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

Chapter 28

Hiruzen read the message that had been sent by Kakashi Hatake and frowned in rage. It seemed that they had made a great mistake. A mistake that had could cost them much.

Minato's team was an hour away from the village. He could reassign him as soon as he returned.

But an hour.

No. They could not waste an hour.

And so, he made a decision rather quickly as he tapped his table, and an ANBU appeared infront of him.

"Bring me Kushina Uzumaki..."

IZUNA UCHIHA

The ninja world was one filled with violence, pain, and suffering. These tragedies tend to bring out the worst of people. And while most villages tried to curb these violent, inhuman, and immoral vices, Kirigakure nurtured them.

It cherished and rewarded wanton brutality, and none personified this more than Kiri's infamous Seven Ninja Swordsmen. Wielders of the Seven Special blades, they were all exemplary shinobi of unrivaled talents, and yet apart from that, each and every one of them was filled with cruelty, hubris, and vices.

Even amongst the squad of seven, Kushimaru Kuriarare was special for the masked specialty lay in the mutilation of dead or near-dead opponents.

He had used the same trick against them during the ambush, trying to unsettle them using the corpses of Konoha ninjas as bait, and now as Izuna stared at the bloodied form of Kakashi, he realised that the man wanted to do just the same thing again.

Izuna had hoped that Kakashi would be able to keep the man at bay for some time, buying them all enough time to return and then retreat at once.

But he had been wrong. He did not know how, but it seemed that Kakashi had fallen a pray to the damned Kiri-nin, and now they were in a fix as they stared at half a dozen bodies standing in their way.

"Kakashi-kun," Rin gasped in worry as she saw her teammate's bloodied form, though Izuna himself was looking at the Kiri nin in question, snickering and chuckling as he played with his Ninja wires, and the suddenly a few senbon were fired towards them, straight at Rin making him jump infront of her as he blocked them away.

His reserves were running low, and soon enough the Kiri nin ran towards him, throwing forward his thin Nuibari blade at him, forcing Izuna to push it to the side, he realised that the aim was Rin again, and as they began to clash, their blades met, his tanto against the man's thin Nuibari blade.

CLANK!

And then Izuna saw the man twist and pull on his finger as the blade he had thrown came back at Rin because of the shinobi wire that was attached to it

"Get down," he screamed, but she was not fast enough, and the blade pierced her shoulder.

"AHHH!" and Izuna clicked his tongue as he pushed chakra into his hands, making a hand-seal with a single hand as he inhaled.

"Katon: Fireball juts..." and before he could attack, the Kiri nin jumped back, before suddenly Kakashi Hatake's body came in between them, forcing Izuna to divert the attack to the sides as he jumped back and cut through the wire, which had just passed through Rin's shoulder.

"You need to be more cautious," he chided her as he threw a few kunai and shuriken at the Kiri-nin, who parried them all; as two of the dead men suddenly hurried towards him, and Izuna was quick to recognize the pattern.

"JUMP BACK!" and then suddenly, the two bodies exploded, sending him tumbling back as Izuna stilled before suddenly the man appeared beside him, and a sharp, piercing pain rushed through his shoulder.

"AGHHH!" Izuna was quick to react as he cut through the wire again and parried the next strike before the man suddenly made a hand sign. Suddenly, Izuna felt a sharp wire begin to wrap itself around his ankle, trying to cut through his foot.

"SHIT!" he cursed as he pushed chakra into his other tanto and cut through the wire, and jumped back, but not before the man had landed a massive gash over his abdomen with his blades.

"Izuna-kun!" Rin Nohara screamed as he raised his hand, his mind racing as he saw the masked Kiri nin standing there, snickering as he spun his two thin blades in his hands.

If only he had time, he could use his seals to get an advantage, but there was no time, and his reserves were already too low.

"The other Kiri hunter-nin will be waiting for us outside the cave; I neither have the time nor the reserves for a prolonged fight, so I must handle this one fell sweep," he said as he looked at the brown-haired girl.

