Chiyo's Return To The Leaf Village

Chapter 18

"I underestimated you back then. But I'm not that pathetic" Kakashi continued in an almost casual manner. His team looked over at him surprised, 

"It's not going to work the way it did before, you see." Seeing the confidence his sensei had seemed to calm Naruto a bit. He smirked, looking over at Itachi. 

"It's a huge mistake if you think I'm the same as before!" He spoke in a bold tone, hearing this, Sakura looked confused, meanwhile, Kakashi was more concerned with his team's safety. 

"Naruto, I'll deal with him." His words only served to frustrate Naruto, 

"Y-You mean another non-fighting teamwork?" The blond asked loudly, Chiyo placed a hand on his shoulder in an attempt to calm him down. 

"No. This time, cover me. To be honest, I want to be cool and say, "Go on ahead," but...Against him, even I can't contain him alone." Kakashi admitted, 

"then we have to work together" Chiyo finally spoke up, this whole mission left her too nervous to speak most of the time, but she knew she had to compose herself. She and her other teammates had to keep their composure. Finally, Itachi made another move, and Team Seven paid close attention to it. 

"It's about time for you to come with me..." he started to speak, raising a finger and pointing at the blond boy. 

"Naruto" he finished, not waiting any longer, Kakashi ran forward toward him. 

"I'll go first!" he tried to attack Itachi, but the hit was easily blocked by his hand, leaving the white-haired man vulnerable for a moment. He turned his head and saw another Itachi break off and run toward Team Seven. 

"A shadow clone?!" Naruto quickly took action, holding his hand out as a blue sphere formed and he ran toward the figure. 

"Rasengan!" He shouted, slamming the attack into his attacker's midsection, stopping him in his tracks and sending him flying through the air. However, it was proven to only be a clone when it turned into smoke that surrounded the blond.

"Naruto!" Chiyo cried out, reaching for her sword, she couldn't just stand and watch. However, she suddenly felt a presence behind her, looking over her shoulder, the girl's red eyes went wide as she spotted what was possibly another clone attempting to knock her out. Chiyo jumped out of the way, avoiding the attack. Granny Chiyo and Sakura, however, weren't so lucky. Chiyo landed next to Naruto and both of them looked shocked. Sakura was on the ground, struggling to get up, 

"Sakura! Granny!" Naruto called out to both of them while Chiyo's eyes darted around, waiting for another attack. That's when she noticed something, as Sakura finally got up, she began to change. Her form turns into Itachi, 

"Naruto, watch out!" The black-haired girl called out. She unsheathed her sword, placing herself in front of her friend. Granny Chiyo had also been a mirage and now the two members of Team Seven were stuck between two enemies. Looking over at Kakashi, Naruto called out to his sensei, only for him to be another version of Itachi. 

"What's going on?" Naruto asked confused as Chiyo did her best to protect him, but it wasn't easy with three enemies surrounding them. That's when she realized something, 

"don't tell me, we're trapped in his Genjutsu? Did I-I must have accidentally made eye contact without even knowing."  Chiyo thought to herself, looking over at Naruto, she noticed him reach into his bag, pulling out some Kunai which he threw toward the Itachis, hitting them. All three of them flew into the air, but to the pair's surprise, they didn't hit the ground. Instead, they remained floating, as if some invisible force was holding them up. After a moment, the figures began to morph until they became birds, flying off into the air while both Chiyo and Naruto looked wide-eyed. However, one of the birds stayed in place before morphing again, revealing a black shape that resembled Itachi. 

"I didn't even look into his eyes..." Naruto said to himself, the situation finally dawning on him, 

"damn it... How'd I get caught in his Genjutsu...?" Itachi seemed amused by his confusion and fear. 

"These eyes aren't the only way I can activate a Genjutsu. I can do it with one finger." He spoke, 

"Rest easy. I won't use the Mangekyo Sharingan." The black-haired man continued, 

"what do you mean by that?" Naruto asked in a demanding voice, but his question was ignored. 

"You don't need to know," Itachi stated, and brought his hand forward. 

"More importantly, it's about time you went to sleep." 

"This is bad, we didn't even look in his eyes and we got caught. Kakashi was right, this isn't a normal Genjutsu. What do we do?" The black-haired girl thought to herself, trying to stop her body from shaking.