Obito-Sensei (A Sakura-Centric Naruto AU)
- Thread starter Ser_Serendipity
- Start date
- Location
- Somewhere!
- Pronouns
- She/Her
I really like the Obito / Sakura contrast in these last few chapters. Obito has a similar kind of moment of breaking, almost dedicating to a project of terrible violence, and pulls back slightly. Sakura... doesn't seem to be pulling back.
Ultra Sonic 007
Trying to keep things simple~
- Location
- Colorado
Well, that was appropriately visceral.
This chapter was certainly a gut punch, massive kudos to you @Ser_Serendipity for having the guts to go through with killing named characters in such a way and for the incredible writing as ever. The sheer scale of the damage inflicted is made ever more terrifying by the pointed realization that this was what happens when the most powerful bloodline ever deflects the majority of the attack. If the full attack had hit there wouldn't be a Hidden Village of Rain anymore just a smoking crater which is haunting while not diminishing the destruction of a partial strike, because a partial strike is still enough to blow parts of buildings away like leaves and incinerate people.
I loved the sense of not exactly helpless but hmmm scale-horror? that came from various ninja all very powerful in there own way trying to stop this or shield the people they can and there efforts just not being sufficient to make headway without hideous cost or just plain not being enough.
Karin (Best girl) shields everyone in her vicinity with chakra chains but that just diminishes the instant death radius enough that all the ninja are hurled around with bone breaking force and set on fire, with civilians dying on the spot despite the protection. Suigetsu shields Sasuke with his water body and all the water he can use from the environment and gets vaporized for it though this keeps Sasuke alive and lessens the fire wave. Nagato deflects the bulk of the enhanced Bjuudama but even a portion is enough to kill tens of thousands. The Ninja's can do something in the face of this but it's dwarfed by what they are trying to stop and that really sells the horror.
I really did ..... I wouldn't say 'like' but I sincerely appreciated the way Kabuto and Suigetsu died this chapter. It made the whole trauma fest that much more impactful that we got these personal sacrifices amidst the carnage, Kabuto spending his chakra to heal someone else at the cost of his own life and Suigetsu shielding his friends/adopted village as much as he could. And the fact the survivors people left behind have depicted feelings about the sacrifices sells it.
I always had a pretty big soft spot for Suigetsu so while I'm sad he died I respect the way he went and the impact he was allowed to have. It's a dark kind of irony that Suigetsu's most out and out heroic moment in canon was shielding his teammates from a Eight Tails Bjuudama with his own body so him tanking something similar and dying was fitting way to go. Also despite being a fan of Team Taka friendships and reading what I can find that explore them caring about each other I have never seen Suigetsu be the person whose death gives Sasuke the Mangekyo and I'm in love even as wince for Sasuke because damn that going to cause some trauma.
Sakura going full radicalized "violence is the only answer and solution" was something we've been building to for a long time and I'm very happy to see this gun get fired. It's really great storytelling that you can look back at her choices, reactions and the things she's been exposed to and see all the foundations for her decision-dark revelation this chapter being laid.
And my prediction that even if he wasn't the direct cause of the mess Itachi was going to turn up and make things worse came true. On one hand Itachi is turbo charged by the heavily suspected Black Zetsu intervention and he's kind of visiblly off in the head which is likely to go nowhere good but on the other side of things, genuinely murderous Nagato on his home turf and with allies on hand is nothing for anyone to sneeze at. I'm curious and concerned where this and a panicked Obito jumping into the mess desperate to get his students back is going to go.
I loved the sense of not exactly helpless but hmmm scale-horror? that came from various ninja all very powerful in there own way trying to stop this or shield the people they can and there efforts just not being sufficient to make headway without hideous cost or just plain not being enough.
Karin (Best girl) shields everyone in her vicinity with chakra chains but that just diminishes the instant death radius enough that all the ninja are hurled around with bone breaking force and set on fire, with civilians dying on the spot despite the protection. Suigetsu shields Sasuke with his water body and all the water he can use from the environment and gets vaporized for it though this keeps Sasuke alive and lessens the fire wave. Nagato deflects the bulk of the enhanced Bjuudama but even a portion is enough to kill tens of thousands. The Ninja's can do something in the face of this but it's dwarfed by what they are trying to stop and that really sells the horror.
I really did ..... I wouldn't say 'like' but I sincerely appreciated the way Kabuto and Suigetsu died this chapter. It made the whole trauma fest that much more impactful that we got these personal sacrifices amidst the carnage, Kabuto spending his chakra to heal someone else at the cost of his own life and Suigetsu shielding his friends/adopted village as much as he could. And the fact the survivors people left behind have depicted feelings about the sacrifices sells it.
I always had a pretty big soft spot for Suigetsu so while I'm sad he died I respect the way he went and the impact he was allowed to have. It's a dark kind of irony that Suigetsu's most out and out heroic moment in canon was shielding his teammates from a Eight Tails Bjuudama with his own body so him tanking something similar and dying was fitting way to go. Also despite being a fan of Team Taka friendships and reading what I can find that explore them caring about each other I have never seen Suigetsu be the person whose death gives Sasuke the Mangekyo and I'm in love even as wince for Sasuke because damn that going to cause some trauma.
Sakura going full radicalized "violence is the only answer and solution" was something we've been building to for a long time and I'm very happy to see this gun get fired. It's really great storytelling that you can look back at her choices, reactions and the things she's been exposed to and see all the foundations for her decision-dark revelation this chapter being laid.
And my prediction that even if he wasn't the direct cause of the mess Itachi was going to turn up and make things worse came true. On one hand Itachi is turbo charged by the heavily suspected Black Zetsu intervention and he's kind of visiblly off in the head which is likely to go nowhere good but on the other side of things, genuinely murderous Nagato on his home turf and with allies on hand is nothing for anyone to sneeze at. I'm curious and concerned where this and a panicked Obito jumping into the mess desperate to get his students back is going to go.
I was really, really surprised when (was it on this website? or one of the others?) the topic of Rain doing regime changes in other countries came up, people started tsk-tsking. I know the Naruto world isn't a one-one for ours, but if you have a dream to make people's' lives better, you need the power to subvert every nation that will oppose you for it and place a friendly government in its stead, because if you don't, they will destroy you. It could be a slow death, like what they did to Russia after the fall of the USSR. It could be a fast death, like what they did to Chile after Allende nationalised the copper. They will get you. It doesn't matter if you were allies up until that point. Gaddafi had been the West's guy for years when he set out to create a pan-African currency to free Africa from economic bondage. They still destroyed Libya.
It doesn't matter how minor the improvements are. As long as it significantly inconveniences someone, your country's sentence is death. So. You can do it Sakura's way, and carry the biggest stick in the world (not great, for reasons the characters have already laid out), or you can do it the more peaceful way, through funding and supporting local groups friendly to your cause. But you can't do nothing, because they will never stop coming for you, and once they get you, they will punish you to teach everyone else a lesson.
