Chapter 8
The door to the house where the princesses and Itachi were talking was thrown open as the ninja stormed out, his mind focused on the message the captain of the guard had spoken.
"Itachi!" Luna yelled out as she ran after him. "What's wrong with you? All the captain did was say one line and you get all worked up."
Itachi never ceased his stride as he headed back to Twilight's library. "The Mangekyō Sharingan is the most powerful level of the Sharingan only attained by four shinobi in the entirety of history, myself, my brother, Madara Uchiha, and his brother have been the only four to ever possess it."
"Well that's certainly interesting, but you didn't answer my question." Luna was very worried, she had seen that same look in his eyes when Nightmare had first appeared. This was the side of Itachi that scared her, not because of fear for herself, but because he only acted this way when there was a threat to face.
"Tell me, can you guess what is required to awaken the Mangekyō Sharingan?" He asked as they approached the library.
"…..I have no idea."
He stopped at the door and spoke in a quiet voice "In order to possess the power of the Mangekyō, one must kill the person closest to them." He turned to look at her his eyes shifting to the patterns of the Mangekyō "THAT is the legacy of these eyes."
Luna just stood there in shock at what he had just said as Itachi headed inside. By the time she finally snapped herself out of it and followed him in he had already grabbed his coat and left out the window.
Unfortunately for Itachi he still hadn't learned to duplicate his presence so it was a simple matter for Luna to locate and teleport him back to the library where she, her sister, and the elements were all waiting for him. Of course the instant he had appeared there he had started to form a ram hand seal when Luna cut him off "Go ahead do it, I'll just keep bringing you back here."
Itachi sighed as he lowered his hands in defeat. "So what is it you all want? None of this involves you. He's here for me and me alone."
"We just want to know just what the hay is going on." Dash said "And what do you mean it doesn't involve us? You're a friend, anything that could hurt you involves us!" the rest of the ponies in the room nodded in agreement.
"So what have you told them so far Luna?" he asked as he walked over to the window, looking outside for any sign of intrusion into the perimeter of the town.
"Everything you told me."
"Good, then I can skip right to the heart of the matter. I'm sure you're all familiar with my Sharingan, but this…" He turned to face them as his eyes shifted to the windmill pattern. "is the Mangekyō Sharingan. It is the most powerful version of it and gives the user three incredibly powerful abilities, one of which you've already observed. However extensive use permanently degrades the user's sight to the point of blindness."
That little fact elicited a gasp from the assembled ponies. "How bad is it?" Fluttershy asked, concern written all over her face.
Itachi chuckled darkly "Prior to coming here? I could barely see my own hand in front of my face. However, somehow I've now acquired an eternal Mangekyō, which has restored my sight. But I digress, as I said before to Luna the legacy of the Mangekyō is the price required to awaken it. In order to awaken my own I killed my best friend with my own hands…Shisui Uchiha. Apparently he's returned somehow to fight me to the death once more."
"But wait, how in the wide world of Equestria could he be here?" Twilight asked
"I don't know and that's what worries me."
Everyone fell silent in the room at that, the ponies kept exchanging glances while Itachi continued watching the outside. Finally Applejack broke the silence. "So what's the plan ya got Itachi?"
"Well it's pretty simple, you all stay here and I'll go face him ALONE." The emphasis on the last word wasn't lost on anypony.
"Why are you so fixated on facing him by yourself!?" Luna practically shouted at him.
"It's my fight!" He shouted back.
"That's no reason why we can't help!"
"Yes it is! None of you have ever fought a shinobi before! This isn't some dumb beast that came wandering out of the Everfree forest!"
This shouting match went on for several minutes everypony else in the room just stayed quiet watching the two go at it, neither one was willing to give any ground. Eventually Itachi just turned around as Luna continued to go on about how the rest of them should help. Itachi considered himself to be very good at containing his emotions but when Luna asked for what seemed the hundredth time why he wanted to fight alone he finally cracked. "BECAUSE I COULDN'T STAND TO SEE ANY OF YOU GET HURT BECAUSE OF ME!" He screamed at her, he stood there catching his breath while Luna had stopped in midword. He continued in a much quieter voice, his eyes never leaving the ground. "I couldn't protect my clan, my village or even my brother. I'm not about to let more people I care about get hurt because of my actions. So please….. stay away… for me.." the last words came out as a plea.
Everyone just stood there shocked at Itachi's outburst. Celestia was the first to recover. "Itachi, are you sure you want to do this alone?" he nodded and a look of understanding passed between them. "Very well, I shall make sure no one interferes."
