Chapter 13 - Cargo to Konoha

“Holy shoot! We’ve got to help him!” Naruto was running toward the fire, when the strong arm of Kakashi seized him.
“Matte! Sorry, wait. My mistake. Let’s me see…Sharingan!” Kakashi’s useful eye could see through the thick black flames, and what he saw, while disturbing, was also a long time coming.
“So it’s happened…he’s ready…” Kakashi muttered. “I knew this day would come. His anger (I can’t say it aloud, but his love for his comrades) has reached a where his emotions have leveled out. He’s at sort of an abnormal homeostasis. His mind has matured. It’s temporary, but right now, he’ll do anything to serve his village…even take a man’s life. His posture, the way he’s holding the swords, even his eyes…his innocence has faded, for now. Something Itachi said or did set him off…or his mind became overloaded with choices to make…I don’t know how he’ll fare, but he may very well kill Itachi.”
“What? Ekyt-kun? That powerful?” Sakura couldn’t believe it. “He would never kill!”
“Unless he thought he was defending someone, or someones, important to him,” Kakashi piped up.
“He and I have talked at length. He said any jail sentence, death, anything, it would be worth it if he saved a life in the process. Ekyt-san knows what is at stake, and he is going to fight. Whether he belongs to Konoha or not, it would be a victory, should he defeat Itachi,” Lee added helpfully.
“But kill? The kid really has it in him? He’s think twice before taking an ant’s life, never mind a human!” Temari said dismissively.
“No, Kakashi-sensei’s right. Even I can sense it. He’s not angry…but something beyond that. Beyond frustration and anger. And he can’t hold it in any more,” Shikamaru told them. “But, we have to leave that fight to him. We can’t pass those flames. We’ve got plenty of other enemies…”


But the Akatsuki and Orochimaru and Kabuto were just watching.
“How interesting…Two Leaf deserters fighting it out. Both of them praised for being the best…yet both unsatisfied. Who could have seen such an outcome? After their fight…Leaf Ninja, you want to eliminate the Akatsuki. For now, we should put our differences aside…we’ve got a common enemy. But, for now, let’s enjoy the fight…”


Ekyt and Itachi looked at each other. Ekyt had lost all trace of stoicism.
“You bastard…murdering your family…your best friend…You had people who cared, you had talent, you had everything you could want! But that wasn’t enough, was it? They may yell at me for wanting more, but I’ve got no reason to be content. You were the heir to the most respected clan in the world! Now, you’re scum! Scum that’s going to pay for his crimes!” Ekyt’s voice was strained and distorted. Every bit of chakra in his body was being called upon, even a small buildup in his throat. He could feel the heat of the Amaterasu burning, but he couldn’t care. All he saw was Itachi. And then himself…Being turned down by Linda, having his eye nearly destroyed by Gaara, withdrawing from the chunin exams, being kicked out of Konoha….Inside him, his emotional chakra bypassed his normal chakra. It hurt like hell, it burned him, it bit into him like a thousand senbon. But at this point, life and death was all that mattered.