It doesn't matter how minor the improvements are. As long as it significantly inconveniences someone, your country's sentence is death. So. You can do it Sakura's way, and carry the biggest stick in the world (not great, for reasons the characters have already laid out), or you can do it the more peaceful way, through funding and supporting local groups friendly to your cause. But you can't do nothing, because they will never stop coming for you, and once they get you, they will punish you to teach everyone else a lesson.
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Ser_Serendipity
Building Character
Well, we do know Tsunade is going around trying to make money off of mass casualty events!
I'm glad to hear that (wow that sounds cruel!). tbh I super psyched myself out on this chapter cause I've just been constantly working on it for more than two years now, but I feel like that work actually paid off, thank goodness. It's not like, two years worth of work good, lol, but I feel like the necessary emotions came through.
I'll do my best to get it out quick! Next chapter is, thankfully, a little less intense, but uh, Warhammer 3's Immortal Empires is coming out Tuesday, so that's probably gonna fuck some stuff up. Love me some Total Warhammer.
Downhill! Glad you enjoyed the candle bit; it's fun to play with visual imagery like that.
You say that but I was terrified of this chapter 😂
Sakura... is in a bad place. She had her dream torn right out of her hands. Also, she's a teenager with a newfound high opinion of herself, enormous expectations placed on her, and some measure of authority and power.
Speaking from personal experience, bad combo.
Two years!
No brakes!
I'm really excited for the next chapter for a variety of reasons, and childish fanboyish as it is foremost among them is that Nagato will finally get to show off. This isn't the dude who was stuck immobile and drained of energy for decades, or who was brought back as a crippled zombie that needed to drain others to be able to walk himself: this is a dude with the Rinnegan who's been healthy and active for a long time, training and doing all sorts of shit off-screen (like when he showed up to that meeting with Sasuke all amped up for reasons that have yet to be revealed). It'll be nice to get back to my roots with some over-the-top setpieces.
Thanks for the comments, and thanks for reading!
- Location
- US
In a chapter full of hard hitting scenes and awesome lines, I have to say that this line was actually my favorite. Just because it is so understated. Itachi taking responsibility for his brother led him to wipe out most of the Uchicha, take on villages almost by himself, and become one of the most feared ninja out there. What would he do for a hundred thousand lives instead of just one?
Plus, the way it ties in with the kinda theme of this chapter, "What do you do when you're outmatched and overwhelmed in the face of destruction? You do what you can." Is just perfect.
WinterLantern
Smoked bird
- Location
- North England
I dont really think I can argue with Sakura's decision considering that this is very much proof that the villages are more than willing to utilise genocide to try and make a point. Rain wasnt really the target, it was an example for all the other villages. It's such a monstrous decision that hate is the only real response. It's shinobi insanity cranked up to 100.
Goddam I do not like that Itatchi is trying to snatch Sasuke at his lowest point like this. This Itatchi I genuinely believe would take Sasukes' eyes.
Goddam I do not like that Itatchi is trying to snatch Sasuke at his lowest point like this. This Itatchi I genuinely believe would take Sasukes' eyes.
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Dark Machine
Red or Dead
- Location
- Tokyo-1, Japan
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Yep. This Itachi strikes me as either brainwashed by the Space Rabbits or who is utterly in sway to the idea of "the greater good". Sure Sasuke would be blind, but he'd be alive. Sure he wouldn't be able to see. But maybe that's better considering what's coming. That kind of attitude.
I think the thing to remember- consider is that this timelines Itachi's feelings about the Massacre are very different than canon Itachi's view. Canon!Itachi was frankly speaking a suicidal mess, Tobi might have hyped him up to Sasuke as loyal to the leaf even after what the village made him do but the fact no one in the leaf knew basic info about Akatsuki like it's leader has a Rinnegan or 'Madara' being involved suggests that was manipulation, Itachi seems to have joined Akatsuki because it was something to do until Sasuke could kill him or he maybe bought into Pain's ideology.
Canon!Itachi empathised with the Uchiha, he wept while he killed his parents and understood why the clan was going down this road while being aware of elements of in The Villages leadership actively sabotaging a peaceful solution to the mess (Danzo taking Shisui's eye). Canon!Itachi just saw the outcome of letting the coup go ahead as being worse than if he stopped it.
By contrast this timeline's Itachi sincerely hates the reasoning behind the altered Coup, he doesn't see it as an 'understandable but must be stopped' action on the part of the clan as in canon. No he sees it as a petty, traitorous power grab motivated the Uchiha's sense of entitlement that would see the clan wiped out and or start a war. And like he's not wholly wrong? Mikoto's argument about Minato being strong in the traditional way not being enough in a world where the game is changing has a ring of truth especially in the face of what Cloud just pulled but Obito and Itachi's condemnatory assessment of the Coup and how it conveniently put the Uchiha on top-expanded Uchiha power is still valid.
Without the viewpoint of what he did as regrettable, without the misery and self hatred born of slaying people he loved that killed any motivation in Canon!Itachi beyond dying to Sasuke-setting up Sasuke to be strong enough to take the challenges to come, we've instead got a focused, full strength if not stronger, grimly determined Itachi who learned the lesson of "take the responsibility-burden of committing necessary evil for the sake of peace" and took it to heart. Black Zetsu has a proven history of manipulating-encouraging people with such a mindset.
Chapter 63: Restless
Ser_Serendipity
Building Character
Makes Mistakes
When Obito got back, the sun had set over the Village Hidden in the Leaves.
He appeared in the Hokage's office as he so often did and found it empty. Obito looked around with dull, quenched eyes, and sighed. He truly didn't even want to go looking for his sensei; he didn't want to be here at all. He was sure he needed to be back in Rain, but a sense of obligation pushed him forward nonetheless. If Katasuke was gone, Minato had likely taken him to T&I as promised; there were a couple facilities around Konoha they called their home.
He stuck his head through the door, looking for a bodyguard, and when he didn't find one grunted again and swirled out of existence. For several minutes Obito disappeared and reappeared across the village, popping in and out of secure facilities and frightening people with his swift passage.
He should have gone to Kushina first, he thought. She was the one who'd sent him in the first place, but he wasn't brave enough to face her yet. He needed to know there was some sort of plan before he went to her empty-handed. Sorry, your son may be dead? The city was half-destroyed? He couldn't possibly bear that. On his fourth exit from the Kamui, he found what he was looking for.
Obito appeared in a stark concrete corridor beside two other shinobi. They were both staring through a one-way mirror into a medium-sized and comfortably furnished room, and jumped away in alarm when he appeared. There were three people in the room: Minato, Katasuke, and Ibiki Moreno, the head ninja responsible for Torture and Interrogation.
