A/N: Black lives matter!

And hey, I suppose our guy Itachi did abolish the police, didn't he?


Uzumaki


Chapter 42


Naruto was surprised at the anger Uchiha Itachi conjured into him. The way he reclined into his robes with one hand lazily in front; everything about him dripped with distaste. Hand, slumped outside of his cloak; very slender frame, almost androgynous, like- like her, yeah.

Bone snapping. Lightning dissipating like fireworks into smoke. Screaming, crying, silence.

Itachi didn't seem so tall this time.

"It's been a while, Naruto-kun," said Kisame. "But you remember Itachi-san's abilities, don't you? It would be far less pain for both of us if you just came with us quietly."

Though, that guy was as eerie as ever. His sword was fitful in its binds, and Naruto could see the water singing beneath his feet. He hadn't seen the blade in action, but it was heavy and didn't rely on its edge: it had sucked the chakra right out of him.

That was dangerous for Naruto. He didn't know if that would interfere with his regeneration.

"Naruto-kun," said Itachi, turning his head just a little, his necklace shifting in his robes. "Akatsuki has allowed you four peaceful years. You remember our last meeting, and so you hesitate. Come, and this will end painlessly."

Naruto turned his head, laughing a little. What a refreshingly bitter memory. "Y'know, I remember a lot about the last time I met... like, you didn't let me live. You just couldn't get me."

At that, Kisame chuckled, shifting the living sword on his shoulder. "Jiraiya-sama was quite a challenge, eh, Itachi-san? But he isn't here now. Nor is Orochimaru."

But as Naruto grinned, his brain turned the world fresh, everything sharp. Those black flames had been sealed away by a seal made by Jiraiya, but he doubted the average storage seal would cut it. But if Itachi had those flames, and didn't use them, there had to be a reason. Too lethal for him, probably, but were they also too costly to use on Jiraiya outright?

Itachi had only brought out that black fire to escape, so it had to have been a last resort. Judging by how conservative he'd been with it, maybe his chakra was limited by comparison to the rest of his abilities. Or perhaps it injured him to use? Either way, physically, he remembered with a grimace (crunch), he was going to easily outmatch Naruto in a straight fight.

Itachi didn't let on. "If you come with us now, Naruto-kun," he said, "I won't harm your companions."

"That's kinda rich," Naruto snorted, despite himself. "They're not twelve year olds this time, y'know."

Kisame didn't seem to rely on jutsu, but that didn't mean he didn't have any. The chakra sucking ability alone could ruin him. But thanks to his command of the Nine Tails chakra, Naruto could handle that. That was the important thing.

'I'm fucked,' Naruto assured himself, 'But not as fucked as last time.'

"This is your last chance," Itachi said.

"Exactly what I was thinking, y'know," Naruto said, lowering his weight as Nine Tails chakra bled into his own like wine into a tablecloth. "When am I gonna get another opportunity to kill you?"

Itachi was faster, and he came first.

Shuriken after shuriken spat from his gaping sleeves at staggering pace. Naruto met them with his knives barely, clingclingclingcling, hacking them back as he kept his gaze firmly low. Hard, and Itachi knew it. He'd put his back to the sun, and his projectiles centred, straight and high.

Then it was kicks, punches, knees and elbows. Itachi hit hard, not solely because of his strength, but because he was all bone and muscle. Each block sent the force reverberating through his bones and down into the earth, heels scraping against rock.

Kisame's swings were wide and heavy, and they swung over Naruto's head like the unwieldy boom of a boat: Kimimaro's whip had trained him for that. Naruto blocked a hard hit from Itachi, bouncing back and cutting a slim slice of wind for Kisame. The sleeve of his cloak split.

"By the way, how are you supposed to use that thing?" Naruto snickered, eyeing the Samehada. "It looks ridiculous."

Kisame's expression was foul.

The taunt didn't stop Itachi, who moved to sweep a leg under him. Had to avoid those eyes. He threw out a kick: Itachi blocked it flawlessly, but then that bandaged guillotine was already coming from above.

Naruto threw his weight aside and rolled away just in time.