"If the Kiri-nin remove the seal that I have put on you, the Sanbi will go on a rampage, and we will all die," he warned her as a plan began to form in his mind.

"So, I will make an opening for you," for the only way for him to have a chance here was if he did not have to protect her while fighting against such odds.

"And as soon as I do, I want you to run as fast as you can towards Konoha. The village must have dispatched a recovery team. You must find them, and inform them about everything that has happened here," but her eyes widened.

"But Kakashi-kun..." and his eyes landed on the masked nin, whose body hung limp, and Izuna could tell that his condition was critical. The Hatake scion had lost too much blood, and if he was to save him, he must get him out of this trap rather quickly.

He only had reserves for two, maybe three proper ninjutsu, and he had to make them count.

"Leave him to me," he said as he took a deep breath and brought up his tantos once again, wiping away the blood that was around his cheek as he formed a seal.

"Ninpo:..." and then suddenly, a dozen or so forms of him appeared around him at once as his Sharingan glinted once more.

"....Teleporter!" and he ran straight at the Kiri nin, not caring about the traps at all, and the Kiri nin had many, for he had booby-trapped the entire cave with his chakra wire, and as it tried to cut through him, it did not work as all of it simply passed through his body, as the masked nin faltered in shock.

Kushimaru rushed at him, trying to attack him with his own blade, yet to his surprise, Nuibari passed right through him as Izuna spun on his heel and pushed all his chakra into his leg.

"CHAAA!" and hit the man's chest.

BOOOM!

Such was the force of the attack that his body was sent tumbling back straight through the entrance, and Izuna p[ushed chakra into his tanto and cut through the chakra wire around Kakashi and the rest quickly as their bodies fell down.

"Get out; I will get you an opening!" he shouted at Rin as he jumped forward toward the mouth of the cave. The dozen afterimages of him vanished, and he cycled through a new set of handseals.

"Katon:..." he whispered as he saw the Kiri hunter nin all gathered outside the entrance of the cave, trying to trap them.

"Majestic Flame Destroyer!" and a storm of fire erupted out of his mouth, blue fire raging and thundering as it headed straight towards the masked hunter nins and devoured them whole, as screams and wails filled the area.

And thankfully, the brown-haired kunoichi got the signal and rushed past him as Izuna continued to spew the massive torrent of fire, even as the screams of the Kiri-nin all died down.

SCHWING!

And yet, through the firestorm, he suddenly saw a sword flying towards him, forcing him to stop the attack as the blade cut his cheek and went past him.

'How?' he gasped, for the attack must have killed all the Kiri-nin's, and as the massive storm of fire vanished, Izuna found himself staring at Kiri-nin corpses, all of which had been burnt to a crisp,, though right infront of him the bodies seemed to have been gathered up, and as they crumbled away, a shinobi walked through them.

There were scalds and burns on his body, and his wild yellow mane had been burnt as well. And his once-white porcelain mask was now blackened by tar.

Yet he was still alive.

Kushimaru Kurairare had used his own comrades as shields to save himself.

"Shit!" Izune cursed as he jumped up to avoid the barrage of senbons the man threw towards him, and yet he was too exhausted to counter the kick the masked nin aimed at him as he was sent spiraling through the air into the ground.

Izuna was running on fumes by now, and as he spun in the air, he landed on a tree and used it to jump out of it he quickly threw his tanto at the Kiri bastard and looked straight into the man's eye.

CLANK!

"Gugh!" and then Izuna felt the world blur up as his Sharingan vanished, his reserves no longer able to maintain the doujutsu, and yet he still persisted as he pushed chakra into his heel.

The man parried away the tanto and was surprised. Suddenly, the second tanto, the one he had thrown in the shadow of the first, hit his shoulder, and Izuna appeared right above him.

"Die!" and planed his heel on the man's face.

"ARGH!" the man screamed in agony as his mask broke because of the force of his attack.