Despite the name, T&I rarely tortured people nowadays. Seated in a serious position with his gloved hands clasped together and his face set in a thoughtful frown, Ibiki looked more like an absurdly dangerous therapist than someone who would snip your eyelids off as Katasuke, seated in a large couch across from him, babbled incessantly. At Ibiki's side, Minato occasionally nodded thoughtfully, but was otherwise silent as he listened. He was still in Sage Mode, but there wasn't anything menacing in his inhuman eyes.
When Obito appeared, the Hokage glanced at the one-way mirror. Even in a situation like this, Obito couldn't help but marvel at how incredible the Hokage's senses were, Sage Mode or not.
"Hey!" One of the shinobi who'd been observing, a woman with short blue hair and icy eyes, stepped towards him. "Obito Uchiha, what the hell are you-?"
"Get him," Obito commanded, and the woman froze. "Get the Hokage. Right now."
She backed away, blinking. "Right away," she said after a moment, turning and stepping through a steel door that led into another corridor bordering the room. Obito watched her go with a sort of dull surprise; he had spoken without thinking, and hadn't considered she would actually just follow his order without question.
"Is something wrong?" the remaining ninja asked. Obito turned to him, his Mangekyo still active, and the younger man flinched away.
"Yes," he said, and left it at that.
A moment, awkward and quiet, and then the meeting beyond the mirror was interrupted as the other ninja entered and drew the Hokage away. Ibiki made calming motions towards Katasuke, who settled back into his ranting, and then Minato appeared through the steel door.
"Obito," he said with a curious look. "I thought that was you."
"Amegakure's been hit," Obito said without preamble, and Minato flinched. "Half the village has been leveled, and the rest is on fire. I went there on a hunch; I think I arrived just an hour or so after it happened. The village was already coordinating ninja in rescue and relief efforts."
The Hokage looked him over, his lips pursed. "That's…" He paused, considering his words. "Sensible, I suppose. Katasuke has been telling us about Cloud's new weapon."
Obito twitched. Sensible? That was the first thing he said?
The Hokage glanced at both the other ninja present; as members of T&I they would surely have top secret clearance, but Obito could still see the hesitation in his sensei's face. "It seems the Land of Lightning was determined to have a live test; with no political and weaker military allies, Rain would be the natural target. That was a good hunch."
"It was Kushina's, not mine," Obito said, and Minato's face screwed up a little more.
"Yeah," he said. A vibration, invisible to anything but the Sharingan, went up his whole body; a tremor of murderous intent as he tried to reset himself. Obito could feel himself slip a little as well at the sight of it. They were both ready to kill; why were they wasting time talking? "Did you-?"
"I didn't go in," Obito said. His fist clenched. "I wanted to, but I didn't. I sent a Toad. Gamaden."
"That's good," Minato said, voice flat. Was he thinking about the village, or about his son? "Gamaden is reliable, and more importantly, quiet. Cloud has really kicked the hornet's nest now."
"What's the plan then?" Obito said, and Minato shook his head. Obito could feel his teeth start to grind.
"For the moment, watching and waiting. Katasuke doesn't believe the Cannon can be fired sequentially: it needs to be recharged after each shot by a tremendous amount of chakra. But that process can be fast, potentially less than a day." The Hokage's eyes narrowed. "A lot depends on whether this was A's initiative, or the new Daimyo's. Or both. We shouldn't make a move until we have more information and a better idea of Cloud's motive."
Obito's face froze. "What does it matter?" he asked. "They're a threat to the whole world now. Let's go there now. The two of us: let's go there and kill them all."
They could do it, too. He was sure of it. A ghost and a thunder god could depopulate an entire village in one night if everything went their way.
Minato regarded him with an infuriatingly calm face. "We could certainly try," he said, stroking his chin like they were talking about making a difficult dish and not mass murder on a scale that could only be matched by the Hidden Cloud itself. "But they haven't made an aggressive move towards the Land of Fire yet. It would be an unprovoked attack, and one that would invite a massive reprisal if we failed. The Daimyo would have concerns-"
"After this?" Obito hissed, stepping forward. Minato was like a rock. "After killing like this-" he started to say with a sneer, before Minato cut him off.
"This is why they targeted the Hidden Rain," he said. He looked calm, sounded calm, but Obito could sense that under his strong exterior his sensei was on the edge of boiling over. "A rogue nation full of rogue ninja, opposed to all the Hidden Villages and the Daimyo both. I imagine that letters of support and thanks, not to mention ingratiation, will be pouring into the Land of Lightning from all across the globe once they inform the other countries what they've done. Combined with what happened in the Land of Waves-."
"Minato, your son was there!" Obito snarled. "I knew he was. He could be dead!"
"I'm aware!" Minato barked, suddenly loud, but Obito didn't flinch back. "Well aware! Thank you for letting me know, Obito!" He blew out a quick breath, centering himself, and once more he was the implacable Hokage the rest of the world feared. "Trust me, I know. I'm going to work on that next. But right now, Naruto doesn't matter. The village does. We're going to wait and see what Cloud's next move is. If they attack us, I'll deflect it." His eyes were as sharp as knives. "And if that happens, we'll bring a fury down on them beyond imagination."
Obito finally relented, leaning back. He noticed that there were several long cracks winding through the nearby concrete walls; their chakra had been clashing with such force that the hallway had started shaking, and neither of them had realized it. The other ninja present were pale-faced, pressed back against the walls like small animals trying to stay out of sight.
"I'm going to use Shisui's eye," he said after a moment, and Minato nodded. "If we're going to be waiting anyway, me being out of commission for a couple weeks won't be the end of the world, and I get the feeling we might actually need it. But I'm not doing it until I know what we're doing about my team."
"I'm going to reach out to our contact in Rain immediately," Minato said, and then let out a dry laugh. "For some reason, I can't imagine that even something that horrible killed him. He'll be best positioned to find Naruto and the rest and extract them."
Obito didn't like that idea at all, but it was perfectly logical and safe, so he found himself nodding along. "Fine. Then as soon as they're all back." 'If they're still alive' went unsaid, but its echo still washed over both of them.
There were several seconds of tense silence, and then Minato sighed.
"I'm worried," he said, like that wasn't obvious. "Itachi set off in that direction not too long ago, after delivering that eye to you." He leaned back against the wall. "I'd hate to think of him contributing to that disaster. He's looking for Sasuke, after all. He might not be happy about half the village being gone."
To tell the truth, Obito hadn't even thought of that. "Shit," he muttered. "I don't think he was working for Rain, sensei. Not the way he was acting."
"Possibly," Minato admitted. "But I suppose we might know for sure soon enough."