"Tia, you can't be serious!" Luna looked at her sister desperately, finding no support in her she looked around at the elements of harmony appealing to them with her eyes. But there wasn't a single one who seemed willing to break Celestia's decision. She turned back to Itachi ready to declare her determination that she would help him no matter what. However those sentiments died a quick death when she turned to find Itachi standing less than a foot away looking directly at her concern written all over his face. She stood there staring for a few seconds unable to speak then finally threw her hooves around him in a hug which he returned.
"Luna I deeply appreciate your willingness to help me with this, but please stay here. If anything were to happen to you I'd never forgive myself." He whispered in her ear "I'll be fine, and after I'm done with this we'll go stargazing tonight."
She released him from her hug and looked up into his eyes, her own were beginning to fill with tears. "Promise?"
He smiled at her "I Promise." And with that he turned and walked out.
Celestia walked up next to her sister as she watched Itachi leave "So, you have feelings for him?"
"W-what? NO! Whatever would give you that idea?" said a flustered Luna in the least convincing way possible.
Her sister smiled "Well if you say so." She turned to the elements. "Excuse me girls, I have to leave for a bit while I help the captain set up a perimeter around Ponyville."
Itachi stopped in the middle of the large field outside of Ponyville, he could feel Shisui's presence getting closer the entire time and he knew this was probably the most ideal place he could get. He watched as there was a flurry of leaves ahead of him, and from the depths of their twisting a humanoid figure appeared wearing a large cloak that covered his face in darkness. "Itachi Uchiha." The figure spoke as it undid the cloak and threw it to the side revealing the ninja beneath. "It's been far too long."
The man standing in front of him was most certainly Shisui, same Konoha military police uniform and katana but something was… off, he seemed darker and his chakra flow was definitely different from what Itachi remembered. "That it has Shisui, why are you here?"
"Certainly those horse things gave you my message?" He took Itachi's silence as a yes "Then I fail to see what that question has to do with anything, unless you'd rather have me say plainly that I'm here to kill you."
"Hey you guys I think I can see Itachi from here!" Pinkie Pie yelled from the balcony of Twilight's library. Almost instantly Luna was up there closely followed by everypony else.
"That's definitely Itachi down there, but I have no idea who that other human is." Twilight said
Luna watched the two figures down in the field with great worry, every fiber of her being screamed to go help Itachi but she had said she wouldn't interfere, at least she could watch him. Her concentration on the two shinobi below however was interrupted by a tap on the shoulder.
Pinkie held up a bag to her. "Popcorn?"
Itachi knew that there was no point to talking with him anymore and so reached for his genjutsu to get this over with. However, something was definitely wrong, his genjutsu wasn't taking effect.
"Having a bit of a problem casting an illusion over me old friend?" Shisui laughed "You'll find no genjutsu will have any effect on me. The power that brought me here shields my mind from any influence." He reached up and drew his sword from the scabbard on his back. "But enough talk, let's get this started." And with that he charged forward.
Itachi stood his ground his hands blurring as he weaved signs, Katon, Hōsenka no Jutsu! He fired several fireballs at great speed, their trajectories random and shifting. Shisui dodged then skillfully and then halfway through the barrage flickered out of existence. Itachi barely had any time to react as Shisui appeared once more behind him swinging for him with his sword; he drew a kunai and managed to block the swing just in time. Shit, this is going to be difficult without genjutsu! He thought to himself as Shisui broke the contact between their blades and then came charging in again.
The two exchanged blows and parries neither one able to overcome the other. They moved about in what appeared to an outside observer a sort of elegant dance of death. They dodged, blocked, parried, and attacked with an inhuman amount of precision and speed, both Itachi and Shisui were skilled taijutsu users to begin with but add in the power of the Sharingan and a skilled shinobi becomes something else entirely. Eventually Itachi managed to feint Shisui into over extending himself just enough for Itachi to dart inside his guard, he brought his kunai up attempting to eviscerate his opponent. Shisui however, had anticipated this and slammed his sword into the ground using it as an anchor to lift himself into the air moving just out of the way of the kunai headed for his flesh. As he rose he brought his right leg around on a trajectory for Itachi's head, Itachi was able to block some of the attack with his left hand but was still sent flying by the strength behind the kick.
Itachi managed to land on his feet sliding to a stop. He spat out a globule of blood and glared across the grass to Shisui. "Where did you get this 'power' of yours?"