BOOOM!

His body hit the ground, and Izuna jumped back as Kushimaru Kuriare lay limp there.

Hoping the man was dead, Izuna walked to the side of Kakashi, and the masked boy was barely clinging to life at this point.

Izuna picked him up as the masked nin grunted.

"Go! Leave me," he barely whispered as Izuna answered quickly.

"Shut up!" and just before he could jump away, suddenly he found himself face to face with the monster once again.

Kushimaru Kuriarare had risen up once more, his neck tilted to the side, and the sight of his face sent a shiver down Izuna's spine.

His face was littered with sutures around his eyes and face in a criss-cross fashion, and the man was laughing once more even as those sutures threatened to open up.

"Hahaha! Hahahaha!" he was laughing and chuckling as blood dripped down the bursting sutures.

"Where do you think you are taking my dolls!" the man laughed as he pulled out the tanto from his shoulder. Izuna clicked his tongue, and three more hunter-nin emerged behind the bastard.

"Shit!" he cursed as he saw the brown-haired kunoichi struggling in their arms.

"Rin-san!" he screamed as the girl looked towards him.

"Izuna-kun," but the hunter-nin gripped her tight as she struggled in their grip, leaving him alone and without many options except to fight.

"And now you are all here!" the bastard laughed as Izuna gently let down Hatake Kakashi, who struggled to stand up on his feet.

"Take Rin and go, I will hold them off," the man suggested as he took out a kunai from his belt, but Izuna knew better than that.

His reserves were low, and he could hardly use any massive jutsu, and there was no way that Kakashi would make it out of this alive.

He was injured as well and had barely any chakra. So, he could not prolong this at all, and from the way Nohara-san was wailing and crying, either his seal was breaking or the Kiri nin had removed it.

"No. I have a plan," Izuna answered as the sky lit up above them.

CRACK!

"Just be ready and as soon as I give the signal, rush and run away with Rin-san," and the masked jounin turned towards him.

"I am not letting you sacrifice yourself. I am the mission leader, we are in this mess because of me, I am ordering..."

"Who said anything about sacrificing anybody," Izuna added as he continued to mold chakra into the ground away from prying eyes, looking Kakashi in the eye.

"Just be ready," and with that, the lightning struck again as the Kiri ninja stopped laughing.

"Now then, let's finish this!" and as the yellow-haired Kiri nin tried to rush towards him, Izuna quickly put his hand on the ground and whispered.

"Ninpo: Time Prison!" The sealing formula expanded from under him and spread all over. Everyone in the area stilled and began to struggle as his seal expanded on them.

"WHAT IS THIS!"

"I CANNOT MOVE!"

But the seal did not only affect the Kiri ninja, it affected Kakashi and Rin as well, who watched as Izuna began to cycle through a set of handseals, one which Hatake probably found rather familia.

"Those seals," he whispered as Izuna felt sweat drip down his forehead. Unlike them, the Kiri hunter nin had full reserves and were full-fledged shinobi, and he could already feel his stationary seal braking around them.

"Raiton:..."Izuna whispered as he felt the skin on his hand burn and scald. He gathered lightning chakra in his hand before he raised it and emptied it into the skies.

ROARRR!

"What is this? What are you doing!" Kushimaru gasped in fear as he took a step forward, as Izuna's seal began to weaken, yet at the same time, a massive storm brewed above as they all felt a massive roar from the skies.

"NOW!" he shouted as he released the seal. Kakashi was a blur as he appeared above the Kiri nin holding Rin, who had just struck Rin on the head knocking her unconscious, as he kicked the man's head, and reached for his teammate.

"Let's see you survive this...." he taunted as he looked into Kushimaru's eyes and he saw as sweat dripped down his eyes.

And Izuna stood tall, his hand searing in pain as the world lit up around him as lightning danced in the skies above them, and so he brought down his hand, and the heavens descended.

"Be gone with the thunderclap..."

