Sasuke was on his knees, his right arm extended and trembling from the effort, while sweat ran down his temple to drip from the tip of his nose and fall into the dust. The small crater he had made in the gorge wall was barely deeper than a rice bowl.
"Damn it...", Sasuke panted, gritting his teeth.
About twenty meters back, sitting comfortably on a flat rock, Kakashi turned the page of his book.
"Hmm. That one sounded... wet," Kakashi commented without looking up. "Did you hit the wall or a puddle? I couldn't tell from here."
"Shut up!", Sasuke snapped, jumping to his feet and wiping the sweat from his forehead with the back of his other hand, which left a streak of dirt. "I'm trying to concentrate!"
"No, you're not," Kakashi said.
This time he did lower the book, and his single visible eye watched him with an almost clinical boredom. "You're angry, and the Chidori doesn't work if you're angry. I already told you that ten minutes ago, and twenty minutes ago."
"And what do you know?", Sasuke shouted, spinning to face him, causing the echo of his voice to bounce off the stone. "You just sit there reading that stupid book while I'm trying...! I'm trying...!"
"Trying what? To impress me?", Kakashi shrugged, a lazy gesture that made Sasuke's rage swell. "I know you're wasting chakra, which means that at this rate, you're going to pass out before lunch."
Kakashi closed the book but kept a finger in to save his page, and his voice became a little more serious. "And I know you're not ready."
"I will be ready! I have to be!", Sasuke clenched his fists at his sides. "Whatever Naruto and the girls have...! I have to be stronger than that! I can't...!"
"Naruto? Is this still about Naruto?", Kakashi sighed, letting out a long, tired sound that seemed to pull the little oxygen from the gorge. "Sasuke, he's on a completely different path. His requires... well, his is more about 'hitting things very hard until they break'."
He stood up in a fluid motion and walked toward Sasuke, stopping a few meters away to point at the pathetic hole in the wall. "You can't afford that because your jutsu requires precision, control, and a cold mind. The Chidori is a straight line assassination."
"Don't give me another one of your useless lectures!"
"It's not a lecture, it's a fact," Kakashi replied, his tone sharpening. "You're releasing the chakra before you shape it, which is like trying to shout and whisper at the same time. Pick one: either you shape it, or you release it. If you try both, you get...". He pointed at the crater. "...that. A wet firecracker."
Sasuke stared at him, feeling the humiliation was worse than the exhaustion. "You think I don't know that? You think I don't know I'm failing?"
"Honestly, I wasn't sure," Kakashi said, returning to his rock. "I thought maybe you believed you were hollowing out the stone. Look, the problem isn't your power, as you have more than enough. The problem is your head."
He sat down and reopened his book. "You're thinking about Itachi, you're thinking about Naruto, and you're thinking about everyone except your own hand. The Chidori needs everything you have, not what you have leftover."
Sasuke growled, a low, animalistic sound, and he turned back to the rock wall, hating that he was right and hating that condescending calm.
"Again."
"Whatever you say," Kakashi muttered, his eyes already glued to the page. "Let me know when you stop throwing a tantrum and want to learn."
Sasuke closed his eyes. Cold mind. Precision.
He ignored the buzzing of insects and the sound of Kakashi turning a page to take a deep breath, trying to calm the fire in his stomach.
He gathered the chakra in his hand, feeling the tingle and then the electricity. The sound began to form, sharper this time and cleaner; it wasn't a roar, it was a whistle.
There it is! Control it. Shape it.
"CHID...!"
"Sasuke."
Kakashi's voice was soft, almost a whisper, but every trace of laziness and all boredom had vanished.
Sasuke froze. The chakra in his hand, so carefully gathered, dissipated instantly as if someone had flipped a switch, and the change in tone was so abrupt that a chill ran down his spine.
"Stop. Don't move."
Kakashi remained sitting on the rock, but his book was closed and held tightly in his hand, while his single visible eye was wide open and fixed on the rim of the gorge, high above them.
"What?", Sasuke asked, his annoyance warring with a sudden jolt of adrenaline. "I was just about to...!"
"Sasuke." Kakashi's voice was sharp. "Shut your mouth, and don't move."
