Land of Fire
In a remote stretch of the Land of Fire, deep within the vast forest where towering trees rose high enough to blot out the sky, the air was thick with damp earth and silence. Only the occasional rustle of leaves and the distant cry of birds broke the stillness.
After escaping Konoha, Itachi and Kisame moved through the woods without stopping.
Neither of them spoke for a while.
Only after putting enough distance between themselves and the village did Kisame finally let out a breath, dragging Samehada over his shoulder with a grim look on his face.
"I knew the new Hokage wouldn't be simple," he said, his voice low, "but I didn't think she'd be that strong."
Itachi walked ahead in silence for a moment before giving a small nod.
"That is what it means to be one of the Legendary Sannin."
His tone was as calm as ever, but inwardly, he was far less composed than he appeared.
He really had been surprised.
When facing Tsunade, he had deliberately avoided using Susanoo. She was from Konoha, and more importantly, she was the Hokage herself. Using that technique against her would have pushed things too far and created consequences he did not want.
But even so, Itachi had always held absolute confidence in his own strength.
Now, looking back on that brief clash, even he had to admit something.
He might have been a little too confident.
Tsunade's strength was not just monstrous in the usual sense. It was the kind of overwhelming force that made even a direct confrontation feel dangerous from the very first exchange.
Kisame glanced at him from the side, a faint grin tugging at his lips as he caught that brief hesitation in Itachi's steps.
"Heh… seems this trip didn't go quite the way you expected, Itachi-san."
Itachi's expression did not change.
"I'm just adjusting my assessment."
Kisame gave a short chuckle. "Coming from you, that says enough."
Before either of them could say anything else, both men suddenly stopped.
A familiar presence pressed into their minds.
Then Pain's voice rang out through the communication technique, cold and emotionless.
"Itachi. Kisame. Report."
Kisame let out a short breath through his nose, his grin fading a little.
"We didn't get close to the target," He said bluntly. "The new Hokage intercepted us… she wasn't someone we could ignore."
There was no frustration in his voice, only a rough honesty. Kisame was not the type to dress up failure.
Itachi's expression remained unchanged as he continued walking through the forest.
"We were forced to withdraw," he said calmly. "Continuing the mission any further would have been inefficient."
Pain was silent for a moment.
"The Jinchūriki remains in Konoha?"
"For now," Itachi replied.
Kisame gave a low chuckle, though there was little humor in it.
"That woman's no ordinary Hokage. If we pushed it any further, things would've gotten troublesome."
Pain's voice came again, flat and unreadable.
"Understood. Find a place and prepare. We will begin the One-Tail's extraction immediately. The Nine-Tails can wait."
"Understood," Itachi said.
Kisame rolled one shoulder, Samehada shifting against his back.
"Fine by me. Charging into Konoha with a Hokage like that standing at the front would've been a pain."
The connection faded.
Without exchanging another word, both of them immediately changed direction.
They moved deeper into the forest, their figures flickering across the branches. After a short while, they reached a secluded cave surrounded by dense trees, far from any patrol routes or human presence.
Kisame scanned the surroundings, Samehada resting on his shoulder.
"No one around," he muttered.
Itachi gave a slight nod.
"That will do."
The two stopped and formed seals.
Chakra rippled outward.
The air around them distorted, as if space itself had turned into the surface of still water.
Then...
A massive, shadowy image of the Gedō Mazō appeared in their vision, towering and oppressive.
At the same time, several figures materialized around it, their bodies semi-transparent, flickering like projections. Each of them stood on one of the statue's fingers, their forms rendered as chakra silhouettes.
The familiar holographic presence of the Akatsuki members had gathered.
Kisame rolled his shoulder slightly, glancing at the figures.
"Heh… everyone's already here."
Itachi remained silent, his gaze fixed forward as the sealing ritual began.
The moment the two of them joined in, one of the flickering figures let out a sharp scoff.
"Well, well… isn't this a surprise, yeah."
Deidara's voice rang out with obvious sarcasm, his holographic form crossing its arms as he looked toward Itachi and Kisame.
