NARUTO SI: A Burdened Soul (Elder Brother to Itachi SI)

Chapter 27

A lone figure walked through the bodies littered on the ground belonging to the men killed by one Izuna Uchiha in his escape, many of them belonging to his own countrymen.

And this figure, one seemingly human but not one at all. No, this was a creature of white, pale tree-like material that was connected to the ground with a white tube that ran into the ground and had come alive from the Gedo Mazo.

"He could be trouble," a deep voice came out, for this creature had no face, no heart at all, even if it was shaped like a man.

"He did not even hesitate for a second as he cut through his countrymen and is a seal master. If he tries, he could derail our plans, Lord Madara," and miles and miles away in a deep cave, an old man sat on a chair, barely clinging to life, watching the world through that Zetsu as he thought about those words.

"Indeed," and found them to be true.

"So, we must stop him," he answered after a minute.

"Make sure that he does not reach that brown-haired girl. I will not allow our plan to be disturbed," he answered, and the white plant-like creature nodded.

"This could expose us, my lord," the white being suggested.

"So be it. As long as we remove any traces of our involvement, we shall be fine."

"As you say, Madara-sama..."

0000

IZUNA UCHIHA

The ambush from Kiri had been a surprise, and Izuna was surprised by the trap that had been set for them as well, using dead bodies as the Kiri-nin had to mask their attack, before ambushing them was a very effective move that would have done in most shinobi.

To use your comrades as the wielder of Nuibari did was mind-numbing, for no matter how heartless a shinobi would always hesitate to use their blade against their comrades from the same village, and against an opponent like him, all it would take for him to slaughter you was a second of hesitation.

Even he had hesitated for a second until he was able to steal his heart as he realized that hesitation would lead to his death, and Izuna Uchiha could not die yet. Not until he had taken his revenge, and so he had ploughed through the puppeteered bodies without any hesitation.

Alas! Nohara Rin had lacked his resolve, and now he was stuck in that cave contemplating his next move.

Kakashi-san had left a few hours ago to capture a Kiri-nin so they could interrogate him and gain all the necessary information. However, Izuna already had an inkling about Kiri's true intentions.

And the problem was how he was supposed to deal with it. The presence of the Ameyuri Ringo and Kushimaru Kuriarare made any recovery effort extremely difficult and hard, for as powerful as him and Kakashi were, the two of them were part of Kiri's most elite unit—the Seven Ninja Swordsmen.

There was a way to deal with them, but still using his trump card again and again had consequences, and Izuna was not oblivious to them. Using his Mangekyo's technique required a good chunk of chakra, probably around half of what he had managed to save, but he would be extremely vulnerable in any battle or fight that would take place afterward.

It was a dilemma, and he sat there in the cave, waiting until he heard footsteps once more. He opened his eyes and saw Kakashi walking into the cave with an unconscious Kiri-nin slung over his shoulder.

"I am back," and Izuna nodded as he stood up.

"Put him over there," he said. Kakashi Hatake lay the unconscious Kiri hunter nin in one corner, and Izuna stood up and walked over to the man.

He placed a hand on the man's chest as he sealed his chakra to prevent him from running and causing a ruckus, and when that was done, all it took was a little spark of electricity to wake him up once again.

"Where..." but before the man could orient himself to the world around him, Izuna's eyes spun as he activated his Sharingan and cast a genjutsu on the man, and the man's conscience tried to resist for a second, but Izuna was far too skilled for it to put up a fight as the Kiri nin became limp.

"Tell me, is the captured Konoha kunoichi alive, and if so, where are you keeping her?" he asked, and with a dazed look, the Kiri nin began to spit his secrets...

.

.

.

The situation was as he had expected. Kiri planned to seal the Sanbi into her, and she was being kept in a cave not much farther from here.

And much to their dismay, the cave was being guarded by one Kushimaru Kuriarare, the masked wielder of Nuibari he had barely escaped.

"We have to rescue her," Kakashi-san ordered, and he nodded.

"But it will not be easy, for one thing we can be certain of is that Kiri's intentions of sealing the Sanbi into Rin-san would be anything but charitable. They probably plan to use her as a trojan horse against Konoha," and Kakashi nodded.

"So, you think the seal would be defective?" he asked and Izuna nodded, but that was not even their only problem.

"Moreover, the sealing process would make it impossible for her to mold chakra, so even if we rescue her, she will be a complete liability, and we would have to escape the forest while protecting her?" that was never easy, especially against Kiri-nin.

"Can you repair the seal?" he asked, and Izuna shook his head. While he was good at sealing, such seals were not simple, and Izuna's mastery lay in an entirely different domain.

"I could stabilize it to buy us more time, but nothing more. Only Kushina-san or Minato-san could fully tackle a seal such as this," and that was the truth of it, and Kakashi-san nodded as they began to hatch their plan.