Itachi sensed the change in Ekyt. He wasn’t concerned, he was far more skilled than the boy. But the buildup of power…it’s incredible. But it’s not a chakra that the Akatsuki can use, not if it reaches a state like this. Bijuu’s can be controlled…these…emotions…they’re wild. They’re predators in their own right. He intends to make me fight. Rapidly, Itachi made hand signs. Ekyt already knew Itachi could copy his, so he wasn’t going to use jutsus that Itachi could copy and make his own.
“Twin Striking Serpents!” Ekyt drew the blades and made cuts as fast as he could. He felt the eight snakes (four on each wrist) assist him in wielding the blades. Itachi was forced to move, in contrast to his normal fighting style. Ekyt, remembering his old training, moved the blades in a windmill pattern. He drove Itachi toward the wall of black flames. Itachi fell backward, and the fight was over. Itachi had to be burned to a crisp. POOF! Shadow Clone!
Instantly, Ekyt stepped to the side in anticipation of attack and swiped at Itachi. Another clone. But he could sense Itachi’s chakra, and it was getting weaker with each attack. He thought back to Ibikki’s training…the limits of the human mind coupled with weak chakra. It was a volatile mixture for the target. Ekyt put away his blades and used a Shadow Clone jutsu. The three clones swarmed Itachi. Itachi, effortlessly, batted them away, before he felt a new pain. Genjutsu.
“Release!” he said calmly. “I’m not weakened enough to fall pray to your genjutsu. Try all you want.”
Instead, Ekyt zipped over to Itachi. Itachi was ready with a side kick. He caught Ekyt full in the stomach, sending him tumbling backward. Itachi tried a genjutsu of his own, but Ekyt used the release technique himself. Ekyt knew that fighting the Sharingan was hard, and that he couldn’t make eye contact. That meant taijutsu. Ordinarily, Ekyt would have opened the first gate of chakra. But in this case, he wanted Itachi’s chakra to run out before his own. If he opened the gate too soon, he would be vulnerable to counter-attack. Instead, Ekyt channeled his emotional chakra to his hands and feet.
“Blue Flame: Dragon’s Power Circle!” Ekyt called. He threw punches and kicks, enhanced by the blue flames rising in his hands and feet, but none landed.
“Damnit! Striking Shadow Snakes!” the snakes grabbed Itachi, and Ekyt landed a kick to the jaw, sending Itachi into the flames. POOF!
“Another clone? You have to come out eventually! For once, Itachi, I don’t care about your life. You’ve made a threat to those I care about. Don’t think I can’t sense it. Your chakra is low. Soon, you won’t have your Sharingan to depend on. I see the flames…they’re shrinking already. I’ll just have to find you!” Ekyt threw two scrolls in the air, biting the end of his thumb to open a cut, and ran blood down them.
“Twin Summoning Jutsu!” he called. Holly and Umisu joined him in searching.
“Kid, he’s underground!” Holly barked out, digging with her paws, making an ‘X’ in the ground.
Umisu leapt up on Ekyt shoulder and made a strange hissing sound. Apparently, Ekyt understood that hissing.
“Too weak, Umisu? Thank you both. Time for one more attack…Plus, you two should get acquainted with him. Striking Serpent Summoning!” Ekyt put one blade into the ground, using the other to cut his thumb open. He bashed his palm onto the ground. For a moment, nothing happened. Then, the ground twisted and heaved, and out came Shuurai.
“Shuurai, the enemy is underground! Can you flush him out?” Ekyt asked.
“I’d be happy to,” Shuurai replied politely. He hissed once, then dove underground. When he resurfaced, he had Itachi Uchiha in his mouth. He spat the Uchiha criminal out. Ekyt had been waiting for this.
“Blue Flame Chakra: Swallow Strike Jutsu!” Ekyt moved fast. The name of the jutsu came not only from the speed (That of the swallow, a quick bird), but also from the form Ekyt took. When in position, his body imitated that of a swallow in flight. Lastly, the jutsu name was from his samurai days- it meant striking twice along the same line. In this case, Ekyt punched straight at Itachi’s temple, then followed through with a ridge-hand strike to Itachi’s temple. Finally, Ekyt focused his chakra into a side kick.
The flames from Amaterasu died as Itachi sailed through the air. He landed at Kisame’s feet, but was on one knee instantly. Ekyt ran past them, following up, senbon at the ready. He threw them. Kisame deflected them with Samahade. Ekyt, seeing this was about to become a sword contest, drew his own two and slashed at Kisame.
“Enough.”


Itachi put a hand up.
“Akatsuki, it’s time to withdraw. My chakra is gone, and the boy is at his most powerful. It would be to our advantage to observe, rather than engage.”
The others nodded in silent agreement.
Itachi strode towards Ekyt. Poof! Clone?
shoot! From the back?
Itachi grabbed Ekyt and looked him in the eye. The Mangekyo Sharingan.
“Tsukuyomi!”

