the reckless swing.
Tatsuya's body was filled with terror at that moment. It coursed through every nerve in his body and forced him into an involuntary shudder.
His legs became soft like jelly.
'What sinister chakra!'
Finally, Ko spoke.
"Now, Crow."
[]=[]=[]=[]
I appreciate your support on P@treon! Hehe~
Link: pa treon.com/ubemantou
(No space.)
You can read up to 50 chapters ahead!
[]=[]=[]=[]