"...Kirin!" Yet, as the mighty beast emerged from the heavens above, he saw Kushimaru's lips turn up.

"HAHAHAHA!" suddenly, a scream filled the clearing, and Izuna watched, even without the Sharingan, as Kakashi pushed away Rin, and the bastard's sword pierced his thigh!

"AGHHH!"

"Death Parade!" Izuna heard him whisper, and by then, it was too late for him to do anything. He saw him pull on the wire wrapped around his arms, and Izuna's jutsu tore through the skies and hit the ground.

BOOOOM!

BOOOOM!

0000

Rin woke to the smell of burnt bodies and death. Her own body burned with pain as she looked up and saw that the whole clearing had been reduced to nothing as the smell of burnt flesh and ozone lingered in the air.

As she looked around, she saw dead bodies of the Kiri nin lying all around her, their bodies burnt and turned into husks, and yet as she looked further ahead, she stilled as she saw two more bodies lying there.

"No..." she gasped out as she recognized those white, silvery hair, and the last fading memory before her vision darkened appeared in her mind once more.

Kakashi. He had pushed her away and had taken the Kiri Swordsmen's attack in her stead.

And it was his body that lay there limp and half burnt, and the lack of movement of his chest told her all that she needed to know.

CRACK

And then she heard someone walking forward. Someone was alive, and she looked up and saw a masked shinobi walking towards Izuna-kun.

He was still breathing, yet his whole body was littered with scars and scalds as he lay there, gripping his burnt arm.

And as she saw the masked shinobi raise his hand, she saw that it was a sword.

"No," she willed herself to stand, willed herself to push forward, and as the man was about to bring down his blade, Rin roared forth as the seal keeping the bijuu at bay broke.

"NOOO!" and her chakra roared at her command, with the bijuu chakra now mixed into it, and she appeared beside the masked nin in the blink of an eye as her fist hit him in the side.

"AGH!" she heard the man gasp as his body was sent tumbling into a tree.

BOOM!

"Izuna-kun. Izuna-kun," she reached for the black-haired kid and paled as she saw the sheer extent of his injuries.

"Run..." he whispered to her as he looked into her eyes. She was tired of running—she was tired of it all.

"Just stay with me! Just stay with me!" She tried to use the iryo ninjutsu that he had taught her, but it was difficult to mold chakra accurately. Then suddenly, she turned around and saw the masked shinobi appear once more as it walked towards her.

"No. I am tired of running!" and she looked into the masked shinobi's eyes as she prepared herself to fight.

She was tired of running.

"Move aside!" the voice came, and for some reason, it made her still.

"I have no quarrel with you!" the shinobi whispered.

"No. I will not."

"Why do you protect him? Didn't he kill your own teammate?" the shinobi asked, and he looked towards the corpse of Kakashi as Rin's heart tore itself apart at the sight as well.

"No. The Kiri ninja killed my teammate. You all killed my teammate!" she roared as her skin began to burn, and a red chakra cloak began to emerge all over her body.

"No. He killed Hatake. HEEEE!" and the shinobi ran forward as Rin prepared herself, and just as he was but a few meters away from her, suddenly two figures blurred infront of her and kicked him back.

"Get away from them!" she watched as Kushina-san punched the masked ninja away as she appeared in front of her.

"Rin, are you fine?" She looked up and saw her sensei standing there with Kushina-san, and she nodded.

"Yes, I am fine..."

And then they all looked forward as the masked ninja emerged once more.

"I see. So, this is the inequality of this world, the inequality you spoke of," she heard him whisper as he stared at Izuna-kun's body, and then those eyes landed on her as Rin glared at him, putting herself in between him and Izuna kun once more as she prepared herself for another attack.

And only one eye of the man was visible.

And for a second she felt as if the man whispered something before he took a few steps back.

"Kushinaaaa!" but the red-haired kunoichi had already broken into a stride and tried to kick at the masked enemy, and yet to their surprise, the man suddenly vanished into the shadows.

00000

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