Sasuke's hatred froze, replaced by instinct, and slowly, very slowly, he followed his sensei's gaze. On the rim, silhouetted against the pale sky, were two figures wearing identical black cloaks patterned with red clouds.
"Well, this gorge is a dump," the larger figure said in a deep, rough voice. He was a pale blue skinned man with shark like features and a massive sword wrapped in bandages hanging from his back. "Looks like a landfill."
"Silence, Kisame," the other figure said in a flat, emotionless voice. "They're down there."
"My, my," Kisame leaned over, smiling to show a row of needle sharp teeth. "We found him. Or at least, we found your brother. And look, Itachi-san, he has company. It's Kakashi-san of the Sharingan."
Kisame laughed, a wet, unpleasant sound. "Isn't that your old partner? Your senpai?"
Sasuke stopped breathing. The entire world, the training, the gorge, and the air in his lungs all shrank down to that second figure, to the man who had defined every second of his life since that night.
Itachi Uchiha.
"He was my senpai in ANBU," Itachi said, his voice as calm as if he were commenting on the weather. "Nothing more."
"Heh. 'Nothing more.' Always so cold," Kisame laughed. "Should we go down and say hello? We could ask him nicely to give us back that eye, since it doesn't belong to him after all."
With a grace that seemed to defy gravity, Itachi jumped from the rim and landed on the gorge floor without a single sound, no more than fifteen meters from them. Kisame landed beside him with a dull thud, raising a small cloud of dust.
Kakashi stood up slowly with no sudden movements, and his hand moved to Sasuke's wrist, grabbing it tightly. "Sasuke, listen to me carefully. Don't do anything, don't look him in the eyes. This is not your fight."
"You...". The growl came from deep in Sasuke's chest.
Itachi ignored Kakashi completely and his gaze, calm, impassive, and absolutely empty, settled on his little brother.
"Itachi..."
"You are still weak," Itachi said.
The voice was the same, the voice from his memories, the voice that haunted him in his dreams, and the voice that had told him to run. "You are weak."
Sasuke exploded. "ITACHI!"
"...you lack hatred."
"SHUT UP!"
"Sasuke, no!", Kakashi shouted, pulling him back forcefully. "Stay back! That's an order from your Jōnin!"
Rage blinded Sasuke, making the warning, the training, the plan, and the danger all disappear until only the target remained.
"GET OUT OF MY WAY!", he shouted, and he used his free hand to shove Kakashi's arm away with surprising strength.
"Such manners," Kisame commented, beginning to unwrap the bandages from his enormous sword. "He doesn't even say 'hello'."
"Don't interfere, Kisame," Itachi ordered without moving an inch.
"Huh? Why not? Let's just end this."
"I want to see," Itachi said, his eyes fixed on his brother's pathetic charge. "I want to see how much he has progressed."
"CHIDORI!"
Sasuke screamed, gathering every gram of chakra he had left into an unstable sphere of lightning. It was the strongest Chidori he had ever created, fueled by raw necessity to kill, and it was everything he had. He launched himself across the gorge floor, kicking up dust and stones with the sound of a thousand birds screaming.
Itachi didn't even blink.
Just as Sasuke's attack was about to hit, just as Sasuke's hand sought to pierce his brother's heart, Itachi simply raised his hand and caught Sasuke's wrist in mid air.
The sound of the Chidori died in a pathetic whimper, an electric fssssit, and the deafening shriek of birds was extinguished, choked by Itachi's grip. Sasuke froze, his eyes wide with disbelief, staring at his own hand wrapped in dying lightning and held effortlessly by his brother. His most powerful jutsu, his trump card, stopped as if it were a toy.
"Pathetic."
Itachi squeezed.
A dry, nauseating crack echoed as the bone broke, tearing a high pitched scream from Sasuke, a mix of unbearable pain and absolute humiliation as he watched, as if in slow motion, his wrist bend at an angle that wasn't human.
Itachi let go, shoving him away with disdain, and Sasuke fell to the gorge floor, rolling through the dirt and rocks until he crashed against the ground, where he huddled, clutching his broken arm to his chest and choking on his own pain, tears of rage and agony blurring his vision.