It was a nightmare on top of a nightmare, Obito thought. He felt like he was standing at the center of a pitch black whirlpool, impenetrable water that would drag him down and drown him stretching out in every direction. If Itachi was desperate to find Sasuke and decided to cut down anyone who was in between the two of them, how many would die? Would anyone in a village wracked by fire and death have a chance of stopping him? And what would he do when he found him? Was he truly just planning to talk?
Obito had no idea. He felt helpless; he was helpless. For tonight at least, perhaps one of the most important nights in history, he'd unwittingly assigned himself the position of bystander.
His heart was on fire. Obito Uchiha did not want to be a bystander. He'd been a bystander to his own life for more than a decade. He could no longer stand it.
"Obito," Minato said. He must have seen him shift, seen through him to his heart. "Do whatever you want, but don't go to Rain tonight. You already sent an ally; it's too late to make a difference there yourself." Obito glared up at him like a resentful child, and Minato grimaced.
"If they're alive, I'll make sure they get home. I promise."
###
"You know, it would have been much better if I'd come here first," Itachi mused, his hand protectively covering Sasuke's face. "I really mixed up the order of my visits today."
Konan stepped back, keeping both of the Uchiha in her line of sight. Even she was overwhelmed by Nagato's presence; it was like standing next to a hurricane, knowing that one wrong move could see you picked up and thrown miles away. Yet somehow Itachi wasn't flinching even in the face of that. His Mangekyo had fully emerged, and he stood on the other side of his brother's prone body from Nagato, apparently relaxed and unworried.
"You would likely have been caught in the blast," Nagato said. Konan had never heard him so filled with rage. Nagato had done his best throughout his whole life to cultivate kindness and gentleness to counteract the tremendous destructive power inherent to his existence; today, it had all left him. "Like many others, you would probably be dead."
"That's possible," Itachi admitted. He smiled. "Sentimentality being the death of me? Wouldn't that have been funny, given my reputation?"
"Why are you here?" Nagato asked, unwilling to engage and avoiding Itachi's gaze. Itachi shrugged luxuriously.
"For my brother. I learned he was here, and I needed to talk with him about something. But seeing the state of things, and how your fellow Amekage is looking to arrest him, I realized it would probably be best to remove him from the village before we spoke." Now, he shifted, one foot sliding back. "Would you do me that kindness, Nagato Uzumaki? I don't have any great desire to fight you."
Nagato shifted as well. "I suspect this suffering is your fault, or at least in part," he said, and Itachi nodded thoughtfully.
"Konan said the same," he said with a morbid grin. "I suppose I am a suspicious character-"
Nagato stomped down, chakra exploding off his body as he raised both hands high above his head. Several things happened all at once.
Konan took off, flying into the air on paper wings and circling around, looking to flank Itachi.
Itachi flew backwards, carrying Sasuke off of the gurney and onto his back in an impossibly quick motion. Sasuke hung there unconscious, like a stereotypical younger sibling asking for a piggyback ride.
Gravity reversed.
For several hundred feet around Nagato, gravity reversed, and then stopped. Everyone present except for Itachi and Nagato flew straight up about fifty feet and then stopped, freezing in the air without inertia. A chunk of the park and aid center was impossibly suspended above the sudden violence as Konan darted around below it, people crying out, some in alarm, others in rapture. None of them had ever seen Nagato give his all to anything.
"Oh," Itachi said. He'd anchored himself to the ground and Sasuke to his body and he was looking up at the floating crowd, as if he were suspended on the ceiling. Gravity tugged at his cloak and hair. "That's, uh-"
"On another day, I would capture you." Nagato drove both his hands into the earth and came away with stone fists, smashing them together and channeling more chakra. They boiled, like globes of lava floating around his hands. "But today, I have no patience and no mercy. You betrayed us, Itachi Uchiha. I'm going to eat your soul and find out why."
Itachi apparently had no idea how to answer that. Instead, he turned and started running.
Nagato and Konan chased after him. She came in from above, hurling pieces of herself as ammunition that Itachi danced around with unerring precision. But she was only acting as a distraction, something to slow him down. Flames exploded off of Nagato's feet with every step, driving him forward with successive sonic booms, and as he approached he swung at Itachi's side, trying to burn away part of the Uchiha's chest.
Itachi, with one arm occupied with Sasuke, turned to meet the attack with incredible speed. He slapped away Nagato's arm as one of Konan's shuriken buried itself in his shoulder. More jets of flames exploded out of Nagato as he dropped to sweep Itachi's legs, his foot swinging with blinding speed, but Itachi still managed to leap over it.
He made several one-handed signs in midair as he started to fall upwards and blew two fireballs of immense size. The first he spat directly into Nagato's face, and the second he hurled up into the floating crowd, the backblast flinging him back to the ground and onto his feet.
"Bastard!" Konan screamed. She threw herself in the path of the attack, spreading her wings wide, and it struck her and detonated with a painful explosion. Her body was fireproof, but the force of Itachi's fireball was unbelievable, easily enough to level a building, and most of her body was completely burned away by it. She did manage to shield the people behind her, but the cost was severe; this body wouldn't be able to fight anymore. Now all she could do was watch.
But with Nagato here, that was no problem.
The first fireball, hurled directly into Nagato's face, was blocked by a third arm, shiny and plastic looking, that sprung from his shoulder. There was a high pitched whine and the jutsu was sucked into a small circle at the center of the palm, vanishing with a trace. Itachi, having just made contact with the ground once more, blinked.
He didn't have time to say a thing before Nagato sent the jutsu back.
The fireball burst out of Nagato's third arm while the other two hands ran through hand signs, amplifying the jutsu as the lava coating them began to circle in the air, joining the rebounded fireball. It came out twice as large and wreathed in lightning, screaming with such heat that all the moisture in the park evaporated instantly. Itachi was only able to react thanks to his Sharingan: he scuttled back, one foot keeping contact with the ground at all times as he tore up a storm of dirt and grass from the speed of his passage, and black fire leapt from his eye and engulfed the counterattack. Where the legendary Amaterasu landed it ate away at the technique with impossible speed, leaving a corona of burning black air as lightning struck out with random violence, vaporizing patches of grass and blowing a clean hole through Itachi's fluttering cloak.
Then, Nagato thrust out his hand with a shout, and Itachi was yanked off his feet and pulled directly towards him.
"Banshō Ten'in!"
It was inescapable: the same divine departure that spirited important visitors up into the towers of Amegakure when they were crossing one of the great bridges took hold of Itachi and dragged him directly into Nagato's waiting arms. He'd been waiting for the Amaterasu, Konan was sure; even if Nagato could absorb jutsu, the legendary black flames could still seriously hurt him if he was caught off guard. But now, Itachi had used it, and blood was running freely down his face. Nagato could probably see something in his chakra that told him now was the moment to act.
Itachi slammed into a brutal grapple, all three of Nagato's arms grabbing hold of him as a fourth sprouted from his other shoulder and covered both of Itachi's eyes. They started pulling, and something translucent began to emerge from Itachi, a shimmering silver energy similar but unmistakably not chakra.
