60 Encountering Itachi

Having accepted Tsunade's offer, Shiki created a soul clone for her, the very next day, since it would not be nice to keep this from Shizune, they made a point to tell her but this provoked a reaction out of her as well.

"Favoritism is not nice! I also want to help Shiki and assist Tsunade-sama in her research. Please give the same opportunity Shiki!" Shizune requested.

Tsunade was a bit uncertain if her disciple was prepared for the more cruel and publicly resented parts of the "research" she would be performing but it had to happen some day. It was a nice opportunity for Shizune's progress which had stagnated to start moving forward once again.

And so, Shizune got a soul clone made for her as well. While her real self would assist the real Tsunade with her research and do her own in due time, her soul clone would assist Tsunade's soul clone in its tasks as Hokage.

Now that they were much more in the loop, the problem of Konoha's underworld representative came into question once again. Danzo was about to be removed due to "illness" and his forces were about to pass on to the Reaper.

As such, a shadow leader who was not him had to be chosen. Someone who wasn't afraid to get their hands dirty and was trustworthy enough to be added to their group. If it was a hot woman, even better.

After a nice discussion, they settled on a kunoichi that fit the bill nicely. Thus however, would be left for when Shiki's slew of matters that needed to be handled had passed.

That being the case, Shiki started his careful preparations to try and extract the maximum amount of benefits from Itachi's visit to Konoha.

'Three major things . . . If the main one is accomplished nicely, then the other two will be a cinch but if not, I still need another way to get the other two . . . A special soul clone would be required for one of them while Kotoamatsukami which was proven to work on Itachi would get me the other.'

His thoughts settled, Shiki got to work creating the special soul clone required for his plans. It would be weaker than a normal soul clone but still enough to handle Itachi and Kisame should the need arise. It was the cost for making the clone possess the characteristic Shiki needed it to have.

And that was . . . Being killable. that's right! Due to all the self improvement done by Shiki, his soul clones that inherited his power were pretty damn near unkillable as well, but for his plan to work, he needed a soul clone to enact a realistic death.

It would be a Pure Soul straight to the trash can but the benefits if his plan worked would certainly outweigh that cost. The purpose of this clear as a sunny day.

(A/N: Can any of you guess what that purpose is? And no cheating!)

All Shiki had to do now was wait for the target to show up. First the Reaper would pay them a visit to see If the first objective can be accomplished and if not, an overpowered genjutsu later, the two won't remember the meeting at all.

All he had to do was buy enough time for the Kotoamatsukami as the meeting takes place in order to get Itachi while Yominohana is more than enough for Kisame.

A few more days passed uneventfully but finally the Akatsuki duo was approaching the village. It was time for the Reaper to intercept them before they arrived.

By using both of his Mangekyou abilities at the same time, Shiki could flicker in between reality and Yomi at will allowing for extremely fast teleportation and even intangibility, he called this ability Yominorei, spirit of the underworld and used it to get the backs of both nukenin.

He put an arm over each of their shoulders while in full Reaper gear in his adult form and said.

"Fancy seeing you two fellas here!"

But as he tried to seal and immobilize them, he realized Itachi was a shadow clone while Kisame was a water clone followed by the former exploding.

Once again making use of his Yominorei, Shiki took their back but kept at a further distance.

"Now, now! That's not nice." He mocked.

They duo immediately turned back to face him only to get whammied by his Mangekyou, Ketsuryugan combo using his signature genjutsu Yominohana.

Kisame was traped and couldn't easily get out if at all while Itachi would still need a bit to free himself so Reaper Shiki took the opportunity to talk to him in the genjutsu while making his body use the Soul Contract Tag with him.

'Heh! This way, I don't even need to waste Kotoamatsukami to make him forget and possibly get screwed over by some unpredictable circumstances, good things I thought about it some more in the nick of time!' Shiki praised his own genius in his mind.

Inside a genjutsu world where time moves faster than reality, Reaper Shiki was face to face with Itachi. The time ratio was the same as Yomi to reality and unfortunately that was the best Shiki could do for now, it seemed he still hadn't completely grasped his power.

But it was enough to talk with the Uchiha without any unforeseen interference.

"This is quite a level of genjutsu." Itachi praised.

"Why thank you! That's high praise coming from you. But it's still leagues behind your Tsukuyomi, at least for now . . ."

"Hmph. If you think this is enough to take me out, Reaper of konoha t-" Itachi started but was interrupted by Reaper Shiki.

"Oh, I don't have the slightest interest in taking you out that's for sure"

"Then what do I owe this visit?" Itachi asked, completely calm as if he was in control.

'Damn he's so cool! I was quite the Itachi fanboy back in the day. He's still one of my favourite characters.' Shiki thought as he answered.

"I have a proposition for you."

"A proposition?"

"Indeed! And I can say it's probably the best way you have of achieving your goals. To accept my proposition that is." Reaper Shiki continued.

"Oh? And what would you know about my goals?" Itachi inquired with suspicion.

"I know why the Uchiha Massacre occurred, I know how Shisui died, I know how you desired absolute power to achieve the peace you dreamed of, I even know how you currently just wish to protect the village and most of all your dear little brother, making him strong along the way . . ."

Shiki pulled out all of the cards and Itachi's cool expression finally came off.

"Now then, do you want to hear my proposal?" Shiki asked.

". . ." Itachi remained quiet for a bit before answering.

"Fine."

"That's what I wanted to hear!"

Shiki then proceeded to explain his plan for the world and what he had already achieved towards that end up until this point. With the Soul Contract Tag in place, he wasn't worried about revealing any information at all.

Itachi made several questions, certainly more than most and seemed to get a lot of information from each answer. To be honest, just trying to convince Itachi to get on board helped Shiki think about ways to smooth out some chinks in his otherwise solid plan.

In the end, having helped out Sasuke as much as he did ended up benefiting him big time now. Even if back then, Shiki was just thinking of getting some good will while it was easy and then training up a capable meatshield, to think those actions would help him at this moments.

Helping Sasuke that much was the best possible way to earn his big brother's goodwill. This was further emphasized when Shiki told Itachi of his little plan for later that involved one very realistic death of himself.

As the final nail in the coffin, he told him how Danzo was no longer a problem and that the Hokage would definitely back his actions. The cherry on top was that he could both heal Itachi's terminal illness or at least stop its progress while giving him a much better possibility for Sasuke's future.

The gears in Itachi's head were turning at blinding speed.

'If I cooperate with him . . . It will not only be good for the village but for the world, my dreams of peace may come to be, even if in a different way than I expected.'

'Sasuke will definitely reach greater heights under his plan than if I keep to mine . . . And just from what he has told me about him, maybe I should be a little more forward with Sasuke . . . After he grows a little older perhaps . . .'

'I don't detect any falsehoods in his words as well. Even though I can't be completely sure, I rarely misevaluate people so this might indeed be my best bet.'

'On the other hand, if I refuse, this Reaper also possess the knowledge and the power to ruin anything I might try so . . . Going against him doesn't seem like a good idea from any angle.'

Clearly, Itachi knew what he was doing and it was precisely because of that that he saw the merits of accepting Shiki's proposal and the demerits of refusal.

There was the matter that he would be forfeiting his freedom to go against him and his plan in the future but Itachi saw this as a calculated risk worth taking.

"I'll accept your proposal then." Itachi finally said.

Shiki held out his hand and as Itachi shook it, he announced.

"Welcome to Mugetsu!"

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P.a.t.r.e.o.n is officially up!

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You'll get to read up to FOUR week ahead, a full month, but I'll still post here.

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