"Oops," Kisame said with a mocking smile that showed all his teeth. "That must have hurt. Don't you think you overdid it a little, Itachi-san?"
"No," Itachi replied, not even glancing at the trembling lump that was his brother.
Kakashi tensed every muscle, his hand on his kunai pouch. Shikaku, now! They have to act now!
Itachi turned slowly toward Kakashi. "It's been a long time, Kakashi-san. You've trained my brother well, but he is still a failure."
"That's what you think," Kakashi said, his voice dangerously calm. The terror for Sasuke was replaced by cold resolve; the trap was set and he just had to buy one more second.
Kisame laughed, settling Samehada on his shoulder. "We don't have time for this reunion. Let's finish them and go find the other brat, the Jinchūriki."
"Now! Sealing Barrier, Activate!"
Asuma's voice echoed, amplified by chakra, from the cliffs above.
In an instant, glowing seals erupted from hidden points on the gorge's edges, and pillars of purple chakra shot skyward, connecting at the apex to form a translucent dome that enclosed the entire area.
Kisame looked up, his smile widening rather than faltering. "Heh. So it was a trap after all. How troublesome!"
"Don't move, Akatsuki!"
Several figures landed on the rim of the gorge, surrounding them from above, while others landed on the ground, creating a perimeter.
"The power of youth burns brightly to protect our comrades!" Might Guy landed in a dramatic pose on a rock, his thumb up and a smile gleaming.
"Stay focused, Guy," Kurenai said, landing beside him, her red eyes fixed on the intruders.
"My, my, how troublesome," a voice muttered. An older man with a scar on his face and a Jōnin vest landed softly next to Kakashi, placing himself between him and the fallen Sasuke.
"Shikaku," Kakashi said with a sigh of relief.
"They fell exactly where I predicted," Shikaku Nara said, yawning as if he were bored. "Uchiha arrogance is predictable; he thought his brother would be an easy lure, and he was."
Asuma landed on the other side with an unlit cigarette hanging from his lips and his chakra knuckles gleaming. "And you two took the bait."
Chōza Akimichi landed with a dull thud that shook the ground thanks to his already imposing size.
Itachi looked at Kakashi, then at Shikaku, and his face showed no surprise, only analysis. "A well coordinated trap. Using my brother as bait, using his hatred to blind him and lure me in. Impressive, Kakashi-san."
"It wasn't my idea," Kakashi said, slowly lifting his headband to reveal his own Sharingan. "It was his."
Shikaku scratched his head. "Yeah, yeah, I'm a genius. Now quiet down, the mind link should be ready."
Just then, a clear voice sounded directly in their brains.
Mind link established! Inoichi Yamanaka's voice was tense and professional. I can hear all of you! Asuma, Chōza, Shikaku, Kurenai, Guy, Kakashi! Follow Shikaku's plan to the letter!
Kisame looked at them, frowning. "Hmph. Telepathy? How annoying."
They're blocked by the four point barrier and cannot escape! Inoichi's voice rang out. Phase one! The plan is to divide and neutralize! Guy, you are the Sharingan countermeasure! Take Itachi!
Understood! Guy's mental voice was as enthusiastic as his real one. The best defense against Genjutsu is not to see it!
Kakashi, give him tactical support! Counter his ninjutsu! Ino-Shika-Cho, Kurenai, you have the shark man! Remember Shikaku's analysis!
On my mark! Asuma thought.
Guy vanished from his spot on the gorge rim, moving so fast he seemed to teleport, appearing instantly on the ground. "Konoha Senpū!", Guy roared, launching a spinning kick aimed straight at Itachi's head, but his eyes were fixed on his feet.
Itachi, forced to react to the velocity, ducked, causing the wind from the kick to ruffle his hair and tear a chunk from the rock behind him.
"Interesting," Itachi murmured, leaping backward.
Kakashi, now! Inoichi ordered.
"Suiton: Suiryūdan no Jutsu!", Kakashi shouted, his hands flying through a long series of seals at blinding speed.
Itachi, while dodging Guy's barrage of punches, countered with his own seals, using only one hand.
He's going to counter! Kakashi warned over the link. Katon!
"Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu!"
A gigantic fireball shot from Itachi's mouth but was met head on by Kakashi's enormous water dragon. A deafening hiss filled the gorge for a second, obscuring everyone's vision.
I can't see him! Guy shouted mentally.
He's using crow clones to dodge you! Kakashi warned, his Sharingan piercing the mist. Guy, don't let him breathe! Pressure him!
"I won't!", Guy responded aloud, launching himself into the mist.
The sound of metal striking flesh was heard, followed by the pop of a crow clone dissipating. Itachi was contained: he couldn't use genjutsu on Guy, his raw taijutsu was being matched by the Green Beast's speed, and his ninjutsu was being countered by Kakashi, which forced him into a defensive battle, exactly as Shikaku had planned.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the gorge, the battle of power had begun.
"Heh! So the trash is left for me!", Kisame laughed, swinging Samehada and dissipating the steam with the air pressure alone. "Fine by me! Suiton: Goshokuzame!"
The rocky ground rippled, and five sharks made of water erupted from the stone with jaws open, launching themselves at the Ino-Shika-Cho team.
Water jutsu! Kurenai, disrupt the jutsu! Asuma, Fūton! Shikaku, prepare the trap! Inoichi ordered calmly.
Kurenai fixed her red gaze on Kisame. "Magen: Jubaku Satsu!"
At the same time, Asuma inhaled. "Fūton: Fūjin no Jutsu!"
Kurenai's genjutsu hit Kisame, causing his eyes to cloud over for a fraction of a second, a flicker as his brain processed the illusion of a tree binding him, but it was enough for Kisame's control over the sharks to waver.
It worked! He's distracted! Kurenai thought.
Asuma's gust of wind hit the water sharks, dissipating them into a harmless spray before they could bite.
"Bitch!", Kisame growled, shaking his head to break free of the illusion.
Shikaku! Inoichi yelled.
"I know, what a drag!", Shikaku replied, his hands already forming the rat seal. "Kagemane no Jutsu!"
Shikaku's shadow shot across the ground, taking advantage of Kisame's momentary distraction, and connected with the Akatsuki's feet.
"Got you!", Shikaku shouted, gritting his teeth from the effort.
Kisame looked down and smiled, a terrifying sight. "Heh. A shadow? What a weak technique! Samehada, eat!"
Kisame poured chakra into his sword, expecting the living blade to drain the shadow technique, just as Shikaku had predicted he would.
Just as I predicted! Shikaku thought. He thinks it's a chakra attack! Now, Chōza!
"Baika no Jutsu!", Chōza roared, expanding his body to a colossal size. "Chō Dangan Hari Sensha!"
Chōza became a giant sphere of flesh and spikes, rolling at a terrifying speed directly toward Kisame, who laughed, ready to absorb the massive chakra from the attack, and raised Samehada to block, expecting a feast.
Shikaku's analysis was clear! Asuma thought. Samehada absorbs chakra, but it can't negate brute physical impact!
Chōza slammed into the flat of Samehada, and there was no chakra suction, only a deafening boom of overwhelming physical force. Kisame's smile vanished, and his eyes flew wide with pain and surprise, as the simple physical impact traveled up the sword and shattered his arms. The shockwave sent him flying backward, crashing with incredible force against the sealing barrier, which hummed and cracked visibly from the blow.
"Gah...!", Kisame spat, struggling to his feet, his arms trembling. "Impossible... my Samehada didn't...!"
It worked! Shikaku yelled, maintaining the Kagemane. The plan worked! Kurenai distracts, Asuma deflects, and Chōza hits! He's trapped!
Back with Itachi, the situation was deteriorating. Guy's pressure was relentless, and Kakashi's Suiton kept him pinned.
"Kisame...", Itachi said, dodging a kick from Guy that cracked the rock where he had been.
"You don't have time to worry about your friend!", Guy shouted.
Itachi realized his cover was blown, as this trap was too good, and he was in a real fight against a team that had tactically outmaneuvered him. He had to end this. He stopped watching Guy, stopped dodging, and fixed his gaze on the weakest link, and simultaneously the most tactically dangerous one: Kakashi.