"We cannot wait for backup. We have to go in, rescue Rin, and get out," it would have to be a swift operation, one that only the two of them would have to carry out, and any mission would be an uphill task with only two members, a mission such as this even more so.

"The question is someone will have to distract the enemy while the other goes to rescue Rin-san," and whoever would take this on would be taking on a massive risk because they would probably have to face Kushimaru Kuriarare.

"I will take on the enemy," Kakashi-san ordered as he looked into his eyes.

"You should be the one to go and rescue Rin since you are the only one here who can stabilize her seal," it made sense, and it was a sound plan.

"And Izuna," the older ninja added as he took out a scroll and passed it to him.

"When you have her, do not hesitate at all and retreat at once. Do not wait for me," he said as his blade whipped through the air and cut through the neck of the Kiri-nin he had captured.

"No matter what..."

.

.

.

They had no time to waste, and as soon as the night fell, they began their ambush as they silently tore through the forest, making a beeline for the cave where Rin-san was being kept.

As they neared the cave, he and Kakashi-san sat on a branch, looking at half a dozen hunter-nin stationed at the entrance.

"Let's go," the white-haired shinobi said as he pushed up his hitai-ate to reveal his own Sharingan before he began to cycle through a set of handseals as he gripped his right hand.

And Izuna watched in fascination as he gathered chakra in the palm of his hand, before suddenly it began shift as lightning began to race down towards the ground as the sound of birds chirping spread over the forest.

"Raito:.." and Izuna jumped behind him. Hatake Kakashi tore through the ground and headed straight towards the hunter nin, holding a lightning storm in his hands.

"... Chidoriii!" As he tore through them, Izuna jumped towards the cave entrance. Only one hunter-nin now guarded the entrance. As the man threw a few senbon towards him, they tore through his flesh before his body dissolved into a herd of crows, much to the surprise of the hunter in.

"Shit..." but the man could say no more as Izuna appeared behind him, his tanto plunged into the hunter-nin's back, and as the man became lifeless, suddenly his arm moved through the air, heading straight for his neck, forcing Izuna to jump back as he turned around and watched the lifeless body of the hunter nin rushing towards him.

"Katon: Fire Ball Jutsu," and it was a quick second until he spewed a torrent of fire at the incoming body and turned it to ash before jumping back once more until he felt the hair on his nape stand up as he twisted around, as his tanto clashed against the familiar metal of the infamous Kiri Nuibari.

CLANK!

He jumped back as a sole figure emerged from the shadows. His long yellow hair was like a wild mane, and he could see those maniac eyes focused on him as he pulled back his sword with a twist of his hand while his face remained hidden behind that mask of his.

It was him again.

Kushimaru Kuriarare and Izuna's lips thinned at his predicament, for the man was blocking his path, and it seemed like the man had decided to face him head-on and was blocking his path.

Izuna saw the man grip his blades before he blurred and appeared infront of him, and as Izuna brought up his own blade to parry the man's strike, he was interrupted as suddenly a kunai cut through the air, and edges just past the Kiri-nin's mask, leaving a crack on it before another figure blurred in between them, and locked swords with the Kiri nin.

"GO!" Kakashi-san shouted as he intervened and looked at him.

"Leave him to me...." Izuna did not waste a second as he jumped forward, and even as the Kiri swordsman tried to come after him, Hatake Kakashi blocked his path, giving him the freedom to rush towards the inside, and about a few seconds later, he felt it.

The massive chakra. Powerful and ancient, it was roaring and twisting all around, and its sheer presence was palpable in the air as he came upon what seemed to be a rudimentary sealing altar—an altar at the center of which lay an unconscious Nohara Rin.

"SHIT!" a few Kiri nin cursed as they saw him and tried to stop him, but they were no combat specialists, and Izuna parried away their senbons and shuriken as he ran towards them, before suddenly a dozen clones of him appeared besides him.

The enemy attacks passed through them, much to their surprise and worry, and yet as those afterimages raised their blades, they tore through the Kiri nin's flesh, as their screams filled the area.

"AHHHH!" they screamed, but it was already too late, as Izuna slew the last one of them, and as he approached Rin-san, he examined the seal all around, and his guess was correct.

The seal was faulty. It would barely hold on for an hour.

He took a deep breath as placed his hand on her abdomen, and unsealed her chakra as the girl opened her eyes.

"AHHH!" and she was dazed and tired to jump away.

"Rin-san! It's me, Izuna," he told her as the girl stopped and looked at him with worry.

"Izuna-kun," she greeted him before her face paled.

"Get away from me! Please get away! The seal its defective, it will break any second..."

"It won't," Izuna replied as he gripped her shoulders.

"Not for an hour at least," he added.

"But you shouldn't be here, if the seal breaks while you are here the Sanbi will be released and it will kill us all," she pleaded but Izuna shook his head.

"Kakashi and I have come to rescue you. We need to get out of here and reach the village as fast as possible."

"NO!" she tried to get away, and he screamed.