Shisui grinned manically "Wouldn't you like to know."
The two just continued to stare at each other for several seconds then suddenly Shisui began to weave his own hand seals Katon, Gōkakyū! He fired a humongous fireball at Itachi mixing in his wind natured chakra in order to increase the power of his fire release technique.
Itachi just closed his right eye as the flames grew closer, finally his right eye shot open. Amaterasu!
Black flames consumed the orange of the fireball feeding upon them and growing larger, it then advanced towards the source. Shisui's eyes widened in shock, he had never seen such a powerful ninjutsu technique, let alone a fire release powerful enough to consume the grand fireball. He flickered out of the way of the advancing flames just in time, but his reprieve was short lived as the flames seemed to have come after him. He continued to avoid the flames which followed him no matter where he went. He finally had the sense to look over at Itachi whose right eye seemed to be weeping blood as he glared at him. So this is the power of the Mangekyō… He thought to himself as he charged his opponent once more, as he closed the distance Shisui noticed the patterns on Itachi's eyes had indeed shifted. When he was less than two feet from Itachi more black flames materialized in front of him and despite his best efforts he couldn't get out of the way completely in time. He flickered back into existence his right sleeve ablaze, before Itachi could expand the flames Shisui sliced the fabric off letting it fall to the ground, his arm however did sport some burns from the contact.
As I suspected he's too fast for Amaterasu to keep up... Itachi thought to himself as he deactivated the ninjutsu, extinguishing the flames.
"That Mangekyō is powerful Itachi, but-"He flickered behind the ninja stabbing him through the back with his sword."It seems I'm just too fast for you." Itachi just seemed to crack a tiny smile, SHIT! kage bushin? Was as far as that train of thought got in Shisui's head before the clone of Itachi exploded point blank sending him flying. By the time he had picked himself up from the ground Itachi was standing once more before him, his emotionless eyes boring into him.
"Well Itachi, you've certainly grown since we last did battle. Even with this new power I've been given here you're still able to push me to my limit." Shisui sighed raising his blade once more." But it's time to end this; I will cut you down with the very technique you helped me to perfect."
As he spoke the ground beneath him began to crack as he released a large amount of chakra. Itachi started, settling into a defensive posture, This isn't good. He thought to himself as he began to form Susanoo.
However, he wasn't quite quick enough as before the skeleton could take full shape Shisui looked up at him and spoke five words. "Ninpou, Sen ha no mai" (Ninja Art, Dance of a Thousand Blades) He then flickered out of existence once more, moving at speeds unthinkable even to a shinobi.
The dance of a thousand blades, Shisui's trump card that Itachi had helped him develop; it was the pinnacle of mastery of the body flicker technique. So named because the user moved so fast he was able to strike the target a thousand times in the space of half a second from every direction imaginable. No other ninja could even think to use it, for the precision required for it to work could only be gained through the Sharingan and no one else had ever come close to achieving Shisui's speed. It was a totally unavoidable technique, for the target had no time to react. Everything to Itachi seemed frozen in time for an instant…. Then the ground around him exploded and a shower of blood shot into the air.
As the dust cleared the two figures were still standing, Itachi within the skeletal confines of susanoo, Shisui standing just outside of it his sword sticking through the only gap in the defenses of Susanoo and into Itachi's shoulder. "Impressive." He said as he twisted the blade and withdrew it from Itachi's flesh. Itachi grunted in agony as the blade was withdrawn and fell to his knees. "A thousand strikes and yet all I can manage is a single stab. That's one hell of a defense, however you'll find that all I need is to land one attack with my sword and it's over." Shisui said as he raised the blade which seemed to dripping a purple liquid in addition to Itachi's blood.
Poison? Itachi could already feel his reflexes beginning to slow. It was starting to effect his concentration and he lost control of Susanoo, it vanished in flurry of chakra.
"What happened!?" Luna shouted as she watched the explosion of dust from where the two were fighting.
"I don't know Luna." Celestia said quietly looking at her sister with concern. Luna seemed ready to bolt, and it was her job to keep her younger sister from doing anything too rash.
"Hey! I can see them!" Rainbow Dash shouted from her position above the group. Her expression turned from one of excitement to horror as she saw what was there.
There was a collective gasp from everypony as the dust cleared enough for them to see Itachi with the sword in his shoulder. When he fell to his knees after Shisui withdrew his weapon Luna almost stopped breathing. She watched as he began to raise his sword over his head, as he began to bring it down it became apparent that Itachi was in no shape to move out the way, and she acted without thinking, summoning up her magic.