The world was black and white, as if an undeveloped negative. Ekyt was facing Itachi, but he was paper thin. And he was burning. Itachi watched dispassionately.
“You don’t know what it’s like to fight for someone other than yourself! If the people I care about die, I die with them! And you…are…pissing…me…off! I WILL NEVER BETRAY THEM! IF YOU WANT TO KILL ME, FINE, BUT YOU’LL COME WITH ME!”
Ekyt let his emotional chakra leave his body. It’s magnitude was unreal. It wiped the nightmare realm clean of Itachi’s influence, ending the jutsu. Ekyt landed on his feet and attacked once more. But the Akatsuki grabbed their comrade and left, swearing revenge. One of them threw a small bird out as he left.
“Katsu!” The bird exploded, providing a smoke-screen.
Not long after that, Ekyt let himself fall. My emotions…they cooked. Blew up. My inner pain is gone…I’ve never felt so….at peace. But at the same time…I know the pain will come back. And soon. I need this time…to complete my mission. To do what I set out to do…When the pain comes back, I’ll be myself again. But right now, I don’t have it’s influence. If only…this feeling would last… Ekyt gave up the thought, wishing, not for the first time, that he was normal. But it wasn’t so, and he had no choice but to use his disadvantages to his advantage. Slowly, he got to his feet. In his weakened state, he didn’t sense the attack right away. Instead, Orochimaru’s head was right near him when he did.
“No!” Came several voices. Two of them were kunoichi.
Sakura’s kunai and Temari’s fan blew Orochimaru’s head off-course. Lee’s Dynamic Entry knocked it further away, and Naruto’s Clone Body Attack, sent Orochimaru’s body off-course. Ekyt looked at them, then at Kakashi.
“Sensei…did I do alright?” Ekyt asked wearily.
Kakashi, after making Ekyt lay down, patted him on the head. “You did it perfectly. You infiltrated the enemy, and drew the others out into the open.”
“Wait a minute! This was a plan?!” everyone shouted at once.
“Sorry I couldn’t tell you, but Ekyt and I were sworn to secrecy. As I said, his mission, S-ranked, is finished. However…everything you saw with Tsunade-sama, Sakura, was real. She and Ekyt…don’t get along. But what you DIDN’T see was the most important part of all.



Ekyt pulled off his headband and dipped his thumb into the small cut he had made on his shoulder. With his thumb, he drew a line of blood across the Leaf Village symbol.
“With my blood, I swear an allegiance to Konoha to complete this mission. I will protect the life of others before my own, and I will do all in my power to see this mission through successfully. May the blood on my hitai-ate remain a symbol of this.”

Kakashi and Tsunade nodded.

“If you’re willing to take such a risk…infiltrating Orochimaru…then maybe I need to reconsider my opinion of you…I might hate your guts, but I know I can count on you for loyalty…” Tsunade told Ekyt. Ekyt was still glaring at her, but ignored the comment.

“I’ll do my best. If I fail, I guess you’ll be thrilled. You won’t have to deal with me anymore.” Ekyt’s reply stung Tsunade. She WANTED to like the boy, in a way. But he thought so freely that she couldn’t bring herself to like him, as she had before.

“Just complete the mission…we’ll hash out how we feel about each other later. You have your orders. Kakashi, take the team, but don’t tell them anything. Let them think Ekyt’s gone rogue. We can’t have them giving away this illusion. This is too important. This might be our only chance to see Orochimaru from the inside.”

“Understood. I’ll ready the team…


Ekyt got up and walked over to the group. They were huddled together. They looked at him, unreadable looks on their faces.
“I’m sorry…I wanted to tell you all…but I was forbidden…I understand if you hate me. It was…never my intention. My allegiance to Konoha expired when I defeated Itachi. If you’ve decided you hate me, I can move on. Because when I said “If my comrades die, I die with them,” I meant it. I’m proud to call all of you friends.” Ekyt gave them a small wave. Sakura grabbed his arm.
“Hold on, at least let us heal you, before you run off.”
“Yeah, how far do you think you’ll get with a hole in you?” Temari added.
Sakura looked at the damage and sighed. “You’ll have to go to the hospital, this goes deeper than the chakra scalpel. Ibikki Morino would have to help guide me. When you let your mind go, and you were willing to kill, you did something to your brain and nervous system.”
Ekyt nodded. “I felt the connections fray. They’ll heal on their own. I really should leave…”
Kakashi, silently, grabbed Ekyt in a headlock. It eased the boy into unconsciousness.
“He’s coming with us. He has to give a report, anyway. It’s a shame he feels there’s nothing in Konoha for him…Maybe this will help correct things. Naruto, since it was you he was protecting, you can carry him back.”


There was a scout team (Neji, Tenten, and Kiba) waiting for the return of the others. Tenten gasped upon seeing Ekyt. Kakashi explained the situation, and asked Tenten to run ahead and make sure there was a hospital room for Ekyt. He had been lying through his teeth about how much damage had been done to him.
Immediately, Tonton came running up, oinking wildly.
“What? Tonton, is she serious?!” Sakura demanded, picking the pig up.
“Oink!” Tonton said sadly.
“Hold off on that hospital room- Tsunade is demanding a report, now,” Sakura told the group. They shook their heads collectively. Ekyt stirred, and eased himself off of Naruto’s shoulders.
“I’ll give her a report…I’m sure I won’t die before that. It’s better she’s me battle-scarred. Besides, who cares?”
Tenten gave him a crack on the head, not hard, just enough to get his attention. “Judging by how many headbands are piled on Tsunade’s desk, and how many people volunteered to come to retrieve you…a lot of people care.”

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