Memories

Kabuto and Itachi

Chapter 14

Well, maybe anything but this. It had been four days since Itachi and I first met up, and the war was progressing fast.

'Kira, just to let you know, we have a massive problem.'

'Oh, no. What is it?'

'Madara Uchiha has been resurrected.'

I coughed out loud in surprise, both Uchihas turning to me in concern. "Kira?" asked Itachi quickly. I held up a hand to motion that I was alright.

'You know what that means, right?'

'Yes,' I said. 'That means Tobi isn't actually Madara, because Madara is dead. We've reached Kabuto's hideout. There's no doubt that Kabuto must be at his wits' end if he's summoning someone like that.'

'That's right. If you kill Kabuto, Madara will be stopped. Right now, Naruto and the others are heading over at top speed in an attempt to battle him evenly. You focus on your task.'

'Yeah, we got it. Don't worry about us.'

'I'm not. You have the Uchiha brothers. More importantly, I need you to get any information that you can about Tobi. Surely, his true identity cannot stay hidden forever.'

'Alright. Thanks for the intel, Shikaku. Stay safe.'

'You too.'

I glanced at Itachi and Sasuke, whose faces were a mixture of surprise and determination. They had clearly been listening in, without my permission.

"Time to kick some snake butt, I guess," I said, motioning toward the cave. They nodded, and we entered the cave – Itachi leading, and Sasuke in the back. A Uchiha sandwich.

There was a long, winding corridor before we reached the end, where I could faintly make out a dark shadow, crouched over something. The chakra was unmistakably Kabuto's, even though it had traces of Orochimaru in it. Then again, I thought, Sasuke's did too; he had probably absorbed some part of Orochimaru back when he'd killed him.

"I've been found," said Kabuto, suddenly, as the three of us came to stand beside each other, facing him. "Oh, and Kira's with you, too? How cute."

Before we could say anything, white snakes came at us, fast and lethal. I ducked to avoid one and then used Amaterasu's chakra chains to grab all ten at once. Itachi and Sasuke, activating Susanoo, killed them all in one clean sweep.

'Nice,' said Amaterasu. 'You've gotten better.'

"What's next?" I asked out loud, employing my usual tactic of "just pretend to be confident and maybe you'll find a way out of this." As soon as I'd finished, Kabuto launched himself at me. I threw a kunai at him, but it went straight through him, reminding me of that water guy – Suigetsu, was it? Sasuke stepped in front of me with his Susanoo, launching his own attack, but Kabuto was both incredibly fast and nimble. Even as Itachi managed to land a scrape, we watched as his wound faded away, almost immediately.

"You see, Sasuke," said Kabuto, his long tongue licking his lips, "I've absorbed some of your teammates' characteristics. It's quite helpful."

'That explains the water and the healing. What about the last one, Sasuke?'

'Jugo utilized nature energy to transform his body and boost himself. It doesn't look like he has the ability to transform, but he probably took the ability to use nature energy.'