The ground cracked, and the earth-shattering sound that the blunt blade made next to his ear turned into the shrill tone of tinnitus. Just a shrill echo where his shattered ribcage might have been.

"You would be surprised how many die to it, then."

Itachi swung down, and Naruto struck out with a slash, barely beating him back as he rolled back to get on his feet. The man was relentless, and although Kimimaro was this quick, he usually kept his distance, and those fights also lacked a brutish sharkman with a dull guillotine.

Naruto swore, throwing himself to his feet and making the familiar sign. The small island became clogged with clones, and he threw himself toward Kisame, hoping to throw Itachi off the trail.

Kisame frowned at the bright orange audience, hauling his weight beneath the blade and swinging it like a thick plank of wood as they homed in on their assault. "You know, using the same trick over and over again is bad taste."

Itachi was as cold as ever, even as he beat back clone after clone. Even bladed, they couldn't touch him. Not yet. "How long do you want to delay this, Naruto-kun?"

"Delaying? Dunno what you mean!" a clone jeered back, leaning to gouge a slice from Itachi's thigh. Miss. "I'm enjoying the opportunity to cut up a psycho who tortures his own little sister!"

Though it was true that Itachi wouldn't lose track of him for long, while Juugo and Kimimaro were missing, time was everything.

And yet although Itachi couldn't just block Naruto's trench knives, it barely seemed to make a difference: he danced around them like smoke as clone after clone lunged for what seemed to be a sure hit. Fucking Sharingan.

Kisame was not so elegant. His scruffily bandaged sword was too slow to handle the influx of bladed clones: he had to beat them back with punches and kicks, and when he had the opportunity a strong sweep of the sword that tore a chunk out of the force.

Ominously, that same shoddy paperweight seemed to be sending his copies into smoke on contact.

But the weight staggered him too, and Naruto could hit below and above, wary of the blade as he slashed at his legs. A downward swing would expose him.

Kisame arched back. Not long until he'd abandon the blade.

'Itachi's gonna have Katon jutsu.' Naruto lunged for the arm. Too fast. Kisame pulled back with a grunt. 'If my clones give him enough time to make hand signs… this is done. Gotta keep his hands busy.'

To the right a clone threw shuriken: Itachi shot one back immaculately, deflecting the scattered star into the soft temple of a clone next to him. The other Naruto turned despondent, legs bending like a spineless ragdoll as he slumped into the smoke. He swallowed.

'But if Itachi knows I'm worried about the Sharingan, he's probably already figured out I'm fighting Kisame instead, so he's not gonna be worried about lethal force-'

Itachi sent a domino line of clones collapsing into the mist, and his hands came together.

'Fuck.'

Two other Itachis gained form, casting back the crowd with more of that unrelenting taijutsu. Kicks and punches, elbows and knees turned the island near foggy.

'Only two clones?' One managed another slice on Kisame's leg! Shallow victory stained the mere edge of the blade red. 'He can't have much chakra-'

Thunder, no lightning. Mauled clones scattered into brief gore, then mist, burning hair and the brief scent of burning human flesh pushing past Naruto's nose. The crowd rippled violently and Naruto slammed into the ground on his back.

'Exploding clones?!'

"What the actual fu-" Naruto could barely hear the sound of his clone cursing over the ringing in his ears. But surviving the blow meant-

"Got you."

Kisame did in fact, have him.

He powered chakra down the thin of the blade to parry the sidewards swipe of Kisame's sword. The metal caught it, but wind chakra sucked right into the weave. Shit.

Kisame prized the trench knife upwards with a mighty crook of his arm, and bore those strange teeth in a grin. "This would be a good time to give up, wouldn't it?"

He saw Itachi stalking toward him in the corner of his eye - a spare clone intercepted: Itachi snapped his neck like a wishbone.

"A good time to give up and a good time to get even," Naruto gritted out, "aren't the same thing."

Naruto let the straining trench knife fly out of his hands. Kisame stumbled forward, and Naruto made the sign: one clone threw another clone across the water to catch the blade ("Got it!") - and the other five swarmed toward the cloaked men.

With Kisame, it worked: with Itachi, it didn't. Naruto dove back, his clone spearing his trench knife back toward him. He caught it in the mere nick of time as Itachi ('can't look at his face, damn, fuck') tore forward again, relentless.