"I heard you two had to pull back from Konoha." His mouth curled into a mocking grin. "What happened? Ran away with your tails between your legs or something, yeah?"
Kisame's eyes shifted slightly.
The jab was childish.
Very Deidara.
Itachi, however, did not react at all.
He simply closed his eyes, as if the voice had never reached him in the first place, and continued focusing on the technique.
For a second, the atmosphere turned strangely quiet.
Then a vein twitched on Deidara's forehead.
"Oi."
"Don't ignore me, Itachi!"
His voice rose on the last part, irritation spilling out almost instantly.
Kisame let out a low chuckle.
"Heh… looks like you've done it now, Itachi-san."
Deidara immediately snapped toward him.
"And what's so funny about that, hm?!"
Kisame's grin widened, shark-like and amused.
"Nothing much. It's just rare seeing someone work this hard for attention."
Deidara nearly choked.
"Who's asking for attention, yeah?! Don't lump me in with you two!"
Kisame glanced sideways, clearly entertained now.
"Careful, Deidara. Keep getting worked up like that and you'll mess up the extraction."
That only made Deidara grit his teeth harder.
"Hn. Worry about yourself."
From the center, Pain's cold voice cut through the bickering without the slightest change in tone.
"Enough. Focus on the sealing."
The brief argument died down immediately.
Deidara clicked his tongue and fell silent, though the glare he sent Itachi made it obvious he was still holding onto it.
The sealing continued, chakra flowing steadily toward the statue.
"Where is that fool Hidan?" Kakuzu muttered, but Pain offered no response.
The others noticed the missing member too, yet no one spoke—truth be told, none of them really cared.
Sasori seemed to have sensed something, his gaze falling on the unconscious figure suspended within the technique.
Gaara.
For a moment, he said nothing.
Then his calm, emotionless voice sounded.
"…Weren't we the ones assigned to retrieve him?"
There was a faint edge beneath the flat tone.
Sasori's eyes narrowed slightly.
"Who interfered with our mission?"
It wasn't loud, but the displeasure was obvious. Gaara had been their target. The retrieval had originally been assigned to him and Deidara.
Pain's voice echoed across the shared space.
"It was carried out by a new member."
That single sentence made several figures pause.
"A new member…?" Kakuzu muttered, his eyes narrowing with interest.
Sasori remained silent for a second, then spoke again.
"Who is it?"
The question was simple, but the meaning behind it was clear.
Beside him, Deidara immediately reacted.
"Yeah… who is it, huh?" he said, leaning forward slightly, childish irritation leaking through.
"Someone swoops in and takes our target… that's not funny, yeah."
"I'm gonna blow him up for that."
All eyes shifted toward Pain.
Pain's ripple-patterned eyes remained emotionless as his voice echoed across the space.
"The one who captured the One-Tail's Jinchūriki…"
"…and the newest member of the Akatsuki is—"
The holographic projections flickered.
A new silhouette slowly formed on one of the statue's fingers.
The outline of a figure in the black cloak patterned with red clouds began to appear as the chakra projection gradually took shape.
Then—two crimson eyes appeared beneath the hood, the tomoe within them turning… the Sharingan.
"…Uchiha Sasuke."
Itachi, who had kept his eyes closed until now, opened them at once.
The same crimson eyes appeared beneath his gaze as he stared at the silhouette, genuine shock flashing across his usually calm face.
"…Sasuke?"
For the first time since joining the ritual, his composure had been shaken.
Sasuke's holographic figure stood there in silence, the Akatsuki cloak draped over him as the red Sharingan in his eyes swept across the gathered members.
Then his gaze stopped on Itachi.
"Itachi… it's been a while."
His voice was calm, but the hatred behind it was impossible to miss.
Around them, the rest of the Akatsuki fell into a brief silence, more than one of them already sensing that this reunion was far from ordinary.
But before Deidara or anyone else could open their mouth, Pain's voice cut through the tension.
"Enough."
The single word shut down the atmosphere at once.
"Whatever issues exist between you are your own concern, so long as they do not interfere with Akatsuki's objectives."