Kakashi, watch out! Kurenai shouted over the link. He's going to...!
"Forgive me, Kakashi-san," Itachi whispered.
His Sharingan eyes spun, forming into the Mangekyo. "Tsukuyomi!"
Kakashi, who was preparing another water jutsu to support Guy, met Itachi's gaze for less than a nanosecond. It was enough. Kakashi went rigid, his hands falling to his sides mid seal, and his eyes rolled back in his head before he let out a choked gasp and collapsed to the ground, twitching silently.
KAKASHI IS DOWN! Inoichi's voice was filled with panic. It's the Mangekyo! Kakashi is out!
Kakashi's silence on the mind link was deafening. Guy stopped, staring at his fallen rival, and the smile vanished from his face, replaced by a cold fury.
"You...", Guy growled. "You hurt my rival!"
Steam began to pour from Guy's body.
Guy, no! Asuma yelled. Wait for the...
But Kisame had recovered and was furious. "You... will pay for that!", Kisame roared, raising Samehada. "Suiton: Daikōdan no Jutsu!"
A massive amount of water erupted from his mouth, forming a colossal shark, much larger than the previous ones.
It's the Great Shark Bullet Jutsu! Shikaku shouted. It absorbs chakra! Don't attack it with ninjutsu! Scatter!
The enormous water shark lunged at the Ino-Shika-Cho team. Asuma, Shikaku, and Chōza leaped away, but Kurenai, the closest and the slowest in terms of physical evasion, was not fast enough.
Asuma turned. "Kurenai!"
The shark hit her head on, and Kurenai was thrown through the air, crashing violently against the wall of the sealing barrier before slumping to the ground.
KURENAI IS DOWN! Inoichi's voice trembled. She's out! She's not responding!
Silence fell over the gorge. Two elite Jōnin, down in seconds.
Kisame laughed, wiping blue blood from his mouth. "Two down. Who's next?"
Guy was trembling, his green chakra beginning to burn around him, but he now hesitated, torn between Itachi and Kisame. Itachi wiped a trickle of blood dripping from his left eye and assessed the situation: a costly stalemate. Kakashi was out, Kurenai was out, but Guy was a time bomb, Shikaku's team was resilient, and the barrier was still up. Their capture mission had failed.
"Kisame."
Kisame turned, still ready for a fight. "What?! Itachi-san, we're winning! I can take out the big guy and...!"
"We're leaving."
"But...!"
"The mission has failed," Itachi said, his voice permitting no argument. "Capturing the Jinchūriki is the objective, not a battle of attrition. Retreat."
Asuma tightened his grip on his blades, his knuckles white. "Not so fast!"
Itachi ignored him and prepared to use Amaterasu on the sealing barrier to force an exit, but first, he looked at the Konoha team. "It's over."
BOOM!
A seismic impact shook the entire gorge. Kisame didn't even see the attack coming; something moved faster than Guy's Sixth Gate. He was sent flying like a cannonball, crashing violently against the wall of the sealing barrier, which had withstood Chōza's blow and Kisame's jutsu, but now it flickered, visibly cracked, and almost shattered from the sheer force of the impact.
"What... the hell?!", Kisame spat as he slid down the wall, leaving a trail of blue blood.
A figure landed in the center of the battlefield, and the ground cracked beneath her feet from the immense pressure of her arrival.
It was Tsunade.
It was not the tired, drinking Hokage, but Tsunade, the legendary Sannin. The seal on her forehead was gone, and black markings spread across her face because she was at the peak of her power. Her golden eyes burned with a fury that chilled the blood.
She looked at Kurenai, motionless on the ground; she looked at Kakashi, twitching from the torment of the Tsukuyomi; and she looked at Guy, Asuma, and Shikaku, tired and beaten. And then she looked at Itachi.
"Itachi Uchiha," her voice was low, a controlled growl. "Do not dare touch a ninja from my village!"
*****
Author's Note: I have to admit, this chapter was one of the most complicated to write. I don't know if I succeeded or failed, but I wanted to respect the coordination of the Jonin, the power levels, and the brutality of the Kage rank.
Followme on Patreon.com/shurazero