"It's over," Nagato declared, and then there was a horrific scream.
The scream would have shattered windows if there were any left to break, and it forced Nagato back a step. The sound didn't come from Itachi; in fact, for a moment his whole body went limp, from the effects of Nagato's attack or something else Konan could not know. Darkness beyond black poured out of Itachi's body, spreading from his eyes and mouth and shadow with lightning speed. It speared towards Nagato, as if a living darkness was trying to eat him alive.
For a second that stretched for far too long, Nagato was overwhelmed. The darkness poured over him with irresistible strength, and Konan watched as her oldest friend drowned on his feet in a screeching black ichor.
Then he screamed back, and both Itachi and the darkness were blown away, tumbling across the field and shielding Sasuke with his body the whole way. Nagato doubled over, vomiting up bile and shadows, and glared up at Itachi with disbelieving eyes. He was pale, sweating. Konan wasn't sure how, but it was obvious the shadow had weakened him. His deafening and blinding chakra had been drained and reduced to merely loud and bright.
"What…" His eyes and aura sharpened. Konan drifted downwards, desperate to be at his side even if she was little more than a torso and head now. "What was that? What are you?"
Nagato, Konan realized with a chill, who could know a jutsu at a glance and had an instinctive control of chakra of every kind, had no idea what Itachi had just done. She didn't either. She knew of shadow control or concealment jutsu: her sensei had mastered several. But that had been nothing like any of them.
Itachi was crouched on the ground, Sasuke still on his back, his eyes strangely flat and blank. He shook his head once, very deliberately, and the spark of life returned to them, along with a wry grin.
"You're everything that's rumored and more," he said, not shifting from his crouched position as Nagato straightened up. "You know what, Nagato? This is the first time in my life where I've been sure I couldn't win."
"Then surrender," Nagato said. He raised his hand again, gathering more chakra as color returned to his face. The floating crowd drifted higher, farther out of reach, and the grass around him was blown back, some lighting on fire. "You're helpless before me."
As he acted, so too did Itachi.
"Sorry," he said, biting his thumb and rubbing it in the dirt. "But that's not true."
"No-!" Nagato shouted, running through a counter-jutsu, but he was too slow. Even if Nagato's mastery of chakra was far above him, Konan could see that Itachi was still, physically, just a little faster.
There was an explosion of smoke and chakra and a mighty roar. Itachi no longer stood alone: behind him, its bulk crushing part of a building, was a monstrous spiky turtle with three tails, its single eye blazing with the Sharingan as it started to rampage forward, passing over Itachi. Its charge scattered the floating crowd; at well over fifty feet tall, it sent bodies flying upwards, saved from being crushed by their negated mass but screaming in fear and pain nonetheless. Rushing alongside it were two women, one leaping into the air carried by wings that burst from her back and the other rushing ahead as she was wreathed in hungry blue flames.
"Run wild!" Itachi roared out the command and turned to run.
A Tailed Beast? Konan's brain short-circuited. No, three Tailed Beasts! The Sanbi, Fuu and the Nanabi, and Yugito Nii and the Nibi had just been unleashed in the center of the village, in the center of a medical center, right in front of them! Itachi had formed a summoning contact with them, brainwashed these ninja and the monsters within them with his Sharingan. He'd played every card he'd had and simultaneously overturned the table in a fit of pique, dumping years of work on them at once.
No, no no no! Not this, and not tonight of all nights! The village couldn't handle more! As dozens of Konan's bodies panicked and began making their way to the battlefield, Nagato stepped forward, directly into the path of the rampaging Sanbi.
"You…" He was seething, chakra sparking off him, so coherent and violent it left white traces in the air like the backstroke of lightning.
The Beast reared up and stared down at him, a Bijuudama forming in its mouth, and Nagato let out a scream of rage and reached up with all four of his arms and pulled, yanking at the air in front of him. A tremendous invisible force smashed down on the Sanbi's face and slammed it to the ground, its head crashing down and barely missing Nagato.
As the Beast groaned and tried to rise, Nagato lashed out and grabbed the Bijuudama before its mouth, physically seizing it as it began to destabilize. He grunted in fury and began to crush it down, compacting it further and further as he began sinking into the ground under its tremendous weight. In a moment it was the size of his body, and then his hand, and then he crushed it between all four of his hands with another terrifying scream.
"It's much easier to destroy than to create!" he roared, smashing the compressed Bijuudama to dust. As he did, Yugito Nii and Fuu reached him, sweeping in from either flank. Nagato blocked Fuu's punch, but Yugito managed to drive a flame-covered knife into his blind side. Konan let out a scream as blue flames burst across Nagato's body, scorching his flesh and burning away some of his Akatsuki cloak, but the fires guttered and the knife crumbled to dust in seconds, leaving behind a large, bloody wound. Nagato didn't even seem to notice.
"And that is all you are capable of!" Yugito Nii leapt back, hurling three blue fireballs in quick succession, but Nagato chased after her and slapped them out of the air without care, sending them slamming into the earth.
With a fierce shout and without care for his injuries, he seized the Nibi Jinchuuriki by the leg as she tried to jump away again and threw her over his shoulder, jet engines of both chakra flames and mechanical construction forming across his body spontaneously and turning a simple shoulder-throw into a hammer blow that caused a small earthquake. Nagato shattered most of the field and buried Yugito Nii at least ten feet underground. The blue flames around the woman flickered out, and she slumped unconscious in a deep crater.
"You are a pillager, Itachi Uchiha!" Nagato spun on Fuu, thick red blood pouring down his side as she threw a series of punches and quick kicks at him, staying airborne and darting back and forth. Any one of the blows could crush bones, but Nagato blocked and redirected most of them; the ones that slipped through shattered both his artificial arms and left a nasty cut on his forehead, leaving him covered in more of his own blood. Konan's stomach flipped; she'd never seen Nagato so injured, not even after battling Hanzo.
But he wasn't slowing down. If anything, Nagato's wounds seemed to be driving him into even more of a relentless rage. He leapt into a flying knee assisted by Wind chakra and sent Fuu down gasping for air; she just had enough time to look up and try to roll away before Nagato's leg came back down as a Wind-Style axe kick that slammed into her back with such violence that another crater formed beneath the both of them. The second Jinchuriki bounced several inches into the air and landed with a painful thud. As she tried to crawl forward, gagging and struggling to breathe, Nagato stomped down on her again with even more force; something broke with a loud crack, and her wings stopped their relentless beat.
"You are not like us! You could never build anything of your own!" Nagato rounded on the Sanbi, still trying to rise, and drove his fist into its chin, the only thing he could reach. The Sharingan in the Sanbi's lone eye began swirling away, replaced by endless rings, and Nagato continued punching, his chakra booming through the air and reverberating through the entire Bijuu in visible waves of purple light. The Beast stilled, shuddered, and collapsed.
