The Trouble With Itachi [On Hold]

19; The Taming

Chapter 19- The Taming

Rain sat up on the branch, his interest piqued. Yuri was finally releasing the curse seal. She managed to hold out long enough.

Such stubbornness, he thought. So unnecessary.

He knew Itachi would come through eventually.

Rain watched as those dark wings of destruction erupted from her back, and black feathers fluttered down around her. He could feel her pulling on his power, and he let it go freely. He was eager to see what she would do with it.

He licked his lips in anticipation. He wanted to see someone bleed.

I stood up gingerly, locking eyes with Itachi. My dark wings fluttered gently. I wondered if I could use them to fly.

I looked around and realized Itachi’s genjutsu was broken and I was back in the forest.

“I did as you asked,” I said, “Now what?”

“Kill me,” Itachi answered as he took up a taijutsu stance.

Was he serious? Looking at him it seemed he was dead serious. His chakra had stilled; it was as unshakeable as a pillar. He was focused.

Crap. This was no bluff.

I readied myself, rolling my shoulders and getting used to the new power that roiled within me. I flexed my wings, lowering myself to floor and then bounded into the sky- using my wings to force the air downwards and push myself off the ground. I thought it would have required more effort, but it was easy and the movements came to me naturally. Now I hovered in the air above Itachi, and he looked up at me with determination in his eyes.

I wasn’t going to kill him. That was absurd… Wasn’t it?

Before I knew it a fireball was hurtling towards me and I had to barrel roll in the air, the wind whipping past my face as I struggled to keep airborne, all the muscles in my back straining with the effort.

I could see this would take some getting used to.

As soon as I could I replied with my own fire justu. “Katon- Karyuu Endan!”

I loosed a stream of flames as a projectile from my mouth, following Itachi as he evaded it. The fire incinerated the grass and bushes as it licked the ground in his wake. Soon the jutsu ran out, and I started my path flying towards him, flinging explosive kunai as I went and finally tackling him to the ground.

I was surprised that I managed to get this close to him, but then he dropped to the floor, flipped over and flung me off. I rebounded and went at him with taijutsu but I noticed his Sharingan was fully activated to the Third level. Fighting hand-to-hand with him would be pointless. His Sharingan would pick up my every move. I finally backed off, keeping my distance and regarding him with a glare.

Was there anyway to get around his defense? Maybe with the element of surprise, I thought.

But how?

I had to do something unexpected. A jutsu he would never expect me to perform.

I expected Rain would want to see me make full use of the curse seal.

Then it hit me. I decided to take a chance. Either this would work really well in my favour, or it would fall flat and I’d end up vulnerable and weak; useless in Rain’s eyes.

I could feel the different strains of chakra within me. Fire, Water, Lighting and an unknown from the curse seal, all rolled in one. I would use all of them.

I performed a few handseals.

“Suiton- Suuishoha!” Waving my hand in an arc, I brought a large volume of water over from a lake nearby over to where Itachi stood. He saw the huge wave rolling towards him though, and jumped to dodge it. It was exactly what I wanted. I changed my hand seals.

“Suirou no jutsu!” As he jumped over the wave, tendrils of water shot out and grabbed him on every limb, pinning him down until it engulfed him completely in a water prison.

Now, I had to move fast. Mixing water and fire, I created lightning and used my sword to direct it into the water prison. I knew even Itachi wasn’t immune to the effects of electricity.

Next I performed handseals for my fire jutsu, and fused it with the curse seal chakra. Fire licked by strands of black and blue flames covered my hands as I walked towards Itachi, still trapped by my water prison. He seemed strangely helpless as I approached, struggling against the bonds of water, holding his breath and looking slightly weak after my lightning attack. It was now or never. He told me to kill him. I wasn’t sure if I could go through with it. But I would get as close as I could.

It had dawned on me that it was probably for Rain. Itachi obviously knew something that I didn’t. So I would do this for him.

“Chakura Daibakuha!” I shoved my hands into the water prison as the chakra steadily built up; it swirled and spun in a haze of fire and water, shooting out a force of pressure until it finally exploded, ripping through the water prison and shooting me backwards. It felt like I was airborne for a long time, and a kind of still silence permeated the air as time seemed to slow down. Finally I hit the ground hard, feeling the earth buckle beneath me, then recede and widen into a large crater.

I was sure I blacked out for a while. When I opened my eyes, the dust cloud was settling. The cursed seal state had disappeared so the dark designs on my body were now gone and so were the wings. I think it probably protected me from the bulk of the damage from my jutsu. I was surprised I managed to let off two of my Chakra Explosion techniques in one fight. It usually used up most of my chakra. It seemed to be because the second jutsu had used more of the curse seal’s chakra than my own. But now I had used up everything I had. My chakra was dangerously low. I doubted I‘d be able to protect myself from anything if it turned out I missed Itachi completely.

I tried to sit up but recoiled in agony as I realized my shoulder was injured; and so were my ribs and legs. Blood now covered my clothes, and I had a variety of colorful bruises and cuts. I managed to sit up painfully and I used Tsuyori to scan the area for any sign of Itachi.

I found him lying on the ground, a fair distance away from me. He wasn’t moving and I couldn’t detect his chakra. My breath caught in my throat. My God, did I actually kill him?

I got to my feet, my body protesting heavily under the strain, and started to make my way towards him. I got about halfway there before I was stopped by another figure.

It was Rain.

He clapped slowly and deliberately, the smoke gradually drifting away to reveal his devious smirk. His white blonde ponytail blew in the wind and his ice blue eyes bore into me, making my blood run cold. I found he often had that effect on people.

“Congratulations Yuri,” he said, his arms spread wide. He came forward and pulled me into an embrace, seemingly deliberately pushing harder on my injuries to make them bleed onto his hands. Even though my cuts and bruises hurt I just didn’t have the energy to even protest.

“Is Itachi OK?” I asked; my voice coming out strained.

“Forget about him. He has served his purpose,” he told me, taking my arm and raising it, watching the blood flow with an almost child-like glee, “With these wounds you are now mine. You’ve passed the test, so now let us begin the next phase.”

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