Chapter 18: Desperate Struggle II

A new interface appeared in the corner of Itachi's vision. It was but a simple circle with an arrow in the center. He tried to move and found that he could only turn about on the spot. In doing so, he noticed that the arrow turned with him. A member of ANBU appeared in front of him and a red dot appeared within the circle. He charged at Itachi.

A prompt appeared and Itachi followed it. He lashed out at the ANBU member with the Susano'o fist. He was sent flying back, out of Itachi's sight and the red dot disappeared. A simple rhythm began playing.

1:27

Two dots appeared, one on either side of him. He waited until they charged forth. He pushed outwards to meet them with the Susano'o, noting that the action lined up with a percussion punch. Itachi smiled as they left his vision. The music picked up. A stringed instrument began a mild melody. Itachi relaxed somewhat.

1:24

He noticed that in this system, he didn't have an HP Bar, and instead only had his Chakra Meter. He watched as it slowly drained with the timer. Thanks to his earlier conservation of chakra, he was working with a little under half of his maximum.

1:23

Unless there was something he wasn't aware of, he had more than enough to get him through the remaining time. Some light taps of a drum signalled the approach of more foes. Itachi tapped his foot to the music only he could hear.

1:22

He caught the first one squarely in the chest. The next was met with a light tap. The last went with a casual movement of his elbow. His actions were accentuated with some brass. Itachi was beginning to enjoy himself.

1:18

He took a glance at the positions of the next enemies. It'd be a bit awkward to hit them all but it wasn't anything to be too concerned about. They went down as Itachi punched them gracefully.

1:12

A full circle of troops appeared. The brass section picked up a fevered rhythm that crescendoed as they approached. Itachi wasn't quite sure how he was supposed to deal with them. His question was answered as his power prompted him to spin with outstretched arms. He did so, knocking back every single enemy. The brass returned to their usual rhythm.

1:09

The rhythm of the song went quiet and let the strings take over with a frenzied melody. Itachi glanced at the pattern of enemies. His power supplied him with a chain of suggested poses to use against them. Itachi was glad none of the Uchiha were around to see what he was about to do.

1:08

The octet of enemies attacked. Itachi swept his left arm to dispose of the first three. A quick jerk of his arm took care of the last on his left side. He mirrored the movement with his right arm.

1:04

The strings continued their melody to give the next duo their entrance. Instead of charging at him directly, however, they leapt into the air, going into a graceful arc towards Itachi. In return, he was forced to throw his arms out to catch them mid-flight.

1:00

A ROOT member landed and made a hand sign. Itachi's indicator circle for enemies as well as the helpful prompts became fuzzy and unusable. Itachi did a quick spin on his heel to take in everything. Nothing to see except for the line of ANBU coming from either side of the ROOT member.

0:58

Itachi started dispatching them as they came. He took down two before he stumbled ever so slightly. Itachi whirled around and found an ANBU who'd used the others as a distraction. Itachi also noticed that the hit had drained him of a little bit of chakra. He'd found the catch to this new system.

0:56

He gave the unfortunate ANBU a quick backhand to hasten his repositioning to face the ROOT member. As he turned he noticed that the backhand hadn't sent the ANBU flying straight back the way he'd came. He saw another bit of his chakra get knocked out of him as one of the ANBU made an attack on the Susano'o.

Itachi got an idea. He slapped the offending ANBU and aimed the launch at the ROOT member. It wasn't as artistic as the previous moves but it got the job done. The ROOT and ANBU collided and tumbled out of sight. Immediately Itachi's radar and prompts cleared up.

0:53

It was strange. Itachi felt like he should be worried, like there should be more of a weight to his actions. He was fighting Konoha's elite.

More enemies appeared.

0:52

Yet he felt light, carefree, almost giddy. He twisted through the motions provided to him. The music had faded to the back of his mind, like when he'd do things for Izumi on their dates.

A thought occurred to Itachi.

0:48

He was dancing. This was ridiculous. Itachi remembered one time he lost a bet with Shisui. Up until now that had been the only time he'd ever danced. Granted, it'd been before he'd gained this power, and while he had been graceful, Shisui had managed to find a way to make him look ridiculous.

A string of enemies appeared.

0:46

Itachi dealt with them. A flick of his wrist. A grab and a toss. Wide, sweeping gestures. He started to laugh. This was definitely something Shisui would make him do. His laughter grew. Maybe Shisui was pranking him.

Outside of Itachi's little world, the ANBU hesitated. They were trying to kill this person and he was laughing like a madman. It wasn't even a delirious laugh, more like he'd just remembered something funny. The fact that he was an Uchiha only accentuated how odd it was.

0:45

Itachi was halfway done. The brief pause from the attacks meant that he had a few moments to enjoy the music. Like the other music from his power, it was a far cry from the festival music he'd heard once the war was over.