"You take and you steal and you kill! No more!"
As Nagato fought, Itachi fled. Konan only saw his initial escape; by the time Nagato was done, she'd lost sight of him. The battle only took twenty seconds, but that was all the time a ninja like Itachi needed to be long gone. With the Jinchuriki and the Sanbi fallen, Nagato went to each in turn and placed his hand on them, concentrating. There was a puff of smoke; a sealing contract breaking, shattered and replaced by the Rinnegan's indomitable power.
Itachi was in terror as he ran, Konan was sure. She saw it on his face as he escaped into the city, Sasuke on his back. How could he not be terrified, faced with Nagato? How could anyone escape that fear, even his dearest friends?
Nagato let out a long, rough breath, his chakra receding and becoming less unbearable. Blood dripped heavily from his hands, torso, and head as he turned towards Konan. "Did you see where he went?" he asked, and she shook her head.
"I'm looking," she said, bringing a hand up to brush away some of the blood from his face. Her other clones were sweeping the city as they spoke. "You can't sense him?"
"I could not before, nor now. He's a master at suppressing his chakra." Nagato brushed away her hand and broke off the remains of his extra arms with a dour look, smearing the plastic over his wounds. Konan watched as it turned to flesh. Nagato may have been incapable of ordinary medical jutsu, but his body accepted his own chakra without issue. "And Sasuke's is too weak to track at the moment."
"Damn." Konan couldn't think of anything better to say; the situation was just too unbelievable. She looked up at the floating crowd and then back at Nagato with an arched eyebrow, and he blushed.
"Right." He made a gesture, and the floating people drifted gently back to earth, settling to the uneven ground. The Sanbi took up so much space that in several places people were packed shoulder to shoulder. Medical ninja began rushing around, checking on the injured and reorganizing the shattered park as the numb silence of the crowd broke into screams, cheers, and whispers. So far as Konan could see, Nagato's efforts had prevented more deaths, but many of the injured were even worse off.
"Sorry for the inconvenience," Nagato said in passing to Kirobara, and she shook her head with a grimace.
"The alternative would have been much worse. Thank you, Lord Nagato." Her eyes drifted to the prone bodies of the Jinchuriki Itachi had unleashed. "Should we treat them?"
"Yes," Nagato said without hesitation. "But try not to wake them. They're still dangerous. The smaller one's spine is broken; be gentle with her."
Kirobara nodded and began barking out orders, and Konan drifted to Nagato's side.
"Three Bijuu, dropped in our lap?" she said, and he glanced at her with a grim look. They both turned to look at the unconscious Sanbi. Even sprawled on the ground it towered over them. "Itachi couldn't have been that stupid. He must have known you would have been able to handle them, no matter how surprising it was. His instincts should have been good enough for that."
"Perhaps," Nagato said with a distant look. "It's a dangerous thing we have here. I imagine he'll want them back, but for the moment…" He blinked. "The Nation of Rain now has the most Tailed Beasts in the world."
In the span of several hours Amegakure had gone from suffering a devastating wound to potentially commanding unbelievable military power. Konan couldn't wrap her head around it, not right now in the midst of everything. This would only make sense in hindsight.
She couldn't help but say it. "I suppose he did promise to deliver the Nanabi to us," Konan said, and Nagato smiled, just for a second.
"True enough," he said, looking troubled. "But… it was a nonsensical thing to do. He risked this much, gave up this much, just for his brother? Just to speak with him?"
"He's insane," Konan said. Another one of her clones arrived and she melded into it, regaining a full body. Throughout the city, there was still no sign of the rogue Uchiha. "It wasn't a rational thing to do. Not even Sasuke Uchiha is worth three Tailed Beasts."
"It wasn't rational, of course," Nagato acknowledged. He was looking over the entire area now, cataloging the wounded. His eyes fell on Haku, and lingered; Konan thought he must have recognized his chakra even under all the bandages. Nagato's face fell in a deep frown. "He was terrified."
"Who couldn't be when faced with you, Nagato?" Konan asked. Her friend shook his head.
"Not of me. He never even flinched when he was facing me." Nagato started walking towards Haku, and Konan followed after. They moved past the tremendous body of the Sanbi, leaving it behind them.
"Then of what? Losing Sasuke?" she asked.
"I don't know," Nagato admitted. "All I know is that he did something as reckless as this for his brother. Itachi Uchiha is different; that shadow of his was like nothing I've ever seen. Right now, it doesn't matter." He reached Haku's side, and bent down. "Haku. That is you, isn't it? I'm sorry for jostling you."
"It's fine… Lord… Nagato," Haku croaked. He was much closer to death than he had been before the brief fight; even Konan could see that his life was steadily draining away.
"You seem in a rough way. I'll-" As Nagato started to reach down, Konan touched his shoulder, and he stilled. Haku coughed, a wet, rough sound.
"He doesn't want you to help," Konan said.
"Not worth… your time," Haku spat in agreement. "It… wouldn't be… fair."
Nagato stared down at him, and then looked back at Konan. "He does not get to decide what I spend my life on," he said quietly. "None of you do. I thought that was well established."
"He does not, but you should still respect his wishes," Konan said. Her grip on Nagato's shoulder tightened. "Nagato, I know what you want to do. Even if it would be goodbye, I'd want you to as well. But I don't think Itachi was responsible for this; we don't know who is." She stepped in, voice dropping to a whisper. "You cannot spend your life now, not by small measures or in full. This could happen again. You need to be here, at your strongest, to stop it if it does. Otherwise, everyone you save would just die again, with no hope of being rescued once more."
Nagato looked her over, a terrible anger burning his eyes, but Konan held her ground. In the face of her resoluteness, the legendary eyes wandered, closed. He breathed out, and she felt him relax under her hand. She stepped away.
"You're right," he said quietly. "My apologies."
He looked around the park, and his hands curled into fists.
"There's another way."
###
When he was done talking with Kushina, Obito felt that he should speak to Mikoto.
It would be the right thing to do; it would be cruel to hide what had happened from her even by inaction. But he just didn't have the energy for it. The idea of facing another terrified mother left him unable to take a step forward.
He stood there in the street for several minutes staring up into the cloudless sky and drinking in the stars with no idea of what to do next.
'Maybe we can go get dessert if you finish up quick enough.'
Obito twitched. Right. All this had been the same day. The Hokage's meeting, his date, Itachi's arrival, the mission in Cloud, Rain… everything felt months apart. Where was Rin? He didn't have a clue. The thought of sitting down and eating like everything was fine made him ill.
He needed to lie down.
Obito teleported back to his apartment, appearing in his living room. As he arrived, there was a pulse of chakra and he jumped, looking around. A barrier jutsu, sloppily placed. Who-?