"Just listen to me!" he thundered as the brown-haired girl finally stopped.

"Kushina-sensei or Minato-sensei can repair the seal easily. We just need to get you to them. Until then, let me try and stabilize the seal," he said, and she finally nodded as Izuna molded his chakra and pushed it into his hand as he put it over her abdomen.

"I can hear it. I can hear it screaming. It wants to kill us," she whispered in a fearful tone as she gripped her head.

"It will kill us," and as Izuna tried to modify the seals, the brown-haired kunoichi suddenly screamed.

"AHHHHH!" and he clicked his tongue, as he felt his hand burn, and burn as the bijuu chakra interfered with his sealing process.

"It burns. It burns," he could see tears running down her eyes as he tried and tried again. However, the defective seal was leaking too much bijuu chakra into her coils, making it impossible for him to modify it. As he tried to push through, his hand burned, and he grunted.

"AGHH!" and he pulled it back as Rin Nohara screamed while gripping her head; she was wailing and screaming as she fell to her knees, and tears ran down her eyes.

And this was bad! He could feel Kiri nin approaching from behind and knew that he had to do something.

But sealing was no longer an option. The leaking bijuu chakra made it impossible for him to do anything, and now through his attempt he had made Sanbi even more hostile and it was flushing its chakra into her coils, rampaging while it tore her apart from the inside.

And then an idea hit him. A gamble, but he knew that it would take a lot out of him.

"I cannot stabilize the seal through fuinjutsu as long as the Sanbi keeps raging," he told her as she nodded with tearful eyes.

"But I have an idea, a gamble that would only work if you put your trust in me," he said, and she nodded, and he grabbed her head and aligned it with his own as he spoke up.

"Look into my eyes..." and he saw her still. As his eyes shifted, the three tomoe in them shifted as they turned into his Mangekyo Sharingan. He saw Rin-san's eyes widen as suddenly he felt his world shift as he entered her mindscape.

And there he stood infront of a rampaging Sanbi. The three tails was screaming and wailing as it thrashed all around, its tails causing havoc, and the pressure and the power emanating out of it was massive, unlike anything he had ever felt before.

Rusted and creaking chains held it there, yet it was obvious from a single glance that they were not enough. That they would soon break, and as his presence registered to the mighty bijuu, he saw its eyes narrow as it screamed at him.

"ROAR!" and Izuna's heart hammered as he saw one of its tails heading straight for him, and yet he knew that he could not back down, and as he stared into the beast's eyes, he burnt through a massive chunk of his reserves, as his eyes burnt.

And as its tail headed towards him, blood dripped down his eye and then his face as he activated his Mangekyo's ability.

"Sleep!" The effect was instant. The attack stopped midway, and he saw Sanbi's screams die down. The beast's body grew limp. Izuna fell to his knees, heaving and huffing. He was thrown out of her mindscape.

"It's done," he said as he returned to the cave, and looked at a pale and fear-stricken Rin looking at him with fear-filled gaze.

"What was that?" she asked in a shaky voice as Izuna gulped and finished stabilizing her seal before suddenly he heard a couple of voices from behind.

"Get him!" and he felt two Kiri nin ambush him as their blades tore through his flesh, and he glanced back and looked into their eyes.

"We got him," they celebrated, as his Sharingan spun and his body dissolved into crows once more before they cursed, but it was too late as he appeared behind them in a blink and tore through their necks with his tanto.

"AGHHH!" blood sprouted out of their necks as Izuna looked at the scalded skin of his hand.

"We need to go," he said as he looked toward Nohara Rin, who nodded and pushed herself to her feet.

"Yes," and as they both rushed out of the cave, he did not miss how it was littered with dead bodies, and it was not until they were at the mouth of the cave that suddenly he stilled as he pushed Nohara-san to the side and quickly brought up his tanto.

"Look out!" and the blade clashed with his own. Izuna stilled and recognized the person he was facing.

"Shit!" he whispered as their eyes met, and he saw the wire turning around him, and with a quick flash he jumped back before suddenly a dozen more bodies appeared in their path, all of them alive, yet not really.

No. They were being controlled through those ninja wires, and he could see that some of them had their mouths and their eyes sewn shut, but not the person he had just clashed with.

"No..." Rin gasped behind him as she covered her mouth, and Izuna himself was too surprised and taken aback as his gaze focused on the Sharingan so similar to her own and the boy wielding it.

"Ninpo:..." He recognized that voice, and the preparator of this whole saga appeared from behind, standing at the back with his two blades in his hands.

"Kakashi-kun...," she finished as tears ran down her eyes as the Hatake clan heir looked into his eyes and barely mouthed.

"....Death's Parade!"

"Run...."

0000

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PS: I see people underestimating Kushimaru a lot but are forgetting that even an Eighth Gear Dai could only take down like 3 or 4 of the Seven ninja swordsmen. The Seven Ninja Swordsman of the Mist are literally their strongest shinobi, and are very strong.