His ripple-patterned eyes remained fixed ahead, emotionless and absolute.
"For now, finish the sealing. We will not delay this any further."
--
After some time, the extraction of the tailed beast finally came to an end.
The last traces of chakra were drawn into the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path, and the oppressive pressure hanging over the space gradually began to ease.
Gaara's body, which had been suspended within the technique until now, lost all support and dropped to the ground with a dull thud.
Lifeless.
This time, there would be no miracle left for him.
Unlike before—when Naruto and Granny Chiyo had desperately fought to bring him back—there was no one here who would do the same for him now.
Only silence remained for a brief moment.
Then Deidara clicked his tongue.
"Tch… so another Uchiha joined, huh?" His gaze locked onto Sasuke, open hostility showing in his eyes. "Leader… you got a problem with me blowing him up so he can appreciate my art, yeah?"
Sasori's voice followed, flat and cold.
"He could make a decent addition to my collection as well."
The two of them looked at Sasuke with obvious ill will.
Sasuke, however, showed no sign of irritation.
Instead, the corner of his mouth lifted.
Then, right in front of them, he calmly raised a middle finger.
"You're welcome to try."
A vein bulged on Deidara's forehead almost instantly.
"This bastard…"
Even Sasori's gaze turned colder.
From the center, Pain spoke in the same emotionless tone as ever, but the weight behind his words made the atmosphere tighten at once.
"As long as it does not interfere with Akatsuki's objectives, it is irrelevant."
His ripple-patterned eyes remained fixed ahead.
"But if Sasuke is killed and it creates unnecessary complications for our plans…"
His voice dropped slightly.
"I will personally kill the one responsible."
The warning was direct.
Pain had no interest in pointless conflict between members—not when Sasuke had already proven useful. A capable piece on the board was not something he intended to lose so casually.
Sasori gave Sasuke one last cold look.
"Tch… watch your back, kid."
With that, he released the technique, and his projection flickered before disappearing.
Deidara let out a humorless laugh.
"Heh… fine. I'll take my time with you."
Even as his projection began to fade, his eyes still moved once toward Sasuke, then briefly toward Itachi, as if already imagining how interesting this would become.
Then he vanished as well.
One by one, the other projections disappeared.
Soon, only Pain, Itachi, and Sasuke remained.
Pain's gaze moved between the two brothers.
"You two…"
His voice echoed heavily in the emptying space.
"I know there is history between you, and I have no intention of stopping it."
His expression did not change in the slightest.
"All I require is that the one left standing remains useful to Akatsuki. The loser was never worth keeping to begin with."
"I understand, Leader," Itachi replied, his tone calm and measured as always.
Then his gaze shifted toward Sasuke—more precisely, to the three-tomoe Sharingan in his eyes.
"You've grown, Sasuke… but you're still naïve."
"Shut up."
Sasuke cut him off immediately, waving one hand in open dismissal.
His Sharingan stared straight into Itachi's eyes, cold and full of disgust.
"I already know everything… what you did, and why you did it."
His voice did not rise, but the hatred in it was more cutting than a shout.
"So stop looking at me like that, you pathetic excuse for a brother."
For the first time in a long while, Itachi's expression truly changed.
His eyes widened in astonishment.
A crack had finally appeared in that unshakable calm.
Before he could say anything, Sasuke's projection flickered and vanished.
The space fell silent.
Then Pain's figure disappeared as well.
The technique ended.
Boom.
Boom.
The low growl of thunder rolled across the sky.
Drip.
Drip.
Rain began to fall through the forest canopy, cold droplets slipping between the leaves and striking the ground below.
Itachi stood there in silence and slowly lifted his head, looking up at the darkened sky.
The rain fell across his face, but he did not move.
Sasuke's final words still echoed in his mind.
I already know everything… what you did, and why you did it.
For the first time, those words disturbed the calm Itachi always maintained.
He did not notice the figure standing behind him.
Kisame watched quietly from the rear, Samehada resting against his shoulder, a faint, almost wicked smile tugging at the corner of his mouth.
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