Minato appeared out of nowhere like a mirage, and Obito gave him an irritated look.
"You set that?" he grunted, and Minato nodded.
"Quickest way to know you were home." He lifted up the couch and removed two seals from the bottom, a Hiraishin and whatever barrier jutsu he'd placed. "Sorry about that. Orochimaru responded; he'll be extracting Team Seven tonight, in about two hours."
Now that they were alone, his sensei spoke the Sannin's name without reservation. "He knows where they are?" Obito demanded, and Minato shook his head.
"He knows that Sakura is okay at least; apparently she was leading some of the emergency response," he said, and Obito was buried in conflicting emotions. Relief, pride, fear, curiosity, anger, they all washed over him and muted him as Minato kept talking. "He's not sure about Naruto and Sasuke; that's what the extra time is for. He's going to pick them up and take them to where the Saru and Kiso rivers meet, a bit east of Amegakure. Do you know it?"
Obito closed his eyes, calling up a map of the Land of Rain. "I know it," he said after a moment. "That close?"
"He doesn't want to be gone for too long. And I agree; he's our most valuable agent there now, regardless of our personal relationship," Minato said with a grimace. "Can you meet them there? Anyone else I'd have to dispatch now."
"Of course," Obito said without hesitation. "You don't even have to ask."
"Good," Minato said, and then paused. "You talked to Kushina?"
"I did."
"And Mikoto?"
Obito's silence answered that, and Minato bowed his head. "Well, hopefully there'll have been no reason for her to worry," he said after a moment. "You'll rest?"
"I'll try," Obito said, knowing it would be fruitless, and Minato nodded and vanished.
Obito milled around the apartment, stared at the VCR player, opened his fridge, and cracked a book before he was forced to admit that nothing in the world sounded appealing to him right now. He brushed his teeth, splashed his face with water, changed into night clothes, and lay down in bed.
If he could sleep for even an hour, it would be mission accomplished.
Huh. He hadn't thought like that in years; basic self care as a mission. That wasn't a good sign, Obito thought, staring up at the ceiling. He was backsliding.
He was stuck like that for maybe fifteen minutes, wondering and worrying and staring at nothing, before he thought that this really wasn't working. Maybe he should go talk to Shisui and Kakashi or something. They at least wouldn't ask uncomfortable questions like 'Did you get my kids killed' or 'What if Konoha gets blown up next?'
No, Obito realized, that unfortunately wasn't true. The dead could ask questions, though only the ones you brought with you. He was trapped with those thoughts wherever he went. There was nothing that could save him from himself.
A board creaked, and Obito froze, looking away from the ceiling and to the bedroom door.
For an insane second he was convinced it would be one of the dead he'd just been thinking about standing there, but the reality turned out to be far more frightening. Rin was there, still dressed for their date and watching him with her arms crossed.
They stared at each other for an uncomfortably long time, and eventually Obito blinked.
"How… how did you get in?" he asked, his throat dry, and Rin cocked his head, looking him over with a quizzical expression. He was under the covers, just his head peeking out; it must have looked comical.
"You never lock your door, Obito," she said, taking a step forward. Well, she had him there. It was easy to forget when he rarely used it. "I went looking for you; Kushina said I might find you here."
"Sorry." He sat up, pulling the covers with him. "I should have… did she tell you what happened?"
"A little." Another step. "She'd been crying. Not everything she said made sense."
"Yeah," Obito muttered. "That's about right."
She was close now, close enough that Obito realized he didn't really understand what was happening, why she was here. It was like a dream. Maybe he'd had this dream before, though he'd never admit it.
"Are you okay?" she asked. "You're pale."
"No," he said, deciding to be honest. "Sorry about our date, again. I guess I couldn't even finish it right."
"Way beyond your control," Rin said with a bit of a grin. "You're waiting?"
"Yeah. I'm waiting." Obito lay back, closing his eyes. "Sensei asked me to leave in about an hour and a half to pick up my team." The rest of the thought emerged unbidden. "Or what's left of them."
"Not much time for you to rest," Rin said matter of factly, and Obito nodded, his eyes still closed. He heard a shuffle, a thump, and frowned.
A weight came down on the bed, and Obito froze. He cracked an eye open; the left one. His vision in that eye was truly terrible nowadays, especially when his Sharingan was deactivated, but he could still see that Rin had sat down on the side of the bed.
And maybe it was his imagination, but he was pretty sure she wasn't wearing a shirt. Or pants. She'd stripped down to her underwear.
"Scoot over," she said with authority, and Obito felt like he had no choice but to obey her.
"What?" he asked, feeling his heart speed up. He couldn't tell if it was excitement or panic, maybe both. "Rin, what are you-?"
"Don't get any ideas," Rin said with a soft laugh. "We've only been on one date, remember? I'm not that kind of girl."
Obito lay back, too terrified to move, and Rin sighed. "Roll on your side, huh?" she said, and at a loss for words Obito did, putting his back to her.
He almost jumped when her arm wrapped around him, her body pressing against his. There was a feeling like an electric shock that ran through his entire body, his spine transformed into a live wire at her touch.
"Rin…" he muttered again, and she shushed him.
"Sorry," she said. "I know I'm a medical genius and everything, but this is the best I could think of."
When he didn't respond, she settled in deeper. She was warm; Obito could feel a blush spreading across his face, but after a moment he gave into his instincts and settled back into her, feeling his too-fast heart gradually slow down.
"I don't know if things are going to be okay," Rin whispered, and Obito realized that no matter how good she was at keeping her cool, she was just as scared as he was in her own way. The world was changing before their eyes and for the worse, and they were both adrift and uncertain. This was just as much for her as it was for him.
"I don't either," he whispered. He shook once, violently. "I don't know what I'll do if…"
"Not right now," Rin said gently. "We'll know soon enough. Right now, just… try to relax, okay?" She took a deep breath, her chest rising against his back and her breath warm on his neck, and Obito felt another shock, the almost blinding urge to just roll over and grab her. He restrained himself; that wasn't why she was here, not tonight. "Just breathe with me."
He tried, following her deep breaths with what felt like minutes between cycles.
Inhale… exhale.
In… and out.
Obito didn't know how long it took, but somehow, he started to calm down.
Despite the mounting storm outside and a universe of infinite darkness that he'd witnessed with burning clarity not an hour before, despite his fear and hatred and frustration, despite an uncertain and bloody future stretching out indefinitely before him…
Despite all that, with Rin pressed against his back, Obito managed to fall asleep.