"Even?" Itachi asked, calm. Even as unfeeling as he was, he threw punches and kicks so fast Naruto only barely caught them.

"Yeah," Naruto snapped, feeling his teeth grinding now. "I'll take more than a beating to get even with you."

His ears stung. Naruto still couldn't read him. His moves weren't telegraphed by posture, but by minute twitches. His right finger curled and a millisecond later it flew for his face.

"Have I wronged you, Naruto-kun?" Punches and low hits, even the talking - he was trying to catch his gaze, and fuck, soon enough he would. Dammit, where were Kimimaro and Juugo?

"Wronged me?" Naruto snapped at last, putting all his weight behind a bladed punch. Itachi caught it with a kunai, but the force made the kunai snap out of his hand. "You put your own sister in the hospital! In a coma!" -he aimed another one for Itachi's shoulder, but Itachi pushed that away by the wrist- "You traumatised her! You killed her family!" He ducked another punch, reaching into his bag for a paper bomb- "Before you, I thought even scum cared about somethingbut- you're just- do you care about anyone but yourself?!"

Naruto feinted beneath Itachi's blow, pressing a paper bomb to his cloak like a sticker. He threw himself across the clearing, and there was a spittling, a sizzling, and for a glorious moment Itachi's skeleton and muscles and skin parted ways like a firework. Then, dust. Substitution. The man was unharmed, across the way. Unmoving.

"Leaving your home. Burning bases. Wandering the country, knowing you may die any day." Itachi tilted his head, necklace swaying a little as he did. Was his expression curious? Naruto was quietly dying to know. "You don't seem to have much regard for even yourself, Naruto-kun."

Presence of mind had to be damned. Naruto called toward the Nine Tails chakra, and the foul sludge pushed through the seal. It was a little while yet, and he watched Itachi's movements.

"Is there a reason you care for Satsuki so?"

Naruto choked, almost meeting Itachi's eyes in shock. Almost met those eyes. Pale skin. Dark hair.

Itachi drove a punch into his side. Something bent, not cracking yet. Ring finger too. Itachi seized that shock with unyielding momentum, striking under him again and pulling a second punch toward Naruto's stomach.

Naruto shook himself out just in time, slicing down with his right blade. Almost caught Itachi with that sharp snip of air. As ever no: Itachi in what seemed like an instant was leaning back, moving to slam his shin into Naruto's ankles.

It was a bare dodge. Naruto slammed his knife into the ground behind him, pivoting and pulling himself away with a horrible screech of metal as the blade stuttered against the stone.

Itachi was already stood upright. Too fast. Naruto was off-balance, but Itachi didn't soar in as he expected.

Giving himself a moment? Who knew. No face, posture as docile as ever. But even Naruto coming in on the offensive would just open him up, unless he had something new. Itachi could read his expression, and Naruto could only watch the twitch of his fingers and the weight of his posture. He had the advantage. Naruto felt that hot poison bleeding in, and allowed himself a little confidence. No. No. Calm.

He had to remember- have presence of mind- calm. Rational, because with two opponents-

Naruto twisted, a stray rock entering his sluggish Nine Tails coat as he barely skimmed the Samehada. It missed by an inch, cracking a ravine into the ground. Its hunger did not - he felt its thirst as it sheared off part of his chakra like wool from a sheep. He beckoned the beast again.

Kisame turned to kick and Naruto beat it back with his forearm just barely. The blue man grunted, putting his weight low as he tried to prize the blade from the stone. Naruto struck, carving a crescent slice of wind chakra across the stone, and Kisame kicked back, dropping the sword.

Shik. Not quick enough. Naruto only nicked his arm. Blood spattered the rock in a single straight strip. Iron. Familiar. Nice.

Heat from behind.

Naruto grabbed it by the handle and hauled himself behind the sword. The flames and heat of Itachi's Katon jutsu pushed over the sides like a pan on a raging stove, licking at his legs until they sucked into the sword itself. Heat wasn't so bad. Made the coat sing.

Sh-sh-shhhing. Naruto looked at his hand.