Itachi could only watch as Shisui brought the sword down for the final blow, the poison was preventing him from moving fast enough and his chakra control was thrown to hell. Sorry Luna he thought to himself as the blade drew closer guess I'm gonna have to break that promise.
Suddenly there was huge explosion of magical energy in front of him, Shisui was thrown back at least thirty feet by the force of the blast yet somehow Itachi was unaffected. His expression turned to one of shock at what he saw, standing in front of him with her wings raised and her horn crackling with energy was Luna.
"I thought I told you to stay out of this." He grunted as he raised himself into a standing position once more.
"Sorry I'm not about to lose another friend, especially not right in front of me." Luna's voice was laced with power. She looked back at him with her glowing eyes and saw him clutching his wounded shoulder panting as he attempted to cope with the pain and poison flowing through him.
Before Itachi could retort Shisui fired another wind charged fireball at the pair, Luna blasted it aside with a bolt of magic. However, before she could do anything else Shisui was right in front of her about to plunge his poisoned sword into her neck but suddenly a large ethereal skeletal hand slammed down in-between them. Itachi strode in front of her clutching a bloody kunai in his right hand.
"Thanks for the help Luna, but I can handle it from here."
"But-"
"Please, get back to the library I don't want you to get caught in this." The air around him had shifted; he was as serious as she had ever seen him. "I'll end this in one stroke."
When she just remained silent he turned to her, determination gleaming in his eyes. "Luna you've risked you life for me just now because of my stupidity, I won't let that happen again."
"Fine, but this is that last time you're fighting on your own, no matter what I will stand by you from now on. You said you fight to protect what you care about, well that's what I want to do too." She said as her horn glowed once more and she teleported away.
"Thank you." He whispered to the air.
The two clanmates stared at each other, Sharingan boring into Sharingan, both knew that they were too low on chakra to continue fighting much longer and that in all likelihood the next attack would be their last. Itachi raised his right arm above him activating his Mangekyō once more but rather than the flames of Amaterasu shooting out to his target they began to flow together above his right hand coalescing and concentrating into a rotating sphere of pure black flame. Shisui started for the first time realizing the power he was up against, the concentration of chakra in that was incredible. The heat from it alone was enough to scorch the ground beneath the sphere, and the air it superheated gushed outwards creating a miniature windstorm around Itachi. Itachi lowered his arm to his side, his right eye bloodshot and weeping. "Enton, Kami no honoo kattā." (Blaze release, Divine Blaze Cutter) "This is your end Shisui."
Shisui scowled raising his sword and pouring all the chakra he could into it. "I will not fall to you again so easily Itachi! Come, let us end this!" He yelled as the two began to charge at each other for the last time.
As they approached within mere feet of each other time seemed to slow to a standstill, as Itachi's Amaterasu began to come into contact with Shisui's chakra infused sword he would've sworn he saw a smile on his old friend's lips. Then time sped up once more as the techniques collided, releasing a massive explosion of black flame and chakra, the two ground against one other each trying to overcome the power of the opposing technique, until finally Itachi's jutsu overcame Shisui's and an even larger explosion of pure dark flame shot out from the two.
Itachi stood for moment his right arm still outstretched from his attack before collapsing to one knee while he closed his eyes It's over. He then felt a tap on the shoulder and he turned to see an unscathed Shisui smiling down at him, offering him a hand.
"H-how are you…" Itachi stammered out
"Relax Itachi, you've won. I just want to talk and I don't have much time." He proffered his hand once more and this time Itachi took it letting Shisui help him into a standing position.
"Why are you helping me?" he asked, genuinely confused.
Shisui cocked an eyebrow, "You didn't think I came here of my own volition did you? No I was brought here by something, as to what I'm not entirely sure. It forced me to come after you with a single minded vengeance."
"You didn't interact with it all?" Itachi asked, as he clutched at the wound on his left shoulder.
"I certainly tried, but all I got from it was emotions. Hatred and the like, but throughout all of its emotions I could feel a strong chord of guilt leading back to you. Like a sort of tether that kept me bound to this world."
"Is that so?" Itachi asked looking away
Shisui just kept looking at Itachi expectantly until finally, "Shisui that night all those years ago… I…I…" His voice just petered off, how the hell did you apologize to someone for killing them?