Walker Of Chaos
Best/Worst Dynasty
- Location
- Sweden
Well that was certainly something. No holds barred Nagato truly is terrifying. Immediate big question that springs to mind is who gets to become the Three-Tails Jinchuriki. Potentially Haku might get a new lease on life via it but I'm not sure if he's even strong enough to handle the transfer right now or if he is even who Nagato has in mind (I'm assuming "There's another way." is referring to the Tailed Beasts rain now owns). Second big question, how will Orochinaru extracting Team Seven backfire? We know he can't get his hands on Sasuke, I'm doubtful he could get Naruto but I see no way Sakura would ever return under the current conditions. He'd have to use force on both of them and I don't see that ending well in any scenario. Sakura is already radicalized like you wouldn't believe, a Leaf shinobi forcibly trying to kidnap her from Rain won't do anything but worsen her world view.
Ultra Sonic 007
Trying to keep things simple~
- Location
- Colorado
"You betrayed us, Itachi Uchiha. I'm going to eat your soul and find out why."
Gigachad line.
Gigachad line.
SOMEONE needs to go back to Konoha, if only briefly, to report that Itachi violated his agreement with Ame by causing so much death and destruction at Hidden Waterfall and then never delivered Fuu anyway. She could also, with the Amekage's blessing, arrange for relief efforts from Konoha(they need every medic-nin they can get right now, even Tsunade's rates would probably be a bargain right now) and bring back intel on how Hidden Cloud was responsible for the attack(there's a little suspicion right now about Gamaden's presence so that could use some clearing up)
- Location
- Who knows?
Holy fucking shit. You said you wanted us yo see the Rinnegan properly unleashed and Jesus H ficking Christ you delivered. Like hot damn wow good fucking lord.
God. I love the casual off switch on gravity in a massive radius, and seeing Ithachi actually panic a bit. The three Tailed Beast smackdown. Wow yeah I'd definitely start converting if I was anywhere near that.
God. I love the casual off switch on gravity in a massive radius, and seeing Ithachi actually panic a bit. The three Tailed Beast smackdown. Wow yeah I'd definitely start converting if I was anywhere near that.
- Location
- Wörms, the half continent
... jinchūriki get increased healing, don't they? And the Sanbi's currently free, isn't it?
Ser_Serendipity
Building Character
The fun thing about a situation like this is that you can see the stone start to roll down a hill but you're still interested in seeing exactly how catastrophic it hitting the town at the bottom is going to be.
It was a placeholder from ages ago tbh, but when I actually wrote the scene out, it worked oddly well. It's just such a specific threat: "I'm going to eat your soul" raises important questions such as "Wait, that's on the table? I was unaware that was a possibility," and so on."You betrayed us, Itachi Uchiha. I'm going to eat your soul and find out why."
Gigachad line.
Nagato is a man and a half. And he's great fun to write; someone who's very aware of his strength and almost embarrassed about it is an age old and compelling character trait.
Ok but how about The Power of Human Sacrifice.
WinterLantern
Smoked bird
- Location
- North England
Well that was an utterly devastating smack down. Goddam it's nice to see Itatchi just get slapped like that.
Dark Machine
Red or Dead
- Location
- Tokyo-1, Japan
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Itachi has actually lived up to his name in this fic even more than in the original manga. He keeps popping up unexpectedly, wreaking havoc while somehow being untouchable, then disappearing again.
One of the most annoying characters in the whole Naruto world, which means the author is doing a great job writing him.
In Japanese, the equivalent to "whack-a-mole" is 鼬ごっこ "itachi go'ko". And that's what Itachi is, an annoying prick who keeps popping up to ruin things whilst also coming across as a self-centred, arrogant, know-it-all jerk. Yeah I'm telling you all how I really feel! 😋
To be fair he has to be well written to get this much of a reaction, and Ser's done a great job because this is real "fan fiction", in that it's building upon our own experiences and expectations of characters we already know, and sometimes upending them.
Itachi (before his face-turn which I think was done to placate fans more than anything) was always this annoying pretty boy genius fighting game boss trope in the original. The kind of character the target audience could love to hate very quickly. Here he's much more interesting, since a lot of the reasons for him to do the things he did originally didn't actually happen, we're all left wondering what's going on. And that's making him extra annoying, because he's still this broken SNK boss style character, but he's also a complete mystery, not a 2D mannequin but someone with real almost abyss like depth.
Just please tell me it's not the moon rabbits Ser. They were bad enough as a crap interpretation of the Kaguya-hime story and a kind of Deus Ex Machina "hey it was us all along!… what do you mean you don't know who we are?" Please tell me it's something else?
Wow that was a long ramble. Great chapter again! Looking forward to the next one! Loved the scene with Rin at the end. At least let those two get through this alive!
One of the most annoying characters in the whole Naruto world, which means the author is doing a great job writing him.
In Japanese, the equivalent to "whack-a-mole" is 鼬ごっこ "itachi go'ko". And that's what Itachi is, an annoying prick who keeps popping up to ruin things whilst also coming across as a self-centred, arrogant, know-it-all jerk. Yeah I'm telling you all how I really feel! 😋
To be fair he has to be well written to get this much of a reaction, and Ser's done a great job because this is real "fan fiction", in that it's building upon our own experiences and expectations of characters we already know, and sometimes upending them.
Itachi (before his face-turn which I think was done to placate fans more than anything) was always this annoying pretty boy genius fighting game boss trope in the original. The kind of character the target audience could love to hate very quickly. Here he's much more interesting, since a lot of the reasons for him to do the things he did originally didn't actually happen, we're all left wondering what's going on. And that's making him extra annoying, because he's still this broken SNK boss style character, but he's also a complete mystery, not a 2D mannequin but someone with real almost abyss like depth.
Just please tell me it's not the moon rabbits Ser. They were bad enough as a crap interpretation of the Kaguya-hime story and a kind of Deus Ex Machina "hey it was us all along!… what do you mean you don't know who we are?" Please tell me it's something else?
Wow that was a long ramble. Great chapter again! Looking forward to the next one! Loved the scene with Rin at the end. At least let those two get through this alive!
Been reading this fic ever since I caught up to it, and I just have to say it's phenomenal. Not only is Obito actually likeable, Minato is nuanced, there's actual mystery around Itachi, and Black Zetsu was actually competently integrated!
One of the best Naruto fics I've read in a long time, and I'm not just saying that cause I'm a Nagato stan.
One of the best Naruto fics I've read in a long time, and I'm not just saying that cause I'm a Nagato stan.
Ser_Serendipity
Building Character
We're far enough in and with enough of a dedicated readership that I don't mind dropping spoilers tbh. At this point I'm just excited to have made it this far!
RIP, it's Moon Rabbits, yeah. I didn't fundamentally upend anything about the mythos or backstory of the universe; I wanted it to be an 'honest' FWoaN that way. Itachi's shadow attacking Nagato is exactly what it looks like. But I've been trying to seed hints from the very first scene Itachi was in, back in the Chunin Exams, so hopefully it'll be less jarring when we get some Exposition in two or three chapters. Sorry to disappoint you 😔
And thanks @No Country, hope I can keep you entertained.