Despite the fact he was genuinely having a good time, the ANBU still had to be dealt with. They redoubled their efforts. The music went with them, getting considerably faster. They came in two's and three's only now.

Itachi wondered if it was just his power affecting the number of ANBU or if there actually were this many ANBU in the village. The latest assailant was sent off with what could be best described as a flick of his hair.

0:36

The music jumped back to Itachi's attention as it faded to nothing more than a faint whisper in his ears. Every muscle in his body tensed up. Only a single ANBU appeared at a time. The gentle bassline started pounding.

0:33

The other instruments faded. Nobody showed up. All that was left was the bass, driving Itachi's heart rate up. He waited.

0:30

All hell broke loose.

Patterns and normality were abandoned. It was the ANBU's last stand. They came from every direction. Itachi was sure that they had abandoned tactics and now sought to overwhelm him with numbers.

0:26

The music had picked up too. What little parts Itachi managed to catch in the flurry of activity gave him the impression that "music" only barely managed to describe it. There was no apparent structure yet the same driving bass remained at the heart of it all.

0:21

Itachi himself was a mirror of the music. For all his grace, even the frenzy of activity was beginning to feel ungraceful. His arms and hands twitched unnaturally to hit ANBU members. Itachi was sure it was only his flexibility that allowed him to keep up the range of motion. Yet despite his movements, he still saw the occasional drop of his Chakra Meter.

0:15

The ANBU overwhelmed him. His guide was nothing more than wildly blinking poses he couldn't afford to look at. There were just too many of them. Whereas hits earlier to his Susano'o were gentle pricks of rain, this was a downpour.

0:12

Like the rhythm games for Izumi, his sharingan was his saving grace. He did what he could against the onslaught. He ignored the message before him.

Exhaustion creeps into your bones

0:09

The downpour of hits continued. His chakra drained fast. His once flowing movements gave way to desperate flailing. All strategy was forsaken in the hopes of survival.

0:07

He could see the end. The bass pounded in his ears to the sound of his own heart. He was now certain that had he been anyone else, he'd already be dead. His chakra was only a few hits away from being gone. Three more hits, two more hits...

0:05

Everything stopped. ANBU had him surrounded in a circle. None moved.

0:04

Itachi became aware of how heavily he was breathing. Without the music to drown it out, the warning sirens deafened him.

0:03

He waited patiently. The ANBU began to part.

0:02

Danzo Shimura took up the gap. He looked at Itachi with a pleasant smile. It was one of victory.

0:01

Itachi returned the smile. Danzo was too late. The rest of his clan was gone. They were safe.

0:00

Mission Passed!

The world returned to normal. Through the orange haze of Susano'o, Itachi saw the destruction wreaked upon the village. Screams rang in his ears. Plumes of smoke rose from nearby buildings. A generous circle about him had been scarred by the battle.

"You've gone on long enough, Itachi," Danzo said. He motioned towards him and ANBU moved in. Itachi collapsed to one knee as the orange haze around him faded. His strength was gone, but he hadn't failed. The Uchiha would live on.

"Stop." There was no anger, no raised voice, but it was understood as a command nonetheless. Its owner was Sarutobi Hiruzen. The ANBU obeyed. Itachi saw a flicker of white among the trees. "What is the meaning of this?"

"I'm apprehending a traitor to the village." Danzo said. "My men have ensured the damages have been kept to-."

"Enough." Hiruzen cut him off. "We will discuss this later. Kakashi." A masked ANBU appeared near Itachi. He noted that he was limping slightly as he hauled him to his feet.

"Hold on," Another voice said. It was a rich baritone that would've been pleasant under any other circumstances. Itachi watched as he warped into existence in the middle of the three men. He was wearing a mask. "Sorry to interrupt here but I was told something was happening to the Uchiha."

You're barely staying conscious.

"Who are you?" Hiruzen asked. Danzo motioned to ROOT. The masked man didn't bother moving and instead just slipped through the attacks. "Danzo." Hiruzen said. The masked man waved dismissively.

"I expected as much," he said. "But who I am isn't important. I'm just here to pick up Itachi."

"Why?" Hiruzen asked.

"You've no business rescuing a traitor," Danzo said. "Leave him here to face punishment." The masked man let out a small chuckle.

"You're one to be talking about traitors, Danzo," he said. He made his way towards Itachi. Kakashi moved himself between the two. The man just walked right through them.

"You didn't answer the question," Hiruzen said.

"Let's just say I have an interest in him. My spies have told me a lot about him," he replied. He rested his hand on Itachi's shoulder. "Now then, I must be on my way. Farewell." The world spiralled into nothingness for Itachi.

He caught a glimpse of a strange place. White cubes floating in an empty space stretched as far as he could see. The masked man said nothing. He hoisted Itachi up over his shoulders and began moving. Itachi closed his eyes.