The pain was distant for a second. Sharp spines, through his skin, pushing his bone aside like he had firmly gripped a porcupine. From the handle? Blood hit his eye directly, and for a moment he stared through hot red sheen until the pain hit. Hot. Iron. Smelled nice.

Delirium? No. Awake. He was injured, it was blood, it-

Itachi slammed his shin into his ribs. The spines pulled through his muscle and sinew, finally popping out as he tumbled across the rock and into the water. Winded. Chest felt kinda hot, no air, need air, just water. Somehow, the pain in his hand felt secondary. Bubbles gushed through his vision, his blood spinning upwards through the water like hot smoke. Hot. His coat was healing. Too slow. No air.

The reforging of his skin was slower than usual. Had to be dumb sword. As the skin came back, the pain just got worse: his skin was pushing back in, growing like tumours around his bones, but the salt made every bit of the wounds feel like they were screaming.

He gritted his teeth, mustering control of his body as he kicked against the deep.

Strange noise. A gushhh-ing sort of sound, like a waterfall on the other side of a very heavy door. Bubbles scattering, and the silhouette of light on the surface of the water blinded him. It was Itachi, above him.

He almost met his eyes. He dove in feet first, his cloak was on the top of the water, drifting like a black lily-pad. Better for swimming? Huh.

Naruto kicked desperately against the water, pushing chakra like reluctant lava down to his feet and pushing against the water. Used his hands even, even though the force of the motion made the loose skin drift.

Lungs hot. Hand screaming. Chakra boiling. Naruto kicked away with his gaze firmly planted on Itachi.

Kicking. Salt. Almost there. Is he close? Getting close. Long hair, trailing through the buoyant salty water. Thin chainmail. Itachi's necklace had three rings. Odd.

Not fast enough.

The water boiled. The clone detonated.


The cobbled halls were long, and not very well-lit, either. The candles had burned low, with sleepy strands of wax draped off of their candelabra.

Naruto's clone turned his head, looking at Juugo with an inquisitive expression; it twisted Kabuto's face like a grin on an octopus. "So, why don't you guys like her?"

Juugo sullenly looked forward, and Kimimaro cut across. "Karin?"

"Yeah. You guys don't like her, right?"

"I went on a few missions with her for Orochimaru-sama," Kimimaro said, avoiding those spectacled eyes as he did. "She's an unnerving person."

"Unnerving?"

"Her sensory abilities are very strong. When she puts her mind to it, she can almost read your mind," Juugo frowned. "And the way she treats these prisoners..."

"So she's mean?"

Juugo exhaled, putting his hands in his pockets as they strode through the tight, ponderous halls. "You'll understand when you meet her."

Kabuto looked forward, folding his arms. "I guess it'll be hard to convince her to come with me, huh?"

"Why do you need her to come with you?" Kimimaro sighed.

"I dunno... she's my family, you know?"

Kabuto stopped dead, and Kimimaro stopped just a step after him, looking over his shoulder. He turned his head, and all of them turned on edge, listening in complete stillness.

"Did you hear that?" Kabuto whispered.

Juugo nodded. "Sounded like scraping."

They listened, until there was a soft noise, like the depression of a sealed bottle. Kimimaro turned.

The Kabuto-faced clone was gone.

Kimimaro's eyes widened. "Shit. Juugo, we have to-"

A muffled explosion reverberated throughout the base.

Juugo threw his hands through seals, locking eyes on the exit at the turn of the hall and pressing his hand to the floor. The stone wall split, opening into a cubby, and Kimimaro climbed in-

"Kimimaro! Juugo! It's Itachi, he's-"

The clone disappeared, and on the stone, Karin lay still.

Dragging her to the darkness, Kimimaro's skin began crawling with the cursed seal, prickly like sunburn across his flesh.


"Ah, so you got him even in the water? I didn't realise those were so effective."

A silence. Had to be a nod.

Lower, softer voice. "We would be best to take him in now, before he goes any further. Use Samehada to subdue his chakra."

"Of course."

The scuffling of footsteps. Kimimaro heard his chance, and let that familiar cursed seal bleed into him.

'Shikotsumyaku: Sawarabi no Mai.'