Shisui sighed; he had been expecting a reaction similar to this one. "Itachi, what you did was the right thing. I was fool, we all were fools too caught up in our own agenda to realize what we were doing and what the consequences would be. Being dead does give one perspective and I can say with total certainty I hold nothing against you for what you did. We were selfish and shortsighted." He paused for bit. "I think I see now what made you and the Senju so different than us. We never stopped thinking of ourselves as Uchiha and only Uchiha, you and the others thought of yourselves as Konoha shinobi. You were the best of us Itachi, and I'm proud to carry the same name as you." He reached out and they grasped each other in the handshake they had used so many times in the past. "There'll be more hardships on the road ahead old friend. I pray that you have the strength to see yourself and your friends through them...I guess this is goodbye Itachi, maybe I'll see you on the other side…"
Itachi finally looked around noticing that the area the two had been standing in was an immaculate white. "Wait, was this conversation all happening inside my mind?"
"Of course it was, but that doesn't make it any less real does it?" With his final words spoken, Shisui Uchiha began to drift away, his soul being laid to rest once more. "Oh and Itachi?"
"Yeah?"
"Take care of her." He said grinning like an idiot.
And with that the area around Itachi faded completely Thank you Shisui…
Itachi's eyes opened once more to see a pair of aqua blue eyes mere inches from his own.
"Itachi are you ok?" Luna asked
"Yeah… Yeah I'm fine." He said standing up and looking at the scene around him. There were eight ponies surrounding him in the crater he had created with his technique.
"If you're fine then why are ya crying?" Applejack piped up from his right.
I'm crying? He thought as he reached up to his face with his right hand and it came away damp. "I'm…not sure." He said as he continued to stare at his hand then suddenly he was grabbed in a crushing hug by Luna. The two stood there in the embrace for a good two minutes while everypony else watched. Eventually Celestia let out a little cough and Luna seemed to finally notice the others and she released him from her grasp with a bit of an embarrassed look.
She then noticed the red substance that had gotten on her "Oh my, I completely forgot about your shoulder!"
Itachi winced as she exposed the wound with her magic, "It's not as bad as it looks." everypony looked at him with a 'yeah right' kind of look "Ok, so it is as bad as it looks."
Six hours later Itachi lay on a hill outside of Canterlot, his left shoulder swathed in bandages. It never ceased to amaze him just how quickly this pony magic worked, particularly when it came to medicinal applications. Luna had practically dragged him to the royal physician despite his protests that any old doctor would do. He looked up at the stars above him recalling just how close to death he had come today. He felt the pony laying next to him shift around and lay her head on his uninjured shoulder. "So what do you think of my night?'
"It's beautiful as always."
Luna smiled "Shouldn't you be resting?"Itachi had sneaked out from the royal infirmary to make it out to here.
"That was my plan except I promised a certain someone that I would go stargazing with her tonight," he turned to her "and I never break a promise."
She nuzzled his neck and drew back, her aqua eyes looking into his black ones. Something was different, when she had first met him his eyes had been filled with sadness, guilt, and anger. But now all that was gone leaving behind the kindness that had always existed underneath it all this time. She put her forelegs around him, and he put his one good arm around her. Itachi had spent his entire life fighting on his own, bearing the burden alone because he was the only one who could, but as he began to fall asleep in Luna's embrace he knew deep within him, he would never be alone anymore.
Like a shooting star, I will go the distance
I will search the world, I will face its harms
I don't care how far, I can go the distance
Till I find my hero's welcome
Waiting in your arms...
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Is this the last chapter? The way you wrote it made it look that way.
this was finished ages ago and only barely has it popped up? its good btw very good, i wonder why EqD took it off though when it got on
@DS no it isnt the last, this fic is finished and i dont know why they havent put the rest of the chapters
Lol u so stole
"Wait, was this conversation all happening inside my mind?"
"Of course it was, but that doesn't make it any less real does it?"
from harry potter
Harry Potter aside, does he have Eternal MS or not? As the name implies, Eternal MS doesn't go blind - he should no longer cry blood when he uses it.
1452830 he only cries blood when he uses the ameratesu
Great chapter! So emotional and well-written!
I was liking this until this chapter... so many things that are just wrong with Itachi and Shisui's history.
In order to awaken my own I killed my best friend with my own hands…Shisui Uchiha.
No he didn’t.
Shisui killed himself. The mangekyo does not require YOU to kill the person closest to you to awaken. It just requires the loss of the person closest to you.
So going by the logic if you were to say be obsessed with money or something it wood awaken mangekyo if so it could be the easiest power to get
9133820
It something extremely emotional
Sasuke is gonna have a field day with this.