Bones spread like fast-growing cancer through the ground around him, coiling themselves sharp, and then they sprung up.

No squelch, no screech of metal, no cries of pain. Someone landed on a bone to the right of him, and he channelled his form into that pillar of bone, striking forward-

He grazed someone, and was satisfied by soft resistance, but not enough. They fled with just a scrape. It was a blue-fleshed man. The crimson spatter across his forest made them look like blood-stained teeth.

Uchiha Itachi, Orochimaru's old partner, stood across the bony grove, unharmed.

There was a scream.

No. Was it? It was like a groaning from beneath the water, the shrieking of a deep sea creature. Kimimaro's stomach turned, and he looked.

Bubbling. The hot seawater was turning against itself, and goopy chunks of hot orange chakra met the surface of the whirlpool, rising like rancid oil: it turned, and turned, until the vortex parted at last and that vile howl met the air.

Half man, half monster, Naruto crawled out of the whirlpool with hands of chakra that were coated with that thick oil, sopping with infection, turning more monstrous by the second as he emerged from the steam.

His gaze met Itachi, and the fox man tore through Kimimaro's bone forest like a cat through long grass. The world collapsed into disorder.


In exchange for a breath, the beast had come. Just one red tail, the fox had sworn. That didn't sound bad. For a breath, just one red tail sounded fine.

And what a feeling. Naruto felt his lungs open up, the water parted, and finally, he was himself, his skin wasn't burning, his chest wasn't fire, he could live.

Now for the slender one.

Naruto shot through the bone forest. White spires cracked and bent around him, like reeds, no matter, didn't hurt, he tore straight for the bitter one. Can't look in those eyes.

He was deft. Just aside. Didn't matter. He'd get him eventually. Smelled like barbecue. Itachi was gone again. Where?

Behind him, trying to catch him in the back with a blow. Too slow. Naruto cut a gloopy slip of that coat, hot like fire and sharp like wind, and as festered with sickness as a split blister. It hit.

Itachi seized back, surprised. His leg was burning, an exposed slice of white now oozing with poison and blood. Strange to see he bled.

Kimimaro and Juugo were here now. They could get the other one. Good. He didn't care for that sword.

He slurred himself forward, the shadow of pestilent chakra following him like a nightmare after waking, and Itachi pushed back, a limp! Hahahahaha. A limp! If only she were here.

"Does it burn?" Naruto couldn't stop himself from chuckling as he turned on his heel, sweeping another diseased curve toward him. Itachi slipped by that one, but he was slower now. "Man, you're pathetic!"

Itachi didn't dignify that with a response, and he drew out a sword. He didn't dignify anything with a response. Funny restraint for a man that seemed to live and die by the sword. Arrogance? Probably. But even Satsuki had a temper. Wrong. She was almost all temper. That was what he- no.

He looked- no, no eye contact. Was Naruto losing himself? No.

Naruto formed the sign, and clones splayed themselves across the water, hot with chakra too. He felt smaller.

Itachi pulled out a sword. Weird. Did he use those? He couldn't remember.

"Naruto-kun," Itachi said. "Don't be rash."

"Rash?" Naruto roared with laughter, and then his clones did too. Hundreds of them, like a raucous oil slick stretching across the channel. Then he soured. "Are you serious? You, who killed your entire family, who left your own little sister alive because, what, you felt like it? You're telling me not to be rash?"

Maybe he wasn't thinking straight. The beast was beckoning. But that was what the beast did.

"I'm not being rash," Naruto sneered now, lifting a fire-kissed finger to Itachi's chest. "I'm not leaving a trail because I'm an idiot. I wanted to see you. I wanted to kill you. And for me, it's not about my family, it's not about what you've taken from me. In fact, I think you're hoping to get killed by Satsuki. I think you still think about her!

"But I can take that from you, and I can save her from you," Naruto spat, his saliva turning to steam. "You're just a sick fuck, and I want to see you smeared across the coast like a shipwreck."

"Rest assured, Naruto-kun, I don't think you're an idiot," Itachi assured him, voice like silk. "I just think you want to die."

The second tail rose on him. Just two, the beast promised. Just two.


A/N: Next chapter should be faster. What's your favourite deep-fried snack?

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